7.25.2013

my babies aren't babies

Sometimes I have moments when I realize that my babies aren't babies anymore. I have a love/hate relationship with moments like this. I've had a couple big ones over the past month:

Nolan:
Nolan got his first hair cut on July 5th from Aunt Christine. She did a great job, especially considering he wouldn't hold still and he was tired. He even kind of held a grudge against her for the next day or so! It definitely took me some getting used to, but he looks so handsome and SO MUCH OLDER.

Nolan took his first steps on July 11th. We were all at the Mead's house hanging out and he took about 3 steps from the ottoman to the coffee table. We knew he was getting close but it was crazy to see it actually happen. In a lot of ways I have been really ready for him to walk because I don't like the crawling stage and because he is really heavy to always be holding but it was still a moment that surprised me and made me realize how old he is getting. He is not walking all the time yet but continues to take steps here and there and is improving everyday. I'm so proud of him and he looks way to old and grown up walking around like that.
Caitlin:
Caitlin got potty trained while we were in Texas! This is a day that honestly I thought may never come. I haven't gone into too many details about it on the blog but if you know Caitlin very well then you will know that "her poos" and anything and everything involved with that has been an issue for a very long time, about 2.5 years to be exact. This poor little girl has had a really hard time regulating, controlling and understanding everything. It has completely controlled her whole disposition many times. She has been smart enough to potty train for awhile and I tried it a little while ago with no success so I decided to just wait until she felt comfortable. My mom talked to her a lot about it and they decided when she got to Grammy's house she would learn to go in the potty. For whatever reason, it worked. As soon as she actually went in the potty she got it, and she was into it. Most people say to potty train when you are at home and have nothing to do: I say potty train when you are at Grandma's house and have an extra set of hands to help and encourage. The mixture of support, being outside and in the pool, being in her swimsuit all the time, easy access to lots of potties was perfect for Caitlin to really get it down. She has had very few accidents and has really been amazing. I'm so grateful and proud of her. She has done so great with it. And of course she's been super excited to have cute Minnie Mouse, Tinkerbell and Princess panties. We are so proud of our happy little girl.

7.24.2013

texas: part 3

We finished out the Texas trip with another week in Austin (post wedding stress). Chris and Christine were so nice to let us stay at their house the whole time and we had a lot of fun with them and their kids. Melissa also stayed longer so all the grandkids were together. 7 grandkids under the age of 3 made for some crazy times! The kids definitely had a ton of fun, and the parents tried to keep up.

We swam, visited the "Amy's cows", went to the park, visited the Austin children's museum, took the older 3 to Despicable Me 2 and to get slurpies, Christine started me on a slight bagel obsession and we also made too many Sonic runs. I got to see my best friend from high school, Brittany. We puddle jumped in the rain, had a picnic dinner and did chalk in the heat. We watched Bachelorette, did some late night hot tubbing and made more visit to our favorite eating places.    
Paul came back in town for the weekend and we took the kids boating and Paul took Nolan wakeboarding for the first time! We did it with Caitlin when she was about this age and Nolan loved it just as much. Paul and I got to wakeboard and ski and only added to our desire to get a boat.  

We had an uneventful drive back with Paul, which is good when it comes to road trips. The kids were good and we made it from Austin to our house in about 17.5 hours - record time (radar detector came in handy again here). You know you're blessed when you feel as welcome at your in laws as you do in your own home and your sister in laws are some on your best friends ever. It was a great time and I already miss being in Texas. 

7.23.2013

Rebekah and Jordan: 7.6.13

Saturday was the big day! Rebekah and Jordan were sealed for time and all eternity in the San Antonio temple at noon. It was clear to see that Rebekah and Jordan are completely in love and they were just beautiful young lovers lost in the moment all day long. We are all very excited for them and their new life together. The temple was beautiful (and a little hot) and Caitlin and Madison were very adoring of Rebekah in her "princess dress". They were both pretty happy about having their own princess dresses one too (even though Caitlin slipped in a car oil spill and her dress as stained in the back from the beginning of the day). Caitlin kept saying that she wanted it to be her turn to go to the temple and marry Flynn Ryder. 
We took pictures and had a reception that evening. There was delicious dinner at the reception and lots of dancing. It was a party! Caitlin and Madison never left the dance floor. They danced the night away and loved every second of it. Nolan ended up ditching the shirt in the heat of the night while he too enjoyed the music. My parents came down for the reception along with probably 500+ other people who were there, it was fun to mingle and chat. We did a sparkler send off the away they went to their honeymoon, and away the rest of us went for a good nights rest. 
It's so crazy to me (and probably everyone in the family) that "little Rebekah" is married. I remember her when she was a tiny baby, and in my mind she kind of got stuck at about the 11 year old age. Now she is married and now we no longer have any single siblings. Everyone has their match.
 

texas: part 2

Wedding week! This is the week Paul joined us in Austin for Rebekah and Jordan's wedding. We had a full line up of events all week, culminating in their beautiful wedding and including lots of family and extended family and new McCullough family and excitement and love.

