pinky and my brain: WIC

program is awesome, implementation of that program...piece of the crap. i just spent close to 2 hours in the grocery store stocking up on my WIC items and other necessities with two children during their nap time. i get in line and they tell me WIC is 'down'. what is that supposed to mean?! ugh. so i just gave them my cart full of food, tried not to cry and came home empty handed. lame, lame, lame. i have no idea what i'm going to make for dinner tonight...any suggestions?

same ol same ol

we're just enjoying our time here in vegas and soaking up some of those warm sun rays...in february. i love the sun.

in other news, we are having some MAJOR sales/giveaway during this month, so click here and head on over to our website to partake.

happy february!

{8 months}

ok, so she's really closer to 9 now...but like i've said, i've been busy. (and think i've done pretty good at catching up here thankyouverymuch!)

miss v,

you continue to be the sweetest thing i lay my eyes on day in and day out. you are my favorite mushy companion. and nobody loves you like i do...except daddy. maybe. here are some exciting things that have happened in the last month:

*you say mama

*you are mobile...i don't want to say crawl, b/c what you do is not crawling. you use your arms and toes to lift off the ground, then lunge forward grunting as your belly hits the ground. you sometimes crawl the right way for about one or two 'steps' then it's back to the lunging and grunting.

*you love hair. it soothes you. whether it's mine or your own, you can't get enough. you don't like to pull it (most the time), just run your fingers through it. if mines pulled back, you run your fingers through your own hair and almost instantly your eyes roll back and you are sleeping. such a funny fetish! lately you discovered you like eyelashes too. it's a hard decision for you to make going from not wanting to poke yourself in the eye to waving those chubby fingers back and forth on your beautiful not-stubby-like-mama's eyelashes.

*you can sit up all by yourself and go very effortlessly from laying down to sitting up to back down again. it still amazes me to put you down on your belly, look over and you're sitting up like such a big girl!

*sometimes you look like a stink bug when you extend both arms and legs with your big butt high in the air.

*lately you've found a love for doors. you like to swing them open and closed. you are in the way a lot when you do that and hit yourself, but you don't seem to mind. you also love their counterparts...the doorstop that makes that fun boingy sound.

*you love jagger even though he can be so mean to you. you can't get enough of him and his peek-a-boo (why her smiles are so big in this photoshoot)

*you love food. that was an understatement. you love eating real food like a big girl. kix are your favorite. and no matter how clever i think i am in making you stay clean, there are always some soggy squished kix on your clothes.

*your other favorite game to play is making noise with your mouth and having us tap it so it makes a funny sound. (like an indian) you only want to do it for a couple seconds, then it's the other persons turn. then you open your mouth and start making noise again for your turn. so cute.

we just love you and are so amazed with the amount of love that exudes from you. you are the mushy sweet stuff that tastes so good to this family.

LL,

mama

ps. to see the whole photoshoot, click here or go to our website...and leave me a comment or two about it if you feel so inclined. we are still trying to figure out how to get em on the website!

pps. don't you love the colored pencil mark she got on her forehead from all her 'exploring'??

bye bye paci

i was one of those moms who was not going to give my kids pacifiers. at least not all the time. i shamelessly judged other moms who corked their kids with the paci instead of picking them up and giving them the attention that they needed. they had their place, but it was rarely in the child's mouth.

then i had jagger. early. his sucking reflex was not even developed yet. i didn't know it was a reflex...or rather didn't think about it. so as his tiny body sat in the NICU, he was given a paci a couple times a day. and we all sat there cheering him on, hoping he would take just a couple sucks. he made great progress and has since then and forever had his paci's.

now i look back and see how foolish i was. i shouldn't say i will 'never' do something as a parent...because i just might. (excluding such things that would get me turned into child supportive services and such) so jagger used a paci for the first year. with the exception of church, i tried to limit his use and tend to his needs before i reached for the paci. at about a year, he mostly used it only to sleep. and at 2, we decided enough was enough. alma cut the top of his paci and jagger just stopped sleeping. that's right...stopped sleeping. no naps. wandering around at night. sleepless. so that meant we were too.

