Oh no - please tell me she didn't!

Imagine my surprise when I walked in to the nursery on Sunday to ask Liliana if she needed to go potty and was flagged over by the nursery leader to be asked, "Are you having a baby sister?"
"No," I responded.
"I didn't think you looked like you could be, but during our lesson on families today, Liliana told us that she was going to have a baby sister," the nursery leader explained.
"Liliana has been stuck on this baby idea for a few weeks," I told her, wondering how many of the other kids and adults in the room thought that Liliana's announcement had some merit. The nursery is huge - with over 20 kids in it - and has about 4 to 5 other adult helpers in it at any given time. Chances are that Liliana's news was heard by most of them and who knows how many people believed it?! I partially blame David for Liliana's baby fixation because he's starting to get a bit of baby fever and has encouraged Liliana's discussion about when she'll get more siblings. In fact, the other day I was setting Liliana up with a reward chart for going to bed without hopping back out of her room for this, that, and the other thing. I told her for each nap or night that she follows her "sleep rules", she can have a sticker on the calendar. After she gets five stickers, she can pick a movie to watch. David, who was standing by during this explanation, added, "And when you get ten stickers, you can have a baby sister!" Well, Liliana didn't forget that and now that she has more than ten stickers, she wants her baby. I made David go talk to her and tell her that these things take time and that mommmy isn't growing a baby in her belly right now, but after the nursery announcement, I don't know how effective that little discussion was.
I guess I can at least be grateful that Liliana is claiming that I'm pregnant, rather than asking other non-pregnant women if they are!

Fun moments

Emmett and Liliana like to wake up early on weekends while David and I would rather not. A normal Saturday usually involves me rousing to one or both kids calling out to us to let them out of their rooms. I stumble out, change a diaper, take Liliana to the bathroom, close the gate so the kids won't go downstairs unattended, and then lie back down - though I know I won't actually get anymore sleep. Liliana and Emmett run back and forth between their bedrooms, the playroom, and our bedroom, dragging toys and making plenty of noise. This past Saturday, Emmett climbed over me and in between David and I in bed with a book. He sat "reading" for a couple minutes and then all on his own he leaned over and planted a big slobbery kiss right on David's mouth. It was too adorable - although a little slimy for David! I guess Emmett liked our awwwws because he kept doing it to David (and then one to me with David's encouragement) after that for a few more rounds. Who can turn away such sweetness...even if it is accompanied by large amounts of drool?

David worked from home the other day and took a break long enough to come out and teach the kids how to fall down when he pretended to shoot them. He called me over and with a triumphant look, pointed his finger at Emmett and Liliana as if it were a gun and shouted, "Bang! Zap!" and laughed with great pleasure as they slumped to the ground with convincing death-giggles. I'm so glad they have such enriching learning moments with Daddy.

We went to drop David off at the bus stop the other day and as we drove away, David stepped onto his bus. Liliana suddenly sounded quite upset as she cried out, "I don't want to be alone with not Daddy. I want to be a family!" It was so sad and cute at the same time. I explained to her that we are still a family even when Daddy goes to work and that his job was to provide for our family so we'd have a home to live in and food to eat. She seemed to calm down a bit, but she has talked a few times about how Daddy should only work at home.

Out of the blue while running errands in the car, Liliana asked me, "Is your body growing another baby now?"
"No," I answered.
"Why not?" she asked.
"I want to wait until Emmett is older," I responded.
"Why do you want to wait until after the birthdays?" she asked precociously.
"Because I am trying to get healthier first."
---Where does she come up with this stuff?

A few days later, we had another conversation about babies after hearing something on the radio about a woman who had 11 kids. That converstation went something like this:
"Mommy, I want 11 kids."
"You want me to have 11 kids, or you want to have your own 11 kids?"
"I want to have my own 11 kids, but I want you to grow them in your belly."
"Do you know how many 11 is? Let's count to 11." After counting I simply said, "Not gonna happen."
"But why?"
"I couldn't handle that many. You can have as many kids as you want when you grow up and get married. I doubt you'll still think 11 is a good number."

