I know, I know...

I haven't posted in forever. Yes, I have a billion excuses that you don't want to hear. Anyway, I'm really going to try to catch up. So, below is the post I made about Jonah for his birthday (3 months ago...) that I just had to add pics to and post. Hopefully, I'll catch up someday...

Happy 1st Birthday, Jonah!

Our little man is a year old! We can't believe it! Needless to say, Jonah has grown so much since April 22, 2008! He's such a sweetheart and loves his family so much! Lydia is his best friend and he was so sad when her and Daddy were gone for a week. And he doesn't like Mommy to be out of his sight. Here are a few things about Jonah:
~Jonah is OBSESSED with balls! Any kind, any size, whatever. He loves to throw, catch, and say "Ba" all day long!
~He loves being outside! If you go near the door, he crawls to you as fast as he can because he wants to be outside. He crawls in and out of the sandbox and likes to play with the rocks.
~He also loves the bath. I have to get him completely ready for the bath before I turn the water on or he freaks out! He likes to stick his face in the water and blow bubbles.
~He's already started making "boy noises". You know, the sound effects that girls can't make...

~He says "Mama", "Dada", "Ba" (Ball), "Hi-yi" (Hi), "Bo" (Book), "Si" (Signing Time), and "Daw" (Dog), and "Bye".
~He also speaks Parseltongue. He whispers, "Hossa-Hiya, Hossa-Hiya".
~We do "Noggin" (head butting from the turtles on "Finding Nemo") with both kids since they were babies and now Jonah likes to headbutt everything.
~Jonah is such a little monkey! He climbs and crawls over everything with no fear!
~Jonah is very active! He started crawling at 8 months and hasn't stopped since, but he's still too scared to take his first step.
~He's not too shy around people he doesn't know. He does this cute little thing where he hides his head against your shoulder or neck when someone he doesn't know well talks to him. If we hand him off, he wants to come back, but he usually doesn't cry if a stranger is holding him.

We love having our little monster around! He makes us all smile and laugh everyday! We are so blessed to have Jonah Wyld in our lives!

Ah, Jonah's cake...

Yes, I made this for Jonah's 1st birthday! Not too shabby, huh?
I must admit, I'm slightly proud. :) Now for the story...

I decided to be ambitious and try something new. My mom decorated cute cakes for us when we were kids (Braveheart Lion, etc) and I wanted to try it for Jonah's birthday. I am so not creative or good at artistic stuff. I'm not an awesome cook either. I think I cook well enough though...my picky husband seems to like it, which says something...and my anal ways force me to follow directions to a tee, so that helps. That said...

I went to Michael's to find a cake pan. There were a few, but the cutest one (Lightning McQueen) was the only one out, of course...That should have been my first clue. However, I was determined to do this project, so I headed to JoAnn's. They had it! I checked the instructions and got all the right decorating tips for the icing, bags, and a coupler to hold the 2 together ("a" being a key word here)...I was all proud of myself for getting all these things I would need. So, the morning of Jonah's birthday (Wednesday), I made the cake. When I came down to see if it was done...there on the counter was the measuring cup with the vegetable oil in it. Dang it. FYI...cakes need oil. It was all jiggly and not at all cooked. I had to go to Target anyways, so I picked up another cake mix there.

Round 2. The cake turned out good this time. But I didn't have time to ice it. (This past few weeks have been SO busy at our house.) So, yesterday, I put Jonah down for a nap and Lydia and I went to make icing. All I had was butter flavored shortening, even though I swear that I had the regular kind, too, and the butter kind doesn't work when you are trying to make white icing. Asked the neighbors, but they were out, too. Crap. We weren't exactly presentable for public appearances, so I had Troy get some on the way home from his rotation. I started making the icing at 6:15 pm. I realized I didn't have a cake board (who would've thought?), so I had to use a cookie sheet. Elegant, huh? I colored all the icing. At 7:30, I took an hour break to get the kids ready and in bed. After I finished with my first bag of icing, this is where the key word "a" came in. Oh...you need a coupler for EACH bag (because one piece stays in the bag), not just A coupler. Man, what a pain. I had to take out the coupler after every color I used, wash it, and put it in another bag. Not that this was hard work, just time consuming and annoying. Around 11, Troy went to bed and he put in Steel Magnolias for me. I sat in Lydia's little princess chair at her kid table, so that I could watch the movie while working.

