Solids, Crawling, and a Positive Attitude

I need to write down some happenings before we start apartment duty.  We're on secondary/phone duty for two weeks in a row starting this friday.  I've seriously been dreading it for the past month.  One week is draining... two in a row is going to be rough.  Not to mention we haven't been on secondary duty since before Des was born.  It's going to be interesting trying to manage with two kids.  I'm bracing myself.

I keep reminding myself of how grateful I am for our job.  Every time we're on duty I have to repeat in my mind "This is worth it.  This is worth it.  Free rent in LA!"  And every time our duty week comes to an end I am so glad we don't have to pay rent while getting through school.  It really is the best job we could have right now... probably the only job we could have in our situation.  It's a blessing... it's a blessing...

Anywho, this past week Des hit two major milestones; solid foods and crawling... sort of.  He's been pushing himself up on his hands and knees and rocking back and forth.  He is so proud of himself.  When he gets up on his hands and knees he'll look up and smile at me as if he's saying "look how strong I am mom!"  It's so stinking cute.  He doesn't really move on his hands and knees yet though.  To get around he drops down to his belly and slides along the ground by pushing his feet.  Sometimes his face will slide across the floor (rug burn!)  He can get across the living room scooting on his belly so technically we have a mobile baby!

On Saturday, Nathan did the honors of feeding Des his first meal that wasn't breast milk.  Des hasn't taken a bottle since he was three weeks old (he decided to refuse anything but the real deal) so I think Nathan was really looking forward to feeding him.  He was totally ready to eat solids.  The second Nathan lifted the spoon to his mouth he leaned forward and chomped it.  I think he's been waiting for us to feed him with a spoon for weeks.

Des kept trying to eat his bib.  At one point he started crying because he was getting so frustrated with it!

In other news, Moses got really sick after our ward beach day on Saturday.  It started out as a fever but he woke up with a rash on Sunday.  We're pretty sure it's Hand Foot and Mouth because the rash is the worst on his hands and feet.  He started getting red bumps in his mouth yesterday too.  The fever is gone and he's been acting happy the last couple of days but he still can't play with his little friends because of the rash.  Hopefully it will go away without getting worse!

Today we went on a walk and played soccer at Mar Vista.  I wanted to get him out of the house but I couldn't take him around other kiddos soooo soccer it was!  We had fun kicking his little ball around. There's construction going on at the Mar Vista Elementary school so we watched a tractor for about 30 minutes too.  Whatever keeps him entertained!  It's always fun to see what Mose finds interesting. We walked past several bike racks on our walk today.  Every time we did he stopped and played on it for a few minutes before we could keep going.  I love that he has so much fun exploring every day objects.  It makes me appreciate everything a little more than I would otherwise.  Just another reason to love Mose!

Moses can make anything fun!

I could learn a thing or two from Moses' outlook on life.  He has a talent for finding the fun/good in every situation.  I didn't teach him that!  Something to remember as we head into our two weeks of apartment coordinator duty...

Moses is TWO! (and has been for a few weeks...)

I'm playing the catch up game.  I just want to write about my big two year old boy.  Time has flown by and it makes me a little sad to think Mose is growing so fast.  At the same time it has been so fun to watch him grow.  He makes new discoveries every day.  Here are some fun facts about little Mose:

1.  He loves trucks and cars!  for the last 8 months or so any time he hears a siren outside our apartment he gets a surprised/excited look on his face and runs to the window to watch the firetruck/ambulance/police car speed by.  Sometimes he makes it to the window in time and says "Ah! Peece Car!"  Sometimes he doesn't get to the window fast enough and he'll say "Ope.  We miss it!"

2.  His favorite songs are "Itsy Spider" and "Do As I'm Doing."  Often times, I'll start singing a different song and he'll stop me and say "No mom.  Sing itsy spider song."  Other times he'll just say "No mom.  Don't sing mom!"  Haha the boy knows what he wants.  And he knows low quality singing when he hears it.  He dances to the music he likes too... he really gets that left shoulder movin' and groovin'.  He's got some serious rhythm!

