Bee Movie

It's routine for us to read books before naps and bedtime. Chandler found this Bee Movie book at the library and has been looking at it over and over. He's also wanted to watch the movie more. I love his speech at this point - how he mispronounces a lot of his words, it's so dang cute.
My favorite is how he says Vanessa - "Ba-Nessa!!" I sounds even funnier since he has been trying to get over this sinus infection and is pretty plugged up.
There's another place where he is saying "Pollen Jocks" over and over but it sounds more like "powojacks"

Danielle & Malone's wedding

Marshall's little sister Danielle got married this last Saturday. We went down Thursday night to make a trip of it. Natalie and I threw a bridal shower for Danielle on Thursday night. Friday we went through the temple with Danielle and they were married Saturday morning. It was such a fun trip and was nice to get back to Idaho for a few days. Danielle & Malone make a super cute couple and it'll be fun to have Malone around and in the family now.

We stayed with my mom and dad while we were up there and it was an understatement to say there was a houseful along with some problems....
My younger brother Geoff had 3 friends staying the night the same night we were. They went and climbed the grand teton the next day, so my mom had 7 extra people to house. Friday morning the sewer started backing up as everyone was using the toilet too much and showering. So we left my poor mom with a basement full of sewer water and the boys as we went and had a nice morning at the temple. (Thanks mom!) I felt pretty dizzy, nauseated and had a horrible headache all day Saturday but managed to keep most things down and kept myself going with Motrin and some caffeine. Chandler was rather grumpy on and off throughout the weekend - we figured that was part of a cough and runny nose he'd had for over a week. After keeping him up half the night Saturday, I took one look at his face Sunday morning and knew I needed to take him to the dr. His poor face was covered in snot and his eyes were half glued shut :( Once at the dr.'s office we found out he had double ear infections and a sinus infection. Poor baby. He's on some good antibiotics now. I was surprised to hear from the nurse when we were in the dr.'s office that in the last few weeks they had seen cases of measles, mumps & chicken pocks in their office. That's a little scary. Made me glad my boys are immunized. In my opinion I think the pros much outweigh the cons when it comes to immunizing.
So we headed home last night and it's nice to be home. It's always fun to go, but nice to come home. Although it seemed much harder to say goodbye then I thought it was and I felt like crying on our car ride home. Our little nephew Jacob seemed to double in size this last month and Natalie and I were able to have some much needed girl time.
We got home pretty late last night and pretty much dropped everything. Our apartment is in much need of some TLC and yet here I sit blogging....go figure :)

Amazing

I love swimming - my favorite part of the summer Olympics.  It could be because I swam on swim teams when I was younger and competitively in Jr. High and 2 years of High School.  I excelled in the 100 m breaststroke and even qualified to swim at state my sophomore year.  Good times.  

We've been recording much of the Olympics (thanks to my best friend DVR) and I've been watching every single swimming race.  

So what about Michael Phelps?  His 100 m butterfly was pretty much amazing and the closest race I've ever seen. I was ready to jump off my couch and cheer for him but somehow I don't think he would have heard me...

  After winning his 8th gold medal tonight I am in awe of just how incredible he is.  He's such a great athlete and so fun to watch.  We were watching a special with him the other night and I had to laugh at his "diet."  He is supposed to eat between 8,000 - 10,000 calories a day because he works out so much.  You think it'd be good carbs and tons of lean protein right?....so I was surprised to see his regimen of sausage and chocolate chip pancakes in the morning.  And he's a huge fan of eating out, he doesn't cook at all.  Funny to get an inside glimpse of an athlete's daily life.  

And his mom  - gotta love her!  So it's official, I think I am in the Michael Phelps fan club - anyone want to join me?

Bread Recipe

Some of you asked for my bread recipe, so here it is.

* 10 1/2 cups of white bread flour (do not use all-purpose flour)
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 1 tablespoon salt
* 3 rounded tablespoons saf-instant yeast
* 3 tablespoons liquid lecithin
* 4 cups hot tap water

Mix dry ingredients. Add lecithin and water. Mix for 1 minute and check consistency. If dough is too dry add more water. If dough is too moist, add more flour. Mix for 5 minutes. (If you don't have a good mixer, here is where you knead the bread for 10 minutes.) Do not add water or flour to the dough after it has finished mixing. Spray counter and pans with Pam. Shape loaves and cover with a dish-towel. Let raise 25 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. This recipe makes four loaves of bread.