I chugged along...it was kinda fun except that I was so tired. Tayah watched me, trying to get closer and closer, until I would yell at her and she would get the hint that it wasn't for her. Towards the end of the movie, the dang tears kept my eyes clouded, making it hard to finish the last little bit of icing. Then "laughter through tears" came and I recovered. (LOVE that movie!) Anyway, I finished up a little after the movie ended at about 1 am. It was far from perfect, but I was pleased with it and happy that I did it. Tayah was crashed out behind my chair. I took some stuff to the kitchen and went to the bathroom. When I came out, I heard this licking sound. Oh yes...she did. I ran around the corner and there was Tayah goin' to town on the cake I finished about 2 minutes previously. So, pretty much she just waited until I left and jumped up to take advantage. I was livid. I don't think she realizes how lucky she is to be alive.

Round 3. With the dumb dog in her crate, I took everything back to the kitchen, had to rebag 3 different colors (again with the stupid coupler), and fixed the cake. Since the icing wasn't quite as fresh anymore, it didn't go on very smooth, but it was managable. It took me an extra hour to get it to look ok, and then, after clean up, I went to bed at 3 am. (Then the stupid wind woke Jonah up at 4:45 and he wouldn't go back to sleep for about 45 min. And then I had to get in the shower at 6:30 because they were fixing water pipes and going to turn off the water for supposedly the whole day.)

So, that's it. I'm so dang tired, but I had to post this because I don't feel like telling the story over and over (and it's better with all the details, I think.) :) Was it worth it? When Troy, Lydia, and Jonah all loved Lightning McQueen when they saw it today (and we already knew Tayah did)...then yes, it was (mostly). Will I do it again? That's if-y...

And don't worry...I won't let anyone eat that side of the cake! Gross!

Funny kids :)

I think I'm going to start what my friend, Andrea, does on her blog (yes, I'm an idea stealer because I don't have even an ounce of creativity in my body. Thanks, Andy!). I'm going to post the funny kid sayings all at once at the end of the month (or sometime...). That way they are saved in a post instead of just sitting on side where the list (and thus the page), would be never-ending until it got erased and lost. So, here's some new ones and I'll put October's list that was on the side bar at the bottom.

FEBRUARY:
2/17/09~
Me: We're going to Grammy's while Daddy paints the house and put in the new floor.
Lydia: Oh yay! Then we will come home and say (in a high-pitched voice), "Oh, Daddy! It looks so beautiful! I love it!"

2/24/09~
Lydia: Mom, Craig (my 16 year old brother) is stinky.
Me: He is?
L: Yeah. Come smell him.
M: Uh, no thanks.
A few minutes later...
M: Uh oh, Jonah's poopy.
L: Yeah, Craig's poopy, too.

2/27/09~
My dad got Lydia some Popcorn Chicken at Arby's and it came with BBQ sauce. She really likes it on wings & ribs, etc, so I told her to try it with her "little nuggets". She's in that "I don't want to try it" stage and thinks she doesn't like anything. I told her she would like it. After sharing 2 nuggets with Grandpa and seeing him like the BBQ sauce, she decided she would be brave and try it. She took a little lick and said, "See! You told me I'd like it!" :)

DECEMBER:
12/1/08~
Troy had been teaching Lydia about traffic lights (Green means "GO!", Red means "STOP" and Yellow means..."GO FAST! GO FAST! GO FAST!" Yes, he did...), so now Lydia watches them all while we are driving and tells us when we can stop & go. One day, we're driving, the light is green, we get close, it turns yellow, then red...
Lydia: AAAWWW! COME on!

12/10/08~
Lydia was playing with Tayah and Tayah was getting crazy...
Lydia: Tayah! Chill!

12/17/08~
Lydia & Jonah were playing side by side and Lydia tried to pull Jonah onto her lap...
Lydia: Oh, come here, chubby boy. Oh, you're heavy! Come on, chunky monkey...

NOVEMBER:
11/9/08~
At some point recently someone was cutting an onion and we talked about crying while cutting them. Well, here's what happens if Lydia doesn't want to eat something now...
Troy: Lydia, do you want some asparagus?
Lydia: No, asparagus makes me cry.

11/11/08~
Lydia was playing with my phone, pushing buttons, as she often does...
Troy: Who are you calling?
Lydia: I'm not calling anyone. I'm texting Shauna.
(Oh boy)

11/12/08~
Lydia is afraid of the shower and here's what she said during her bath...
Lydia: Mom! When I get bigger, I get to DRIVE! (Uh, oh, look out already!) And (in an awe-struck voice) TAKE A SHOWER!

