Memorizing puzzles

Ansel has this new car puzzle that he really likes. He's getting pretty quick at it.. (I think he pretty much just remembers where all the cars go). The first video is kind of funny because it show a little of his somewhat obsessive/compulsive side.. all the cars must be facing down before he can start it (add a little challenge I guess.. who knows?) He's very particular about certain things. He likes playing with some toys in pairs.. ones that have a connection to each other (two similar bikes, or two vehicles from the cars movie, etc.. Some other things are: he's obsessed with making sure the toilet lids are down (anywhere we go.. not just at home) He's also very particular about things having their "place" and will make sure some things are put away where he thinks that place should be.(It's usually a fairly logical place too) Don't get me wrong.. this can come in very handy too. He's pretty good about picking up toys, putting trash in the trash, and stuff like that. It's just a little funny sometimes.
Anyway, in the second video he does it how he usually does.. fairly quick (less than 50 seconds)..

My big boy

We're doing lots of big boy things right now. We finally got the crib taken down a couple of weeks ago and set him up in a twin bed. (We don't have a lot of storage space.. so we thought we'd just pass on the toddler bed.. one less thing to store later!) He loves it! He's done really well with it too. . . He'll wait until I come in the room in the morning and after nap time to get off (I'll hear him calling "Momma!") It's funny that he does that since he is always climbing off and on it throughout the day!

We're also potty training right now.. fun fun. He's doing all right. He's actually a lot better with going number 2 on the potty than number one. He'll do it all by himself (pretty much all the time) whether I'm in the room or not, and then bring me the little bowl insert from the potty chair and proudly yell "big one!" Then he'll run off and dump it in the real toilet and flush. With peeing though.. he gets it about half of the time, the other half is either holding out for a diaper or an accident. (and the times he is actually sitting on the potty it doesn't always go in!! Apparently there are aiming issues even when you teach sitting down to start with!) His main problem.. which can be a good thing too though, is that he'll hold it way too long. (Even though he'll sit on the potty pretty much at any time.. he just won't go until he REALLY has to.. so then he won't always make it.) The first couple of days he didn't have but maybe one accident.. but he didn't go at all in the potty either. (He'd hold it from when he got up until nap time.. (still use a diaper there) and then from nap time until bed time.. crazy! One time I caught him starting to spray (hardly anything) so I rushed and set him on the potty.. I guess it scared him because then he wouldn't go and held it a whole hour more! So he definitely has the "physically able to hold it" part down! He did actually ask me though to go potty (on the big toilet) when we were getting him ready for bed (and he even had a diaper on already!) That was exciting progress, and, I guess made up for the fact that he peed on me earlier when we were snuggling!

Here's a bunch of pics to go along with it... (new bed.. big boy pants, etc..) There's also one of him "nuggling" his monkey doll. (We're babysitting a cute little four month old baby right now.. so he's getting some big kid practice there too!) Oh, and the picture of him holding the baby is actually of him and his cousin Braden (not of the baby we're watching). Isn't Braden so cute!? Bright blue eyes just like Ansel.
We also, finally, found a bike helmet that fit him! (Thanks to Target for carrying a 12 month size!) He doesn't like it much though, and would much rather play with Daddy's helmet. The other "hat" he's wearing in one picture was brand new out of the package.. I promise. We showed him pretty quick that it really wasn't a Bob hat! Also, the smallest underwear we could find were 2T... so I read up and found out which one's ran the smallest. They actually stay up too! (which is very exciting seeing as how I have to put 9 month shorts on him if I don't want them to fall down!) They're a little baggy.. but hey, thankgoodness for the great elastic!
Ansel "fixed" the changing table while we took down the crib.

Ansel's It!

Ansel also got tagged! His is a little different..

Name: Ansel Joel
Age: 2 1/2 (31 months)
Birthdate: 12-13-05
Nicknames: Bubby, Bubba, Bob (when his 'tools' are out), little squirt... I'm sure there's a ton of others we use too!
Favorite activities: "riding" bikes.. (he can't pedal yet though); snuggle (he always comes over and says, "nuggle, momma"); Playing soccer with mommy and daddy; playing with cars, bikes, tools, trucks, helicopters, etc! Watching favorite shows.. DANCING... listening to music.. getting tickled.. (he's super ticklish but will often ask for "more tickle" if he's in a good mood!.... going to the park... seeing animals... watching (and trying to help) Mommy cook... playing with Daddy.... getting to sit on motorcycles... Jumping... and talking on "phones" (anything from real phones to calculators to cars he uses as phones.. anytime I get a phone call he picks up whatever is nearest to him and has a full out conversation as well)
Favorite Foods: Crackers and cereal, pediasure, ham, cheese, chicken, noodles, eggs, pizza, hot dogs, grapes, bananas, beans (kidney and pinto like beans) and toast.
Least Favorite Foods: most vegetables.. (he'll pretend to like some though.. like broccoli and celery... that is if there is some kind of dip. he'll go through a lot of dip, but the vegetable will look the same when he's done!) He really doesn't like lettuce, peas, corn, carrots, and green beans.
Ansel's a pretty finicky eater.. and always has been. I pretty much skipped the baby jar puree food phase with him because he was so picky (although we sure tried it a lot and tried to introduce it over and over again! The flavor didn't make a difference... it was the puree texture I guess!)
Favorite music: Baby Einstein music cd's; kids' music cd's (children's hymnbook; other cd's with children's songs on them ("Get Moving" is one of his favorites).. He also likes ANYTHING with a good beat to dance a long with (Latin, some country like Rascal Flatts, etc.. really if it's a fast paced song that he can dance a long with, he'll like it.)
Favorite toys: Cars, trucks, bikes, etc, (our couch usually has bumper to bumper cars lined up perfectly); balls to play catch with; Tools.
Favorite books: Green Eggs and Ham, Snug House Bug House, Fox in Socks, First Colors (usborne version) and, once again.. any book that has Bob the Builder, Cars, Trucks, Helicopters, etc. in it.
Favorite items of clothing: Shoes.. he really prefers to have shoes or sandals on most of the time.. Other than that... he's not too picky.. He likes his "jammies".. sometimes it's hard to get him to change in the morning. He also likes his Bob outfit.. (He's pretty much wearing all the same clothes from last summer.. I thought he moved up to 18 months, because that's what he wore in the winter (for length).. but He still wears all his 12 month summer stuff easily.
(I was so excited I bought some 18 month shorts with ADJUSTABLE WAITBANDS!! Sadly, though, I had them as adjusted as you can get and they still fell off :( (and then looked really silly when you rolled them down at the waist with all the elastic hanging down!) So I guess we'll just stick to the 12 month ones again.. (and even some of those I have to roll down at the waist. He still even fits his 6/9 month shorts.. crazy) Maybe there'll be a growth spurt this year?!
What makes me happy: When Daddy gets home from work! Ansel runs to the stairs to greet him everyday!
What makes me sad: When Daddy leaves.. Also.. getting in trouble for hitting!
I tag: Cousins.. Olivia, Emma, and Karina.. (because I'm sure you have time for that Roya.. haha... what with being pregnant with your fourth and a hubby that's deployed and all. Oh well, I still tag you ;)

I'm it...

I got tagged... so here it goes! :

4 movies I could watch over and over: (first off.... I really am not a fan of watching movies over and over.. this one would be much easier for Ansel to answer! I'll pick a few I like though!)

1. Pride and Prejudice (long version)
2. Bourne movies
3. Anna and the King
4. Return to Me

4 jobs I've had:

1. Wal-mart overnight stocker
2. English teacher in Korea (one of my favorite ones!)
3. Aide at Junior high (working with those who have learning disabilities)
4. Saved the best for last... MOMMY!

4 places I've lived:

1. Rexburg, Idaho
2. Provo, Utah
3. Taejeon, South Korea
4. Carthage, Missouri (Springfield, Ozark, and Nixa also)

4 foods I love:

1. THAI CURRY CHICKEN.. MMM....
2. PAD THAI (seeing a theme?.. . maybe I went to the wrong Asian country! Although I do have some Korean favorites as well.. it just took me a few months of living there to find them!)
3. Mexican food.. like a simple carne asada"taco" on corn tortillas with lime juice squeezed over it!)
4. Pizza


4 Favorite T.V. shows:

1. LOST!
2. Grey's Anatomy
3. Everybody Loves Raymond
4 Medical Mysteries (CNN)


4 Websites I visit daily:

1. Email (hotmail)
2. Facebook
3. Friends and Families blogs
4. Creative Memories (Consultant website... I'm mostly a digital scrapbooker)

4 places I've vacationed:

1. St. Louis, MO (mini vacation!)
2. Florida (Orlando, and Ft. Lauderdale)
3. Nassau, Bahamas
4. Cancun, Mexico (and some surrounding areas)


4 places I'd rather be right now:

1. On a vacation with my husband.
2. Visiting family who doesn't live nearby.
3. I'd like to visit Korea again (with Cody and Ansel)
4. Either a beach by the ocean or somewhere in the mountains (some kind of nice, beautiful outdoors place with nice scenery and good weather!

Goodbye Grandma

We said goodbye to Grandma Clinesmith yesterday. I'm grateful she's not suffering any more. She's seemed frail these past several years, compared to how we knew her before, but I don't think any of that prepared me to see her the way she was the last few days. I came down to see her a couple of weeks ago, and she was able to sit up in her wheel chair and visit with us. For 90 years old, she had a very sharp mind still! Once the cancer really started to take over though, she got weak fast. I got there Saturday, and she was no longer able to really move or talk at all, and she wasn't very responsive at all. They gave her medicine for the pain (although you could tell she was still in a lot of pain) , but I sat with her a lot, especially on Sunday, and as I watched her closely, I learned to tell when she was sleeping and when she was somewhat awake, so I'd talk to her then. We had a few sweet moments though.. she really couldn't move or talk at all .. but at one point, I leaned down to talk closer to her so she could hear me.. and she lifted her head slightly and kissed my face several times. (Lifting her head at all was a big thing at that point. ) Then, (she was laying on her side) she gave me a sideways glance and raised her eyebrows as if to say "What can I say? These things just happen." She would squeeze our hands too.. I felt like she was aware of us being there, knew who we were and could hear us. There was another time, when I was telling her how much we loved her, that she started to struggle a little, like she was really trying to clear her voice to speak, and she seemed frustrated that she couldn't, so I told her, "It's okay.. we know you love us too." Then she seemed to relax and gave me her faint smile. We also got a sweet smile from her when she heard Ansel's voice. Anyway, there were a few little things like that, few and far between, where we knew she was still aware. Mom sat with her a lot that last day, and said at one point you KNEW she saw someone she loved very much (I'm sure Grandpa wasn't too far off!) Mom said her eyes brightened and she just had this huge smile. I got there in the early afternoon, and we stayed for a few minutes and said some goodbyes (planning on being back soon though). Then I left to go pick Mom back up (she'd been there since 4:30 that morning! She went to take a little break (the nurses didn't really think she'd make it through the day, but some said they've seen people hang on like this for several days or more.. so we did take a break.) When Mom got back though, she had already passed. (Mom actually found her and had to go tell the nurses.. she did have really great nurses who took good care of her though). We felt a little bad we hadn't been there as she left, but on Sunday I'd had a strong feeling it would be that way. A thought came that she would want to be near us while we were there, but that she would slip away when we left.

Here's just a few more pictures of her.. one of her wedding even! The first one is one of my favorites of her and Ansel. This was the first time she got to see and hold him.. since it was so long before we could take him places. I still remember her lighting up when we walked in the door with him! I also thought it was cute how whenever he'd see her with her walker, he run over and grab a hold of it, and walk with her! (we had to watch him though.. sometimes he'd start going a little fast!) Grandma loved her grandkids, but boy was she proud of her great grandchildren!! One of the nurses saw Ansel and knew him by name because she'd show off pictures of all her family!
The one of her and Roya makes me tear up.. Roya drove a ways to come visit her.. and they both knew it would be their last time here to say goodbye. This was just a few weeks ago.
There's also one of Grandma with her sister, Vera, who actually just past away one month ago from the same thing. (Exactly one month and one day.. They were both too weak to go see each other, but going through the same things at the same times.. I think Grandma was also ready to go see her again!) I know she longed to see Grandpa again.. (he passed away on my 12th birthday... so that's been quite a few years ago!)

Sorry for another long, and kind of sad post.. I have other posts I've been meaning to get on.. (just had a few distractions lately!) So I'll liven up the mood soon!! I have some 4th of July stuff to add now too! I just wanted to first take a minute to pay a little tribute to my Grandma, Myrtle Mae Clinesmith. I'm so grateful for her example and all she's done for us. I've gotten A LOT of family history stuff (pictures, pedigree charts, documents, etc,) from her.. She really kept up with things like that. It will be neat for us to go to the temple for her in a year! I'm sure she has a lot of ancestors who are very grateful for all she's done! We're going to drive to Kansas Saturday to have a little memorial/ graveside service there. (That's where Grandpa's buried and where she spent most of her life)

Some thoughts

Usually I just use this blog to give my friends and family new pictures, updates, etc of Ansel.. I haven't really been the typical blogger where I post my thoughts and feelings about everything on here.. (generally I'm a fairly private person and just save all that stuff for my personal journal; that and I barely keep caught up once or twice a month on the pictures and everything!!) But I've had some feelings about life from a few specific incidences this year that I thought I'd write about.

There are a lot of you who read this who know about Aaron and her passing. For those who don't... about a month ago, I had a friend from church who was moving out to Utah with her three little boys(4, 3, and 1 years old) and an 18 year old girl she'd gotten to know who was going to live with them for awhile (Aaron's husband had already moved out there a couple of months earlier). Sadly, in Colorado, they were in a terrible car accident. The boys were ok, as was the girl that was with them; but Aaron was pronounced dead at the scene. My heart has really gone out for this family and the adjustment they are now having to make. (And also for the 18 year old girl who was driving.. I can imagine she's having a tough time as well). Aaron's sister Krista has done an amazing job helping out with everything and has been updating Aaron's blog..(I'm so amazed how she's handled taking care of the boys, the blog, and I'm sure just being a huge support to the rest of the family even though this has (obviously) hugely affected her life as well) But I just saw the blog today.. which prompted me writing this now.
The blog address is http://reedsinmo.blogspot.com/ (for those who knew her or are interested)
There were pictures put on of the van and also from the graveside services... very, very sad :( But as her sister said.. just a reminder for us all to be a little safer when traveling and be grateful for what we have.

Anyway, I've just been thinking a lot lately about life and how grateful I am for it. How grateful I am for every moment that I have with my own family. (Of course after the close call we had with Ansel's birth.. I've thought a lot from time to time about this; how lucky I feel to be here and to have this time I've been given with my family) It reminds me also how I need to be more aware of how I spend my time... to make sure not to waste it with trivial things. (I know I do waste time sometimes too.. so I need to work on that more).

I've also been thinking about how grateful I am for the experiences we're given. When I think of the complications with Ansel's birth. . . I look back at it as a sweet experience. The memory of the awful pain and recovery has faded (ha.. I still remember it; but it's really not what I think about as much). I've adjusted to the fact that maybe I won't be able to have as many kids as I wanted to have (that was a tough one at first).. although who knows for sure how that side of things will turn out! What I gained from that experience far outweighs the hardships of it. I have so many friends that I likely wouldn't have because of that experience (and that was actually how I came to know Aaron better as well.. her first son was also a 28 weeker; so she'd come and visit me during my hospital stay. . . bring me preemie clothes; etc.) I'm good friends with all my nurses and with the NICU staff; and every time I run into them there because I'm visiting someone, it's always catching up with friends now.

