What Have We Been Doing?

RYAN

Scouting
Ryan's calling in young men's is pretty time-consuming. When he was called a year ago, I was so excited for him. Now I just miss all the time we used to get to see him. He has a meeting before, after or both every Sunday. He is also gone most of the night every Wednesday. Once per month he is gone Friday night and Saturday morning for a campout. He loves working with the boys and the other men he serves with. He is really enjoying all his new camping gear he got for Christmas too.

Computer
Ryan inherited his dad's old desktop computer (Thanks Papa!) so he's been working on loading Windows 7 on it and getting our new modem working, which is easier said than done. Something seems to be wrong with Windows 7 and the ethernet card, and we still (it's been a month) don't have internet on the desktop. I'm just glad he didn't load the new operating system on the laptop at the same time - I'd be internet-less!

Trees
His biggest project lately has been working in the tree-line. We work in it each Spring, but this year we may have bitten off more than he can chew. I'm not much help because of the kids, so Ryan's been flying solo a lot out there. This year we are clearing out a 20-foot length for a new swingset, and also cleaning out some dead and crooked trees. It has been very time-consuming. Luckily, we've had some good friends come over to help (Thanks Kendall!) and even the elders last Saturday. One day Collin will have a new swingset to enjoy. Until then, it's just a big, muddy mess.

Exercising
Ryan is really devoted to his exercise. He has maintained his current weight since our Biggest Loser Contest two years ago! He wakes up on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 4:45am to go running with a friend. The other days of the week he is usually biking on his trainer in the basement by 5:30am. The Cadbury MiniEggs have forced him to step it up a notch, but I am still so proud of him.

Basement
Ryan also is working on our basement. He built us some new shelving, tore out some walls, and obtained a permit to start putting up new walls and doing electrical. Our goal is to have a finished basement (play room/tv room, bedroom, and exercise room) by the time the cold sets in next winter... I just have my fingers crossed.

LINDSEY

Sounds like I just sit around keeping my fingers crossed, eh? Unfortunately, that is the way I feel a lot of the time too. But really, my fingers are staying quite busy...

Mommy-ing
... changing TONS of diapers, feeding TONS of mouths, clothing SUPER wiggly bodies, singing TONS of songs, reading TONS of stories, rocking TONS of bodies to sleep. That's right - I am definitely the mother of two now.

Driving
I've also been driving the boys to and from St Louis where we've been visiting my parents in order to get out of the house and give Ryan more time for his List. In March, we went to visit while my sister was in town, and in April we visited while my brother was in town. In June, Ryan has a week-long business trip, so I'll head back then too.

Exercising
When Brennan is up at 6am, I feed him and then exercise from 6:30-7am while Ryan is home and getting ready for work. When Brennan sleeps in or if it has been a bad night, I go down after the boys are in bed from 8:15-8:45pm. My official goal is 30 minutes at least 3 times per week, but I've been doing this for a month now and have lost ZERO pounds, so I think I need to modify my goal some. (On the other hand, it has been Reese's-Peanut-Butter-Egg Season, so maybe I'll start to drop some pounds now that they've exited the grocery store.) After I had Collin, I exercised 6 days per week, so I may need to get back into that groove in order to get the results I want.

I am actually looking for advice on a good yoga DVD to buy. I need a beginners one for the flexibly-challenged. Any ideas? I think it would be nice to use my elliptical and treadmill in the mornings and do the yoga in the evenings before bed. Recommendations?

Cleaning
A good friend mentioned shortly before Brennan was born how disgusting it was that I never cleaned my house (Thanks Jacqie!) unless we were having company, so I have implemented a stay-at-home-and-clean day to each week. Before kids, Ryan and I cleaned on Saturday mornings together, but I figure as a stay-at-home mom, I need to work it into my week and keep our Saturdays free.

Anyway, I hate this new week-day cleaning event. Collin is always on his worst behavior (because his mom is ignoring him) resulting in numerous timeouts. I've tried a few thigns to help him be happy - I have given him his own water spray bottle and a rag, but he only lasts about 15 minutes. He also has his own broom. Lately, I have pretty much been turning on PBS all morning, but he gets bored with that after an hour too. Any ideas on how to make cleaning day fun for Collin and therefore me?

