Tom Boy

Lily is already stealing her brother's cars. As you can see, she casts aside her doll for the chance to get her paws on a truck!

as a side note; are ruffle bum pants not the best!?

Pancake Breakfast

Saturday we went to the Epping Elementary Pancake Breakfast. Shane saw a sign in a Subway a few weeks ago and thought it would be fun, as there was also an egg hunt and the Easter Bunny would be there too!
We got there 10 minutes late and missed the ENTIRE egg hunt! We didn't realize that the WHOLE TOWN was going to be there. We got there right as the line to go inside was the longest. I stood in line with Lily for about 30 minutes while Shane and Oliver ran around the playground. Luckily I thought ahead and brought a few eggs to put in his basket, so he wasn't too bummed that he missed the hunt.
We finally got inside only to find out that they had run out of sausage (horror of horrors!!) and that it cost $2 extra to get your picture with the Easter Bunny. Sorry, we're too cheap for that! So we got our pancakes (and went up later for sausage) and Oliver did a GREAT job. He sat at the table with us and ate his whole meal with his fork! Very rare for our little man!
Although it was hectic and out of the way, it was still a fun morning and I think it got Oliver excited for Easter festivities to come!

Oliver with the Easter bunny...this is as close as we got!!

yummy pancakes

Snack time

On one of the more gorgeous days, I left the porch door open to air out the apartment.

Oliver asked for a snack. An apple, perhaps? I peeled and cut it for him, and handed him the bowl.

I then heard lots of furniture being moved out on the porch, so I went to check...

What an independent little guy, setting up his own table!

Oliver just wanted a good view of the cars passing by while having his snack!

Family Bed

Try as we may, we just can't seem to keep these babies out of our bed!
(can't you see how hard I'm trying to get them out...not!)

Crocs

A family friend gave Lily some Crocs. A-dor-able!

Oliver is now the only one in the family without crocs!

I will say, though, that the shoes only stay on for a photo shoot and not much longer on Ms. Kicky-boots' feet! Still love those sweet little feet!

Monster Bum

Lily's Great Grandma knitted these pants for her.

She wears them almost daily.

Every time she wears them she gets compliments.

Thanks G-Grandma!

We love our monster pants!

A dapper fellow

The Negotiator

Tonight when Oliver was taking his bath he started splashing.

The water was going everywhere.

I told him no more splashing, or we have to end the bath.

He looks me in the eye and says with authority "Tiny splashes"

I relented.

He proceeded to do the tiniest little splashes I have ever seen.

And had the time of his life!

Well played, sir, well played.

Spew Bucket

Sunday evening during dinner Oliver started proclaiming "Booboo!" and pointing to his belly. He's done this before and I just kiss it better and he's okay. It seemed like he was using it as an excuse to get out of his seat before dinner was over. Then at about 830 we took him up to the crib in the spare bedroom at my parents' house (we were there for my birthday celebration), because he requested to go to bed (VERY RARE). Shane laid him down in bed, he stood up, gagged twice, and up came dinner. Incredibly lucky, actually, it all landed inside of the crib, not a drop on the carpet! So Shane got him into the tub while I put all of the bed clothes into the laundry. When asked how his booboo was, he said "Booboo gone" so we figured something just didn't sit well with him from dinner. We did have curry which could have done it.

As we were getting ready to leave, Oliver coughed, but my highly tuned mother ear (and all mothers will know this sound) could tell that there was something behind the cough, so I stuck out the only thing I could to catch the spew...my hands. Gross? Yes. Necessary? Yes. Again, miraculously, none got on the carpet!

After some debating, we decided that we should just brave it and drive home with the trusty spew bucket. I am sure everyone has one. This night, ours happened to be a particularly festive one...a leftover cookie tin from Christmas. We made it home without incident. Oliver fell asleep within 10 minutes of being in the car and stayed asleep when we put him into his bed.

