Boys are Doing Well

Sunday morning Lee put Tyler in the jumpy seat. He's been there before, but this was the first time he was jumping by himself. And boy was he jumping!!

The boys had their check-ups today. Will's 2 year and Tyler's 4 month. Phew- it was exhausting taking them together. Well, mainly because Will wanted to climb and jump off everything and refused to put his shoes on. He even tried climbing on the doctors rolling chair, of course he fell, flat on his stomach and scraped his chin. He was fine, just a little startled. But I figured if he was going to hurt himself, we were at the right place to do it.

Will is in the 25th percentile for weight (26 lbs, 12 oz) and 65th for height (35.25 inches). So he's tall and skinny.

Tyler is in the 66th for weight (16 lbs 6 oz) and 67th for height (25.75 inches).... and 82nd percentile for his head size. So both boys have their Daddy's big head. He's above average in all of his measurements.

Both are doing well and there were no concerns on our end, or the Doctor's, about each of them. Of course, they always monitor Will's seizures, but aside from that- all is well. Just the way we like it.

The other day Will kept trying to put a pen behind his ear. When I figured out what he was doing, I helped him out a little and then he said, "Just like Papa!" I don't know when he saw Dad with a pen behind his ear, but he remembered it. It was really cute.

And that's all I've got for today. :)

Surprise Baby Shower

I have been dying to mention this for awhile... but since the "surprisee" has access to this blog, I couldn't.  (I don't think she checks it regularly, but you never know).  Anyhow- last night we were finally able to throw a surprise baby shower for our friend, Roberta! (The shower was actually planned for a few weeks ago.... the weekend I had my kidney stone!! There was a lot of scrambling trying to cancel and reschedule it!!)

Roberta (and Travis and daughter Alida) moved into the area the same time we did last year. We've done a lot together... play dates, craft nights, trick or treating, etc and I think she's just an awesome person. She's due with their 2nd child (a boy) in late September, so we wanted to do something special for her.

We "lured" her here, telling her that Lee was out of town and Linda, her and I were going to have a movie night. The poor thing was mortified when she showed up in "comfy clothes" expecting a night of movie watching. She was definitely surprised!!

My friend, Devon, and I, are thinking of starting a party planning business (down the road. Devon is having a baby in November) and we thought it would be fun to do this together. Anyway- Roberta's husband is in school to be an air traffic controller- so that means the theme was airplanes!And we went with a light blue and red color scheme.

We had another friend make the cupcakes and she did a great job with the fondant airplanes and clouds. We had chicken salad sandwiches, fruit, cookies- just a glorious feast.

We played a few fun games. I'm not really a "shower game" kind of person... I will run out if you give me a diaper with melted chocolate bars and ask me to smell it. (yes, that's a real AWFUL game!!!)  For the first game, I had trivia questions about Roberta that everyone had to answer. There were 10 questions and the winner only got 4 right. Roberta has led a fun life and it was fun to get to know her more!

For the second game, I asked people to send me baby pictures. I took whatever I had (though I wish we had more, but that's ok) Then everyone had to guess who they were. This was cute and everyone had fun guessing. (I'm #2, in case you couldn't tell. haha)

For the final game, Devon wrapped a large candy bar in many layers of paper. Each layer had a question like: Who had had the most embarrassing experience? Then whomever the group deemed as most embarrassing (which was me, in the case of my skirt falling down at church) got to unwrap the next layer. The next person who answered that next question got to unwrap the next layer and so on. It was fun to get to know facts about the group as whole. Some questions were: Who has the most pets? Who has lived in the most states? Who has visited the most countries? Who dated their spouse the longest? etc.

I stole a bunch of pictures from Roberta's blog and had them running as a slide show on our tv. It was fun to watch!

