Afton turns fwee

Almost two weeks ago, Afton celebrated her third birthday. She had been anticipating that day ever since she helped her dad blow out his birthday candles in December. It took her almost that long to be able to hold up just three fingers.

Our celebration was low-key, but the day was all Afton. We started off in the morning with her very first "official" haircut. In the afternoon we went shopping for a new swimming suit and pajamas. (Somehow we ended up with new jelly shoes and sunglasses as well.) After a quick smoothie, we headed home so she could play with her grandfather while I made dinner and decorated the cake -- wormcake, no less. (Thank you Max and Ruby...) Dinner was her favorite food, and she was pretty excited about her presents.

My favorite part of the day was when I woke her up. In an attempt to coax her out of grouchiness I said, "Afton, it's your birthday! You are three today!" She paused, looked at me, and then said with utter shock, "I'm not two anymore?" It was as if a magic trick had been performed. I hope all her birthdays will feel that way.

The only hunting we do around here...

is for eggs and treasure. Both at Easter-time.

Thinking that an Easter egg hunt would be more fun if other kids were involved, I organized a small egg hunt for the little kids at our church along with another mom. Afton was pretty excited.

You may have noticed that I am in a winter coat and Afton is in a short sleeve shirt. The short explanation is that it was 48 degrees outside, Tony and I have completely opposite internal thermostats (I'm always cold, he's always hot), and we tend to dress our kids to our own comfort level. On a 70 degree day, I frequently put sweatshirts on them. On a 48 degree, rainy day, this is what Tony prefers. (Afton was seemingly fine.)

Following the egg hunt, we did some Easter-oriented games, and that's when the real hilarity began. They had never played any of these games before and, to Afton, all of them seemed absurd. After watching her little friend (who was wearing a blindfold) pin the tail on the bunny, Afton seemed pretty stoked and plopped her tail on the poster.

Then her crazy mother made her put a towel around her head and try it again. Unable to see, she thought it was the most stupid thing ever.

And by the end, she managed to lift the blindfold up so she could perfectly place the tail on the right spot...

We also tried tossing Easter egg bean bags into an Easter basket. I placed them up behind the line in the concrete, but again, Afton gave me a look that said, "That's dumb." When it was her turn, she walked right up to the basket and carefully dropped the bean bag in.

I'll skip the pictures of the Easter cake walk we put together. But let's just say that no toddler is going to walk in a circle until the music stops and wait for their color to be called when he or she can clearly see the plate of cookies three feet away. The music started, and they walked in every direction. Finally Afton's color was called (mostly because Tony was running the music by that point and just looked to see what color of construction paper she was standing on so we could get this charade over with). Not surprisingly, she chose the pink butterfly cookie.

And what, do you ask, was Ainsley doing during this whole afternoon of Easter festivities? Hanging out with her dad, desperately wanting a nap :).

Then, despite days and days of rain this spring, Easter Sunday was bright, sunny, and warm. Sort of a fitting feeling for the celebration of Christ's triumph over death. And fortunately, no one wants to ruin Easter by meeting with the bishop, so Tony was home from church early. We took a couple pictures in the backyard and headed to Easter dinner with the grandparents.

And then, to turn Easter into a prolonged three-day event, for Monday night's family activity, Afton did her very first treasure hunt -- a tradition from Tony's family. Tony made clues (they rhymed), and Afton and I scampered all over the house, finding them.

We finally made our way to the clue in the laundry room where the girls' Easter baskets were waiting for them, carefully hidden in the dryer.
Afton particularly liked her pez dispenser with a chick on top.
And there you have it -- Easter 2011 in all its fun and glory.

The Best Birthday Cake Ever!

When Tony asked Afton what kind of cake they should make for my birthday this year, Afton was adamant: wormcake. Afton has become a bit obsessed with this show on Nick Jr. called "Max & Ruby." (For those not familiar, it's a cartoon about a brother and sister bunny combo -- the bossy older sister, Ruby, and the mischievious but nice little brother Max.) In one of the episodes, Max switches out Ruby's beautifully decorated pink cake for a pile of mud with some wiggly worms. Yes, that's what Afton thought I should have.

So Tony bought a chocolate cake mix, chocolate frosting, and gummy worms. Then they set to work. The results were fantastic.

Ainsley Learns to Crawl

Sometime mid-February, it was apparent that Ainsley desperately wanted to crawl. She began by pushing herself up on her two arms, per usual. And per usual (I suppose), whenever she tried to get her feet involved, the only direction she would go was backwards. We would hear whimpers and plaintive cries, only to find that Ainsley had wedged herself underneath some piece of furniture or simply against large objects or the wall.

(Please excuse the chapped cheeks - at the time, she was also teething and thus drooling like a faucet. Despite our attempts with chapstick and mopping up the wet mess, we couldn't entirely keep the redness at bay...)

And, of course, some rescue efforts were a little more smooth sailing than others...

Then came all the yoga poses. Cow...
Cobra...
Side plank...

And my personal favorite, her Down dog. She did this all the time. I think she used it to rotate (or something).

But, at last, during our March trip to Oregon, sweet success. She's been cruising ever faster since, with only one new problem: now she wants to walk. Ah, the urge for progress.

