Energy Ball.

There's no better way to describe our 19 month old Carter in the last few days other than energy ball . He keeps getting quicker and easily has 10 times more energy that I do. When it's quiet I undoubtedly know that he is into something or somewhere he's not suppose to be. It can be frustrating at times to clean up the messes that follow, but lately he's been rather entertaining and it cracks me up what he gets into. I know that there will come a time when I will miss this, so I'm going to be more grateful that there are rarely any dull moments in our house anymore.

I turned on the shower and went to go get pj's and diapers for both boys. I walked back into the bathroom to find Carter all ready in the shower.... with his onsie, diaper, socks, earmuffs (He was running around in these and his elmo slippers all afternoon, I'm glad the slippers didn't make it into the shower) and animal cracker.

Here's my little fish making faces in the shower. He stays in there sometimes for half an hour. Yes, I know baths would be more enviornmentally friendly, but the kid loves showers. He has since this summer when I got too big and pregnant to bend over the bathtub and we started to put him in the shower. We use to be able to throw him in the shower with us, but now he is a water hog and refuses to share the stream of water and will holler at you to move. I really do prefer the shower vs. the bath. I love that he is self contained in a waterproof area where I don't have to wipe everything down afterwards or worry about him trying to stick his face in the water.This is what bathtime looks like afterwards. Both boys on my bed drying off. Carter loves to lay next to Owen. I'm still not sure what Owen thinks about having Carter in his face all of the time. Carter in the last month or so has figured out how to climb on and off our bed. He is pretty proud of this acheivement and loves to climb up and watch the wiggles and snuggle while I feed Owen. Last night he managed to slide behind the head of the bed and get stuck. Luckily when I found him he was still having fun and didn't fully grasp the concept of being stuck just yet. Can you believe that Owen managed to stay asleep during all of this?This is the smile Carter gave me when I told him to smile. Look at all of those new chompers! We're just waiting on one more incisor to pop through on the bottom.

master climber.

Carter is officially a master climber in my book. Yesterday he did it... he scaled the crib and made his way out. yikes! Boy are we in trouble now!

I was nursing Owen at about the end of Carters nap time like usual. I heard Carter wake up and talking in his crib. I thought hey, not a big deal, I've got at least 15 minutes. Not even 5 minutes later, it gets quiet, and then here he comes, with two binkies in hand and one in his mouth, running into my room happy as a clam and totally beaming from his recent success of escaping the crib. Needless to say, Mike came home early last night, (and by early I mean 7:30, welcome to busy season) and did some fancy work with the crib and the mattress is now on the floor of the crib. We can't possibly make it any lower. We give it a week before he figures out how to get out again.

Here's the crib with the matress lowered... and Carter sound asleep.

I just realized how lax I've become about the binkie outside of the crib. Carter keeps sneaking them out and I haven't been that great at making him put them back. I might never get him away from them. So here's another picture of our little climber after naptime, with binkies in tow.

Owen has a serious case of acid reflux. He was sick over two weeks ago and started coughing. He still has the cough but not the cold. He has been very hard to get down each night and even harder to put down for naps lately. Really, it takes me over two hours sometimes to get him asleep at night and it is killing me. He coughs and chokes and is in general not feeling well, so I feel bad for the little man. I thought he was still sick and planned to take him in. Then yesterday it finally dawned on me, he has reflux like Carter had and that's why he's coughing and is miserable. Goodness I can't believe it took me so long to realize what it was. Carter would vomit and never cry, whereas Owen hardly ever spits up and cries and coughs. Same reflux just manifesting itself in different ways with each child. I took him and Carter into the pediatrician who agrees with me. After talking with the pediatrician we also found out Owen has mild eczema. One thing after another for Owen. So not only is he dealing with burning acid in his throat, he's also suffering from the driest skin ever. Aside from baths not as often and Ecurine lotion I'm not sure what else to do for his skin. Any ideas?

So Owen is now on two different medications to hopefully help with the reflux and we have a handout about the dry skin with a few ideas that in all honesty I'm already doing. In the meantime, since he coughs and chokes when laying flat, he's been taking a lot of naps in the swing. While at the pediatrician I had Carters ears checked again to see if his ear infections were gone, I had a feeling they weren't and we right on this one too. The ear infection went from the left ear to the right. So we are on our fourth round of antibiotics and are making an appointment with an ENT (ear, nose and throat) Doctor to see about getting tubes for his ears. We'll also have his hearing checked while there to see if perhaps this has something to do with Carter being a little behind on speech development.

With all of this, two sick babies, no wonder I've been having "one of those days" all week. Here's to getting healthy and happy sooner than later.

