Valentines Party

My fabulous friend Aimee from http://www.theelephantofsurpriseblog.com/ was brave enough to throw a Valentines exchange for 17 kids. Which mostly means... she was brave enough to let the kids terrorize her house, so us Moms could get together, gossip and eat a terrific brunch. Those for population control would not take to kindly to our little group. We started dental school with 13 kids, and now (with pregnancies included) we are at 26 kids!! Its been a productful three years I'd say.  Personally, I'm proud and amazed at what we've done. When we we were in Denver and telling the executives that we were pregnant with our second in dental school, they thought we were crazy. Some days I feel crazy.... then I think of two of my friends who are rocking out five kids in dental school, and I feel a little less pyschotic. :) Makes me laugh thinking about how people must have treated Todd and I's moms when they said they were having their eighth child. Brave mama's Mormons make :)

We've spent six days in hotels in the past two weeks. It's been a fun February :) But,  Lucy wont stop begging to go swimming. She finds her swim diapers and puts it on and walks around crying for the "water." Sorry kid. No pool here. Looks like bath time...  again.

Sunny Days Chasin' the Clouds Away

Why yes fellow toddler mommy's, that is the Sesame Street theme song as the post title- and the same song that has the unique and terribly annoying ability to stay in my head ALL.DAY.LONG.  Lucy has an obsession with Elmo and Abby Cadabby. She has zero interest in the other characters and will yell "elmo" at the tv until a part comes on with him in it. It cracks me up. One pretty day last week we busted out the little pink bike Todd found on KSL months ago. She can finally reach the ground. It's the coolest thing to hit that little girl since the "Facetime with Elmo" app appeared on the iPad.   

Pointing at the planes 

I will never tire of her saying "hand" and reaching out grab my fingers.

I just feel like that rapist van really enhances my community and this photo. 

Sorry babe, when the snot is frozen on your face and your cheeks match your coat... it's time to go inside. So hard to be a toddler. 

Things You Should Never Attempt With a Toddler

Parenting is a big ol' dangerous experiment in trial and error for us at the Holman house. There are a few things I feel like you should never attempt with a toddler around. Top of that do not attempt list is: Cleaning out your pantry. Unloading and reloading five shelves worth of expired food cans and cereal boxes full of weevels is not something that should be done with a curious and very "helpful" little one around. Apparently from this picture you can tell I don't think you should ever clean your mirrors either. **Note to self: clean this mirror before my Mom comes to visit again, or she will do it for me** Lucy ingested half a container of Crystal Light powder before I caught her. Once I discovered her inhaling her treat, I ran to take it away from her. She immediately threw the container on the floor and ran to hide. Stained mouth, failing liver and all. Awesome. 

Another thing you should never attempt, is anything made on Pinterest. Ever. 

I'd sort of like to punch whoever first pinned the "hide the toys in the cereal" scam. Seriously? Why does this go so much better for moms in the pictures? 

I believe you should never cook a nutritious meal with a toddler around--- hence 14 boxes of Suddenly Salad. (okay I don't really believe this, I'm not sure how I accumulated so many boxes of this "just add Mayo" goodness)

You should probably never attempt to re-attach the dollar store Barbies legs to her body. Trust me- not worth your time, or your dollar. Who doesn't want to play with a topless, inverted breasted, one armed, no legged barbie??

Please pretend that this is the "after" photo from my pantry. Also pretend that my pantry project is actually complete and that the odds and ends of the project haven't just relocated to my kitchen counter. Please and thank you.  

Roseman Redwoodies!!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEX1usN-2rg

If you ever have the opportunity to leave your kiddos at home, and spend a week traveling in an 80's motorhome with your best pals. I HIGHLY suggest you take it! Here is some video footage of our epic adventure.

F.R.I.E.N.D.S

Sometimes I get scared that I have so many great friends. I'm scared that God wants me to fill my canteen with friendship during this time of my life. Because very soon we will move away--- not know a soul and be friendless forever. Or until we end up settling for those kind of weird, but semi-tolerable people from the ward type of friends. I know these people we will move away from will always stay friends. But, living far away you lose the ability to get together for Sunday dinner and football games. You lose the chance to meet up for a quick lunch, or go for walks around the park. If I dwell on it too long, I start crying. Then I start panicking, and wondering if there is some website like match.com for friends out there, possibly some sort of Tinder arrangement where our friendships can start solely off looks and style comparability? I'll stop. I need to dwell on how freaking much fun my friends are now. I am grateful to have many girl friends, and so grateful that Todd and I have found so many perfect "couple friends." I feel like a perfect couple pairing is a rare gem in this world, and somehow we've found a handful of them. Kid friends- man are those easy to come by. Lucy instantly makes BF's with other kids in Costco carts. She idolizes older kids (like Peyton- she is obsessed) and can have a good giggle with really anything that moves. She'll be fine wherever we move. Hopefully, she can teach her mama a few tips on picking up friends when that time comes. Until then, I look forward to my days full of belly laughs and good times with the friends I have now.

