Playing

I LOVE watching my girls play! They don't often play well together since big sister tends to be a bit aggressive. .. .but each of them does little things that just melt my heart.

Laura talks and babbles to herself the most random things. Just now she was chatting about her tap shoes and her fairy wings and Baby Bear (from Sesame Street). She is now at the toy and bookshelf (which has spilled out into an entire corner of the living room) carefully selecting certain books to take back to her cuddle station in the rocking chair. Every so often, she grabs a couple of blankets and some books and just cuddles up to read. She learned that from me. =) When I catch her doing it, she sometimes will lie down and say, "Goodnight. Sleepy time." I stinkin' love when she reads books aloud to herself. She'll point out random things from pictures or say words and phrases she remembers from the text. Right now she's looking at a book, and each page, she points to a picture and says, "His house. And his house. And his house."

Lucy likes to look through books, too. She's definitely more of a people person than her sister, but she likes books, too. She likes to turn them inside-out if possible (if that makes sense). My favorite thing that she does lately is when she's sitting looking at something and she'll just rub her head. It reminds me a bit of her Uncle Spencer (who is notorious for rocking and scratching his head when he gets excited about something) I'm trying really hard to get a video of it, but I never seem to catch her at the right time.

When Lucy is playing with something that Laura doesn't want her to play with (usually her special books -AKA library books), I gently tell Laura to give Lucy something else to play with. One time Laura gave her a block. Just one block. It cracked me up! Sometimes she'll give Lucy some other books from our shelf, but then Laura gets more interested in them anyway and Li'l L goes back to looking at the special books. Oh man, they are such goobers!! =)

I don't much care who reads these blogs, but lately, both Jacob and I have felt an extra need to document all the cuteness of our kids at the ages where they're at. They won't stay this little forever, and often times it's the little things they do that just melt my heart. I should definitely try to get some more videos and pictures on here, but sometimes just writing it out will help me remember, too. =)

And That's OK!

We've watched Elmo's Potty Time a MILLION times here at our house. Laura has learned the words so well, especially to this song. Sometimes, it surprises me what she's learned. Take a listen to the song (you won't regret it!), and then these following scenarios will seem even funnier!

Today we were watching a movie, and at one point, one of the characters said, "We all understand that accidents do happen" (10 pts to anyone who can figure out what movie we were watching.) Laura turned around and looked at me and sang, "And that's OK!!"

She had 3 potty accidents today (and just as many times going on the potty .. .), and after each one when she got a sticker taken off her potty chart, she sang, "Accidents happen, and that's OK!"

Later, Daddy was making up a song about how cute Lucy is, and he made up a random tune, "Lucy is a chunker yeah, yeah, yeah." And Laura chimes in "And that's OK!!"

Accidents happen, folks. And that's ok! =) Life lessons from a 2 year old. 

Sickies

The girls are sick. Laura has this nasty cough .. .the deep chest-rattling kind. Lucy has some beautiful diarrhea, and both girls have the biggest runny noses I have ever seen.

Regardless, they are staying pretty happy . ..once they have enough food, juice (apple juice is our friend lately!), special books (aka library books) and cuddles.

Laura has been rocking it on the potty lately! She has had fewer and fewer accidents during the day, and ends up putting her pee pee and poo poo (which lately she likes to call wee wee and woo woo) in the potty or in a diaper. We still put her in diapers if we're going out or to someone's house. At her cousins' house, she voluntarily goes to their potty on her own . ..mostly missing by just a few seconds and getting it on her clothes, but at least she's going there on her own!

Lucy begs and begs for food "nana! nana!" This girl out-eats her sister on a regular basis. She is really getting the hang of walking, and she still has the most infectious grin . ..even when she's a little sick.

We gave the girls some giant stuffed mice for Christmas. They are loved. Laura calls them "Poopah!"

Just had to get a pic of the cute li'l lopsided piggies. =)

In other news, I've been stage managing a show at the Empress. Mostly my duties have been super easy . ..attend rehearsals, call lines, make sure props and set pieces get placed, start the music tracks and give lighting cues. It's such a fun show, and it is a pleasure to watch each time. We opened last weekend, so it's nice to only have my weekend nights occupied instead of every night. =) Can't wait for Jacob to come see the show!

And in case you haven't seen the video on Facebook, here's a little peek into the new one joining us in May! 

She kept saying the wrong gender for each video we tried taking. . ..we finally got her to say the right thing after at least half a dozen attempts! 

