Jilly Billy's Birthday

My mom's birthday is today. Recently, I was so impressed by my friend Crystal's sweet tributes to her friends and family on their birthdays, including photos of family members through the years. I looked through all my photos on this computer and didn't have one of my dear mother. How awful!

Since I didn't have any embarassing or incriminating photos to show of her, I took some horrible photos of Lex this evening and thought I'd share him in all his dirty-faced glory.

Happy Birthday, Mom! We love you!

Shake things up!

Okay, so I was talking to Sara this week and I mentioned I updated this blog. She said that she'd noticed it, but my post about books was so boring she just skipped it! Thanks, Sis! So, I'll try to be more interesting!

Our big news this month is that Lex finally stopped nursing. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, for one month, I was nursing a two-year-old. But he is done now! Lex is taking it surprisingly well and is doing good (though the adjustment period took its toll on our sleep for several nights). I am happy that we are done with this stage, too.

It is news to many people that Lex was an "extended" nurser. It was news to us, too! It all started when his pediatrician recommended at his one-year visit that we extend three months because Lex had an immature digestive system from all his reflux as an infant. Then we were in the middle of a move. Then we went on vacation. Then he was sick, and so on, and so on . . .

At Lex's second birthday, we'd had enough. First we stopped all day feedings, then the night. Lex hasn't nursed for ten days now! Whoopee!

So, now you know what we have been calling our "dirty little secret" for the past year. After his first birthday, we hesitated to tell people he still nursed and I NEVER nursed Lex in front of anyone but Jeremy. In the end, I'm not sorry he nursed so long. It is what he needed, and I don't think it is gross or disgusting -- nursing until this age is common in many cultures, just not this one. But when I have another kid, you'd better believe that I am going to do my best to get that child weaned as close to the socially acceptable 12 months as possible!

Long time, no post!

So, I've been neglecting this blog lately. Sorry! I took some time this past week to read a couple books, and once I start reading, it is difficult for me to do much else (just ask Jer). The first book I read was "The-Know-It-All" by AJ Jacobs. My dad and aunt DeeAnn recommended this author to me and I really enjoyed it. He describes his year of reading the encyclopedia from A-Z, and shares how it affected his life. There were several times I laughed out loud while reading it.

The other book I read was "The Other Boleyn Girl" by Phillipa Gregory. Paula had read it and we decided that with the movie based on this book coming out on Friday, I should hurry and read this book so we can go to the movie together. Although this tale of Anne Boleyn and her sister Mary's affairs with Henry VIII is much different than a biography of a man reading the encyclopedia in modern-day New York, I really enjoyed this book as well!

So, now you know what I've been up to. Sorry for the delay in posting anything on here! Oh, and unfortunately, neither of these books are appropriate for my church book club. The first book has a lot of cursing and the second can be racy at times. Darn! The search goes on for a book to recommend . . .

Valentine's Tag

Tammi tagged all of her blog readers to complete this questionnaire. I did my best, although I think my memory is lacking in some areas (sometimes conveniently).

You and your spouse:

How long have you been together? Our first date was in November of 1999

How long did you date? We dated 2 months and had a 5 month engagement.

How old is he? Jer is 30

Who eats more? Hmmm . . . I don't really keep track, but I would say Jer.

Who said "I love you" first? I honestly don't remember. I think it was him, but I might just be flattering myself!

Who is taller? Jer

Who sings better? Hmmmm . . . we are both completely awful. Perhaps Jer is a teensy bit less awful than I am.

Who is smarter? We each have our smart moments!

Who does the laundry? The past several months, Jer does it more than I do. We sort of help out where needed. Just this week, I managed to make our beige sheets polka dotted (pink and purple). We wonder if some Lucky Charms got in the wash? Oh, and I also dyed some white hand towels brown. All in a day's work!

Who does the dishes? I do this more than Jer, but we both pick up where needed.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Jer, though we've considered switching since I used to always have the right side.

Who pays the bills? Me

Who mows the lawn? Jer

Who cooks dinner? Lately, me. Jer also helps out as needed. I am good with the slow cooker, he is good with the grill.

Who is more stubborn? I am. I HATE being told what to do. Jer accepts this and finds ways around it.

Who kissed who first? I don't know why this question embarasses me so much -- I am generally not a shy person! I think it was mutual.

Who asked who out? Jer asked me if I wanted to go along with him to see a client. So I guess it is him.

Who proposed? Jer

Who is more sensitive? That would be me. Jer is very laid back.

Who has more friends? I think we are equal.

