Jude's prayer tonight "all by myself"

"Dear Heavenly Father, Grateful for Mommy Grateful for Daddy and Mommy and Daddy and Gabe and Jude and Gabe and breakfast and shower and exercise and Jesus Christ. Amen."

Cutting through the blah

Some days I feel like a loser. I don't feel like cleaning (=most days), I don't feel like cooking, I don't feel like exercising. And during those few fleeting moments of nap time, should they actually exist, I just want to curl up and sleep (this may have something to do with being up all night with Gabe on any given night. How do you get babies to sleep? SERIOUSLY, people! (P.S. Can you use horse tranquillizers at 6 months or do you have to wait until a year?)). I've figured out that there are things that help me change my attitude, and things that entrench me more deeply in my grey cloud of blah. Two things that help me feel better and re-energized are playing with my kids and taking pictures of them. How could these two dudes not cheer a gal up?

Jude loves to hold Gabe on his lap. However, the inevitable happens:

Gabe knocks Jude over. And Jude, squeals out from beneath his brother: "Mommy, Gabe knock Jude over. Gabe squashing me." (said breathlessly and wheezing as if a two-ton tractor had fallen on him)

Another thing that cheers me up is having conversations with Jude. A few choice ones of late have included:

Jude was petting my hair the other day and told me: "Mommy, you hair soft like a bunny." I'm starting the training on similes and metaphors early, my friends.

Jude, Gabe and I were sitting on the couch waiting for Mike to get home from school on a Saturday afternoon. We had just changed a round of diapers and Jude remained in only a diaper. He came up to me and said, "Mommy, Jude going bye-bye downstairs." And then he climbed on my lap, took my two cheeks in his hands and looked into my eyes and solemnly said. "Be brave, Mommy." And then he kissed my cheek and blew a kiss as he headed down into the void of our basement. I think I saw him salute just before the first step into the dark.

I was putting make-up on recently and Jude was watching. He asked why I was wearing make-up. I told him that sometimes women wear make-up. He replied. "Mommy a girl. Mommy a woman. Mommy a womanite." I'm guessing these stems from our discussions about Lamanites and Nephites.

Jude and I were hiding from daddy in the closet the other day and I asked Jude from whom we were hiding. He replied. "We hiding from a BIIIIIGGG monkey, a daddy monkey...with one fur...from the ceiling." At that point I trembled in fear.

And then there is our little teddy bear who is the most content baby during the day but is a terror at night. Luckily, he's darling.

Family Pictures

On Thanksgiving, my brother, Britton, was kind enough to snap a few pictures of our family.

Jude attacking the camera man

I learn slowly

The other day I decided to make a fall garland for our front door. I collected leaves while walking with Jude and then laid them all out on the table to string together. Of course, Jude immediately started to meddle, picking up leaves, taking them out of order, ripping them, throwing tantrums when asked oh-so-politely to cease and desist. I felt frustrated and nagged him to leave (pun intended) things alone and go into the other room. And then I gave up and just decided to let him help me. Jude sat on my lap and chose leaf after leaf to string on our garland and we did it together. It still turned out nicely and Jude was so excited about our garland and proud of our work together. I learn slowly. He just wanted to be a part of what I was doing. Both of us felt happier when we created together.



And Gabe helped, too, by drooling on things and being beautiful.

Halloween, late

Gabe was Thor, the powerful but arrogant warrior

Can you see his six-pack? Oh, yeah, baby. Mike was Ferris Bueller and his law buddies were Cameron and the girlfriend, whose name I am completely blanking.

See?

Jude was...wait for it....the Incredible Hulk. Yes, I painted him green. With finger paint. And yes, I was worried it would seep into his skin and affect his brain. Maybe it did. Would that manifest in a penchant to tantrum inexplicably throughout the day? But I digress...His paint washed off in only one shower, but my hands were green for days. Look at those giant muscles. He would flex so hard that his entire body would shake and the veins in his neck popped out. Awesome.

Pre-transformation Hulk, but still green

The Hulk sitting on a pumpkin

Jude loved Halloween this year. You could just see the shock on his face when person after person simply dropped candy in his bag. "Those fools!"

