There's one in every family

The one child that always gets hurt!

Our's is DREW.

Remember the cut from the Old Navy store?

Also the diving board accident in St. George?

Well here's another to add to his luck.

I wasn't there at the park (in our backyard) but I guess he dropped down from the monkey bars and he landed on Alex below him biting his tongue. I swear he needs stitches but he has seen our dentist and our pediatrician and they both say it will heal fine. Right now it probably looks worse than these pictures because there is a flap that hasn't attached back to the tongue. Yum yum.

four months

{10-16-11}

Esther is FOUR months! 

-This is when it starts getting fun-

:She now sleeps TWELVE hours straight through the night. All my babies do at around 4 months and she did exactly to the day. 

:She is much better in the car! Yeah. She can entertain herself with chewing on her toys.

:She hangs out in her exersaucer, swing and bouncer quite often.

:She takes a bottle! Another yeah. I just thought one day I wonder what she would do since it's been a couple of months since my last attempt and she was like a pro. She was only a pro for a few days and then started getting frustrated again. But I still give her one every night before bed. Tyler has a hard time giving her a bottle still.

:I'm excited to start solid foods soon. I haven't tried yet but I did order some good stuff online.

:She will cry when someone other than me, Tyler, Liv, Drew or Alex holds her. Smart little cookie.

:My Mom comes to visit Saturday. I'm so excited because she hasn't seen her since she was 2 months old. And she has changed so much.

:She has stinky toots. Like way stinky. She also has clammy feet so I try not to put lotion on them.

:She loves her bath time.

:She has rolled from tummy to back 3 times. I'm the only one who has seen it.

:Her first road trip to St. George is in a couple of weeks. I'm nervous for the drive. 

:She is still the sweetest thing.

Drew will sit and play with her for EVER. So that explains all the toys around her.

4 month STATS:

Weight: 15.5 lbs- 90%

Height: 24.5 inches- 70%

Head: 41.5 cm- 60%

preschool prep

I ordered these DVD's for Alex for his B-day.

.Preschool Prep.

Not only is Alex (and Esther) in love with them, but I love them too. 

We have only had them for a few weeks and Alex can tell you all his colors, shapes, numbers and letters. Next will be sight words. 

I highly recommend these videos! I think I got them off Zulily. They have 25 awards or something like that so I am not the only one that thinks they are great!

Oh Livie...lou who

"Older" people always say, just wait for the teenage years. And I think, there is no way it's harder than right now. I am physically exhausted and my back hurts actually burns all day long. I can't imagine it being any harder than raising babies and toddlers. But as Olivia gets older we sure do get a glimpse of what's to come our way. 

Olivia is one of those kids that sees the bad in everything. We could give her an ice cream cone and she would complain that it's not the flavor she wanted. We could give her a toy and it wouldn't be the right one.  We could give her a candy and it wouldn't be big enough. Can you see why this would drive us crazy? She sounds super spoiled. And she has definitely never been without but it's more than that. Our other kids have been just as "spoiled' but have different outlooks.

Olivia turns EIGHT next month. I can't believe I will have an 8 year old. And I do see age 8 starting the pre-teen stage and I know she is acting like other pre-teens but I want her to be better so I don't have to go on an anti-anxiety med any time soon. 

It's so hard when we live in a bubble to show our kids what the "real" world is like. I wish (and hope) I can send each one of our kids to Peru to experience how lucky they really are. But until then we have had to come up with some ideas to make her aware when she is having a negative attitude (which is everyday).

I  miss the innocence.

-Spend more one on one time with her. Tyler is going to pick her up from school and take her to lunch once a month and I am going to take her somewhere special with me once a month.

-I made a behavior chart just for her. So it's separate from the chore chart.  With things like, were you nice to your brothers today, did you help Mom when she asked, did you not role your eyes fourteen times at mom today and were you positive today? Then there will be incentives for being nice and positive.

-I saw something like this on Pinterest and thought it would be perfect to start when she turns 8. I made these Mom and Me journals. So one day I will write a little message down for her. Maybe a cute memory I have of her, some advice or just tell her how much I wanted her and love her. Then I put it under her pillow. Then it's her turn to write something down for me to read. Some advice to me or just how she is feeling that day. Then she can leave it under my pillow. I hope we can continue with these love letters back and forth because I know these journals would be something to cherish later.

I always say the first child is the "trial child" and will probably be screwed up when they get older so hopefully these things will help her be a little less screwed up.

PS. If your first child is a girl and she isn't 8 yet. Good luck with the eyeballs rolling. Some how bouncing a baby for an hour (while my back feels on fire) when everyone else is sleeping away sounds really good right now. 

pumpkin patch picking

We did our annual pumpkin patch picking with the HOODS! October really snuck up on me. It was a crazy picking too because it was so HOT outside. Like 90 degrees hot. Beats being cold for sure. It was also opening day so we had plenty to choose from. 
I love OCTOBER.

Ummm?

We grew from last year. 3 new babies!

I got the exersaucer out.

We have had this thing through all 4 kids and we are actually looking forward to getting rid of it after Esther is done.  It's sort of a beast to store.

I always put our babies in it kind of early because our babies are stiff and freakishly strong. So they do fine in it even at 3 months. And then it just makes them stronger.

Esther loved it. She is very interested in things. She is starting to grab.  And also she loves to taste it of course with that tongue of hers. 
Cute girl.

It's funny because Tyler thinks she looks like him and I think she looks like me. So I'm thinking she is a good mix of the both of us. 
(but she really looks like me)

*I got the girls pictures taken together and I can't wait to see them. They are going to be darling!

Tongue Action

This girl cracks me up.

When she was born, seriously right after delivery, she was doing all these tongue tricks.

And she's still doing them. 

Can you believe this LONG tongue?

It doesn't even look real. Haha.