Toddler Words and Their Definitions

I wish I had written down all the "made up" words which Ethan and Gavin assigned to things when they were toddlers and preschoolers. When a child assigns their own word for something, I believe it shows how intelligent they are. They are adaptable beings thirsting for communication and they use what they know to connect with others and ultimately get what they want. (Let's cut to the chase, they want it and want it now.) So tonight I've decided to write a few of the words one would hear around our house lately.

Lindsey has assigned the word rainbow to an umbrella. Umbrella is not a word we have used often in the past. Since our move to the East coast, we notice that everyone uses an umbrella, much more often than we would have in the South. There are many more walkers (rain, sleet, or snow) here, hence many more umbrellas. So when we venture out the door on a rainy day, Lindsey replies, "Mom, we need a rainbow!" My thought is, "Of course we do, because if we saw a rainbow, then the rain would be stopping," not realizing that she means an umbrella!

Austin has a few words in his vocabulary worth noting. His first being "Dee-dee" which is adapted from the "Motherese" word blankey, which in turn is adapted from the English word-blanket. A second word, tadtoo, is what he calls crackers. We will hear him break into song with this word sometimes. The last word worth mentioning is nem. I'm afraid I am to blame for the use of this one. We rarely go without having M&M's stashed in the cupboard somewhere and Austin has developed quite the palate for this tasty treat. He now knows which cupboard in which they are placed . . . always. "Nem . . . nem. . . nem . . . NEM! . . .NEM!. . . NEM! . . .

. . . . oh how I will miss these times as they grow older.

To the Baseball Coaches

Dear Baseball Coaches,

I love you all and appreciate the time, and I mean ALL the time you have sacrificed to coach my eager little ballplayers. I'm writing to let you know that I now have all my kids back on a schedule, including bedtime before 10:00. My preschoolers are in bed right now as I write. AND I don't have red clay all over the floor of my van anymore. AND last Saturday, I just could not quite figure out what to do with myself or the family.

Oh, and one more thing, I'm enjoying it!!!

Love,
The Mom

P.S. The boys are missing baseball terribly, so maybe I am too, just a little ; ).

WOW! It's Been a While!

Needless to say there has been a major event take place in our lives! The night I found out we would be moving to New Jersey, and had to keep it a secret, I wanted to blog all my emotions out. But, as I said, we had to keep it on the down-low for some time. Once it became public information, I no longer had time to blog and when I could squeeze some writing in, my computer went KAPUTZ!!!

I am now coming to you from a new state, new computer, new desk, and new chair. (I got goosed by a screw every time I sat in the old chair.) Rob and the three oldest are at a minor league baseball game-Baseball, there's a whole 'nother 10 blog entries I have to make-Austin is in bed for the night. I have a sec to take a baby step towards bloghood once again.

Today was the first day of school which means I have more homework than the kids do. Off I go to fill out emergency contact forms and turn down a listful of opportunities to volunteer for the PTO (I'm horrible, I know-to be honest, I'd just rather help out the teacher). I hopefully will make it back to the blog tonight, if I'm lucky. If not, until tomorrow, my friend!

I Heart Zappos.com!

This may be a pretty lame post but I have to put a plug in for what is now my favorite place to buy shoes . . . and you don't have to leave your house!

On a recommendation from my sister, I shopped at Zappos.com for a shoe purchase as a gift to my husband for Christmas. (Do I need to describe how painful it is taking Lindsey and Austin shopping for anything?) My experience was first rate and because I had used my Pay Pal account, I received next day shipping for free.

When it came time for Ethan to get a new pair of shoes, I decided to be a repeat customer. I browsed through a selection of shoes in his size, and my price range, picked out the ones I approved of and saved them to My Favorites list on the website, and let him choose which ones he liked best out of that list. I placed my order and just for being a repeat customer I again received next day shipping at no cost. They arrived the next day before Ethan got home from school.

A week later Ethan complained that the sole of his tennis (they are running type shoes to be exact) came unglued on a small corner. I didn't want to hassle with sending them back for such a small defect that really wasn't a big deal, so I took them to a shoe repair where they tried to glue it back using their own shoe glue. Ethan wore the shoes for one more day and the process had not been effective, so I decided I would attempt to return them.