New Year's Resolutions Fallen by the Wayside

I don't normally make New Year's resolutions. For the most part, I figure if I want to do something, I'll just do it. Plus, if I set a goal to do something and then don't do it, it's a double whammy: not only do I not get that something done, but I feel like I failed. Who needs that?

But for whatever reason, this year I made a number of New Year's resolutions. They were: (1) Sign up for a gym membership (at a gym with onsite child care) and go; (2) Start reading books for my monthly book club again; (3) Covet less; (4) Read all the talks from the LDS October 2010 General Conference by the April 2011 General Conference; (5) Read the the assigned chapters for the Sunday school lessons before Sunday school each week; and (6) Blog more.

I've actually done all right on the first four and about 20 percent on the fifth one. But without doubt, I haven't come close on the last one. (And I was only shooting for once a week...)

So with renewed resolution to blog more, here's a summary of the last three months:

• Ainsley learned to crawl.
• Afton got potty trained (at least with respect to the waking hours).
• Tony seems to be around more. (His Thursday night meetings have decreased and his new Sunday schedule puts him home mid-afternoon. Fantastic!)
• For the second year in a row, I took an extended vacation in March with kids but still managed to be home during the entire March Madness tournament.
• After Duke and BYU lost in the same night, Tony declared that this year's tournament was dead to him anyway.
• Ainsley has decided that Tony is pretty cool. Truth be told, she wasn't a huge Tony fan for the first few months of her life. (She'd burst into tears at least 50% of the time he tried to hold her.) Now she's all over him. This morning, she pushed me away to get to him.
• Afton's language abilities have really increased, as has her bossiness. Parenting.com says this is normal. It can actually be funny. For example: Tony and Afton were heading out the door one day on an "adventure." Tony came out of the room wearing a blue button-up shirt. Afton took one look at him and said, "No Daddy. Not that shirt! [exasperated sigh] The bear shirt! [as in, isn't it obvious?!?]" The best part: Tony changed his shirt.

And a few pictures of the crew just for fun... (Tony was about ready to leave for a church meeting and the girls mobbed him because they didn't want him to go...)

Stay tuned!

Christmas 2010 in Review

With Valentine's Day a mere week away, here's a belated summary of our Christmas. Oddly enough, this year's holiday was filled with highs and lows and little in between. For example....

High: We trekked to Oregon and got to spend Christmas with my entire family. Originally, my brother and sister-in-law who live in the middle of nowhere were not planning to come home for the holidays. But they changed their minds and surprised all of us by showing up two days before Christmas. I got to see Baby Lu for the first time.

High: Afton kind of sort of got Christmas this year. She knew about "Beebee Jezuz" and his "mommy Mer-wee" and his "daddy Jozus." She also knew that "nanna Claus comes at night and mings mesents." She has since reminded me on a number of occasions that "Nanna Claus is really busy."

Low: Sleep deprivation. You know the things that make a baby have difficulty sleeping: a growth spurt, illness, being away from home, teething... Ainsley had all four at once. It was like keeping up with a newborn again. She woke up every two hours. She usually wouldn't go back to sleep for two or three hours in the middle of the night. That lasted the entire vacation. Sigh...

High: I got to see a lot of extended family too. In fact, I saw all my aunts and uncles on my mom's side of the family.

Low: The stomach flu. Tony got it the day after Christmas. I got it the night before I came home.

High: I watched the first four episodes of Glee with mon frere. (So that's what all the buzz is about.)

High: For the first time in several months, my shoulder didn't hurt for about a week. Ainsley had so many other people who wanted to love her and hold her, my body got a bit of a break.

Low: I cried for two hours on New Year's Day. I had looked forward to this vacation for months, especially November and December when we were so busy and Tony was gone a lot and we were sick. I had expected that I'd come home and get rested up so I could go back to my regular long days renewed and replenished. On New Year's Day, not only was it day 10 of crazy sleep, but I suddenly realized that despite all the help I had received, I would return to Utah more exhausted than I came. Perhaps like many moments in life, it's hard not so much because of the situation but because my expectations were so wildly different than reality.

High: In the middle of my New Year's Day crying spell, I sat down on the couch to nurse Ainsley before my parents took her and Afton to visit their great-grandma. Afton pulled up a stool in front of me, sat down, patted my knee, and said (in a soothing voice), "It o-tay Mommy. It o-tay." Then she proceeded to sing me a song -- a completely off-key, unrecognizable song. It was heart-warming.

High: Afton lived it up for two weeks with oodles of grandparent attention. The day after we got home, she asked to go back.

High: My little brother continues to come through for me. Since I was nervous about driving home by myself (Tony had gone home the week before), Jordan agreed to drive me and the crew back to Salt Lake. He had extra duties that day because I was still feeling the effects of the stomach flu. (He changed Afton's diaper and cleaned up Ainsley's projectile spit-up -- exactly what a 24-year-old bachelor wants to do with his free-time over Christmas break.) While it took Tony nine hours to get us to Oregon, it took Jordan eight to get us back. I still have no idea how fast he was driving, and I still don't care.

Fortunately, Ainsley's sleep has drastically improved over the past month. With it, our own sleep has improved. Not surprisingly, so has our ability to laugh about all the ups and downs. A Christmas we won't forget, right? :)