Cute Easter Pictures! + Day 26

"In our hour of deepest sorrow, we can receive profound peace from the words of the angel that first Easter morning: 'He is not here: for He is risen.'" -Thomas S. Monson

I am grateful for a merciful Heavenly Father, who created a perfect plan to bring us back into His presence. I'm grateful for our Savior, Jesus Christ, who loved us enough to go through the atonement to fulfill the plan. I can't say Thank You enough.

We took it pretty easy on Easter. Church was in the morning, I took a nap in the afternoon, we had a ham and asparagus dinner (yum!), and then we just hung out.

After naps and before dinner, we did the fun Easter activities with Andrew. We gave him his basket:

He loved the soccer ball and has taken it with him everywhere since getting it!

And he went on an Easter egg hunt in the yard:

He LOVED it! You should've seen the look on his face when he found the first egg. He was so excited! He was even more excited when he found out there were treats in the eggs!

David slept through most of it. :) Here's a picture of the cute boy awake today:

Day 26 - What do you think about your friends

Well... they're my friends, so I think they're pretty awesome! To be serious though, there's something to be said about friends that stick around. I've had lots of friends over the years - friends from high school, choir friends, church friends, room mates... the sad thing is that I don't talk to most of them anymore. There are only a few left who I really keep in contact with, and I appreciate them more than they can know. Motherhood can be quite isolating, and it's nice to have a few friends out there who look after me and make sure I get out of the house every once in a while! Or friends who just come over and hang out with me.

What I'm trying to say is this: I wish I was still close to all those friends I've had in the past, or sometimes I wish I was better at making friends now, but I wouldn't trade the ones I've got now for anything. :)

Secret: Susette, my older sister, introduced me to the goodness that is the Jonas Brothers. And I really like them. I like their tv show, Jonas, a lot. I think it's sad it only lasted two seasons. I'm still working on watching season 1, but I'm already sort of in mourning that it didn't last longer.

Doc's Appointment + Day 25

"I have found my personal journal an ideal environment in which to 'become'. It is a perfect place for me to think, feel, discover, expand, remember, and dream." - Brad Wilcox

The quote really has no corresponding part to the main part of this entry, but to the secret at the end. Just in case you were confused. :)

Yesterday, David had his 2-month appointment. Yes, he is 2 1/2 months old, but that doesn't matter. :) The appointment went well. The doctor who looked at David said he was growing well, that his eyes seem to be a little bit clearer (he has blocked tear ducts), and that as long as he's gaining weight well, that his spitting up is under control. Yay!

Here are his stats:

• Head: 16 inches (65%)
• Height: 24 1/4 inches (85%)
• Weight: 13 lbs 7 1/2 oz (76%)

It's funny, because he's almost exactly the same size as Andrew was at this age. According to Andrew's growth chart, at 2 1/2 months, these were his stats: head - 16.5 inches, height - 24.5 inches, and weight - 13.8 lbs. So Andrew was a little bigger, but Andrew just did (and does!) everything bigger. :)

David also got his first immunizations, and spent the rest of yesterday looking like this:

The poor guy was just completely knocked out. From just before we left the pediatricians (at 11:30am) until we went to bed last night around midnight, he only ate 3 times. And he was awake for probably a total of 45 minutes. Needless to say, he's been awake a LOT longer today, which makes me happy. I love seeing his dark blue eyes and his happy smile.

Day 25 - What you would find in my bag

Considering I don't really have a purse and just use the diaper bag all the time, there's really nothing of interest in my bag! There's diapers, wipes, a change of clothes for David, toys for Andrew, chap stick and my cards... and that's about it. Exciting, no?

Secret: I'm a really bad journal-writer. I get good for a couple weeks... or a couple days... and then I slip up and don't write for months. I'm trying to do better now. I've written almost every day this week, and I plan to keep it up. Do you have a journal? Actually, the right question for me to ask is this: do you WRITE in your journal? Do you wish you were better at it if you don't write in it?

Silly Andrew! + Day 24

Here are a few fun quotes:

"Parents don't get enough appreciation." -Susanna, age 17


"My little brother's dirty diapers are worse than liver." -Matt, age 11


"You only have one mom, and you should take care of her." -Sean, age 12


"My dad will never be color coordinated." -Samuel, age 11


"If mom says 'no', she means it. If dad says 'no', it means maybe." -Joseph, age 13


"You should not pick your nose because your mom will SCREAM!" -Tiffany, age 8

Quotes from this site. Kids are so funny!

Andrew is no exception. Being a 2-year-old, he gets upset. A lot. He tends to end up crying at least 10 times a day. When my dad is home, to try to get him to laugh instead of cry, he roars at him like a lion or dinosaur (or something like that). Sometimes it doesn't work, but a lot of times it does! He ends up laughing and forgetting about what was upsetting him in the first place!

What's really funny and cute is that now, whenever David starts crying, Andrew roars at him to make him feel better! It doesn't work at all, but the fact that Andrew caught onto that is so cute. At first I had no idea what Andrew was doing or why, but then I put it together in my head... and now it makes me laugh so hard! Silly boy!

Roar!

