Mordecai Laughing

I have wanted to take video footage of Mordecai laughing for a while. It is funny to me that he looks more like my side of the family, but has Mike's ticklish side, and Emily looks more like Mike's side but isn't ticklish at all, like me. So, tonight Mike was tickling Mordecai on our bed before bedtime and he was cracking us up. I guess it wasn't the greatest calm down time, but maybe it was because as you can tell from the videos he was getting tired, so tired in fact he
couldn't sit up and say goodbye.

A list of words

When I took Mordecai to his well baby visit I was concerned that he was behind in his talking skills. I knew I was comparing him to Emily, and that I shouldn't do that because 1) she is way advanced and 2) she is a girl. Well last night I decided to count the words Mordecai has, since he is learning a new one or two words a day. So here is a list of his words, in nor particular order.

Yes
No
Mom
Dad
Dog
Bear
Jesus
This
Up
Stuck
Snack
Bekah
Out
Ouch
Milk
Drink
Car
Hello
Bye
Book
Candy
Cookie
Stairs (Downstairs)
Night (good night)
Ball
Out
Shoes
Eat
Uh-Oh
Thank You
Please

Even though they aren't 100% clear we still understand him and so do most people. I am also sure I am missing a ton of words on this list. His understanding amazes me though. You can tell him to do something and he goes and does it right away. It is so fun. I love this age.

Bug Bites

Last week sometime Mike decided that our yard needed to be mowed. He did the front yard with the push mower, I think on Wednesday, and then the back on Thursday. We have the riding lawn mower but Mike didn't want to move his car and pull out the jumper cables to jump it since the battery is dying in it and we are to lazy to go buy a new one. Well when he was about 5-8 minutes away from being done with the back yard he started getting bug bites. He didn't want to stop and come in to put on bug repellent so now he is suffering. His legs look like he has leprosy on them, and he said they are itching like crazy, in fact so bad that he says it bugs him to wear pants and sleep with the sheets on. I think he has a total of 20 plus bites... if I am wrong I will correct it. Next time I think he will do the yard a bit differently like I suggested...say in the morning on a Saturday. The pictures doesn't really show how bad it looks, but at least you get the idea.

Butterflies and Emily Funnies

On Thursday of last week I went to check the mail to see if Emily's eye patches had arrived. When I opened the mail box there was a package from my parents for the kids. I knew what it was cause my mom and I had talked about them previously, so when I walked in the door I told Emily that she and Mordecai had a package from Grandma and Grandpa Bainbridge. She was so excited to open it and when she did she said this. "Oh this is sooooo cute! What is it?" I told her she needed to pull it out and see. She did and I told her that Grandma made her an outfit, and as she was pulling Mordecai's out she said, "Which one did Grandpa make?" I had to laugh and tell her that Grandpa made the money so that Grandma could buy the fabric to make them. Anyway, they are really cute and my kids wore their outfits yesterday.Also Yesterday Val and her munchkins came over and played. Val was so nice to bring a craft for the kids to do. They made butterflies, check out her craft blog here. It is always fun to have friends over and to chat, especially about the old days.Now for another funny story. Mike takes Emily home teaching with him sometimes and he did this past Sunday. Well Mike said when they got to the home the lady standing at the door asked Emily what had happened to her eye, noticing the patch, and Emily replied, "Oh-I got hit by a truck the other day." and then just walked right into their house. So when Mike was telling me the story I was laughing and so I asked Emily why she said that and she tells me, " Cause don't you remember the other day when that happened?" It is really funny that kids say stuff like that, maybe she dreamt about it or something.

Family Pictures

Since I last posted we picked Rebekah up from the airport, took family pictures, started ripping out the linoleum flooring under the washer and dryer, replaced/replacing the laundry closet doors, and had a guy come to give us an estimate on sanding and staining our hardwood floors. for now I will just leave you with the pictures. Mike and I aren't big fans of fake looking backgrounds in pictures, but we liked the way the poses themselves turned out. Here are just a few. The rest are here.

July 7 - July 13

Tuesday morning, the 7th of July, our little family packed up our car and headed down to my Grandpa's to take him out to breakfast before we left. It was so fun to see him, and I don't think he is going crazy like some have said. He confided in me that he has been seeing Grandma lately, and the feeling I got was, that he was. After breakfast we headed back to his house to drop him off and have a potty break.

On the way home I got 2 tickets in Wyoming. They were both bogus, even Mike says so. The first one I was following behind a cop when I decided to pass him. He pulled me over and said I was following to close, I wasn't, even though he was closer to the semi in front of him than I was to him. Then 3 hours later I was coming up over a hill and I was pulled over for doing 84 in a 75 mile per hour zone, which again was dumb that I got pulled over cause the car I was following was doing the same speed if not more than me. Oh-well, at least Mike wasn't mad. He said it doesn't seem fair and that I was probably singled out cause we had out of state plates. Mike also said if it was him that was driving he would of had the ticket, cause he usually does 85 mph. We didn't say a prayer before we left so we will blame it on that.

Wednesday morning Mordecai had his 15 month well child visit, a month late I know. We established that he has 15 plus words, but only those around him can understand them. He weighed in at 25 lbs. 3 oz., 60% and was 32.5 inches long, 90%. Still very long and lean. Dr. Miller asked about any concerns and the only ones we had were his exposure to the Swine Flu on Sunday and the finger sucking. We were quarantined for 7-10 days for the Swine flu exposure and were told the finger sucking doesn't become a problem until 4, and even then Dr. Miller doesn't think he will do it very long since it is only when he is tired or bored. We will have to see though.

