My Sweet Peas

Ethan has been so good with Violet, he tells people that she is his Violet. He can get her to stop crying, and she lights up whenever she sees him. He can get her to laugh more often than mommy. She loves her big brother, and I'm going to work hard at helping them to always be friends.

I've started feeding Violet solids, and she LOVES vegetables. She'll tolerate fruit, but you can't spoon the veggies in fast enough. She is really good at using her tongue and tries really hard to talk. She is getting better at making sounds, and will let out random squeaks and squawks that crack us up. She has discovered her hands, and yesterday she discovered her feet. Pretty soon she will have them in her mouth along with her hands. :). She is the sweetest baby, and even though it looks like she might be beginning to teeth, she is only mildly fussy. She is getting better at playing with toys, and reaching out and grabbing things.

My friend Mirinda gave her a doll, and she loves it. She cuddles it up against her face. It's very cute.

This is one of the boys I work with (i'm only a substitute now) holding Violet. The two brothers love Violet, and she likes riding around on their wheel chairs.

Violet Coraline

A bunch of pictures of Violet, and some from my baby shower.

Sorry for the lack of pictures with this post, my camera is still broken.

I thought I would blog about Ethan, and the funny things he has been saying and doing lately. His speech is getting better and better, the biggest problem now is pronounciation, but over all he is doing so wonderful in my opinion. Every day he says something new that I didn't know that he knew, and it makes me smile. His favorite phrases lately are: I don't want it!; Wait, wait, wait!; come with me; listen to me; just a second; Ethan said yes! (when I say "I said no");Okay mom; Super Ethan!, I need it!, I'm Fine! (when I ask him to do something he doesn't want to do). He say's a lot more than that, but those are the ones he repeats often.

He has started saying "choose the right!" only he doesn't understand the meaning and thinks it is in reference to directions or choosing which foot to put his shoe on. Grandpa asked him one day what way we should go in the car, and Ethan responded "Choose the right!"

Ethan can be difficult when I want him to go to bed, and lately we were having problems with him throwing tantrums. I started having him say, in his personal prayers, "help me to be nice to mommy and daddy and listen to them". One night he started to throw a tantrum and I said what I always say, "Ethan you need to be nice", and Ethan responded, "yes, Ethan needs to be nice because Heavenly Father wants me to".

Yesterday he came with me to the dollar store to pick up something and he discovered the toy isle. He comes running over carrying this big box that had a race track and three cars in it, and said he wanted it and needed it. I told him no, and that he needed to put it back. He had a meltdown and cried all the time i was in the store and all the way home. After telling him he couldn't watch any movies since he threw a fit, I also sat down with him and explained that he needed to listen when I told him no, and that I did not have toy money at the moment. He responded quickly by saying "Ethan has money". He than ran into the living room and returned with his piggy bank that he had been playing with earlier. I was surprised he thought of that, and I told him he didn't have enough money to buy the toy. Ryan arrived home at that moment, and I translated what was going on. Ryan thought it was pretty hillarious. We decided to have him do some chores around the house to earn money. When he had done a chore, he came back and said "have money please?" and ryan gave him a couple coins after inspecting his work. Ethan than ran and got his coat and backpack and said he wanted to "store, buy three cars!" It took a while to get him to understand that he still didn't have enough money, and that it would take some time to earn it. The whole incident was so funny! I knew I would eventually have this discussion with my children, but I didn't expect it so soon.

I will post other things he's said another day, since this post has gotten so long. I wish I had pictures to go with it, hopefully we will get our camera fixed soon or buy a new one.

I had my first ultrasound this morning. I found out I'm 17 weeks along, and due around April 10th. And we are having a girl! I am carrying really low, her head is pretty low, and she was curled up a little in the ultrasound, as if to say, "leave me alone, I want to sleep!". I really love ultrasounds. One of the shots we got was of her hand up, and it's really clear, you can see the joints of the fingers. Another shot has her sucking her thumb :). I was a little surprised at how excited I was to find out she was a girl, I was in the grocery store and I wanted to stop random people and tell them i was having a girl. I refrained though. :).

Yum.

I started getting vegetables and fruit through Bountiful Baskets, an online business that brings in veggies and fruit at a discount. I have loved it so far, and I think it's a great program. You don't choose what you get, which I actually, so far, like, because you end up trying things you wouldn't normally try, or haven't had a chance to try. This week I got sweet potatoes in my order, and i do not like sweet potatoes very much. I foudn a recipe though, for sweet potato fries, and made them, and they are AWESOME! Seriously, I highly reccomend them.

Pre-heat the oven to 450. Cut the sweet potatoes into thin strips. Put the strips in a plastic bag and add some olive oil, just enough to coat the strips, add salt (I used Kosher Salt, the recipe calls for sea salt) and pepper and squish around in the bag to coat evenly. Dump on a pan, make sure none of them are touching, and bake for 15 min. I didn't trust the temp in the recipe so I put it in at 400 degrees, and just watched them closely, turning to brown. I wasn't watching closely, and accidentally burned them a little, and they got pretty dark, but they still tasted REALLY good.
www.instructables.com/id/Perfect-Oven-Sweet-Potato-Fries/

Bday parties, work, baby, and new calling

We decided that it would be fun to have a small birthday party for Ethan at Grandma and Grandpa Anderson's, since his birthday this week coincides with beet harvest (I think it's beets...). Ethan had a fun time opening gifts, and loved all of them. I still plan on having another birthday party for him and inviting some little boys over. I haven't quite figured out what i'm going to do and when, because I am now working part time, but I think it would still be fun to do.
this is Ethan battling Brandon with the light sabers (sp ?) Ryan got him and Brandon is using Boise Bronco noise makers he got for ethan. Ethan loved all the presents. I'm not sure the light sabers were a great idea for him, it will be quite interesting trying to keep him from breaking something with them.... :)

Another reason for going up to Grandma and Grandpa's was to announce that we are expecting a baby in April. We won't have a due date for a while, without random guessing, so we will wait until the ultrasounds to announce that. I heard the heart beat on Friday, and it's amazing how something so simple as the sound of the heart can make you feel such peace.

As I said, I am now working part time, in order to pay for insurance and help out with finances for the time being. I enjoy my job so far, I work as an in-home caregiver to a boy with a form of Muscular Dystrophy (sp?), and I'm finding that it can be a very rewarding field of work. The other caregivers that I work with seem to be very caring, compassionate people, and I think this will be one of those jobs with little co-worker drama. I do not like co-worker induced drama, so I hope it continues to be a good work place.

This next sunday I will also start being in the YW presidency as the 2nd counselor. It will be announced next sunday, but no one from my ward reads my blog, and no one that reads my blog knows anyone from my ward, so I think it will be okay if I put it on here. I was very overwelmed when they gave me the calling, but even though it's definately not a calling I would aspire to, I do believe it is right. Especially when the brother who extended the calling quoted almost verbatim a paragraph from my patriarchal blessing, I knew that it was something I needed to do.

So, that has been my crazy life lately.

New Blog Title.

I know I'm so random, but the "secret" was I changed my blog title....:) I think I'm funny.