Understanding

Tommy is starting to understand things now and to be honest it's sometimes terrifying, other times it's adorable. But every now and then it straight up breaks my heart.

Terrifying: "Sorry mom. Sorry mom.sorrymomsorrymomsorry." When he can hear the quiver in my voice and I'm about to lose it. He slowly and gently reaches up to put his open hand on my cheek. This move has saved him more than once.

Adorable: "oooohhhh so soft to Johnny. He just little." While he hands the Little One a teddy bear as gently as he knows how.

Heart breaking: "No Nemo! No! No Nemo! Come back! Come back Nemo!" While watching Nemo disobey his father and go after the boat. Tommy comes running to me for a big hug because "scary* Nemo [makes] Tommy sad."

*When Tommy says "scary" it sounds like he's saying "Siri". It's just one of a million words I love to hear him say. 

Photo A Day: money

It's unfortunate that I couldn't get Tommy to show you (the camera) what we do with "mun-nee mun-nee" because you wouldda thought it was real cute. 

He was busy demanding that I "coooook-a skettios!"

Little Did I Know

I thought that taking over the hole-in-the-wall in my living room and making it a beautiful closet office would be a matter of moving some furniture around and batting my eyes at Josh so he'd unmount the tv from one wall and mount it to the opposite one. I promised Josh I'd only make him do "wall stuff" because (as we all know) he has almost exactly zero spare time right now.

I thought I'd run to Ikea real quick, buy some incredible pieces which even I can assemble.

I thought I'd phone a friend and knock out this project after the boys' bedtime one night.

Go ahead and laugh. One of us should.

On Wednesday I told Josh that if he wanted to meet me and the boys at Ikea so we could put the furniture in his car I'd buy him lunch. FOUR hours later we got the stuff into his car.

On Thursday I moved the hope chest and the shoe stack. But it turns out that the hope chest was too wide, so I also had to move the bookcase. Which wasn't mounted to the wall and tipped over on me with 2 shelves full of books. So I couldn't put the books back on the shelf until the bookcase was mounted to the wall (a Josh job) and it couldn't be mounted until we split the cable which was hiding behind it.

That was the smallest easiest part of the whole process. And it took me 2 straight days, calling in favors from friends and locking my children out of the room more than once.

And that was the easiest part.

It's now been nearly a week and I'm still working on it.

Josh spent more hours that either of us can count (and not just because we're sleep deprived and brain dead) drilling holes, mounting hardware, patching walls, painting patches, building, assembling, measuring, cutting and leveling. His part is done now and it looks like I have another week's worth of organizing, dejunking and beautifying.

Can somebody please remind me of this feeling if I ever tell you I have a great house idea again?

Photo A Day: something I ate today

I'll be honest, Josh got a great deal on cereal this week and I have had no less than (but possibly more than) 3 bowls of cereal today. But it looks ugly in a picture. Plus that's embarrassing to admit to the whole wide blogosphere (and my mom) so instead I'm sharing with you my post-swim snack.

Overflashed (seriously, did you blink when you saw this picture? Because I did...) almonds.

You're welcome.

PS Have I casually mentioned that I'm a hardcore swimmer now enough times yet? Because I have been going once a week for a whole month now, (for those of you who like the numbers that's four whole times) which I'm pretty sure puts me in line to start going by Michael Phelps. Just sayin'.

Photo A Day: night

I have spent most of the last 3 nights making messes like this:

confession - this is the severely cleaned up version

So that I could have a beautiful desk like this:

Which will eventually be even more beautiful...and then I'll share a real picture of it so you can be impressed.

Photo A Day: Green

Green

This is my green bottle of green cleaner which the salesman assured me everybody else in my neighborhood was buying which is always out because I gave birth to the barfin'est baby in the West.

Photo A Day: bathroom cabinet

I don't have a bathroom cabinet, and I already showed you my linen closet, so instead I'm showing you my current "inspirational corner" on my mirror.

