Hallo-weenie!

Me: "What color are the leaves on those trees?" Lydia: "They're green, ac-choo-wee." And then a bit later, Lydia turns to me with attitude on her face and in response to my question she states, "Um, yeah." This girl wakes up talking and talks all day straight.

Russell is rolling all over the floor now and tonight we put him in the exer-saucer for the first time! Now Lydia can only touch him from a distance and he can have some space. He's still shrieking and sucking his thumb, particularly the left one. I think it's a lost battle and hey, he seems to like it.

Jordo was John McCain and I was Sarah Palin for Halloween, doncha know. We went to a Halloween party and the best moment was when we were walking out the door to leave and this lady says to me: "I hope I'm not the first one to tell you this, but you sure look a lot like Sarah Palin." It's too bad we didn't make Jordo bald, maybe more people would have caught on. Lydia had a blast in her Thai "cos-tee-yume." Russell wore a sleeper that said, "I want my mummy."

Oh and we started a playschool with Lydia this last week. "I'm going to school!" She stated that like she owned the world! What a great idea to start this up.

I taught RS today with a raspy voice and since the rest of the presidency was out sick, I also conducted. The Lord truly got me through that one.

Jordo will most likely be taking an externship in Mesa, Arizona for the fall of 2009 and we will get to live in Chandler with my folks. We are so excited and blessed!

Sassy

Lydia has just started saying the words: "actually" and "okay?" And she has got some sass with it too. She currently loves riding on a swing, the real, big-kid kind; and she loves riding the shopping carts with the toy car attached to the front. Russell rolls from back to front with perfect ease and has been doing that for a while. But, he has rolled from front to back a few times as well now. Unfortunately he found his left thumb as a perfect device for sucking and this has caused me much bitter-sweet grief! For more than a week now I have kept his little hands covered with socks while he sleeps to discourage it. I feel guilty doing it, but I don't want this to turn into a habit. Any suggestions? He also just started squealing. It's kind of like baby singing, but way high pitched and shrilly. Lydia still loves him almost to death, literally. Today I had to teach her not to smother his face. . . since he can't breath when she's lying on him. How do you teach a 2-year-old about the necessity of breathing and air?

Jordan is enjoying seeing patients and he saw his first glaucoma patient. He also had a patient with a blood pressure of 188/113! He's wondering now why he didn't just call 911. Oh, and joke of the day: How many optometrists does it take to screw in a lightbulb? One or two. Get it? "Which view is better, one or two?" Hilarious!

I'm going to start a rotating play school with Lydia this week with a bunch of other moms with toddlers. I am so excited! On weeks when I'm not hosting I get a little time with just Russell. I have a guilty parent complex since my first baby got all of my attention and my second baby gets not even half. Any one else feel the same? Oh well, he's surviving and so are the rest of us.

Tablerock Lake 2008 was so great

Aug 2008: We had a lot of fun at tablerock lake w/ the ballantyne fam and their awesome boat! The water was always so smooth and we practically had the lake all to ourselves. They rented this sweet ol' house right by the lake, so when we weren't playing in the water we could chillax and play games as a family. Lydia LOVED it, to say the least. She even got out on the water weenie. Check out the slideshow:

Moving into March. . . the best month of the year!

I know, I know. Our blog is lame and it's all my fault. I gotta get better at this thing!

Memphis is treating us well at the moment. We survived the tornados almost a month ago even after 45 minutes of sequestered refuge in our downstairs bathroom. Lydia was not so happy and I was just grateful that our next baby was still inside of me as this whole experience took place. Our ward got full use out of the emergency calling tree system and I never want a tornado experience again. It is not my natural disaster of choice.

We just got back from a trip to Indiana to visit with some friends over Jordan's spring break and it was a great trip. Our family highlight: 5 hours at the world's largest children's museum in Indianopolis. And for those wondering, yes, Lydia fell asleep in her carseat within 10 minutes of being strapped in. Hopefully I'll attach pictures soon.

Baby boy is active and my hips, bladder and insides all feel him regularly. Lydia is going through some sort of allergies to something and I am hoping for a referral to an allergist from my pediatrician this afternoon. We'll see!

It's a Boy! (baby ticker)

Hey, check out how our baby is progressing!





It's a boy! Any name Suggestions?