10/20-11/17 Blog Post! 👏
"X to the 3rd power" because we're Exasperated, Exhausted, and Excited all at once. Thought that wasn't possible but indeed it is. (There are so many grammatical errors in this post but who cares?)
So this has been a rough couple of weeks, but "rough" for us is not nearly as bad as I know that tons of people have it. We definitely feel very grateful. I don't want to complain and do the "woah is me" effusion, but the goal of this blog is still to document. So here we go.....
The video this time is top notch. our kids are characters 😂
Check out these kids
As with every post- the kids are the majority of it. Parenting just requires so much (like every waking minute and even some of the non-waking ones) that there's not much time for anything else. I remember thinking before I had kids "if I ever have kids I won't lose myself in it and I'll still make time for hobbies and still do my hair and make up and have friends and whatnot"........ SOOO not the case in reality. lol 😂
BUT if I could go back in time I wouldn't have done anything any differently- they still are the best thing about our lives, but dang it takes literally everything and more of what you have as a person.
we don't get to see dallin much these days so when we do we get excited!
he usually refuses the dogs be any where near him at night but this night Sadie fell asleep in there in and he ended up cuddling her in his sleep
he thought it was cool 😎
This was fun at the chick fil a. AEP and single parenting had me feeling like even just a trip to chick fil a was living' large lol anything where dallin was there made things 1,000 times easier
this was fun at the fat cats. This AEP wasn't as hard as last because he got a weekend day off
mini golf because that's what Cooper requested
We tried to get out and do fun things on the few times we saw dallin during AEP so this was a day off for him and we really enjoyed it
She loved the games and the Christmas tree at the front and the blow up snowman and that kind of decor but not the golfing lol I think the darkness freaked her out
Cooper took this pic lol ........ ART.
this was one of the few visits when dallin was able to come with
did a Side by side to see if my red light therapy is still working lol a lot of days I look so tired and stressed and old that I'm like "are we sure this anti aging stuff even stands a chance against all this?!" lol
This is her wearing a dress, two skirts and pants while singing and dancing
(I lost steam on doing this blog post because of the craziness of moving and AEP and now I'm back to finish a few weeks later. So I will try to just remember how I was feeling back then. It was rough because of AEP and moving and stuff with cooper's school. But not that bad like I said at the beginning. I'm definitely glad to be through it now though lol 😂 moving sucks.)
Anyway.....
This was one morning on upstart he was trying to learn letters. It obviously didn't hold his attention at all lol he was doing it against his will. so later on Aubrey told us about leap frog letter factory and he loved it and now he knows all the letters and we switched from upstart to abc mouse. (he loves that so much it feels like a reward for him but upstart was so glitchy he would get impatient. and it was so often asking the same question over an over.)
This was how I was feeling because Cooper and mckinley are both very much in the toddler phase and there are so many days that I wish things could be simple and I could just sit down lol or not have screaming, kicking, hitting, destruction of the house, etc. There are a lot of times when the toddler phase can be fun, but we're in kind of a rough phase right now so it can be a lot to handle.
The House
It was so exciting watching the house come together slowly every time I visited. Dallin couldn't really ever visit because he was working non stop because of aep. so when there were changes I sent him pics. So these are the progress pics as it was coming along
This was me editing the pictures that I would take of the unfinished house. I would take pictures from online and put them over it to try to envision what it would look like
More Memories
"take my picture"
one day when dallin had some time off we went to thanksgiving point and Cooper said he wanted the Dino museum and she said she wanted to butterfly museum so I figured no big deal we can split up. Then later on after we were reunited Cooper said "but I miss you my mommy and my kinder. next time we all be together okay?" lol I thought that was sweet
This was our countdown to halloween and then thanksgiving
made by Sara for halloween!
he said " I don't need a haircut!" and then I showed him his reflection in my camera while running my hands through his hair and he said "okay. we can do it. lol
her funny eyebrows lol
I edited the picture to see what she would look like if she had more hair lol I can't wait for the mullet to be gone
my project
I painted the inside so it would match and we can just throw away the door since it was always open anyways
The vet
we took Jake to the vet and they said he's healthy as a horse!