so we rushed to the store and bought 2 more. not a battle i wanted to have right then. so we've been prepping him the past couple months telling him when he turns 3, NO MORE PACI. he said ok and seemed to understand. he turned 3, we went to the store and let him pick out a toy. he chose a little thomas engine and had to give the cashier his paci to get the toy. he handed it over willingly. that night he asked for paci. we reminded him of his deal and that the man at the store had it, but let him sleep with thomas. really not that bad. this went on for one or two more days and that was that. he now reminds me of how he's a big boy and doesn't need his paci; that it's with the man at the store; and loves his thomas train. whew! glad thats over. he did stop napping because of that, but we've found if we lay down with him for a couple minutes, he'll take one.

so here's to you jagger, good job buddy!

ps. i LOVE how big the picture is, but is it too big for those w laptops?? i want you to be able to see it without scrolling...please let me know!!

the 3 year old

yes, my boy has turned 3. i can barely believe it. i don't seem that old. it doesn't seem like his horrific birth night was 3 years ago. and then again, i can't really remember life before jaggie. this year, we were in colorado. aunt lici was in town. and he got to stay up until his birthday as a special treat. his birthday eve/new years eve was quite the event. we had some scrumptious stakes cooked up by the grill master himself, followed by a dance party, watched "nachoooooooooo" whilst consuming way too much tex mex, then went outside to see the fireworks, countdown to jagger's birthday, blow on our noisemakers, get a new years kiss and head to bed.

the next morning, we celebrated with a big breakfast, then took aunt lili to the airport. this might seem like a drag that we had to go all the way to denver to drop lici off on his birthday, but i assure you it was a special treat! not that lici left, but that he got to see the big airplanes. he loves going to the airport. and on the way back, we decided to let him ride his other very favorite thing, a 'train'. we parked and alma bought round trip tickets to 'the ride' in denver while jagger splashed around in some puddles in his new birthday boots from bubba...which he has sucessfully worn every day since then and absolutely loves (i think due to the fact that they are frogs, he can get them wet, and put them on all by himshelf). he thought it was too cool to ride the train back and forth. v liked it too. jagger chose 5 guys for his birthday dinner, then we had brownies and ice cream with the fam to celebrate. his other favorite gifts of the day were lightning mcqueen and chick hicks and a ramp to slide them down on, and more (sigh) animals. happy birthday big boy. we love you so much!!

and as if this wasn't long enough already, here are some things i've recorded about him at this age; a crack up every single day:

*calls hiccups 'hiccis'

*he instinctively holds his shirt up by his chin when he's taking his pants off

*he is 100% potty trained--yeay!

*he will 'chis it bebber' if you get hurt anywhere. i was at the grocery store the other day and hurt my foot on something and he bent down in the frozen food isle and kissed my foot!

*he says 'sure' all the time instead of yeah or yes.

*calls his thumb my sweet

*"look mama, my toy" (a green sticky lizard still in a package) do you want to play with it? "no, it's weird"

*he calls all big animals/things mammas or daddys and little ones jaggers. if they are really small or babies they are viennas.

*i was shaving my legs in the shower and jagger peaks through the curtain and says, "oh, cool trick mamma!"

*started calling us silly like we do him, "no, over there silly"

*he tells us "i want to be a good boy" like he has to ask for permission

*we have a dear myriam who watched our kids for us when we went to the temple. he loves myriam. when alma asked him to say 'merry Christmas' he said, "myriam Christmas". he also calls the song 'feliz navidad' the myriam song

*these days when we ask if he slept good he says, 'i sleep hard'. when asked about what he dreamt about he's been saying 'Jesus Christ'

*When asked to do something nowadays he says, "um, no way" or he'll say "what?" over and over again like he can't hear you when we both know he can...so annoying.

*he called our living room in our apartment in colorado the 'new new house', always.

*he now calls us 'bud'

*when we call him anything weird like a crazy man, weasel, weirdo he gets all mad, and says, "no i'm not a __, i a boy!!"

