Quoteable Quotes

Okay here are some cute quotes from Ben (who refuses to be called anything but "Monkey Moo" at the moment). Right now The Moot (aka Gemma) is at the "ba ba ba, ma ma" stage so her quotes aren't quite as memorable as Ben's but her time will come.

Ben saw his pool hanging in the garage and very sadly told Colin: "That is my swimming pool. I love to play in it, but it is taking a nap."

The other day Ben said "A am a stinky vinegaroon. I need to take a bath."

While playing together Gemma managed to get a hold of Ben's hair and pull a chunk of it out by the roots. Ben didn't cry or fight back but he looked up at me with a pained expression while holding his head and said "Does Ben's head hurt?"

We call Gemma our vacuum baby because she spends her days scanning the carpet for lint, hair, crumbs, rocks and anything else gross that shouldn't be eaten, so that she can eat it. While my mom was babysitting the other day, Gemma has gotten under the table and was doing her vacuuming and Ben said to my mom in a slightly disgusted tone of voice "Those are called bits, Gemma eats the bits." He has also tattled on her and exclaimed "Mommy! Moot (Gemma) is being a vacuum baby!"

The other day I brought Ben into bed with me because he woke up way too early and I was hoping that he would go back to sleep. That did NOT happen. instead he wiggled around and entertained himself by annoying me while I tried to sleep. I actually did fall back to sleep for a bit but once he realized that I was sleeping he located a hole on my shirt and poked his finger through it. He thought it was hilarious and he kept on on poking me and then finally asked me "Are you naked?" Groggily I said "no Ben." To which Ben replied "Are you half naked?" I then got to explain why holes in clothing existed. I did not get to go back to sleep.


Words that are not said properly at the moment:

yeast- "geese"
zit- "zip"
camera- "crama"
Sandal- "sannual"
Buzz Lightyear- "Bud White-Ear"

Big Sky Country

I'm getting excited for our trip to Montana! If you've never been there then you can't understand that the sky really is BIG there. I'm a bit anxious about the incredibly long drive but we've done it twice before just not with two kids. We have a lot of fun things planned mostly involving food or the out-of-doors. Anyway, I'm just glad that Colin finally decided that he didn't know enough about sailing (from reading on the internet)to rent a 20' sailboat. I was a good wife and didn't crush his dreams, but good gracious, I was relieved when I could put my abundant and irrational fears to rest. If you are reading this, sorry Colin! :D

We are leaving tomorrow at 4:00 am and we will be Tweeting (on the website "Twitter") along I-90 from here to there. We would be overjoyed if you want to follow us along the way. Please do so at :

https://twitter.com/ErinEliseSmith
and
https://twitter.com/davidcolinsmith

Sewing and other notions

I decided recently that I wanted to sew and so now I'm kind of going nuts with it. I thought that I'd put up some pictures of Gemma in my homemade creations. I have been kind of making the designs up so that has been fun. Who needs patterns right.... Fabric was purchased from www.sewmamasew.com.

Mommy-Of-Two Olympics

Colin got off work late last night and I had been having a pretty stressful day. He called as he was leaving the office and I suggested that we have pizza for dinner. All I had to do was call it in and he would pick it up. I also had to pre-heat the oven. This seemingly simple task turned out to be the most challenging 30 minutes of my day. As it turns out, I was in the Mommy-Of-Two Olympics and I had to win the gold before I had my reward, a dinner prepared by someone else. Here's the play-by-play.

Welcome ladies and gentlemen! Thanks for tuning into to the Mommy-Of-Two Olympics! Our competitor today is Erin Smith. Let's see how she does. She's at the starting line and, she's off!

Erin starts the competition strong with a bolt up the stairs while holding the thirty pound Ben. She quickly sets him down to play while she finds the Papa Murphy's website, decides on a pizza, calls in and places an order under the name Colin. Amazing! This event was completed in almost record time! Now to the finish line, pre-heating the oven. But wait! She isn't done with this leg yet because Ben has just surprised her with a setback. While she was ordering he found a pump bottle of lotion and emptied it's contents onto the nightstand, smeared it in his hair and rubbed it all over his hands and arms. Erin surprisingly bounces back and scoops up Ben and washes him and the nightstand off while remaining untouched by the lotion explosion. She is moving on like a pro.