AEP Dates are better than regular dates
Maybe because we're both so tired that we enjoy/are thankful for the break even more than normal. We went to log haven and it was amazing! so beautiful! Daily said it was the best steak in Utah. I agree. so amazing. The only critique would be one chair didn't have a back and it was a bench lol I'm old I need a friggin' chair!
A different date (still aep) went to cliff lodge and caught the most beautiful sunset while we were there
as usual dallin had me laughing, thinking, and reflecting all in the same meal. He's the best.
girls brunch for Shay's bday!
we met at prohibition and had a. great time!
We switch back and forth between Surviving and Thriving quickly and often
She's willing to throw down over leaving the bag of lollipops at home so we let her take them to the park then she's happy as a clam
on yet another very long AEP single parenting day...... we met friends at a park and then stopped by DI on the way home. They played in the toy aisle for like an hour and then I went to look at the clothes and mckinley found this purple dress and threw a 10/10 tantrum in the store that I wouldn't put it on her right then and there. She was trying to strip and put it on her self while I football carry her out of there to try and just pay and salvage any dignity I had left at that point. Her tantrum was so extreme and she wanted it so bad that I ended up changing her clothes in the parking lot so we could drive home in peace. So here she is in the beloved purple dress that she fought for...... broken in the back..... only cost a dollar......... but perfection in her eyes lol
as soon as we got home she found her jewelry to pair it with and she was flaunting her fashion around the house like the hard-won victory it was for her....... look out teenage years 😱 😳 😬....... this is fine...... we'll be fine........
this was her posing and saying "take my picherrr!"
Good for you sticking to your guns when you want something. You go girl!
"take my picture with the skeleton!" lol he loved that skeleton. one day it was so windy and storming so it fell over and he was so worried "we gotta go help him! he might be hurt!" lol 😆
You can see in the pic with his head down that he was wearing his Mickey Mouse costume that day lol
her facial expressions are hilarious. so much emotion portrayed
in that pic 👆 he found sticks and was hitting them on a rock and he said "mom I'll play the drums, you dance." so passersby thought I was a crazy person just dancing to no music by myself because he was below me lol it was a retaining wall built by rocks and he was at the bottom and I was at the top and of course there's a road right by the top.... but luckily I don't care at all what people think about me anymore. Passed that phase a while back haha
mckinley taking in the view
great weather, great day, great park, great company :)
she picks her own outfits
the after they just got groomed picture
coop selfie
She likes to go in cabinets to poop 💩 but if you ask if that's what she's doing she says no I'm hiding.
In this one 👇 he said "I want to fall down on my face like Luca" and I said "ooooookaayyyy?" and he slowly and carefully gets off his bike, carefully tips it over, lays down on the ground and says, "now you take my picture." lol so we can later tell the dramatic story of the gruesome bike fall and how he heroically rose above the pain to conquer once again....
They always look out for each other though. No one else is allowed to do even look sideways at mckinley but he can tackle her if he feels like it.... you get it if you had a brother.... 🤷♀️
I heard mckinley from the other room saying "I love you so much you're so beautiful" and he responded "I love you so much too I give you hugs and kisses." so I got a pick real quick before they're fighting again lol
the bath tablets that change the color :)
They were both pretending to be sea monsters and wanted multiple creepy face pictures of them being sea monsters lol
he likes to grab the tablet and paint with it
they also have a light that changes color. this one 👇 she was pretending she was holding on tight and about to fall into the water and said look I'm holding on tight you take my picture!
He told dallin "you run in the house go in the fridge drawer get the carrot for his nose" lol so dallin did as he was told of course
Even though its right next to a slide they have more fun sliding down the turf than the slide lol
They love feeding the animals
I went to the fall fest at my moms church again but just the kids and me without dallin this time and the kids loved getting to dress up and see me dress up and see the other costumes. but they did not eat a thing. besides I think they ate a cookie. lol
the parks in the Bluffdale neighborhood were the best. They saved us from many a tantrum lol
cute fall pumpkin shirt and the hair is finally getting longer!