Today Emily had an eye appointment and the prognosis wasn't good. We have to patch her eye all day for 3 weeks, to see if it will help her eye get to the point of equalness. If it doesn't help then there will be surgery involved. Dr. Nichols said that it is better to do it now, than to wait until the age of 9 because as of right now all of it is reversible and it wont ALL be reversible after the age of 6 and not fixable at all by 9. Part of me just wants to do the surgery now so we are done dealing with this, but I know it is a last resort. I just feel so guilty like I caused it because I caused the hemangioma. I know I am not supposed to blame myself, but because we don't know what causes hemangioma's I do.

Tomorrow we pick Bekah up from the airport, and Emily is so excited. I keep telling her that we will hardly see her, but I don't think she gets it. Bekah will be here for about a month, so the times we do see her it will be fun.

Monday the 6th

Monday we headed out to the Copper Mine. It has a special place for my family, cause it was founded by my great, great, great, great grandpa Bingham. It was fun, but very windy. There wasn't a lot to keep us up there for a long period of time though.

Afterwards , the Roberts, and Keith's family, and ours all headed back to Keith and Kim's for lunch. We had a yummy chicken dish and left overs from Sunday. Then Kim, Felicia and I headed out to a couple of stores. I bought some church ties for Mordecai, we hit a furniture store for Kim, and then a farmers market and grocery store. After convincing Felicia to stay for dinner with Sunday Salad, she headed back to Provo for FHE.

Kira's special day

Sunday the 5th was a celebration for Kira Lapreal Rogers. We all met at Keith and Kim's Church building for their Sacrament Meeting. The blessing itself was very tender, but I had a hard time afterward feeling the Spirit.

During Sacrament it is hard for me when people let their kids walk around to different benches with family or friends or in the aisle. We don't let our kids take toys, or books that don't remind them of Jesus or the scriptures, and during the actual Sacrament if they are roudy or being disruptive the only thing my kids are allowed to look at is the Hymn Book, or a picture book of Jesus that I made. Another thing is snacks...we take snacks/drinks for our kids before they turn 18 months, which is nursery age, but never are they disruptive wrappers or noisy in anyway. However, after 18 months Mike and I both feel that there is ample time to eat a good snack/breakfast and drink before Church so they can make it to nursery and have snack time, without the need to have snacks or drinks in the middle of Sacrament. One last thing, then I am going to get off my soapbox. Our kids also know that if they are taken out of the Chapel because they are being disruptive they get a spanking. I can count on one hand how many times I have had to take Emily and Mordecai out. It isn't that hard to keep your kids quiet during an hour of Sacrament, and I have a 16 month old, and doing sacrament appropriate activities that help others feel the Spirit still. I know others have their own opinions on things, and I am not pointing fingers, I am just merely saying why it is hard for me to feel the Spirit sometimes.

After the Sacrament meeting we headed over to Keith and Kim's home for Chicken Salad Sandwiches on crescents, chips, yummy cookies and ice cream. The kids played for a while on the swing set, then we all cleaned up. Mike and I stayed with Keith and Kim Sunday night and Monday night.

4th of July

Saturday the 4th started out wonderful!!! Our kids slept in until 9:00 in the morning which never happens. Some will say that it was because they didn't get to bed until well after 11:30 the night before, but I beg to differ cause at home no matter how late they stay up they still wake up at the same time which is between 7:00 and 7:30. Anyway, with them sleeping in that meant Mike and I got to eat a wonderful breakfast of pancakes, eggs, bacon, and orange juice without having to help a kid, which is a real bonus!

After they finally got up we all got ready to go hiking in the mountains and have a picnic with Keith's family. We stopped at Subway on the way out, and then headed up to the top of the canyon to walk/hike around Silver Lake. When we got to the top Mordecai was already screaming cause he was hungry, which meant we couldn't calm him down very easily. We finally did after a vomit spell, worked himself up, and were able to eat our picnic lunch. After that we did the "hike" that Emily had been so excited to do since Mike mentioned it to her mid June time frame. During the walk the girls were so cute holding hands and pushing each other in our stroller. Some way through it though Emily had a melt down for whatever reason and Mike and I were frustrated too easily with her, probably because we already were a little bit because of Mordecai. So one point of her melt down an older guy stopped to take pictures of her crying. I think he was trying to help, but it just made it worse. Oh-well, it was fun after she quit crying, and she definitely crashed in the car on the way back to Mom and Dad's.

After Emily's nap around 3:00, unusual, Keith, Mike, Talisa, Emily, Mordecai, Felicia and I headed outside to do some 'snaps' in preparation for that night. After a while we headed inside so Mike, Keith and Dad could go pick up some Papa Murphy's Pizza, and fireworks. While we were waiting for the pizza to cook Felicia and I headed out to get more fireworks since what Mike got would only have been about 10 minutes of a show. The 4th of July is important to me, probably because of how I grew up with my Dad, so I want it to be the same way for my kids so I bought enough fireworks to be outside for about 2 hours. After dinner the Eliason's showed up so the whole family headed outside to do day time fireworks. The kids loved the snakes, snaps and smoke balls, but didn't like the parachute kind that Mark brought or the tanks that I bought. After that we headed inside after a while of looking at the horses in the back and dessert that Mom made. During that time Keith's family left and our kids received baths by Julie and Jason, another nice thing we LOVED. After baths and a little bit of down time we headed out to do fireworks. As I knew would happen Mordecai and Emily didn't like it, they were actually scared, so Mordecai went to bed, and Emily stayed inside with Grant, James, and Momma watching "Bolt". I think the Burnigham's, Eliason's and Mike, Dad and I enjoyed it. Mostly I just like the feeling I get and watching Mike have fun setting them off.