Kindness Rock Experiment

After all of our adventures last week, we've been having a bit of an adjustment to being back home all together without the fun that comes from being on vacation.

The positive = Andrew has taken a 2 hour nap every day... which he didn't do the whole week before we left. Hopefully I didn't jinx that by writing this.

The negatives = Little dude has been on again/off again not feeling good (lots of stomach aches) and has had some adjustments to being back with his friends and being kind.

I think his behavior is pretty typical for a 2-year-old, but it doesn't mean that I like it. He got bitten by a friend yesterday... and in turn, chucked a train at the kid's head (leaving a good sized bruise). His toddler impulsivity trumps all the language that he knows sometimes... and he just reacts. Keeps us all on our toes... and as some friends suggested, I might need some armor to protect baby Caitlin and my belly sometime soon :)

Today we started a little kindness experiment... kinda like I used to do in my classroom.

Andrew got a little empty container and we filled a ziploc bag up with "kindness rocks." We carried our rocks and our little container around with us all day.

Every time he did something kind, he got a "kindness rock" to put in his container. Kind things he did included sharing toys, hugging or saying hi to friends, giving things to me gently (instead of throwing them), using kind words, listening, saying sorry if he did something he shouldn't, using good manners, etc.

It was pretty awesome to see the power of the rocks. At the beginning of the day I told him that when his container was full, he would get a special present for being such a kind boy. He ate it up.

The point of the kindness rocks experiment was two-fold:

1) It reminded me to look for his positive behavior... it is always easiest to focus on the negative... especially when I am busy.

2) It positively reinforced all his good behavior in a visual way that he could understand... and that was motivating and didn't revolve around treats.

The little dude LOVED the rocks and his behavior was remarkably better. He ran around the house all day finding things to "share" with me or help me with... and then he'd say, "I get a kindness rock? I'm a kind boy." My favorite part was when he found an entire cup of candy corn and proceeded to hand candy corn to me one by one... each time saying, "I'm sharing with you. I get a kindness rock."

I learned pretty quickly that I could use my new power for good or evil :) He would basically do anything for a rock.

After practicing being kind all day, we had a little Halloween party this afternoon where he got to try out his skills with his friends (much harder than just sharing with me). His behavior at this party was head over heels better than our last party where he was a MINE monster. He held it together till almost the end and earned several "kind rocks" during the party. I think it helped that I was trying to "catch him being good" the entire party instead of just responding to his negative behavior (thus positively reinforcing it). This did mean that sometimes I couldn't socialize as much as I wanted... but overall I was still able to have a lot of fun at our little party.

I love a good behavior experiment... and challenge. :)

He ended the day by filling up his container and earning a cool present.

He was very proud of himself and is excited to work hard to earn more kindness rocks tomorrow. I loved hearing him say, "I'm a kind boy." Such a cutie!

He really is such a sweetheart and overall is a very easy kid so it is fun to see how quickly he responds to praise and something as simple as rocks... and it is so good to remind myself to focus on the positive and remember what a special little spirit I have been blessed with!

Sightseeing on the Run

Last week when I was in NYC I took advantage of the opportunity each morning to work out alone for as long as I wanted. Kevin was usually off to work by 9am... and I would usually try and get up to work out around then (although one morning I slept in until 10am and it was fabulous).

My goal was to hit a different location of the city each morning for my sightseeing workout.

On Tuesday morning I started at my hotel and then ran along the East River down to the Williamsburg Bridge and then back to the hotel. I had a beautiful view of the Queensboro Bridge behind me. The parks were mostly empty except for joggers and bikers. The whole adventure took me almost 2 hours and to be honest I probably only ran for 30 minutes of that time... but the brisk walk also felt great too. I loved it when the homeless men in the park were cheering for me (the large pregnant running lady) and giving me thumbs up as I passed by them.

On Wednesday morning I took the subway up to Central Park. I was supposed to get off at 85th or 86th street... but to our surprise, our subway turned from a local into an express without any warning (except a very quiet announcement)... so I got some extra bonding time with the people on my subway (some that were very angry :)) and then we all had to get off and head back downtown once we finally stopped around 125th street.

Eventually I made it to Central Park and the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir. I don't know how I've never been there before... but the views were breathtaking! My cell phone pictures don't do it justice.

I ran the reservoir and did some other running around the park and then I just explored some of the picturesque spots that are famous in the park.

I LOVE this walkway area ("The Mall"). It wasn't as fall colored as I would've liked, but it was still beautiful.