It was so warm out this day but he just wanted to play in snow! he said it's okay mom we can just pretend to build a snow man..... so here he is pretending to play in snow
fall colors in the neighborhood
Cooper loves taking walks around the neighborhood just to be able to take his time and touch, climb, explore, pretend, etc. we could be out there literally doing nothing for hours and he's so happy. He loves to be outside. so this day when we were doing that I was enjoying the fall colors and dreaming of what I will have in my yard one day 😃
More kid stuff
Check out this hilarious video of her doing the sassy eyebrows lol
"daddy cuddles"
We tried the thankful tree..... didn't work out this year. it turned into a fight over who gets to hold the tree, who gets the leaves, who gets to write on the leaves, throwing the leaves, etc. Long story short- I gave up. Will try again next year 😂
Bike Riding
He took to bike riding all of a sudden and got it so fast! When it was our idea it was lame, but when it's his- just give him like 3 days and he has it mastered. He loved it all of a sudden because he became obsessed with the movie Luca. So he wanted to ride with no shoes because in the movie Luca doesn't wear shoes. Bothered dallin but for me I was like hey if it gets you riding more power to ya! I didn't wear shoes most of my childhood either and I remember putting my black feet up on the wall by my bed to make footprints lol
In this one 👇 he said "I want to fall down on my face like Luca" and I said "ooooookaayyyy?" and he slowly and carefully gets off his bike, carefully tips it over, lays down on the ground and says, "now you take my picture." lol so we can later tell the dramatic story of the gruesome bike fall and how he heroically rose above the pain to conquer once again....
The Bro-Sis Bond
either best friends or enemies
daddy son time
tp farm
This was him playing with Addy and Shay
beautiful!
Halloween
After he was counting down for 5 months, halloween finally arrived and he was elated. he got 2 costumes because he couldn't decide. and wore both for like a month leading up to halloween.
ultimately on halloween he had to go with his original plan that he made for all of us and he was a knight with daddy and kinder and I were both princesses. it was so cute to see him soooo happy
Dallin got 45 min off work to trick or treat with us (as per AEP usual)
It was so cute seeing them able to go up to houses almost completely on their own to do it! They were pretty shy about it but they kinda did it!
One house had. a loud animatronic thing moving and making noise and kinder freaked out and said "let's get outta here!!!" lol
He loved having all the halloween decorations up around the neighborhood the whole month he'd announce when he saw a spider or a skeleton we'd pass in the car or something it was so cute.
This was us trying to set the timer on the phone and get it to lean up against something on the table and hurry and get in the picture in the 3 seconds and have everyone smile but the kids were really good about doing it because I think they wanted the picture just as much as we did lol they're all about it now
after school we were invited to a party at his classmate's house and we went and played a game and then trick or treated for a little bit and then went home to do some with dallin and it was so cute to see Cooper at the beginning he said "I'm just gonna stay over here I feel shy." and then he was leading the pack when it was time to trick or treat. No longer shy whatsoever when candy is involved lol
she loved that she got to wear fancy shiny jewelry
They did a parade at school and I tried to warn Cooper it was going to happen but still when I went to see him he seemed so shell shocked and hating it lol
His expression was like "I don't get why they're making me do this... why is everyone cheering and staring at us and why are we walking?"
dallin put on his pikachu costume and Cooper wanted to get in too hahah
look how funny her face is. she was so excited to be matching with me
we had a good time
hahaha his cute cheesy smile I love it
throwback to when dallin was a waffle for halloween hahahaha
Funeral
We went to Dallin's granny's funeral and it was really good (as far as funerals go) because we got to see so many people we hardly get to see and it was all really nice and a celebration of her life and how wonderful of a woman she was.
the great grandkids sang, the grandchildren sang, the kids spoke, and it was truly so beautiful.
I loved seeing dallin sing, and the little kids sing and Sara talk about her mom when she was a little girl. Crazy to think how fast life passes
mckinley broke her pearls in the middle and they scattered everywhere. When we were driving home she said she broke her necklace (and she loved that necklace) and I asked her over and over if that made her sad or she regretted it and kept getting the same sort of answer- she'd do it again. lol must have been satisfying. lol it was cute to see them playing with Aubrey during the service
we all looked great but no official pictures were taken lol I guess that's just my family that does that...
I thought this was such a cute picture. and the reception center was so nice and we had such a good time seeing all the family. it was probably so good for Audrey to look down and see all her loved ones getting together to celebrate her
the singing practices at his aunt and uncles house
we opened a time capsule she wanted to be opened and it had photos and memories inside
dallin and Matthew got a little solo moment in the song and that was so cute to see them sing together
His whole family did this whole song about black socks from a memory of a family vacation they did where everyone had to wear black socks and it was so cool but when I thought I was recording I wasn't so I didn't get a video of it but it was funny. This was a dinner at Matthews later and I thought it was so cute that Gavin chose a show that Cooper wouldn't have chose and he was asking for all kinds of things but I just said its up to Gavin so we'll see and it was something else and Cooper just completely compromised instantly and said thank you Gavin we can watch this show! it was so cool, and mckinley and Gavin were cuddling! lol so cute.
this was what I did while dal went to the burial and dinner with his family.... she just had an hours long tantrum no matter what I did..... popsicle, shows, anything you want to make it stop and it just continued for like 2 hours. so that was fun
finally watching moana and eating frozen blueberries in her favorite dress finally won lol phew!
Cute/Funny memories I want to document so I can look back on this funny/cute/maddening age when the kids are grown up and not doing this stuff anymore...
I'm sure I'm going to forget some- dallin and I are so often looking at each other after one of them says something and laughing
- Trying to teach Cooper not to hit or kick or tackle mckinley to the ground and he says, "but don't worry mommy. maybe we can be friends and play fighting." lol so I had to explain not all friends want you to tackle them to the ground and hit them....
- driving in the car and I smelled something and said "I think Mckinley might've pooped because it stinks." and Cooper said, "Oh. Sorry. I just fart." lol
- One day I did his hair before leaving for school and when I was done Cooper said, "Thanks you're my little helper!"
- a few days ago cooper pooped and wiped completely on his own! I was vacuuming downstairs so when I found him upstairs he was reading books on the floor naked from the waist down so I asked him if he went potty and he said yes and it's not unusual for him to pee on his own like that but when it's poop he usually tells me to wipe it. So I just said ok put your pants back on and he did and then I went in the bathroom and there was poop and flushable wipes in the toilet. So I wiped his butt to make sure and it was completely clean! I was so happy and he was looking at me like I was weird for being excited about that lol
- we looked at the new house and I said our house is so cute! And cooper said "no that’s no cute, I’m cute!" Hahaha
- After school drop off It was cold outside and when we got back in the car kinder goes “ah summer! I love it!” lol 😂
- She was screaming everything she loves so loud one day. "I LOVE CHICKENS, I LOVE COWS, I LOVE HORSES, I LOVE FRUIT SNACKS, I LOVE TOYS, I LOVE TRACTORS, I LOVE BUNNIES!!! I LOOOOOOOVE BUNNIES!" so I said oh do you love bunnies the most? and she said no. So I said what do you love the most? and she screamed CANDY!!! 😂
- At the testing was they said his “adaptive” skills were very impressive. Which I guess just means making adjustments to make something work for you. So for example they asked him to bounce the ball on the floor onto the wall to hit a pic of a dinosaur and he just holds the ball and walks up to the wall and taps it 😂 and he was having a hard time with the game where they put something under a cup and move the cups around and then try to find the object. So after the first time when he knew what was going to happen he just puts his hands on top of both so she couldn’t move them and said “it’s in this one!”😂 he kept trying to outsmart the test And they thought he was really funny because he was struggling with lacing cards so he said to her "oh I have an idea! I show u another trick we can do!" And he stands up and starts swinging the string around up high says "see? Helicopter!" lol 😂 they also thought it was funny that after the gross motor test was over they said he was done and all the adults (2 of them and me) started walking out of the room Because they were saying he does his next one in a different place and he stayed in the room and said “wait we have to clean up this mess!” lol 😂 so they said you’re right and we put away all the balls
