You play while we sleep

Isn't sleeping in on the weekend absolutely heavenly?

Joe and I don't usually get to sleep in because our boys wake up so early. Well, this weekend we slept in regardless of the boys. On Saturday Ephraim woke up at his usual time: 6 a.m. So I got up and fed him his bottle. Just as I was finishing with Ephraim, Jacob walked through the door. So I got him a cup of milk and put him back in his bed. Then I went back to bed and cuddled with Joe. Of course we both passed back out.

We didn't end up getting up until about 8 a.m. Jacob had been up since he finished his milk and let us sleep. He just played by himself and read books while we dozed. It was really nice.

Saturday was really busy. Joe finished up our new sprinkler set-up for the garden while I worked on getting the house nice and clean. We were going to have company over for dinner on Sunday, so I figured it was a good time for some deep cleaning. Later in the evening we all went shopping for a little while.

We worked really hard on Saturday and got to bed a little later than usual. So we were pretty tired. On Sunday the same thing happened. I fed Ephraim, got Jacob his milk, and then went back to bed. Only this time we slept until 8:50 a.m.!!! I think that is a record for us. I am so amazed that Jacob is such a good boy and will let us sleep in without destroying the house. Of course by the time we got up he had taken nearly all of the books off his bookshelf in the process of reading them, but who can complain? When we finally did get up Jacob was so happy and cheerful. I love that little boy!

Today we had the Heatons over for dinner after church. They are new in our ward and it was fun to get to know them better. We really should have people over to our house more often because we always have a nice time. Well, gotta go. Tomorrow I definitely won't get to sleep in!

Approaching Rollover!

So how long do you think it will be before this little boy rolls himself over?

No more J-Mamo

Today I finally got tired of hearing Jacob call himself Mamo or J-Mamo. He can say nearly any word you can throw at him, so I was pretty sure he could say his name. I think he is just being stubborn about it.

So this morning I figured out an incentive to get him to say his name. Jacob asks me to read to him about 20 times during the day. When he asked me first thing this morning I said, "Ok, but first you have to say Jacob." Of course his reply to this was "J-Mamo!'

I told him that his name was not Mamo, it's Jacob and I wouldn't read to him until he said it right. I felt a little bit mean, but it worked! We worked on it for a minute and when he said "Ja-COB!" I made a really big deal about it and cheered for him. I kept asking him his name throughout the day and whenever he said it right I rewarded him with praise, attention, and more book reading. I think he is finally getting the message.

It is a lot easier for me to understand that he is talking about himself when he says Jacob instead of Mamo or J-Mamo. There were even a couple of times this evening when I heard him practicing or using Jacob without prompting! I am very excited about this new development... after all, we named him Jacob because we LIKE that name!

Jacob's Teddy

I have been having fun taking pictures of Ephraim each month with brown bear to show how much he has grown. It is amazing to me that he has changed so much in such a short amount of time. I found myself thinking recently that it was too bad I didn't think to do the same thing with Jacob when he was little. Then I remembered Teddy...

A year and a half ago for Christmas my coworker, Claudine, gave Jacob a teddy bear. She is a sweet older lady who doesn't have a lot of money and I was touched by the gesture.

The teddy that she gave Jacob was unique in many ways. When you think of a teddy bear, you probably think of something cute, cuddly and brown. This teddy is powder blue with long arms and legs and a little bow sewn below his chin. I had no idea when she gave us "Teddy" that he would become Jacob's best friend. As I thought about Teddy I realized that I have quite a few photos of Jacob with Teddy and they could basically do the same thing as the brown bear photos and show how much he's grown.

So here are the first couple of photos that I have with Jacob and Teddy. The photo on the left was taken in January 2007, so Jacob was 8 months old. The one of the right was a month later. Jacob and Teddy often seemed to "wrestle" in his bed, which you will see from some of the later photos.











The next picture is one of the best pictures I have of Jacob and Teddy. This was taken in March 2007 when Jacob was ten months old. Look how soft and fluffy Teddy looks and notice that he still has the blue bow at his chin.


Teddy traveled with us wherever we went. He has been to 5 states in the past year and a half. Here is a picture of Jacob and Teddy in the car when Jacob was 11 months old.


Here is another picture of Jacob and Teddy in the car. This was taken in August 2007, so Jacob is 15 months old. It is amazing to me how much older he looks just four months later than the last picture. Notice that Jacob no longer has his binky from now on.


We even took Teddy with us to get Jacob's pictures taken in October 2007, when he was 17 months old. I love this picture because it shows just how much Jacob loves Teddy.

Luckily Jacob does not drag Teddy around the house very often. We have convinced Jacob that Teddy belongs in his bed. This way we don't have to go searching for him at nap time. Here are two more pictures of Teddy from this year. The one on the left is from February 2008 and the one on the right is from April 2008, right before Jacob turned two (you can't see Teddy that well, but he's there.












Teddy has been through a lot. He has been thoroughly squeezed, petted with grubby fingers, dragged around, vomited on, and washed many, many times. His stuffing has compacted and he can no longer hold his head up. Somewhere along the way he lost that little blue bow. He looks much skinnier and worn than he did a year ago, but there is a lot of love in that little blue bear.

Jacob has grown a lot in the past two years. Sometimes I look at him and wonder where my baby went. He is such a wonderful little boy. He is so smart and sweet. We are so lucky to have him as part of our family. Here is a picture of my two-year-old with his best friend.


I foolishly tried to replace Teddy with a bear that I thought looked more "acceptable" when Ephraim was born. We had Ephraim "give" Jacob an adorable brown teddy bear as a gift when Jonah came to the hospital. But nothing could replace Teddy.

Now instead of one bear, Jacob sleeps with Teddy and Brown Bear. You might have noticed that in the last brown bear photos of Ephraim the bear was a slightly different color. That is because Jacob decided that he didn't want to share brown bear with Ephraim. So I went and got Ephraim his own bear. But there is still no question as to which bear Jacob loves most. It's definitely Teddy.

Weekend wonders

After Huck Finn Day on Friday I went and did some errands and shopping. I found the perfect bouncy seat for Ephraim. The other one that we have was a bit too small and it leaned back further than this one. I picked it up for $14 dollars at Kid to Kid and it even has a removable arm across it that plays music and lights up when he kicks the seat. It's pretty cool


I also got some HILARIOUS videos of Jacob this weekend. He is getting better at singing and learning the words of songs we sing together. Isn't he a funny boy?



Lately it seems that Jacob wants us to read to him all the time. After you've read about 20 or so books in a day it gets a bit tiring. So we have been trying to convince him that he can read "by himself". Here he is reading his Thomas the train book. The part you can hear him trying to say is "Here is a tunnel, A tunnel for me. A tunnel Gordon did not see!" (and no, I did not have to go look that up)

Huck Finn Day

Pleasant Grove is celebrating Strawberry Days this week. We haven't really attended any of the activities because Jacob is still a little young to enjoy most of them and Joe and I are not interested in crowds, heat, rides, and cheap trinkets. The one activity that we did decide to attend was Huck Finn Day at Battlecreek Park. I heard that it was fun and that there were pony rides, so we had to check it out. I got the boys ready early this morning (which is never a problem for us) and we got there as soon as it started to avoid the lines.

It's a good thing we got there when we did because by the time we left the line for the pony rides was VERY long. We only had to wait for about 20 minutes and Jacob got more and more excited the closer we got.

I was afraid that Jacob would get scared and change his mind about riding the ponies when we got to the front of the line. But he marched right up there and let them put him on a pony and went for a ride. Here is a picture of my little cowboy.

Jacob enjoyed his pony ride, but the part he loved most about Huck Finn Day was the pond they made for people to go fishing. We didn't really see any fish, but I had a hard time getting Jacob out of the water. He waded and splashed and had a great time.




We had fun and left before it got too hot. It was a gorgeous day today and it looks like summer has finally arrived. When I got home I went and checked the strawberry patch (as I chased the birds away). It looks like we will be having strawberries and ice cream for dessert tonight!

Happy Strawberry Days!

Playgroup Photos

Playgroup on Tuesday was tons of fun! There were more ladies and their kids there than we have ever had before (around 8 or 9) and I had a great time talking to everyone. Jacob had fun playing and Ephraim mostly just slept.

I was a bit disappointed that I had left my camera at home, but luckily my friend Melinda brought hers. Jacob climbed on my lap while I was holding sleeping Ephraim, so I asked Melinda to take our picture. Usually I am the one taking the pictures, so I don't end up in very many of them. This one is good, but the next one is better.


So everything was going well. I managed to get Ephraim asleep on the blanket that I had brought and I was sitting next to him. Jacob came over to see me and accidentally tripped on his little brother. This rude awakening caused Ephraim to start crying so I picked him up. When Ephraim started to cry Jacob got all upset because he didn't mean to hurt Ephraim and he felt really bad about it. So while I was trying to comfort both boys at once Melinda took this photo.