I called Zappos' 1-800 number today and a cheerful customer service representative responded on the other end. I explained the situation and she was concerned that since I had already "altered" the shoe by taking them to a shoe repair that I would not be able to return them. She checked with her manager and they agreed to give me a "courtesy" exchange and that next time I should just call them first. All I wanted was an exchange for the same shoe. She then e-mailed me the return shipping label while still on the phone, which I was to just print and tape to the box I was returning the shoes in, at no cost to me. THEN she said I would be getting my new shoes the NEXT DAY! All I needed to do was ship the defective shoes within 14 days. The process couldn't have been easier! I related to her how satisified and impressed with Zappos.com and she then invited me to VIP status as a customer with them. This allows me to continued Next Day Shipping at no cost!

I have not tried the VIP website yet, but I have four kids, and I'm a runner. I'll NEED shoes all of the time.

I'm impressed with this company's top notch customer service at a time when customer service is falling behind at so many retailers. I recommend this website to anyone.

Do you heart Zappos, too?

Diary of a Baseball Mom 2009, Chapter 1

I wish that I were a better writer. Maybe someday I can take a class or something, but for now I have to go off my undergraduate, 2 English course, education.

Today marks the first day of our baseball year with practice at 6:30. So many emotions have begun to resurface at this point, and while my creative juices began flowing I decided I better stop, sit down, and write before I lost my thoughts. (Actually I don't know if its "creative juices" per say, but just me talking to myself.) So, my dishwasher is hanging wide open and Austin is probably inside of it right now.

I have come to the conclusion that I am addicted to being busy. I simply can't sit still. (Maybe that's where Ethan gets it from.) We had one tiny little week free from any sort of "ball" practice, game, or meeting, which we enjoyed thoroughly. I actually kept my laundry at basket height level instead of overflowing. On Saturday, I squeaked in a 6 mile run AND went grocery shopping all in the same day! (Evidence that I can't sit still.) The crowning fact of it all is that I vacuumed out the van on Wednesday and it StIlL looks pretty darn good. (No grass, mud or empty water bottles strewn along)

My need to "write" grew from my astonishing realization today that I actually was looking forward to being out at the ball park tonight! WhAT? That can't be possible! I'm looking foward to mud caked to everything we own--even Austin? Or to getting into bed way too late? Or struggling with decisions like missing scouts vs. attending a practice or make-up game?

Maybe this is just my need to be positive in every situation, but yes it will be fun to get outside and let the little ones run around. I can have a conversation with an adult other than myself. With a little luck, it's quite possible the kids will be tired after all of this and will go to bed with no fight at all (a reference to Lindsey). While I wasn't one of those parents who brought my fold out chair and a cooler and camped out at try outs, I will look on the bright side.

I'm guessing that come June, my sentiment will fall on the complete other side of the spectrum, but, hey, as long as my kids are happy, being active, and we can find some balance during it all, I will be okay.

Now, I better go dig Austin out of the dishwasher.

It's so fun to be 1!

We finally got to celebrate Austin's birthday on Friday night. We gorged ourselves at our local pizza place-it's the only place to be in our town on a Friday night. Then washed it down with some birthday cake. Austin made no hesitation to dig into his cake and put on a great show for the cameras. Each one of his birthday gifts was a hit with his favorite being his Little People Race Car vehicle. And, as promised, he is now officially walking. I'm not sure if that is something to celebrate or to cry about. However, my arm and shoulder just don't seem to ache as much.

Now, when I get my weekly e-mails from Babycenter, they no longer say "My Baby This Week." Instead it reads, "My Toddler This Week.". . . . . . I'm not sure I was ready for that.

Happy Birthday Austin

Today my baby turns one. I guess it's time to turn the carseat around. I think I nursed him for the last time a couple of nights ago. He took 4 unassisted steps yesterday and I'm sure it will be more than that today. He drinks from a sippy cup and loves to play with any kind of ball (yep, definitely a BOY!)

As usual, it is going by too fast. The weather today is actually very similar to what it was like when we brought him home from the hospital.

Today he weighed a whopping 20 lbs. 13 oz. (soaking wet). Still the runt of the family and I'm not so sad about that. He's still a baby to me!