Some tips they gave at the class:
-You can find liquid lecithin at health food stores or I saw that they sell it online at amazon.com
- Squeeze or pour approximately 3 tablespoons of lecithin directly into the bowl. Do not measure, this stuff is extremely sticky.
-If you ever get down here to Lehi, Lehi Roller Mills supposedly has the best bread flour. These women doing the class have used all sorts of bread flour and claim it makes the best bread.
-Don't use flour when shaping your bread or rolling it out for other things. Adding flour will dry out your bread. Instead, if it starts to get sticky, use pam. (I use a ton when I'm making it especially when kneading the bread and it works great.)
- Your tap water MUST be HOT. Otherwise, it will kill the yeast.
- Your dough will look sticky - almost like cookie dough. This is good, it ensures the bread will be moist.
- Make sure you buy the Saf yeast.
- Can store dough for up to 2 days in the fridge. Just spray a bread bag with pam and put the dough in. Make sure to use within 2 days.

They have a great dvd out that helps you make all sorts of things from this one recipe. Their website: Pantry Secrets

Hope this helps some of you out - Happy bread making! :)

Fun Facts - August

Rowan

* Rolls his ankles and wrists and wiggles his toes and fingers when he gets excited

* Says: "Da da da da" in a very high pitched voice. Of course the sound has no meaning to him but I think it makes Marshall happy anyway.

* Loves mashed potatoes and small pieces of bread

* Goes to sleep by himself for naps and when I put him down at night. We watch for his sleepy cues, then put his blankie on him, give him his paci and he's out within about 5 minutes.

* Has the best droopy chubby cheeks. I think I kiss them about 1,000 times a day



* Will actually roll over for a purpose now - (to get a toy or something he's not supposed to have) as opposed to rolling just to do it.

* Can stand next to the couch for a few seconds by himself.

* Is still trying to break his top two teeth -poor baby, they have been huge and swollen for over 3 weeks.


Chandler

* Finds excuses to get out of bed - usually a drink

* Loves to watch us play mario golf & mario cart

* Some of my favorite words he says,
Triceratops = Twhere-a-pots
Yummy = Lemmy
Chicken = Tickin
Rowan = Wowan
Drink = Ga-rink


* Is very particular about his bedding when he sleeps. Has to be in this order:
1. sheet
2. comforter
3. his duck blankie
If the duck blanket is underneath he makes us change it.

* Is totally loving peanuts this month but hates peanut butter.

* Prays for all of his favorite tv shows at night

Need Opinions...

We had Chandler & Rowan's pictures done on Friday evening. The photographer - Jenna - did an absolutely fabulous job! I couldn't be more happy with them but am torn about what prints to order. I want an 8x10 of each of the boys by themselves for the wall portraits, one of them together and then am thinking about doing a collage. Anyways - I'm posting a few here - some that I am thinking of printing, but if you want to check out the rest of them go to jennanelsonphotography and then to proofing. The password is chandler03 . I will definitely be going back to her again, she was so wonderful with the boys and takes beautiful pictures.

Domestic Mama

I've always wished that I had more domestic talents. I wish I could sew, but just don't have the patience. My mom helped me sew a nursing cover a few months back and it was all I could do to do something basic like that. I wish I could say I liked it or that I had some knack for it like my friend Camille. (You have to check out her stuff, it's beautiful) I also wish I had a great taste for decorating or crafting, but it's just not there. I do like to cook and love my slow cooker. I also like trying new recipes that aren't too time consuming or difficult but that taste yummy. Last week we had an enrichment on bread making. A local company named Pantry Secrets came to present. They have an incredible recipe that works good for tons of stuff. The nice thing too - it's super cost effective. Costs about 25 cents a loaf to make. And you can make it from start to finish in an hour. My mom has a Bosch mixer and I'm seriously wishing I had one - much like this beautiful one you see pictured below. Never thought I would think a mixer was beautiful 10 years ago. Funny how things change when you get married and have a family.
 Guess I will save my pennies. I've had to make everything by hand so far, but at least I"m getting some arm muscles kneading the bread. Chandler loves homemade bread as my mom makes it a lot (I think her recipe is a little different), so it's nice to be able to make it.
So far here's what I've made from the same recipe: Bread, Cinnamon Rolls, Stuffed Crust Pizza (cost all of $3.50 to make it), breadsticks, cream cheese braid, and scones (navajo tacos). There are tons of other things that I want to make from this bread recipe, and they gave us lots of ideas. It's definitely something I am going to stick with and I'm sure it will save us tons of money in the long run!

