It's Too Soon For This

So, it finally happened.  I was wondering when it would.  This afternoon, I told Jaren if he was hungry he could eat an apple.  So, after a half-eaten apple, Jaren comes to me and says, "Mom, mom! My tooth fell out!"  My first reaction was "Nah, it can't be."  I didn't even know it was loose. But, there it was sitting in his hand and Jaren so proud to finally have joined the ranks with the other kids in his class who have lost their teeth.  It's official.  Tooth fairy is coming here tonight!

Snow in September

Okay, so it really didn't snow here, but it did snow this weekend in Montana. What a way to start September, huh? This weekend, my parents drove up and spent Labor Day weekend with us. We've been telling our family for a long time that this is our last summer here, so if they want to see Glacier and Yellowstone, this is the time to do it. So, my parents came at the end of the summer, literally. When they showed up, we were enjoying 85 degree weather. When they left, they drove home through 8 inches of snow on the pass. Luckily, we were able to go to Glacier before it snowed. It was short-lived but we were able to drive on Going-to-the-Sun road. It really is as beautiful as I've heard it was. The only regret about this weekend was that my dad was not able to take Jaren fishing for the first time. The weather and a few other things conspired against us preventing us from enjoying the weekend to the fullest. But, we had a great time and as usual, Jaren and Eddie were the most bummed when my parents drove away.

So now that I've caught you up with the weekend, let me fill you in on a few other recent developments. Dallin finished his treatment of cranial molding two days ago. He wore his helmet for four months and it has made a lot of difference. The only unfortunate consequence of wearing a helmet for that long is that Dallin is so used to it being there, he is constantly getting bumps, scratches and bruises all over his head. In fact, this evening he fell down the stairs. I always thought that if he fell down the stairs it wouldn't be so bad because he was wearing a helmet. Well, wouldn't you know it, he never did fall down the stairs until tonight.

Jaren started preschool today. He was so excited to start and hopefully still is excited about preschool. Unfortunately, when George picked him up today he said he had been a bad boy and was hurt in his eye. I hope that doesn't mean he got into a fight with another kid, but I'm thinking he did. He's a small kid but he also stands his ground. He's been known to "stand up" for himself at church when other kids have tried to take away his toys. We'll have to work on some of that behavior.

Finally, some sad news for George and I. Last week, George and I found out that I would be having another miscarriage. We didn't announce that we were pregnant again because it was so soon after my first miscarriage (I miscarried June 19 and was 1o weeks pregnant on Sunday-can you do the math?). I began miscarrying yesterday, so we're off to a really great start in September aren't we? Well, to be honest, even though having two miscarriages in a row really isn't that great, I feel comforted in knowing that Heavenly Father has a plan for George and I. I have been humbled several times recently and though some might doubt Heavenly Father's love for me in having me suffer through these, I have felt sustained in my trials and have grown closer to Him as I pray more fervently than I would have if I didn't have trials. I guess I'm one of those people who need a reminder every now and then to keep me humble and prayerful. Anyway, I just wanted to share a few things and let you know that we are doing fine. Life is still good and everything will work out just the way it's supposed to.

Oh and on another side note, George is leaving next week for six weeks. Anyone feel like visiting?

Together Again and Some Milestones

Yesterday, we picked up George from the airport after a two-week separation. Although he was only gone for a week, I left the week before to visit with my family and attend my cousin's wedding reception. Although we missed being together as a family, we were able to visit with our own families and create some good memories. Interesting enough, I was in Washington state and he was in Washington D.C.!

During the two weeks that we were apart, we had some major milestones in our family. Dallin has been taking it slow as far as his gross motor skills are concerned. He can feed himself with a spoon and color with a crayon, but crawling, climbing stairs and walking didn't happen until about a month ago and he did them all within a few weeks of each other. First he began this dead leg crawl, one leg would move and the other he would drag. He seriously looked like an amputee the way his leg curled under as he crawled along. He then felt confident to climb the stairs. He has been walking along walls for sometime now, but he walked really well by himself in the beginning of July. He did that for a day or two and decided he'd rather use the walls again. I'm not sure if an older brother and large dog had anything to do with that!

