BIG BOY BED UPDATE:

Boston has officially been transitioned for a week and a half now! I have to admit, it hasn't been as bad as I thought it was going to be. We're still adjusting and I must say he hasn't PERFECTED it YET but you know, it's a work in progress that is like a roller coaster. The first night it took about an hour of him opening his door and me walking him back to bed. Nap the next day took about 30 min of the same thing. The 2nd night it was 10 min and then the following day's nap he went down with NO interruptions! I thought we HAD IT! That was until that evening when it took 2 1/2 hrs. of him coming in and out and in out! I was hoping it was a phase but then the next day at nap time it took approximately 2 hours again!!! Now I KNEW this couldn't happen any longer so FINALLY I became a horrible mother and locked his door that night....okay, okay I know you're thinking how bad that is! But let me tell you, it has been a life saver! The good thing is that the locks can be unlocked SOOO easily from the outside AND there is also access from his bathroom into his bedroom so don't think I'm horrible!! Honestly, I don't really care either because it WORKS! Now I lay Boston down without locking the door. If he gets up ONE time, I lock the door. If he comes and tries to open it again, he usually starts crying for a few minutes until I go in there, put him in bed, and relock the door. Then it's over and he's out! The past few days/nights have honestly been GREAT without any interruptions of him opening the door and crawling in the hall and laying there waiting for us to bring him back to bed (personally sometimes I think it's kinda cute..). We did go through a few rough mornings where Boston decided to give us 6:30 am wake up calls. I didn't know what to do about that but luckily the past few days he's gotten back to the 7:30-8 am schedule! THANKFULLY!!!

He LOVES his bed! Like when I say he LOVES it, I REALLY think he feels like a BIG BOY! He LOVES reading stories on his bed and he'll climb up SOO proud! It's hilarious! Now I just can't WAIT to get back after the summer and FULLY decorate his room! My mind is FLOODING with ideas!!

Oh, one more thing. Apparently Boston REALLY misses having Kent around and only seeing him for an hour each morning. It never fails that in the morning Boston goes to KENT'S side of the bed to get him up! He'll then DRAG him to watch "BA-ME" and cuddle with him on the couch. He could careless about me! I can't say I'm complaining because it's kinda nice to be the one to sleep in a little bit in the morning! PLUS Kent LOVES it....REALLY he DOES (okay, maybe he didn't LOVE when the 6:30 wake up calls were happening..who would?!? But the 7:30-8...he eats it up!)

Notice what book he's reading...

Look how peacefully, comfy and relaxed this little man looks!

Now on to a few random things...

The other day, I asked Boston to go get a diaper so we could change him. Out he came with all of these.......

Yes, that also included a pair of his swimtrunks...apparently he said he wanted to go to the "pool" too!

Also, since we are able to go outside FINALLY, Boston has been running around chasing his ball like CRAZY out there. He runs so fast that he seems to always loose his footing which I KNOW is going to LEAVE these "o-wii's" all summer long!!!

Poor kid, he points them out MULTIPLE times DAILY!

OH! One last picture! Now I debated on putting this up here but I think it's ABSOLUTELY hilarious! The other day, I was getting ready and it was SOO nice outside so I opened the porch door and let Boston and Stella out to play. I came to check on them and this is what I found:

Don't judge my son for wearing my shoes! Why he LOVES putting on shoes, I DO NOT know! Honestly, I think it's because it's easier then putting on his shoes. If he has SHOES on, in his mind he's hoping and thinking that going outside will be soon coming! Really though, I need to hide my shoes!

Speaking of shoes, as I've discussed before Boston has had a DOUBLE WIDE foot in the past. For those of you without kids with chubby feet, shoe sizes go from regular to wide to EXTRA wide to DOUBLE WIDE! Well, we went to Stride Rite Saturday to shop for the DOUBLE WIDE shoes that I was hoping would possibly have gone to an EXTRA wide this summer. Well apparently come to find out my son's feet aren't getting any smaller....in fact they are getting WIDER!!!! HOW IS THAT?!?! He does NOT fit into DOUBLE WIDE ANY MORE!!!! What am I to do?!? They lady at the store was like, "Well I know you want a dresser shoe but unfortunately I don't see that happening. You're probably just going to have to resort to buying crocs one size too big!' CROCS....TO CHURCH!!?!? NO THANK YOU LADY! What am I to do?!

