Rice Cereal, YUM!!!

Wednesday I gave Spencer his first taste of food other than milk. He probably isn't ready since he kept pushing it out of his mouth but I continued because every time I stopped he would scream at me. Today, being the third day I've given it to him, he's doing much better but still hasn't mastered it.

Boys and Forts

I don't know if I lack creativity or if my creativity is hindered by the fact that I don't want to clean up the mess that I've "created". So because I don't create too often I have a husband who does and I still get to clean up most the time:) Their latest creation was a fort.
What boy or child has not created a fort in their lifetime. I totally remember throwing blankets over items and crawling inside. Jared loved it and when dad's not home he asks to make a door because Chris always told him to use the door to enter. I'm so grateful for Chris and his young mind. I love to see him play with Jared and do things I wouldn't initially do. My boys are so lucky!

We Split

While Chris headed off to New York for five days for a moot court competition the boys and I went up to Idaho. On a side note, traveling with kids is much better with two adults!

While in Jerome I had a lot of things I wanted to get done but was unable to finish all of them because Spencer got more sick. He had a real phlegmy cough before we left on Wednesday and by Friday he was wheezy so I took him in to a quick care. He was okay but also had an ear infection. I had Jared there too and the doctor checked him out as well and low and behold the same ear, right, was infected as well. I got them both some antibiotics and headed back to my mom's house. Spencer's breathing didn't improve for the next few days so I didn't venture out really at all.

Since being home though I've taken him to the doc for quick check up and he's doing good and the ear infection is gone as and so is Jared's. The whole time I felt great and just this evening I am feeling a head cold coming on. GRrrrrr.

While in Jerome we were able to do the following:

• Go to Baillie's basketball banquet
• I went running with Heidi
• Helped my sister Valerie start a blog
• Finish prepping some receiving blankets so I can crochet around the outside (Thanks Mom!)
  
• Play with grandmas and grandpas, aunts, uncles, and cousins

On the way back to pick Chris up from the airport Jared was excited to see his dad but continually kept asking to go back to grandma's.

Pictures from the Trip: (All but one of the cousin pictures are of my sister Valerie's kids, Jared got along really well with Scotty and of course loved Katie (the blonde) like usual.)

Oops!!!

One night a few weeks ago our family went to institute. During the class we let Jared watch a video on the laptop. Well he must have really enjoyed the video we were showing him that night because he waited too long to tell us he needed to go the bathroom and wet through his clothes and a little on Chris. Being the creative person I am I was able to squeeze him into one of Spencer's diapers and used a onsie for shorts. He looked funny but he was comfortable. Chris ended up going home and changing and I asked him to bring the camera back with him.

Book Tag

The rules...
1. Pick up the nearest book (at least 123 pages).
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the fifth sentence on your blog.
5. Tag 5 people.

So here it is: "A gap between the casing and screen door offered an open invitation to all the rats in the neighborhood, and the alligator in the swamp a hundred feet away would probably have no trouble making himself right at home in the dirty little shack." (My book)

"He would have none of what those big fellows tried to sell him." (Chris' book)

Monkey Issues

I just found this and thought it was hilarious.


Study: Multiple Stab Wounds May Be Harmful To Monkeys

Here is another video that discusses some of the issues involving monkeys.

4 Months Already!

Last Friday Spencer turned 4 months old. It's fun to look back and see the progress he's made already! I would have to say he started out a little on the fussy side but has since become a happy flirtatious baby that is delightful in every way! His coos, smiles, and laughs fill our home with increasing JoY! Jared loves to try and get him to laugh and is so gentle with him. Most of the time if Jared hurts Spencer it is accidental and Jared is so remorseful and apologetic to Spencer kissing him repeatedly. The love I have for my boys is beyond description. There are many moments where I just watch them and my heart is literally full of love that I feel it can burst; what a great feeling:) Today I took Spencer in for his well baby check up. Here are his stats:
Weight: 16 lbs 2 oz 72-73%
Height: 27 in 97%!!!!
Head circ: 17.2 in 84%

What a big boy I have! I just hope he keeps it up and we may have a tall Meservy boy after all! The pediatrician said he had very strong trunk muscles and was surprised he wasn't rolling over yet(he's been rolling to his side since he was born so I have no idea when he'll decide to complete the roll). She also said he was pretty advanced with his social skills (what a little flirt!) He does have a little eczema so I went and bought some Eucerin cream to help that out a little and also bought some Selsun Blue(that stuff's expensive!) to help his scalp. All in all I was pleased with his checkup and he's healthy as I expected:)

Gotta Love This

I got this video from an email from my friend Ali and I loved it! I actually watched it several times and was crying by the end. If you need a good laugh take a look!)

