Some Corny Events . . .

Okay, that title is totally tongue-in-cheek.

        Something miraculous happened this week.  

Aftyn ate corn.

Now that may not sound like much, but you don't know Aftyn like I know Aftyn.

She has been averse to anything with a funny texture, 

too squishy, 

not sweet, 

too soupy, 

too vegetable-y

for as long as she's been eating food.  

So approximately 2 years and 2 months of her life.  

That's a LARGE majority of her life.

But last night, I witnessed a side of Aftyn I have never seen.

She ate and she ate and she ate that corn.  

She easily ate 3 tablespoons of corn, with no promptings and no help. 

Even better, it was the FIRST thing she ate on her plate of food! :) 

I wasn't sure if she'd have room for anymore food 

because it looked like she wanted to fill up on just corn! :)

The night before, there had been a miracle too.  

She ate noodles covered with sauce. 

Same story. 

Amazing.

The real kicker. 

She ate tomato soup last week.  TOMATO SOUP! 

Her WHOLE bowlful at that.

I used to HATE that stuff as a child.  

I never fully appreciated its fabulous flavor until I became an adult.  

Probably.

Aftyn calls this look "Princess Aftyn"  I call it crazy hair.  :)

So here's my hope:

for many more miraculous dinners 

in which Aftyn eats more vegetables, 

fruits and main dishes that she has 

heretofore shown nothing but contempt for. 

Some Latest Sewing Projects

Lovely sweater on the left, hand me down from a generous sister

Couldn't resist making this after seeing one on MakeItAndLoveIt

New pair of pants, made from an old shirt I never really wore, it was too short for me

Absolutely love bum ruffles. This may be some kind of illness they haven't identified yet.  :)

Trying My Hand At Lightroom

It's Been That Week

This was the first week in my career as a parent

that we as a family had a sickness cycle through almost all of us. 

And I know it won't be the last time.

Sadly.

I know it comes with the territory.

It's just part of the job, one of its benefits.

But ugh it's yucky.

Luckily Aftyn had it during the week

and Reed and I took turns having it this weekend.

Worked out rather nicely actually. 

And Bronwyn I'm hoping

will skip getting it.

Please.

Exciting sewing stuff posting tomorrow. 

Happy Gratitude Week!

388 Posts Later, What Has Changed

One of the reasons I have learned to love blogging is the enjoyment I get in going back and reading what I have posted about.
It's interesting to see the various reasons I have blogged over the last 4-ish years.

When I first started, it was to let everyone see this "exciting" life that Reed and I led. Ha.
To communicate with and allow family members to see what we did.
I hadn't found my voice when I first started and I definitely didn't know how
to just express myself in a vulnerable way and let myself be okay with that.
And I didn't know how to be more of my silly self.

It seems as if by the time my parents went on their first mission and I had Aftyn, this blog became about my kids.  And I'm okay with that.

If I blogged more about myself, all you would ever hear about is: I can't lose weight, Reed's working,  I've lost so much weight, I'm pregnant and going to gain so much weight, I hope it's twins, my parents are going on a mission, my parents are back from their mission, my sister the photographer, my sister who taught me how to make applesauce, my sister the couponer, my oldest sister, my sister the writer, my brother who lives in the Caribbean, my sister in IF, my brother in Utah, my brother in Texas,  Reed's out of town, Reed's tired, I'm tired, we need a vacation.  Really, who wants to hear about ALL of that?  :)
    So, I guess, I'm writing this varied post to 1) let you know that I'm aiming to hit 400 posts by the end of the year.  I'm pretty sure I can do that, it's only about 12 more posts until the end of the year and I've got that in me.
                                                                AND
   
  2) To highlight a couple of my favorite posts from the first year or so of this blog.
                   My First Post ,    I'm Lonely ,   Funny New House Story

  There are a whole lot more, but I'm feeling lazy. Any favorite posts you'd care to mention?

Time for Thanksgiving, I suppose

                                             Well,

my parents entered the MTC today. 

For the second time in 3 1/2 years. 

A lot of amazing things happened in our family the last time they served and so

in spite of being sad every time my 2 year old daughter asks to go see that Grandma, 

I know that we will be blessed for the service they are giving and the sacrifice they

are making.  

I grew up vaguely aware that both my grandparents had served missions, and 

I'm excited to be able to share this idea with my oldest daughter that both of HER grandparents have  also served missions at special times in our lives. 

Just a sample of some of the blessings MY little family has enjoyed from parents serving missions:

- Reed and I began dating and got married while his parents served their  mission.

- we became pregnant with and had Aftyn while my parents served their first mission.

With such awesome blessings, I'm going to try and be grateful, instead 

of feeling sad and missing them, that we have such awesome examples 

to look up to and be grateful for the blessings they will bring to us.  

Can't wait!

A Long Awaited Day

Sorry it's so yellow, it's just a REALLY genuinely excited smile!

A few months back, I introduced the idea to Aftyn that binkies could be used as money

to go and buy toys at the store! How exciting, hmm? 

We talked about it a few more times that first week that I brought it up, but I don't think Aftyn or I really felt like it was time yet to take her precious binkies to the store.  

There was no TOY that could take the place of a binky. Yet.

Enter: Toy Story 2.  

Aftyn watched it for the first time a few months ago, more or less.  Almost instant love. 

She liked Woody, and Jessie and Ham and Rex.  

I got a really cool T-Rex at a garage sale that she has really enjoyed.  

So, the other night, after re-introducing the idea of putting her binkies in a ziploc and buying some toys with them, well, I pepped her up with a re-showing of Toy Story 2, in the middle of which I said, "Let's go to the store and buy a Woody toy, a Jessie toy and a Buzz Lightyear toy!" to which she replied, "okay Mommy!" . 

So we finished the movie and off we went to Walmart to find her toys, with a ziploc baggie full of her 4 binkies clutched tightly in her hand.

She was SO excited! We have never gone to the store and just bought her new toys.  Not sure if we ever will again, so to just pick up and go buy toys with her was a new and exciting event!

We quickly found the Toy Story toys, thankfully, and then decided which ones were the ones she REALLY wanted to buy with her binkies. 

With a Jessie, Ham, Woody and little green martian man in our cart, and a bag of candy that mommy " needed", we found just the right cashier for our transaction.

A very sweet elderly woman who had checked us out several times. 

I hurriedly explained, as I laid the toys by her register, that my daughter would be buying HER toys with her binkies, 

*wink wink* 

and that then I would be buying my candy.  

So she rang us up, and after I asked her how much it came to, I told Aftyn, "okay, you have to pay for your toys!", so Aftyn handed her baggie of binkies over all by herself with only a second of hesitation and then I stepped up with the money to pay for the rest.  :)

The cashier was really helpful with this whole ploy because she brought Aftyn's bag of toys right over to her and told her "okay, here are the toys you bought!".  

Aftyn had a grin from ear to ear!!

Even getting out to the car, we couldn't get there fast enough to open up Jessie's box so Aftyn could hold her and play with her on the drive home. 

These are the pictures we took once we got home.  

Seriously, ear to ear grin. 

I've never seen Aftyn SO excited about anything.

I call this one, nervous excitement.  What did I just do? I traded my binkies for toys?

We literally got home from the store and put Aftyn right to bed.  

For the first hour, we heard nothing from her room.  

After about an hour, I went in because I was hearing noises.  

She was crying.  :(  

And then she started sobbing to me that she wanted her binky.  oh man.  

I laid down with her, and a little while later, she was asleep.

The next morning, nothing but excitement about her toys, and one little mention of a binky when she told me she was a little tired, but I quickly changed the subject with breakfast. 

Last night went swimmingly.  

With no afternoon nap for Aftyn, at bedtime I turned on her bedtime lullabies that I got from my sister in law at Aftyn's baby shower and in about 10 minutes she was  sleeping.  :)  

She seems to be doing really well, and I'm excited that she's coping so well with this change. 

I'm so proud of her, and maybe a little sad that she's growing up so quickly.  

Potty trained and no more binkies.  

She's officially a big little girl.