Getting Bigger

This little beauty is now 5 months old!

She is getting better at grabbing things and getting them to her mouth.
She likes rice cereal and REALLY likes bananas.
She now enjoys her baths as it's a chance to get out of her clothes. She even likes diaper changes.
She thinks The Boy brushing his teeth is the funniest thing on the planet.
She likes to be held ALL the time (any back saving tips...anyone?).
She has enough hair on top to do this (we don't talk about the back and sides).
She almost always smiles with her tongue hanging out.
Love her, love her, love her!

'Tis the Season

I found these jammies at Costco and just couldn't resist.

Happy Holidays!

Sweet Baby James

This little guy surprised us this week.

At 5 lbs. 15 oz. he really is a little guy who made his debut 3 weeks earlier than expected (not sure what's up with 3 week early deliveries this year). We are ever so excited to have a cousin on Mommy's side! So happy he's here and so happy for Adam and Keira.

Missed it by that much

The Queen wanted to play in the snow this morning, but first had to clean her bedroom. I admit to a strong father's bias, but it takes a truly exceptional three-year old to clean her room this well, by herself, and with no supervision.


Truly exceptional...


Give here another year and she'll learn to put a blanket on top. Maybe then she will get away with it.

mw

Heirlooms

I love things like this.

My grandmother made this dress for my mother when she was a baby.
This is a picture of me in the same dress.

And here is my Junebug in her 4-months-old photo.

• At 4 months, our Junebug loves to dance (most especially to the Pirates of the Caribbean theme song).
• Two weeks ago she rolled from her tummy to her back several times, but seems to have forgotten how at present.
• She can't get enough of her hands and they are always wet and cold (good morning, Mommy!).
• She likes to be with people and gets upset when she thinks she's by herself.
• She just won't stop growing!

Happy Saturday

This morning we woke to the first snow of the season. I turned on the Christmas music, made cinnamon rolls for breakfast and sent the kids outside.
Maybe winter isn't so bad to start out with.

Hope of Israel, indeed

While playing swords with his friends, The Boy burst into the room brandishing his mighty weapon, a 2.5' piece of orange foam, and proclaiming...

The Boy: I have the sword of truth and right! I have the sword of truth and right!

Neesha stared at him blankly for a minute. The Boy wasn't dissuaded in the least and proceeded to sing...

The Boy: Sound the war cry, "Watch and pray!" Vanquish ev'ry foe today!

He's particularly keen on the "vanquish every foe" part.

mw

This week's theological crisis

It's Friday night. Neesha is kneading pizza dough for dinner while I finish reviewing some contracts for work. The Boy and The Queen are upstairs playing in their bedrooms which they are supposed to be cleaning. There is a loud crash and The Queen begins to wail. Neesha and I pause for a moment to see if the sound will go away on its own. When it doesn't, I go up to check for blood.

In my best concerned-father voice, which I must say is pretty good,...

Me: What happened?
The Queen (running into my arms while wailing): Jesus bumped me on the head!

* after a long, faith-promoting pause*

Me: What was that?

She points to a picture of The Savior that typically sits on her dresser, now laying on the floor.

The Queen: Jesus bumped me on the head!
Me: Oh, good. No worries, then.

mw

The Autumn Neesha and I moved into our Kaysville house, we took the Boy, who was just over 2.5 years old, and the Queen, who was just over 2.5 weeks, to Pack's Pumpkin Patch. While there, we caught the following image of the Boy and his personality. It's one of my favorites, and when I think of my son, this is the image that comes to mind as often as not.


Two weeks ago we took the kids up Logan Canyon to see the [green] leaves and to get some new family pictures for our wall.


When did that happen?

mw

Colorful Perfection

I dressed Junebug in a lot of pink yesterday and started singing, "The Pink of Perfection" from Disney's Summer Magic. A few moments later, The Boy commented, "Mom, your pants have a lot of teal in them. You are the teal of perfection!"

Junebug

Our little Junebug is just over 3 months old.

She is so sweet. I love her shy smile.

She can get some giggles in too.

At three months, she...
Coos, smiles and giggles for Mommy, but reserves her best for Daddy.
Tolerates her baths and abhors her tummy time.
Loves, loves, LOVES her mobile (has literally spent up to 45 minutes just watching and talking to it).
Has a blinding bald spot on back.
Loves to be with people and likes to have them sing to her (she and The Queen get along pretty well).
Just can't get enough of our Junebug!

Precocious Indeed

Summer?

It's officially Fall. Most of summer has been a blur due to this sweet stinker... ...though we did manage to have a little bit of summer, and, for your convenience, it's all in one post! We made it to the zoo (blast, I forgot my camera) and we rode the frontrunner train to the Church History Museum. We also tried to get scheduled lessons/activities out of the way before the arrival of #3. We almost made it, though Mommy and Junebug were in the hospital for the last half of Iddy Bitty Ball.

Swimming lessons
Itty Biddy Ball (pretty sure he's using a blaster on the goalie)After that things slowed down quite a bit. (Mark helped him try to catch toast from the toaster with his mouth, which almost worked. He got the idea from a Garfield comic book)

Reading to Junebug We still got out a few times after the baby was born.

Mini-golf at Cherry Hill Slip and Slide Bowling with cousins We also ended with a pretty good harvest despite how little attention we gave our garden. In the end, a popsicle on the back porch after dinner can go a long way to a good summer. On to Autumn!

Three and Counting

The Queen turned 3 last week.

Her highlights were helping to make her cake

and eating it.

This is the first birthday cake that has actually been eaten by the birthday kid. The Boy has yet to try a birthday cake and this was the first time The Queen ate hers. I think presents AFTER cake helps.

