Angels & Demons

Today was a polarizing day. It started at 4 am with Owen coming to my room and quietly waking me and asking to snuggle. He joined me in bed (I sent Miles to the guest room so he could get uninterrupted sleep for the remainder of the night) and the wiggling began. Normally I wouldn't allow it, but I knew he was sick and not feeling well. He coughed on and off for at least 30 minutes, and just as he was finally settling down and I was heading back to sleep, Elsie woke up at 5:15 am. (I should mention that last night we put both kids to bed at 6:30 pm because they were hot messes. They both cried non-stop for the previous 30 - 45 min, and we knew they needed their rest. So I suppose it shouldn't be too surprising that both woke early.) Unfortunately for me, it took me a good hour to get her back to sleep. I got about one more hour of sleep before Owen woke me to get up. And thus our day began.

One cute moment of "baby in a box" in the midst of craziness:

Our morning was slow and painful. Both kids were off and cranky. Owen was so sensitive and anything and everything would send him into fits of tears. To shorten the day's recap, I will give the "highlights."

Owen:
- Directly disobeyed me and found and ate treats (by diligently searching) three different times after being told "no treats."
- Spilled a cup of my chocolate shakeology I had given him all over his pants and the blanket his Grammy made for him. This happened because he did not follow the "eat in the kitchen" rule.
- Screamed at his sister (a fairly regular occurrence in our home).
- Took a huge pile of sticky tack and put it in the toilet, prior to pooping and peeing in the toilet.
- Was overall defiant, disobedient, angry, and whiney.

Elsie:
- Scratched Owen's face
- Splashed in the toilet
- Pooped in the tub
- Caused general havoc wherever she went (a fairly regular occurrence in our home)

I sent out numerous SOSs to Miles and my friends seeking some words of wisdom and support to help me get through my day.

My one reprieve was nap time.

Elsie climbed in bed and wanted to be covered up with him. Owen didn't want a picture.

Then when he did want a picture, Elsie was done. You can see Owen's sad, red eyes from crying all day.

It's amazing how sweet they look when they are sleeping. It can make all the other stuff go away...at least until they wake up. ;)

Elsie's awesome "bed head" post nap.

And then something happened. I have no idea what. In the midst of dinner and bath time, Miles had to leave. I was dreading doing bed time by myself after the day we had. Owen wanted to take a bath, but I told him that he couldn't tonight because Elsie had pooped in the tub, but that he could take one tomorrow. I expected him to throw a fit, but he didn't. He asked if he could play and I said yes. He said, "Thanks, Mom!" I was shocked. Not because this is abnormal for Owen, but it was completely unexpected based on his behavior from today.

While the kids played happily, I did some laundry, cleaning and general pick up. They didn't whine or complain, and they played nicely. It was so wonderful to hear "sure, Mom!" when I would ask Owen to help Elsie with something. And to hear Elsie say, "day-do" (thank you) to Owen. When Elsie would come over to play with Owen, he didn't shoo her away or get angry when she messed something up. I couldn't believe that I had a good 45 min+ of happy play time between the two of them.

Then, I told Owen it was time to do some clean up. Both kids helped happily and willingly and were so proud of their accomplishments. When I took Elsie off to bed, they hugged and kissed. Elsie didn't fuss about bed time, and went down easily. Owen was only upset for a brief moment when it was his turn, but quickly changed to a happy, sweet boy. We read from the Book of Mormon and I explained that what we had read was about the atonement. He saw a picture of Jesus and said, "It's Jesus! Why is he sad?" I told him he was sad because he was suffering for our sins and could feel each time we made bad choices. He said, "He doesn't like it when I'm mean to Elsie." I said, "Nope." He said, "He doesn't like it when Elsie scratches my face." I said, "Nope. And he doesn't like it when you don't listen to Mommy. Or when Mommy yells at you, and I'm sorry I got upset with you earlier." He said, while hugging me so tight, "It's ok, Mom! Now Jesus can love you!"

It was such a blessing to end this horrendous day on a beautiful, high note with my kids. Some times days like this make me wonder if it is worth it, or if I am doing things right. And then my children show me their love and innocence and sweetness. Even with it all, I would most definitely do this day again.

Cute as a Button!

