Steven is officially TWO & A HALF!!

Steven is now officially two & a half! He is getting so big! I'm so glad he's in our family, he's such a blessing in our lives! He can be a handful & he can be so independent it can be infuriating, but I definitely wouldn't trade him for anything :) Here are some updates on our little man:

-He's getting taller but I don't think he really weighs much more than he did 6 months ago (he's about 25 pounds)...
-He's talking really well & starting to pronounce words really well. He actually says "Thank You" instead of his own smushed version of the phrase. He also repeats new words really well. He says "Ohhhhh" a lot when we answer a question of his (it's very cute). :) He has just started to sing a little bit & loves to sing along with a toy of his that sings the ABC's (I have a video of that at the end of this post). At church he'll sit on Josh's lap & point out the words with Josh. He also is no dummy. He knows if you didn't understand what he said. If you just try to skip over something by saying, "Ohhh." or "Yeah." or "Really?" & you really had no idea what he said, he will repeat what he was saying until you get it. There's no fooling this kid :)

-He loves to read. He has a current favorite book. It's just a picture book with dinosaurs & the only words on the pages are the colors of the dinosaurs. He already recognizes all the letters & is even starting to know what letters make what sounds. One day Josh was reading this dinosaur book with Steven & pointing out the words to him. He would say, "B-R-O-W-N. BROWN," all the while pointing to the letters and then sliding his finger across the word as he said it. Steven loves to sit with his book now and do the same thing. He'll point at & say each letter & then slide his finger across the letter while reading it. I love watching him do that! He also has these flash cards that we practice with him & he does the same thing to them. If he doesn't know the word, he'll still sometimes slide his finger across the word but not say anything. So cute!

-He still loves his baby sister but is not always super nice to her. He'll push her down or pull her hair or grab her while she's crawling. Usually he won't admit to being mean (but really, even if I didn't see it happen, who else is it going to be?) but one afternoon he came up to me a little while after I'd calmed Sofia down from Steven's most recent "attack". He said to me, "Mommy, I pull Sofia's hair." Just out of the blue. Randomly. I have no idea why but it was cute, even though he'd hurt his sister. Because of the fairly often random acts of mean-ness, Sofia gets easily agitated when Steven's around. Even when Steven really is being genuinely sweet & trying to give her a kiss, she'll still sometimes start crying. I know most of the "tough love" is really because Steven wants to play with her & most of the time I know he's not intentionally trying to hurt her. We're going to have some good times as they grow up :)
-He's definitely an independent little kid!  Sometimes he is less so, but most of the time he has to do things by himself.  He prefers to put on his shoes by himself but also prefers to put them on the wrong feet.  He doesn't get nearly as mad as he used to when we put on his shoes (especially on the right feet) but when he does it himself, he will, without fail, put his shoe on the wrong foot unless we tell him otherwise.  He likes to eat all by himself, & generally he does a pretty good job, but he will get mad at us for trying to tell him how to do it better or help him, but then gets mad, too, when the food won't stay on his fork.  I like to think that he must have a lot of confidence in himself to be so independent, & I'm glad about that, but it really can get frustrating when he insists on doing it himself, especially when it takes twice as long to do it.
-Steven is definitely a movie lover.  We don't own many movies period, let alone kids movies, so he watches the same 6 or so movies over & over.  Last week I was feeling very much done with the movies he has & talked to Josh about maybe trying to find him a few cheap movies online or from Wal-mart or somewhere.  Josh suggested something else.  When my in-laws moved from their house last year, my mother-in-law gave all of her old kids' VHS movies to my sister-in-law.  Her intent was that we (meaning myself & my two sister-in-laws) could share the movies & trade amongst ourselves.  This was a great idea, except for the fact that Josh & I have never owned a VCR as a married couple.  When my mother-in-law found this out, she gave us her old VCR/DVD player so we could watch those movies.  When she gave it to us, Steven was so into movies so we hadn't actually set it up.  Last weekend, Josh went & borrowed several movies from my sister-in-law for Steven to watch.  He had no idea what to make of them when he first saw the tapes.  He picked one up & said, "Read a book, Mommy?"  Then he opened it & moved the tape out of the way & repeated the question.  A little while later he handed me the case & said, "Open, Mommy" [thinking it was a DVD case].  He gets that they're movies now but it was pretty funny to watch him figure it out.  It also made me realize how much I don't miss VHS tapes...
Here are some recent pictures :)

Steven & Sofia enjoying bath time :)

We stayed at Josh's parents' house with Josh's younger brother while they were away.  This is the bed Steven slept on.  He liked being in such a big bed :)

I think that's a pretty good action shot - he was jumping on the bed :)

This was when Sofia was just starting to crawl every where.  Steven was showing her the way :)

This was on Valentine's Day.  You can't see much of the table, but Josh actually set it all up :)

Steven got a cute giraffe from Grandma & Papa

Steven got "Woody" from Toy Story for Valentine's Day.  I don't know what I was thinking not getting one for him for Christmas!  I didn't want to wait until this birthday so I got it for him then.  He loves it! :)

Talking to Woody

Oh how fickle love is.  Steven putting Woody in time out.  He does this to his toys sometimes.  And the babysitter.  And occasionally  he tries to put us in time out ;)

My little boy cheesin' it up :)

So Steven got that hat from my sister for his birthday last year & he'd never wanted to wear it.  The other day, though, he saw it in his closet & decided to put it on.  He insists on wearing it slightly high on his head...maybe it's a little small?  He also loves his Shrek pajamas (he's wearing the top but you can't really tell) & I just love his jean jacket.  What a stud ;)

Steven sorting puff-balls into colors

These next two are videos.  The first one is of Steven singing along with this fridge leap-frog toy he has...he's singing the ABC's

Such a great day :)

Yesterday was just a great day.  I started out the day by being able to sleep in, which is a rare thing when you have kids.  Then I was able to go to an awesome zumba class at the gym.  I really am loving zumba!  I'm so glad my sister-in-law introduced me to it :)  The instructor yesterday was a guy, which I don't think is super common for zumba teachers, but he is so good!  He has such a great energy & totally gets into it which makes me feel less like a dork :)  Plus, all those endorphins really help my mood for the rest of the day :)
Last night Josh & I were able to go on a date, too.  I love being able to go out with just my husband.  We went to see Battle LA & it was pretty good.  If you like war/action movies, you'll definitely like this one.  I hadn't heard much about it before we saw it but I was happy with it.  Afterwards we went to the Macaroni Grill.  I always hesitate a little bit to get something new at a restaurant when I know I like certain things.  I got what I normally get, which is always good, but Josh got something new.  It was a chicken pasta dish & it was AMAZING!  I normally don't like chicken unless it's in something because I think it's usually somewhat bland & dry.  This chicken was unlike any other I've ever had...it was so juicy & flavorful!  Yum.  It's food like that that makes me really not care that I have a few extra unwanted pounds on me.  (It's good to have experiences like that for me because it loosens me up when I get too worried about my weight.)  :)  So if you go to the Macaroni Grill any time soon, get the bruschetta appetizer, the chicken scallopine, & the chocolate cake :)
The other thing that just made the day that much better was that we found out how much we're getting back for our tax return.  I was thinking we'd probably get about the same amount back as we did last year but we're getting DOUBLE that amount!  I was really surprised but super excited when I found that out :) 
Yay for good days :) 

