Tub Time

My kids have always been a big fan of bath time. Ruth used to be an absolute CRAZY in the tub---just ask my sister Megan, she can attest. Will, as per his usual, has always enjoyed it but was much more reserved in his approach. Lately though, he has thrown caution to the wind and he is a daredevil! I have to stay right beside him now just in case he decides to head dive into the water or something.

My beautiful Ruth. 

This next one. Best photo ever. Dread Pirate Will. That face. Those scrunched-up eyes. That crooked grimace-grin. That perfect goatee! I just can't get over it. I need to frame it immediately.

His favorite past-time…emptying the tub. He thinks he is SO hilarious.

That is a laugh-face, not a scream. I promise. 

 HAAHAAHAAHAA.

He's trying to be brave and splash as much as his sister, and he laughs afterwards, but he's not quite sure about it in the meantime. Haha. 

Oh I love these kids of mine.

Photo Dump

Here's an update:

Ruth has been potty training for two days now and has had zero accidents. The first day I set the timer on the oven and every. single. time. she'd say "My food done mom! Go get it!" then I'd tell her it was for her potty training and she'd say "Oh, my potty training. It's for me." Let me tell ya, potty training is going a lot smoother the second time around. I think it's more about the mom being ready than the child, haha. I tried in November, but then there was a wedding, festivities and visitors at our house, thanksgiving, and I started putting her in pull-ups so I wouldn't have to worry about it. Which led to…not potty training. Then I started thinking about Christmas coming up, so I gave up. Then I got sick. Now we're finally coming back to it. She's much more verbal about it now and I'll just say a quick thanks to Easter candy being in the stores already. She says "I want an egg. I go potty." Goes potty. Gets an egg. It's all pretty easy. Yay for robins eggs!

I was going to wean Will, and we have been putting a lot less milk in his bottle and trying to just do water when we lay him down for naps. But I decided weaning and potty training probably didn't need to happen all in the same week, so we'll hold off for a bit. He is also teething. Right now mostly just his bottom left canine but I think the rest aren't far behind. Then he will be done until his two yr old molars. Which will probably come in just a couple of months with his time-table. Oh well. 

Sterling got a new job! No more commuting to SLC! YAY! I really, really, REALLY hated the 7-on, 7-off schedule. He always picked up extra shifts so he was working every day I wasn't working, but they were shorter shifts, so his 7-off wasn't terrible. But his 7-on? I was not meant to be without my man for that long. I told him this LONG ago when he said he was thinking about joining the army to pay for medical school. And I told him I wouldn't marry him. Yeah. At least I know this about myself, right? The new job is at McKay Dee Hospital, which is within walking distance of our house! This means that hopefully we can sell our car soon (although I picked up sub jobs in Tremonton for an extra month and Morgan for the next three months so we'll probably need the car for a bit more) but MOSTLY it means that we have no commute. When he gets off, practically right away he will be home! Oh the joy.

Sterling could not be more excited. He's sick of a desk job. We seem to be narrowing down what he wants to do in the medical field by realizing what he DOESN'T want to do. After all his research, he now knows that's not the place for him. And after this desk job-he's all about seeing his patients. So he will be a CNA in the cardiovascular floor at McKay Dee. He's never worked at a hospital in direct patient care, so hopefully we can whittle down a few more occupations, haha!

I…am feeling better. I still feel like gagging every time I bend over, I can't eat more than what seems like nothing at a time, and I have to wake up a million times a night. Ruff. But that is pretty normal, manageable, and MUCH happier than the last few weeks so I will take it! 

So without further ado:

 The weather has been nice so we went to Beus Pond the other day when Sterling had an hour or so before he had to head to work. We picked the wrong park. Beus Pond is all shady so there is still quite a bit of snow there. But it was still fun to be out and Ruth loved the ducks.

Sterling tried to see how much he could be like these ducks…and almost landed in two feet of water. Silly man. He caught himself on a railing first.

I love this picture. SOOOO much.

Raised eyebrows. Why exactly are you sitting me in a tree dad? Haha.

 I asked Sterling if he'd take a picture of me and the kids before I went to work on my birthday. Mark turning 25. This is how that went:

 Yeah. Maybe we'll try that photo shoot again. Haha.

 And a few more photos. Sterling's fam had a gathering for all the February birthdays. There are quite a few. There was a piñata, food, family, games, as well as cake and ice cream. Pretty legit party right there.

He kept hanging that drill over his shoulder. I thought it was the cutest thing ever.

Spoils from the piñata.

The twins: Jaxen and Kayleb, Jaxon, Jojo, and Will. Happy birthday! 

Will got a Scully toy. He likes it.

Grandma Cindy didn't want Ruthie to feel left out, so she got her a present to open-coloring book and crayons that DON'T have paper around them you can tear off. Perfect.

The only reason I put this picture in is because you can see my belly. Obviously I am poking it out because I am holding Will on my hip, but there you have it. 15 weeks or something like that.

 I realize this post is ridiculously long. But I am waiting for my husband to get home from work. So. We went for a gorgeous walk around McKay Dee today. They just put down new gravel for their walking trail. Which is annoying with a stroller, but we did ok. We played outside for a LONG time afterwards. But neither of the kids were that interested in pictures.

