"Pumpkin Patch" visit

I'm using the term "pumpkin patch" very loosely, since I doubt Phoenix has ever produced a single local pumpkin, but we still try to get in the spirit of things.  We discovered a local(ish) farm that offered hay rides, pony rides, a petting zoo, and a pumpkin patch, and since Morgan has been dying to ride a horse (I'm guessing because they feature heavily in Disney movies) we made the drive and plunked our money down.  After signing a waiver (really?!), Morgan took a tentative ride on Dos with a death grip on the pommel.  I reluctantly agreed to walk with her, because as I realized shortly into our ride, flip flops and horse trails do not mix.  It was not the easiest assignment to keep one hand on Morgan while hopping around the horse droppings decorating our way.  Morgan was sold on horses by the end of her ride, and we had to drag her off to the other activities.

A hay maze can become much more complicated when you let your child choose the route

Again, a petting zoo is not the best place for flip flops.  I think sometimes that I'm so zealous in preparing the kids for any eventuality that I don't take any thought for myself.  Obviously.

"Mom, they have poo on their bums!"

Riding horse #2, Ruby.

Erik was actually there at the big event, cheering Morgan on, but as Sam slept on Erik the whole time, he became the designated picture taker.  A very successful outing, except that Morgan has now started asking for a horse as a Christmas present.  A live one.

PS.  The pumpkin patch, you wonder?  We took a long hay ride to get to a little grove, where hay bales and pumpkins were strategically piled to look a tad bit more festive than the local grocery store.  We did not pay extra to "pick" a pumpkin.

October Festivities

We've been kind of busy around here- it seems like October to New Years is a nonstop race to stay ahead of everything that needs to be done.  I'm failing at it this year, but at least I'm failing at a constant pace, not an epic free fall.  I'm in the "behind on everything" track, not the "I've given up completely and am waiting for next year" track.  Although that last option does sound tantalizingly peaceful.  Round one of our busy season: Morgan's birthday.  We were so busy mingling, cooking, and doing tantrum control that we kinda forgot about taking pictures. Oh well. At least the food was better than last year (think epic Elmo cupcake fail).

Riding her new bike while playing her new guitar.  She takes laps around the kitchen while singing to "Rockin' Robin."

Erik bet that Morgan would only have one meltdown during the party, and I voted for a more pessimistic two.  I won.

Arizona Family

I grew up in the middle of the country, with my mom's family on the west coast, and my dad's on the east.  Needless to say, I don't have really close ties to much of my extended family.  We just never saw them enough to develop that deeper level of familiarity and support.  For the most part, I didn't really mind - I didn't know any different, and I think we had a strange sense of pride in our independence and ability to manage all alone.

Then I married Erik, and experienced what it was like to grow up on the opposite end of the spectrum.  Almost all of his extended family lived in the same state, took vacations together, and got together for birthdays, special events, Sunday dinners, and holidays.  It was overwhelming at first, and sometimes it can still be hard for me to accept that level of intimacy.  It's just so different from how I was brought up.  However, I am jealous of the deep relationships that Erik has with his family, and the memories he has with each one of them.  I have relatives that I still haven't met... 

Now that we are parents, I've realized how important it is to me to provide my children with opportunities to know their family.  I want my children to know who they come from, and to be surrounded by love and support.  I swore I'd never come back to Arizona, but here we are, partly because we wanted to be close to family.  I don't know where we'll end up in 3 years, but for now, we're really grateful to see our Arizona family members on a regular basis and develop closer ties to them.  

My mom painting nails with Morgan over General Conference weekend

Enjoying a snuggle with my dad

Sam hanging out with Erik's aunt Diane

One of our weekly outings with my mom

Playing dress up with Merkley second cousins

Keeping Up

We've been enjoying Arizona a little more now that the temperatures have dropped below 100.  The first time we tried the zoo I was literally wiping my sweat off on Sam's burp cloths and we spent most of our visit at the splash pad with our own species.  This outing was much more successful, and the kids could actually sit on the komodo dragon statue without burning their behinds.

I'm amazed that I even got this picture of Morgan with the orangutan - she was very hesitant to turn her back on it.  She didn't seem to realize that it was way more interested in its lettuce than in her. 

Swimming at my parent's house, looking like some kind of human/bug hybrid ascending from the depths.

Erik's been spending a lot of time at the hospital, so we try to join him once in a while.  It usually ends with Morgan running laps around the cafeteria and Erik scarfing his meal so he doesn't exceed his 20 minute dinner break.

We also had our first visitors!  When it rains it pours - both Nana and cousin Andrew came into town the same weekend, and lucky Andrew got to sleep on our living room floor.  It was great to see them.

And just in case you need a dose of cuteness, here's a hefty helping of Sam.

Random happenings

Morgan has decided that adequate sleep is my current attempt to ruin her life, so she does her best to evade it and ruin mine in the process.  My morning usually goes something like this:

-Wake up at 2 when Morgan shrieks for no apparent reason and then goes back to sleep, leaving me wide awake.
-Wake up around 4 when Erik wakes up and gets ready for work.
-Wake up precisely at 6:15, which Sam has designated as his optimal feeding time.
-After that, prepare to be woken up about every 5 minutes by Morgan standing next to my bed and staring at me.  If that doesn't work, she pokes me or breathes on me heavily.  This is usually to tell me that she has to go to the bathroom, even though I tell her every morning to go take her diaper off, take care of business, and put her underwear on.  She can do all this completely independently, but I guess she needs me to know about it.  After all, if a Morgan goes to the bathroom and no one knows about it, did she really go to the bathroom?  She doesn't think so, and so she wakes me up every single morning for her instructions.  After that, she keeps creeping out of her room to ask if it's morning, until I finally stagger out of bed and give up on sleep.  I hope it's obvious that I'm not a morning person.