All I want is a buttermilk biscuit with honey

Confession: Mike and I have been doing a food detox for the last couple weeks. No carbs, no sugar (or sugar substitutes), no dairy, no legumes, no ingredients you don't recognize. Only fresh fruit, veggies, and meat. It's both torturous and simple. The torture comes when I douse Jude's steaming whole-wheat buttermilk biscuit in honey or slather peanut butter on his perfectly toasted bread and then smear on a huge dollop of home-made peach jam. (He looks at me like: "Mom, geez, just give me the dang sandwich...and back up a few inches while you're at it.) I almost get close enough to snort it. As if it would do any good in my nasal cavity. (Pull it together).......I love how it has forced me to realize how many carbs and sugar I would normally eat, as I am passing up chocolate cake with dark chocolate ganache frosting and Halloween candy and pizza and and and. And. I also love how it has forced me to be a little more inventive in the kitchen. Prior to this cleanse, I had not made my own almond milk. And I am enamored with almond milk from scratch. I blend the almonds up with a few dates and then steep the milk with a vanilla bean. I would guzzle it by the gallon. And Mike and I made some ice cream last night by steeping coconut cream with a vanilla bean (vanilla beans have changed my life) and then blending it with some dates (running it through the ice cream maker) and THEN topping it with roasted almonds and raisins. It may be that it was tasty because our brains have been deprived and desperate for a sugar fix. It's possible. But I'm willing to embrace that. On the savory side, I made some rockin' cauliflower "mashed potatoes" with roasted garlic and macadamia nuts. And gravy without flour. And a pork loin covered in prosciutto and stuffed with kale, shitake mushrooms, and apples on a bed of roasted apples. And I like making dressing for salads out of cashews. And I like poached eggs. And avocado with just a little sprinkling of sea salt. And I guess Halloween candy isn't really worth it (although I'm sure the chocolate cake with ganache was...). The point is. I'm glad I know I have a little self-control and that I can be a little inventive in the kitchen. And so help me, I better be sleeping better, bubbling with energy, and have the skin of a baby's bum by the end of this thing. Confession over. Time to go nibble on a picture of a buttermilk biscuit with honey.

The Real Thing

While in Montana, my grandparents regaled us with stories of living in the rural west. My grandfather was a cattle rancher for the majority of his life, and my grandmother a rancher's wife. They drove straight to Montana following their honeymoon, a move my grandmother had not anticipated. She thought she would be much closer to her family in Utah, much closer. It must have seemed a daunting change, to go off into the lone and dreary world together, to carve beauty out of an empty stretch of brush, to make the desert bloom. I miss the ranch: my grandmother's rose gardens, the piles of muddy cowboy boots in the foyer, the white shag carpet, crystal lamps and light blue couches in the "pretty room" that epitomized finery to me, the narrow, bumpy, dusty roads and the sudden appearance of the big white house and green, fenced yard of the ranch on the horizon, the cows roaming and mooing, the coyote calls at night. I love thinking about how my grandmother used to fend off the cows with two by fours while my grandfather administered medicine to the calves. Or how she used to have to reach up into the cows' uterusi (the plural of uterus?) to get the calves out because her hands were the only ones small enough to get up there and unhook their legs. Or how my grandfather worked from dusk til dawn working the land, solitary work, every day. I miss the ranch. Very much.

A Wild and Secluded Scene (run rampant and boistrous with Bunnells)

This past week, Mike and I took a trip up to Montana with Britton, Tom (Mike's brother), Anne (Tom's wife), and Anne (Mike's sister) (Yes, Jude and Gabe have three aunt Annes). Bless our relatives for taking us in, motley crew that we were. We spent the first day in Glacier National Park, frolicking in the woods. There is something about the mountain air. Can make a person giddy.

Tom found a rock that looks like a brain. Brain rock.

Gabe's contemplative sweater

Britt and Jude

Me and the contended Gabester

Anne striking a pose

Puppy and Mr. Eyelashes

Jude has been modeling with his puppy lately. He feeds his puppy, changes his puppy's diaper, kisses the puppy's "boo-boos," wipes up his puppy's spit up, breastfeeds his puppy (yes, shirt up and everything), has the puppy pick a book for nap-time, sits his puppy next to him on the couch to watch "boom-de-aye" (The Aristocats), swaddles his puppy, rocks his puppy to sleep, etc. It's pretty adorable. So, when I was taking pictures of Gabe the other day, Puppy had to get in on the action too. And then, of course, so did Jude.

A swaddled puppy receiving some kisses

Man, do we love this kid.

Chubbers

Gabe had his two month appointment this last week. And we were not shocked to hear that he is 14'9 pounds. Yes, our own chub-chub is in the 97th percentile for weight and the 94th for height. Jude was 16 lbs. at a year old, which explains why he constantly fell in about the .5th percentile. So, having a chubby baby is foreign to us. Albeit, delicious. I mean, look at those rolls! You could lose a newborn in those rolls!

Welcome Chloe Elizabeth!

Pete and Meagan had their little girl last night at about 11:00 PM. She weighed a slight 6'9 and was 18.5 inches. What a beauty she is! And so much hair! (Gabe looks like he could eat her...)