Ryan is Thankful

"It's a good thing that Heavenly Father made crickets. I think they make such beautiful music. If I find one in the house, I don't want to kill it because I think they sound so beautiful. I think we should just catch it and then let it go outside."

We found two in the house this evening. They were successfully caught and released into the wild. And then Ryan remembered to thank Heavenly Father in his prayer for the beautiful music of crickets.

Climbing Trees

Yes, Ryan tried to climb our Christmas tree tonight. It fell over on him.
(Can you see him under there?)

No comments on our lack of ornaments this year. No one has been motivated to put them up yet.

Blue Eyed Girl

This child was sent straight from Heaven.

Some of the ways in which Millie is unique in our family:

She has blue eyes. I'll be shocked if she doesn't keep them.
She has that awesome natural mohawk.
She loves to suck on her fingers.
She goes to sleep on her own. Often without any crying whatsoever.
She takes two long naps during the day. At predictable times.
She will drink from a bottle.
Uses but doesn't require a pacifier.
Never liked a swing.

Look at that cute face. Millie is 4 months old now. She weighs 13 lbs 12 oz (which is exactly the 50th percentile). All of my kids had that great double chin, but hers is pretty prominent right now in life. ;) I've also noticed a few small dots on her forehead that I believe are a little birthmark. She can roll from stomach to back (you know that from a previous post) and now from back to stomach - except that her arm usually stays stuck underneath her that way. She is getting better control of her hand movements and will grab for toys and bring them to her mouth. She watches intently when I eat and will reach for things that are near her. I have to watch my plate when she's on my lap. She is a real mover - especially in her crib. She rolls over and scoots so it's totally unpredictable where she'll end up. Her scooting doesn't seem very controlled, but she can travel. When she sleeps, she loves to grab her blanket and put it right in front of her face and suck her middle two fingers or first two fingers.

I'm not sure why we were blessed with such a sweet, sweet baby. But I am not taking it for granted. I am truly grateful and try to enjoy as many small moments with her as I can.

Ho Ho Ho.

For our ward Christmas party this year we went to "Who-ville" and had a "roast beast feast." Then we watched a full-on musical production of Dr. Seuss' Grinch Who Stole Christmas. Here are my little "whos" with Santa Claus.

Ryan asked for a speed racer. Katie wanted more princesses (some little bendy type). I'm glad they didn't have a huge list for Santa.

Blessings

Ryan: on Growing Up

I can't help but wonder how my family will be when my children grow up. I have had a few fun conversations with my kids where I have learned a little about how they see themselves as grown-ups.

Ryan recently told me that he wants to be an astronaut when he's a dad. He also informed me that he will drive a convertible. He said, "Actually I will need to have three long cars." I asked him why and he responded, "To hold all of my kids. I need one for me to drive, one for my mom (wife) to drive, and one for my grandma to drive." When I asked who his grandma will be he said, "You."
He says that he will have 25 children and he often tells me how he will raise them. "When I'm a dad, I will let my kids eat dessert every day." "When I'm a dad, I will tell them they can watch "Speed Racer" as many times as they want to." And so on. I sometimes finding myself saying, "But won't you love your kids? If you let them eat sugar their bodies won't be healthy. And if they watch movies all day long their brains will turn to mush. You have to take care of your kids if you love them."

I asked him once if he would still live with me when he grows up to be a dad. He told me that he won't because he will live across the ocean. I told him how sad I would be when he lives so far away from me. He promised that he'll come over every day to visit me and cook me breakfast and lunch and dinner. Pay back. Oh, and another common thing is for him to say that he wants to be a policeman because he recently found out that policemen work all night long. He realized that if he is a policeman then he won't have to go to bed at night.

He used to assume that when he is a dad and Katie is a mom, they'd be married to each other. (He thought Derek was my brother.) He now understands that he will marry a girl that is NOT his sister and he told Katie that today. "Katie, when you are a mom you won't be my wife." She said, "You will still be my brother?" Then she told me that when she's a mom, she'll have 3 babies. "That's how many babies I have," I told her. "No, you have one baby, Mom." She was telling me that she'll have triplets. "That will be hard work. I'll help you," I told her. "Yeah, I'll have three babies. But Mom, will you help me with them because I can't hold them all. I only have two hands."

Yep, I completely understand. Holy cow. I'll be a grandma one day.

PB Playdough

It really bothers me when my children wander while I shower and unfortunately, I'm not an early riser. So, today I whipped up some peanut butter playdough and our alphabet cookie cutters and let them have at it while I was getting ready.

Times like these make me grateful to live in a home with no carpet.

Check out Ryan's "Mr. Incredible" mask. He never wears the costume, but he wears the mask night and day.

He smiled at this picture because his eyes were closed. ;) He spelled his name and then "cat" but arranged them to spell "TACRYAN" and he thought he was pretty amazing for making such a long word.

The PB playdough was a great texture and didn't leave any sticky residue. Here's the recipe:
1 cup PB
1/2 cup honey
2 cups powdered sugar

Enjoy!

Try This

I managed to avoid cutting a huge lock of her hair. I just poured oil all over her hair and slowly combed it out. It took a while and definitely pulled out plenty of her hair, but at least it's not a blunt cut like it would've been. We survived that one.

One of the Many Reasons Why I Hate Gum

Ryan was chewing it in the bathtub. Opened his mouth and it fell on Katie's head. Right at her part line. About 1 cm from her scalp. Do you think I WANTED to cut it out with scissors?

Not good. Not good.

We had previously banned gum from the home. Ryan became a complete sneak about it. I often would find him with gum from under chairs/tables etc. So, I thought that maybe gum in controlled situations would be preferable to sneaking other people's already chewed gum. Apparently, the bath should not be one of those controlled places. Who knew?

A Mother Guarding Her Young

Today we were outside and I was doing spider patrol again. We have two little picnic tables outside and I had just cleaned off the big one. Katie came out with her lunch and declared that she wanted to sit at the little picnic table (which they do regularly). I told her to sit at the big one while I checked the little one for spiders. Here is what I found.

It's a young black widow (yes, the web was SUPER sticky and tough and she had the hourglass on her belly) and 6 egg sacs. I get the chills just thinking about it. They were nestled at the spot right about where the kids knees would hit.

I was previously taking one or two play structures at a time and exterminating, but this was the second black widow I found in just three days so I moved over to some power wheels cars they like to sit and play in. I turned over one and saw some webs but nothing crawling. After further investigation I found 5 black widows (of varying ages) and at least 8 brown widows, plus one egg sac on that one car. I'm telling you - I'm about spidered out. As I'm sure you are also. I won't post anymore spider stories after today. It just shows me that it's something I have to be vigilant about. What would I do if one of my kids were bitten by a black widow? Just rush them to the ER or what?

A Couple of Words From My Children

Ryan goes to speech therapy. It is for a stutter that he developed close to a year ago. He has actually improved greatly, but he also has plenty of sounds that he doesn't say right. Katie is quite a bit more articulate, so when they make the same mistakes in their speech, it surprises me somewhat. Ryan says the word "Bref-qwist" instead of Breakfast. For some reason the combination of "kf" is too much for his mouth, so he reverses them "fk." We correct him sometimes and he can say it correctly if he is concentrating. The thing that surprises me is that Katie says it exactly the same way. I think she picked up on the word from Ryan, but I wonder...

I am reminded that Ryan says "Jenniver Conference" instead of General Conference. I was surprised when I picked up his friend, William, on the way to preschool and he said it the same way. I thought Ryan mixed it up because of an association with my name. It was interesting how William said it the same way without the same association.

Well, interesting to me anyway.

Ever Heard of a Brown Widow?

A yard brings about many new things. Including spiders. I rendered a Black Widow homeless two nights ago. Not to mention lifeless. Sorry to all of you spider lovers. I have my limits.

Happy Halloween

I don't exactly enjoy blogging right now, hence the long time between posts.
However, I do have some pictures of my kids from Halloween so I might as well post them.

Millie was a little chick (we borrowed the costume from a friend.) We didn't get great pictures, but you get the idea.

She wore the costume just long enough for pictures. It was a little bit hot Halloween night.

Ryan wanted to be Spiderman and Katie borrowed a kitty costume from a friend. We moved into a new home (we are still renting) just the day before Halloween and I couldn't find their costumes anywhere. Luckily, our costume box was accessible and we grabbed these costumes as a back-up. A Power Ranger and a princess, could be worse.

We had some visitors that weekend. Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Rachelle came to visit, along with Rachelle's girls. This is Evie as a lady bug. ;)

And we got Laney in the chick costume as well. Laney and Millie are only like 6 days apart but they are COMPLETELY different shapes. Laney has a super round face and Millie's is very oblong. Anyway...

We were so happy to see some of Derek's family. It was their first time meeting Millie and they were a HUGE help with unpacking. I still have plenty of stuff to unpack from our garage, but slow and steady wins the race, right?

Retreat

Each year Derek's law firm takes us on a little weekend retreat at one of many nearby resorts. We have taken our kids along each time and it always turns out nice, even if I do end up missing out on some of the activities.

This year Derek signed up for a sailing regatta. He got to go on a sailboat and learn the ropes and then they had a race. No, his boat didn't win the race.

Here is Derek and the skipper.

I couldn't leave Millie for 8 hours, so instead I chose to attend the class where we made chocolate sculptures. It was pretty simple, but really neat at the same time. The thing that made it successful is that they have pressurized cans of liquid nitrogen or something that froze the chocolate instantly when you sprayed it on. I don't have a picture yet, but when I do, I'll post it. It was a lot of fun.

We spent the rest of the weekend swimming in the pool, eating a bunch of snacks in the Presidential Suite, and jumping on the beds. It went by too quickly. One of these times I'll have to leave my kids with someone so we can enjoy all of the activities offered.

Food Storage

Here's my first attempt at canning peaches. It turned out to be one of my favorite excuses to hang out with a good friend. Niki came over and taught me how to do it since I was completely clueless.

I ended up with 10 large jars and 15 small jars. Only 3 casualties - one broken jar and two that didn't seal. Overall, I'm SUPER happy and have caught the *canning bug*. I have lofty dreams of canning chunky applesauce, salsa, and chicken noodle soup. Food storage, here I come.

Tummy Time Doesn't Last Long

Well, we try "tummy time" with Millie, but she usually has a different agenda.

Shenandoah Costume GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

Here's another costume I love. Heck, I'd put Katie in this one for church.
Shenandoah Costume GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

Chubby Baby?

Okay, remember this shot of Emilee at 2 weeks?

Now here she is at 2 months (and 1 week).

Not a huge difference to me, but she's filling out a little better.
She has a 2 month check-up tomorrow. I expect her to be just over 11 lbs.

If I Only Knew How to Sew

For REAL - is this the cutest costume or what?

I SO wish I has some sewing skills like Heather Bailey.

Take a Hint

I prefer not to dwell on the subject, but I wanted to recount two amusing conversations I've had this week.

First was with a Jehovah's Witness who stopped me right after I dropped Ryan off at his preschool. I was just putting Millie back in her car seat and turned around to find the two women standing and waiting for me. I greeted them and the one lady asked, "Is that your baby?"
"Yes, she's seven weeks old."
"Oh, you just had a baby?"
"Yes, I sure did."
"You look like you just had a baby."
"Yep."
"Well, actually you look really good for just having a baby. My daughter had a big stomach for a long time afterwards."
"Thanks."
(Or no thanks)

Next was Ryan. (While rubbing my stomach.)
"Mom, when is your tummy going to be flat?"
"After I eat right and get some exercise."
"Well, it's still kinda big."
"I know, it got stretched out when Millie was growing inside. It will get smaller with time."

Now, I will ignore the comments from people that go something like, "Whatever Jen, you look fabulous!" Because quite frankly, I know that I don't look fabulous, but I also know that I don't look awful either. I don't need encouragement or sympathy or anything. My self-esteem is still intact and I realize that I still have a good 15 pounds to lose. I'll get there. I got back after my other pregnancies.