COLLIN

Collin is getting super fun... that is, when it's not cleaning day. He loves his pockets, and I'm always finding curious treasures in the washing machine and dryer: rocks, stickers, tissues, matchbox cars, mulch, sticks. He loves to put a mixture of things - blankies, stuffed animals, puzzle pieces, remote controls, cars, wood shapes - in a bowl and stir them with a spoon. He calls it "soup." He also likes to find bags and boxes and collect things. He says he's "packing for Grandma's." He is always flipping things over, getting his tool box, and "dixing it." My favorite new thing he's doing is telling "jokes." For instance, last night he told me that when Daddy got home from work they were going to play toys together after "dada goes potty." Then he said, "Dada need to change his diaper." I must have looked confused, so he helped me out by then saying, "Momma, Collin is funny." Yep, that's my little jokester.

BRENNAN

I've figured out the crying, at least mostly. Try not to judge me, but I am just stupid. So overnight, Brennan started to care about life. He now needs to be able to see what is going on, watch the show Collin is watching, sit with us at meal time and play with toys. I know it sounds silly, but he really did go to bed one night not caring in the least about anyone or anything, and the next day he woke up constantly crying. I thought it was colic, but come to find out: He just wanted some human interaction! Yep, he's back to his happy self most of the time. The one place he is still quite miserable is in his carseat (imagine those long drives to St Louis...). We changed the angle a bit and that has helped, but I avoid the car when he's tired if possible.

CONCLUSION

So in case you've thought we've been sitting around bored these last few months, you can see we've all been quite busy doing our own things. Hope you are all busy and happy too!

Easter

Happy Easter

from my cute blue bunnies,

who got a little restlessbut nonetheless were quite patient with their Sunday-morning photo shoot.

Brennan - 3 months

How have I had two children for three months already? I hope this is normal, but...
- I never take pictures of him.
- I never write in his baby book.
- And I hardly hold or play with him!
Ryan joked the other day that we would blink and our little Brennan would be turning 18. I'm starting to think he isn't that far off.

Yes, he is gigantic. I guess I just have big babies.

A few things about him... He loves to smile. He loves it when I pay attention to him - probably because it is so rare. He loves to babble too - which I had forgotten how adorable that is. Until last week, he was the happiest, easiest baby on the planet. He didn't like to be held; he didn't like to be messed with at all! It was nice to be able to feed and diaper him and basically forget I was the mother of two until one or both of those things needed to be done again. All was blissful until last week... So, Collin had a habit that he SCREAMED (not just cried) himself to sleep. It started at birth and kind of ended at 18 months - But it happened at naptime yesterday, so it isn't really over. Anyway, it was/is just awful.

Unfortunately, Brennan adopted this method last week too. He SCREAMS when he is tired, instead of just closing his eyes and going to sleep (which to me seems like what a normal baby should do). In WalMart today they literally opened a new lane so I could check out. No one was interested in us sticking around!

Oh, so I had forgotten how much I HATE when other moms tell you what is wrong with your child. Here's my favorite from today - "He's hungry because when he saw you he stopped crying, and then when you just gave him the binky he started crying again." Are you kidding me? Is that really evidence of HUNGER!? Who are you to tell me he's hungry, since you have no idea he ate 30 minutes ago?!

Alright, Brennan is really a wonderful baby, except for the very recent screaming stuff. He has learned to make bubbles and let them drip all down his chin. He loves to play with his hands and chew on them. He loves to play with his tongue too. He also loves to chew on his binky (which is frustrating when all you want him to do is suck on it to fall asleep!). He recently has struggled to take a bottle, which is hard since I helped to teach Seminary this week and wasn't home when he woke up. Fingers crossed it was just an I'm-tired-it's-early-morning rebellion thing. The best - at least to me! - thing about Brennan is that since his 2-month birthday he has been sleeping for 9-10 hours straight each night. He isn't a binky-addict like Collin was, so we don't even have to get up to re-bink him! For the last week he has been sleeping from 8pm-6am. Yeah, I'm spoiled. It's wonderful.

Here's to being the mom of two and to wishful thinking of a quieter home.