Finished!

Okay I did it. I finished the Olson Family Cookbook. A week before Thanksgiving I realized that my mom wanted me to "do" the cookbook and realized I had better start if I wanted to finish it before Christmas. What I had only an inkling of is what it would take to "do" the cookbook. Actually I knew what it would take but I was hoping it wouldn't take me as long as it did. I think the most time consuming part was making sure all the recipes were complete. There were a couple times I forgot things like bake times and things like that. This cookbook should prove to be the cookbook to end all cookbooks and there are some really great recipes in there.

We HAD Elijah potty trained for about two weeks. Well, peepee trained anyway, then he decided he didn't want to do it anymore. I have tried everything I can think of to get him to do it, but he does not want to do it anymore. So we took away candy unless he goes peepee in the potty. He has one of those golf peg toys that he really wants to play with waiting if he decides to poopoo. It has been sitting on a shelf since Christian's birthday. He wants nothing to do with it. I honestly am not sure what to do. We won't back down and he is being stuborn about it. But he really has cute Spiderman underwear he keeps peeing in. At least he doesn't do the deed in them.

Despite the control issues he seems to be having (figuratively and literaly) he has still been very cute at times. Yesterday my family celebrated Heather's birthday by going to Red Robin. After the meal he wanted to run around and so I took him to the place with the umbrella girls standing in the fountain by the doors to the parking lot. He kept running from door to door pushing the button to open the doors for random strangers. I'd hear, "Gee, thanks little guy." as they looked at him in surprize. Then he would run to the next door.

Christmas is a very tricky season when you are trying to hide presents from an active toddler. Especially when he knows he should be getting presents. He has found our gifts to him a couple times and I have had to explain, "I'm sorry honey, that is for someone else." He always looks so crushed, "No mommy that's Elijah's." It makes me feel very mean. Once he found a toy I had purchased and he ran up the stairs saying, "YEAH! Look mommy A TOY! A present for ME!" This is really sad. We took him and Ally to see Santa and he was so excited. He ended up suffering from performance anxiety at the last minute though. Santa suggested a car and now if you ask him, he says Santa is bringing him a car. I just wish that was on the original list...

Ally has been growing by leaps and bounds. She has out grown the 0-3 month size clothing.

Still Pregnant...

As I am in my last few weeks of pregnancy I have come to some conclusions.

--You can't reason with a fetus. I have promised her everything from a pacifier to a pony. To no avail. She is still in me. All promises are null and void if she is born in October.

--People think it is strange when you talk to your stomach like it will answer back.

--Ribs aren't meant to be strummed. On Sunday she dropped and went from playing with my lungs to playing with my floating ribs. It doesn't feel good.

--You can have contractions 3 minutes apart and not be in labor. This conclusion I came to as I was leaving the hospital with my baby still inside me. I didn't think it was possible but I guess so.

--Nurses in the hospital won't break your water just because you really, really want them too. I find this very mean and wish they weren't quite so heartless.

--Some people were meant to be induced. I can't handle all this guess work. Am I in labor or is it just false labor? Just set me up with a petocin IV and an epidural any day. Then I can still back and let the drugs do the work.

--There is a fine line between real labor are false labor and it appears to be the pain level. I could have sworn that I was in pain. Apparently on a scale from 1 to 10, 6 isn't labor but 8 is.

--You can have contractions three minutes apart and not dilate at all. This one really miffed me. Just because it is false labor doesn't mean it doesn't hurt.

--Ambian is an amazing drug that makes you loose touch with reality. It can also make you loose the ability to pick up your son and remember what happened the night before. Apparently your son can jump in bed all around you and you can talk to him and you won't remember a thing. I am not even sure how he got to bed . . .

--Ambian also kills any pain that contractions may cause . . .or rather it makes you so loopy you don't realize you are in pain. I could have had the baby and I don't know if it would have waken me up.

--Doctors don't care how uncomfortable you are, they won't induce before the 39th week.

--Just because you pray for you water to break, doesn't mean it will.

Oh well.

Cinco de Mayo

Never question worse. That is something my dad would say to me when I wanted to leave a situation I didn't like. You figure it can't get any worse. But don't question worse, because you don't want to find out what could make the situation worse then it already is. Don't question worse was my motto on Wednesday. It had to be the worse day I have had as a mother, ever. I know it will be topped someday. I just hope not any time soon.

