My Escape Artist

It's official. Kellie is an accomplished escapee.

For weeks whenever we'd put Kellie to bed in her crib she'd stand up and try to put her little toes up and over the railing, without much success. She'd eventually get frustrated and lay down to go to sleep. Yesterday, however, about five minutes after I put her in bed I heard a door opening and closing. I have to be honest, I assumed it was Caleb getting out of his bed to go to the bathroom. After listening to the door open and close for a minute I went up to check on him. Imaging my surprise when I found not Caleb, but Kellie playing with her door.

I think she was too scared to come out and face me because when I caught her she got a scared look on her face and immediately started crying.

Consequently, Kellie earned herself a new big girl bed! We are skipping the toddler bed size and going straight to the twin, and I have to admit, we spoiled her a bit. (It is so fun to pick out girly furniture and bedding!) Daddy didn't even flinch at the price tag, and we were able to find some pretty good sales. Matt is picking up her new bed tonight so stay tuned for photos tomorrow!

Gotta Love my Kids!

Our kids have been very excited about a new baby coming to our house. I have to laugh at all the cute comments they make and thought I better write them down. Here we go:

Caleb: If the baby comes on my birthday can we name it Caleb?

Aaron: As the baby gets bigger and your tummy uncurls again...
(as if I just keep it rolled up like a sleeping bag?...)

Aaron: I'd like a girl so Kellie can have someone to play girl stuff with...

Caleb: I'd like a boy so that I can have someone to play with besides Aaron.

Kellie: (gets a confused look on her face and goes around pulling up shirts to look at tummies; first my shirt, then her shirt, and ending in Matt's shirt)

Caleb: When you have our baby Grandma will come play with me? (he was very excited to have Grandma come play with him!) Now how soon is that baby coming out?

Aaron: I want to name our baby Maria!
(I still don't know where that one came from...)

Positive!

This test was actually taken the day after Christmas, and it has been hard to keep the news to ourselves. I am now about 12 weeks along, and the chance of miscarriage goes down significantly at this point, so we're happy to start spreading the news!
We are going to have another September Baby! My due date is actually August 30, but I am always late, so I don't expect to meet the new little one until the first or second week of September. Caleb might even get to share his birthday on the 5th, but if I haven't had the baby before the 22nd (which is Aaron's day) I know I'll be crying!
We heard the heartbeat again today and finally told the kids this morning. They were so excited!

Dancing Monkeys

And the most creative excuse for not going to sleep goes to... CALEB

Mom: Caleb, why aren't you asleep yet?

Caleb: They won't let me sleep, mom!

Mom: Who won't let you sleep?

Caleb: The monkey's on my jammies. They're SINGING and DANCING. They won't let me sleep.

Kellie's Accent

This morning as I dropped Aaron off at school I told him to
"Have a good day."

I was quite surprised when the little woman in the back seat (who is still barely starting to talk) waved and said, "G'day," "G'day," "G'day," all the way home. It felt like I had a little Australian in the back seat!

"Intelligent" conversation...

We have a screen saver that shows and rotates through all our photos. It's kind of fun to watch, because it pulls from our entire selection, so sometimes pictures of when the kids were little babies pop up, and they always laugh and smile at themselves. This picture prompted an interesting conversation on the way to school today.

Aaron: Caleb was such a cute chubby faced little baby! (He had been looking at the photo I posted above)

Caleb: I was chubby?

Mom: Yes Caleb, you were very chubby and pretty cute, too!

Aaron: Why was Caleb so chubby, Mom? My pictures are never that chubby.

Mom: Well, Aaron, babies are all different, just like big people. Some are big and chubby, and some are tall and skinny...

Caleb: Was I chubby all over?

Aaron: (before mom can respond) You were REALLY chubby Caleb, right mom?

Mom: Yes, Caleb you were really chubby. I remember you had a really chubby butt, too.

(I feel I must point out at this point that I was not trying to be mean. Caleb really did have very chubby butt cheeks as a baby- which was a novelty since Aaron was such a skinny baby that he didn't have any extra padding on the backside...why I felt the need to bring that up, I still don't know...)

Caleb:(between giggles) Chubby butt?

Aaron: really really CHUBBY butt

Caleb: (big hearty laugh now) Was Aaron's butt Chubby?

Mom: No, Aaron didn't have a tush.

Caleb: (by now laughing uncontrollably)

Aaron: (laughing) What? I didn't have a butt? ( a little concerned...)

Mom: Of course you had a butt, Aaron. What I meant was that it was so skinny... I mean it wasn't chubby... I mean your butt was just smaller, Aaron... (I was fumbling here, not quite sure how to explain the difference between "butt" sizes)

Aaron: (laughing)

Caleb: (laughing even harder than Aaron)

Mom: (trying not to laugh and still fumbling for a good explanation...) You just used smaller diapers, that's all, Aaron.

