~LeT's ShEd SoMe LiGhT oN tHe PrObLeM~

Today was beautiful. It just went too fast:)
This morning Maddix let me know he was going to have a clingy day, which I was fine with except for during my morning exercising.. so we got inventive.

By far our most successful, and fun, fort we've made thus far. He played it in the whole time I worked out... and then on and off for the rest of the day. I thought he might sneak in there for nap time, but he was a good boy and avoided that temptation.
Then for lunch Maddix was still asleep by the time I finished with all my cleaning, emailing, and showering, so I got creative with lunch

Sometimes I get carried away, but I love that I have time too.
After lunch we did some more chores together, played for like an hour in the fort with the cars, and then we went for a walk to try and find a park. All these girls were walking the streets carrying flowers today and I felt a little out of place. Weird thing was that it was the same long skinny yellow un-blossomed flower in every girls hand. I think I'm out of the loop on something. And there were girls EVERYWHERE. Oh boy, if I had been a guy out walking with Maddix, I could have picked up any of those girls because they LOVED Maddix. Again, everyone is in love with his fuzzy hat from Grandma Lori.

We never did find the park. He got tired. So we came home, he took a nap and then tonight while we were cooking dinner all the power in the apt shut off, except the tv. The oven, microwave, lights, everything just shut off. I wondered if our realtor had forgotten to pay the bill, but the tv was on. It must have been a breaker.
I typed into the google translate ( I love technology) and went across the hall to the neighbors who I made contact with a little bit back. I pressed the speaker button and the computer began to repeat everything I'd typed at loud. It was an amazing moment. He and his wife came over and showed me how to work the breaker and told me that if I need ANYTHING to just come over. They're so sweet.
So we had some light shed on our darkness and now I'm not sure how dinner is going to turn out. It's a new recipe but I don't think it will be done until around 8:30pm with the losing the power for awhile. I'll post a pic of it tomorrow if it tastes good. If not, it's leftovers for us.

March 7, 2012

It's hard to think that we've been here a month already. One month. The idea of coming here until this summer seemed so long before but now it seems much closer. March is going to be a long month for Travis; he has midterms for 18classes... yes, 18. But as soon as the month ends he has a week off for Easter break and about half his classes will end, leaving him with a more manageable schedule until June. Throw in some ward family nights, General Conference, spring walks, and before you know it we'll be home. 

Until then, here was the day:

I was cleaning and pulled this out of the closet. Maddix saw it and yelled, "SEAT!" He grabbed his things and instantly camped out in his long lost friend. He also had to drag it room to room with him through the day. 

 You know those nice big forts we build? Well he never really plays in them, just likes the building process. Today I threw his blanket on the chair to get it off the floor and he shreaked, "HIDE!" and hit the ground and crawled under the chair. He discovered he liked it there and stayed for awhile.

Such a fart sometimes, but he just keeps surprising me with how much he's learning everyday. I used to journal all his progress but now it's almost too hard to try and count. I'd probably have an easier time listing the things he can't do at this point. 

Then once again, he didn't want to wake up from his afternoon nap so I went in to wake him and found that he'd stayed up awhile with some contraband items. He is getting so sneaky quiet about getting out of his bed to grab things. The good part is he goes to sleep, and today he read until he fell asleep... nothing wrong with that. 

That was the day. Simple and fun. Especially tonight when I put in Homeward Bound 2 and he plopped in his car seat and was fixated on the cars chasing the animals at the airport. He kept screaming, and yelling, "Ah! Run!" Then he would bark and meow and call for Nala. Travis and I were rolling. Travis said, "ha ha ow wow," and then Maddix kept saying "wow!" with this silly face forever after that. :) Love my boys

P.s. Happy 17months Maddix. My how you're growing so fast!

...Sometimes it's better to sleep things off...

Maddix spent so much time today in a comatose like state. Whether he was sleeping or not, he wasn't really there. Partly it was because of his teething blues, and the larger part I think is from his late night last night.
I heard him whimpering in his bed last night around 11pm and when I went in I found his diaper at the end of the bed. I made my way up and found a very wet spot on the bed... then I found a naked Maddix crying right next to it. He was so sad.
I got it cleaned up and cuddled next to him while he fell asleep and I discovered he talks in his sleep, rolls like crazy, I mean as if he was awake playing around amounts. He started laughing and stopped. Then laughed again and stuck his hand in the air. It was so interesting I ended up staying in there for a long time just watching all the things he had going on in his sleep.
So when I left the room he woke up and we were up until 1am trying to get to to sleep.

 This little boy slept all through me taking pictures and calling his name. He didn't even stir until I started tapping his cheeks.
This morning I made arrangements to go grocery shopping with Pres. Mecham's wife (Becky) during Maddix's nap time because it was the only time she could go and when we got to the store he was crying so hard, and in between sobs he would choke out the word, "hands... hands..." I felt his hands and they were freezing! I guess that's what I get for forgetting his gloves in 10degree weather. So I made a cushion with my coat, laid him in the cart, and covered him with my scarf. As we walked around the store I made up a story to tell him and he seemed so into it. He was hanging on every word until he fell asleep and I had the most pleasant grocery experience yet. Becky drove us home and we set up some times to get together and I'm really excited.

