grateful lists

When I look back in my journal one of my favorite things to re-read is the grateful list from my fun-filled days at Southridge. I love trying to remember who wrote each entry and all the memories that it brings to the surface. Things like "we don't have a hole in our ceiling" or "snow toilets" or "reading The Little Prince with roommates" or "Tanya who always remembers apartment prayer" or "dinners you don't have to make" all make me smile. For a few nights now as I'm going through the frustrating process of putting William to sleep I have thought that I should start a grateful list of my own. Maybe it will give me something to smile about as I am in William's room for another hour tonight and he asks once again for "mo milk pweeze!" I hope that Lori doesn't mind me taking the idea from her blog!

ward party adventure

Yesterday we had a ward chili cookoff at Route 66 Park at Lake Overholser. We had never been there before and it was a really cool park. William loved it! He wouldn't even hold still long enough to eat 3 bites of a hot dog bun. I guess I should have learned by now that playing is much more important than eating. The playground there was massive and he just ran all over the place. At one point I was sitting on the benches and holding James while keeping an eye on William. I must have looked down for a minute at James and when I looked up William was gone! I frantically looked around for him but couldn't find him. I was about to panic when I saw Rich and William walking over from the pavilion. What a relief!!! Apparently in the few seconds that I turned my head, William had run over to the lake and jumped on in. He was wet up to his knees. I felt so horrible for losing him! How could I have done that?! And how did he run the 50 or so yards so quickly to get into trouble! However, a few minutes later when about half the ward was looking for their missing children I didn't feel so bad. (He did attempt a second dip in the lake but I used my mad track skills to catch him.) He thought it was pretty fun though because he kept telling us "William jump in water." I suppose this is all payback for me doing the same kinds of things to my own mom.

...W, X, Y and Z

Well, while my 2 year-old naps and my infant views the world from his place on the floor I thought I would begin my first entry. I am new to this whole blog thing but I thought that I would give it a try. I have been awful at keeping a journal lately and thought this might be a little easier. I haven't even written about the birth of my second son yet! (Shame on me.) I'm not as wonderful of writer as my husband or even my friends but I'll give it a shot.

I have to say that William amazes me everyday. Just yesterday as I was feeding James, William was in the corner playing with his toys and talking to himself. All of a sudden I realized that he was singing "W, X, Y and Z." Maybe I'm a bad mother but I haven't taught him the ABC song yet. So I asked him where he learned that song. "Big Bird sing it," he replied. It's amazing what kids pick up on... tv can't be all that bad.

William LOVES his new little brother. He is always hugging, kissing, or singing to him and telling me that he is a big brother now. It's sweet but sometimes James gets a little too much loving. He is also very protective of his baby brother. On the plane to California for my sister's wedding he even told the stewardess--sorry, flight attendant--"no lady, no look at James!" He doesn't even want other people to hold James.

Today we went to the neurologist for James. When he was born he had a seizure due to lack of oxygen from a prolapsed umbilical cord and a traumatic birth (we'll save that for a whole other entry for those of you with weak stomachs). He's been on phenobarbital for the last 5 weeks and I've been dying to wean him off already. Today we got the go-ahead and the doc was so impressed at James' improvement that we don't even have to go for a follow-up visit! YEA!!! James is such a good baby--he just eats and sleeps. Most people think we're crazy because "that's what babies are supposed to do". Well, they never had a "William baby". Although because I did have a "high maintenance" child first I think I can more fully appreciate a baby like James. In fact, I think that William wakes up more than James at night. Fun stuff.

Well, William is now awake so I had better wrap this up. Hopefully there will be more to write from my run-of-the-mill everyday life.