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?