Mopping the floor

A video of alex mopping the floor, and the wall, and the carpet, and anything that he felt needed to be mopped.

Our Home

Alex has figured out that if alex doesn't want to get his clothes on (which is quite often now that it is getting hot) you can take a picture to show him how handsome he is and he will leave on his tie, overalls, hat, etc. Obviously we are now way to modern to use a mirror.

I haven't written a decent blog in a while because our computer was broken; meaning you could get it to function for short periods of time but then you had to turn it off or it would start to smoke. Since we are pretty much unable to function without a computer we had to go and get a new one, but this wasn't too much of a stretch because we were talking about upgrading our 200 and some memory and 60 gigs of hard drive anyway...we were just hoping that it would be after we paid for this baby. Boy does it make a difference, I'm actually listening to music while I type this and I don't have to stop to let the computer catch up, imagine that.

If you haven't read my husbands blog on our washing machine adventures you really should, I think that it is my most favorite of anything he has written.

And now for the title, here is a tour of our apartment.

What About Bobby

This is one of alex's best friend "Bobby". He was given to alex for his first birthday and alex loves him. Here is a slide show of a fun night that the boys had I hope that it will work for you.

"Camping"

For fathers day we got Alex camping equipment and good camping food and then packed everything so that he wouldn't have to do anything and could just enjoy a trip. Then, when we talked the day before I was planning to go (Thursday), he said that he didn't want to go this weekend (we had been talking about it tentatively) so I started to unpack all of the stuff. The reason that he decided that he didn't want to go was because there was a 70% chance of it raining the entire time....not that much fun. When he found out what we had been doing I think that he felt bad that we had done all of the work for nothing so he said that we would go and try it and then if it didn't work out we could just come home. So we packed everything (he being the gentleman that he is insisted on helping this time) and we started off. We got to the campsite around 11 and started the fire so the we could have lunch. All of these pictures were taking in the first 30 minuets that we go to the camp and do not do anywhere close to justice with regard to how dirty alex got. The ash pile in the background was his favorite place to play and he was covered in it. I ended up taking all his clothes off and giving him a "shower" with the water spout in case we were going to stay the night-it was warm and he liked it. Because of the weather prediction there was no one else there all day and the weather was overcast but not wet-the most perfect it could be. We also went on a walk and found a worm, a new experience for us; we looked at it picked it up and then he put it in his mouth and ate half of it, i thought I was going to get sick....but I didn't.


Helping clean out the fire pit.
Daddy had to go out into the woods to find wood (harder than it sounds because it has been so wet here lately) and while he was gone we thought that he had died. All of a sudden we hear this big crash and I call out and get no answer. I start over in the direction of the crash, again still calling out, and finally we hear a "I'm alright". When he comes back he has a big bump on his head and his arm is all scratched up and he is talking about how lucky his is-"a lot worse could happen when you pull a tree down on yourself". He's okay, and he built the best fire I have ever seen...perfect.


At the end of the day after dinner we decided (probably mostly me) the the clouds looked too stormy and we didn't want to chance it so we started to pack everything up. After a while I looked over and alex wasn't playing with the rocks anymore, his second favorite thing to do. So I went over and found that he had pulled all of the pillows and bedding that were blocking him from his car seat out of the car, climbed in, and was trying to get his seat buckled. I'm not sure if he didn't like camping or if he was just ready to go home. When we got home it took me about 30 minuets to scrub all of his clothes clean (he had gone through 4 outfits in the time that we had been there) and alex sat in the tub for at least as long and he still has dirt I can't get off of him, sorry I didn't think to take pictures.

We love you dad, thanks for going camping with us. We can't wait until we do it again so we can try out the tent.

To train...Or not to train?

We decided that since alex was asking to go to the bathroom every time that he needed to go that PERHAPS he was ready to be potty trained. So out came the training pants and the carpet cleaner.......but that was before the washer broke. Life sure is funny sometimes. We only have three of the thick, actually absorb some of the accident, underwear and three of, his favorite, Lighting McQueen undies. He doesn't seem to mind going pee in the underwear as much as he did in the diaper (probably because it gets taken off so promptly) and I am SERIOUSLY considering putting off the training until the washer is repaired...by my husband....with directions off the internet; maybe I'll never have to train him. just kidding sweetheart, I think that you can do it.