Cute Bags

I've added a new button to my sidebar. It is for Simply Chic Baby Boutique. This gal has some adorable and affordable bags for moms or anyone on the go. The link is http://www.simplychicbabyboutique.blogspot.com/.

Happy Birthday

I'm sad today. Maybe it is Seasonal Affective Disorder, or not. We have gotten a few inches of rain today that has now turned into icicles on everything. But I think the REAL reason is that I'm taking my Christmas down. I've been listening to Celine Dion all afternoon (except for when the power went out due to the ice). Usually I'm a little more enthusiastic about taking it all down because I can start cleaning and removing clutter that builds up over the holidays. But today this just means one more year has flown by at warp speed. I signed guardianship of Ethan and Gavin back over to the school (that's what it feels like sometimes). We had such a fun time over the break, even though it was filled with vomit and fatigue.

It is somewhat sacreligious that I take my Christmas down today of all days. You see, it is my sister Stephanie's (Mrs. Christmas-what we like to call her) birthday. She is 29, so a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to her and I hope she enjoys her last year in her twenties. Next year, I'll try not to take my tree down on your birthday Steph. (I can hear here saying, "Serves you right, Jenn.") Love you, Steph.

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

Here are a few pics of our Christmas Eve.

We enjoyed a GREAT ham dinner!

New Christmas Jammies!!

Someone fell asleep too soon and wouldn't pose for a picture.

. . . and to all a good night!!!

An "F" in Blogger 101

Okay, so who in the world can keep up with blogging this time of year? I'm feeling a little guilty because I haven't recorded anyting about our Thanksgiving this year and it is already Christmas! Not only that, but I started to post about that wonderful day, only to realize I didn't get any pictures of it. I think I was getting a "C" in Blogging, but that really put me below passing.

To absolve me from this guilt I've been feeling, I have to say that we spent a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday this year in St. Charles with Rob's family. There were lots of family there including Rob's Grandma Lammering and his Aunt Jane and her family. The kids and I even met new family for the first time. We also missed 3 of Rob's brothers, too. We are so blessed to have such great families.

We followed Turkey Day by participating in Black Friday. We made it without injury. If you go with the right attitude, it sure can be a blast!

Houston Trip

I have a little more catching up to do.

Three weekends ago, the kids had Friday off of school. SOOO, what do the Glasgow's do when there is time off? We get out of DODGE, of course! Only this time, Dad couldn't go with us. I was desperately needing a therapeutic visit with my sisters. My children are great "car trippers," therefore I decided the kids and I would go visit my sister Steph in Houston. Another sister, Michelle, had already planned on being in Houston as well. I packed everyone up and left Rob at home to do work and bishop stuff. The kids travelled so well--thanks to the invention of DVD systems in cars--but Austin really got upset when we managed to arrive in Houston right at rush hour--yay for my planning!

It was such a fun weekend. Steph, Michelle and I started off the weekend by piling in Stephanie's big cozy bed and watched The Office. The next day we went running, sewed aprons for the kids, celebrated my bro's-in-law birthday at a fanatastic Mexican restaurant called Alicia's, ate too much cake, and made one more apron for Michelle, who felt left out of our plan to make aprons. The cousins played tirelessly together. The time to leave came way too fast, but I guess my kids have to attend something called school, and they travelled wonderfully back home to our dad.

I was thinking on the way home about my relationships with my siblings. How blessed am I to have them?!!! The thought entered my mind that maybe I knew them personally in the pre-existence. I don't know for sure, but I'd like to think so. Maybe in some way we were meant to help each other and support each other on our way back home. I think of them as teammates. I love how different we are from each other yet somehow the same in many ways. And our differences don't mean disagreements or hositilities (anymore), but I like them because of their differences. Can you tell I had a long time to think in the car?

The Spit Ups and a Tag

Yesterday was our ward temple trip to Memphis. I hung out with the kids while Rob assisted with the Youth. Then I got a chance to attend a session at the temple, which was the first time since Austin was born. It was such a blessing. I love attending the temple and what it represents. It is an important reminder to me of our purpose here and there is a bigger, much bigger, picture of which we are all a part.