My bread :) Isn't it pretty?

A stuffed crust pizza I made last week - half supreme, half pepperoni

Midnight Snacks

Marsh and I were talking last night about Rowan not sleeping through the night. He averages 3 feedings at night. While I know he doesn't need it, who's to say he's not hungry? Take me for example. When I became pregnant with Chandler I suddenly had to eat at night. I would get up 2-3 times during the night to have a "snack." Sometimes it would be a bowl of cereal, some yogurt, leftovers. There was even a 2 week stretch where I craved green beans and would open and eat a can during the middle of the night, every night. Chandler loves grean beans now - one of his favorite veggies. Ironic, huh?
Chandler also went through a phase around 18 months where he would wake up in the night screaming and crying. We thought he was having nightmares, maybe missed his mom and dad. Nope, just hungry. Even if he ate right before he went to bed, he still needed something to eat during the middle of the night. It lasted a couple weeks.
Since I get up quite a bit at night with Rowan, I realize just how hungry I am and sometimes can't fall back asleep until I've had something to eat. So if a baby is supposed to be able to go an 8 hour stretch at night without eating, why can't I? LOL. I'm lucky if I can make it 4 hours. Granted, I'm not starving - but I sure can't go back to bed with my tummy growling. I guess Marshall is the only "normal" one who can go all night without eating, unless he's not telling me something. :)
So call me a softie - I don't care. If I get to eat at night, Rowan should be able to too. How can I say no to a face like this?

Rub A Dub Dub - 2 Boys In The Tub

Rowan sits up well enough now to be able to take baths with Chandler. I was bathing them separately a lot of the time up until now because Chan tends to get kind of rough in the bath. They both loved it and I'm sure it's the first of many baths together.

Reminder

My Scentsy party is closing on Monday - so get your orders in by then!  If you were planning on placing an order, will you leave a comment and let me know when you have so Sara can watch for them?  Click here to place your order.    Warmers & scents from the summer catalog are now 10% off!  THANKS!!

6 month well baby

We went in for Rowan's 6 month well baby visit today. I had a recommendation to go to a pediatrician in Draper so we made an appointment. We didn't have to wait long at all and I am super impressed with their new pediatrician, Dr. Lei. He actually took quite a bit of time to visit and get to know us and was in the room for a while. Rowan looks great and healthy. He did have a penal adhesion which I wasn't aware of and the Dr. had to free it up. Rowan wasn't too happy about that. He was a good sport for the shots even though he screamed a little about that too. He asked me how Rowan was sleeping at night and I told him up he was usually up between 3-7 times a night, depending on the night. He said he was old enough we could try crying it out, but if I didn't feel comfortable doing it and didn't feel too sleep deprived not to worry about it. He suggested some solids and a really good feeding right before he goes down. Rowan doesn't have a set time he goes down every night so I'm thinking we should start a routine sooner than later. I'm not a big fan of the crying out method so I think I will keep doing the night time feedings. I do feel tired some days, but don't all moms? He also said his top teeth are close to cutting through. His gums are extremely swollen where his top teeth are coming down and I'm surprised he's been such a good sport - it looks painful.
Anyway - here are his 6 month stats:

Weight: 17 lbs 11 oz (50%)
Height: 27 1/4" (60%)
Head 17 1/4 (60%)

Rowan is doing exactly what Chandler did. They have both started out as really big babies in the 90th percentile and then started to even out at about 6 months. I can't believe how fast 6 months have gone. If only babies wouldn't grow up :(

Visit from the Birch's

Our friends Jeff & Sara came over to visit last night. They were our good friends in Idaho and found out that Jeff's job is transferring him down here, yay! Chandler talked about Carson all day and was excited he came. Of course they were super rough and Chandler's room looked like a tornado had hit it in a matter of minutes. It was fun to visit and catch up and we look forward to them moving down here!

All of the guys playing video games :)

Sara & me