Shark's Day

Today was all about our little boy. It's (hopefully) our last Saturday as a threesome and we just wanted to focus on how awesome he is. We should be doing that every day, I know, but it's hard to just let go and stop cleaning up his messes and telling him "no!" sometimes. So today we just said yes. It stinks that it has been raining for the last 48 hours because really what our kid likes most is to be outside. We still went out, but it wasn't very much fun for me and he may wake up with pneumonia.

We started the morning on the living room floor inside a giant couch cushion/blanket fort that we built. It was kind of a tunnel shape and we would thrown tennis balls inside and he would run and get them and bring them back and put them through a tube. Basically, we played fetch. But he liked it and he was happy and busy for a while. Then, of course, we destroyed the fort and played king of the hill and dog piled into the fallen cushions.

Side note: Today was a sad day when I realized he is dropping one of his naps and moving on to just one a day. After several days of me putting him down at the normal time and him just playing in his crib for sometimes an hour I decided it's time to give it up.

After some quiet time/alone time in his crib (supposed to have been napping) we set up the high chair as a sensory station. I tried showing him how to color but he didn't care for it much. So I dumped a bunch of uncooked rice onto the tray and he had a blast running his fingers through it, stirring it with a colored pencil, and throwing it all over the place. I tried to show him the corn starch and water goo but he didn't care about that either...what?! So we stuck with the rice and colored pencils. 

A lot of the rice and all of the colored pencils ended up on the floor so we got out some "drums" for a jam sesh and the pencils were our drum sticks. It was glorious. Shark loves my camera and lunges for it when I try to get pictures of him so his drum solo is not documented very well. 

Another side not: Baby boy has refused almost ALL food for going on two weeks now. It has been extremely frustrating for mom and son and meal times are not pretty around here. On the bright side, much fewer poopy diapers. 

We made chicken quesadillas for lunch with a cucumber salad on the side and *gasp* Shark ate it! And he ate a lot of it. Including the cucumber part. So I was beaming and feeling like today was the greatest day ever. Then he went down for his nap (and I, mine.) 

After his real nap, the one where he slept, we went out to Sonic to share a milk shake. He loves being at Sonic because he gets to get out of his car seat and sit in front with Mom and Dad. He pretends to drive and rolls down the window and yells out his jibberish order. It's reeeeeeaaalllllyyy cute. And the girls on skates think he is absolutely adorable when they get to our window with the food and he is sitting at the wheel like a boss. 

Once home, Sharkie was immediately at the front door begging to go outside. And he is so smart about it. He brings us our shoes and jackets and then he even gets his OWN shoes and jacket, and I'm telling you that is special because this one does not wear shoes. He hates them (he gets that from momma). We protested and told him it was way to cold and rainy but then I just thought.."oh well. Let's just go out." Sometimes I do that. I just decide "Oh well." Maybe not the best parenting technique? So out we went. The thunder was loud--Another, other side note: We can do T-storms here in the south like you've never seen (or heard) in Idaho or Utah. This is what Garth Brooks was singing about. The thunder is angry and the lightning is fierce! And the rain pours for hours on end, or days.--Shark doesn't even notice the thunder. What a weirdo. It was also pretty cold. At first he just stood on the porch watching the rain then he decided to head out and enjoy himself regardless of the conditions. 

He tried pulling us out into the rain with him but he fought it and stayed on the porch for the most part.

Yeah those socks are about shot. 

Dad got sick of watching him just stand there and decided he needed some direction on how to play in the rain. So he went out and showed him how to splash and dance.

Stomp, stomp!

We wrapped the day up with a nice, warm soak in the tub. Complete with a bubble beard and toupee. I was really jealous and wanted to climb in the hot water with him after being outside. Can't wait to comfortably fit in the tub again :) I loved playing with my boys today, I couldn't have asked for a better day. Or a better Sonic Blast, it was fantastic. We've got some BBQ pulled pork in the crock pot for our post church feast tomorrow and I can't wait to wake up to another day with the my loves. So blessed. 

Blowing kisses to you!

Keep following, next post: Introducing Baby girl! (Already?! I know.)

Arkansas Living

Well folks, we are really, finally here and I'm almost able to say that we are settled in, too. We found literally the only rental available that had more than two bedrooms. It is not glamorous. Far from. But I am doing my best to make it a home for us. I was so disappointed when we moved in and I had a crazy lady break down and told Bear not to worry about unpacking because we were buying a house and moving as soon as possible. I sulked around for the weekend and decided to suck it up and make the best of our situation. And the situation is:  a million year old house with a dank, musty, smell and damp carpets with wood paneled walls in a ghetto neighborhood in the middle of nowhere. But, I'm being a snob because that's the nature of this town. It's old. And that's okay and we are going to learn to love it.

 The landscape, on the other hand, is seriously gorgeous! The trees are about to swallow me anywhere I go and when you get a break the in trees you can see little lakes or old train tracks hidden all over the place. The deer are a dime a dozen but smaller than ones I am used to and the birds are huge! And they are always singing. It is warmer and sunnier and the rainstorms are killer!

These are some adorable pictures of Shark at the hotel "calling" Grandpa and Grandma O

This is our humble abode and my two handsome boys. 

Shark boy helping rake up leaves in the yard.

We are waiting on our tax return to buy a washer and dryer and have had to use the laundromat a couple of times. Thankfully, a woman from the ward has let me come over and use her machines which is a lot easier on us. 