Who has more siblings? Jeremy has one more sibling than I do.

Since Crystal is one of my favorite Valentines (and she'll get the reference, no one else will), I tag her to complete this about wonderful TJ.

Book Club

Tuesday night was our ward's book club night. We are a small book club, but we had a good showing (seven people) on Tuesday. Our book this month was "The Kite Runner" (we skipped last month because there wasn't enough people, so we've been working on this book for a long time).

Next month is "Unless". I am excited to read that one since even Books a Million didn't have it! They have a million books, yet don't carry this one? It has to be good, right?

My month is coming up in April, and I need to choose the book ASAP since they want two month's notice now. I've been reading "Eat, Pray, Love" while Lex plays with the trains at the bookstore, and two of my cousins highly recommend it. Only thing is, I haven't finished it and need to know if it is a good book for a church book club. The book doesn't need to be squeeky clean, just not raunchy. Anyone know for sure, or will I have to race through it before Sunday comes along?

The Sunday Evening Mormon Search

Jer and I have this sick obsession with pushing the "Next Blog" button on the top of the blogspot pages. It shows you recently updated blogs. For some reason, once you start pushing it, it is hard to stop.

We've noticed that on Sunday evenings (especially between 7 and 8 MST), an abnormally large amount of the blogs that come up are those of Mormon families. We've made a little game of it where we bet on how many more times we will push "Next Blog" until another Mormon comes up. Last night, it was crazy! At least every other blog that was written in English belonged to an LDS family.

The best part is trying to figure out if they are Mormon or not. There might be a vague reference to FHE, Primary, scouting (although that isn't a smoking gun, it encourages us to keep looking), temples, or tributes to President Hinckley.

Anyway, we really get into this game and quite enjoy it. Anyone care to join us next Sunday and see if you have the same results?

New Favorite Food

I talked about this with Sara today, and now she is dying to have it, too! Today, Lex and I went to Costco and they were doing a demo of this Cape Cod chicken salad. I had to have it since it was so good! It has dried cranberries, pecans, and celery in it. At our Costco, this 36 ounce tub was $8.99. Definitely worth it! It reminds me of the chicken salad they have at Arby's.

Fool's Gold

Last night, Chris was so nice to offer to watch Lex while Paula and I went to a movie. We decided to see Fools Gold. I went in with super low expectations, so it was an okay movie. Paula and I decided it was a good rental. The beaches were beautiful. It made me want to go on a cruise (it doesn't help that while Jer was at his conference this weekend he heard multiple cruise ships leaving each day).

Anyway, even if the movie wasn't golden, the company was! Paula and I had a good time, and it was nice to be out sans the kid for a few hours.

Jeremy's Home!!!

I hadn't mentioned it, but Jer was in Fort Lauderdale from Thursday until this afternoon. That was his second work trip over there in the past two weeks! I get by okay with him gone, but it gets so boring after a while with no way to distinguish our days from our nights. Lex and I were invited on this trip, but we both came down with colds this past week and didn't want to recover in a hotel room.

We were pretty boring this afternoon and took a long (2.5 to 3 hours) family nap together -- Jer was tired from his three hour drive, Lex was tired from playing at church, and I was just tired from being on my own all week. Lex was very happy to have his dad home when he woke up and quickly started poking Jer's nose over and over again. He's been doing that to me a lot lately, it is the way he wakes me up in the morning. I am surprised I don't have a bloody nose by now.

So, we didn't wake up until 6:30, so we think Lex will be up until midnight tonight. It is 10:45 right now and he's still going strong! I was thinking to myself that with his current sleeping schedule it would be a perfect time to go to Washington. He'd have no trouble adapting to the time change.

My date tonight

Jer had a work dinner tonight, so Lex and I were on our own for the evening. He makes a great date, doesn't he? I tried to come up with something fun and exciting, but it is hard to come up with fun things for a two-year-old on a Friday night! So we went out to eat at my favorite burrito place. Unfortunately, when I took the foil off the burrito, there was a beard hair from one of the workers wrapped up in it! Yuck! Fortunately, I saw it well before I came even close to eating it!

Then we went to the bookstore and Lex enjoyed their train table for a few hours. We have a train table at home, but he really enjoys the one at this bookstore (I think it is because of al the other kids). It was a happening place tonight!

One other parent and I were chatting as the kids played. After a while, he said, "Your son looks like your husband." This made me laugh. I said, "You've never seen my husband!" He said that he didn't think Lex looked like me. I told him that Lex looked like his dad, but there are some features of his that resemble me at that age.

