Halloweeeeeeen

We are busy getting ready for Halloween. After two failed attempts due to the fact that it has rain/snowed for the last FOUR weekends, we finally made it to the pumpkin patch last night. It was supposed to close at 7 and we got there at about 6:30, but there were still plenty of people in line. It was cold. We waited to take the wagon ride to the patch and by the time we got there it was totally dark! It is slightly more challenging to pick out pumpkins in the dark. Especially while trying to keep track of small children. Will picked out his very own pumpkin- the biggest (and therefore, most expensive) one he could find of course. While waiting in line Bryce taught Will "how to climb the fence." I'm not sure who was more proud of this accomplishment, Will or Bryce!

We've been promising Will a trip to the pumpkin patch for some time and when I took Sawyer to the doctor on Friday (more on that later) the doctor was wearing scrubs with pumpkins and cats on them. Will pointed out the pumpkins and then somehow the idea that he got to go to the patch and pick a pumpkin became that he got to go to the patch and pick a kitten. He kept saying "Will gets to pick his own kitten at the patch!" I tried to intervene in that thought process and correct him which the doctor thought was pretty humorous. I kept saying "No, Will gets to pick a pumpkin! Any pumpkin he wants!" which only caused Will to insist even louder "Will gets to pick a kitten, any kitten!" Sorry Will, but you got a pumpkin.

Yes, I took Sawyer to the doctor on Friday because his cold turned into a cough that sounds like a 55 year-old chain smoker. As expected the official diagnosis was "Well, it's probably some kind of virus--just keep an eye on him." You know it is cold and flu season when my weekly routine involves at least 1 trip to the pediatrician's office. [We took Will in last week for severe croup. The poor kid completely lost his voice for 2 days! They gave him a prescription for some medicine...which Will gagged on and threw up an entire strawberry milkshake all over the back of our car, his car seat, and himself. I've cleaned for over 4 hours and the car still smells. Joy.]

On Saturday Mollie came over to help entertain the boys while we painted Will's "big boy cowboy room." It is a tan color officially known as Ralph Lauren county cork or, apparently, "Baltimore Orioles" as the can said. On Monday I was taking down all the painting tape and Will walked into the room and said "I like this beautiful color. It's from Lowe's." He now has a "big boy bed" too-- a regular twin size bed. He took a nap in it yesterday and slept in it last night. He didn't even get out of bed until 9 this morning! I guess that was enough for him though because when I put him down for a nap today he informed me that he wanted to sleep in his crib, so that is where he is now.

While I was trying to clean up the painting paraphernalia Will was busy emptying out the bathroom cabinet. I went to stop him and told him that he couldn't get into the cleaners and stuff because they were dangerous. I picked him up to haul him out and he kept leaning towards the cabinet with arms outstretched yelling "Scrubbing Power!!!" over and over. I don't know where he comes up with this stuff.

On Friday night Mollie watched the boys while Bryce and I went out for our anniversary dinner. Yes, our anniversary was in June, but Bryce's office gave us a gift certificate that we hadn't used yet. Mollie told us that while we were gone Will was playing with his magna-doodle. Mollie told Will to draw a picture of Sawyer so he drew some scribbles and then looked at his work and declared "He's so cute!" Will also tried to draw Aunt Mollie so Aunt Mollie prompted him by asking "What does Aunt Mollie look like?" Will thought for a second and responded "Aunt Megan!" Good answer. [They are twins for those who don't know.]

This entry started out by mentioning the snow. Yes, snow. Bryce and I stayed up watching Jumanji on Saturday night and when I got up to go to bed at about 1 I glanced out the window and saw that it was snowing like crazy! There was still snow on the ground in the morning. It is not even Halloween yet. What happened to fall? I think we totally skipped it this year.

Here is a newsworthy item: Sawyer slept through the night for the first time! Saturday, October 20th was the big night. I had him sleep in his car seat next to my bed because his cough is worse if he lays down flat. He fell asleep at 10 and I woke him up to eat at 6! Of course, I woke up about 8 million times wondering if he was still breathing. Unfortunately, there hasn't been a repeat performance yet. Well, I guess he did sleep from 8 p.m. until 3 a.m. the next day which is a good 7 hour stretch. It just didn't happen to coincide with when I wanted to be asleep.

I think Will may have finally fallen asleep. I put him down for a nap over an hour ago, but I heard him yelling randomly until about 10 minutes ago. Sawyer fell asleep too so I should take this opportunity to shower. Bonus pics of Sawyer in a smiley mood today.

Everyone's favorite...the dentist

It has been kind of a crazy week, but I wanted to make note of an important event- Will's first trip to the dentist! Okay, so I personally hate going to the dentist, but we are trying not to pass that along to Will...at least not until he figures it out for himself. So all week long we talked up how how special it was that Will got to go to the dentist and how he would get a new toothbrush and stuff. [Our appointment was actually the 9th so this is a little overdue.] I had an appointment too so Mollie came with us to keep an eye on Sawyer and to help with Will during my exam. The dentist had Will come back first and Will was pretty interested in the computer and all of the buttons that controlled the chair. He was having fun sitting in the chair until the hygienist tried to recline it and then he started getting nervous. I was surprised that he didn't just start crying and trying to run away, but instead he just sat there looking anxious. The hygienist tried to polish his teeth, but she was unsuccessful since Will clenched his jaw every time she got near him. The office has flat screen tv's mounted on the ceiling above the chairs so the dentist put on "Cars" for Will and gave him headphones for the sound. Will thought it was pretty amazing that he got to watch Cars on the ceiling. The hygienist gave up on the cleaning and the doctor tried to just do a quick exam, but every time he reached near Will's mouth Will would very politely reach up and push his hand away all without taking his eyes off the movie. I think he thought it was some fancy movie theater and couldn't figure out why they kept bothering him when he was trying to watch the movie. I eventually helped pry his mouth open enough that the dentist could quickly look around with his mirror. He gave Will the all clear and Will was very distressed when we tried to get him down from the chair to go back to the waiting room. He wanted to watch the rest of the movie. Luckily, the dentist also has a tv in the waiting room so he put "Cars" on in there and Will agreed to move. Will also got a new Winnie the Pooh toothbrush and a toy car so he thinks the dentist's office is a pretty great place to be. We'll see how long that lasts. I am wishing I had a picture of him lounging in the chair wearing his headphones watching the movie and politely declining the dentist's attempts to examine him. It was pretty funny.


