A smile is worth $1000

I bought a little book at a garage sale the talks about feelings. Its a really cute little story that follows a frog around and each page has a different feeling. I feel happy when... I feel frustrated when... silly etc... Well on the I feel sad page the little frog feels sad when his new balloon floats up in the sky. After I finished the book Grace was just sobbing, real tears and everything. I said what is the matter and she said he lost his balloon, like dad lost my balloon. She cried and cried for a good 20 minutes.

(Being a little mean it was so hard not to laugh at her.. I said, "hit a little too close to home?") When Mike came home from work I told him what she had said and he was like, "When did I lose her balloon?" And oh the memory of a two year old - when we had Easter pictures with the cousins back in early April.

So that night Mike went and bought Grace a balloon - you can see how she loves balloons, and how tightly she is gripping the streamer it's tied to, there was no way she was losing another!

Inside Outside Upside Down

I like the rain - in the spring and in the fall. I like the rain at Jacob Lake where I could be carefree and jump in puddles and be drenched in seconds. I like the rain in Baton Rouge where it poured sheets of rain for 15 minutes and be sunny at the same time. I used to like to sit on the couch and read a good book or drink hot chocolate when it was cold and rainy. I like that I don't have to water my garden or lawn because of rain. But, but, but.... I am really really really done done done (you get the idea I'm sure) with the current weather conditions!

Grace and Max have been so stir crazy the last couple of days. I can tell my rainy day, gloomy, mellow mood is weather related. So yesterday we escaped the walls of the house, without getting wet. I took the kids to the indoor Back Yard Adventure place in Kaysville. It was $5 bucks per child and well worth a little sanity check in my humble opinion. We were the only people there and it took Grace a few minutes to get brave enough to climb up the tree house, but after awhile she loved it. Both her and Max laughed and laughed. Max climbed all over and was fascinated with the wall paintings. He was so busy the whole time I could not get one picture of him looking at the camera. Grace loved the tire swing and the little telescope - we played for an hour and half and then they both crashed when we got home.

Gracisms... and more.

Gracisms.....

During the sacrament I always try to tell Grace Jesus loves her... Well a couple Sunday's ago Grace screamed back, "No! Jesus loves Max!"

My mom was watching the kids for us on Friday and as I went to say bye to Max I smelled something... I said, are you stinky again? And Grace piped up, "No, it's just gas. He just has gas."

Grace wakes up in the night and comes in to my bed. (Something I swore I would never do.) And she says, "Get dad of his pillow for me." Which means Dad gets booted to the couch, because I'm just to tired to fight at 3am.

Max got a yeast infection on his bum from all the antibiotics hes been on. I told someone on the phone that his poor bum was so red. The next morning Grace said, "Max has a bum infection on his peeps?"

Grace runs around with Mikes flash light that goes on his head. She thinks its a camera and she says, "Sit still for one minute! I'm takin your picture!" One may wonder where she has heard that before!

I almost forgot this one... "Mom, I'm going to feed the ducks!" I hear the front door open - and she is on her way. The park is about a mile from our house. We deadbolt the door now.

Max had a few bad days after his surgery, he got some other virus that caused a high fever and really bad blow outs 6-7 times a day.

Then I took him in for his 12 month check up and shots... 5 weeks late. (I wanted him to get over everything he had!) He weighed 23.5 lbs and was 32 inches long. That put him in 50% for weight and 90-95% for height. He only gained 1lbs in the last 6 months. But I don't think anyone ever looks at Max and thinks he has an eating problem!

I did talk with the doctor about him not eating most kinds of meat. He won't eat hamburger, chicken, turkey etc... He'll eat ham and sometimes lunch meat and hot dogs, but that's about 50/50. She thinks he just doesn't like the texture of meat and he'll probably grow out of it.

Over all he's doing really good now! He's back to my happy little boy. The last few weeks he's really started to find his voice and has started yelling, singing and babbling like normal little kids. Its amazing what being able to hear will do for a little boy!

We are loving the warm days! The kids can play outside for hours. Max loves to "help" in the garden, he eats dirt and rocks and makes his mother crazy!

We are not loving church at all. Our ward goes from 11-2, well Max always goes down for a nap at 11 and he will not fall asleep being held. So by the time sacrament is over at 12:10 he is wrestles and cranky. Grace does not know how to whisper, and thinks its a funny game. I'm sure everyone thinks I'm beasty - This week she went potty 4 times at church. She went every single time - and if I don't let her go she always starts yelling "I SAID I HAVE TO ..." so which is worse, having her yell that in sacrament or just getting up and taking her? The last two weeks she has also started not wanting to go to nursery either. She has been really liking it for months now - but has become very clingy. Last week I left her screaming hysterically and went to opening exercises for Primary. 15 minutes later I could still her her screaming so I went and got her. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with her! She wants held constantly and has also started crying when I leave her with Ruth in the mornings. Is this just a phase?

I'll have to get some picks of the kids playing in the pool and water - but probably not this week, forecast calls for rain every single day!

Outside play

Grace and Max love to ride on the little 4 wheeler, to be honest Max is a better driver than Grace. We are so thankful for perfect evenings lately where we can just sit outside and let them play, they are both so much happier outside!

Here's our little swing set, Max always tries to climb out the slide, he gets about 1/2 way and then falls off or slides back down. He's tough though and doesn't cry for too long. They also love the little car Grace got for Easter. In my opinion, outside toys are worth every penny!

My little Walker boy

Max was taking 5-6 steps before his surgery. But this is the morning after - he's walking through the whole house now. I'm positive this is not a coincidence! It's like he has balance now! The look of pride on his face is priceless! Way to go Max!

I can't figure out how to turn it. Sorry.

Max's surgery

Max got tubes in his ears and had his adenoids out on Tuesday. We had to be to the hospital by 630 - and he couldn't have anything to eat after midnight. Max wakes up almost every night for a bottle around 4 - so I was a little worried about that, but he did really well. When we got to the hospital Max was so busy he couldn't stop for a picture, he wanted to explore and get into everything.

Mike and I watched the surgery, and I'm guessing that's not something I'll ever do again. I have never considered a job in the health care industry for good reason. I was so squeamish, even before they cut into his ear drum. He had quite a bit of fluid in his ear drum, and the doctor thinks he should hear much better now. The doctor also said his adenoids were completely closing off his nasal passage, so he should breathe much better after his recovery.

When the surgery was over they warned me he was not going to be happy and that he would cry for a little while. I was not prepared. He screamed and cried. He couldn't be consoled. He didn't want me, he didn't want Mike, he wanted on the floor, then he'd toss and try and hit his head. It broke my heart. After an hour they said we could go - Max was still screaming, I thought they were kidding - surely they wouldn't let him leave screaming. They weren't. He cried for another 1/2 hour and then fell asleep. 2 hours later he woke up much happier. You can tell he still doesn't feel 100% - but we are praying this solves all of Max's health problems! NO MORE DOCTORS!

The pictures are presurgery - the video is about 40 minutes after they brought him back... its fast, but breaks my heart.

Mini-Golf

Last Saturday we went for a little family outing to Cherry Hill. It was our first Mini-Golf of the season. Grace loved it - she thought the little castle was a little house just for her. She didn't want the golf club and instead preferred just throwing her ball towards the hole. She also "helped" mommy and daddy by picking up our balls and placing them in the hole. Max loved being outside. He was perfectly content the entire time.

I would love to find a stroller friendly golf course - anyone???

Mike won by 2 strokes - we will be having a rematch... Each month in the Hometown Value's coupon book Cherry Hill has a buy one get one free. Grace is free - so it's not a bad family outing for 6 bucks.