Well, sweet Daniel is here. We are so happy.

He is so adorable, as always with Oliver.

Here is a pretty funny video of them attempting a concert together.

Kitton, sweet Le Petite Kitton....remember her? Well, this is a video of what Oliver puts her through EVERY DAY. She is so tolerant, but as you can see, she has her limits. This video is kind of long, but worth it. Enjoy:

Try and try again...

Today, Oliver saw Le Petite Kitton's toys behind the armoire. He decided that HE WANTED THEM!

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Attempt #1 consisted of the old safety: crawling.

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He quickly realized that he was too wide to make it to the treasure with this technique, so he got a little braver.... and stood up:

Here is attempt #2:

As you can see, he fit nicely into the small space, and was right upon the treasure. Problem was that he could not bend down to pick it up.

Very frustrating, as you can see:

And therefore, he gave up.

Such a quitter....

We were so proud. :)

Hilarious.

Pool upgrade...

So, as the summer months have warmed up, we have found ourselves in need of a pool for Oliver. We realize that most parents would just go out and buy a $5 pool from the local WalMart. Not us.

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We are trashy.

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We looked around the house and found an unused storage crate that worked just fine:

. As you can see, Oliver is quite happy in his white-trash pool....well...sort of...

Though he is happy, we quickly realized that he needed a little more room to play. You can only take so many laps up and down and up and down....

So we decided to splurge and get him a five buck pool from the local WalMart. Here he is, anxiously awaiting his new pool. Well, actually...he has no idea what he is waiting for, but I got him all ready in his simmy diaper and lubed him up with sun block.

here it is: his new "real" pool. He loved it! He was in and out of it three times today.

Welcome SUMMER! We've been waiting for you....

Goodbye veins...

I will start with this cute picture of sweet Oliver.....

I start with this only to warn you that if you scroll down it is GROSS!!!!

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So, I had two vericose veins removed from my right leg on Monday. I have to say...the whole process has been FAR different than I expected. They "sell" this procedure to you as if it is totally painless and wonderful and nothing. ....Look at my leg::::

It is none of those things. My leg hurts SO bad. And---well, look at it. It is pretty traumatic. While I am hopeful that this will all be worth it in the end...right now, i am not happy. I'll keep you posted.

Wish me luck.

Mother's Day...

What can I say.... Mother's Day is both happy and sad for me.

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i miss my Mom. deeply.

I've come a long way with this whole grief thing.

I am able to celebrate her today.

I am filled with gratitude that I knew her....that she gave me anything and everything. Now that I have sweet Oliver, I have a much deeper understanding of her love...which only makes me miss her more. I wish that I could sit here right now and talk to her about motherhood and how it has reinvented me.....and us.

I remember when she was dying in front of us all and my dear aunt Elizabeth told me that I will wish for these moments back. She said that....as bad as Mom's death was getting...I would get to the place where I would want those moments...any moment...just to have her alive. I thought she was crazy. I could not imagine, at that time...in her anguish that I would ever want that.

I was wrong.

I really would take any moment with her again. I miss her to my core. I am sure I always will.

So, on Mother's day: I honor my Mom.

I honor all that you did for us. I am sorry for never wanting to finish my plate and for being a stubborn little pill. I love you for being so solid and wise and FUNNY. I love you for waking up at all hours to take my phone call and listen to my every babbling word as if you were not exhausted. I always felt that I was her most important thing.

I want to share with my friends the last time I "saw" my Mom. As she was dying, she "left" days/weeks before she died. Sweet Bryce and I began to stay up with her at night to monitor her and because she did not want to be alone. I remember one night in particular when she kept having Bryce and I get her up, lay her down, take her to a chiar, get her up, lay her down, take her to the bathroom, etc...etc...etc....

I was frustrated. We had just sat her down AGAIN and I was crying on her bed beside where she was sitting. We had not "seen" "her" in days. I felt her hand rubbing my head. I looked up and SHE was THERE. She just said to me, with her voice,

"I am so sorry, Sweetheart."

That was the last thing that she said to me.

She truly hated for us to see her like that. For a while that version of Mom was all I remembered. I am so thankful that my memories of her have returned fully and that she is with me again.

We miss you, Mom--but we carry you with us---every single day.

Sweet Bryce....

Today was my first Mother's Day as a Mom. Still feels weird. I do not want this day to be a day of gifts, so Bryce and I agreed...NO GIFTS.

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However....

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Bryce gave me a few HUGE gifts:

1. He let me sleep in. If you know me, you know that there is little that I value more in life than sleep. I loved it. I got up at 8:30am, Bryce got up at 6am with Oliver.

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2. I woke up to this:

A perfect, breakfast of fruit, yogurt, croisants, cheese, cookies, sweet rolls and lattes.

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I am a lucky woman.

Phoenix----gimmie some summer!!!

Well, it was still cold in Utah so.....if Summer won't come to you GO TO SUMMER!!!!

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Therefore, when Bryce went to southern utah this weekend, Oliver and I went to Phoenix.

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It was PERFECT weather: HOT....which is exactly what we needed.

Here we are at Mary's favorite restaurant (favorite = restaurant with a fountain that she can play in).

We had a lot of errands to run.

In doing this, we established one of the beloved differences between men and women: we girls can shop and shop and shop, but Oliver----not so much:

But he perked up:

Then it was time for more outside SUNSHINE:

We had a pool party with Oliver and Mary in Crit's back yard. It was AMAZING....

Mary thought that the pool was too small for them both. Therefore, she found things to do to pass the time i.e.: pouring water down Oliver's swimmy-diaper:

We also put a temporary tattoo on Oliver for the first time....so tuff...

Check out this bike:

Thank you, Critti and Mary for a perfect weekend. It was just what the doctor ordered: BFF time and WARMTH!!!! We will welcome the two of you up here in a month or so when Phoenix is unbearable and Utah is perfect.