Lindsay Update part 1

I am doing very well. The boys and I have had a bad case of cabin fever. We spent everyday last week doing stuff outside, even on the rainy days. I have a lot of projects that I want to get done but instead I have been spending my free time at the end of every day either exercising, vegging on the couch with a favorite show or reading. So basically I turn into a lazy bum at the end of the day (with the exception of working out).

Recently I posted this facebook status and I have had a lot of questions about it.
So I have been a vegetarian off and on for as long as I can remember. It has mainly been in my adult years that I have been off and on. I have always had an aversion to meat so it just makes sense to be vegetarian. What I have decided is that it is so important for me to know where my food comes from (watch Food Inc.). For example, I recently heard about past actions of Chiquita Banana. From what I understand they have a reputation of abusing their employees and not only that, they have a lot of blood on their hands from violence against those who would improve employment conditions. With what I learned, I just didn't feel like I could buy Chiquita's blood bananas anymore.

After learning about the bananas, I started wondering what other things are going on with my food beyond the supermarket. As I did further research I was reminded about the conditions that animals are kept in, I'm not going to go into that. But I will say that what I have learned caused me to cut myself off completely from anything that came from an animal.

Next came my spiritual journey. It is very hard to explain to people, particularly people in the Mormon culture why I have taken on this new diet. I know that God loves all of his creations and I want to honor all that God has created. I just didn't feel like I was doing that when I was buying mass produced milk, cheese, eggs, etc.

At this point in my quest I have decided that I am comfortable eating foods that come from animals if I know where it came from. The best way to accomplish this is buying local and supporting farmers markets. I guess that's what it comes down to, eating what you feel comfortable with.

Ryan Who? update

Ryan Who? is right! This guy has been so studious and busy and gone a lot. The boys and I miss him a lot when he's gone but we try to stay optimistic. I want Ryan to do well so I try not to complain, but who am I kidding, sometimes I do complain. Ryan's busy schedule has had us both on edge and for the first time in our history we had a fight. Yes after 5+ years of marriage we have not had a fight, but I guess with the stress levels rising and finals and moving something had to give. I really wish it hadn't though, I need him and he needs me, especially when things start to get hard. Everything has smoothed over now and I hope that our next fight is NEVER!

More about Ryan. Ryan has an internship in UT for the summer at the Utah County Public Defenders association. He also has a job lined up for Fall semester at Public Defender Services for the District of Columbia. His hard work is paying off as far as finding jobs goes. And I am sure that it will pay off in finals too.

Something else that is note worthy. Ryan, aka Mr. frugal, never spends a penny on himself. He went and splurged a little on new clothes, this was not birthday money or Christmas money or tax refund money. He really needed it, and we all know that we all feel great when we are wearing a new piece of clothes that we picked for ourselves (can you tell I get a lot of hand me downs :). I think it is so great that Ryan did this for himself, because I want him to look and feel confident while he's studying so hard.

Micah Update

Well Micah is such a big boy, he is finally potty trained and has been since about December. If Micah could choose he would never go to bed and stay up all the time playing trains or reading books. It is so nice that he has indoor things that he loves because we have had a lot of cold rainy days. And the poor thing was basically sick all of February and March. Speaking of being sick, he peaked a fever of 104 and I panicked. So I gave him Tylenol and took him to the emergency room. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time. Poor Micah was sweating bullets and shivering and crying. By the time we got to the ER his fever had gone down. In the end he just had a nasty bug that we had to wait out.

After Micah got over being sick, Sam got sick. Sam was up a lot in the night while he was sick and he kept waking up Micah. Our solution to the problem was to make a bed for Micah in our bedroom. He slept in there my room for about 2 weeks before we moved him back to his room. ever since then we have woken up in the morning with a little three old between us, or we find that same three year old camped out next to our bed with his blankets, pillows, and blue dog.

We have come up with a reward system for Micah to earn cotton balls which we collect in a jar. When the Jar is full he earns a reward. The cotton balls are reward enough for him though. He gets so excited when he can drop a new cotton ball into his jar. This has also made him learn how to help around the house. To be completely honest he doesn't make much of a dent in the house work, we usually clean his room, make his bed, get him dressed, brush his teeth, and unload the dishwasher. Even still I am so grateful that he is learning how rewarding work can be.

Micah loves being a big brother, he loves to make Sam laugh and he loves to help me take care of his baby brother. If he's in a good mood, Micah will play really well with Sam. Of course he's not perfect, when he's not being Brother of the year he is usually sitting on Sam. And if he is really focused on his playing he will snap if Sam starts to crawl over his train tracks.

Micah is starting to become so independent, he wants to do everything for himself. This has taught me to be much more patient and supportive of him.

A quick story about Micah. We have a book called "Judy and the Volcano," when we were reading it one day I had pointed out to him that his aunt Gabrielle's name was written on the inside of the cover. I told him that this was her book, and when we were finished with it we will have to give it back to her (I plan to keep it until she has kids mwahaha). Anyways, about a week later I was talking to him about how we are going to be moving to UT for the summer and we will get to see all of our family and be much closer to them. Do you think he cared? Nope, he was actually very concerned. All he could say was "Will Gabby want Judy and the Volcano back." He was sincerely worried about not getting to keep this book. :)

Sam Update

Sam is the cutest little baby ever. He is always so happy and smiley. He loves People, he is always batting his eyes at strangers and making friends with all kids of people. He loves blankets, he loves to rub his face into them, hide himself under them, loves when I play parachute with them (let a blanket fall on him and cover him up and then lift it again). Throwing things, this includes throwing toys into the toy box, throwing a ball and playing toss and catch, and of course throwing food from his high chair. Oh yeah and food, Sam loves to eat, he will eat anything, even if it's not food.

Sam is so adventurous. He's my climber and he's only 10 months! He has toilet bowl radar, If we leave a bathroom door open, Sam kicks into sneaky, speedy mode and goes strait to the glorious pool of water in the porcelain thrown. It is so nasty, he just likes to splash his little hands in there. At least that's all he puts in there. When we were younger my little brother use to like to stick his head in the toilet bowl and kick his head back and let his hair flop backward. If I remember right he did this to imitate Simba (Lion King).

Recently at a play group I got caught up talking to a friend and while I was chatting Micah ran up to very excitedly and said, "look Mom, Sam climbed the stairs all by himself!" I looked over toward the stair and there was Sam nearing the top of a stair case. To be honest the stair case was only four steps, but still, if he fell it would hurt. Sam was very pleased with himself and thankfully in the time that it took me to run to him he stayed put.

One more little thing about my Sammy. He took his first step today! We were sitting at church and he was walking along a row of chairs, as he was approaching me, he decided to let go and take his final step with out any assistance. I'm so proud of him. I wish he could stay a little baby forever, but I really feel so much Joy as I watch him learn and grow.