Making Changes . . .

Phil has been threatening to blog again because I guess I am not posting fast enough. Not that I mind him blogging, but I just don't want him taking over! (You can post the next one sweetheart!) :)

So we have been super busy this week. Over the past few weeks, I started to have a nervous break down that we weren't ready for this next baby to come in any way, shape, or form. I made three different lists of things that we needed to do before he arrived. I started just spinning in circles attempting at accomplishing "the lists"! However, I needed my sweet husband to take control and point me in a straight direction, reminding me to just take it one at a time! We now have moved the computer downstairs, turned the loft into a mini nursery, gotten Coleman out of the crib, and bought a very nice recliner that we will pick up in two to three weeks! Wow! Now Phil is encouraging me to work on my own personal list of projects to finish before the baby comes. One of these was finishing the denim quilt that I began like three months ago. I still need to finish pillows, curtains, and the bed skirt to match. But I am so proud of how the quilt turned out. (Thanks Mom for helping me quilt it and sew the end in!) Here are some pictures:



Remember that I still need to add a few details, but it was a big project that is nearly finished. The next room on the list is Coleman's. We are going to do Trains with denim, red, and black. What do you think?

The Illustrious Tag Game

Coleman was tagged again by one of his friends (Maggie), So I (Phil) decided to show some fellow blogger support and post this tag, dad style!

8 Things About Our Adorable Son
1. Coleman's new favorite food is ketchup packets from Wendy's. He uses the fries as a dipping utensil and occasionally one of the soggy ends will break off in his mouth and he will swallow that too. Good thing ketchup is made from tomatoes (chalk up one serving of veggies for the day).

2. My favorite animal sound he makes now is the sound of a bear. Rrrraaaahr!!! Which is usually accompanied with a giggle because dad is chewing on one of his scrumptious arms or legs.
3. He has finally figured out how to manipulate his father by getting mom involved. He will do something super naughty and then run to his mom, because he knows dad is going to let him have it. It goes something like this. Coleman is quietly destroying all of the DVDs and CDs the Roylance's own. (He has been told a million and a half times to stay out of them). Down the stairs comes dad, Coleman hastily tries to close the drawer knowing that he is in big trouble. SPANK!!! Mom in the kitchen comes tearing around the corner. "Whats going on?" Dad, "Coleman go to the stairs for time out. He is just ruining our CDs again." Mom, "Why did you spank him?" Dad, "Because that's the only thing he listens to." Mom, "You need to go and apologize to your son." Dad, "Sorry bud, you just need to listen to dad when he tells you to stop."
"Dad likes to take pictures of every occasion, it will be perfect blackmail for high school."
4. Coleman loves to go outside, but what he loves doing more than going outside is going out our front door and back in the house a billion times. And we wonder why our house is always full of dirt and grass.
5. He hates breakfast. The morning usually starts out with some crying that is only remedied by a sippy cup full of milk. Then when its breakfast time its Cheerios on the floor, syrup in the hair and jam from the toast on moms rug! I told Megan that we need to stop feeding him breakfast, but apparently our pediatrician was trained at the FBI interrogation center. She always asks about every meal.
6. Coleman is the best sick kid you've ever seen. He currently has an ear infection, bronchiolitis and some bacterial infection in the back of his throat. The only thing that tipped us off was the cough and he was a little extra cuddly. How many kids do you know that read books while getting a breathing treatment. Pretty Amazing!!!

7. We have these little DVDs that came with the little people toys. He loves, and I mean loves watching them. One day he was sitting on the floor watching them and he laughed so hard he fell onto his back. Silly Kid!
8. He loves his mom! Sometimes I feel bad because he is so attached, but he loves doing everything his mom is doing whether it be baking, sewing, cooking dinner, cleaning the house and everything else. He is the best thing that ever happened to us and we are so grateful he is here. We love you big boy!

UTAH

I just returned from visiting my family in Utah, and I had the best time, for the most part! I got there on Friday, spent one evening with my sister Chelsea before she flew off to Israel to stay with my other sister Ashley.

Coleman on the airplane on our way to see Grammy & Grumpy!
Coleman and I kept so busy while we were there. We went bowling, had picnics, rode around town in Mom's cute, new Volvo convertible, walked the gardens at Thanksgiving Point, quilted a California king-size denim quilt, ate out lots and lots at my favorite restaurants, visited with family, attended Women's Conference at BYU, and to top it all off-sat at Mom's house while Coleman overcame another illness of who knows what, which he got from who knows where. Other than Friday, my trip was fabulous! I just loved going to Thanksgiving Point. The tulip festival had just ended the previous week, lucky for me, none of the tulips were in bloom during the festival, but they were just perfect when I got to see them! It was so beautiful! The weather was a bit cloudy and windy, but the temperatures were in the 70s*, which beats what Grand Forks has seen for awhile!

Sitting in the Gardens. Aren't those flowers beautiful?


Me, Mom & Amber in front of the Butterfly Garden. Amber's four year old son took this picture. Good job Colby! :)


I also really enjoyed going to Women's Conference at BYU with my sister, Amber. I only went to the morning sessions on Thursday, but I learned so much in the short time I was there. I heard Sister Beckstead (General Relief Society President) and Sheri Dew speak about our role as women. Sister Dew talked about how Satan often makes us feel as though what we are doing isn't good enough. As women we add on project after project, when really we need to accept ourselves as who we are and quoting President Kimball, she said, "You are enough". I love that. I then went to a class called "Cherish That Role That Is So Uniquely Yours: Parenting for Young Mothers". Oh wow, was it good. It totally opened my eyes as a mother. After the class, all I wanted to do was sit and play with Coleman and enjoy these precious moments that I am given. And also, to not complain of all the trivial tasks that come along with motherhood.

We went to see the Roylances on Wednesday. Here is Grandma Roylance & Coleman.


Anyway, I had a blast! Thank you so much to my parents for flying Coleman and I out there, feeding us wonderful food, and entertaining us like no one else can! And thank you to Phil for supporting and loving me enough to let me go! I love you and missed you so much!

Mr. Mischevious

Coleman has turned into someone I don't know. He rarely gets into things that he knows he shouldn't. However, in just this past week, he has done quite a few. My favorites are the butter, and the bread. The butter was really naughty. I was upstairs finishing something on the computer and Coleman heads downstairs. I hear him get into the refrigerator and I just figured he was pulling out one of his sippy cups. (That is all he has ever done before). When I was finished, I head down stairs and in the middle of my living room is a yellow monster. He had found the tub of butter, pulled it out, painted his dump truck, smeared my living room floor, and of course, covered himself. Have you ever tried to get butter out of carpet? Not fun! Anyway, it was kind of funny, but I just couldn't believe he had done it. At the time, I was too upset to take pictures. Sorry you don't get to see the mess.

The next one, he did yesterday after I had made bread. Phil and I were watching a movie and it was getting close to dinner time. I could hear Coleman in the kitchen, and decided to go check out what he was doing. When I came in, he had this huge smile on his face and a handful of bread crumbs. He had started digging a hole in the bread and eating it. I had to laugh! I felt bad that he was hungry and we were just sitting there being lazy parents watching a movie! Oh well! I love you Coleman!

Princess for a Weekend

So I thought I would be princess for a day, but as it turns out, I was treated like royalty all weekend! It actually started on Thursday. Coleman had been so sick this past week. He had 104* temperature and was throwing up constantly. We finally stuck a towel underneath him to make for easier clean up. Because of this, Phil optioned to stay home on Thursday from his clinicals. He decided for an early birthday present, he would clean the house from top to bottom while I took care of Coleman as he began feeling better. On Friday the luxury really started. Phil began by making me breakfast in bed. While he was gone to class, Coleman and I had a relaxing morning and I spent some much needed beauty time (plucking eyebrows, painting nails, etc.) When Phil returned home for the day, he came bearing a bouquet of red roses. Then he became the expert bakery chef and made me a fabulous lemon birthday cake. Check out the picture. Phil did that completely on his own. If you're wondering, the white is marshmallows, the green is frosting, and the yellow specks are lemon zest.


That night, I wanted to go to Greenmill (a pizza/pasta place here in G.F.) for dinner. We hadn't been sitting there more than three minutes and all the sudden someone sits down at our booth. I look over and to my astonishment, there are my parents! I was so completely surprised! It was so much fun! Thanks to everyone who was in on that secret! :) My parents stayed through the weekend, and we just relaxed and played the whole time! Thanks Mom and Dad! And thanks everyone for a wonderful birthday!

Who Knew . . .

. . . A box could be so much fun? We decided to make Coleman a robot. He thought it was pretty funny for about one minute. After that, it was tears and screaming, "get this thing off of me"! (in toddler/baby language)

He was much happier on the swings! It is finally getting warm enough to enjoy being outside. We have gone to the park a couple times now. I'm hoping it starts to warm up even more. I'd love to go have a picnic! :)

Random Thoughts

We haven't been up to much lately. Phil and I did celebrate our 3rd anniversary on April 1. Yay! Three years. Time has flown by. Now we have adorable little Coleman. He fell asleep on the couch the other day and Phil snapped this picture. Isn't he so cute.

On Friday, our friends (Justin & Heather) went to dinner and we watched their daughter Maggie. Coleman and Maggie get along really well, and it is so fun to see them interact together. Here they are both in p.j.s getting ready for bed.

Today after lunch, we decided to bust out the Oreo cookies. One of our favorites! Coleman was being so funny and so messy! This is him saying "cheese" with a mouthful of cookies! :)