Brain Food

I read a book! May I suggest a few possible responses to this statement:

1. Huzzah!
2. Well done. The decline of literacy in our society is the single greatest calamity of the decade, nay, the century.
   
3. Was it Cat in the Hat?
4. So?

I'd go with huzzah personally. It's been so long since I read a whole book that it was like drinking a cool glass of water on a hot day. (See that? Sounds totally literary, no?) Anyway, I've been so busy and tired getting used to caring for both boys that I hadn't finished a whole book in a while. Okay that's not true. I finish books every day, but I needed something that did not come from Peter's library.

I read Austenland by Shannon Hale*. I'm also currently reading three non-fiction books, which are great, but I was in the mood for some fun fiction. I'm not a rabid Austen fan, so I had avoided reading it. And by "not a rabid", I mean that I've only been able to get through her stuff in audio book form. (Feel free to judge me, I really don't care.) Granted, I haven't tried since high school. But I do enjoy the movies. I loved it! And it was a quick read, which was good because my reading time is limited. This might sound like an odd way to praise a book, but it was like reading a really well written blog. And I do love a well written blog.


*Go check out her official site. She is one funny lady.

What Happens When You Take a Nap on Daddy's Chest

Changes

While looking for pictures to include in my anniversary post, I came across a few that made me realize how much I've changed in the past seven years. Here is an example:

There are a few important points I'd like to draw your attention to

• I'm wearing make-up. I mean full make-up. Like foundation and blush and everything. Now I wear mascara, lotion, and chapstick to church and lotion (if I'm lucky) the rest of the week.
• My hair is curled. I forgot that I used to do that. Man, how did I have that kind of time? Oh right, I didn't have kids. And look at how long it is. I have firmly avoided having a "mom" haircut, although it is much shorter than that now. And even when it was long, I didn't do anything with it. Well, I guess at one time I did.
• My face is full. In the years since this picture was taken my face has gotten longer and thinner, but I still think of myself having a full face. I even made a comment to someone about Cooper getting his very chubby cheeks from me (it's true) and they looked at me like I was nuts.
• I'm wearing a cute shirt. I discovered recently that all of my shirts have holes in them. It was rather depressing actually. I think it's because I wore most of them while I was pregnant and strained the fabric too much. Even when they didn't have holes, most of them are free t-shirts from BYU. And, sadly, I still wear my free holey shirts on a regular basis because I haven't found the time or money to replace them. Chic, eh?

Of course, there are a few other things that have changed since this picture was taken:

Yeah, totally worth it.

Lucky Number Seven

Happy Anniversary Bryan!

This was our engagement picture. Wow, we look crazy young. Probably because we were. Thankfully, we weren't blurry in real life.


The day we got married there were 42 weddings at the San Diego Temple. People were everywhere. This is one of our few wedding pictures without extras milling around behind us. Funny story: I was late for my wedding. Poor Bryan had gotten to the Temple a few hours early and I, well, did not. In my defense, I had to drive past the Del Mar Race Track and there must have been a race that day because traffic was stop and go for a while. And also, I'm late for most things.

I was going to put up a recent picture of us, but I can't find one, so you'll have to settle with knowing that we look seven years older than we did in these pictures.

Bryan, thanks for being a wonderful husband and father. And thanks for proposing.

Pearly White

Cooper has a tooth! He was chewing on my finger last night (some kids use pacifiers, some chew on their parent's fingers) when I felt something decidedly ungumlike. I checked and sure enough, there was a tooth! He was five months old last Tuesday, which makes him the same age that Peter was when he cut his first tooth. I'm trying really hard not to compare the boys in an unhealthy, competitive kind of way, but I do think it's interesting that they hit this particular milestone at the same time.

Happy, Rufus, and Brilliant Bryan

For me this kind of falls into the "too good to be true" category, so I've put off writing about it just in case it was a one-time thing. But it's happened four nights in a row now, so I'm starting to have hope that maybe this is the beginning of a new era at our house.