New Years Goals Progress

Well it's been two months since the first of the year & I think I'm doing okay at my goals so far. I joined 24 Hour Fitness because through work I was able to get a membership for $15/mo with NO CONTRACT! Yay! I only joined two weeks ago but I've gone 4 times each week since then. Before that I was able to work out 3+ times/week during most weeks. I haven't really lost any weight though because my eating hasn't been spot on. I've started to go to some Zumba classes at 24 Hour & I have to say that I LOVE THEM! I went to one before Sofia was born & honestly wasn't all that taken with it, mostly because I had no idea how to do the moves they were doing. After I had Sofia, though, my sister-in-law Chirin lent me some Zumba instructional DVD's & they totally made a difference (Chirin has since become a certified Zumba instructor! Yay!). The first one I went to there was barely enough room for everyone to dance without hitting each other. It was such a good time, though! The energy in those classes is so great & it's a really good workout. I went to one this past Saturday after working Friday night & not getting a ton of sleep & it did me so much good. They offer 4 Zumba classes a week at the gym near me so I'm going to try to go to at least 2 classes a week. I'm super stoked :)

Another one of my goals was to start broadening my reading horizons by reading at least one new book a month & try books from different genres. I am proud to say that I've read 3 books so far! Go me :)
The first book I read was called Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare. It's the first in the pseudo-prequel series to the "Mortal Instruments" series (a.k.a City of Bones, City of Ashes, etc.). It's not really from a different genre than my normal books but it was a new book & I finished it at the end of the month & I didn't have enough time to read another one so I'm counting it. It was a really great book! I think that Cassandra Clare is a very good author. She is a first time writer & has been compared to Stephenie Meyer. I have to say that I think that Clare is a better writer & that I also prefer the "Mortal Instruments" series to "Twilight". (I'm not saying I no longer like "Twilight" so no Twi-hearts freak out on me please! ;) ) Both series are in the fantasy genre but I just find Clare's characters & plot more organic & believeable. Clockwork Angel takes place about 200 years before City of Bones but it is about the same "race" of people if you will. Some of the surnames are the same but I don't know if the series are going to be connected in any way yet. The book is about a young girl who comes to England after both of her parents & aunt has died to live with her brother there. She finds that she is not really who she thought she was all of her life but by the end of the book they still haven't decided what exactly she is. The characters are great & the plot keeps you interested until the very end. I'm really looking forward to the next in this series & I would definitely recommend it to anyone!

The second book I read was Persuasion by Jane Austen. One of my goals in life is to read all of Jane Austen's books (I haven't ready any) so I figured I'd start now. I've seen both of the film versions of Pride & Prejudice & Sense & Sensibility so I decided to start off by reading one that I didn't know the story of. Like most (if not all) of Austen's stories, the plot centers around a young woman (well, not so young actually, the main character is approaching the old age of 28!) who is trying to find the love of her life. This story is different, though, in that she had found love in her early 20's but let it slip away because he was not a "suitable" match. When the story opens, she has never married but finds out that there is a chance she will be seeing her old love soon. I have to admit that the book was not exactly an "easy" read because it took more concentrating to understand the language than most books I read. It took even more concentration than that because I read nearly all of it in the middle of the night during down-time at work. I liked the story, but it was a little long winded in some aspects (especially regarding the family finances) & it took quite a while to find out why Anne (the main character) was still single at 27. It's definitely interesting to get an insight into the thoughts & lives of people from the 1800's & to see that what they took so seriously is still what we today take seriously (i.e. money, position, finding "the one"), just with different spins on each side. At first I thought how silly the things were that the character's lives revolved around but when you think about it, we are really not so different today, if not more so engrossed in our money & possesions. It wasn't my favorite of all time but it kept me reading & interested so that's pretty good in my book :)

The most recent one that I read, & actually finished last night, was called Once a Spy by Keith Thomson. I found it at one of those "recommended reads" displays at my library & thought it looked intersting. It's a thriller whose plot centers around a former spy who now has Alzheimer's & therefore could be a potential security risk for the agency he used to work for. His son gets pulled into the middle of things, at first for his own selfish reason. As the story progresses & the son discovers what his father's life really was like, their relationship starts to change & evolve. It was definitely a different twist on the spy/thriller bit & I thought it was a fun read.

