Happy Birthday Adelyn!

My darling Adelyn officially turned three on March 28th, though she has been a 3-year old in my head for quite some time now. We had a great time celebrating with family and friends.

She has been obsessed with Dora the Explorer for almost a year now and has been talking about the Dora birthday party she would have when she turned three. Every time we talked about it, she said, "And we'll have party hats and a Dora cake."

So, I decided to make my little girl's dream a reality by throwing her a Dora Adventure party. We had to follow the "Map" to find the lost party hats. The kids had to go over the Black Troll Bridge (after solving the troll's riddle, of course), go around the brown table three times (counting in Spanish), go down the red slide, through the dark tunnel using a flashlight they got from "Backpack" (seen above photo), then pop the balloons to find the clue to where the party hats were hidden. It was so much fun. I got the Dora music from the library, so the kids felt like they were part of the real thing. They were all so cute.

Preston even managed to "Swipe" a party hat.

We had the family over for spaghetti afterwards. This is Adelyn's cousin Savanna, whose birthday is the day before Adelyn's, so we celebrated her birthday too.

Here's the cake she wanted so badly. It was delicious and came with a "Swiper the Fox" chaser toy.

Buried in presents--Adelyn couldn't be happier.

Adelyn has wanted a piggy bank to store her coins for a long time. My sister Verna gave her this darling one that Adelyn got to paint herself. This is the finished product after 45 minutes of Ryan patiently helping her. They did such a good job!

What to do About Preston?

Well, I keep wanting to update this, but don't know what to say. My life is currently nuts! My whole family is sick (again), Ryan is still working like crazy to finish up his thesis (basically, I am a single mother), we are still house shopping, and both my kids have been ultra difficult and needy through it all (no doubt because they feel terrible, like I do).

Now that I'm finished complaining (yeah right), I wanted to discuss my baby in particular. Aren't babies supposed to like to sleep and spend at least a portion of the day and most (if not all) of the night engaged in the task? Aren't babies supposed to like riding in the car, sucking on a binkie, and being held by other people? My baby doesn't like any of these things. He takes pleasure in only one thing in his little world--me. I am his food supply, his teething ring (OUCH!), his soft and warm napping habitat, his amusement park, his protector, his garbage disposal, etc., etc. This has always been difficult, but I was content to know that he would eventually grow out of it and everything would be fine. However, my dear Preston is now approaching eight months old and his habits are really starting to wear me down and affect my ability to give anything else to Adelyn, Ryan, or myself.

Sleeping (or the lack of it) is a huge issue right now. In order to get my spirited baby to nap, I have to rock and sing to him for 30-40 minutes, carefully lay him down, and tip-toe out of the room. He will either wake up immediately and refuse to go back to sleep (unless I hold him the whole nap), wait ten minutes and do the same thing, or give me a blissful 30 minutes before he wakes up. That is the best I can hope for. Meanwhile, I have to keep Adelyn engaged in something and quiet so she doesn't disturb this delicate process. Many times, she comes in and demands one thing or another and I have to restart the process all over again. This is ridiculous, I know, but I am completely at a loss for what to do. He also wakes up all night long, often hourly.

I've tried a number of things to teach him to sooth himself. But because he won't take a binkie, has fierce separation anxiety, and has a very low stimuli threshold for awakening, the whole process seems doomed to fail. He used to nap in the swing, but now he's too big for it. What on earth can I do for this boy? First, I need to get him over his current sickness. But after that I need to make some major changes and help this kid be more independent so our family has more harmony and balance. I am open to any and all suggestions...

My Better Half

I got tagged by both Leslie and Heather, so it's high time I stop procrastinating.

