Craisins, Waffle batter, and Crazy hair

Life is a never ending adventure when children are present. That's why I love Tage. She keeps me on my toes and keeps me laughing. I have read reports that claim children laugh on average 300-400 times a day, whereas adults laugh about 20 times through out the day. Somewhere between childhood and adulthood we seem to lose 280-380 laughs. WHERE did they disappear to?

By 2 years of age, children laugh about 18 times per hour when they are interacting with their mother. The mother laughs about 30 times per hour when interacting with her infant. Hooray for children! They keep us young!

This weekend was full of laughter. Here are three instances in particular.

1. Tage and I were cleaning the bedroom when Tage sneezed. More than just snot came out. A nice plump Craisin made it's way back to daylight after being housed in Tage's nose for 18 hours. She had stuck it up her nose the previous night (under Daddy's watch might I add!) while I was at Relief Society enrichment. Repeatedly, she had told him "Craisin in the nose! Craisin in the nose!" But Kevin was unable to see it and thought it had come out. He also failed to tell me of this incident, so it was a suprise when it popped out the next afternoon! I had wondered when the day would come that my dear daughter would get an object stuck in her nose...

2. Sunday morning we all made waffles together. We fought off Tage the entire time while she tried to use a teaspoon to "taste" the eggs (which she professionally cracked on the counter), "taste" the flour, "taste" the baking soda, and she finally succeeded in tasting the completed batter. She loves to taste, and always says "I taste it" or "one more taste." I laughed throughout the entire cook off. Who really enjoys eating flour straight anyways?! I think it is weird. Tage thinks it is delicious. Kevin and I both think it is funny.

3. At Church yesterday Tage found a moment to sit by our dear friend Kirsten Dugan and say hi to her daughter "Baby Nora" Upon inspecting Kirsten, Tage touched Kirsten's beautiful, red, curly hair, laughed, and said "CRAZY hair! Crazy, crazy hair! So silly!" Kirsten (whose children I'm sure have said embarrassing statements to others as well) laughed and looked at me saying "I think Tage just told me I have crazy hair." Tage then continued to laugh and say "crazy hair" for a few more minutes until Baby Nora once again distracted her.

4. Allow me a fourth laughing moment. This also happened at church yesterday. Tage escaped us, and was a few rows away, when suddenly she stopped. I saw her face tense up a bit, then go red, then relax. Then again.... tense face, red, face, relax. Suddenly, she shouts back to Kevin and I "I POOPING! YAY!!!! (she claps her hands) I POOPING!" I hide my face, and then quickly spring into action, scooping her up and taking her out of the chapel, and straight to the mother's lounge where we change her, yes, poopy diaper.


I am recommitted to laughing more. I believe it is good for you. As a recreational therapist, I have seen the importance of laughing and having a good time. It is healing and can produce results that no modern medicine can.

I will leave you with one of my favorite quotes. It reminds me to enjoy life, no matter what task I am working on. I can have fun and find happiness in anything, if I allow myself to.

"A Master at the Art of Living makes no distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his education and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues with excellence what he is about and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. He, himself, always knows he is doing both." Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone July 1995

Cuddle Bug

"I cuddle Mommy? Okay!" and "I cuddle Daddy!" are phrases repeated frequently in our home. A few months ago, Tage got into the habit of wanting to cuddle before going to bed or taking a nap. Although Kevin and I both know that she uses it as a way to stall bedtime, we allow it to happen. At first, we tried to resist it, we didn't want her to expect it all the time, but now we love the time we have to cuddle our little angel.
We have had many memorable moments during our nightly cuddles. For me, I relish the times she sings "the Temple song" ("I love to see the temple") to me, or gives me a kiss then wipes it off and gives me another, and another, and another. I like to use the opportunity to tell Tage how much I love her. Kevin likes to use the time to teach her gospel truths, like "Jesus Christ is our Savior."
I don't regret letting this become a habit. Sure, it extends her nighttime routine, but how long will she want to keep doing this? Some day, she will grow up, and won't beg to "cuddle Mommy" anymore. I am going to take advantage of this time while it is still here.
And now, my little cuddle bug is awake from her nap, and I am going to go smother her in kisses!

Fire Trucks Help

A few weeks ago....

Fire alarm sounds at the fire station across the street.

Tage and Mommy watch the fire trucks and ambulance take off.

Tage "I see fire truck!"

Mommy " You do! Fire trucks help people. That fire truck is going to someone who needs help."

Tage repeats "Fire truck help people"

Fast forward to This Morning:

Fire alarm goes off.

