when sweet dreams turn into nightmares!

i've been in dreamland {for the most part}
since anna decided to start using the potty 3 weeks ago,
just days after i accidentally took her commando style to an outdoor bbq
{didn't even notice she had no diaper on, i have issues, i know}.
at the very end of the night, my friend saw her lift her dress and asked,
"is anna wearing a diaper?"

appearantly she wasn't and hadn't cared to tell anyone!

after that night of freedom, i think she realized what she had been missing all these years.

she told me on monday, may 4th.
"anna has to go pee pee!"

and she did.


since then....

she's toured the globe using many, many new and exciting toilet facilities,

she's used our cute little "port a potty" {yes, i bring her little bowl ...sooooo handy.}

there has been much liberating bareback riding and horse bathing consequently.

we've had many mini potty party's full of cheering and flushing.
anna is LOVING it!

i share a story to illustrate her success....
one bright, spring morning this week, it was a dream to be sleeping away on that sunday morning only to be woken by her joyous squeal,
"mommmmeeee, i did it!"

"hooray for you anna!"
i replied as i tried with my might to go back to sleep.

WHAT A SWEET DREAM!


story to be continued below.

{*****disclaimer:don't even think of scrolling down if you are pregnant, have a weak constitution or have eaten in the last 10 minutes.}

a bit later i rolled out of bed and began carrying on as i do every morning.

while checking my e-mail and turning on K-Zion, patrick asked from the hall next to me, "what is dallin eating?"

"uhhh, i don't know,what is it?!?" i quickly replied.

that's when the nightmare part began.


justin chimmed in,

"mom, dallin is eating anna's poop!....
and he likes it!"

i surveyed the scene of the crime.

it was worse than i had ever imagined.

and way nastier

and way stinkier.

yuck!

then while enduring utter disqust i did what any mother who values the preservation of memories would do....

i grabbed my camera.

for posterity you know.


then there was nose plugging, baby bathing, sink sanitizing, probiotic powder feeding and milk of course...to wash it all down.



i have often wondered as a mother, could my job get any more disqusting!?!?

sunday, i realized it could.

it did.


have you ever googled, "my baby ate poop?"

well i have.

for the potrfolio (s)

just when i thought anna's sleeping abilities had reached their height....

she surpassed all of my expectations with this sleeping trick.

oh yeah....pay no attention to the 10lb diaper please....
i'm sure you would NEVER allow such a thing to happen.

what cuddly concrete!

post-breakfast napping....it's what happens when you like waking up at 5:30 a.m.

i can't get enough of dallin's little smirks an occasional full on grins. he has been grinning for 2 or three weeks but not often enough to get a picture....until yesterday.
If only i had a picture of me holding my large camera next to my head...which is probably what he actually thinks is funny!

Through the Lens of a 4 year old...
I guess Justin wanted create his own portfolio too.
I just thank the heavens for digital cameras!

these are a few of my favorite things....

i just thought i'd share some things i'm enjoying lately....
to get the full effect of this click here to insert sound of music song mentioning doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles.

now, sit back, relax and....

imagine me prancing around the
nursery with my children
in matching nightgowns....
or not...that would be way too much.

1.

1. i just adore sleep grins. i'm still working on getting a full fledged sleep grin in a picture, but they are soo quick that i usually miss the great ones. this is the best i've gotten so far. i have one thing to say....these are NOT grins he makes when passing gas. i'm convinced that he's just having great dream. i can just imagine him having wonderful dreams of wonderful things like mom's juice, westling with justin someday, getting dressed up by anna in girl clothes and hevenly father. what a nice little face from the little guy that usually stares at me as if i am an alien.

2.

2.dang, PATRICK sure is cute! one of my favorite things is seeing a man...my man....wearing a sling. this is the 1st of our children he has carried in a sling and i sure do love it...and so does dallin. they just look so cute together. i also enjoy patrick's face with a hint of extra cheeze.

3.

3.i love how much justin LOVES dallin. he can't get enough of him. he just repeats over and over, "mom, his is just soooo cute." then he gives him a really tight squeeze and a kiss...or 10, but who's counting.

4.

4. i have a strange love for buckets. this cute mop bucket that rings out my dirty mop is handy and great to have around, even if it doesn't get used as often as it should. why is a mop bucket one of my favorite things? the floors in my house are entirely hardwood. nuff said.

5.

5. i think the perfect hair swirl on the back of dallin's cute little head is perfectly YUMMY. it must be in the genes. justin has it too. so cute.

6.

6. at times, i cant get enough of whole foods...no, people, i've not gone crazy throwing my money around, i like whole foods only under VERY special circumstances: when they are closing the store and selling off inventory at rediculously cheep prices. and just because they knew that i couldn't stay away when there would be more stuff i hadn't seen yet , they put new stuff on clearance every day. i'm sorry to say that i went there 10 times in a two week period. i paid 1.99 for a lg. bottle of delicious olive oil...then i bought 12 more just like it and called it food storage. i just couldn't pass up that 50# bag of sea salt for 10.99 either...it's name: food storage.

7.

7.the GOPHER is my true friend!!! i have never had such a fondness for a tool in my entire life. if you've ever been pregnant or have conastantly carried a baby around, while helping pick up after 2 young children you can imagine why i would love gophie so. i love his suction cups, sturdy construction and fancy trigger lock. i'm just lazy enough that even when the kids are grown and gone, he'll still be my friend.