For dinner we had garlic mashed potatoes, chicken, and salad

Then after dinner Travis escorted me onto the floor and we were dancing when Maddix FREAKED out. He did NOT like daddy being that close with mommy. He screamed and hit Travis. So he was sent to time out. I tried to get a picture of his sad puffy eyes but the moment the camera turned on this is what I got:

I told him he could get down if he told Travis sorry, and gave him a big hug and kiss. Maddix jumped off the chair and ran across the room. Trav put his arms out and Maddix ran right past him. When I told him to go to Travis he fell to the ground screaming. Back to time out
This repeated several times before he ended up bawling on Travis' lap, then gave him a blubbery hug and boogery kiss. He then jumped into my arms and CLUNG TO ME. When Travis and I started dancing again, Maddix began to throw his fit again.. and the whole process started all over again.
SO, we had Travis do reading with him tonight, then they played cars while I cleaned the kitchen, and finally we had prayer and went to bed. My goodness. Apparently we have some things to work through:) Needless to say Travis was a little hurt.

P.s. I received your letter in the mail today Mom, Thank you. I loved getting it and feeling special. Maddix found it and had as much fun with it as I did. Travis thought it was cute and put it up on our entertainment center. Love you.

Almost a Complete Wash

Well there was A LOT to do today with us having been at this conference this weekend, but what was accomplished was close to little. Today was almost a wash on any productivity. But we had some fun moments:

What a goof!

He thought he was pretty dang funny

We were out of food and I didn't get to the Real so we had anything we could find. Which happened to be Hashbrowns and eggs

This little boy LOVES brushing his teeth in the morning and night

So happy that he's willing to hAm iT uP for the CaMeRa

I make him cash in his Binki and give him the toothbrush just so I have some sort of leverage when it's time to swap back the toothbrush... which he always puts up a fight before giving back.

So today was also really great because Maddix brought me book after book after his first nap and sat next to me unmoving while I read them all to me. Normally I'm forcing him to stay on my lap while I read to him and here today he willing stayed with me for a dozen books! I hope we've entered into a new phase with this.

Then his second nap wasn't really happening because the sun is staying out later now so I got in bed with him and we read so more books. Then we started watching Tarzan. He cuddled on my lap for about half the movie and still enjoyed the rest of it while playing around the room. It was a pleasantly unproductive day (although I did do some cleaning to fight against the bugs that decided to move back in in the day and a half we were gone).

A Gathering of the Saints to Warsaw, Poland

We have been so blessed to partake in a once of a life time opportunity to gather with all the saints of Poland to Warsaw, Poland (like the Salt Lake of Utah, but much grander and larger and has the Worlds largest Mall) to here Elder Todd D. Christopherson come and speak to the members of Poland.
The Preparation:

So this is terrible. I had a gorgeous picture of Maddix, instead of me, but this is what happened. I had Maddix in the tub getting squeaky clean for the conference and I was doing my hair when Maddix decided to close the doors... I let it be. UNTIL I heard him slip, opened the door, and found him COVERED in, as well as EATING the bar of soap. I was editing the soapy pic to make it appropriate and it DELETED :(. But it was so funny.
The Arrival:

We skipped the train ride because Travis ended up unable to come with us and rode with the Potters

Troy and Lacey took Maddix and I to lunch at this gorgeous little Polish Restaurant

Maddix thoroughly enjoyed the i-pad the WHOLE conference; not just lunch

After Lunch we went exploring the main square in Old Town Warsaw

then later that night we attended the first session of our weekend conference; didn't really catch much

Main Square

Chasing birds

Where we had lunch

There was art stands all over the place

He turned to Lacey and said, "hand" and they walked all around

Gorgeous church we explored through but most my pics didn't turn out!

We had so much fun walking around for the afternoon. Then on the way back our car we read the story on this church above as well as the soldier photo. Back in WW 2 this Catholic church had been overtaken and made a headquarters for the soldiers and 15,000 Polish police officers and soldiers died so they engraved all their names on the walls and built the monument in front of the grave yard

THEN on the way out... we found these tacky euro art. I just don't get it

then later that night we attended the first session of our weekend conference; didn't really catch much of it because we got there late... couldn't find a seat. They placed us maybe 10ft from the front stage and the second we got settled in you could hear this ringing picking up through the translators mic sitting next to me. I dug my bag out from under my chair, through Maddix into Lacey's arms, and ran out to answer a phone call from Travis.
Today, this morning, we were honored to listen to many words on the Holy Ghost and then afterward Elder Christopherson extended an invitation to shake the hands of every child in the room (which allowed the parents up there as well). It was wonderful to meet him, his wife, and the other speakers. There was a German Gentlemen who spoke, and then spoke with Travis and demanded he teach me German because someday we would easily be called as mission pres. in Germany and we need to be prepared...
We even met some Elders who knew Bryce real well and said to tell him hello.

