Jake at 9 months

Ohhhhhhhh, my little bright-eyed boy!

He is such a light and joy to our family. I always talk of him being my sweet spot in the day, but in truth he is that for all of us. Daddy loves to nuzzle him, Ella loves to make him giggle, Maddie loves to hold him every chance she gets, and Ty loves to wrestle him. We are smitten, I tell you!

 

Some things of note over the last month or so... my little froggie watched while I shovelled snow.

He is my new floor cleaner! I know, this is actually disturbing! Needless to say, I sweep constantly to keep things out of his mouth.

If he ever disappears, this is the first place to check.

Daddy was told he could wear 'anything,' so of course he found summer clothes to go with his knee socks.

Jake loves eating with all the kids at the bar. I love that he can feed himself so well.

It's nice when I don't have to prepare something separate for him--his first time eating spaghetti and broccoli!

Ty hasn't made the switch yet, but someday Jake will actually get to sleep in the crib instead of a pack & play. Poor thing.
 

Teeth are bugging him! That little tongue is often scoping things out... and we got a shot of the two that have come through!

Baby is getting good at waving.

And clapping. Yay Jakey!

 

He had his first ride on the car... more of that to come. 

I have a picture of Ty in this same outfit at 9 months, so I tried to re-create it with Jake. The background and lighting were not ideal, but he sure is a cute boy!

Latest and Greatest

Life is good. Everyone is healthy (knock on wood) and happy. There is not much to report but many sweet moments to remember.

Ella is reading "chapter" books! She loves the early readers that her teacher has given her with book collections because she feels like Maddie now! She blows through them and has even been reading "in her head". I have to slow her down and read out loud to make sure she is getting everything, but she is happy to be like big sister. It's fun for me to have another reader to read to the little ones!

The last snow seems long ago... wishing and praying it will come again.
 

The kids have been enjoying the sled run on our front hill (starting on the slide behind Ty).

Ty is loving his dress-up box. He thought it was awesome to be a dinosaur while he watched Dinosaur Train.

I am trying to renew my efforts to craft with the kids during the day. When Maddie was Ty's age I think we made something every day. Ty loves the time with Mommy and it's good for his little imagination and fine motor skills.

We do enjoy the sunshine, and soak it in when we can! Ty really needs a boy bike this summer.

Ahhhh, Vitamin D.

Sweet hugs. These two are at each other's throats lately, so sweet moments are monumental.

We've been enjoying lots of play dates with neighborhood friends, making good use of all the dress-ups and jewelery the girls have stashed up.

The boys remind me to get down on the floor and play sometimes too. They are so yummy!

Love & Joy

I am kind of loving January. It has such a fresh, clean, new feel to it.

This was our Christmas card this year, for those who haven't seen it. We used our beautiful new family photo by Noelle, and I just wanted it to say Love & Joy.
 
This is my mantra for 2014.

When the going gets tough as a mom, I hold on to these ideas. Love comes first. It comes before yelling in anger, before time-outs and punishments... Now I don't always get these in the right order, but sometimes I remember that a child acting up might just need a hug because I've been so busy that I haven't gotten on their level to tell them I love them, and they are calling out for attention. That is not to say that there isn't room for real consequences, but just a reminder to myself (many times a day) that I love these little people with all my heart and my words and actions need to show it.

I have a little chalk board in my mud room that I look at often. Originally I intended to write inspirational quotes there and change them monthly or so, but it turns out that the one I first wrote there continues to be too relevant that I can't change it:

"The trick is to enjoy life. Don't wish away your days, waiting for better ones ahead." -Marjorie Pay Hinckley

No matter what my day is like, there is good to be found in it.

Even though Tyler picked on Jake all morning, later he brought him a favorite and shared it with him.

Ella told me last night at the table that she loved dinner, and said "Yay for Mommy for making it! Let's give her a round of applause!" and everyone clapped in circles. Dinnertime is not always a happy time, but I'll take a good one now and then.

She also told me that I am exactly who she would have picked to be her mommy in heaven. I'm so glad.

I've been teaching Maddie that she is a big girl and can do lots of things to help without me asking, so yesterday morning I came to the kitchen to find her hair brushed and the breakfast dishes laid out. Sometimes I think she just needs a nudge of confidence to know that I believe in her.

