2. Tanner's been hanging out with his new little friend, Jaden. They play really well together. They get into mischief, but are so cute that it's hard to get upset with them.
3. Shad and I have decided that from now on, we have to buy Tanner and Kate the exact same things for presents. They always want what the other kid has. I swear we need two of everything. (obviously we are trying to teach them to share, but Kate's a little young to grasp that concept)
4. Kate throws fits now. What a bummer.
5. Once in a while, Kate will crawl in this cupboard and read books. It is so cute.
6. Tanner sleeps through the night all by himself. This really deserves a post of it's own. If you don't know the story, I will give a quick run-down. 1 1/2 years ago, Tanner stopped sleeping through the night. It would take him literally 2 hours to fall asleep even though he would be tired. We had to lay with him to get him to fall asleep and he would wake up anywhere from 5-25 times a night and couldn't go back to sleep. He would toss and turn, trying really hard to fall asleep and it just wouldn't work. At one point we let him cry it out for 2 full weeks without going in and he literally cried all night long without falling asleep (I am not exaggerating). About once a night he would dose off standing up, and then fall over immediately and wake up screaming again. We had a videocam and watched the whole thing. It was horrible. After 2 weeks, we felt sick about it and realized something just wasn't right. I read articles, books, talked to numerous doctors, tried homeopathics, a psychiatrist, prayed about it, fasted about it, gave priesthood blessings, etc. Eventually we got sick of going back and forth all night long from his room to ours, so one of us would sleep with him. So, long story short, it's been 1 1/2 years of Shad or I sleeping with Tanner in his bed all night long, or Tanner sleeping in our bed. It's been literally 24 hours a day of Tanner. We are with him every waking moment and it's exhausting. It's not meant to be like that. Shad and I missed each other all the time and never had a moment without Tanner right there with us. I know people judged us, told us that we just needed to let him cry it out, show him who's boss, be more stubborn than him, that it wasn't right Shad and I weren't in the same bed at night, etc. People just assumed that we must have let him sleep with us as a baby, put him down with a bottle, nursed him to sleep, rocked him to sleep, etc. No to all of those. We followed every stupid rule you're supposed to follow to get your child to sleep by themselves, and it didn't work for us. Finally about a month ago, we both felt like he was there developmentally to understand if we talked to him about sleeping by himself again. There were a lot of tears and bribery involved, but it worked and now Tanner sleeps all by himself in his room and does not get up in the middle of the night. It's been 7 days so far, and we're hoping it will continue. We are so proud of him. It's been like a vacation for Shad and I. We get 2 hours all by ourselves at night without children. It's wonderful and Shad and I became closer and kinder to one another overnight. Just being able to have a conversation without interruptions can do wonders for a marriage. = )
One thing I have learned is not to judge other people. Every family is different, every kid is different. One thing doesn't work for every child and I really believe in a parent's own instinct. Thank you for all of your prayers.
7. I got a new camera lens and I love it. It's a f/1.4 prime lens . Basically it allows you to take pictures in low light without a flash. It captures all the light available, but at a really fast speed, so the pictures turn out more natural looking. It also does the whole focus subject with fuzzy background thing. If you look at the above examples, those are inside my house with my old lens. They were either taken with the flash, or completely lightened up in a photo editing program. The ones below are with my new lens, and completely unedited. Can you see all of the amazing natural light it captures?!!! The pictures are of Tanner, Sia, and Sia's little sister, Mila (Lillie's little s).
8. Tanner is a greedy little thing. This morning I was changing his poopy diaper for the second time before 7:40am, and I said to him, "You know, if you want you could go on the toilet and then I wouldn't have to change you and you would get a sucker." He was quiet for a moment and said, "and cookies." Silence for another moment, and then he said, "and money." Silence for another moment and then he said, "and candy." I stopped him at that point before he got too carried away. The little stinker.