What a wonderful Experience. Wish I could've got some pictures of the actual conference.

~I can't decide if today was the LONGEST day, or if it went by FAST~

As you can see by the title of the post, today was quite a long day, and yet, it feels like it went by so fast. I think I've decided that it was this way because when the moments weren't the best... they were awful. But when they were good, they were so great. Here were some highlights from the day:

He REFUSED to nap today. I could hear him constantly getting out of bed to grab new toys to play with and after awhile I just said to Heck with it. By the time I went in to free him from trying to nap that's what I found. He fell asleep mid push of the car. He had several other toys strewn around him:)

Then for lunch, THIS Is what Travis made for me. I didn't have to cook AND I got a piece of Disney Land in my lunch... and I didn't cook:)

Then tonight I was sitting in the window sill taking a break from Maddix and his teething tirade I caught two wonderful sites. 1: This beautiful sunset and 2: My cute little hubby walking up the sidewalk looking into the apartment to see me taking his picture.

And then another highlight of the night was dinner which was leftovers! Again, no cooking. Now I like to cook, but I don't like doing dishes all day. We don't have a dishwasher and our hot water is a tricky process. When the sink won't warm up I have to turn it up, go to the bathroom and flip the sink on... then the pilot light will flip on. So then I go back to the kitchen and turn up the water to keep the heater on. Turn the sink off in the bathroom and viola: Warm water for the dishes. BUT then there is the fact that the knobs are broken on the kitchen sink so it's a tricky process. The cold water is extremely tight; it's easy to turn on but you have to use a hot pad with padding to turn it tight enough to turn it off. The hot water is the WORST. The knob often slips off entirely and I can't turn the water off so I have to shut off the hot water valve and the main control... ANYWAY, it was nice to not cook today:)

And then to end the night, we had one of those moments that was making the day drag on. During all of dinner Maddix screamed, cried, kept hopping off his chair, spitting his food out, hiding his face from the spoon in Travis' hand, and then he even fell off his chair smacking his head hard on the ground. If this child makes it to Three with no brain damage I will thank the heavens!

Today was just one of those days.... I really didn't know what to do with this boy.

What a Silly March 1st with my Maddix

Today being Thursday, it was Travis' long day at school where he leaves at 7:00am and doesn't come home until 8:30pm at night, so it was definitely just Maddix and I together today, and when he wasn't being cranky we were having fun being silly together.

Maddix had a chicken quesodilla, while I had some fajita salad type meal

Big boy reading a chapter book in his big boy bed

 So then after his nap time we started playing this funny game where he'd disappear into the curtains, and then come running at me while I hid my face and before I knew it he was hiding his face (the pic didn't turn out very well)

Then we played hide and seek in the window sill. He would prompt me to ask where he went to by saying, "go?" and I had to follow up with a, "Where did Maddix go?" And so on and so forth

ha Ha, Where did he go?

Ope, there he is!

So then tonight while Maddix was napping I had a really scary event where, once again earlier today I had a man ask me to page him in around the same time as normal and I just pretended I didn't understand what he was saying, but anyway, tonight I was startled from the dead silence when a loud drilling noise was coming from my ceiling by my front door. I peeked out and saw my older neighbor couple going into their apartment and clearly wondering what the noise was as well. 

I put my hand on the wall and thought for sure someone was purposely drilling through my wall to come get us because we never open our door. Once again this mind of mine was freaking out. It kept going for awhile and I decided I had to make a friend in the building so I could have someone to go to when I was this freaked out. Honestly it was just me being scared, but I literally had the elders number, the bishops number, and 911's number all pulled up because I thought at any moment my ceiling was going to give through and someone was going to burst in and take me like in TAKEN! I will not watch that movie while I'm here alone.

So get to know a neighbor is just what I did. After the drilling noise stopped I translated a letter through google and went across the hall with some cookies. I handed the note and the cookies to the sweet couple, super nervous, and they just rambled to me in Polish and then I picked up that they said to wait and they would send a letter back to me to translate in my computer; and before I left they sent me home with two large slices of  a Polish dessert

Just a little bit later they brought a note and it read their names, to not open the door to any strangers here in Poland, and that they would be keeping an eye on us. That if we needed anything to just come over. and fill free to leave more notes for translation:) So now I have a friend in the building.

Yellow Potato Salad

Thankfully dinner was easy since I started to late after the whole drilling scare. I got it all cleaned up quickly and was so excited to crawl into Maddix's big bed with him, have him cuddle on my lap and read two chapters of Winnie the Pooh. Right as we finished Travis came home and tucked him into bed and now we're just wrapping the night up before we have to start another day in a few short hours. Boy time flies.

p.s. for the first time in my whole life I have biceps! Seriously, every time I pass the mirror I have to stop and admire my little gun collection I'm starting.

So is this what it feels like to be Larisa?