Lips

Mariah is somewhat intrigued by the fact that Mike kisses me on the lips, but usually only kisses her forehead or cheek. After family prayer, on his way out the door, Mike dishes out the kisses. Mariah always puckers up, in hopes that she'll get one on the lips. She knows there's something special about that.

The other day, she said something about how Daddy kisses Mommy on the lips. I said, "Yep. When you're a mom, will your husband kiss you on the lips?" She seemed pretty excited about that prospect.

So, today, she did her usual hopeful pucker. Mike kissed her forehead. She asked, "Should you kiss me on the lips?" So, he did. She very excitedly announced, "I'm a mom!!"

I do love my 2-year-old . . . .

After that last post (and because of everyday life), I need to remind myself how cute my Mariah is, and that I really do love her . . . a lot. Here are some random pictures of her over the past few weeks:

Mariah loves building things right now.

Playing in the sprinkler.

Relaxing in the pool.

She still loves headbands.

"What does a lion say?"

Playing at a park.

A few of my favorite things:

• Once in a while, she'll really like something I wear. She says, "Mama's a princess!" I really like that.
• She's a very cute dancer and jumper.
• She knows the words to tons of songs and sings them to herself at random times. I heard her in her bed the other night, conducting a little nursery class for her bears. She would sing a song, in its entirety, say, "Yay, good job!" ask, "What other song should we sing?" and then sing another. She was belting, "The wise man built . . ." (which I didn't know she knew; I've never sung it with her) when she abruptly stopped, mid-sentence, and fell asleep.
• She loves sleeping in the car, which makes her a perfect traveler.
• She loves helping me do laundry.
• She makes up words. Good ones. Words that really sound like they should be real and should be used just as she's using them. Unfortunately, I cannot think of one of her words right now.
• She "reads" books word for word, from cover to cover.
• Sometimes when I'm sitting down at her level (or she's climbed up to mine), she'll start rubbing my shoulders with her little 2-year-old hands, and ask, "Mom, can I give you a 'sage (as in MAssage)?"

White Coat Ceremony

Before school started, Mike had what they call a White Coat Ceremony. It's a somewhat formal, special occasion, akin to graduation, but before school starts. The faculty and administration conduct a meeting held in a church; a speaker is brought in to talk about ethics and the dental code of conduct. Each student signs the oath and then gets a white dentist's coat with his name on it.

Unfortunately, the meeting was just a few days after we moved here, and I didn't know anybody. I had to take the girls with me. Mariah was on one of her let-me-see-if-I-can-push-all-of-mom's-buttons kicks; Elaine was wild and not helping anything. Both girls were being way too loud for a chapel (and as you can imagine, there were very few children in attendance). Mariah would not stay on our bench and was purposely doing the opposite of everything I said. Elaine was just being a squirrel--a loud one.

I finally strapped Mariah in the stroller and took her out to the foyer. I left her there for a few minutes and then let her try again. Bad idea. Things just got worse. The event was far enough in the past that I'm having trouble now remembering specific details, but by the end of the meeting, I was in tears. I had tried everything. I even stole a prayer sheet and pen for each girl from the pew in front of us.

We had seats on the side of the chapel, with the benches perpendicular to the main congregation, so all the faculty, staff, and students on the stand could see us quite well, in addition to the whole congregation. I was embarrassed and overwhelmed, to say the least. I just kept thinking to myself, as Mike looked down very sympathetically to me and sternly at the girls, "Well, here we go . . . . four years of me with no husband, and these crazy kids."

Well, it has not been so bad since. Mike does an amazing job of being very present when he's home; we eat dinner together, and he and I put the kids to bed together. He doesn't pull out the books until after the kids are down. And we will hopefully never again repeat that experience.

Mike signing the dental oath.

Mike getting his coat.

Mariah's artwork. This is what happened when I turned my back for a few seconds to take Mike's picture.

A closer look.

You can't really see it, but Elaine has pen on her forehead and around her left eye. I don't know who the artist was--she or her big sister.

Mike giving us his sympathetic/stern look from the stage.

Oklahoma City Zoo

The week before Mike started school, we took the kids to the zoo. It was almost unbearably hot, but we still had a good time. The highlight of the day was when a chimp spotted Mariah from 20-30 yards away, made a chimp mouth and sound, and ran straight at her. He pressed his face right up against the glass, about 3 inches from her face. Very funny. He didn't seem aggressive, just curious and excited to see her. He was not happy, however, when I tried to get his picture. He quickly walked away and then gave me stink-eye (see slideshow).

Fun with Texas Cousins!

Bats, Darts, and a Fat Candy Cane

Mike had his first exam a couple of days ago (he did great), so to give him some quiet time before the test, I took the girls to Texas for a few days to visit my sister and her family. We had a great time! I'll post pictures of the kids later.

Saturday night, my brother-in-law offered to stay with the kids after they were in bed so Joanne and I could go play in Austin. We had so much fun, and it was so nice to be childless for a few hours! (Thanks, Daniel.)

Standing on the "bat bridge" in downtown Austin. (You can see the capitol building really small in the background).

Self-portrait: waiting for the bats.

