MONDAY NIGHT MUSINGS

Tuesday July 12th - Monday July 18th

- 7/12 I asked CJ what he wanted for dinner tonight and he matter-of-factly said marshmallows, strawberries, and taquitos...Ok. I can work with that.

- Ok yes, I haven't started potty-training Mattie yet. I know, I know. I need to. And I'm going to...soon.Like after CJ's birthday. I promise. But while she's still in diapers, I thought I'd just share that she has started to be really "helpful," in both good and bad ways. Bad way: she takes her diaper off herself, which has resulted in a couple of wet accidents. Good way: after we change her diaper, she offers to take it to the garbage in the garage for us. So sweet, right? :)

- I realize that there's not very much about Bryce on here. I need to be better at keeping him involved in this "family" journal (it's just that it's my journal. You know, from my point of view and I spend the majority of my time with my kids, so that's what it ends up being about), so let's see...Bryce has been pretty busy as work lately. He goes through lulls, which I kind of like. He'll have weeks where he's home by 5:15-5:30 every night, which is great. Then he'll have other weeks where he may be home by 5:30-6:00, but then he goes back in from 9:00-midnight, and may even get up and go into work at 6:30 or 7:00 AM. But I don't mind it that much when he goes back in later. We still get our time with him - especially the kids - and he's getting plenty of hours (he has a required number of billable hours that he's supposed to hit each year). Plus he likes being able to go back in and really focus, so it works for everyone. Anyway, so he's been busy lately, which is really great. That means he's really impressed a lot of lawyers/partners at his firm who are entrusting him with work (especially since it doesn't seem that some of the other associates are as busy). I'm not surprised. The only downside is that it's a lot of litigation, which is not exactly Bryce's favorite. He doesn't like the pettiness and irrantionality that's invovled. Too bad he's pretty good at it or maybe he wouldn't be getting so much work :)

- And speaking of Bryce working, our (and when I say "our," I mean "Bryce's") paper route got canceled last month. It's kind of a relief to have our Tuesdays back - no more folding papers at 10 PM and delivering them at midnight - but I've got to be honest, that extra $272 a month was really great (it paid our cell phone, internet, and cable bills), so we're bummed. We'll just have to try to be frugal these next few months until Bryce is up for a raise in September. Of course, that's much easier said than done...especially considering we have CJ's 4th birthday with a party, Chuck E. Cheese, and portraits, an engine, brakes, and muffler to replace, school loans to pay, landscaping to do, a shared room to set up for the kids (so a new bunkbed, mattress, bedding, storage, dresser, etc), a wedding out of state to attend, baby gifts, wedding gifts, and graduation gifts to buy, and CJ starting preschool again - all before the baby and a raise comes in September. Wish us luck!

- We started reading scriptures as a family this week. After evaluating our relationship last week, and both agreeing that our marriage and our family needs more spirituality, we decided to commit ourselves to reading scriptures as a family daily. I know...duh, right? Well since our kids are so young, we'd, or at least, I had convinced myself that we didn't need to start yet. Bryce and I read on our own, and we read a little from the scriptures when we have family home evening, but that's it. And since CJ is about to turn 4 it's time. He's old enough to know who the prophets in the scriptures are and some of the stories, so we bought the classic Book of Mormon Stories book from the distribution center and have been using that as we read. We only read 10 verses a night, but already on the second day of reading, both kids started all of their verses with "And it came to pass," regardless if that's what it said or not :). It's so amazing to see how children, who are innocent and so close to the Lord, really gravitate toward things that are right and true, and this has been no exception. To my surprise, our kids are excited to read the "squipehs," as Mattie calls them, and have even been the ones to remind us.

- Before I forget, I wanted to write down that Mattie calles oatmeal "eat-meal." It makes me laugh every time I hear it!

- Bryce and I switched the kids into one room on Saturday. Well, almost. We got the bunkbed up and CJ's been sleeping on it, but the other mattress for Mattie hasn't come yet, so she's still sleeping in the crib in what will be the baby's room. She's not too happy about it. It may be her crib that she's used to, but the room is not and so she cries every time we put her to bed. We're just hoping that after her mattress comes, the kids can quickly adjust to sleeping together (and Mattie to sleeping in a regular bed). We don't need to have all 4 (5) of us adjusting when the baby comes, that's for sure! 

- The kids started swim lessons today. As expected, CJ was so excited all day, but when we got there, he cried and did not want to do it. Bryce was able to calm him down and walk him over to his class, with the promise that he would go in the water with CJ if CJ needed it. Once CJ got to his class and his teacher started talking to him, he was fine. No crying the rest of the time. He let go of Bryce's hand, got in the water, and spent the rest of the class doing just fine (besides having to get out at one point to warm up a bit because he was shivering so much). Then it was time for Mattie's Bobbin' Babies class. Mattie had a hard time waiting for her class - she wanted to jump in the whole time CJ was swimming and we really had to distract her. But the second she got in the pool with Bryce, she was done! She wanted out, and unlike CJ, she spent most of her class clinging to Daddy with a death-grip. The teacher was great and really understanding, explaining that the purpose of the class was to help the kids get comfortable with the water so she told Bryce to just do whatever made Mattie comfortable (meaning, he didn't need to follow the instructions she was giving). Mattie finally started to warm up the last several minutes of the class and Bryce was even able to get her under the water. I was very proud of both of my kids. It's not easy doing something new, especially when it scares you, so I'm proud of them for doing it anyway! CJ, by the way, spent the time during Mattie's lesson entertaining himself by following the water aerobics instructor on the other end of the pool. It was pretty funny!

- And FYI, I have now graduated into wearing Bryce's tee-shirts for comfy clothes at night. Ugh. This baby couldn't come soon enough.

Happy Monday!