We have been trying to ask Will what he wanted to be for Halloween, but he doesn't understand the concept of dress up or pretend or costumes so it doesn't get very far. The other day I was listing a bunch of options and Will got really excited when I said "cowboy." Which was predictable (see last post). So he is going to be a cowboy which is fine with me since it should be fairly easy. Ever since then, however, Will has been randomly saying "Will be temple for Halloween!" (see here http://www.lds.org/temples/geographical/0,11380,1899-1,00.html for more info on temples) I'm not sure where he got that idea...and regardless of the logistical difficulties of dressing a 2 year-old like a gigantic ornate building...I think it would be just a little too strange...even for Utah County. So he will be a cowboy. Sorry.

Yesterday I was in the car with Bryce, the boys, and Mollie and we were talking about how they took down the playscape at our old elementary school. We were reminiscing about how one of the most popular features at the playground was a bunch of large tires set in the ground so that only the top half sticks out. Everyday at recess it was a race to claim a tire. You'd run to the set of tires and stick your head under in hopes of finding one that was unoccupied, but more likely you'd look up and discover that this one was already taken by another kid who had wedged himself up inside the top of the tire. So you'd go to the next and the next until you either found an empty one and claimed it triumphantly or gave up and found something else to do. For some reason this was a really enjoyable and desirable way to spend recess--wedged in the top of an old tire. I commented "Kids are so weird!" and Will echoed me from the back seat saying "Kids are so cute!" I guess he took it upon himself to correct me.

A few days ago Will woke up saying "Mommy, I want a brownie for breakfast!" Unfortunately, we didn't have any. If we had any, we probably both would have had brownies for breakfast. I think he officially has my sweet tooth!

I love when both of the boys are asleep in the afternoons!

Will is getting excited for Christmas. I'm sure he has no recollection of last Christmas, but lately whenever he sees a man with a beard (such as the wizard on Sesame Street this afternoon) he says "Christmas! Christmas!" And of course Lowe's already has its Christmas decorations on display. We were there last weekend and Will was mesmerized by the lights and the giant inflatable yard displays. It is fun to think that this year he will actually be excited about Christmas. Especially since it will be only the 2nd time in my life that I haven't been home in Connecticut for Christmas. It was just too lame to stay here for Christmas when you just have one kid who is too small to be excited about anything. And I'm the only married child in my family so everyone else still goes home every year. This year Will will be old enough to get in on the action and I think my sister-in-law and her husband will be here from England so it will seem a little more Christmasey than if it were just us.

The other night Bryce was wrestling with Will and Will rolled over and hugged Bryce and said "I love you Daddy!" It was so cute. This morning when I got him out of bed he said "I love you Mommy!" It "almost" makes up for how much of a pill he was all of last week. :-)

A weekend in the tropics

We spent the weekend in the tropics...well, sort of, we spent the weekend in Tropic, Utah which is by the entrance to Bryce Canyon and the home of Bryce's paternal grandparents and an assortment of aunts, uncles, and cousins. We went down on Thursday night and attended the funeral for Jack Chynoweth (Bryce's aunt's father) on Friday. He wasn't a blood relative, but Bryce was kind of an adopted grandson. We'd been promising Will a ride on a horse and he finally got the chance on Sunday morning before we left to come back home to Provo. I asked Will what he was doing and he said "I'm a cowboy!" Isn't it every kid's dream to have grandparents where you get to sleep in a cabin and ride horses when you visit?

Will had a blast playing with Bryce's cousins' kids over the weekend. On Saturday Bryce went "up on the mountain" to help his grandpa and Will and Sawyer and I tagged along with Bryce's Aunt Randi and Uncle Bob and their family out to the Chynoweth cabin. Will had a little run-in with barbed wire fence when we first got there, but I think he learned his lesson. We brought a picnic lunch, but it turned out to be a little cold for picnic weather! It even snowed pretty heavily for a little while in the afternoon. Will played outside with his cousins for about 6 1/2 hours and didn't want to come inside when it was time to go. Clearly he got his Dad's genes when it comes to temperature control--those two never get cold! Mom hung out inside the cabin with Sawyer and had fun visiting with Bryce's aunt and cousins. Unfortunately Will already had a cold and that night it turned into croup...he sounds like a dog barking. That happens at least 75% of the time when he gets a cold. I can hear the poor kid coughing in his sleep upstairs right now.

Will got a hold of some "Cars" cars (Lightning McQueen etc.) at Aunt Randi's house and didn't put them down for the entire weekend. We tried to consistently remind him that they didn't belong to him and that he would have to give them back to "Grandma Randi" (as Will called her) before we went home. On Saturday night Will woke up twice crying and had to be reassured that the "Dinoco folks" were still under his pillow. I expected lots of crying and hysterical fit-throwing when it came time to leave the cars behind, but Will actually left quite passively after being told that he could ask Santa for some special cars for Christmas. About halfway home Will started asking for the "racecars" though and Bryce tried to distract him by talking to him about our trip. Bryce asked Will "What was your favorite toy at Grandma's house?" and Will said "marbles." (Bryce's grandma has a wooden marble track that Will really enjoyed.) Then Bryce asked "What was your favorite thing to play with at Aunt Randi's house?" I thought for sure Will would say "racecars"...but instead he thought for a second and said "cousins." That little boy loves to play with other kids but, unfortunately, doesn't have any cousins of his own yet!