Sharky boy is loving the outdoor time and he tries to break out the front door every chance he gets. AND I'm proud to report that he is successfully walking his little buns all over the place. Thank goodness. He wants to be carried around a lot less and I'm so grateful. Now he just grabs me by the hand and leads me around showing me everything he finds. It's adorable. He's sleeping well, eating well, learning new words. He is obsessed with brushing his teeth and you won't catch the kid without a tooth brush in his hand. He can climb up onto the toilet, open up Dad's cupboard and grab a brush (he doesn't care who it belongs to), then onto the bathroom counter where he brushes in the mirror forever. I have to drag him kicking and screaming out of the bathroom and keep the door shut. He has changed so much in just this last month. I am so blessed to witness this precious time. I'm grateful I get to be home with him all day.

Loving the park in February. That's right, FEBRUARY! Sweet. 

This is the (blurry) face of a boy who's momma won't let him go outside. 

This is the (squishy) face of a boy who reeeealllly wants to go outside. 

This is the face of a boy who compromised going outside for a ride on Trigger the horse. 

I found a doctor here who would take me but it was harder than I thought. I was actually turned down a couple of times and even the doctor who took me took a day to "approve" me. I broke down in tears first, then I just felt angry and thought, "Well which ever of you is on call will be delivering this baby when I show up at the hospital so maybe you'd like to meet me and look through my chart first. Because it's happening no matter what." Then the doc accepted me, PHEW! He isn't an OB but there is only one in the town and he said no. In a town this small the family doctors do everything apparently. There isn't a pediatrician. But it's all good. There are kids here who are alive so I think it will all work out :)

I know this post is getting long but a lot has happened over the last few weeks and I haven't had Internet until now to write about any of it. I have to put in a word about our church. Below is our building. It's tiny.

We attend a branch of about 50 people and it is vastly different from any church service I have attended. But there is something really special about it. Some of the people in the branch have to drive 45 minutes each way to get here. There is a very strong spirit there and I can really tell that each of these members care deeply about their Heavenly Father. They have the strongest testimonies of anyone I have met. They are the ones who really want to be there. The church is not strong here in the south but they try everyday to bring people in. They won't ever give up. People participate and have great input during the lessons, it is awesome! They have welcomed us with open arms and have really made us feel at home. I can't wait to do my part and return the service to them that they have given to us. This will be a great experience, I'm sure of it. Bear has been called as a counselor in the Young Men's, but we joke and call it the Young Man instead because there is only one. I am looking forward to getting a calling of my own and having something worth while to fill up any of my spare time. Did I mention they are even throwing me a baby shower? And we have been fed dinner on multiple occasions already. Offers to take Bear hunting are pouring in and everyone is ready to help out with Shark when the baby comes. We are blessed. We have found some proxy family members while ours are so far away.  

Journey to the South

From Utah we drove our two cars to Loveland, CO to my in-law's home. I knew I would struggle making the 8 hour drive alone with a 1 year old. My good friend Lisa must have known also because she grabbed her little tyke and jumped in the car with us to make the trip. It was fantastic. The kids were as good as we could have hoped for and my cankles liked getting a break from driving every now and then.

We went to Colorado because my father-in-law and sweet mother-in-law volunteered (sort of) to make the drive to Arkansas with Bear while me and the babe waited for them to get there then flew out from Denver. They took the scenic route and stopped in Albuquerque, NM for a couple of days for Bear to spend some brother time before leaving forever :'(or so it seems). That left Lisa and I just under a week to say our goodbyes and get depressed about leaving each other. We both flew out from Denver at the same time, each going our separate ways. It was sad. She was a tremendous help in getting me to the airport and through security, even with her own baby to take care of. She's Super Woman. She really is. Not to mention how much better I felt having her with me that week with my in-laws house all to myself. I am super paranoid and scared of everything if I have to be home alone so if it weren't for her company I'm pretty sure I would have gone an entire week without shutting my eyes. And my heart probably would have exploded from constantly beating so hard. Needless to say, I love her. To death. Forever and ever. She's even letting me fly her out when the baby is born to watch me make a fool of myself trying to raise two babies at once. And I'm sure I won't be able to stop her from cooking and cleaning relentlessly while she is here. She's a good egg. Okay moving on.

He missed Oklahoma but I think that's the only one. It was a LOT of driving for him. I'm impressed, and very proud of him. He made it safely and spent a day showing his parents around his new stomping grounds before I arrived. Once I got there we stayed in Little Rock for 2 nights. It was our anniversary/Valentine's day and this was "The big city" compared to where we would be living. After Little Rock we made the drive to our new hometown, Camden. It was about a 2 hour drive. Once there, we spent the rest of the week in a junky smelly hotel while we looked for a place to rent. Shark was such a trooper, bless him.

Saying Goodbye to Utah

Shark and I decided to go with Daddy to Arkansas (you probably know that now). It was a hard decision and a tearful goodbye to my family. Tearful might not describe it well enough. I tried not to let Bear see me struggling because I wanted him to know I supported him and that I WANTED to go with him wherever life took us. But he noticed. Duh. I hope it wasn't too discouraging for him. We drove to Utah where we gathered our belongings out of storage and spent a couple of days saying goodbye to family and friends.

We're going to miss our little buddy, Cooper. And he'll probably miss using Sharky as a punching bag.

Bear, me, and my friend Lisa took the boys on the Front Runner (train) from Provo to Salt Lake. It was awesome. I'm sad to leave before I get any good use out of it. 

Shark insisted on jumping off the ledge onto the tracks. He was pretty upset when he found out that wasn't allowed. 

This is not our train, but I thought the mountains looked gorgeous all covered in snow and I wanted to remember them.

These two were heavily flirting with the grandma sitting behind us

Baby buns in jeans...need I say more?

We went to City Creek Center for lunch and spent a little while in the play area of the food court. I've never seen Shark play in a public place with other children and he it made me so happy to see him having so much fun. 

Bear enjoyed it just as much. 

He likes showing people his tongue. And it's pretty long.