This Boy

Nolan is my, "stop to smell the roses," boy. He loves to appreciate everything around him. Even literally speaking, whenever we go to Costco he loves to stop and smell the flower bouquets there. Tim told me that when he took the boys trick or treating Bear stopped to point out all of the decorations.  We laugh that he is often five minutes behind everyone else.  He is normally such a happy boy. (Today was not a normal day).

I love watching this video I took of him last week. It always brings a smile to my face:

I love you my Bear!

Buen Dia

   I'm typing this blog post from a little part of Buenos Aires, Argentina where my mom and I are staying at an in-patient rehabilitation center. My mom suffered a stroke a little over a month ago while in the jungle near Iguazu Falls, Argentina. (Anyone reading this probably knows that my mom and dad have been serving in Resistencia, Argentina, where my dad is mission president).

  I have been here with my mom for almost three weeks. The day I arrived in Buenos Aires was the same day she was transferred from the hospital to the clinic. We got her dressed into real clothes (yea! No more hospital gowns after 2 weeks), she was put on the stretcher and I was about to take my first ambulance ride-- in a foreign country nonetheless. What surprised me most about the ride was the guy in the front seat smoking and all of the cigarette smoke coming through the window and settling in our faces. I had to laugh-- I don't think that would fly in the U.S.

 It has been a remarkable experience being by my mom's side. I have watched in awe as she works so hard to regain strength, balance and coordination every day. She is so positive. I'll never forget the day she took her first solo, "Frankenstein," steps. I wanted to burst into tears and jump up and down. I'm pretty sure I did jump up and down and clap my hands in front of the therapists when my mom finished.
   Some people have emailed me mentioning the, "sacrifice," of me coming here and being with my mom. It is hard to feel like I am sacrificing to be with the woman who is constantly doing for others, has always been there for me, and is my MOM. I feel like it is an honor! I didn't predict that the first time I would see her in almost a year and a half would be in a hospital in Buenos Aires, but I am so grateful for that reunion, no matter the location.
 
  It is hard to be away from Tim and the boys for so long, but I feel the prayers of others keeping me strong. Tim has been the most amazing husband and dad, not uttering complaints and doing his best to keep the boys happy. I can't begin to describe the sacrifice of my family and friends at home helping take care of my little family. Especially Pete and Ale, Curtis and Candace, and soon to be my little sister Alli who will fly down to be with the boys another week. There have been meals brought in from my church, other dinner invitations, a ride for me to the airport, a ride for Kyle to the Primary Program Practice, friends and family picking up Kyle from pre-school and having him over for play-dates. A sweet pre-school mom helps walk Kyle into pre-school every morning when Candace (with 3 under the age of 3, 4 (including Kyle) under the age of 5), would arrive to drop him off. The list goes on, and on, and on. It has been humbling. I am so grateful.

  Anyway, this experience is not about me. But I did want to record some of my thoughts. My dad wrote the most beautiful post about my mom on their mission blog: www.theheymansmission.blogspot.com.

One day I will be able to get this little blog updated, but until then I will be trying to use my limited Spanish to communicate with the very friendly people here, drinking my agua, "sin gas," and enjoying every minute I get to spend with my hero.

An Inherited Vocabulary

    Nolan is quite the talker. At his 2 year appointment the doctor asked, "Is he saying many words? Does he put 2 words together?" In which I had to respond, "Yes! He just TALKS," because he seems to talk to me non-stop, expressing everything and even trying to have a big sense of humor.

I was thinking today, however, of some of the things he says that I know he learned from his older brother.

1. "It's twisted!" In reference to his car seat buckle, which is never twisted. Kyle is OCD about his seatbelt and it can't be twisted.

2. "No like girl song!" While listening to the radio.

3. "Unkie song Mama?" He asks this when a song with a good beat comes on the radio. Kyle loves when a popular song his Unkie used to sing to on his ukelele or piano comes on the radio. (Yes I still live in 1990 and don't use an iPod).

4. "This gross! No like it!" This makes me mad. If Kyle says this about his food Nolan will as well and refuse to eat it, even if Bear really does like it.

5. "I have tummy-ache." He said this the other day while holding his knee.

6. "I need ice!" Another dramatic statement he learned from his overly-dramatic brother.