And of course, we did what women do best- we just chatted and laughed.

picture 1: Tamie Shakespeare, Linda Reece, Dorte Marshall, Devon Case)
picture 2: Stacey Gilday, Jennie Pike, Liz Jones
picture 3: Petra Tester, Roberta Stout, Jessie Hill
picture 4: just Roberta. :) 


A good time was had by all. I love these women.

back row: me (and Tyler), Petra Tester, Jennie Pike, Stacey Gilday, Dorte Marshall, Linda Reece, Tamie Shakespeare, Devon Case. 
front row: Liz Jones, Jessie Hill (and Melody), Roberta Stout, Meghan Spann

Why Teachers Are Needed

This morning I was reviewing the weekly snap (sight) and family words with Amy. She has a spelling test every Friday (it's not really graded, but used more for practice).  They use the words a lot in the classroom, so the kids are very familiar with them.

So this is why I've decided that kids need a teacher, that is not their parent. Aside from doing a job that I'd never have the patience for, they can get your child to do things you can't! In all the years I've been working with Amy, she would never write in lower case letters. I tried and tried but she'd always revert back to upper case. Well, one week in Kindergarten and she writes in lower case. I was so shocked. I asked her about it and she said, "That's what my teacher wants us to do." As simple as that.

While she wrote her words, Will drew some letters. I, H, O and later on L and T. The letter 'I' is his favorite. He writes it everywhere. He also had a popsicle stick that he carries around and demands to sleep with. It's "his I." If he doesn't have it, he cries, "My 'I', I want my 'I'!" I told you, he's a little strange.

I loved that she then drew a cat and labeled it.

 Thank heaven for teachers. 

Picture Day

Today is picture day at Amy's school. I have no idea how the "school" ones will turn out, or even if we'll buy them, but I wanted her to look decent, just in case. Then I was afraid the school ones would turn out weird, so I took a few myself.

She's still loving school. They've been doing graphing, syllable clapping and a whole host of other things. She's loving it. And the "chart" is still working. Every morning she jumps to do her chores and never complains or whines about it. Yay for ice cream!

Will is funny when Amy's gone. In the mornings, when she gets dressed, he wants to get dressed too. He's even been picking out his own clothes (as you can see). And this morning also wanted pictures of himself taken.

Then he runs, puts his shoes on, and blocks the door. haha.

He doesn't like it that Amy leaves. So usually I have to hold him, while we wave goodbye on the front porch. But then he's fine and plays like normal. Sometimes he'll ask where she is. And he LOVES to go pick her up. (typically, Daddy drops off, Mommy picks up) Yesterday we ran to the store for a few items and when I drove into the garage he said, "No. No, house! Let's go." So we walked down to the park. It's nice having one in the neighborhood!

Has school made them sleep better??? Ummm, no. Well, kinda. First of all- our children don't sleep. We don't know what it is. We wear them out as best as we can, but still it rarely works. Amy, yes, will fall asleep faster now. Will, is a maniac. Mostly because Amy and him are in the same room now and he LOVES it. So he sings, talks, plays... all night. And Will has one volume- L.O.U.D. Most of the time Amy will just fall asleep despite Will's antics. However, since no matter what time he goes to bed, he wakes by 6am, I have enjoyed an early naptime. I put him down around 10am and he sleeps until around 1pm. 3 hours. That's niiiiiice.....! Now I'm trying to train Tyler to sleep at the time too. Of course, he won't sleep as long, but any little bit helps!

(Aunt Lynn, I'm not sure about Tyler vs Will's size comparisons- I'll have to look that up and get back with ya)

Will put this bowl on his head and said, "take a picture." I think he's getting the hang of things around here and knows mommy takes pictures of everything.

Yesterday I baked a few things. I actually froze it all, but just felt like baking.

First, I made cupcakes. Just a cake mix and a can of crushed pineapple (though I did add in some cream of coconut, just for the heck of it). That's it- no eggs, oil, nothing else. And by george, it worked! And they were moist and yummy!

Then I made some white chocolate cranberry cookies and my oh my, they were good! Probably the best I've ever made. If you feel like this is something you'd also like, click here for the recipe.