Bryce's grandparents own some cabins that they rent out inside of Kodachrome Basin state park. Bryce's grandma also runs the Trailhead general store type thing inside the park. Bryce's grandparents are getting ready to move into the new house they are having built so we stayed in one of the cabins out at the park. It is nice to have our own little place to stay when we go down there. Bryce's grandparents are getting ready to retire from the cabin-renting business....so if you're interested in getting into the business let us know! :-)

On our way out to the Chynoweth cabin there were some calves on the side of the road and I told Will "look at the baby cows." Will looked at them and said "those are Sawyer's cows." I guess he thought I said "look at the baby's cows." Will also picked up some phrases from Grandma Ott over the weekend. When we left her house one evening Will announced "Going to the cabin bless your heart!"

Leaves, temperatures, Will, and other things that fall

Pictures as promised: When I originally posted this blog entry I said I would try to add some pictures so I am finally doing it. Both are of Will being silly (not a rare event). For two days Will insisted upon wearing my sweatshirt at all times- including to bed.

It appears from each member's respective blog entry that my family is enamored with fall. I suppose it is impossible to grow up in New England and not pine for pumpkins and crunchy leaves and brightly colored foliage at this time of year. Have you ever noticed that even before the actual daily temperatures start to plunge you can feel something different in the air marking the end of summer? It is the same way in the spring. The high temperature will be 50 degrees for 5 days in a row, but WHAM on one of those days all of the sudden you can just feel that the undercurrent in the air has changed from wintery cold to spring-time warmth (or from summer heat to autumn cool). All without the actual temperature changing at all. Why is that? Maybe it is the way the air smells as much as anything else. The fall always smells like wood smoke and the spring smells like things growing.

We took Will to a puppet show at the library last night. The group has supposedly been performing for 10 years...but I'm quite confident that if handed a puppet I could have ad-libbed a more entertaining show. It was..well...boring. And not just to parents. Will was bored after 30 seconds. I do appreciate the performers' willingness to come put on a show most likely for free on a Monday night after spending all day at what I imagine are probably boring run-of-the-mill jobs...but...well...it was boring. There was a group of mentally challenged adults there and we should have given them our seats because they were seated off to the side and we (thanks to arriving 40 minutes early and waiting in line) were front and center. They found the show HI-larious. Which just makes you wonder about what in our brains tells us what is funny and what isn't and why would something like Downs Syndrome have such a profound effect on that?

Yesterday Will was looking through the junk mail with me. First he saw an ad with a photograph of a house on it. He pointed at it and said "That's TLC." (I have a weakness for the design and home improvement shows on that channel). Then he saw an ad with a photograph of a woman on it. She was a realtor, but Will decided she was a doctor and kept pointing at her and saying "Doctor" followed by something longer over and over. Finally he said it clear enough for me to understand and here is what he was saying: "Ask your doctor if it is right for you!" Hmmm...I didn't think he really paid attention when I had the tv on in the afternoons...but apparently he picks up on more than I thought! Besides his "Cars" movie, Will really doesn't watch a ton of tv, but I will admit that I frequently have it on in the afternoon for something to listen to while I pick up all of the junk that Will spent the morning getting out.

Will has a new technique for trying to get out of trouble. Every time I reprimand him he gives me a huge grin and says "Smile! Smile Mommy!" over and over.

Will is currently playing under his Thomas the Tank Engine tent. He has it folded over into a little pup tent shape and is playing with cars. Whenever he wants something from a different part of the family room he crawls over to it bringing the tent with him. It looks like a giant Thomas colored hermit crab or something.

A few days ago it was kind of stormy out and at about 2 in the afternoon Will came over to me and put his arms around my neck and said "Kind of dark out Mommy." I said "Yep, it's kind of cloudy" and he responded "Night-night..time for a nap!" This was surprising since Will usually tries to get out of naps so I asked "Are you ready for a nap?" Will yelled "No! Mommy take a nap!" He was trying to put me down for a nap. I would have gladly taken one too, but I didn't think it was a good idea to leave Will in charge of Sawyer! :-)

I asked Will if he wanted to go for a walk yesterday morning and he said "No. Too many mosquitoes!" I blame the mosquitoes (which really are terrible) whenever I don't want him to go outside and now he is using it on me to.

Will calls the electric can-opener the "can-open-it" which seems accurate enough.

Here is a catalog of Will's current injuries:
- series of bruises on his lower back: He was trying to climb up the shelves in the closet to get something I didn't want him to have and fell off and landed on a metal popcorn tin that I keep toys in
- scratch across his stomach: unknown origin
- huge goose-egg on the side of his head: Will was running around one of the classrooms after church and stepped on the picture he had drawn in nursery that was on the floor. He fell and conked his head really hard. He started crying, but it was a weird noise that didn't really sound like him. Bryce picked him up and all of the sudden he stopped making noise and his eyes rolled back into his head. After about 5 seconds he started crying again. I ran into the hall and was lucky enough to immediately come across the nurse practitioner in our ward who told us to test his pupils with a flashlight, not let him fall asleep for a long time, and keep a good eye on him--he appears to be fine.
- bruise under his left eye: fell and hit the arm of the couch
- bruise on his right cheek: Sawyer was asleep in the swing this morning and Will couldn't handle the fact that he was sleeping and went over to try to wake him up. He was yelling "Wake up, wake up!" and grabbed the side of the swing knocking it over onto himself and throwing baby Sawyer face first on the floor.

