Yukie Tookie Turned 1!

December 31st is now double awesome because not only is it New Years Eve but also Luke's birthday!

Birthday Boy with Grandpa...pre-plunge. This is the first thing Luke does when someone holds him, puts his fingers straight in their mouth.

Sisters...post-plunge

My parents and sisters were in Northern California a few days after Christmas for my niece's baptism. They decided to head our way to celebrate Luke's birthday with us. New Year's Eve morning our ward hosted a Polar Bear Plunge that Seth, my dad, and sisters all participated in. 

Later in the day we had a small celebration at our park for Luke's birthday. Our friend Logan was turning 2 the same week so we had a combo birthday bash. Lukie wasn't too sure about his cake at first, but eventually realized that it was delicious. Taft had a hard time understanding why Luke got to have a birthday party but he didn't. We kept telling him his birthday would be soon, that it was in March. He kept telling us, "My birthday is not marching!" Poor confused little dude. Lukie got some great gifts from our families, his favorite is probably a ride on CAT construction truck from my parents. 

Note to self: add the other pictures.  (Our computer is having issues and I have a lot more pictures to add)

I can't believe Lukie is already one. He's such a sweet boy. I'm sad that he can't stay my baby forever. He's not walking on his own yet, but loves to walk while holding our hands. He loves climbing stairs, but doesn't know how to go down them yet and will go head-first without any hesitation. He likes a variety of food, but is currently protesting bananas. I don't blame him. He's had at least 1 banana every day for the past six months. He goes to bed around 7/7:30 and will talk to himself until he falls asleep. He's been better about sleeping straight until 6:30/7 but occasionally still wakes up in the night and needs help falling back asleep. He takes two 2-hr naps during the day. He loves bath time, and especially loves it when he and Taft get crazy with the splashing. He's super ticklish and has a cutesy laugh. He has two teeth, with the third just breaking through the gum this week. He has a bit of stranger anxiety but is easily soothed with iPhones, remotes, or any small handheld electronic device. Lukie loves when Taft plays with him, as long as Taft stays nice and doesn't wrestle/manhandle him too much. As can only be expected, he loves to dance to the beat, just like his dad. WE LOVE LUKE!

My brother and his brother-in-law were driving back to Texas from the baptism in NorCal, so they spent New Years Eve and New Years day too. All we were missing was Carissa and Jayda! Lanx's boyfriend (Yeah! He's cute and great!) was even here to party. New Years Eve we all went to dinner minus the boysies. Seth had to work the rest of the time my family was here, but we had a great time. I love having visitors (hint, hint to everyone I know...and like). Sunday my parents took Taft with them and everyone else to the Mormon Battalion so Luke and I could nap. Some pictures:

Grandpa and Taft panning for gold

Uncle Pete and Taft

It was a great weekend! Thanks for coming family!

Christmas 2011

We had a very lovely Christmas this year. Christmas Eve I had planned to make a fancy pants dinner, because that's the tradition I grew up with. Our friends ended up asking if we wanted to roast hot dogs on the beach instead...so we did and we had our fancy pants dinner on Christmas day.

After the roasting we brought our boys home, dressed them in their Christmas jammies, left cookies out for Santa, and read a couple of Christmas stories. Seth and I spent the rest of the evening setting up the gifts and watched Christmas Vacation. A classic, but probably not the best movie to get in to the true  spirit of Christmas. Oh well.

The boys woke up bright and early as usual. We spent the rest of the day playing with toys, going to church, a walk to the beach, and ended with said dinner. It was very simple and very lovely.




p.s. sometimes Taft calls me Emily. She's a girl tank engine from Thomas and Friends.

For the record, I love these boys.

Visiting Seth at work a few Sundays ago. Taft and Luke working in the on-call room. Taft is very busy as you can see. 