The quotes change on a fairly regular basis - but I'm currently LOVING the list on the Left - how to know if you have the Spirit with you. (Thank you to my former VTer...)

Photo A Day: your shoes

Photo A Day: your shoes

Here's the thing, I'm moving stuff around in my house. So ALL of my shoes were on my bed all day. ALL. Day. ALL of them. There are a total of 8 of these totes filled with shoes. It takes up the whole bed. It's 9pm and I'm trying to muster the energy to put them all away so I can go to bed.

Photo A Day: where you work

This is where I do my best* work

cue the sappy post about how being a mom is the greatest (and worst) thing ever.

And this is where I do my boringest** work

but only until next week when I make a much cooler office area for myself.

*best = produces most smiles

**boringest = produces most $$

The Only One?

I'm curious.

Am I the only one who

• Does not love Downtown Abbey? I tried to like it - 4 times. But I'm still in episode 1 and I'm not in love. Actually I just learned that I'm not the only one. Aubry doesn't like it either. Hi Aubry!
• Sorts my laundry? Like a lot? Because 3 loads of darks (delicate, nice, grimy), 3 loads of lights (delicate, nice, grimy), whites, jeans, blankets, towels, and sheets makes 11 different loads. ELEVEN. It always makes me think of this episode of Friends. Fastforward to 8:12 in the video unless you have 9 whole minutes to laugh your guts out. Then watch the whole thing because it's awesome. Fancy. Guest. Fancy-guest! Eleven is just a really big number.
• Still loves my children? Because I'm pretty sure there's an entire ward in Midway full of people who don't because of Tommy's epic 25 minute tantrum on Sunday. 
• Doesn't sign up for a website because MY username is already taken? Because there are loads of places I don't belong because there's another amy egbert out there who is faster at registering for the cool stuff websites. 
• Still listens to the music I liked in high school? Because Green Day doesn't make me want to barf. Just sayin'.
• Drives around for 20 minutes then hangs out in my driveway for another 15 because the kids are asleep in the back of the car and I just can't stand to break the spell? I totally did that today.

Photo A Day: a fave photo of me

This picture showed up on my slideshow screen saver today. I think it must have been a sign that it should be my favorite. :)

Then of course there was this (much more flattering) one. So naturally I opted to post it.

And this one. 

When I see pictures of Josh and I from "way back when" I always think 

"we were so in love....we were SO in love and the band played...."

And that's why the last two are really my favorites.

Cutest

This weekend Tommy discovered licorice.

Please bless that he never learns to speak properly.

Photo A Day: handwriting

Photo A Day: handwriting. Courtesy of Pinterest and Josh's birthday.

Photo A Day: something I hate to do

Photo A Day: Something I hate to do

Unplant at the end of summer. Obviously. Sorry neighbors.

*OK that's not entirely true, I love dirt and plants and planting and unplanting. I just hate calling the end of summer. These plants actually looked good (water free!) until about Thanksgiving...and by then it was just too cold to stand outside digging in the dirt and throwing the dead plants over the balcony into the trash...... and now it's February.  That's embarrassing. So I suppose I'll just wait until spring.

Photo A Day: drink

Photo a day: drink

This weekend we went to a cabin with most of my family. It's a happy place, but if we're being completely honest we all look forward to it mostly so we can eat ourselves sick. Every meal is like Sunday dinner (breakfast included) that's why we had to pack a gallon of orange juice, 2 of apple juice and one of grape juice.

Of course when we ate breakfast most of us were still full from last night's dinner. (Pho. So so good.) Which is why we currently have OJ in our fridge. Which almost never happens.

I'm curious, how normal is it to have juice in your fridge all the time?

Photo A Day: time

On Friday we went to the Library, which means a fresh batch of Signing Time DVDs.

Tommy LOVES signing time.

So after I took this picture (for the post)

He ran after me saying "mommy! picture! time! Tommy!!!! PWWWWEASE?" (He's not great at full sentences yet, but is great and saying the important words. And melting my heart so I'll do whatever he wants.)

How could I deny such a request? I couldn't.