Will also fell off a kitchen chair this morning and landed in Sawyer's car seat (after I told him that he needed to get down before he got hurt a million times), but I don't think that one left any marks.

I will have to find a picture to add to this, but Sawyer woke up so I will just post this sans photos for now.

Same old

So what is new? Why nothing. In fact lately my days are all very much the same. I get up at pretty much the same time, I feed Sawyer at pretty much the same times, I put Will down for a nap at the same time, and I go to bed at the same time. Without having to worry about classes the days all tend to run into one another. Sometimes I truly can't remember what day of the week it is--and don't even bother asking me the date because I don't know. I must say that my evenings are a lot less stressful when I don't have any particular agenda that I have to follow the next day...and no homework that I have to get done before going to bed!

I put Will down for a nap today and he stayed up there for about 2 1/2 hours talking to himself. Today he was saying "Mommy, come back!" and "Grandma Dickerson!" and "Uncle Kyle" and "snow hat" over and over. (He wore a knit cap outside the other day because Bryce had a work BBQ and the high temp was only 57--and he has been wearing it ever since--including to bed last night.) The other day he lasted 3 1/2 hours before I gave up and got him out. He wasn't crying or anything...he just talks to himself. Today, however, I heard some noises and next thing I know Will walks into the family room looking triumphant and very pleased with himself. He has never gotten out of his crib by himself before. He has gotten himself into his crib, but never out. I have a feeling my peaceful afternoons are over. Will woke up at about 5 a.m. this morning yelling "I'm hungry!" which wasn't all that surprising since he didn't eat anything yesterday. I just wish he would decide he was hungry at some normal hour of the day.

A few weekends ago we drove to Idaho to make sure that Megan made it up there without her new old car breaking down. We stopped at Craters of the Moon on the way back and Will had a great time. If you've never heard of it Craters of the Moon is a park where a bunch of old volcanoes have spewed lava all over. There are a bunch of tunnels and caves and black lava as far as you can see. Will fell asleep on the way there and when he woke up we told him we were on the moon and I think he really thought we were. He really liked going in the cave and is still talking about "spelunking" on the moon.

The other night I was taking Will upstairs to bed and he was resisting. As we got closer to the stairs he turned around and shouted over my shoulder "See you later Sawyer!" He is such a funny kid. He is at that stage where he repeats EVERYTHING he hears. A few weeks ago after church he took off out the door and into the parking lot when someone went out. I chased him down and told him that he couldn't go in the parking lot by himself because he might get hurt and mommy would be very sad. Just then an older lady from the Relief Society presidency came over and was talking to me and Will kept pulling on her dress and saying "Mommy's sad!" over and over. So the R.S. presidency probably thinks I am severely depressed or something!

My little sister Mollie watched the boys last weekend while Bryce and I went to a movie and she told me that at one point in the evening she told Will that he was silly. Will walked over to her and said "Noo, I'm awfully cute!" The other day I was tossing him a baseball and he was trying unsuccessfully to hit it and after every miss he would announce "Almost! Good job kiddo!" It is nice to know he has good self-esteem. :-)

Sawyer started smiling a couple weeks ago, but his smiles are few and far between. Sometimes when he is awake and happy he will be pretty smiley for about 5 minutes. He is a much more serious kid than Will ever was. He is also a much calmer child than Will ever was. He is a very sweet baby. It will be interesting to see how they interact as they get older. I've already predicted that Sawyer will be my child saying "Will, Mommy told us not to do that!" Sawyer had his 2 month check-up the other day. He had a little bit of a fever but they went ahead and gave him his vaccines anyways. He got 6 of them poor guy! He weighed in at 10 lbs 5 oz. He moved up from the 2nd percentile to the 16th percentile in weight.

Will loves to play with other kids, but unfortunately he doesn't get to all that often. After church on Sunday we were chatting with some friends in the hall who have a little girl who is about a year older than Will. Will was talking to her and telling her all about the quarterback, receiver, and referees in football (Bryce has been teaching him). Then we heard him saying "You want to go to a baseball game Mari?"...only 2 and already asking the girls out.

That's about all the fun I can think of from our house. I've taken to watching the Food Network in the afternoon while cleaning up the house. I wish I had the time, money, equipment, and talent to make fancy, delicious food-- I will settle for watching other people do it I guess.

Sigh

The picture is of Will running around in the Great Salt Lake at Antelope Island. He was having a grand time even though the place was swarming with sand flea things. Yuck.

The boys are both asleep at the moment which is wonderful and is becoming a rare event because Sawyer is starting to be awake more and more during the day. Unfortunately this leads to more and more run-ins between Will and Sawyer. When Sawyer was just sleeping all day he really didn't need much attention, which of course means more attention for Will. But now Sawyer wants attention more frequently and Will wants attention all the time leading to some friction. Yesterday I was sitting on the floor and Sawyer was laying in front of me kicking his legs and swinging his arms and just generally being a good baby. Will came over and looked at him for a second and then walked away and then ran back and kicked Sawyer in the head like he was trying to make a field goal. Sigh. Today I put Sawyer in his playpen so I could take a shower, naively thinking Will would watch Cars and leave him alone. Just as I got the shampoo in my hair I heard Sawyer screaming hysterically so I jumped out of the shower and ran into the bedroom only to see Will in the play pen jumping on Sawyer. Double sigh. Some days I think it will be seriously amazing if Sawyer grows up without permanent injury. I really don't know how to impress upon Will that he CANNOT hurt Sawyer. I've tried the time-outs (both in his highchair and his crib), giving Will extra attention, trying to convince Will that he is my special helper, and a whole lot of finger shaking and yelling, but I don't think I'm getting through to him. I gave him a good talking to after the kicking incident and tried to emphasize that Mommy and Daddy love Will AND Mommy and Daddy love Sawyer so that he wouldn't just feel like Mommy only loves Sawyer now and that is why he is always getting in trouble. Later that evening I heard Will talking to himself repeating "Mommy and Daddy love Will." It makes me sad to think that he is feeling insecure and displaced and jealous, but it also makes me really angry to see him kicking, poking, pinching, jumping on, and spitting on (yes spitting!) poor little Sawyer all while laughing hysterically like some little sadistic (yet still adorable) demon-child. Sigh.

