BUILDING BL(ayl)OCKS: May 2022

One of the highlights from April was going to the Fort Collins temple with Jack, Lindsay, Katey, and Jason. We booked the session early so we could all go. Jack and Linsday were gracious enough to let us drop Jay off for their babysitter to have one additional kiddo. There's a special feeling in the temple when you are there with your family. I think the Spirit is exceptionally strong because of the sealing covenants that bind us together forever. We finished our outing with Qdoba, a Mexican restaurant no one had tried besides M and me. Luckily, every one liked it! When we got back to Jack and Lindsay's I was very curious to hear how Jay did with an unfamiliar babysitter and in someone else's house. Betty Jane came upstairs, and with a little exasperation said, "Jay is like a machine, without an off button!" We all burst into laughter, and later the babysitter told me he did great and also mentioned how he was like a machine (except didn't say anything about not having an off-button). I was very grateful she was willing to watch Jay, and overall things went well. The machine analogy is really good. About a year ago, I called him our little pinball, and he's still much like that with slightly longer attention span. Sometimes he can make me tired with his busyness, and it kind of made me happy to hear he can also tire out a teen...I am not just old!

Jason, Katey, M, Me, Lindsay, Jack

My friend Anna took me out to dinner at Red Robin for a belated birthday gift. She talked to me about how she heard in Stake Conference that going to the temple should be a sacrifice and for her it really wasn't feeling like much of a sacrifice to go. She then told me about a couple ladies who she has started to take to the temple who need extra assistance to get there and help when they get there with clothing, etc. She wasn't assigned to these people as a ministering sister, she just saw the need and reached out. She's a great example of service and sacrifice. Her taking me to dinner was a sacrifice for her and service because I didn't have to do dinner for myself. I have thought a lot about the need to sacrifice to attend the temple. The first two years M and I were married, and a few of the years of my single life (when work wasn't too demanding), going to the temple wasn't much of a sacrifice. We lived 5-10 minutes from the temple, and we went every week. We chose a night and went. Now, we have Jay, we've got to find a sitter, we have to make an appointment ahead of time, and we have to drive about an hour to the nearest temple. It requires so much more planning, sometimes it feels overwhelming. I was reminded by attending the temple with my siblings, and by Anna, the sacrifice made to go to the temple is always worth it! It's always worth the extra effort to be there, to be closer to God, and to build faith.

Easter with Jay was a lot of fun! Oma made a little countdown with eggs and a spiritual message about Jesus which Jay enjoyed every night. And, on Sunday after church there was a little Easter egg hung in the backyard. Jay loved gathering eggs, and he spotted a little water shooter from across the yard that he was thrilled to get! Steph and Ken's family came to town for the week as well. We were originally all going to get together for Easter, but both Mike and Andrew's family weren't feeling well so plans changed and we met at Grandma and Grandpa's house. They had a fun egg hunt set up for the kids, and Jay gathered all 12 of his eggs super fast. There was the beautiful egg I really wanted Jay to pick up, it sounds silly but it was shiny and gold. He walked right past it to whichever egg he wanted to pick up. He's a champ, so fully of light and energy and determination to get what he wants.

Jay, Michael, Ellie, Henry, Kenzie

Jay giving Grandpa a run for his money to snap a photo.

Later in the week, I went down to Littleton for a dentist appointment and hung out with Steph's family again. We made some fun tie-dye shirts, which I love tie-dye. However, I learned the hard lesson to wash them in cold water to set the color, not hot. I almost cried when I saw the faded colors, my patters were AWESOME and the shirts look 10 years old. Oh, well. Jay mostly did a good job of avoiding getting die on him, but did get a little drop of yellow towards the end. He loves being and Grandma and Grandpa's house so enjoyed the extra time while I was at the dentist. Grandpa tried to get Jay to take a nap, but Jay outlasted Grandpa. He was wiggly, and determined not to take a nap, so he missed his nap that day. Amazingly, Jay continued to have a great attitude and energy. Grandma let us stay for dinner so we could avoid traffic, and we loved the additional time with cousins and to play.

Michael, Kenzie, Jay, Ellie

Henry & Jay

The shirts

Jay learning to sleep in a big bed continues to be an interesting process. Probably 90% of the time, he is still on the floor in the doorway when he falls asleep. And, he loves to play in his room even though there are no toys. He tries to put on pants, shirts, etc. I often find him with clothes half on. One day, I heard some wood clanking, M went to check on Jay and he had climbed on top of the dresser and grabbed his wooden mountain off the wall and was banging it around. Another time, he pulled out all the drawers in the dresser and then tried to climb, which led to it tipping. Fortunately, these have only been one-time incidents. Another big step we took for Jay in May was potty training! I have determined potty-training is like having a brand new baby. You better have your meals planned, your laundry done, your chores, everything by the time you start. It's fast and furious for a week, and then they start to catch on. That's how it was for Jay. I was so grateful for Kirsten and Katey who encouraged me to keep going and keep trying even when I felt like I should give up. Kyle and Daniel even made little videos for Jay sharing with him where their potty was and how they liked to use the big potty. It was pretty cute and I needed the support more than anyone! Potty-training made Jay tired, so tired. He has been waking up early anyways but for the first two weeks of potty-training, Jay was falling asleep during lunch. I almost couldn't get him to eat anything before falling asleep in his chair. I think they days were fast, furious, and exhausting for him too. Our first outing was to a friend's house for a play date. Jay did super good, and finally used the potty right before we came home and when I told him he could go see Daddy. He's still mostly just saying, Mama, Dadda (Gaga), cracker, hi, bye, more, please, all done, and "ca" for color. He did recently add bubble, which is adorable. He's trying harder and harder to communicate, and we're doing lots of practice for focusing and completing the tasks we start before moving onto the next thing. Jay is a champ, and his therapists are starting to enjoy him more and more. He grunts at everything they make him do, easy or hard, and it's so cute!

He really wanted to play with this high schooler's skateboard, and the guy was very kind and let Jay play.

I got out the bike trailer, cleaned it, and Jay hopped right in and was ready to go.

Jay loves being a little helper, and was helping me sand our measurement board.

I was cutting potatoes and he wanted to help, so I told him to get his own tools to cut.

Jay continues to be a little mischievous. I went to Katey's for a couple days while M was traveling and he was being very quiet while Katey and I were working out. He had found his way upstairs...and when I found him he had the bottle of toothpaste in his hand coming down the stairs. There were globs of paste on the stairs, and the bottle was extremely dirty, it had dirt, which was odd. I looked in the bathroom, and he'd probably tried everyone's toothbrush as well. Lastly, he had found the Merrill's starter tray of seeds. He had dumped it on the ground. I about died, and Katey was as calm as a clam. She just picked up the tray, said, "looks like everything is mostly in tact" and continued with the day. I am so grateful for her grace, and patience!

To wrap up April, we went to the cabin! We haven't been since Christmas of 2020, and Katey and Jason thought it would be a fun way to celebrate their birthday's. M finally wrapped up his busy season (plus a business trip to Orlando) the day before we left for the cabin, and spending time together driving up there and time in the mountains was healing for all of us. Most of the snow had melted, and we were able to drive right up to the cabin. The snow was spotty though, and some areas still had a few feet. We had a little outing in the snow, we painted piggys', we roasted s'mores and hot dogs in the wood stove, and played a few games. The girls really wanted to play with the Easy Bake oven while we were there last time with the Merrills' (over 2 years ago), so they found some lightbulbs and luckily worked! Seeing an Easy Bake oven actually make a cookie was a fulfillment of some of my childhood when I thought Easy Bakes were the coolest thing in the world. Jay had some interesting sleep patterns at the cabin. Every nap and bedtime required us to lay by him until he fell asleep, he became more and more aware of us leaving and would extend an arm to keep us there or chase us when we left the room. The last night we were there, he found his way out of his room at about 4:30 in the morning, he went to the Merrill's room and then wandered a bit more. Eventually he found M and me, so I scooped him up and put him in bed with us. Thankfully with a little bit of wrestling and prayers, we all went back to sleep and slept til 7:30. As we got everything packed up about an hour after the Merrill's left. We were leaving to make it back to the ward party, but unfortunately, we went to start the car and the battery was dead. We were stranded, it's kind of a scary feeling in the mountains. It was a beautiful day, and we felt blessed the caretakers were there to help us get a jump (after about an hour of waiting). The battery held charge all the way home and continued to work through Sunday and on Monday morning I took it in to find the battery was just old and needed replacement. Heavenly Father heard our prayers that day and helped us make it home! We didn't make it to the ward party, but we were safe and enjoyed our evening at home.