And then there's Tyler. Our little old man who just cracks us up and makes us smile. Amy liked the baseball hat on him.

As I was making dinner, I had him on the counter next to me. He started crying and I wasn't able to pick him up right away... so he cried... and cried... and cried..... Then he was quiet, so I looked over and he had fallen fast asleep!

ha! That made me laugh. We are learning that when he starts crying so much, he's really just tired. We tend to bounce him around and try to quiet him down, but really, for some reason, he just needs to cry it out. Worked at nap time too. Fine by me. I'm getting used to crying around here.

Another Month

Another month has gone by and Tyler is officially 4 months old now. Let's take a look back, shall we....

His face is slimming down but his smile is getting bigger! He's such a happy baby. For the most part he's always happy. Although lately he's been fighting going to sleep and that's driving us crazy. You almost have to give up and just let him cry.... and cry... and cry... and then he'll fall asleep. We're like, "Look, we know you are tired, just GO.TO.SLEEP." Oh well, such is life. He sleeps for a long time though, so I don't dare complain. I'm just learning to tune him out.

Amy and Will still adore him and "leave the baby alone" is a constant saying in our household. Tyler loves to sleep on his right side and flips over any chance he can get. We have to make sure he's buckled into his bouncy chair! He has come out of it a few times. He practically tries to crawl when he's on his tummy and almost jumps out of your arms when you hold him. He's definitely ready to GO!

This weekend also marked the first week without Amy. Although I was sad to see her go, it was really quiet without her. And since both boys take naps (and Amy didn't)... I'm not going to lie, the quietness was quite nice. Although she did have a bad day on Friday. She forgot her show and tell, she didn't have any ice cream money (they can get ice cream on Friday's) and there wasn't time for book buddies (a 3rd grade class that comes in a read with her class). So she came home Friday crying, disappointed and sad. It was really sad to see her like that! Linda (Dallin's mother) and I were talking and while we are ready for them to go to school and learn stuff..... we aren't quite ready for them to experience "life" and it's disappointments. I know it's coming, but still, it's sad, you know?

So I figured out a way for her to get ice cream on Friday's. Well, let's face it.... I'm a sucker and can't stand to see her so sad, so I would have given her the money anyway. But I remembered a book I read along time ago (and need to re-read) called "The Parenting Breakthrough" and thought "What would Merillee (the author) do??"  So I thought, "She needs to "earn" this ice cream money...." and so "The chart" was born....

Every day Amy has to make her bed, pick-up her clothes, stack their books and help mom. When she does each of those, she gets a sticker. A sticker on all of them means ice cream on Friday. But the real kicker is IF she does all her chores, she not only gets ice cream money for herself, she also gets ice cream money for Dallin as well. We really wanted to teach her the joy of working hard and blessing someone else and thought this would be a fun way to do it. And let me tell you, so far, it's worked! She jumped out of bed Saturday morning and got everything done without being asked. Today I said, "let's do your chores" and all she said was, "What can I help you with, Mom?" So far, so good. Ice Cream for you and your best friend can be quite motivating!

 And Will.... our tornado....

This is how he slept one night. I thought it was so funny. And yet so fitting. Can you see the angels? They are passed out next to him, and thankful he's finally asleep.

On Friday he insisted on wearing his bike helmet and no pants (of course). He'd go around the house and scream, "MOTORCYCLE!! Vrrooom, vvvrrrooommmm." Then he'd color quietly. Then he'd scream it again, then go back to playing quietly. Boys are weird.

He also LOVES to play on our phones. We don't have a iPad, but we are toying with the idea of getting one. Though we'd probably never see it. This boy LOVES the phone. "I play games? I play on phone?" is what he asks constantly. It amazes me how quickly these kids learn the finger swipe and all that goes with it.

