Baby, baby, baby Ooohh...

Well I do have some funny things to say about Valentine's Day but that is a long story and I am really tired so I will save that one for another day.

I had to share this though. My baby loves the Bieber, Justin Bieber, that is (or technically Justin Glee-ber, since it was actually a Glee character imitating the Biebs). Yes it's true, he's got a catchy song or two, and I hear his fan base consists of mostly 13-year-old girls. But my six-month-old daughter? Swooning over a boy with the face of a 10-year-old and the voice of a modern-day Jackson 5 member?

Here is how we discovered this. Rylan has been down right grumpy the past day or so, which I now believe is due to a stomach bug seeing as how Parker threw up tonight :( Poor kiddos. Anyway, she was letting us have it tonight. Tyler and I tried just about every trick we know, rocking, swaddling, bouncing, walking, massaging, burping, nursing... you get it. She was not having any of that. She just kept crying. Well it's Tuesday and Tuesday night is Glee night at the Pooley Palace so we were enjoying what little we could hear over Rylan's distress (I really was feeling bad for her, she was so miserable) when all of the sudden, like a ray of sunshine, that Bieber imitator started to sing. Rylan immediately stopped crying. She sprawled out across my lap, arching her back to get a good look at this new dreamboat. In that position, she smiled and cooed along with his "Like baby, baby, baby ooohh" 's as if every "baby" was the Bieber calling her by name. As happy as any preteen girl I've ever seen. As a matter of fact she reminded me of myself back in the NSYNC era.

So, there you have it. My baby just became the youngest member of the Justin Bieber fan club. I'm not sure what to think about that but hey, he cured what I couldn't tonight so I just might be in love with him as well. That's an awful lot of Bieber Love in this home, isn't it? Shh.. don't tell Tyler :)

Sunday

Do you ever feel like certain church meetings were prepared specifically for you? Like Heavenly Father whispered to the speakers and teachers "Pst... Natalie is going to need to hear this today so make sure to stare her down as you teach it!" Well I got the message and I made a point to pay close attention.

Here is what I learned at church today:

1. Difficult. I will assume that word conjures up the same negative feelings in you as it does me. But I learned today that "difficult" is not synonymous with "bad". Actually difficult can be good. Hardships teach us. We learn, we overcome and we progress, all of which are very good things. Life itself is an obstacle course of challenges, some more difficult than others. What we do with those challenges makes us who we are. The world seems to live by the motto "the easier, the better". Take the shortcut, avoid the effort. But the right route isn't always the easy one. Just imagine who we would be if long ago, as little tiny first-graders (or for you really smart people, kindergarteners) we decided reading was just too difficult and we gave up. So when we look at our lives and think to ourselves, "why is my life so stinking difficult?" instead we might think of it this way... "Why is my life so stinking good?".

2. Heavenly Father gives us trials to see if we will put our righteous responsibilities first in life.

3. The worth of sacrifice is not measured by how much you give, but rather by how much faith it requires to give it up.

4. While some people are blessed with visions, visitations, and overwhelming sensations, most often, the Holy Ghost is understood by the soul as a still small voice or a feeling of peace. We don't always need a a sign in neon lights to know what the Lord is trying to tell us.

5. I really like my ward, I really miss being in primary, but Relief Society isn't so bad :)

If you're reading this, you're not LDS and you're wondering what in the world I am talking about, I highly recommend you click here to learn more about amazing Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Date Night

So tonight, after receiving 3 desperate text messages and one desperate voicemail from Tyler begging me to come rescue him from his boredom and starvation (also known as his office), we decided we were going out to dinner. Like a date! But not just a date.... a family date! As in braving a sit-down restaurant on a friday night with a two-year-old and a 5month old. I can see the word NIGHTMARE flashing in many of your minds as you toss that idea around in your "been there, tried that, won't try it ever again" brain compartment. Face it, we moms have an entire brain compartment devoted to those kinds of things. But when your husband offers to take you to dinner, you have to jump all over it because:

