Spring ... Sorta

We built this snowman, the first one we've been able to build this season, literally on the first day of spring (do you see the daffodils in the background?). Ah, bizarre Utah weather. Eliot had been begging me to use his "snowman kit" that his Grandma Dickinson gave him for Christmas all winter, but we never had any snow that stuck ... until spring! His little buddy Weston came and helped us put the finishing touches on. Unfortunately, the day warmed up too quickly, and Frosty was toppled over and mostly melted by the afternoon. It made a little boy's day while it lasted!

9 Months

I am in serious denial right now! My "baby" is nine months old! And he wants to be twice that age! Maybe it's the difference between first child and second child, but Zach seems like he's in such a hurry to grow up. He's crawling -- lightning fast, I might add -- and sitting, and pounding down crazy amounts of food, and wanting to ride in the seat of the grocery cart and NOT in his car seat. Grant and I have a hunch he'll be an earlier walker than Eliot was, too. And I just want him to stay little and be my snuggly babe! Even if he's in a rush to be a big boy, I wouldn't trade my Zachers for anything. He has such a sweet and happy disposition, mixed with a fair share of mischievousness!

Here's some of what Zach's up to as a 9 month old:

• Crawling like crazy. He is one quick dude!
• Pulling to standing. He's especially motivated if there's something he can get into, like food at the kids' table, puzzles or toys on the train table, laundry on the couch or ottoman. The only down side to this skill (besides getting into everything) is that he doesn't know how to get back down. He just stands and fusses for help!
• Babbling up a storm. We're moving away from the screams and screeches, but he has kept them in his repertoire and saves them for what he deems as opportune moments -- like sacrament meeting.
• Gobbling up food. Ironic that we've spent some extra time at the pediatrician's, who's concerned about his weight, because the kid has put one serious dent in our grocery bill and eats like a pig. He loves just about anything we give him, which is great.
• Sitting up tall. We were getting nervous about this one. He crawled before he ever sat. He just didn't seem interested (there's too much to do, after all!) But now he sits up big and strong.
• Four teeth and working on an entire top row. There's no shortage of drool around these parts!
• Hair's still a beautiful strawberry blond, but getting long and wispy. I'm tempted to trim off the "wings" over his ears but can't bring myself to give him that first haircut. So for now he stays fuzzy wuzzy. But oh, it's gorgeous in the sunlight!
• Sweet and happy. He can charm just about anyone with his squinty, cheesy smile. He reminds me so much of Grant because he is honestly happy all the time (except if you fail to get food in his mouth fast enough).

We love our little "Ree"!!

Climbing in the foam pits at cousin Madelyn's birthday party in March. Just one of the big kids!

"The world is my jungle gym." Give him anything, he'll climb in, on, through, around, on top of it!! Another busy, busy boy!

Eliot's Primary Solo

It has been months since Eliot's debut performance in our Primary sacrament meeting program, but I had to get him singing his song on video. This version is a little more "forced" than his official performance (I'm sure having a captive audience of a couple hundred people helped him with holding back a little!), but this is still tender. Needless to say, he melted a few hearts that day (I still get comments about it from ward members). I'm so proud of my brave, sweet little singer!

What's Your Sign?

You have to watch this to the end to see the meaning of my post title. It's reassuring to me, in a very bittersweet way, that we all have our own beautiful heartbreaks. Working through mine one day at a time. As we all are. What a beautiful woman for writing and sharing this song. Take a minute. It's worth a watch. You should probably grab a Kleenex before you do.

Love This!

Why is it easy to see this as part of my future with boys?!

Be Our Valentine!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We've Got Ourselves a Crawler!

Our not-so-baby Z is crawling! And he is into everything!

"Triple D" Triple Date!

Corey, Brittany, Jon, Ange, me and Grant at Pat's BBQ in SLC.