Erin starts to head downstairs to pre-heat the oven but as she is entering the hallway with Ben in tow she hears Gemma wake up from her nap with a horrific wail. Still thinking on her toes, she enters Gemma's room grabs her and plunks her on her free hip. This mom isn't going to let anything get in the way of the finish line! She bounds down the stairs with 45 pounds of dead weight on her hips and it doesn't even phase her. She's almost to the bottom of the stairs, but wait Gemma has a surprise as well she has vomited all over Erin's shirt and herself. Without skipping a beat, Erin sets Ben down at the bottom of the stairs and hurries to the living room. She strips Gemma, puts her in last nights pj's that were miraculously on the couch and tears her own barf saturated shirt off to reveal her black lacy nursing bra! But there is no time to go back upstairs to get a new shirt right now. Erin can see the oven, her finish-line. She can taste her cheesy, saucy victory.

With Gemma in the bouncy seat Erin begins her sprint to the finish. Just as she enters the final stretch she realizes that Ben is nowhere in sight. Wait! Ben has escaped onto the deck. Wasting no time, Erin runs outside to grab Ben. But wait, she is only wearing her bra! Thank God nobody sees her! With victory on the brain, Erin drags herself (with Ben on her hip) to the kitchen and turns on the oven. She's done it! She has reached her goal.

A jingle of keys is heard and the door is opened! Colin is home! What amazing timing. But wait what is that draft? Erin looks down to see that Ben has unlatched her nursing bra on one side. As Colin rounds the corner holding Erin's delicious winnings. She realizes that Colin was the true winner. He got pizza and an eyeful!

A funny thing happened on the way to the English language

Here are some funny things that Ben has said recently:

I was holding my breast pump when Ben asked
"what's that?"
He then answered his own question.
"pump!"
"Gemma's milk."
"wahhhh wahhhh wahhhh"
"Mommy's bwessss"
"besss besss"
"bassss"
"Ben's bath!"
Next, Ben looked up at me and said frankly,"I want to take a bath."

Wow! that was some serious free association!

I was asking Ben about all of the people in our family. We were going through the names of all the people we love and he didn't mention Gemma. I said What about Gemma? He looked at me and then pointed across the room at Gemma and said nonchalantly "It's over there"

I heard Ben scumbling around in the kitchen. He had obviously pulled some things off of the counter. When I entered the kitchen I saw that he was playing with a lid and a bag. I asked him what he was doing and he replied in a matter-of-fact tone "finding muffins." Oh really? I didn't know we had any muffins!

Ben likes to say "Ben is cute and po-creeshusss." He is trying to say precocious.

The Business of Being Born

Today I watched the film "The Business of Being Born." I really enjoyed it. I'm not surprised that I liked it so much considering it falls into my favorite movie genre which is, what else, documentaries. It also really touched me considering the fact that I have two children of my own and have an unhealthy obsession with hearing birth stories.

Anyway, It was really amazing and shed so much light on the flaws of modern American medicine and how birthing is treated like a business or even illness, not a beautiful, natural thing.

When I was in the hospital with Ben they induced me after a week of unrelenting high blood pressure. They gave me pitocin for five hours and then told me that they were taking me off the pitocin because there weren't enough night nurses to help me deliver. Looking back, I should have screamed in the doctors face and said "HELL NO! You started this and we are finishing when I am ready" But I didn't. My labor stalled out and even though I had gotten to 6cm so easily, I still ended up with the c-section because I was interrupted while my body was doing it's natural thing. It makes me so sad to think that I had no idea that it was my right to stay in labor.

I now see so clearly the flaws of America's health care system and it pains me to see other women who think that they are not allowed to speak up and be heard by the people that they pay to help them. The rate for c-sections in America is the highest in the world. We also have the second highest infant and maternal mortality rates in the developed world. This is appalling considering how much more we pay for health care than any other country in the world.