10 Months

It's been quite a while since I've posted any updates about Sofia so I thought I would do one now since she'll be 10 months old tomorrow. At her 9 month appointment at the beginning of February she weighed 16 lbs 2 oz. She'd only gained about a pound since her last visit at 6 months. Her doctor didn't seem too concerned but he did tell me to start putting butter on stuff & making sure she is getting enough formula. I don't know if she's gained much weight so far but I am definitely putting butter on just about everything ;)

Here are some new things that are going on with her:

-She's now eating pretty much solid "table foods" exclusively. She still has baby yogurt pretty much every morning but other than that she basically just eats what we eat. I steam vegetables almost every night with dinner & she loves to just grab a carrot stick or piece of broccoli & go to town (smothered with butter of course ;) ). She loves fruits, too, & I'll give her a bowl with blueberries & she'll pop them in her mouth, one after another. I love seeing her try new foods! I didn't really steam a lot of veggies when Steven was this age so he didn't get to experience them in that way until more recently. I'm glad I'm doing it this way with Sofia.

-Sofia is such a Mama's girl! (Still...she's been that way for awhile!) Whenever I come into the room she gets super excited (she'll start bouncing up & down or start crawling really fast towards me) which makes me feel very loved :) However, once I've picked her up it's very hard to put her down again because she then likes to whine at me. If I leave the room & she's not thoroughly distracted, she'll start crawling after me & start half crying/half whining at the same time. She'll even sometimes stop & put her head down a little & cry as though her world has ended because I am not holding her. It's cute in a pathetic way that only children can master in my opinion :)
-She started crawling when we were in Arizona at my sister's the last week of January. I think that she would've started crawling more if we had carpet at our house. The wood floors at our condo I think made it a little hard for her to start the crawling business. She's now a total pro! She is starting to pull herself up onto things all over the place so I'm sure she'll be walking soon enough.
-Her hair is now long enough to put into two pigtails at the top of her head. It is probably the cutest thing in the whole world! She absolutely hates it when I do her hair but I totally love them. I love that she's starting to get enough hair to do things do. :)
-Her favorite means of affection is grabbing onto your hair & trying to eat your face. Seriously, she will bite your face if you let her. Today when I picked the kids up from their babysitter's, the babysitter told me a funny story. They have a rather large dog (I'm not sure what kind but it's about the size of a labrador) & for a long time Sofia was very much afraid of it. If it even so much as looked at her she would burst into tears. Apparently today she went up to the dog, sat right next to it, grabbed his ears & tried to give him her version of a kiss/eat-your-face. Afterwards, the dog proceeded to lick her face, & I'm sure the dog's tongue is about as big as her face, but apparently she loved it. What a funny kid :)
I really haven't been good at posting pictures lately but here are some ones of Sofia from the past few months.

This picture is actually about 2 months old.  I told you I was bad at this!

 I don't know if you can really tell, but this was her first ever ponytail :)

 Sofia during bath time.  Seriously, cutest baby ever ;)

 Steven & Sofia in the bath

 So cute. Need I say more?

 Steven & Sofia at Thanksgiving.  Sofia really loves her brother :)

 Steven helping me feed Sofia

 I just thought this picture was adorable :)

