Thank yous

Niev was saying the prayer as we were having our family nightly prayer. "Thank you for the potty and for pee pee. Thank you for wipes. Thank you for flushing. Thank you for washing hands." Can you tell that we are in the throes of potty training?

PS--I will try to post pictures soon. The girls and I are in Parma enjoying the stress-free life of the farm.

Catching up is hard to do

Sorry that I have totally been MIA in the blogging world. Don't you worry your pretty little head though; I have been keeping up with all of your blogs so I have been enjoying the blogging world, just not actively participating. Two kids is surprisingly busy--more so than I thought it would be.

We had a fabulous Easter. On Saturday, we went with some friends to see the Easter bunny and do the egg hunt thing at a local church here in Kennewick. Niev LOVED it. Unfortunately, the parents don't know quite how to control themselves at these sort of events so Niev went home with a very small amount of eggs, but she was happy. She even saw a boy that was sad because he didn't get any eggs; Ian then encouraged her to share one of her eggs with him. She is becoming a very sensitive, bright girl. (Now if we could only stop the biting and hitting!) She even gave the Easter bunny a hug and waved hi to him. Pretty cute.

We dyed Easter eggs together as a family in an unusual way this year using silk ties. Things got so busy I didn't take an AFTER picture, but here is the before!


Niev woke up to a fun Easter basket left by the Easter bunny on Sunday morning. In it were marshmallow chicks, marshmallow bunnies, bubbles, a book, a big bouncy ball, eggs to hide and some eggs already hidden by the Easter bunny. She loved the candy and was more excited about eating the eggs' treasures than actually finding the eggs. (Can't really blame her!)

One FHE, I gave a lesson on temples and got a great idea from one of the blogs I follow (thanks Katie) to build your own temple using sugar cubes. Ian and I participated in a friendly contest of "best temple" while Niev enjoyed licking the "temple".

I've recently been called as Primary President and am a bit overwhelmed with the calling. We luckily have a small primary and so it is quite manageable. Our first Sunday was Easter Sunday and the bishop hadn't replaced me as chorister so I was over Sharing Time and Singing Time. By the end of church that day, I was exhausted and felt like I had been riding a rollercoaster for two hours. I think once I actually get things under control, I will really enjoy this new calling. I have three fabulous counselors/secretary. Each of them are so enthusiastic, creative and a great support to me.

The girls are so much fun right now. Rowan is laughing and smiling pretty regularly.

She is eating oatmeal/cereal from a spoon and really gobbles it down. She hadn't been sleeping more than a five hour stretch so the doctor told me to put it in her bottle, but it still wasn't enough so she eats meals with us now. Niev thinks Rowan's food is pretty tasty and is always asking Rowan to share her food. At her last appointment she weighed 14 1/2 lbs and seems to have beefed up since then a bit. When we took her to Spokane for her eye appointment, the specialist couldn't see anything! She said her eyes looked perfect. At Rowan's 4 month appointment, our pediatrician (who originally saw it) looked again and couldn't see what he saw before. So who knows what it was, but at least it disappeared on its own. I'm not complaining!

Rowan just stares at her dad. She is so intrigued by him. She will reach up to touch his face (probably because it is rough) and will smile the biggest at him. It really is the sweetest thing!

Rowan is a big fan of Niev's. She thinks Niev is hilarious. Ian and I were worried that she would always live in fear of Niev, but to the contrary. She brightens up as soon as she hears Niev's voice or sees Niev paying attention to her. It really is the cutest thing. I'll try to upload a video of the two of them playing on Niev's bed together. Adorable! stay-tuned...

Niev is potty training and has been for at least a month. She is still taking a duke in her panties at least every other day if not more (anyone have any advice for me! We have tried everything!). She loves Mr. Rogers, Bill Nye the Science Guy and Sesame Street. (We get all the old school stuff from the library and we own some SS.) She loves going to nursery and playing with all her friends, especially Olivia and Emma. She loves having her friends over to play. Normally, this involves her taking her bed apart (two twin mattresses stacked on top of each other) and jumping from one mattress to the other mattress. I'm just waiting for someone to get hurt (does it sound like I'm neglectful???) She is hilarious and loves to be a show-off.

She is very independent and has learned to open the fridge (hence the need for a fridge lock), climb up on the counter (hence us taking all the barstools away from the counter), turn on the DVD player (hence us shutting it off manually), etc. As soon as she sees me start to feed Rowan and begin pumping, she runs out of the room to see just what she can destroy in five minutes. But as soon as she hears me coming, she will say, "I put it back, I put it back." She goes a mile a minute and still is even though she has been sick the past two days.

Notice the remote--now you know who really wears the pants in this family!

She is very picky about her footwear. She doesn't really care what I dress her in, but she MUST wear her "boots with cherries on them" everywhere she goes (including church--yes, we get MANY comments on them, good? bad? who knows.) We are in the process of trying to find replacement shoes for those boots. I love them but not chapel attire!

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Grateful for hinges!