Just a Few Moments.

Here are just a few moments from the past few days to share...

Carter holding Owen and talking to him. One of the cute things Carter does now when we go out is turn around and point to Owen when sales clerks talk to him, as if to say, "look at my baby." He's also very concerned where Owen is at all times. This morning on our way out the door for church, Carter turned around and ran over to Owen in the car seat and wouldn't walk out the door until Mike picked up Owen too. He wanted to make sure we didn't forget him... thanks buddy, but we promise mommy would have taken him too.

This smiles for you Grandma Mouser. Chomping on his fingers. Owen prefers his fingers over a pacifier any day.When did Carter get so big? Seriously, he looks like he's four here playing in the lobby of Texas Roadhouse.
Owen during tummy time. He pretty much calls it quits and this is his look to tell me he's done and I need to roll him back over. My mom came back into town and we headed out shopping. Here's my mom and Owen at lunch in the food court. I haven't mentioned this yet. The hospital extended my moms contract so she'll be here in Texas for another 9 weeks... wohoo! (and a big sigh of relief)
Today was my first week back teaching in Relief Society in church since I had Owen. It was nice to be back at it after three months off. Here's just a nibbling of my lesson. I really like this quote from Pres. Eyrings talk, "O Ye that Embark" given last general conference about the more faithful service you give, the more the Lord asks of you and gives you the strength to give. Maybe I like it because I've been working out again and it compares our spiritual growth to building muscles. :)

"It is like building muscle strength. You must break down your muscles to build them up. You push muscles to the point of exhaustion. Then they repair themselves, and they develop greater strength. Increased spiritual strength is a gift from God which He can give when we push in His service to our limits. Through the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, our natures can be changed. Then our power to carry burdens can be increased more than enough to compensate for the increased service we will be asked to give." Read the rest of his talk here.

Photos.

Over Christmas Mikes parents arranged for a couple in their ward to come take family pictures. Here are some of the photos. If you know me, you know that I'm a perfectionist at heart, I did a little editing on our family photo above, fixed a little lighting, extended Carters shirt to cover up the onsie that was showing, fixed a few glares and fixed a few blotches on my chest from Owen. I wish I was better at photoshop.

Not my favorite set of photos but they are better than the ones they took last year. In general I still prefer candid photos rather than posed. I love it when photographers can capture what happens behind the scenes. But none the less I was grateful to have photos taken at all. With two small kids its a harder task than I would have thought.

Bryan and Nikki. Bryan is in his last semester of Dental School in Oklahoma. Paul and Brenda. They were married this past April in Portland.
Shala, Brian and Landon. Shala is expecting another baby boy at the end of March.
Val and Charlotte. Our two little guys.
Landon and Carter. This was the only photo we got of both cousins during the shoot.
The siblings... I guess you had to be there to fully appreciate the joke of a picture this is. :)

One of "Those" Days.

Today was one of "those" days. A day when you wish you could just curl back into bed and wake up and hope it's better than what it is. Both Carter and Owen have been sick for about a week, fighting a cold like most of Houston. Carter deals with it by wanting to be held, snuggled and your undivided attention, Owen deals with it by fighting sleep and the saddest cough.

Owen was up last night at 4 a.m. nothing we did seemed to make him happy, at 5 a.m. I threw in the towel, put him in the swing and there he slept until 8. So we got up and worked on getting to the gym for a spinning class, right before we walk out the door both boys decided to leave me a present, so after the changing both diapers (I can not wait to only have one in diapers) we made it to the gym only 20 minutes late for my class. Not lucky for me or the other mommies at the gym, the kids club was more like a sauna this morning and the kids were miserable. I had to go get Owen after about 30 minutes and was totally ticked off that they had left him in his car seat crying, I picked him up and he was soaked with sweat and the lady looked at me and said, woah he's really sweaty... well duh! idiot. So we left with Owen still crying on the way home and Carter joining.

I get home to find a great surprise from our two terrible dogs. I left my pump on the coach this morning as we were rushing out the door to the gym. That was my first mistake. The dogs knocked the pump down and ransacked my bag and demolished all of its contents. I could handle this, I was still calm and collected, then I walked by the sliding glass doors and peered into the backyard. At this point all calmness left, I looked out into our yard to see all of my pump attachments chewed and destroyed. Are you kidding me? Mind you both kids are still crying and Owen is hungry and poopy again. My second mistake at this point was not opening the gate to the backyard and letting the dogs "get lost." So they are still here, banished to the backyard and kennel. Anyone want a beagle? how about a boston terrior?

