2 boys

A few days ago, I was busy cleaning, and I realized that Dallin was being a little too quiet. This worried me since I was sure he was getting into something. I looked around and found him in his room. But he wasn't doing anything wrong, just being a perfect angel, playing with toys on his window sill.

Don't you love it when you're expecting something bad but find something much cuter?

Connor has been upgraded to the bumbo. He likes being able to sit up and see people much better than laying on the floor.

Dallin's reaction was interesting when he first saw Connor in the bumbo. You see, Dallin hasn't really gotten "jealous" of Connor using his old things, like his car seat and his crib. He doesn't seem to care. But Dallin and the bumbo go way back. Dallin used sit in the bumbo ALL the time. For the longest time, he was too small for his high chair, so the bumbo was his high chair. In fact Dallin was still eating in the bumbo right up until we moved into this new house. That was only 6 months ago. So when I pulled it out of the closet and sat Connor in it, Dallin went over and was being very sweet to Connor, rubbing his head. After a few minutes, he started to look annoyed and began nudging Connor (first gently, then not so gently) out of the seat. When I finally picked Connor up, Dallin got really excited and sat right down in the seat. And now Dallin keeps sitting in the bumbo when ever he can.

I guess there was bound to be some jealousy with something.

Snow

We got a lot of snow over the weekend. Dallin went out to help Mckay shovel the driveway.

The gloves never stay on long. I don't know why I even bother...

Dallin liked being outside with the snow, but wasn't too excited about being in the snow.

Pinterest fail

I've seen a lot of cool crafts and recipes on Pinterest and blogs that I've been wanting to try. I thought this heart would make a cute Valentine's decoration.

It's probably made out of paper, but my super creative mind thought it would be fun to make it out of toilet paper tube pieces. I spent 3 days during nap time cutting, painting and gluing to make my heart, but it turned out looking.... weird.

It's not really in a heart shape. It looks more like an odd wreath. It seems like cardboard tubes are not the ideal medium for making this.

(The thing that makes me really sad is that this project used 10 toilet paper tubes. That seriously depleted my tube collection!)

Determined not to let it get me down, I decided I'd try another Pinterest find: baked doughnuts. They look so delicious in the picture, just like a fresh bakery doughnut. "I'm sure I can pull this one off," I thought to myself. "I'm so good at following a recipe."

Dallin helped me to make sure I did everything right.

And here is the finished product:

I'm not sure who this recipe think's he is, but this was a recipe for bagels. Sugar glazed bagels.

The bread was very good. It was like a sweet roll with icing, or a cinnamon roll with out the cinnamon. Very tasty, but they're chewy and dense and nothing like a doughnut. Dallin really likes them though.

Doughnuts? no.

Delicious? Yes.

Diaper Baby

I went to a baby shower for a friend last weekend. I decided my gift would be diapers. (Having two kids in diapers myself, I definitely appreciate the value of them.) But part of the fun of going to a baby shower is to "ooh" and "ahh" over all the gifts of cute baby clothes. No one thinks a pack of diapers is very cute. I've seen the classic diaper cake as a way to dress up a diaper gift, but that's been done many times. While searching for ideas, I found this image and I decided I would make a baby out of diapers.

Presenting my Diaper Baby.

I didn't find any instructions on how to make one so I figured out my own way to do it. Lucky for you, I'm posting the instructions so you can make your own!

You will need a pack of diapers, a baby blanket, a pacifier, a baby hat or bows, rubber bands, ribbon, and a cereal box (you'll see...).

First take one diaper and roll it up cinnamon roll style. Secure with a rubber band.

Continue rolling with the next diaper where the last one left off. Secure with another rubber band every 3 diapers or so. Keep going until you get a roll about the size of a baby's head. My "head" used 9 diapers.

Don't for get to secure it all with a rubber band.

Here's where the cereal box comes in. Cut a base for the baby's body from the cardboard of the box. You might need to use 2 boxes.

I used 2 layers of cardboard to make it more sturdy.

(Note: You might want to use something a little sturdier than a cereal box if you have it. The cereal box supports it just enough, but the head is kinda floppy and it was quite a challenge for me to walk into the shower carrying a diaper baby in one arm and my real 2 month old baby in the other.)

Lay the blanket out at an angle so it looks like a diamond.

Fold the top corner down a bit and place your cardboard base on the blanket.

Now lay your baby head on the board, along with the rest of the diaper package. Oh, but first, remove 2 diapers from the package and set aside. We'll use those later.