Anyway, right after this comment, this guy starts telling me how some kids aren't attractive, but are really attractive later in life, and vice versa. He then tells me about a cute girl he knew, then saw her ten years later and it looked like a hurricane hit her. The whole time he is telling me this, I was trying to figure out what he was getting at. Either he is saying that Lex isn't a cute kid, or that I am a very unattractive adult since I was once cute like Lex. Whatever, dude. I told this to Jer later and he can't figure out why rude people always talk to me.

Where Jer's Mom Failed . . .

Jer's first crab claw portrait -- Chris served as a great model.
Second attempt, although the subjects weren't looking.
Just kidding, Sandy! But did you ever tell Jer not to play with his food? If you did, he didn't listen!

These photos were taken last Friday. We went to Chris, Paula, and Jackson's beloved International Buffet for dinner. Chris warned us beforehand that he is a professional buffet-eater. He can sure put away the food! The natives were getting restless, so after Jer took his crab claw photos, Paula, Jackson, Lex and I walked over to a nearby pet store while Chris ate his weight in seafood.

With his extra time, Jer made this beautiful plate of food. The egg roll is a cigar, by the way.

We enjoyed the pet store. We realized there is a really untapped market for makers of those carpet covered cat climbing things. The first term that came to mind to descibe these was cat houses, but somehow I don't think that is what they are called! Anyway, Lex just loved those things and wanted to climb on them again and again. We literally dragged him out of there kicking and screaming.

So glad it is over!

Today, Jer and I had our appeal hearing for our property taxes. They appraised our house WAY above the fair market value. Going into the hearing, they did bring the appraised value down almost $40,000, but it is still over $40,000 more than what we paid for our house, so we still wanted to try for more.

We left Lex with Paula, and it was kind of fun to do something just the two of us --even if it was just a tax hearing! They are going to get back to us with the decision. I hope it is good!

For those that are curious, it was us on the plaintiff's side, and four county appraisers on the defendant’s side. There was a city commissioner acting as the judge. As we started, they gave us a big packet of what they were basing their argument on. This sort of bugged me since I submitted all of my argument to them back in September. Couldn't they have at least e-mailed their argument to me a day in advance?

The appraisers started out by stating what their appraisal was, then I gave our argument. Then the appraisers got a turn to state what they based their appraisal on in much more detail. They asked if I had any further comments, I said no. Then they asked for my final remarks. I gave them, and we were done. It only took about five minutes. I am just glad it is done. The past week was like being back in school again -- you feel guilty when you aren't working on your homework.

I thought Jer was crazy . . .

Just a few minutes ago, Lex and I were sitting on the couch together while Jer worked on the computer nearby. He suddenly asked for the phone and started saying some weird stuff. I guess I was looking at him like he was absolutely nuts. Here is what he was working on. Now I know he is just a harmless weirdo.

Best Pajamas Ever!

Okay, so Mikala totally needs to tell me where she got these! For Christmas, Mikala (my sister-in-law) bought these cute jammies for Lex. They remind me of something Dick Van Dyke would wear! I have to get my hands on more of them!

Haircut for Lex!

We went and got Lex's haircut yesterday! I was so nervous that he wouldn't have any curl left, since the hair by his scalp was so straight. But after we got it wet again, his curl came back. We timed the haircut so he would be in a deep sleep, and it worked out quite well! We recommend this method to anyone with an unruly toddler!

I like it! Jer thinks his hair is a bit poofy, but he'll get used to it. I am just glad to have it out of his eyes now.

The Wal-Mart Wail

For some reason, Lex REALLY likes Wal-Mart. I suspect it is from several months ago when we would swing by there any chance we could get and go straight to the toy section to look for Cars toys. Anyway, there is a light near our home that we are stopped at quite often. If we were to go straight, we would be in the Wal-Mart parking lot. If we turn left, we're going somewhere else.

When we are stopped at this light, Lex is always very happy. He smiles and jabbers away, pointing at things nearby. Then we turn left and his whole world crumbles for about ten seconds, then he gets over it. Below is a series of photos that illustrates this strange phenomenon. Wouldn't most people do the Wal-Mart Wail if they HAD to go to Wal-Mart?


Photo one shows him before we get to the stoplight. The one below it is while we are stopped --- I missed the full smile. The next one is as he realizes we are not going to go straight. As we pass the glorious Wal-Mart, Lex melts down rapidly, as shown in the fourth photo. The last photo is as he is starting to calm down.