The pictures are of alex pulling up his own underwear which of course he has to do by himself.

Note: We decided that we were going to try and fix it ourselves this time because it just broke a couple of months ago and we ended up paying a few hundred dollars for something that Alex could of done in a timely manner and for around $40, I guess that you learn as you go.

The cleanest house ever

Why do I have the cleanest house ever you ask? Because of my cleaning person of course. Whenever alex needs something to do, I have him help with the chores and that calms him right down...I wonder how long that will work for...

Of course, all of you who have had help know that when your helper gets involved it takes about 50 times longer to do anything, but it sure is more fun.

It's a bird, It's a plane, It's....

alex. Luckily I have been around children being played with like this for my entire life thanks to my dad's treatment of us otherwise this would probably scare the crap out of me. Before Alex came and had me take this video they had already been doing this for about 10 minuets.



I couldn't get my regular video upload place to work, so I hope that you can see this one okay.

Best Picture Ever

How can I be so lucky to be surrounded by such beautiful people all the time? Alex has been using the camera almost non stop it seems like the past couple of days, to make up for my lack of using it the last couple of months most likely, and I think that this is my most favorite yet. They're wrestling on the bed with the camera...I wonder how the camera broke last time, we're so careful with it.

My music

Like Keary, I don't really consider myself that much of a music lover. There are times though when I do like to have it on and for those times my wonderful husband has paid attention to the songs I said I liked and put together my very own file that I can put on the shuffle if I feel so inclined. Here is a list of everything that is in it in alphabetical order:

1. Another Saturday Night - Cat Stevens
2. Beyond the Sea- Bobby Darin
3. Can't Keep it in - Cat Stevens
4. Cecilia - Simon and Garfunkel (I could listen to this song over and over for hours if Alex would let me)
5. Come and Get Your Love - Redbone
6. Dummy Song- Louie Armstrong
7. El Desierto - Maná
8. Good Vibrations - Beach Boys
9. Hollywood Swinging - Kool and the Gang
10. I Can See Clearly Now - Johnny Nash
11. I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City - Harry Nilson
12. I Will Follow - U2
13. Johnny B Goode - Chuck Berry
14. L-O-V-E - Nat King Cole
15. La Chula - Maná
16. Lady Marmalade - Labelle
17. Le Freak - Chic
18. Morning Has Broken - Cat Stevens
19. Mr. Big Stuff - Jean Knight
20. Rockin Robin
21. Signed Sealed Delivered - Stevie Wonder
22. Too good to be true
23. Twist 'n Shout - The Beatles
24. With Or Without You - U2

I must say that it looks rather skimpy when compared to Cathy's.

Videos

Here are some more videos of alex. This one is him dancing....again. And this one is just him rolling an ab wheel. You would think that we would take more exciting videos but the truth is we're pretty boring people.

Hey mom...

Alex was working on "the biggest fire that Bonham has ever seen" last night so he didn't get to go to sleep until this morning after he got home. I took alex shopping to be sure that Alex would get at least a couple of hours of uninterrupted sleep. We came home around 11 so that alex could go down for his nap and my husband could still sleep. I gave alex a snack and a drink and then put him in his bed for his nap; he was a little fussier than usual but after about a minuet he stopped fussing and I assume that he laid down. I went in to lay next to Alex for MY nap andafter about five minuets alex starts saying "hey mom, hey mom, hey mom, hey mom" over and over. This has never happened before and so I stayed in bed trying to decide what to do; after about two minuets of continues "hey mom" without any different intonations or getting upset I finally got up to go and see what was going on - yes, I realize that is probably a long time to wait but I was tired. I go into his room and alex is all happy standing with his bear and his blanket ready to get out of bed. I say, "No, alex it's time to take a nap." He calmly looks at me and replies, "Boo-pa" and points at his diaper.

