Must be doing something right

Yesterday, Olivia came up to me and said "Mom, come look at my temple." Not knowing what she was going to show me, I followed her into her room...

and was surprised by the lego temple that she had built.

It always makes you feel good as a parent when something you have tried to teach them actually sticks. Especially something as important to us as our religion.

During this last General Conference, I had Olivia try to spot President Monson. She found him a couple times and that was about the extent of her conference weekend.
The next week at church, an older gentleman in my ward got up and bore his testimony.
Olivia grabs me, points to the man and whispers, "Mom, I found him!"
"Who?" I whisper back.
"President Monson! He's right there!!"
Pretty good compliment for that man.

While watching Jungle Book one night, when Mowgli is asleep and Baloo and Bagheera are talking, Olivia turns to Casey and me and asks "Do you think Mowgli already read his skip-tures (scriptures) and prayed?"

We are definitely not perfect parents and could definitely teach our children more but when those little bits of knowledge are exhibited from our children, oh boy, it warms the heart.

Callen

This little cutie keeps me smiling all day. He is so sweet. He love to give kisses, which I love too, and will frequently give them over and over. He is going in for one in that last picture.
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He also has been into climbing. That is joyful. He hasn't mastered it yet, thank goodness but it is close. No cupboard or cereal box is safe anymore.

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Him and Olivia have been playing so good together. For something to do, I took Olivia's mattress off the box strings and just had the mattress next to it. It was the best idea I have had in a long time!!! They loved it! They played so good in there for about 5 days until I put her bed together again. They would just climb up and down the box strings, jump from one to the other, or get a pile of books and read to each other.
Easy entertainment + no work for a tired, prego mommy = good stuff

(Don't mind them being half naked, that's usually how we roll around here)

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He is currently getting his molars. Not too fun. He actually isn't too bad, just needs some extra hugs and loves every once in a while.
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He has started sticking out his tongue when I ask to see it. Too cute. He doesn't talk much, just Mama, Dada, and KJ once, but he understands a lot. Like, 'sit down,' 'let me see your tongue,' 'go get in your seat' and 'go get blank/bink.'
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He has started holding his arms for prayers. So its not really "folding" but more like putting his hands on top of his head. He's getting it and it is oh so cute.

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He had his last bottle on the 16th and did great. It didn't even phase him! Now to take the binkie away.... I think that is going to be a bit harder.

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He LOVES babies. Real or fake. Whenever we are with my friend that has a 2 month little girl, he is always trying to kiss and hug her. And he loves Olivia's baby dolls. He carries them around and tries to give them his binkies. Casey isn't too found of his baby doll obsession but I think it is cute. It reminds me of the FRIENDS episode when Ben has a Barbie and Ross wants him to play with a GI Joe instead. "There's my boy, and there's his... Barbie."

Casey mentioned maybe finding a "tougher" looking baby. Men. I think he is just fine.

You make me laugh

My daughter makes me laugh. I frequently tell her "You make me laugh," which she is starting to tell me back. She is sassy, independent, stubborn, smart, beautiful, funny, and mine. I love her. Sometimes she makes me want to pull my hair out, and I am really not looking forward to teenage years with her, but I love her. Every last bit of her.


Here are some funny "Lou Louisms" from the past few months that I have been meaning to put on here. Enjoy!

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Watching a larger man cut down a dead tree at our house:
Me: "Wow, that was a big chunk."
Lou: "Yeah, he is real chunky!"
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"I'm being a turkey butt!!"
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"When I get big and you get little, I can drive."
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Talking about her and Grandma Terri's hair: "We have yellow hair together, that means we are big girls."
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"I'm getting bigger so I can touch the ceiling!"
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After telling me there are two tigers in our house and it was my job to get them out and then me acting like a tiger and trying to get her:
Me: "I'm a tiger and I'm going to get me a Lou Lou!"
Lou: "Mom, you are not a tiger."
Me: "What am I then?"
Lou: "You're just a crazy lady."
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"I'm running around like a crazy girl!"
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Getting pajamas on at Grandma Julie's house:
Me: "Lou, you need to get dressed because we don't want people seeing our privates."
Lou: "Yeah... Grandma Julie has big privates!!!"
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Me: "Lou, you need to pick up your toys."
Lou: "Mom, it's just easier not to."
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FYI: These pictures were taken at the grand opening of Brooklyn's playground. If you are in the Poky area and have not checked it out, GO!!! It is AWESOME and so wonderful that we have such an amazing, all inclusive playground where kids of all abilities can play together.