Maybe there is hope afterall though...yesterday Will was once again getting right in Sawyer's face and shrieking and laughing and Sawyer looked at him and gave his first all-out smile. Of course, that first cute smile would be bestowed upon the one family member who has repeatedly attempted to accelerate his return trip out of this world.

So someday they'll be friends right?

Will is talking up a storm lately. He repeats everything he hears which makes you suddenly realize that a lot of what you say sounds terrible coming out of a 2 year-old's mouth. For instance I said that something was "stupid" (not even a person, just something!) and now everything is "stupid." Or I told Will his diaper was "nasty" and now everything that's not stupid is "nasty"--including most of what I give him to eat. Sometimes he says things that are pretty amusing. I put him in the shower with me on Monday and when we got out he went strutting out of the bathroom naked and said "Hm. Nice and Clean!" Later that day we went grocery shopping at Macey's and I let Will pick out a treat when we paid. He had eaten the whole thing by the time we got home and as I got him out of the car I said "Will, did you say thank you for your candy?" He looked at me and said "Thank you Wal-Mart!"...I said "Umm..no, that's not what I meant" and he thought for a second and then said "Thank you Macey's!" I asked him where he lived the other day (trying to get him to say Provo, Utah) and he looked over and said "Wal-Mart!" I said "Noooo" and asked again and this time he answered "Church!" So that pretty much sums up our life right now. Wal-Mart and Church.

America's Next Top Models

My brother Michael was in town for our family reunion so I had him take some pictures of the boys. Will was hamming it up, but Sawyer didn't appreciate being woken up and was a little more reluctant to have his picture taken. I told Will to smile for the camera and he leaned against the column and gave his best super model look. When I try to take his picture he always just tries to grab the camera so it was funny to see him posing. I will add more later, but at the moment I'm typing 1-handed while holding Sawyer so it is taking forever.

Just weighing in

Sawyer had his first doctor's appointment today--the big 2 week check-up. The check-up lasted approximately 5 minutes after sitting in the waiting room for 1 hour. Bah. Sawyer did not appreciate having his heel pricked for the PKU test. He also did not like being weighed, or measured, or anything really. He weighed in at 6 pounds 5 ounces (he was 5 lbs 9 oz when we left the hospital) and 19 3/4 inches long. That put him in the 2nd percentile for weight and the 12th for height. He is just a little guy! Of course he wasn't due for another week so I'm sure he'll start making up for it soon.

Will is starting to struggle a little bit with someone new being around. Yesterday he got in trouble for pinching Sawyer (luckily he just got diaper). While I was chastising him for pinching he leaned over and, very purposefully, spit in Sawyer's face. Sigh. Usually he thinks Sawyer is hilarious and just wants to put his face right next to Sawyer's and squeal and laugh. It is a different story, however, when he is wanting your attention. He has started saying "Grandma take it, Grandma take it" whenever I am holding Sawyer and he wants me to pay attention to him--meaning that he wants Grandma to take Sawyer so that he can have my undivided attention. He loves to give Sawyer kisses, but he gets frustrated when I tell him that he needs to be softer or that it is nice that he wants to share but Sawyer really doesn't want a matchbox car shoved in his hand repeatedly. I'm sure they will be good playmates when Sawyer gets bigger, but Will wants him to play NOW! Will has started waking up during the night again. He was doing really well at going to bed and not making a peep until 9-9:30 in the morning, but lately he keeps waking up around 4-5 and wanting to be in our bed. I think he knows that Sawyer sleeps in our room and thinks he is missing out on the party. Will has been taking nice and long afternoon naps though so it is great to have 2 1/2 - 3 hours of quiet in the afternoons when both the boys are sleeping.

In other news

Sawyer is now over 1 week old. Mom watched the boys so that Bryce and I could go grab some dinner to celebrate Sawyer's 1-week birthday on Thursday. It was nice to get out of the house for a little bit. We have been cooped up all week because it has been ghastly hot outside and Will has been sick. He woke up with a fever on Tuesday and was still not feeling very well when he left for the Ott family reunion with Bryce yesterday. Bryce reports that he seems to be feeling better though so I am hopeful that he will be a new boy when he gets home later today. Will spent the week whining and crying and wanting to be held and snuggled and just generally having melt downs over every little thing. I felt bad for the poor kid. I think he was already feeling kind of insecure since his mommy was paying so much attention to the new baby and it only made things worse when he just wanted to snuggle but mommy kept having to make him get down because of the "big owie" on her stomach. We also were worried about him getting Sawyer sick as he kept wanting to give "baby brother kisses" but we were trying to keep him as far away as possible. He was probably wondering why he wasn't allowed near his mommy or brother any more. This week was kind of stressful so I was very glad to have my mom here to try to distract Will and keep him happy. The fever lasted for about 2 1/2 days and we think he had a sore throat because we couldn't get him to eat anything--not even a milkshake. He found a Hershey's kiss and was excited to eat it but 2 seconds after he put it in his mouth he started screaming "Don't like it!" and putting his hands by his mouth. He also kept saying "Wipe it, Wipe it" and trying to rub his face on me. I think that was the best he could do at explaining that his throat hurt everytime he swallowed. I have my fingers crossed that he is much improved when he gets home this afternoon.


