This one's for you, Mom

I know, I know, its not yet Labor Day, but we went ahead and cut Ethan's hair on Sunday a little prematurely. Mostly because he asked for one. I think its because Sarah started calling him "wolfman" when she got in town and he didn't really like that name. So, I'll post his before and after pictures. I'm not entirely pleased with how his haircut looks, but he wouldn't stay still, so I did the best I could!

The Before





The After

And now for a story and a plea for advice. So, I have a two toddlers. A three-year-old and an almost-two-year-old. We live in an apartment complex with neighbors directly beneath us. On last Wednesday, I let Ethan and Grace stay up a little bit later than their bedtime to wait for Sarah to get in town. Once Sarah got here, they were very excited to see her and got a little hyper and were running all around and playing. As I was rounding them up to get them ready for bed for real (and it was only about 7:30 at night), I get a knock on the door and there's this guy there asking if I could keep the kids from banging around because he lives below us and he was trying to study for finals and couldn't concentrate because of all the noise. I apologized and said I'd keep them quiet and they were going to bed soon anyway. So he left, and meanwhile I'm thinking they weren't even being that loud. And this is the brat in me, but hasn't he heard of a library if he wants total quiet while studying?

I didn't think much of it, other than feeling a little bad if the kids are bugging them all the time with their running around. And then over the course of the last week -- or I guess it really started a couple of days ago -- we've noticed that if the kids are running around or jumping they'll bang on their ceiling, I guess to let us know that we're being too loud. Well, don't get me wrong. Its not that I don't see their side, but when they're banging on the ceiling in the MIDDLE OF THE DAY when the kids are just playing, I think thats a bit extreme and rude. So, the last time it happened (yesterday around 6 PM) I decided if they continued to do this I was going to have to go down and talk to them. So today at FOUR O'CLOCK IN THE AFTERNOON, Ethan and Grace were fighting over something and banged into the floor a few times, and as I was putting Ethan in his room for a time-out, I heard the banging on the ceiling again. I was so ticked off at this point, that I just went right down there to talk to them.

So, I probably should have waited until I had calmed down a little, and the result of my conversation was sort of a standstill. I asked the girl who answered the door if they were banging on the ceiling and she replied that they keep getting woken up by my kids and that they tried to ask nicely and that she wishes we would just be a little more considerate because -- and I quote -- "it just gets a little old" to be woken up at 8 AM every Saturday morning by our children. I countered by pointing out that they're not banging on the ceiling at 8 in the morning but during the middle of the day when the kids are just playing, and that they are 2 toddlers who can't be controlled every second of the day and that I understand that they don't like being woken up early but its not like they're being woken up in the middle of the night (my kids are both in bed by 7 o'clock every night, for pete's sake!) and that I think its really rude to be banging on the ceiling in the middle of the day and that I'm doing the best I can to keep them quiet and its not like I'm telling them to run around and make lots of noise to bother our neighbors. Thats the gist of the conversation. So, basically I told her I'd appreciate it if she didn't bang on the ceiling anymore and she told me that she'd appreciate it if we were a little more considerate about waking them up so early.

Now, after this happened, I was so upset I could hardly talk to tell Scott about it. I mean come on. Its the middle of the day! And not that I don't agree that it sucks to be woken up by children before you're ready to get up, but at least they wake them up at 8 AM and not 5 or 6 in the morning. They clearly don't have children, and when they do, it will be quite the wake-up call for them! All evening long I've been worrying whenever the kids make any kind of noise and I've been stressed to the point where I even decided at one point that we need to move, because there's no way I can handle walking on eggshells and keeping the kids on tippy toes for the rest of the time they live here. Especially once winter arrives and we're really stuck inside all day long. And its not like we can train them to sleep in longer. Because believe me, if we could we would have done it a LONG time ago.

Now that the kids are in bed, and I've had some time to calm down, I'm feeling really bad. I'm teaching this Sunday in Relief Society and was planning on working some more on my lesson tonight while the kids were in bed. However, I wasn't able to work on it because I was still so upset and then the irony hit me. My topic for this week's "Teachings for our Times" lesson is Charity, Kindness, and Tolerance. Talk about a guilt trip. I totally feel like the biggest hypocrite and that I can't even begin to work on my lesson until I rectify this situation. I realize now that I've calmed down that I should have taken a different and more kind approach in talking to her. I know that I shouldn't have gone down while I was still so upset. I DO feel bad that my kids are so noisy and wake them up in the morning. I'd be ticked, too. They're my own kids and I hate being woken up early by them. I can imagine that its even more annoying when they're not even your kids.

