Mommy's Big Helper

I think I've mentioned this before, but Emerson loves to help me around the house. He's an expert duster, sweeper, and mopper. He's going to make someone a good husband one day. (Of course, realistically, I'm sure he'll have grown out of it WAY before then.)
He loves to dip the mop into the bucket of water, so I've learned to let him have a turn first with the dry mop and let him pretend to dip it in water.

I almost didn't get him in the picture here because he has to back up so far to be able to get the mop into the bucket.

Does the handle look really far back there, scraping the door of the fridge? Well that's because it is. He's a very small boy on a very big mission.

Little satisfied face.

I love my big helper, but I have to admit that today I decided to do the mopping during naptime...and it only took a fraction of the time. :)

26 Weeks

Little Miss C and me. Even if I don't love this picture, at least it documents possibly my favorite shoes of all time. I heart them and I heart my mom for taking me shopping when I was there visiting. I'm getting a bit freaked out that the baby ticker thing is down to double digits instead of triple! I can't wait to meet this little girl. Any name suggestions? We're kind of struggling here.

BIG Train Tracks

We discovered some train tracks close to our house and knew of a certain little boy who might just get the thrill of his life going to see them. He got to bring Thomas and Percy along for the ride, and what a ride it was for all three of them (and let's face it...Ben too).

I told my mom the other day that I often feel like I have more children than I do because I'm constantly keeping track of all of Emerson's trains. I know the name of each one and I get worried when I haven't seen a particular one for a few days/hours. Then I'll say something like "Ben, have you seen Gordon around? I mean, he must be here somewhere. And I noticed Toby isn't over with the crowd either. Where do you think they could be?" Dorky, I know. And this is usually after E has gone to bed, so we should be done talking about trains for the night, but we're not. So far they've all turned up in good time without having to issue an Amber Alert.

E and Percy. Percy is often chosen as one of the engines E gets to sleep with at night. He doesn't play with them, he just sets them all up to watch him sleep. If I go right in when E first wakes up in the morning then they will often still be lined up just how I left them unless he's accidentally rolled over onto them. If I need E to stay happy while I shower real quick, he carefully unloads them over the side of his crib.

He LOVED trying to walk on each of the railroad ties. They were just a little too far apart to do in one step though.

A very solemn occasion

Losing his cool for just a second and cracking a smile because he's so excited. He would occasionally burst out with "TRAIN...COMIN'!!!" just because he thought there should be a train on these cool tracks. Don't worry though, there weren't any trains at the end of the line where we were.

Dumb Little Rake

I leave Daddy tending Emerson for two hours while I go to a baby shower and what happens? He buys him a dumb little rake. Actually, I was completely cuted out and Ben totally redeemed himself from when he told me it wouldn't be practical to buy Emerson a dumb little snow shovel last winter. I wanted to, bad. (But how is a rake any better?)

We finally decided to work on our yard and getting our lawn not to be so hideous. I think our neighbors are thinking "FINALLY!". So we raked the heck out of it to get all the dead stuff out and put some seeding soil down and then reseeded it. E was accidentally helpful sometimes during the raking part. Mostly it was just to keep him occupied so we didn't have to worry about him running into the road. (Even though he knows better.)

Big helper. He was very solemn during the whole ordeal. He'd set his rake down occasionally and find some other task like picking up rocks and then would run around the yard yelling "Rake! Where you? Oh! Hi rake! Silly rake!"

Not sure what gang sign Ben is flashing here, but E is intent on his raking.

We really hope our little grasslings grow. Don't be surprised if I post some pictures of our little grass children. I will be proud indeed. We're such dorks that we kept looking outside today to see if anything had happened. We both know that logically nothing would've happened, but neither of us can help it. (And let me clarify here that it was Ben and me doing this, and NOT Emerson. He's the only one with some sense in this family. Which probably explains why he was trying to run away with his little red wagon.)

Running Away?

Emerson loaded up his wagon when he thought I wasn't looking. Is it really that bad in our family that he has to run away from home? Well I guess he is 2 years old now, and at least he packed the essentials:

-Sippy cup
-Cheerios
-2 balls so he's not bored
-Plastic log...which maybe suggests shelter?

I guess I'm going to have to watch him more closely; especially when Baby Sister arrives.

*Cute Note: He tried to share his sippy cup with "Bebe sisterrr" yesterday by putting it up to my stomach and seemingly aiming for my belly button. I'm sure she appreciated the gesture. :)

Easter 2010

Yes, we did celebrate Easter. I'm embarrassed that this is over one week old. We didn't dye any Easter eggs this year because, well, I got back from Utah late Wednesday night, and had a birthday to get ready for as well as all the regular stuff that you have to do when you get back from a trip. Ok ok, I guess it was partly poor planning too. Then Ben was gone to dinner with the Young Men before Priesthood, then was at Priesthood until from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. (for those of you who have the luxury of General Conference at the normal time.) So it just didn't happen. Luckily Emerson didn't know the difference.