7. "Mine! My turn!" Every kid learns this but I have a sneaky suspicion he picked this up a little sooner than later being the youngest.

8. "Watch show Mama?"

9. "Caught it!" Every night we have to blow kisses to each other and Kyle always yells, "Caught it!" Now Nolan yells that without doing the kiss part.

10. "Love you. Miss you. Bye." These are Kyle's parting words when getting off the phone or if we are saying good-night or good-bye to him. Bear says his version of it too.

  I love this boy and all he has to say but he seems to say, "Mama! Mamaaaa!" all day long. He whispered on and off for about a week but now it seems he is back to one-volume Nolan. I love this boy!

Happy Birthday Bear!

  Back in June our little Nolan Bear turned two! It was a fun family day with Reed in our family too since Candace and Curbo were in the hospital with newborn Charlotte.

In the morning we were brave and took Reed and Nolan to get their haircut and then got Costco smoothies.

We went to Hamilton Pool and had fun swimming and then after naps we enjoyed pizza with GG, Curtis, Reed, Taylor and our family.

  He loved opening all the cards and presents that came from family members. Thank you!

I didn't know what to get Nolan because it seems like he always wanted what Kyle was playing with :). I thought he would have fun with a playhouse and had been emailing people on Craigslist for a couple of days before his birthday. On his birthday we got an email back and we were able to pick it up during his naptime. I was happy he wouldn't be present-less after-all :).

Enjoying his new house the next day:

We ended the night with donuts and candles. He sure does love both! Whenever I have a candle lit at home he always wants me to lift him up so he can blow it out.

We sure do love our Nolan Bear! He is the perfect balance to our family. He loves to give hugs and bury his head in our neck. At 27 months he is a great talker, has a sense of humor, loves to be with his brother, still takes a nap once a day, would watch shows all day long if I let him, is quick to say, "Sorry," and is still a great eater. He has thinned out a lot but is tall and solid. He was in the 90% for both height and weight at his appointment. 

I love my Nolan so much. I love his funny voice and his big belly laugh. He has great hair. It is so soft and thick and I love seeing what bed-head he is going to wake up with every day. I love that he takes soooo long to eat his breakfast and then wants a snack less than an hour later every day. He is reluctant to try new things but enjoys watching others. He is a Mama's boy but I think he may melt Tim's heart the most :). I have always felt that Heavenly Father knew what he was doing when he blessed me with Nolan!

My Big Kid

After volunteering in Kyle's class today, Kyle told me, "Mama, I was just so excited that you were in my classroom to help that my smiles kept on coming."

That got me through the rest of the day. He totally melted my heart. This kid has the funniest ways of expressing himself.

I love you Kyle.

First Day of Pre-K

    Kyle had his first day of Pre-K on August 6th. He was excited to start school again. Some friends had recommended a program through the city to me so I was lucky and got Kyle in! (The spots fill up within 2 minutes online). Before I made the decision of which school to send him to I was extremely nervous. I had a feeling that Kyle needed to be in a more structured setting this year to help him prepare for Kindergarten. This boy likes his routines and doesn't like listening (to me at least), so I was worried about what to do the year before kindergarten. When we were successful at signing him up I instantly felt comforted and knew that this was where he was supposed to go!

    As it got closer for school to start, however, I started doubting and looked online again to see if there was something else that I thought would suit him better. I also worried because none of his friends would be in the program. I didn't come across anything. So we got ready for the first day and left! As the teacher talked to the parents I once again got the same feeling. It made me feel at ease and so excited for my Kyle boy!

This kid and his small back-pack. I'm still trying to convince him he needs a bigger one.

 My cute boys!

Big man on campus, wearing his first pair of flip-flops. It's a rough life when you have bricks for feet.

Bear strutting his stuff.

 

Does this smile look forced?

Kyle snapped this pic:

 And Nolan snapped this one:

Love them!

Hot Wheels!

Kyle learned a new trick on Monday, July 30th.

It was so fun to watch him learn! He gave me his proud smile a couple of times and loved pedaling faster and faster. He knows how to push off by himself now too. Good thing he has a nice dad who will take him out to ride his bikes at night. Even after dinner it is just too hot for me to hang out there!