So, now on to the plea for advice. What should I do? I know I should apologize, but I'm just kind of embarrased now! And is it too cheesy/Molly Mormon to bring like cookies or some kind of treat along with my apology? I just don't know exactly how I should do this.

Anyway, thats all the stories I have for today. On an exciting note, Scott started orientation today for business school and he's really enjoying everything so far. I even took a picture of him on his first day of school. He didn't want to take pictures in front of the Tanner building, so I took some outside our apartment. But I also snuck a picture of him as he was walking in the doors of the Tanner building using my handy dandy zoom button so he wouldn't be too embarrassed. Hahaha.

the latest

Well, its been a long time, and sadly I don't really have anything all THAT big to post about, but I thought I'd post a few pictures and some commentary anyway. The first picture is from Scott's birthday, which was on this past Wednesday. We've been spending almost all our time up at Scott's parents house for the last few weeks while his sister and family have been in town. This is where the picture was taken. As you can see, Ethan has shunned his clothing. Since we've been doing the potty-training -- which is finally working -- we've found it easier to get to the bathroom on time when there are fewer clothes to mess with. Ethan has kind of taken a liking to the freedom of just wearing his underwear.

This last set of pictures features my latest project. Our stake has adopted the Pursuit of Excellence program again this year, and one of the goals I set was to learn a new skill -- sewing. So, here is my very first sewing project. Grace is very graciously being my model (just look how much she loves it). I went to Jo-Ann's fabric and craft store yesterday (while Scott waited in the car with Ethan and Grace -- which we'll get to later) and picked out my pattern and asked someone there to help me figure out what all materials I needed to get. 40 minutes later I was ready to check out. So, as I was waiting in line to get my fabric and trimmings cut, I see Scott walking in with Grace and Ethan with this look on his face like "what the heck." Whoopsie, I guess I wasn't really paying attention to the time. The sad thing is, I think at least 20 of the minutes were spent trying to pick out the lace trim. I know, I know. Kind of pathetic. I finally was able to get started on it last night once the kids went to bed. Despite having a hard time figuring out the sewing instructions, I was able to finish most of it last night and the rest this morning before church as the kids watched Playhouse Disney ALL morning long. Yeah, I'm a really good mom. Anyway, I'll sign off for now.

Family visits, a baby, and a camping trip

Wow, its been a looooong time since I've posted anything! This has been one busy past month. In mid-July, my mom and Amy and Jacob and Emily came to visit. We finally were able to put our new table to good use and even opened up the leaf!

Ethan and Grace had so much fun with Amy and Jacob. It took them a little while to warm up to them, but once they did, they wouldn't leave them alone! I'm pretty sure that by the time they left, Amy and Jacob were ready for a break from the kids.

Here's a picture of Grace not quite warmed up to Emily yet (notice how she won't even look at her?)

Here's another shot

While Emily was in town, we were able to head up to Salt Lake to see the new Joseph Smith movie which was amazing and also eat at the Lion House restaurant. Here's my critique on that. The food is good, but the price is way too high. Buy their cookbooks and you can eat the food for much cheaper. Here are a few pics of the fun.

Here's Scott with his new glasses

Some freezie pop fun

After mom and Amy trying on about a million pairs of jeans at American Eagle in order to get free movie tickets, and after mom working on Scott and me to go and see a movie while she watched the kids for us, we finally went and saw -- Monster House! We took and Amy and Jacob with us, and I have to say I really liked it. It was really entertaining and the graphics were amazing! This was my first 3-D movie ever and it was so cool. The movie was a little scary for young kids -- I won't be taking Ethan and Grace to see it -- but they really liked wearing the 3-D glasses when we got back.

All in all, it was a really fun visit, and we were sad to see them all go.

Now for a little explanation. Part of the reason I haven't been blogging very much is because I've been a little tired. Sorry, Natalie in advance for the picture, but here's a little reason why:

I know the picture's a little blurry, but those are two definite pink lines. For those of you unfamiliar with these tests, this means that come February 28th, we'll be welcoming a new little bundle of joy! We're all really excited, especially Ethan who is already calling the baby Alex and saying its a boy. So, we'll see if he's right. I hope so for his sake.

