Monday, March 30, 2009

"Mercedes is a Princess"

Yesterday morning we were all sitting at the table, some of us eating breakfast, some of us not (fast sunday). Cooper started telling me something quite emphatically, and it took me a minute or two to figure out what he was saying. He kept saying, "Mercedes is a princess. Mercedes is a princess." I figured it out and realized what they'd been playing that morning. Mercedes is great at "giving directions" (code for being bossy) and Cooper is pretty good at following them. They love playing together.

So I tried to put a video of it here. Why does the sound not work? Does anyone know? It works fine on our computer in quick time, but won't transfer sound to the web or i movie. Help?

Friday, March 13, 2009

Big Brother


Cooper is the cutest little boy I know... when he's happy. When Cooper is happy, he's like sunshine. He sparkles. He's full of "please" and "thank you" and "sure" and "luv you." He runs and jumps with excitement when he sees a bus. He runs to Mercedes when she gets home from school, hugging and kissing her.

Maybe he's reached "the terrible two's;" I'm not sure. Lately if he doesn't immediately get things just the way he wants them, he EXPLODES. I really thought that he'd be more like Brent (super easy-going) than me and Mercedes... but it looks like he's a Drama Queen too. The most frustrating thing is that when he's upset he refuses to talk, so we have to guess at what's bothering him. When he wakes up from his nap he just lays in his bed and screams. I REALLY hope that it's all a result of the molars he's getting in, and not a permanent pattern. Still... we can't help but love him to death, especially when he's showing his sweeter side.

Each time Cooper sees Lincoln, he wants to hold and hug and kiss him. It always goes something like this:

Cooper: "Come'ere Ginkon, come'ere!"
kiss kiss (on the head, hopefully)

"I wuv you Ginkon."
hug, pat on the tummy

Mommy: "Be soft, Cooper!"

Cooper: "OK. Come'ere Ginkon!"
kiss, kiss, kiss

Mommy: "That's enough kissing!"





It's just so sweet to see how much our kids love each other.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

I miss waking up to this...






A year ago we moved out of our tiny South Pasadena apartment and into Brent's Grandmother's Laguna Beach house. We could see the ocean from the bedroom. I loved to sit in the living room and just gaze at the ocean. Brent loved to watch the boats. It is such a peaceful place, and we miss it every day. We are grateful for the 3 months we were able to enjoy there.

One last picture, the view of the coast from Heisler Park:

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Two Books I Can Not Live WIthout



Hallelujah!
Lincoln finally went 8 hours between feedings last night, at exactly 7 weeks. Last night I fed him at 9:15 pm, put him down at 10 pm, and didn't hear a peep from him until 4:45 am. I got up and went to the bathroom to wash my hands and take my morning thyroid pill and when I walked into the hallway I heard... silence. So I laid in bed until 5:30 am when he woke again. Can you say heaven?!!!

Thanks to these books...





... both Cooper and Lincoln have been great sleepers. With Cooper I discovered the Healthy Sleep book around two months of age, and by three months he was sleeping 12-13 hours each night. This time I've used the Babywise book to get Lincoln on a schedule, and I feel much more in control. I don't follow all of its "rules"; I haven't let him cry himself to sleep yet. Yesterday I noticed that Lincoln isn't sleeping very well in his swing anymore, so I decided to try the bed again and he slept much more soundly. It's so great to finally put him down in a bed! Life is starting to get easier. Maybe sometime soon I'll be able to be a little less like Oscar the Grouch and a little more like Big Bird.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

A Fun Week

Since school started last fall, I've been feeling like I'm losing my 6 year old. She leaves for school before 7 a.m., gets home just before 3 p.m., and then she's ready to go play with her friends. At 5 she takes a shower, we eat dinner and read scriptures, and suddenly it's bedtime! She's just not home very much anymore and I miss her. I miss having one-on-one time with her. For four years, it was just the two of us. She was definitely mommy's girl. So it was nice to have her home sick this week. She wasn't horribly sick, thank goodness. She just had a low fever that made her feel tired and achy, and she had no appetite. For four whole days I had her to myself! No school, no friends... it's felt like old times. She's been so much nicer, too! No attitude. It's been great. I actually started thinking about home school... you know, just for the rest of this school year. And then I remembered that I have a two year old and a newborn. I don't know how I'd do it. I know that some people do, and I really admire them. I'll just have to settle with looking forward to spring break.

Lincoln's been smiling lately, and I asked Brent to try to get a smile on camera this morning. Here's what we ended up with:







And here's a picture from last week. I just love that the expressions capture their personalities: