A Peek at the Poulsens

After seeing recent pictures of her two great-grandchildren over Christmas break, my Grammy Bee decided it was necessary to come and see them in person since we weren't going to make it to Utah any time soon. We've had such a good time seeing each other this week - I'm so grateful she came and got to know the kids better! There are more pictures floating around on other phones and cameras that I'll add later, but mostly I just want to remember how much love Grammy Bee showed for my children. I hope that I can pass on some of my love for this best-of-the-best woman to my children.  It was a little surreal listening to my beloved grandmother reading out loud in her perfect reading voice that I remember from growing up, but this time with MY daughter on her lap. These moments are precious! cozies with Annie when they came and made dinner for us on Sunday!  Natalie got to go on a fun late-night outing to Papillion with me the night after Gbee came into t...

Actually, MULTIPLE sighs and prayers of gratitude: I have my happy children back!!! Everyone is feeling great (even Stockton, with a tooth or two coming in) and it has been considerably easier going this week. YAYAYAYAY!  Stockty: happy with a book, a snat, or just crawling on Mommy Natalie is still heavy into the wearing dresses phase, which is great, but I feel bad for her other cute clothes that sit in their drawers, waiting patiently for their chance to be worn.  In seeming coordination with the mood of our house, the cold weather lifted this week too in favor of sunny skies and less frigid temperatures. I think this every year, but isn't it funny how after weeks of 0-20 degree weather, 30-40 degree weather seems warm ? We're kind of kidding ourselves. Some days were actually in the 50s though, which was extra wonderful! We took advantage with walks and park outings. probably the most glorious day - we stayed at our little neighborhood "park" f...

Remember when I said things were looking up as of Tuesday? Well Stockton started being really fussy that night and then literally moaned all day  on Wednesday. He was still very sad and whimpery on Thursday and I finally took him to the doctor on Friday because I didn't know where my content Stockty had gone and knew something was up. Sure enough: ear infection, so he's been on the antibiotics since then and is getting better, but still pretty sensitive. Natalie is not sick anymore but has become quite the little tantrum queen. She gets irrationally upset over tiny, insignificant things and dissolves into inconsolable yells, screams, tears, whimpers, and floor flops and flails. I try to reason with her and be logical ("we have to wear coats when we go outside in winter or we'll freeze" or "you just ate an andes mint and a cookie, you don't need m&ms right now, would you like a banana" etc) but there is no getting through to her. I'm not s...

(I wrote this post on Tuesday the 13th and for some reason it didn't get posted then, so here it is now in its belated glory.) I just wrote this whole long saga about the last few days at our house and then realized no one really cares about the ins and outs of us being sick, so I erased it - basically, it has been a very challenging, sleep-deprived, full of laundry, kleenex, crying, clean-up, coughing, fevers, and tylenol weekend. Actually, make that extended weekend, since this has been going on since Thursday night and is still continuing this Tuesday afternoon. Everyone is well now except for Natalie, and she is wayyyyy better than before, so we are in recovery mode. THANK GOODNESS. Our FHE lesson last night was on Priesthood Blessings since Natalie saw Austin give me one and was talking about it all day. I don't think we would have made it through the day without that blessing! finally asleep one afternoon. i think sleeping babies are even more precious when they hav...

 Finally! It took 15 months and the doctor saying that if he wasn't walking soon he would have to come in for a "developmental checkup" before we really pushed this guy to walk, but he was ready and excited! I feel bad, it was probably 97% our fault because we have been so lax in encouraging him to progress. By that I mean that he is so content and chill that we haven't been worried about pushing him like we were with Natalie - since she was our first we were eager for every milestone (plus she was so curious about everything and naturally wanted to try new things), but with Stockty we're much more relaxed about it with a "he'll (walk/talk/etc)  when he wants to" attitude. In just a week he went from purely crawling to taking full steps across rooms and standing up from the floor on his own, all because we were engaged in his progression. I don't feel like we've been neglecting him necessarily, but it is a good reminder to set high expecta...