Last month my sweet friend Ange organized a triple date with some great couples we don't get to see nearly as often as we would like. I met Ange and her husband Jon through my good friend Brittany, whom I met working at the Liahona magazine at the Church Office Building. All three of us were pregnant with our first babies together, and after hanging out a few times and even taking a trip to St. George together, we all hit it off amazingly well! The guys all love being together, and all of us die laughing when we're together. It's so nice when you can have groups that just work like that, you know? Whenever we're together, we know there's going to be a lot of laughing and probably some good food, too! Ange delighted Grant and me with the suggestion to eat at a SLC BBQ joint that was featured on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives about a year ago! Grant and I have been somewhat "closet" fans of the show for a while now, and we've spent more Friday nights than we'd like to admit watching "Triple D" marathons. Lo and behold, our friends LOVE it as well!! In Brittany's words, "Isn't everything on Food Network or HGTV amazing and awesome??" This is why we're friends! Needless to say, we had a great, kid-free evening. We ate ourselves sick and laughed ourselves silly. We definitely plan to make this a tradition!

Grant and I with our HUGE plates of ribs, pulled pork, and brisket. And no, though your eyes may deceive you, that is not Mr. Fieri behind me (though I wish it was!).

As Eliot Sees It

Eliot got a kids digital camera for Christmas. After he spent over an hour last night figuring out all the special effects, I was curious about the pictures he's taken thus far. I'll post more of his videos and the special effect photos later, but I thought the assortment of photos he has taken is pretty telling. Here's a sample that pretty well represents what's on his camera:

Cars 2 cars, toys, books, videos, more Cars 2 cars, Dad, Mom, Brother, Grandma ... yep, that's pretty much Eliot's world! If only he were allowed to take his camera to preschool and swim class, there'd be plenty of that, too. Oh, to be a kid again, when life revolves around toys, a small group of important people, and simple pleasures. The world as Eliot sees it is a pretty simple, happy place.

Date Night

I've been wanting to spend more one-on-one time with Eliot lately, so when I heard Beauty and the Beast was going to be in theaters, I thought that would be the perfect night out for the two of us! Belle is my favorite Disney princess, and Eliot loves movies, especially in the theater. We had such a great time together! It made me want to carve out more time for just me and my handsome little guy. He was the perfect gentleman and followed his daddy's advice to be sure to get the door for me and be very polite. So every time there was a handicap button on a door, he pushed it. He even carried his own booster seat in and out of the theater. What a sweetheart.

Headed out the door with our tickets in hand!

After the show. Eliot's summary of the evening was perfect: "I had a great time with you, Mom!" We already have plans for another night out when Nemo comes back to the theaters this fall. I sure love spending time with all the men in my life!

Belated ...

The other day I came across these pictures of this year's letters to Santa, and wanted to post them even though it's a little late. Eliot was in such a fun stage as far as the magic of Santa this year, which made the wishing and letter writing even more fun. I love that Macy's has these cute letter cards and mailboxes in their stores. I hope they'll keep doing that.

Addressing his letter to Santa.

Look how well he's "pinching" that pencil!

One for Eliot, one for Zachary. Here's what Eliot dictated to me for each one:

Eliot: "This year I would like a Cars 2 plane, a Chuggington Wilson train carrying case with trains inside, and a candy cane, please. Thank you! I love you, Santa. Merry Christmas! From little Eliot" (all his words).

Zachary: "This is my first Christmas, and I am so excited! I would like a cuddly friend for night and morning, and a nice cute toy, and some baby cereal to try. Thank you and Merry Christmas. From little Zachary." Very sweet requests from a big brother for his baby brother.

Mailing our letters.

Looking Back: Highlights of 2011

I know that 2012 is in full swing, but I'm off to a slow start (as usual!). Between perma-colds for the boys over the holidays and my own little bout of illness that wiped me out for the first couple weeks of January, I'm finally feeling ready to tackle some goals and face a fresh new year. It's always good for me to look back on the previous year and see what I accomplished and the highlights we enjoyed as a family.