It was like pulling teeth to get him to find the eggs. The Easter Bunny only hid a dozen, but you would've thought there were hundreds by how long it took. I made the mistake of showing him what was inside the eggs thinking it would motivate him to look a little harder, but I was wrong.

Instead he insisted on sampling a piece of candy from each egg he found so you can imagine how fast it went.

Then after we had found the eggs, he figured out that if he threw the eggs against the couch, they would eventually break open and he would no longer need Mom and Dad to open them for him and decide how much candy he could have. Clever boy.

Yes, I...I mean the Easter Bunny, hid the basket in the bathroom on the toilet. After the rate of finding the eggs, I was glad it was in such an obvious place.

Little Cheeser

Lucky duck got a kite in his basket. We decided it was a good Sunday activity and he loved it.

Ben quickly figured out that you can't let a 2-year-old hold a kite string by himself, so he tied it around his waist first and then let him hold it.

He thinks he's so freakin' cool.

Mom was even fun too!

E's 2nd Birthday

E had a great 2nd birthday. He got to celebrate in Utah with Grandma and Grandpa and his aunts and uncle and then he got to come home and celebrate AGAIN with Mommy and Daddy! What a lucky duck.

I don't know where this boy comes from. I really don't. He just made this face when we handed him his present.

Sooo excited for his train set. (I know that this one present looks so pathetic, but he's wearing some of the new clothes he got for his birthday, and those dang Thomas the Tank Engine sets are expensive.) We decided to get him the real thing because we already know how much he loves it and that it will get played with to death. He's pointing to the caboose in this picture.

E's train cake. Ben stayed up late the night before helping me decorate it. E couldn't wait to eat some when he spotted it on the counter the next morning.

Carefully eyeing which train car he wants to sample first.

Blowing out the candles all by himself!

I should note here that we then served up the cake and ice cream and E was extremely offended/angry that we cut up the train. I think he was kind of traumatized even though he himself was trying to eat all the candy off of it just before that. It was fine in his mind for him to eat some of the caboose but he screamed bloody murder when Daddy had some of the engine. I think he wanted to try driving the train on the frosting tracks. And how is a train supposed to drive without an engine!?

Utah Trip

I was able to go visit my family in Utah for Emerson's birthday while poor Benny had to stay home and study. :( Let me tell you, it was sure a sacrifice to go home and get spoiled.

This is Grandpa J and his little buddy with their matching blue jackets. Every time E wanted to go outside, he'd say "Papa! Jacket, shoes." The restaurant in the background is one of my family's favorite Mexican restaurants.

Papa giving Emerson a piggy-back ride while Emerson is giving Beah one.

They had lots of fun playing outside on the slide together and throwing rocks and sticks into the creek.

E was very concerned when the slide was a little dirty and kept insisting that we "wash it" even after we had wiped it off.

We got to celebrate E's birthday with presents from Mama J and Papa. He was soooo thrilled with all of his trains and kept guessing which train he was going to open next. He guessed James every time, so it's a good thing he got a James engine in the very last package.

He also got a little doctor kit and was thrilled to give everyone, including his trains, shots. He's had to endure so many, I guess it's payback! I'm happy to report that all of his engines are up to date on their immunizations.

E was so excited about his Thomas the Tank Engine cake. It was so nice of Mama J and Papa to get it for you! I'm holding him with an iron grip here because he really really wanted to drive the little train on the frosting tracks.

My weird child. This was his favorite position to watch his "shows".

Mama J can't resist the little squishy guy in his onesie! And he has apparently gone to his happy place.

Included in our fun activities was a trip to the Hogle Zoo. It was very enjoyable weather and was an all around good trip except for the dead zebras, dead polar bear, dead baby giraffe, and absent brown bears. Sad, huh? Although let me clarify that the dead bodies were not just sitting in their cages. The above picture is of Emerson when he finally realized he was actually riding a choo-choo train. It took him about 3/4 of the way through the ride to realize, and when it was over he cried and cried, so we managed to ride it one more time at the end of our zoo trip.

Us and the elephant. We were lucky enough to see two huge elephants relieve themselves right before our very eyes. It was disgusting.

E is about the size of an infant gorilla!

This is E about to get on the choo choo for the second time.

