Mother's Day

Mother's Day is always a fabulous day for me :) I don't have to cook (unless I really want to), I get gifts, and the primary kids sing during Sacrament meeting. Could there be anything better? Maybe, but not by much :)

This Mother's Day was awesome! Tyson brought me some roses on Saturday night. They were gorgeous! Then on Sunday morning, Tyson made me German pancakes (one of my favorite breakfast foods - oh yes, and we substituted all the things that needed to be substituted) and we rushed off to church. The primary kids sang 2 mother songs and a grandmother song (yeah, I didn't even know it existed until a few weeks ago), and I got to lead them in the whole thing. It actually turned out really nice! Good job kids! Sunday night my parents, my brother, and 2 women from Slovenia (random, I know) came to eat at our house. The guys did all the cooking, and it actually turned out really nice!

Reed and Eve had made a little Happy Mother's Day card for me, with a huge help from daddy, of course :) It was just so cute! One of those things to put in a scrapbook for sure. Then, I got three cards representing three different presents. I got a massage (yahoo!!!), a new charm for my charm bracelet - one of the little kid ones with the birthstone in the middle, and a new camera!!!!! I already knew about the new camera because I had kind of set it up, but I was still so excited!

I have only cashed in on one of my gifts thus far - the camera! I have a friend who works at the Sony store and she set me up with a sweet deal. We got a Sony Cyber-shot steadyshot DSC-W330 with 14.1 mega pixels and a 4x optical zoom. It has all these awesome new features and came with a carrying case and a 2 GB memory card. The total price for everything was under $84! Yeah, I am impressed, too! We turned in our old camera for a $14 rebate and got 40% off the new camera because it was a display camera for the Mother's Day promotion. Yeah, I am still really excited about it! Here are some of my favorite features:

* Smile Shutter - you put in how big you want the smile to be and when the person is smiling that big on the smile meter it takes the picture automatically!!!! Sweet, right?! Reed does a great demonstration for us!

* Edit photos right after you take them: You can crop pictures and do an extra red-eye reduction immediately after taking the picture. It saves both versions of the pictures! Reed and Eve have some great demonstrations!



(I also did the smile shutter with Eve...it worked famously!)

* The camera can sense what type of picture it is (landscape, portrait, night, etc.) and automatically switches to that setting. I don't have to push a single button to switch settings, unless I want to.

Me testing out the different settings of the camera. I know and you know that this picture makes you laugh. Therefore, it is on the blog :) Enjoy!

I am still discovering all of the many great and wonderful things about this camera. I have been very pleased! Thanks goes to Reed for breaking the first camera :)

National Train Day

Saturday, May 8th was National Train Day all over the country! It is only the 3rd year they have done, so it is not in all the major cities in the U.S. Luckily for us, D.C. is one of the cities that celebrates Train Day! Reed was absolutely ecstatic to see some "choo choos."

We headed downtown to Union Station and picked up Grandpa Rowberry along the way. He was able to bring a camera, since ours was not working, so we actually have some pictures of all the festivities! The place was packed with more stroller, babies, kids, parents, and grandparents than I have ever seen at one time in D.C. I saw numerous Phil & Ted's double strollers, and, yes, I pined after each of them. Ah well, our Sit & Stand works just fine.

There were tons of model trains up running in every direction. There were even little cities with parking lots, cars, trees, buildings, etc. It was awesome! There were some tours of actual train cars and such, but the line was literally at least a 1-hour wait. We bypassed that and went to the free picture line, a 5-minute wait. They took a fun family photo and printed on a red train picture.

We also got to see one of the best little bands that I have ever seen. They are a group from McLean, VA called Rocknocerous! They are always so fun! We saw them at a free concert in the park a couple times last year. All of their songs either teach something good to do (like wear sunscreen) or teach something about history (like when the first men landed on the moon). I need to get some of their cds. I have already learned a ton from the songs and Reed likes to jump to their music - perfect :)

All-in-all a great day at Union Station. We even got parking for $1!!!!! Yes, it was a great day :)



Yes, even Eve stayed awake for the whole thing!

The fun mini-villages


There's the train, passing the parking lot and buildings

I think it is even called Sunny Vale :) Ah, how sweet!

This train was super fast, comparatively. I was proud of myself for getting a decent picture :)


Daddy and Reed - mesmerized by the fast and slow trains...trying to figure out which one they liked better.

Rocknocerous

Ah yes, their names - Coach Cotton, Willy Bob, and Boogie Woogie Benny - they even have a song so that you can remember their names - genius :)

Trains, trains, trains

This is what we did most of the time we spent at Union Station

Amtrak is the best!

Reed kept sticking his arm out and pointing to the trains as they passed

Reed and Grandpa Rowberry - 2 train lovers, loving trains

Tithing Mishap

So, the other week I went to write the tithing check. I asked Tyson how much his paycheck was and then added on my piano money. Easy enough, right? I have been writing the tithing checks since we got married (almost 4 years now...weird). I also am fairly good at math, at least that is what Tyson tells me. Well, this particular day my math was off just a bit.

I wrote the check, had Tyson turn in the check, and thought nothing more of it until a few days later. I got a text message from Tyson asking if I had won the lottery or something. I was a bit confused, said no, and asked why. He then told me the amount of our tithing check. It was HUGE!

I looked at my check stub and sure enough, I had written the check out for 100% of Tyson's pay check instead of the normal 10%. Luckily, we both thought it was funny, albeit I am still a little embarrassed that I did that. I guess I just wanted all of the blessings for the next several months right away instead of waiting for them! Yes, that was my tithing mishap :)

Funny and Cute

All of these funny and cute things have been happening lately, and I need to record them! I am sure I have forgotten many of the funny/cute things that have happened, but here are a few funny/cute things:

While at a friend's house Eve was given a plastic baby doll to look at. She started laughing so hard that everyone else in the house laughed as well. It was seriously so funny. So, we took the doll away and then gave it back a few minutes later. She started giggling so much, she went completely red in the face! Apparently, Eve thinks fake babies are funny! Who knew!

Reed is always concerned about Eve. Every time we go anywhere (including from one room to the next room in our apartment) he asks about the baby. He just always wants her to be around. Such a sweet big brother, even if his 'loves' turn into wrestling on the ground.

Eve really likes Reed despite the constant abuse (although not intended that way) she receives from him. She always gives him the biggest grins when he comes around. He can make her giggle and giggle! She especially loves it when he hops up and down while saying, "Hop, hop, hop."

For Mother's Day this year (don't worry, a full MD post is coming) Reed learned how to say, " Mama's Day." It was just so adorable to hear him say that! My little boy is getting so big!

Reed is also learning about lots of his cousins, aunt, and uncles from the picture book I made for his birthday. It's just so funny the things he remembers. For example, in one picture the whole family has their shoes and socks off. Every time Reed sees that picture he says, "Toes!" He doesn't remember their names quite yet, but I am sure that when he sees Krystal, Matt, Mackenzi, Kylie, and Natalie he will say, "Toes, mama!" He even talks about them when the book is not around. So, Krystal, your nick name may just have to be Toes from now on :)

No Dairy, No Soy

So, it happened again. I found blood and mucus in Eve's stool. At first, I thought it may have been the cashews I had eaten the day before (when I looked on the package it said that it was processed where milk had been). That was on April 30th. Then, last night, there was another similar dirty diaper. I figured I would call the doctor in the morning. Then, this morning, there was another similar dirty diaper. That's when I actually called the doctor and made an appointment to see the Nurse Practitioner who specializes in things like this.

Eve still shows no sign of distress. She is as happy as ever. Also, her weight gain is still good - she weighed in at 15 lbs. 0 oz. today! But, I could deny the other signs - mucus and a little bit of blood. We went to the doctor.

The nurse was actually EXTREMELY helpful. She has a 6-month old who has the same allergies. Basically, most kids who are allergic to dairy are allergic to soy as well. Turns out, those are the two biggest proteins and the two hardest for little babies to digest. So, she was not surprised that Eve was back again.

My question was, why did her diapers go back to normal for a while? The nurse explained that it was the same with the milk protein. At first, Eve didn't show any reaction to milk. Then, over time, she showed the symptoms of being allergic. With soy, it was the same thing. At first, she showed no symptoms, but the more she was exposed to it, the more she showed signs of being allergic.

What does that mean for me? No soy. Dang it - I just bought chocolate soy milk yesterday and had a glass last night. Ah well. I just have read the labels even more now. I was just getting used to what brands have dairy and what brands don't, but now it is back to square one. I know that I can do no dairy, so I am thinking no soy should be just fine. It can't be that much harder, right?

We will try it out and see how the next 2 weeks go. I go back for another check to make sure there is no more mucus/blood in her diapers. Wish us luck!