Aside from the stress of the shoe situation, I'm also getting rather nervous about this SWINE FLU! The first death happened here in Houston today.....to a 23 MONTH OLD TODDLER! I'm SOO not planning on going any where for the time being!!! Am I the only one worried?

Okay, I'll stop rambling now! So much on the mind and Kent's gone playing ball tonight, what do you expect?!

MY SON IS ADDICTED TO THIS:

I never thought it would happen. All I hear when he wakes in the morning or after a nap is, "Ba-me! Ba-me!" (that's Barney in the language of Boston). What to do?

The one thing I DO love about Barney is at the end when the "I Love You, You Love Me" song comes on and the words "with a great BIG HUG and KISS from me to you.." are sung, Boston comes to me and gives me a BIG HUG and a KISS! That's looking at the positive right?

COUNTDOWN TIME!

We are officially ONE MONTH away from having this little man turn TWO!!!! I can NOT believe it!

On another note, we had our first official day at the pool yesterday and can I just say how much I LOVED it!!! Oh it's SOO nice to sit in the sun and get some color to your skin. I LOVE our apartment pool because they have this area that's only 6 inches deep which means Boston can play and get in and out easily. He LOVES that freedom instead of being fully emerged in water the whole time. He loves to throw a ball and go after it on his own! I will thoroughly enjoy it this summer, that's FOR SURE!

OBSESSION WORSENS...

So Saturday night we went to an old friend's house who we haven't seen since college. We were watching this:

on this (brand new):

When all of the sudden this little man

took this object

and thought he was apart of the team and CHUNKED it right at this...

I didn't know how to react! Boston was in ALL seriousness thinking he was ACTUALLY there APART of that team! He was running around with the ball trying to do what the players were doing and when they shot the ball at the basket, Boston decided to shoot at the SAME ONE! It was funny, yet I felt HORRIBLE and SOO lucky my son didn't put a hole through their TV! Seriously, he's OBSESSED! If you ONLY knew...and it's only getting worse!

THEN AND NOW...

I saw this on some else's blog and decided I'd take a look back at Easter pics last year and see what my little man looked like....

THEN:

10 months....his binky and bottle were the only 2 things to sit him still long enough for a picture!

NOW:
22 months....he still doesn't sit still so I've learned to let him roam and pray I get a good shot!

I LOVE THIS LITTLE MAN!!!!!!

SLOWLY TRANSITIONING...

If you've been wondering if we've officially made that stressful change to big boy bed yet, the answer is NO! I just ordered my bedding and it should be here the end of the week so when it arrives, the FULL transition begins. One of my worries was the fact that Boston is a CRAZY sleeper. I'll lay him down on one end of the crib and when I check on him before we go to bed he's in a COMPLETELY different area of the crib! So I began OPERATION PILLOW! I thought that if maybe I put a pillow in bed with him, it would help him stay on one end and IT WORKED! I think he LOVES having a pillow quite frankly! AND I must say that the past 2 weeks since we've been in Houston, his nap time has been a consistent 3 1/2 hrs long and he's been sleeping from 7:30-ALMOST 8:30 DAILY! I LOVE IT! Is it the pillow? Probably not completely because we started this in Utah and he wasn't sleeping like that then BUT I do know that something is making this boy SLEEP and this mama LOVES IT! That extra hour of sleep in the morning and extra hour at nap time makes a WORLD of a difference in my day!!! Now that I've said this, I KNOW my son is going wake up early tomorrow.....

EASTER IN BATON ROUGE!

So we made a quick trip to Red Stick this weekend. We got in LATE Friday night and left to come back to Houston EARLY this morning. It was fast, fun, and busy!! We were sad to leave but glad to know we'll be staying put in Houston for a little while.

Saturday morning my parents ward had their ward party so we went and visited with old friends and they had an Easter egg hunt for the kids. Boston spotted the eggs WAY before the hunt began and I had to run over and quickly place them back to where they needed to be (no, he wasn't happy about that!). He finally got his chance, which I missed due to visiting, but luckily Mimi took care of him and helped him get a few.