After my Central Park run/walk adventures (left the hotel at 10:30am... and was done around 1:00pm), I headed down close to Times Square for a black and white cookie and some hot chocolate. My only mistake was sitting down. I learned quickly that if I sat down, getting up to keep walking was nearly impossible and VERY painful. I had planned to walk back to the hotel (probably a little optimistic... since it would've been about 30 blocks from Times Square... and I'd already walked a lot), but instead I rode the subway back and showered before I was off on some more adventures in the afternoon.

By the time my last day in NYC rolled around I was pretty exhausted... but really wanted to get in a run across the Brooklyn Bridge. I also really wanted to walk/run there from my hotel instead of taking the subway because I wanted to explore a bit more. The bridge was about 4 miles from my hotel, so I walked/ran there and then ran across the bridge to Brooklyn and back, and then I walked back to the hotel (dead by that point). The adventure totaled about 10 miles and was SO FUN, despite my exhaustion... and despite the rain! Our last trip across the bridge also involved rain :)

Brooklyn Bridge 2005- the weekend after we got engaged

I thought I would get bored being by myself on this trip... but I really actually never did. :) I ended the trip with a delicious NY salt bagel w/ cream cheese (so yummy!) in SoHo and then I got showered and packed to head to the airport.

Such a great few days!! My last NYC post will be all about my afternoon shopping adventures... I'm sure you're all so excited to hear about them ;) Stay tuned.

Hospitals and Cupcakes

Today we had a tour of the hospital where I'll be delivering Caitlin. I originally thought it wasn't necessary... but then realized I really had no clue even where to go if I were to go into labor... so we figured it might lessen some anxiety :)

We recently got an email telling us that swine flu restrictions were put into place at the hospital starting Oct 19th and that no kids under age 16 could come in. I was really sad... somehow this info didn't transfer in my mind to today's tour... so we were planning to bring Andrew and then I realized he couldn't come with us late last night. After calling several friends and babysitters, we finally found someone free at the last minute to watch Andrew. Of course, when we got to the hospital there were other kids on the tour and we discovered that we'd been sent last year's email and there are NO swing flu restrictions this year.

The tour was definitely more peaceful without Andrew, but I was sad that he didn't get to come (like hormonal emotional crying sad- ask Kevin :)). Up until yesterday I had been telling Andrew all about how we were going to the hospital and he was SO EXCITED. Today I lied and said Kevin & I were going on errands because he would've been so sad to know he didn't get to come.

I totally got tears in my eyes when I found out he can actually come to the hospital when Caitlin is born. I also cried every time the music played at the hospital that said a baby was born... and I teared up a couple of other times on the tour (walking by the nursery)... hormones are so fun sometimes :)

I also got a little teary-eyed when they told us the hospital's rooming in philosophy and how babies sleep in our rooms at night and don't get sent back to the nursery while the mom's sleep... ahhh not my favorite rule. Kevin might actually have to stay at the hospital with me after all.

We celebrated after the hospital tour with a trip to a new bakery in Walnut Creek called Frosting Bake Shop. It was adorable. My chocolate cupcake with large amounts of cream cheese frosting was delicious! The chocolate obsession cupcake is still waiting on the counter so that we continue the celebrating tomorrow.

NYC Nights Out

Last week I tagged along with Kevin on his business trip to NYC. The highlight of our week was all the date nights we were able to have together! All of our date nights included some sort of activity and yummy food.

We arrived in NYC on Monday evening and headed straight to our hotel in Chelsea to check in... and then we walked over to Madison Square Park for dinner at the Shake Shack.

Definitely our sort of place- delicious fries, shakes, burgers (or grilled cheese sandwiches for me)... and great ambiance. It was chilly outside, but the views of the Empire State Building all lit up, the Met Life Tower, and the Flatiron building all around us were beautiful. People watching was also a lot of fun. The manpris were definitely my favorite.

From Madison Square Park we walked to a nearby movie theater to catch the late showing of The Social Network. I loved it... and I stayed awake... and the seats were super comfortable (I stretched my legs out across 3 of them). Totally worth the $12 ticket price.

Tuesday night we headed uptown to the Manhattan Temple for an evening session. I was a little embarrassed because I forgot to bring a skirt on the trip... so I had to walk into the temple in jeans. Fortunately we were greeted at the door by my high school seminary teacher of four years, Br. (now Elder) Clark, who is serving a mission at the temple. He was so excited to see us and all the other temple workers made us feel so welcomed (despite my jeans :)).