Baillie and State

This last weekend we got to go to go up to Idaho and watch Chris' little sister play basketball in Boise. We left on Wednesday and hit the bad storm that had several kids stuck at school and travelers stuck at the Maverick at Thanksgiving Point. We left early enough to miss that part but not soon enough to make it through the Idaho/Utah border. Luckily I have a sister who lives in Tremonton so we got to stay with her! What a treat! Just that day I had been talking to Chris asking if we'd ever stay at Angela's house because she was so close to home and we assumed we just may never get that opportunity. Well, I'm glad we got to stay Wednesday night. Jared loved playing with his cousins and I loved visiting with my sister.

I may be biased but I think they could've gone really far if they had better coaching. I could ramble on about what I disliked about their coaching but I'll leave that one alone. All I can say is I'm looking forward and at the same time not looking forward to my kids entering the sports world. I hope I never embarrass my kids, I can be really competitive at times and I've already seen the mama bear want to come out sometimes when another child is mean to mine! Watch out!!! Below are some pictures and highlights of our trip.

Our Goings On

So much has gone on but so little time (or lack of motivation) to record it. Here are a few things I've lacked posting about lately:

Jared:

• Swallowed one of those round decorative rocks that look like flattened marbles. Chris told me he put one in his mouth and when I went to retrieve it he gulped! My immediate reaction was, "Say Ahhh!" and it was gone! I was trying not to laugh when telling Chris he swallowed it. Thank goodness he was more serious and didn't laugh but sent him straight to his room for time out. I called a nurse and she said what I assumed, but I just wanted to check, that I needed to wait for it to pass and watch for it. So he swallowed it this last Friday and I still haven't seen it. But it may have passed because one time when he did his "job" he was getting up from his potty and while I was reaching for a knife to probe the feces someone flushed the toilet and Jared picked up his toilet seat think and dumped it in the toilet while exclaiming, "Good job mommy!" while I was wailing, "Noooooooooo!" So I hope it passed with those droppings but at the same time I hope it comes out the next droppings for my piece of mind. If I don't find it will he need an x-ray? I guess I'll be calling the nurse again soon!
• Fell asleep on the couch. Is was talking to one of my sisters and was on the phone for about 30 mins Jared had come to sit by me on the couch and laid down on his belly. When I got off the phone I looked over and he was out cold. This never hApPeNs! This was like 10 or 11 in the morning mind you and his naps are at 1:00. So I didn't think he'd take a nap that day but I went ahead and tried around 2:00. He didn't fight me so I laid him down and he would call for me every 10-15 but he was being good so I didn't go in and he ended up falling asleep I would guess around 2:40ish and slept till 5:00. Let's just say I got a lot done:)

Played with a dog. We visited my little sister and one of her roommates has a dog. Jared loves dogs but usually from a distance. Not this dog. He loved it! Jared loves to be chased and this dog trotted after Jared making it feel like a tag game to Jared.

• Jared loves TV and has learned how to not only turn it on but surf through the channels until he gets to a cartoon channel. I’ve been able to detour him by turning off the power strip that I plug the TV into. Well, he has been watching and even though it was tucked away he found it and knows if the light is not on then the TV is not on. He also uses this to his advantage when he doesn’t want us to watch TV. He turns off the TV and then goes and turns off the power strip little smarty.
• Went to a Valentines play group. Just before we went I went to the store so he could pick out a treat to share. He wanted suckers and he held them till we got there and continued to play with one hand while tightly grasping the suckers in the other. Luckily he eventually wanted two hands and gave them to me where I quietly dispersed of them to the other kids' moms.
• Friday night Jurassic Park was on and Jared was enjoying it. I didn’t have a problem with the portion of movie that was currently showing (the beginning part) but as it got to the point where T-Rex gets out and they’re in their cars feeling the tremble of T-Rex nearing I said ok enough! But Chris insisted he was okay. I tried even harder to stop Jared from watching when T-Rex was going to eat the man sitting on the toilet but Chris assured me they didn’t show it. WRONG! They showed the whole THING! Jared’s eyes were huge and Chris made light of it with him laughing and saying things like, “Cool, Did you see that?” I think Jared has survived but I still think it’s not age appropriate for a two-year-old unless his dad can make him laugh through T-Rex and Raptors eating people and other animals. Boys…
• Yesterday before church Jared got some nail polish which I saw. But I learned today that he knows how to untwist the cap and thus spill the lovely red color on the carpet! I immediately got out nail polish remover first cleaned up Jared before he made more of a mess and then dabbed at the spots and ended up pouring it straight on the areas with polish. Lastly I cleaned up myself