Saturday evening we dyed some eggs for the Easter Bunny. We did this last year and Boston was much more involved this year for sure! We stripped him down (I'm GLAD I did) and it took him a minute to figure out what to do. At first he thought he was supposed to taste the colored water, so he dipped his fingers in and licked it off his fingers. Then we showed him that he is supposed to DIP the egg. Apparently he LIKED the dye because the wanted to lick it right of the egg! He'd DIP and LICK! No worries, we put a stop to that and Mimi and Kelli helped control the situation and he started to get the hang of it!

We invited Kent's family over for some crawfish (one reason I LOVE Louisiana) that night and they also brought some eggs for the kids to do a little hunt! Kamryn was THRILLED and VERY excited to have found the "GOLDEN" egg!

We had to pry Boston away from the basketball hoop and try to get him to focus on the hunt but he only stayed focus long enough to collect a few and then....

BACK to the hoop! He's a LITTLE obsessed!!! TRUST ME...this IS a problem!!

Of course the Easter Bunny came the next morning (we were SOO grateful Mimi had an extra "boy looking" basket since we left ours in storage in Utah)! Somehow, the Easter Bunny brought a BARNEY DVD...something Kent and I SWORE would NEVER happen (hey, whatever makes them happy!) and he also was THRILLED about the bubbles Mimi managed to put in there too!

He LOVED everything in it and even kept stealing m&m's from Aunt Kelli's basket!

Then we got all ready for church. Unfortunately I couldn't find a dress to match my boys but oh well! Also, please ignore the sticker on my cardigan, didn't notice that until later!

And here's our little man all dressed up in his handsome little Easter outfit!

Mimi, Papa and Boston!

Aunt Kelli and Boston (yes, Kelli I did add it to the blog even though this is the best picture we got) but Boston was more focused on the balls then wanting to take anymore pictures-like I said, OBSESSED!!!

After we got home from church, we ate and headed over to Carol's to spend some more time with Kent's family for the rest of the day. I think towards the end of the night, Boston and Kamryn really started enjoying each other's company (or atleast Boston enjoyed her). He LOVES playing with kids who are older...like 3+! For some reason he feels less threatened...?!?

It was a busy, somewhat stressful weekend but we managed and now we are trying to get over our sicknesses and get back into a normal routine! Thanks everyone for a GREAT weekend!

18 MONTH CHECKUP!

Okay, so I know you're probably thinking, "That boy isn't 18 months!" But yes, I'm a terrible mother and he is 22 months JUST getting his 18 month checkup. I have to say it wasn't my fault. We had insurance issues that didn't allow us to be insuranced for his checkups in Utah and Kent didn't feel like paying an arm and a leg for something that would usually cost $30. So we waited to go to our old doctor in Dallas which meant us waiting until March 27th. I made Kent go with me because I was embarrassed to show up so late but luckily for me the doctor just laughed and didn't ask any questions!

Here's Bubba at 18 months (maybe 19...)

STATS:

HEIGHT: 33 inches 45%

WEIGHT: 30.2 lbs. 75%

He's as healthy as can be other than trying to clear up some little bumps on his skin that I can't remember for the life of me what the doctor called them (no its not eczema). We have to scrub his skin with face wash with exfoliant beads which leaves him smelling like lemons (NOT too fond of) so I lather him up with baby lotion that much more (I'm obsessed with having a good smelling baby)!!

Also, as far as food goes these days, this boy has turned ALL PICKY! It drives me NUTS! He used to eat ANYTHING! Now it's Mac-n-Cheese, chicken nuggets, yogurt, and cheese. No veggies, hit or miss with fruit, and MAYBE crackers! I will DEFINATELY be pulling out my Deceptively Delicious cookbook this summer to get something healthy in that boy! How he stays so chunky with the little he eats, I have NO idea!

ADVENTURES OF A HOMELESS LIFE!

We were homeless for almost 4 weeks and we are NOW OFFICIALLY in Houston with our own place! Although our adventures were fun, it's nice to know we aren't going to be living out of a suitcase anymore and finally have a stable life for Boston! Although I must say, overall he did well with all of the change from place to place! Towards the end though, you could tell he was DONE! No worries Bubba, so were we!

