Candid Kidz

This is Addy. She is our little "chunk of love." You can tell why...and yes, it's hard not to kiss on those cheeks all day long!



Addy has started to eat rice cereal. Somehow, Mom seems to keep it "neat" compared to Dad?!?! What's the deal? When Dad feeds her - the cereal ends up in her nose, hair, face, almost everywhere but the mouth. I think I have good technique - I mean, how hard can it be? I think it's a conspiracy between Addy and Mom. Molly says it's because Dad is distracted by the news on the TV. This may OR may not be true.



A while ago Aubrey was re-enacting "monkey's jumping on the bed" with her cousin Justice.

You know how it goes...
"One little monkey jumping on the bed."
"One fell off and bonked her head."
"Aunt Amy called the doctor (actually the PA - aka Dad)"
"Doctor (Dad) said, 'What the heck happened?!?!' " Who then proceeded to go into "medical mode" and perform a neuro exam and ended up sleeping in Aubrey's bed with her the entire night...not comfy.

Somehow, she ended up on the floor - head first! Here is a lovely picture of her goose egg. We wanted to put ice on it, but she would have none of that! So her Aunt Amy went to the store and picked up some ice cream sandwiches. Apparently, ice cream is easier to apply on the head and is more appealing than an ice pack. Aubrey preferred the ice cream in her mouth instead, as I don't recall it ever making it to her head...

Now, every time she falls or hits her head (fortunately, not that often) she runs to Mom or Dad and says, "Aubrey need ice on head!" I wonder if she's hoping for ice cream sandwiches again?



Aubrey and Addy both got sick this week. Actually - Molly was out too. So all 3 of my girls were sick. Aubrey has taken quite a dis-liking to taking medicine. If she sees it coming, she quickly covers her mouth and cries, "no medicine! No medicine!" Cute, but have you ever tried prying little fingers off to get the medicine down? Whew...what a work out! After screaming and flailing, the thing that worked the best was to ask her if she wanted to take the medicine herself. She did. Still didn't like it - but at least it got down! Simple enough, right?

Her cousins were over this weekend and they all got ice cream. Well, Aubrey still had a fever (remember she wouldn't take the medicine) but still wanted a treat - so Grammy gave her a popsicle - which took her 30 minutes to eat/slurp/drink/lick! I think most of it ended up somewhere besides her mouth! You just have to follow the drip line downward to the puddle on the seat and floor.

Thoughts from a Dad

It is not too often that I get a chance to write on the blog...so here it is. Caution - long read ahead...

Who knew the joys and challenges that fatherhood would bring? Time goes so fast, and it's hard to make sure that we're not missing out on the little things that we so often take for granted.

I have loved every single minute of being a father and the joys and worries that come with that responsibility. Thankfully - at this point definitely more joys.

ADDISON - MY CHUNK OF LOVE

Addison has grown so much in the past couple of weeks. She is now 5 months old and still can't roll over - it's pretty tough getting those 4 leg rolls over at the same time! She is so cute and loves to smile and flirt. She loves her sister Aubrey who often calls her, "chunk of love" and "baby girl." Addison loves to grab for our food and drinks, and sometimes it seems she is so disappointed when we have to take it away - "Sorry Addy, you have to have you rice cereal instead." Yeah, I would be bummed out too...especially when everyone else gets to eat all the cool stuff! She is so cute when she wakes up from a nap in her crib. She always has a big grin and flails her arms and legs with excitement! I feel so bad putting a binky back in her mouth and then leaving her room. "Sorry, it's not time to wake up and play yet...maybe in a few more hours." (It's only 3:30 am!!!) Imagine Christmas morning in a few years...

AUBREY - DINOSAURS EAT TOES

Aubrey has been growing so much as well. I have been constantly amazed at how much and how fast Aubrey picks things up. She keeps us all in stitches with the things that she says and does on a daily basis. She has become quite inquisitive - always asking, "What happened???" or "What's that?" She's scared of dinosaurs (her cousin got a robotic dinosaur for Christmas and she is deathly afraid of it! Everyone else loves it because she'll finally hug you and won't let go!) Sad. Apparently, dinosaurs like to eat her toes - a lot. It's funny, because out of nowhere, she'll say, "OHHHH! Dinosaur! Dinosaur eat my toes!" For some odd reason - this means that to avoid getting her toes eaten, it means taking off her shoes and socks?!?!?