A passer-by offered to take our picture. Still waiting for the bats.

Bats. See the "flock" of bats across the sky? It was incredible. A steady stream of bats shot out from under the bridge for 45 minutes. There are 1.5 million bats living under this bridge. Crazy!!

Pita Pit. I got a falafel pita. So good! The taste of falafel will forever make me homesick for Jerusalem.

Gotta love the self portraits.

After we finished dinner, we got smoothies and walked the main street in downtown Austin. Our destination was a billiard hall, where we played darts. Very fun! (Except for the men who could not get it through their thick skulls that we were not interested in playing doubles. Teach us to go to a billiard hall without our husbands!)

As we were walking, before our game of darts, we passed a couple of men standing outside a bar. One of them held up his hand and said, "High five!" to me. Gross. Like I'm going to touch some strange beer-bellied man's hand on the street. So, I kind of shrugged and ducked under his hand. He immediately said, "Stuck-up Candy Cane!" and then thought of an even better one, and followed that by saying, "You fat Candy Cane!" I laughed hard. I will never be able to wear that shirt (which Joanne gave me as a Texas souvenir) without thinking, "You fat Candy Cane!" If I were fat, I might be offended. (Joanne apparently was slightly offended for me. She said she's never been so close to flipping someone off.)

Web Site Story

For your amusement:

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Goodbye, Utah . . . Hello, Oklahoma!

We packed up the truck on June 10-11th (thanks to all who helped!), said goodbye to our house, and then stayed at my parents for a few days. (We didn't want to beat the truck to Oklahoma.) The Hirschis arrived from Texas to stay--in between homes--moving from Texas to Arizona. We had a great (and short) time with them.

The Georges/Hindmarsh's had a going-away party for us on the 14th. Thanks Bronsons, Grandma and Gramps, Mom and Dad and crew. And thanks, Teri, for the cookies!

We left Utah on June 15th. The girls were great travelers for our 2-day trek. We stopped the first night in Albuquerque.

We arrived at our new house at about 5:20 p.m. on the 16th. The truck arrived 10 minutes later. And the moving crew (14 men from the ward and dental school) arrived 30 minutes later! I was amazed and touched. I don't know what people do who don't have The Church to receive them. Thanks, guys! The truck was completely unloaded in 45 minutes, and most boxes were in the correct rooms!

Mike just finished his second week of school (pretty grueling), and we're gradually getting settled in here. We miss everyone in Utah, but we're excited and grateful to be where we are.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple

A week before we moved, we were able to go to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house. I was glad we went, and I hope our girls felt the Spirit there. I was hoping for one of those "ah ha" 2-year-old experiences for Mariah. You know the kind you hear about where the child is reverent all the way through the temple, and then says something profound like, "This is Jesus' house." Didn't happen that way. Mariah whined all the way through, and I spent the whole time carrying and shushing her. Oh well. She did love the fountains outside and still talks about the Oquirrh Mountain temple. (If she sees a picture of any temple, she says, "That's the Oquirrh Mountain Temple.")

We went to a fun park in the Day Break neighborhood to change and eat lunch. It was a bit windy, but the girls had a good time.

One Year Ago . . . .

. . . my little squishiness was born. The year has flown by, and Elaine brings me joy every day. Here are a few of her favorites:

• words: dog, doll (sounds the same as dog), hot, uh-uh (while shaking her head), dad, mama, again (also means "more")
• signs: all done, tired, nurse, bye-bye (same as nurse)
• songs: popcorn popping, pat-a-cake, mouse a cookie (the whole cd)
• music: She loves all music.
• dancing: Laney has danced to music from the time she was tiny. She bounces and/or sways to the beat. Even if she's lying down (getting her diaper changed, for instance), she starts moving her head from side to side if music comes on, or if I start to sing.
• toys: babies, strollers/bikes (anything with wheels that she can push), anything with buttons she can push to make music
• book: Little Mommy. She carries it everywhere and loves it when I read it to her.
• food: oatmeal, potatoes (in any form), fruit of any kind

Elaine is very aware of space and the way things work. She's very coordinated and has a lot of control of her body. She already eats quite well with a spoon/fork. She also loves putting things inside of other things. She'll get a cup or bowl and find little things to put inside. She also tries to put shoes on her feet.

She loves putting small things in her mouth and carrying them that way. She's usually quick to give me whatever is in her mouth when I ask. This is a common scenario: "Laney, what's in your mouth? Is that a rubberband (or rock, or button, etc.)?" She then fishes out whatever is in there and holds it up for me to see. "Please give it to me." She hands it over and goes on with her life. The only thing she has swallowed (that I know of) to date is a small shiny star from one of Mariah's crowns. I found it in her diaper the next day.

She is not walking yet, but has taken one step several times; then she stops or sits down. She loves standing up in the middle of a room, but has not yet gone anywhere on two feet. She does have a pretty fast bear walk, though.

Laney loves jokes and always tries to make people laugh. (She's got the parade wave down for when I take her out of sacrament meeting). She makes funny faces on purpose (and has since she was very young) and loves the attention she gets for it.

Here's to a year gone by: