Tuesday, May 12, 2009

still alive. barely.

i know, i know. it's been like a gajillion years since i've posted anything and you are all dying to see some new pictures of my beautiful boys and can hardly stand another day of not knowing what is going on in our fabulously exotic lives. (humor me.)
poop.
spit up.
tantrums.
you get the point.
it's a party 'round the clock in the erickson household.
in all seriousness, we have had some adventures in the past few weeks that are blogworthy, but i, unfortunately lack the steam to make them sound exciting or even to take pictures of them in the process. i know, bad blogger. bad, bad, bad blogger. (forgive me.)
so, this little rundown will have to do, and i will try and come up for air more often to keep all 5 of you readers entertained. beware- i'm feeling kind of snarky today. (don't say i didn't warn you!)

CALIFORNIA:
clint had a few days off school and we decided "let's go to california!" because- what else would you want to do with an 18 month old and a 5 week old?! doesn't an 11 hour car trip sound like the perfect thing? actually - the boys did really well all things considered. i spent most of the car ride both ways with my big post-pregnancy butt wedged between the two carseats feeding one or entertaining the other. man, i'm a nice mom. and this is where i bear my testimony about portable dvd players. serioulsy. i know they are true. amen.
we had a great weekend with family and friends (all too quick, of course) and even though it was overcast most of the weekend, we still managed to hit the beach twice and avoid the snow/hail/rain storm that pounded utah county while we were gone.
as i said, i only took a few pictures - you guessed it - owey at the beach.

BLESSING:
at the beginning of this month we blessed henry. it was awesome to have so many of our family members close enough to come and so many that went the distance to be here as well.
i spent most of the weekend with my parents and bro and sis-in-law and tried desperately to fool them into believing i had everything under control with 2 kids. pretty sure they didn't buy it.

owey had meltdown after meltdown (why did the terrible two's come 6 months early?) and i just tried to hold it all together. sunday we filled up about 5 rows at church and afterwards we had a little lunch for everyone (the heavens opened and the rain cleared up for a few hours for us to go to the park since our house is a little small for a crowd of 50+.) by sunday evening we were so exhausted and i was ready to have my house back, but as soon as everyone left i was so sad. i miss my family so much and it was awesome to have most of them there. (missed you provosts!) of course, i have no pictures - but as soon as i get them from clint's dad...
the actual blessing was beautiful. have i ever told you how grateful i am that clint is these kid's dad? i am.

OWEN:


as i alluded to, owey is in a bit of a phase (let's hope that's what this is.) some days he's an angel. some days he just loses it. i think it's a combination of a lot of things, but mostly just that he wants what he wants and can't communicate much of that. he is picking up a ton of words and i feel like he has learned sooo much even in the past 2 weeks or so, but his vocabulary has not even come close to catching up to his list of demands. his hair is out of control (gotta love the curls), he's growing like a weed (still in the 95th percentile for height) and is still obsessed with fruit (though getting him to eat much else is WWIII.) one thing i am loving is how much he loves to read, make animal noises, and match colors. he really is a smart boy. too smart for his own good sometimes, i tell ya.

HENRY:

i can't believe we are coming up on 2 months here - time has just flown by! henry continues to be a really good baby. he is generally very happy and calm. he still isn't sleeping that well at night, but i am trying to be patient about it. poor kid is learning to deal with his overly-affectionate brother trying to smother him, and his mom just trying to do the best she can. the past few weeks he has really started to show off that heart-breaker smile of his, but of course, i have no photographic evidence to prove it. i tried to catch a few grins today - but none of these pictures do it justice.


there. does that satisfy your need for all things erickson?
phew. i'm out of breath.

10 comments:

Mique (as in Mickey) said...

Hallelujah!! An update. Worth the wait. Though it did make me miss you like CRAZY. It's weird to me that I look at your kids and I just feel like I've known them from before. Hard to describe that feeling. They are so ours (yours, but ours too right?). I am making no sense at all am I? Anyway- the point is I miss you and love you!!!!

amy said...

thanks for the update! i almost called you today b/c without a blog post to keep up to speed on your life i felt lost. glad to hear that you are surviving. i'm not sure i'm ready to enter the world of two little ones...but it's a wee bit late for that decision now. ;) we loved spending time with you guys during your short visit. thanks for always taking the time to see us! give o & henry a squeeze from me. love those boys! hope to see you soon.

p.s. loved all the witty comments in your post. maybe you write best on little sleep? hmmm ;)

brooke said...

Phew! That made me tired just READING it! We are here with you in tantrum land for sure! My doc on Friday told me he calls this the "cave man stage" and yes, if screaming is what cave men did all day then we are right there! I am sad we missed you in CA!
And yes, you know I check every day for an update so I am very happy to see one. :) hang in there mama.

Mom said...

You ARE fooling this grammy! You do an amazing job of keeping 2 little boys and one big boy happy and taken care of. I'm proud of you! I love that you can be real about how tough it is to be a mom sometimes. And yet you continue to do it with a smile, sometime through tears.

I miss you, too, and look forward to another visit soon. I know, we don't have anything planned yet. but a mom can dream, right?

Dana Scarbrough said...

Yay! I am definately one the 5? I'm pretty sure though that there are more from all the comments. That's pretty early for tantrums! Heaven help you with all the language barriers of this age- Caleb just hit 18months, and MAN I'm ready for him to talk more- I think. =)

The Dobrons said...

Oh Amen to the DVD player for car trips. We tried turning ours off to encourage a nap mid trip home from Utah last....it was 20 minutes of you know where I tell ya. So glad you got to come home for a bit!! Have we chatted about the Miracle Blanket? Google it! It's a must have...maybe it will help with sleeping. Good luck!

Tiffany Fackrell said...

hey look at that, i am the 6th comment, goes to show you definitely have more then 5 readers!!! See we care!! Plus this is how my life is going to be soon!! Luckily Cambree is a little older and she talks pretty clearly and tells me every demand she needs/wants!! maybe it is a good thing he can't communicate them all!! Plus I am pretty sure you aren't giving yourself enough credit, we are always are worst enemies, you are a GREAT mom, and just remember we can't all have perfect days because if that was the case we would be translated right here and now, and let's face it those boys need their mamma!!! I've always looked up to you. And that is the truth!

Melissa said...

I thought I'd leave a comment so that you know you have at least SIX readers. Ha, ha. You are doing a great job! This too will pass (but then you'll be sad). There are days I ask my NINE YEAR OLD if I can hug her for a bit. She crawls in my lap (the half of her that fits) and snuggles. I'm SO glad she loves to snuggle still. Aw, it makes me want to cry. Just yesterday she was so small. You remember, right? I had a baby too when last you were here in FV2. ;) Hang in there.

Anonymous said...

hey cutie-- I have missed you! And I've been searching for your address. Can you email it to me? Mary LOVES her headband. I'll take a pic for you. xoxo, m

Madsen Family said...

yea...welcome back. thanks for the update, though i am sure it is low on the list of demands right now. it does sound as though you've had some wild adventures. i hope things settle down soon, so that you can get some much-needed rest. i wish i was there so i could have owen come play at my house with my son who, i am afraid, may just be hitting his terrible twos a little early as well...sending you happy thoughts via blog...