Well, the day after I arrived at my mom's house, Dallin took off on his own and now he's walking, dancing, turning, squatting and he's even beginning to run. Although Jaren walked at nearly the same age, it's amazing how different they are. Jaren crawled for months and was the fastest little crawler I still have ever seen! Speaking of Jaren, he is finally FULLY potty-trained! I started potty training him last year, a couple months after Dallin was born. I thought that once he was used to his baby brother, things would go so smoothly. How naive I was. I swore never to use Pull-ups, but after many, many, many accidents, I thought it was a good investment in my sanity. Not to mention that I started cloth diapering Dallin earlier this year and cleaning his diapers and Jaren's soiled clothes was nasty business.

Jaren mastered going potty last summer, but then became lazy and would have "accidents"(Is it really an "accident" when kids purposefully won't go to the toilet?). He absolutely refused to poop on the toilet until May when I forced him to while we were waiting outside the temple for George's brother and his new wife. That was a one-time occurrence until the last couple of weeks when I figured out that Jaren enjoys seeing what size poop he has: a baby poop or a daddy poop. Furthermore, I told him that he cannot go to school until he goes poop on the toilet all the time, not just once a day. So, we've gone one full week without any accidents whatsoever! I really don't consider a child potty-trained until they take themselves to the toilet without reminders and accidents are rare. So, Jaren is a bit older than most kids when they are potty-trained but now I can finally say he is! Does anyone want to potty-train Dallin next year?

Dalllin's First Haircut

Dallin's hair was looking pretty shabby, so I decided after breakfast to do something about it, hence you can still see the remnants of his meal. It turned out pretty good, I think. I messed up on the side you cannot see because he turned right as I was snipping. Other than that, I'm quite proud of myself! I guess I can add barber to my mom résumé.

Our Kids are Growing Up

A few notable things occurred this last week. Dallin had his 9-month birthday (one of these days, I will stop counting his birthday in months) and Jaren had his first full week of successful potty training. Most of this occurred while George was two hours away on a 96-hour alert, so I am quite proud of myself that I was able to potty train Jaren while George was gone for five days.

I am so happy that our kids are growing up and becoming more independent. I love the immobile baby stage (less kids to chase), but I am thrilled to see Dallin moving around more and wanting to be active. Thus far, he has shown little interest outside his little circle around him on the floor. I believe it was Karl G. Maeser who said,"Stand me on the floor and draw a chalk line around me and have me give my word of honor never to cross it. Can I get out of that circle? No. Never! I'd die first." Maybe Jaren tricked Dallin into giving his word to never cross an invisible circle, who knows? Maybe it's a sign of his future integrity? Or maybe (most likely) he just has no desire for crawling or rolling across the floor? Well, that's beside the point. What I'm really trying to say is that although he is still not crawling yet, he has become fascinated with standing and jumping. He spends most of his day now in the Johnny Jump Up or on my lap standing and pulling/eating my hair. Jaren was never a big fan of the Johnny Jump Up, so to see Dallin having so much fun in it is really fun to watch. He learned pretty quickly to turn himself around in a circle and then to lift up his legs and let go. It's hilarious to watch.

So, even though these events are small milestones, they are big steps for us! Hoorah for us! Here's a video of Dallin in his new favorite toy.

Dallin is 6 Months Old!

This is Dallin on his six-month birthday. He's getting so big now. After coming back from the doctor's office, Dallin is more or less the same size as Jaren was when he was nine months old. It's amazing how different each child is. Dallin isn't as mobile as Jaren was at the same age, but he is more sociable and gives this winning smile to just about everyone. He has such a great laugh and is so easy going. Thank goodness for easy children!

NURSERY

It's official, Jaren is now 18 months and legal to go to (da da da daa) nursery! We've actually been sticking him in there for about a month, but now I don't have to feel guilty. It's so nice not to have a screaming, tired toddler with me all three hours of church, though I did find the separation a little hard. Jaren did too, but by the time I come to get him, he doesn't want to leave the toys and treats. Who could blame him!?

George is gone on alert today--his first as a commander. Life is crazy right now. We are putting back together our kitchen, planting a garden, and trying to keep up with the demands of owning a home and making everything look nice. There's still a lot of work left to do, but we are hoping to finish everything on the inside of the house by the end of the summer. It's going to be a busy summer too! Well, it's a bit late, so that's all I'll divulge for now. Tchao!

First Family Photo

We are such slackers! We waited a little too long to get an official family photo, but here it is! This was taken at the end of April 2006. Not long after, I (Erin) chopped close to a foot off my hair. Hopefully, the next professional portrait will not take us so long!