mother's day and birthday, all in one

My mom had a blast finding these on the beach while Jim was clamming. This is how old I am. Looks like a lot. Good thing they are not candles.

Tucker helping clean up the clams and sand dollars.

Whitney clamming. She face planted in the water, but didn't cry. What a trooper!

Whitney and Tucker running in the water on the beach

The best part of the beach was climbing up and down sand dunes, obviously. Tucker with Daddy

This one is for Aunt B. Whit's first time wearing the sweater.

Daddy and Tucker after a very long night of throw ups and who knows what else.

Tucker and Whitney running on the beach.

Early morning car ride to the clam beds

Jim with his clam gun, but look at the thousands of people along the shore behind him. The beach was like this as far as we could see
Whitney looking for rocks. Clams are overrated

Mina cooking real chile rellenos for my birthday

Whitney less than excited about the early morning car ride


This week was a week of molars coming in. Very exciting. Tucker also learned to open caps to lotion bottles and toilet lids. Very exciting new skills. Whitney has been taking off all the heater vents. We found out they are not anchored to anything. They also learned how to climb in the stroller by themselves. Whitney continues to pull weeds and Tucker is learning to steer his car and kick the ball with more finesse. It is now fairly safe to let them go up and down the stairs with minimal supervision. Tucker's hugs are getting less fierce, so Rocky is doing better, but Whitney still wants nothing to do with Tucker touching her most of the time, even if he is giving her a hug. We also had a fun time going on a short hike and having a twin play date with friends.

Jim started work this week. That is one amazing feat and wonderful for all involved.

I had my birthday on Saturday and Mother's day on Sunday. A note on Mother's day. First of all, I'm so very glad to be able to enjoy Mother's Day with my own babies and not as "honored woman status". However, enjoying mother's day was different than I expected. I guess it is better to lower expectations significantly, as soon as possible. For some reason, in addition to being spoiled rotten, I expected to sit through church quietly, not change any diapers and generally take a day off from all mothering duties. Hah. No problem, if I have no problem listening to the babies whine and whine and whine and whine. I guess they had too much fun yesterday not really sticking to their nap schedule, so two days in a row of no nap made them both very grumpy and always wanting to be in arms with said honored mother. Oh well. I was very spoiled and appreciated regardless, so it made for an extra special day two days in a row. Jim captured, killed, cleaned and cooked crabs for my birthday dinner yesterday, then made dinner tonight, too. I also have lots of beautiful tulips to look at. My favorite mother's day present was a card I got with Tucker and Whitney's signature and hand prints. Jim colored each babies' hand with a marker to make the handprint, since he couldn't find our ink pad. And he did it on the sly. I had no idea what he was doing. Such thoughtfulness. I'm also amazed because I didn't even notice the babies hand color during bath, which means he cleaned up. My favorite birthday present from hubby was a gift card for a massage. I'm so very looking forward to that one.

As far as my birthday, yes Sis Perry, you got the date right, I got lots of phone calls from people, making me feel loved and important, and time to be outside on an adventure with the people I love most. Couldn't be happier.

Daddy had the camera... Lots of pics

"I'm so silly! Take a picture of me, Daddy!"

The babies on the front of the ferry last week

Whitney picked all these weeds by herself. I wanted a picture of that

"Now, I've seen the dogs use their tongues to get it all. I wonder exactly how they do that? I really love yogurt."

Tucky solves the Rubix cube, again

Whitney on her trip with Daddy
The babies in a less windy area of the ferry, looking out.

Sometimes it is so hard to be me.
So hard
This is what the babies were looking at in the pictures below.
The babies on the pier after dinner last week
This sunset is really cool

Check it out, Tucker!
Whitney loves putting things in stuff, clam shells included.

This week I didn't take any pictures, so I got a hold of Jim's camera and pulled off some pics of our day excursion last week, plus a few other random ones.

Whitney's new trick this week is walking down the stone stairs, no hands, facing forward. Scares the pants off of me. But she is also getting to be a good little dandelion picker, as well as the other weeds featured above. I love this kid!

Tucker likes to push and pull things, including the patio furniture off the deck and his little "10 little indian" popcorn pusher thing Lindsay gave him.

They are both very good helpers in putting things away, washing hands and helping to get dressed and undressed.

Jim decided to accept the Razorfish offer and he starts Tuesday. Everyone is very happy about it all.

Don't worry Papa, we are thinking of you and Lorene.

pics/video for good news post

Babies checking out the pier
Tucker and Daddy doing some of their favorite things together. For the record, Jim was looking up info on clams.
Eating lunch
Check out these awesome flowers
Tucky at the locks
Whitney at the locks
Yep. that is a full sized VW bug
Tucker playing peek a boo with mommy at the park
Babies first bike ride.

good news

First of all, Jim got a job offer and even more interviews this week. He has to respond back to the offer he got by the end of the week, but he is still shopping, just to make sure it is the best option. Pretty crazy. The offer came sooner than we thought possible AND there are multiple options!! Yeah prayer!

This week we had lots and lots of fun together, which is one of the reasons why I'm late posting (sorry mom and auntie Jill).

Before I forget. We were sitting in church a couple of weeks ago. I was letting Whitney play with the rubber band that holds her food container shut. I thought the biggest hazard was her possibly swallowing it, so I was just watching her closely when the rubber was in her mouth, not her hand. Big mistake. She launched the rubber band five pews forward, diagonal across the isle and four people in on that row and hit someone on the cheek. Right during a really spiritual talk about the sacrifice of Christ and what it means in our life. Great. So right when I was holding a laugh in (which makes it funnier of course), I'm supposed to be being reverent. Kids. Lucky for me there was a missionary leaving, so Whitney hit a 19 year old boy in the cheek. He turned around with a big grin on his face, I think expecting to see one of his buddies to have done it, only to see Whitney with a really sad face because her rubber band was suddenly gone and the mommy laughing hysterically. It always amazes me how reverent sacrament meeting is with all the kids around.

Noelle came to visit us on her spring break. It was good timing because Jim got the offer her first morning here. That way we felt like we could do things with her without feeling like we are using money that we might need later to feed the babies. The day she got here we went to the park. You'll see Whitney on the teeter totter with her in the video selection below. Tucker wasn't much into it.

The next day we did stuff around town, like look at the troll, the locks and the downtown market with all its awesome flowers. I took a pic of the flower bunch Noelle picked out and treated us to for you to enjoy also. We loved seeing the buckets and buckets of daffodils and tulips. Bright colors like that are so awesome to look at after winter gray. Whitney had so much fun she failed to take a nap in the car or the stroller, like I thought she would.

Saturday we took a ferry ride for the first time and went to the beach on the other side. Lots of the videos are at this beach and what the babies loved playing with for hours on end. After the beach we explored the island a bit and found a restaurant that gave us free steamed clams (the kitchen accidentally cooked an extra batch) with our yummy meal for a reasonable price!!

Sunday Noelle flew home before Easter dinner, so we had some friends, Kristy and Bryson, come over for dinner, an Easter egg hunt, and scripture time with what we learned in church that day. There is lots of video about easter eggs. There are a couple of videos of Whitney and Tucker trying to put together an egg. Notice how quiet it is while they were working on that skill. That is how I finished making Easter dinner while Jim was driving Noelle to the airport. They were both very intent on figuring out those eggs for about 20 minutes . Awesome! Whitney caught on to the game of finding the eggs and putting them in the basket, but Tucker figured out the treats inside quicker than Whitney.

Today Daddy was in charge of the activity for family home evening. So he decided to show the babies Veggie Tale Silly Songs on You-Tube. It was really funny for me to look in and see them looking up at the screen, fascinated, but then I decided that doesn't achieve family togetherness quite how I was envisioning it, so we danced to the Veggie Tale songs. Now THAT was fun!

Whitney has two upper molars that cut through completely last week and Tucker has 5 molars that are very white and look like they will cut through any day, all at once.

So there is all our very good news. Lots of it and we'll take it

Oh his is why people live here!

HikingWhitney snuggled with Kristy
Our lunch and rock throwing spot
Sunday snuggles
The second waterfall that we drove to, instead of hiking to, that day
Look Ma! No shoes!
Happy Birthday Dad
Nothing like potstickers for dinner.


This week we went hiking. We meaning me, the babies and a friend. Not Jim. Apparently this kind of hiking is not high adventure enough for him. Whitney hiked 0.5 miles, while Tucker (obviously my child) "couldn't walk" and wanted to be carried only. He did finally figure out the beauty of rock throwing on the trip, though.

Whitney's first molar cut through early last week/the beginning of this week. Jim noticed first because he was playing wild with her and she threw her head back and laughed a ton. She also learned how to pull her socks and shoes off. She was talking away and being so good during a 40 min car ride and now I know why. She was gleefully learning this new skill.

Jim was in New York for two days doing a job interview this week and I was at a continuing education course in order to keep my license active and myself ready for work. That means we both had two days full days of just Mommy or just Daddy time. Except mine wasn't overnight, but then again, I didn't take the babies to church alone, so all and all it was interesting.