Dress up your baby's head by putting a pacifier in the center of the roll and some bows on the head. This was for a baby girl, so I used bows, but you could use a hat for a baby boy (or a hat for a girl).

Makes sure the baby is scooted down enough from the top so that you can fold the top part of the blanket down around the head. (I hope that made sense..)

Stuff any extra bows or pacifiers into the open diaper package.

You could even add more goodies like an outfit, socks, lotion or a gift card.

Now you fold the blanket up around the head (to help hold the head in place) and swaddle the blanket like you normally would.

If you don't know how to swaddle a baby, google it.

Grab those 2 diapers you set aside and roll each one up individually, securing with a rubber band.

Put them inside the blanket next to the head so they look like arms.

Now tie a ribbon around the"waist" to keep the blanket in place. And because ribbons make things cuter.

And there you have it! Your very own diaper baby. Everyone at the shower got a big kick out of this. It's a great way to dress up a practical gift.

More sick

We're on Day 4 of Dallin being sick. I'm better now, but Dallin is still out of commission. He's really not that different from "normal Dallin," he just wants to sleep a lot and he's really whiny. I now understand why my parents disliked it so much when we whined as kids. It's really annoying! It gets worse when you ask him what he wants. He just cries out something unintelligible; I don't think even he knows what he's saying. But the worst is when he does this repetitive moan/whiny noise over and over and over. (It reminds me of Spongebob's scream after Squidward tells him about the Hash Slinging Slasher. Anyone...?) I'm sure you're dying to know what he sounds like, so here's a video.

Yes, he's playing with mini marshmallows. I will try anything to keep him from whining.

I can't wait until my sweet boy is back to normal.

Today is a sick day.

Dallin and I are both sick today. Actually, I've been sick for a while so I'm starting to feel a little better now. But it hit Dallin with full force today. He has spent his day sleeping in our bed.

Or sleeping on the couch.

This picture pretty well sums up Dallin's accomplishments for the day: sleeping, watching some tv, water, and a tiny bite of cracker.

We can't forget about Connor.

He's just sitting around watching all us sickos.

All this sleeping is doing wonders for Dallin's hair.

He'll hate me for this picture someday.

The Big 25

My birthday was this last week. I'm 25 years old now. That's halfway to 50! That a quarter of the way to 100! I don't feel older so much as I do wiser. 24 is still basically 20, and I was still just a young kid. But now I'm 25. I have a house and 2 kids. I feel so grown up.

My birthday was a quiet day, but after the busy holidays, it was nice to have a quiet day. I worked hard cleaning the day before so I could just enjoy the day. A friend of mine came over in the morning to visit. Her son and Dallin love playing together and Dallin was happy to show off his new Christmas toys. We had a hard time enforcing the "one kid on the trampoline at a time" rule.

I got a birthday package in the mail. Dallin was so excited to find out what was in it, so he tried to open it himself...

...using a Christmas ornament.

I got to try out a few new recipes for my birthday, which is always really fun for me. For dinner, we had Southwest Egg Rolls with Avocado dipping sauce.

(I kind of mixed and matched parts from both recipes, but the Egg Roll recipe was mostly here and dipping sauce here.)

Then it was time for cake.

Dallin thought the candles were the coolest thing ever.

(Cake recipe here)

I got some good presents. I got some movies, including Lord of the Rings: Two Towers Extended edition on DVD. We already have the Return of the King Extended, and we're working our way backwards through the trilogy, apparently. I also got a gift card to Jo-Anns so I can buy and make craft-y things, and a Kindle! I'm still trying to figure out exactly how to use it, (I was searching all through the box it came in for an instruction manual, then I realized, "Duh! It's an eReader. The instruction manual will be on the device itself." Silly me.) but I'm pretty excited about it.

Connor and Dallin gave me the best kinds of presents. They were good, well-behaved boys and Connor took really good naps all day. He also gave me some really good smiles.

The End of 2011

On New Years Eve, we got together with a bunch of friends for a fondue party. Part of the night's festivities included a talent show. We weren't given much advanced notice though, so we had to come up with a talent to show off in a short amount of time.

Mckay's talent was that he can fit a lot in his large mouth. He fit 23 grapes in his mouth.

I'm so proud of him.

My talent was to do a reading of "There's a Wocket in my Pocket" from memory.

I memorized it at least 10 years ago and I still remember it all.

