The Autumn of My Baby Years

It is a little heart wrenching that these toddler years are going to end shortly. I think it has hit me in the last few weeks. Simone is nearly two. And soon, diapers will be a thing of the past. And while that should be great news, I am a little sad about it.

And can I tell you, every time I see her walking around in her little diaper I just think she is so cute I can't stand it. You see, there is a reason my baby has a farmer tan from her diaper in the summer. It isn't because I am too lazy to put clothes on her (of course not), it is because I can't get enough of her cute little swagger.

I am even loving watching her temper tantrums, as witnessed by my posting them on this blog. I love that she is such an animal lover, that when she is freaking out and flailing her limbs, all I have to do is say, "Did I just see a puppy?!" and she'll totally forget about all her anger and start looking around everywhere for the nonexistent dog.

She is obsessed with Diego. The other day when she woke up, she came into my room and was urgently trying to tell me something. I knew what she wanted, but just wanted to play with her a little. "Do you want food?" Shakes her head no. "Do you need a drink?" Shakes her head no again. "Do you want Diego?" And there is this huge laugh as she nods her head. It is the cutest ever. I love that little compulsive laugh when I've figured out what she is trying to tell me. And I love the little dance she does to the music (and hey, it IS pretty catchy) as I turn on Diego for her.

She is totally girly, and has no fear. Two traits that I absolutely love. She wants her toenails painted every week before church. She will lift her foot to show everyone she meets. She also loves lip gloss, and getting her hair done. Jared rubs lavender oil on her feet every night before bed, and she smiles the whole time. She just doesn't mind being pampered at all. And afterwards, she always sniffs her feet and says "Ahhhh" and it is so exaggerated it is funny. Here she is getting a massage and pedicure by Elise one morning.






















And the other part of Simone that just makes me so in love with her--she has no fear. She is just very independent, and a little daredevil. Adair girl through and through. She started climbing out of her crib in July. Pretty soon I had to take the crib down altogether, because with the rail off, she decided she needed a new challenge and scaled the headboard, flipping onto the mattress (and landing on Miles in the process). We took down the crib that night.

She loves to leap. Off my bed, off the couch, off the tramp. She laughs the whole time, even when she jumped off the couch and onto the piano bench--then did it again (ouch). And of course, the giggle just gets me every time. You can't not smile while hearing that!

So while I am excited at the prospect of the whole family being able to go to movies, camping, water parks, and easier travel, I will celebrate all those little moments that I get to enjoy with my kids right now. Yes, the old cliche of how fast these years fly by really is true. It is bittersweet. We were looking at pictures of all the cute babies that have just been born in our ward and I said to Jared and Miles the other day something about having another one (kinda kidding, and mostly just baiting them--you know those moments, newborn baby pictures really do it to me) and both jumped on it. I shouldn't torture them like that, but there is just something about a guy who wants a ton of kids that is really sweet.

All I have to do is remember the pregnancy hormones and my many mood swings and I am brought back to reality. This really is it for us--I am pretty sure I am at my emotional limit. And I am excited about the next phase of our lives. But for now, I think I'll just enjoy all the little half enunciated words and funny little expressions.

The Big Game

Is this Saturday. We are pretty excited to see BYU stomp on Utah. (ha ha, that is me trying to conjure up some team spirit). Nothing beats watching the game with Jared's football crazed family. A couple years ago we had everyone over at our house, and you should have seen them all jumping up and down when BYU pulled off a win in the final seconds of the game. It made it so fun! Anyone want to come over to our house?

We went to a couple of games this year, here are some from the BYU Homecoming game.

This is Jared and I trying to make our kids jealous (they had a chance to go and turned it down)














Jared's brother Chris, a former BYU football player, got to run the flag out. He is pretty entertaining!



We were excited to see Chris and his boys, since it has been a long time since we saw Cade and Nathan. Chris plays for the Steelers so they live way out in Pittsburgh. This is what you get when you tell a couple of boys to "give each other a kiss." Sorry Jaimee! I was just trying to get a smile out of them. (they are so funny!)