Seth has been on a very busy rotation these last few weeks which have given me even more quality time with the boysies. There were two days right before New Years when I thought I might lose my mind, but for the most part the boys and I have been enjoying the extra company from one another. Seth's been working all day today, and will continue through tonight and won't be home until tomorrow afternoon. I don't know why, but when Seth is gone overnight I tend to stay up late and as I'm trying to fall asleep I start playing out "Worse Case Scenarios" in my head and get really worked up about hypothetical tragedies. It's totally crazy, but I've been doing it since I was a kid. As far back as I can remember, probably around 7 years old I would worry about my parents dying. I would be hysterical thinking that I, a 7 year old girl, was now going to have to raise my younger siblings. The Boxcar Children books terrified me. I think most kids thought it'd be cool to live with their siblings in a Boxcar, no parents-no rules, but it was my worst nightmare. In 6th grade we read a book called, "The Girl Who Owned a City" which was about a plague that killed everyone over the age of 12. I had nightmares for months.

A while back I came across this blog. I read it for over an hour one night when Seth was working and cried and cried. This family lost their baby girl a few months ago after needing a kidney transplant. The baby girl's birthday is just a few days after Lukie's so she would have just turned a year too. It's just so heartbreaking. I can only begin to imagine the mom's pain and even that is too much to bear. I checked in on the blog tonight and it got me thinking about my little boysies and how much I love them and am glad to be their mom. A few nights ago Seth checked on the boys before we went to bed and took a short video of them sleeping. It's only about 10 seconds long, but I know when we watch it, even a year from now, we'll gasp at how small they were and wish we could go back in time. I don't think Seth and I have ever gone to bed without talking about how much we love our boys and what cute things they did that day (as well as the frustrating moments). We talk about how fast the time is already going and how sad it is. It's so fun to see them grow and learn new things, but I love the stages they're in. I love that Taft thinks Seth is the absolute coolest and funniest person on the planet. I love the Lukie wants me and leans toward me whenever anyone else is holding him. I love that when I give Taft choices he puts his hand on his chin and in an exasperated voice says, "I can't choose." I love that Taft will voluntarily hug us and say, "Awww, big hug." Sometimes when I think about how much I love our boys, my heart feels so full, like it might burst.

The other day Taft and Luke were playing really well together. They made every room they went into a complete disaster, but I didn't even care because they were playing together and nobody was crying. This morning we dropped Seth off at work. As we were driving away Luke started to cry and Taft said, "It's okay Yuke. Dad will be home really soon." Sometimes Taft will pat Luke on the back really hard, several times and say "Good job Yuke! Good job buddy! Best Friends!"

I'm glad I get to stay home and see all the little things they do during the day. It can be so tiring and at times so frustrating. Taft likes to remind me to not  be "cross" when my voice starts to be less than cheerful. He learned the word "cross" from Thomas the Train. Sir Topam Hat gets cross very often. However, I wouldn't trade being home all day, every day with them for anything, EVER, in the entire universe.

Anyway, I'm just so grateful for my sweet, cute, crazy boys. I'm grateful for their personalities, for their spirits, for their health, and just that they're here and I can hold them whenever I want. Mmmm...I just love these boys.

Video Overload

Here are some videos of Taft recently:






This was a few months back and Taft is probably difficult for most of you to understand so here's what he was thankful for, in order:

Mac n cheese
Mommy in the trunk (I went to a restaurant, not a trunk)
The Zoo
The Pandas
Dragons
T-REX!
Baby t-rex
Safe Daddy (Daddy comes home safe)
Live in Coronano
Live at Grammie's house
food
Lukie
Daddy
Buzz
Food
Daddy's drink
Taft's milk
food
carrots
mac n cheese
food


Every time we leave SeaWorld, Taft stops at the last gift shop stand and says goodbye to all the stuffed animals. It's pretty cute.



We went to Chuck E Cheese this week for FHE. You know, for a lesson on gambling (jk). Taft fell asleep on the way there. This video is kinda sad, just because he is so tired, but it was only 6:00!