March Madness

Well, I thought I better get this posted before March was all said and done. March Madness is a fun time at our house. I figured while Layne and I were watching all the games the kids could play a little basketball to keep them entertained. Christian loves it. I tell him to go make a basket and he grabs the closest ball and throws it in. He loves it even more when you cheer for him after the baskets been made. He will go around holding his hand way up high for you to give him a high-five for his effort. He gets so excited about it. Layne and Julia get a little crazy and take over after awhile. Julia has been getting a lot better at her shot with her dad's help :)

Each time some major sporting event comes up like the college bowl series or march madness the Cromwell's have a little game pick'em where you get points for picking the winner or the underdog things like that.  It gets pretty intense and what would it be without a little Cromwell competition, right! I'm usually the only girl that gets in on the action and this year its been paying off. I'm actually in the lead going into the final weekend of March Madness. So fingers crossed! I might actually have a chance to beat all the boys!!

Update: I BEAT ALL THE BOYS!! It was down to me and Layne really and I said I didn't even care about the prize I just wanted to beat all the boys for once. First time and probably my last so I will enjoy it!

1st Time in the Snow

I don't know whether or not I like having snow come so late but I'm all for the cooler temps. Spring can stay cool as long as it wants to. Good thing the snow has come later because Christian had a chance to get out and play in it a little bit. Mon. and Tues. this week we had a little storm that blew in and dumped a good amount of snow. So one morning, I decided to let the kids go out and play in it because its usually gone by the afternoon.

Excited to get outside and play!

Christian has never been out in the snow and he was excited to get outside. I don't have any snow pants or boots for him but we made due. I was surprised he kept his little gloves on. I don't he really cared because he was just glad to be outside. Next year I guess I will have to splurge and get some snow gear for the kid :)

Not afraid to jump right in!

Christian loved the snow. Unlike Julia, when she was little she would just stand in one spot and would ask for help to walk through the snow. Christian was the opposite. He walked around, the best he could, and even fell down and played in it. Julia would have never have done that. She cried the minute she fell down.  I was getting cold and wet so I decided it was time to go in and Christian just started to bawl. Julia was the same way when she was little....they LOVE to be outside!

IT'S A SNOW DAY!

Having a Body really helps you to grow.....

Man, its been a long week for me. Not one of my best, to say the least. But its over and I'm doing great! I've had a lot of help and a lot of great pick-me-ups along the way!

Julia and I have been listening to "My Turn On Earth" this week in the car. She loves to listen to the song where Jesus and Satan present their plans to everyone in heaven. Its fun to have her listen and then ask questions about each song and at least we get something spiritual out of the day :)

Well, the song that hit me this week was the one about your body. It goes a little something like this:

"Everybody ought to have a body, a body is the only way to go.
Oh everybody ought to have a body, having a body really helps you to grow!"

NO KIDDING! Having a body is great when you are healthy and strong but man it can beat you up when you are sick! I've had my fair share of illnesses and it truly is amazing what your body can deal with and go through. And it's true what they say, "What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger." When things get a little rough for me Layne always says, "well, its why we came to earth. You wanted to come to earth to get a body!" Sometimes I wonder, if I really knew what my body had to go through and endure I don't know if I would have shouted for JOY so quickly?! But no really, everything I go through puts things into perspective once again. Why we go through what we go through is to learn and appreciate life and health and your body. It helps us develop Christlike qualities that we could only gather and appreciate because of our hardship.

I do appreciate my body! I do appreciate my health a whole lot more when I have it. I am able to hear and see all that is around me. I am able to walk and have the use of my hands. I can do so many things with my body and I am so grateful for it. It teaches me to stay humble and take each day as a gift. I am glad I was able to come to earth and get a body!

Another thing Julia loves to ask after hearing that song is this: "Mom does everybody have a body?"
Me: "Yep, everybody you see has a body."

Christian 15 months

Man, this kid just gets bigger everyday! He does something new everyday! They just grow up so darn fast! But I must say Christian has been a great baby and is doing great growth wise. We went in for his 15month check up last week and the doctor said everything looked great. That's always good to hear! Here are his stats for 15 months: Lenght: 29 3/4in  Weight: 22.9 lbs  Head Circum: 49cm (still in the 90% for that stat.)

Between 12 months to 15 months it seems like he has changed so much. He finally started walking at 14 months. He just decided it was time and took off! He gets better and better everyday. He is becoming more independent too. He loves to just play in his room either with Julia or without her. He is always pulling the books off the shelf and looking through them. He usually will bring me something out of his room for us to read or play with.

Loves to look at books

Besides walking he still loves to dance! Anytime he hears music he just turns his head and starts moving. His new move is to bend his knees up and down while he waves his hands over his head. It looks like he is directing the music instead of dancing. He loves to sit on daddy's lap with a bottle of milk and watch the singing programs we have recorded.

Whenever I am changing Christians diaper or just getting him dressed he loves to tickle his own feet. He will grab on to one of them and make the tickle sound with his mouth. Its cute! He loves to try and put on his own socks and shoes too. He is beginning to talk a little and can say 'go' and tries to say 'bye' but it just sounds like the 'b' sound. He is signing a lot more though. He can sign, milk, fish, bath, please, doggie, and shoe. One thing that surprised me was one night we were going to say family prayer and Christian folded his arms all by himself. Every time we have a prayer or we are at church I will just fold his arms for him but he just started doing it on his own. I was so happy and just couldn't believe he caught on to that concept so quickly. Its so fun to watch them grow and to see what they will learn and do each day. I love this stage. 12-24 months is a fun stage. They start to walk and talk and say and do the funniest stuff. Can't wait to see what the next few months will bring!

I said say "cheese" and Christian pulled one of his funny faces

Christian is such a charmer and a flirt (must take after his daddy!). He will look at people and then snuggle up against me. Or he will tilt his head and give you a smile. He has some of the funniest faces too and does a good job imitating you if you want him to make a face. Christian loves to wave goodbye, every time he goes to bed or someone is leaving the room or the house he is waving. Whenever we are walking in the parking lot to or from the store he just has his little hand waving at all the cars that go by.

Christian is sleeping better and will usually only wake up about once in the middle of the night, usually around 3:30-4:30am. But occasionally he does sleep through the night. We give him a morning bottle in bed and he usually goes back to bed for an hour or so. We are trying to wean him off the bottle at night. No more bottles at bedtime. He eats before bed, brush his teeth and then off to bed. He cries for about 10-15 mins and then talks to himself and then will fall asleep. Its so cute to hear him playing in bed.

He is doing so well at eating too. He usually eats one good meal a day and snacks the rest of the time. But he will try anything you put in front of him. If he doesn't like it he just spits it out. He is now wanting to try and feed himself. Layne and I have been letting him help us use his spoon. We help him hold it and we let him try it. He gets really mad if you do it for him. And when we finish up our dinner he will be signing 'bath'. He loves bath time and thinks every time we eat dinner its time for a bath afterwards!

Ready for bed

We love this little guy so much. He has been such a happy go lucky boy and we are so grateful he is a part of our family. He adds so much to our lives. He makes me laugh everyday by something he does or one of his funny faces. He loves his big sister and they get along really well, so far, anyway!

LOVES being outside. Ready to go to the park!

LIKES:
Bath time
Pulling off his own socks
Dancing
Being outside
Milk
Reading books

DISLIKES:
Being told no
Being left behind if someone is going outside
Sitting still in church
Having the door shut on him in his room

Preserve Your Memories.......

Describe my favorite winter activities.

Well, when I was younger I loved to play outside in the snow. I usually found myself trying to build some type of snow fort or making snow angels. When we would visit my grandparents house (which later became our house) I loved to go sledding. I remember a few times when all of us, including aunts and uncles came out to the 'big' hill and took the toboggan down for a ride. It was so fun and we would get going so fast. You couldn't really steer the toboggan and often times we would be headed toward the big pine tree at the end of the run so we would have to bail off before we would hit it. Lots of times we would also venture off onto the back hills of our property where the hills were a little more steep and a little more dangerous. There were times when we would definitely catch some air and you certainly had to make sure to clear the big rocks on those hills. Often times we came back with broken sleds due to our runs down those 'scary' hills. It was a blast though and we always had so much snow in Michigan. Every winter you could count on a few snow days and that made playing outside even more fun!

As I grew up and got older I found that skiing was the ultimate winter activity! Once I moved to Utah it took me awhile to get up to the mountains for my first skiing experience but once I tried it I was hooked and picked it up pretty easily! I got my sisters to try it and they became my snow buddies. We would go to Brighton and ski at night because it was cheap, COLD, but cheap. Once in awhile we would save our money and spend a Saturday hitting all the runs. After every ski trip it was tradition to stop at 7-eleven and get a hot chocolate. I still wish I could ski but after a few knee surgeries my doctor told me I didn't have a 'ski' knee anymore. I was pretty bummed out but I might try it out again one day to see my knee could take it!