The Observations of Children

I love how children ask questions according to their knowledge or understanding. Children make me laugh and on occasion they manage deepen my  understanding and appreciation.

In church on Sunday one of the little boys in our primary class was playing with Makaio when he suddenly tapped me on the leg. I looked at him and while pointing to Makaio's head he said, "Your baby's head is broken." All I could say was, "It used to be, but now it is fixed." This simple answer was enough for him and he continued to play with Makaio.

This reminded me of something that was said when we were back home on vacation. One of our nephews was riding in the back seat with the boys and he asked, "Uncle Sterling, why does your baby have a hill on his head?" We laughed and then Sterling tried to explain the so-called hill on Makaio's head.

These comments were regarding Makaio's shunt. At first I was a little sensitive about the subject and even wanted to hide it the best that I could. Now I realize that it is part of him and that I would never be ashamed of my child whether he has a "broken head" or a "hill"!

Rockin' The Solids

For the longest time the babies would not eat solids at all, or so we thought. Being first time parents we just assumed that you went from Stage 1 foods to Stage 2 foods and then graduated to Stage 3 foods. Unfortunately the babies still do not eat Stage 3 and who could blame them? Here we are feeding them nice smooth decently delicious foods and then all of sudden there are chunks!? What? 

Picture me getting upset and thinking I am a failure because my children can't handle Stage 3 foods. Then picture me doing my very best to persuade them that the food is delicious and they should swallow it instead of puking it up every time. I tried to lick the spoon, not make a yucky face, and then say yummy. Result...still puking.

We were beginning to think that they might never eat a solid thing in their lives and then we tried a different approach, solid only. They loved it. They are now eating bananas, as you can see, peas, corn, zucchini, yellow squash, apples, star puffs, yogurt melts, cheerios, grapes, rice, lettuce, cantaloupe and whatever else mommy or daddy sticks in their mouths. 

Other Updates

Makaio:

1. He has five teeth, four on top and one on the bottom.

2. He scoots like an inch worm.

3. He can stand up while holding onto things.

4. He thinks Kekoa is the funniest person ever.

5. He is really quiet and loves to sit back and observe people.

6. He is a problem solver. It is so fun to watch him look at obstacles and then cleverly solve the problem.

7. He loves his mommy. If I am ever anywhere near him he crawls and gives me hugs and kisses instead of playing.

8. He loves being outside and will have an emotional breakdown if the door closes and he doesn't get to go outside.

9. He wants to eat whatever we are eating. He is not picky and will try anything that you put in his mouth. He ate grass this morning while we were outside and when I finally caught him he was chewing away at as if he were a cow.

10. He has the saddest cry ever. Even if he is just upset about something, his face looks like it is the end of the world and his cry sounds just as sad.

Kekoa:

1. He has four teeth, two on top and two on the bottom. 

2. He looks like a vampire because he has his two top canines. So cute!

3. He crawls like crazy. His favorite place to crawl towards is the top of the stairs.

4. He can stand up and walk around things while holding onto them.

5. He thinks loves to scream and make Makaio laugh. 

6. He is cautious but once he feels comfortable watch out because he will probably be climbing on you.

7. He is a bull in a china closet. He goes as fast as he can until he runs into something and has to change directions.

8. He loves his daddy. When the garage doors opens Kekoa heads for the kitchen because he knows Sterling will soon enter the door. Sadly he prefers Sterling over me.

9. He loves being outside. He ate a rock and some wood chips on a recent outing and would have eaten the bug if he was fast enough to catch it.

10. He makes a face as if to say "This is disgusting." every time he eats something new and yet he still eats it and enjoys it.

Going to the Beach or Church?

So buying dress clothes for babies is not easy. It seems like a majority of the dress clothes are for children that are older and larger than the twins. Therefore I usually dress them in shorts and a polo shirt for church. 

You may or may not know this about me but one of my pet peeves is when people dress like they are going to the beach when they are actually going to church. So when a member of the bishopric recently told me that our children are so cute and that they always look like they are going to the beach with their clothes and spikey hair, I had to make a change!

