Sunday, December 29, 2013

The Guilt....

The guilt eats away at me whenever I think of my Journal/Blog being left stagnant.  I have thought more and more recently how unfair it is for our little Hope not to have anything written down about her like I have London and Madden.  The best thing to do, although the hardest, is to start when she was born.  Hope's birth was the hardest out of the three but, no less joyful.
 She has been the best eater, sleeper, and is a happy baby overall.  I thought for sure I'd have jealousy issues from Madden, but we had none at all.  
While in the hospital Madden asked if I was ever going to come home to him. 
 No jealousy of the babe, just worried about his Mommy coming home.
 He loves his baby sister.  Every morning and all through the day he asks if he can kiss her.  London would hold the baby while I cleaned and would give her a bottle. 
 London now feeds her cereal and could probably change a diaper if I taught her, but I keep telling her no:) Things seemed pretty eventful when Hopey was born.  
I think it was about two weeks after I heard Madden screaming outside.  I flew out the garage door as he went in the front.  I called to him and ran through the front door noticing all the blood all over our driveway, steps and house.  He had split his chin riding his bike.  I ended up taking him and the baby to the ER while my neighbor watched London for me.  I thought he'd never ride that bike again but, two days later he was back at it!  That's an experience I don't want to do again.  July was a pretty packed month of fun.  
 
We blessed three of the grandkids that were born within five weeks of eachother.  I had Hope, Monica had Russell 8 days later, and Mandy had Hyrum five weeks after Hope.

 
  Crazy!  Oh, and Danny and Emily had Benjamin in October  so we had four kids born into our family this year!  
The blessings were awesome.  
 
London is holding Russell here.
I kept trying to have family pictures but, Madden can't smile at a camera for the life of him.  
 
He is full of clown faces.  By the end of taking pictures, my temper was on edge because of stinker head, Madden!  Hope wore London's blessing dress and it seemed fitting since they look pretty identical.  

Despite having babies, Mandy and I somehow ventured to the park, the zoo, and I went to Cherry Hill without her. 
 
 It was kind of funny taking turns nursing on benches or at tables at the zoo.  Once we even nursed at the same time while the other four kids ran around us. 


Emily came with us too.  Look at the three nephews...so cute. I thought for sure life would slow down once we had three, but nope.  Life just keeps on moving along.  
 
Hope was great to take to Cherry Hill.  She liked to barely dip her toes in the water.  Any more than that and she'd curl up in a ball.  The Fourth of July was so fun.  We went to fireworks the night before with my family and cousins. 
 
 I love it because the kids just run around the gold course and laugh and play.  This is me watching Madden try and wander away from everyone.
 
  After the year we lost Luke, I was on high alert.  I think it was also pretty special because Grandma Chlarson was there. 

 
 She passed away in November so this is a very precious memory of her watching the fireworks.  She loved them and commented how beautiful they were.  Hope smiled at them whenever they burst.  Shockingly, Hopey was NOT afraid of the noise. 

 The next day we had the kids ride around in my parents' neighborhood parade.  Madden was the first kid to fly around the corner on his bike.  I yelled at him to slow down but he was gone.

  When we finally found him afterwards, since Tyler and London were almost at the end, he asked us if he won the race.  Ha ha.  Typical Madden thought that it was an actual race.


London was so excited about her bike being decorated that I bought crepe paper and horns.  She had her bike decorated for days because she was excited.  One thing about London is that she gets very fixated on something and does not procrastinate at all.  

She started piano and practices either right when she walks in from school or before she goes to school in the morning.  This year I've really witnessed her become a little lady.  London is very responsible but, sensitive.  If she does something wrong, she feels horrible about it for a long period of time. 

 London also has a great memory and has become an excellent reader.  Rarely does she forget library day, her homework assignments, or things I've brought up about what we might do that day.  I see a lot of Tyler in her that way.  He is excellent and remembering anything he reads and she is the same way.  She finished her first chapter book and exclaimed, "MOM, guess where they found the horse!....in the stabble!"  I  laughed and told her it was pronounced st-ay-ble.  Now she asks me frequently how to pronounce words.

 This year in addition to starting piano, London started ballet at Clytie Adams.  She loves it so much that Tyler and I took her to the Nutcracker this year for an early Christmas gift.  Mid-ballet, she said, "When are they going to start talking?"  I guess I should have explained it a little more.  

Time for me to head out to a family dinner!

Here are some random pictures from McCall, family vacation:




I will continue to update so stay tuned.....

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Hello World!

Welcome our little baby, Hope.  Okay it's been almost 3 weeks but, I've been seriously busy and sleep deprived.

She was our biggest baby weighing 7 lbs 11 oz and was 20 inches long.  As you can tell, Hope came out ready to eat and since her birthday, has not quit rooting around and sucking her fingers!  We are doing great and I will update her special day soon.

