Considerate Big Brother

Last night I was awakened by a little voice whispering quietly "Mommy, I'm scared." I realized it was Christian as I became alert and said "Oh honey do you want to be held?" as I reached out to pull him up into my arms. "No. I want to be cuddled!" He said as he burst into tears. Then he told me about his nightmare of mice crawling all over him and trying to eat him. Yuck! I tried to calm his fears by telling him that real mice are quite afraid of humans so if you smell like human they probably won't come near you. I told him unless he took a cheese bath or a peanut butter bath he didn't have to worry about mice coming near him. He laughed at that and suggested a jelly bath. Then we both laughed about how sticky that would make you so everything would stick to you. Then I asked him if he had cried in his room and I didn't hear him. He told me that he didn't want to wake the baby or scare her so he was as quiet as he could be. What a sweetheart! I am so proud of him for worrying more about the baby than his own fears. Even though he was scared he put the babies needs before his own. Even if it was just a little thing I think it shows some real maturity!

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Sent from my Verizon Wireless mobile phone

Christian Update

Have I ever said that I love the age Four?  Well I remember being four and I loved it.  It was when most of my earliest memories of playing dress-ups with my sisters and dancing around the living room began.  Apparently, this little boy of mine takes after me in the dress-up and pretending department. 

Here he is with his sword in his soccer bag “like the bad guy in Mulan” because I haven’t got around to making a sheath since I’ve been busy making other things.  This other picture is Christian playing on his ship (bed) with his soldiers (stuffed animals) surrounding him as he gives orders as they prepare to fight the bad guys.  I overheard him playing this game while I was on the phone with my mom and had to take a picture since you’ve got to love the backwards bike helmet along with his favorite rocket PJ’s, prince cape and sword.

  

He really wants to be big but I think he will miss being able to play he’s big once he is.  It is nice though that he loves to help out and do things with mom and dad.  The other day while I was feeding Vivian and Jared and Christian were in the kitchen putting together a pizza I loved listening to them talking.  It was really funny when it was time to put on the cheese and Jared instructed Christian to “put the cheese where it’s needed” and Christian promptly replied “In my mouth” and started stuffing cheese into his cheeks!

He’s been really doing some fun things lately such as building with his trio blocks, playing with his stuffed animals, listening to Scripture Scouts, playing a new “scatch” game Sherrada gave him for his birthday, soccer and of course he still loves to be read to.  His favorite books are  the illustrated scriptures that my mom gave him for his birthday and the book “The Monster at the End of This Book”.  The other day, he had me read it so many times I was going hoarse (from doing the voice), so I decided I should record it so that I would only have to push play if he wanted to hear it again.  Jared thinks I sound more like Yoda but Frank Oz did both of the voices so go figure.

This little guy is just a delight.  He always keeps me laughing.   He’s very intelligent too and has a strong desire to do what’s right.  If he is told that what he did is wrong it upsets him to the point of tears.  He also is a “policeman” in wanting to make sure everyone else does what’s right too.  Yesterday when we were out shopping we decided to go through the drive through at the “In and Out Burger”.  It was a long line (as usual) but it moved pretty fast.  There were a bunch of teenaged girls sitting on the low wall outside waiting for some other friends to meet them.  I commented to Jared that one of the girls was pretty daring to wear a dress that was sleeveless and barely covered her rear when she really didn’t have the body type to look at all decent in it (I actually am rude and said she looked like a polish sausage in a wrapper).  When we got further in line Christian said “Um mom, that girl’s dress is not very good, it almost shows her boobs!”  Wonderful *cough*! “Maybe she needs to be on ‘What Not to Wear’!”

It’s so nice that he still likes to cuddle (though not as much as I would like).  The other day when he tripped and got hurt I was thrilled when he wanted me to hold him and rock him for a minute… I’ve really missed holding him for long periods of time.  Though man, he’s getting gigantic!

Christian loves his sister and our family.  He is all about group hugs and saying “I love our family!  It’s the best!”  I agree… I’ve been so blessed to have two beautiful children!

Two Months

Vivian is now Two Months!  I can’t believe the time has gone by so quickly!

 

She is such a sweet little baby, it is so fun to have her as part of our family.  She is very smiley and talkative as well. 

      

Every night at about the time when I’m getting ready for bed and starting my blah, blah blah, pillow-talk with Jared, she joins in and starts talking up a storm so then I end up not talking as much as I use to because I want to listen to her!  I’m thinking she spent nine months stuck in my belly listening to me talking at night and finally gets to join in and wants to have her say as well.   It is so funny to hear her talking I had to make a video of it.

Just so that I can remember little details about her this month I’m putting them in here. 

Growth:

Vivian is now 10 lbs 13 oz and 22.5” which places her in the 50th percentile for both weight and height. She is on target with her smile and a little advanced with her social skills because of her “talking” or so the doctor says at this point.

Sleep:

Vivian is a really good sleeper (so far) and makes it possible for us to sleep from about 11 pm until 4 or 6 in the morning depending on the day.  She’s been doing this since about four or five weeks so I feel really blessed that I’m more of a normal person than I was the first go-around.  She has mostly just fallen asleep when she’s tired but I’m working on getting her into a more regular nap routine as she is having a harder time falling (and staying) asleep thanks to a very fun big brother who is always checking on her.

Play:

Vivian doesn’t mind tummy time so much as some babies do and has actually stayed on her tummy for up to 20 minutes at a time.  She really likes to bat at things  and is always reaching for the fish on her swing’s mobile, so I’m hoping to get her a play gym before too long so that she can start having fun on the floor more (and maybe learn to entertain herself a little more).  She still likes her bouncy seat though she seems to like her swing a little better now that she likes her mobile.

