Getting Dressed

Pants + independent two-year old =

Blessing Day

This is Mya laying on the blanket that Stefanie made for Mya's blessing day. She made one for Afton's blessing as well. Seeing my sisters' nostalgia over items from their childhood makes me excited to think of our girls enjoying these blankets when they are older.

Mya Update - 2 Months

Mya had her two month doctor visit this week. That meant Stefanie got to be the unlucky parent to accompany a little girl getting 5 shots. As my Dad pointed out that night, at least some temporary suffering and screaming is a nice trade-off to avoid the diseases the shots help prevent...easy for me to say since I stayed home with Afton and built a hut out of blankets that covered our front room.

Mya is obviously a much better eater than Afton ever was. I'm not sure Afton has ever measured in the top 50 percentile in weight, but My weighed 11 lbs 7 oz on this visit, putting her at 75% for weight. She measured 23.5 inches; still a tall little girl in the 80th percentile.

Mya is really quite a smiley baby right now. She reacts to our faces a lot, making lots of cute baby noises and acting as if she's trying really hard to have some words come out. It has been hard to get some good pictures of all her smiling because she seems to shut off as soon as the camera light flashes on her. But here are some cute photos Stef has taken.

"Pretty Grey Dress"

I'm not sure if the color grey is just something new that Afton has learned but lately she has been very proud of her grey shoes, grey shirt, and this grey dress she wore to church on Sunday. She was pretty cooperative with taking pictures before church, which I'm chalking up to her wanting to show off her "pretty grey dress" as she kept saying.

Sisters

Stefanie was going through some old photos of Afton one day and it made us want to post some pictures of our two girls at similar ages.

Stef makes fun of me because at various moments in Afton's young life I would comment about how I couldn't possibly fathom her getting any cuter, and yet she has just gotten cuter and cuter as she's grown up. Seeing old photos of Afton certainly makes me curious about how Mya will look and act when she is two.

Crazy talk...in church

Some of you may remember this old entry about Afton:

http://ryan2-1.blogspot.com/2009/02/mom-is-crazy.html


On Sunday, Stefanie was taking care of Afton during sacrament meeting while I was holding Mya. Apparently Afton still had some energy to work out from nursery, and she wasn't being very cooperative with what Stefanie was asking her to do. They got out some colored pencils to color with but Afton started throwing them on the ground. If Stefanie protested, Afton would just get louder and more difficult. So we made the switch...I passed Mya off to Stef and Afton came to sit on my lap.

Out of the blue she pulls the cup of milk out or her mouth that she was drinking and says, "Mama crazy." Thanks to help from above I somehow managed to not laugh out loud. Then Afton did it again, quit drinking her milk and said even louder, "Mama crazy." Ignoring our urges to shush, she probably repeated it 2-3 more times in her normal voice during the quietest part of the meeting. I'm sure those sitting around us enjoyed Afton's assessment of Stef's mental health.

Last Snow Day

I'm a little late getting these pictures up, but after the last snow fall we took Afton over to the Holt's house to play with her cousins out in the snow.

Afton was the first to go down the small slide. Since nobody had been down yet, the snow was still built up on the slide, making it kind of tough to make it all the way down...






Afton finally got brave enough to go down the larger yellow slide and ended up having quite the ride (and landing).

At the end of the video that is Afton saying she does want to go down the slide again...but on "the green one."

When the kids finally came back in, Afton's hands were freezing and her cheeks were bright, bright red. Luckily Uncle Jim had turned on the fire inside so the kids could get warmed up quickly.

Church For Four

These pictures are a little late getting put up here, but they are from the first week that we took Afton and Mya to church together. Thank goodness for the meeting schedule change that moved us from 9 am church to 11 am this year.

Dad didn't know you shouldn't put a little girl wearing a brown dress in front of a brown door to take a picture. That piece of instruction has been duly noted. And Afton really was quite excited about showing off her new haircut and her favorite church dress and coat, even if it doesn't look like it in the first two pictures.

