A happy, [belated] Wicked birthday to me!

I had a great birthday, a few weeks ago on January 7. Most of the day was pretty normal, it seems to get more that way the older I get. And speaking of that, I honestly didn't know how old I was turning. I thought my mom was crazy growing up that she didn't know how old she was, and now I'm doing the same thing!

Emma was sweet to sing happy birthday lots, and when Dave got off work and school, we went up to Maddox in Perry for dinner. I had bison-fried steak and their yummy rolls. To top it all off we had cheesecake, which is my favorite food of all-time. Our little boy was crying quite a bit at the restaurant, which was kind of sad. He's usually so good but was pretty colicky that night.

Because my birthday is so close to others in my family, we share birthday parties, which is fun. On the Stoddard side, I had a co-birthday party with Kolby. We had coconut shrimp (yum!), BBQ chicken sandwiches, and caramel apple cheesecake, and just talked forever. For the Ryerse side, I share my birthday with Julie. We had Subway and cheesecake and lemon cake Julie made (she's a little baker...I call her Julie Crocker). The trick candles we had got pretty smoky. My favorite part of birthdays with the Ryerse's is the singing of "Happy Birthday". It is crazy! The first time I heard it, I laughed so hard I couldn't sing, I was crying. They turn off the lights and everyone sings on whatever key they want, as loud as they want, whatever they want. Everyone is singing in their own style and is so crazy! It is halarious!

For my birthday present, Dave got me Wicked tickets! I am so excited to go! Dave and Brandon (Bills) got up early in the morning at 2:30 a.m. to be in Salt Lake at the Capitol Theatre by 3:30 a.m. (ZZZZ!) in December. It was pretty cold outside, those poor boys. I had a feeling they would be on the news the night before, and sure enough, shortly after 6 a.m., Dave called me to tell me the Fox 13 News truck pulled up. So I flipped it on, put a tape in the VCR to record, and a few minutes later, Ninevah Dinhah interviewed them. This is basically how the conversation went:

Ninevah: "So what made you want to come stand out in the cold here to get Wicked tickets?" Dave: "Well, I am a fan of musicals, and he (pointing to Brandon) is a great fan of musicals." (Then they talked a little bit about what Wicked is about) Brandon: "Yeah, our wives sent us out here, while they're warm in bed." Ninevah: "Awww, So you must be good husbands, then?" Dave: "Yeah, we're really good husbands." (To which everyone in line with them began snickering). It was pretty funny. Here's part of the video footage that was shown on the news with Brandon and Dave:

http://www.myfoxutah.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail;jsessionid=31D1E53D8235DE777A2E8B825079DAD7?contentId=8060444&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1&sflg=1

So we're excited to go...that is, if we don't sell our tickets on eBay. They've been selling pretty well and we could make a little profit, so it is tempting. But otherwise, I'm looking forward to a great show!

Love is in the air...

Valentine's Day is coming up, and it's true that love is in the air for our family...

Emma is a hopeless romantic, what can I say? She begs to watch our wedding video nearly every day, and loves to look at ours and other's wedding pictures/videos. She is convinced she is going to marry Dave. She told me one day she was going to get married. I asked her who she was going to marry, and she replied "Daddy!" with a huge grin on her face. I asked her who I would be married to if she married him. She told me "You marry daddy, too!"

This is the night Emma and Daddy got "engaged". Emma asked Daddy if he would marry her. Dave joked around with her all night, "We're gonna get married, Emma!" "When are we getting married?" "Where are we going to get married?" and things like that. Emma just kept hugging him and giving him kisses.

Then she pointed out that she needed flowers since they were getting married. So she got some of our dried flowers and said they were her wedding flowers. It was pretty cute.

Emma also liked our Ryerse mistletoe during Christmastime. I made it last year and it has been lots of fun. We all loved conning other family members under it to give kisses!

I love my sweethearts...first my Dave, my love! What a stud, he is my sunshine and everything! Then my two little sweeties...Emma and Callahan. Emma is such a joy! She brings so much to my life. And then little Cal, he is so sweet. I am so blessed to have them all, and my other family members and friends I love so much!

Valentine's Day is coming up in just a few weeks, so remember to do something fun for your Valentine!

