Random April happenings...

I wanted to practice curling Jori's hair before we had family pictures taken a couple months ago, so here was my result.

 We then went over to my brother Nate's house, for a play date with his kids and wife.

 Jori poured dirt on her hair shortly after the below picture was taken. 

 aaannnndddd...SOMEBODY has TEETH! They're totally in now, and sharp as daggers, but this was when they were first budding.

 Look at those sprouting lil things!

Easter? This is silly.

Some pics of Easter I should have uploaded a while ago....surrey. My parents had an Easter Egg "Hunt" in their front yard this year. My mom has also decided to carry on the tradition of having prizes in a room, and all the grandchildren draw a number (this time via selecting eggs with numbers on them in the Easter egg hunt), then all the grandchildren get to go in the room based on their number and choose a couple little prizes. So fun. :)

I never made any promises about not taking blurry pictures!...

Had a Hard Time...

I've had a hard time thinking of what to say. I guess I've been having a lull, for like...a year, as far as blogging goes. I keep just wishing I could write something that would be interesting for people to read, and not feeling like I have anything in that department in particular. I love to talk about my kids but then I get behind, so feel like there's too much I've missed to catch people up on. So...not sure about how I want to organize these posts, but generally if I don't just start something when I feel unprepared, I'll never start it because I never really feel prepared. So here goes:

• Atticus cut his first tooth on Saturday. And his second on Sunday! Exciting, in the life of a baby. :) Jori did not struggle too much with teething, and I think for the most part Atticus handled it very well, too. 
  
• He also started 'speaking'...kind of said his first word, about a month ago. He just started doing the 'ma-ma-ma-ma' sound. He doesn't do it often though, so when he does it basically fills my heart with butterflies. That's the best way to describe it. I always thought those early sounds were music to my ears, and I wish they could be bottled up like a genie, for me to open whenever I wish. 
  
• Jori is still not toilet trained, which is my fault. But she poops in the toilet now. Decided she wanted to do that when we moved here. I actually today tried to start the toilet training process for real, and she did not like hearing she had to pee only in the loo. So...that'll be a work in progress. (I know you all love hearing about pooping so much. You're welcome.)
  
• Sam takes Jori on "daddy-daughter" dates now, about...I don't know maybe once every three weeks. She LOVES these things. On the way home from their last one, Jori was being thoughtful in the car and then said "Daddy, do you have lips?" "Yes, Jori, do you have lips?" "I have girl lips." 
  
• I have started having a 'solo' night once a week, as well. The more time goes on, the more I think I married way over me because when I mentioned how I might enjoy some freedom once a week, Sam was totally enthusiastic about it. I really appreciate it. I have given myself a limit of five dollars to spend each week, and have spent the solo nights so far shopping for clothes (went over on that one but I needed them so I rationalized it), buying ice cream, visiting the library, going through old pictures at my parent's house for a journal project, and...fantasizing about going out to a movie. Gosh I love going to movies. 
  
• Atticus still nurses, before he sleeps and then random times when I don't know what is wrong. Unfortunately, I haven't figured out how to get him to accept a bottle, so that makes it hard for me to make it to a 7:10 showtime when his bedtime is at 7:00. We tried some when he was little, but because my main pump was broken we didn't try as hard as we should have. Bah. 
  
  
• Jori is a social butterfly, and really...just an enthusiastic human being. I love that about her. When we've been driving around, she's been excitedly pointing out whenever she sees pink blossoms on the trees. She often says things like "Yes! I loooovvveee that!" With whatever we're talking about, be it people, activities, or things, like Spring flowers. I love her chatter that has begun--she can just talk and talk sometimes. Speaking of which...
• Sam was out painting in our garage one day, and Jori went in there and sat in a camp chair, keeping him company. They were in there for a good half hour, and I was surprised Jori hadn't come inside yet. (It was fairly cold, and she was pants-less.) When I poked my head in to check on them, I discovered she was just chatting away, telling Sam about a friend named "Mrs. Nisnaughty", who lived in "Five Ago" and was nice most of the time, and loved to eat treats. And had Blue hair and pink eyes. She is so easy to love. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• They still get along quite well, most of the time. Atto's favorite toys are Jori's hair and Jori's blankie, so that can cause problems sometimes. 
• Atto is very helpful at meal time. He yells at you, if you have taken too long with the bringing food to his mouth. So he'll just wait, but if you're distracted or delayed, he'll start 'aaaa!" ing. But it isn't whiny, it's more just like "Hey! You forgot! I'm hungry...hello..." He's awesome. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• I am so shy. Geeze. I am so shy. And introverted. I have been reminded of this since moving here, and not really feeling lonely, just not wanting to socialize that much. What the heck, what a weirdo. I get my fix of socialization from facebook enough...(one of the problems of facebook...)I've never been one to 'hang out' much, I was always more for organized activities. I think because I feel like I am responsible for them not being bored when I'm around people, and this gets exhausting really fast. (But that's just a guess. )I'm hoping to be better about this though, since Jori is so not that way and I feel like it might be holding her back. Oi. People.
• Because of this, I put forth effort recently to re-connect with friends again. So I got to have lunch with three different friends in one week on different days, and visited/chatted with three different other friends the week before. Whew! It reminds me why we're supposed to do it more regularly though, it was so nice to hear what's going in their lives.  
  
  
  
  
• I really love my sisters in law. I need to be better at letting them know this. I have nine, and I seriously look up to them so much. It seems like every single one is really awesome at different things. I appreciate their example and...I guess the feeling of sisterhood? Maybe I would have liked to have had a sister, after all. 
• I'm really grateful for the house we live in right now. I love having a house. It's awesome. 
• I love shopping at D.I. Have I mentioned this? Since January, I think I've gone to D.I. about ten times. I hate buying children items full price, because...I just do, so all the toys you can get at D.I. are right up my alley. And the last time I went, I got clothes for myself. Yesss.
  
• We spent the weekend in Idaho, and we didn't do anything particularly eventful but I sure enjoyed it. It's so nice up there. And it's always good to be with Sam's parents. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Jori fell asleep in our closet the other day. She does this thing where she just wants to be alone in a room sometimes, usually to read but in this case, in our closet she was playing with hangers. So I just let her be, then a while letter checked in on her...and found her like this:
  
  

This is my life!