Peter has been sleeping. He's been going to sleep calmly, without the frightened hysterics we had been experiencing. There are a few things that we did that seem to be helping. Most of his stuffed animal have been packed away since our rodent scare, but I pulled out our dog Rufus (technically Bryan's, but he's kindly let Peter assume ownership) and gave him to Peter, telling him that Rufus was a guard dog. That didn't really work. It was that night that I posted about the wolf. The next day Bryan told him a special naptime story about a boy named Peter and his guard dog Rufus, how Rufus and Peter were friends and that Rufus kept Peter safe. Bryan told me the story to tell Peter that night at bedtime since Bryan had to go into work.

It worked. Not only that, but Peter stayed in his bed after I left the room, and he was quiet. I was actually concerned that something was wrong. Peter has never been the type of child to just quietly go to sleep. Bedtime, even when he was really little, has always been a battle. So the fact that he just went to sleep boggled my mind.

We did it again on Sunday for naptime and bedtime, and got the same result. The only difference was that we had pulled his elephant Happy out of the stuffed animal box too, so the story was now about a guard dog AND a guard elephant. Did you know that wolves are afraid of elephants? They are at our house. I kept watching the monitor thinking that he would be standing there any moment, but no. Is this what it's like for other parents? The ones whose kids like to sleep and do so willingly? It's a completely new experience for us.

Yesterday was the same. Today was slightly different only because I could hear him singing to Happy and Rufus after I left at naptime and then he told them stories at bedtime. But he didn't call for us for an hour.

On top of that miracle, he slept through the night the last two nights. Well, he called out in his sleep last night, but all I had to so was hand him Happy and he was fine.

Of course, now that I'm writing about it he'll probably wake up many times tonight. I hope not.

Thanks to everyone who gave us such wonderful suggestions, or just commiserated with us. And thank you to Bryan for being such a fabulous father and coming up with the story about Peter and his guard dog Rufus.

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?

How does one convince their 2 year-old that a wolf is not going to get them?

Some kids are afraid of monsters, some are afraid of the dark, mine is afraid of wolves. I'll be honest, they freak me out a bit too, but I understand that I'm not likely to meet one in my bedroom as I'm going to sleep.

Or am I?

We're not sure where the fear stems from, but we're fairly certain he's been having nightmares about wolves. We have two theories about the source:

1. Bryan's grandparents have a picture book that depicts the story of Little Red Riding Hood. Peter keeps talking about the wolf being at Grandma and Grandpa's house, so maybe that's where it's from.
2. We've been reading the Little House books for over a year now. Peter seems to really like them and to understand what I'm reading. Wolves do play a role in the story.

Wherever he learned about them (and it wasn't TV, trust me) they've become kind of an obsession. He regularly asks where the wolves live and for the past week or so he's been telling us that the wolves are not coming. Up until this week it was more puzzling than troubling.

Now it's exhausting.

Peter has gotten to the point that he won't go to sleep unless Bryan or I are there cuddling him. He's also started waking up in the middle of the night screaming and shaking. It's awful. I'll say a prayer with him and sing a song and he says that helps, but the minute I get up to go back to my room he says "No Mommy, stay. Keep me safe. You will keep me safe." It doesn't seem to matter that I've told him over and over that he is safe, that the walls are strong and the doors are locked, that I can hear him from my room and will come to help him is he needs me. I haven't been convincing enough yet, I suppose.

This makes nap time tough because Cooper really needs some one-on-one mom time and that's usually when he gets it. For the last two days Peter has refused to sleep, but has instead decided to stand at his gate and sob and scream for me to "Come here right now! You can! You will! Keep me safe Mommy! Keep me safe!"