Emmett is parroting a lot lately. Liliana thinks it is a fun game to have him repeat whatever she wants him to say. He's getting pretty good at remembering some of the phrases Liliana says and he will use them at the right time, just before Liliana is likely to say them. For example, we were getting loaded into the car and he asked Liliana's usual question (but in simpler words) "Where we going?" I can't believe how un-baby-like he is becoming. His size probably has something to do with that as well. He is eeking out of most 24 month clothes and wears some 2T and a lot of 3T now. According to my bathroom scale he is about 35 pounds - what a whopper! Liliana only weighs a few pounds more than he does and he has outweighed his 3 year old cousins for months already. He is wearing size 7 to 8 in shoes - sizes Liliana was wearing earlier this year. His face even looks bigger than Liliana's to me. This kid is going to be huge, I can just tell. Luckily he seems to be a rather gentle-natured boy, so he'll probably be one of those guys who never realizes he could use his size to his advantage.

So Silly

Emmett is full of fun little phrases now: So silly. I see you. Where Daddy go? Wuv you. I want water, please. Night night. Where Yaya (Liliana)? Wuss Da (what's that -while pointing at anything and everything)? Dass chair (or other item while pointing to pictures in books)... and several other.

David took Liliana to the restroom at church and then came snickering into sacrament meeting with her. The meeting was starting so I had to wait to find out what little joke he was enjoying. It turns out that when Liliana got to the restroom doors, she pointed at the picture on the women's bathroom door and said, "That's the girls' bathroom." Then she pointed at the picture on the men's bathroom door as David took her in and said, "That's the naked girls' bathroom." I got a good laugh out of that and could definitely see a 3 year old looking at those pictures and seeing one as a girl in a dress and the other as a girl in no dress - especially since she, as a girl, was going into that bathroom.

We went camping in Seaside, Oregon for the Fourth of July. David and I slept in our tent with Emmett. Liliana got to sleep in the cabin/trailer with her Grandma and Grandpa Hernandez. One morning Emmett woke up early and we were keeping him entertained in the tent so that Liliana could continue sleeping in the trailer. It was nearing the end of our week of camping and David hadn't shaved all week, so he had a somewhat fuzzy chin. Emmett grabbed a dryer sheet (which had been stuck to some of the clean clothes in our bag and which he though was a Kleenex or wipey) and crawled up on David's chest (he was still lying in his sleeping bag) and began to attempt to wipe the hairs off David's chin. After a good minute of solid effort, Emmett gave up and found something else to do, but David and I were still chuckling.

The kids had a lot of fun at Seaside. We went swimming, played at the beach, watched fireworks, rode the carousel, rode the mini train, took several bike rides, checked out the shopping center, watched the parade, and visited with their cousins, aunties, and uncles. On the way home - right as we were pulling into our neighborhood - Liliana said, "I want to go back to Seaside now and play in the sand." I believe we can ascertain from that comment that the trip was a success!

This past week we had to say goodbye to my sister, Sylvie, and her family. They moved out of state for school and Liliana is sad that her best buddy, Mason, is no longer a convenient distance from us. I hope they make their way back to the Seattle area sometime in the future so we can all be close to each other again.

On Sunday we attended a celebration dinner in honor of my cousin, Natasha, and her husband Derek. They were sealed in the Seattle temple on Saturday. Liliana and Emmett found older distant cousins to entertain them and Liliana and Emmett had a blast monopolizing their time and attentions. My kids also had their first experience on a giant trampoline at that dinner party. It was so cute to watch Emmett trying to jump up and down with his little chubby legs while reaching both arms way up into the air. I don't think he realized that his feet were barely clearing the jumping surface, despite all the energy he appeared to be exuding in an attempt to get some air.

I've got to run - my kids are ready for more fun and I don't want to miss it!

Gibber-talkie

Emmett has begun combining words into short phrases recently. A couple weeks back we dropped David off to catch his Microsoft Connector bus to work. As he got on the bus, Emmett cried a little and I tried to talk to him to calm him down. I told him daddy would be back later after he went to work. As we drove out of the parking lot, Emmett said, "No Daddy. [a bunch of gibberish here] Go wer." He accurately expressed that daddy was not there and that he had gone to work! I'm not sure what his other unintelligible comments were on the matter, but he had successfully put together a complete thought in words. A few mornings ago Emmett came into our room and picked up a cup off the nightstand while saying, "Drink water." I can't think of the other examples I wanted to share now, but it is fun hearing my little guy express himself more and more with words. Each time he does it, he seems less and less like a baby, though. Bittersweet!

Crazy Day

Today began as most Sundays, with a nice family breakfast, some play time with the kids, showers and dressing for church, and then putting the kids down for an early nap before church. We had to go in a little early today to meet with the bishop of our new ward, so we had to cut the kids' naps a little short and bring some lunch for them. After our interviews, David stepped outside to make a phone call. Liliana and Emmett were trying to find ways to entertain themselves while we waited for church to start (which wouldn't happen for about 20 more minutes). Emmett began turning the hall lights off and on - which I didn't particularly approve of, since many other people were using the hallway at that time. I grabbed his hand and started walking away from the light switch, but he decided he wanted to continue playing with them and became a dead weight as he dropped to the floor and tried to twist away from me. As soon as he hit the floor, he started screaming and I knew immediately he had pulled his elbow ligament out of place. How did I know, you ask - because I used to pull my elbow very frequently as a little girl, as did my brother and one of my nephews, and I could see Emmett instantly hold his arm to his side and stop moving it. To test my theory, I pulled out a granola bar and held it out to my little crying boy, while holding his right hand. He wouldn't even attempt to reach for it with his left hand. At this point Liliana decided to start flipping her dress over her head and asking for her own granola bar very loudly. I was worried about Emmett, who was still bawling and I hadn't seen David in awhile and I was feeling a little less than patient with Liliana's shenanigans. After several more minutes, Emmett had only slightly calmed and I was certain he had nursemaid's elbow. I went outside in search of David, with a sad sad boy in my arms and dragging Liliana behind me. Emmett began to calm down, but was still very clingy and refused to move his arm. He would whimper and cry if anyone bumped or moved it. Once I spotted David in the parking lot, I frantically flailed at him to come over. I explained what had happened and asked him to help me locate some medical professionals that we knew were in our new ward. The only problem was, neither of us knew what they looked like. After some time and several attempts by various ward members to help us track down someone who could help Emmett, we began looking up urgent care and walk-in clinics in the area on David's phone. Of course his battery was low, so we didn't get very far with that. We started asking around and received a few suggestions for clinics to try that might be open on Sunday. We were standing in the nursery watching Emmett eat snacks one-handed and trying desperately to figure out what to do. I was supposed to be speaking in sacrament meeting in about 45 minutes, so I wasn't going to be able to take him. David plugged his phone in to the car charger and got enough "juice" to try calling a couple of the suggested clinics. One was closed, another one said they couldn't help and we'd have to go to the ER. Finally a chiropractor in the ward who had experience with nursemaid elbow was tracked down and he attempted several times to "pop" Emmett's elbow back into place, but it didn't work. David was about to try driving to some other clinic when we got stopped by a member of the bishopric in the hall and were asked if we had a few minutes. We explained the situation and he said he'd keep it short. I was asked to be the compassionate service leader for the relief society. I accepted the assignment, although I felt overwhelmed at trying to help meet the needs of people in the ward while knowing very few individuals or resources in the area. It was now minutes before sacrament meeting and I had to run grab Liliana from her class, grab my scriptures and notes for my talk, and get on the stand. As I walked into the chapel, the same brother from the bishopric who had extended my calling came down from the stand and asked if I needed someone to sit with Liliana while I spoke since David was taking care of Emmett and possibly leaving any minute. I gratefully accepted and he quickly arranged for Liliana to sit with a nice little family while I took my place on the stand. Needless to say, I was more than a little distracted by the time it was my turn to speak, but several people told me that my talk went well. Church was over and I collected Liliana and found David and Emmett - still there - waiting for us. A few people stopped to chat with me about my new assignment and then I was invited to be set apart. By the time we were headed out, church had been over for about 45 minutes. I felt so bad for Emmett. We stopped at the first walk in clinic we saw, but they said they don't see kids under 10. They told us to go to the ER. Having suffered with frequent pulled elbows as a kid, I knew that it was a quick fix if we could find someone with experience doing it and I hated to make Emmett wait for hours more in the ER. Emmet fell asleep on the ride home and once there I ran in and called a nurse line. They recommended a few more clinics in the area, but one of them was closed and the other was the third clinic to tell us to go to the ER. A sister from the ward had tried to call twice while I was making these other calls, so I quickly listened to the messages she had left. In the first she said she had heard about our son and wanted to know if she could bring us dinner. In the second message she said she was making a double batch of dinner and wanted to know when she could bring it over. I was so surprised and grateful. It was getting late and I was still dealing with Emmett's crisis and hadn't even thought about food for my family yet. I quickly called her back and thanked her and gave her our address. I told her about our dilemma with the clinics and she told me of one not too far that she knew was open late and that took young children. I called them immediately and they said to come right down. David hurried over with Emmett. They hadn't been out the door more than a moment when my phone rang again. This time it was the Relief Society President and she was putting me to work in my calling already. A sister in the ward needed a ride to Seattle for a doctor's appointment the next day. I hung up with the president and called the sister to get the details on the time and location of the appointment and while I was talking to her my doorbell rang. I asked her to hold a moment while I answered the door. It was the other sister delivering dinner. I thanked her profusely and then returned to my phone, to find the call had dropped. After several attempts to call the sister back who needed a ride, I gave up and sent her a text message, which she eventually responded to. I fed Liliana the delicious dinner we had been given and got her ready for bed. Emmett and David came back from the clinic and Emmett was back to his old self. In fact, it seemed as if he was trying to make up for a full day's missed playtime in the 10 minutes we let him run around between eating his dinner and putting him to bed! Now it is late and I'm exhausted from this overwhelmingly crazy day. I am so thankful to the members of our new ward who tried so hard to help us with our trials today, and especially for that special sister who reached out to a total stranger in our unexpected time of need and provided us with a meal and the solution to our problem. God really does answer our prayers - even before we have time to utter them - but it usually happens through someone else. Whose prayer can I help answer tomorrow?