Eating apples.

And no, we have no idea if the baby will be a girl. But you kind of have to pick a gender for stick figures. I picked girl.

Yay for 60 degree weather! It was such a gorgeous day! I soaked and soaked and soaked in that sunlight. I know it is Utah and it will snow again before summer hits. But oh, what a glorious day to enjoy the sunshine it was.

Oh and on a funny note that goes with the beautiful sunshine we've been having. Ruth has had the experience of the sun being in her eyes quite a bit lately while driving in the car. She says "Turn it off! I don't like it! Turn it off!" I think it's hilarious that she thinks you can just 'turn it off.'

25 yrs old and 4 yrs wiser

February is always a rather busy month for us. I don't mind--it's the month that always drags and everyone just wishes would be over so spring can come, but instead we have lots of exciting things happening! Will turned one. We had our four year anniversary. We celebrated Valentine's Day. And I turned 25. Yup. 25. I was chatting away at one of my patients a couple of weeks ago (yes, I chat away at my patients) about this very topic. He thought I must get gypped with everything happening in so short of a time frame. Sterling often worries about the same thing. I actually think the opposite. I feel like we do BIGGER things because we have so much all at once, so it makes us feel like we should do something besides just dinner and a movie.

This year I told Sterling we needed a get-away because it's been a rough first trimester and no kids sounded like heaven-also we worked on every single one of the afore-mentioned days. I didn't really give him an option (although, I promise, he loved the idea too!) so he went ahead and booked a bed and breakfast, cleared his weekend, I got a babysitter and we have been waiting excitedly for this weekend. But then Sterling got nervous that wasn't enough. So on Valentine's Day he brought home one beautiful long-stemmed rose for me and one for Ruthie, as well as gum balls for her and chocolate-covered strawberries for me. The perfect gift. Then for my birthday he bought me a memory card for my camera. My old one only let me have about 300 pictures and with my new camera taking multiple pictures a second-it feels like-that was just not quite cutting it. Another perfect gift. Then on my actual birthday I had to work, but he let me sleep in, made me breakfast (which I couldn't eat, but its the thought that counts!), cleaned the entire house while I was at work, had dinner on the table complete with cake and whipped cream and strawberries. Delish. Then we watched a Doc Martin and fell asleep at 9:30pm as per our typical. Pretty much the best day of my life. I am so spoiled.

So the point of this post was supposed to be about hitting the 4 yr anniversary mark and turning 25. (I just accidentally typed 35. Wow. That was a jump.) It feels crazy that we've been married for four years, but also normal. I mean, I'm expecting our third so…it's only logical that we've been married four years. I mean, its a little crazy its ONLY been four years when you put it that way.

We had a conversation the other day while taking a beautiful Sunday drive (so Ruth would take an afternoon nap) that basically revolved around the idea that marriage and parenting is hard. That conversation might have begun because Ruth recently turned into a demon. Yeah. Not that we weren't warned. Not that I think we were incredibly naive (I'd heard poo-smear stories from at least two of my sisters, I had contemplated those and similar events, I mean I do have 40 nieces and nephews). It's not that it was that hard to catch throw-up in my cupped hands and do similar mothering things. But there's a difference between individual incidents and every day. I always said that's the one thing I couldn't prepare for with kids. There's also a difference between knowing it won't be easy, and then LIVING the hard stuff. This year has been hard. We were so tired all the time. Will was in the hospital. Sterling was in San Fransisco. Then Kirksville. Then Denver. Then Miami. He applied to medical school, interviewed, stressed. He worked two jobs and went to school. Then he worked one job 70 hours in one week and did school the next week for a semester. I had a baby, I worked some, then picked up more. We were tired a lot. We saw each other very little.

And yet, it is good. All I know is that after all the hard stuff I am so glad that it is Sterling I am married to. That I listened to that strong feeling I had when I was chatting with Sterling outside my brother Wyatt's apartment (right before Wyatt called out his window that we were too noisy and we should go home and go to bed. Always good to have chaperones, right?) that told me I needed to marry Sterling. I love thinking back on that moment and remembering the absolute certainty I felt. I still feel that way. And I am so thankful for the knowledge that we'll be married forever. Marriage is hard. Parenting is hard. Yet, it has been an incredible four years.

As far as being twenty-five. Twenty-four was weird. I never remembered how old I was. I literally had to count it out from one of my sibling's or my husband's age every. single. time. someone asked me how old I was. I don't think that will be a problem with 25. I mean, it's a pretty easy number. I thought I would feel old or something with the number 25. But it actually makes me feel like I am the right age for where I'm at in life. It would be weird to be any younger and have three kids. Not that I couldn't have done that had I been married earlier. But I wasn't. So it feels right. I feel liked I've lived 25 years and have done enough things that I don't have any regrets about it. I've learned a lot. About my job and feeling so competent as a hygienist, about how incompetent I'll always feel as a mother (those pinterest lists that say "how to know when you're ready for kids" are such a joke), about being married and about myself! I've learned enough in 25 years to realize that it takes a LONG time to learn all the important life stuff. Which is why they say wisdom comes with age. Not that I'm welcoming anymore hard life lessons, just that I'm ok with being 25. It seems like a solid age. But lets not talk about 26...