So that's us gearing up for another week. Not too much planned, which is nice. I kind of feel like taking it easy for awhile. I started sewing again last night. I love to sew. And I'm getting the itch to finally decorate our bedroom. Maybe I'll do that this fall. I don't know, I'm just feeling like tackling some house projects. It's definitely my idea of fun. :)

Our Update

My cousin, Jenny, sent me a link to a cool experiment and I knew I had to try it with Amy. It was really simple, just put an egg in a cup of vinegar and let it sit. The vinegar eventually eats away all the shell... just leaving the membrane and insides. Below, Amy is holding the shell-less egg.

From there you can do many things to further the experiment. We had done step 1 on the Wednesday before my kidney stone, so by Friday, when I had gotten home, we just took it out of the vinegar and I let her hold it. Then we put it in the sink and popped it. I was amazed at how thick the membrane was! Anyhow- it was cool.

So far, Amy is loving school. Yesterday was her first full day and I think it wore her out. Apparently at one point, she was laying down and the teacher thought she was asleep. She told me she was really just 'bored of school." But I think she was just on overload. The long days take some adjusting to. She got a good nights sleep last night and seemed excited again this morning. I dread the day she doesn't want to go and is grumpy and fights about it.

It's been a little weird not having her all day long. In fact, during the boys nap times, it's been really quiet- which is definitely weird!!  Yesterday, for a treat, I made cupcakes in ice creams cones. I gave some to the neighbor's family (the man who always mows our lawn) as a thank you and we ate the rest. When Will ate his he said, "Mmmmmmm! Ma-wish-cious!" (which is his way of saying "delicious.") It's so cute when he says it.

Speaking of Will.... on Sunday, Mom had forgotten her church clothes, so her and Dad stayed home with all the kids. Yes, church was oddly quiet without our kiddos. It was amazing actually- we actually heard the talks! When we got home Mom said, "That Will! You have to keep your eyes on him! That boy has the devil in him!!" We died laughing. So true, so true. This little boy is something else! He already knows all his letters, their sounds, his numbers, color and shapes. Now he's started associated letters with words, for example, he'll hold up the letter K and say, "I kick the ball." He found the laminated letters I used for Amy and won't put them down. He sleeps with them, pretends they are airplanes or cars or just talks about them non-stop, "its a R, rrrrrrrrr, an R, play with R, jump R jump, etc." Its so funny. I have no idea where he gets all this or how he knows it all. He just picks it up on his own. I mean, whats next?? Teaching him to read?? What 2 yr old can read? It's so bizarre to me. He's way more brilliant than I can handle. He's at least a year ahead of where Amy was at this age. Maybe his big head is for something after all. He really needs to be in Kindergarten with Amy! Of course, he'd drive the teacher crazy and create chaos for everyone. We started calling him Tornado Will as you can always tell when he's been somewhere- and anywhere he's been, there's destruction. I am constantly cleaning after this kid.

And then there's sweet Tyler. I spend a large amount of my day with a protective hold on him. But even he wants to be up and going with his siblings.

He doesn't really like to be laid back in his bouncy chair anymore, but prefers the upright position of the bumbo chair. When you hold him, he's always standing and has started practically jumping out of your arms with his back arched. If you lay him on the ground, for tummy time, he really likes it and even somewhat army crawls/inches forward bit by bit. It's really comical. He also loves to be holding on to things... in this case, he loved the balloon. His smile lights up the room and we just love playing with him. His siblings do too. Today, he was dozing in his chair, when Will walked by him. I saw Tyler open his eyes, really big, really quickly, then when Will continued past, he closed them again. I had to laugh- he's developed a 6th sense for whenever Will is around!

The changing of the kids rooms has worked out well. Amy and Will finally (somewhat) settle down for bed at night and seem to like being together. At least they laugh and play like they enjoy it. It's actually cute to listen to them. Although since school started, Amy needs her rest, so we don't let them play too much. Tyler is also sleeping really well in the crib, most night's he'll do at least one 6-7 hour stint and then I'll feed him and he'll go back down for 4-5 hours. So I'm not complaining! He seems to prefer his bouncy chair in the day, and somedays never takes a super long nap. Which hey, if he sleeps at night, I'm ok with.

