Dodo Revealed/Bird Poop

For those of you who have read my past posts, you know who Dodo bird is. For those of you who are thinking, "huh?" I will explain. There is a cardinal who, since we moved into our house last May, has been gracing us with her presence daily by flying incessantly into our living room and kitchen windows. She waits until I open the blinds in the morning and then here she comes, smack into the glass! For more details, read some older posts. Anyway, I promised that I would try to get some pictures of her and this morning I finally did. Granted, I had to hide behind the couch so she couldn't see me. Otherwise, every time I got near the window she would fly away.

Here she is perched on the window pane. She will land there for a few seconds, then fly into one of the other windows.

Dodo is flying onto the trellis (please ignore the ugly half-dead vine). This is the window right in front of our kitchen table, where we have all our meals. So, she is usually mealtime entertainment for us. Alton loves to laugh at her.

Where's Dodo?

Okay, now here she is flying (what looks like bottom first) into one of the living room windows. She smacks into it and immediately starts turning towards the ground, where she lands for a few seconds of recovery time before she does it again.

I told you she'd do it again! You'd think she'd have a concussion by now. After 8 months I have determined that she is very tough, yet not very smart.

As for the other part of my post title, I will explain. Alton was sitting on my lap this morning while I was looking through these pictures. He pointed to the following two pictures and kept saying "bird poop, here name is bird poop." Then, while the pictures were uploading, we sat at the table to eat breakfast. While we were sitting there he said "Altons look at bird poop?" I was a little baffled, so I called Barry to ask a few questions (Barry was the one who took Alton to feed the birds and he took these pictures). Barry said that Alton kept asking if he could go see the birds but when they got up close, the ground was covered in bird droppings. Apparently, Alton thought they were little rocks that he could throw in the water. Barry, of course, told him no and explained that it was bird poop. So, Alton was simply expressing what he had learned. Anyway, here are some cute pictures of my Sweetie.

My New Recipe Blog

My recipe blog is finally up and running (the link is at the top right hand side of this blog). There are lots of recipes that I want to add, so it will take me a while to get them all on there. If you decide to try any of them, please leave me a comment and let me know what you liked, didn't like, and/or variations that worked for you. I am always open to suggestions and new ideas! Also, feel free to share recipes with me! Enjoy!

weight loss

I lost 3.8 pounds over the last two weeks, so I am up to a loss of 5.4 pounds!!!!!

P.S. As I am typing this, Dodo bird is flying into my living room window. Poor, dumb bird.

The weather has been so wet and gloomy lately. I am really looking forward to seeing the sunshine and not being so cold all the time. Although, I should prepare you. When summertime comes I will post a blog about how I am sick of the sun and of being hot all the time. Just know that it's coming!

This morning Evelyn woke up at 5:00am. Lately she has been sleeping until 7 or 8 so I was surprised that she woke up so early. But, when I went to get her I noticed that she had kicked so hard that the snaps on the bottom of her p.j.s had come open so her legs were hanging out. They felt like icicles, they were so cold! So, I figure that must be what woke her up.

I haven't yet been able to obtain a picture, but there is a bird who has been flying into our windows since we moved into our house last May. She waits until the blinds are opened in the morning and the fun begins. She basically flies from window to window in the living room and kitchen and does this until the sun goes down. She has been dubbed "Dodo bird" because she is, well, a dodo. You'd think after so long she would realize that she's not going to get in that way. We have stood in front of the windows, tapped them, and put stickers up to help her get the idea. It's been no use. She just loves to fly into the windows. I wish I knew the reason. And the reason I call it a "she" is because I think it is a female cardinal. It looks a lot like the pictures I've found on the internet. Anyway, I will work on the picture thing again. She somehow seems to sense when I get the camera out and always flies away at that point. Silly bird!

One more thing. Soon, I am going to start my own recipe blog so that I can easily share some of my favorites. And, if you know me well enough, you know that I could look at recipes all day long! So, if there are any recipes that you all would like to share with me, please send them in an email to snbjork@yahoo.com. I am always looking for new things to try and it is especially fun to try my friends favorites. Please share! And I will look forward to sharing with you.

Random Stuff

The other day Alton pointed to the scale in my bathroom and asked "what's her name" like he does to everything now. I said, without thinking first, "that's a scale and it tells Mommy how fat she is." What a horrible thing to say to my two-year-old, I know. Especially since he repeats almost everything he hears. And the poor kid depends on me, his responsible mother, to teach him things that are right and true. So, after he repeated what I taught him, I chose to correct myself and say "that's a scale and it tells me how much I weigh." There, that's better. Moral of the story: think before you speak, especially when you are speaking to a 2-year-old kid who is extremely impressionable and repeats everything his Mommy says!

