Out of Focus

I've felt less and less attracted to blogging lately, and I've finally been able to articulate the reasons.

Blogging is no longer serving the purpose I had hoped it would serve. I need to be writing in my journal and individually keeping in touch with family members and those friends whom I love. I need to be recording events in my children's lives, and blogging isn't working for me.

So I'm done for now. I may come back to it, I may not. If you read this and want to keep in touch, please do so! My e-mail is emmilee @ gmail dot com. My phone number is 919-636-9568.

On occasion I read or experience something meaningful to me that I pass on to those of my friends whom I think would appreciate it; if you want to be someone to whom I pass references and experiments and interesting information I occasionally share then let me know! I'll put your name on the list.

In the meantime, I will be using Facebook to post pictures.
I will be writing in my journal.
I will make a plan and start saving memories for my children to enjoy when they are older.
I will write more letters and make more phone calls to cherished friends and family members.
I will spend less time feeling guilty about not keeping up with my blog and my friends' blogs.

In this season of Christmas, I am taking the time to seriously consider how I spend my time and what efforts I make for leisure, and finding ways to come closer to Christ. This is one way I am doing so.

Love to all my friends and family,
Emily

*I'm on Facebook under my married name. Send me a personal message if you send me a friend request.

It's Christmas Time!

Despite it being December 2nd, yesterday I went outside without a jacket. It's harder for me to feel festive when it's not cold outside! I'm sure I'll manage, though.

We pulled out the nativity and the advent calendar yesterday. This afternoon we'll be making a construction paper Christmas tree, and some paper chains to make things feel more festive around here. Tomorrow is gingerbread cookies!

Leo's ears are clearer, but we'll be doing a timpanogram in January to make sure his speech delay isn't a problem with his ears. Josh asked me last night if it could be a problem with his vocal cords or his throat; I really have no clue. I'm crossing my fingers that he's just delayed, and will catch up sooner rather than later.

I read this post this morning, from one of my favorite blogs of all time. I feel like Auntie Leila is right here in my kitchen, enjoying a cup of tea with me, when I read her posts. Such sensible advice!

And some more pictures from our trip to Virginia, including Aunt Audri, Farmor, and Uncle Ian

I just ate chocolate pudding for breakfast. It was amazingly tasty. And now I'm working on Christmas gifts! We're done with 5 Christmas gifts, and the kids gifts are mostly ready. I'm left with my mother-in-law and my nephew and niece. With any luck I'll get it out of the way with little difficulty.

Happy Thanksgiving!

 This year we're so grateful to have the Knudsens in our lives. Wednesday night we had a birthday party for the boys with Farfar, Farmor, Uncle Ian, and Aunt Gloria and Aunt Audri. The boys had a blast!

 Proof that every once in a while I do a craft with my kiddos. Leo wouldn't let me get anywhere near him, so he just colored his headband.

 We have a thumb sucker on our hands! It's great, because he sticks it in and goes right to sleep most nights without much trouble.

And . . . . typical Leo! This boy makes us laugh so hard we cry at times! He is goofy and sweet and cheerful and loves to run around yelling. "Yeeaaaaaaassssshhh!"

Happy Birthday Leo!

My second-born is now two years old! Happy birthday, love!

He now weighs 29 pounds and he is still just as cheerful and goofy as ever.

In interesting news, his language development has fallen far enough behind schedule that the pediatrician has put him on antibiotics to see if the fluid that appears to be on  his eardrums will clear up. If not, then it's off to the specialist to see if it might be causing the speech delay.

Ooh, and I made Boston Cream cupcakes for his birthday. Recipe forthcoming, because they were amazingly tasty. Best home-made cupcake recipe I've ever baked.

 Dang, I was hoping this wasn't blurry.

And see Marcos, who is threatening to steal Leo's cupcake. Leo's not buying it, as you can tell.

All right, obviously I need a new memory card, because the video I took won't upload and I don't have any more pictures to show you! Lame!

Pics of Axel

 Because every baby needs a king size bed to sleep on, right?

Vignettes

Scene: Church. Four people are seated in the pew in front of us.
Leo, pointing at each individual in succession: Un, deux, aah, AAH! Un, deux, aah, AAH! Un, deux, aah, AAH!
 (His vocabulary is increasing. Slowly, but surely.)