Sawyer, on the other hand, continues to be the world's most content baby. Sometimes he likes to work up an appetite with a good scream for a minute or 2, but even his worst is not that bad. Unlike Will who wanted to eat ALL the time, but refused to nurse, Sawyer nurses but has to be reminded to eat sometimes. He usually wants to eat about every 4 hours, but sometimes if he doesn't wake up we have to remind him that he needs to eat again. He is an awfully cute little guy. Bryce still thinks he looks just like Will, but I think he looks like an entirely different baby all together. But both my boys are awfully cute at any rate (sorry to brag). Sawyer's head full of dark hair hasn't fallen out yet so we shall see if it lasts. (I was born with a head of dark hair, but my mom says it all fell out and grew back in a different color.)

Bryce and Will are still gone at the family reunion in Tropic and my mom went to lunch with her mom so at the moment it is just me and Sawyer at home and it is very quiet. I haven't showered yet today so of course someone just came ringing the doorbell and pounding on the door. I'm not expecting anyone so I was fully prepared to ignore it, but they kept insistently pounding on the door so I got up to see who it was. I tried to peek through the blinds and all I could see was the mail truck parked on the street so I thought "hmm..maybe it is a package I guess I better open the door." Of course, when I opened the door...in my pajamas...with my hair looking lovely...it was a door-to-door salesman. Sawyer chose that moment to start screaming bloody murder (he usually never makes a peep so this was fortuitous), but the guy was just like "Someone sounds unhappy" and kept talking. Sawyer got louder and louder until finally I interrupted the guy and said "Sorry but my baby is totally screaming" to which he replied "You can go get him." I'm thinking "Umm..or you can go away now." So I said "Sorry but he probably wants to eat--thanks though" and went inside. I hate door-to-door salesmen and our neighborhood gets a TON of them in the summer. Unfortunately with the design of our house there is no way to peek and see who is at the front door except by looking out the big picture window in the living room which means the person at the door can see you trying to peek out.

I managed to pick up a cough while I was in the hospital and I keep startling Sawyer who is asleep on me. I hope it goes away soon because it is annoying. Also, coughing (or laughing or especially sneezing) after a c-section is really uncomfortable!

I rented "Cars" to give Will something to do while he wasn't feeling well and I think he has watched it about 8 million times already. Well, I should say that he has made me play it that many times -- he doesn't seem to pay it much attention when it is on, but then he will surprise me by saying lines he memorized and stuff like that. We are getting our $2.99's worth out of that rental for sure. Will woke up crying at 2 in the morning the other night and all he would say was "Racecars....racecars"--fortunately I got him back to sleep because I really didn't want to watch Cars at 2 in the morning!

Happy Birthday Will!

With all the commotion surrounding Sawyer's birth I haven't had a chance to write about Will's 2nd birthday. Will turned 2 on the 17th and celebrated all week long. The night before his birthday I put up some balloons and a happy birthday sign after he went to bed. Bryce also set up the pop-up Thomas the Tank Engine play tent I got for Will using my lexisnexis points. The tent was in the living room right at the bottom of the stairs. When Will woke up in the morning he was standing at the top of the stairs so I told him to come downstairs and see what was here. He started down the stairs and apparently thought I was talking about the pack of swim diapers that was sitting on the bottom step because he stopped to look at those for a while. Then he finished coming down the stairs and spotted Thomas. He got a big smile and said "Thomas!!" and ran over to check it out. I kept telling him "Happy Birthday Will!" but Will kept saying "Happy Birthday Thomas!"...I think he thought we were celebrating Thomas' birthday. He figured it out by the end of the day though.

That evening I ordered some pizza (or "cheapa" as Will calls it) and bought a little cake from Wal-Mart and took Will up to my grandma's house for a little birthday party. My cousin Liz and my brother Kyle came to join in the celebration. Will was a little overwhelmed by all the presents. After he opened the first one he had no interest in opening anything else...he just wanted to play with what he already had. It took about an hour to finally get everything open and I don't know what he liked most. My grandma gave him some toy trains which he was very excited about and his Uncle Kyle gave him a Mr. Potato Head which he is enjoying. He also got a little lawnmower that blows bubbles when you push it (he had been envying the neighbor's for months). He made out pretty well in the present department! His favorite part of the evening, however, was blowing out the candles on his cake. We sang "Happy Birthday" and he blew the candles out all by himself and then was asking "Again? Again?" so we relit the candles and did it over. He wanted to do it again, but we decided twice was enough for one night. That evening when we got home Will was playing with his new toys on the floor in the family room and singing "Happy Birthday to Will" over and over again.

We had already scheduled a birthday party with a few of the neighborhood kids for the Saturday afternoon following Will's birthday, so when Sawyer made his surprise appearance on Thursday morning Bryce decided to just go ahead with the party anyways. I was still in the hospital so I didn't get to see it, but Will got a Thomas the Tank Engine cake and had more pizza and swam in his little kiddy pool and got to open his Thomas themed presents (more things I got for free with my lexisnexis/Westlaw rewards points) from mom and dad. Bryce took care of all the festivities (including getting the house cleaned-up before and after the party) and even made goody bags for the kids. What a good dad.

What Will got for his birthday: (I thought this might be interesting to look back on in 20 years)
* This includes presents from mom and dad, grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends.
1. 2 new church outfits
2. bubble-blowing lawnmower
3. Thomas the Tank Engine play tent
4. 3 Thomas the Tank Engine books (Happy Birthday Thomas, Stop Train Stop, Thomas Goes Fishing) --> these are the ones we had taken out of the library that Will was so in love with
5. baseball glove, ball, and tee
6. baseball pitching machine
7. Thomas' Sodor Celebration dvd and Thomas Songs of the Station dvd
8. semi-truck (actually this was a Christmas present but Will had lost interest in opening presents so we just saved it for his birthday)
9. monster truck (broke within 1 week)
10. Mr. Potato Head
11. Set of train cars
12. Train track and another set of cars
13. Floor puzzle
14. $1 (Will loves "monies")
15. Remote-controlled race car (we still need to get batteries for this)
16. Sunglasses/cell phone
17. Coloring book/crayons

It is hard to believe that a year ago Will wasn't quite walking yet and now he runs nonstop, talks up a storm, knows his numbers up to 11, his alphabet, his colors, his shapes, sings songs, and gets into lots of trouble! Happy Birthday Will!!

Baby Brother

This morning at 2:27am Will's little brother was born. Sawyer James weighed in at 5lbs. 15oz. and is 19.5 in. long. He was a bit early, but mom and baby are doing awesome. Here's a few pics. Check back later for more news.

P.S. For kicks, check out the archive and compare this to Will's newborn pics. They look the same to me, minus the hair color.

Impending doom

I am starting to really dread the Bar Exam which is in 18 days. Two days of 10 hour testing. Not enjoyable. Especially since just having to sit in a chair for that long sounds really dreadful even without the pleasure of taking a test at the same time. And oh yeah the baby is due in 31 days...if he decides to wait for his scheduled date. (The baby isn't a cause of impending doom...but the poor guy is kind of playing second fiddle to the bar exam at the moment.)

Bryce and I went to a bed and breakfast (which we won't name because we wouldn't recommend it) for a night to celebrate our 5 year anniversary. Will spent the day with Uncle Kyle and then came up at night to sleep with us. We didn't think we could impose a whole night on a free babysitter. He enjoyed the rock waterfall shower even though it wasn't quite what the website made it out to be! In the future we will go ahead and impose on some unsuspecting family member to keep him overnight, however, because in the morning he was a total pill leading us to get out of there as soon as possible. We still had 45 minutes of our expensive room left to enjoy when we left!

We took Will to an Orem Owlz game and he seemed to have a grand time although I'm not sure he ever even saw that there was a baseball game going on. He was way too busy looking at all the other kids and we ended up sitting next to some friends from church so he was occupied playing with them. There were some fireworks after the game, but he spent most of the time telling the people next to us "Fireworks! Fireworks!" instead of actually watching them. He kept talking about them for days afterwards though so I guess he was impressed. And he got a temporary tattoo which he was pretty excited about.

On the 4th we got up early to take Will to see the hot air balloons. He heard me mention them on the phone with Bryce the day before and ran over to the drawer in the kitchen, rummaged around, and pulled out a hot air balloon-shaped cookie cutter which I would not even have remembered that we owned. But apparently he did. He carried it around all day and had to take it with him the next morning. In the picture you can see him holding it up and saying "Balloons! Up High!" while he looks at the balloons. Silly kid. After looking at the balloons for a couple minutes we found a place to sit and watch the parade. We sat for an hour before it even started and then we were at the very beginning in the "staging area" so even after the parade started there were long pauses between everything. It got really hot and sitting on the curb was getting really uncomfortable so Mom and Dad would have left except that Will was having such a good time. He didn't fuss at all even though we made him stay strapped in his stroller the whole time. He got a balloon animal which lasted under 2 minutes before he dropped it and it popped on the grass. He also got an American flag which he enjoyed waving everytime there was music. We didn't take him to the parade last year so it was his first time and he got a kick out of it. Afterwards we went to IHOP for breakfast along with everyone else in the world and it took us almost 2 hours to get in and out. By that time Will was ready to go back to bed and when we got home he slept for 4 1/2 hours. Then we went to a neighbor's for dinner and watched the Stadium of Fire fireworks from far enough away that we didn't have to deal with traffic. Will was really good all day...but made up for it the next day...and today.

Will has gone to sleep in his crib by himself for 4 days in a row. He has been getting pretty good about going along with our bedtime routine which is 1. use the potty 2. get a clean diaper on 3. put on pjs 4. take flouride drops 5. brush teeth 6. read Goodnight Elmo 7. Say prayers 8. Go to bed. Usually I rock him for a little bit until he gets restless and starts asking for his crib. So then I lay him down and in the past he has always required that I stand right next to the crib until he falls asleep. And considering that he usually won't stop talking it can take a long time. If I say "good night" and leave he freaks out and then it takes even longer. It was driving me crazy so I started saying "Will, Mommy needs to go potty and then I'll come right back." I tried it a few times and he didn't cry when I left the room as long as I returned at some point. But then, miracle of miracles, several nights ago I told him I had to go potty and I just went and laid on my bed because I was exhausted and never heard from Will again! So our new routine is that I lay him in his crib, say "Mommy has to go potty" and he says "Ok Mommy" and then I leave and he goes to sleep...with no crying! He is such a funny kid-- he is pretty agreeable as long as you find the appropriate explanation for everything. For example, he will drink out of sippy cups as long as you tell him that Daddy drinks out of a big cup. And he will drink water as long as you tell him it is just like snack time in nursery. But if you try to get him to do any of these things without the appropriate explanation you are in for a temper tantrum.

Lately Will has been announcing that things are "Delicious!!" At snack time in nursery last Sunday they gave him a pretzel and he took a bite and announced "Delicious!" At the bed and breakfast he wouldn't eat anything they gave us for breakfast, but we found some butter crackers by the tea and coffee and he thought they were "Delicious!" as well. Twizzlers are also "Delicious!"

Will's birthday is on the 17th. I can't believe he will be 2 already!

If only he weren't so serious all the time...

Will does such random things during the day. He sure knows how to drive me crazy...but then every once in a while he does something so hilarious that it just cracks me up. His favorite form of contraband is Q-tips. Whenever I forget to shut the door he sneaks into my bathroom, finds the box of Q-tips, and takes off to hide. Of course, he hides in the same place every time-- behind the rocking chair in his room.