At this point I have a melt down. Classic. Called Mike and cried. I want to go back to work. This is too hard. (Can I just say how wonderful Mike is. So loving and attentive and supportive. Thank you honey for letting me cry it out.) Not that the events were really all that tragic or huge by any means, but I think everything had been building over the past two weeks and this morning was enough to set me off. Call it post partum, call it down right craziness, but I have a case of I want to be someone else for a day.

The day did get better, or maybe I should say more manageable. I left the dogs outside, ignored the mess downstairs and put Carter down for a nap, took a shower and called the pediatrician, Owen had a slight fever this morning on top of his cough. I was able to get both boys in this afternoon and turns out Carter has another ear infection. I thought for sure that Owen would have one too, he's been so miserable the past few days, but she said it was just a cold and his ears looked good and his lungs sounded clear. I wish she could have heard him cough, she might have thought different. Side note, Owen weighed 15 lbs. 2 oz. He's put on about 2 lbs this past month.

We stopped by a friends house on the way home so Carter could play and I could also get out of the house and hopefully get a little less crazy. Thank goodness for good friends around the corner. The day was long but the night turned out okay, getting out of the house was the turning point of the day... thanks Stacie for loving my boys and putting up with me.

After baths I was able to play with the boys a little and grab a few pictures of Carter and Owen. This is what it is about. This makes it worth it. I can do anything, this stage will pass and I'll miss it. I'll go to bed tonight, hopefully Owen will sleep all night and we'll wake up tomorrow to a better day. It also helps that finally, as I write this, both boys are asleep and I'm enjoying a cinnamon twist donut from Shipleys with a tall glass of milk. I deserve it.

Carter and Owen. 19 mo. and 3 mo.

My little teeth brusher disappeared and emerged with toothbrush and toothpaste in hand.

Uncle Bryan would be proud. By the way Bryan- Way to go on the boards!
These are from yesterday and unrelated to this post. I just thought a little Owen chunky smile would do me and you some good.

Visits with Grandmas.

Today we had two special visitors, my mom, who no matter how often visits will always be a special visitor, and my grandma Helen from Florida. We spent the day together with the boys. We went out to lunch, played at the house, took naps, went shopping and ended the night at the Empanada House. It was a day full of good fun with great family and yummy food.

Good picture of Owen.

Good picture with Carter, kind of.

Owen 3 months. This week he has started cooing at me and just this afternoon he rolled over from his tummy to his back. Unintentional I'm sure, more like an accident, but who knows maybe he'll manage to do it again tomorrow. Last night was a good sleeping night for Owen. He went from 9 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. The first time all week that he didn't get up at 3 or 4. It was awesome and I'm crossing my fingers that we've turned a new leaf and this will start to be his new norm. I'm loving my happy little man. Here's a big smile caught on camera. Owen loves his grandma and she always manages to get him smiling. Owen and my mom. She's such a wonderful help and it's been great to have her close by. I cringe at the thought of her moving away again next month. I'm praying she finds another nursing job here in Texas so we don't have to be far away again.Carter has five teeth coming in right now so his temperment is hit or miss. Sometimes he loves me, is attached to my leg, wants to snuggle and be held, other times he would rather throw things, whine and have a melt down. I love the snuggles but could do a with a little less melt down. Carter has been a little jealous of Owen lately. Whatever the baby has he wants. Owen's binkie, the swing, the bumbo, the bouncy seat, you name it he wants it and doesn't want to share it. He also manages to climb in or squeeze himself into everything. His new favorite is the swing, he thinks it's hilarious to climb in, grab the binkie and swing while I am nursing. Here he is in the bumbo. When I put Owen in it yesterday Carter charged over to him and I thought for sure he was going to push Owen out. Luckily I caught him in time and we dodged an incident. For the most part Carter is learning to be gentle and cares about where Owen is and is always the first to run over to him if he cries. We're making baby steps and soon enough Carter won't even remember what it was like before we had Owen.

Passed.

Mike has PASSED all four sections of the CPA exam!

I know this is his accomplishment, but I feel just as much relief and excitement about him passing as he does. I squealed with delight and jumped up and down when he told me. I am so very proud of him and so very excited for him to put his study material away and not feel guilty about spending time with us on Saturdays again. This has been a big weight on his shoulders and I'm so glad that this weight has finally been lifted and just in time for busy season. Now he only has to worry about his current clients/jobs and not about this exam any more. Congratulations honey we are beyond thrilled, proud and excited for you!

* The picture above is of Mike opening his letter from the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy.

What's a post without a few pictures of the boys. Here are some from the last two days.