My day started at about 8:15 when Elijah woke up. Problem was, I couldn't seem to wake up. I didn't stay up late, so I don't know why I was so tired other then I am stressed and pregnant. I am having a busy week. Between being sick, Elijah's birthday and birthday party, followed by Kerstin's Open House and strange weather I am tired. Let's not even mention trying to raise my son who has entered the terrible two's with a vengeance. Actually, maybe that is what this letter is about. I was really drowsy and sat on the chair for about 45 minutes or so watching Dora and Wiggles (mainly trying to wake up.) I must have dosed off because I woke up to Elijah getting mad at my Dad and running downstairs and starting to play by me. I dozed off again and 5 minutes later I woke up and Elijah was gone. Hoping he was upstairs I went to check, no little boy. I ran back downstairs with a sinking heart. I knew where he was, but that wasn't any comfort. He decided to leave again. It was the third time this week he has left the house to play outside. I throw on some clothes and run outside. I get to the front yard and find my next door neighbor holding him and standing on out porch. Apparently he decided to go to her house to play with her daughter. Sister Fletcher found him ringing her doorbell. I am ready to scream, but I refrain.

About 11:30, after everyone was ready, (having been sufficiently awakened by the fright of two hours before) my parents invited him to go to lunch with them. I am happy to stay home and have leftovers. Before they leave they mention they can't find his pacifier OR his blankie. This is a bad thing because he needs these to sleep. They leave and I search the house. I spend 45 minutes searching and then they come back with an asleep Elijah. He promptly wakes up when a different blanket touches him. So we spend over an hour looking every where for the blanket. We CAN NOT find it. We had the horrible thought it was outside in the windstorm and lost about 5 miles away. At this point I am questioning my ability to be a mother, or at least the mother of Elijah and call Matt to ask him if we can sell our son. He jokingly (and questioning his wife's sanity) agreed and then I continue to look for the blanket. I am starting to get a little hysterical at this point. I can not deal with a child who is missing every item of comfort (besides me) that he has. I am very tired and very busy. I NEED that blanket. Well eventually after 2 1/2 hours we find it. We found it in my dad's office fridge. Now why didn't I think to look there? He did keep saying it was cold when we asked him where it was. We realized that he was answering. The pacifier was also set on chill with the blanket. Elijah went promptly to take his nap.

Did he actually sleep? NOoooOOOooo. He played for two hours. I try to rest, but I can't unless I know he is asleep (for fear of injury). The day could not get any worse, I think. Hahahahaha. I let him out at 4:20 and by 5:00 we were in the Emergency Room. My father and I were cleaning the family room where all his toys are. The couch has a broken leg and my dad flipped it over to fix it. We set the broken leg down and Elijah proceeded to jump on the couch cushions. He was having so much fun and looked so cute jump, jump, jumping. Well one of the times he was jumping he fell and landed on the broken couch leg with his hand, right where the staples and screw were sticking out. He was definitely not all right. I proceeded to go into hysterics while I called the doctor and my dad wrapped up his hand. Heather was assisting my dad wrap his hand in gauze (which we had because she has dry socket from having her wisdom teeth out recently), Christian was helping her also and my mom was hugging me as we both sobbed. My dad, Heather, Elijah and I drove to Orem Community Hospital because that is where our insurance covers. I was irritated we couldn't go to Utah Valley until I got there. There wasn't a soul in the waiting room. I have never seen this before. Elijah was taken care of in half an hour. I felt blessed it was so fast. I have spent hours in the Emergency Rooms in Tucson. Then Elijah fell asleep, at least until we got to the restaurant we were going to eat at. Oh yeah, it was Kerstin's birthday that day. I hope it was a better day for her.

Elijah got stitches for his birthday again. Exactly a year from last year. The doctor joked that he should give him two because it was his 2nd birthday, but he needed three. That makes 5 stitches. Elijah has had two wounds that needed stitches, one trip to the emergency room, one surgery in the hospital, 4 calls to poison control, ran away three times, countless bruises (seriously it is just part of his look. He always has them.), been attacked by a cat, been bitten by a sheep, tried to stick metal in light sockets at least a dozen times and fallen down a flight of stairs twice. He is lucky to be alive. Every night I pray God will have a Guardian Angel just to watch my son, because I can't do it by myself. That kid needs something extra if he is ever going to be an adult.

We decided not to sell him. We do love him and he is so sweet and nice (except for yelling GO to us whenever he is mad.) He is a good boy, we keep hoping that other people will realize this soon also. It is getting hard being looked on with pity. I just keep telling myself he is smart and curious and he will soon learn the things to stay alive. I would like him to grow up in one piece, but it looks like I am going to have to raise him in at least two pieces.

