SNOW, SNOW, AND MORE SNOW!

As many of you know we got hit by a snow storm this weekend which started Friday and lasted through Saturday. Nathan took Easton outside to play while he cleaned off the cars. We got so much snow that Easton could hardly walk through it without getting stuck. Eventually I got Blair and myself all bundled up and joined the boys outside. This was Blair's first time out in the snow. Surprisingly she seemed to really enjoy it even though most of her pictures don't seem to show it.

Blair all ready to go outside.

Thanks to Gma, Blair actually had a warm coat to wear outside. I thought it would be big on her but it actually fit her pretty good.

Easton stuck in the snow. This is how Blair and I found him when we came outside. He wasn't too happy to be stuck.

Video of Easton.
He wanted to help Daddy out so bad but was having a really hard time reaching him.





This is the walkway that Nathan made from out apartment building to the parking lot. The snow was taller than Blair standing up but because she can't stand by herself I took a picture of her sitting instead. We got more than 2 feet for sure.



Close up of Blair. See she doesn't look that happy.


Video of Blair and Easton playing in the snow.




After playing in the cold snow we came in and had toasty warm cheese soup in bread bowls. Nathan made both of these beauties from scratch the night before. yummy!

I posted another post about Easton earlier today so don't forget to check that one out too.

Random Easton Stuff

Easton has been cracking me up lately with the things he has been coming up with. Since we have been home he has been playing really well by himself and for long periods of time. In the past he couldn't play very long by himself and would insist that someone play with him. Also, he would get bored easily and try to convince someone to turn the TV on for him or he would attempt to turn it on himself. He has watched some TV since we have been home but he really hasn't been drawn to it like before (this definitely makes me happy). Anyways, it is really funny to see his imagination come to life.

Easton singing on his little stage.

Video of Easton singing?

I like his little stage and of course him closing his eyes while he belts out his song.

Video of Easton playing with his animals.

He can play for hours with these things. He just loves them. I didn't get the best parts on video. He normally talks to his animals and has his animals talk to each other. He will wrestle with them and he even puts them in time out for biting him. "Time out Tiger! Two minutes! No biting!"

Video of Easton dancing.

I only caught the very last part of it (he caught me recording him). He likes the Madagascar movie with the lemur that moves it. He dances around the house singing "I like to move it, move it"

If you noticed at the end of the video Easton said, "I want to take a picture mama." He has been really interested in and wanting to take pictures. I finally let him and I must say he did a pretty good job.

Picture taken by Easton.

Nathan got a bloody nose the other day and of course Easton had to be just like daddy!

On a side note: I think it is almost safe to say that Easton is officially potty trained! He has had 5 days without an accident and has been telling us every time that he has to go. Along with that he has even been taking himself to the bathroom and doing it all by himself! I am so proud of my BIG boy!

Back Home

We got back Saturday night. It was a really long trip and all I can say is I'm not looking forward to May when we have to do it again (even longer to California and I have to drive one car all the way). The roads were bad in Missouri and again in West Virgina and Maryland. We saw so many accidents along the way (many of them were cars that sped right past us). With the road conditions the way they were it took about three hours longer than we had expected.

We are definitely glad to be home. It was really nice to visit family and I'm really glad that we will be moving closer to family later this year, but it is always nice to be home. We got to stop in and see my brother and his family for less than a day on our way back to Maryland. It was definitely too short (shorter than we had planned for) but it was nice to see them. We are almost completely unpacked. I'm not sure which one I dislike more-packing or unpacking. Both just seem to take a really long time.

Easton is adjusting really well. I'm actually really surprised. I was sure with all the changes (time change, being home, not getting spoiled/his own way, etc.) that he would have lots of fits and have problems with his potty training. He has only had four accidents so far and two of them I would say have been partly Nathan and my fault. He had an accident at church which left him pantless for the last 10 minutes of church (I forgot to bring an extra pair of pants). Easton also had an accident yesterday. We were gone for 2+ hours getting the car washed and grocery shopping. When we got home I forgot to ask Easton if he had to use the restroom and while I was making trips up and down the stairs to unload groceries he had an accident.