Spencer:

• Laughing more often when being tickled
• For about two or three weeks he hadn't sucked his thumb and I thought that's how it'd be but he has re-found his thumb
• I’ve been working on getting rid of cradles cap and it’s not going away!!! I haven’t tried Selsun Blue yet. I’ve just been scrubbing hard during baths and throughout the day occasionally scrubbing it with baby oil.
• He still spits up excessively. While telling my cousin of this she told me of something she used and still had almost a full bottle because she didn't need it anymore. I have yet to pick it up and try it but that would be awesome if we could cut down on the white stuff!
• Trying to learn how to sleep through the night (I put down between 9-10) Every other night has been Excellent and the other nights good. On the good nights he'll wake up between 4:45 and 5:00 AM and then on the excellent nights he wakes up between 7:00 and 8:00. The hard thing is every once in awhile we have to let him cry and I hate it. I've gone out to the couch but I don't sleep at all. but I guess a few hard nights are worth the eventually more continuous good nights!

Marjorie:

• I went to a baby shower at Olive Garden for two of my cousins. It was so much fun to talk to lots of my cousins and aunts especially knowing I won't get many more of these opportunities since we're moving to where no family is.

• Went shopping with Camille when I went to visit her in Salt Lake and then I went shopping again within the next few days with Ashley Atkin. I had Way too much fun and spent way too much money; but I saved a lot too! The bad thing is I went shopping with the intention of buying clothes for my boys but I couldn't resist looking at girl stuff so when I found a good deal it was just too good to pass up! I only ended up taking one thing back too which is good for me. I had bought Jared some Lightening McQueen shoes but they didn't have his size so I bought the smallest they had, size 11. He's currently wearing size 6 maybe 7 so Chris said that was way too early to be buying size 11 and I eventually agreed.

• As mentioned above I got to visit Camille and then she got to visit us twice. I'm so happy to have her close by even if she's still 40 mins away that's a lot closer than 3-4 hours away. Pictured below is her quaint little house and some pictures of her room.
• I got up the motivation to run once las week and again this morning after two weeks off. I can't wait for warmer weather. Right now I try to go to the Smith Field House indoor track Mon, Wed, and Fri mornings with Chris. We try to leave around 7:20-7:30ish to beat the rush of students headed for their 8:00 class but sometimes I'm not so motivated or one of the boys decides to sleep in making it hard to go. tBut as stated earlier I can't wait for warmer weather when I can go anytime and enjoy more scenery!
• Gave a relief society lesson yesterday and I tell you what I really struggled with this weeks lesson. Not the topic but how to give it. When I first found out the next two years we'd be teaching from Joseph Smith I was ecstatic! But I think I had envisioned something different then what the lessons are. I think I was thinking the lessons would be on the life of Joseph Smith and his character but understandably the lessons are more doctrine and so far broad, big doctrinal topics. Hindsight it makes sense to have lessons on things such as the first vision, and Christ our Redeemer since Joseph brought back so much truth to topics like these but I'm finding it a challenge to teach on it. I feel like the lessons are very broad and sometimes not always connected smoothly from point to point. So I try and do additional reasearch to backup the manual and by the time I try and bring everything together it's difficult for me to arrange it smoothly. I've enjoyed studying the topics sometimes I just don't feel like I'm able to convey what I've learned effectively when teaching.

Chris:

• For two weeks he's been playing basketball on Wednesday with a group of law students
• Three - four weeks playing tennis with fellow law student Derrick on Friday mornings
• One week going snowboarding on Tuesday(wants this to become regular)
• One week playing doubles in tennis with fellow Jeromites on Saturday evening
• And I think he's also been studying:) along with playing hard with his boysJ
  

So that's everything in a nutshell!