Anyway, I was having a rather rough morning yesterday and decided, instead of being grumpy with my kids all day, that I would call a friend and try to cheer up. It worked. I called Michelle. She can always cheer me up. We are kindred spirits, as Anne of Green Gables would say. I am so grateful for her. Not Anne, but Michelle! =)

Today life is good. We are finally all on the mend. Not totally over it, but close. We are all feeling much better and I don't have to wipe so many snotty noses. That's always a good thing. Do you ever stop to think what life would be like if we didn't have telephones, cell phones, e-mail, and blogs?? I think a lot about that. Probably because my favorite movies are Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, etc. They didn't have any of that stuff back then. They wrote a letter and I assume if they were lucky it reached its recipient in a couple of weeks. I can hardly imagine! That would be so frustrating. Modern technology does get people in trouble sometimes, but it is also a great blessing.

I tried Evy on some rice cereal again this morning and she ate it all and then ate seconds. That made me happy. I am grateful that I can nurse her, but I also look forward to the day when I can stick her in the high chair and give her some Cheerios that she can feed to herself while the rest of us are eating dinner!

We got some fun mail today. There was a package from Mimi and Papa, which included a copy of their local newspaper with our family picture in it. I'd scan it if I had a scanner. Just use your imagination! In the package there was also an animal book for Alton. Do you think he likes it?


Also in the mail today was a package from Sariah-Lynn and Dave (my sister and her hubby). It was like a little Christmas in February. Below is a snapshot of Alton with his new tractors from Nonnie and a set of Disney's "Cars" characters. He couldn't have been more pleased! He is absolutely in love with Cars! He has seen the movie about 20 times and loves to talk about what each character says (for example: Lightning McQueen says "Faster than fast. Quicker than quick."). It's super cute to hear him talk about his little friends.

I presume this Spongebob mug with candy was intended for Barry...

I love this picture. It looks like Alton's left hand is transparent! Obviously I caught him in the midst of movement. (Surprise, surprise.) That kid must burn about 5,000 calories a day. Lucky!

Here's Evelyn posing with the shirt Sariah-Lynn sent to me. I think it looks better on her.

Thank you, family, for the thoughtful gifts and for adding some excitement to our afternoon!

Alton looked so handsome on Sunday in his Church attire that I wanted Barry to get a picture of him in it. The tricky part these days is always trying to get Alton to be still for 10 seconds, just long enough to take the photo. As you can see, 10 seconds is too much to ask! But, he still looks adorable. I think his Grandma gave him that little heart sticker on his cheek. And Nonnie got him the sweater vest in 2006 but he is just now able to fit into it. So cute!

On Tuesday it was actually in the 60's outside so we decided to take advantage. We haven't really been out of doors all winter (except while in Florida). Alton was helping me clean out the garden area (yes, the remnants of the garden from last summer). There were still dried up green beans hanging on the trellis, shriveled eggplants, and even a couple of wrinkly tomatoes left on the vine. It is embarrassing that it has taken me so long to get out there. I'll blame it on me being extremely pregnant when the garden was done and then having the baby and having no desire to be digging around outside. Anyway, the point is that Alton loves to throw the weeds and sticks over the fence. He isn't quite tall enough to actually get them over the fence, so he usually just shoves them through the holes.

Okay, last Saturday we gave Evy some rice cereal after Alton went to bed. She slurped up the first few bites then got very mad that it wasn't coming fast enough so we gave that up for the night and I just nursed her. On Tuesday we decided to try again. She was definitely interested and opened her mouth for each bite...at first.

See, she thought it was pretty cool. Something different, something new.

Then she started to change her mind.

You can see what she thought of this new process of feeding. It wasn't quite the success I hoped it would be. She was patient for a little while, but we finally gave it up after she (accidentally) swallowed only about two bites. But, that's okay. We'll try again next week.

Barry started feeling sick on Monday and decided to take two days off of work (Tues. and Wed.). Alton started with it on Wednesday. I also noticed, however, that he has two molars coming in so that may be partly to blame for his symptoms. Then this morning I woke up with the body aches and chills. While my visiting teacher (also sick) was here, Evelyn's nose started pouring. So, we're all four sick. Whoo hoo! It's so fun. I feel like I should just glue a few tissues on everyone's face so that I don't have to wipe every 30 seconds. Or else just get a plastic bib on both kids so that I don't have to wipe at all, the snot and drool can just spill into the bib. Ew, gross topic.

Anyway, Evelyn was pretty exhausted yesterday. She fell asleep on the floor in the middle of the living room last night while we were watching "A Bug's Life." She never falls asleep like that without being in her bed. So, we knew she was not feeling so good. Barry laid her down so he could do something and about 10 seconds later she was out. Oh, and by the way, the last four nights she has actually slept all the way through the night (between 9 and 11 hours)! And she wakes up in the best mood in the morning. It's great! I hope we are done with the middle-of-the-night feeding for good.

This week I lost 1.6 pounds! Whoo hoo!!!!!

