I'm Sorry

Dave and I were just reminiscing on how grateful we were and still are that the burns on Lizzie's hands have healed so well. Just four months ago we were worrying about motion limiting long term damage. Now, when you look at her hands you would never know they were ever injured.

There's nothing more painful than seeing your child in pain. Even when its a small injury, bump, or scrape, I find that my pain level parallels hers.
Now, most of the time its Lizzie getting a small bump and then over dramatizing the event for attention. (for which she gets no attention!)Lately, though she has taken it to a new level to capture more sympathy from all onlookers and audiences.

When Lizzie hurts herself, generally, we give her a hug, kiss and sympathsize by saying "I'm sorry!" However, she has mistaken the meaning of "I'm sorry" to mean "I'm hurt." Its pretty sad now whenever she hurts herself she'll hold the injured body part, crying, and sobbing, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" (translation=I'm hurt! I'm hurt!) It sounds very much like she is pleading for mercy.

Its most embarrasing when we're in public. She makes me feel like a child beater! She'll bump herself or get a little hurt then start to plead, pathetically, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" over and over again. I feel like people start looking at us just waiting for me to say something like, "You better be sorry or I'll hurt you even more!"

We've all witnessed that awkward parent/child interaction at the local store where you end up walking away thinking, "I can't believe how that mom treats her child! Terrible!"
But the moral of this story is: Don't judge the "terrible" mom at the grocery store! Reality is not always as it may appear..

Speaking on the Island

This past Sunday we were asked to re-give our talks on Anderson Island (the ward there is so small they need people to travel there so they don't have to hear from the same people every week.) It felt like a mini vacation- traveling on the ferry and checking out an island I've never been to! Anderson Island was a tiny little island with a tiny little community- very quaint. It seemed like a great place to get away from it all with lots of places to go camping! Lizzie loooved the ferry ride, pointing at the water and all the boats. She was a natural little commuter- relaxing in the booth and reading the baby news.

The island was so small and we had such an easy time getting on the ferry in the morning that we were fairly lax about getting in line to make the 12:30 pm ferry ride back to the mainland! Boy, were we surprised when we ended up being in line 3 with what seemed like a million cars in front of us!! We were really sweating at this point, imagining how terrible it would be to have to wait another 3 hours for the next ferry. Not to mention, we would have to keep the car there in line, the whole time, with a grouchy 18 month old in the back seat! At this point we were out of extra food, water, and it was already nap time!

We sighed with relief as they continued to load everyone, including the car directly in front of us. Until...just then they lowered the arm and stopped us!! We were going to have to catch the next ferry! We started pleading with the operator so he called the other worker on board and heard him ask, "what kind of car is it?" Luckily, we weren't driving a large truck or anything so they let us squeeze on! Woo hoo! That was a true Sunday miracle!

Wall Mural Complete!

It has truly been a week of painting. My mom flew in from Chicago Mother's Day night and we went painting crazy!! It started off with my mom bringing a canvas oil painting of Mount Rainier. A beautiful gift that we loved and completed by shopping for the perfect custom frame. (pics of that later).

Then we tackled a full-room wall mural for Lizzie's room! I have been dying to attempt some kind of wall mural since we bought our house. So mom and I started in and didn't stop for 3 days straight! We went painting crazy!


The perfect recipe for success was a do-it-yourself-kit plus my mom's artistic guidance! I definitely couldn't have done it without her help. (Especially with an 18 month old on the loose.)

We weren't really planning on painting THIS much, but we were having so much fun that we just kept on going, and going...

The canvas painting my mom did a year ago fit the room theme perfectly!

After painting for hours and hours we finally finished!

We then decided to end the week of painting by treating ourselves to pretty painted toes! But this time we did not do the painting ourselves. We left that work to the pedicure professionals!

At the end we showed Lizzie the finished product. She has been going crazy about her room ever since. When I get her up from her naps, the first thing she does is yell "TWEET TWEET!!!" then points at all the birds in the room. She is loving pointing out all the animals and flowers to me over and over again.

It really was a great time spent with my awesome mom! She is so talented and fun to hang out with. It was a great Mother's Day treat for me to have her fly out!

Braces Off!!

Dave got his braces taken off!! Hooray for him! He was so excited to get them off because "it will give me back another 5 years." As everyone tells us- Dave looks young. Generally that is a really good thing, but as a doctor it can take away from his credibility or the patient's confidence...or so he says. I think he is lookin good braces or not but one is thing IS for sure. Its always nice to have braces taken off!