We were about 45 minutes away from home when Lindsey threw up EvERyThINg she had eaten all day. Thankfully it only ended up on herself and the carseat. We found the next exit as fast as we could. Rob was driving with our good friend, Dave, sitting shotgun and neither were handling the smell very well. We stopped in a little town called Carlisle and fortunately at a gas station with the nicest lady for an attendant. She let us use an endless amount of paper towels, a few garbage bags and the bathroom. I was impressed at how thoroughly Rob had cleaned the carseat by the time Lindsey and I finished cleaning up in the bathroom. I'm not sure if Dave helped out with that, but I give him credit too. We made it home with no more "spit ups," as Lindsey calls it, but had not landed for long before they hit her again. Then we went home to watch our Cougars lose to the Utes--but never mind that.



I finish up this post with a great tag. My assignment is to post the 10th picture from my 4th folder in my picture file. It is only fitting that this picture be of Lindsey (and me). This was the picture we used for her birth announcement. The photographer--my mom. Lindsey--9 days old and wearing her blessing dress.

I'm tagging Stephanie, Whitney, Sarah, Kara, and Andrea.

In case you haven't noticed . . .

I have a widget at the bottom of this post. And you will notice and remember that it is not long before Twilight comes out in theaters.

HALLOWEEN

I've had a special request to post about our Halloween. I had every intention of doing anyways. But it might be good to do before Christmas, or even Thanksgiving so I can actually be ready to post on those holidays.

We had a super fun Halloween with Harry Potter, Vampire, BYU cheerleader, and a mouse. Grandma and Grandpa also came for the weekend. We had such a great time with them and hope they won't wait too long before the next visit. Grandpa took Rob and the boys fishing the next day where they caught TONS of fish. That made a tasty batter-dipped-and-fried meal for us the following day when we also celebrated Grandpa's birthday.

Where did October go?

And where is half of November already? Okay after a few threats on my life, I am MAKING the time to update my BLOG. If anyone has the recipe to make TIME, please share. We've had many small ADVENTURES in the past month and a half so my update will probably arrive in a few different posts. I'll try to start with two tonight.

In mid-October, we embarked on our annual pilgrimage to see the COUGARS play. For the SECOND year in a row, we watched them lose, live. Lindsey learned to chant, "Go BYU!" and shouted it the entire walk from the STADIUM back to the cars. We had great company with Dave and Kara traveling with us from Arkansas and also meeting up with my MOM and DAD. The next day we took the kids to the FORT WORTH ZOO where we had beautiful weather and saw most of the animals.

Zoobies at the Zoo!

Dinner with Mom and Dad

Life, is like football . . .

One would assume that I am blogging about our Cougars, who, by the way, are currently ranked #7 and #8 in two different polls. (Go BLUE!) However, football has come up in a completely different conversation this week with my oldest child. It went something like this.

I needed to visit a lady on my visiting teaching route a few evenings ago. I was going over the schedule with the boys for the rest of the day while they were doing homework. Ethan suggested that I could take Austin and that he could babysit while I stopped by this lady's house. OK, it would make my life incredibly EASIER if I could do such a thing. Believe me I would be letting him do it ALL of the TIME!!! While he is a very responsible and, at times, mature child--he is still that--a child! I explained to him that I was going too far of a drive for me to let him do this, etc. He, being a master debater, (I'd like to thank the Parents Curse for this because I was the same way!) continued to make all very valid points, but I held my ground and explained over and over my reasoning.

Finally, he said to me, "You're just like Parker (his friend). You don't trust your receivers!" Thank goodness I know a little about football. I said to him, "Well, you have to make sure your receivers can catch the short and fast passes, before you throw them the long ones, or even 'Hail Mary's'." I was not getting upset, which is what I think he was waiting for me to do. He couldn't really argue with me much after that and finally he said, "Mom, you're being weird!"

But just in case he comes back at me with this again I thought of a few other analogies. 1-The best way to move the ball down the field (make progress in the direction you want to go) is 10 yards at a time. You risk a lot less by throwing the short, fast passes. 2-Before anyone plays the game, they have to practice . . . alot! That is how you know what your receivers can do when they are in an actual game situation.

Am I a mom or a football coach? Who said sports doesn't teach you much?