side note: We still aren't potty training because I have no idea when he is going pee and he doesn't mind having his diaper wet at all (and I find the whole potty training situation completely intimidating-especially because he has equipment that I can't demonstrate). When we moved here, and his new hide and go poo-poo spot moved to the back porch with a view instead of the kitchen, he found that he had a problem- he needed assistance to get to the designated area. He would take me to the door and say "boo-pa" and point to the door or his diaper and I would say no (thinking mostly of the neighbors and my hope to raise modest children) and take him to the potty and tell him that he could go there AND he could get a skittle if he did. Since that time I've only had to change wet diapers.

Back to the story: I say, "Oh" and take him to the bathroom. He had already gone a little in his diaper (that'll teach me to think about coming) but he still had some more to contribute for his skittle......I think that I need to change the name of my blog, no matter what I do I can't get away from it.

And because I haven't posted any pictures in awhile here are some that Alex took when we were just hanging out this weekend.
He's pretty good and swinging a bat and finally understands that if he uses two hands it really turns out best.
If you look close enough you can see one the five teeth that he is getting as you read this.
alex is trying to steal my pop sickle stick.
Could this beautiful boy ever do anything disgusting? Never. That's not really bread that he just spit out on to the carpet, that would never happen.
Alex learned how to take action shots. alex is using the ab wheel to drive around the living room.

You could be next

Currently I'm "it". My friend has tagged me and in the interest of teaching my son the proper way to play tag I'm continuing the game. You see alex always wants to be the one that is running away and never "it" so hopefully this is have an effect on him. To "tag" someone else you must tell seven things about yourself on your blog and then you are free to "tag" seven other people that they may do the same thing to someone else. So here are mine.

1. I LOVE being a mom, but I hate 9 months that it takes to get there. I absolutely can't understand the people who enjoy what I have come to think of as the 48 hundred hour flu.

2. My favorite thing to do is make desserts....however, in our house we don't really like to eat sweets so I don't get to make them that often.

3. I secretly wish that my hair would grow to my waist in a week so that I could always decide if I wanted it short or long and then the next week it could be different. I also with that I had gray or white hair.

4. I can't wait until I go back to school but I'm afraid that our family will suffer when I do.

5. When I was younger the ONLY place that I said I would never live is in Texas. Now, I love it here and I don't think that we are ever going to move away.

6. I wish that we were rich so that we could visit our family whenever we wanted and not have to eat beans and rice every night so that we can save enough to see them.

7. I love beans and rice.

And now for the people that I am tagging.....if you have a link on my blog then consider yourself tagged that is Alex, dad, mom, Kelsey, Keary, Diana, Cathy, Kristy, Ciria, Adam, Nate and Calixta...yes, that is more then seven but I didn't know how to divide them up, have fun blogging.

Mirror, Mirror, on the wall...

I looked back over the blogs that I have written and didn't notice any blogs about alex's suit so I hope that you have not already heard this story. My parents bought this suit for alex for Easter. When we were buying it alex was there so that he could try on what we were considering buying to make sure that it would fit. After walking around and letting us see how cute he was the first thing that I took off was the vest; he got kind of mad came and got the vest kind of draped it around his neck and then looked at us expectantly. We again praised him on his handsomeness and I finally coaxed it off of him so that we could buy it. Since that time it has been a favorite Sunday outfit. When I dress him in other clothes for church he always goes and finds this suit and wants it to be put on; he takes good care of it and when something is spilled on it he gets sad and helps me to get it off immediately. Sadly it is getting to hot to wear it for the summer so we are going to look for a short white sleeve shirt so that he can at least wear the vest-how will he bear the deprivation?

Note: After these pictures were taken even though our apartment was around 80 and he was sweating he still didn't want to take his suit off, but who would when they look this good?

Dancing

Here is a video of my two boys dancing. Hopefully I'll be able to write a longer blog soon. We are doing well and hope that you are, too.