We got to go boating and started making the rounds to all of our favorite eating places, including a late night run to the Gourdough's food truck down town. 

Wednesday we all did a session at the San Antonio temple with Bekah for her first time. It was fun to be back in the temple where I was married and also went through for my first time. That night we had a bachelorette party with Rebekah.
Thursday was the 4th of July: we had a big family pool party and then set of some fireworks and watched some bigger ones by the house. Nolan actually stayed awake long enough to see fireworks and he really liked them.

Friday evening Jordan's family hosted dinner at Z'Tejas downtown. All the direct siblings were asked to speak and in a stroke of somewhat uncharacteristic creativity the Dickson siblings prepared a "Hoe-Down" song like they do on the show "Whose line is it anyway?" they each had a verse about Rebekah and some of her qualities and put it to music. During the preparation and performance I saw a side of Paul I had never seen before... nervous! The actual delivery of their hoe down had its flaws (won't go into details) but it was definitely creative and cute and a great memory. And comical on many levels. Definitely proves how much we love Rebekah. The parents also spoke and we watched a cute slideshow. Bekah and Jordan are such a cute couple and so meant for each other.

7.21.2013

texas: part 1

The kids and I were in Texas for 3 weeks. Paul joined us for one of them and a few other days here and there. It was a very full and fun vacation! Three weeks sounds like so long but it went by so fast! We enjoyed the heat, food, family and fun each day of it.

*Let me preface these Texas posts by saying I was horrible with taking good pictures. I basically only used my phone camera. Don't know why i didn't have my other camera around more, but it is what it is... Don't know what i would do without my iphone!

The first week was spent in Dallas with my parents. They were nice enough to agree to caravan down with me. So we had 2 cars and 4 drivers and we all swapped around. It was a long 19 hours but we made it (thanks to the fact that my dad knows the way like the back of his hand and he is an excellent lead driver, and we had a radar detector). We got there late Sunday night and spent the next week swimming, relaxing, shopping, watching movies, wagon rides and playing outside (in no particular order). 

 Some highlights:
-The kids got so much more comfortable in the water as the week progressed. They logged a lot of time in the pool and loved every second of it.
-Caitlin slept in one of the bedrooms by herself and called it her princess room.
-My parents still own a VHS player and Caitlin loved watching older movies that she had never seen before. 
-Both kids loved all the stuffed animals we have in our old rooms. Caitlin hoarded all the Winnie the poohs of all different sizes and Nolan totally thought some little doggies were real. He was a little scared at first but when he discovered he could pet them without interference he was thrilled.
-Nolan became quite the climber and demonstrated in in every way possible.
-We visited the Grapevine Sea Life Aquarium. Both kids are big fans of looking at fish, so naturally it was a hit.
-I convinced my dad to make our traditional home made "Triple Treat Ice Cream" for Sunday dinner, we usually make it for the 4th of July. It was delicious.




The kids loved being outside so much and exploring my parents house and getting all the attention. I loved relaxing during naptimes by the pool. We saw my grandparents some also. My parents are always so accommodating and my kids have so much fun with them. They love having us there and we can tell. We did lots of fun things but didn't cram too much in so it was a nice and slow paced trip.

neither here nor there

instagram in June:


joys of motherhood: june

-We were at Costco, stocking up on our essential non-essentials in bulk, and the kids were in the front of the cart. Those double carts are so wonderful, I love having them both sitting there in front of me. Yes, sometimes they get sick of being in such close quarters but they just look so cute all contained and staring up at me. An older woman passed us in the aisle and stopped to smile at the kids. She said hi and Nolan smiled back and Caitlin said hi. She was really sweet and told me I have beautiful children and then walked away. As soon as we were walking away and (I HOPE) out of earshot Caitlin giggled and said "oh she was saying hi!" and I said "yah she was so nice" and Caitlin still giggling and said "She's so crazy!" with a little flip of her wrist.
-On a similar errand day, we were at Walmart and had to change both kids diapers. So in we go to the bathroom with the cart and groceries and grumpy kids. And out we came with much the same situation. Caitlin was probably yelling something from the cart or bouncing around. As I pushed my cart out through the little bathroom door we passed an older man who looked at us and somewhat under his breath (although audible) he said "Are we having fun yet?!" I didn't respond to him because I knew he wasn't really saying it for me to hear but I laughed. It made me laugh because the way he said it reminded me of something my own grandpa would say and made me think that maybe he had been part of a similar situation before. And sometimes it takes that perspective at the end of a long day of errands to know that everyone's been through it and it goes by fast.
-This happened a little while ago but don't think I ever mentioned it:
We were eating lunch at Paul's work as a family and had Nolan sitting in a high chair at the end of our table. He was really interested in what was going on at the next table. He kept looking over and smiling. I finally turned around to see what was going on and saw a table full of very big Polynesian guys. They were smiling and waving and laughing at Nolan and he was eating it up! One of them commented to me "He belongs at our table!"
Just this month at the airport in California there was a Polynesian woman holding a big baby next to me waiting for luggage. She asked how old Nolan was and commented that he's a big boy. Somehow it makes me a little proud when I get comment like these because in both of these cases... these people know big boys and know what they are talking about!
Also like when all the Disneyland workers were saying how cute he was or that his were the best cheeks they'd ever seen. (I'd like to think that they don't just say that to everyone) and it means more coming from them because I know that they see kids all day everyday.     
 -The other day Caitlin's conversation with me in the car consisted of her telling me that she needs to get her dolphin tail so that she could go with Ariel. Think she got dolphins and mermaids mixed up. "I will get my dolphin tail and I will go swim with Ariel and she will have her dolphin..." 
-The other day at the playground Caitlin climbed up to this little mega phone thing and said "Mom I just want you know I'm your biggest fan" HAHA I think she heard that on a show or something because I don't know where she would have gotten that but it was really cute. I hope she always feels this way about me.
-Also at the park one night we were sitting at a bench while the kids played and Nolan was happily eating playing with the wood chips at the bottom of the play scape. A few minutes later we heard another kid ay "Nolan's at the very top" and looked over to see him -sure enough- at the very top, about to either go down the huge slide or off the side. WOW! So he climbs! Gotta keep an eye on that one.

7.17.2013

Z is for Zoey

Baby Zoey is coming soon! We are so excited for Chelsea and her little girl and to have another grandchild on my side. It's also been really fun to see my sister pregnant. We had a shower for her while my parents and Cassie were here. She got lots of cute things and we had a good time.




june continued...

Or summer is definitely well underway and already non-stop but I wouldn't have it any other way.
-Threw Tiffany Barnes a little boy baby shower. She is due at the end of July and we are so excited for them to welcome their "little man"

-I found the complete soundtrack of the Disneyland parade and Caitlin had a full on parade reenactment complete with dancing, yelling, singing, balloons and (of course) costume changes. It was hilarious.
-We had a fun FHE night with the Turnbulls, Hansens, Bills, and Hancocks at the park. The kids played and the ladies talked and the men played bocce ball. Smiles all around. Tiffany got some cute pics of the group:
-We did a movie in the backyard! We watched "Cars" and it turned into a drive-in movie for Nolan. Only way he would sit still was to be in his own little car. I'm loving these warm summer nights!
-My parents and Cassie came to visit at the end of the month. They came mostly for helping Chelsea get her nursery and baby things ready (it looks awesome) and to help Cassie finalize some wedding plans up here (also going to be awesome). They stayed with us though so we got to hang out during all the in between times! It's always so fun to have them here.

-Paul and I got to go on a double date with my parents to the USA vs. Honduras World cup qualifier soccer game. It was at Rio Tinto and USA won! And even for someone who doesn't really even follow/understand soccer, it was an exciting game to be at.

7.16.2013

Father's Day

One of the only things I love more than being a mom is seeing Paul be a father. I am so thankful for the devoted, sweet and spirited Daddy that he is. Everything is happier, more fun and just better when Daddy is around.

We had a pretty simple day: breakfast in bed, wrestles from the kids, gifts and a special dinner (including ribs and probably the most perfect rolls I've ever baked). And lots of hugs and kisses along the way.
Caitlin is a total daddy's girl. She lights up whenever he is around and has the most fun with him. She has him wrapped around her little finger and she is the perfect little girl to be his first child and daughter.
Nolan was not cooperating for pictures but he loves his daddy too. He has been a pretty big momma's boy since he was born but recently he has been a huge fan of daddy and even preferring his over me. Paul eats it up and I know as Nolan grows older they will continue to have a special bond. 
Happy Father's Day to the best dad and husband our little family could ask for.