Saturday Night at Our House

Saturday nights at our house are pretty exciting.

There's dancing, singing, tickling, giggling, shrieking (Ellie), puzzles, reading and picture taking.

 

 Doing puzzles about fruit.

 

There was tickling.

 The first time Greg tickled Isaac he laughed, then said, "That funny!"  We tried to get him to say it again for the camera ('cause it's adorable), but no luck.

Isaac showing off his dance moves.  Which includes (and is pretty limited to) stomping.

Then no night is complete without singing and dancing from the girls.

(They all picked out their Christmas pajamas to wear, thus the Christmas carols.)

Four Weeks Already?!

It hit me this morning that Owen is four weeks old now.  That seems so old!
I was taking pictures of him all wide eyed and awake, and the pictures kinda reminded me of Annie.  So, I pulled up pictures of each of my kids around a month old . . .

Owen on top, then Annie, Ellie (who was one CHUNKY looking baby, which is funny, 'cause she was by far the smallest), and Isaac

I can't get over how huge Isaac looks nowadays . . . he's like this mammoth child who I swear was my tiny, little boy just yesterday!  Here's a comparison picture of my two boys -- so you can see why Isaac seems so massive to me now!

Cousin Bailey came over to visit today . . .

Having Bailey come along a few months before Owen was born was really good for Isaac.  He's really fond of Baby Bailey.  Of course, once Owen was born, Bailey and all other babies were promptly renamed "Baby Owen."  His default is to call her 'Baby Owen', but he will call her Bailey if we prompt him.  He cracked Talina and I up today though when he referred to Bailey as "Baby Owen Sister".  She is now officially the female version of his little brother :-)

The two younger babies were on their stomachs doing some 'tummy time', and Isaac threw himself down and participated. :-)  Owen surprised us by rolling himself over one time, but didn't' do it again.  Four weeks old though, not too bad for rolling over for the first time :-)

Here's Owen tonight refusing to fall asleep . . .  he's so bright eyed when it's well past bedtime . . .

 

Absolutely nothing exciting happens in this video -- he's only four weeks old afterall -- but I couldn't resist getting some 'four-week-old-milestone' video.

 

Then, just 'cause this cracked me up, I came across this picture of Annie when she was two years old.  The shirt along with the face and stance made Greg and I giggle . . . 

Name That Baby

Name that baby . . . here's my four kids as babies . . . anyone able to correctly identify all four?

Merry Christmas!

I know I've plastered these all over Facebook already, but I can't get over how much I love 'em!  So, here they are again . . .

Random Pictures and Proud Mama Moment

Greg was working late last week, so I threw a towel down on our bed and let the kids have a 'picnic' for dinner while we watched a movie.  Then they got to all take a bath together.  They had so much fun!

My little helper!  He's LOVING to wash walls and vacuum anything!

Mmmmm, cupcakes!  The kids were pretty psyched about the brownies and cupcakes at our Labor Day celebration at Grandma's house!

Isaac's becoming more of a bookworm by the day -- here he is reading on Labor Day with Aunt Talina and Uncle David.

Isaac and Ellie got a hold of one of Uncle Cody's old helmets.  Ellie is a tiny bit crazy.  :-)

Do NOT get between Ellie and her basketball -- she will take you DOWN!

The girls LOVE going out in the garden with Grandma!

Unrelated to our Labor Day festivities, this weekend has given me one of my great 'beaming with pride' motherhood moments.  Annie gave a talk in Primary this last Sunday.  We'd read through it a few times, she read it on her own, and we practiced it aloud.  I was a bit nervous though about it taking too long, since she was reading it a bit slow and about the kids not being able to hear her 'cause she was speaking so softly.  Primary came though, and with only one small stumble, my little girl read her talk from start to finish perfectly.  She spoke right into the microphone, at a perfect tempo and volume.  She's a born public speaker!  She'll also be singing a small solo in Sacrament Meeting in a couple weeks.  The confidence I saw in her as she got up and gave her talk was one of those things that made this Mom so happy I felt like I was gonna burst.  :-)

And if you want to check out Annie reading the talk she gave in Primary last week, it's posted on youtube now . . . at over 3 1/2 minutes long though, I'm guessing Aunts and Grandmas are the only ones who'll make it through . . . :-)  (While making the video she tried to do more from memory, which made her stumble a bit more, but it was so cute!)

Comparisons

Isaac, Ellie and Annie -- all around 13.5 months old.  His sisters had a bit more hair than him.  But not much.  :-)

Last Week in Pictures . . .