A. He gets all chivalrous and opens doors and dishes your salad for you (cute!)

B. You don't have to cook (which also means you don't have to dishes)

C. It's Olive Garden and who doesn't love Olive Garden?

Well, about half way through the date, I found myself looking at my little table of four as if from a distance. Rylan was on my lap, terrorizing a mass of mushiness that once was a breadstick (she apparently loves Italian food as much as her momma!), Tyler was smiling with that smile that I love so much, taking pictures of Rylan and her new love, Mr. Breadstick. And Parker was driving sugar packets up and down the arms of his chair while softly singing "happy birthday to you". And my heart just melted right there next to my plate of ravioli. So this is love?

Many would have looked at the same scene I was seeing and say, "This is a date? It looks more like a circus to me!" But I saw my whole existence, together, content and in love and I wish I could freeze that moment forever! Now don't get me wrong, I think dates consisting of just my hubby and me are all kinds of magical but I have to say tonight was one of the best date nights EVER!

On another note, if you haven't read about the Barbaramobile, you probably should here to fully appreciate this bit. On our way home tonight, I was hardly surprised when Tyler decided to mortify me with his gangster antics. At several stop lights I found myself sitting in the passenger seat of our pimpmobile with my window rolled down (not my doing), some awful base-blasting song on the radio, my seat vibrating with each beat. Tyler was raging a little faster than usual because Rylan was declaring her anger from the back seat for separating her from her previously mentioned breadstick. We came up behind another car and, apparently, they were overcome by Barbarella because they flung their 4 Runner to the shoulder, let us pass, and crept back out behind us. Seriously. We own the road!

Fortress from The Cold!

For over a week now our whole family has been battling the cold from you-know-where. We've had many sleepless nights and I have taken on the role of zombie mom, alive but barely. I think it was at about 4 pm, while I was in the middle of eating my third piece of chocolate cake and about half way through movie #2 of the High School Musical marathon on the Disney channel, that my brain suddenly and unexpectedly came back to me. Parker had been napping, and oh how I wish I had been as well, but little Rylan and her double ear infection would not give in to sleep. As soon as Parker woke up I realized I needed SOMETHING to combat this exhaustion. So we built ourselves a good ol' fashioned living room fort.

The kiddos loved it!

We read books...

and pretty soon Parker was convinced he was on a full on adventure! Especially when I told him we were on a safari and hiding from the lions and rhinos.

Then we heard the garage door open and found ourselves hiding from the "daddy monster"!

But he found us... Could have been Parker's squirmies and giggles that gave us away, who knows?

So the "daddy monster" joined in on the fort fun.

My favorite quote from within our cozy fortress...

"Mommy, this is one big fart!"

Fort, fart, close enough.

Sweet Ride.

This is Silvester (spelled with an "i" because he is silver)

Silvester is my new car that Tyler and I spent months searching for. He was the perfect car for the perfect price. I mean perfect! Had everything we wanted. So as you might imagine, I was growing very fond of Silvester when just one very short month after purchasing him we were rear-ended. Turns out there was a lot more damage done than we realized and so Silvester is out of commission until at least the end of February.

Meet Barbara the Black Beauty... or as Tyler affectionately calls her, Barbarella. She is the rental who will be taking us from point A to point B in the mean time.

Although she lacks some of the more pimped-out features of her fellow Chevy HHR family members...

... Don't underestimate her 1940's ghetto-fabulousness! Her radio presets are set at the most hip-hoppin-est stations Boise has to offer and her boomin' base does not disappoint! Tyler and I have noticed, on several occasions, other drivers forfeiting their right-of-way to us. And I can see the intimidation in the drivers' eyes as Barbara pulls up next to them, loaded down with car seats and a very soccer mom-esque driver in the front seat. Don't mess with the Pooley fam, we're riding gangsta' style in the Barbaramobile.

Moral of the story: material things like Silvester come and go in life, true joy is having a husband who likes to help you pick out radical names for cars and lives up to his full potential as a 1940's mobster, cruising the streets of Boise, Idaho.