*he just learned the art of pretending and loves to eat donuts, hamburgers and hot chocolate

*looking at the scab on the back of his knee he says, "look i have hot chocolate on it"

*coming home from church he said, "daddy weird, mamma weird, vienna weird, jajjer weird...we're all weird!!!"

*he was thumbing through an animal magazine with grammers the other day and got to a weasel. when grammers told him what it was, he got teary eyed then said, "i want daddy"

man. he's hilarious.

sisters

my sister lici came to town after her visit in texas for Christmas. she was only here for a couple of days, but it was so great to see her and have her in town for jagger's b-day. i'm so proud of her for serving a mission, but i'm so glad she's home! it was a very, very long year and a half :)

birthday boy

i love it when he catches up! i love my man for so many reasons its ridiculous.

thanks for loving me and making my life the greatest. you inspire me to be a good mamma and wife. you are my everything. happy birthday. i love you.

pinky

ps. extra studly in glasses yeah??

our move: part I

so yes, we moved to vegas until the end of the summer. i grew up here. mom and dad moved to texas about a year ago and haven't been able to rent out the house b/c it needs some work done. so we stepped in to do that work and live in a saweeet house for the time being. it sure beats living in our apt in colorado...although i will say i have no idea what to do with so much space. i think i prefer to live in smaller areas, they sure are easier to keep clean with a jagger around! stay tuned for moving part II.

deb's wedding

alma's sister, debra, got married the day after Christmas. we are all very happy for her and it was fun to spend time together as a family. jagger looked so handsome in his little velvet coat and red dog tie. here are just a few...

i'm gonna miss this place...

en route to the homeland. lots of catching up to do...again. will try to do so once internet is up.

new best friend

so for Christmas, i wanted to get v a stuffed animal...since all the ones we have jagger will not part with. jagger's mono has become a part of the family and i wanted vienna to feel like she had her very own thing to become attached to. i looked, and looked, and looked and couldn't find any normal stuffed animals! they were all motorized or ugly weird barbie/yo gabba gabba stuff. what ever happened to stuffed animals?

so i took matters into my own hands and decided to make one! i choose something that would go with her bedding...and that wouldn't be too difficult. an owl. it has yet to be named, but i love the way it turned out, and i think vienna did too. she loves chewing on its eyes and ears right now. and yes, i know the eyes are buttons, and i sewed them on like it was my job, but i'll still have to keep an eye on them. what do you think??

camera for sale!

hey peeps! we just upgraded to the saweet canon 7D and are selling our other camera. it's a dslr, the pentax K10d, click here to read about pentax. we loved our pentax but are moving on. i've gotten many inquiries about what camera we use, so there you go. and we'd much rather sell it to one of our friends and/or fellow blog readers if you are interested. we have not abused it in the least. it's a great camera. we've also posted on craigslist, so if you are interested, let us know ASAP!

$800 for everything:

pentax k10d camera body

pentax 18-250mm lens ($325 for lens only)

lens hood

one 8 gb memory card

original battery plus 2 aftermarket ones

battery chargers

all original cords

all original packaging and paperwork

our christmas

was fantastic. we spent the day together in love. we began with our stockings, ate the traditional and coveted sweet roll wreath, then opened our presents. not only has Heavenly Father been so good to us this year, but our ward family has been so very kind and generous. we were truly bless by the Father through others...and we are so extremely grateful.

jagger of course got spoiled per usual and as he was opening his presents, we decided to tuck away some he hadn't opened for his birthday which was right around the corner. his favorite thing was his new new bike. it was such a classic reaction from a little boy. he really made the spirit of giving so much better this year. he loved helping all of us open our gifts. and had/has a hard time with the fact that vienna has her own toys now and they're not all his :)

that night, we got together with all of alma's family for a Christmas and pre-wedding dinner. we had tasty food and good company.

the jag-man in action

a couple more...

i forgot to post these as well. enjoy mom :)

some new family shots

i have TONS to catch up on...and that should be happening soon (hopefully). we had a great Christmas and lots of family in town for the holiday and wedding. andy and melissa (and kids) came all the way from SC and we were able to do a family shoot of them while here. melissa in turn took a couple shots of us. hope you likey.

ps. you can look for their photoshoot on our website within the next week.