Honest e-mail from Mandy

Mandy wrote this in an e-mail to a few of us and said I could share it (sorry for the format): 

My mom asked me to share this on her blog so I figured I would post it here too. I emailed this to my family yesterday.

Livy has been pretty sick the last few days. She has had a fever and been very moody. Last night I started trying to get her to fall asleep around 10:30 PM and was able to fall asleep around 4 AM because I had finally gotten her to sleep. It was a rough night. I haven't been able to leave her side (because she won't let me) for the past few days. Last night if I wasn't touching her, she would wake up and scream again. It made me have flashbacks to myself as a child.

When I was 3, I started having some horrible nightmares. In my nightmares witches or kidnappers would come to kid nap me. My nightmares were so real. My dad would often have to take me through the whole house and show me inside every closet and behind every door to show me I was safe. He said that he often worried something or someone really was in our house because I was so sure about it. I could describe the people in a lot of detail. My parents deserve a lot of brownie points in heaven for dealing with me. This lasted regularly for 3 years or so. Sometimes I still have those nightmares. 

In my nightmares, I was always safe if I was touching my mom or dad. As long as I had my hand touching them, I would not get kidnapped. This lead my poor parents to having many nights where I wanted to sleep in their bed. When my parents got tired of sharing a bed with me (I can't imagine why ;-) ), my mom said she would hold my hand through the night and I could sleep by the side of her bed. Eventually her arm got tired of hanging off of the bed, so she told me that as long as I was touching her bed, I would be safe. Eventually she added a lighthouse nightlight to something that would keep me safe from being kidnapped. ****DISCLAIMER: I have apologized to my parents for all that I put them through.****

Last night as I was the mom holding my daughter's hand while she was upset, I lost it. I realized how much love my mom had for me to hold my hand like that all night long even when she was so dang tired. I then started to feel extremely sorry for myself because soon my mom won't be here with me on earth anymore. I started crying A LOT! It is weird because some moments with my mom's sickness I am okay. I understand that everything happens for a reason, and then other moments just hit me with incredible grief and sadness. This was one of those moments. 

I kneeled next to Livy's bed and started to pour my heart and soul out to Heavenly Father. I asked Him to please take my Livy Lou's sickness away, to please help her feel better. I told him how hard it was for me to watch her struggle. I then told Him how hard life has been for us lately....how losing Jay (my Father-in-law), then losing my Grandma Niederhauser right after was horrible and how the thought of my mom going back to heaven soon too was too much to handle. I told him how watching her struggle is so hard and how I often dream of her being normal able to talk and walk. I told him that was a lot for any person to handle...but to have it all so close to each other was SOOO hard. 

As I stayed there trying to get Livy to sleep, still kind of in the middle of my prayer, I thought about how Heavenly Father is my father just like I am Livy's parent. He doesn't like to see me struggle either. He wants to take my pain and agony away, just like I want to take away Livy's. Then, I realized He already has. Because of Him, I get to be with my family forever. Because of Him, this life is not the end. Because of Him, I not only get to learn and grow from my trials, but they make me have a better understanding and a more perfect knowledge of His love for me. Just like Livy has to experience illness to build her immune system, I need to experience trials and hardships to help build me....to make me who I need to become. It is part of life, part of what I agreed to when I came to earth, and it will all be worth it. 

I am not saying that I am grateful for my trials, because I am definitely not to that point. I don't know if I ever will be. But I do know that I am grateful for Heavenly Father's help and blessings during my trials. He ALWAYS takes care of me. He ALWAYS loves me. 

Sharing my testimony in testimony meeting is hard these days with a wiggly toddler, so I figured this could count for me for next Sunday. I just felt like I should share this experience. I don't know why, but maybe it will help someone else. 

Know that I love you all. Thanks for reading!

Aunt Rebecca, as usual, stealing all the candy from the pinata and no remorse! ;)

Months 3 and 4 of Pregancy #2

Don't mind the awful selfies...

About three and a half months pregnant.

 

About four and a half months pregnant.

Baby Girl Lake

We're having a baby girl in late December! Her due date is December 31st but I don't want a December birthday because it is too close to Christmas so I am hoping for January. But not January 1st either, because I don't want her to have a holiday for her birthday. So, I am aiming for January 7th. The date will be 1-7-17. Wouldn't that be a cool birthday? We'll see though, my doctor didn't seem up for the plan. 

We are thinking of the name Kristy. But there are so many ways to spell it! Jeff likes "Christy". I like a more unique way. I like: Kristy, Kristie, Kristi.

