March

Sawyer

Sawyer has really started to try and sing along in primary. Even when he doesn't know the words, he'll mouth some kind of similar noises to the words and he pulls such a sincere face. It makes my blubbery self tear up watching him.

The poor kid is in a weird age gap between everyone else's kids that we sometimes play with (with the exception of a few) and so he is almost always the only kid his age at a playgroup type setting, with the difference being a couple years each way most of the time. He's always so excited to play with the big kids though but lately we've had some kind of disheartening experiences where they all purposely band together and exclude him. Like in a really obvious and mean way. Thankfully my tenderhearted guy didn't take notice the first few get togethers it happened and kept just playing right along but then he started to pick up on it at some later play dates and I could tell it was making him sad and it broke me heart right in two. I would get it more if he was mean or a desctructo type kid but he's really congenial 98% of the time. Anyway, we left and I had a talk with him about how it's important to be nice and how glad I am that he tries his hardest to be nice and play with everyone and that some kids are still learning to do that. We haven't done play group since but have had some other play dates with kids closer to his age and those have gone smoothly. It was a sad little hurdle and I know it won't be the last time he gets bullied since it's seems all kids go through it but, man, he's four years old for goodness sake. 

Lately he's been taking FOREVER in the bathroom. He used to pop in, take care of business, and be right back out but now he'll take way too long. I decided to check on him one day and discovered him using the toilet lid as a "mouth" for the toilet while making it talk, and then he'd talk back ha. So he's turned bathroom time into play time which for the most part is fine, until I see that he's used a half a bottle of soap to wash his hands (read: make a mess in the sink).

When he's feeling sweet he likes to tell me, "You're the best parent ever, Mom" and it successfully makes me all melty and almost makes me forgot the exhausting argumentative stage he's in right now.

One of his funny moments from our quick little trip up North was when we went to the butterfly exhibit at Thanksgiving point. He was really, REALLY not into those giant butterflies that kept flying directly at his face (though we found a couple of tiny ones that he didn't mind looking at). So he and I did a double-quick walk through while Andee, Dillon, and Dawson lingered and then I took Sawyer up to the exit. The worker there asked Sawyer what his favorite butterfly was and he just looked at her with a serious face and said, "The big butterflies scare me." It was just such an innocent, truthful little kid moment that made me laugh.

Dawson

At the very beginning of March, Dawson and I attempted potty training. I felt like he was more ready than Sawyer had been when I started with him. Sawyer never showed any of the signs that "they" tell you to watch for and we just went for anyway. Dawson has been really aware of his diaper happenings and was telling us, "I peed, need new diaper." So I thought it was time. It started out really great. He went from bottomless to undies within one day with only one accident (we tried the commando step that is recommended but he rebelled hard against that stage and was genuinely angry at having pants without a layer between... so we just did undies with no pants). Day 2 was good in undies with only one accident and I thought we had it made ha. Day 3 he was over the novelty of it and had about a million accidents. I remembered Sawyer backsliding like that and then bouncing back so decided to keep with it. But guys, days 4 and 5 were horrendous. He stopped trying to make it to the potty at all, would scream bloody murder if I suggested he used the potty, and would legitimately rage if I put him on the toilet to go. Like it was tantrum level insane. He was hating life, I was hating life and so on day 6, we decided to wait and try again later. I used to be of the mindset that once you started, you're committed; going back to diapers would only hinder progress. But I think each kid is so different and Dawson really was not digging it in a very real way. So, we'll try again when it warms up a little so he can at least play in the backyard instead of being trapped in the house for a week. 

Just some things he says that are worth getting down. He calls broccoli "little trees" and actually enjoys eating it a good amount of the time. Everything is "super". He's super cold, things are super awesome, his food is super yummy, etc.

 Some of his funny moments from our trip: The first night we were at Andee's and he screamed for an hour and took another hour to go to sleep (he seriously is the worst sleeper when we travel. THE.WORST.) and we finally got him calmed down, he sobbed out "Where's my Andee?" from his pack 'n play. Kid wanted his Aunt. At 11:00. Dillon and I both were like, "She's sleeping like a normal human, dude!" Thankfully, we made different bedroom arrangements for the next couple of nights and they were definitely better. Not great, but better. He desperately called after Dillon when Dillon walked away to get ready for the day "Don't leave me!" (he loves his dad for sure) and when he got tired of walking at all the museums he asked Dillon, "Hold you?" And when Dillon didn't respond because he didn't hear him, Dawson cried out, "Please! Pleeeaaaase!" with the most pleading look a toddler has ever had on their face.

Dillon

We got asked to speak in sacrament earlier in the month and it just so happened that it fell on a week where Dillon was also in charge of our Family Home Evening lesson and our primary class lesson. So he was feeling the crunch. I teased him that he apparently needed an extra spiritual boost that week. 