Day 24 - A letter to your parents

Mom and Dad,

You guys are awesome. Growing up, I know I didn't really appreciate you as much as I should've, because now that I'm older, I realize just how amazing you both are. You're motivated, smart, energetic, and willing to do hard things when it's the right thing. You're great examples of what I aspire to become.

Thank you for being there for me when I needed you. Thank you for being tough on me when you needed to be. Thank you for trusting me to do the right thing, and giving me the space to make my own decisions. Thank you for loving me enough to let me go all the way to Idaho for school. Thank you for loving Jason and treating him like your own son. Thank you for letting my little family live with you for such a long time, and for helping us find a good, SAFE apartment.

I love you both. I'm so lucky to have you guys as my parents.

Melody

Secret: Did you guys see the new made-for-tv Disney movie Lemonade Mouth? I did. And I LOVED it. And sometime soon (hopefully), I will own the soundtrack. I probably should be embarrassed, but I'm totally not!

We found an apartment! + Cute pictures + Day 23

"The secret to a rich life is to have more beginnings than endings." - David Weinbaum

We're going to have a new beginning, by moving out of my parents' house June 1st!

As a lot of you may know, since Jason and I moved to Ohio, we've been living with my parents until we figured out exactly what was going to be happening in our lives with school. We weren't sure if we were going to stay in the area for the next two years for Jason's masters, or if we were going to move out of the state for that. With our school decision having been made (Hurray for Ohio State!), we commenced with our apartment search.

It was hard. I had my ideas of what I wanted, and Jason had his. Fortunately, we found a place that seemed to fit what we wanted with everything except being really close to campus. Some perks: there's a playground, it's over 1,000 square feet, it has two balconies, there are washer and dryer connections IN the apartment (!!!!!!!), and it's next to a golf course - that means there's a LOT of green space. Also, apparently there are lots of members of our church and students living there. We're really excited!

Cute picture time!

I took these the other day, and thought I'd share them because my boys are just so stinkin' CUTE!

Andrew driving at the grocery store!

Tuuuuuurning!

David's first recorded smile!

He loves being hugged by his grandpa!

My little baseball star

Day 23 - Something you crave for a lot

If you look at one of my recent posts, I talked about Nutella, and that craving hasn't gone away. :) These are some of my recent cravings:

That's just some of the stuff I want to eat all the time! I really need to stop eating all of that! (Except maybe the smoothies, because those are actually pretty healthy...)

Secret: I am athletically challenged. I'm horrendously uncoordinated, and like to tell people that I'm lucky I can walk and talk at the same time! I wish that wasn't the case, because I really like sports a lot... I just am terrible at them. :(

Birthdays, Conference and Stuff + Day 22

Not a whole lot has changed the last week and a half.

• David turned 2 months old this last Saturday. He's smiling more and more, and is starting to find his voice a little bit. He's just so mellow, I don't know that he's too anxious to do much more than observe everything quietly and contentedly. Andrew was hyper early on and made noise as much as he could when he found out he could; I'm glad to know what it's like to have a calm, quiet child!

The little guy all wrapped up (in the homemade moby wrap that was given to me) when I took Andrew for a walk a few days ago

The big brother playing outside on a cloudy day

• My dad turned 62 years old last Friday, and we threw a surprise party for him this last Saturday. I loved seeing the look on his face when we shouted, "Surprise!" and he saw everyone (sorry you can't really see his face... it was really bright outside!):

He had no idea at all we were throwing the party!

• We watched (or at least attempted to watch) General Conference. It's hard with a very active two-year-old. But what I was able to catch was very good! I'm grateful for The Ensign magazine, because I can read what I couldn't hear!

I love General Conference!

• Carrie, my younger sister, reached her 1-year mark on her mission! And we know the date she'll be getting home - two days before my birthday - September 14th! I'm excited for her to come home, and that my little family will be here for it! We're going to have a big party when she gets back to celebrate her homecoming and my birthday. I'm really looking forward to it.

My cute younger sister!

• We've been looking for apartments around the area, and are a little overwhelmed. We have a short list of definite wants, but the combination is somewhat hard to find: in our price range, safe, and close to campus if possible. There are a lot that have two of our requirements, but not all three at once. I think if we give up one thing, it'll be the proximity to campus, but we'll see. Wish us luck, and if you have any suggestions, PLEASE feel free to let us know about them!

Alright, I think I've caught you up on everything.

Day 22 - What makes you different from everyone else

Is it weird that I can't really think of anything? I started thinking of things, and the more I thought about it, the things that made me different from a lot of people also made me really similar to a lot of people. Well, instead of just saying what's different, I'll describe myself and let you decide if I'm really different or not.

I'm 5' 6" tall. I have brown hair and brown eyes. I have two sisters, and no brothers. I'm from Ohio. I love Disney movies, even a lot of their made-for-tv movies. :) I have a hard time talking in front of people because I have a big fear of saying something wrong or stupid (that's also why I don't like talking on the phone). I'm pretty shy, but I'm outgoing around people I know really well. I love to sing and play the piano, but I also played the cello for years growing up. I got married a week before my 21st birthday. I have two kids at the age of 24. I'm a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I love Ohio State football.

Anything else? I'm sure that someone else could say how I'm different better than I could. A lot of times I feel like these are so true!:

Secret: I've always wondered what I would look like if I dyed my hair blonde, but I don't think I'll ever be brave enough to find out!