What We've Been Up To

First order of business: this is my 300th post on this blog! My how the time has flown...then again, I've been a blog slacker recently so this should have come a lot sooner.

Now back to the purpose of my blogging: sharing pictures with family and friends and generally bragging about how awesome we are. I think I win the "mother of the year" award for my serious skills these past few weeks. Alyssa has been channeling the Great Houdini and can get into all sorts of awkward positions and situations. The other day I went to get her up from her nap to discover that she had 1) gotten out of her swaddle blanket completely 2) moved to the other side of the crib 3) turned 180 degrees and, most interestingly 4) gotten entirely out of her snap up footed jammies. Houdini, it's good you're already dead or you'd have serious competition.

Scotty, on the other hand, has been channeling Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as well as Tim (the tool man) Taylor. We've been dealing with some serious tantrums the past few weeks and the piercing shrieking has woken Alyssa from naps and stretched my patience to the bitter end. He has also been super sweet and loving, though not always on the same days. Unfortunately, he no longer can roam free for even a few minutes while I'm not supervising. Previously, if Alyssa was napping I could grab a quick shower or go to the bathroom without company without worrying about Scotty causing trouble. Five minutes here or there and he could keep himself reasonably and safely occupied. Yesterday I stepped out of the shower to discover that he had fetched himself some cereal from an unopened box. I later found the shredded box laying on the floor by a screwdriver surrounded by tiny bits of cardboard. I'm still puzzling over whether to praise him for independence and resourcefulness or chastise him for unauthorized use of tools...

In any case, I have decided that Scotty could benefit from a bit more adventure and engagement, so we've made a point of doing one fun thing together every day over the past few weeks.

some highlights:

• Going to "Old MacDonald's" with some friends

climbing up the huge bouncy slide

our friend Ashur running around as a racecar

Trinity trying to get my camera

• Checking out a new bounce house

super fast and fun!

Ashur loved crashing at the bottom

• Playdates at a variety of parks with a variety of friends

Alyssa chilling at the park

• A trip to the zoo to pet the stingrays and ride the train

"Ooh, a camera!"

an old-fashioned carousel

• A big railroad park with friends

a real train

strutting his stuff

• "playdates" at my mom's church while I choreograph an hour long Book of Mormon pageant she is writing/directing for their stake youth trek

sweet Lyssabelle being patient and eating an elephant

watching the big kids play

• A hike around the Desert Botanical Garden

Fortunately most of our activities have been free or close to it, thanks to a zoo membership (thanks, Mom!), free days at local museums, and coupons for discounted passes and food. Big thanks to friends who have been happy to get out and about and play with us!

Part of the reason I've been getting out more is that I decided I needed more social interaction. Our church holds a park playdate once a week but less and less moms and making it out to play and Scotty needs kid stuff more than one day a week, especially with Eric gone so much. I found a solution by joining a local Moms group I found through the site meetup.com that organizes playdates, birth circles, yoga night, girls night out, book clubs, picnics, gardening classes, story times, you name it we've got it--and there is something going on every day so I can pick and choose what best fits our schedule and interests. It's nice to get a chance to meet new people and especially a variety of people as we come from ALL walks of life. Scotty is especially lucky as many of them have 3 year old boys for him to play with. We're actually headed out to another meetup with some group members tomorrow for a kids' clothing swap. For all my mom friends out there that wish they had other people to hang out with, talk to, or just the motivation to get out and do something occasionally you should check out Meetup and see if they have any groups near you!

My kiddos

I love watching these two play. At times I get frustrated because Scotty is being silly instead of listening, like popping out from behind the couch and making faces while I'm trying to put his shoes on. It's hard to get mad, however, when I see Alyss'a face light up and burst into giggles. When we're driving in the car and she gets frustrated she alternates between crying and spitting, and Scotty thinks it's the funniest thing ever. It's hard to stay frustrated when you hear giggles from the back seat!