I'm doing better since the "stone" incident. I had the stent removed today and it wasn't too bad. Nothing is bad after you've experienced 3 child births and 1 kidney stone. haha. I've been trying to change my eating habits as well, so I don't have to go through that again. That and drink a LOT of water. I thought I did, but I guess with nursing, I wasn't drinking enough for that as well. I always said that if something "happened" to me, health wise, I'd consider it a wake up call and get back on track. Well, this was certainly a wake up call!

Lee heads back to school tomorrow. It's been great having him home this summer! And more specifically the past 2 weeks where he's been dissertation free. He's been a big help this summer and I'll miss that, for sure! He loves to take Amy to and pick her up from school. He just loves seeing her run with her backpack on. "She's just so cute," is what he says. haha. What a man. I've got a good one for sure!

So we are all well and surviving. It'll be nice to settle into a schedule, and I'm excited for that.

First Day of School

With all the kidney stone stuff, I was afraid that I would miss Amy's first day of school! I was so glad her first half day was scheduled for Friday, because had it been Thursday, I would have missed it!

After a breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes, it was time (finally!) for her new school clothes. This shirt fit a little weird, Mommy is going to have to add some creative stitching to keep it in place!

So excited!!

A picture with her brothers

Family time! 

 It was so nice that Mom was here, as we didn't have to bring the boys to school too!

Waving Good-Bye to Will- who was sad to see her go!

 Lee and I walked her down to her classroom, found her cubby and put all her stuff in it.

She found her seat and immediately engrossed herself in the books that were on it. She didn't even say goodbye to us and frankly could care less that we were even still in the room.

I did manage to get her to take a picture with her teacher, Mrs. Bradley.

And that was it. Lee was blubbering like crazy, seriously, he was. It was really sweet. Me? I was fine. I kind of feel bad that I didn't get choked up. I guess because it was only a half day, it didn't really hit me or something. She needs school so badly, and will excel so much, that I'm just excited for her. I'm sure when she'd gone all day, everyday, I'll really be sad!

Will asked for her many times this morning. We took him with us to pick her up. He wasn't really a fan of sitting in the car line! When she got in the car she was excited and told us all about a scavenger hunt her class took all over the school. She got to be the line leader at some point and was also excited about that.

So our little girl is officially a Kindergartner. It's crazy how time flies! I have to admit, having to be "on a schedule" will take some adjusting. For 5 years we've basically been able to do whatever we want, whenever we want. I'm slightly afraid that I'm going to forget to bring her and/or pick her up! But she's going to love school and that makes us very happy.

..... know what's NOT fun??

 A kidney stone! Man, people aren't lying when they say it's worse than child birth! I've had 3 kids... I'd take them again anytime over having another stone. And at least with child birth, afterwards you have a sweet baby to curl up with.

So Tuesday and Wednesday I was having cramping. I chalked it up to normal cramps, took some tylenol and tried to ignore it. Around 8pm Wednesday, the pain was piercing, stabbing and it was only on my right side. I thought for sure it was my appendix and it was going to explode, or worse, had exploded. Lee decided we needed to go to the ER, and he was right, we did. We called a friend, the Saint Mary Meredith (seriously, I think she should be sainted!), and she came to stay with sleeping Amy and Will. We took Tyler with us and headed to a long wait.

Seriously- I know that ER's are doing the best they can, with the staff they have, their resources, the rooms available, that people come in with non ER type emergencies, etc... but WHY is the wait so long?? Especially when you are in dire pain? I seriously thought I was going to die right there in the waiting room. I couldn't sit still, the pain was so severe, I had chills, a fever, I cried, I moved around, it was 2 hours of pure hell. I was never so thankful to hear the name, "Wade" in all my life. Although even getting into a room wasn't perfect... it took a good 30-40 more minutes to get some pain relief.  At this point I was certain my appendix has exploded.

