Sealing Day

The first anniversary of Tyson's sealing fell on a Sunday. Since we don't go to church until 1:00, we spend some time that morning at the temple grounds. It's a beautiful time of year to be outside the temple, and the kids always love being there.

Asher was being a stinker at this point and refused to come sit near us for a picture.

So instead, I told him I'd take pictures of him pouting all by himself. I only got one... 

 ...before he flashed me this grin.

 Then he remembered he was mad, and went back to pouting.

Luckily that boy doesn't hold a grudge long, and it ended up being a very enjoyable morning for our family.

Found: Real Beauty

This is for all the beautiful women in my life. If you haven't already seen it, take the three minutes to watch this video from Dove. You'll be glad you did.

"We spend a lot of time, as women, analyzing and trying to fix the things that aren't quite right. We should spend more time appreciating the things that we do like."



"You are more beautiful than you think." What an amazing campaign!

Weekends

Scot started a new job in November that has quite a few perks that we've been taking advantage of. Our favorite is his 9/80 schedule. He works his 80 hours in 9 days, rather than 10, so he has every other Friday off. We have scheduled a few family activities on those Fridays, but most of them have been spent doing projects around the house.

The first was the most needed. I'm so disappointed that we didn't take a 'before' photo of our main floor bathroom. But any of you who have been to our house are sure to remember the dark maroon floral wallpaper that covered all four walls. That job took a whole weekend: Friday we stripped the wallpaper, and we repainted on Saturday. 

Then a few weeks later, Scot replaced the gold shower frame with one that's a little more our taste.

Next came a smaller project that has really helped clean up our garage: a bike rack! The kids think it's great, and I even caught Asher opening the garage door a couple of times the next day, just to take a peek at it.

The biggest project day of all came two weeks ago, when Scot decided to tackle two building projects in the same day, with a little help from Riley and Asher. He and I have both been pleased with the results of that Friday.

The wood on top of his workbench is for the next big project: framing all four bathroom mirrors.

In addition to these, Scot has also been doing some less glamorous, but no less useful, tasks. He has replaced two toilets, rotated the tires on both our cars, and changed the oil in mine, and washed the cars a couple of times. And there are probably more that I'm forgetting.

The beauty of this schedule is that we're getting a lot done around the house, we reserve Sundays for worship and family time, but we still have Saturdays to play, or just hang out together and be lazy. I couldn't help snapping this pic of Scot and Asher watching Iron Man yesterday afternoon.

Found: "Two Babies in a Manger"

I've posted about this family before. They're in St. George, Utah and are trying to raise funds to bring their three to-be-adopted children home. Yesterday they posted a Christmas story on the blog that I haven't heard before. I hope you love it as much as I do. And while you're there, consider donating a few bucks. They've had someone offer a donation match that ends tomorrow, so your $5 donation becomes $10 for these kids. And your donation is tax-deductable if you do it through Eli Project.

Two Babies in a Manger. "It is not what you have in your life, but WHO you have in your life that really counts."

Extra Special Sealing Day

The timing of this trip worked out perfectly...our last day in San Antonio was the fifth anniversary of Riley's sealing to us in the San Antonio temple. We had an afternoon flight home, so we were able to visit the temple that morning.

The temple happened to be closed that day for maintenance, and there were quite a few people there from a local LDS congregation, planting fall plants and laying new sprinkler pipe. One of them kindly took this photo of the three of us:

in which we were attempting to recreate this photo:

It was a really special way to celebrate Riley's Sealing Day.

Tyson's Sealing

With Tyson's adoption finalized, we went to the Denver Temple last Saturday so that Tyson could be sealed to us. It was a really special day that we have been looking forward to. Riley and Asher also got to be in the temple with us to watch (they have been previously sealed into our eternal family). Unfortunately, the weather was cold and rainy that morning, but since we now live less than 10 minutes away, we went back Sunday evening for some pictures. It was nice since there weren't many people on the temple grounds.

On Sunday, we gave Tyson a name and blessing (sometimes called a baby blessing, but Tyson is no baby). We believe in baptism at the age of 8 when a child is accountable for their choices, but a name and a blessing could be thought of as similar to a christening, where the child is blessed during the congregational meeting and their name is 'recorded'. Normally, the baby would be held by the men giving the blessing, but since Tyson is nearly 2 he sat in Becca's lap in a chair and we laid our hands on his head. We feared that he might freak out and/or throw a tantrum, so Becca had a sucker ready to go. Everything went smoothly though, and it turned out well. This was a unique experience for Becca and most others to see since usually the baby blessing happens around 1-2 months old and the mother just sits in the pews and listens.

One of the few instances we have gotten a picture with Asher smiling. He smiles all the time at home, but for some reason, in public he's serious, shy, and quiet.

For some reason, Tyson thought it was hilarious to almost touch the flowers and then quickly pull his hand back. Things got a little irreverent, but they're just kids and there weren't many people around, so we let it be.

Riley is Five!

I can't believe my little girl is five years old. And I can't believe how much I feel like my Dad when I say that. If he were here to tell me that he remembers when they first laid me in his arms, and how I just stared up at him and didn't cry, this time I wouldn't respond "Oh Dad" as I rolled my eyes. Because I get it now. All those details I remember about the night we met Riley for the first time do not seem like they happened five years ago!

But enough of my gushing. Riley's birthday was on a Wednesday, but we stretched the celebrations out long enough to make some of my sisters proud. Scot's parents were in town the previous weekend, and that Sunday we had some extended family over for dinner. There were three people there that night with birthdays within a week of each other. So naturally we called it a birthday dinner, and convinced Riley that the chocolate-covered strawberries that Aunt Carol brought were especially for her, since strawberries are one of her favorite foods. I didn't take many pictures that night, but here's Tyson covered in that same treat.

On her actual birthday, we met Jessica and her kids at the zoo. Because it was her birthday, Riley got in free, and got a special elephant birthday pin. I'd love to share more details, but the zoo is the zoo, right?

For dinner that night, Riley requested homemade pizza. For several weeks leading up to her birthday, she was also making birthday cake requests. But each time she requested a different cake. A couple of times she even requested two cakes, a Princess cake for herself, and a Cars cake that the boys would appreciate. Finally I told her that I was going to make her a surprise birthday cake that I knew she would love, and I was no longer taking requests. When it was time to decorate the cake we sent the kids downstairs to play.

Here is the finished cake:

We sat Riley down at the table and made her close her eyes for the big reveal. Fortunately I was right: she loved it! 

We used a real Belle doll, which was one of her birthday gifts, and a gotta say, Riley was surprised and I think a little freaked out when we pulled the doll out to serve the cake and out came a pair of naked legs!

Preschool was out for Spring Break the week of her birthday, so her class sang to her and made her a special birthday crown the following week.

Riley is in the 91st percentile for height now, and 31st for weight. Up from 79 and 27 last year. Scot and I wonder if she'll be taller than both her brothers when they're adults.

We snuggled together in Riley's bed that night, and because it was her fifth birthday, I spent five minutes telling Riley things that I love about her. I'll share a few of them here:

• Even though we don't have the same DNA, we do have a lot in common. I love that she likes to have a place for everything. She is pretty good about keeping her room clean and her toys put away when she knows where everything should be.

• Riley learned to read last summer, and while it was a struggle sometimes, she loves reading now. She also loves being read to. This makes me so happy, since reading is one of my favorite things. Every night in bed, she reads a book to me, and then I read a chapter to her. Right now we're working our way through the Ramona books. I think we'll do the Little House series next.

• She is very compassionate. She looks out for her friends and her brothers and wants everyone to be happy. I was the type of kid that would cry if I saw someone else getting picked on. Riley would feel empathy for them too, but I suspect she'd walk right up to the bully and tell them to cut it out.