We haven't been back to the Manhattan Temple in four years. The trip brought back a lot of memories of our wedding day (almost 5 years ago) and many other special times our family has shared in that temple together.

After the temple we went to Mariella's for their amazing pizza. Apparently Oprah and Gayle deemed it the Best NYC Pizza... why knew? It was gooey, greasy, thin crust pizza and it was delicious! We were definitely happy we stumbled upon it close to Central Park.

Our final date night of the week included some shopping around Union Square Park and a trip to Max Brenner for dinner and dessert. "Wow, look at that!" was a common statement as we watched other people get their food. The best way to go about eating there is to share something for dinner so that you can go all out for dessert.

Kev LOVED the hot chocolate- says it is among the best he's ever had

We shared this pasta for dinner. Spinach, ricotta cheese, tomato-pesto... mmm! It was gone quickly and I was worried we wouldn't have room for the chocolatey stuff... but we managed. :)

I had the Spectacular Melting Chocolate S'mores Sundae. It was huge. I maybe ate 1/3 of it...but the chocolate gelato and milk chocolate fondue inside was insanely good, as was everything else they threw in there.

Kevin had the Melting Chocolate Truffle Heart cake and shake.

The menus were enormous and had too many really good options. The waitress had to come back 3-4 times before we had finally decided on what we wanted.

We walked off our meal by shopping for awhile and then trekking back to the hotel on foot instead of hopping on the subway. Good thing I ran every day that we were on our trip or I would not have fit into a seat on the airplane.

I have a feeling that when we become a family of four soon and get out less just the two of us, we'll really look back fondly on all the fun times we had in NYC together.

Stay tuned for more of my fun NYC adventures when I get a sec to blog some more.

One of the reasons I love Southwest

The pilots are so friendly.

Last night we arrived at Oakland around 8:30pm from SLC. Kevin arrived at SFO at the same time (from NYC)... so we had some time to kill before Kevin was going to pick us up. We took our time getting off the plane and the pilot was letting all the kids come check out the cockpit when we were getting off.

Andrew loved it until the pilot pressed some loud button. He got such a scared look and was worried he'd broken the plane. I've never seen him move out of place that quickly!

He loved telling his dad all about how he drove the airplane!

Halloween Sweetness

My good friend Sarah ended up coming into town this weekend. Not only did she join us for some shopping and Caitlin celebrating, but we also got to spent Sunday afternoon on a long walk catching up- just the two of us. I have missed her since she and Izzie went to Utah back in July... and we've never really gotten to hang out without the little crazy ones running around.

This picture was pretty sweet to me too. Grandma, Elise, and Andrew had a blast on the airplane ride to Utah together... and they introduced him to the world of magazines.

Another sweet moment of the weekend was my cake success! I made this bundt cake for the Young Women as a treat at the end of our "creating an uplifting environment" lesson.

The frosting ended up being really good- much better than my usual homemade frosting (according to Kevin). Wouldn't having one of these cakes around make your home feel more pleasant and uplifting? :)

The other sweet part was that I was able to share the cake and only eat one piece the entire day... and the platter was licked clean by the end of the night (without my help for once).

A little bit of pampering...

This was where I spent a very relaxing portion of my weekend.... with all those pillows just for me!

Then I watched these two lovely ladies

make a bunch of these

and they even glue gunned cute little baby girl clips and put them inside

all while I relaxed in a cozy chair.

Saturday morning we went on a long relaxing run (which led to me walking like a grandma for the rest of the day).

Then I spent the day shopping with these three... (aren't the ladies in my family gorgeous??!!)

and then we headed to this delicious restaurant in Lafayette

I felt bad ruining the picture by jumping in- not quite sure what was up with my hair

These fabulous girlfriends joined up with us for an amazing dinner.

I ate tons and tons of the yummy bread...

and pasta...

and then pretty much all of us ordered the chocolate souffle for dessert

(one of the many reasons I consider all of these beautiful ladies to be my friends :))

We ended the night chatting and showering baby Caitlin with some of the most darling girly clothes ever! She is going to be one well-dressed little princess thanks to all my friends

(since everyone knows that dressing stylishly is not my strength)

Can't wait to introduce all these amazing friends to Caitlin in just a few short weeks!

We also had to get a family picture. I love having Jenny and Jessie so close by now!

If only Mom and Elise could've stayed a little longer... I know I will be missing them (and so will Nordstroms :) I think their stock value increased significantly this weekend).

Thanks everyone for such a fun few days of pampering!