After some pain relief (morphine spells niiiiiice) I could finally relax. They took me for testing and it turned out that my appendix was fine, but I had a severe kidney stone. I was shocked! First off, there was no pain in my back, where the kidney's are- it was all up front. Second- aren't kidney stones for the meat eating, milk and soda drinking people?? I don't do any of that.... and I drink a lot of water. So yes, I was shocked.

The Dr. said I would probably pass the stone, eventually, but because of it's size (the size of a man's thumb tip), it had been there for awhile and in turn had blocked that kidney for so long that my kidney was swollen and badly damaged. They don't do kidney stone removal at night (it was now about 3am) so after awhile they moved me upstairs into the 'hospital' for the night. Lee called mom and asked if she could come, and of course she left right away. She got to the house around 7am..... Saint Mary had stayed all that time and thankfully the kids actually slept!

Around 9am, they whisked me into surgery... literally that fast. I was asleep (Lee had gone home to drop Tyler off with mom), the nurse came in and said, "Ok, its time."  I hardly had a chance to text Lee and tell him I was headed to surgery. It's amazing what drugs can do.... the anesthesiologist said, "Ok, pick out a nice dream" and bam, I was out. A second later (more like an hour in real time) a different nurse was saying, "Wake up Sarah! You are done!" I felt good, sleepy but good. After surgery I never even needed any pain killers. Since the vein was damaged in the stone removal process, they put a stint in that will come out next week. The Dr. made it out that it was going to be incredibly uncomfortable, but its not too bad. At times I don't even know it's there.

I came home around 6pm that night. It was nice to come home! Although I have to admit- that quiet hospital room, in that comfy bed, and anesthesia still in me... was quite nice. I have needed a good night's sleep! Granted, this isn't what I had in mind to get it, but still, it was nice.

I couldn't nurse Tyler when I had the morphine or anesthesia, but luckily we had a few bags of pumped milk that got us by. Mom did use formula a few times Thursday, but by the time I came home, I was able to nurse again, and that wonderful. I prayed all of this wouldn't interfere with nursing him, he's only 3 months, I didn't want to have to give it up yet.

Anyhow- that's my kidney stone story. Not fun, not fun. I looked it up, and apparently they can be caused by sugar (or sugar additives- such as high fructose corn syrup). But one major thing was chocolate, and well, I have been on a bit of a chocolate binge lately. It's been my coping mechanism with the 3 children! I'm not sure that's "exactly" what caused it, but I'm sure it didn't help! So I guess I'll have to figure something else out! haha. Anyhow- I will definitely reform my eating as I never want to experience that again!

I am so thankful to Lee- who had to watch me in pain for all of those hours. For St. Mary, being willing to come and stay, all night, in my messy house, with my kids. And to my mom who willing (and able!) to leave at 3am to come help us out! And all of my ward family who have offered meals, babysitting and everything in between. We are so lucky to have our lives filled with such wonderful people. And yes, I can say, I'm doing great, practically back to normal. I even took a four hour nap today! I don't think I've slept for 4 hours, without interruption, in who knows how long! It was wonderful!! The kidney stone, not so much.

Sleep is Needed

The other day I found a great recipe (via pinterest) for biscuits. I have to admit, biscuits are a weakness of mine. A few years ago, I found a recipe that worked well, but it involved using the food processor and having everything 'just so.' This recipe however, didn't require any of that- in fact it insisted that you stir with your hands. I had to try it. And it was delicious!!

I even made a few batches and took them, along with some homemade strawberry freezer jam, and gave them to some neighbors. They dived right and insisted they were wonderful. Should you want to try.... the recipe can be found here.

Little Tyler has found his feet. It's so cute to see him playing with them all the time. I don't remember the other kids doing that.

