Growing up

Alexis and Timothy are now sharing a room. So far so good... knock on wood. They haven't waken each other up yet. Alexis has figured out how to climb on top of her bed and get into Timothy's crib. I heard her calling from her room the other day saying, "Mom, I'm a burrito baby!" When I arrived to her room I see her pretending to be a baby in Timothy's crib. She is so grown up one minute and then I turn around and she is trying to be a baby again. I don't get it...Timothy is also eating more real food now. He eats bananas, sweet potato puffs, and then his rice and oatmeal cereals. He makes some classic faces when trying new foods... I have yet to capture them on "film". He loves to eat real food and every time I eat he looks intently at me food. I think he is ready for more things to eat...
David finished his rotation at Target and is now in the psych ER at Kino. So far so good, but they aren't allowed to wear ties... I can't imagine why. He is writing many more papers right now. On top of his rotation he has a research project and several papers to write. He has to investigate different drugs and how they work, interact with other drugs and other such things. Not really sure exactly what he does... but I know it is more than I could ever understand... and he works really hard. He also heard back from his Yuma rotation preceptor and was told that we would be on our own for housing. That really stinks because now we'll be bunking at my folks house and sharing one bathroom between several people. It will sure be interesting.
That reminds me that Timothy is now a "big boy" and in a real car seat and pulls himself from sitting to standing now. He is also on the verge of crawling. For some reason I think that Alexis grew up much slower... but then again I was working and she was with a sitter lots of the time. I must say that being home this time is a much different experience, but in a good way. No longer hearing... "guess what they learned today?" instead I get to see it first hand. I can see how it can be hard on dads though. David works all day and comes home to me saying, "Guess what Timothy did today!?" Maybe I ought to get out the video camera and start to document these first moments so David can see them too.

Above are a few pics from a recent visit to the zoo with aunts and Timothy rolling in his blanket... making himself a burrito baby... Enjoy!

Catching up is hard to do...

So much to write about and so little time. I recently started attending a "boot camp" to get back into shape. It has been challenging and rewarding. My friend Christine runs the boot camp and makes sure none of us can walk the next day. A few weeks ago we even worked out in a storm as lightening got closer and it was raining and blowing pretty hard. She is pretty hard core, but that is what I need right now. I am not very self motivated at the time. I am truly grateful for those who are motivated and push me to be and do better.
In other news... Alexis is still potty training. She did great for a week and then decided she wanted to go back to diapers. I knew this was going to happen and be a challenge because Alexis is a super stubborn little girl. She has a problem with getting "backed up" and then she reverts back. So this week it is like we are starting over. She does enjoy the bathroom being open now though. It used to always be closed, but now since it is not, she cannot get enough of that room. She is always washing her hands. Toilet paper is also as new thing for her. Last week she overflowed the toilet with a whole roll that she tried to flush down. As if that wasn't enough time out for her she decided to see what happened to the toilet paper in the sink. Let's just say that a plunger doesn't work on the sink and TP really clogs up the sink.
She also has to use every bathroom everywhere we go. That has been challenging with having Timothy too. At Walmart she had to stop at the bathroom a couple times... and did nothing when we finally got all situated. She just says, "Mom, I'll try again later!" If only she understood what it takes to get her in that darn bathroom. I think she is truly trying out her independence. Oh and she also learned to lock the doors on the bathroom. I've now had to break into my own bathroom several times as I know she is getting into some kind of trouble. I'm just waiting for her to lock me out of the house now.

Well enough of my rambling... I just needed to get caught up on our mundane life. But life is good.

Potty Training Becomes A Religious Experience

Potty training has been a slow process, but Alexis is doing good. Sunday at church during sacrament meeting Alexis said she needed to go to the bathroom. I dismissed it as another excuse to get out of the meeting, but I couldn't ignore the request. We walked across the building to the bathrooms, where she surprised me and did in fact have to go to the bathroom. Upon finishing she looked up at me and said, "I make Jesus happy! He is smiling like this (smiles a big smile)." I'm sure He is happy and I am happy too.
Then during nursery hour they brought Alexis up to me because she was asking to use the bathroom again. Again we went to the restrooms and she proceeded to be a big girl and when she was done she said the same thing. I'm not sure where or why she learned these things but it is cute to see that she has such a relationship with Christ.
She prays very well on her own now too. When it was stormy she said that Jesus can make her not be scared. I think, rather, I know, I underestimate the understanding she has of her Savior. If I could only become like her and rely on Him for help on even the small and seamlessly unimportant things. He rejoices when we rejoice.... even with potty training. I guess it is true... you can learn more about the "BIG" picture from anything... including potty training.

Holy Caterpillars

My poor little grape vine is under attack. I have never seen such an array of bugs on a plant in my life. I was seeing leaves slowly get eaten up and disappearing... and then LOTS of leaves were disappearing. I started to investigate and as you see from above we had quite a few friends on the vine chomping away. We found about 15 of the BIG juicy green caterpillars and then about 60 of the small blue and yellow caterpillars. They are so gross. We placed them in a big tub and Alexis was feeding them all sorts of yummy leaves. She kept saying that we had to watch them because they were going to turn into butterflies. The little blue and yellow caterpillars I found out do turn into butterflies, but the big gross green ones turn into huge, ugly moths. Icky! I must say I enjoy nature... but I don't like to pick up the slimy, wiggly, bugs. After Alexis tended to her new friends we gave the caterpillars a little help over the wall to eat the city's plants. Alexis went to look into the tub the next day to find it empty... and was so excited because they "all became butterflies and flew away." I didn't have the heart to tell her that yes... they technically did fly away... but not as butterflies. My grapevine is slowly recovering but I'm sure it'll be fine.