May Review

We are doing well out here.  I'm so glad I made the choice to come out here.  Being near my parents is irreplaceable.  They love my kids more than anyone besides Todd and myself, and everyone is being rewarded with richer relationships and time spent with people we love and don't usually see much.  I love that my kids know they're cared for fiercely and it's not all on my shoulders.  

The house is ... amazing.  It has changed our lives!!!  :)  I don't know if I can go back to a small place ever again.  Part of it is just that they're getting older, and part of it is that I'm more busy with Gemma and can't actively play with them as much, but Hazel and Jack are just blossoming in the way they play with each other, and I love it! Having so much space gives them the option to not be under my feet, and they're learning to play so much more independently.  Hazel will feed Jack lines, and the two of them go off into wonderland together and it's really fun to hear their dual laughter through the vents and know they're bonding and it isn't forced.  

first sibling sleepover!!!

We're in the backyard every single day.  Unfortunately, it isn't fenced, and we're on a busy road, so I'm always out there if Jack is, so it's not quite as dreamy as it could be (I had daydreamed about sending them outside while I made dinner, etc) but I love to be outside, so it's not too much of a burden.  We bought a tramp and have used it every single day.  It's tons of fun.  Who knows if we'll ever again have enough space to use it after we move again... but for now, at least, it is awesome.  

Hazel is intense, as always, and packed full of imagination.  She has stopped wearing dress-ups all the time and has gotten more interested in things that feel older to me: she likes to create projects with paper and tape, she does dot-to-dots, just recently she has discovered how beautiful she can look if I curl her hair and she loves it.  She is still obsessed with cheetahs and loves to pretend to be one, and asks me to paint her face to look like one sometimes.  She's gotten interested in listening to me read chapter books, so we've been blowing through my collection of Junie B. Jones and Magic Tree House.  

"mouse moustache"

too impatient to wait for paper

Jack is speaking in full - and long - sentences.  For example, a couple nights ago he asked me, "Can I hold my own toothpaste while you brush Hazel's teeth, if I stay in the bathroom?"  He blows me away.  This week he is obsessed with the word "exactly."  I think it's because he'd ask me these big, long sentences asking precisely what we are going to do next, and he's already said everything I would have added on after his original question, so I must have started answering him with "exactly."  It's really cute to hear him say it.  He has picked right up on Hazel's pretend play and runs around on all fours growling and curling his fingers into wild animal claws as he stalks her.  He's a total copycat and will run after Hazel, repeating every word she says and every sound she makes.  He loves to play outside - ride his bike, jump on the tramp, blow bubbles, play at the sand table.  He will also do long stints downstairs in the play room all by himself, mostly "baking" at the play kitchen or imitating real life at the doll house.  

eating broccoli for the first time!
tiger face paint

getting interested in dress-ups

Gemma is four months old now.  She is still amazingly good-tempered.  She smiles and coos at just about everyone, and it's fun to make her laugh.  She's started the loud screams and other voice experiments lately.  She's noisy and always happy.  She's sleeping like a champ, through the whole night almost always.  What a gift.  She always wants to be sitting up.  The second you lay her on her back, she starts doing crunches. She hasn't bothered to try rolling over - it's always sitting she's working on. 

Todd has been in Afghanistan for about two weeks now.  Communication has been choppy as he's traveled, but I think we'll be back up to FaceTiming or texting most days.  So far he hasn't done any real work - no missions.  They've just been waiting for people to arrive and doing organizing.  I like it that way - keep him on the ground, on the base.  He's going seriously stir-crazy though, and I don't blame him.  It IS such a rip-off to be away from family and home and job and not even be doing anything productive.  

Todd's Visit Home

Todd was home last week for a few days.  Wednesday night, I left the kids with my parents and picked Todd up from the airport alone.  It was an exciting reunion and a happy night.  We stopped at Outback Steakhouse for dinner on the drive home and talked and flirted, and for me, it was a welcome gift to be alone with him and get to just be his girlfriend for a few hours before I had to switch back into mom mode.

beautiful night

Thursday morning, Jack woke up at 7:15, as usual.  Hazel came running in a few minutes later, stripped down to her panties, thrilled to hear Todd give his usual Kaa morning line, "Come into the snake bed, Mowgli."  (She had been telling me for a few days that this was her plan, so I had warned Todd that she was expecting him to say that.)  The kids stayed close to his side the entire visit.

Friday we bought a trampoline, which Todd spent several hours assembling while I attacked the weeds in the yard.  We're hoping the tramp will help the kids burn off some of their endless supply of energy so bedtime will go a little easier for me.

Funny story, when Jack saw this boxing mannequin at the sporting goods store, he climbed right up to give him a hug, and said, "I love him!  He's Mowgli.  He's naked."

Todd could not get enough of Gemma-girl.   When he wasn't holding her, he was gazing at her and cooing at her.

I drove Todd back to the airport after Sacrament Meeting on Sunday.  Hazel knew what was happening and cried hard before leaving for primary.  Dropping him off knowing we wouldn't see him again for another 10 months hurt my heart so bad that for the first half hour or so after we said goodbye, I wished he hadn't even come for the visit.  All our wounds have been reopened, and it's hard.  But it was a wonderful visit (although I HATE having to call time spent with my husband a "visit") and of course I am grateful for every moment we were able to spend together.  