The Queen at 3

Favorite food: Mac 'n' cheese
Favorite book: Pirates Don't Change Diapers
Favorite color: Pink
Favorite TV show: Curious George
Favorite movie: Mary Poppins
Favorite Toy: dolls (especially the paper dolls from Diyah and Grandma)
Favorite thing to do: sing, sing, sing
Every morning the first thing she says is, "Mom, it's morning in my window."

The Queen loves to dress up

Even at nap time.

She loves to help with jobs and nearly EVERY time she puts her shoes, sandals, etc. on, she gets them on the wrong feet.

We love you, honey! Happy Birthday!

The Big Day

The Boy started Kindergarten today.

He had no tears (Mommy had a few) and had so much fun. He can't wait to go back again tomorrow. I'm definitely having mixed feelings about this guy growing up so fast.

It's Normal

The Queen came up to me this morning, quite distressed.

The Queen: "Mom, I have those on my hands!"
Me: "You have what on your hands?"
The Queen: (very weepy) "Those!" (indicating the lines on the palms of her hands)
Me: "Honey, those are normal."
The Queen: (still very weepy) "Mom, I have normal on my hands."

Playing Photographer

These are a couple of weeks old, but I thought I'd share!

More Than Meets The Eye

The Boy went through a rather intense Transformers phase a while back. We were able to get a hold of the first season of the 80's cartoon from the library and both kids watched every single episode. Needless to say, the theme song was played quite often.



TRANSLATION: "Transformers, more than meets the eye. Autobots race to battle to destroy the evil forces of the Decepticons. Transformers!"

Pickle Belly

I was washing the baby the other day when The Queen decided to join me. She said something about the baby's belly...


Me: You want to tickle her belly?
The Queen: No! She have a pickle in her belly!

The umbilical cord stump is still attached and The Queen thinks it looks like a pickle.

Happy 4th!

We had a few festivities this year that I may or may not post, but I thought everyone would enjoy my 5-year-old singing "The Star Spangled Banner." I mean, who wouldn't?

June 23 And Then Some

I realize it's been a week. I had originally enlisted Mark to help me with this post, but he has been so busy playing Mr. Mom and fixing our floor at home all week that he just hasn't had the time. I, on the other hand, have been lounging about the Hotel LDS Hospital all week, so you get the story from me. I promise to include the information I just know you're all dying to have (and probably some you don't care to have).

Last Wednesday I woke to find the baby had dropped quite a bit. Hooray to be able to breathe a bit better, but on to new bladder control issues (I thought). By around 4:00 in the afternoon, the bladder control issues seemed, well, out of control. The doctor sent us to Labor and Delivery. As this was three weeks earlier than expected, I didn't have a whole lot ready. I quickly grabbed a few things for me, a few things for the kids, had Mark pull the garbage can to the curb and ran to pick the kids up from a playdate. After a quick stop at grandma's to drop them off we were on our way. I was pretty sure we would be sent home and tried to take comfort in the fact that Dylan's has their milkshakes for half off on Wednesday nights (I rationalize that emotional eating is necessary when you're pregnant).

Tests showed that my water had actually broken. I was happy to know that I didn't have an incontinence issue, but concerned that I was having a baby three weeks earlier than I expected. My doctor had told me that I was full term the day before, but I was still uneasy. This was magnified by the fact that I had counted on at LEAST two more weeks to prepare for our newest arrival. I had managed to get some freezer meals ready (BIG thanks to Angie!) and I had washed all the baby clothes and gear. However, the shopping trip to stock up on diapers, creams etc. was set up for Thursday, packing the bags and cleaning my shower was to be accomplished on Friday, the kitchen/living room floor was going to be put in on Saturday (yes, it's still torn apart), and the crib was going up the next week. So, we weren't exactly as prepared as we maybe should have been, but by 3:15 in the blessed a.m., little Miss Mallory Marie joined our family.
Not her best picture, but the first one we have of her. At 6 lbs. 5 oz. and 20.5 inches long, she is my smallest baby, but check out her hair!
She is such a sweet, sleepy baby. So sleepy that the next morning she wouldn't wake up to eat for 7 hours. At this point she was taken to get her blood sugars checked. They were so low they had to transfer her to the Special Care Nursery and give her glucose through an IV. After more tests we found out she had an infection. Seven days of antibiotics followed.
And a few days under biliruben lights and on the bili-bed to complete the spa experience.
The hospital has a wonderful program that allowed me to stay in my room as a guest while she received her treatments.
Given the circumstances, things have gone very well. I've had extra time to recover and spent a lot more time with just Mallory than I would have if we'd been sent home right away.

In addition, I was treated to a girls night with my Mom and two of my sisters (Elly is still in South America)...
...and a date night with my sweet husband.
I've also had so many willing people helping out. Thanks to my wonderful neighbors, Curtis and Amanda, who saved my garden from frying up and kept an eye on our house the last few days.

Thank you to my father-in-law, who took time out of his work day to help Mark give Mallory and me a blessing.

Thank you to the Fox Pointe Relief Society, who made sure my family didn't starve while I was gone.

Thanks to ALL my visitors who helped me stay sane as I've had sleepless nights and plummeting hormones all week. These visits were absolutely vital as I've had just Mallory for a companion all week. She is terribly sweet and I just can't get enough of her, but she doesn't say much right now.
A HUGE thanks to Grandma and Grandpa and Boppa and Diyah who took care of My Boy and My Queen.

And my biggest thanks goes to my wonderful husband! I absolutely adore you and simply can't do this without you. Thank you for our wonderful family and all your love and support!