Getting back to normal

It's nice to finally be getting back to normal. Here are some ways we are starting to get back.

1) I can fit into at least 2 pairs of my "normal' jeans
2) Austin can play by himself
3) Austin can play with other kids
4) I can leave the room and Austin continues playing (instead of freaking out like he has been for the last 2 months)
5)Devon gets up and GOES to work in the morning
6)We have friends to hang out with
7) I got my Etsy shop back up and running

Normal is nice. I feel that it makes things less stressful for me, therefore allowing me to be a better happier mom.

Although sometimes "not normal" can be nice too, like how on Sunday it wasn't normal that Austin was able to stay in nursery by himself, but it was nice to be able to go to Relief Society and not worry.

An eventful week with lost of pictures!

After the last blog I decided to post this to leave everyone on a happier note.

I know I cut off Devon's head, but I thought it was still a cute pic.

WARNING: NEXT 2 PICTURES NOT FOR THOSE WITH A WEAK STOMACH

Guess what time it is? Yes, it's potty training time, and yes that is what you think it is. So this was after lunch on Thursday. I noticed that he was showing the signs and so I ran him up stairs and put him on the potty. Devon came in and we were both sitting in the bathroom waiting it out. After about 10 min. nothing was happening and Devon and I started talking about potty training. During this time I noticed - but not fully - that Austin got up from the potty. I thought oh, he isn't going to go I better put a diaper on. Devon and I continued talking as Austin walked out of the bathroom. I kidd you not, it wasn't 30 seconds later that he started crying and saying Ma Ma Ma. Devon stuck his head out of the bathroom and then suddenly exclaimed SON! Then he carried (after him taking 3 steps, which foot prints you can count in the pic. above) a very upset Austin back into the bathroom. Austin was so upset! Devon just started laughing! He said - quick get the video camera! I was like, um are you serious? He was serious! So I got the video camera and when I came back up he was snaping these beauties. All the while Austin was still crying. I am not sure if he was crying because he went to the bathroom on the floor or because he stepped in it when he was done LOL. Oh fun times.

These next pictures were taken at the stake pioneer day celebration.

This nasty snake was HUGE. I didn't draw Austin's attention to it because I didn't even want to go near it! Yuck.

Austin was a little shy around the animals and didn't like it if you were there with him, but once we let him wander around on him own he would be brave and pet the animals. It was just funny because most the animals were bigger than he was and they were VERY friendly. They kept comming up to him and licking him and nudging him. Several times he got pushed over but he handled it very well.
So, for those of you who know what animal this is, give yourself brownie points because I sure as heck didn't know. I was like -um that's the funniest cow I've ever seen?! Well aparently it's a Yak. Yup, a yak. Who really has a Yak? I don't even know if I knew they were a real animal. The only yak I know is "yak idy yak..don't talk back" (courties of Colleen)

Us on the covered wagon

Austin going through the obsticle course.

And no activy can be complete without a nice orange snow cone, and yes...he is smiling. This is his new "cheese" face.

These next pictures are of Kate. I needed a good picture of her and didn't really have one. So here she is!

These next two are of her in her make shift bath. I was giving her baths in the tub but she would just scream. She LOVED the sink though. it was just the right size.

Blessings in disguise and tender mercies

So, as some of you know a friend of mine past away a short while ago. She was young and beautiful and had a beautiful family with 3 girls and 1 boy. Her and her husband were so very much in love and a true joy to be around. She was taken suddenly and unexpectedly leaving her husband with an 8, 6, 3, and 1 year old. While know one knows why she needed to go, or what other missions lie ahead for her on the other side, all we do know is that her mission here was complete. As hard as this reality was for me to accept, as I looked back on the last couple of months of her life I had a personal life lesson. If we back track a couple of months, because of the poor economy and low housing market, her husband lost his job. This was a hard for them to deal with (as it would be for most people trying to support a family). Now, from my point of view I thought, how hard to lose a job hopefully he will be able to get another one soon. But as fate would have it month after month went by and he was still not working. I am not sure there exact state of mind, but mine would have been - Why can't we find work, why aren't my prayers being answered (as I am sure it was the topic of many prayers and fasts). I think I would have become frusterated that work was not coming. But now that time has past and part of Heavenly Fathers Plan has unfolded, I realize what a blessing it was that he was not working. I also feel that him losing his job was a tender mercie of the Lord.

I have sat and thought to myself several times over the last week or so and I have thought that if I knew I was going to pass away wouldn't it be wonderful if Devon didn't have to work and we could spend as much time together as possible? How many people know that their loved ones may not have too much time left here still have to go to work - because like it or not life still goes on, everyone still has mouths to feed and needs that have to be met. What a tender mercy the Lord gave to them that, although they might not have realized it at the time and I am sure were frustrated at the situation, they were able to spend so much time together. In talking with my friend one day she commented on how great it was to have her husband home. She was laughing and saying that now he knows how to put the kids to bed and that he helps around the house and does "mom" type things that he didn't do before because he was working. What a small comfort it will be to him now to have had those months at home, getting to know the routine, know how to take care of his children, being familiar with the ups and downs that being a full time parent, getting to know his children more and letting them get to know him more, that he wouldn't have been able to learn any other way than to have actually been home for a while. I know that most men aside from being devastated that their wives are gone, are overwhelmed with the reality that their children's primary care giver is gone - and they have no idea what to do with them! Yet, since the Lord is so merciful and loves us so much, he was able to see ahead and know that these hard times were coming and did all that he could to give them time together to love and learn from each other and help prepare her husband for the task ahead.