3.  He's been throwing more and more tantrums lately.  I have to say, most of them I don't find funny... In fact I find them very overwhelming as his mama. But the other day I couldn't help but laugh.  It was so ridiculous.  After his bath he was crying- scratch that-  SCREAMING for 45 minutes saying "No mom.  Take. off. my diaper. mom.  I wan. touch. my poke!!!"  I was dying laughing.   He was so upset because I wouldn't let him run around naked.  This kid!

4.  He is learning to be a good older brother.  He still has the urge to hit Desmond on occasion (I have a hunch this urge will continue to creep up throughout their growing up years.)  But not nearly as much as he did when Des was first born.  Now he'll share his toys with baby brother and even give him kisses on the forehead.  Nathan always says "I know ya" to Des.  The other day Moses leaned down to Desmond on the floor and said "Hi brother.  I know ya!"  It was pretty cute.  Proud mom moment.

The next picture I took Mose was poking Des' eye.  Yeah, this one is much cuter.

5.  Moses is a scooter pro and has been since 18 months old.  We were so impressed when he started figuring out how to scooter.  Moses will take his scooter out while Nathan skateboards and they'll race.  His face lights up whenever he races dad- he feels pretty cool rollin around the apartment complex with dad.

6.  Mose has learned most of his shapes.  He's in the process of learning his letters (he's got about half of them down pat), his numbers, and his colors.  It amazes me how much he knows.  Everyday I'll ask him questions thinking he probably won't know the answer but low and behold... he'll answer them!

7.  He loves Mista Dog.  He won't go to sleep without him.  When I go to get him out of his crib in the morning he's always holding him.  Always.  This morning when I got Mose out of the crib he threw Mista Dog in and said "See ya at nap time Mista Dog."  Haha such a ham.

8.  Some of his favorite foods are pb and j's (hold the crust), cubababas (cucumbers), banas (bananas, he has to hold the whole thing by himself), quesdeeyas, kumquats (there's a tree in our apartment complex that he picks them from when they're in season, he calls them baby onges [oranges]), aacados (avocados), chick nugs and fries from McDonalds (bad mom for feeding this to him... I know).  He also loves milk and apple juice.  He really likes smoobies (smoothies) too.  Sometimes if he lets me cut his finger nails we'll walk to whole foods and get green smoothies after.  We both like them and he has no idea he's drinking spinach.  Win, win!

9.  We've been going to story time at the visitors center every tuesday this summer.  This past week the sister missionaries taught the kids about love and families.  After I asked him who he loved and he said "Jesus."  YES.  Another proud mom moment.  A few weeks ago MoPa was babysitting Mose. My dad told me he went to get Moses out of his crib after his nap and Moses started telling him the names of all his stuffed animals- "Mista Dog.  Mista Bear.  Mista big monkey.  Mista yittle monkey." Then he looked up at the pictures hanging on the wall (we have some pictures of some BoM and Old testament prophets, and Jesus).  He pointed to the one of Jesus and said "Mista Jesus!'

After his second week of nursery.  His necklace says "Heavenly Father and Jesus love me."  He since learned he loves them back.

10.  Moses thinks he is pretty funny.  He likes to make jokes and laugh at himself.  As a result, I find myself laughing with him every day.  I'm pretty lucky to be able to spend every day with such a funny guy:)

To sum it all up, Mose is the coolest two year old ever.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOSES LUTERU BECK.  Your mom loves everything about you.

A few weeks ago we had a firetruck birthday party out at our apartment playground.  We had lots of family and some friends come to celebrate with us.  We borrowed a firetruck cake pan from someone in my parents ward.  I thought I'd be able to decorate it myself... how hard can it be right?  I've seen hundreds of homemade cakes on pinterest that look perfect!  Haha well, the night before, around 11, I was trying to decorate it.  It was looking pretty sad when Nathan walked out of the bedroom; "Here, I'll do it... I do this kind of thing every day in dental school except its in someones mouth!  This will be so easy!"  And sure enough he fixed the cake!  It looked awesome too!  I do get some credit though... I baked it.  Annnd I put the little square candies on.  Basically i did the part that took no skill.  Lucky for me, my husband is awesome at pretty much everything he tries.