1. What is his name? Ryan Kevin Marshall Rocque (yes, he has two middle names).
2. How long have you been married? 5 1/2 years.
3. How long did you date? Four months dating; four months engaged. I insisted that I at least turn 19 before we tied the knot.
4. How old is he? 28, but he often blends in quite well with his junior high students. He recently grew a mustache to remedy the problem, but has since (finally!) shaved it off. :)
5. Who eats more sweets? Definitely me, but he can hold his own when he's in the mood.
6. Who said I love you first? Neither of us remember for sure. I would guess that he did, and he'd guess that I did. I suppose we'll have to peruse my dusty journals to know for sure.
7. Who is taller? Ryan, but only by a couple inches. Fortunately, heels and I have never gotten along too well.
8. Who can sing better? We both LOVE to sing! And far too loudly at times. I usually get the words right and he has a really good ear. So, I guess we make a good duet.
9. Who is smarter? We are both good "students," but he is much more creative and well-rounded.

10. Who does the laundry? Me, because I'm quite particular about how it's done. I have to make sure all the stains come out of my kids' clothes which is almost a full-time job in and of itself :) Sometimes I have to soak them in Tide for a week or more. And I feel crazy if it's not all folded and put away the same day it's washed.

11. Who pays the bills? Me. But Ryan does the taxes. He doesn't much care about the money going out. Oh, but the money coming in...now that is worth getting involved in.
12. Who sleeps on the right side? Lately it's been me because the alarm is on the left side and I stay as far away from that thing as possible these days.
13. Who mows the lawn? The landscaping boys who come every Monday morning bright and early in the summer. But I'm banking (hoping) that Ryan will take that one on once we get our own yard. He also takes care of the cars and ALWAYS shovels the walks immediately after it snows, bless his heart.
14. Who cooks dinner? Mostly me. Unless we want a "real" restaurant-quality meal complete with five courses--that would be Ryan's forte.
15. Who drives? Always Ryan. I used to hate this, but I decided to love it. I get to relax while he deals with the other Utah drivers. And anytime I drive, I regret it because he is an unbearably anxious and opinionated passenger (back-seat driver).
16. Who kissed who first? That's a funny story actually. Ryan thought I wanted him to kiss me after our second date. (Apparently, I was giving him the eyes.) He drove all the way home and then came BACK to make sure that I didn't feel jilted. I laughed and informed him that he had totally misread me. After all, I was a "slow mover." We kissed for the first time two days later and he never had to ask what my eyes were saying. (Oops, so much for my moving slow.)
17. Who asked who out first? Another good story. Ryan asked me out the first time after our singles' ward FHE. Although we weren't going out until Saturday, he called me everyday that week until Friday, when I called him to come over and watch "Life is Beautiful" with a group of my friends. He showed up on Saturday with a bouquet of flowers and said "Bonjourno Princcipesa!" (If you haven't seen that movie, you need to.) I was a gonner from Day 1.
18. Who proposed? Ryan did. Let's just say fire trucks, music, and lots of roses. You get the idea...
19. Who has more siblings? I do! I am the youngest of 10; he is the second oldest of six. But my family is at least triple the size of his. My family parties have always been much more boisterous than his are. "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" is not too far off for us.
20. Who wears the pants? Hmm. Good question. I think we have a pretty good balance that way. We try not to step on each others toes. But his toes are probably more frequently injured, if you know what I mean.

My tag-ees are: Andrea, Ashley, and Heather J.

Feeding Time!

So, I think this picture speaks for itself. Wide-eyed Preston is bracing himself for a let down. His sister Adelyn told him long ago to steer clear of baby food and just wait around for the good stuff (big-people food). Thanks to Ryan, Adelyn's first food other than milk was a chocolate-chip cookie. (I wasn't home to stop him, but he took pictures so I have evidence.) As a result, baby food did not go over too well. Her taste buds knew there were far better things out there and she would spit the food out as fast as we tried to shovel it in.

We started feeding Preston rice cereal this past month and, notwithstanding his sister's advice, he actually eats it pretty well. Most of the time, however, he seems more interested in grabbing the spoon than he is in eating the food (see below). He pulls horrible faces when I give him other foods like sweet potatoes or pears, but bless his heart, he eats it anyway. I love my darling growing boy!