Don't I look like I've got everything under control? :o)

What a blast, you've been Slimed!

So yesterday was a bit of an explosive day at our house.

Oh it started out innocently enough. In the morning I walked down to the library with the boys to return our books and checkout some new ones. We decided to walk because it's not that far and it saves us on gas. Then we came home and while I fed Ephraim we read ALL of the new library books (except Mommy's of course). Then we went to hang the laundry out to dry. I should clarify, I put the laundry up while Jacob played in the sandbox. Then we had lunch and before long it was naptime... my favorite time of day!

So I listened to a book on CD while pedaling my exercise bike. Then I needed to get ready for work. Then I got a call from Joe. Apparently his tire blew out on him on his way home from work... it just went ka-pow! as Jacob would say.

So I went and picked him up and hurried and got ready and went to work. I took a tour of the new library building so that when it opens next month I know where things are. It would look a bit silly for the librarian to be asking where things are, don'tcha think?

Later while I was at work I got a call from Joe. He took the boys to Wal-mart and got a new tire and some Slime for his bike. Then he came home and went about getting the new tire on the rim and filled up. Something went wrong (ask him about it, I can't remember how it happened exactly) and ka-blam! that tire blew. Only this time it splattered Slime all over the garage and Joe. He was a bit worried about getting some in his eyes and it freaked me out a little too. But he had done the right thing by flushing his eyes out with water immediately, so it was all ok.

So Joe is fine, but the garage looks like this:

And his rim looked like this:

I was not having the best night at work myself. I was working on my other blogs, and I couldn't get them to do what I wanted them to. It was incredibly frustrating. Then I told Joe I would pick up a new tire for him on my way home... but I had forgotten my wallet. So no tire.

Jacob was still awake when I got home because the neighbor had come by to ask Joe to fix her computer. So I got to see him and put him to bed. Joe helped me with my blogs and we didn't end up going to bed until almost 11 pm, which is really late for us. I guess I'm just glad that the day got over and no one got hurt!

I am Honey-Mommy.

In case you didn't notice, I have set up a couple of other blogs. This blog is basically our family journal and I love it! Who knew I would enjoy blogging as much as I do? I like this blogging thing so much that I decided to set up a public blog where I can talk about whatever I want to. I also set up one about what we are reading at our house (I am a librarian after all!). So check them out if you would like:

Honey Mommy
Read it, Mommy!

You will notice that I have changed my kids names to protect them. Please feel free to comment, but use their fake names, ok?

Thanks guys!

Weekend Water Sports

It seems that Ephraim has become more mobile than I thought. When I went to get him from his morning nap I found him in his crib like this:


I can assure you that I did not put him in his bed facing this direction. He has figured out how to put his little feet against the floor and arch his back, thus moving him around. Of course he has no control of where he is going at this point, but it's only a matter of time!

The weather was so beautiful today! It has been such a cold spring that today is the first time that we have had to turn on our evaporative cooler. We have had it ready since Grandpa and Grandma Devereaux were here, but we have definitely not needed to use it. So it was all ready when we needed it today.

There wasn't a cloud in the sky today and it was around 90 degrees or so. It was so nice that Joe and Jacob went outside and washed the cars. Jacob loves to help his Daddy.














After the car washing, it was time for more water fun. I decided that both of the boys were pretty dirty and needed a bath. So while Joe worked outside some more, I put both of the boys in the bathtub together for the first time.

It worked out pretty well because Jacob likes to be in the tub for a long time. So I got Ephraim all clean, dried and dressed before I had to worry about Jacob. Maybe someday Jacob will be a swimmer like his daddy. He sure enjoys being in the water. Sometime this summer I will have to try to take them swimming... just look at this boy!

Three months old

Dear Ephraim,

My sweet baby boy... Can you believe that it has only been three short months since you joined our family? Somehow it seems to me that you have always been a part of our family and I can't imagine life without you! We love you so much and are so glad you came to us.

I can't believe how much you have changed in three months! When we first brought you home from the hospital you spent most of your time sleeping (with the exception being the wee hours around 1-4 AM), and I would get up with you three or four times a night. Now you will sleep all night and wake up around 6 or 7 AM. It is SO wonderful and you have a much happier mommy.