 

Quirks:

She still seems to have quite a strong startle reflex which has freaked me out at least once a day as she’ll just be sitting there happy as can be and then suddenly she’ll burst into tears.  I don’t really remember if Christian did this or not (since at first he cried so much or at least it seemed that way to me) but it does make me worry about her.  Most of the time she’s happy and chill so it seems out of character for her to be upset (unless she gets her shots or something which made her totally sad for the remainder of the day.

Family:

Christian is really still quite in love with her though it would be nice if he gave her a little more space at times but we’re working on that.  He has shown some regression by talking “baby-talk” but I’m not sure if it’s just him playing around or not because he’s heard other kids talk this way when I’ve asked him what he’s saying he stops.  He is the best little helper with her if I ask him to do anything he’s quick to do it because he wants her to know he loves her.  He still is praying for her to grow and begs to “baby-sit” her (which is what he calls letting her be in his room in her bouncy chair so she can watch him play).  She likes him a lot and is quite distracted by him and his jumping around the room like a tornado.  He’s greeting for her is “Hi Baby! I love you and I think you’re cute!”  He always is telling us how cute she is and if we tell him he’s cute too or he was a cute baby (since they look so similar) he gets annoyed because he wants her to be the cutest.  So funny….most kids want to be the cutest themselves.

Vivian seems to really L-O-V-E Jared which is really sweet.  If he’s in the room and talking she always tries to look at him.  She and he play this cute game where he makes a face and she tries to imitate him (if I try this with her she gets bored with me quickly). Pretty much she is daddy’s little girl which I find adorable.

For me she is nice and cuddly and loves for me to just sit and hold her.  She also will fall asleep while I simply hold her which is really nice. I really enjoy having her sweet little spirit in our home which is quite calming and peaceful.  Her name “Vivian” means “alive or lively” but sometimes I think “Peace” might have been more appropriate for her personality.

Blue-eyed Goldilocks?

I am really in love with curls.  Perhaps it’s because I have almost un-curl-able hair.  Maybe it’s because of Christian’s curls that we cut and looked so angelic to me.

Christian in May 2008

I’m now getting really hopeful that this little one may be going to have the same darling curls.  Her eyes are already a more vibrant blue than Christian’s are so maybe she’ll be a blue-eye goldilocks…I guess we’ll just have to wait and see! 

Vivian last night after a bath (I was holding her and the camera…thus the odd angle)!

Valentines Day 2010

I Love Valentines Day!  Jared brought me roses Saturday night and set a gift bag on the table that I was not to open until Valentines Day.  It was the new Josh Turner CD “Haywire”.  I must say it’s very fun.

I decided to start a new tradition of making a Valentines dinner for our family.  I had some incredibly (corny) funny ideas of what to serve.  First we had a salad with hearts of Romaine, then I had two Cornish game hens with rice stuffing with sautéed mushrooms and car(e)rots  with dill and to give a nod to cupid asparagus spears.  I know terrible huh?  It was great fun. 

   

Afterwards, we made sugar cookies with Christian and watched Sense and Sensibility (for my personal happiness).  It was really fun.

Here’s a video for my personal enjoyment of Vivian that I took yesterday after I put the hens in the oven.

I have to just say, I LOVE my family, I Love my two darling children and I Love my wonderful husband.  I am so blessed!  I used to think Valentines day was all about romance and you couldn’t enjoy it without someone taking you out to a romantic dinner etc. but I have to say this has been quite a nice Valentines day and all I really did was stay home and enjoy my family!

Christian’s 4th Birthday

Yesterday we celebrated Christian’s 4th Birthday!  I can’t believe it’s really been that long ago that I became a mother!  It seems absolutely crazy that I’ve been responsible for this child for that long!  We had our adopted AZ family over for Christian’s Birthday party which included brunch.

Here’re Christian, Damien, and Jordan sitting at the kid’s table.

Thanks to Scripture Scouts, Christian wanted to have a Scripture Hero party  so we had the kids make boats (like Nephi) for the activity and then gave them journals to start filling out at home.

   

Here are the kid’s working on their boats (with a little help).

Of course to make the scripture hero party complete we had to have a Captain Moroni Cake since he’s Christian’s favorite hero.

 

If it’s difficult to tell what the yellow blob is with candles and a toy on it, supposed to be captain Moroni coming out of the Golden Plates.  I really need to take a cake decorating class as that is just one skill I have not mastered yet.  

At least Christian was happy with it! Because of the light in this picture it looks kind of more like gold…

He did so well blowing out his candles I didn’t even get any smoke in my pictures!

For those of you who would have liked to be there, here is the video for your enjoyment! (It’s a little on the long side).

I must say that I am so grateful that Heavenly Father has given me this darling little boy!  He is so delightful I’m just plain in love with him and his amazing imagination and excited personality.  It’s so much fun to watch him be excited to help, learn and grow.  I really have learned many lessons from being his mom and I can’t wait to enjoy many more days with this sweet boy!

Seventh Anniversary

Yesterday, February 7th, marked our 7th Anniversary.  We didn’t really get a chance to celebrate the day in a usual way because we were driving back from my aunt Susan’s funeral in Utah.  It was an enjoyable day as we were basically stuck with each other all day and got to reflect on the last seven years together.  The past seven years have flown by so quickly, it is amazing! I am so blessed to have found Jared—he is the most incredible man and I love him more every day.  Our years together have had there good and bad times but overall it has been blissful to have him as my companion and partner.

 

I am so grateful to know that we can be together forever because Jared is truly my best friend and I couldn’t be  happier than to have him as my companion for eternity.