Easton is actually telling us almost every time now that he has to use the bathroom. I'm so excited! I have to thank Nathan's aunt because she told us our last night in Idaho that a friend of hers had their little boy potty trained in two day! She told me that every time the boy had an accident they put him in the shower and splashed cold water on him. I thought that was a little mean (especially cold water) but figured at this point I would try almost anything. I did it a couple of times in Utah with warm water (Easton hates showers so I thought that was punishment enough) and it seemed to work a little bit. On Sunday Nathan splashed Easton with luke warm water after one of his accidents but within an hour Easton had another accident. I decided to try the cold water this time and see how it worked and since then (besides his accident yesterday-which he didn't get a shower) he hasn't had an accident. Every couple of hours I ask Easton if he has to use the bathroom. He usually says no (of course) but then I remind him that if he has an accident he will get a cold shower. This generally changes his mind and he decides he better go potty. Today we have only had this conversation once. He has told me three times today that he has had to go to the bathroom. Hopefully he continues this because I honestly felt really bad after I splashed cold water on him.

Yesterday Easton finally dressed himself! I'm sure he could have done this a long time ago but because he is so stubborn and wouldn't do it without help I never really pushed him to do it. I figured it wasn't worth the fight. Yesterday I asked him to dress himself and he actually did it without complaining and/or asking for help. I think I'm in trouble now though. Today he keeps taking off all his clothes. I guess new things are really exciting and must be practiced.

Yesterday we went to get the car washed. While we were waiting our turn (there were a lot of people with the same idea) I was explaining to Easton what was going to happen when our car got washed. I hoped this would help since in the past Easton has been scared by the car wash. He actually thought it was really exciting. When we left this was our conversation.

Easton: Car washed?

Me: Yes, the car is all clean now.

Easton: Awesome!

Sometimes I wonder where Easton comes up with the things he says because some of the things that come from him I know neither Nathan or I have said. We were out shopping last week and Easton picks up a girls headband (hard plastic one) and put it on his head.

Easton: Easton a princess.

Me: A princess huh? How about a prince instead.

Easton: No, Easton a princess.

At my brothers place I was fixing Easton hair and he grabbed a mirror sitting on the counter. He admires himself in the mirror by turning his face every which way.

Easton: Mommy, Easton pretty.

Me: You mean you're handsome Easton, just like daddy.

Easton: Easton handsome.

Random video of the kids.

I would fast forward to 1:30 (Its not very exciting before that).
I like how Blair just lets Easton take the balls from her (because he doesn't want to share with her) but she just helps herself to some new ones.

Blair has just recently started to sleep on her tummy. I put her down on her back and when I go to check on her I find her on her tummy. She sure is silly especially since she doesn't like tummy time.

Blair seems to be taking off with her solid foods. The last two days she just downed her carrots. She was even opening her mouth and wanting more instead of me pretty much force feeding her! In fact she got upset last night when it was all gone. I can't tell you how excited I am that I won't be breast feeding this girl for the rest of my life. I was almost convinced a while ago that this was going to happen. I think I might have a veggie monster though. I remember the last time Blair seemed to enjoy her food and do her weird tongue thing was when she ate squash. I guess I just figured that most babies prefer fruits over veggies and since she was being so picky I would give her fruits instead of veggies. Maybe I'm wrong but if not I guess it isn't a bad thing if she prefers her veggies over her fruits.

Blair is just a rolling machine. It is really fun for me to just sit and watch her roll all over the living room to get to where she wants. Easton never did this so I think it is just the cutest thing ever.

Nathan just started his emergency medicine rotation yesterday. I can already tell you that this is going to be my least favorite rotation. He has to be on call every fifth day which means he has to work weekends. It is definitely going to be hard to adjust to this schedule espeically since he had every weekend off (not to mention every Friday off) last rotation.

Slow and Steady...

Blair is finally moving! It definitely takes a while to move forward but she eventually gets to where she wants. She kind of rolls back and forth until slowly but surely she moves forward to the thing that she wants.

Blair is all about rolling to get to where she wants. Yesterday she rolled 1 1/2 rolls until she couldn't roll any more and hit her face on the coffee table in the living room. She got a little bruise under her eye but you can hardly tell it is there today.

I'm actually pretty excited that Blair is starting to move. I'll probably change my mind in a few weeks when she starts to get into everything thing but for now I will just enjoy this new development.

LONG video of Blair moving to get the phone.

Warning: She cries and whines a lot so you may want to mute it (this was taken after 20 minutes of tummy time so she isn't very happy).

We really haven't been up to too much these days. It is too cold in Idaho to stay outside very long and I've been too lazy to get out of bed to take Nathan to the hospital so that the kids and I can get out and do something. Well it doesn't help that one or both the kids have been keeping me up at night so that is part of the reason why I haven't been getting up to take him. Another reason is Nathan and I have been staying up late looking at houses online.

Pictures to recap what we have been up to:

Easton making a mess eating a very ripe pear in the car on our way up to Idaho Falls to spend time with cousins.

Blair at G&G Stocktons house.

Blair's hair is getting a little longer so I put a bow in it.

