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Dance Class

My friend had an awesome idea of hiring one of the teens here to teach our girls dance. She offered her home and we each forked out a few bucks. The girls loved it every day. I loved it cause it was cheap and low stress. Hence, the swimsuit leotards.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blast from the past

G reminds me so much of B. So here are a few pics of her around this age (he is 11 months) with one of her besties.

 

 

 

 

Stomach Bug

It came, it saw, it conquered. . . .

Hopefully I can get this blog thing up and running again soon.

But, as a teaser, E and I are headed on a little 10th anniversary trip (combined with his parent's 50th anniversary trip---we have a long way to hit that milestone!) courtesy of Aunties T and A. Looking forward to seeing everyone!

Snapshot of Craziness

Life seems like pure craziness right now.
G is in a constant state of wanting mom. I walk into the room, he huffs and hyperventilates, til I pick him up. I leave a room, he cries. I try to do the dishes, he pulls my pants down as he tries to climb up my leg to be held. He is getting 4 teeth. FOUR. At once.
And he has separation anxiety. From me.

This all equates to a big fat O of getting anything done. I know I shouldn't always worry about to do lists but I am a lister. I try to be "present" as much as I can with the girls and help them read a story or patiently try to explain, once again, why xyz is not a great choice. And I am already sad this little man is getting so big (insert 30 lbs). But let's be honest, it's hard to be "present" and read any books or even take the trash out when G has been wailing in my ear for an hour and my arms/back/body is aching (carrying a 30 pound 9 month old is not for the faint of Anything). Let's just say there is some extra enjoyment of quiet time around these places lately. :)

So I try to enlist the "sisters" help with picking up or clearing the table. And they do what they can. But sometimes a 3 and 5 year old get a bit distracted. Like tonight, when we had brushed teeth and were supposed to be reading scriptures and for some reason B is crawling through the hallway neighing loudly as S leads her with a scarf tied around her neck. Somehow between the time it took for me to say, "time to read the scripture book" and put away the toothpaste they became enthralled in the game of "horse."

I laugh now as I think about it. Although at the moment I was not so amused, just rather awestruck by the quickness of it and annoyed that the sequence of bedtime had been interrupted.

So I trip over toys and find a wet diaper that didn't make it's way to the garbage the night before. Wow. That sounds gross. 

picture by Monica Willits at ReadMywalls.blogspot.com

But in it all, I feel like time is slipping through my fingers even as I write. Every day goes by so quickly and busily, with need after need of each child and all that comes with maintaining a family of 5. I see pictures of B as a baby flip by on my screensaver and I get teary eyed thinking of how those days can never come back. I regret not relishing them as much as I should have. But I didn't know. Or rather, I didn't believe. I didn't believe that it would pass so fast. Sometimes the days seemed to pass so slowly with just one baby. 5 years? Has it really been that long? 6 years ago I was not even a mother and now I have 3 kids?!

Craziness.

Beard Growing contest and other milestones . . .

E's colleages all decided to have a mustache growing contest for a few weeks prior to their intraining exams. He has done this before and I think 'stache's are Nasty.
So, he grew a beard.
Here he is in his glory.
I have several blackmail photos as he shaved it down to a stache. To be used at a later date. . .



In other news, G is making milestones daily. Yesterday he started crawling up the stairs. The day before that he held his own bottle. The day before that he started cruising a bit on furniture. It is crazy to me how fast he is doing this stuff as he is not 9 months yet and a couple WEEKS (!) ago he was still just scooting on his belly and mostly backwards. Now he has lost his cuddly squishiness (although you can't tell from the pics} and he is really strong. He crawls over and wants to be held for a few seconds with a voracious grip while he twists and turns to see what's going on around him. Then he lunges out of my arms so he can get down and crawl to his next adventure.
It makes me a little sad since cuddling with babies is one of my favorites, but I guess it was bound to happen. I may also be a little reminiscent because this last month I weaned him from nursing. I just didn't expect him to get so active and lean so fast!

We all love our "Chub of Love" even if there isn't much chub about him!!!

Preschool

This is B's last year of preschool. In the fall she went for one month and then I did it with her and S from home by myself while we traveled. They love whatever school they can get.

Here B is on the bus going on the field trip to the grocery store. These are two of her best buds from preschool.




And here they are post-trip eating snack.

The smiles say it all. This has been a good year for this 5 year old and she is ready for kindergarten!

More Intake of Chocolate May Yield Lower Body Mass Index

Good news for me. ;)

And hoping to post more later this week. But we'll see how that goes as I have a baby shower to host, a sacrament meeting talk to prepare/give, some studying for a class, dinners to make for someone, and a couples party at our home all happening this week!

8 months already?!!!

As you can see he is a crawling machine and we ALL love him so much.
Happy 8 month birthday G-man!

3 is harder than 2

I mean that in the number of kids and the age in years.

Why is it that 3 year olds seem more difficult than 2 year olds to me? Maybe cause I think they will be out of the "terrible twos" and I expect more when they are 3?

Why is it that S's favorite word is still NO along with "I don't want to" and "I don't need to." Isn't she just getting more creative saying No? If I say it as a command, "I need you to get on your shoes and go outside" or "leave your brother alone." If I give a choice,"would you like to go potty or brush your teeth first?" It is all the same. NO.

I am going insane. Timeouts and yelling are abounding. Advice?

Happy BDay Li-Vay!

Look at what cute aunt had a BIRTH-day this week!!!

Here she is with the twinner chunk cousins.

Love ya, Livs! You're the best!

p.s. these birthday spotlights are random and will be discontinued after this point. Look forward to getting your card. ;)

I found my next craft . . .

Just check out this awesomeness my friend came up with:

http://kikicreates.blogspot.com/2012/03/bottlecap-necklaces-tutorial-and-free.html

Sisters, nieces, remember the ribbon and bottle caps?! ;)

Up for a little craftivity?

Love it.

Walk to the Park

Did you know?

"If your baby isn't eating any solids . . . the rule of thumb is to offer him 2.5 ounces of formula per pound of body weight each day."

That means "If he weighs 10 pounds, he should drink about 25 ounces in a 24-hour period."

G man was 10 lbs at birth and 22 lbs at 3 1/2 months. No wonder I could eat whatever I wanted (insert ice cream, cheesecake, etc.) and was losing weight to the point that I weighed less than I did in high school. My body had to produce 40 ounces of milk (he got 1 bottle of formula) a day!

Weird to think about. I was wondering what was going on and thought I might have a thyroid problem.

But not to be concerned because once Christmas hit and he started solid foods, I gained 10 lbs. I forgot I couldn't eat ice cream every day. ;) Time to change the eating habits and hit the treadmill. Crazy how our bodies adjust.

HS Reunion

Over the holidays I was lucky enough to get together with these lovely ladies. How blessed I was to find these friends in high school!

Grandkids pic

Or at least trying to . . .

"I want that paci!"

The best we could get:

Why is this so hard?!

5 months old

Guess who took the picture of me with G? Probably better that way since it was first thing in the am. ;)

G-man is in the house

Back in the day at 4 months. You can see him barely squeezing in his 9 month clothes.



Sorry, E, another man has stolen a piece of my heart. How could you not want to eat those cheeks?!

Happy Birthday Cousin J!

So glad you came to our family 1 year ago!!!!

First Snow

First snow experienced this year in UT!

Snow angels, even if B needs new/longer snow pants and boots (she got them for Christmas).

What a trooper. Pure joy.

Admiring their creations. Can you feel the happy?