Big Changes in 2011

2011 is going to bring a lot of new & big changes for my little family.  It's going to be a busy year but I'm excited for it :)
First off, at the beginning on January I switched jobs.  I have been wanting a night job for a while so I could be home more with my kids.  In December I got a job offer for a night job at Primary Children's Medical Center & I took it.  I was really sad to leave my job at Drs. Tanner & Smith but it really best for myself & my family.  I got an increase in pay & I have to pay a lot less in daycare (Steven & Sofia still go to daycare in the morning after I've worked a night shift so I can sleep) so I'm brining home a lot more & am able to stay home with my kids more.  PCMC offers great insurance but it was a LOT of money (we're talking about 1/2 of each paycheck) to insure my whole family so we decided not to get more coverage for them.  I was kind of bummed about that but what can you do?  I like my new job but I think my nursing passion is still in the OB/GYN field.
Secondly, Josh decided to take charge of our finances & paying the bills.  I wasn't expecting that to happen but he came up with a really detailed budget on his iPad (gotta love the iPad! ;) ) which shows a long-term view rather than just a limited short-term view.  It's really good to see where all of our money is going & where we will be in 6 months or a year.  I was a bit hesitant to the idea of Josh taking over the money but I'm really glad he did.
Next, this Spring I'm planning on applying to the LPN program through Mountain Land Applied Technology College in Utah County.  The program starts in August & is only 2 semesters so hopefully I will get in & be able to start that this year.  After that, I can go through an LPN to RN program that is another 2 semesters.  My friend went through that program and recommended it to me.  It's not exactly the traditional route but I think it will be the best way to go for me.  That's the plan, anyway, unless some unforseen event happens in the next few months.
Another thing is in the works but I'm not going to mention it prematurely & spoil it ;)
Any way you slice it, it's going to be a crazy year but I'm super excited & ready for it!

New Years Goals

This year I really don't have many resolutions, rather, I think they'd best be described as "goals". 
As with most people, I do have the goal of losing some weight.  I do want to get those last 10 lbs off that I've been trying to lose for a while.  More than that, though, I want to become a more healthy person.  I'm not incredibly unhealthy but there's definitely room for improvement. 
-I've noticed that when I am stressed, angry, or upset, my first impulse is to eat.  And to eat junk.  I don't know why that is because it really doesn't make me feel any better, nor does it solve any of the problems that made me stressed, angry, or upset in the first place.  I really need to work on that and finding better ways to relieve my stress or calm me down.  I have definitely noticed that when I eat healthy I feel better, not only because healthy for me, but also because I am proud of myself for eating something healthy ;)  It's ironic that I still crave junk when it doesn't make me feel as good as healthy food does...There must be crack in that junk food...
-I also want to run a 5K.  I enjoy working out on the treadmill but generally I just walk at a steep incline.  That is a great workout but I didn't know if I could honestly run outside very well.  I almost ran a 5K on Thanksgiving so I had started training for that early in November.  I did better than I thought I would and I think it's very doable.  I am aiming to run my first one in the Spring or Early summer when it's not 6 degrees outside. 
-I definitely want to improve how my family eats as well as how I eat.  I am responsible for how and what my kids eat so I should really be feeding them good food.  For a while I didn't push healthy stuff on Steven but I am going to be doing much more of that this year.  I would much rather have him asking for fruits and veggies than candy (a girl can dream, can't she? ;) ).  In an effort to get Steven to branch out in his diet, Josh came up with what I think is a rather ingenious plan.  Josh got out a bag of chocolate chips one night at dinner and told Steven, "If you eat [whatever it was we were trying to get him to eat], then you can have a chocolate chip."  Steven didn't believe us at first but after a few times of explaining this concept, he ate what we were asking him to eat and he got one chocolate chip.  I'm sure this would be described as bribery but a. He is eating a lot more variety now and I don't think that 4 or 5 chocolate chips are really going to offset that healthiness too much and b. My boy is skinny so I'm fine with him getting some extra calories ;)  The goal is to get him to the point where he realizes, "Hey, theses veggies are good!" and doesn't need the chocolate as an incentive.  He already does that to a point...sometimes he will eat several bites of whatever before asking for a chocolate chip.  Maybe it's not the best trick in the book, but it's working for us, because he will readily try just about anything we ask him to now.  Yay for that! :)
I also want to expand my horizons a bit as far as reading is concerned.  I love to read but generally stick with the same genre and will even re-read books that I really like.  So this year I am going to attempt to read (at least) one new book a month this year.  I'm going to change it up every month so that I'm reading non-fiction as well as fiction, spiritual as well as classics and biographies.  I'm pretty excited about this goal.  :)  If anyone has any favorites they'd like to suggest, I'm all ears.  I will also probably be getting a lot of ideas from my good friend Jen as well as this blog.  The link is to a blog that reviews all kinds of books.  I like it because the blogger reads books that are outside his "comfort zone" I guess you could say and that's what I'm trying to do.  Thanks to Dr. Tanner for introducing it to me! :)
Lastly, I'm going to be trying to be much better about reading my scriptures daily, praying more, going to the temple once a month, all that good stuff. 
I'm trying not to do anything too outrageous as for as goals this year because 2011 is going to be full of crazy, crazy changes as it is!  (But that's a whole other post)