The boys' hair was instantly buzzed and now they are sporting things like this to church. 

Luckily my mother purchased these outfits about three months ago so we had them to fall back on. Now what to do for next week? I guess they can just alternate outfits until we have enough money to buy different ones. Dang you graduate student salary!

This is for Jospeh

During our vacation back home we had the chance to spend some time at my family's condo at Bear Lake. While we were there we realized that Joseph has some real talent as a model and so we hope that this post does some good as he pursues his future. 

I hope he doesn't kill me for posting these!

So we recently had family pictures taken by a very talented photographer and I wanted to share some of our favorites with you all. If you are on FB then you have seen them already and if not, feel free to browse it up!

It was so much fun to have the pictures taken and we are already trying to figure out how we can decorate our home with all of the boys' cuteness.

Vagabonds

In the 5 years that Sterling and I have been together we have lived in 6 different states. Apparently we enjoy the nomad lifestyle and so we continue to move around the country. In June we packed up our small family and made the trek from Minnesota to Tennessee. Yahoo maps said that the trip should take 12 hours, we made it in about 24 hours.

The first day of traveling went pretty well. We tried to keep a consistent schedule of driving for three hours and then stopping to feed the babies and let them get out and play. We drove through Minnesota, Iowa and into Missouri to wrap up our first day of traveling. Our problems were few but the problems we did have were huge.

At the end of the first day the air conditioning on the suburban started acting a little funny. By a little funny I mean that it was blowing in the back of the vehicle but not in the front. As long as the babies were cool I figured I could sweat it out. However as we started our descent into the hot and humid south my tolerance for back and butt sweat was quickly diminishing. I had been sweating for an hour or so before I called my dad and asked for some help.

I was told that I needed to change the fuse for the blowers and that this should hopefully fix the problem. We pulled over for dinner and because I didn't have any spare fuses in the car, I stole one from the back wiper and it worked! I couldn't have been more happy with the results; we could now make it to Nashville the next day in a nice air conditioned vehicle! So we continued on our way and stopped at about 11:00 pm on the border of Kentucky and stayed the night in a stinky room (supposedly non-smoking) that was overpriced but happened to be one of very few rooms to be had.

The next morning we woke up, at breakfast, loaded up and headed out. The air conditioning worked until we got out of the hotel parking lot which was so very nice. Since it was early in the morning and only 80 degrees I figured we could make it to Nashville and things would be okay. As the minutes passed the temperature quickly increased and I couldn't make the babies sweat it out. It turns out that I am a caring mother after all. So I called Sterling and told him that we needed to pull over in the next town and find a place to get the air conditioning fixed.

Paducah Kentucky, home of the largest quilt show in the United States was where we stopped. My mother and sister were happy to know that it is so close to Nashville because now they can attend the infamous show. Anyway, back to me and my sob story. The first place we went to said that they could get the truck in to be looked at in two days. Oh great, just what I wanted to be stranded in this town for two days...no thank you! Luckily the man was very nice and suggested a friend of his and even offered to call the guy and ask let him know we were on our way.

I was a little skeptical about this "let me call my friend" business but I agreed and headed over to his buddy's shop. I was worried that we were going to be charged an outrageous amount of money to fix the AC but we needed it fixed and this was our only option. When we arrived at the new mechanic's shop I felt a little comforted because right on the lawn was a large stone with the Ten Commandments engraved upon it. I figured if nothing else hopefully this guy keeps the Thou Shalt Not Lie commandment and tells us what is actually wrong.

He was very honest and we walked out of there 1 1/2 hours later and $450 dollars poorer but we had air conditioning. So our journey continued, we made it to Nashville, moved into our house and began a life in Tennessee. You should know however that the air conditioning went out the following weekend and living without it is just NOT an option.

You will be happy to know that is has now been repaired and we hope that it lasts this time. The point of this entire story is to let you all know that we now live in Nashville. We finally live in a city that has some appeal to it so please come and visit!