Evelyn's 4 month checkup

Today at the doctor's office, Evelyn weighed in at 12 pounds 14 ounces (35th percentile in weight), 26 inches long (95th percentile in height), and I think her head was 44cm in circumference (65th percentile in comparison to Alton's 95th percentile when he was a babe. That kids's got a big head!). She got one oral vaccine and loved it. So she liked the nurse for about 10 seconds before the nurse gave her three injections. She screamed for a minute before I nursed her. Then she slept through the entire 1 1/2 hour long trip to Wal-Mart, while I unloaded the groceries at home, and on the way to Nana's to pick up the Altonator (whom Nana kindly agreed to babysit so he didn't have to witness the cruel shots at the doctor's office). Mommy is glad to have it all over with!

weight loss update

So, I still need to lose thirty pounds. It has really been a rough go for me the last couple of months with all the holidays and a two week long trip to Florida (during which I gained back the only pound I had lost since going back to weight watchers...although I must say that I enjoyed every bite!). I have yet to get a truly good start on my weight loss...UNTIL TODAY! I have officially started the Core Plan. Any of you who know about weight watchers probably know what this is. But, for those of you who don't know, I will explain. On the core plan you enjoy eating from a list of wholesome, nutritious foods without tracking how much you eat (like you would on the flex plan). The catch is that you need to learn how much food it takes to feel satisfied (not stuffed into oblivion like I usually make myself). That way you are eating all the right things (and eating often) without overindulging yourself. Sugar is not a part of this plan. That is one of the main reasons I want to try it. Lately I have been so hooked on sweets that I want to eat them all day, so I do! Today I went to Wal-Mart and stocked up on lots of fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables, whole wheat pasta and couscous, white and sweet potatoes, and brown rice. My freezer was already stocked with plenty of lean meats and salmon. I am going to give this a go for the next couple of weeks and see how it goes. Even after just half a day I feel so much better. I haven't eaten any bread, crackers, cookies, or sweets today and I can feel it. Heavenly Father obviously knew what he was doing when he gave us fruits, vegetables, and whole grains to eat. He knew what would help our bodies to feel great and function to their full capacity. We were the ones who came up with cake, ice cream, brownies, cookies, banana bread, animal crackers,...need I say more? =) Now, I am not at all saying that I intend to give up all of those foods forever. I simply will do without them for a couple of weeks and go from there. I hope that this temporary detox will help me to exercise more self-control in the future. Also, after publishing this post I am going to do some Pilates (assuming no one wakes up prematurely from their nap)! Love to everyone. Wish me luck!

P.S. This is a picture of three out of four of my beautiful sisters and me. It was taken about a year ago. I have two purposes in showing this picture. One is that I want to show off my gorgeous sisters and two is that it is a goal for where I want to be. This was taken after I had lost all of my weight after Alton's birth. See how not chubby my face is?! I will be there again!!! Whoo hoo!!!

Safe and Sound

Alton, Evelyn, and I made it back from Florida in one piece! Admittedly, I was a nervous wreck just thinking about having to get on an airplane with two kids. Thankfully, Evelyn slept all the way through both flights and Alton was very well behaved. On the 100 minute flight home he sang the "ABC song" for probably 75 minutes. It was cute for the first 5. =) Seriously, though, I couldn't have been more happy with how things turned out. After being away for two weeks, it was great to walk through my front door! Barry stayed up until 2:00 am the night before to clean the house. How awesome is that?!!! He's the best.

Alton enjoyed sitting by the boys while watching t.v. Here he is with Corey.

Here we are with Mimi and Papa in their front yard. Neither of the kids were thrilled about getting their pictures taken. The day before, one of the ladies in town wanted to come and take a photo of us for the local newspaper (my grandparents are very involved in their community). Alton refused to look at the camera, let alone smile. And Evelyn was very cheerful until Beth pulled her camera out. Then came the screaming and tears. Go figure!

Nap time is one of my favorite times of the day!

Okay, so as much as I have tried to fight it, Evelyn is officially a thumb-sucker!! As much as I dread having to help her break this habit in the future, she sure looks cute with that little thumb in her mouth. At first she shoved any finger or fist she could get in her mouth. But, she truly mastered the art of the thumb while we were in Florida.

We had a wonderful time introducing Evelyn to some of her family! Unfortunately, there were only a few times that I actually thought to get my camera out. So, I didn't get a picture of Evelyn with everyone, but I did capture these.

Evelyn with Grandma Sandi. She finally let her Grandma hold her without screaming a few hours before we were leaving for the airport to head home!

Auntie Stephanie played with Evie after a very long day at work (and after taking Christian to the ER to have a bike injury examined!).

Evelyn with her cousin, Eve, who had so much fun trying to entertain the baby!

Cousin Christian

Cousin Corey

Mimi (Evelyn's great-grandma) held the baby often and read lots and lots of books to Alton, much to his delight!

Grandpa Jack finally got to meet Evelyn. He was happy to have a chance to see Barry as well. It had been a long time since his last visit. Alton had fun playing with G-pa's yellow flashlight.

We really did have a great trip. Yay for Allegiant Air for having $19 one-way tickets! Hopefully they will run more cheap specials like the one we got so that we can make the trip again.