AI meets MJ

Up until this point, I haven't thought to become a pop culture blogger. But some reality TV last night brought me to this point. I didn't know what the theme was going to be for American Idol performances until Stefanie and I started watching. Once I heard they were going to be signing Michael Jackson songs, an odd feeling came over me, similar to what you feel when you notice one of your children growing up, or starting a new job, or that first day of school...excited about what lies ahead, but anxious and terrified of what could actually happen.

As I fancy myself a connoisseur of all Michael Jackson musical matters, I couldn't help but make mental critiques about the songs chosen by the contestants last night. So I thought I'd share my opinion on who made good song choices, who made awful picks, and what songs I would have selected had I been in their shoes.

1) Lil Rounds
Sang: The Way You Make Me Feel
My pick: Got To Be There

She pulled off the song, with a voice big enough to not be overpowered by a very well known melody and lyric. But I didn't think that song was the best "fit" for her. I always wished MJ would have re-made "Got To Be There" with a more mature voice. The song would have allowed for big note moments for Ms. Rounds, and the lyrics could have fit her as a mother singing to her children.



2) Scott MacIntyre
Sang:Keep the Faith
My Pick: Same

In MJ's entire library, I don't think Scott could have found a more perfect fit. I think "Ben" would have allowed him to show more in terms of his vocal ability, but when your choice comes down to singing about a pet rat on national TV or singing "Believe in yourself, no matter what it's gon' take, you can be a winner, but you got to keep the faith"...no-brainer. Kudos to Scott for finding a nice song on the back-end of a very underrated album.

3) Danny Gokey
Sang: P.Y.T.
My Pick: Man in The Mirror

Oh my...when I heard he was singing P.Y.T., I immediately thought about the train wreck that was flopsy scarecrow Guarini taking on that song.



Gokey is obviously 100 times the singer the former AI runner-up is, and outside of his hoe down dance steps, it all seemed to work. But he could have absolutely knocked "Man in the Mirror" out of the park. Church background, lost his wife recently, seemingly a great guy, the songwriter was in the audience...would have been perfect.

4) Michael Sarver
Sang: You Are Not Alone
My Pick: No Idea

He was probably right to just pick a ballad and sing it as well as he could. He could have really slowed it down with "She's Out of My Life", but the danger there is becoming depressing and unbelievable. "One More Chance" might have suited him, with enough of a back beat to help him portray more personality.



5) Jasmine Murray
Sang: I'll Be There
My Pick: Baby Be Mine

She's been told to livin' it up a bit, appear more young and upbeat, and then she picks another slow song that is well known enough that it is hard to not sound copy cat when doing it. This song would have brought the fresh, new sound the judges want out of her.



6) Kris Allen
Sang: Remember the Time
My Pick: I'll Be There

I like Kris, and hope he's around a long time. I was pleasantly surprised with how he pulled off one of my favorite MJ songs.

7) Allison Irraheta
Sang: Give In To Me
My Pick: Dirty Diana

MJ really only sang three or four songs that fit what Allison wants to do on stage, and she picked one of them; would have preferred her doing "Dirty Diana" over Alexis.

8) Anoop Desai
Sang: Beat It
My Pick: ANYTHING ELSE

Anoop, Anoop, Anoop...there is one rule set in stone for MJ week on AI: Do not even think about singing Billie Jean, Smooth Criminal, or Beat It unless you are going to completely change the song first. What bummed me out is that I really like Anoop, and think he actually could have had a big week with another song choice. "Rock With You", "Another Part of Me", "P.Y.T.", or "The Way You Make Me Feel" would have all been far better picks for him.

9) Jorge Nunez
Sang: Never Can Say Goodbye
My Pick: I Just Can't Stop Loving You

Jorge is theatrical enough that he could get away with singing a love song that I think almost anyone else should stay away from. Though I thought he sang the song he chose well, why pick a song that is boring even when MJ sings it? Ugh.

10) Megan Corkery
Sang: Rockin' Robin
My Pick: Blame It On the Boogie.

What else is she going to sing? I think she picked a song that was right for her schtick. But I would have paid good money to see her mosey to a disco tune.