Here's a brief look at our 2011:

• JANUARY: found out Zachary was a BOY! Eliot became a Sunbeam, and Monica both blushed and bubbled over with pride from having a front-row seat to watch his antics!
• FEBRUARY: Monica turned 29 (yes, again) and celebrated with a fabulous dinner at La Jolla Groves with Grant.
• MARCH: Cheered on Jimmer and the Sweet 16-qualifying Cougars at their last home game of the season, had a St. Patty's Day party with Eliot and his cousins, Eliot took and loved swimming lessons.
• APRIL: Grant surprised Monica with tickets to see a musical version of A Tale of Two Cities, her all-time favorite book, after reading it together. We also enjoyed another memorable date night at the Carl Bloch exhibit at BYU. More swimming lessons for our little fishy Eliot. Fun Easter egg hunts with both sides of the family.
• MAY: A BIG month of final preparations for Baby Z and squeezing in family fun and date nights! Our big list of to-do's before Zach's arrival included: BYU baseball game and J Dawgs as a family, Sibling Class at the hospital to teach Eliot all about being a big brother, Monica wrapping up her volunteer work at the Orem Library PERC, celebrating Grant's birthday by going to Les Miserables and The Roof with friends, Memorial Day in Bountiful, putting in our "planter box" garden ... and that's just the fun stuff we did! Whew!
• JUNE: Zach got our hopes up on June 2 with a false alarm, but made his real entrance on June 14! We loved having him here just in time for Father's Day and Eliot's birthday on June 25. We had a family photo shoot to capture Zach in his teeny tiny state, and tried to soak up all his newborn sweetness (without getting too grumpy from no sleep)!
• JULY: I honestly don't remember much of this month! Our 4th of July was low-key and rained out, we enjoyed lots of dinners and visits from friends and family (thanks to all of you), Grant took his super-excited 11-year-old scouts on a camp out up Provo canyon (and Monica survived her first night alone with two up-all-night boys!).
• AUGUST: Blessed our sweet Zachary on the 7th, had Eliot tested for allergies and found out he's allergy free (yea!!), Monica got a treadmill (awesome!), Eliot started preschool, Monica got released as Primary President (still have mixed emotions about that one), enjoyed the ward's "Salsa 'til You're Sick" event, pool party and BBQ with friends, and Grant and I laughed 'til we hurt at our first-ever experience at the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival (we're hooked!).
• SEPTEMBER: Zach's first laugh, spent Labor Day weekend grilling, roasting marshmallows, and playing in Logan with my sister Mary and her family, first family vaca with two kids -- a quick jaunt to St. George with Grant's family, Zach actually slept through the night and Monica remembered how it felt to get a solid night's sleep again. Eliot, our germ magnet, educated us about the symptoms and highly contagious nature of Impetigo (ick!).
• OCTOBER: Drove the Alpine Loop over Conference weekend, had our Family Fall Picnic, dressed the boys up in their adorable Halloween costumes for numerous events like Boo at the Zoo, ward Primary carnival, elementary school Halloween parade, and Halloween itself. Blessed with the unexpected news that we no longer need to see Grant's maxillofacial specialist because his fibrous dysplasia no longer poses any serious risks -- great news and a huge relief for us, especially Grant, to close that chapter in our health history!
• NOVEMBER: Eliot melted our hearts with his solo in his very first Primary program, a very yummy Thanksgiving with both families, celebrated our 9th anniversary (and started daydreaming about our big plans for #10).
• DECEMBER: Celebrated Grant's mom's 60th birthday with a surprise party with family and friends, Eliot and Zach enjoyed (understatement) their cousins sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa Dickinsons' while Monica and Grant got to have a getaway weekend in Salt Lake City. Formed new family traditions for a scaled-back, simpler Christmas, enjoyed seeing friends who were in town for the holidays, Zach tried his first solids!