My baby boy last Monday, right after getting rid of the oxygen -- you can see his little 'circles' from where the 'dots' on his face holding the oxygen were . . . and you could see them for days!  That stuff was hard to get off!

Last Tuesday, Ellie was feeling so sick, she put her pillow down at the foot of my bed, pulled some of our blanket off the bed, and fell asleep.

Friday -- Dress up!

Since we weren't well enough to play outside, we got all dolled up and had a fashion show.

 

The best part about this picture:  The day after I took it my Dad came over.  My parents are getting ready to go on another Mexican cruise, and my Dad said, "I'm not going to bring back any more Mexican dresses for your girls."  "Um, OK." "They never wear them, it was just a waste of money!"  "They do too wear them."  "I've never seen it."  "Well, are you here every day?"  "No, but I've never seen them wearing them."  "Yeah, for your information, they wore them yesterday."  "Yeah right."  "No really," as I grab my camera which we just happened to be standing next to, "Look are these?"  Ha!  He looked so sheepish.  :-)

Valentine's Day -- Daddy reading to the girls at bedtime.

Annie complete with nebulizer treatment.

This morning, Annie getting her second breathing treatment for the day.

Dino Museum Fieldtrip

Annie was very excited to go on her latest fieldtrip for preschool.  Ellie was even more excited as she put on her sister's extra preschool shirt from last year.  But, of course, as we got in the van to drive to the museum, Ellie started crying, "No!  Going to Ms. Jenny's house!"   I hadn't realized she thought she was getting on the shirt because she was going to actual preschool -- I thought I'd explained the whole fieldtrip thing, but apparently Ellie was quite distraught we weren't just getting ready to go play at the preschool. 

Once we got there though, Ellie cheered up, while playing with some of her favorite friends . . .

Annie, Ellie and Sarajayne pretending to be gorillas.

Always the favorite -- playing in the dinosaur bones digging area.

Two sets of sisters -- Sarajayne and Kate, and Ellie and Annie.

One of Ellie's meltdowns.

Best friends.  And a triceratops.

Annie being all nurturing and stuff with Ellie at the erosion table.

Kate, Ellie, Annie, Sarajayne and Kian checking out the fish.

Annie & Ivy bouncing to see how much they could make the scale register.

Isaac and I were there too, but he was strapped to me in either the front carrier or a sling, so there are no pictures.  I attempted to get him down for a nap for a solid TWO HOURS.  And it never worked.  Then we drove home -- not a short drive either, and in all that time he refused to fall asleep too.  He's six months old, and the first time I got him down for a nap that day was at almost 2PM.  My kids are sleep-hating freaks!  :-)

And later that day, my girls were just having fun playing in front of the cameras.  I have several videos of them singing, dancing and talking -- but they're all ridiculously long and too much of a pain to upload.  :-)

I Would Like My (Relatively) Well Mannered Children Returned Please . . .

OK, so is it the full moon or something?!  'Cause my children are just barely this side of possessed.  It's nonstop crying, whining, screaming, fighting and sobbing around here the last few days.  I can't set Isaac down without him crying so hard he forgets to breathe.  The girls are smacking each other around constantly, which is actually quite unusual for them.  Annie wakes up so grumpy that I'm half tempted to go put her immediately back in bed and lock the door behind her.  Ellie is so extremely short tempered and volatile that she's a tiny hurricane of extreme emotions, leaving a wake of destruction (physical, emotional and mental) in her wake.  Even the messes they make seem to be worse than normal.  And I can't keep up with them!  Isaac won't let me set him down without screaming bloody murder, so I'm doing most of my housework single handedly, and I'm getting more behind by the hour.  I tried to work out this morning (needing an endorphin rush something fierce) and ended up getting so distressed by his frantic shrill cries from his (normally beloved) exersaucer, and the girls screaming at each other and threatening each other with bodily harm, that I only made it about 5 minutes in before I nearly melted down and had to shut off the DVD to tend to my needy, ornery children. 

Have I mentioned I haven't showered or changed into regular clothes yet today?

Isaac's only letting me type this, 'cause I'm holding him up one handed so he can stare at himself in the mirror above my computer.  It won't last long.


Over the last several days Greg has got to enjoy several phone calls with a minimum of two children shrieking uncontrollably in the background, and empty threats by his wife of, "You better get home on time tonight, 'cause I can't guarantee I'll be here even 10 seconds after 4:30 comes around." 