I always think pictures of Daddy's sleeping with their kids is so cute. I have one of Lee and all the kids... one day I'll find them all and put them together.

Will had a recheck with his neurologist the other day. Everything seems to be going well. I asked how long he had to stay on the medication and when he thought he'd outgrow the seizures. He said the febrile seizures (fever related) are usually outgrown by age 5. As for the medication, they won't start tapering it off until 2 years after his last seizure. His last one was in January, but since he had that fever one in July, we are back at square one. Such a bummer. It's hard too because we don't really want him on the medication, but yet, we don't want him to have seizures. So I guess the medication is the lesser of the two evils. We just pray the medication doesn't have any long terms effects. It doesn't seem to have any short term effects, aside from sleep, maybe??? We still aren't sure.

He's been really into Legos lately. And he was quite proud of himself when he created a "F" and and "I." He was coloring yesterday and wrote a "J" and and "I." Sheesh. This kid is light years ahead of where I think a 2 yr old should be. I have my work cut out for me.

Amy had her screening for school on Monday. They just ask them questions, wanting to find out what they know... alphabet, sounds, numbers, patterns, etc, to see what level they are on. Afterwards the teacher that tested her look at me and said, "She did very well." I wasn't quite sure what that meant. And we found out that the same testing lady will be her teacher this year!! yay. She was super nice. Her name is Mrs. Bradley. Amy has a half day on Friday, a half day on Monday and her first full day is on Tuesday. We also just found out that Amy's good friend, Dallin, is also in her class! Yay- but heaven help that teacher! She is excited and soooo ready for school. The night before her testing, she couldn't sleep. When she wandered in around 3am she said, "Mom, I've read books, I've played quietly, I've tried closing my eyes, but I just can't go back to sleep." Something told me it was excitement and I asked her if that's what it was. She replied with, "I can't wait for school."

Aunt Donna sent this cute outfit for Mr. T. He wore it on Sunday and was a little grumpy during his photo session. I love pictures of them crying. I like the smiling ones too.

Amy got some new shoes for school.... and Will enjoyed wearing them. Silly boy. Actually, we compared their feet- they almost wear the same size!! Crazy, huh?! (Yes, we still can't keep pants on this boy)

Lee is home until the 20th. It's soooo nice that he finally isn't working on a dissertation during his break. In fact, I think he's officially graduated, as of last week. Woohoo. He stopped by his office today, only to find this on his door. His name change! It's amazing what the letters "D" and "R" do for a name, huh?

And me? Well, most days I feel like I'm barely hanging on. I am excited at the schedule that school will bring. It seems as if one of the kids never sleeps at night and while Lee helps out a ton, being the mother, I take the brunt of that. I'm always so exhausted and although I hate to say, "I can't wait until they get older"......  I can't wait until they get older. Amy finally sleeps solid (most) nights... still waiting on Will and of course Tyler is exempt, for the most part. Although he does better than Will lately. Today we are trying a different tactic..... Amy is always crying at night because she's alone and it's not fair that "me and daddy get someone to sleep with and she has no one in her room" and also Will has been getting really scared at night..... so we moved Amy's bed into Will's room, hoping to solve both of their dilemmas. We also finally set up the crib, in Amy's room, for Tyler. he's been in a pack n play and his jumpy seat in our room, but I think he's wanting the crib. Or at least, I'm ready to be done with him in our room. So we'll see how all of the sleep changes work.... Lee and I both are hoping it helps them a little. We. need. sleep.

Hoping to get our Sleep back

Amy's new school had a picnic the other night. We were excited to meet her teacher and other kids in her class.... only we didn't get to. The kindergardeners won't be assigned their classes until after their screening. So we won't know who Amy's teacher is until Tuesday. Bummer. In fact, for us, the picnic was really kind of pointless. It was super hot out, we didn't know anyone (except a few awesome friends from church) and it lasted until past their bedtime, so everyone was waaaay worn out.

