It’s Tru … he was nice

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You see… Tru is a toddler. He’s almost 2. And he’s the youngest of 4. Which means this kid has learned to hold his own. With the exception of “Stop it” (like in the middle of family prayer)… and a few other incidents… Tru was rather nice yesterday. It ought to be noted. Yes, every day has good moments, but overall… some days are rougher than others. Yesterday he was a pleasant child. He must have been constipation free and pain free (both issues for this wee babe).

We ate lunch outside and this was my favorite picture of Truman. I’m not sure what this expression. Perhaps it was concern about a bug in the near vicinity. He’s obsessed with bugs and needs me to kill them before he can rest. Perhaps it was concern over eating the watermelon rind. He just kept going on that piece. But he’s very expressive, that’s for sure.

As for these photos… just a few randoms from the last week. He gobbled up that corn-on-the-cob with vigor. He’s really loved his blanket lately too. I think part of that has to do with 4 eye teeth trying to come in. I think he likes to bite on his blanket. Also – see where he parked himself when we had family wii sports night. I’m thinking Uncle Wade, the official family eye doc, wouldn’t approve of his close proximity to the tv.

Oh, Tru… how cute you are. We do love you… especially all the snuggles. You’re definitely all-boy with the inability to be very soft, but you’re a smart little guy… perhaps too smart for your own good – at this point of your life. But we love having you in our fam.

Here are 2 videos of Tru.

1. Singing the inspector gadget theme song.

2. Loving his blanket, saying his name, and talking about broccoli.

BFF’s

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Hannah has a darling friend, Abbey, from our ward in Tennessee. They are a month apart in age and have known each other since age 4 – 2007. Their personalities are both so sweet and creative. Yesterday Abbey and her family came for a visit. They are so good to make the effort to see us when they come to Utah. Both cute girls had a card and present for each other. I hope someday they’ll want to be roommates at college.

Teacher of the Year & Highlight of our day

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Low and Behold… who showed up at our door today? Abe’s First Grade Teacher, Mrs. Nuttall. She brought 6 cds full of photos from the school year. Abe was so glad to see her. On the last day of school he was in tears because he would miss her so much. I really can see why she was awarded Teacher of the Year at Snow Springs. She was the BEST for Abe and she really loves her students. She is an angel I’ll always be grateful for in Abe’s life. I love that she took photos of all the memorable moments in her classroom. Abe sat at the computer for an hour looking at all the photos. This makes for a great school-year-in-review.

p.s. of course she would come on a day when i hadn’t showered and looked like the goob mom in a hat, awful hair in piggies, and walking clothes from this morning. Max ran out without any pants on. At least he was equipped with undies. Phew! Mrs. Nuttall is always so understanding of having lots of little ones as she had 10 kids herself. Her youngest is 18 though… she said that time flies. May the hard days fly and the wonderful moments last!!!

Summer 2011 – week 1

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This week was sort of random. We did lots of work… a little play. We’re getting used to a new schedule. The kids were funny. The kids were hard. The kids were energetic. Yep – it was a jumble of things.

The best parts:

Max: “I love your baby.” Then with kisses and sweet little “meow, meow, meows” he kisses my belly.

Abe: “I don’t want to go on a mission because I’ll miss you too much mom.”
Mom: “I’ll miss you too… but I can write emails and send photos. And I’ll mail packages with treats and snacks.”
Abe: Clapping – “Oh, yay!” Then he was okay about going on a mission.
Hannah: “And I’ll mail you pasta.” (Our fam knows that Abe mostly just loves eating noodles… like every day.)

Tru: Every time he looked at the neighbors house (they have a cat) he intensely said, “Titty tat. Soft.” All week he mentioned this since on Monday he tried to pet a cat at the park … but hit it instead. It ran so fast so I told him he needed to be soft.

Max: referring to needing to go potty… “I probably did … yesterday.” I know I’ve mentioned this before… but it still makes me laugh every time.

Abe: referring to skin color… “Mom, you are mostly red. Me and Tru are white. Hannah and Max are tan.”
Mom: “What is dad?”
Abe: thinking… “Gray.” (in reality… Dad fits in with the Hannah and Max club)

So there you have it… our life in a nutshell.

p.s. ought to note… went to the doc this week. Saw a different guy in the group. I just hit 3rd trimester status… so he informed me that I’m part of the high-risk clinic now because of my high blood pressure (even though it’s completely controlled by medication). I never had high blood pressure until I was in the hospital right after having Truman. I guess it stuck with me. So – that little tidbit now means that at 32 weeks (july 5), I have to start having twice a week non-stress tests for baby to make sure the placenta is still functioning… and also being watchful that I don’t get preeclampsia. Mostly weird… since I’ve had really normal pregnancies. The doc also said they’d deliver at 38 weeks instead of 39… so that would put my c-section on August 15-ish. I guess we’ll see what happens at my next appointment.

Abrahannah

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… which is how Max says “Abe and Hannah”. Well… these 2 finished up another year of school. Hannah said she was glad and sad. Abe, though overjoyed to be out of school, was very teary about missing his teacher. She was a good one for that boy.Looks like Abe surpassed Hannah in height this school year… only by an inch though it looks like more since Hannah is posing with a cocked head. The kids had fun attempting to jump at the same time for a photo. We have lots of out-takes with everyone in different stages. We celebrated the last day of school by going to visit Grandma & Grandpa Price. We visited the cemetery to honor Great-Grandparents. The boys loved all the flags for the military. We also enjoyed some tasty custard and sandwiches at Nielsens.