I highly recommend this film to anyone who has children and I would insist that anyone considering having a baby or who is pregnant must see this film! I wish that I had know what my rights were. I'm seriously considering becoming a labor and postpartum doula because it is important for me to help other women to not end up with unsatisfactory births. Sorry for the rant everyone, I feel strongly about this. If you read this far, thanks for listening!

Literally wonderful

I have so very much enjoyed my book club as of late. Last month we read a really amazing book called "Look Me In The Eye" by John Elder Robison. It is a memoir (my favorite genre)about a man with Aspergers syndrome. Really insightful and probably the cleanest book that I have read in a while. No *ahem* intimate scenes, just the occasional bad word. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys people studies. We also had a fun dessert theme this past month and we all brought desserts from the cook book by Jessica Seinfeld "Deceptively Delicious." I made some fantastic blueberry oatmeal bars with pureed spinach in them. Surprisingly yummy.

This month we are reading a novel titled "Away" by Amy Bloom. It has a very pretty cover. That's all that I like about it right now. I am just not able to get into it so far. Maybe things will change.

My big treat came today when my delightful mother-in-law volunteered to watch Ben for the afternoon. I started reading "Away", got four chapters in and then decided that I'd had enough and I was going to paint. After I cleaned up the house. So once i was finished nursing Gemma and tidying up, I painted a really nice picture for our living room. I'm actually quite proud of it. I think that I will buy a frame for it with my fun money. I've posted a picture for your viewing pleasure! Anyway, thank you Patty for my relaxing "me time" I really enjoyed myself! That's about all for now. Happy reading and painting to you.

Wook! Maw-sit!

The mind of a child is a curious thing. I thought that I understood kids very well but that was before I hatched two of them. I feel like learning about your kids can wear you out and frustrate you. Parents, ever heard this?

"Wook! Maw-sit!"
"What was that Ben? look at what?"
"Maw-sit"
"I don't understand"
"Maw-sit"
"Mom sit?"
"MAW-SIT" (jabs finger into stuffed monster)
"Ohhhhh, monster. Yes Ben that is a nice monster"

Note to Mommy, maw-sit equals monster. I do this daily, learn new words in Ben-ese. If I didn't do it, almost nobody would understand him and how frustrating would that be for Ben? This is my job folks. I interpret made up languages, change poopy diapers, force-feed veggies even if I have to puree them, comfort hurt and sick babies and save the world* on a daily basis.
*Saving the world often means finding a favorite lost toy.


I don't honestly feel that I could be the best mom for Ben if I didn't understand that the word for snack is "nat" or that he is calmed down during a tantrum by chewing on a soggy brown blanket fondly named "Yucky." And that's another thing. Ben names things. His Blankets are "yucky" and "cozy". The stuffed animals are "Zaz" the moose, "Kimmit"the penguin, "Sero" the monkey and "Ginger" the horse. Names are important to him.

Gemma is another story all together. She is so different from Ben. Of course she is only two and a half months old but I already know so much about her. She only fusses when she wants something. Usually it's food, a new diaper or a nap but lately she has started fussing when she feels lonely. This is a new thing for me. If any of you know Ben he is very independent. He never wants to cuddle, he plays by himself most of the time and for a while if I tried to feed him he would refuse to eat unless he put the food in his mouth by himself. But, Gemma loves people. She thrives when she is being held and cuddled and looked at. She will actually sleep in my arms, a rare occurrence for Ben even when he was first born.

I can't even imagine what it would be like to spend all day away from my babies and expect to know a scrap of insightful info about them. Thank God for stay-at-home mom-ism!

Painting to the White Stripes

Today Benjamin and I had a grand old time finger painting and listening to the crunchy rock'n'roll of The White Stripes. We sat at the dining table and basked in the blinding sunlight while we both smeared paint around with sponges, brushes and best of all, our hands. At first Ben was trying to avoid getting his hands gloopy. He kept saying "messy, messy." Eventually, he went in for the kill and stuck his hand in a blob of red paint.