At 2am we heard a cry, and Shane brought him into bed and promptly headed out to the couch. That proved to be a pretty good decision. As about 215 Oliver had a small spew, almost like he had too much water and was just burping up a little. I cuddled him a little closer and we tried to go back to sleep. Fifteen minutes later, Shane heard my screams "I need a spew bucket! Spew Bucket! SPEW BUCKET!! too late." Oliver had an Exorcist style heave, all over the bed, sheets, and pillows. He finally broke down and started crying after that one. Shane and I had discussed how it was interesting that he hadn't cried after the spews because we both remember crying after spewing growing up. Well it had finally all become too much. He didn't want to change clothes, change diaper, and he certainly didn't want to go to bed! He kept whining for "teebee" and, the way I see it, when you're sick, you get what you want. So I stayed out with him and put on the TV (thank you Disney Channel, for actually having cartoons on for sick little boys!) and he watched it for an hour before falling asleep, but not without spewing once (into the bucket this time) and dry heaving once (so sad). He slept until 745. I, on the other hand, spent the rest of the evening running between him and Lily who woke up 2 times in between.

Yesterday morning Oliver was so out of it, he didn't even care about watching Curious George, which is quite a HUGE deal for him. It was so sad just watching him lay there like a little rag doll. He just hung out on the couch for 2 hours. At about 10, he went into the kitchen to do his business (his favorite place to do it, gross.) Once he rid himself of that, he was a new boy! He ate a bowl of goldfish, a waffle, an entire apple, and a big cup of Pedialyte. He was full of energy and played cars and requested to go to "Friend's home" for 2 hours. At 1230 I convinced him to go down for a nap. At 130 when he woke up he was back in his funk. He played a little, but not with the same vigor as earlier. When Shane got home from work Oliver gave him a huge hug and said "Miss you, Dada!" Presh. At dinner he refused to eat and just wanted to lay down on the kitchen floor. He sat through FHE though. At about 745 he decided that he did want dinner after all. He had some plain pasta. He stayed up until 830 then headed to bed and slept until 5am. This morning everything has been back to normal and we're so glad that this little bug is behind us. No one else has been experiencing any symptoms, which is so great.

Rolls

Let's play a game!

It's called.

COUNT THE ROLLS!

Good luck to ya!

I've been playing this game since Lily's birth and haven't been able to count all of them yet!

I love my roly poly girl!

6 months!

Yesterday marked 6 months since Lily joined our family on Earth. She's so happy! She loves her big brother so much. He can make her smile when no one else can. She also loves all sorts of toys to shake and chew on. She can sit up on her own and can get to her belly and is working on getting up on her knees. She can get up for about 1 second before they slide out from under her. She is so curious about everything and loves observing, but loves interacting even more. I look forward to what she will discover and learn each day!

Little Miss Giggle Pot!

Happy birthday to me!

The best birthday present a gal could ask for!

Almost there!

I love how much Oliver loves his baby sis.

The other day we were on our way to the park and Lily was starting to fuss.

Oliver leaned over and patted her car seat (he can't reach her) and in a soft, sing-songy voice said, "Almost there, Beanbean! Almost there!"

Only child? No way!

This, right here, is the reason to have more than one child!
You just can't beat the love a sibling can provide!

Ensign Inspiration

Lately I've been thinking about getting an evening job to help speed up the process for buying our first home. We were thinking of ways to get child care for the evenings, how to balance my time away, how to figure out rides to work, etc.

A couple of nights ago I was flipping through the Ensign (our church magazine) when I came across something that Heavenly Father obviously knew I needed reminding of...

"I hope that if you are employed full-time you are doing it to ensure that basic needs are met and not simply to indulge a taste for an elaborate home, fancy cars, and other luxuries. The greatest job that any mother will ever do will be in nurturing, teaching, lifting, encouraging, and rearing her children in righteousness and truth. None other can adequately take her place." -Gordon B. Hinckley

I know that if I follow this counsel that we will be blessed as we have been since we made the choice for me to stay at home with my children. I wouldn't trade the biggest mansion in the world for spending my days with my beautiful babies!

What Grandparents are for...

For an extra cuddle and a squeeze, For helping us push our load with ease,

For playing with vroomvrooms all the day,



For pulling sleds, and snowy play,

and building snowmen,

lets do it all again!!

We love you GaGaPopPop and MyMyPaPa!!

posterity

What a blessing for Lily to meet her great grandmother! It is extra special because everyone in this picture share the same name...Dorothy Bates, Bonnie Bates, Jessica Bates, and Lily Bates! I'm so glad I was able to carry on this tradition and hope that someday when Lily has a little girl, that she will give her the middle name of Bates in honor of all the great Bates women who came before her!