That's what happened tonight. Bryan had to work late. (He actually just walked in and it's 11:17) Dinner had gone well, the boys were both in their pajamas, Cooper was letting me know that he was hungry. We said family prayer and did our bedtime routine of reading two books and singing two songs. I gave Peter a hug and a kiss and told him I love him. We weren't even out the door before Peter launched into hysterics. I told him that I would come back to check on him, which I did, repeatedly. He stood screaming for me for twenty-five minutes. When Cooper got to a point that I could leave him for a minute, I went into Peter. His head was drenched in sweat and his face was puffy from crying. The only reason he finally allowed himself to drift off was that I brought an annoyed Cooper into Peter's room and bounced him while humming to both boys.

We're exhausted from many nights of broken sleep and we're concerned about Peter. How do we convince him that safe doesn't have to mean that mommy or daddy is holding your hand? And how do we banish the wolf?

The Way My Brain Works

My teeth are brushed. I'm in my pajamas. I'm oh so very tired.

And I'm sitting at the computer typing.

My fingers were itching to move and my brain had too many thoughts to sleep, so I thought I'd get a few of them out.

1. I am highly unsatisfied with the corn tortillas we used to make our enchiladas tonight. I'm wondering how to find a better brand without all the personal trial and error. Or perhaps I should learn how to make my own.
2. I discovered recently that two of the people from my Wymount ward whose blogs I read have recently discovered my blog. And what's more, they're two of my favorite blogs to read. They're both uplifting while at the same time being down-to-earth and easily relateable. So Elisa and Beth, if you're reading this, I've been blog-stalking you both for months. There, I've come clean.
3. While we're on the subject of blogs, I have lots (seriously, LOTS) of blogs that I keep tabs on. It's fairly easy since Cooper nurses for many hours in the evening after Peter goes to bed and I have laptop that I can use to peruse the good old web. If you want a wicked funny blog to read try this one, this one, or this one. Or all of them.
4. I can't find my chapstick. And I live in a ridiculously arid climate. Ack.
5. I'm not sure that relateable is a word. Firefox is telling me that I've spelled it wrong. So if I have, just assume I'm being funny and taking some creative license. Or you can go with the truth, which is that I can't spell.
6. I still haven't read the Twilight books, but thanks to other people blogging about them, I have a basic understanding of the important stuff.
7. We have beets in our fridge. I don't know what to do with them. Any ideas?

Okay, I think I've emptied my brain enough to sleep. Goodnight.

My Saturday

I have determined that Wal-Mart is a time-sucking vortex.

That is all.

Pass the baby, please

Bryan and I have it worked out that I take Cooper to choir on Sunday morning while he stays home with Peter and tries to get him to take a nap before church. So Cooper is a regular at choir. I sang a solo with the choir in June and there were a few times that Cooper started to fuss while I was practicing. A sweet woman, who has six boys of her own, offered to hold him while I sang. At first I hesitated. Then I relented, thinking that there was no harm in this. She did it during two additional practices

Today during choir practice this same woman got my attention from across the room and asked if she could hold Cooper for me. He was being his usual sweet self and not fussing at all. I started to decline, saying I was fine, but thanks. Then she came over and said, "Please? I need to feel useful. And moms always need a break." Since she'd walked all the way over, I said it would be okay and handed him to her. I then proceeded to glance back at him every few minutes to see what he was doing and to make sure that he was okay.

Am I the only mom that doesn't really like other people to hold my baby? Family is different, of course. Especially grandparents. If any of the grandparents are visiting I try to make sure that they get as much grandchild-bonding time as possible. But people from church that I only kind of know? Some moms seem to be totally fine with their child being passed around Relief Society. I am not. I just get too anxious. I wonder if he's okay, and if the person holding him is getting tired, and if I should just walk up and say "I'd like my child back now please."

And you know what, I really like holding my baby. When Peter was little and Bryan would take him to Elder's Quorum, I would sit in Relief Society and miss holding him. Granted, those were the only weeks that I got to sit through the whole lesson, but it was still kind of hard. And now I do the same thing with Cooper. I do love to hear a lesson in its entirety, but I also love holding that sweet boy. I don't really need a break from that.

Now, if any of these sisters showed up at my house during the hour or so before dinner, then I would gladly let them hold either boy...