Forget dental school.  Nathan is the next Cake Boss.

Moses was pretty happy about it when he saw it the next morning.  He said "Oh! Fire truck!"  He had fun playing with the Pratt boys, Henry, Kaia, Amon, Cal, Charlie... all his little buddies that came to the party.  We ate burgers, yummy salads that Nana and MoPa brought, fruit kabobs (another pinterest idea...), cake, and ice cream.  The kids played with sidewalk chalk and kept each other entertained.  Lots of cute kiddos running around!  

Opening presents with some help from James.

On monday, his actual birthday, he woke up to a new table and chairs (20 bucks for the whole set at ikea!), and a rug to play cars on (playing cars is his current obsession... maybe because we live in LA and we see cars ALL THE TIME.)  He was pretty excited about it.  We went to lunch with MoPa and Gabby that afternoon to celebrate.  He ate a lot of fries and got a sucker afterwards.  

I love this boy so much!  He is so much fun to have around.  Nathan and I are blessed to have such a fun, funny, determined, smart little boy in our lives.  He has taught me many things in the two years he's been around and I'm so grateful.  

Grammy and Grampy's 60th Wedding Anniversary

This week the boys and I drove to Utah to go to Grammy and Grampy's 60th wedding anniversary celebration.  Cyd hosted a really fun party for the whole family on Friday night.  I'm so glad we were able to make it.  

Nathan had to stay in LA for school so MoPa drove out with us SUPER early wednesday morning- thank goodness!  There's no way I could have survived the drive (and the entire trip) without his help.

Moses was in heaven from the minute we pulled up to Gram's house.  He played with Nico and Sienna all wednesday evening.  

On thursday morning we stopped by Grandma and Grandpa Cooks so they could meet Des and Avery for the first time.  Both the babies (massive babies I might add) were passed out in their car seats almost the entire time; pretty cute.  We spent the rest of Thursday with Cam, Meag, and the girls up at Sundance.  We got suckers and played on the grass while we waited for Shannon and Teesh to meet up with us.  We rode the chair lift with the kids.  Mose loved it.  Des, not so much... He screamed the entire way up and finally fell asleep going back down thanks to MoPa rocking the car seat.  Afterwards we all went back to Gram' s and ate burgers for dinner in the backyard.

I took the boys to eat breakfast at Kneaders with Tawni friday morning.  Her little Owen just turned three months and I was dying to see him.  Such a sweet little boy.  I have to say, trying to eat out with both the boys was a terrible idea- a ruckus the entire time.  Between the screaming and the food flinging I didn't get to talk to Tawn much but it was so so good to see her.  Can't believe she's a mama!  After breakfast we headed to BYU with Cam's family and then ate lunch up the canyon at vivian park.  There are few places as gorgeous as Provo Canyon in the summer!  Summer in Utah makes me want to move back... but then I remember the 7 month winters I spent there for 10 years and I appreciate living 10 minutes from the Ocean in perfect weather year round. 

Friday night was the best.  Aside from Nathan, our entire family was able to go to the party.  I learned a lot about Grammy and Grampy from the quiz Cyd made.  I had no idea that Grampy paid for their honey with gambling winnings he won on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe.  Or that Grams mom used to flip the porch lights on and off when Grampy would walk her to the door (Grams mom called it Morris Code! Haha)  Before friday, it had been years since all of my siblings were together.  We had some good laughs.  I wish we got together more often.  I miss hanging out with my family- there's nothing quite like spending time with your own peeps!  We all got to meet Lin's boyfriend Marlo- we like him:)  Afterwards, our immediate family went back to Grams to hang out for a few minutes before Lin had to head back to Nephi.  It was hard to say goodbye since we all know it will be awhile before we get back together again.  Love my family!  

MoPa and I decided we'd leave at 3 in the morning on Saturday so the boys would be sleeping the majority of the time.  On friday night Moses started screaming at midnight so we decided to leave right then- if we're going to be up we might as well be driving- so we drove through the night.  It was rough!  We got so tired that we started laughing so hard at everything.  It was actually kind of awesome.  Luckily we had our Diet Cokes and candies to make it through.  It was nice to come home to Nathan after a long night!