Those kind of comments (truthful kinds) don't hurt my feelings at all. Just keeping it real, right?

Emilee is 6 Weeks Old

Some baby highlights:

• I'm pretty sure she hasn't reached 10 pounds yet
• Still wears newborn sized clothes
  
• Smiles a few times a day
• Is very predictable during the night - eats at 10:00pm, 4:00am, 6:00am with few exceptions
  
• Gags on any type of pacifier
• Will very likely have blue eyes
• Still has baby acne and gets a heat rash instantaneously
• Has an awful breastfeeding latch - but nurses in 5 minutes flat without ever wanting both sides in a single meal
• Gets hiccups after every meal
• Sleeps like a rock in a carseat
  
• Has an "outie" bellybutton
• Is super alert when she's awake, but still sleeps around 20 hours every day.
• It's SUPER hard to get a flattering picture of this girl (Where's my mom when I need her?)
  

(Oh, and thanks to Dad, Ryan has taken to calling her "Millicent")

"Uh Oh"

Moments after being passed the bread during the Sacrament, Katie says in a distressed (but quiet) voice, " Uh oh, I swallowed a Polly Pocket shoe."

Apparently she'd been chewing on one before she ate the bread and it all went down together. It was one moment where I could easily say, "Oh well," and get on with life. I knew it wouldn't get stuck anywhere - those things are the smallest objects on the planet, and it didn't have any sharp edges. Heck, we didn't even have it's match in the first place. No stress, but an amusing sort of moment.

A Story From My Childhood

Tonight we had Family Home Evening in the Park.

This is a ward activity where we all meet for a potluck BBQ at a nearby park. Ryan had a little baby doll in the car and asked if he could take it with us to the park. I told him it was fine but that he might lose it. He insisted that he'd be very careful about it. "Okay, but don't be sad if you lose it," I warned.

We left around 8:00pm so it was dark. I reminded Ryan to remember the little doll so he ran off to get it. He came back and told me he couldn't find it because it was so dark.
"Is Dad's flashlight still in the car?" he asked.
"Wow," I said, "this reminds me of a story my Dad used to tell me all the time before bed. Do you want me to tell it to you?"

So, as we walked to the car and found a flashlight, I began the story.

"Once upon a time, there was a girl named Sally. She had a doll named Sandy that she took everywhere she went. She loved Sandy so much. Sandy was there when Sally was sleeping, eating, and playing. One day, they were playing at a park near Sally's house. They played on the swings, the slide, the sandbox, the monkey bars, the teeter-totter, and went on the merry-go-round. They were having such a fun time when a little boy showed up.

"Hi, my name is Ryan," the boy said. "I just moved here and don't know anyone yet. Do you want to play with me?" "Sure," Sally replied. She put Sandy down on a park bench. Sally and Ryan played on the swings, the slide, the sandbox, the monkey bars, the teeter-totter, and went on the merry-go-round. They were having such a fun time when Sally heard her mother calling her. "Saaally... time to come Hooome." "Oh, I've got to home Ryan, I hear my Mom calling," Sally said. "I'll see you another day."

This whole time we are walking the park with the flashlight trying to find the little doll. We are shinning it around on all the park equipment and the field. My kids are looking but are mesmerized by the story.

Sally hurried home because she always obeyed her mom. Her family ate dinner and Sally went upstairs to brush her teeth, but realized that she couldn't find Sandy. She went downstairs and asked her mom if she knew where Sandy was. Her mother said, "Maybe you left her at the park." Sally's dad got out his flashlight and walked her over to the park to see if they could find Sandy. They looked on the swings, the slide, the sandbox, the monkey bars, the teeter-totter, the merry-go-round, and even the park bench. Sandy wasn't anywhere. Sally's dad said, "Sorry Sally, we'll have to look again tomorrow when it is light outside."

Now, we have located the doll and we are walking back to the car, still telling the story.

