Our Boyz!

My camera was about to die and there was no stopping to capture the perfect picture here...the boys were moving targets dashing back and forth and in and out of the room. I made a quick grab for the camera as I was laughing watching them, and had to capture these two munchkins. Tristans new thing is to push around is this little car, and having Elijiah on it makes it even more fun. Elijiah and he are playing together more and more each month as Tristan gets a bit older, and its so fun to watch them interact! However- looking at our bugs face light up when hes pushing Elijiah to and fro is absolutely priceless!!

Gratitude

What a slacker am I? So many things to be grateful for- just a few...

`A healthy 13 month old- FINALLY! What a change- hes so happy! Fun!! and get this- he ate chicken and peas last night! ( only what he could feed himself though!)
`Pomp and circumstance of a graduation ceremony- made me so proud of Jonathan!
`too many bananas- makes for yummy banana bread
`A sacrament meeting that was peaceful
`Rain and hail storm and the mist off the mountains-it was a pretty cool sight!
`Tulips everywhere
`My mothers willingness to teach this poor daughter of hers to sew!

To quote a great man

President Gordon B Hinckley
"Life is just like an old time rail journey ... delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride."

How I am so grateful for him...his wisdom. And how incredibly sad that throughout most of his presidency I was a bit lost - while I came back in 2002- it was a slow journey back- marked with many delays or sidetracks.
______

I am missing my husband though only gone for a night I was up most of the night feeling his absence, as he often comes to bed late, cuddles up next to me and rubs my back and lulls me into a deep sleep. I was fitful for my night time routine was not going to happen. He called to say that he a great dinner in the SF bay( one of my fav cities) and I could hear the excitement in his voice about his dinner companions - conversation etc and realizing how in a rut he is about those he works with and what hes doing professionally. He is like an eagle stuck in a cage- dying a little each day here and its incredibly sad to me. I know it will happen- its all a matter of time..good things will come, we are working towards it. Its just a matter of time.

Our poor bugs

Got another double ear infection- this time they gave us antibiotics..yea! Hopefully Tristan will be feeling better soon!

Also my brother Cory sent another memory card filled with photos for me to download and Ill be posting some over on his blog soon. But I had to put several up. He just cracks me up!

I told him that I wanted him to smuggle a baby girl back for me when he was done with his mission- isnt she precious! Cory---ILL TAKE HER!!!
Now I dont think missionaries should be engaging in these types of activities- nor skateboarding..but we see lots of photos of both.

This was one of many photos of Cory launching himself into the air off a railing...now if it wasnt off the side of a near by cliff, I dont think we would all be close to having a heart attack! What is he thinking!

One of the many places he is serving. Pretty crazy stuff!

Try as I might...

I just cant do it. I mean I do try. To keep it light that is. But our lives - what is it about it that makes it impossible? Okay it isnt so bad...but I keep it real. We had so much fun( or I did) last Friday. As I was driving to pick Tristan up from Daycare I call Jonathan and ask him if we could go to the Tulip Festival- it wasnt raining as predicted and it might be the only time we could swing it. He agreed and I totally enjoyed myself. Tristan got to run around be totally enthralled with the water and baby geese, flowers and roll around on the grass. We made a quick stop to Jonathans moms house so she could see Tristan and drove home. Saturday was a busy day of studying for Jonathan and a family babyshower but what the kicker for us was the Tristan came down with a mysterious 24 hour sickness. Sunday- I got to chill with my favorite girls for brunch before church!! Yea!! Abbie moved back from Chicago and this was the first time I got to see her since shes been back. So those that are here( sorry Ali- shes in AZ) had a great time catching up.
Now this is where we, as a Bechtold family, are falling apart(not really)...Jonathans week is crazy...he will be flying out to CA for a work deposition for two days...he has a final on Wed, Tristan was up a good part of Monday night ( not sick- just deciding he didnt want to sleep) I ended up with a terrible headache, our renters are not working out. Kate, my good friend moved into our house with 3 other guy friends of HERS. There have been neighbor calls to us. They are partying. Kate calls me on several occasions...things are not going well. She calls Sunday to say that shes moving out if they dont. Can I please evict them. Technically they have a 6 month lease. But I cant have her leave and they stay. So the plan is that I will get next months rent and then go over to the house, and talk with the guys and just ask them nicely to leave, explain the neighbor complaints, things arnt working out and give them 30 days. One lost his job, the other wants to move to San Diego...so Im hoping for the best, and they will leave without too much fuss and will leave the house in good condition. However what a mess. After much deliberation we have decided to offer the house to Kate at a reduced price if she can find female roommates in the next month, but if not we will just move back to our house. Our plan of moving out, to save money to build the garage and needed outside improvements will have not been materialized in the 2 1/2 months of being gone, but- the hassle of renting and dealing with the moving our family from one place to another( as my mothers place was only a temp situation, we were going to have to move from here in a few months anyway) we decided to just move back to our house and make the best of a bad situation. It may take a bit longer to do what we need to on the house, and we may be in the home longer than we want, but we will be okay.
Now hows that for a Tuesday morning vent!!??