Friday May 7, 2004

Well, life has calmed down a bit. I feel like I can't remember life since about the middle of February. It just so happened that I started having morning sickness and my sister got engaged right around the same time. I felt horrible for two and a half months and now, that all the excitement is over I feel better. Everyone tells me this baby is a girl, with about the same regularity that people told me Elijah was a boy. This is only annoying me because I'm pregnant and I'm convinced its a boy. Of course I was convinced Elijah was a girl. As my sister said, I have no clue. I really don't care what it is as long as it is easy going in nature. So far so good. It is already calmer than Elijah was at this point. I knew I might be in trouble with Elijah when I was six months pregnant with him. My mother kept telling me to stop complaining and that babies move for crying out loud. But I went to go see Debbie and Gary (sister and brother-in-laws). We did the same tortuous hike and both ate a fruit snack afterwards. Elijah was doing flips, while Alexis was laying there quietly waiting for her mother to regain her strength. That has been the way it is since then. This new one moves periodically, but doesn't use me like a bathtub splashing from one side of the womb to the other.

This last week we had Elijah's birthday party and Kerstin's Open House. I tried to keep the birthday party low-key because I was tired. We had dinner, cake and ice cream and a piñata. I invited just a few kids and relatives. The day was pretty busy and I was rushing from one store to another trying to buy all the things I needed. I had foolishly booked a doctors appointment in the early afternoon. I had been shopping around for a new OB/GYN and was trying a new guy out. I am actually going to switch to this guy, but I wasn't planning on peeing in the cup and having blood taken out. Silly me. I can go on and on about why I wanted to switch, but if you want to know just call me. It isn't a secret. I just didn't feel good about the other place. I get my ultrasound in less than a month. Hurray! We even get to video record this one.

As a was driving home from the doctor's office I was in a big hurry because I still needed to make two soups and prepare all the food. It was 4:00 by this time and just needed to drive from American Fork to Orem. Sounds easy right? Well, my sister had kindly lent me her car. It was unfortunately running on fumes. As I was driving home the gas light went on and I had to pull over in north Orem to get some gas. Five minutes later I was back on the road. Then I pull in the fast lane with every intention of going fast when a motorcycle cop comes cruising up behind me. I move over and he moves on (thank goodness). About three cars up from me he signals the cars to slow down. They do, so I (begrudgingly) do also. They he signals the cars again and again. He keeps going until he stops all traffic on the freeway. As you can imagine, as calm and collected and I am in times of crisis, I was ready to shoot him. I saw NO reason for him to stop us all. I was about ready to pull a U turn on the freeway when he lets us move again at about 20 miles an hour. I am 2 miles from my exit and am starting to have an anxiety attack. Well I do get home without hurting the cop, but I am still resentful. I think he was just exercising his need to intimidate people. Jerk.

Well, with Heather and Christian's help I manage to get the party finished in time. The piñata was funny. The average age of the children was about 2 1/2 the youngest being 11 months old and the oldest being 4. Only the 4 year old really got it. She was fantastic. And if we had wanted to wait for days we could have let her finish off the piñata, but Matt did it. Much to Elijah's heartbreak. He ignored the candy and toys and started to cry about the broken train. Oh yes, it was a train piñata. What did he think was going to happen when we all kept hitting it? He got some fun presents, (I had requested learning toys from those who asked) he got lots of books, gardening items, clothes and of course the light saber. Yes, my son thinks he is a Jedi Knight. I, apparently, am working with the dark side. He has always wanted one of these, and his dream came true with his cousin Daniel gave him one. I am already plotting on how to pry it from his fingers so I stopped getting hit by it. He is confusing the light saber with the bat and me with the piñata. That's okay, at first he thought the bat was a golf club. I have learned that he can't open the light saber when I lock it, especially when he has stitches in his hand.

The open house is kind of a big blur. It last for six hours, yes you heard me, SIX hours and took place at our house. We had no where to take Elijah where he wasn't being yelled at for touching things by people who shouldn't be yelling at him. My mom has collapsed in a state of exhaustion. I am glad that is over. My cousin Jenna announced that day she is moving into our ward. This was a happy surprise. So on Tuesday we helped her and her family move in about six houses down from us. It is really exciting and now we have someone to visit on our walks.

