Us Against Them

     Here is a post dedicated to a few more videos This one makes me happy and sad.  When he was younger and just starting to play, he would grab a cup and put it in his mouth, then take a second to get it balanced just right and let go with his hands.  He was always so proud of himself!  You could see him smiling and getting excited and huffing.  His chubby, little cheeks all puffed up in smiles, and his chubby hands opening and closing in excitement.  I never did get a video of that one, this one will have to do. Sometimes, when Tate's playing, he needs a quick break on something soft, then he's ready to get up and go some more. He's such a twit. I often take a morning nap when Tate does, I'm kind of pathetic like that.  When he wakes up, Baylee gets excited and wants to go check on him.  I usually tell her no because I'm still tired and not ready to get up.  I ask her to wait a few minutes then finally give her t...

     While Baylee was saying the prayer last night, she strayed from her typical, memorized prayer.  It usually goes, "...please, please bless our food and will sleep good and grateful for milk and family and ask it...Amen."  We worked really hard to get a grateful section in there for her, too.  It ended up being milk and family and that stuck for awhile.  We keep trying to encourage gratitude, "Let's tell Heavenly Father what we're thankful for.  Let him know we are so thankful for this food He has blessed us with." etc.      Well, last night, she made an addition to her thankful section.  It went as follows.  "...grateful for boys."  Bah!  What?   Three years old!!   How did that happen?  So after the prayer I tried to convince myself (by talking to Baylee and making sure she agreed, a little mental game perhaps) that she meant dad and Tate as "boys".  She did agree pretty easily, so maybe...

     And so it begins!  The, "Why" questions.  I thought that this didn't come about until about 5 years old.  I swear I just brought her home from the hospital, now I'm being irked with "why?".  It's not like they are even pertinent either.  Nothing like, "Why is the sky blue?"  I remember learning why in physics and thinking, "I need to remember this so that when I have annoying little children constantly asking me questions, I can answer it in a completely scientific manner."  Instead it is just always "why?".  She'll ask me a question, I'll answer it, she'll ask why.  Example: "Should I give this to Tate?"  I answer her something like, "Sure, if you want to."  "Why?"  Well, jeepers, Bays, I don't know, because it sounded like you wanted to and it won't physically harm him in any foreseeable way.  Earlier today Baylee was playing with the printer a little bit and I told he...

I really do try to keep up on things, and sometimes find myself thinking, "Man, I should get that on the blog before I forget these things." But then I think, "Well, I want this video and that picture from Dustin's phone... Too much work right now. I don't want to get the cords and computer out. I'll do it later." I want things in chronological order and I am hindered by my laziness to do it properly. So, I will not put up the video of Tate's new game, or the pictures of the kids playing at the mall (from Dustin's phone). Maybe they will show up another day and maybe they won't. Ultimately I want to be able to recall memories and look back at the silly things the kids did, chart their growth, etc. Tate is officially crawling. I willed him to stay my baby long enough. He goes up on his knees a lot more but doesn't always crawl that way. He still reverts back to his army crawl a lot. But, he can crawl! That just happ...

Tate has had so much fun discovering some new, big toys. It's so fun to watch him light up and play with new things! Have I mentioned lately how much I love my kids? Because I'm seriously crazy about them! Dustin went into Baylee's room this morning because she was yelling for him. I laid in bed and listened to them for a minute before I got up. I love how smart Baylee is! I love that she is able to articulate and think through things on her own so well. As she talked with Dustin, her questions were, "Where's Tate?" (Still in his crib). "Where's momma?" (Still in bed). "Is it dark in the living room?" (I close all the blinds at night as part of bedtime prep, then open them all up first thing in the morning. So if Baylee wakes up first, I haven't quite made it to opening the blinds in the living room. So yes, it was a little darker than norm) As for the new toys with Tate, I got out Baylee's piano for hi...

     Conference was wonderful, as always.  I especially enjoyed it because I had a cool experience that I hope to always remember.  We went up to the Fausett family for conference and spent Friday and Saturday nights there.  I got caught up in the fun of being around family again and conference ended up skipping my mind, until Friday night as I started saying my prayers.  I knelt down and realized, "Oh my goodness, conference is tomorrow.  I should probably pray for something."  Then I knew exactly what I wanted and needed help with.  I finished my prayers and went to bed.       Conference started and I was tired, but willed myself to listen and leave the kids be for awhile.  I believe it was the very first talk when I heard a line that was like an answer to my prayers.  It stuck so peacefully in my mind, I knew it was meant for me.  It didn't even seem very relative to the rest of the talk....

     It was brought to my attention that I do not have a video up of Tate's crawl.  Thank you, Cam, I wouldn't have realized that I didn't have a video of it until it was too late, I'm sure.  Tate is now starting to get up on his knees and rock a little, but ultimately he still does the scoot thing.  He's pretty slow in the video, but when he sees something he wants he can be pretty quick!