Introducing Easton to his first Nutella sandwich.

He loved it!

We went to the park just down the way from G&G Uehling's house.

Blair's first time in a swing. She seemed a little unsure about the whole thing.

Easton, Dad, and Blair riding on the dinosaur.
It was so cold.

Video of Easton riding in the car.

Dad and Blair riding on the car.

Since it was too cold the last time we went out to play at the playground we found a playland at the mall to play at. Before this we went to the library for story time.

Daddy with his two little ones.

Again at the playland.

Easton woke up sick last night and was throwing up everywhere. He slept in our room on the floor so I could keep an eye on him and help him out. I was hoping that he would be fine this morning but he is still sick. Poor little guy. He is so thirsty and hungry.

Blair at 7 months

Blair is 7 months old today! I swear each month goes by faster than the last. She is still my little sweetheart and is definitely a mommy's girl. She is usually fine when someone else holds her just as long as I'm not in the room or somewhere where she can see me. But the second I walk in the room or she spots me, she whines and arches her back until either I come and get her or the person holding her gives her to me. It is definitely nice to be so loved.

On Saturday Blair started to say mama and I swear she knows that it refers to me. She seems to say it when she wants my attention because she looks right at me and says it until I look at her. I could be wrong but I believe it is true. She has said dada before but to me it just seems like she is making the noise (like baba) and not really understanding that it refers to Nathan.

We are still having a hard time with Blair eating solid foods. You would think after 3 months of this that she would finally figure it out, but no such luck. She had her weird technique of sticking out her tongue that seemed to work for about a week but now she doesn't even do that. Now she just blocks everything with her tongue (she definitely has a very strong, picky, and stubborn tongue). I thought it might be that she didn't like her veggies (which is understandable) but she does the same with her fruits. Who doesn't like fruit? I might just have to go back to squash because I'm pretty sure that was what she was eating with her weird tongue technique.

Blair still hates tummy time. I think she really dislikes it even more now that she has been out of practice for most of this holiday break. She was definitely spoiled when it came to family holding her all the time. Now that it is just Easton, Blair and myself during the days she has been getting more time on her tummy but complains almost the second I put her on her tummy. Hopefully we can work our way back to a half hour a day so she can start to creep or crawl. I'm not entirely sure that I am ready for this but because Easton started between 7-8 months I know it could happen here shortly. I definitely don't want to hold her back or delay her.

Blair must have known that I was going to write her 7 month post today because if I would have wrote it before today I would have said that she has turned into a really horrible sleeper (last night was actually pretty good). I'm not sure if it is because of all the travel or because she is starting to get her first tooth (maybe both?) but she has had a really hard and weird sleeping schedule. I am definitely not one of those people who let their kids sleep with them, but the last few nights I just gave up and let her sleep with us so that I could get some much needed sleep. I also didn't want her to wake everyone else in the house up. I'm glad that she slept pretty good last night so that we can hopefully stop this before it becomes a habit.

I just love this happy little girl. She just has the sweetest little smile that melts my heart.

Cute Little Easton

During sacrament meeting on Sunday someone was blessing their baby. During the prayer Easton folded his arms and squinted his eyes (that's him closing his eyes) like he should but then he decided that he was going to say his own prayer. "Thank you for daddy. Thank you for mommy. Thank you for Bair (Blair). Thank you for daddy. Thank you for mommy. Thank you for Bair." He continued this several times. It was definitely the cutest and sweetest little prayer ever but it was also sort of loud and probably very distracting. To others it probably sounded like a rude little boy talking during a prayer. That is what I thought until Nathan told me afterwards what he was saying. What do you do during a time like this? I mean it wasn't the best time for him to say his own prayer but how can you tell a little boy to stop praying when your trying to teach him that it is good to pray? Nathan tried to get him to whisper but that really didn't work. Oh, well. Heavenly Father knows his good intentions and I guess that is all that really matters.

Easton was watching Madagascar the other day. Shortly after the movie he had an accident so he proceeded to take his wet clothes off. I went to grab some new underwear and clothes for him and during that time Nathan caught Easton dancing around the house naked and singing the song "I like to move it, move it." Later that night Easton was singing the song, "Shake your booty" while shaking his butt back and forth.


Yesterday Easton was putting something in his pocket.
Me: "What are you doing?"
Easton: "Pocket."
Me: "What are you putting in your pocket?"
Easton: "Ummm NO! I have to go. Bye, Bye."

He then runs away.

Also yesterday Easton turned to me and said, "I HAVE to watch TV!" Not I want to watch TV or can I watch TV? But I HAVE to watch TV. Can we say addicted?