Christmas - New Years

I don't actually have any pictures for this post, sorry!
On Christmas Eve morning we went to my sister's house & had a brunch.  We did this last year & decided to continue it whenever we can.  My brother & sister-in-law were also there with their family.  I'm not sure where Ginelle got the idea, but the main part of brunch is awesome.  She gets a pizza from Papa Murphy's without any sauce on it.  Just cheese & veggies.  Then, the morning of, she scrambles up some eggs, pours them on the pizza & bakes it that way.  It's a way easy, & way yummy, pizza quiche! After the food we were able to talk to my younger brother, Marc, via Skype.  It was such a great idea & so fun to talk to him!  He's in Hawaii going to school so we don't see him often obviously.  I love technology. :)
When we got home, Josh's body decided that it wanted to be sick.  He was throwing up & feeling miserable.  His brother & wife were hosting a Christmas Eve dinner that Josh didn't get to go to, unfortunately.  I took the kids, though, & we had a good time.  Chirin made awesome traditional German food, it was very yummy!  Being there without Josh made me realize that I am so glad that I am not a single parent!  Handling two kids, even if well-behaved, is not so much fun.
Christmas morning Josh was feeling better so we were able to go to his parents for presents & a family brunch.  I didn't want to wake the kids up early & I didn't want to rush through opening presents, so we just did stockings  & then went to Josh's parents' house.  We did presents & then his mom's side of the family came over for brunch.  It was really good & lots of fun :)
When we got home, the kids went down for a nap so we didn't start opening our own presents until about 5 pm.  I don't think we'd be able to get away with that when our kids are older... Josh had been thinking that he may have eaten something bad the day before & that's why he had been sick, but half way through opening presents, my body decided it wanted to be sick.  I don't think I've ever thrown up so much in one day before!  I am so glad I don't have bad morning sickness when I'm pregnant!
The Monday following Christmas, we headed up to a family reunion for Josh's Dad's family in a place called Altamont, Utah.  Never heard of it, you say?  Neither had I.  It's near Duschene.  Don't know where that is, either?  Neither did I.  I had heard of that one, though.  It's about an hour and a half east of Heber.  (Honestly, my first thought was "There's something in Utah that's an hour and a half east Heber??" I guess I was thinking that Heber was a lot further east than it is...) All of Josh's immediate family (his Dad & brothers), along with a few other families, stayed in one lodge while the rest of the ginormous clan stayed at a bigger lodge about 15 minutes away.  The place where we stayed was really nice & we had free yummy breakfast every morning, but it would've been nice to not have to drive 15 minutes one way every day to go to the other place.  There is just no way to get a group that size in one place, though, so we made due.  It was a lot of fun.  Most of our little group (Josh's immediate family) got sick while there or were already sick so that made things a little interesting.  I had thrown up on Christmas and then, lucky me, I got a cold while we were there.  It wasn't that bad but I still haven't quite thrown it.  Although, come to think of it, I probably no longer have a cold, it's probably just this thing they like to call "air" that I'm breathing around here that's messing me up. (Oh, yes, Salt Lake City was ranked NUMBER 1 on the Nation's Cities with the Dirtiest Air list - yay us)  Anyway, sorry for the tangent.  Our Christmas and New Years were both great and I'm so glad we got to spend time with our familes!  I hope everyone enjoyed theirs as well :)