CHARLIE BIT ME

Aubrey is English. Well, at least she has an English accent now. Really. For those of you who haven't seen it - you need to check out YOUTUBE and search for "Charlie bit my finger." Hilarious. Well, I don't know when Aubrey saw it, but she'll walk around the house speaking in an English accent (really), "Ouch! Charlie bit me!" Then she'll stick her finger in her own mouth or in Addison's mouth and say the same thing. A picture is worth a thousand words. I'll work on a pic...

WHO'S ON YOUR NETWORK?

Her new thing is talking on phones. She loves to call her cousins and talks with ANYONE who calls. She'll pretend that anything flat and rectangular is a phone too. She'll pick it up, nod her head, say, "Hello? Hi! How are you? Uh-huh, oh yeah, ok, (giggle), yeah-yeah-yeah, ok, bye-bye." Cracks me up. On a more serious note, the other day, she asked Mom if she could call Daddy at work to talk to him. She had to leave a message...

Aubrey: "Hi Daddy!"
"Love you!"
"Call me!"
"See ya!"

It almost brought tears to my eyes! It was so sweet and sincere and child-like (imagine that - she's 2), but still, it was very sweet. Definitely made my day and made me smile!

Today we were watching the ending of Dante's Peak on TV - and in passing, one of the characters said, "Oh my..." and Aubrey, who was playing around, repeated it to our utter most surprise! To top that off - she said it a couple of times throughout the day, and she heard it ONCE!!! Needless to say, Molly and I have had to really be careful on what is being shown on the television. We've also had to do some DC (damage control) and try to reinforce Aubrey saying, "Oh my goodness!" instead.

Their minds are truly sponges and they pick up so much. Aubrey's now learned, "Just a minute..." and is really improving on communicating with us. We've really tried to reinforce signing or telling us what is wrong instead of grunting or whining. It's been tough, but it's also been quite rewarding. It's so much easier to help her out when she signs to us. I also think that it will help her become more polite and well behaved.

This experience has just shown me how great our responsibility is as parents to be vigilant in watching everything that we say and do, because even when we think they are not listening or watching - they may be because they are so perceptive. At church, they've asked us to pray more as families and read our scriptures because our children will see us and learn from our examples.

Our little ones are learning so much and it has been so fun to see them grow and develop. They are truly the greatest blessings in our lives. I feel that we, as parents, have also grown a lot in becoming consistent and learning how to adapt to each of their individual needs.

All in all - I love being a Dad. I love putting the girls to bed - kneeling with Aubrey in prayer, tucking her in, reading nighttime stories and singing songs, then getting hugs and kisses. It's so sweet. I love changing diapers - just kidding. No I don't. But I will - because it's part of the job description. But this I will tell you - it's much easier to change your own kid's poopie diapers rather than someone else's...

And that, *sigh* are just a few thoughts from a novice parent...

Show me the money!

Here is a very short, but humorous conversation that Aubrey had tonight with Grammy Cundiff...


Setting: Aubrey's walking around the table huffin' and puffin', finally goes up to Grammy.

Grammy: What's wrong Aubrey?

Aubrey: I don't know where ma money is? (mom saves the day and gets her the cup with with coins in it, Aubrey begins counting her money)

Grammy: Wow, Aubrey can I have some money?

Aubrey: Nope, dis is not your money, dis is MY money.

Grammy: Ohh...

Aubrey: You are Happy...okay! (this isn't a question, it's a statement)

Hope this made you smile!

What a week!

Well, I don't have pictures for this week, because my sister accidentally took our camera home with her and left her camera here. So, here is the latest from this past week.

Addy is getting over having croup and Aubrey got croup. I am exhausted...I sure love being a mommy...however this one part of the job description that lies at the bottom of the "favorite list." Rylan has been a super help at taking turns getting up with the girls. The first day of being sick is actually nice, because I get to hold Aubrey a lot. This is hard to do because she is so active that getting some snuggles out of her is quite the task. Aubrey and Addy both are on the mend, although Aubrey does seem a bit grumpy as of lately.

I hesitate sharing this next part, but it was so funny and random that I can't help it. This morning we were all snuggling in bed while Aubrey got up and went to open all the bedroom shades. While she was opening the shades she said...

"I pickin my nose, n' puttin on ma pants."

After recovering from the initial shock of what she said, we couldn't help but crack up. I promise this is not a reflection of anything we taught her, but the things they say and do, will just haunt them forever.

Well, that is about it for the time being. Hopefully, we can swap cameras soon and put up some more pics. In the meantime...have a great week!