Miles was looking at these pictures and said, "That's daddy's brother? He looks JUST like him!" That had me cracking up. They are step brothers, but maybe with Jared's down vest, topped with the down puffer coat, and both wearing hats, they do look a lot more similar!

Thankful for my Home

For about a year after we moved into this house, I'd walk down the stairs every morning and just being so grateful for where we live, and especially for how nice and new everything was. This was our first home, and I loved it. I loved the stone floors, having lots of cabinets, the park and the open space all around me, my big tub, the fireplace. It is just cozy (very cozy now with all of us!) and it is home. Although the newness has worn off, thanks to little hands and feet, I am still grateful for our little space, and for the love and the comfort that we've experienced here.

In seventh grade my family moved from a nice big home in a great neighborhood to the ugliest house you’ve ever seen. Flat roof, fifties style ugly pink brick, sagging carport out front, dead yard. The inside was worse. There were animals living inside the home (it had been vacant for awhile). We caught ten mice in a few days just in the kitchen alone. My parents told us we were moving when we were on a four week vacation. The first thing I did when I came home was ride my bike to see the new house with my best friend Laura. We toured the house, the yard, trying to be excited about the great fort potential and the trees and orchards around. Then reality set in and I just sat on one of the swings in the backyard and cried. It was awful.

We thought we’d fix it up quickly, then move back into our other home. So we all put down sleeping bags and mattresses on the ground in a couple of the rooms that were not being remodeled. It wasn’t long before I decided I didn’t like sleeping in the same tiny room with six other people. So I rearranged part of the horde of furniture piled up in our big living room behind the giant rolls of carpet. I hung up sheets for walls. I had my own little haven: a bed, a vanity area, my music, and most of all privacy. I had a great view out the big back windows that overlooked the deck and the big sycamore trees.

I don’t remember how long it was that we lived like that, but it was at least 8 months. For Christmas that year Aunt Marge gave us each got a box of ramen noodles which were so nice since we didn't have a working kitchen and the microwave was the extent of our cooking abilities. One day I went to open one of the packages and there was nothing inside it but the soup base packet. I turned it over and saw a little hole had been nibbled in the side. Every last bit of noodle had been eaten up. It was very disconcerting to know that there were fat little mice scurrying around and eating my food while I slept.

Finally we finished most of the house and ended up living there under much better circumstances for all of my Junior High and High School. It was never a home I loved--it was always lacking something. I kinda joke that it was haunted (it did have "redrum" carved into the gloss red wall in one scary red and black bedroom--spooky! We painted over it of course), but it taught me to appreciate everywhere I’ve lived since. I am so thankful for a home that I feel so comfortable in and that I love coming home to.

My Reaction to the Elections

I can't say I am disappointed with the results of the presidential elections. Although I do consider myself a Republican, I have to admit that I like Barack Obama. I think he is a good man. I don't agree with how he wants to solve some of the issues we face. But hopefully he'll lead our country in the right direction. And if not, hey, let the Democrats be in the hotseat. With the democrats holding the majority in Congress, there won't be anyone left to blame but themselves. That is a big responsibility, and hopefully they will come through.

I wish John McCain had not been the Republican option. He disgusts me. I don't like him at all, so voting for him was not something I could have done. I would prefer to vote for someone I see as a good person who I may not see eye-to-eye with, than a person I feel is immoral and just representing certain values.

Jared and I have become somewhat apolitical lately. Taking a breather so to speak. It just feels like in politics, there is a lot of distortion, manipulation, marketing, and it is so hard to find unbiased information--it is overwhelming to me. Proposition 8 has been a prime example in my opinion. It is frustrating that the LDS church has been cast as anti-gay, and trying to take away people's rights. No, we are not negative in that way. Hate has not been something that has ever been promoted from the pulpit. What we are concerned with is how changing the definition of marriage is going to change our society adn our perception of marriage, which will change our families.