• She is so friendly and outgoing. That's one thing that is definitely not like me, but I'm becoming better through her example. Anytime we go to a place where there are other kids, a park, the library, a fast-food play area, the nursery at the gym, Riley leaves with a new friend. Just today she made a friend named Savannah at the park. Her approach this morning was, "Hi. My name's Riley. Do you want to play with me?" She just makes it look so easy.

• Riley isn't afraid to share her talents. Last fall she sang a solo in front of the whole congregation at church. When she was walking up to the pulpit I was so nervous for her, I felt like throwing up. But she had a smile on her face the whole time. She told Scot and I afterward that she was a little nervous, but "I just pushed all the nervous into my hands. Then my hands were shivering a little bit so I just held on to the pulpit really tight." Riley has also memorized a couple of scripture verses, and loves when she gets the opportunity to share them in Primary.

• She is such a helpful girl. I can always count on her to help out the boys if I've got my hands full. She does a good job of looking out for them. She is in charge of feeding the dog every day, and she has several other chores around the house. She is usually great about doing them without complaint, and often when she sees me working, she'll ask, "What can I do for you, Mom?"

What would I do without her? I am grateful every day that it was God's plan for Riley to be in our family, and equally as grateful to her birth parents for allowing that plan to happen.

Two and A Half

Yes, this post is nearly a month out of date. But better late than never, right?


Asher is all about extremes lately. He often says "never, ever, EVER" when describing something and tells me quite often that certain things are his favorite. He can be fickle, though, and his favorites change frequently.

Ash loves to sing and is pretty good at it. His favorites to sing are "I Am A Child Of God," "Daddy's Homecoming," and "Hush Little Baby." He loves listening to, and singing along with "The Goldfish" and "Pig On Her head," both by Laurie Berkner, the Glee version of "Bad Romance," and "Bad" by Michael Jackson.

He is in the 10th percentile for height and about the 15th for weight. Now that he is out of diapers, Asher is having the same problem his big sister had at this age, quite a few of his pants won't stay up without being pinned.

Asher is much more confident and independent than he was even a few months ago. He can go to the bathroom by himself, and dress, undress himself (although he still needs help putting shirts on), and put his clothes in his drawers. I told him that when Tyson comes home, it will be a lot easier on me if Asher could buckle his own seatbelt. Every time we got in the car after that he insisted on practicing, and he had it mastered within a couple of days. Asher now has his own chores at home, including setting the table for dinner, taking his dirty dishes to the sink after each meal, putting away certain toys in the playroom, and taking the recyclables outside to the bin.

In spite of the fact that he's over his "mama's boy" phase, he is still quite cuddly and sweet. Occasionally he'll climb onto my lap and when I ask him what he needs he'll tell me, "I want to sit on your lap, Mommy" or just "I need Mommy."

We are so blessed to have Asher in our family.He is sweet and charming, and we can’t wait to see how he develops in the next 6 months.

A Little Miracle

We discovered Riley's strawberry allergy just after her first birthday, when we went berry picking with some friends and she broke out in a rash all over her body the following day. We had reason to suspect a peanut allergy when she had a reaction a couple of months later. That one was confirmed last spring when we tested her by feeding her increasing amounts of peanut butter over a couple of days.

Avoiding certain foods is easy in our home, and I didn't worry about snacks in preschool because her teachers were very cautious. But as Riley gets older, I have realized that avoiding those foods when she's out of my supervision is going to get tricky. I won't always be able to prevent "accidents" from happening: if a generous friend shares a snack with her, or if she eats at someone else's home where a "safe" food has been cross-contaminated. While she's old enough to tell people about her allergy, and she knows to avoid strawberries and peanuts, she isn't old enough to read ingredient labels, or always recognize when those foods are included in what she is eating.

After one such cross-contamination incident I had a little melt-down at the reality of what her life was going to be like. It didn't help that I made a new friend about the same time whose husband has an anaphylactic reaction to peanuts, and she shared stories with me of how he is affected by his allergy on a regular basis. Riley's four-year check-up with our pediatrician came within a week of that incident and resulting melt-down, and I shared my concerns with her. She referred us to an allergist for testing.