We had lots of adventures, and the trip was planned just right so I caught part of everyone's spring break and got to visit Ben's family a few times too. A summary:

-Ate at lots of restaurants including the Cheesecake Factory, Tio's, Cafe Rio, Noodles & Company, Paradise Bakery, Bella Citta, Ruth's Diner, and paid a visit to Mrs. Backer's pastry shop.

-Went to the Living Planet Aquarium

-Went shopping for maternity clothes and SHOES

-Celebrated E's birthday

-Tried a kouign amann. (Google it)

-Had an awkward moment at Noodles & Company when the teenage waitress told us to enjoy our meal and I pulled out a "You too. I mean...um...when you eat?" Any Brian Reagan fans will understand this.

-Went to see The Young Victoria and loved it.

-Had lots of people who were willing to play choo-choo trains with E so I could nap.

-Saw my little sister's play, Thoroughly Modern Millie. She did a great job!

-Practically sang all the songs from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat with my sister during my dad's Sunday School lesson.

-Heard all about E's adventures in nursery from my mom (who is the Primary chorister) and his exclamation of joy: "CHOO CHOO TRAINS!" when they weren't doing anything with trains. He was just having a really good time I guess.

-Introduced my family to (non-alcoholic) mint juleps with syrup from Churchill Downs and unknowingly helped my dad cross that item off his bucket list!

-Got to enjoy my favorite meal cooked by my mom with her roast beef and mashed potatoes and gravy. Mmmm. She's the master.

Thanks for all the fun, precious family! It was hard for us to say goodbye, but it was good to see Benny again. :) If you miss us, just start running around exclaiming "choo choo trains!" and it will be like E is still there.

General Conference

Easter, birthday, and Utah trip posts are coming, but I had to post some silly things Emerson said in regards to General Conference.

This picture demonstrates how he made Beah watch Conference. He held him right up to the computer screen and then proudly turned around and told me, "Beah. Conference."

Then he kept making Beah's feet graze the keyboard and then pulling him back and sternly telling him "No no Beah! Don't touch." Hmm...where did he learn that?

But my favorite was when I told Emerson to come sit down and listen because the prophet, Thomas S. Monson was going to speak. He thought about it for a second and then his face lit up and he picked up Thomas the Tank Engine, drove him up my leg and said "Tabos! Tabos Monson!" (Kinda like he's been searching for a last name for Thomas the Train all this time and it finally makes sense!) Oh how we love this boy. Everything MUST relate to trains somehow.

Happy 2nd Birthday E!

Today I have a 2-year-old. It absolutely blows me away.

The birthday boy

I couldn't decide between the two previous pictures because both of them demonstrate his personality so well. :)

I can't believe he used to be this small

Emerson, we love so many things about you. You make us laugh every single day with your clever phrases and how you seem to remember everything. Some of my favorites from this week are:

1. When I put shorts on you, you cried and said "No! Pants! Off. Off." and proceeded to pull them off.

2. When I tried to convince you that you needed to wear new shoes because the old ones were too small you threw a huge tantrum and screamed bloody murder and then went to find your old ones. Hmm...something tells me you don't like change. But oh well it's not like you're getting a new sibling in a few months. I'm sure it won't be a big deal. (Yikes)

3. When we went through the drive-thru pharmacy yesterday you asked for chicken because you remember one time I ordered you chicken nuggets at a Wendy's drive-thru.

4. When I attempted to serve you a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with chunky peanut butter you opened it, furrowed your brow, and then handed it back to me while saying "Hurt. Sammich hurt."

5. When I kept talking about your birthday, you would say "Blow candles! Bird-day cake!"

6. Anytime I get you a snack lately, you look me right in the face with a big smile and say "Tanku Mommy!" It melts my heart.

7. You repeat your prayers at bedtime very well, and also the ones in nursery when it's someone else's turn to pray.

8. Your superlative for expressing excitement is "CHOO CHOO TRAINS!" even if what's making you happy has nothing to do with trains. (Those are few and far between though...I can't think of much that makes you happy that doesn't involve trains.)

9. You come up to me and say "Hold you" when you need a quick dose of comfort when you're hurt or tired.

10. You've started saying "Watch! Watch it!" when you have some new trick to show me with your trains.

11. Whenever you hit your head, on accident or on purpose because you're being weird, you intently tell me "bonk".

12. When you drop something, put something in a clever place, or do something you think is humorous, it is quickly followed by you exclaiming "Silly Emerson!"

Happy Birthday Little E! You are our very favorite little boy in the whole wide world and we're so lucky to have you in our family.

Bring On The Pink...

We're having a girl. :)

Here's a shot of her face with her two little hands up by her chubby cheeks

Here's a shot of her really long legs and, ahem, lack of boy parts.

So who's up for making hairbows and teaching me how to accessorize my baby girl?