As some of you may know, I am the primary chorister in my ward. It is a trying calling for me, but much loved by many of you (if you have any fun ideas, please send them my way!!!). Anyhoo, I have several kids in Junior Primary that make the calling so entertaining. Many of the little ones sing loud and very off key. We were singing "Hinges" and when it came to the very last line, one little five year-old who was singing particularly loud, sang, "I'm so glad I have hinges or else I would crap!" We had about a two minute break for me to catch my breath on that one. Boy am I glad we have hinges!!!

Impromptu girls' night and Scary checkup

(All these pictures are almost a month old--I haven't uploaded my new pics of Rowan)

Yesterday we had Rowan's 2-month check-up. She weighs a whopping 12 lbs 4 oz. and is 24 inches long (the doctor commented several times about how she weighs as much as a 4-month should). She got three shots and did fairly well (just needed a little lovin' from mom afterwards). During the full body check, the doctor found a mysterious object in her eye. Upon further investigation, he realized it was not on the surface, but rather in her eye. To save you the details, he basically had no idea what it was and is referring us to a specialist on the 27th of Feb. up in Spokane, WA. I was only freaked out about the financially end of things yesterday, but today, I am a bit more worried about what this will become. We shall wait and see.

Rowan had been sleeping clear through the night all last week, but for two nights in a row, she decided to wake up 4-5 times. It was maddening! I was VERY grouchy for two days (poor Ian and kids!). I hadn't been able to get anything done during the day either because Niev or Rowan seemed to always need my attention so my house was a disaster. Now some of you might not understand what a disaster is. I define a disaster as not being able to see the floor, not able to prepare a proper meal because all the dishes are dirty and there is no counterspace to cook on, and laundry is piled up. When Ian got off of work, he was wanting to play a game with me so we played one game then I told him I better get to work on cleaning the kitchen and making dinner. He wanted to play one more game. Then Rowan was hungry so Ian asked me to feed her. I was getting very frustrated since it was already past 6 p.m. and I had no idea what was going to be for dinner. Then a knock came at my door and Ian told me to put a shirt on. It was one of my very favorite-est people in the world, Jen from my ward.

Ian had called her earlier in the day while I was at the doctor with Rowan. He planned an entire night out with Jen. We went to dinner and then went to Barnes & Noble. Now to some of you this may not be very exciting, but Jen is a very well-read person. She seems to have read every great book ever written, she has great taste in books (meaning she was repulsed as much as I was by the horribly written vampire book! Sorry to you die hard fans, but it was awful.) and so we just walked around talking about great books, our husbands, and laughing. It was just what I needed. I cannot tell you how much I appreciated Ian for being so kind. He is so good to me that sometimes I wonder what I did to deserve such an unselfish, kind, thoughtful and generous man. He can be a real butt sometimes, but for the great majority of the time, he is fabulous! I came home ready to love my family again and want to snuggle with my hubby. I cannot tell you what a big fan I am of Jen and Ian.

Niev is growing up so big. She says the funniest things and loves Sesame Street (old school episodes, of course, because Elmo annoys me). She loves her little sister and wants to over-love her by laying on her to give her a hug or bite her to give her the biggest best kiss ever!

Niev with her kitchen that her Daddy made her for her birthday

Niev on "Christmas morning" with her Aunt Vickie homemade apron

Rowan's blessing & Niev's birthday

Life has been a bit of a whirlwind (to say the least). Rowan is now 7 1/2 weeks old and only waking up once during the night. Some nights she will even sleep all the way through the night (I count my lucky stars on that one!). Anyway, this is allowing me to be more human and Lora-like. We found out that she was being "colicky" due to the fact that during labor I was given an antibiotic that killed all the good bacteria in Rowan's stomache. She was always in so much pain and now we have that under control so I am beginning to see how people end up with three or more kids. I was beginning to think that only crazy people would have another baby after two kids!

My nephew came home from his mission in Cancun and so I drove alone with both girls to Parma, Idaho to see my family. Ian thought I was crazy, but both girls did amazingly well. While Ian's mom was here for Christmas and New Years, we celebrated Niev's birthday with a pumpkin pie. Then in Parma, we also celebrated Niev's birthday with cake and ice cream. Once I got home, we had a small get together with one of Niev's friends and had cake and ice cream again! Niev would walk around the house singing "Happy Birthday" to herself. She was beginning to think that every other day was her birthday. She is a very fun two-year old. It is hard to think that two years ago, she was as little as Rowan.

Last weekend we had Rowan's blessing. My parents, grandma, brother and sister-in-law, sister and family came into town for the event. It was a great time. I enjoyed having everyone here and playing games while catching up. Rowan looked beautiful in the same dress Niev wore during her blessing. My grandma (who is 87) had made it and will always be a special heirloom in our family. She also made a beautiful crotcheted blanket for Rowan.

Niev used to only respond with "mmm-hmm" instead of "yes" so we have been working on saying a full and real "yes". So now she will say "mmm-hmm yes, yes". It is really the cutest thing.

Sisters are the best of friends!