Sometimes Dillon will get in what I deem as extravagant holiday baking moods. I'm never one for putting in hours of effort over food, especially baked goods. And on holidays I usually try to do some festive things but on days like St. Patrick's Day, I'll try to get us all in green and maybe make some lucky charms treats or something. But Dillon decided he wanted to find a recipe for Irish soda bread- Googled like crazy, found one he liked, and whipped some up from scratch. And it was dang good. That kind of stuff's just not in me. So I'm glad he'll do it when the mood strikes him.


DaNae

When it was my turn to speak in our church meeting, I decided to give a little intro/background on us first. We've been in the ward six-ish years but some folks (mostly older ones) still ask me if we're new or how long we've been there (probably being in primary doesn't help, no one over the age of eleven sees us ha). Anyway, I told a little bit about us and said that we had two boys and that I was pregnant with a little girl coming in July. And I kid you not, the entire congregation "awwwwed" in unison. It was seriously the sweetest.

I turned 30 this month and have no monumental feelings about it. I don't love that my age starts with a 3 instead of a 2. But I'm also grateful that I get the opportunity to keep aging, quite honestly. I can't say that I had any specific idea or goal of where I feel like my life should be at this stage but I'm pretty darn happy with where it ended up. I think these thirties are going to be some of my best years yet. 

Baby girl is still into meat. The other night I had Dillon complete a legitimate, "I'm pregnant and need this now" food run. We had no readily available meat in the house and that was seriously the only thing I wanted in the world at that moment. So he ended up grabbing a bucket of chicken and it was just the thing that this baby needed.. at 10:00 pm ha. Plus it fed us for a couple more meals so.. winning? I can feel her move a lot more now and am starting to detect some patterns. Currently she moves the most the half hour before the boys wake up in the morning, usually for awhile when both boys are napping, and again for a half hour after the boys have gone to bed. So I'm translating that into a lot less sleep when she's on the outside because duh.. but also because it looks like she's going to be awake every time the boys are asleep. I still have a terrible after taste flavor when I eat most things. This weird pregnancy symptom went away with the boys a little before the halfway mark but looks like it's sticking around with this pregnancy. It's not the worst thing in the world, but definitely annoying. I'm already sleeping with about five pillows surrounding me so I can at least be kind of comfortable. Heaven help me when that third trimester hits hard. I'm down to puking only once a week now which is no small improvement and I am grateful. I finally have a pretty decent amount of energy during the day but am still ready for bedtime around the time we put the boys down. Things are definitely moving along, slowly and also so fast at the same time.

Loose flower he found at the grocery store that he was so excited to wear.

Halfway belly.

The tiniest undies on the the tiniest guy.

Preschool picture.

The boys filled their warm fuzzy jar and got to go to the arcade!

They loved it!

Especially the prizes they were able to "buy".

Target photo-op

I love them.

Working hard to help dad with the wagon.

Ready to watch some baseball.

Opening oysters for one of our FHE lessons.

He was so excited to find a pearl!

He was a little concerned by the gross oyster insides.

On the way up to SLC for our mini vacation. He's started to tuck his hands in like this when he gets tired and it's just one of those quirks I want to remember.

Best ride we've ever had with these two. Traveling during nap time pays off.

Pit stop at the Santaquin Red Barn.

Thanksgiving Point. Dinosaur museum first.

Giant dino leg.

Aunt Andee and Dawson.

Roaring Dinosaurs

The erosion table was definitely their favorite part.

Butterfly exhibit next.

Brothers.

The face of nervousness.

I tried to have him pose by a butterfly on the ground and that lower jaw/nervous face came out in full force while he refused to sit and clung tightly to my arm. I didn't torture him much after that, we made our visit pretty quick. 

Dawson was super into it though and loved seeing all the butterflies with his dad and Andee.

Next stop: Farm country. Dawson was into riding the pony.

Until he actually had to sit on it. 

Last stop at Thanksgiving Point. Museum of Natural Curiosity. This one was so fun!

Just playing with some washers and dryers.

Being a vet.

The water room. I was unprepared for this one and definitely should have brought a change of clothes for the boys. And also done this room very last. But now we know! And they loved it so much!

Aquarium the next day with a good portion of Dillon's family.

The crew.

The pictures at the aquarium always turn out blurry, but I try to get them anyway.

Allie and Dawson.

Sawyer loved having his big cousins there and preferred walking around with them over hanging out with me and Dillon.

Dawson and Jaidyn. He loved hanging out with the cousins too.

How Sawyer spent a good portion of his time- his hand held in Jaidyn's. He was all about hanging with her a good chunk of the time we were there.

In the rainforest exhibit. Dawson kept telling me, "I'm so sweaty!" I hear ya, dude.

Hanging out before our drive home Sunday afternoon.

Preschool picture. Conveniently discussed dinosaurs right before our trip.

Grandma and Grandpa are expanding their house so there was some major digging going on in their backyard which the boys were all about.

Dawson wrapped up his month by waking up with a pretty high fever (103.2) out of nowhere. He had no other symptoms that were obvious to me so we just lived on Tylenol and popsicles for a few days. And he fell asleep in my arms a few times which he hasn't done since his newborn days. I'm still not sure what it was that he came down with but it took him a good couple of weeks to really get over it.