- one night I was tucking him in (the typical cuddles before going to bed) and I was talking to him about getting a big boy bed and getting rid of his "gates" and he says "orrrrr maybe I keep my gates..." and so I tried telling him about all the cool beds they have to sell him on the idea further and he says "umm...can you go get daddy?" (His nice way of saying "absolutely not. I want to talk to someone reasonable." lol )
- He drives the truck and forgets to steer. It's so funny he just pushes the pedal down and leans back not even touching the steering wheel at all and watches the world go by 😂 and then dallin and I rush in to frantically stop him from hitting something because there's no remote
- During soccer he just ran around pushing the kids instead of trying to kick the soccer ball and I kept screaming don’t push don’t push! But he never told us anything about why. That was a couple months ago and today I was holding him up and he was looking at the soccer team picture and I said do u remember them? And said “ya I push them!” And I said “ya you weren’t supposed to but you did. Why did you push them?” And he said “I strong and brave and happy and I play fun the friends I push them!” 🤦🏽♀️
- McKinleys attitude lately has been next level. She has figured out how to push my buttons and just does it constantly so the only thing I’ve figured out that works is ignore it and then she stops lol she is deliberately trying to get a rise outta me
- She demands milk in a cup. (Screaming until I do as she demands) and no not that cup the other cup. I put it in the cup she wanted and she screams no and throws it. So now the house is covered in milk and she’s screaming juice. Even when I’m giving her everything she wants she just changes it and wastes the food or drinks and throws it making an enormous mess screaming the whole time so I’ve learned to not get sucked into the trap at all now lol 😂 she asks and I give her the first thing and then ignore her after that
- And she picked up my glass and ran across the room, made eye contact with me and raised it up above her head, and I said don’t throw it, and she smiles and throws it as hard as she can and glass shatters everywhere and she runs away laughing. And cooper and I both cut our feet trying to clean it up and she refused to help and just screamed at me for cleaning it up
- Or if her demands are not food it’s where I am and what I’m doing. Like if I’m sitting she screams at me to stand up. Then she wants basement, her room, kitchen, it’s always a moving target and a new tantrum so it’s sad but I end up ignoring her a lot now. Lol when I can tell she’s starting it I’m like no thank you I want to be sitting down
- And Dallins trying to work and hears screaming for 2 hours and is like “what is she screaming for?!” And I say “I don’t know it could be milk, basement, Barbie’s, outside, she doesn’t want to wear clothes, then she wants a certain outfit, etc. no one knows at this point lol 😂
- Sometimes when she's been screaming a long time I go outside to pick up dog poop. It's been happening a lot lately. and today I was thinking I never thought there would come a time that I would feel like picking up dog poop would be an escape from the problems of my life lol or like its better than what I'm dealing with at that moment. But here we are picking up dog poop because it's better than hearing more screaming.... 😱
- She was dumping water out of the tub in every way she could, or kicking and screaming and biting while I try to hold her down to brush her teeth. After the whole bedtime routine was one big long battle, and she was in bed she just continued to scream for a while so dallin went in. She usually likes daddy cuddles but tonight she said I want mommy so he came out and said I think she feels bad and wants to make up so I went in and she said "I funny. kinder's funny." and I said "oh you were just trying to be funny and you feel sorry?" and she said "ya I sorry." and that completely melted me
- She will raise her hand to hit and stop herself so she is clearly trying!
- I cracked my neck and Cooper said, "HUH?! You have chips in you neck! we gotta get em outta there!" (because the sound was similar to a chip breaking lol )
- She roars and I said "oh are you a lion?" and she said "no I dinosaur!" lol oh sorry my bad. clearly....