I painted a rocket ship in space and Ben decided to copy me. His first piece was titled "rocket." His second piece was titled "banana muffin cupcake." The first picture actually looked like he was trying to copy mine it was pretty neat. Maybe he'll be an artist someday.

After Ben had lunch, threw a fit because there was no more paint, and then went upstairs for his nap wile proclaiming loudly, "rock on!" I decided to write a blog about it all.

While uploading my pictures, I was nursing Gemma at the computer and she got inspired by Ben's works of art. She attempted to create a very abstract painting of a mom. It was me sitting in a chair with vomit covering my arm, leg and crotch. She was very thorough in covering her canvas. Obviously spit-up was her medium and I was the unassuming canvas. She titled her piece "vommy mommy." I got to go express my artistic feelings with the washing machine. I really poured that soap with flare. Too bad it got washed away. Honestly, I had a great afternoon. Rock on!

Chatter box

Ben is such a little chatter box! When he is around people that he is comfortable with, he will not stop talking! I'm just going to record a few funny things that he has said recently so that I don't forget them.

At my parents house, we were having dinner and Ben was asked if the thought Gemma was pretty. He replied matter of factly "she's sick."

That same night while eating he refused to eat his lasagna which he usually loves. We asked if he wanted to eat his dinner and he shifted his gaze to the full plate of food and slowly shook his head while saying "I don't like it" with much disgust.

Ben heard me saying "Oh Gemma Gemma" and "Oh Gemma Lou." He now walks around the house when hears Gemma crying saying "Oooh Gemma Gemma Gemma, oooh Gemma Wooo" (he can't say L's).

Last night at Colin's parent's house we were all being chattered at by Ben during dinner. He decided to give a full narrative of the movie 'Finding Nemo' which he watched in it's entirety while perched atop his "ginger horsey." It went something like this:
"Nemo, Dowee (Dory)"
"Scary shrap (shark), water, mine, mine, mine"
"Finding...Nemo, Goot...movie"
"Goot...movie"
"Happened? Finding...Nemo"
"Swim Down, Fish, Bad, Arr Arr"
"Yeah! happened?"
"Goot movie."
"watch it, show, goot...movie"
"Oh baby"

Repeat five times. I have no idea where the "oh baby" came from.

Ben was given a Curious George jack-in-the-box by his Grandma patty and Grandpa Stan. He enjoyed watching us turn the crank for him, but was frustrated when he tried to do it himself. He soon figured out that he could make the monkey pop by pressing the little release on the lid. I tried to show him how fun it was to wait for the monkey but as I was helping him turn the crank he got impatient and clenched his teeth and glared at the box. He then growled "Hey! You! Monkeeeey!." It had us all in stitches.

Ben loves to listen to music. He will often request to listen to "Harray Connuck" and "Johnny...pause...Cashhh"

Of course, if you ask Ben to repeat any of this he will just look at you, smile, and say "Noooo" in a very agreeable and high pitched tone.

Mommy time a la book club

Over the past two years, I haven't taken much time for myself. I can remember very few days when I was able to enjoy time all alone. that is one of the hardest things for me to deal with as a mom. I can take a lot of crap (literally) from my kids. I love watching them grow and knowing that I helped make them who they are. However, it can be a bit draining for this mommy to not have alone time. I LOVE alone time.

So, in order to give myself a little break, I joined my playgroup's book club. I felt so good about myself when I actually finished a WHOLE book (Water For Elephants by Sarah Gruen). The kicker was that I got to go and have a girls night and talk with my friends about what we read. I know that lots of people have been in book clubs, but this is my first and I am loving it.

Of course we talked about the book but we also spent a good amount of time laughing. We heard stories about a deranged ex-boy friend who still sucked his thumb, moms who nursed their kids to age five and older, and of course we all shared stories and asked for advice about our own kiddos. I had a great time. Colin, if you read this, thanks so much for letting me abandon you for a night! I owe you one.

