family pictures

Wesley doesn't like cheerios... who ever heard of a baby who doesn't like cheerios?? If he puts one in his mouth he starts gagging and spits it out...quite hilarious.

If, however, he's eating something more agreeable to his delicate palate, he insists on doing it all by himself or he dissolves into a mess of tears. If he could talk, he would surely say "I want to do it by my own!" (a la Aidan)

Here's Doctor Aidan checking on his patient, Mike, who is apparently terribly sick (read: he fell asleep on the floor while playing with his children.)

happy birthday

Me: How old are you Aidan?
Aidan: I am two.
Me: And how old will you be on your birthday?
Aidan: Six.
Me: Well, not quite. You'll be three! That's so big! What do you want for your birthday?
Aidan: A swimming pool!
Me: Anything else?
Aidan: I want to be six.
Me: I'll see what I can do.

le freak out

Does that make me look like I speak French? Cause I don't.

Anyway, I'm a tad freaked out because we're MOVING as most of you know, and I loathe moving and I double-loathe the feeling of trying to juggle a hundred things while tap dancing which is pretty much how this move is making me feel. We're going to Idaho Falls for a business opportunity for Mike so I'm excited for him, plus my sister Jo lives up there which means fun, wine-drinking shoe-shopping adventures for moi. (there's that French again)

I am, however, sad about some things that are making me drag my feet a little. I don't want to move again, we haven't been in our house for very long and I'm happy here. I will miss the mountains, and all the friends I've made through lia sophia and mom's groups over the last couple years. I love my midwife, our pediatrician, and the school I found for Aidan. I like my neighbors, and my super fabulous grocery store Harmon's. (Is it way dumb to be sad over a grocery store??) Lastly, there is no Costco in Idaho Falls... and that saddens me a great deal.

We have people coming to look through our house (we're renting it out) starting on Tuesday evening, and I believe we're shooting for a mid-July exit. I will do my best to keep you updated on our progress (or lack thereof) as we move along.

notes to self

1. learn how to make mango margaritas
2. drink a pitcher of them
3. ... hmm.

yeah, that's pretty much it.

if you need me, dear, i've run off to mexico.

Have you ever had one of those days where you just wanted to crawl back into bed and lock your kids out of your room while you drank an entire bottle of Shiraz and pretended that you didn't have dishes to do, hot pink wax to scrub off the wall (thank you Aidan with the scentsy warmer), or laundry to do? (I think you all know how I feel about laundry at this point)

Yeah...that was my week. I've been in survival mode, so I'm sorry that I wasn't around much. Wesley's teething and going through some wake-10-times-a-night phase, and Aidan's on night #2 without a binky (YES, I know he's almost 3, so sue me). It's ugly, people. I mean... wow.

Thank God for friends, right? I love my girls, the ones I see frequently and the ones spread all over. I don't think I could make it through weeks like this without them. Hugs, love, posies, sunshine, lace, kittens, and all that sugar-coated vomity stuff to all of you.

scary times at wal-mart

That title leaves so much room to play with -- let's be honest, how many of us have had a scary and/or skeevy experience at a Wal-Mart? I choose not to shop there most of the time for that very reason. However, today I ran out because it's really close and I needed some baby food for Wesley and I had a truly scary experience.

I was going down the frozen food aisle where I had grabbed a bag of rolls when I passed a mom with 2 daughters -- one was young, in the front of the cart covered with a blanket and the older one was walking around looking at the food with her mom. I stopped to look at something in the freezer case and thought that the little one couldn't be very comfortable, it looked like she was sleeping slumped over in the front of the cart. Just then, the little one threw up and the mom didn't notice, so I mentioned that her little girl had just gotten sick. She went to pick her up and she lolled over and I saw that her little lips were blue. She was limp and her eyes were half closed, she wasn't responsive. I have never actually seen a child go blue before, it was truly terrifying.