- She learned the word privacy and I thought it was so funny when she went under the bar stools and I said are you pooping? and she said no. privacy. lol
- She loves listening to Cinderella music now and Cooper loves listening to Luca music. and he can say the lines of what they say at those times in the movie
- when you ask Cooper what he wants to do at school he always says "play with Nora and play with my green squishy." so I asked his teacher about it and she said oh ya we have a "calm down corner" with sensory toys in there and he always goes and grabs the stress ball thing and just plays with it all day lol so I got him some for at home too
- I get him dressed, then get her dressed and find him to go and he's naked again and I said I just put your clothes on! and he goes oh....sorry lol and then we do it again.
- He leans over one day and loudly sniffs me and so I ask "do I stink?" and he says "nope!" and walks away lol 😆 phew that's a relief!
- Cooper has tears rolling down his cheeks and is saying "I'm not sad! I'm happy!" lol because maybe if he rejects the emotion it will go away. like when we make him try a food he doesn't want to (and he tried refusing and he can tell its not working and we're going to make him try it) he will look at it and say "oh so delicious. so tasty, I love it, I want to eat it" to try to talk himself into eating it lol or he will have it in his mouth and he's making disgusted facial expressions and gagging but he says its delicious lol
- Me- "Did you play outside today at school?" Cooper-"I love you too mom." (in a very bored voice) lol great. good talk bro.
- she puts her hand on my face and says "you so smart. you so pretty. I love you so much." ❤️
- she kept singing "dreams come true dreams come true" over and over again in the tub one night and Cooper gets all fired up all of a sudden and says "NO! dream is not true!" and I tried to explain yes if you have a dream you can work towards it and make it come true, and he says "NO I WAKE UP!" lol and then I realized he was worried we were saying all dreams you have in your sleep are real because he has had nightmare about a rabbit lol
- I asked him what his favorite movie was and he said "no we can't do this. I'm sorry." lol as if its some kind of interrogation
- he was crying watching some dinosaur show on Disney plus and dallin and I asked about it and he said "he fight the daddy" and he was so sad he needed to hug dallin and we turned it off and dallin kept saying don't worry buddy I won't fight you lol
- He left his room after he was supposed to be in bed and said "I'm sorry mom. maybe this time I don't nap." and I said ok but it's not nap it's night and everyone sleeps at night
- Most mornings mckinley doesn't want anything for breakfast when she wakes up and she just wants juice and milk. But then every once in a while out of the blue she is ravenously hungry and ask for 2 hotdogs, turkey, cheese, peas, carrots, a roll, and a banana lol and I'm over here like..... woah 😳
- My favorite game we play is "paw patrol sleeping" where they act out the scene from the movie lol I put on the song (the use in trying my Alessia cara) and I pretend to be rubble and sleep on the couch and Cooper is chase so he dramatically tosses and turns before getting up and walking across the house in his melancholy way to stare out the window. And then kinder is Liberty so she puts something over herself since she sleeps under a newspaper. The funniest part is that she sounds like Darth Vader when she's pretending to sleep lol and then she says "wake up! EEEE OOOO EEEE OOO" because that's the sound liberty's wagon makes
- When dallin was in Boston Cooper randomly said "I'm missing my best friend." and I said who's your best friend? and he said "my daddy. I'm missing my best daddy."
- When we asked him if he wants Santa to come Cooper says "NOOOO!" in a panic. and then when we talked about it he says that idea is scary to him lol makes sense
- kinder will grab your shirt and pull it out and look down and say "boobies!" lol
- When she's done napping she doesn't want to get out of the crib she wants to keep jumping and she wants Cooper to jump with her so she keeps saying "pooper jump too?!" over and over until he gets in and she is so happy
- We say affirmations every day when we get in the car and one day recently Cooper remembered them without me having to have him repeat me so I thought that was cool
- Look at the video for this one.... she is carrying around a bucket of oranges and we say hey whatchya got there and she says, "you're looking at it! oranges!" lol she's so funny and smart
- I love how much she sings, how fast she learns the words and Tunes of songs and how she isn't afraid to belt it when she wants but you can't get her to sing if she doesn't want to lol
Look how pretty these pics are!
life is beautiful. our fam is blessed. we are happy, healthy, safe, and so very lucky to have everything we need/want and I have the cutest husband and kids. Despite the challenges, I'd choose this life over and over- it's the best.
-Syd