Tage, pointing to her ear "I hear bells!"

Daddy "Yes, you hear the fire alarm!"

Mommy "Tage, what do fire trucks do?"

Tage "Fire truck help Tage poop!"

Laughter from both parents concludes the conversation.

Poor Tage needs help pooping.... if ONLY the fire truck really could help! It would solve all our problems in that area. I guess we'll just settle for another Doctor's appointment and more laxatives....

I need help too... maybe a fire truck could come help me clean my house... hmm... if ONLY!

Baby "Broken"

Last weekend we made another trip to Dover for Tage's newest cousin Brooklyn's blessing. Tage loves to see Brooklyn and prounces her name "Broken" It is really cute. The weekend started with a late afternoon departure and an hour delay at the Bay Bridge. It has been a long time since we have driven to Dover without an hour-two hours of delays at the bridge due to beach traffic. Last time we went was July 31, for Great Pop-Pop's funeral. A 2.5 hour trip turned into an almost 4 hour trip... making us 30 minutes late to the funeral, which they kindly held up for us. I was completely embarrassed, but it was out of my control. It wasn't even a weekend, or rush hour. There's just never a good time to travel that direction during beach season.

Anyways, I had a cold the entire trip, so I didn't do much of anything while there. The picture is from Sunday just before church. It turned out decent, but Tage was actually being very uncooporative! In the picture, she is actually pushing Daddy away, saying "Don't Daddy!" and I am barely holding her as she was throwing herself around. She looks happy though! She was pretty upset about the dress she was wearing. It is silky and has hearts all over it. She loves hearts, and wants to draw them all the time, so you'd think she'd love the dress! Whenever we try to put it on her, she crys and fights us and says "Noooo! A different dress! A different dress!" But I made her wear it that day (it was the only dress we brought with us). Even in Sacrament Meeting, she began tugging at her dress and she said "I don't like it! Take it off! Take it off! A different dress!" That was probably the last time she'll wear it though, it is getting pretty short. She wears mostly 3T dresses now, because she is so tall and I like them to be a little longer, instead of right at her bum.

The drive home was much better. We only had a 10 minute delay at the bridge. I would like to thank Hurricane Hanna for that.

I blog

I have long been an anti-blogger, but have now succumbed. It is mainly for my purposes, I can't imagine anyone other than my family being interested in what I have to say, but I think it could be a good way to journal and record our family memories.

First of all, Happy Birthday to my dear Daddy-o! I hope he had a great day, spending it with his grandson Jaxton in Utah! I tried to have Tage call and say "Happy Birthday Grandpa!" But when I put the phone up to her, she pushed it away and said so sweetly "No thank you mommy, all full" (a phrase she learned at meal time when I give her something she doesn't want!) Oh well, we tried, sorry Grandpa! My Dad is great, and I love him and am grateful for this day that we celebrate his debut in the world!

Tage and I had a pretty good day. She slept in her big girl bed last night and didn't fall out. She woke up and was telling me about something "ewwy! gross!" on the wall. There was a spot of something (who knows what, and I don't think I want to know!) and then grabbed her bear and said "Bear! Look! The wall... eeewww! Gross!" and put the bear's face right up to the wall to look. I laughed to myself, she is so much fun in what she does and says now! She likes to sleep with her bear, hippo, and bunny. She also must have her pink blanket (her favorite) and her purple blanket and white blanket. Every morning she hands every animal and blanket to me before she will get up. At night she likes to sleep on her belly, so she also puts her animals on their belly.

I finally went to the doctor again for my OB check up. My 2nd time in 5 months of pregnancy! Not completely my fault though. The first three months I was kept in the dark of my pregnancy... thinking it was just anemia flaring up again, and poor eating habits that was leading to weight gain. My own brother, who had just returned from his mission had the guts to ask me if I was pregnant at back in June. When I told him "No, I'm just gaining weight..." he responded with "Oh, it's just looked like you have a beginning of pregnancy stomach" How would he know anyways? He's lucky I didn't clobber him, but it turned out he was right!

We are expecting a BOY, and so are excited to have one of each gender now. People that Kevin works with say "OH good! You'll have one of both, now you can be done!" HA. They are shocked when we tell them, no, we actually plan to have more. At least 4... and then we will go from there! Hopefully this baby will be small than Tage. Or at least no bigger. Tage was 8lbs. 13oz when she was born and that was a SHOCKER! I'm not so sure I want to birth a baby much larger than that. We shall see!

Okay,