The mom started crying of course and started trying to get her little one to breathe, and I grabbed my phone and called 911. Over the next minute the little girl (who wasn't quite 2, the mom told me as I relayed questions and answers between her and the 911 dispatcher) started breathing again, and eventually became more responsive. She was still totally out of it. I was so frightened for this little girl I was almost in tears.

I went to the front of the store, showed the paramedics where to find her, and got my phone back from her. It sounded like she had had a seizure, maybe? I don't know -- there was no reason for me to stick around after that, so I hope the little girl is doing okay tonight. I am definitely thinking about her...

As a mom, when scary or horrible things happen involving children you can't help but imagining yourself in a similar situation, no matter how awful. I can only imagine how terrified that woman was, holding her blue baby and trying to get through to her.

I started shaking after it was over, so glad that I had noticed this little girl under her blanket.

SMACK

i need a maid

I hate hate hate doing laundry. I don't even have a really good reason as to why -- it just makes me completely insane. As soon as you fold the damn pants and put them away, somebody WEARS them again. (the sheer audacity!) It's a maddening, pointless cycle! (except for how it keeps us from smelling like medieval bar wenches... which I guess is important in its own right. But really not important enough to keep me from complaining)

What bugs me even more is when my husband puts some loads through and then either folds them and leaves the piles all over the TV room floor, or leaves the crumpled heap of clothing in a basket in our room.... for over a week. It inevitably turns into a battle of wills -- who will cave and put the laundry away first. That is, until he starts putting dirty clothes on top of the clean ones in the laundry basket, and the vicious cycle is perpetuated.

Is it just me?? I am not in college anymore and there is no good reason for going through every single article of clothing I own before doing 127 loads of clothes in one miserable weekend... but I can't help it. The washing machine sucks my will to live a little bit at a time, with each sock that goes missing.

little lump of gavin-flavored sugar

My oldest friend Emily just had her first baby on the 29th! (oldest as in she's in MY baby book, not oldest as in...well, old.) Oh my gosh he's so cute. His name is Gavin, and he was almost exactly the same size as my son Wesley when he was born! 7 lbs 3 ounces and 20.5 inches long. I seriously want to snuggle him and smell his little newborn skin and steal him from his mom and love him, and squeeze him and hold him... pretty much pull an Elmyra.

Here I am with Em and her mom Hilary a few days before she went into labor... why are my hands in my crotch? Choice photo, I know... it was bit windy, okay??

Em with baby Gavin at the hospital

Closeup of Wesley's adorable new best friend. I didn't have one of these on my camera so I stole the one the Hilary uploaded to facebook. Thanks Hilary!

I just love new babies, and I love Emily too... so I double-love Gavin.

conversation

Aidan: Oh my gosh! It's a roly-poly.
Me: It is! Where do you think he's going?
Aidan: He's going to Target.

Here comes trouble

Here's the update on Wesley's crawling progress: he's repeatedly getting one leg underneath his body, pushing up, flopping down onto his belly and then flailing his limbs about him in a desperate attempt to take flight, doggie paddle or do something that gets him moving, since the legs are still failing him.

I have a feeling that this one is going to be the kind of kid that originally inspired childproofing. I can already see the gleam in his eye...

woe was me, cried the mommy

Potty training sucks. I'm sorry in advance if the word "poop" offends your sensitive ears... but we've been stalled at this no-poop place for weeks now, and I had a realization today that our potty episodes remind me of a labor & delivery room. I'm literally holding my son's hands and coaching him while he grunts and cries. (he's scared, not in pain -- don't worry!)

I've even bribed him! When Aidan goes poop in the potty, he gets to go to Target and pick a baseball bat, a brown football, or a basketball hoop. This morning, I actually told him to keep his "eyes on the prize." I'm a bit amused in my embarrassment. We're getting closer, I can sense this... eyes on the prize, baby. Eyes on the prize.

Snopes.com - learn it, live it, love it. Please??