"1 for 2"

I thought that I had nothing positive to write about and then I remembered that you don't know yet. This one's a girl. Alex told me that if we found out it was he was going to make a really depressed look and say "darn, 1 for 2" but luckily he didn't. We were thinking a girl we would name Elizabeth but in the last few weeks that just hasn't felt right-even after the temple. Alex has always teased me because he says I was naming my baby after Elizabeth Bennet and whenever I would be thinking of middle names he would tell me that I should just name her Elizabeth Jane and get it over with. After we got pregnant with this baby we went to the temple and the name that I got was Elizabeth Jane. I thought that it was so funny that I have been saying that it was a sign and she was a girl and we were going to name her Elizabeth Jane, but as I said it hasn't felt right lately. I think that we are going to go with Xela (haven't picked a middle name yet, any suggestions?) I don't want Xela Elizabeth because I still want to use Elizabeth for another baby.

This is good because then I can just teach all my kids four letters and be done with it-they'll all know their name. So the next one will be Lexa and then Elxa and so on.

A look in our lives

I guess that the reason that it feel like I haven't blogged in a while is because I haven't. Today I feel really good so I can finally get this done even though I'm putting off more unpacking. So here is a little look at what we've been up to.

Each paragraph is about something different so if you don't want to have to read a lot (Calixta) you can just pick the things you want to hear about.

Our Move
The longest that it has ever taken me to unpack in all our moves is 2 days; that includes hanging all of our cricked pictures, putting up all our decorations, and getting the furniture where I want it. That is not how this move is-and I mean to put is because we are still in the middle of it. We still have boxes and a lot of things that we'll "get to when we have a chance" (never a good think to have add up). Some things that are good about the apartment- it has the most amazing breeze that comes through our window, right over our bed, then through the kitchen and then finally out the living room window, it really helps to cool the house off because sometimes it gets hot. This is a video of alex finding his own means of cooling off.

Today
Today alex and I slept for FIVE hours in total naps. We have church here at noon so alex takes a nap around 10 on Sundays so that he will be happy and rested in church-this makes it easier for everyone. Then we came home and went to bed again; I was planning on waking him up from his second nap after he had slept for an hour or so but I feel asleep too and he actually was the one that came and got me up. So tonight he got to stay up latter than usually because by the time that we ate and took his bath it was already an hour past his bed time; because he was in such a good mood and I was in a good mood we stayed up and played and unpacked more. I wasn't allowed in on all the fun though. This movie is kind of long AND I'm having a phone conversation in the background AND you don't get to actually see alex's face but for 20 seconds out of the whole thing BUT if you have been feeling deprived of getting to see the day-to-day going-ons of my son then this move is for you (also note the wind that you can hear in the background-that is our breeze). There is a description of what is happening on that page.

Nursery
alex is finally able to go to nursery. We were worried because he went in our last ward for one week and wasn't able to make it all the way through. Then we were moving so he wasn't going to know any of the little kids in there but apparently that isn't an issue for him. The Nursery leaders say that he is wonderful and an absolute pleasure to have in the class. They were learning about being nice so he went around and tried to give everyone kisses-especially a very cute little girl with pigtails-luckily they were supervised and it didn't get out of hand, I'll have to keep an eye on them at playgroup.

Hard time for alex
He doesn't seem to be bothered by moving at all this time. By all of my accounts I would think that this is the worst week of his life but he is just happy as can be. We left him for the first time ever with people that weren't family and that seem to be thing that he disliked the most. The other things that he has to compare them too are: getting all of his things packed up so he can't play with them, having no cheese for his food (that one he might of actually hated the most), having to drink instant milk, falling almost 5 feet right onto his head from the moving truck, having a hot iron burn is foot. Also the poor thing was covered in bruises that I have no idea where they came from. Now he is back to normal-besides the burn- and I feel awful for him but he doesn't care. Here are a few of HIS most favorite moments from everything that has been going on.

This is baby powder and by the time that I got in there that little bottle was empty.