So far she has been pretty active. I felt her kick a few days shy of week 19.

This pregnancy has been a lot smoother than Tyler's (after the first month and a half).

So grateful and excited for baby girl!

Tyler...Once Again!

September 22, 2015
Tyler left his giraffe paci in Visalia so Jeff's mom mailed it to us a few weeks later. But when he got it back he was mad that the giraffe was attached to his paci and tried to take it off. Can't win with that kid I guess!

December 2015
The Cobos (Mason maybe?) taught Tyler to say, "Luke, I am your father." But the way they say "father" is funny; it is "faja". They also taught Tyler to say "agua" for water. I told Jeff this and Jeff said that Tyler's Spanish had now caught up to theirs (so true). Tyler actually called it agua for a while after we got back. So silly!

December 7, 2015 will be a day that will live in infamy. It was the day Tyler first escaped his pack and play. We were visiting my mom (or Macey according to Tyler), when I decided to check on Tyler, who was supposed to be sleeping in a pack and play in the guest room. I opened the door to find him sitting on the floor next to the pack and play, eating my chocolate candy bar. He had chocolate all over him and the wrapper was laying on the floor next to him. He had used the side of the guest bed to get out of the pack and play. After I cleaned him up, I moved the pack and play away from the guest bed. That seemed to deter him from getting out for the rest of our stay. Although, when we were down a few months later, he learned how to get out of the pack and play without using the guest bed to assist him. Sad day.

February 2016
Tyler threw his granola bar in the middle aisle during sacrament meeting. And when I told him to go get it, he ate it off the floor like a dog. This kid, I tell ya...

Tyler likes to brush his teeth, mainly for the toothpaste. But the funny part is that he makes me lift him up to the sink when he is done so he can spit in it just like I do. 

Tyler has some Batman sunglasses I got for him from a clothing swap. I don't like them but he loves them. He likes to wear them to the park. When he wants to play hard he comes and brings me the glasses to hold for him, but when he wants to just cruise the place, he comes and asks me for the glasses back for him to wear.

March 2016
Tyler was standing on Jeff's backpack so Jeff said, "No." Tyler laughed and said, "No." Jeff said, "Not funny". Tyler said, "Not funny" and ran away laughing.

Jeff told Tyler that Tyler needed to brush his teeth in the bathroom but Tyler wanted to brush his teeth on our bed. All of a sudden I saw Tyler smiling, with his hands behind his back, slowly walking towards our bed. One guess what he had behind his back? You got it, his toothbrush!

May 22, 2016
Tyler slept on the couch. I guess he woke up in the middle of the night and went there. He also got into the cupboard before we were awake and ate from the peanut butter jar.


May 23, 2016
Tyler thinks he made the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse appear by saying the magic words that the show tells the kids to say, he was thrilled. He calls the show "Mickey Mouse Outhouse."

I told Tyler it was time for his nap so he went and found an old piece of hard, dried out bread, took a bite, and said, "I like it bread momma." Nice try. I'm sure you do kid. Now get to bed.

I was taking Tyler in from the car and he didn't want to go so he started screaming, "Let me go! Let me go!" People probably thought I was trying to kidnap him, but I'd take a quieter kid!

May 31, 2016
Tyler loves to sing. He is currently singing, "Happy, happy, clap clap"(If You're Happy and You Know It). He like to sing the "Hokey Pokey" when we put his pants on. And his favorites: "Follow follow me, fast fast" (Do As I'm Doing), "Barbara Anne", "Shake Your Booty", "Wheels On The Bus", and "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed."

Tyler got on the counter to the microwave and when I tried to pull him away he shouted, "I'm cooking!"

He just came out of his room. I have two problems with that.
1. He is supposed to be napping.
2. He is naked!


June 2016
Tyler's new loves: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, The Minions movie, Paw Patrol, pickles, going in front of me when I vacuum or putting his toys in front of the vacuum, getting food from the cupboard (found him drinking syrup one time and honey and Worcestershire sauce another because he thought they were syrup), he wants to sit at the table with us instead of at his high chair, sing songs, sleep on his bedroom floor, throwing temper tantrums, going to nursery, playing with his friends, blowing raspberries on my stomach, coming in to our room at 6 AM, going potty, looking at and taking pictures, playing with balls, playing outside, doing trust falls, saying "Nice try", and most of all, doing anything to make you laugh! 

Although Tyler has a few shows he likes and always asks to watch a "kid show," he still won't sit through a whole 30 minute show. But I am ok with that :)

June 3, 2016
I laid Tyler down to change his diaper and his head barely touched the old diaper so he said, "Yuck! That's disgusting!" He loves to say things are disgusting. Or, on the opposite end of the spectrum, "Mmm. Tastes delicious!" He also claims things are "too spicy" if he doesn't want to eat them.

I learned from Nicole Portman that pinching Tyler's inner thigh is a good way to discipline him in public. I haven't had to use it in public yet but have had to a few times at home. When I did it today he started crying and saying he needed a bandied :(

He took something he wasn't supposed to have so when I walked into his room he said, "No! Go away!" Think he knows he isn't supposed to have the item?

Just went to check on Tyler napping and he was naked again! I couldn't even find the diaper so I had to put a new one on him. Side note: It took me two weeks to find the diaper he took off!

June 14, 2016
Today he asked me to get him some yogurt and immediately ran to the couch, laughed and said, "I take momma's spot?!"

June 16, 2016
Tyler sings the Donald Trump rally girls song. So ridiculous. He is also his best cheerleader. He got a baseball stand and bat for his birthday and after every hit, declares "That's a good one!" 

June 18, 2016
I walked away from Tyler to get something and he said, "Get back here!" 

Tyler was so excited to swim in our pool, he kept saying, "Tastes delicious!" I think he just knows that is a good thing and decided to say it. 

We were playing outside when it started to rain. As we were heading in the house I told Tyler that the bunny rabbits outside will probably go in the bushes to hide from the rain. I then told him to shut the front door to keep out the rain and bugs. He said, with angry eyes, "No, bunny rabbit!" He was leaving the front door open for the rabbits to come in from the rain. Sweet. 

July 2016
Tyler's new thing when he wants more of something is to say, "One two! One two! One two!" He knows two is more than one.

His other new thing? To copy you, whether that is literally copying you as you talk, or your actions. Tyler wasn't listening to Jeff one day so Jeff took his pointer finger and thumb and closed Tyler's mouth. While he did that he said, "Listen Tyler, listen." So a few days later Tyler took his two fingers up to my mouth and said, "Listen momma, listen!"

July 2, 2016
Tyler told Jeff tonight that he talked to "Ana-wheeze." I couldn't figure it out. Turns out he was saying, "Ana and the boys." Funny he picked up on calling them "the boys" like we do.

July 30, 2016
Tyler got mad at me and told me to leave him alone, "leave me wone!" He also drew on his hands with marker and was upset when I washed it off. He said, "I want my marker back!" 

August 4, 2016 
Tyler: That's a schoolbus!
Me: No it isn't. 
Tyler: Yes IT IS a schoolbus. Huh. Yes it do. Yes it do.
Me: Ok, fine, it's a schoolbus. 

He loves to say, "it IS" something. "Yes it do, yes it do." He says, "huh" for "uh huh". 

Tyler just accidently spilled his bubbles, "There's still whittle bit more! You have to be careful." 

Jeff said in his sleep, "You're gonna fall!" No doubt he was dreaming about Tyler and his doing things that will end in his falling. Tyler gets very offended when you tell him that he is going to fall or will get hurt, "No say that!" 

Jeff said Tyler's name in his sleep and Tyler happend to be in our bed so Tyler responded, "I'm in momma's bed daddy! I in momma's bed." Tyler also talks in his sleep. 

I babysat for a non verbal Autistic girl today. Tyler kept singing "Shake Your Booty" and eventually she hummed along with it! He also kept shouting at her to physically shake her booty and when she didn't, walked over to her, put his hands on her hips, and shook her waist for her. Probably better stop him from making that a habit. 

Well, till next time...

Take Me Out To the Ball Game...

 The Rockies played the Dodgers so we decided to go. Tyler LOVED it. He talked about the Dodgers for days afterwards. He says, "Go baseball, go Dodgers!" He loved when players hit foul balls, aka balls that went "backwards". He did well for most of the game, got a little antsy by the end, but pretty good for a two year old.

 

The stadium here is beautiful.

Life with Tyler and other moments

Jenn, Jeff's sister taught Tyler to say, "No, no, no..." and wave his finger no. It was cute until done to me.

Tyler saw the Cheshire Cat from Alice and Wonderland and called it a tiger. I can see that.

I said to Jeff that we should put on the Minions movie and Tyler said, "I like it Minions daddy!" As if he has even seen that before.