My friends are incredibly important to me and I love to talk to them about all manner of things. BUT!!! If you are forwarding politically charged emails, especially if they're ridiculous in nature (i.e. conservative propaganda) please, please, pretty pretty please take a moment to remove me from the "To" box. It will make me so very happy.

Politics is a pretty tough topic to bridge among friends, even good ones. So if you're not 100% sure that (1.) the information you're sending is factual, and (2.) I won't get my panties in a twist in a fit of righteous indignation, please refrain from passing along that "ah-ha!" email. You won't change my mind, so let's just agree to disagree for the sake of our relationship. (But really, if you're gullible enough to believe all the rubbish that ends up in your email inbox, maybe you should work on that.)

Thanks, friends.

I Kissed A Girl

Okay not really... but I heart Katy Perry's new single, and since I loved her last one too I think I will be purchasing this album when it goes on sale on June 17!

I am S-M-R-T

Since my blog is so widely read (rolls eyes) I decided to add a list of the books that I'm reading or am working toward reading. I'm a book geek, I admit. Mostly I did it because I had to get creative with blogger and I wanted to see if I could do it. There was more than just pointing-and-clicking involved this time, people. I am pretty proud of myself! It took a while of me throwing extra " and = and 10px's and four-letter words into the html code in hopes that SOMETHING would work... and something finally did. I think it was that last f-bomb that I typed in there at the end. HTML is hard, y'all.

aww, it's baby beer

Mike stopped at the grocery store on his way home today to get a few things for dinner. Beer is on sale for Memorial Day weekend, so he grabbed a six-pack of Corona while he was there.

We sit down for dinner, and I think to myself that the beer looks so dainty in Mike's masculine hands. No, I realize... the beer just looks dainty. It's a 7-ounce beer bottle -- it's even called "Coronita" to celebrate its petite cuteness.

Needless to say, Mike feels sheepish. "Maybe this is why they were so cheap," he explains. "I think I need another beer to wash down this beer."


It's one beer for the price of two!

near death experience

Everything's okay, no need to worry any longer... but stuff got pretty hairy for a while yesterday. Luckily I managed to subdue the massive snake that crawled into my house and reeked havoc. It almost ate me, I swear.




Okay, maybe I elaborated a bit to make myself feel better.

So it was a baby gartner snake that was probably just as scared as I was when my damn cat brought it inside to play with it. YES, it was rolled in a ball, not moving, and I covered it in a giant tupperware and stuck a piece of cardboard under it, carried it outside, and sprinted back inside.

Just because I started crying when Fig first brought it inside and called my husband in a dead panic doesn't make me a wuss. I did not sign up to live in the country, people. And I have issues with snakes.

end of school year blues

Aidan's last day of school was today. I doubt he grasps it, really, but I sure do. I liked his teachers a lot and was sad to say goodbye to them, but I am more choked up about bidding adieu to my free Monday mornings. Goodbye to my brief but uninterrupted stretches of productivity. Goodbye nail appointments that don't result in me apologizing to everyone around as my toddler runs amok. Goodbye quiet mornings snuggled on the bed with Wesley reading a book.

Hello, summer. We rang in the change by having lunch with one of his classmates Taylor and her cute mom Leslie. (says Aidan: "Taylor loves me. Addison loves me.") Then we came home and celebrated in style with a toddler meltdown that evolved into a dual toddler-infant meltdown resulting in a major mommy timeout and finally sweet, sweet naptime. Afterward, we had some much needed bubble time and Aidan ingested a little bit of bubble solution while he rubbed the bubble wand all over his lips. (technique maybe?)



Oh and by the way, I had enough of the imaginary spider itchies and had Mike put some anti-bug juice on the lawn. Don't hate me. I don't want them gone entirely, but it would be delightful to somewhat reduce their population so I'm not having arachnaphobia-themed dreams at night.

I'm not going to neglect all you who really only care about seeing pictures of my children!!

Since I know I'll irritate family members if I don't post plenty of pictures of my kids, here are some new ones:

Wesley taking a sink bath!

Aidan trying his hardest to make play-doh "noodles"

Finished product

Spiders and Snakes and 'Coons, Oh My!

Um.
I didn't know what I was signing up for when I moved to this house, apparently. No one told me that this quaint little town on the south end of the valley was infested with wildlife. Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of all things nature-y and green, and I am among the people who get sad and kind of angry with society when another retail or housing complex is erected on top of a nice open field.

HOWEVER...

Snakes are not okay with me. Everyone who knows me is aware of my immobilizing fear of the little (or big, gasp!) things. I glance down on a walk and see a brown, shriveled pod from a tree that has fallen on the ground and I nearly pass out from the shock. Then my heart starts pounding as if I had a brush with death. I place the blame squarely on my brother's shoulders, but that's a story for another day.

The hard part comes when I try to hide my fear for the sake of Aidan. I don't need him growing up thinking they're bad or scary... just that they are things that will warrant a major grounding if brought into his mommy's home.

And that goes for all the other country fauna that we keep running into. Voles? They're almost cute in a wild-gerbil sort of way, but apparently troublesome little buggers. I've seen raccoons in my neighborhood and I don't even remember them from when I was growing up in a much more rural place than my current town. And the spiders... OOHHHH the spiders. Ugh.

I took this picture today to try to illustrate the spidery craziness that is my yard. I kid you not, the entire lawn is covered with webs, they are hanging between every flower in my garden, and if I go to sit in a lawn chair chances are I'll get covered in the sticky things. Blech.



I hope I don't offend any spider lovers out there. I really do love nature, I just sort of feel like I need to buy a pair of wellies to walk around in my yard.

a note to my fans

To all of my loyal readers... (well to the couple of you out there anyway),

I love that you love that I am trying to love my blog again, and I need you to show that love via posting comments, not texting me (although I love the texts too). It boils down to me needing to feel validated and loved by having obscene amounts of comments because it gives me great delight and many hearty chuckles to read them. So shape up or ship out! (but don't really, because if the two of you left I'd be writing for... well, me. And that's no fun)

Sincerely and with love,
Anna

P.S. I am still figuring this all out so I'm posting this video of my sister's engagement as a learning excercise. Also because I deeply enjoy all the off-color, off-camera remarks made by the peanut gallery that is their HERD of boys. (count 'em, there are 7 of them!)

I sure hope this works.



P.P.S. I'm a super-star!

2 children for sale

Priced to move -- act now and they could be yours! Both in near-new condition, and from a non-smoking household. They come with matching outfits and a box of diapers. Call with questions, serious inquiries only.

All sales are final.

mild obsession

Okay I lied, it's more like a rampant obsession. Am I the only one having somewhat inappropriate dreams about Edward from the "Twilight" series by Stephenie Meyer? I certainly hope not, since I just bared my soul to everyone. Pre-ordered book 4? Check. Cleared schedule for midnight showing of "Twilight" movie on December 12? Check. Downloaded movie poster as desktop wallpaper? Check (seriously, people -- I'm not proud of this. I may need help.)

Have you read this book? Seriously, if you haven't yet you should really move that to the top of your priority list (tip: put it waaaay higher than laundry). And don't listen to my mother -- I love her but she obviously doesn't know what she's thinking in regards to these books.

Oh and I totally lied again. Somewhat inappropriate... teehee.

Look ma!

Look at the new layout! Oooh, ahh... I did it all by myself, too. I think I'm pretty much the most talented pointer-and-clicker blogger.com has ever seen. And it only took me half the night... so needless to say Mike's a bit perturbed with me right now. (I love you honey!)

Anyway, I'm not very good at this blogging thing, am I? Does anyone even READ this anymore? For some reason I highly doubt it. I'll try to do better... maybe my snazzy new layout will help.

Aunt Stephanie's visit!

Stephanie came from Tennessee for a visit last weekend to meet Wesley and see Aidan (it had been over a year since we had last seen her, so it was great!) We had a really fun time and ate waaaay too much chocolate and bread and just food in general, really. She has a sassy haircut that looks so cute on her and the boys had a fabulous time -- Mike wants her to move in because Aidan had so much fun while she was here!