Also, just like my friends who used there experiences to help me at our time.. I've been able to use my experience to help others, a little at least. In January (exactly two years after I got out of the hosptial) our good friends Darwin and Dania also had a little preemie girl (30 weeks). They're from Honduras and so they didn't have any family here, and told us we were their family. She had some complications similar to mine (her wound even split open a little bit on one side) and there were kidney tests that had to be done, etc. So, it felt so natural to try to comfort her through that since I'd already gone through that myself. She'd tell me "I just kept thinking about Ansel" and knew things would be all right. It was good too for Cody to be able to relate so easily with Darwin about it because it is a completely different situation to be on the guys side.. worrying about their wife and baby (and having to go back and forth from visiting in the NICU and seeing your wife) not to mention still having responsibilities with work and everything else. I always admired Cody's strength through all of that.
I was kind of thinking about all of this again because also, near the end of last week, our friends Trevor and Melissa had their baby girl really early too(31 weeks... she was a tiny 31 weeker though... only weighing a few ounces more than Ansel did at 28 weeks). Melissa also had high blood pressure/toxemia issues as well; but we're very glad both her and her baby are doing well, and that they have great family support here. (I know that really helped us out.. having all of our family and friends to help us and pray for us)

(All three of us... Melissa, Dania, and I were working in Young Women's (at our church) at the time we had our babies early due to toxemia/preclampsia, etc; so the Young Women's President said "I've decided I must be toxic... giving you all toxemia.. no more pregnant women are allowed to work in Young Women's around me!" She's funny.. seriously though I hope she knows she had nothing to do with it! :) We love you Penny! )

I'm just grateful though that we're prepared for the experiences we receive. (Maybe not always, but it's been my experience that, at least later on, looking back, I can see how Heavenly Father has helped prepare me for the things that come my way) The first time I saw preemies in person, TINY preemies, was in high school when I got to go to the NICU for a job shadowing day.. it was one of those things that was just engraved into my memory. Then, when I was pregnant, my friend Jovi had talked about how she'd had preclampsia and HELLPS Syndrome (both of which I ended up with) so while I didn't really know a lot about them, I was at least a little familiar with them. The night my placenta abrupted, I was in so much pain as we drove to the hospital and I KNEW that I would be having Ansel pretty much as soon as we got there.. (the way I felt.. I knew there was no way I could keep him in longer.. and we were lucky to get him that far at least!) I was grateful though that I knew just enough about preemies (although not much) to know that he could survive at that point. I was in too bad of shape to stress about whether or not he would live, and I was blessed to just KNOW that he would be just fine.

So, I'm grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives. It has blessed my life so much, and has blessed every aspect of my life. I'm grateful that we have the knowledge that families can be together forever. What an amazing blessing to know that... to know that there is so much more than just our time here on earth. It really helps put things in perspective sometimes. I'm grateful that we can receive direction for our own lives through the guidance of the Holy Ghost. I feel so grateful to have these things in my life. Sorry for the incredibly long post.. but I had a lot of thoughts on my mind that I thought I'd share at this time. I'm grateful for all of my friends and family.. I love you all. Thanks for all you do to bless our lives!

Happy Father's Day

I hope all the Father's out there had a good day! I'm grateful for the Fathers who've influenced my life (Especially my own father, and also Cody's dad.. they're both great examples to me!) I'm also so grateful for Cody. It's so neat to see him with Ansel.. he's such a great dad! Here's a couple of recent pictures I thought were cute.. Ansel definitely wants to be just like Daddy!

(*I didn't get around to doing a Mother's Day post this year but I want both my Mom's to know I love them very much too and am grateful for their friendships and all they do!!!)