This will probably be a picture blog so get ready! Surprisingly I didn't take that many pictures...but hopefully I can recap what we did with our time. We went from Farmington to Rexburg, Rexburg to St. George, BACK to Farmington, flew to Dallas then finally to our final destination, HOUSTON!

Kari and Brandon were SO kind to take us in for the longest period of time. They put up with Boston and Stella which is a lot for ANYONE to handle, especially when Kari's cats were constantly being chased by Stella! I guess she didn't understand that cats don't play back like other dogs do!

Once the weekend hit, Kari and I went and took care of her registry while the boys decided to put on a BBQ since the weather was so nice. They went out and bought a cheap grill and spent nearly 4+ hrs putting it together and finally at 8 pm we were grilling! It was delicious though and well worth the wait! Also that Sunday was their "Special" Stake Conference where Elder Oaks came and spoke! It was SOO nice to hear him speak and it really gave me the boost to do all I can to look at the positive and better myself as a mom, wife, and woman!

Tuesday we headed up to THE BURG (or was it Monday..?)! This was probably the last chance we'd be able to head up and hang out with the Jamisons since they'll probably be moving from Rexburg in the fall (or sooner)! It's always fun going and being with friends and having someone to back me up on my opinions!!!! We were there for St. Patricks Day and Amanda had the idea to have a GREEN dinner! So we did just that! It was SUPERB thanks to Amanda's creativity and making EVERYTHING green!

Yes this includes GREEN Sprite, GREEN butter on the bread, GREEN salad (of course), GREEN chicken fettuccine, and GREEN plates, napkins and cups!

With Amanda's help we also put together this GREEN shamrock cake which was GREEN inside and out!

The Lainharts came over (Becca also brought GREEN chocolate chip cookies) and joined us! Notice EVERYONE MINUS Kent is wearing GREEN! Apparently he is TOO GOOD for that! I've decided that we will continue this GREEN tradition next year and years to come! Maybe we'll spend it with the Jamison's next year again......?!?

Also, Boston and little Ashlynn began to entertain themselves after dinner together! They were so cute laughing and running after each other! She is A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E!

Thanks Jamisons for letting us come stay at your Inn! I don't think we got chocolates on our pillow this time though....

Next stop, ST GEORGE! My grandparents just moved down there a few months ago and I'm SO glad we got a chance to go see their new pad! I was actually VERY impressed with St. George. The weather was SO good to us and of course my grandparents make EXCELLENT hosts! When we arrived my grandparents FAMOUS enchiladas were made and my grandma's brother, Uncle George and Aunt Lyla and their youngest song David and his family came over! It was so good to see them and meet my distant cousin! Saturday we packed up a yummy picnic and headed to the GREATEST park! They had a little man made stream of water so kids could play in it and it was the PERFECT depth so the kids could just walk in and out and play! I got no pictures of that and I'm TERRIBLY upset about it too!

Saturday my grandparents offered to watch Boston so we could go on a date together! We were SOO happy to take advantage of that and off we were for a night on the town in St. George.

We walked the St. George temple grounds.

Then headed over for some putt-putt and go-kart fun! Kent cheated and beat me in putt-putt (okay maybe he didn't cheat but for SOME REASON my game was TOTALLY OFF...UGH!) but then I beat Kent racing the karts because he was more concerned about nailing these little ten year olds he met in line....do you think he'll ever grow up? Probably not and I love it!

We finished our date at In-N-Out where I decided that YES I have DEFINITELY had better burgers and fries but hey, that's the place where Kent FIRST spent money on me (he bought me a T-shirt) and I realized he MUST really like me because he told me before that he NEVER spends money on someone else's wife! So we had to go back that night and celebrate!

We also got to visit Jacob Hamblin's home-the Mormon cowboy who is famous in the cowboy world for having riden the most miles on a horse and also for being so kind and honest with the Indians.

We also visited Brigham Young's home in St. George. It was SO neat to be in the same house that he once was and to see some of the actual things he used. Going through these sites was VERY educational and there's also a good feeling you get when you go. Kent and I both REALLY enjoy visiting these kinds of places!