#3

Yep, I am pregnant. :)
Baby Payne #3 will be arriving sometime in early April, making me 14 weeks along (the ultrasound pic is from around 9 weeks).
My due date as of right now is April 8th.


I have been sick with this pregnancy but I was expecting to be. I as hoping that the wonderful pill Zofran would make that horrible morning (all day) sickness go away like it did when I was pregnant with Callen but no luck this time. It did nothing so I stopped taking it. So we have been suffering with me laying around most of the day. It was all day everyday but it has slowly dropped to every afternoon from about 2-6 and then from about 9 until whenever I get to bed.

It seems like my body is just a bit too familiar with being pregnant, since it was only 13 months ago since the last child inhabited it. I think I started showing at about 8 weeks and I just keep getting bigger. I don't think I was this big with either of my kids until about 5 months! It's like my body is like "oh yeah, we know what to do here, BAM!" I have heard you get bigger with each pregnancy because your uterus is already stretched out and I guess that is definitely true in my case.

I have been so tired too!! For awhile I had to take a nap everyday when the kids went down but now I try not to because when I nap I get even sicker when I wake up (same thing happened when I was prego with Lou, maybe another girl?).

Olivia is set on this being a girl because she wants a sister to play with, not another little brother. Here are some other funny things she has said/done regarding this pregnancy:

"Mommy, I have three babies in my belly... how many do you have?"

After asking her what her 3 babies were named: "2 Thomas O'Malleys and Carson... they're all girls."

After Casey poked her in the belly with a fork: "Daddy, careful!! There's a baby in there and you don't want to hurt 'em!"

"Oh, this baby sure makes me ornery sometimes!!"

Lou: "My babies came out of my belly Mom."
Me: "Oh they did? Did it hurt?"
Lou: "No, it didn't hurt, you'll be fine. There are baby horses in my belly now."

"Oh, Mommy, your belly is getting so big!!"

As you can see, she is pretty funny. I think she is a bit more excited this time because she knows what the outcome of a baby in my belly means. Tomorrow I go back to the doctor and hopefully we get to hear the heartbeat.

26 weeks to go!!!

Check ups

Last month the kids had there 3 year old and 1 year old check ups (how do I have kids this old?? Wow, time flies). Here are there stats and some tidbits on each of my cute kiddos...

Callen Russell
23 lbs 12 oz (64th percentile)
30 inches (57th percentile)
46.2 cm head circumference (44th percentile)

• really wants to be a big boy and always wants to use a spoon, cup, walk down stairs, and play outside with Lou Lou
• grunts and points at things that he wants
• gets so excited when you understand what he wants
• loves fruit
• walks/runs everywhere
• is beginning to be quite the teaser
• likes to pick his plate up and eat off it like a dog
• still smiles about everything
• has now had 2 bloody lips
• has no fear and climbs everything
• loves to flirt with girls
• is down to 1 bottle a day and that will be gone this week
• has now had 2 haircuts
• is starting to really like books
• is beginning to understand a lot of what we say
  

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Olivia Chaliese
45 lbs 8 oz (99th percentile)
40 inches (95th percentile)

• is a good big sister and will sit and play with Callen in her room and read him books, although she still has moments where she still doesn't like him too much
• has changed her name to "Fa-lair," don't know where that one came from
• has started dance and tumbling and is really liking them
• always tells me "I'll ask Santa for that" when she sees a toy she wants and is certain he is going to bring Jessie and Bullseye from Toy Story
  
• has been wanting to where a dress almost everyday
• loves princesses
• still enjoys reading her books and has many of them memorized so she will just read to herself
• is excited for it to snow and tells me "but we don't eat or touch yellow snow." I think Papa taught her that one