Here's a cute picture of Steph and the boys that she got off of her camera and emailed us:



We took a lot of cute ones too, but Mike still hasn't reinstalled the camera software on our computer so they're stuck on my digital camera until enough family members nag him to get it installed already (obviously he's grown immune to my wifely nagging and it's just not getting the job done this time)

It was so fun to see you Stephanie!! Aidan's still talking about you, so we'll definitely have to find a way to see you more often in the future. Thanks again for flying out!

oh. no. what. did. i. do.

I cut my hair off today!! Well not me physically, I'm not that unstable... but I PAID someone else to cut my hair off today!! I like it, I'm just in shock a bit. Impulse hair decisions -- they can so often go terribly awry. Oh my goodness I think I like it. I hope I like it. I hope I wake up tomorrow still liking it. (deep breath) Crap!!

My valentines

We didn't really do anything special for Valentine's Day -- Mike doesn't believe in it (I'm rolling my eyes as I write this)... I ended up taking the boys up to my sister's house in Idaho Falls for a visit. Even though we have no cute holiday-related photos to post, I still wanted to share some pictures of my boys so as to keep the families from grumbling :) I'm doing better this year, aren't I??

My three sons... er.. boys ;)

Wesley's getting ready for a bath -- what a cutie!

Aidan in the tub -- when asked what he was doing, he said "going on the potty." Thank goodness he wasn't really ;)

Classic Aidan expression...

I'm not a mean mom, really -- I just love crying baby pictures, and I think the fuzzy bear shoes are too funny not to share ;)

Snow Day

Well, dang. We woke up to crazy snow conditions this morning -- wind, snow drifts, the whole nine yards. Several of our neighbors were out helping people shovel snow, see how nice people are in Utah? Mike's the hot one in the orange-yellow jacket.



Even Aidan got in on the action -- and it only took half an hour to get him in his snow clothes and out the door.
"No pants!"
"Well, okay -- but you can't go outside without your snow pants on, honey," I say in my best attempt at endless super-mom patience.
Aidan seems to considers this. "Pants!!" I smile and walk toward him with his snow bibs in hand.
"NO PANTS!!" he yells, laughing while he runs away from me.

Repeat for boots, coat, mittens, hat, and the actual act of walking outside.

Once he got outside though, he had a blast helping "rake" the snow with Daddy.


When all the work was done, Mike decided to pull out the kid's sled Aidan got for Christmas in 2006 from his Grandma & Grandpa Silver. Aidan thought this was a pretty cool idea, too.



Everything was going swimmingly until Mike actually tried to pull the sled. This led to less-than-desirable results, which Aidan found hilarious.



Then the boys came inside for some hot chocolate and hat-hair grumbles when the camera came out again.

Tubby time

Bedtime routines with two are a little bit more complicated than with one, I'm discovering. Especially when both kids want Mommy. Especially when they're both SCREAMING this information at us. :) Here are some pictures of the calm before the storm:




And here's just a couple more random shots because there's no major events going on in our lives to link this post together ;)

Wesley is turning into such the little smiler... he is such a happy baby!


Mom and her boys!

Christmas with the Silvers

Merry Christmas! We're staying home this year, since Mike works tomorrow and we both break out in cold sweats trying to imagine lugging 2 kids under three, 2 carseats, a portable crib, and presents ANYWHERE!! Normally I wouldn't be updating this right now (or for a few weeks, who are we kidding?) BUT both the kids are taking naps and Mike is running all the boxes and gift wrap to the recycling drop-off near our house (look at us being so eco-friendly). So I was left to my own devices with a juice glass full of champagne (tres European, no?) and the digital camera.

So here we go...


Candy canes! The cornerstone of any nutritious breakfast.


Wesley playing with the rattle Santa brought him.