11/17/08~
Lydia & Daddy were looking at our statue of Christ...
Troy: Is that Daddy?
Lydia: No, that's Jesus!
T: What did Jesus do?
L: He gives us hugs and then we are born!
Whoa! That's kind deep for a 2 year old, right? I have no idea where she got that! It's cute though!

11/17/08~
Troy: Lydia, you can't ever get married because you have to live with me forever.
Lydia: No, we can't get married, Daddy.
T: Why not?
L: Because I'm going to marry my friend.
T: Who is your friend?
L: Oh, I can't get married.
T: Why not?
L: Because Shauna got married.
T: Oh, did you want to marry JD?
L: No, I want to marry Santa.

OCTOBER:
10/13/08~
Me: What do you want to wear today? (As I'm taking off her flower jammies...)
Lydia: My green jammies!
So, that's what she wore! :)

10/13/08~
Me: Who is your favorite princess?
Lydia: Sleeping Beauty...and Cinderella, too. And Snow White, and Ariel, and Belle, too. Ok, I guess we still don't have the word "favorite" down quite yet. :)

10/19/08~
Lydia: Mom, what's Craig going to be for Halloween?
Me: I don't know, you'll have to ask him.
Lydia: Um, I think he's going to be a pakin (pumpkin)...or Snow White, or Cinderella, or Sleeping Beauty...
Me: Oh! You should tell him that! (Yes, we do have conversations about princesses on a daily basis...)

10/22/08~
We were watching "Sleeping Beauty" & Price Phillip just defeated Malificent who was a dragon at the time...
Lydia (jumping up & down): Yay! The dragon died! The dragon died! She died & went to Jesus!
Me: Yeah...she probably didn't go to Jesus...

10/30/08~
We were watching "Blue Planet" & there was a crab...
Lydia: The shark's going to eat the crab!
ME: I'M going to eat the crab! (I LOVE crab...)
Lydia (ready to cry): No, Mom! Don't eat the crab! Don't go in the TV!

My little Mommy

After only getting 4 hours of sleep and not a long enough nap, I was teasing Lydia and asked her to help me stand up from the couch because, "I am too tired." She ran over, grabbed both my hands and pulled me up. Then she pulled me into our room (at my mom's) saying, "Here, I'll take you to our room." She put me in the room and said, "Ok, you go to sleep now" and shut the door. I went to lay down (knowing she'd be back in) and waited. About 1 min later, she opens the door, peeks in, and then blows me a kiss. :) I blow her one back and she closes the door again. About 10 seconds later, she opens the door, runs in, gives me a big hug and kiss, runs out, turns to whisper "ssshhh" with her finger over her lips, and closes the door again. THEN another minute later, she opens the door and says,

L: Grandpa is waking you up.

Me: He is? What is he doing?

L: Talking to his friend. (I guess she thought he was too loud.)

M: How about if I just get up?

L: No, it's still dark outside. (uh, it wasn't)

M: But Ali needs my help.

L: No, I'm helping her.

M: What about Jonah?
L: Ali's helping him.

M: (Trying not to laugh) Oh, ok...

She closed the door. In another 3o seconds, she opened the door and whispered something and shut it again. I got up and went to the door right when she opened it again. She said, "No, Mom! You're still sleepy!" and shut the door before I could protest. I stood there while she opened the door again and again until I finally conviced her that it was ok for me to get up (even though I really did just want to sleep!)

Weekend with Auntie Kenzie

Mid-November (yes, I know, we're going WAY back here...), Troy's sister MacKenzie came to visit us! We had a lot of fun with her! It was her first time meeting Jonah and he loved her!

We had to spend some time on the strip since she hasn't really done that before. We went to the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay, which Lydia could see over and over because she LOVES animals! Especially sea life. She discovered a new fish that she loves, too. The Lion fish. She watched them forever until we drug her away from them! Another of her favorites is the sting ray, "Let's name the zones, the zones, the zones. Let's name the zones of the open SEA!" (Mr. Ray, Finding Nemo)

We always take everyone to the Bellagio to see the Water Fountain show, the Botanical Gardens that are decorated for every season, and the World's Tallest and Largest Volume Chocolate Fountain.

We also went to the Green Valley District and walked around. This guy had his pet Monitor out and even though Lydia wouldn't pet it, she still kept wanting to look at it.