Fun with Grandma R (and a whole lot 'o photos)

Things are going pretty great around these parts. Looking back on the last six weeks--it was pretty awful. I was really, really sick. Sterling had already picked up a ton of extra shifts and couldn't get out of them no matter how much I pleaded. I also worked almost quadruple what I usually do, which wasn't the greatest when sick. The sun disappeared because it is Utah and it is January and February. It was rough. 

But things are definitely on the upswing. I'm still pretty easily nauseated, but I'm feeling like I have more energy, can eat almost anything, my stomach is a lot less queasy and the weather has been warm and delightful-totally untypical of February. We've only had one incident since Ruth's horrible poo incident, and that was because I forgot to safety pin her pajamas shut the night before. My kids are both sleeping in the same room and not keeping each other up for the most part. The big thing though, I've had enough energy to clean my kitchen and my bathrooms. Then I went to walmart and got some storage containers that the kids can't open and separated the toys into them. They can only open as many toys as I let them at a time. This has really helped on my low-energy days. One tea set at a time, I can handle that. Now I don't feel like the world is ending every time I look at my bathroom, or the kitchen sink full of dishes. I've brought everything back to a much more manageable state and I'm alive enough to keep it that way. Hallelujah I am starting to think life is liveable again :). 

Those big brown eyes. I can't get over them.

Last night Will discovered he could stand, unattended, for lengths at a time (the longest maybe ten seconds)! He also tried taking one step and that was about as far as he got. But we're getting there! It's pretty adorable to see him try. Such an exciting thing--the first step! 

We recently got these shovels at Ikea. They are now a coveted play item, not sure why they are so great but hey, for .99 I'm happy!

I just think this is funny. She was making Will laugh.

Sterling wasn't a fan of this dress when I picked it up on clearance the other day. But when I added the tights he was sold. I think it is the cutest thing ever and I love girls in stripey tights!

Probably the favorite book around these parts right now is Goodnight Moon. Ruth loves to read it, and so Will likes it because he knows Ruth likes it.

 Oddly, for Utah, instead of heaps and heaps of snow like we usually have, it has been raining and raining. The kids like to watch the downpours out our front screen door. See all the grass out the door? There is officially no snow in our front lawn. I would have been sad as a kid, but I'm just glad we don't have to drive in the stuff. Plus, I can take the kids on walks because the sidewalks are clear.

Last night we went to Logan and spent the evenings at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Ruth tried a smoked oyster for the first time. Grandpa asked her if she wanted a treat so she came running over, then he held out the jar with one forked for her. She got a whiff of it, covered her nose, and backed away. My dad laughed and laughed. She did come back and try it, though. She smiled and said she liked it when Grandpa asked her and then she spit it out. She does that routinely with black licorice when he gives it to her, too.

When all the other cousins left, Ruth and Will got some one-on-one time with Grandma. It was some intense, pillow-fighting, tickle-torture time. On our drive home Sterling said "At first she'd chuck a pillow at them and I'd think 'that's way too hard!' but then the kids would just come up laughing!" Mom is pretty much the best at getting kids to laugh. It was nice because I feel bad that I've been so sick and tired and lazy with my kids lately--at least Grandma plays with them!

Will started purposely hiding his head in the pillow because he knew Grandma would come and tickle him if he did. It was hilarious. 

 One time mom covered Will with a pillow and then tickled him forever. When mom turned to tickle Ruth, Will crawled over to the pillow, put his head on the floor, and started trying to slide his head between the floor and the pillow. He was trying to get his head UNDER the pillow so grandma would tickle him. I was laughing so hard!

 The next photos are a 3-step series:

Sitting up. Anticipation.

The hit.

Taken out. HAHAHAA.

Love this. I remember my mom doing this to me SO many times!

I seriously had over ten pictures of her running with her tongue poking out. Silly.

And love this.

The tongue again?

Today, because it was fifty degrees and the snow is all gone, I called my good friend Chantelle and we took our kids to the park. I forgot that her new back yard leads RIGHT IN to a park. It even has SWINGS. I know what park we'll be going to from now on!!! 

Love that smile.

Ruthie loves playing with Olivia.

Looking SO big!

Pretty girl. 

Dancing.

 Ruthie asks to dance at least five times a day. We listen to Frozen's Let It Go on youtube, and she knows just when to throw both arms out and sing "LET IT GO!" which is pretty much the most adorable. She gets adventurous sometimes and spins while jumping and then looks at me with the biggest grin on her face like she just finished some major accomplishment. We sang broadway tunes and made dinner for thirty minutes the other night, she could care less about the words, she sings loud and free without specific words! Haha.

That's pretty much the update. So happy to be feeling better. Especially since my parents are taking the kids all day Friday and Saturday. Sterling has been planning my birthday/our anniversary/Valentines Day (we worked/will work all three of those days) and he said there is a jetted tub involved. Heaven on earth, I cannot wait!