We also go to attend my grandparents "retired" ward on Sunday. THAT was definately something I'd never experienced before. Boston was the ONLY child in sacrament which made me feel EXTRA paranoid if he made ANY kind of noise! They were all very welcoming and HAPPY to have a "little one" there! Spending time in St. George with my grandparents and their new retired life made Kent and I wonder what we'll look like when we're old, where we'll retire, when we'll retire, how our children will be at that point, etc. I can't imagine that stage in life although I AM looking forward to relaxing, working on family history, traveling, visiting family and living in ONE PLACE for the rest of my life! Thanks Grandpa Bob and Grandma Jean for letting us come! Boston now pats his face every time we say, "What does Grandma Great say?" since you would pat his face then yours when you were trying to get him to remember who you were! He also still says "EEEEEEE U!" just like you grandma! No worries grandma, I don't mind!

Back to Farmington we headed so I could finish preparing for Kari's baby shower! My mom flew in that Thursday to help and together I think we made it a SUCCESS! Thanks everyone for coming and making this day so special for Kari and baby Krew!! A little bit longer Kari and he'll be here!!!

The invites thanks to the talented KRISTIN!

The mother-to-be at 27 weeks!

Some decor

The favors

The grub

The drinks: virgin mimosas and water bottles

Closer look at the water bottles...once again, thanks for your talent Kristin!

The name board for Kari that I made...once again I TRIED to be creative and failed! Those two pics are Brandon and Kari as little kids!

Some of the guests.

Kari wanted to play the "DIRTY DIAPER" game, so we did and Grandma is the one who got snapped sniffing the messy diaper!

The mother-in-law, the mother-to-be and the mother herself!

SISTERS!

The grandmothers with the M.T.B.

Sunday since my mom was still in town, we headed up to Brigham City to visit. My cousin Melissa came over with her two boys and my Aunt DeAnn, Uncle Gord and cousin Jessica all come over too! Boston and the boys PLAYED and it was so cute to watch them! Melissa's boys are TRUE boys and it kinda almost convinced me to want to have a boy next instead of a girl....that's ALMOST convinced, I still want that little girl!

Our trip in Utah came to and end (good by snow and HELLO SUNSHINE). Kent left early Sunday for Houston and I flew out Wednesday to Dallas (and yes, Boston was a gem on the flight THANKFULLY). I got to spend time with all our friends in Dallas for a few days which has been very much missed and I'm glad we got to come for a little bit. It felt like we never left!

Boston and Izzy played and played! They are SOO cute together and they just LAUGH AND LAUGH at each other! Boston misses little Izzy so much! No worries though, we'll see you soon enough when little baby girl #2 (I won't say her name=)) comes!

Friday came and Kent came over to pick us up! Friday night Mary took on Boston and Izzy AND her own little Owen for us so the Nielsons and us could enjoy a night out without the kids! Ya'll are SOO sweet to do that! THANK YOU AGAIN!

Saturday was a busy day with a baby "SPRINKLE" for Kiers and O-man's ONE year birthday!

The cute diaper cakes Jamie made for the outing at Mimi's Cafe with the cute favors!

BFF's and YES only one of us is pregnant and she's on the left!

Mary and Britta (BOTH are pregnant...well only ONE that we know FOR SURE!)

I have no pictures of Owen's birthday but Mary did SUCH a cute job! I should've stole your pictures off your blog like I did with the shower pictures of Jamie's! It was fun having lots of kids for Boston to play with and see how big all of these little babies have gotten since we left last November (and how BIG the Mama's have gotten--that's to Britta and Kiers...NO ONE else and that's also because they are pregnant NOT because I'm rude)!

Last stop before heading to Houston on Sunday was a visit to Leslie and Sid. It was quick but as you can tell from the picture Boston was SOOO very ready to get to a stable environment. At Kiers' all day Sunday he kept saying, "Bye bye, bye bye!" Poor kid! I did learn that Boston LOVES eating peanut butter from the jar since Sidney introduced that to him! It makes for a mess but he LOVES it. Funny how he won't eat it on sandwiches though!

And that's OFFICIALLY IT for our adventures! We made it to Houston LATE Sunday night and are here to stay awhile! Well for the next 6 months anyway....AND we're headed to Baton Rouge this weekend for Easter. No, we NEVER stop!