Riley had skin tests for nine different foods. Strawberries and peanuts, of course, plus shellfish (because of a family history), and six more that are common allergens. The good news from this test is that she has outgrown the strawberry allergy! On our way home we stopped by the grocery store for fresh strawberries and strawberry ice cream for the Strawberry Party we had that evening.

The bad news is that she is allergic to sunflower seeds, which we didn't know about before. But that's a fairly easy one to avoid. Unfortunately the peanut test was inconclusive. On a scale of 0-5, a reaction of 3 or higher is considered a allergic reaction. They measured Riley's reaction to peanuts as a 2. So they sent us to the lab for a blood test. The results from that were lower than expected for someone with a peanut allergy. So we went back to the allergist for another test, this time an "oral challenge." Riley ate increasing amounts of peanut butter in 20 minute increments, with a nurse checking for a reaction after each dose. She got up to the 1 tablespoon dose with no reaction!

I was skeptical. The allergist confirmed that about 25% of kids with a peanut allergy outgrow it. I didn't know if I didn't believe it because it seemed too good to be true, or if my doubt was some sort of mother's instinct that I should listen to. But I was warned by the allergist that if she isn't exposed to peanuts, her body could re-sensitize itself, so she should eat them in small amounts on a regular basis: at least a couple times a week.

So I cautiously fed her small amounts of peanut butter a couple of days later, again with no reaction. I continued to give her a little bit every few days, and she continued to be fine. Since then she has eaten a fair share of pb&js, chicken satay, peanut butter granola bars, etc. So I'm finally confident in saying that Riley is peanut-allergy-free! And after the panic I had felt just a couple of weeks before coming to this conclusion, I consider this a huge blessing from the Lord. Maybe even a little miracle!

Christmas Day

We had a pretty laid-back Christmas this year. We celebrated at home, just the four of us. Asher was very interested in our Little People and VeggieTales nativities, and carried them around on a regular basis throughout the month of December. The pieces we had to track down regularly were the baby Jesus and camel from the first nativity, and two squash in a cow costume from the latter. Riley was much more interested in Santa this year than she has been in the past, even though Scot and I haven’t made a big deal out of that aspect of Christmas. Riley would remind me fairly regularly that Santa wouldn’t come to our house if she wasn’t good.

Breakfast came in two courses on Christmas morning, and we opened gifts in between. It was fun to do the whole process slowly, and stop to let them play with their new toys.

Last year was a wonderful year for us, in many ways. Christmas day was a great time to reflect on our blessings and the exciting changes that are ahead for our family.

Coming Summer 2011

Waye Child 3.0

Born May 2010

9 pounds, 11 ounces (no, that's not a typo)
21 inches
in South Korea

Nicknamed Hodori (baby tiger) by his birthmother.

We expect to be able to bring him home in July or August.

Sealing Celebration

This was the second year that we celebrated Riley's sealing. Last year Scot gave her pink gerbera daisies (because they were pink) and she chose pizza for dinner. This year Scot gave her pink gerbera daisies (because she likes the way they droop after a couple of days) and she chose pizza for dinner.

We tried a pizza place that we hadn't been to. The pizza was great, and the kids loved playing on the Galaga and Cruisin' USA games. I think we'll be eating there again.

For her bedtime story that night I told her about her sealing day. About all the people that love her who drove, and even flew, to San Antonio to be in the temple with us. About how angelic she looked in the beautiful white dress her Grandmommy gave her. About the ceremony that was performed in the temple that allows me to be her mommy for eternity. Then I showed her the dress she wore that day, and I could see her eyes light up as the story became more than just a story. And hopefully the day became about more than just pizza and flowers.

Best Daddy

The Daddy in this house has two wonderful kids who love him. Riley and Asher are both very affectionate lately, giving hugs and kisses, snuggling, even holding his hand.

Obviously they love him so much because he shows them how much he loves them.

Scot is a very hands-on Daddy.

He gets down on the ground and plays with them.

He does things with them that they enjoy.

He teaches them.

He helps them.

He makes time for them.

All three of us are very glad that he's their Daddy!