Potty Training Vol 2 Issue 1

Three #1's in the potty, one #2 in the potty, and three #1 accidents on the floor (two on the carpet - Adam and Christy, Penny is now officially forgiven...) already off to good start - although I did try quitting twice, Russ kept talking me back into it. That little girl can hold her pee entirely too long. She would go for over an hour without going pee. Silly girl.

I'll update again tomorrow and hopefully post a picture.

I'm just ready to be done with diapers.

For a little while, at least.

-- Post on the go

Of Sleds and iPhones

This was back in November, when it snowed so much it was almost up to my knees, but I never got around to posting the pictures.

On this particular snow day, Russ had the van at work and so I walked half a mile in the snow with the kids to the nearest park (and probably the nearest hill – we live in a very flat part of the valley). Vince loved sledding, but I think Joseline was really cold, so... not quite as happy as V. I don’t blame her. It took us about 20 minutes to get to the park (I was pulling her in the purple sled because the sidewalks weren’t clear enough for a stroller. I need to get one of those bike trailers that converts to a sled with a harness and then get myself some snow shoes and just take the snowy world by storm with my little babies in tow! 

By the time we were ready to get home, I patted my pocket to make sure my phone was still there, and to my horror, it was gone. It must have fallen out of my pocket when I went down the hill on a sled, because I knew that I had it when we got to the park. The kids were screaming because they were cold and tired, so I knew that I didn’t have time to look for it right then. Thankfully it was fully charged, so I figured I could go find it when Russ got home. Well, then he wasn’t going to be home until really late, so I called my sister and asked if she would mind watching the kids and lending me her phone so I could go find mine.

Russ got home just as my sister got here, so she went with me to find the phone. It was dark and cold and the world was (thankfully) quiet.

Christy called my phone over and over again, but ... nothing. Then, when I was near the place where we had been sledding down the hill, I heard something. I wasn’t sure what it was, but then I told Christy to call again, and I HEARD IT!! My phone! Ringing triumphantly under the snow somewhere. I didn’t know exactly where it was, but I had a good idea, so I started digging like a dog in the fresh snow just at the bottom of our sledding hill. My hand hit something hard and I heard the ringtone fly past me, landing behind me. MY PHONE! Relatively unscathed, too. I hadn’t seen a hole in the snow where it would have fallen down, so I figured that when I went down the hill, it must have slid out of my pocket and then through the side of the 12”+ snow in front of our sled track.

I still can’t believe I found it. I had resigned myself to never finding it until the snow melted again, but there it was.

Ha ha, and just a few days before that, I had dropped it in the toilet (it fell out of my back pocket). My poor phone has been through a lot, but it still works great!

And for your viewing pleasure, a (very) short clip of Vince going down the hill. I forgot that I had it zoomed in for picture taking before I started the camera, and this was the last time we went down the hill before we left.

Monday Musings - Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful Babies

I love these babies so much. They are growing up entirely too fast, even though I enjoy teens more than small children, it doesn't soften the fact that time is passing too quickly.


Joseline is learning so many new words (in English AND Portuguese). Some of my favorites:
"Mão" - cat (she also says 'gato')
Agua - (water, which she also uses as the word for juice until we correct her and then she will either say 'sumo' or 'jus')
'ctente' - how she says Vincente's name
'cima' - up
'templo' - temple, of course. She recognizes the temples and loves to point them out. We feel blessed to live so close to so many temples.
'finha' - i.e. 'fofinha' - literally 'little soft' but it is the word we use for 'snuggle' which is the word we use for their favorite blankets
'o-mea' - oatmeal
'sammy' - sandwich (which we actually call 'sammy''s, so she's saying this one correctly
'scare' - she uses this word when she gets scared - seriously. The other day she fell off her chair at the kitchen table and when Russ was holding her, she said 'scare!' which meant she was scared.
'appy' - not referencing apps for the iPhone, this is her word for 'apple' (and, coincidentally, 'banana' and all other fruit)
'oo aa' - (monkey sound) this is her word for 'monkey'
'game' - when she wants to play a game on my iPhone

She is working on two word (and more) combos, as well. My favorite so far was when Vince was sitting at the counter and Joss told Russ 'cima ctente' (which, if you see the glossary above you'll know means 'up Vincente'). She was telling us that she wanted to sit up by Vincente. It was awesome.

Russ has a harder time understand Joseline's 'baby Portuguese' than I do. He may speak Portuguese better than I do, but I speak baby better in ANY language! Ha - okay, probably just baby Portuguese, but that's most likely because my Portuguese is closer to baby Portuguese than real Portuguese anyway.

Vincente is like a walking Star Wars soundtrack. He can sing the main themes from just about the entire sound tracks from 5 of the 6 episodes (VI is PG13, so Vince has only seen that one once with Russ).

Last night Russ let him watch A Knight's Tale. He brought up his Ironman action figure sitting on a toy motorcycle and had a baton in his other hand. He said 'Mamãe I want to show you something!' and he proceeded to act out a jousting scene with his ironman, motorcycle, and the baton. It was awesome.

Well, my kids are sweet and beautiful, and that is all. I love my beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful babies.

-- Post on the go

Are You There?

I am approaching the 100 reader limit on my blog, and I’m not sure how many people really read it, anyway. So you will be getting an email from me asking whether or not you read the blog. If you do, please respond to the email, or comment on this post. If you don’t, then ... well, you won’t even know that I removed you, and you probably aren’t reading this post, so it doesn’t make sense for me to even be saying this.

What on earth are you doing?

Vince was watching PBS kids shows online while I was downstairs folding laundry... I came upstairs to find this. I guess it was more comfortable? And what’s up with the no clothes getup? I swear the child loves to be naked (except for the fact that he doesn’t want me and Joseline to actually see him naked... hence the underwear...)

A Little Backwards

I have been trying really hard to get my life in order. I have been working on being more productive, getting more things done, and taking better care of myself and all of the temporal needs of my family.

In all that quest to be an “effective mother” – meaning, having a clean house, a stocked pantry and fridge, and dressed and bathed children – I realized that I have been seriously neglecting the thing that matters most.

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf said this:

“As we turn to our Heavenly Father and seek His wisdom regarding the things that matter most, we learn over and over again the importance of four key relationships: with our God, with our families, with our fellowman, and with ourselves. As we evaluate our own lives with a willing mind, we will see where we have drifted from the more excellent way. The eyes of our understanding will be opened, and we will recognize what needs to be done to purify our heart and refocus our life.” (emphasis added)

I studied this talk back in January on my scripture study blog, My Soul Delighteth, but I think that maybe back then my mind wasn’t as willing to see where I may have drifted from “the more excellent way” – but last night as I prayed for the Lord to help me be a better wife and a better mother, I prayed for help to “do the most important things.” And then something President Uchtdorf spoke about came to my mind.

“...it’s rather easy to be busy. We all can think up a list of tasks that will overwhelm our schedules. Some might even think that their self-worth depends on the length of their to-do list. They flood the open spaces in their time with lists of meetings and minutia—even during times of stress and fatigue. Because they unnecessarily complicate their lives, they often feel increased frustration, diminished joy, and too little sense of meaning in their lives.” (emphasis added)

I am a list maker. Ask my husband. I have your usual grocery lists and menus, but it doesn’t stop there. I have priority lists of things to buy, projects to complete, debts to pay off, books to read... even that list goes on and on. My to-do lists are complex and list every possibility for my day. Well, they did until last night when I realized exactly why I am experience that “increased frustration, diminished joy, and too little sense of meaning in [my life].”  It was because of the darn to-do lists. Sure, the laundry needs to be done, and the dishes need to be washed, and lunch and dinner need to be served, and groceries need to be bought. But the most important thing to do is spend time with my little ones. “We build deep and loving family relationships by doing simple things together, like family dinner and family home evening and by just having fun together. In family relationships love is really spelled t-i-m-e,time.”