Jacob has been swamped ever since school started again. . .. end of term testing, grading, school musical rehearsals and recruiting meetings at his feeder elementary schools. Whew. He's still a gem, though. .. .one night while I was at the theater for a performance, he did the dishes, cleaned the kitchen and eating area, put both girls to bed, vacuumed the living room, washed, folded and put away 2 loads of laundry. I think I'll keep him. . ..=)

Musings of a Mom

Well, regardless of how long it's been since I've posted, sometimes I feel like sharing funny things that happen to us during the day. If I don't write them down, I will forget them, and sometimes I don't care for the whole Facebook world to read them.

Today was a clean up day. Besides the normal cleaning up diapers, cleaning up after meals, cleaning up toys and cleaning up dirty laundry (that somehow gets scattered everywhere .. .especially little socks!). .. . I also got to help clean up. . .

-two pee pee accidents (with no more carpet cleaner. Laura dumped all that out yesterday, of course). 
-three containers of baby cereal. Luckily, this was spilled on the kitchen tile, and I caught Laura before she spilled ALL of it
-a thousand (it seemed like) little clear ponytail holders on the bathroom floor. That was a fun one. Now they are out of reach of little hands.

Today Laura's favorite words have been "Lucy's awake!" --but only shouted really loudly when Lucy's trying to sleep. She will randomly say "BYU bib" even when it's not meal-time. She got this BYU apron from Grandma and she LOVES it! She also likes the word "weapon" because I took away an extension piece to the play pen. I told her it wasn't a weapon, and now that's her favorite word.

She also likes to read aloud her Lion King, Finding Nemo, and Mickey Mouse Three Musketeers books. They sound something like this: 

"Let's bite them and eat them. It's a big one. Simba is the boss the boss. Oh the babe the babe. Susa-pea. When no when no. Zappa zappa zappa zis. A happy ending passa baby buy 'em. What's a bee. Get help. Bessa bessa bessa. Some mighty days. Heavenly Father." 



"Do wee wees Do wee wees. Where's dad where's dad where's daddy. What found him. Find him. Find daddy find daddy! bessa bessa bessa. Um, Nemo. zappa zappa zappa zis. Um, Dory and Nemo. Dory eat them. wee wee woo woo wee wee woo woo. Say wee wee woo woo. There story Nemo. Daddy. Where daddy. Right here. Find daddy. We read stories. The end." -Finding Nemo


She still likes to play with lightswitches, tear off wrappers of any food jars/cans in her reach and strew toys (especially blocks) everywhere. And this morning she was singing non-stop the ABC song and Jingle Bells. She also likes to run away and say "No get me, Mommy!!" Today she cried when I took away her colored pencils (that were somebody else's anyway) and when I took away her toothpaste.

As challenging as it can be being a mom to these two active girls, there are so many sweet things that happen each day that make me just love being a mom. Even right now Laura is screaming "Mommy Mommy!!" in my ear and making a mess of some trash I have yet to throw away. =) I love these goobers! Now, she's knocking off blocks off the kitchen counter with a carrot peeler. . .in true Dennis the Menace bathtub style.


Lucy has been pretty chill. ..doing her normal things. Opening up a sippy cup and spilling all of its contents for the second time in two days. Luckily, both of those happened on the kitchen tile. She is walking with more and more steps, and she even likes being put down on her feet instead of on her bum. She always seems to have her biggest farts when she's seated in her high chair. Laura often gladly informs me "Lucy farted!!"


In other news today, we toured a preschool that we may enroll Laura in . . .the only thing that worries me is the price. Both of my girls successfully ate leftovers for lunch, as did I. With a side of Chick-fil-A fries. Both girls napped in the car (which is of course why I had to drive out of my way to Chick-fil-A in the first place . . .=). And I FINALLY organized all my receipts and expenditures for the month of December. I only had two transactions that I don't know what are (but I'm pretty sure Jacob does), and our total spent was less than I anticipated. Go team.


Alright . ..back to being a mom. . ..=)

A Little Cutie

Just a couple more videos of our cute one.

We sure love summer time! Playing outside, going to the library, reading, playing on swings, dancing,  . ...we love it all! 

Don't you just LOVE her grin and her laugh! It gets me every time. 

I posted a video of Laura dancing to "Walking on Broken Glass." A few days later, I put it on again, and she was dancing even more hard core than before. It's stinkin' adorable!

Recent Actions

I haven't updated the blog in a while . . .so what better way to do it than to include cute videos of the Squishy? =)

This is one of Laura's favorite toys at Mom's house. Look at that grin and those rosy cheeks!

Here's the promised video from Laura's birthday cake smashing. =)

Laura also loves to dance, read and eat ice cream. Yum!

Top Ten for 2013

Top Ten things that happened in our lives in 2013.
Not necessarily in order of importance, ya know . . .