Another improvement is the amount of diapers that we change in a day. I swear that when we brought you home we probably used at least 15 diapers a day... no joke! But now we only use about 6 or so. Not only is that more pleasant for mommy and daddy, it is also much more economical!

I can't believe how much you've grown in three months! When you were born you were so tiny. You looked so skinny and had the cutest little chicken legs. Now you are starting to get those cute chubby baby rolls that I love so much! You are such a cute, happy, healthy boy.

You are starting to show us your little personality. You make the greatest faces and have the cutest little dimpled smile. I love to sit and talk with you. You were a very quiet baby at first and mostly just cried when you were upset, but you have certainly found your voice. It is fun to hear all the sounds you make and the cute expressions on your face.

Your Daddy calls you Mr. Wiggles because you move a whole lot more than you used to! Daddy and I think that you are getting close to rolling over, can you believe it?! I took this video of you this week when you were feeling especially wiggly.



You are getting so strong! All that wiggling has made some pretty good muscles! You hold your head up whenever I put you on my shoulder for some burps (you are a champion burper, by the way!), and you are getting better at lifting it up when I put you on your tummy.

I love that you are becoming aware of the world around you. Whenever I come to get you out of your crib you look right at me with your beautiful, deep-blue eyes and then flash that dimpled smile at me. You are so cute it melts my heart! You are constantly looking around and discovering new things. Just this week you discovered that you have hands... and they are yummy (but only if you shove in the whole fist)!

We love you so much! We look forward to all the months and milestones to come.

Playgroup in the Park

This morning Jacob, Ephraim and I went to Playgroup in the Park. I seem to have volunteered myself to be in charge of our ward's playgroup. We meet each Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. We have been meeting for the past three weeks at a couple of different parks in an effort to find one that we all like. So far we have been going to parks in American Fork, but maybe we'll try to find one closer to home to go to next time.

Jacob has really enjoyed playing with his friends at playgroup (or "paygoop", as he calls it). All morning he kept telling me that he was going to go to "paygoop in park". He has fun on the playground equipment and loves being outside!

We have had a great turnout so far at Playgroup, which has been really nice. Jacob gets to play with different kids and I get to know some of the moms better. I really enjoy the opportunity to chat with some of the other ladies in the Ward and it's nice to get away from home for a while.


Today was a sunny, gorgeous day. The park we went to this week didn't have as much shade, so I brought our huge umbrellas and a blanket to sit on. They were really nice to have and Jacob thought the smaller umbrella was pretty cool.

We ended up with three little babies at playgroup today. They were hanging out on our blankie, so I took a picture. Here is a picture of Shaelynn, Clara, and Ephraim.


Aren't they cute? Clara is the oldest (born in December), then Shaelynn (January), and Ephraim is "the baby". I also thought it was funny that Clara is nearly hairless, Ephraim's hair is starting to really grow in, and Shaelynn has tons of hair.

Where's that binky?

Ever since we brought him home from the hospital, Ephraim has preferred the Soothie-type pacifier that they (accidentally) gave him. We tried to give him the kind that Jacob liked (Avent), but Ephraim just spit them out. So we went out and bought a couple more because as we all know, binkies grow legs and run away from time to time!

To solve our disappearing binky problems, my friend Melinda helped me make some adorable binky clips this morning.

I had seen baby Sara with some cute binky clips, so I asked Melinda to show me how to make them. So the boys and I headed over to her house to utilize her knowledge, tools and supplies. It can be difficult to make "boyish" looking beaded straps, but I think these turned out great, don't you?



We had a great time at Melinda's house. I had fun working with the beads and talking to Melinda. Jacob enjoyed playing with Laura and checking out the toys they have at their house. Little Sara wasn't too sure she liked her mommy holding another baby, but for the most part she liked Ephraim... and Laura was so cute and cuddly with him!

I told Jacob we were going to Laura's house this morning, and I guess he felt like he needed to get ready. Check out this cute photo of him combing his hair! They grow up fast, don't they?

On Saturday we gave all the boys haircuts (including Ephraim!). I cut Joe's hair and he did the boys' hair. Jacob used to cry so hard when we cut his hair! This time he did much better because we used a new razor that Grandpa Devereaux got for us when he was visiting. It is much quieter and therefore less scary.

Ephraim was starting to get the rubbed-off hairline on the back of his head, so we cut his long locks underneath a little shorter. It will be interesting to see if he turns blonde like his brother did, or if we will get to have a brunette and a blonde.