Hair Days of Yester-year

Throwing it back to last spring, when Todd had lots of hair, and Lucy had none. These were pre-Todd's buzz days. I always forget how bald Lucy really was until I see photos! Lucy was obsessed with "horsey" for a while there and always had to have her to go to sleep. It was super cute, until horsey got a little infectious. She got gross. Spilled on, puked on other nasty stuff onned. It's a shame you can't throw those cute little musical mammals in the washer, but you can't. Horsey was also cuter when she was still a horsey. One day a three year old asked why we kept calling Lucy's animal "horsey"? He said and I quote "It's a girrafe, horses don't have horns." Not sure how we overlooked the horns for 18 months, but apparently we did. #we'resosmart. I am feeling so nostalgic these days with numero dos on the way. Old pictures make me cry and very very often I wonder how the time has gone so fast since we had Lucy. Oh my big cheeked bald girl, where did the time go?  

The boy in the "budden"

Well hello ginormous 23 week baby bump. I swear my stomach was not this big 7 months in with Lucy and I'm only five and a half months along! Lucy thinks there is a baby in my "budden" (belly button)-- which I'm okay with her thinking until she is about 15 when I'm ready to explain to her where babies actually come from and how they are born. I'm feeling awesome minus the heartburn. Heart burn which I FULLY inflict on myself by consuming an unhealthy amount of chocolate and other awesome snacks like Little Debbie Oatmeal Cookies, like really. Who invented those? Half shortening, half fake oatmeal? And how on earth did I not develop an aversion to them when I used to eat them by the dozen during spud harvest? Also, I crave chocolate dipped strawberries every second of every day, and I give into the craving way more often than I want to admit. I'm still wearing normal pants and haven't had to buy any maternity shirts yet. Thank my affinity for loose fitting, flowy, unflattering clothing for that. Happy 23 weeks to my, and the growing boy in my "budden."

My Little Helper

 Oh what a cute helper I have! She is just oh so helpful. She helps me by starting and stopping the dish washer 2-200 times a day. She helps keep my tupperware drawer organized by unloading it every time we are in the kitchen. She helps keep my toilet paper stocked, because she loves to empty the rolls onto the ground. She helps limit my cell phone use, because whenever she see's it she snatches it quickly out of my hands to watch "pubbles". She helps keep my legs in shape by insisting to jump to me from the top stair and be carried down rest of the flight (every. single.time).She helps keep my shopping under control, because she demands to "ock" and just loves to knock things off the shelf or run away from her pregnant mom while she giggles like an evil demon. She helps me eat less chocolate, because every time I open a particular cupboard she will starting yelling "tandy" (candy) knowing full well where my chocolate chips are stashed. She helps me remember to read to her by unloading her book drawer and scattering the literary masterpieces all over the house a few times a day. She helps me keep my washer in business by somehow creating SO MUCH LAUNDRY. She helps keep our home full of music by pounding out tunes on the piano, or making us listen to  "It GO" (Let it Go, from the movie Frozen) constantly. Everyone needs  a helper like Lucy, what did I ever do without her ;)

Dictionary de Lucy

 Lucy-
      You are now 20 months old. You have quite the vocabulary for a baby, and I LOVE to hear the words you learn ever day. Possibly the biggest compliment you've ever been given was by Great Grandma Sutton who said that you were the smartest almost two year old she'd ever seen! There are lots of words you pronounce perfectly, with slight adorable emphasis placed on certain letters and the cutest little inflection at the end *phone and nose are current favorites* and some that only Mom and Dad can really get. Here are some of those I can think of real quick:
Socks = gocks
Rapunzel = pubbles
Birdies= birees
Ipad= Ipay
Lucy= Isie
tv= teedee
pancake= cancake
bottle= bobbles
tired= nigh nigh
no= no, no,no with a head shake. Never just a single no (my least favorite thing you say)
Kim= Pim
Grandpa=pa
belly button= budden
Jesus= Jeezie
God= Gog
Fox= well.... how you pronounce that one is not quite appropriate to type out :) However you do say it right, when singing "what does the fox say" --- which you sing out probably 20 times a day.  I wish I could record every single word you say. (Besides NO, or the bad ones you accidentally picked up on like "crap"--- whoops!)