Teaching my kids about homosexuality isn't something I fear. I've talked to them about it recently. The overriding message was that Jesus said love everyone. People don't believe or choose as we do and we don't ridicule or harass them. See the good in everyone. We also explained that strong individual families are essential to our society and that it is important for children to have a mom and a dad and that is why this issue is important to us.

Where "rights" issues get hairy is when they infringe and redefine other's rights. When there is more at stake than just the choice of one individual. Abortion is just one example. It involves a mother, her unborn baby, and it also involves the rest of society.

One of the ways abortion rights activists justify their position is throwing the words "choice" and "rights" into the ring. I talked with Elise about abortion the other day, and although it has always abhorred me, explaining to my daughter that some people don't want to be pregnant so they kill their own baby--and it is legal because women---wait, I got lost at legal. How do you explain that to a child? The "women's right to choose" has never sounded so nonsensical as it did in that moment as she was silently crying.

But abortion is hailed a benchmark of progress in women's rights. Women being justified in their irresponsibility and detachment from killing is progress? Sad. What is even more sad to me is Jared came home after doing some keyword research and found that one of the top three internet keyword searches performed is something like "household ways to kill a fetus." I read last week that 35% of women will have an abortion by the time they are through with their childbearing years. This was from a pro-choice website and was a statistic offered to justify why we need more abortion clinics. They think having an abortion needs to be more convenient. A huge percentage of those are "repeaters" or women who have had more than one. And we call that "rights" and "progress?"

Roe vs. Wade affects ALL of us. The millions of abortions that have been performed have changed how our society views sex and procreation. I would LOVE to see consequences of actions be placed squarely on the individual. Yes, you can choose. If you choose to have sex, even with birth control, one of the possibilities is that you may become pregnant. You will need to be responsible for that consequence. Killing is not an option. This is a big life decision, not just some whim. What would happen then (aside from reducing poverty, women gaining more education, children living in two-parent households, and preventing the spread of deadly STD's) if people were actually taught to take that choice seriously? The WAY we teach is critically important to shaping our society, which is why I believe Proposition 8 was so important. It isn't just affecting homosexual people. I support civil unions, I am happy that equal rights are already given to homosexual couples under the California law that recognizes civil unions. I don't think marriage should be redefined.

Roe Vs. Wade was originally passed because women were dying of complications of illegal "back alley" abortions. While that is sad and tragic, I don't think it justifies abortion being legalized. We are not going to legalize recreational drugs because some are dying of drug overdoses from tainted drugs. That isn't going to solve the root of the problem. The root of the problem is the way that we are teaching kids about sex. As if it is just something that you do without a thought. No, it actually is a pretty big deal. Let's talk more responsibility, and less entitlement.

I may not love Bush, but I was beyond thrilled when he signed the Partial Birth Abortion Act of 2003. Thank you President Bush. While I support women having the option of abortion in situations of rape or the mother facing death if she continues the pregnancy, there is no reason that a woman should have the option of killing an infant, with its complex nervous system fully developed. That is just not right. Yes, induce labor if there is an extreme health risk to the mom, but PBA isn't an acceptable way to end a life.

So I'll step off my soapbox. There is a reason I've taken a little break from politics. By nature, I am a debater. I feel things deeply and passionately and getting wrapped up in all the negativity is something I choose to avoid at times. I still have my strong opinions (obviously). I am pretty good at disassociating my disagreements over politics and issues with people. I'll like you even if you think everything I've said is nonsense. : )

100 Sugar-less Days

Our little family challenge of 100 days of no sugar is coming to a close. We officially have 13 days to go. Although we’ll continue having planned treats on holidays, birthday parties etc, I’d love to continue not eating sugar on a daily basis.

We took Halloween off (and a few other special occasions along the way), and it was fun for the kids. They recycled most of their trick or treat candy to other trick-or-treaters, and traded in what was left for new art supplies and a few dollars. They were pretty excited about that!