I truly cannot believe how fast the time has flown. And it saddens me that my sweet baby girl is already a year old. I just know that the years will pass all too quickly. But I have savored every (well, most) moment of this past year. I could not have asked for a sweeter, more gentle, easy-going, content, happy, loving, baby. Her personality is absolutely joyous to me. Her smiles are sweet, her laughter is infectious, and her silliness is amusing. She brings smiles and happiness to all who are near her. She truly is a bright spot of sunshine in this world. I feel incredibly blessed that she was placed in our family and under my care. I look forward with eagerness and joy to the years ahead as I watch her learn and grow and become the beautiful, kind, and good-hearted soul she is destined to be.

While she is only one and won't remember her first birthday, I couldn't help myself and of course had to throw a big celebration. We ended up celebrating a week early so Elsie's Grandma and Grandpa Wright could attend. The them of the party was "Cute as a Button." If I had truly been on top of it, I would have sent formal invitations that said: Cute as a button and Oh, so much fun! Little Miss Elsie is turning one! But I wasn't. So no invites.

This is Elsie playing with a balloon and getting into mischief prior to the party:

Following ideas I had seen from others, I made button garlands, an "E" made out of buttons, button peanut butter cookies, and cupcakes with buttons in the frosting.

And although the frosting looks like it's melting right off the cupcakes, I promise, it was the most delicious strawberry cream cheese frosting EVER. The leftovers were exceptionally good on sugar cookies later that week. ;)

I also hung pictures of Elsie on display. There was a newborn photo and one photo for each month of her life. I'll end up making a simple scrapbook of them like I did for Owen, but I loved having them hanging in the house. I even left it up for the next week until after the actual day of her birth.

Besides Elsie's Wright grandparents, Uncle Mitchell, Uncle Matt, Aunt Kerry, and cousins Hadley and Elena all came to celebrate.

Auntie Kerry was happy to indulge in after-naptime cuddles.

We ate Chicken Lime Cilantro Soup for dinner (a favorite of Elsie's), served with green salad, fruit, and Prickly Pear Sparkling Lemonade.

After dinner we played "Elsie-themed" celebrity Jeopardy. We had different topics about Elsie and however much was won by all the "celebrities" (our guests) we would donate that amount to Elsie's college fund. Sadly, I can't find the list of questions that we asked. But here is a picture of the categories.

Baby Talk related to first words and signs; Stats had to do with numbers (birth stats, hours of night-time sleep, etc.); Favorites (obviously) were her favorite activities, toys, and people; Firsts were about first foods, steps, etc.; and Misc....well, was miscellaneous.

Elsie getting excited about playing the game:

The final Jeopardy question was: Who was Elsie named after? They could all answer together, but Auntie Kerry nailed it. Her first name was after her great grandma Wright's middle name, and her middle name (Jane) was after Elena's middle name because she was due on Elena's birthday. So they doubled the money for Elsie for a total of $248! Yay!

After the game, we opened presents. She got an adorable navy and white polka dot outfit from Auntie Kerry and an elephant ball blower and jammies from us.

She was sad because I put her shoe clip in her hair:

Cute matching cardigan, shirt and shoes from Auntie Kerry:

As is typical, she liked the paper and bags better than the gifts.

Auntie Kerry was also kind enough to bring Owen a couple of Cars cars. He was pretty excited about it.

Opening the elephant from Mom and Dad:

She was a big fan of the balls.

After presents it was time for cake. (Be prepared for a obscene amount of cake pics.) We made strawberry cupcakes (Owen picked the cake mix specifically for Elsie's party) with to-die-for strawberry, cream cheese frosting. Elsie was super anxious to touch the cupcake and dig in.

She was pretty sad we made her wait to touch/eat it until we finished singing.

But once she had it, she just mostly just wanted to squish it and then drop it on the floor. Which of course led to a chant of "Happy birthday to the ground!"

She did, however, enjoy the ice cream...

And quickly asked for "more"...

SO BIG!

All in all, it was a great party, and I'm so glad we had so many family members who were able to come and help us celebrate our sweet and beautiful little girl. I am still so sad she continues to grow up and there is no stopping it, but I am overjoyed to have her as a part of our family.

Happy birthday, Elsie Jane!