Then during nap time, which we have renamed "quiet time" to appease her, there is neither napping nor quiet.  As soon as I make it downstairs, she reappears at the top of the stairs insisting that she needs to go potty - even though she just went 5 minutes ago.  I threaten, I bluster, but in the end she knows I'll give in.  This happens several times each afternoon.  Sometimes she creeps down to my bedroom to wreak havoc, like the day she discovered my expensive craft markers and uncapped them all.  And then, maybe once a week, she'll actually take a nap, which is what keeps me trying.  Because she desperately needs those naps, and so do I.  She's become noticeably more cranky since going off the naps.  Anyway.  This is the major trauma at our house.

Completely unrelated - I'm letting Sam suck on my phone.  He thinks I'm the coolest mom ever, and maybe I'll get a new phone sooner than I thought.

Either Erik or Morgan brought home the cold of all colds, and our family has been sick for 3 weeks.  First Morgan had a drippy nose and a cough, and had to stay home from preschool.  That drove home how desperately important preschool has become in my life in just a short month.  As she recovered, Sam started to get feverish and it took 3 days to finally get him back to normal.  Finally it caught up to me, and I spent a full 2 days on the couch.  Morgan couldn't believe her ears when I told her "yes" every time she wanted to watch a movie or play with the iTouch.  I think she would be perfectly happy if I was permanently sick...  Finally after a week and a half of tissue trails and sore lungs, I got an ear infection and my first sinus infection.    Now I'm taking gag-worthy horse pills and Morgan is cross, because I'm restricting her screen time again.

During this sick time, when I did absolutely no laundry, cooking, or cleaning, I took Morgan to McDonalds for lunch (I realized afterward that we probably just contaminated the whole play area for everyone else, but I didn't want to make lunch or go grocery shopping).  Morgan comes running out of the play place and informs me, "The boy's pants fell down in there!  It was scandalous!"  After I made sure that his underwear remained in place, I had a good laugh.

Highlight of the last several awful weeks: LDS General Conference.  I always approach conference with concerns and questions for my life, and they are always addressed by the speakers.  How grateful I am that God is mindful of my small life and answers my prayers.

You Are Very Clever

That's what Morgan kept telling me as I helped her with an alphabet puzzle today.  I should have recorded her saying that so I could play it back to her when she's a teenager.  However, I couldn't think of a clever title after a day filled with spit-up (Sam), nose-blowing (Morgan), and mind-numbing amounts of laundry.

Sam got his first haircut a few weeks ago.  Erik decided that his cute little fringe was not masculine and invited gender confusion (especially after I commented that his hair was long enough to put a bow in...), so I pulled out my embroidery scissors and gingerly started trimming.

Erik watched this for awhile, and either he took pity on me or he was afraid I wouldn't have the heart to really trim him, and out came the clippers.  You can get a general idea of Sam's response from the picture below.  He's now ready for the military.

Morgan started preschool a few weeks ago - just a small out-of-the-home operation with 8 kids a few mornings a week.  It's low key enough to be comfortable for both Morgan and I, and gives me 5 hours a week without my hormonal toddler.  As soon as Morgan discovered that Miss Reece had a basket full of princess figurines, she was perfectly content to stay. These were the best pictures I could get; you can see the quick degeneration into silly and ridiculous.  I didn't even share the most bizarre ones.

 In other news, Sam is suddenly rolling everywhere and sitting up independently.  His new skills developed so quickly that I'm still a little startled.  No need to rush, Sam.  I don't want to have to think about baby-proofing yet.

We've enjoyed having Erik around more this month - he's on a really laid back rotation right now, resting up for a more intense shift in October.  This is what happens when Dad is around.

Darth Morgan.  Don't you love the flowery dress?

I guess Erik decided it was time to include Sam in Saturday Morning Donut Run.  Rest assured, Sam only got a lick before Erik took his donut back.  Erik doesn't share apple fritters with anyone.

Fat Sam

Our little man is coming up on 8 months of age, and I've been sighing as I do the "compare your child with other children his age" checklist.  Sitting?  Kind of.  Crawling?  Not even close.  Scooting?  In a distinctive Sam fashion.  The two things he excels at are eating and vomiting.  I tell you, I can not keep this kid full.  He would eat all day if I would let him.  And then he strategically barfs an orange streak down my back, getting shirt, pants, and floor.  I think if Sam could talk, he would easily explain why he's a little slow on the development curve:

"Well, Mom, for me to learn to crawl and all that, you've got to put me on my tummy more than once every couple of days."

"Sam, every time I do, you vomit out everything in your stomach, lay your head in it, and then cry because you're hungry again.  I'm not a glutton for punishment."

"Point taken.  You may have also noticed that I am... well padded.  I am a most attractively plump baby, but it can be difficult to move all that bulk around.  I mean, have you seen the rolls on my legs?  Adults this blessed qualify for little carts."

"If you would exert yourself, your fat would turn into muscle and you could get around just fine."

"So... that brings me to my last reason.  I like the sweet life.  Kicking on the floor, having everyone pick me up and bring me my toys... Why would I want to sit up when I could lean back on you?  Why strain to push my body off the ground when I could rest my head peacefully?  I'm happy to be lazy, Mom.  Stop trying to change me."

And that, in a nutshell, is our Sam.  Fat, happy, and lazy.