We talk to Ana on the phone a lot, mostly video chat. Now whenever Tyler hears the google hangout phone call ringtone or even just sees the google hangout logo, Tyler says, "Anas!" If he hears me talking to a female on the phone he also thinks it is "Anas." He thinks calculators are phones and walks around talking to Ana, "Hewoe (Hello) Anas". Sometimes the calculators are cameras and he says, "Cheese!"

When I ask Tyler if he needs a diaper change, or went potty in his diaper he says, "No thanks."

One time I didn't put Tyler's diaper on properly so he peed all down his leg. Poor kid.

Tyler was having me read his foam bath letters out load. He handed me, "F" and so I said it. Then he handed me the letter "U", but I decided not to say it. I told Jeff about what happened and he laughed. Then Tyler comes running out of the bathroom saying something that sounded like "FU"! I couldn't believe it! We both laughed.

I talked to Tyler's nursery teacher tonight at church. I said thank you for teaching him him in nursery and that I hoped Tyler was good for him in nursery. He said Tyler was good. I said that made me happy to hear because sometimes he can be a little on the naughty side. He laughed and said, "Oh, I can see that!" The teacher also said Tyler was one of the best talkers in nursery. Yay! Although, that backfired on me yesterday. When we were at the store everything was "I need it __ momma." I need it fork, I need it ball, I need it plate... anything and everything that kid thought he needed. I said to him, "Why did I teach you to talk?" :)

We have been weaning Tyler off his paci for a few weeks. One day his nap time wasn't going very well so I gave in and gave him a paci. Tyler gladly took the it and said, "Paci, all right!"

Yesterday Jeff came home and said, "I did something I never thought I would." I said, "Watch the Kardashians?" He said, "No, I would never do that!" I said, "Uh ya, I mean, me either...!" Apparently Jeff got Twitter to keep up with the NFL.

Tyler asked for "Brudder, Brudder, See." What is this you may ask? The book "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?"

Mason cheering Christian on during Christian's race: Come on Christian. You can do it. We believe in you. We all know you can do it." So stinkin cute!

I was singing to myself and Tyler said, "Stop singing." Rude!

When Tyler sneezed and I didn't say anything he just looked and me and said, "Bless you." I said, "Oh, I'm sorry, was I supposed to say that?" He said, "Ya." I didn't even realize he knew that.

Tyler told me his boots "no fit." I thought that was pretty good considering the fact that I don't know if I have ever said that phrase before. They did fit by the way.

I told Tyler I needed to change his diaper so he went running away from me. As he barely escaped my grasp and slid under the table he said, "Nice try!" What?! Where did that even come from? But, to be honest, I say that to him when he unsuccessfully attempts to escape a diaper change so I probably shouldn't say that anymore.

We babysat a cute little girl in our ward named Marlo. Tyler and Marlo were playing in the toilet. Jeff got up to tell them to stop playing in it and as he got to the bathroom Tyler slammed down the toilet lid and said "Run Marlo!" That stinker! Now he likes to say, "Run away me" all the time and run off when I tell him to come to me.

Macey

Tyler loves his "Macey" aka Mason. He always asks to talk to Macey on the phone or is constantly talking about Macey. The main reason being? Because Macey is ridiculous of course! Here are just a few examples: 

A few weeks ago we were decorating sugar cookies at my mom's house. My mom was bringing over a knife to spread the frosting on the cookies. As she was walking to the table with the knife in her hand, she told Tyler to come to her. Immediately Mason piped up, "Don't worry Tyler, she's not going to stab you." Right. Like that is what Tyler thought!

When Mason saw Tyler a few weeks ago, the first thing Mason did is have Tyler punch him in the face. Obviously Tyler loved that.

Tyler punching Mason

Mason having Tyler punch himself

I had Mason sweep his bathroom floor and he said, "I can't believe you're making a little boy do this!" Ya, try to play the little kid card, real nice.

Mason (and I think Aiden) tried to teach Tyler to say, "Luke, I am your Faja."

When Mason talks to Tyler on the phone here is a sample conversation:
M: Tyler, did you get arrested?
T: Ya.
M: For stealing a million dollars?
T: Ya.
M: Did you punch the cop in the face?
T: Ya.

M: Tyler, did you go to school?
T: Ya.
M: Oh ya? Did you meet a girl?
T: Ya (and the answers are ya from here on out).
M: Is she your girlfriend? Did you marry her? Did you kiss her? Did you go on a honey moon? To Disneyland?

We love our Macey!