Life Updates

May has been a crazy month so far! Seriously, where did it go? The more kids I have, the faster life goes....and some days I'm ok with that, but then I look back and feel like its slipping away from me.

So, here's a little bit about whats going on with our family.

Marc is working full time at BYU Sports camps. The first big camp is coming up this weekend, Father's & Sons, which is a basketball camp that dads get to go to with their kids. Its not your typical camp, on Sunday they load the buses up to Salt Lake and first go to a Tabernacle Choir performance, then they have a special Sacrament meeting where the coaches and players bless and pass the sacrament. There's a picnic lunch at "This is the Place" park, and then its back to BYU. Marc is excited to take Tyler & Bryce when they're old enough. For most families that do it, its tradition each Memorial Day Weekend and typically sells out the first day of registration.
Marc is currently training for a marathon. He's signed up to run the Utah Valley Marathon on June 13th. I'm so impressed with his ability to get out and just pound the miles. We're all hoping for no injuries before the marathon. He's also searching for jobs most spare moments. He's applied for a few.....we're really hoping this job with BYU goes through but at this point we can only cross our fingers and keep options very open. We're planning a trip out to Cincinnati in August. Marc will help out with the studio for a couple of weeks & we're praying to have a job to return to when we get back.

I'm finally feeling like I can handle life with 3 kids. It feels a little easier each day. I don't think I'm as hormonal anymore, so that definitely helps! I'm getting a little more sleep and trying to get out of the house. That's what is healthy for me! I've recently started running again. I'm training to run a 5k on the 4th of July (or around that time period). It has been slow going and thats really frustrating for me. But I'm getting out there to do it. The baby weight hasn't come off as quickly as it did with the twins. I hate feeling like I can't fit into any clothes & my self-image is really low right now so I'm hoping the exercise will help with that. I'm trying really hard to prepare healthy meals with as many fruits & vegetables as possible, but our weakness is still chocolate cravings after the kids go to sleep.

Tyler & Bryce are doing great right now. I feel like turning 3 has made a big difference for them. I'm happy to say that they are wearing underwear during the day now!!! WOOHOOO!! I made a big sticker chart for both of them and certain spots have animals on them. If they get to an animal with their sticker, then they get prizes. Some of the rewards have been: dinosaurs, playdough, bubble wands, new crayons & coloring books, pretend snakes, new books, a new train car, sand shovel, & candy bars. We did pullups for a week, then I moved them to "training pants" (padded underwear). The biggest difference that I've learned is that I can't ask them if they need to go because they won't, but if I tell them that "its time to go potty" then they'll go. The hardest part is staying on top of it. I need a watch or something that beeps every two hours to remind me to get them on the potty. If they're stubborn about not going, I'll remind them about the prize or bribe them with a treat (church yesterday needed jellybeans to get them to go potty instead of straight to nursery). We still have some accidents, but they are few & we're trying not to overreact.
Tyler is in his own world of imagination. Friday, I took them up to the "duck pond" just south of campus, then we went up on campus and walked around. While we were there, we went on a safari and the boys were finding all sorts of animals like cougars, giraffes, tigers in the flowers, elephants in the bushes, and even "trapped hippos!" that the boys were able to rescue with a pretend pair of scissors. I spent all of today in Dora world. Tyler told me that he was Backpack, I was Dora, Lexi is Boots, & Bryce is Diego. When Daddy got home, he was Benny. He carried on with it ALL day. I thought that when he woke up from his nap that he would move on, but oh no! I can't keep up with his imagination. Its so cute, but in full honesty, it does get a little tiring to have to get excited about "Another Flamingo!!" Tyler says the funniest things. I wish that I could write them down each time, I always mean to and never do. Some of the recent things that have cracked us up: "Daddy, you have your towell pants on?", He was helping us set the table and we asked him to take a plate over and he kept saying "One plate, coming right up!" His favorite phrase right now is, "So....what are we waiting for?" "Sure!" That's a good idea!" "That's Right Mommy" "Daddy, I have a snake poop!" "What do I smell???" "I'm wearing women's shoes!"

Bryce is my analytical child. He is an amazing builder, the towers that he can build or the train tracks are so much more intricate and woven than I would ever be capable of! He loves to color & play with playdough. He'll just sit at the table by himself and make shapes with the dough. Bryce is definitely "Mr. Independent" his big thing right now is doing it all by himself, or his own certain way. He loves to boss Tyler around and police him. Its always funny to hear the phrases you say come out in your children, for instance Bryce loves to tell Tyler, "Tyler, I'm not happy with you" or "That's not nice Tyler" (as he shakes his head at him). He's constantly asking "What's that?" Or "LOOK MOM, LOOK!!" Sometimes he can be a broken record and say the same thing over and over again until he gets recognition or your responding to him the way that he deems appropriate. He is very expressive when he talks. I love to watch his facial expression as he thinks and how excited he gets. He loves his sister and is always watching out for her.

Alexis is growing like a weed. She's wearing some 3-6 month clothes already. I'm always sad to grow out of phases and sizes. I started putting her newborn clothes in a box the other day and it was facing stark reality that she will grow up way too quickly. I try to snuggle her as much as possible because I know that soon she will be squirming to get away from me. She's such a sweet baby. I feel so blessed to have her as my third child. I don't know how much of it is feeling like one baby is so much easier than two, but she is for the most part an easy baby. We're having a really hard time getting her on a sleeping schedule during the day. She gets drug all over the place when she'd rather be napping. Or I'll get her down for a nap and the boys will wake her up....even climb in her bed (I was so mad that morning!!) She wants to go to sleep at 7:00 at night or even earlier. I can't blame her, she just doesn't get the naps that she needs, but I wish we could keep her up even an hour later. She'll sleep for 6 or more hours the first stretch, but with her going to sleep so early, that often means she's up at 2, then its back to 2-3 hour stretches after that. One good thing is that she's in her crib now in her own room. She smiles a ton which is so fun. She's close to giggling which I can't wait for! Baby giggles are one of my very favorite things! She'll blow bubbles and is knocking toys around when they're dangling over her head. She loves to look at herself in the mirror and just smile. She's just so stinking cute!