Anyway, I've been really tired this time around. Its probably due to the fact that I am now chasing around two toddlers in addition to being pregnant. Its been really helpful now that Scott has quit work and is home all day every day. Luckily I should be out of the first trimester and feeling a little better by the time he starts school in the fall.

I haven't felt that sick so far, but I also thinks its because I know what to avoid so that I don't GET sick. My problem is I'll find something I can really stomach and then I'll eat a lot of it because I can actually handle it and then I totally overdose on it and its crossed off the list! Here is an impromptu list of foods I have already ODed on: *bread/rolls *pizza *chocolate frosting *cheese sticks *chicken salad *oatmeal chocolate chip cookies *frosted mini wheats...
and that's all I can think of off the top of my head. With 10 weeks under my belt I'm thinking I can make it through the next few and then I'll be in the clear for feeling more energetic.

On a side note, I've already hit the nesting instinct. As soon as my mom and the kids left, we decided to rearrange our apartment. Its finally sinking in that we're not going anywhere, so I need to suck it up and figure out a way to deal with living in a 2 bedroom apartment that will only feel MORE cramped as we approach the cold weather and will be housebound for much of the time. SO, we decided to switch our bedrooms back so that we get the bigger room. This entailed taking down the crib -- which now that Grace can climb out of is probably not that safe -- and of course Ethan was right there "helping" with all the changes.

As embarrasing as this is to post, here is a picture of our room in the smaller bedroom pre-switch:way too cramped

With the crib dis-assembled, the kids room easily fits into this smaller room. For the time being Grace is sleeping on the crib mattress on the floor in their room, but we're thinking that eventually we will get bunk beds for the kids. Ethan is excited about this prospect. As soon as both rooms are fixed up, I will have to post pictures.

A few days after my mom and the kids left, it was Scott's turn for family to come into town. His sister and her family came in from England where they are living right now and will be here for almost a month. The first weekend they were here, his brother and family drove up from Las Vegas, and it was one big happy reunion for the weekend. And just so you know mom -- Kristin and Susi both think Ethan's hair looks really cute. Don't think we weren't filled in on the fact that you were tempted to cut it every time we were gone. Hahaha. Don't worry, I'm not really upset. That weekend we went on my first EVER camping trip. Girl's camp doesn't really count, because we never slept in tents. So, all of us headed up to this really nice camp in Heber Valley. Ethan was so excited and his first comment when we got out of the car was a joyous "LOOK MOM, THERE'S ROCKS!" referring to the gravel we parked on. Needless to say, he was in hog heaven the whole trip. We just stayed one night, but it was really fun. And aside from dealing with a VERY cranky Ethan and Grace for the rest of the weekend from their lack of sleep, it was definitely an enjoyable trip. Here are some pictures of the fun:

Ethan with a rock (he really wanted me to take a picture of it)

Here's Ethan helping set up the tent

And here's Grace's version of helping

There was a lake there and paddle boats -- which Scott took Ethan on, not these canoes!

Here's our tent

and the cousins roasting some marshmallows

Well, that's all for now folks. This has been exhausting! On a completely random side note, Grace's thumb-sucking habit has gotten so bad that her thumb nail is coming off. Gross, huh. I guess that's what happens when its perpetually soggy from being in her mouth roughly 85% of the day. I'll try and get a picture of it. I think the nail is finally starting to bug her, though, because I've noticed that she's switched to sucking her pointer finger the last couple of days. Oh well, the dentist said not to worry about it till she's 2 or 3. We've got some time.

My Drama Queen

I'm starting to think that Grace is very advanced. Let me explain. Although she will not be 2
until November, Grace has already advanced to the "terrible twos." This child has become my FIT QUEEN. You never know what's going to set her off. Here are a few examples...