Elijah is being very two. I'm not sure if it was the stitches, the cold, teething or just being two. He is kind of a pill. He is expanding his vocabulary right and left. He started a week ago telling everyone to "GO!" as loud as he can. Then he progressed to, "NO!" Then somehow he learned, "GO AWAY!" which of course progressed to "NO WAY!" Just this afternoon he was mad at me for taking away candy. He yells, "NO WAY MOMMY! SIT! GO AWAY!" All the way up the stairs over and over and told on my to his Grandpa. I've learned to just ignore him every once in a while. He is also singing a bit more than he used to. He sings, "Dora, Dora, Dora". I want to finish it with "the Explorer" every once in a while. He will also sing the, "whoa, whoa, whoa's" in Faith Hill's "The Way You Love Me." (That would be my dad's doing, we don't have any country CD's.)

The busy week was topped off when the day after the open house our refrigerator broke. I mean it was almost 30 years old so it isn't like it was a big surprise, but still there was tons of food in it because of the parties and stuff. I am the lucky one who found the rotting meat by sticking my hand in a melted box of popsicles. I was very sad about those popsicles. The Otter Pops were over course just fine because those things are eternal. All of our meat was bad, but other then that it was okay. The eggs are fine, as well as the milk. My parents had to purchase another one. They ended up getting a very good deal on it. Something like 150 -200 dollars off. It was impressive.

March Is Over!

Well I know it has been quite a while since I wrote one of these. I can safely say it has been at least two months or so. I really have been that busy. March was really just that busy. But let me start with February. In the middle of February we found out that I am having a baby. I am really excited, we had been trying for a little while. In January I had decided that 2 1/2 years was much to close for my children to be and decided to hold off having a baby. Little did I know...well, they are going to be 2 1/2 years apart exactly. Now this pregnancy has proven to be quite a bit harder for me than the first one. To think I was looking FORWARD to being pregnant again. WHAT WAS I THINKING? I have spent the time between now and when I found I was with child being constantly tired and nauseous. Not that I have ever actually thrown up. What? And actually relieve the symptoms? That would be to easy. I am very excited to have this baby. Elijah was just really not this hard of a pregnancy. Matt agrees, so it must be true.

I have been going to the doctor that delivered Caleb, Sarah, Rachel and Aaron. I already got an ultrasound. It just looks like a big blob though. It barely has fingers. I refer to it as my little blob. Dr. Judd assured me that we WOULD find out the sex of this baby. We would keep trying until we know. This makes me happy. I really want to know.

In further news, we found out that Matt is going to attend grad school at the University of Utah this fall. This became the most obvious when they were the only ones who accepted him. I am very glad the application part is over. We knew it was extremely competitive, but one can't help but hope that you will be the lucky one and get in right away. Three years later, I guess not. We were able to go to University of Utah on Friday because Matt had Good Friday off. (Are his bosses Mormon? Yes. Does this make since to celebrate a Catholic holiday? No. But who are we to complain?) Matt spoke with several people and is excited about attending. We were all feverish and exhausted when we got home though. Did I mention we have had the flu? Yuck.

We had so many events this month I can't believe we made it through. First, Heather Davis Casale came to visit. She came to show off her baby...who is now well over a year. It is hard to see your friends when they live in New York. Madison is a beautiful little girl. But she was sick the whole time. She has an amazing vocabulary. She is only 13 months and I have never seen a baby that age talk so much. We spent out time together doing what we did in high school. We drove around and talked and went to her room and talked. I realize now maybe I didn't do much in high school, but I sure had a good time. It was kind of relaxing doing those things again, but in a much nicer car with a baby in the back seat.

The next weekend Matt's parents came to town. Most of the time was spent looking at area's in Utah County and the houses they have. We also went to a couple buffet's (heaven knows there are plenty in the area.) I think my favorite part was watching Elijah's bliss at having TWO grandpa's to snuggle and talk to. You can just imagine his excitement at having another Papa that loves him just as much as the other one. He would climb on my dad's lap and say, "Papa? Look papa." and point to Charles. Then he would repeat the process with Charles, "Papa? Look papa." and point to my dad. It was very funny.

The day they were preparing to leave Christian came home. Now this was interesting. Christian just walked right by the escalators. We saw him walk right by on the balcony. Christian is a little clueless sometimes...but I still love him. I could go on forever on how he is strange because he isn't used to being back...but I will refrain. Everyone knows RM's are strange. Speaking of which, Jon came home too (Matt's brother) but I haven't spoken too him. Jon, has the line died down? Do you think you would have time to talk to me too?