Here are the 6 month Alyssa stats:

Weight: 16 lb, 6 oz (50%) mostly around the middle--this girl has a bubble bum and it's hard to find pants that can fit over the bump!
Length: 27 1/4" (90-95%) this girl is tall and stretchy!
Head: 44 cm (80%) shirts stop fitting her when I can't get them over her head
Likes: watching Scotty, grabbing for everything, eating paper, singing, and chewing on things
New tricks: sucking on her thumb instead of her pointer finger, rolling over the other shoulder (she rolls back to front and front to back both ways now and is a talented little log roller), sitting on her own without getting distracted and tipping over, tucking her legs under her and scooching forward. This girl is determined to move!
Night wakings: still at least one, usually two. Better since we started cereal, she consistently goes 5 hour stretches without eating, as opposed to 3.
Favorite toys: anything that makes crinkly noises, including plastic bags and paper so I have to keep my eye out. She's tricky and will finangle anything into her mouth.
Teeth: NONE! (thanks!)
Quirks: her crazy hair has gotten even more ridiculous. It is finally filling in around the back and the front but it's still short. The long pieces, however, are now about 4 inches long and stick crazy directions. I can put her long pieces into substantial looking ponytails, but she looks like a little sumo wrestler with the fuzz in the front....

And the newest Scottish? While bathing a month ago Scotty spotted Alyssa's birthmark (she has a dark spot on her hip). After I convinced hims he had not gone to the bathroom in the tub and that the spot wouldn't rub off if he touched it I tried to explain to him what a birthmark is. After a few minutes of deep thought and lots of questions, he declared: "Jesus gave her a polka dot!"

I love this kid.

Making Giggles

Who knew it was so much WORK? Enjoy.

A series of firsts

Alyssa had lots of firsts on our recent trip to Utah:
FIRST airplane ride
FIRST time meeting grammy, great grandpa, grandma gould, grandpa gould (all four of my parents' parents are still alive and living in Utah)
FIRST time meeting a decent amount of my aunts and uncles on both sides
FIRST giggles! Grammy has the magic touch. Scotty is also good and getting her to laugh. Videos to come once I get them edited for length.
FIRST time meeting what remains of our Provo friends. So fun to see you!

Scotty had a few firsts of his own:
FIRST airplane ride in his own seat
FIRST stitches! We were hoping to avoid that one but honestly I'm surprised he lasted this long. Special thanks to my Uncle Roark for stitching him up for free on a rainy Sunday night. Scotty was pretty upset at the idea of "pokies" so we tried to calm him down by explaining what Dr. Roark was going to do. Papa said: "Do you trust Uncle Roark?" Scotty, after looking him up and down firmly declared: "No! Don't cut my head off!" I later realized that he picked that phrase up from our scripture reading....guess I picked a bad week to cover the story of Laban and the brass plates! Ah the blessings of scripture study... It was heartbreaking to hear him pleading with me not to hurt him, but he really handled it well and was back to his usual happy self almost instantly. And I managed not to pass out by wisely sitting down on the bench for a little rest :o)

My firsts?
FIRST time traveling with both kids without Eric along to help....though both my mom and dad came with me so I had plenty of help :o)
FIRST time holding a sleeping baby while on an airplane. Makes me remember how anti-cuddling Scotty was as an infant.
FIRST time cross-country skiing in over a decade.

Overall it was a fabulous trip.

All on a Wednesday Morning

well it's that time again: time for laundry, packing, and cleaning the house before we leave for Utah tomorrow. Which means I have my two helpers, one in the sling drooling all over everything and one providing commentary. Some gems:

"Hey Megan (yes, he's started calling me Megan all the time. Makes me feel like the babysitter, especially when we're out and about). Megan, Alyssa has some yuckies coming out."

Meg: "from her mouth?"

Scottish: "no."

Meg: "her diaper?"

Scottish: "no, from her head."

Meg questioningly: "her head?"

Scottish: "yeah, the nose part of her head. and it's blowing bubbles."

Thanks for the clarification, kiddo.

As I was unpacking a few things still in bags from last trip (hey, to my credit it's only been 2 weeks) Scotty excitedly declared: "this smells like Grandpa Woodhouse!" It was in fact something from his house, so I suppose he has a distinct aura about him.

He's also taken to correcting me whenever I say a "not nice" word. Unfortunately, his definition is a little vague. When I told him "no" he couldn't have fruit snacks for breakfast this morning he jumped all over me: "That's not a nice word you said, Megan. You better say sorry for saying that not nice word to me. You better say yes, because that's a nice word."