11) Adam Lambert
Sang: Black or White
My Pick: Meh

I'm already done with Adam. He's going to be in it for the long haul, is one of the better performers, sings well, and seems like a nice kid. I'll blame this one on me being ornery because I went bald at 20. I walked out of the room while his number was on.

12) Matt Giraud
Sang: Human Nature
My Pick: Same

Human Nature is one of my top 5 favorite MJ songs. Love it! Matt used up his perfect MJ song on the wild card show when he sang, "Who's Lovin' You", and it obviously worked. I wouldn't have picked the same song for him before hearing him sing it, because I figured nobody would touch that one. But I liked it. If he could get the right arrangement, he could pull off a stripped down version of "Who Is It"...he's got the cool to make it happen.

13) Alexis Grace
Sang: Dirty Diana
My Pick: Come Together

No qualms with how well she sang the song, but can a 65-pound little girl really look believable singing that song? She sounded great, but MJ's version of "Come Together" would have been the perfect fit of an attitude song that wouldn't also "look" odd for her.



So there you have it. Thanks if you hung in this long. Feedback is welcome.

First Haircut

So we'd gotten past her two year birthday without having Afton's hair cut. Being the father, i.e. not the parent who does braids, bows, barrettes, etc., my guess is it was nice finally having Afton's hair long enough to do some of those creative things with it. But it was growing really long in certain areas and much less so in others. So we took a Saturday afternoon to visit Alison and Rob, do lunch at Zuppas, and when back at Alison's house little Afton got her first haircut.

Afton was extremely cooperative (fearful?) during her haircut, but not so much for pictures afterward.

As a side note, Afton must have really enjoyed her time with Alison and Rob that day. Later that night when she was laying in bed, I heard over the monitor in the other room: "Alison fun. Rob fun." She was just laying in her crib reminiscing about the day I guess. So thanks for a fun day (and the bundt cake), Alison and Rob.

Mya Update

Holding her head up, responding to familiar sounds, smiling at Mom...Mya certainly isn't the little girl we brought home from the hospital anymore. I was kind of hoping our 2nd child could avoid that whole "growing up" phase kids seem to go through. Mya is still very good natured, content most of the day, and is sleeping very well at night. She does go through phases where she is unsettled, and it ususally seems to be an upset tummy or bubble after eating. Overall she's been a terrific baby that has made the transition to two kids pretty smooth.

She still has a lot of her very dark hair. By this point Afton had lost most of her hair. Mya's has started to thin a little and she has lost some from the front, but still has plenty to look cute when it curls up after getting washed in a bath.

Another difference between Afton and Mya is that we really had to work at getting Afton to be comfortable when she wasn't swaddled; her arms would flail around and always wake her up. May is quite content to take naps with her arms free. I was surprised to come home for lunch one day and to see how sprawled out she was during her nap.

Darn cute!

Day in the Park

With the weather warming up, and a young mom getting stir crazy being at home with two kids all day long, Stefanie decided to take the girls up to the park for a little outdoor play time. Stef said Afton was grinning almost the entire time they were out; she always loves playing outside (too bad our yard is no closer to being useful than it was when we moved in).

Look how much fun Mya is having!

All Afton could talk about after coming home were the slides. I'm sure she had a lot of fun on them, but there were apparently some larger slides that weren't photographed by Stefanie (the story that follows likely explains why) and that is what Afton wanted to talk about.

"Big slide...crash...ouchie...bonk a head!" Afton kept repeating it over and over again. Stefanie had played on the larger slides with Afton, but while she was packing up Mya and getting ready to leave, Afton had climbed up to the top of the ladder again, ready to go down the slide. She had been apprehensive about going down the slides, so Stefanie just asked her to wait. Stef turned her back for a moment and when she looked back Afton wasn't on the top of the stairs anymore...she was lying on her back at the bottom of the slide. Afton had slid down the slide, on her back and head first. Luckily there were no injuries, and Afton had quite the story to tell Dad when I got home.