Potty training Ty has been rough, but the last week or so he has finally mastered it. I would always tell myself "this too shall pass" while I was cleaning up accidents, and it finally has. Last night we forgot to put him in a bedtime diaper, and he woke up dry! He's getting to be such a big boy. My favorite silly thing he says right now is "What's it called again?" when he can't remember something. How can you not love this silly face?

Jake is always my sweet spot. His gummy grins, rolls, chubby cheeks, and preference for me over anybody else are so endearing. I might just have to keep having babies so I can always have that little one to love! (ha ha)

We've been enjoying the sunsets lately, and the kids were excited that this had everybody's favorite color in it: red for Maddie, pink for Ella, and blue for Ty.

Yes, my life is pretty full of love & joy.

Jake at 8 months

I am feeling bad I don't have very many pictures of Baby Jake over the last few weeks. I need to mend my ways, but for now here is a little report.

Bubba Chubba turned 8 months old on Christmas Day. With all the hulabaloo this is the only photo I grabbed of him, blurry and flashed out as it is, it will have to do.

He got his first tooth on December 29th, at Grandma's house. Thankfully he wasn't fussy, but I knew they were close and felt a little point sticking out! 

This one is blurry too but I had to document the scooching. He is my earliest mover and has perfected the art of scooching on his tummy. He is pretty fast! When I get in front of him he makes this face with his nose wrinkled up and his cute little grin.

Maddie has been doting on him a lot and still carries him all over the house. 

We tried the bouncer again the other day and his loved it. He is getting so strong, maybe because he's eating his spinach.

I'm Popeye the Sailor Man!

Vacation: Visits and Projects

It has been nice to have everyone home for vacation. Truthfully some days were crazy with everyone in my hair, but most of the time it was fun to have Maddie home all day to play with her siblings, and Mike home to work on projects.

I mentioned for Christmas he gave me frames for the front room, along with about 50 blue paint chips to choose from. He knows I have a really hard time with big decisions like this, so he walked me through narrowing it down by tossing colors I didn't like. He even painted big sections of each wall in two different colors to see them in different lights.

I decided I liked the darker one, but even after all that I still felt unsure when it was done! It is growing on me and I'm glad he took the bull by the horns and worked so hard to get it done. I have a friend (yes you Hannah) that paints everything all the time and makes it look so easy, but I think it's a pain!

My grandma had her annual holiday party after Christmas in Malad, and from there we went up to my parents house for a few days. I always like having them to ourselves.

Mike did a project for her too... he's good like that. He hung her new mirror and curio cabinet for her jewelry and the girls loved looking through her treasures and helping her hang it all.

The next project was sorting through dance costumes!! My mom was the seamstress for my dance teacher growing up (actually up until a few years ago!) and has literally sewn thousands of costumes. She has a big collection from four girls dancing over the years, and decided it was time to make some space in her storage room!

It was so much fun for me to look through all of them again and remember the dances and experiences that went with them. Such good memories of days gone by. Sometimes I lament that the talent I spent so much time on when I was young has never turned into anything useful as an adult, but I wouldn't trade those memories.

My girls loved it too! Now they have a whole new tote of dress-ups!

These two above and below were actually my mom's and I wore them as dress-ups when I was little. 

 

We didn't go very many places while we were there, but spent quality time together. The kids may have gotten a little stir crazy, but they do at home too... good for their imaginations. We went to dinner at Johnny Carino's on New Year's Eve, then came home and made cookies.

Tyler really warmed up to Titan over the visit and we found them snuggled up together on the couch.

We watched the ball drop a little early (thanks youtube!) and banged pots and pans for all the world to hear.

  

Ella is completely in love with Grandma's kitty Ozzie. She shadowed her at all times and wouldn't let her outside for long, much to Grandpa's chagrin. 

We couldn't stay forever, as much as I love being taken care of. It seems like we always stay just long enough for me to slowly get used to being taken care of my by parents again, and then I have to face reality and go back to being the parent myself.

Grandpa is silly and pulled Ty's pants up to his chin on our way out.

Mike forgot his sunglasses, so he wore mine till the sun went down. Starting 2014 in style!