Acts of Kindness

Today I got a phone call while running errands from the Young Women's president. She instructed me that I was to have the kids ready to leave the house tonight by 6:00. I was not to feed them dinner. I then was supposed to go in my room and get ready for a date with my husband. I could not come out of my room until 7:00, or until I was instructed to leave my room. Rob was to arrive home by 7:00.

I did exactly as I was told. The kids were ready and even bathed by 6. The Laurels showed up at our door and ushered our kids out the door and down the street to the YW president's (and very dear friend of ours) house. We are so blessed to live by her and her husband. I went in my room, tidied up a bit, then put my make-up on. Rob obediently came home when he was supposed to.

When we were released from our room, we opened the door to dim lights, candlelight, a beautifully set table, and classical music playing. Our hostesses greeted us and gave us very strict rules. We were NOT to talk about kids, church, money, the house, or work. We CAN hold hands. We had to talk about the following things: our favorite memory when we were dating, when we first realized we loved each other, what we love that our counterpart does for us, and what the perfect day would be together. THEN our hostesses left the house. We were ALONE . . . in our house . . . with each other. . . . YIKES! For 2 whole HOURS!

I have to say that so many feelings resurfaced by following the rules and talking over the things to which we were assigned. It was so romantic! We savoured it.

This is just one of so many simple acts of service that the people in our ward have done for us since Rob was called to be the Bishop. They have been so supportive and keen to recognize that we have a young family and there are many sacrifices we make so that Rob can serve in this calling. But they hardly seem like sacrifices to us, especially when the members of our ward bless our family like this. We have relied on the Lord during this time and He has been able to rely on the hands of ward members to provide our family with blessings we need. We feel so undeserving, yet are soooo grateful. The gospel of Jesus Christ is such a wonderful thing. We are learning to be Christlike by serving/teaching/loving others.

Thank you to our young women and their leaders! The kids are in bed, the dishes are done, the house is picked up . . . . so what am I doing sitting here and blogging? See ya . . . .

Oh My Ears!

Here is what happens when you blog at 2:30 in the morning. . . .

You put songs on your playlists that have SweAr WorDs in them!!! I was listening to my playlist today and the "f word" squeaked out of one of my songs. For clarification, if any of you visited my blog before I corrected this, we only played the RADIO EDIT version of this song for Lindsey, not the one with the profane word. I did not even KNOW the original version had a swear word in it! So never mind that, I've corrected the problem and you can go on and enjoy clean listening. I apologize to anyone that may have heard the explicit form of my playlist.

KidSongs

When I was pregnant with Ethan, my oldest, I had a friend who told me she had a "song" for each one of her children. These songs were contemporary songs played on the radio. So, with each of my children, I've found that I have "songs" for them. They are songs that for some reason or another remind me of that child.

I have finally added a music playlist to my blog. Four of these songs represent my four kids. "Forever Young" is Ethan's song. While I was still in the hospital after his birth, I saw the Pampers commercial with the baby animals on it and it played a section of this song. I never paid attention to the words in this song until that moment. Those words were exactly what I was feeling for my newborn. I love the line, "Whatever road you choose {CTR!!!!}, I'm right behind you, win or lose." Ethan's personality reminds me so much of the little tiger cubs in that commercial.

Gavin's song is "A New Day has Come" by Celine Dion. She wrote this song for her newborn son. The song began playing on the radio during my pregnancy with Gavin. We were preparing for a big move at the time also. I remember driving home from the airport to get Rob and this song came on the radio, reminding me of all the changes happening to our family and the most exciting thing was that we were going to have a baby boy.

Lindsey's song is "You're Beautiful." Rob, unknowingly, picked this song for Lindsey. It too became popular just as I found out we were having our first, and so far, only baby girl! Rob LOVES this song, along with several other songs by the same artist. On some of those rough nights, I often watched him rock Lindsey to sleep while he played this song over and over for her. We certainly believe that she's as beautiful as an angel.

Austin's song is new and I just discovered it. "In My Arms" is perfect for him because he is my cuddler. At 7 months old, he still will mold his little body into my chest and rest his head in the crook of my neck and I LOVE it!!!! The first line describes, "Your baby blues . . . " and Austin is my only child to have my blue eyes. I have to laugh at the line "safe, in my arms." So many times I have to come to his rescue from his older siblings.

I'm not very talented musically, but I love music. One reason . . . it triggers my memory.