The next week brought about Kerstin's shower and wedding. The shower I had made 50 invitations for. It took forever. The proceedings on both events were exhausting. But Kerstin is happy and finally married. I always like family events because you get to see family members you don't get to see all the time. Unfortunately, because of the timing and change of dates, I didn't get to see everyone very long. A couple hours at the most. It was kind of sad. Maybe next time? The wedding was at the Ballroom of the Provo library. It was very striking and had a huge kitchen the put the church's to shame.

Elijah had the excitement of seeing The Wiggles in concert on April 1st. He sat there looking at the stage kind of perplexed. The adults trying to explain to him what is going on. He didn't clue in until they played Fruit Salad and he actually laughed. As for the adults, we all found it a fun concert. They told joke that kids and adults could appreciate and they sang new and old songs. My favorite was Where's Jeff where they went through a whole number looking for Jeff, who was of course on stage waving his arms and even riding a bike. I guess you have to see it, but it still makes me laugh at the thought of the others going through this choreographed routine and trying not to laugh (laugh is not part of the act) and not seeing Jeff. The coolest part when went they went to collect the roses and dog bones from the audience. Murray and Jeff went though and collected them. Jeff (the purple one) stood 2 feet from us and said, kind of embarrassed and he walked through our isle, "Sorry, just collecting roses." A little boy put his finger on him and said, "Look mom, I'm touching him!" Too bad I didn't have a camera. I learned something that day, Aussie's can't say squirrel. or maybe just the Wiggles can't. I didn't realize it was possible to butcher the word.

After this month of excitement we have been sick and Elijah hasn't been sleeping well. He is getting 8 hours of sleep a day, poor guy. A couple nights ago he actually had a sleep terror. I have heard of them, but never seen one. It was kind of scary. It is similar to sleepwalking in where they don't remember it and it can be dangerous It can also seem like they are awake but they really aren't. A sleep terror though involves screaming and kicking. He was unreasonable. He yelled at everyone to GO! and didn't want me to touch him or put him down. He rolled on the ground, then ran to me. We put him in bed with us, but Matt couldn't get in with Elijah and then we couldn't turn the lights off. This was so unlike him that I realized he wasn't awake and called the doctor in the morning. Apparently, they just happen sometimes.

Boy I hope I haven't forgotten anything. I hope to see or call friends soon. I have barely had time to breathe. Geesh. I don't want another month like that for a long time

Thoughts on Life

Well, I haven’t written one of these in a while, because as you all know Christmas is really exhausting. To make up for the months I haven’t written, I am going to write three pages for every month I missed telling you about our lives. I hope this makes up for the burning need each of you had to hear about every facet of our lives. (I hope you realize I am joking because writing nine pages would take the fun out of writing these and taking the fun out of writing these would mean I wouldn’t do them anymore). I think I did one of these before Christmas but I don’t remember. Sad, yes. I know.

Matt has been busy at work, reading books his company publishes and then telling me about what is wrong with….exfoliates, lotion, makeup, beef, chicken, white bread, sugar and just about everything else I enjoy. I am hoping he gets into grad school soon so I can at least keep a few of the things I enjoy. No I kid, he just tells me how horrible they are, but I still put on makeup and eat hamburgers. Actually, we eat turkey burgers. He has also been putting together and fixing several computers. He enjoys this a lot and we may have a lot of computers in the house, but he is happy. We get a lot of calls for tech support from family and friends. This is only complicated for people who don’t live within driving distance of us. Otherwise it is fun. He has also been applying to grad schools all along the west. This is very time consuming and we are still in the midst of it. We will let you know how it goes.

I worked at Hickory Farms for the Christmas Season. Now that my beef stick misery is over, I can get down with some serious complaining. I was starting to get really annoyed with people. My job is to entice people to buy overly priced items and how do I do this? Samples. I figured if you took a sample I have to give you my sales pitch as payment, even if I had to give it to your back. (Get something for free, I don’t think so). I learned that everything has a price somewhere a long the line. Anywho, I offer a sample to people and an appropriate response if you don’t want one is, “No, thanks.” Nothing else. Anything else sounds very trite. For instance, saying, “No, I just ate.” Makes you seem very silly because I am offering very small samples. Not whole meals. I also get, “I can get it at Wal-Mart (Smith’s, Target, etc.) for cheaper.” This is a very bad idea because it is the quickly establishes you won’t be buying from me, so why should I waste my time? My mother told one lady to get a sample from Wal-Mart then. It just makes us mad. My personal favorite is the little elderly men and women who just walk by, pretending their hearing aid doesn’t work and they can’t hear you. If they hadn’t kept their eyes glued on the opposite wall (a trick I use myself from time to time, like when I pass the Living Scriptures people. My answer does not change. How many times do I have to tell them I do NOT want a free video? Sheesh.) I figure that there has to be some benefits to growing older and if they don’t want me to bug, more power to them.