Softball Tournament
Yesterday was one of the best days that I have had in a really long time. Alex played in his softball tournament and little alex and I went to watch him. The first time that Alex got up to bat alex was so excited he could hardly hold it in. I was standing up holding him right next to the fence and he was bouncing so much I thought I was going to drop him. He was yelling and pointing and clapping and everyone in the bleachers thought it was so cute they were all laughing and clapping with him. Then Alex took him in the dugout with him and after that mom was just no fun. It was all that I could do to keep him from running on to the field or into the dugout with dad. I forgot to bring the camera but that turned out to be a good thing because it rained for the whole time so sorry about that. We can't wait until they do it again next year!

Hair
I have had a ton of people say how cute alex's hair looks and one lady when she found out that I cut it even asked if I was a beautician (that is the first time that I've ever been asked that let me tell you) so it's good to know that he doesn't look too ridiculous. Alex has even gone so far as to concede that it looks good and say that I should cut it that way next time too. On my hair though he has a different opinion. He is constantly telling me to fix it or do something with it... or he keeps his distance when we go out into public together j/k. He is the one that brought me here so as far as I see it this is what he is stuck with. It's even more humid here than it was in Dallas so my hair is even more frizzy. I really don't understand how people can have straight hair here, it seems impossible to me. I'm loading a picture that I just took to give you an idea.
Actually looking at the picture I think that it looks okay. I guess it's hard to convey all the little hairs that make it so frizzy. I have to go to bed, good night.

Iwalani's T-shirts

My sister is on a mission in Oakland California. So was so sweet and when she found out that I was pregnant she went out and got matching T-shirts so that when the baby was born they could both wear them and match and be able to have something from her until she got back to see them (when the baby is 3 months old). They both say "Someone who loves me got me this T-shirt from... California" I'm sure that they will fit right when the baby is born don't you think so too?

This is the T-shirt for alex and the one above is for the baby.

Haircut

So, being a woman of course I can blame my mistake that happened when my husband wasn't home and he had no idea about on my husband, so I will. Alex broke the cutter size "2", and if I would have had that size I would of done a good job but because of him alex looks ridiculous and is Alex's fault. Don't you agree? lol.

I wanted to go to the store today and I couldn't find a brush for alex (his hair is too thin for combs to make it look good), even though I wouldn't think twice about going out if it were me I hate it when alex isn't well groomed to go out into public. So I took the easy(or so I thought) way out and gave him a hair cut. I gave him the first hair cut with size three on the bottom and four in the middle and then five on top and it looked okay but I wanted it to be shorter so I went the next size down which is three on the top and one on the bottom and then nothing in the middle because that is all that I have. Hopefully in about a week it well blend in a little better and Alex won't want to kill me...which I hope that he won't...I love you sweety and did you see the nice blog that I wrote earlier today?

The man I love

Sometimes Alex can be so cute. Whenever we go to the Arboretum he is always so excited to feed the goldfish. He literally runs over to me jumping up and down begging for some of alex's snacks so that he can feed them; that's right this is my husband that I'm talking about, I meant to capitalize the "A". It really is cool watching them eat. They all climb all over each other to get the food and one time one of the fish even got pushed up one to the rock for a second. So the last time that we went the only snacks that I had to give him were...
Yep, Alex turned them in to cannibals (or whatever you call it when goldfish eat goldfish).

Scrapbooking...

Written for the Nield readers

I was hoping to get this blog written before you received the pages but I haven't really been up to doing anything so sorry it's late.

As is now apparent, scrapbooking isn't really my strong suite and after a couple of pitiful attempts at making envelopes out of boxes so the pages would fit I figured that it really wouldn't make that much of a difference if I folded the pages and sent them in a regular envelope. I hope that they turned up at your end looking relatively decent and that you were able to make them look okay. The little tags are supposed to have one at the top (alex started the year looking like this...) by the picture where he looks like a blob, and one at the bottom (...and finished as this handsome young man) artistically placed so that it doesn't cover the whole Christmas picture and kind of off sets the now present fold.

I need to go and do more moving "stuff" sorry I'm not writing very often but I've suddenly become very fond of sleep.