Way to go Kyle boy! You sure are growing up fast!

Quick Trip to Payson and Rudy's

Near the end of July we made a quick trip to Payson with Pete's family, Andy, Curbo's family, and Grammy and MyPa. It was such a treat to get out of the hotttttt weather and enjoy the outdoors! I only wish the trip was longer! Oh and I wish I had taken more photos! Here are a few that I snapped:

Beautiful Ale and Sammy Boy who was only happy in the front:

Gabby, Bear and I in the back. I ended up taking the goggles off of Bear. They started to move up his face, squishing those cute eyes!

Reed and Nolan loved drinking out of the Camelbak:

Uncle Curbo with the big kids and Roo Bear. It was so green!

 Grammy! Her quad started over-heating so she had to step on the gas to keep it cool. Go Grammy!

Love this of Curbo and Reed:

 Us again. Nolan is a little more relaxed:

MyPa:

 TRay and Happy Kyle. It took some bribing ($5) for Kyle to finally ride in the razor so Tim and Andy could race and have fun on the quads. Kyle loves to go riding!

Gorgeous Gabby. She is so beautiful inside and out!

Towards the end of riding I looked behind me to see Curtis driving with Reed next to him asleep. Nolan fell asleep too so we stopped and put me in the middle, with a sleeping boy on each side of me. It cracked me up that they could sleep through the bumpy ride! It was quite the task to try and keep each head stable. 

   Missing from my pictures are Pete, Andy, Mario and Gracie and also Candace and Charlotte who didn't come riding.

    Later that day we grabbed lunch and drove back to the valley with enough time to shower and meet Tim's family at Rudy's for dinner.  By this point Kyle was beyond exhausted so we sat in the parking lot for a few minutes:

And Nolan pretended he was exhausted even though he really should have been.

While at Rudy's Kyle complained about the smell so Grammy gave him her iPhone. He played with that while I proceeded to take awkward family photos:

It was so great to be with family!

My Boys

Just the boys went to see Madagascar 3 together. 

Someone was reeeaaally excited. Love them.

What Just Happened? (part 2)

The Monday following Taylor's talk and brunch was spent gathering last minute things to pack. I tried my best to have as much of his luggage packed as possible before all of the family arrived but even getting the last few things took longer than I would have guessed. (Sidenote-- from packing Taylor for his mission I learned that I don't want to have a 19 year old and a 4 year old. It would have been way easier to pack without younger kids! :))
    Tuesday was a rough day. I basically woke up crying. I thought that I would have cried more during the process but I think there was so much going on I just didn't have time to cry. So there were tears on and off all day long! On Tuesday night the kids said good-bye to Unkie so that we wouldn't have to wake them up at 5 in the morning the next day.

We got a group shot of everyone with their Unkie. Silly Uncle Curbo was making all of the kids laugh. I was so busy snapping pictures it took me a second to realize Taylor wasn't laughing with his head down, he was crying. He was going to miss his nieces and nephews, and I'm sure the craziness of his brother. Serving a mission is a sacrifice. It was a tender reminder.

It's crazy to think that sweet baby Charlotte will be as old as Reed is in this picture when Unkie (and Papa and Grandma!) come home.

That night Taylor received a special Priesthood blessing and was set apart as a missionary. Not sure there was a dry eye there either.

Love this pic of Taylor laughing with GG:

That night he said good-bye to Papa and Grandma Curtis, G.G. and his great friend MacGyver. At home he said good-bye via Skype to my parents who were waiting in Argentina to see him one last time before entering the MTC. It was an extremely emotional day.
  It was so emotional that by the time early Wednesday morning came around the feeling was more of, "Let's do this!" We were all excited for Taylor and knew that he would be an awesome missionary. Growing up I used to decorate his toaster streudels for him (his favorite breakfast) so I did it one last time:

He was ready. I am so proud of him. His eyes looked tired but you could tell he was ready. Here he is with the luggage I bonded with. I hoped and prayed I was packing all of the right stuff!

Chris drove Taylor and Curtis to the airport. Curtis flew with him to Provo, UT and Bubby and Sam joined them in dropping Taylor off at the Missionary Training Center. He'll be there for about 2 months  I think and then fly to Chile!

I love and miss you Scooter!