Aaron: Yeah, Caleb. My butt didn't need huge diapers... (still giggling...)

Caleb: But my butt was HUGE, right mom? I needed HUGE diapers, right Mom? Did Kellie have a chubby butt, too Mom?

Mom: (trying not to laugh too much and hoping we get to the school soon so I won't have to answer all these questions) Well... hers was kind of chubby, I guess...

Aaron: Don't you know anything Caleb? Girls don't have chubby butts- and even if they do- you can't tell them they do...

Ending on that profound bit of truth from my 7 year old, we arrive at the school...

Birthday Dog!

Today is Sally's Birthday. The dog has finally reached her 1 year mark. (I can't believe we survived it!)
Here's some random facts about our dog:
1. She has three black paws and one white paw.
2. She has a white patch on her chest, kind of like a lightning bolt. It starts at her chin, zigzags down her neck and widens onto her chest.
3. She is a black lab-border collie mix.
4. She is a PARVO survivor. (as our vet bills will show!)
5. She loves her crate, and sleeps in it every night.
6. She has "sock-dar". If there is a sock within sniffing range she finds it and eats it. Sometimes she actually digests them, but most of the time she ends up throwing them back up. (eeew!)
7. She is still learning to be obedient and will be in Dog School soon!
8. The kids love her to pieces and take turns giving her dog treats.
9. She was named after the blue Porsche in the Cars movie.
10. She has started to dig. and dig. and dig. Any ideas how to break her of that habit?

She may be crazy, but we love our nutso dog.
Happy Birthday Sally Dog!

Whirlwind Weekend

I feel like I have been so busy lately and don't know whether I am coming or going. When I stopped to think about the last few days- I can see why. We've got a lot going on right now...

FRIDAY Aaron had school. I had a nice conversation with Aaron's teacher about his homework. (He's been avoiding it like the plague, but that's another story...) Caleb and Kellie run me ragged. Where do they get their energy? We ended the night with some of our favorite kids from down the street coming over to play and share dinner with us while their mom and dad went on a much deserved night out. (Our turn is next, yeah!)

SATURDAY (4 AM) Kellie wakes up screaming with runny diapers and a fever. She's been congested, and we've been watching that- but waking up in the middle of the night with all the other symptoms can only mean one thing- EAR INFECTION. By now we know the routine. Luckily the clinic had office hours and we could get her in fairly early. Listened to screaming from inconsolable child from 4- 10 am.

Basketball. Aaron's game was at 9. Unfortunately, I was the only one who went since Kellie was so sick- but I had a great time. Those kids are surprisingly good and Aaron has become quite the "DEFENSE MAN", or so his coach tells him.

Also, we had a trip to the pharmacy and a trip to the library for new reading materials. (Aaron's teacher told me that when they tested Aaron he was accurately reading 145 words per minute, which is more than anyone else in Aaron's class....) Besides, we LOVE the library.

Finished the day prepping for Aaron's Primary class, which I substituted for this week.

SUNDAY I braved church alone with two kids. Matt stayed home with Kellie. Believe it or not- the boys were actually pretty well behaved through most of church. Aaron and I had a rough time during Singing Time, which resulted in me hauling him out of the Primary room to empty his pockets so he would quit distracting the other kids and teacher with the paper clips and quarters he had smuggled into his sport coat when I wasn't watching this morning. Suffice it to say I embarrassed him to the point that he was so mad at me he refused to come back in. After ten minutes of sitting in the hall outside the Primary room I asked him if he was going to choose the right and come back in to join his class, and all he would respond was "NOT TODAY MOM," with his arms folded across his chest and a very determined angry face. He then chose to sit in the hall until Primary was over. What a stubborn little guy. After Primary he informed me that he was NOT going to get in the car with me. I was not sure what to do so I told him to enjoy his night at the church and started walking away with Caleb. Luckily, about halfway down the hall he decided to follow me and stomped all the way to the car. I was afraid I was going to have to get one of the Priesthood holders to haul him out of the church for me if he refused to budge, so I was relieved it didn't come to that.

We spent a lazy afternoon together as a family, (after Aaron came to his senses and apologized for behaving so badly.) I have felt very strongly lately that we need to make time just for us as a family. Even if it is a just a lazy afternoon together. Our schedules are often so busy that if we don't schedule time for us, we won't ever be together. It's been so nice to have that time together.

On to a new week...

PS Aaron is normally a very well behaved child, but everyone has their moments... sigh...