I was in a rush but I slapped together this funny lookin cake and brought it in to the ortho office where Dave was getting his braces off and we had a little thank you celebration with the orthodontist and staff.

18 Months Old!!

The Life of an 18 Month Old:
Things I love: Playing with balls, balloons, stuffed animals, and baby dolls; reading books- "I'm very gentle and get to read paper back books now,"; coloring with crayons; playing outside -"especially if there are balls to kick around"; Learning letters and numbers- "I love to show off so go ahead and ask me what sounds the letters make!"

Favorite Color: Yellow

Favorite Animals: Lenny, Meow, and Tweet!

Favorite Phrases: "Boo-ya!", "Silly Mama!", "Good Lenny!", "Nice Baby!", "Hey you!", "Whoa, fun!", "Help pease!", "Daddy home soon!", "I want dat!" "I so funny"

Lizzie isms: "I've noticed that all the best things in the world end with sound ie/y like Mommy, Daddy, Lizzie, Lenny, Kitty, etc. So, I've decided to add an ie/y sound to all things I love!

My conversations with Lizzie sound like this:
Mom: What do you want to drink? Liz: Botty of Waty!
Mom: We're going to visit Papa! Liz: Poppy!
Mom: Guess what time it is? (as I turn on the shower) Liz: Showie!
Mom: Are you hungry? ( as i hold up an apple) Liz: Appie!

Favorite Show: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

Favorite Song: Old MacDonald and I'm a Little Fishy
Lizzie's "singing" is very amusing. She will sometimes sing along with a "Doo doo doo doo!" when she approves of the song. Or with "Old Macdonald" she will join in to say animal names and sounds.

Lizzie Lingo:
"Fwop!" Translation: Egg
She picked this up from a computer alphabet game that she loves. The animated egg breaks and apparently thats the noise it makes. She will say "egg" when I prompt her, otherwise she prefers the term"fwops!" when referring to her breakfast.

"Peeyah!" Translation: Hooray!
She says this frequently when she is particularly excited. This is a regular part of her vocab, especially since it makes daddy laugh so hard each time.

"Double-noon" Translation: the letter "W"
Whats there to say? Its a hard letter to pronouce.

"LennyNmeow, LennyNmeow, LennyNmeow, LennyNmeow!!" Translation: Don't you dare pick me up out of this crib until I have a good grip on my lion and kitty.
She says this EVERY morning when I start to pick her up out of the crib. She's very concerned about her stuffed friends being left behind.


I have been trying to prep Liz for her soon-to-be-coming sister Julie. I'll say "Where's baby Julie?" Then she'll point to my big tummy. We also practice being gentle with her baby doll, rocking her gently, etc...hopefully some of this will help when the lil sis arrives!
At least Lizzie gets to enjoy some "congrats, its a girl" balloons and fun with a baby doll for the time being!

He's Back From New Orleans!

Congrats to Dave!! Over the past couple months he has been flying from Seattle to San Francisco then finishing up in New Orleans. Now, he's back from New Orleans and done with his extra dental training! He is now a Fellow of the International Congress of Implantologists and a graduate of the Misch Institute. He arrived home, certificate in hand, along with over 100 extra hours in dental implant surgery CE! Way to go!

Lizzie and I are just glad to have him back at home with us for good now! Liz was extremely excited by her "Dadda's" souvenirs. It wasn't Mardi Gras while he was there (for those worried about how he obtained those beads) but he was able to pick up some beads at a gift shop. Lizzie has been obsessed with wearing ALL of them all the time ever since.

If Lizzie Had a Twin..

If Lizzie had a twin brother he might look a little bit like her friend Josh. These two are only a couple weeks apart in age, both have brown hair/blue eyes, are in the same percentile for height/weight, and have fairly similar facial features.

They are not actually related at all but they sure are good friends! The other night Mary was babysitting Lizzie and put the two kids to bed. When I came back to pick her up and pulled her out of bed, she was very concerned that Josh was no where in sight. She kept asking "Joshy?" and looking around for him. (He was asleep in his bedroom)
So the next TWO days she continued to ask for him. Apparently, this disappearance of Josh was very disturbing and she was anxious to see him again.
So, we met Josh at the park and the two had a great time!