Will is getting to the point where he has to do everything himself- except for the small problem that he is too small to do most things for himself. All day long I hear "Will do it! Will do it!" He had to pick out his own clothes the other day and out of all the clean clothes I had just folded and put in his laundry basket he chose the wife-beater (I don't know what else to call it...sleeveless tee?) that says "I'm the star" and came free with a pack of onesies that he outgrew a long time ago. He spent about 1/2 an hour trying to put it on before I gave in and helped him and he wore it all day...with no pants. That is high-class right there.

Yesterday I took a quick shower and when I got out I could hear Will coming up the stairs. He walked into my room and I discovered that he had taken it upon himself to get dressed for the day. He managed to get a pair of shorts on...however they were on backward, both legs were through 1 leg hole, and they still had the price tag hanging down. He was obviously very pleased with himself which made it that much more amusing. I told him we were going to take a picture to show Daddy and he said "Smile. Cheese!" and gave this lovely pose.

This morning I put Will in his high chair and gave him some cereal and grapes for breakfast and left the room for a minute or two. When I walked back in Will had his head down and his arms folded and said "Father ... Father...AMEN!!" Apparently I walked in on him in the middle of a little prayer. He says "AMEN" very jubilantly...especially at the end of talks and prayers in Sacrament Meeting at church. He usually turns a few heads.

In other news, we have a yard!! Thanks to the miracle of sod our yard that started out as dirt this morning is now grass! Unfortunately we aren't sure if they didn't deliver enough or if we (well, I had nothing to do with it...but I'm sure I wouldn't have done it better either) just under-estimated how much we needed because we have about two-thirds of a backyard at the moment. A real life reason to pay attention in geometry class kids--it is kind of tricky to figure out the square footage of a yard with a lot of curves and diagonal edges! I took a before picture and tomorrow I'll take an after picture and eventually I'll post them.

Baby #2 is scheduled to arrive 8 weeks from yesterday. It is crazy to think we'll have two little boys around here in 8 weeks or less! And it is frightening to think that the Bar Exam is only about 6 weeks away!!

My birthday was on Friday and we had some friends and neighbors over for cake in the evening. All day long I tried to get Will to tell me "Happy Birthday Mommy!" because he likes to say Happy Birthday...but all he would say was "Happy Birthday Potty!" over and over....not sure what that says about me there. Oh well.

Will's Big Day Out

Will saw an ad in the paper the other day for the Big Day out with Thomas on the Heber Valley Railroad and suddenly he was the world's biggest Thomas fan. He has seen the show on tv a few times and he likes trains in general, but he suddenly decided that he LOVES Thomas the Tank Engine. Sooo we gave in and paid the exorbitant prices for Will to go ride Thomas. Actually we didn't have to pay for Will at all since he is still under 2, but Mom and Day had to pay $20 each for the pleasure of taking him. Even though Mom and Dad felt it was kind of a rip off I think that Will had about as much fun as an almost-2-year-old can have.

We prepared for the excitement by taking some Thomas books out of the library...which Mom is wishing she hadn't done because she has read them each about 50 times and is afraid Will is going to be traumatized when they have to go back to the library.

We spent the morning shopping at the outlets in Park City and Will got a bunch of new clothes thanks to the sales at the Children's Place Outlet. The new baby also benefitted from a few new things to enjoy in addition to Will's hand-me-downs.

Will fell asleep in the car when we drove down to Heber and we woke him up in time to see Thomas pulling back into the station. He was pretty excited when the train got closer and he realized that it was "Thomas!"...he says this in a high-pitched voice that gets even higher on the last syllable. The other activities proved to be on the lame side, but Will still had fun looking at a few animals, playing with a train set (when the bigger kids weren't pushing him out of the way), getting a balloon monkey, and getting temporary tattoos of Harold the Helicopter and Thomas on his arms. He had to sleep with his pajama sleeves rolled up last night so that he could see Thomas and the helicopter...which for some reason he calls "Chuck".

Finally it was time for the big Thomas ride. Will had a pretty serious look on his face the whole time. I think he was having a hard time taking everything in. Thus, the pictures aren't very smiley, but I think he really was having fun because every once in a while he'd laugh and let out a squeal.

After the train ride we drove home and went over to a neighbors for a barbeque and Will had fun playing with the other kids. By the time we got home it was late and I tried to get Will to sleep, but he was way too excited. He wouldn't stop talking about "Thomas--helicopter--monkey--train--conductor--ride." It is funny because he doesn't talk in sentences yet so he just lists off words related to whatever he is thinking about. Thomas combined with the fact that he was wearing new pajamas from the outlets with race cars on them and he had a lot to say! He kept talking for about 45 minutes before finally dozing off . . . only to wake up about an hour later with more to say. Then he woke up about 5 more times during the night talking about Thomas until about 4 a.m. when he woke up screaming for "Milk!!!!" Usually I don't give in to feeding at night, but it occurred to me that with all the excitement he really hadn't eaten much during the day so Dad finally went and got him some milk and then he fell back asleep until 11:30 in the morning. He woke up talking about Thomas and we had to read all of his Thomas books multiple times today and I let him skip his bath because he is so interested in his tattoos and shows them to everyone he sees. So I guess his Big Day Out was a success!

The other pictures are from Will's trip to southern Utah right after my graduation. It just so happened that Bryce's younger sister and her husband and some friends were visiting from London that same weekend so Bryce took Will down to visit family while I stayed up north and visited with my family before they had to go back home to Connecticut. The longest I have ever been away from Will before was 8 hours when I went to an all-day mediation training so 3 days was quite the trip! Will got to ride a pony. The band-aids are because of some nasty mosquito bites he got and kept scratching. In one of the pics Will is clearly hamming it up for someone else's picture.