On the Road Again

Yesterday morning Grandpa and Grandma Devereaux headed back to Tucson. We had so much fun with them at our house and the days went by too quickly. Jacob will especially miss waking up in the morning and going down to the basement to "find" his grandparents and "play Cars" with Grandpa. I know Joe and I will miss being able to send Jacob downstairs to see his grandparents at 6 or 6:30 a.m.!

As a matter of fact, yesterday Jacob asked me to "play Cars" with him several times. He now has an entire Cars fleet, thanks to Grandpa Devereaux. Jacob loves his cars and knows them all by name. It is by far his favorite movie ever.

Jacob stayed up late on Thursday night and didn't wake up until almost 8 a.m. yesterday. That is practically a record for our early bird. Apparently he still didn't get enough sleep because he was grouchy all day. He even took a four hour nap in the afternoon, which was nice because it was the only peace that I had all day! I'm sure he just misses his grandparents and all the added attention that he got with them here. I don't know if he realizes that they are really gone. When I asked him if he knew where Grandpa was he replied, "at work". I am sure he'll figure it out soon and hopefully he will return to his usual cheerful self in a few days.

Sew much fun!

In my last post I wrote about the projects that the boys worked on the past two weeks. Grandma Devereaux and I mostly watched the kids, went to the zoo, played with the boys, kept the house clean and the boys fed, and did some shopping. (The boys did much more shopping than we did, but they claim that theirs was mostly project related!) We did end up working on a project together, which was making a baby wrap for me.

I have never really been comfortable wearing the Snugli that we got when I was pregnant with Jacob. It just never seemed to fit right and it made my back and shoulders hurt. Then I heard about the Moby Wrap and I was intrigued. They always looked kind of fun, but I couldn't really afford one. I showed it to my mother-in-law while she was here and she said "lets look on Google and see if there are directions to make one". Duh! Why didn't I think of that?

We found directions online and it was really easy to make. I even got to choose the fabric that I wanted to use. After I got it finished I was playing around with it and asked Jacob to be my guinea pig (Ephraim was sleeping). So I wrapped him up a couple of different ways and he absolutely loved it! Every time I asked him if he wanted to get out he said, "Nope!".

So I carried him around for a while and played "horsie" as he put it. I was actually surprised that I could carry around my 27 pound toddler without feeling incredibly weighted down. The fabric really spread his weight across my back (except for the hip hold). Plus I could put Jacob in a variety of different positions. I think my new wrap is great! It will be nice when I need to take both of the boys places where a double stroller is not practical. If you want directions (or help) to make one for yourself, let me know!

By the way, Ephraim likes it too.

Tool Time

Every summer when Grandpa and Grandma Devereaux come to visit Joe usually has a whole list of projects for the guys to work on. They have a great time working together and I usually get some nice home improvements to boot!

Last year the major project was replacing three of the basement windows in our house. This year's major project was finishing up the window replacement by putting in three new windows on the back of the house. I was pretty excited about this project because my kitchen window was pretty cloudy and the new windows would be nicer to look through as well as being more energy-efficient.

Joe and Grandpa did a great job on the windows! They look terrific, and they managed to get them finished before we had all of our company over for the baby blessing.

Since we have an evaporative cooler, the new windows meant that the second project was making the cooler fit in the new window. But the Devereaux boys were not content with just making it work. They completely re-engineered the entire setup! Now all we have to do is put the panel they constructed (with a nice window on top to let light in) where the screen goes and wheel the cooler into place. They even arranged it so that I can even close my window without taking the cooler out! Talk about smart! (Come over to our house! I'll show it to you!)













The guys also worked on various other smaller projects. They put together a little wheelbarrow for Jacob that the Websters gave him for his birthday. He has been having a great time taking his sand toys from the porch out to the sandbox in his little wheelbarrow. It is so fun to watch him keep it balanced as he goes along.

The final project that the guys have been working on is fixing up Joe's old road bike so he can use it to commute to work. They ended up getting new tires, tubes, and rims for the bike. They were still working on it when I left for work this evening. Hopefully they can get it up and running so Joe can continue to save us money (and get in shape) by riding his bike to work. Way to go honey!

Joe and his dad make quite a team. When we go to Tucson for Christmas they work on projects there too! They seem to know how to do just about anything (cars, bikes, windows, sprinklers, you name it!). If Grandpa and Grandma Devereaux lived closer, I wonder if I would ever see my husband again! Of course I guess my consolation prize would probably be a completely remodeled house! :o)