I brought the camera hoping to get a picture of Amy and her teacher. But since that didn't happen, I only pulled it out once. This particular park recently got a new, massively huge and nice play area. This swing holds ton of kids and somehow they conned some older kid to push them. Amy's best friend, Dallin, is in the dark blue shirt. His brother, Caleb, is in the light blue. We hang out with them a LOT. The other day Amy said, "Are you and Dallin's mom friends?" I said, "yes, of course, why do you think we always hang out with them?" Amy said, "I don't know. I just thought me and Dallin were friends." I guess it hadn't occurred to her that when they play, Linda and I also hang out/talk/laugh uncontrollably, etc.

 

Amy starts school next week.... am I ready?? In one word, YES. I never thought I would be. I thought I'd be that mother that was sobbing at the fact that her baby was going to school. Yeah, not so. I am SOOOOO ready. She is getting so bored at home and in return is driving us all nuts. The age difference between her and Will has never been a problem until this summer. But they just aren't on the same level and it's hard to entertain them both, along with a newborn. Years ago, I remember Aunt Donna telling me that when it came time for Amy to go to school, I wouldn't mind it because I would know that she was ready. Well, that is completely true!! She needs stimulation far beyond what I can/have the time to teach her. 

Her recent thing is that she's starting to write words phonetically. 

Here she wrote "jungle"  (she knew her J was backwards)

"I'm a Dog"

There have been others, but I think they got thrown away. Between her and Will, I think we must be 30 drawings a day. No one send these kids toys anymore- we have an entire play room, and what do they want to do all day?? Color. That's it. They never even touch their toys.

And I thought this was funny.... Amy stole the camera and had a million pictures of her jungle drawing. Then she took a picture of herself.

My friend also told me about some early reader books. They are called "BOB books" and they are great. I haven't had much time to work with her and reading. Since she knows all of her sounds, she's pretty good at sounding things out, but these break it down even more. They are just basic, "Bob. Bob sat. Mat. Mat sat" etc type words but she really likes them. She flew through the first 5 and every night she reads another. (there are 12 in the 1st set). They build on each other so by the end, they are reading sentences. Anyhow, we are really enjoying them. And since Will also knows his sounds, once Amy goes to school, I can't wait to work with him too.

I heard Tyler fussing and came out to see this. Ummm... I guess we should start strapping him in!!

Actually, he rolled over last week and has now done it both ways, front to back, back to front. When I told this to Mom she was like, "Oh ok....." Then a few minutes later she said, "How old is he now?" I said, "3 months." She said, "Oh then he is right on schedule. For a moment I thought that he should have done that a long time ago, I always think he's older than he is." It's true, Tyler is an old soul. Sometimes he even looks like an old man. But in this lifetime, he's only 3 months, so rolling over now is right on schedule. haha. We actually think that he can't wait to be mobile. When you hold him he squirms like crazy and he's always kicking and moving. No doubt trying to keep up with his siblings!!

And Will?? Well, he's driving us nuts. Sooooo much energy! He likes to pick on everyone (Amy) and make them cry (Tyler). His cute face is seriously the only thing that keeps him alive sometimes. He's talking so much and it's so cute to hear him jabber. And jabber he DOES! He still won't wear pants, but I'm just glad he keeps his diaper on.

Lee finished his summer semester yesterday. He liked the class (Crime Scene Investigation) and I think he's slotted to teach it again next summer. It'll be nice to have him home this month before the college starts at the end of the month. This morning, he and Amy had a tea party while watching the Olympics (the rest of us were taking a nap). How adorable was that!?

Speaking of the Olympics... is anyone else ready for them to be over?? We are, just so we will finally get some sleep! We are soooo addicted and stay up way to late every night watching them. We even know what's going to happen and we STILL stay up late watching. Late nights and kids that won't sleep past 6am is not a good combination! One more week and we'll get our sleep back. haha.