And now… a summer to plan… and survive with one-huge-tired-pregnant-mama. I’m glad to have my Abrahannah helpers home for a few months! Hurray for summer!

“I Probably Did Yesterday”

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This is Max. Max is a funny kiddo. Here he is petting Koda, Aunt Julie and Brock’s Husky. If you know my kids and dogs, you’d know that this was an extremely brave thing for Max to do. He really liked Koda and thought it was funny when the dog licked his toes.

He is working on saying sentences and he occasionally gets stuck on a word and uses it for everything. The past few weeks that word has been “Probably.”

Mom, “Max, quickly run and go potty.”
Max, “I probably did.”
Mom, “Max, you’re doing a potty dance. Quick.  Go.”
Max, “But I did… probably yesterday.”
Finally mom escorts him.

He says “yesterday” for anything that happened before the present moment. He’s also in a denial phase about potty. He’s realized that it’s an annoyance he doesn’t want to deal with.

We had family over on Monday for a bbq and the guests commented that Max sure laughs a lot. It’s true. The next morning within 1 minute of waking up, he was smiling and laughing about something silly.

Another cute thing about Max is that he says encouraging things. When Jimmy spent a few hours redoing our garden, Max sat nearby and said things like, “You’re doing a good job Dad” over and over.

Sometimes he’ll come up to me and say, “I like your hair mom.” or “Your hair looks beautiful.” … Usually when I think my hair is gooby. He also says, “How’s your baby, mom?” Then he has a little conversation at my belly, “Hi Baby. How doing? Ok. Bye.”

Overall, he’s a funny kiddo. He’s full of drama and personality. Will we survive his silliness and drama? … probably.

Awesome Abe!

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Today Abe was discouraged. He said he wasn’t going to play basketball anymore because we wasn’t any good at it. I talked to him about how awesome he is doing compared to last year. Progress! He still was a little down. Then a while later, after building some legos, we played catch. He really is doing so well catching the ball (when I can actually throw a spiral to him.) And he does a great job throwing. I love his expression when he is catching the ball.  Isn’t Abe Awesome!!! I love that kid… especially when he enjoys himself playing a game… even if it’s with his mother.

Hmmm…I just realized all my photos from today are kooky because Max changed the ISO again. Oh well. At least we have the shots.

Abe had a Birthday – Shout Hurray!

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Mr. Abe celebrated his birthday yesterday. The day Max has been telling us about “Abe birthday in May” has finally come to pass. And boy did this 7-year-old celebrate. He was sad when bedtime came because he wanted it to keep going (as for this mom… a birthday is swell… but they tucker me out).

Abe loved the Mario Trading Cards, the huge flag to hang in his room, the dinner “You made just want I wanted. Noodles, lemonade, salad, cucumbers, carrots.”, the legos, having Jacob and Garrett over to play, lunch at McDonalds, and special cards from Grandparents and Hannah.

7 fun things about Abe:

1. He’s jolly and likes to laugh.
2. He loves playing the wii. (sigh…)
3. He’s getting really good at basketball.
4. His favorite part of playing legos is mixing up the little people.
5. He loves the American Flag and singing America songs makes “my eyes get all watery.”
6. He seriously LOVES noodles… and bread… and crackers. He’s a carb-man.
7. He has a good and tender heart and loves hugs.

munchkins and letting go

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I’m trying not to be such a clean control freak with all these kids. It’s hard. I like order and quiet and tidy and yummy smelling little people. But such is not reality these days, especially with summer coming. So I’m trying to let them just enjoy themselves and we’ll throw them all in the bath at the end of the day. I want them to have fond memories of their childhood and not of mom hollering at them to stay clean and tidy. Hopefully I’ll find a good balance. Jimmy is better at these things than I am.

Today was a good example of this for my munchkin Tru. He had a ball digging in the dirt. He and Max throw dirt on each other (not supposed to happen – but it does!)… which means dirt is stuck in their hair, ears, and clothes. Poor Tru even had dirt in his diaper yesterday (which I didn’t realize for a few hours – oops!).

Today Tru-Tru woke from his nap with the craziest turkey’s there in the front. It was so funny. Then he ate a yogurt which he tried to drink and it ended up all over his shirt. His sunglasses are goobed with sticky fingerprints. His hand, knees, and shoes are clobbered with dirt. And that darling little squishy face has salsa smeared all over. I’m afraid I just can’t keep up with scrubbing these kids all day long. But he doesn’t seem to mind too much. He’s still smiling – after all!

His bath tonight made him a brand new baby! So grateful for bathtubs, warm running water, and sweet-smelling baby soap.

Here’s to a summer of fun… with a pregnant mom trying not to be a clean freak. (wish me luck… as I know my house may be a complete disaster since we’ll spend all time outside!) I will survive… and enjoy all the fun and silly moments with the munchkins…. I hope! And may oxiclean and my washing machine do their duty to this family!! We’ll need all the help we can get!