Christmas with the Ryerse's

Christmas this year was magical! It’s always magical, but seemed even more so this year with a child who really got into it. I love everything about Christmas, especially the fun Christmas traditions. Here are a few traditions we do in our family that I love…

• My sister, mom and I always do a baking day. We make a mess in the kitchen making all of our favorite cookies, candy, and other treats together. This year, we made Oreo cheesecake bon bons, orange truffles, chocolate covered pretzels, M&M cookies, rocky road fudge, chocolate dipped dried cherries and blueberries, Junior Mint cookies, caramels, and peanut butter balls. Yummy! We all take a bunch home and assemble plates to take around to friends and neighbors. We’ve been doing this for years, and it’s one I want to continue with my girls. Emma loved sneaking the candy and licking the bowls and spoons, she had chocolate all over her face.
  

• Gift giving and card making. I tried to get Emma into the spirit of giving this year. I had her pick out presents for her cousins, which she did very carefully and thoughtfully. I took her to the dollar store and gave her a budget and let her pick out gifts. She was very excited to see them open the presents. She also picked out a “John Deere thing” for Daddy she saw at Walmart that caught her eye. I had her help me make some other handmade gifts, like our snow globes we gave to some family members. In Dave’s family, we draw names and get into teams and go shopping together. That’s a fun night, but Dave and I just went together this year. Dave got Jerry a BB gun (this next pic is Jerry just opening it, he loved it, but I don't know if his wife did), and I got Shirley some slippers and an embossing tool. On the Stoddard side, we had Amy & Kolby, and we got them a bunch of stuff related to the Christmas Story Movie. We got them a Red Ryder gun and ammo, some red soap, hot chocolate (better than Ovaltine), some coke bottle glasses, and some other stuff. I also like to make handmade cards for family and friends (which I did most of them this past summer). This year, they featured the cute art of Mary Engelbreit.
  
  
  
  
• Christmas Eve with the Stoddard’s is held with extended family. The festivities include a ham dinner, a visit by Santa Claus, and a talent show. Emma wasn’t sure if she should go right up to Santa or run away and cling to me. But she sat on his lap, making sure we were near if she needed to escape. It’s kind of a love-hate relationshijp. This year, Emma, Dave, Kolby and I sang and played percussion instruments to Jingle Bells. Emma got shy and didn’t sing after all, but she did shake the bells, but she did do her belly dance (he he), and I played my flute.


• At the Ryerse’s, the main event is a Pinata, which Emma and Tayla were going nuts over! After Dave duct tapes the piñata (this year it was a helicopter) to make it tougher for us, we start with the youngest taking a turn, and go to the oldest. After each person went, Emma would get so excited and yell out “Good job [Julie]! Yeah!” and she’d clap and get all excited. When the candy started getting knocked out, she and Tayla would get huge smiles on their faces and scream “Woa! Wow!” and they’d run with their bowls and go collect the candy. This year, we also did a white elephant gift exchange, and played some games Stacy put together.

• Christmas morning was fabulous! We opened presents with the Ryerse family. Jerry woke everyone up at about 8 a.m. (we were tired as we didn’t crash until about 2 a.m.!). As always, we all got spoiled! For Christmas, Emma got a stick horse, a snap-on doll, clothes, some jammies, a sleeping bag, some boots, a few games and books, Little People bus and more. Emma had so much fun opening the presents, and her face would light up about everything she got or gave. “Oh my goodness!” she’d say after she saw what it was she opened. Some of her favorite presents were the Princess boots that Grandma Di and Grandpa Scott gave to her, she always wants to put them on and dances around everywhere. She loved her Hello Kitty sleeping bag, and likes to get it out a lot. And she was so excited she got "lots of candy!" from Santa, which is what she asked for. We made German pancakes and hashbrowns for breakfast. Then we just played with toys, like usual. Then it was over to the Stoddard’s to meet my parents that afternoon to call my brother, Mark, who is serving a mission. It was so much fun to talk to him, and listen to what he had to say (when we could understand him, he really had a Chilean accent). Then we had a dinner and watched the movie Christmas Shoes at my Aunt Christie’s home. We loved all the snow we got Christmas night, and were glad we only had a few blocks to travel to get home! May we all make the magic and spirit of Christmas last all year...
  
