Oh ye of little faith!

Rychen P. and I had a sweet experience with prayer yesterday. We were in the mall and had only gone to 2 stores when he said "Where is my phone?" GRRRR, I hate when he loses stuff! So we looked all around... he had just been hiding in the clothes racks, so there were lots of possibilities. Then we left our phone number in case they found it, and went back to the Kohl's restroom. I was thinking "All we did was go potty and then go to Deb. Where else could it be!?" But we couldn't find it anywhere. So I told Rychen "You just have to wait for them to call us," and he kept whining over and over "But I want my phone!" (Well, at least there was no screaming and kicking involved.)

I was thinking about saying a prayer but this was my train of thought: If I teach him about praying for lost items and then we don't find it, what lesson does he learn? I couldn't do that to him! So I put it out of mind...

Then I thought of it again, and by this time we were on the other side of the mall, in Maurice's. I thought "If he has the faith, then it will work." So I had to ask him, "Do you know that Heavenly Father knows where your phone is? And do you believe he can tell us?" He wasn't absolutely responsive, but he did want to say a prayer. So we knelt down in a corner of the store and asked the Lord to show us where the phone was.

Not a second later, I suddenly remembered we had done more than go to the restroom at Kohl's! Rychen had gotten sidetracked and was playing with a big clock. I KNEW that's where the phone was (because this had happened before, putting toys down when he plays with things in stores) and we hurried back over there. This was the fourth time we had gone into Kohl's and we got the remark from the cashier, "You guys are getting a lot of exercise today!"

Lo and behold, there is the phone. Amazing!! So we had a little talk about answers to prayers and I said, "Now do you know what we need to do?" And so we knelt down behind the aisle in Kohl's and said Thank You to Heavenly Father. It was a sweet experience, a great time to teach faith and prayers to my son, and I am so humbled after doubting God!!

Baby dreams and names

I have had 3 very different dreams about my baby.

(1) It was a girl, very sweet, who looked like my neice Amelia (who is very sweet!)
(2) It was an UGLY BOY and I cried my eyes out
(3) Last night I dreamed that I had easily given birth to a boy with blonde curly hair, a very sweet, adorable boy. We named him Harris.

Harris isn't a name that had occured to me, but I quite like it. I believe my mom has some Harris ancestry just a few generations back. We don't have a boy name picked out - I'm just not crazy about boy names. There are a lot of names that disgust me. So we have a list of names that don't disgust me, that perhaps we could choose from. These include Chandler, Spencer, Ashton, Aaron, Adam, Matthew, Russell, Taylor, and a few others. My favorite boy name is James but we just can't have a baby named James Jones. (Phooey!) Ideally I'd like a family name, just so it's not picked at random. We like the idea of using last names from our genealogy as middle names.

But I doubt we'd get a curly blondie anyway! Hopefully it will just be a girl so we can use the name we've already decided on.

Wasting a lot of time

We have a webcam now, so we can take some pictures from the computer room only. We have been having lots of fun messing around with it, and talking on video to Uncle Andrew and Grandma Gremlich. Does anybody else have a webcam and Skype?

Funky dorky camera

Our camera has just about lived its life...... and what timing! I have many, many priceless pictures to take over the next couple months. What do we do? I have no clue what is up with it, but all the pictures turn out foggy or smeared-looking. We'll have to find something to get us through until Christmas (or Black Friday) when we can buy a new one, and this banged up one can be Bub's for good. (No more kiddos playing with the good camera!)

Update from the throne

So we are still on track with potty "training." I put that in quotes because I have done no training whatsover. It was simply a decision Rychen P. made, and he has stuck with it. I have never had to remind him to go, or bribe him, or do anything really (okay well I do wipe his bum). Other than that, he is absolutely independent. How funny that after being such a stubborn kid, he just up and decided to go potty, independently. And the best part is, he stays dry at nights too! I am SO GLAD his physiology agrees with sleeping through the night.... since I know it's pretty common not to. So I bought tons of underwear, thinking he'd be changing them a few times a day, but nope! He wears them all day and changes them daily like a regular person.

Hip hip hooray! Now what do we do with this huge box of Costco diapers we had just bought?And the pull-ups that we never needed?? Anybody?

Fun time with family

For July 4th (Happy Birthday Rychen) we had a busy day! Breakfast and games with the ward was a lot of fun, especially for Rychen P., now that he is old enough to appreciate games like wheelbarrow races and water balloon toss (he had never seen waterballons before and was absolutely thrilled at them! So we had to go buy some to have fun that day). Mostly he just enjoyed riding his bike around the parking lot with the other kids.



Rychen ran a "mini-marathon" in Monmouth, which sounds pretty impressive but don't let that fool you :) Just kidding! And after that we met up at Rychen's grandparent's house for the traditional Huxford family Independence Day gathering, with swimming and barbeque. Rychen P. surprised me and had a blast in the water, even wanting to keep getting in again when he was shivering violently!

The boys played pool basketball together--here they are with Logan and Rychen's cousins, Denver, Corey.




These were also fun pictures to take because we have all the same Daddo-Bubba tricks from a couple years ago, at our Corvallis apartments. (but not 2007, that was when Rychen P. was either scared of the water or just obsessed with the stairs that he never got in to play!)

After that we were pretty worn out so we just went home and took an early bedtime, and Rychen took off to a baseball game with his family.

3 year old in the house!

July 1st was Rychen Parker's third birthday. We have been anticipating this for months! He had given me some "hints" about what he wanted for his birthday, and he knew that he had "surprises hiding somewhere" in the house. So it was a lot of fun to have him open his presents. Needless to say, it was all Mickey Mouse stuff except for sidewalk chalk, which I only bought because I need something for him to do while I sunbathe :-)

We had a little party with some friends. Mostly they just ran around, playing with the balloons, and dancing to Mickey Mouse music! We tried to have a little structure and made attempts at musical chairs and pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey. Here we are eating cake and ice cream. (Thank you Pamala for all your help!)

Later on, we also had visits from Rychen's family and his friend from out of town, Charlotte.

(this was a fun picture to take because we have a very similar one when he was 2 weeks old--Wow! He has grown so much since then!)

Happy Birthday to my bub! He is such a big boy now. I finally feel that I am the mother of a boy, not just a baby. He is definitely his own person with many skills and unique personality traits. He is very creative, fun, and smart. I am so lucky to be his mama!

A powerful Star-Spangled Banner history

Rychen posted something on his blog this morning about the history of the Star-Spangled Banner. You should click over and read it (and listen to it).

http://www.rychenfamous.blogspot.com