Jared and I started doing no sugar because it is an easy guideline to help us weed out the foods with low nutrition and to get out of the junk food rut. It is good to challenge ourselves to find healthy alternatives and change things up once in awhile. Elise and Monet asked to do it with us, and of course I agreed (I’m not going to say no to my kids eating healthier!) Miles just pretty much followed their example.

We’ve done it once before, and this time we did no white flour too—mainly because that helps us to stay away from burgers, pizza, etc. It was really fun! We learned how to make healthy pizza with freshly ground whole wheat, and lots of good vegetables. We made healthier versions of hot wassail and cocoa. My kids learned to make better choices at fast food restaurants—which we also cut down on. For Elise’s birthday, we made a peaches and cream sweetened with maple syrup. Not the model of health, but it was SOOO yummy and at least had some fresh fruit in there. We loved having homemade popsicles and smoothies. We had many trips up the canyon this fall, and really enjoyed chili instead of the standard burgers and fries. The kids learned to love their Cheerios without agave nectar or any other sweetener.

My biggest motivation behind doing this is simply trying to teach my kids that healthy food is tasty, and fun. I want to take normal foods associated with events like birthdays, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc and incorporate signature foods that will become healthy traditions. I have big plans to make a gingerbread house out of Wasa Crackers, cream cheese, and veggies. : ) I’ll let you know how it turns out! I also have some grand plans for Thanksgiving. My new Clean Eating magazine has the best simple, healthy and yummy recipes. I posted the cheesecake pears on my hundred healthy dinners blog.

On Moderation. . .

Moderation is so subjective. It is hard to define in our society. We look around and see that most people are struggling with their health. We believe that moderation is very inflated. Fast food used to be more of a very rare treat. But in our generation, it has become entrenched into our culture. When my son tells me we have to go to Burger King (which he's never been to) so we can get Indiana Jones toys, I realize that I have to take a more active role in teaching them nutrition to counteract all the marketing they are subjected to.

We have so many family get togethers (with 21 siblings, 35 nieces and nephews, and lots of parents) it is kinda hard to have loose boundaries when it comes to food. We tried eating sugar only on Saturday, but honestly in any given week, even with no junk food in our own home, we probably have at least three or four events where we are presented with candy, treats, or junk food: School, bank, piano lessons, birthday parties, ball games, carnivals, family parties, soccer game treats, birthday treats, ice cream man, etc. That is too much to call moderation in my opinion. Every little thing we do is celebrated by sweets these days. We have to draw the line somewhere. Once a week to a couple times a month seems about right for us. This was a stepping stone to get us there.

Anyway, I wanted to share why we did this because I was a little sad about a conversation I had with Elise today. Elise was told by a friend recently that “kids shouldn’t be on diets” and I have to wholeheartedly agree. I feel bad that some parents are somehow getting the picture that her choice to do this was a diet. A diet is calorie and food restriction designed for weightloss. I would never put my kids on a diet. For Elise and Monet, this no sugar challenge isn’t about weight or calories at all and they know that. We are ALL doing it, from my baby on up. And it is simply a fun (yes, it really has been fun) challenge for us to try to practice good nutrition, and to incorporate better choices into our holidays and special occasions, to make eating well a lifestyle for our whole family.

I was raised in a house with virtually no sugar. We didn't do junk food, sweets, white flour, MSG, or pretty much anything else with food coloring or preservatives. There were times we hated it (and we are certainly not that strict), but our lifestyle served us well. My siblings and I all had pretty much record attendance for school. We rarely got sick. I was actually excited the one time I remember throwing up. It was such a novelty to be sick and lay in bed and watch TV. I had my first advil (or any painkiller for that matter) in high school. I can count on one hand the number of times I've been on antibiotics in my life. I have one cavity. And I learned good nutrition as a kid. I never, ever wanted anything to do with throwing up or starving myself to lose weight. Weight wasn't the primary motivation for eating well. The focus was long term health. I am extremely happy with how I was raised and view my health as a gift that is due in part to my parents. I do this because I want the same for my children.

Ghastly Ghouls and Amazing Super Heroes