8.

8. i just laughed when i saw anna's "rain" dance as she pranced around her puddle on the floor.
(and i'm not talking about the kind that falls from the sky).....

i also love that i have hard floors cause it's rains in our house more than is does outside ever since anna discovered that she REALLY enjoys that free feeling and has learned to take her clothing and nappy off.

9.

9. you may find this hare to believe, but: i LOVE laundry (hold on while i paste a VERY fake happy grin on my face.) come on, repeat with me...."I LOVE LAUNDRY." "I LOVE LAUNDRY." "I LOVE LAUNDRY." until this afternoon I did NOT love laundry. but i do now.

laundry is a crazy thing to love, but I've decided i've got no other choice. for as long as i can remember, at the very thought of doing laundry i would simply repeat the folllowing mantra in my head and from my tired lips:
"once i gave up all hope (of EVER keeping the laundry done on a regular basis) i felt much better." the only problem is that no matter how many times i would repeat this, i never felt better. i would just think, i hate laundry, then wait until it got so bad that our family would get together, put on a movie and have a LAUNDRY PARTY! yes. it was incredibly fun, right!? whenever justin hears that we'll be watching a movie he begs, "can we NOT have a laundry party while we watch a movie?" poor child.

the picture i posted i took 3 weeks ago. at that point i had had it and spent all day sorting, folding it and putting it all away. now, today, it is just as bad. but now i am NOT going to dread doing it because....
I LOVE LAUNDRY. yes, yes i do. i can love such a neverending monotanous task. last week when i went to TIME OUT for women, Virginia Hinkley Pearce , mother of 6, said something i needed to hear about housekeeping. she shared. "there are no insignifigant tasks, no matter how small." thanks virginia, i needed that.

i think she was even talking about my laundry, even if it's not exactly a small task.

the other day, my friend alissa wrote a post about how she LOVES ironing. so, if alissa can LOVE ironing, julie can LOVE laundry.
hopefully this is true love...but only time will tell.

I SIMPLY REMEMBER MY FAVORITE THINGS....AND THEN I DON'T FEEEEL SOOOOOOO BAD!

Professional Napper

Recently I started realizing how many pictures I have taken of Anna in a variety of sleeping positions and locations. She can fall asleep just about anywhere. I just love how little ones look when they sleep!

And you know what they say: "let sleeping babies lie..."
(or was it dogs???...Oh well, that's what I say!)

...whether it's at the water park, on the ottoman, on the garage floor, in the easy chair,

at the counter, reading Elmo, snuggled up to a dress-up skirt,

... during lunch, "comfortably" nestled into the baby hiking backpack, at Super Summer Theater, or in the middle of the night after being put to sleep in bed by daddy.

...but I don't know about following that rule,
when it comes to sleeping on the kitchen stool!

UPDATE: New position of the day!

Anna will be offering a seminar "the art of creative sleeping. " for any who are interested, contact her agent.

Oh, the Joys of Motherhood!

I have been thinking about how nice it has been lately for my kids to play together. Anna has really been understanding a lot more and Justin is being a lot more understanding. Yesterday they played for an HOUR without any teasing from Justin, squealing from Anna or fighting in general. Today there was much of the same...It just brings joy to my mommy heart to see my kids happy and get along.

Well, you can imagine how I felt when I hadn't heard or seen them in a while and found them playing happily on the porch. I peered through the curtains and kept my presence concealed to enjoy that "shining moment of joy and satisfaction" and thrilled in the excitement displayed on their cute little faces. Then, instantly, my joy turned to disgust when I saw what they were playing with. They each had their very own partially alive, mainly dead cockroach that had been slowly lulled into an eternal, dark sleep a few hours earlier by the pest control guy.

They were studying God's marvelous creatures with wonder and amazement only a child (or entomologist) could have for such a decrepit specimen. I just thought of germs, pesticides and the goo they had squished from their bodies. Next, I did what any mother would do....I took a picture of the "special" moment. Well, most mothers would probably forget the picture and head straight for the antibacterial soap...I did the scrubbing shortly after while teaching Justin yet another lesson about the undesirable qualities of a cockroach.

I hope you are all as privileged as a mother to enjoy precious moments such as this. If you have such a lovely tale, do tell, and we can bask in the joy together!!!

Our goofy kids all ready for bed. :)

I think my kids are naturally goofy, the fun glasses just improves upon that!

Grandma Morris made Anna's cute nighty and got Justin his new favorite jammies!

Thanks Grandma!

SELF RELIANCE!

SELF FEEDING....Anna loves playing in the car while I clean the garage...she found a lovely meal for herself!

Poor Little Poster child! If only someone had left the box open?!?!

Anna woke up way too early on Saturday morning for mommy.
Anna and I were lucky I hadn't cleaned up all the way from a party the night before...
I got more sleep, she got to feast on chips dipped in cool whip!
Not a healthy breakfast!

SELF CLEANING...

.
Not quite.! She doesn't actually change the diaper.
I'm still trying to figure out how to teach her that one!!

SELF SEDATION.....

I have no clue where she found this gem! What was the magic? Sugar or Red Dye #40??

SELF ENTERTAINMENT:

She can spend a whole hour just reading books. I don't even do that!


READY TO STEP OUT INTO THE WORLD???
Not quite!

I'm glad she's still my little girl!

And yes....they are sleeping!