We ended the week celebrating Jim's birthday by going on a "cruise" I made Jim a fake passport and put a "travel itenary " inside that included a dinner buffet, a dessert buffet, one shore excursion (for example wakeboarding, done on Wii of course) and evening entertainment. I'm pretty impressed with myself of thinking it up, but then again, I expanding on an idea that a friend of mine told me they did for a wedding anniversary. I think Jim liked it, but I'm never really sure how he likes things like that. The babies liked the candles.

lots of video of Tucker with his new dance moves

Tucker and Daddy snuggling together while they suffer through their colds

After a week break of letting Whitney try to use utensils, I let her have them back. It is so cute to me that she tips the bowl, as long as she doesn't fling it, that is.


This week Daddy was showing Tucker how to dance. I have the videos posted in order so you can see Tucker's dance move progression. He's almost got the hands and feet going at the same time.

I thought I would have photos of Whitney's adventures with Daddy in Utah this week, but Daddy was too busy taking care of Whitney to take cute pics of her. I think I mentioned that she made friends with the lady next to her on the way there, sleeping on her lap the whole way. So not fair. On the way back, they happened to have the two seats next to them open, so she spent a whole lot of time crawling around. She was nice and tired when we picked them up at 10 pm that night. But of course, no sleeping in the next day. That is against baby rules. All in all she loved eating all sorts of different foods, getting lots of one on one attention, snuggling with Daddy at night instead of being in a crib, and visiting cousins and friends. But as with all trips so far, she came home with something. I think it's from being in airports. My hands always feel dirty after being in the airport and since she licks those often, guess what. Sickness.

I've decided that having sick babies is THE WORST. It makes me grumpy because they aren't sleeping at night really well, they are grumpy during the day, Tucker does his gag/snot thing all day and night, Whitney gets her close to too high fevers and I get sick because with all that added crying I feel I definitely deserve to make and eat the WHOLE batch of choco chip cookies (originally intended for Jim) for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Definitely lots of wholesome, vitamin C goodness.

There is this commercial I saw once (I think it is for Dayquil) that shows this guy on his side on the couch with lots of used Kleenexes on the table in front of him. He is saying to his wife "I can't reach the remote!" She hands him a package of Dayquil instead and the voice says "tough enough for even the man-cold". At first I thought it was yet another way the media demeans men, but now I have to laugh at it, because, to a point, the commercial is true.

Here's how colds go around here. The babies both get sick within 2 days of each other. Never at the same time because that would make the sleepless night thing too short for parents. Then Mom starts feeling rotten, but never enough to be on bedrest, just enough to be really grumpy. Then, just as the babies start getting better, Jim gets sick and whiny for a good week, often getting sinus infections and such. (by the way, we had a discussion once about how we would have died if we lived in the old days. His was that he would have died from a sinus infection or the cold. I would have died from an ear infection). Whitney and I feel miserable and just sit around a bunch due to lack of energy. If we are really in pain, we cry. Tucker and Daddy whine a lot more and Tucker always does this gag/throw up thing that forces me to do more laundry than I have energy for. Blah. But being an "experienced" Whitney and Tucker parent at this point, at least I know what is coming and going and it is much less of an issue than the first time it happened and do stuff anyway.

Like finish the bathroom. I go to the bathroom in the kids bathroom all the time now because looking at those freshly painted walls makes me so happy for some reason. All I did was paint and I love it.

Jim has some promising face to face interviews after having phone interviews this coming week. He's looking forward to working for some of these companies and I'm looking forward to him working again! If not, I'm ready to start looking for work. Jim will have had the babies for three Saturdays in a row after next saturday for almost all the day or most the day. He does a great job with them, knowing their needs and playing with them and a good, energizing break for Mom to get stuff done. I'm not sure if it is motivating Jim to look for work more (even though he is already very motivated) or less motivating because he doesn't get to be with them off and on during the day when he goes back to work

Even with all this sickness, Jim watched the babies while I did yard work today. While I was harvesting my dandelion crop, I had lots of time to think about how relatively happy the babies stay through all this. Even when they don't feel well they snuggle during the day. Today Whitney and I had a growling contest. Pretty fun to be a family, even in the crazy, grumpy times.

The last two videos are of Whitney with her new ball the neighbor gave her and the babies dancing on the step stool. Look at the size difference!

more excitement around here than usual

In big kid carseats. Even though this picture makes them look like they're not so sure about this, trust me, they love it. They were both just tired when I took this picture. Neither one of them can resist how riding in the car just makes them so groggy.

Whitney bringing in the mail



Whew! This week was a whirlwind, mostly in the head. Jim was laid off work officially Tuesday, so with it comes the mind-spinning of what to do next. Neither one of us have been through the process for ourselves and it is very different and humbling to not be the one that determines when work ends. Sometimes the writing is on the wall, so you can get out or see it coming, but this was a big surprise. However, this week I have also been able to see lots and lots of blessings.