I am also planning my husband’s family’s reunion. I have made menus, collected data (sometimes forcefully), planned the activities, made countless spreadsheets of information, given assignments, and picked a day that everyone agreed to. I have been working on the thing for a year and as we get closer, the more people find that the date doesn’t agree with them. People seem to be dropping out left and right. We really would love to see all of Matt’s family, but I have come to a conclusion. It would take a miracle to get all of them together. Let’s see if we get one. Now I have to make alternate plans for each family that doesn’t come and can’t fulfill their assignments. This means many more spreadsheets. At least my part will be done. This maybe a good thing in case I need to do the work for the people who can’t come. One good thing is that I have been preparing a class on toddler and preschool ideas for the reunion. (We are to have several classes, not just this one. It is actually a neat idea.) I have been collecting here and there for about a year and it is starting to come together. As a practice round, I am going to (hopefully) teach a class for Homemaking/Enrichment Night. I am really excited. I have been helping a friend with ideas for her girls. I am pleased to say they are working and she loves the ideas. This is exciting to me because I love teaching. Teaching about teaching is also very exciting to me.

To get to the important news I would need to talk of Elijah. My baby boy is entering the Terrible Two’s with a vengeance. He is still a good little boy. He is learning to mind his mommy about 70% of the time and (in an unrelated percentage) only destroys things about 20% of the time. He has learned hitting and spitting (oh joy). He throws tantrums. He has a really interesting way of doing it. He starts stomping and jumping until he is in the next room. Which is fine by me. I have enough experience to know to ignore a tantrum and it is much easier if he is in the next room. He lets me kiss him a lot afterward though. He is starting to pick up. He suddenly really likes doing laundry. If he takes off his clothes, even his socks, he will put them in his laundry basket. Of course he will move the spot the laundry basket goes several times in a day. That just makes life exciting. On washday, he will help me load the washer and unload the drier. I think it is because it involves water. He can make any activity messy. My little boy. He also really enjoys brushing his teeth suddenly. He has to go through the same routine I do. Floss, Brush, Listerine and Brush. (Actually I just hand him the Listerine cup, I don’t think children should have alcohol.) He will do this several times a day, that and washing his hands. Heaven help you if you skimp on his sink time. He tantrums all the way to the kitchen.

Elijah has started a strange phenomenon. He has suddenly become clingy. He has never done this before. I am blaming it on my three months of sporadic work schedule. But seriously, I suddenly have a monkey-boy attachment. If I leave the room he cries, if I leave the house, you need earplugs to get away from the screams. I can hear them halfway down the block. It often reminds me of the Yaz song, “Don’t Go.” It goes a little something like this, “Can’t stop now, don’t you know, I ain’t ever going to let you go, Don’t Go!” I am seriously questioning having another child. The extreme energy didn’t really faze me, the destructive tendencies, no problem, even the lack of sleep I could deal with. But suddenly following me everywhere (unless we go to the store of course, then he runs away laughing), this has got to stop. I love him, but a mommy needs her space. Do a little shopping without have to hold my 30-pound son. Take a nap without him shaking me awake, or climbing all over me like a jungle gym, or hitting me with a heel to my gut, the ultimate cheap shot. Cooking dinner without him dumping all seasonings he finds on the floor. Go to the bathroom without him staring at me. I love him. I can’t wait until he is three. I know what to expect from that age.

Okay, picture time!

1.) Picture one is Elijah figuring out how to get ice out of the ice machine. He would push and poof! It was raining ice. Of course he would just leave them there and we would slip on them later, but that is another story.

2.) Ah, my little boy brushing his teeth, and brushing his teeth again. He could sit there for hours brushing/chewing away at his toothbrush. Did I mention the amount of toothbrushes we go through. He has recently added water dumping to his routine. We are working on that one.

3.) Elijah doing laundry. He was loading his clothes up for me. What a nice little boy. This was cute and nice until he discovered the biz bucket and tried to see how many clothes fit into it. Then he dumped the bucket over and well...that was the end of that washday for him.

4.) Matt decided to distract him from the laundry by letting him help with his computer. This was actually just an old box that didn't have cover, but what Elijah doesn't know, won't hurt him.

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