10. Family reunions and get-togethers. 
We loved the Bahr family reunion in Bryce Canyon. We love monthly SibDin with the Blake family. We attended the baptisms of several nieces and nephews. Christy (Jan, in Cedar City); Tyler (June, in Washington); Dallin (Springville in September); Thane (West Jordan, also in September). We traveled to Washington in June for Tyler's baptism, so we had a short visit with Spencer's family and Lisa's family. We spent the holidays with my family here in Utah County. We enjoyed a Smith family reunion in July. We were also rill excited that my sister came home from her mission this year, and that by the end of the year she got engaged to a rill neat guy.

in Bryce Canyon

With Grandpa Bahr.

Featuring our gifts from the Philippines from Heidi.

Blake son with son. Blake daughter with daughter.

Well, hi again, Heidi.

Laura and her cousins Daniel and Dallin. 

At Tyler's baptism.

Bahr Family Reunion

Our nieces and nephews (before 5 of them moved really far away.)

9. School
Jacob pre-student taught at Centennial Middle School in Winter Semester, and he student taught with Jared Morris at Timpanogos HS. I pre-student taught at various elementary schools in Provo District. Jacob took classes Spring Term. And . . .he is done with school as of last month! All graduated. I'm so proud of him!

Jacob's last first day of school pic.
 (Well, he's going to be a teacher,
so I don't think it's the last one . . .)

8. Car
We've put a lot of money into our car to keep it running. In 2013, our faithful Maximus got a new transmission, new axle and bearing parts, and newly tightened belts and light fuses. He's pretty small, and he's been through a lot (by that, I mean, he's burned holes in our wallets), but we count our blessings that we have a car that runs!

7. Church
We started the year serving in the Nursery as music leaders and as Wolf Den Cub Scout leaders. Now, I'm a Relief Society teacher, and Jacob is the Sacrament Meeting chorister and the Primary Chorister. (Somehow, I'm sensing a theme with all these music-related callings . . .)

Some of our nursery kiddos. Love Jacob's face.

6. Hobbies
Becca's favorite hobbies this year were quilting, making cards and reading. Jacob enjoys exercise, and he tries to get Becca to like it, but she's not there yet. =) Jacob ran a half marathon with our brother-in-law Jon in late August. We both enjoy games (Scrabble was their favorite this year) and watching shows together (The Mentalist was their favorite TV show this year). We attended several club meetings for a newly-organized BYU club called Supporting Student Parents.

Jacob stuffing his face after the race.

Laura on her new quilt that I made for her.

5. Moving
We moved from a one-bedroom basement to a two-bedroom basement across town. We save $100+ per month on rent. Our landlord is a old, disabled and very eccentric man, but he's very generous in paying Jacob for any extra help he does around the house.

First diaper change in the new house.

4. Jobs
Jacob worked this year as a Student Manager at the Canon Center three nights a week. Becca worked in the Band Office during Winter Semester, and then she took the rest of the year off from working. Jacob started a job a few weeks ago teaching beginning band at a school in Kearns.

3. Marching Band
This was the first year that neither one of us participated in Marching Band as members, but Jacob was student teaching with the marching band at his school. He attended several competitions with them, and we even made a short family trip down to St. George with the band in November.

2. Tuba
We bought Jacob a tuba! (Okay, Dad helped us a bit . . .a lot, really). Jacob loves having his own instrument, especially since he can't use BYU's tubas anymore. The giant tuba box sat in our living room for several months, acting as a second table/clutter space, but we finally got rid of it eventually.

Jacob's two loves.

Laura in the tuba box before we took all the peanuts out.

1. Laura
Of course, the greatest thing that has happened to us in 2013 was the birth of our daughter. Jacob blessed her in Sacrament Meeting in June, and we were blessed to have so many family come to share that special day with us. She has always been quite the eater, and at first she was quite the sleeper, but now she's digressing a bit when she gets up often during the nights. We switched to cloth diapers when she was about 3 months old, and we like it so much, we probably won't ever go back. She has three and a half teeth, and she LOVES to roll and scooch herself around. She has done well at all of her check-up appointments, always being in the 80th percentile or higher for her sizes. She has the cutest grin and laugh. She gives high-fives and "kisses" which absolutely melt your heart. She transitioned well into solid foods and is still nursing 2-3 times a day. She had torticollis, which is basically an underdeveloped neck muscle. We had some stretches we had to do with her, and once we were really diligent with them, she got better and even use of her neck. She started sitting up on her own around 5 1/2 months, and she can stand leaning up against something for a few minutes at a time. Her favorite toys are her bath toys, a music radio thing, and a wooden spoon. We are so grateful for family and friends who have helped watch Laura, especially when Jacob and I were both back in school again. We love our little girl soo much!

These last couple of pictures were really
hard to take because she moves so much.
And she wants to eat the paper, too . . .

2013 was a pretty awesome year, and we're even more excited for the awesomeness of 2014. Love to all.