They went home and Sally cried herself to sleep that night. She missed Sandy so much. In the morning, she slowly walked down the stairs and started eating the cereal that her mom had poured for her. Then she heard a knock at the door. And who do you think it was?? RYAN and SANDY! Ryan said, "Hi Sally, you left Sandy at the park last night and I didn't want her to get lonely so I took her home with me." Sally was SO happy and gave Sandy a big hug. "I love you Sandy," she said, "I'll never leave you anywhere ever again."

I asked Ryan, "Does that remind you of what happened tonight?" He said in a super excited voice, "Yes, and I'll always remember that story! When I'm a Dad I'm going to tell it to MY kids every night." I told him that it would make Grandpa really happy. ;) He asked me if I would tell it again when they went to bed. They have heard this story plenty of times before, but now he had a real life experience to relate it to and I think that made him pretty excited. Family rituals like that are pretty fun to pass along.

Keeping Us On Our Toes

Are you wondering how things are going with three kids? Wonderfully. We aren't losing any sleep at night, Emilee eats well, and is very predictable during the day. She is still sleeping tons and isn't fussy as long as I respond to her quickly. I feel much more laid back as the mother of a newborn now than I did when my other two were babies. I'm really happy. She is 5 weeks old and will smile at me every once in a while. I am really looking forward to regular social smiling and for Millie to fill out a little more and have a round face. She's still so scrawny to me. ;)

Meanwhile, the older two are giving us a run for our money.

Ryan started swim lessons two weeks ago. Before the lessons started, he was still afraid to go under the water. Now, after 4 lessons, he begs to go to the pool EVERY day because he is confident enough to jump off the side of the pool into the water and swim over to the steps. He loves to dive down and get rings off of the bottom step but he can't quite get himself under the water far enough to get rings from the bottom of the pool. My point is, that he now tells us every day that he can swim and is a bit over-confident.

Last night we took the kids to the pool and they were piddling around on the steps while Derek sat out and watched them. Katie walked off of the step and was under water for a few seconds. Derek jumped up and ran over to save her but slipped on the pool deck (remember why they say "no running") and fell. He jumped up again and was able to get her out before she swallowed too much water. She was probably under for a total of 5 seconds, but it totally went in slow motion. Didn't take her long to recover - but it gave us all a good scare.


Then tonight, I was giving the kids their vitamins and was playing around with Ryan. I held up the vitamin and he opened his mouth for me to give it to him. I pretended to give it to him but took it away when he was about to close his mouth. I did that a few times while he was laughing about it and then the time when I decided to let go, I didn't want him to bite me and I dropped it into his mouth. Unfortunately, it went right to the back of his throat and he started choking on it. I'll spare you the details, but basically, I was 3 seconds away from starting the Heimlich maneuver. I put the baby down on the floor, got behind him, tried to get his hand out of his mouth so he wouldn't push it in farther, and was ready to start when he managed to get it out himself. Another brush with death. That one also lasted probably 4 or 5 seconds, but it sure made my heart pound. I could see how scared he was and didn't know how long I had before he'd pass out.

Life is fragile - they keep reminding me. I get the point.

Oh, To Be a Hamster

We fully expected this "fun roller" to last a grand total of one day. We knew it would pop from kids jumping all over it. To our surprise, it's still kicking after 4 different days of use.

Little Miss Afro

These pictures are all pretty much the same, but she's my baby - how can I possibly decide which is my favorite?

I want to draw your attention to her hair. Does it look curly to you? Now look back at my first post and notice it straight. What do you think?

To me, it appears that the top is curly, though the sides behave much more straight. If I let it go 4 or 5 days without washing, shell get a great Kewpie doll look with a fabulous curled fauxhawk going on. I was a bit distraught at first - too much maintenance. But I have to admit that it's grown on me quite a bit. The headband seems to tame it - but it's the only one I own so it's getting a LOT of use. I wonder what will become of the curls when all of her hair starts falling out. Will they return? It's anyone's guess.

Admit it - she's cute.

Our Three Babies

Here is a bit of a comparison shot of my three kids. Do you see any resemblance?

Silly Millie

Katie Girl

Rhino