A couple of weeks ago, after a WIC appointment, we still had a little time before Scott was going to be getting home, so I decided to run to the mall to see if I could get a price adjustment on any of the clothes I had bought at the Gap 2 weeks previously. I knew we were cutting it close on time, but I didn't think it would be a big deal. And of course, being the good mom that I am, I figured dangling the bribe of an ice cream cone in front of my kids if they behaved would help to make the trip smoother. And of course, with my luck, I was stuck with the most incompetent sales clerk I've ever encountered in my life. Seriously, what is so difficult about a price adjustment? She had to leave us twice to go and ask her manager how to do something and I swear she was gone for like 10 minutes each time. As the minutes were ticking by, I was realizing there was no way we were going to make it home in time to try and make something for dinner. Especially if we were going to get those ice cream cones. Fortunately, Ethan provided me with the opportunity to yank that bribe out from under them as he was running all around the store, in and out of clothes while we waited for the sales clerk to get back. When he finally ran into another little girl and pushed at her as he did so, I was able to tell them no more ice cream cones when we were done (incidentally, in reference to the previously posted endeavors to teach kindness, when I asked Ethan if he had pushed that little girl, he looked at me for a second with his head tilted to the side and then said, "no mom, I said 'Hi!'" Apparently the next lessons we will be working on are honesty). Anyway, back to the story at hand. When we were finally done at the Gap, I felt really bad about not letting them have any treat, because after all, we were there forever, and they were relatively well-behaved, so we went to Cold Stone and I let them get a sample spoon of ice cream. Nice.

So, here's where we get to the Grace part. Once I pushed the stroller to our car, I took her sample spoon from her so I could unbuckle her and get her in the car seat, and I made the mistake of eating some of her ice cream to keep it from melting off the side. WOW. She was NOT happy about that. Did it matter that I pretended to put the ice cream back on the spoon? No. Did it matter that I gave it right back and tried to put it in her mouth to shut her up? No. In fact, nothing I did helped as she proceeded to throw a fit at the top of her lungs till she was red in the face and hardly breathing and her lips were turning blue all the while I'm trying to get her and Ethan buckled in their carseats so we can hurry and get home and try to scrounge something up for dinner. Well, as I was driving, I made the split-second executive decision to go to Wendy's on the way home, and by the time we got to the drive-thru, Grace had quieted down. At this point, I turned around and patted her little leg and told her I was sorry and that I loved her and this set her off anew. She KICKED my hand away from her legs and wouldn't let me touch her or look at her as she picked right back up where she left off with her screaming fit. Which continued pretty much the rest of the car ride home. Lesson #1 learned -- DO NOT TAKE GRACE'S FOOD WITHOUT ASKING HER FIRST. And also, don't try to comfort her before she's ready to be comforted.

The next incident will be a little shorter. On Friday, I took the kids to the library (where we haven't gone pretty much at all this summer) and I gave Ethan and Grace some crackers to eat for a snack in the car on our way there. Well, once we got to the library, I took the crackers away explaining that we can't eat in the library and Grace geared herself up for another rant and rave. For the first 15 minutes we were there, you would have thought I had her straitjacketed in her stroller or something for all the fuss she was putting up. She snapped out of it in like a split-second as soon as she saw a giant stuffed Elmo perched in a window sill by the story circle. Then for the rest of the outing she was happy as a clam dragging this Elmo everywhere she went. Lesson #2 learned -- DO NOT TAKE GRACE'S FOOD BEFORE SHE IS FINISHED. I'm beginning to notice a pattern here.

For, the last story, I have an actual picture of the fit. Before lunch today, Grace remembered that there was a bag of tootsie rolls hidden in the cabinet and decided she wanted one instead of lunch. So, after I told her she had to wait until she ate her sandwich, she proceeded to throw an all-out fit for the next 15 minutes straight, until finally I snapped it out of her by taking a bite of her sandwich (I guess I didn't learn the first lesson very well) and she then switched her fit to wanting that bite of food back from me. After I gave it back, and she unsuccessfully tried to re-attach to her sandwich, she must have realized that she really was hungry and she stopped crying and started eating. Lesson #3 learned -- WHEN IT COMES TO FOOD, DON'T MESS WITH GRACE.

(watch the fit unfold)


(aren't I a mean mom to try and take pictures when she's so unhappy?)

Alright, enough of these anecdotes. I'm sure you all have your own stories of children throwing fits and you don't want to hear anymore of mine!

We had a lovely 4th of July. Mostly because Scott didn't have to work Monday either, and he's finally done with those independent study classes, so all of a sudden we feel like we have so much more time! Scott decided to take the kids on an outing one of the mornings at the crack of dawn to see the hot air balloons that were part of the city's freedom festival. The kids really loved it, and I really loved sleeping in while he took them. Here are some pictures of their fun.