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Christmas 2012


Wow, Christmas just jumped on my back this year literally the day before.  Madden only asked for a helicopter and London asked for a barbie puppy waterpark.(Oh yeah, it exists).  
Unfortunately Christmas morning came around and Mimi and Papa's house and I realized that Santa had forgotten to deliver a bunch of presents.  One of those being the helicopter.  Oh well, London did feel a little confused as to why Madden had more gifts than she did and why she didn't get any clothes to wear on Christmas day, but she was quick to forgive Santa's mistake. 
 I seriously don't know what my deal is this pregnancy.  I totally locked myself out of my car twice in three days.  The first time I was stuck sitting at Wal Mart, praying that Mandy found me a spare key all the while trying NOT to puke in public.  Tyler was kind enough to tell me that daily he finds things in the cupboards or fridge that shouldn't be there. 
 
 Like steamed broccoli in the cupboard, cereal in the fridge, and cookie dough in the pantry.  The good man that he is shields me from further confusion and just takes care of it.  Apparently I was hit with the stupid bat over Christmas as well.  Madden was so stinking excited for Santa to come.  He and London were hilarious.
 
  We took them to Rise of the Guardians the Saturday before and it was probably the best thing we could do.  In the middle of Christmas Eve night I heard London say, "Santa, is that you?"  and "Jack Frost? Are you there?"   Too funny. 
 
 Tyler did end up coming to bed after playing Xbox until 2:00 a.m..  This is an improvement because in years past, he and Bradley (my bil) have stayed up until 5:00 a.m..  Which is what time the kids awoke this year. We had two Christmas Eve's this year.  The first was at Ty's mom's house where the kids got all dressed in their nativity best.  Tyler bought me a camera this year and unfortunately,  I don't know how to download the pics.  So further images of Christmas will have to be in the near future.  Does that make sense?  Anywho....updates for the week along with family pics:
-Madden climbed in my bed one morning and said, "You have pretty eyebrows, Mom."  Uh...thanks.  I asked him why he thought so.  He said, "I just do, but Gabey said my eyebrows were awesome!"  Okay.....
-Kids are still eating me under the table thanks to Tyler's genes.
 
-Madden will tell you that Daddy is a bad driver and Mommy is a good driver.  This is because Daddy drives slow and Mommy drives fast.
 
-London believes that the word "idiot" literally means someone not as smart as her mom. (Who told her that?):)
-Madden pulls clown faces frequently in family pictures.

Thursday, January 17, 2013

uh...Has Four Months...okay Five!, really gone by?

Um, I'm ashamed.  Really I should be posting about the hilarity of my children lately lest I forget, but it's been a little hard.  Here let me give you a hint.

 
  This is a picture that Madden took of me making dinner yesterday. 
 
Yep, baby number three is not only well on it's way, it's a girl!  My excuse for not posting has been that this baby made me so darn sick Aug through Nov.  But, now I'm feeling tons better since we're on the downhill.  So much has happened lately that I haven't even posted about.  In the fall we, of course,
went to the fair where Madden fell asleep before we even got there.

 He rode his first mini rollercoaster.  London giggled the whole time and Madden just went around with a terrified facial expression.
  Mandy came with us with her boys to Peach Days.  
 We had several people commenting on the twins, meaning Gabe and Madden. 
Unfortunately, Mandy and I were not feeling too hot at the moment but, Tyler took the boys around to look at the cars.  They loved it!
 
London failed her hearing tests in school. I had no idea she couldn't hear until I took her into the Dr.  Long story short, she got her tonsils and adenoids removed and had tubes put in her ears.
 
  Poor gal was in misery for a good two weeks but, such a trooper.  She came out of the operating room trying to cry for me to hold her but, her little throat hurt so bad.  What an angel.
  Before that we did have Halloween at some point and my memory is kind of sketchy on details.
  I did have a birthday on Thanksgiving and my mother gave me some fabulous maternity clothes.
  You can see how pleased I am:)  Madden and London were just downright excited over my birthday.
 
 This year, I shouldn't forget to mention, London started ballet. 
 
She had a recital in December and my mom and I spent so much time on her hair and make up
 
.  London felt so grown up.  I have to say, she was so darling and the cutest one up there.
 
 That girl knew her routine! Madden did ask me if he could take ballet too, but I had to tell him that Daddy would be very upset if he were to do that. 
 
I think he figured it out at the recital.  My sister, Mandy is fabulous at keeping touch with our grandparents. 
 
I feel so grateful that I've been able to catch rides up with her stay close with them.  Also, it's fun because not only am I pregnant, but Mandy AND Monica are pregnant too!  That's enough for today but, I'll post on Christmas sometime later this week.

Fun Facts:
-London is learning to read with a voracious appetite.  So proud.
-London and Madden quote the "warm-up suit" scene from Despicable Me with regularity.
-Madden wants to name the baby "Sarnafina."  Which is really Saraphina, the cat on one of London's barbie movies.
-London is obsessed with Les Miserables and watches it consistently on TV and listens to it on her ipod.  She wants to name the baby Cosette.
-Madden makes up words just like London did.  Ex: Colorish.
-London and Madden will watch a movie together holding hands....everyday.


That's all for now folks!