Aidan's new scooter! He's been saying he wanted Santa to bring him a skateboard for weeks now, so he was pretty excited to walk into the living room and see this.


Wesley enjoying all his gifts in his own special little way.


After 47 takes, we managed to get a photo where almost everyone looks happy to be there in our fabulous hats made by Aunt Allison.

Merry Christmas!!!

More pictures

Sadly, I have no time for witty commentary, since Aidan is most surely getting into something dangerous and/or messy at this very moment. I'm sure you'll all shed a few tears over that... but here are some more pictures for your viewing pleasure :)

Family of four!

As most or all of you know, we had our baby boy on October 30, and it should come as no surprise that I'm just now getting around to posting about it! At least this time I have a good excuse for slacking off, right? This whole two kid thing is complicated, I'm finding out.

I went over my due date (October 20) so I was scheduled for an induction at the new Intermountain Medical Center on the 30th because I really wanted an October baby (I am such a planner). I was so miserable and tired of being pregnant, and I kept hoping every day that I would just go into labor. No such luck!! My appointment on the 30th was at 7:30 AM and so naturally, I woke up at 5:45 that morning in labor. FINALLY!

My midwife had office appointments until around noon that day, and I had to have some meds before they could break my water so Mike and I hung out in the hospital room all morning playing UNO and watching TV while I had contractions. They weren't too bad until around 11:00 and then stuff started getting crazy! They were pretty much coming on top of one another and it hurt a whole bunch... back labor isn't pleasant, people!

Well, my midwife never got the chance to break my water... she actually barely made it in time to catch the baby (literally -- she ran in after I had already pushed once). It was very dramatic -- the room wasn't completely stocked with the things the staff needed (that's what you get for delivering at a hospital the day after it opens...), my IV popped out while I was pushing (think horror movie bloodbath), and it turned out this little one was posterior which hurt a whole bunch.

So after just 8 minutes of pushing, Wesley Patrick Silver arrived at 1:13 PM on October 30. He weighed 7 pounds 3 ounces and was 21 inches long.

Say cheese!

It remains to be seen if I'm ever going to be able to take another picture of Aidan smiling normally, but oh well :) He's discovered the joy of hamming it up for the camera...

And here's Aidan painting his pumpkin yesterday afternoon in the kitchen... quite a little artist. He had a lot of fun and couldn't stop saying, "Wow! Wow!" over and over again. Thank goodness for paintbrushes, right? He got the paint on his fingers a couple times and we had to take breaks from painting to clean him up because it distressed him so.



Soo... that was my last update until Aidan's little brother makes his appearance. Let's hope for sooner rather than later, shall we? Now that Mike AND my midwife are both in Salt Lake City, I'm sure we'll all have to sit and wait for a couple weeks... but who knows? We can always hope, right? :)

Overtired kid = long day

Yep, he's asleep. I'm soooooo glad he's asleep.

First day of school (sort of)

Today was Aidan's first day at his Mother's Morning Out program, which we enrolled him in for the school year... he goes to a local Methodist church every Monday from 9-12 and he's in a class of about ten other 2-3 year olds with two teachers... it's like a pre-preschool, I guess. They have crafts and circle time and lots of unstructured play, and it's really for socialization. He even has his own cubby and hook!

Naturally, I was a wreck leaving him there for the first time. And rightly so -- apparently every year there's one or two kids in each class that really struggles for a while, and I just KNEW it was going to be Aidan (especially with his recent voyage into tantrum discovery). I stuck around for about 20 minutes outside the classroom listening to him cry "Mommy Coming?" feeling slightly sick to my stomach, but sure that he would calm down... I had to meet Mike to drop one of our cars off at the mechanic though, so I finally left... only to get a call an hour later -- yep, he was still crying. I guess he stopped crying for goldfish cracker snacktime, but started up again afterwards... and he refused to do the handprint craft with the other kids.

He stopped crying right after they called me, which is why I didn't pick him up early... but I still felt crappy. Ugh. I hope this gets easier for him AND me!! :)