(something a little more interesting than balloons)

On the 4th of July itself, we went up to Rock Canyon Park for a family gathering on Scott's grandma's side, and the kids enjoyed themselves immensely -- mostly because they found a bucket of water to play with. I'll post a few pictures of that as well.








Well, I don't really have anything much else to report right now. This Scott's last week of work and my mom and youngest brother and sister are coming in town this week, so hopefully this will provide many more stories for me to share.

On a side note, does anyone else think LC is pathetic for sticking around with Jason? And is anyone else as excited as we are for this summer's All-Star season of Big Brother? Until next time...

My Twinsies

The older Grace gets, the more I feel like I'm raising twins! These 2 are partners in crime and have to do almost everything together. At Ethan's 3 year check-up, they BOTH got to pick out a "prize" from the doctor's office. Ethan picked out his sunglasses and Grace wanted some, too. So here's a picture of my little twinsies.

I'm including another picture -- potentially very sad for those of you who mentored over at good old Joaquin Elementary School. Joaquin is no longer. They've taken over Farrer Junior High and turned it into Farrer Elementary School. The old building was empty for a while, and the day I noticed they had bulldozed it to the ground I was shocked! It made me kind of sad for a split second. I spent a lot of time over in that building mentoring in Ms. Heileson's class -- not to mention lots of time playing on Joaquin's field and playground. Here's a shot of the now leveled site of the former Joaquin Elementary School. The orange fence kind of obscures the view, but there's really nothing to see there anymore. *sniff*


On a final note, a friend of mine who has moved wants to keep up a food and book club of sorts in a blogspot fashion (see the link on the left). So, if you're interested in contributing to it, let me know and I'll email you the username and password. For all those of you who "don't read" -- Emily and Sarah -- it is also a site to post up new recipes or things you've tried that you love. So, everyone please check it out! I think it will be lots of fun if we have a lot of contributors.

Okay, I have a really funny story about Grace, but it will have to wait for another day. I'm tired of typing. Peace out.

On Being Kind

Being kind is a big subject in our house. Having a 3 and a 1 1/2 year old, I try and stress the importance of being kind. It all started a couple of months ago...

You see, Ethan had a few run-ins with other children at the park. He's an active kid with semi-bully -ish tendencies and was having a really hard time remembering that it is not okay to hit or to push or to throw woodchips at other kids while we're playing at the park. So, in incident number 1, Ethan threw woodchips right in a little girl's face as she was coming down the slide. Now, I saw this happen and I jumped right in and grabbed Ethan, reprimanded him, made him apologize and gave him a time-out in the stroller. The mom of this kid apparently didn't think enough ado was made over the incident because she continued to brush woodchips out of her daughter's hair and face for the next 5 minutes as she sat down right next to us on the curb consoling her daughter that she was going to be okay. Now, I know my kid was in the wrong. Its not okay to throw woodchips at people, but hello?! Has her kid never done anything to hurt another child? They're just kids!

Now on to incident number 2. A few days later, we were at a different park, and this time as Ethan was sliding down the slide he rammed right into a little boy who was probably about 1 year old. Now, in Ethan's defense, I'm not sure if this was done on purpose (although it wouldn't surprise me), because I was busy helping Grace up the ladder and I didn't want her to fall. Once again, I got a semi-fussing from another parent that I needed to watch my kid to make sure he didn't hurt her little boy again because he was only 1. I think her exact words were "he needs to be careful."

So, finally we get to incident number 3, which was the straw that broke the camel's back. A couple of weeks later we were at the first park again, when the same lady and her kids were there. Now, I was just sitting on the side talking to some friends when one of them said, "uh oh, I think Ethan is pushing that little girl." So, I look up to see Ethan sitting at the top of one of the baby slides and pushing a little girl. Now, seeing as to how it was the same little girl from the woodchips incident and seeing as to how her mom was again right there, I jumped up to run over and stop Ethan, and I was half-way there when this other mom YELLS at the top of her voice right at Ethan saying (and I will use all caps because thats how loud she was yelling): "HEY! STOP PUSHING HER! YOU DON'T EVER PUSH SOMEONE WHEN THEY'RE AT THE TOP OF THE SLIDE!" What I don't get, however (and maybe you'll disagree), is that she was standing literally 2 feet from where her daughter was at the top of the slide. Two steps and she could have easily grabbed her daughter if she was in any real danger. Ethan was, once again, in the wrong, and shouldn't have been pushing. But I can't imagine yelling the way she did at someone else's child that you don't even know. The whole park literally fell silent and was staring at the incident. Needless to say I just grabbed the kids and after apologizing we just left the park.