I am so grateful for a Heavenly Father who knows me and loves me. This has opened my eyes to see that he truly knows best and although we may feel that we are having hard times in our lives, he can truly see the bigger picture and does everything for our profit and learning.

Our prayer are with the Clinton family

Memory Lane

I copied this cute post from my cousins, Alicia's blog. Leave me a memory about you and I! First time meeting, funny, sad, crazy events etc.Here is how you play:1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember! 2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Milk

Unlike Austin, Kate has been really fussy. It seemed like everyday it was getting worse and worse. I was watching everything I ate being sure not to eat anything that might give her gas. That meant no chocolate, no popcorn, no broccoli, no cauliflower (sp?) no onions, not too much garlic, no mustard....pretty much if it's as bland as hospital food, I could eat it. If not I steered clear. But it was all to no avail. She was still gassy. In the evenings she would just scream and my mom and I would pass her back and forth. We would take all the screaming we could as we tried to calm her, give her gas medicine, pump her tummy.. and then get frustrated because nothing was calming her and pass her off. We would do this back and forth until she fell asleep. We would get a little rest, and then inevitable she would wake up screaming and kicking her poor little legs. We knew it was her stomach because it was hard as a rock and her legs were jerking like crazy. We just didn't know why. I would sit and think of all the thing that it could be, or what I could do to help her. After drawing blanks for a couple of days my mom and I just concluded that she was a fussy baby and that she has a really sensitive tummy...not much can be done. But then one day I was sitting there thinking to myself and I remembered a short conversation I had with Shannon Hokhama (sp?). She was nursing her baby at the time and made some passing comment about how she didn't eat any dairy because it made her daughter so upset every time she ate it. At the time I just thought....I could never do that, I love Ice cream way too much. Anyway, this 2 second conversation kept popping into my head. So I thought....hummm I wonder if she is sensitive to dairy? So I went online and looked up Lactose intolerance and found out this: Most babies aren't lactose intolerant. Lactose intolerance is something that is developed usually around 5-7 years old. It is very rare to have a lactose intolerant baby, but babies are often allergic to milk. The difference is that they don't react to the lactose in milk. It's the milk proteins that they are allergic to.

After reading this I thought well maybe I will stop eating dairy and see if it helps. At this point I was seriously willing to try anything. Usually with food if you don't eat it for a day or two you can tell if the baby reacts to the change. I thought that I could do without dairy for a day or two...but it turns out that with dairy the proteins can stay in your system for up to 3 weeks! Than means 3 weeks without dairy just to see if it make a difference. YIKES. But like I said I was willing to try anything. And so I started....or stopped, what ever way you look at it.

I didn't realize how much dairy I ate! Seriously. Everything I ate was dairy related. Yogurt for breakfast, cheese and pickle for lunch, mac n' chz for dinner and always ice cream for dessert! Everything I ate seemed to have some kind of dairy...usually cheese, but either cheese, yogurt, cream cheese, sour cream, milk etc. I don't even know what to eat anymore. Anytime I went to eat, or make anything to eat, half way through I realized that it had dairy. AHHHH! If you recall from the beginning of my post I had already cut a lot of stuff out of my diet already and now no dairy either? Now all I eat is like bland chicken sandwiches and fruit and veggies. BORING.

BUT....It is totally paying off. Kate is responding to the lack of dairy. She is hardly ever gassy and very rarely fussy. I called my mom and told her that she wouldn't even recognize Kate anymore. She is seriously like a totally new baby. So the good with the bad. Kate is so much happier and sleeping better and not in pain anymore. That is such great news for us. The bad news is that means no Dairy for me for who knows how long. When I find a doctor and take Kate in for her 1 month check up I will have to talk to them about it. SO we'll see. Wish me luck and let me know if anyone knows any wonderfully desserts that don't use dairy or chocolate other than rice crispy treats.

Sorry for such a long post!

Baby Blessing

So today when Ausitn was watching his favorite movie, Monsters Inc. and Kate was sleeping I jumped online to look over everyone's blogs to see what I am missing. As I look at some blogs I realize 2 things. 1st, that I didn't post about Kates baby blessing and 2nd, and worst of all, that I don't have one single picture of her blessing or blessing day! I am such a bad mom! I am so sad, I really need to start being better about pictures. my problem right now is that our stupid batteries aren't the right ones, so after I fully charge a set of batteries I get about 4 pictures out of them and then I have to recharge them. Everytime I try to take a picture my studpid low battery light flashes....grrrrrr.

We blessed Kate almost a month ago on June 22. It was pretty last minute but with us packing and leaving we didn't have much of a choice. I was just glad we could do it in Moorpark with friends and family in the circle to bless her. My mom, Devon's parents, his brother Britain and his family were all there for the blessing. We were so glad to have them there even though it was a crazy day. One thing I am for sure going to miss about California is how close we were to family.

The blessing went really well and she didn't make a peep. Austin on the other hand wasn't so quite. Once Devon got up to go bless Kate Austin started screaming, so grandma Richins took him out into the hall so that Devon could concentrate and the rest of us could enjoy the blessing. Thanks Grandma!

We Miss Daddy

We still have a week left at grandma's before we go to Idaho, but we really miss daddy! Here are some pictures for him so he can see how fast Kate is growing. I had more pictures of Austin but they are him playing in the water in the back yard and they aren't really decent for public viewing, as cute as his little white butt is...LOL. Anyway enjoy the pictures and well have a longer post once we get to Idaho.

So, I realize this is kind of a scary picture but I like the dress.

she is starting to hold up her head so well!both of these pictures are her in her 4th of July outfit courtesy of Christine Sloan
so cute
Austin giving Kate kisses