First of all Jim spoke with two recruiters this past week, and has a phone interview this Tuesday, so the outlook on getting work soon is very positive for him. It is also very comforting and reassuring to know that I can get a job and be able to pay all the bills, just in case Jim can't. The other great thing is that we own our cars and have no credit card debt, so lowering expenses is in our control. We have some savings and food storage that will give us multiple weeks backup during the job search. If neither one of us finds work in our field, we both have several skills that we can put to use to be "underemployed" if need be. So at this point we feel we have lots of options to work with, We've fasted and prayed about it all, and both of us feel peace that can only come from God. But I'm still anxious about the details of how it will all work out. Oh me of little faith. We both know plenty of skilled people that don't have work still or it took them 6-12 months to find work, if not longer, so it's hard for me not to worry and wonder, but we've "tried Him in times that are past" and have been blessed with work up until now.

So that will all explain the post a bit better. Jim had a work conference scheduled in Las Vegas this weekend that got canceled for obvious reasons. Of course, changing the date or name on an airline ticket costs even more money than just paying for the original ticket, so Jim went to Utah anyway. He had chosen to fly to Salt Lake then carpool down to Las Vegas as it was significantly less to do it that way. Which worked out better because he could visit family. As we were discussing what to do about this plane flight, I suggested he "take a baby". And he said " I think I will!" Then it was hard to decide which baby to take. We decided Whitney should go because she is better at eating different foods, is not in such a mommy phase (again) as Tucker is, and is better at sleeping wherever, whenever. She can also go for a little bit longer between meals. All optimal traveling traits. So Whitney, being older, has traveled more than Tucker.

So far she has experienced new foods such as italian breadsticks and potato chips. Jim said her cousins "started giving Whitney potato chips and after that she wanted nothing to do with eating chicken". I have to admit, I'm pretty impressed with Jim. First of all he took a baby traveling with him by himself when he could have wandered in the desert instead, a favorite past time of his. Then, the night he was packing, he asked for her nap and eating schedule so he would know better what Whitney needs. Then he packed Whitney breakfast for after the plane flight and went to the grocery store to get fruit and her kind of milk in case others didn't have whole milk available. He has visited with his sister and a few friends in these past couple of days without mishap. Whitney seems to be very happy socializing with the cousins and friends. She also makes great friends on planes. A lady about the age of Grandma sat next to Jim. She leaned over to say hi, so the lady reached out to hold her. She played with Whitney a little before Whitney snuggled up to her and fell fast asleep for the whole 2 hour plane flight. When we flew to Illinois, she had made a plane friend then with the lady next to us who didn't speak a lick of English, but played and played with Whitney, to Whitney's delight.

Mommy is loving spending time with just Tucker, probably how Jim is loving the time with just Whitney. I've said to myself at times that "this would be so much easier if I had one baby",not that I would want to give up either one of them just for less craziness, but I've never really been sure if it really is easier with one baby. Sometimes I think that moms of one have a little disadvantage in that there isn't an automatic playmate. Or I wonder how moms with kids with different ages ever get naps at the same time so they can nap. I asked a friend about this today and she said, it doesn't really happen. I'm pretty sure she must be so tired that she will never remember the conversation she had today with me.

This weekend, though, I have learned that there are some advantages of having one baby. For example, hiking. Only one baby to carry. I was much more adventurous about even considering going on a hike. I called a friend up and we went hiking in the rain 2 miles AND Tucker got to get out and hike 3 different times. The getting out would have never happened with two babies. He really loves mud. You know. The way it makes that splooshing sound when you step in it. Very funny. You can replay some of his laughing videos if you want to know how he responded to that huge mud puddle experience. He also loves watching the water pass under the bridge and running up and down the bridge several times (holding mommy's hand, just in case). My friend gave him a rock to throw in the water, but he just threw it down on the bridge. No worries. I'm sure he'll figure out how to throw rocks in the water repeated for several hours later in life without any problems. Tucker never whined during that trip because he was cold or wet (which he was very of both by the end), only when he got hungry. This wasn't a problem because my friend could hand him snacks as we hiked down the trail with him on my back. It's also easier to follow one baby around the yard instead of two, or go to the mailbox, or feed breakfast.

Other than the hike, Tucker and I have mostly been home watching General Conference online this weekend. All those messages of hope for the future (even though the family structure is under attack in many ways through various means, and the world events/economy are stressful) were great to hear. Tucker loved every musical piece. He would stop playing with his toys to look at the screen during the whole song. Every time. He also listened to the prophet with rapt attention.

For some reason I thought Jim had the camera with him, so I haven't taken many pictures this weekend, even though I have more hands available. My hiking buddy has pics of our hike on her phone and Jim probably has pics on his, so I'll have to post those next week. Until then.