Todd and his group leave the country for Afghanistan this Thursday.  Please pray for his safety, and peace and strength for us all.  

April Review

We started off April with a visit from my college roommate Kelsey and her three kids.  The last time I saw her, her second was a brand new baby instead of a dinosaur-loving ball of energy.  She's already got a third who can sit up and scoot around the room.

Mostly the kids ran around the house and yard while Kelsey and I chatted, but we did go out and see the Logan Temple and play at the teensy local zoo.

Hazel taught Macey how to climb trees and Jack and Miles went crazy feeding ducks.

The babies just got carted around, sleeping and snuggling and nursing for the most part.

Later that week, my parents and I took the kids to Baby Animal Days at the American West Heritage Center. Hazel rode a pony and Jack positively beamed as he rode the train.

We saw plenty of baby animals.  

The kids were fascinated by a sheep shearing.

They got their faces painted.  They were ecstatic to impersonate their favorite animals for the rest of the day.

tiger

cheetah

 My parents came to my house to watch General Conference.  My kids were real troopers.  I was impressed with them.  Hazel listened to three of the four hours each day, while doing crafts and listening for words that earned candy.  I loved the strength I gained from listening to the messages.

Hazel is turning into a master up-ender.  Stools, chairs, blankets, etc. get moved around daily to become poacher traps or animal lairs.

Can I play up there?  

Jack and Hazel have a little too much fun at bedtime.  The child lock on the door and bribe of a treat in the morning if they stay in bed are not enough to persuade them to sleep at night.  I had to pull the cord on their ceiling fan so they cannot turn the light on, because Jack was playing with it constantly at night.  

busted!

 In the middle of some beautiful sunny weather, we suddenly woke up one morning to snow!  The kids begged to play outside.  Jack was jumping up and down, he couldn't contain his excitement, and then we stepped outside, and suddenly he didn't want to get snow on his boots, and he kept proclaiming, 'It's cold!"  He is a California boy for sure.

Hazel knew what to do with all that snow.  She pelted me with a deluge of snowballs until I showed her how to roll them and make them grow.  She was so proud of her "snowgirl."

 Gemma started sucking her thumb.  Three for three here.  All my kids suck their thumbs.  I think it's adorable and quite functional, although it's a pain with Hazel now. (She broke the habit last year and then promptly took it back up again after she had her reward.)

Gemma started pushing up during tummy time.  She's so, so cute.  I love that she can hold her head up now, so I can carry her around on my hip and put her face-first in the Baby Bjorn.

Why take the bikes back to the garage one at a time?

We met up with another dear friend from college, Tiana, at a park in Brigham City.  It was short but oh, so sweet.  I haven't seen her since Hazel was a newborn.  I love true friends like that, that you can pick up with after years and have it feel like you see each other every day.  

 Jack loves to help out in the kitchen.  He's happy to pull up a chair and "have a nibble" of whatever you're making.  He also spends a good amount of time pretending to bake at the toy kitchen.

so stylish

fangs

 I finally craved popcorn enough to attempt to pop it on the stove the way Todd does.  Normally, he makes us popcorn a couple times a week.  Now that I've done it, I don't know why I was so scared that I wouldn't be able to do it right.  It was scrumptious.

 Unfortunately, it reminded Jack of where we keep the popcorn kernels.  I had a lovely time sorting out this mixture of red and blue popcorn, rice, and sugar that he put together while I was with Gemma.

 I had two really rough weeks right in the middle of the month.  Nothing was really any harder than usual, but I wasn't dealing well with it.  I don't know if I got bombed with post-partum depression or if I had just run myself ragged, but I wasn't coping well.  After I had called Todd in tears and panic for the third time in a week, Todd enlisted his sisters' help.  Missy took Hazel and Jack down to Lehi to play with cousins for a long weekend, and Laura came up and helped me prepare a ton of dinners I could freeze and save for later.

I've had the kids back for a week now, and so far, so good.  We've had some great weather and have spent a ton of time outside, which is good for all of us.  We've been doing lots of bubbles and bikes, and set up a sand table on the back deck.  I've been trying to have lunch ready early so we have time to walk Hazel to preschool, too.

Jack is currently obsessed with bubbles.

ants!

If Jack promises to stay on the deck and I keep the window open so I can hear them, and I make Hazel alert me if Jack tries to leave, and I check that they're still there every minute or two, I dare to let them play at the sand table while I stay inside and make dinner.  (We're on a 35 mph road and don't have a fence - in most cases, I don't trust Jack out there alone.)  

Hooray!

 We had a superhero-themed baby shower for my sister-in-law Caprice.  I got a kick out of seeing my grandmas don masks and shoot bottles down with Nerf guns!

Grandma Holley

Grandma Bingham

 The owners of the house came over to test the sprinklers and set the program.  Hazel ran inside and came out again in her swimsuit.  She had a blast, and it was only in the upper 60's.  She is going to love summer!

I'm in love with this happy girl.  She grins and coos and cuddles and almost never fusses.  She is a real keeper.

Smooch!