C'mon already

Everyday I think today is the day I will have my baby. It never happens. But Today really is the day... so I'm just waiting for more pain to accompany the hundreds of contractions I am having... I guess I will post some pictures...

All about Tai, our almost 3 year old.

First I will name the qualities Tai has that take after me:

1. Independent- I am grateful for this, she insists on doing everything on her own

2. Controlling- She has to have everything just the way she likes it, even down to what we say

3. Demanding- She wants it...

4. Impatient- ...now!

5. Coordinated- She can do handstands against the wall, headstands on her own, can catch ball

6. Timid in public, the opposite at home- loud and unreserved at home, covers her eyes in public until she gets comfortable with the situation (3 months)

7. Always knows exactly what she wants

8. Good sense of direction (she always knows where she is)- "hey look mom, there is so-and-so's house". How did she know that?

Here are the qualities she has that take after Mark:

1. Great memory- watch out, Tai will remember random things from a year ago in vivid detail

2. Verbally advanced- she has a better vocabulary than me, but I guess thats not saying too much

3. Has Mark's taste buds/loves vegetables and adult foods

4. A little cautious at first (differs somewhat from Mark because he is greatly cautious always)

5. Smart- Tai can spell and write her name forward, backwards and upsidedown. She knows all her letters and the sounds they make.

Here are some of Tai's favorite things to do

1. Change her clothes a hundred times a day

2. Get into her leotard and do gymnastics- her favorite is bars and she loves to be upsidedown

3. Play catch

4. Cook

5. Clean

6. Go to Baseball games- we went to several Orem Owls games this summer. Fun!

7. Sing by herself when she thinks no one is listening

8. Climb trees

9. Draw on her chalk board and paint with water colors

10. Play chess with dad- she knows how to identify all the pieces and where they go but not the moves yet

11. Go to other peoples houses- she doesn't like being cooped up in our house.

12. Cut up magazines

Fun with markers

On Sunday I found Tai painting her toe nails with permanant marker. Later I found that she had written her name on her arm. Beautiful. She knows not to do it but just can't help herself. I said "Is writing on yourself good or bad? She said, "bad". I said,"Why", she said, "because our bodies are temples". I made her attempt to wash it all off and then put her in time out. 2 hours later...it happened again. I guess I made it too easy by forgetting to put up the markers. Plus, I couldn't hold back my laughter when I saw it for the first time, which probably made her do it again. I've got a lot to learn!

POP ROCKS

I was so happy when I found this plastic egg with pop rocks inside up in the cupboard. Who knows how long it was in there! After trying some myself, I knew I wanted to see Mark have some. If you know Mark, you know he would never in a million years put something like this in is mouth on his own. Even as a kid he just does not do this type of thing. He doesn't even chew gum. I'm glad I thought of catching a video of it...

I get so much happiness from watching Mark experience things for the first time.:)

Well this is interesting. I wanted to take a picture of my belly to show just how huge it is and for once the camara took off 40 pounds. I don't get it cause in real life I am seriously 3X bigger. I'm due in October and have never weighed so much in my life! Today I actually got the urge to get in shape (these urges don't come that often in my recent life). After the baby, I think I might make a come back to the great sport of gymnastics :) and follow in my hero Oksana Chusovita's footsteps. (I picked her as my favorite gymnast after the 1990 goodwill games, which I watched on video literally everyday for years to come, and lo and behold she is still going strong just competing in her 5th olympics. This is unheard of in gymnastics!, no, I don't think you understand, this is unbelievable!)

Preschool

Tai started preschool this week. She is wearing Mark's backpack that is bigger than her. I'm too cheap to buy a little one for her. Sorry Tai. She is the youngest one in her class of mostly 4 year olds. She absolutely LOVES it! She comes home wired telling me all about it and is in the best mood ever for hours. I don't think she has ever been so happy for so long. If you know Tai, you know she is moody (like her mom). Only one pitfall is that she doesn't want to take a nap now.

day trip

Today Tai and I took a little trip up the Sundance ski lift. I was a little nervous taking Tai, but she wasn't the least bit concerned. It was great. Nice weather... a little chilly at the top. We ate cantaloupe and went for a small hike at the top. Tai didn't want to leave.