Oh, it helped quite a bit that I went to a cake decorating class last night, while Greg stayed home, got all three children down for bed and then cleaned, mopped and vacuumed the entire main floor.  (Probably out of fear I really would take off after another day of such torture.  Either way, he's amazing.)  I felt very refreshed, rejuvenated in a cleaner home, plus I proved myself to be a cake decorating genius (not really, but I was way impressed by my first attempt nonetheless.)  Of course, then the children all woke up this morning just as pissy and my mood has turned foul again.



Please tell me it's the full moon . . . and that things'll get back to normal soon . . .

Yet More Comparisons . . .

. . . 'cause I find them kinda fascinating.

Top row: Ellie, Isaac, Ellie.  Middle row:  Isaac, Annie, Isaac.  Bottom row: Ellie, Annie, Isaac.

Edited to add:  They can't be that similar looking, 'cause Ellie can name every single baby correctly without any help or even more than a second to think about it . . .

Performance Artists . . .

Ellie singing for the camera . . .

Isaac 'talking' . . .

 

Ellie singing (while chewing a gigantic wad of gum) with Isaac 'accompanying' in the background . . . 

Ellie spinning . . .

My hyper little ham . . .

Isaac and his 'big' sister Ellie . . .

You Better Be Good, I'm Telling You Why . . .

So, I may have dropped a couple 'gentle reminders' that Santa's watching and wants us to be nice and try new foods, but I haven't ever really invoked much Santa-wrath at our house.   Which made Ellie's earlier comment unexpected and even more hilarious . . .
So, it's Christmas Eve morning and Annie's been ON ONE all freaking day.  Teasing her sister, crying and whining, throwing fits.  It's been fun, let me tell you :-).  Anyway, after shoving her sister, I put her in time out.  She's screaming and freaking out, and I come back out of the room and comfort poor Ellie who'd just been knocked over.  Ellie looks up at me, sadly nods her head, and says, "I guess Annie's on the naughty list now."  HA!

Thanksgiving Pics and Other Stuff

So, I totally forgot to bring my camera to Thanksgiving this year.  So, that night I hurry and snapped a few pictures of Isaac in his 'Baby's First Thanksgiving' shirt . . .

Which is the same shirt Annie wore her first Thanksgiving in 2006 . . .

(She was 6 months old in these pictures vs. Isaac's 4 1/2 months old on Thanksgiving)

It wasn't until today that I remembered that Ellie did not get to wear the traditional 'Baby's First Thanksgiving' shirt . . . she was wearing a matching sweater with Annie and we also were living my in-law's basement while we were in the middle of our move to this house, and I couldn't find it.  :-(

Here's Ellie's first Thanksgiving, 2008, 6 months old.

Then, just for fun, I put together a bunch of 4 1/2 month old pictures of the kids --

Isaac is the first and third row, Annie's the second row and Ellie's the last row.

And the last few weeks in pictures --

Isaac and his sisters, who had buried him in toys in his bouncy chair (notice there's about 15 toys on his lap)

Daddy and Isaac in his monkey pajamas.

Annie and her baby doll.

 Isaac sitting up in his bumbo chair.  Usually he just tries to use it to propel himself into a standing position, so I can never walk more than 2 feet away when he's in it.

Already fascinated with toy trucks . . . 

 Annie and Isaac marveling over the truck.

Annie in her Thanksgiving day outfit.

 Ellie already in her pajamas by the time I got the camera out on Thanksgiving.

 

Black Friday shopping -- I went to Kohl's around 8:30AM.  Nobody was in line.  Shopped until 10AM, when everyone decided to get in line at the same time.  I got both of the girls new night gowns.  Ellie will ONLY wear nightgowns to bed, and always kicks off her blankets, so I constantly worry about her freezing at night.  So, long sleeve nightgowns in a warmer material seemed like a good idea.  I bought those for the girls, and long sleeve Sunday dresses for the cold weather.  So basically all my 'Christmas' shopping was for now, and not Christmas.

Here's Ellie in her new princess nightgown . . .

 Sisters in their 'matching' gowns . . .

 Isaac and Daddy . . . this outfit of Isaac's is one of my FAVORITES now, as it totally brings out the blue in his eyes.

 "Look Mom, I found my feet!"

He's big into holding onto his feet, but rarely brings them to his mouth like his sisters always did.  He doesn't seem nearly as flexible as them either, as his feet barely make it to his mouth whereas his sisters could basically fold their bodies in half and shove their whole foot in their mouths . . .

Here's Annie at 5 months -- much more bendy :-)