The Smith children's inheritance.

I am proud to announce that my children have already received their inheritance from Colin and me. However, it's not money. They have been given our eczema, my big cheeks, Colin's beautiful eyes, and a treasure trove of odd personality quirks. I feel bad for our kids that they have to have some of these traits but I guess that in order to get the good stuff like musical ability and long skinny fingers, you have to take the eczema and in-grown toenails with grace.

I am really awestruck every day when I wake up and see myself and the person that I love the most in the world (Colin) manifested in two amazing children. However, I feel guilty when I see poor little Gemma with a crusty rash all over her face that is the fault of both me and Colin since we both have eczema. Then I remember that she also has my thick hair. It took me a while to like my hair, but now I love it. Ben has Colin's sturdy frame, which makes it hard to lift him, but he also has his sweet and mellow disposition. Of course they aren't exactly like us, but it is just so neat to see what they did inherit.

Anyhow, I'm not sure where I wanted to go with this, but I wanted to put up a couple pictures to show how Ben inherited my "squink eye."

Happy "Kriffitz" from the Smiths

I know that it's the day after Christmas, but I want to extend warm holiday greetings to all of our wonderful friends and family. We had such a busy day but we made it through and Ben only had one tantrum all day. It was of course when we made him get off of his new trike from Uncle Ryan and Auntie Elisabet and go to bed. I sympathized greatly.

Ben was super excited for a few weeks for Christmas. He calls it "Kriffitz." We tried to teach him to say "Merry Christmas" but alas, he has not mastered the r's and l's yet so we opted for "Happy Christmas" instead. Ben also learned some fun words like present, rip and crap. I know that crap isn't the most festive word, but despite all of my sheltering, he has learned a bad word. I first heard it when he asked his favorite question "what's that?"for the 500th time a few days ago. He pointed at the beautiful bounty of presents at my parents house and said "wazzat?." I answered "Ben you know what that is. Why don't you tell me what that is." He looked at me proudly and said "cwap." Amidst the one bad word, Ben did learn about Jesus and has had a great time singing songs about Christmas and our savior. It hasn't all been a bust right?

Gemma obviously didn't appreciate Christmas like Ben did, but we were surprised with how much she loves the lights. She actually calms down when she sees them and they put her into a trance which then puts her to sleep. Very nice! We have a feeling that next year the lights won't put her to sleep. Especially with big brother explaining the magic and wonder of ripping paper to shreds and playing with boxes. I enjoyed the fact that all of "Gemma's" presents ended up being cute clothes that I will enjoy more than anyone else. Thanks Gemma maybe next year you can have presents that are actually for you!

We hope that you all had a beautiful and blessed season celebrating the light of our world, Jesus. Happy 2008! Let normal, everyday life begin, I'm done with holidays for a year!

Get your 1000 words ready. Gemma pictures are here!

Baby Gemma

Some people have asked why we chose the name Gemma and there has been some confusion as well involving the pronunciation. here's the scoop!

We chose the name Gemma because it means "a precious gem" and we want our daughter to know how special she is to our family. It is very popular in many other countries, it just hasn't caught on here yet! If you are confused as to how to pronounce her name, her is the correct pronunciation as well as some info and a graph showing how popular it is in every country but the US.

The girl's name Gemma \ge(m)-ma\ is pronounced JEM-ah. It is of Latin origin, and its meaning is "precious gem, jewel". Saint Gemma was an Italian saint canonized in 1940. She was an ordinary young woman whose religious life included manifestations of the stigmata, or the marks of Christ's wounds.

Parental Pride

Isn't it funny how since the dawn of time, parents have thought that their children are the smartest or funniest or best looking kids that have ever been? I'll tell you, I'm no different.

First there is Ben. He is amazing and every day he comes up with new sentences and learns at least three new words. He makes connections that I never see coming. Like yesterday, when he got his immunization he got a piece of chocolate from my mom as a treat afterward. When we got in the car that evening I told him that we were going to see my parents because it was Granboppa's birthday. He shook his head back and forth saying "nooo".... "doctor, owie, hurt....Chocolate!" My jaw dropped. My son is so smart!

Next there is Gemma. She is so darn cute. I am just in love with her face and people who aren't related to me tell me that she is just the cutest so I know that I'm not completely crazy. Also, she is so good. She sleeps in two big chunks of time each night and only wakes us up once. She is also a master nurser at only two weeks.

Okay, I think that's enough bragging. I'm pretty sure that I'm the only one who reads my blog, so I don't feel too bad about this shameless promotion of my babies.

~Erin

Back in Business

Hello again. Life has certainly changed since the last blog. I took an extended vacation from blogging because it was getting hard for me to write a blog that wasn't masterfully written and it was taking too long, so I stopped altogether. I wish that I hadn't. I missed out on recording so many special moments because I didn't want to write a blip, I wanted an article. I have changed.

I might occasionally write a blog that has the feel of a Dave Barry article, but from now on it will just be special things that are said or maybe even just a picture. Now that that's out of the way, I'd like to update you all on our lives over the past year.

First off, I got pregnant again and gave birth by repeat c-section to a beautiful baby girl. Gemma Noelle Smith was born at 11:23am on December 5th of 2007. She weighed 7lbs 3oz. She has my cheeks and nose and she has Colin's eyes. We love her so much. I went a week overdue this time and was quite uncomfortable those last weeks. Benjamin is a great big brother. Aside from the occasional ball that has been thrown at Gemma's face, Ben has really taken to his "sissou." He actually says Gemma perfectly.

So that's all I'm going to do for now. I'll try to write memories from the past year and update as often as possible.

~Erin

When Ben "Lost His Starch"

My dad had spring break off from his schooling and Colin had to go to California for a business trip. My parents invited Benjamin and myself to go to our old hometown, Bend, Oregon to show of our not so new "new baby." I was really excited to go on this trip. I hadn't taken time off for awhile and even though Colin wouldn't be around, I couldn't wait to see relatives and old friends.

We packed up the car with everything including Ben's acidophilus powder that I gave him every morning in his applesauce. It was supposed to be refrigerated, but my mom packed it in ice in a tupperware and we went on our way.

Cut to six hours later. Ben was a perfect child and he didn't cry at all in the car. He just ate and babbled away. While Ben was making us proud and filling our hearts with love, the acidophilus was growing into a mutated bacteria monster. Ready to attack at any time...

The next morning we all awoke refreshed and our sinuses bleeding from the high desert air. I began my normal routine with the applesauce and acidophilus. Not knowing that I was actively giving my child food poisoning. Had someone known this, they would have ran into the room screaming "nooooooo" in slow motion and knocked the tiny spoon out of my hand. This is actually what I wished had happened, because a spoonful of applesauce would have been easier to clean up than multiple pools of vomit.

I fed Ben all day long like nothing was wrong. He finally objected to some peas and then threw up all over the Klein's dining room floor. It was the motherlode. It was the Cascade waterfalls of Bend, Oregon. Ben just opened his mouth and he gave us a vivid show and tell of his diet that day. It was impressive but disturbing. As you can imagine, I freaked out.

Ben threw up, and threw up, and threw up. I was a mess physically and mentally. Jodi Klein our dear friend and hostess took everything in stride and was truly full of grace. Thank you Jodi. At the end of the night, I finally packed Ben up in the car to take him to our friends house that we were staying with. Jodi let us borrow towels to wrap Ben up in because he had soaked his other outfits and one of her daughter's shirts. With my mom in the back holding a cool whip tub under Ben's mouth, we drove off.

I finally called Colin. The "conversation" went like this:

Erin: "Ben is throwing up" (sobbing begins)
Colin:"Is he okay?"
Erin: (still sobbing)"He's so sad"
Colin:"Erin, is he throwing up right now?"
Erin: (sobbing hysterically) "I just don't know what to do"
Colin: "Erin, calm down. Are you going to be okay?"
Erin: (shorting the phone out with tears) "He's just so little. I love you I'll call you when I can talk...(sob)...Tell you more...I love you..."

Needless to say, neither of us slept well. I stayed up with Ben until 5:30am and finally turned over baby duty to my dad. Thank you Daddy.

The next day Ben was a dishrag. He stayed in our arms all day and ran a fever and pooped his pants off. At one point in the day I overheard my dad on the phone with my grandma. He was appraising her of Ben's situation. I heard him saying "Ben got sick. He has really lost his starch." I had a vision of a sad little sailboat that's sail lost it's starch and drooped. Then he couldn't sail. My mom and I looked at each other knowing that we had had the same vision. We looked at "Starchless Ben." Weeping ensued. We left the next day and welcomed Colin home with an almost re-starched Ben.

The trip was my own personal hell. I was more worried than I had ever been in my life. I absolutely never realized how much of my heart that little boy owned until that fateful day. While remembering how I felt that day, I was reminded of a very famous quote from Elizabeth Stone. it says:

"Making the decision to have a child - it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking outside your body."

I never understood fully what that quote meant, until I held a very sick and helpless baby, knowing that I could do nothing for him but love him and hurt for him.

I really did learn a few things about myself those few days in Bend. I learned that I am finally a real mom. I have arrived. I can tell you now with tears rolling down my face, that I would have done anything in the world to take my baby boy's pain away. I would have taken his sickness in a heartbeat. If it were possible, I would have absorbed his fever and shaken with chills for days. I would have done anything to erase the past 24 hours of hell that he had gone through. I realized, the one thing that I could do, and that I did do, was love him.

It didn't feel like it was enough at the time, but it was. Because all we can do folks, is love our babies. No matter what. Because they need us all of the time. Especially when they are sick and sad, but all other times too. So my advice to you is, unless you are ready to "forever have your heart go walking around outside your body," don't bother. If you think that you are ready, brace yourselves, you are in for a ride.

Our Pet Baby

Question: Who did it? The baby or a small dog?




Answer: We don't have a dog.

El Nino

I now understand why the weather powers that be named a winter weather pattern "El Ñino." They had young children at home. Shocking, yes, but so true. I personally have experienced my own tiny El Ñino right here in my living room. His name is Ben.

Benjamin just turned ten months old. He has four teeth and he started to crawl about two weeks ago. I was very excited to tell people that my little guy was becoming such a big boy. It seemed, however, that when I announced to friends and family that Ben has passed a major milestone and was now crawling, they were immediately on the other side of the room putting antique vases and delicate knick knacks on the highest shelf possible.

At first, I laughed at these people for being so paranoid. He hadn't made any messes yet, he was just learning how to move on his own. What I didn't realize is that my sunny weather was about to turn into the storm of the century.

As Ben's slow scoot turned into VERY fast crawl our little home turned into a battle ground. Side-tables have been overturned. Books have been pulled off of the shelf and DVDs that used to be in alphabetical order are now lost forever because Ben has managed to push them behind the TV stand. I can't be more thankful for online bills either, because all of our hard copies have been chewed or shredded by our very sweet boy. Thanks Ben! Now we can donate our paper shredder to someone who really needs it.

With all of the new mayhem that Ben has caused, there is also a lot of joy. I am amazed at how smart he is and every day when I wake up to sound of the monitor amplifying Ben's loud talking in his crib, I can't keep the smile from spreading across my face. What a delight to have this child in my home.

Ben may be full of mischief and messes but I know that he isn't trying to be bad, he's just learning. It is my responsibility to tell him no when he is causing trouble, but even more important, it is my responsibility to comfort him when he has bumped his head. It is my responsibility to love him even when he has thrown up on my last clean shirt. Most important, it is my responsibility to share with him the incredible love and forgiveness of our Savior. I won't say that being a parent is easy, but I will say that it is the most wonderful and scary thing that I have ever done or ever will do. To sum up the forecast for the rest of Ben's baby-hood, it is going to be partly cloudy with radiant sun breaks.