But, I digress. The point of these stories is to show that we've been working very hard on kindness since these incidents. I have now insitituted a zero tolerance policy for the park. Ethan now knows that if he pushes or hits or throws woodchips or hurts anyone, he has to sit in the stroller until its time to go home. I'm happy to say that he has only had to endure this punishment once, and since then he has been remarkably well-behaved at the park.

Now that we've gotten that under-control, we're trying to work on our words. Specifically on eradicating the phrase "Go away" from both Ethan and Grace's vocabulary. This has become they're favorite thing to yell at people and its driving me nuts. At first I tried threatening with hot sauce -- but that didn't work. Then I tried supplying them with substitute phrases that are kind such as "hi," or "how are you?" or "do you want to be my friend?" And while that kind of works sometimes, more often than not what I hear from the kids is "go away!" followed immediately (after a quick look at me) by "Hi!" Yes my children are very charming. Its funny to hear what they're absorbing though, because the other day when they were sitting at the table, Grace yelled at Ethan to go away, he looked at her very sternly and said "Gracie, you need to be kind." Grace's new response is "go away, friend!"

Well, I thought I was going somewhere with these stories, but apparently I'm not. So, on that note I'll end for tonight. I hope everyone has a fun 4th of July. Hopefully we'll have some fun pictures to post after the weekend.

Happy, Happy Birthday, Ethan Dear!

I contemplated posting a long and detailed account of the day Ethan was born, but I thought I'd spare everyone the traumatizing details and suffice it to say that 3 years ago yesterday, Ethan entered our world! This weekend was turned into one long birthday celebration, seeing as to how the birthday itself fell on a Sunday.

To start it off, Friday evening we went to Toys R' Us to let him pick out a toy for his birthday. After being distracted by the train table for about half an hour, I finally pried him away and made him pick something out. I guess the train table inspired him, because the toy he picked out was a little Thomas the train engine. Having procured the birthday present and pulled Grace away from the Care Bears, we successfully left Toys R' Us with the train and only 2 treats from the checkout! Ethan was so absorbed in his peanut M&Ms that he didn't notice when I took the train out of the bag to hide and wrap for later. (which by the way never happened -- he ended up opening it up on Saturday to play with it before I had ever gotten around to wrapping it).

So, on Saturday we spent the morning at Grandma and Grandpa's where Ethan got an awesome watergun for his birthday, and in the afternoon we ventured back to the water park. It was the only thing that he has been asking for for his birthday for the last several weeks. So, as much as Scott and I hate the water park, we took him and he had a FABULOUS time.

We had decided that we would do the cake and singing of the birthday song on his actual birthday, so on Sunday when we got home from church, Ethan helped me make his pink cake. Yes, you heard me right. For the last couple of weeks whenever I have asked Ethan what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday, all he said was a pink cake. I couldn't get him to change his mind as much as I tried, so using a white cake mix as the base, I let Ethan add a ton of red food coloring and voila! A pink cake. (And in case you were wondering, Grace wants a green cake for her birthday, according to Ethan. I'm so glad that he can read her mind).

However, with Grace still taking a nap and Scott having to go back to Church to do his calling and stuff, Ethan was forced to postpone the joy of blowing out the candles until everyone was here. Fast forward to 7:30 PM, and we finally managed to get outside to the backyard to tape the ceremony! After not being able to light the matches for several minutes, we finally managed to light the candles and sing the song and eat the cake. I've posted several pictures of the goodness that followed (keep in mind that this is the very end of a very long day in which Ethan never took a nap). Enjoy!

Here's Ethan sharing his bounty (he helped me make the chocolate frosting for the cake).


Waiting for those darn matches to light

Still waiting

Yay!

Ta da! The pink cake

Here's Grace doing a pretty good job with a fork...

And here she is finally just digging in with her hands.


The beginning of the end...

Whew! What a day. I'll close with one last picture of my little lamb.

This weekend must have really worn him out! Here he is today where he actually fell asleep at naptime (surrounded by his treasures) for the first time in about a month.