Needless to say, after running all over Vegas and having so much fun, we were all pretty much worn out... :)

For more of our weekend pics, click HERE.

Roses, updates, life, etc...

Happy Valentine's Day!
Troy got me roses for Valentine's Day!

Aren't they beautiful?! :) He decided to get me roses that didn't cost an arm & a leg and that wouldn't die in 3 days. I think I prefer it this way anyway. Then they can come back every year! And they are Lady Bird Roses because (as most of you know) he calls me "Lady". Sweet, huh? :)

Sorry I've been a bad poster. I'm still getting to get caught up on posts, and things have just been crazy since Thanksgiving. Seeing family, getting ready for Christmas, having Christmas, having Lydia's birthday, getting caught up with stuff, not to mention that 1 or both kids have been sick for 6 out of the last 8 weeks. GGGRRRR! It started with Jonah's RSV I told you about, which lasted about 3 weeks. Then mid-January, Lydia got a cold (RSV related or not, who knows, I didn't take her the the doc since they wouldn't have done anything anyway) and then when she was just about over it, Jonah got it. Then he got better for about 4 days and started it over again. He's had it a little over a week now and on Friday Lydia got it again and so I did, too. I'm very irritated. I think we've singledhandedly helped Kleenex fill their yearly quotas already. Between sick kids, being out of town, and family here, I've been to church once since mid-December. They probably think I'm inactive. I feel like I am. And now I'll be missing tomorrow and probably next week, too, the rate we're going.

Lydia did get to go to 1 of 2 of her Valentine's parties though. Thursday, we got together with some other little girls in her nursery class and decorated sugar cookies and played. (Troy was at home with sick Jonah.) They had lots of fun! I forgot my camera, so I'll have to get some from someone later. Friday was her other party and that's when she and I got sick again, so we skipped that one.

Jonah started hands & knees crawling at the beginning of January and he is EVERYWHERE. I think I forgot to mention that he started pulling up on stuff at 7 months before he was even army crawling. He climbs all over the place and is very curious. His favorite things to try to get are Tayah's toys, Tayah's food & water, trash cans, and anything else he shouldn't...of course. :) He's actually lost half a pound since he's been moving around. He's really thinned out and most of his rolls are gone. His 6th tooth broke through 2 days ago on the 12th. He opened a cupboard today (great...). Lydia LOVES to play with him, but doesn't really like it when he steals her toys from her. She likes to get him when he wakes up from his naps. She goes in and climbs in the crib with him. He hates his crib...unless she's in there with him. :) He even WANTS to get in it if she climbs in first.

By the way...I'm sure some of you may be thinking this...yes, our just-turned 3 year old is still in diapers. We've TRIED...believe me. I've had small trial runs in the past and in January we really tried hard! She has absolutely NO desire whatsoever. She has used her little potty and even the big potty before, but she does NOT want to do it permanently yet. She would be so upset if we tried to make her just sit on the potty and she only went on the potty once in 2 1/2 days. She would just hold it as long as she could and eventually she would pee in her pretty princess panties that she loves...and get upset by it. I mentioned in her birthday post that she doesn't like change. I think that's the problem. She's been in diapers her whole life. She's used to them. They are normal to her. She scared to try anything different. Every book I have says they'll do it when they are ready and forcing them only causes grief on your part and theirs. Troy doesn't seem to understand this and was kind of upset when I said we were done after 2 1/2 days of tears, messes, and constipation (because if she wouldn't even pee in the potty, she sure as heck wasn't gonna do anything else!). He thought she should just be trained and that she's ready. I had to tell him that of course she is physically ready. I have no doubt about that. She's even mentally ready, in a sense that she understands it and could handle it...she just doesn't WANT to, and that's the issue. It's ok. We know she's still normal and we love her just the same. She'll get it sometime. It's not like she's 10 years old in diapers. She's 3...barely. She'll be ready in her own time. Until then...we just have to change 2 sets of diapers... :P

Ok, Jonah's awake now, so I guess that's it for this update. I will get some back-posting done later...Thanksgiving, Christmas, Super Bowl (sad day), San Diego, and other random adventures. By the way, there's a link at the top of my family list on the right that goes to our Shutterfly account (or click here) with all our recent pictures. It's mostly updated if you are interested. The site name is different than it used to be for those who used to look at it.

Hope you are all doing well! I not only need to catch up on posting, but reading blogs as well! But I still think of you all constantly! Love you & miss you!