The New Normal

Well it has arrived: the insanity of a baby and a 2-year-old. Actually, it has been present for a while, which is why this blog has been so neglected for the past few months. I have thought about posting often, but it just seems like there is never any time! I am finally figuring out how to cook (differently). Out the window are all the fun recipes I used to make. I compiled a new list of the very fastest, easiest things possible that are still fairly healthy, and I have still have to do some prep ahead of time or it is impossible.

Things have been especially difficult recently because Adam was teaching an evening class so he never got home until after 7:00. I know it's not that late, and there are some families where the working parent(s) never get home until later. But it was difficult for me. We survived, and I'm glad that class is over now.

Joshua and Lily are completely adorable though and we have so much fun!

Lily loves him, although she gets VERY jealous when I nurse him. For a while, every time I would pick him up to feed him, she would throw a big tantrum and scream that she wanted me to hold her instead. I can't blame her, and I feel bad that she takes it so hard. But we eventually figured out that if she really gets to bed on time, the tantrums are much less frequent and much less intense. So that is now my #1 goal each day: get Lily to bed on time. Sadly, it still doesn't always happen, but we're doing better.

Joshua is growing like a weed! He is also very strong. He can hold his head up of course, and can easily roll over both directions, and insists on standing whenever we hold him. He can support all his weight by himself, as long as we hold his hands to balance him. The doctor said he could be crawling at 6 months! That would be a shock to me, since Lily didn't crawl until 10 months. He is also very cheerful, aside from some recent screaming episodes related to teething. But he smiles a lot and is trying to grab and chew on everything.




He sleeps fairly well, still waking up twice at night, but he goes right back to sleep after nursing so it's no big deal. He has more hair than Lily had and it looks like it might be blonde! It will be fun if we have a little toe-head like I was.

Lily is getting better at handling Joshua and is very helpful. She regularly gets toys for him "so he can be happy."

She talks about him all the time and calls him "Dosua". Some of my other favorite pronunciations of hers include "Cindelella", "Pyoo-tyoo-tah" for "Computer", "Leh-woh" for "Yellow", and my all-time favorite: "pock-sih-pole" for "popsicle". Mostly we laugh at the bigger words she is starting to use in her little toddler voice. Like today she was stirring some food we gave her and said "I am stirring it so it will be quite delicious." or when we asked her to put on her shoes she said, "I suppose I could do that."

I got to take the kids for a visit to Utah for over two weeks to see my family. I went to two weddings and my high school reunion, and visited lots of friends and family.

This is my cousin Christian (3) giving Lily a hug at the wedding of his sister, Aurora.

We also went to Thanksgiving Point with my friend Amberly and her 3 girls for the requisite pony ride.

We spent a day helping my dad remodel his house which he is getting ready to sell, went to dinner at Brick Oven, visited the re-vamped BYU Bean Museum with my dad and his wife Elizabeth, went shopping with my sister, and swam at the AWESOME Provo Rec Center waterpark (for only $5!) with my family.

My brother Stephen and his wife Lisa graciously watched Lily and Joshua while I went to the temple and got my first-ever pedicure (courtesy of grandma Elizabeth!). The icing on the cake was that my brother Daniel took me ballroom dancing, which I haven't done in years, and miss more than anything else about my life before kids. It was immensely fun, and I can't wait to go back just for that!

Here are a few more pictures of the people we had fun with:

This is my friend Amberly's dad Paul (like a second dad to me), holding Joshua and Amberly's new baby.

Lily got to spend time with her friend Mary whom we haven't seen for a while.

The downside was that it was so much fun, the kids never got enough sleep and were very tired and grumpy some of the time. Lily threw the worst tantrums I have ever seen from any child in my entire life. Thankfully, now that we are back on our regular schedule, she is mostly cured and generally back to her normal self. We are very happy to be back home with Adam, and he is very glad to have his family back.

ROAD TRIP!!!

Hi. We haven't written for a while because we were on vacation for a whole month. Well maybe not a WHOLE month; we were actually gone for four calendar weeks but that's pretty close. Christina might delete that sentence later. (and that one).

"Where did you go on such an extended vacation?" you may ask. "Somewhere really cool and exotic I hope." If Idaho is exotic, then yes. More specifically, we took a tour through much of the Western United States to visit friends and family.

First we traveled south to California. Our first visit was with Christina's grandparents near San Jose.

Next we traveled down to Soledad to visit Adam's parents in their new house!

We had lots of fun adventures with Adam's parents, his sister Amber, and Lily's only cousin Amelia. 

We took a hike through Pinnacles National Monument.

 And visited the famous Monterey Bay Aquarium.

 Lily and Amelia (and the grown-ups) had a great time looking at all of the fish and other sea creatures.

 We also went out to breakfast; Lily thought the menu was superb. 

  And we took a trip down to the beach to have some fun in the sand and the waves.

Next we drove out to Utah, stopping to visit some of Adam's relatives in St. George and Enoch along the way.

We stayed with Christina's family in Salem but spent lots of time visiting old friends,

family members,

and former co-workers.

We also went to the zoo...

and the Air Force Museum.

We also saw some really cool cars. Lily wouldn't let us leave until we took a picture of this one.

Our next stop was Stanley Lake, ID where we went camping for a family reunion with Christina's mom's family. And yes, that really is how we dress when we go camping with the Lofgrans. (okay, not really)

One great thing about family reunions is that there is always someone willing to hold or watch the baby for you.

Lily had a fabulous time playing in the sand and the water while we went kayaking and tubing on the lake.

She sat in the freezing cold stream, playing happily with the rocks and the sand for over an hour! Good thing mommy has been feeding her so well.

We finally made it home safe and sound which is no small feat considering that there were massive wildfires burning just north and west of where we had been camping. Fortunately a timely rain storm suppressed the fires enough that the road was open when we needed to come home.

So that was our trip. Thanks to all of our friends and family who let us stay in their homes along the way. We had a wonderful time and miss all of our loved ones across the country already. So if you're ever in the Willamette Valley please give us a call and stop by!