I was trying to get into a strict, “efficient” routine that would help me feel like I had accomplished a lot during the day. But those accomplishments were temporal, not spiritual – not eternal. They were things that were going to last only in this life, only in this moment, and would not be as significant as the relationships that I can form with  my children right now while they are small.

From my journal last night: So I am going to try something new. Something completely different. Before the kids wake up, rather than trying to scramble and get things done, I am going to spend time with Heavenly Father and myself, meditating and studying the scriptures. Then, when the kids get up, rather than attemping to distract them so that I can complete yet more items on my to-do list, I will simply BE with my children.

It won’t be horrible if I actually get some chores done. It will be especially good if the kids help. They can sort laundry, fold laundry, help empty the dishwasher, help wash the table, help cook. I have had a little bit of a disconnect between being a mother and being a homemaker. I think that I felt like I could only wear one hat at a time (I could be a mother, but not at the same time as being a housekeeper, and neither of those at the same time as being a cook, or a courier or chauffeur). But really, the only hat I have is mother. And it is by far the most important.

The most frustrating (or rather, enlightening) part of this whole ordeal is that I just read and studied this talk barely a month ago! Why didn’t I figure it out then? I’ll tell you why. I am one of the most stubborn people in the entire world, and it takes an average of 3-4 months for me to admit that I was ever even wrong. Seriously. I think it used to take a lot longer than that when I was younger, but I have improved – probably thanks to my sweet, patient husband.

So far the past few days have been great. I have been spending more time with the kids, and less time doing dishes and laundry and washing toilets and vacuuming and cleaning up,  but you know what, my house still looks fine (not pristine, like I might like it to be, but it’s not unsanitary or cluttered or anything like that). And my kids are happier (especially Joseline – she has been a little cranky child for a looooong time, and finally she’s been pretty happy, only throwing the normal toddler fits, instead of just being ornery all the time.Vincente is being more helpful and loving.

And I feel more relaxed, and closer to Heavenly Father.

Vincente and Joseline playing on the air mattress with a friend. 

But who wouldn’t be closer to Him

around these little angels?

My Wednesday Wandering Post

Wednesday Wanderings moved over to Child’s Play – so here is the link to WW from last week.

Monday Musings – Things that Matter Most

There are things that matter, and things that matter most. Being showered, dressed, and looking nice? Sure that matters. But if it takes away the time I get to play with  my kids, I’d rather be wearing my jammies all day and playing Star Wars with my 3 year old in his undies, and my baby in her diaper.

Because that matters more than getting dressed in the morning.

Especially when we’re all sick.

Snakes and Snails

Vincente with my friend Jessica’s red-tailed boa, Houdini

The Year of 2010 was quite the adventure. There was all the moving around... and then there was all the wildlife! Throughout the year we encountered 4 snakes (only one of which was a captive bred snake – and two of which I’m pretty sure were rattlers), 3 lizards (the small one pictured, and then our two bearded dragons – the first one (Lizzy) had a parasite and died, the second (Elvis) is alive and well!) , 1 nest of baby birds, and a turtle. Most of these creatures were found at or around my parents house in Arkansas.

Vincente with a turtle my brother and sis-in-law
found in their garden – eating their cucumbers
A little lizard we found stuck in a spider’s web in my parent’s garage.
We kept him in this jar for a little while so the kids could view him, then we set him free. I was amazed that a lizard could get stuck in a spider’s web!
A little garden snake we saw in the front yard of our new house after we destroyed it’s habitat – the overgrown flowerbeds!
A rat snake my mom found stuck in the netting over her berry bushes. We weren’t sure if he was dangerous, so we called Animal Control and they took him away. Mom wanted to keep him so he would scare away (or eat) the critters that go after her berries.
The nest of baby birdies in my parents garage/carport.
One of the birdies perched on a bike, learning to fly!