Carter sitting in his new wagon that we got him from Christmas. It's not meant for him to sit in, it's for his Lego's, but what the heck. It makes him happy, therefore it makes us happy.

Our little bruiser smacked his head against the corner of the kitchen table leg yesterday. You can barely see it here, but this one left a huge goose egg on his forehead. Yet another war wound for Carter. He's always so busy and never slows down to watch where he is going.

Owen 12 weeks after a bath. Still has all of this hair and is now adding some baby rolls to his little body. I love his chunky little chin and everything else about him. He's been such a happy and mellow baby this past few weeks. I'm also in love with his smiles, waiting 10 weeks was totally worth it.
Another after bath picture. Poor kid, I think he has my lips, or lack there of.
The past three nights we've had an unwanted visitor in our backyard... a possum. And boy does he look scary. Good thing we have the dogs to let him know he's unwanted in our yard. Too bad the dogs don't know it's not polite to our neighbors to bark like crazy at the possum at 4 a.m.

New Year & New Beginnings.

At the beginning of each new year it's pretty traditional to look back at where you've been, the things you've accomplished and the things you wished you could have done. From there you come up with a plan, a set of goals for the new year, things you want to change about yourself, things you want to accomplish or maybe things you'd like to quit doing. Here is my plan. I figured if I wrote it down I would have more inspiration and determination to accomplish them.


My goals for 2009

1. Spend more uninterrupted time with my boys. Less time with the TV on, or on the computer or the phone, not worry so much about having a clean and clutter free home and just play. Enjoy the stage they are in fully and devote my time to making sure they know that I love them and will take care of them.
2. Criticize less. I've taken a look back at me and the things I say at times and realized that not only can I be mean, but my criticism chases the spirit from our home and in our lives. If I'm to be a better wife, mother, daughter and friend, I need to start filling others cups and stop dipping into them. (a great analogy given at church in Relief Society on Sunday).
3. Continue to work out 5 days a week. I was in such good shape before I had Owen, that I'm now starting from scratch again. I'm determined to get back where I was and feel good about myself. I joined a new gym this week that will take 3 month old babies in their kids club. We went for the first time today and both boys did great, so I am well on my way.
4. Drink one less coke each week and by the end of the year hopefully not drink any at all, except for special occasions and outings.
5. Make baby books for both boys and work on making this blog into a coffee table, family journal book.

Family Goals for 2009
1. Be early to church each week. Our ward meeting time just changed to 8 a.m. It was a little hard this past week to set the alarm for 6:30, but I know this means a lot to Mike, and therefore it's important to us all. Our goal- 5 to 10 minutes early.
2. Attend the temple one more time in 2009 than we did in 2008.
3. Spend less and save more.
4. Enjoy the point in our lives that we are at. Enjoy our starter home and spend less time wishing we had more. Enjoy the craziness that comes with having two little boys and enjoy our marriage and the friendship that grows after 6+ years.
5. Go on a date with just Mike and I, every quarter, but hopefully we'll have more opportunities than that.

Christmas in Idaho. Part 3.

Before Church on Dec. 28, 2008, Owen's blessing day. While in Idaho for Christmas we blessed Owen in Mike's home ward, where his dad is the bishop. Mike blessed our baby boy with the kindest and sincerest priesthood blessing a mother could ask for. Owen Michael Dille is ours for all eternity and we feel so blessed to have been given his sweet spirit to raise. We pray that we will have the patience and love necessary to sustain his soul, that he'll grow to be a worthy man, that he'll be able to serve an LDS mission and be married in the temple to a wonderful women. We're excited to see what Owen has in store and who he becomes. I just know that behind his blue eyes he's scoping out the world and making plans...

I find it so hard after coming home to only pick a few photos to tell the story of our trip. There are so many memories that are made, so many stories that are told and only so many pictures taken to tell them. Here are a few more to document our stay.

Paul, Mike and Bryan. Taking a picture in front of the door where they always took their first day of school pics. I know they has a lot of fun being together and Mike loves his little brothers. Although, looks like Mike being the oldest is now the "littlest" in the bunch.

Nikki, Owen, Bryan an Carter after Owens blessing before they headed off to see her family.

Angie and Shala. Shala is having another boy and is due in March.

Mike, Carter and Great Grandma Ruby.

Carter making faces on the french doors. He also does this in the shower. Cracks me up every time.

Charlotte and Owen.

Carter and his favorite toy, the vacuum. I've already made plans to get Carter one here in Texas.

Carter wanting to be little like Owen and sitting the bouncy seat. We had to hide it from him after this. So he is experiencing a little digression since Owen came into the family. Notice the vacuum is still within arms reach.