Dallin's talent was to point to his body parts (eyes, ears, nose, etc.) on command. He can do this really well and we practiced many times beforehand. But when he got up in front of the group, he wouldn't perform. It wasn't quite stage fright (I'm not sure Dallin is capable of that), it was more like he thought it was so cool that everyone was staring at him, all he could do was smile and stare back. He did point to his belly button though.

Looking back at 2011, it was a very eventful year, full of change for our family.

January: Patrick, our faithful 20 year old car died. It gave us an excuse to buy a newer car.

February: We found out that we were having another baby!

March: Dallin turned 2. He finally learned how to eat real food and hasn't stopped since.

April: We started plans for building a new house.

May: The local news aired a story on Dallin and Williams Syndrome. We participated in the walk for WS in Indianapolis.

June: Mckay's parents came to visit us and we showed them around Lafayette. Dallin finally started walking!

July: We went to Colorado for a short visit to see family. Dallin was too old to fly for free. :(

August: We signed papers for our house and officially became homeowners.

September: Our summer was very busy, full of therapy, doctor appointments, and lots of playing outside.

October: Connor was born on the 18th. He is a very welcome addition to our family.

November: Thanksgiving dinner for 15 Eastons was hosted at our house. There were 13 people sleeping in our small house. It was a little tight, but so much fun.

December: We had a wonderful Christmas and spent a lot of time together as a family. Dallin rang in the new year with style.

I love my handsome boy and his stylin' jeans.

Our Christmas Festivities

Our Christmas this year was great. We decided to stay in Indiana for Christmas. It felt a little weird not rushing off to travel right after finals, but we had fun with just our little family.

The day before Christmas Eve (A.K.A. Christmas Adam...), we threw a Christmas Party at our house. We figured that since quite a few of our friends here were in a similar situation of not traveling for Christmas, we thought we should all get together. I made creamy chicken taquitos, deviled eggs, ham and cheese croissant rolls, fudge, banana bread, and mini pecan tarts. The food was so good. All the kids went into Dallin's room to play while the adults ate and talked. It was really fun.

On Christmas Eve, we went caroling at a nursing home with friends. In the evening, we relaxed at home. We ate more snack-y type food for dinner. Dallin was a fan of the taquitos.

When it got dark, we went for a drive around town to look at Christmas lights. We drove around for over an hour and I was kind of disappointed at the lack of decorated houses. There would be a few houses here and there with lights up, but most were dark and very few people went all out with decorating. We were ready to give up and started to head home, but decided to turn into one more neighborhood. I'm glad we did because it was one of the most beautiful light displays I've even seen. The streets were lined with luminaries and most of the houses had lights as well. I hope they do it every year because this will definitely become part of our Christmas festivities while we live here.

On Christmas morning, we opened our stockings.

I made Cinnamon Rolls for breakfast.

I referred to this batch as "Grinch" cinnamon rolls. There was an error with the yeast while making the dough and after letting the rolls sit out to rise for 3 hours, they hadn't grown at all. I put them in the oven hoping something would happen, and those small Grinchy rolls grew 3 sizes that day! It was a Christmas miracle!

We went to church and then came home to open presents.

But first, we changed back into our pajamas.

Somehow, it just doesn't seem right to open presents if you're not wearing pajamas.

Dallin was very spoiled this year. He's at an age where it's very easy to buy gifts for him, so he got a lot of stuff.

One of his favorite presents was a trampoline. Not only is it so much fun to jump on, but it's good for him to practice jumping for physical therapy.

I got a whoopee cushion in my stocking (Thank you, Santa Mckay.) Dallin thought it was so funny. He was bringing it to us all day long so we could blow it up for him to sit on.

Mckay got me the best present: a glider rocking chair.

I've wanted one for a long time, but I thought it would be a while before we had one. This definitely was not on my Christmas list, but I love it.

We made a Gingerbread house.

We bought a kit from Target, and I think it turned out well.

I like the gingerbread man I put on the back.

I made a delicious traditional Ham dinner.

For the next week, we pretty much chilled at home, playing with our Christmas toys.

After getting Dallin dressed one day and seeing he looked like a construction worker with his flannel shirt and carpenter jeans, I thought it was a perfect time to play with his new tool set.

We all caught up on sleep, especially Connor.

Mckay got a puzzle (an Easton Christmas tradition) that we've been working pretty hard on.

It'll be a tricky puzzle, but we like a challenge.