Double Rainbow Moment

We were at Great-Grandma Thompson's house for dinner on Sunday and Liliana needed to go potty. I sent her down the hall to the bathroom, but she popped her head back out just a few moments later and said, "Mommy can you come help me?" I went down the hall and followed Liliana into the bathroom. She pointed at the toilet - which had a large elevated seat on it with handles because Grandma had surgery on her heel recently and this made it so she didn't have to get down too low or get back up from the low toilet seat. Liliana stood staring at the toilet seat and as she pointed to it, asked, "What does it mean?" I laughed heartily before explaining that it was just a temporary potty seat to make it easier for Grandma to go potty while she was healing from her foot surgery. I told Liliana that it was kind of like the little potty seat she used (and occasionally still uses) to make it easier for her to use the grown up potty. She wanted to try it, rather than have me remove it, so I let her. I thought her little bum was going to sink clear down inside it and she'd be stuck up to her armpits, but she managed to balance and make it work. She came running out of the bathroom ready to tell everyone else about the big funny seat and I chuckled as I shared her "double-rainbow" reaction. What a funny girl!

New House

Well, we closed on our new house on March 31st and moved in on April 9th. We're still slowly unpacking boxes, but the things we use on a regular basis are unpacked and organized. I still need to decide on how/what I will decorate with - and then wait until we have the time and money to decorate. Liliana and Emmett love having a playroom and more space to run around. Emmett's first nap in the new house started out well, but when he woke up he was NOT happy. I think everything was just too unfamiliar for him. Also, Liliana was still napping, so she wasn't around to lighten the mood for him. After about 30 minutes of melting down, David suggested we give him a bath. When I started singing his little bath time song, he began to calm down. But when he saw my big triangle tub instead of what he was expecting, he became upset all over again. Once we got him in the water and added bubbles, he was doing pretty well and when Liliana woke up from her nap and joined him, all his worries seemed to vanish. After a couple days in the new place, Emmett was doing just fine. I was worried that he wasn't going to understand about the move and that it might upset him, but it was short lived. Liliana had understood all our discussions about buying a new house and getting a new bedroom and she was really excited, so we weren't surprised when she stepped through the door and acted like she owned the place.
I took the kids on a walk around our new neighborhood and they were excited to see the horses and mini-ponies in some of the yards. We're definitely more country than city out here! David is happy with his new commute and our new ward is full of kids around my kids' ages. I hear good things about the local school from the parents I have talked to, so that is yet another thing to be happy about. We also have a fully fenced back yard that is easily viewed through the kitchen window and slider, so I'm loving being able to let the kids go out and play while I work in the kitchen and still keep an eye on them.
Liliana is surprising me every day with how much she remembers. Just yesterday she was singing a song to herself about how she was going to make purple paint for Bess to put in her art studio. Bess is a character from one of Liliana's Tinker Bell stories but I hadn't read that particular story to her for at least a few weeks and it was never one that she regularly had me read.
Emmett keeps trying to speak and is such a sweet little guy. Today he tried to say pineapple - which sounded more like "paw po". He has also gotten into the habit of saying, "no no no" and shaking his finger at me whenever I tell him he's stinky and needs a diaper change. Silly boy!