Photo A Day: new

new: another point for me in the battle against movies. 

I've been fighting the "we have too many movies and they take up too much space" battle for a while (like more than a year or two). I started by getting rid of my DVD rack. Then I got rid of all the cases and put just the discs in old school CD wallets. (3 big ones!) but last night I cut up the CD wallets, taking out the sleeve protectors for the DVDs and put them in this cute box.

The battle isn't over, because Josh thinks it's too hard to browse this way. But it's significantly prettier than it has ever been. So I'm calling it a win anyway.

Photo A Day: phone

When I grow up (hopefully in a few months...) I want a grown up phone.

Photo A Day: Hearts

Go ahead, be impressed with my heart-shaped cupcake abilities.

Photo A Day: Blue

Last night I sulked because I don't have blue eyes to take a picture of today. 

But I have 2 boys, and it turns out I was surrounded by blue today. 

1. Tommy got a "Blue's Clues" DVD from grandma for Valentine's Day. He was in heaven.
2. Then of course he had to tuck in monkey using his (current) favorite blue blanket.
3. John all bundled up for our walk.
4. Discovery Gateway Children's Museum wristband.
5. Another "tucked in" moment. 
6. At least Johnny has beautiful blue eyes.
7. Blue slide at the park.
8. John rocking the awesome chair at Children's Museum. Again with those blue eyes. Oh he melts my heart.
9. Tommy's piggy bank for counting "money money money money!"
10. Swim cap.
11. Blue water apron.

Photo A Day: inside my closet

I picked my (current) favorite closet.

It looks significantly more organized in my head....

Mommy's Hat

I think it looks better on him than on me.....

Plus he isn't wearing it just to get out of doing his hair...so.....

Photo A Day: Makes me happy

You might think that Tommy is about to punch John in the stomach and that his mom is simply watching it happen while taking a picture.

But that's because you didn't know that the previous 7 pictures look like this:

And that Tommy was saying "Yay Johnny! You WOLLING OVERED! Bump it Johnny, Bump it!"

And that Tommy repeats the above every time he sees these pictures.

Photo A Day: Self Portrait

The advantage of working from home is that I can show up looking like this at 11:30pm and nobody even comments. (except you - and really even that's questionable....) 

The disadvantage of working from home is that I am expected to work at 11:30pm even if I look like this and nobody even feels bad for me. (except you - do you?)

Photo A Day: Front Door

Here is my front door - from my side.

Crooked door mat, cluttered launch pad, child lock and all.

Romeo Romeo

Let's pretend we went out on the balcony just to blow kisses goodbye to daddy. Because that makes this picture way cuter than us going out there to yell at dad for forgetting the library books.

Photo A Day: The Sun

We're quarantined. And it's winter in Utah. So we haven't seen the real sun for days.

Your choice of alternates:

the artificial sun

the very very real son(s)

Photo A Day: button

The green one in the upper right corner has only been pushed once today.

I blame the disease and not my lazy parenting....

Hoarder

Sometimes near the end of playgroup Tommy's (admittedly limited) ability to share is gone. He has used it all up.

That's when he gets his hands on every toy he can find and sits by the moms trying to stay away from the kids.

Hard to believe...

Hard to believe that these two pictures are of the same child in the same swing, isn't it?

Photo A Day: Dinner

We're a day behind on our menu, so this should've been a big beautiful Sunday dinner. Instead it was Monday dinner. Still big. Still (sortof) beautiful. Definitely delicious.

"gourmet" chicken, roasted red potatoes, & salad. Yum!

Date #2

Date #2 was a Vocal Point concert.

Remember Vocal Point? They got famous last year on The Sing Off but if you were mormon and into mormon boy bands you had already heard of them I bet.

ANNNYway. On Saturday we had Date #2 from Josh's Awesome Christmas Present.

We dropped the boys off at Grandma's house and headed to Salt Lake for the event. Miraculously we made it sooner than we expected so we went to Cafe Rio for lunch before heading to the Conference Center.

