This Guy

- is loving First Grade.
- is a ladies' man. Every year that he has been in school I have several of the girls' mothers tell me that the girls just love him.
- is reading really well. He claims that he hates to read his school books, but he gets so excited every time he passes a theme off. He is currently on theme 8. There are only 10 themes.
- has improved in baseball during Fall Ball. He started machine pitch and is loving it.
- is a month into piano lessons. He is very careful in his practicing, asking me to help to make sure it is right.
- is still into Harry Potter. Last year he had a HP birthday party and most of his gifts from Santa were HP. I read the first 4 books to him, but we haven't had as much time to finish book 5. I love that he loves the books as much as I do and I'm hoping we'll get more time to read it together.
- is my easy-going kid. He is easy to please and is quick to help out.
- is affectionate. He is often asking Emmett for kisses and will still climb into my lap for a snuggle.
- is my favorite soon-to-be 7-year-old!


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The Baby

- isn't a baby anymore! He'll be two in a couple weeks.
- has a temper. He screams at the top of his lungs when he gets mad and has been know to hit and bite his brothers when they push him too far.
- is a very picky eater. What he does like is toast, Dino-nuggets, apples, go-gurt, and junk food.
- has a sensitive tummy. He had issues for about a month this summer and has been on a heavy duty probiotic for about a month now. Since the tummy troubles, he has stopped drinking milk.
- is talking more and more. A lot of it is jabber, but some of the words that are easy to understand are hi, hello, ba-bye, more, please, no, do, boys, dad, mom, car, dog, hat, shoe, 'mere (come here), see, bite, bug, bird, and various animal and vehicle noises.
- still has a binkie, but only at bed time. I am hoping to be rid of it by his birthday.
- loves Sesame Street and The Backyardigans.
- is tech-savvy. He knows how to turn on my iPad, unlock the screen, start the Netflix app and navigate to his favorite shows. He can also adjust the volume. It's cute and maddening at the same time.
- loves loves loves to be outside. I dread the cold weather when we won't be able to go outside. He has a different personality when he is outdoors. He stops whining and is actually happy and busy.
- has been a bit of a challenge. With the older boys in school he is often bored and pulling on my finger for something. I get very little done during the day and I have been trying to adjust my expectations so that I don't feel like I'm getting behind in my responsibilities.
- is a blessing to our family. He gives the best hugs and kisses and I am thankful he is ours.



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He

He:
- Is getting so tall. The tallest boy in his class. I predict he will be taller than me by age 12.
- is a voracious reader. He reads everything. Currently it is the Harry Potter series. Love that we can talk about the books and discuss our favorite parts.
- still lives for Lego.
- is in the Minors this year in baseball. His team is the mud cats. I am very proud of the commitment he has shown and how he has worked hard. It was a big change for him, in years past he got to be on the same team as his friends. This year there was tryouts and the coaches picked teams. So he ended up on a team where he only knew one other boy. He's done great at making new friends.
- loves to have fun. Video games, playing outside, being a goof with his friends. You name it and he can make it fun!
- likes to draw. Gets that from his dad.
- is a good boy and will always be my first baby (even though he'll be 9 next month....sniff,sniff).


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Back in the saddle again

Well, after falling off the blogging wagon for quite a while, I have set a goal for myself to try to keep up a bit more. I'm not promising anything big, but Mike got me an iPad for Christmas, so I can actually veg in front of the T.V. And blog at the same time. For instance, right now I'm watching a VH1 special on Foo Fighters while composing this post. I am such a multi-tasker!

I will probably take the next few posts to update on each person in our little family, but for now let me just say that we are all doing well. Very busy but happy and healthy. If you are still reading this poor neglected little blog, give me a shout out in the comments. It's always fun to know who your audience is! Here is the most recent family picture, taken at Thanksgiving at my parents' house in Idaho.

Merry Christmas

TodaysMama Blog Contest

Hello everyone! I know, long time no blog. But I had to take the time to try to win an awesome prize from Gamestop and TodaysMama! Here goes....

Mama’s Holiday Wish List Meme

TodaysMama and GameStop are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.

1. What is your holiday wish for your family? Honestly this year I'd be happy if we succeed in teaching our children more about being thankful for what they have and that the holidays are about giving, not receiving.

2. What is your Christmas morning tradition? We all go downstairs at the same time so we can see the kids' reactions. We let them check out all their santa stuff, then we make a breakfast casserole and after breakfast open presents.

3. If you could ask Santa for one, completely decadent wish for yourself, what would it be? Probably an iPad or a Silhouette. I could think of a ton of cool stuff to use the Silhouette for, and the iPad just looks fun to play around on.

4. How do you make the holidays special without spending any money? We have been trying to figure out that this year. We are planning on doing a bunch of fun activities with the boys - maybe lights at temple square, hayride, sledding, etc.

5. What games did you play with your family growing up? I remember playing Chinese Checkers, and a lot of Pictionary. We weren't a big board game family but on occasion we'd play.

6. What holiday tradition have you carried on from your own childhood? Putting out cookies and milk for Santa. I wish I could say more but my Christmases were often spent at Grandparent's houses and since we live out of state from everyone we kind of have to come up with our own traditions.

7. Where would you go for a Christmas-away-from-home trip? If I could choose I'd say probably a Disney vacation. I hear that Disney at Christmas is awesome.

8. Check out GameStop and tell us, what are the three top items on your GameStop Wish List this year?

• DSi XL Bundle - a certain 8-year-old wants a DS from Santa this year
• PlayStation 3 Bundle - a certain 40-year-old wants a Blu-Ray player from Santa this year
• Zumba Fitness for the Wii - because I am still trying to drop the Emmett baby weight and my neighbor has been after me to go to Zumba with her. I just haven't been able to make time to get out of this house and actually go to a class. So maybe the class can come to me! :)

So that's it! Hope to post again soon!

Guess who finally got to meet his brothers?

When we got to the hospital this morning we were pleasantly surprised by Dr. Allred telling us they were letting Emmett come home today. We figured it would be Tuesday at the earliest, so we were so excited! The boys were so happy to finally meet their brother. (Coop isn't sick, I brought home some masks and he was playing doctor). They both flutter around him saying things like - 'His eyes are open' or 'he moved his hand!'. Cooper said Emmett looks like a toy. I had to make sure he understood that Emmett IS NOT a toy. :)

Funny story about Liam -Mike and I have been wondering for a week now how we are going to explain nursing to the boys in a way that they will respect my privacy, but not be too curious. Well, when I came downstairs this morning with some milk I had pumped, and the breast shield still attached, Liam said 'I know what that is. You put it on your chest and it gets milk out.' 'How do you know that?' I asked. 'I read it in a book,' he said. "What book?" I asked. "The one that was in your room. I read it while I was locked up like a prisoner. (he was in time out on the bench in our room)." Turns out that Mike didn't notice when he put Liam on the bench that my guide to breastfeeding was sitting right there too. So not only did Liam learn a little more than we wanted him to, he also got an eyeful from the pictures. He proceeded to tell me how he tried to 'hand express' milk from his own chest and it didn't work. So we had to have a talk about how it is just for mommies and it is private and not something we share with our friends at school or church. Oy. He also thinks its cool that he can spell Emmett's name and that Emmett will only have to learn 3 letters to learn to spell his name.

So all is well. We follow up with our regular pediatrician tomorrow on the billirubin counts and to make sure all is okay with baby Emmett. He has had a hard time settling down tonight, I think he's afraid of missing any of the excitement. But we are so blessed to have him home and it honestly seems strange to me that just a week ago he wasn't a part of our family. He just fits in so well and it seems so normal to have him in our home.