  

Callahan – One Month Old

We’ve loved having Cal in our family. He’s such a little stud muffin! Here are a few things about him and what’s been going on the past few weeks…

Just as when he was first born, he loves it warm! We turned our thermostat up quite a bit for him. He’s always bundled up in layers of clothes, and blankets, and wears hats most of the time. When we change his clothes or diapers, we put a little space heater near (but not too close) to him, and he loved that. He was going crazy! His relaxed and smiling face was really cute. That’s when he really cries, is when we’re changing his clothes or diapers and he freezes. He has this little cry that sounds like a goat, and his lower lip chatters. It’s so sad, but kind of funny. Daddy likes to pamper him and always puts his clothes and blankets in the dryer to make them warm when we’re changing him. And Dave bought a wipe warmer (great product we’d recommend), which helps a little, but he still hates it.

Callahan is great with sleeping! He wakes up only usually a couple of times a night. And he doesn’t wake up crying, we hear him smacking his lips, or whimpering. And after he’s done feeding, he goes right back to sleep. So we’ve been very, VERY lucky with this little guy, as we haven’t been as sleep-deprived this time around.

He’s growing well! At his two week appointment, he weighed 7 lbs., gaining a whole pound! Hooray! His length was at 20 ¾ inches. At first I was worried because he would only eat about 5 to 7 minutes total about every 3 hours (or less), but he had plenty of dirty diapers, so I stopped worrying. As our pediatrician said, some are more proficient at getting it out quicker than others. Apparently, he is growing, and the chicken legs he had when he was born are getting some meat on them now. He is finally fitting into 0 – 3 month clothes now, before it was preemie stuff.

His umbilical cord fell off at exactly 2 weeks old, to which Emma excitedly said “His belly button fell off!” She always asked me when we were changing his diapers what “that thing” was, she could never remember the name of it. Also, she’s getting used to seeing the little boy part now when she helps change him. I decided just to tell her the correct anatomy terms for things, but she calls it his “peanut”.

It’s been a fun month, and hard to believe he’s already that old. Just like my Mom used to say all of the time “It seems like yesterday you were born!” I used to think that was silly, but now I know how she feels.

Married with [2] Children

So the transition going from having two kids from one, in my opinion, was a little easier than going from none to one. With this one, I guess we were already in the swing of things, though we had to start over again, in a way. But things have gone pretty well so far.

Emma’s done a pretty good job and been a great big sister. The first night we came home from the hospital and were all together, I think reality set in, and she had a hard time. She was very tired that night, and was just in tears! She kept telling us to put him down and “Hold Emma”! When it was time to go to sleep, she said “You go sleep in your bed, baby brother! We sleep in our own room!” (Hmmm…I wonder where she’s heard that before) We try to make her feel important and spend lots of one-on-one time with her. Since then, she’s been pretty good and sweet to her baby brother, or Callahan Kitty (she tells everyone that’s his name). She always likes to hold him, help change diapers, burp him, or anything else she can do. She does act up a little bit more, and we’re not sure if it’s that she wants more attention now, or if it’s just the two-year-old thing. But overall, she is very good!

There are a few things that aren’t so hot about having two kids for me. One of them is shopping. I love shopping, and it was fun and easy to take Emma and go shopping. But as we went shopping for Christmas a few times this past week, I felt like we were a circus act! Trying to get in and out of the car, lug a car seat with Callahan in it and bags around while trying to keep Emma to hold on to my hand or the car seat makes me feel like a lion tamer. Emma sometimes thinks it’s funny to let go and run in the parking lots, while I run after her with my arms full. Oh, I bet we’re a sight to see! Once we get in the store, I have to put Emma in the back of the shopping cart, since the car seat now goes in the front part of the cart.

The other thing that is kind of hard for me is trying to spend more quality time with Emma. It makes me sad that I’m not able to as much now. I feel guilty for doing necessary housework that needs to be done. I try to let her help me as much as possible, but sometimes I have to turn on movies or the TV to actually get something done, as she has done away with her daytime naps. I know when I’m feeding Callahan or something now she will tell me that he’s had enough, or that he doesn’t need to be burped. So I know she misses just the two of us. This transition will take a while for her. We try to spend lots of one-on-one time with her and make her feel special still, but it seems that she is feeling a bit jealous. She is doing better though.

Anyone have any suggestions or words of wisdom on dealing more effectively with 2 kids?