A picky eater

Back in the day- oh I dont know 6 months ago I would say that Tristan was a world class eater. He has been great over time developing his likes and dislikes, and ultimately graduating to full table food.

But now, oh my sweet Tristan...the battles have begun at night. What is it about feeding time( yes I do call it that) that brings us to a stand off. I really thought, like most parents, that like all things with children its all about how you raise a child. They(children) were picky eaters because YOU as a parent indulged them. They didnt sleep because YOU as a parent didnt enforce bedtime rules( well I still kinda believe that) and so on. Well having one child that was the product of my incredible parenting( cough cough) and another well....seems to have his own agenda- my nights arent going as predicted. Jonathan and I have tried the toddler gerber dinner trays that offer a delectable array of tempting and nutritious items. They have all been rejected. I try each new variety with high hopes that perhaps this variety( and brand) will be a hit and we will have one thing we can feed at dinner time. Only to have my hopes dashed with one bite either swallowed and then the next bite spit out, or the first bite to be consumed and then slowly dribbled out to the bib- with the ensuing headshake and lull to follow which clearly indicates to me he wont attempt a second. The next thought is okay - what to offer, I have tried scrambled eggs,( nope) pieces of hotdogs- which he will eat, ( but come on everynight? gross) noodles of any sort( not) carrots( no more) greenbeans( never) peas?( nope) squash(nope) sweet potatoes( rarely- if hes in the mood) fruit is always a yes so that and yogurt is my staple dinner items ( cheerios is also hit and miss.) He likes to drop said items on the floor and watch the dog eat them more often than himself eat anything. We have all the carb baby food- wagon wheels, puffs- he likes those- but really that cant be dinner! Those are just snack items to tide him over BETWEEN meals. Its very discouraging to me to think that my child basically wont eat any veggies, and his diet is so hit and miss. Also I no longer have many options as far as the babyfood isle. Do you know how hard it is to come up with something to feed to a child that has hardly any teeth ? We also discovered that he knows the difference between "big people food" and "babyfood".

Now yogurt and the jar babyfood applesauce for instance. I had a few jars left so I thought perfect, Ill get that out one Saturday morning. I got him all set in his highchair and pulled the jar out. He doesnt like this. He prefers to feed himself EVERYTHING but he hasnt mastered the spoon yet so I had to feed him. I dip the spoon into the applesauce and he refuses to eat. Now Im getting really ticked off. I know he will like this stuff and besides he hasnt EVEN TRIED IT! So I say forget it -get the yogurt out of the fridge and dump some stuff in a bowl and now hes happy. A light bulb went off.....I take the bowl out of his sight and put the babyfood into the bowl and start to feed him the applesauce. GUESS WHAT- he ATE it. Stubborn little sucker!

Im learning- oh Im learning....but still dinner- I havent figured out what makes him tick yet. I wish he could talk because all the signing Ive taught him- hes only mastered "all done" and hes got that one down pretty well!!!

Are you SERIOUS world?

I hate to post a rant after all the absolutely wonderful posts by my dear wife, but I just sometimes can't take it!! I'm woefully uneducated and unread on the topic so my frustration does not come from a strong belief one way or the other, but seriously, why the hell can some no-name-one-day world-advisor-the-next whiny weenie guy capture the front page of CNN for a full day just because he's pissed off that some gal from California who happens to be good looking and running for Ms. America has the personal 0pinion that marriage is to be between a man and a woman? Seriously... I don't care if she is of the opinion that it should be law that all men wear pantie-hose and 5 inch stilettos at least 20 hours a week or suffer penalty of Brazilian bikini-wax with roofing tar because it's her personal opinion!!!

Maybe I don't see the reigning Ms. America holding massive sway over the future of the world, ergo, I don't think that neither her personal opinion nor the outrage of one mad-blogger warrants front page world news. Mayhap I'm in denial however and in reality, during her reign she craftily makes marionettes of various world powers from Elmo to Bin Laden. In the end, maybe it's we as consumers of the media that are to blame but I had to shout my irritation and defiance even though the next thing I'll do after pressing "PUBLISH POST" is go to perezhilton.com to catch up on the latest Hollywood S.N.A.F.U...

~jonathan