These dates make me feel so light. There's just something about going places without a child. Carrying only yourself and your own supplies.

• We held hands in the car and talked about our plans for the future. Farther in the future than who has to do which jobs for bedtime tonight - this almost never happens. 
• We parked anywhere we wanted not caring if there was room to open all of the doors wide and set up a stroller. We simply got out of the car and walked away. No stroller, no bags to pack, no babies bundle and haul around.
• We followed each other through the crowd and found our (totally awesome - front & center) seats and sat in them without tucking an enormous diaper bag underneath. We chatted with our neighbors about something that wasn't "how old is he? he's adorable! such a fun time of life....." 

Don't get me wrong, I love my boys with all my heart. But going places without them (even just once a month) is freeing.

Josh and I are sometimes a really crappy married couple. Sometimes we fight and quarrel and serve the devil. Sometimes we forget why we got married in the first place and sometimes we flat out don't like each other.

But other times we love love LOVE to go out with just us. We remember that we have things in common and we're fun to talk to. We like each other and say and do nice things. We enjoy being around each other. Because sometimes WE (together) are awesome.

And these fellas aren't bad singers either. The concert was awesome.

But not as awesome as my date.

Backfired

Remember how Tommy hates getting his fingernails cut?
When he saw me trimming John's nails this morning he ran over to rescue John from the horror.

"Oh it's OK." I told Tommy. "I'm just trimming his nails so he doesn't scratch himself."
"Owwie nails." Tommy said.
"No, it doesn't hurt to cut your fingernails. Look, Mommy does it. Daddy does it... See? It's easy!"
"OOOOOOWWWWWWAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!" John interrupted my thought about how safe it is to trim your nails with the scream of horror. I looked down and saw the blood start to spread from the tip of John's tiny finger.

Tommy ran the other direction "hurts! nails! noooooo!" and face planted in the love sac.

Mom Fail.

Photo A Day: 10am

10am should have looked like church.

Instead it looked like this.

The cold-from-hell is kicking my boys' butts.

Attached

Tommy is attached to his stuffed animals.

All of them.

He takes turns with each one carrying it around for days at a time.

It was "PANda bee-er" for a while. And Panda needed to color.

Then it was Scout. Who needed to come with us every time we left the house. And who definitely needed a jacket. Fortunately I talked him out of the a carseat for Scout too and told him to just hold on tight.

Photo A Day: A Stranger

This morning I was terrified of this day of the challenge.

But then I remembered we'd be going out today. And a concert at Temple Square is sortof perfect for taking pictures of strangers.

So I told Josh that his mission (should he choose to accept it) was to find someone fascinating to take a picture of.

We started off boring.

"Lookit! 3 gray-haired folks in a row - I win at tic-tac-toe."

Josh pointed out how lame that idea was and took this picture over his head. 

"lookit! 100 more gray-haired folks."

But then the concert went on and my eavesdropping skills made me fall in love with 2 of my neighbors specifically. And getting their pictures was a little tricky, but for you justforyou! we did it. 

I have a tiny-kid-crush on this boy who was my immediate neighbor. He was rockin' out through the whole concert, and he behaved beautifully. Excellent manners, taking care of his little brother. He was adorable and I can only hope Tommy grows up to be this awesome.

Wanna see the video? Particularly the lip sucking happening around 9 seconds. 

Stranger #2 is found just over Josh's shoulder (and by his ear). 

 She had more of a crush on the band than I do on the boy next to me. From what I could gather all of her dreams came true when her daddy asked her out on this date. She called her mom at intermission and told her about every song they sang and every joke they told. "And John is one of the new guys and he just got ENGAGED mom! ENGAGED!!! This is so cool."

But the photo I REALLY wanted for today, was the one I couldn't catch on camera. 

Tommy fell asleep in his carseat on the way home. And when we pulled into the driveway Josh and I both looked back at our sleeping boy. Then we giggled because he was picking his nose in his sleep. 

And there is nothing stranger than a boy who picks his nose in his sleep.