Scene: Living room, early afternoon on a quiet Sunday. Guy has unhooked the pad of the IKEA chair from the seat, leaving it attached to the top of the frame.

G: Hey, Leo! Wanna play in here?
L: YeeeeeeAAAAHH!
(They both climb onto the chair frame, with the pad draped in front of them and covering them)

G: Let's play rocket ship!
L: YeeeeeeAAAAAHH!
G: Look, there's the moon!
L: aah-aah-aah-aaaah
G: Look at the stars!
L: aahaah-aah-aaaaah!

SCENE: Grocery store, pasta and tomato sauce aisle. Three employees are stocking canned goods immediately to the left of the grocery cart, in which Guy & Leo are seated.

G: STUPID LIST!
Me: Excuse me?
Employees: *snicker snicker*
Me: It's a grocery list, dear.
G: Stupid grocery list!
Employees: Haha!
Me: Guy, if you say stupid again in the grocery store you will not earn a doughnut.

SCENE: Grocery store parking lot, post shopping trip
G: STUPID STUPID STUPID!
Me:  All righty then.

Update

I'd like to give a shout-out to my awesome husband, who recently rescued all of the videos we've taken in the last 4 years off of the hard drive from my dead computer. HOORAY! I'm so glad they're not lost forever to the ether.

In news: I'm tired and the kids are watching too much TV. Life is happy, but I still feel like we're adjusting to all the major changes of the summer.

I'm eating leftover chickpea masala, which is quite tasty if I say so myself, with home-made garlic naan. YUM! And thinking about trying to find a sitter for tonight so that Josh and I can go out to eat and celebrate my upcoming 25th birthday. Not sure about that yet; I may wait until next week to celebrate being a quarter of a century old!

In case I hadn't mentioned, Josh bought me a Kindle for my birthday! It has to be one of the best presents; it's lightweight and I can take it anywhere and have access to a whole library of (free) books.

 And because it's funny . . .

Axel!

Nearly 14 pounds, 24 1/2 inches long, and cute as a button! Except when he's awake at 1 a.m. Still cute, just not appreciated.

For Amy

I can't believe it's warm enough on OCTOBER 27TH that Axel is wearing this. But, there you have it, I live in the South now.

Halloween!

Last Friday night our ward held their "Fall Festival" and "Trunk-or-Treat". It was a fun activity, and the boys certainly enjoyed themselves.

 Guy was a cowboy, and Leo dressed up as a belligerent-two-year-old-who-wouldn't-wear-anything-fun. Ahem.

Josh took them from car to car, while Axel and I minded the back of MY FABULOUS MINIVAN. I can't get enough of this vehicle. It's a blessing to get the kids in and out of the car without fuming with anger over how difficult it is.

Swagbucks

I have now earned and spent $100 on Amazon using Swagbucks.

Check out the referral link on the sidebar; it's pretty awesome making money doing something I do anyway.

Day at the Park

 These children bring me so much joy. And when did Leo get so big?

Jiffy Lube; and dinner chez Marcos & Metta

 Family resemblance, much?

 Leo makes this face what feels like all. the. time. I keep blaming it on the molars.

 These men are so awesome. (on the left, Marcos, our neighbor, and his ADORABLE 6-month-old Giovanna)

 Everybody loves dinner on a cardboard box!

Journals

My Relief Society president sent me this today. Something to think about.

"If any one faculty of our nature may be called more wonderful than
the rest, I do think it is memory. There seems something more
speakingly incomprehensible in the powers, the failures, the
inequalities of memory, than in any other of our intelligences. The
memory is sometimes so retentive, so serviceable, so obedient; at
others, so bewildered and so weak; and at others again, so tyrannic,
so beyond control! We are, to be sure, a miracle every way; but our
powers of recollecting and of forgetting do seem peculiarly past
finding out."
Jane Austen, Mansfield Park

The prophets have told us time and again to keep a record. Heavenly Father has been saying it for centuries.

So what will you do? Make a decision! Stick to it! Write in a journal, or write letters to family and photocopy them to save, or blog regularly and keep a backup. Keep photo albums. Just choose, and keep at it!

As for me, I'm going to start writing letters weekly to family members, and saving photocopies for my kids. If I don't feel like writing to family, I'll write directly to my sons, and save them for the future.

Relaxation

This weekend was a good one! We sold our Hyundai Sonata, bought a minivan, and visited the Knudsens in Virginia. And we did a lot of relaxing over the weekend, let me tell you it was marvelous:

(Johann absolutely loved holding Axel and dozing with him)

Can I just say how much I LOVE our little Leo? He is a ray of sunshine, with such a charming and sunny personality. He is also pretty high energy!

And yesterday at the park, Leo discovered what Guy figured out this summer--the swings are AWESOME!

For lack of creativity, "Kiddos"

Y'all are awesome, and I love you. Behold my adorable kiddos.

The Impossible Dream

Sleep. It's the holy grail for some young moms. I used to gauge how successful a day would be by how many hours I slept the night before--and just as important, how many times was I awake in the middle of the night?

I'm slowly learning to let go. To stop looking at the clock. To relax, because no amount of fuming or martyred sighs will make my kids need me less in the middle of the night.

Yes, Axel has had a few too many nights where he's wide awake when I want to go to sleep. Leo is doing a stint where he's coming into our room between 4 and 5 a.m. We put him back in bed, but he's not going back to sleep, he simply plays.

So a few of us are tired. Some more than others (Leo tends to tantrums, and I'm tending to coke and chocolate. We all have our coping mechanisms).

But everyone is still getting fed. The household is limping along; we have clean clothes (usually folded). We're making it, somehow, just fine. I'm no super woman, that's for sure, and the computers are playing cartoons far too often, but that will be of short duration. I'm trying to take small steps in the less-computer-more-playing direction.

Axel will find his rhythm. So will I. And so it goes, as we try to fully enjoy this new season in our lives.

Read, Read, Read

I had a long-distance friend e-mail me and ask me what I was reading, and I thought that my other friends might be interested in the list. Most of my playground conversations revolve around what I've been reading lately, and I miss chatting with all of you girls about what's going on in my books!

An incomplete list of what I've read this year:

Jesus the Christ Talmadge
The Promise of Discipleship Maxwell
The Man Watching (a biography of Anson Dorrance, coach of UNC women's soccer)
The Well-Trained Mind Bauer, Wise
The Well-Educated Mind Bauer, Wise
Nurture Shock Bronson, Merryman
How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life Lakein
Romancing Miss Bronte Gael
Foundation Asimov
The Bicentennial Man and Other Stories Asimov
1632 Flint
Dragonsdawn McCaffrey
Tintin (several comic books) Herge
Pilgrim's Progress Bunyan
The Ladies of Missalonghi McCullough, Colleen (I read this at least twice a year)

And the books I have out from the library right now:
At Home in Mitford Karon
The Soprano Sorceress Modesitt
Le Petit Prince Saint-Exupery
Mornings on Horseback (biography of T. Roosevelt) McCullough, David

And this is just off the top of my head! I really love reading and learning, obviously, and I've started taking notes to retain more of what I read. If you want to learn to read critically, The Well-Educated Mind is a great guide to giving yourself more of a classical education.

What are you all reading these days? Any great recommendations? I'm debating checking out the Hunger Games, but I've heard the end of the trilogy is rather depressing. Thoughts?

New Normal

Good heavens, the days are flying by quickly! Axel is nearly three weeks old, and cute as a button.

I'll get working on more pictures once I have a working camera on Friday (sorry, I know how fun it is to see pictures of friend's babies!). My 7-year-old digital camera finally gave up the ghost.

The kids and I are keeping busy. My goal lately is to get the kids outside for two hours every day. It's a lot, and I rarely make the full two hours, but having the goal helps me give the kids the exercise they need to be happy. We've been to the park a lot, and other than that I've been nursing, doing laundry, dishes, nursing, reading books, nursing, holding the baby, and settling fights. It's a good life, but leaves me wondering where the time has gone by the end of the day.

Oh, and the kids have spent plenty of time watching movies on the computer.


Isn't this sweet?