Eden - I still can't believe she is in first grade! I really miss her! I feel like school just takes up way too much time, and it's not the same without her here. She is really thriving at school though and loving it. Her teacher, Ms. Raymond, is so sweet and awesome. Eden comes home excited to tell me about fun projects they did, or interesting facts she learned. I just had her parent teacher conference, and Eden is doing well in all academic areas, with her strengths being math and reading. She picked out a chapter book from the library weeks ago, called the Secrets of Droon, and since then has been reading one book a week from the series. She loves Mondays when her class goes to the library so she can get the next book. We are planning to get her some new chapter book series for Christmas so it will be fun to see her interests grow.
She still loves her craft room and endless supplies that feed her imagination. When she is home, she is most often working on some sort of creative project. She has figured out how to turn on her favorite songs on iTunes on the computer so she closes the door, blasts her music, and works away.
She is such a huge helper at home with her siblings. She is good to them, and despite the fact that they can both be pretty frustrating, she is very patient and sweet with them. She is like a mini mommy though and tries to keep them in line, or stresses when they are making bad choices so I often find myself telling her "let me be the mom and worry about that." She is going to be a very big helper when her new baby sister comes along in January. I'm REALLY going to be missing her when she is at school then!
Ok, my frustration with this girl is clothing. She is very picky, but also just very simple and basic (which I guess isn't a bad thing)! Even if I take her to the store and let her pick out her own clothes, she will decide she doesn't want to wear it and will stick to the same four shirts and pants over and over again. She also wants to wear the same dress every week to church. She has so many pretty dresses and cute things to wear so it kills me to see her wear the plain t-shirt and the black stretchy pants every day! ha ha Thanks to her, I'm doing laundry much more often then I would otherwise need to because her rotation of outfits is very small! She definitely has her strong opinions though on what she will and will not wear.
She is very organized and loves to have a schedule and a plan (hmmm.... I wonder where she got that from). Getting ready for school in the mornings, I was feeling like I was having to nag her to get things done before she went into the craft room, so I decided to make her a little morning checklist and she could mark off the to-do items as she went, and when she was done she could play or work on a project until it was time to go. This was the best thing ever. She loves it so much and gets ready so fast every morning without me having to say a word. She loves checking off each box as she completes each task.
When Brad and I were in Tennessee and my mom was taking care of the kids, Eden was getting ready for school and grandma started singing the song from the movie "Annie" that says, "you're never fully dressed without a smile." Before saying the word smile, grandma paused for Eden to fill in the blank but instead Eden said, "without a list!" That's my girl!
Her health has been so good. Despite being sick SO MUCH as an infant and toddler, she is really healthy now. The little ones get sick, but she usually just flies through it all without being touched so it's amazing. They continue to monitor any swelling in her optic nerves, an indication of intracranial pressure, but she has been very stable on the medication for a couple years now so that's been pretty uneventful. And of course, the airway stuff will continue to be monitored, but we don't have another Denver trip and check up planned until late spring/summer. She is doing awesome!
She is so beautiful inside and out. She is just so genuine, caring, and tender. I love this girl to pieces.
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| He asks me to take his picture a lot, and this is usually the way he poses. |
Bentley - This boy is hilarious. He says and does the funniest things - sometimes he is meaning to be funny, but most of the time it's just him - the things he says, or the way he does stuff. He brings so much laughter into the home and often times I find myself thinking "I wonder if this is how Brad was as a child." He still has the best belly laughs that are so contagious too.
He is super into Star Wars and ninjas. Most of his play is jumping around from couch to couch making crazy noises and having a "battle" of some sort. He loves to put the "Darth Vader" battle song on repeat and he just goes for it. The other day at the park I was sitting on a bench listening in on a cute conversation Bentley was having with a smaller boy we didn't know. Bentley said, "My dad is Brad, and he's Darth Vader." That was a proud moment for him (and Brad) I'm sure. It was very cute.
Bentley is my social butterfly. He has lots of friends and he loves being with them. Every once in a while it gets a little crazy with the wrestling, but for the most part, it's fun to watch him and his three year old buddies do and say really funny things.
He is by far my most affectionate. I can't even count how many times a day he will hug me, or kiss me and tell me he loves me. Lately he has become really attached to the book "Love you Forever" and he will only let me read it to him. The whole time I'm reading he is holding my hand, rubbing my arms, and kissing me over and over again. It's the sweetest and he totally melts me into a big mommy puddle of joy. He is definitely stingy with his kisses to (or from) Eden though and it drives her crazy!
He still LOVES to play games. Its very rare that a day goes by that we don't play at least a couple during the day, and then within 5 minutes of Brad walking in the door from work, Bentley is asking for daddy to play a game with him. He has learned so much from playing games and is already getting pretty strategic in his way of thinking. It's been so fun to watch him, but it does get pretty tiring to play with him as often as he would want to play. Thank goodness he has Brad for a dad who also really loves games because those two have a great time together.
His soccer class is on a break right now and I was debating starting him again in January since the baby is coming, but he really misses it. He talks about it often and asks when he can go back so I guess I'll need to figure out something! He enjoyed that a lot and says he misses playing soccer with his friends.
I can't say enough how grateful I am for this boy. I love the completely different and fun dynamic he adds to the family. I love that he is rough and rugged and gets everyone laughing and wrestling, but then will come hug me and kiss me and tell me I'm the best mommy ever. He is such a blessing and the perfect boy for me. :)
Olivia - this little firecracker is perfectly portrayed in these two pictures taken just minutes apart. She is usually on one end of the spectrum or the other, not a lot of in between or being laid back. She is so hilarious, she is so funny, and so full of personality it is crazy! She keeps us laughing and entertained and loves the attention. For as young as she is, she is very smart and totally knows how to work it! Then on the other end of the spectrum is her crazy side. She is feisty, inpatient, stubborn, and screams bloody murder if she isn't getting her way, and she's downright defiant sometimes! She can throw some pretty impressive fits, complete with throwing herself down and kicking and pounding the floor. She keeps us on our toes for sure and has us reading all new kinds of parenting books to scramble to keep up with her. :)
She is a chatter bug which is really fun. She likes to be an echo to what everyone else is saying, which I think has propelled her vocabulary, but it does drive her brother crazy sometimes. She is speaking in sentences already and loves to try to boss me around. The other day in the car a song started on the radio and she said, "I don't like it mom. This song. I don't like it mom." so, thinking that was cute I changed it to something different. Now she states her opinion on the songs often and if I don't change the station quick she lets me know that is NOT ok! It's kind of annoying.
She likes to wrestle with Bentley, and they are getting better at playing together. Most times though, her instant fit if she isn't getting her way is a huge deference to him, which I don't blame him. Slowly though, it is getting better which gives me hope. He is very patient with her, all things considering, and the better she is getting about talking, the better things are getting in general.
She has the best laugh. She is extremely ticklish and it's really easy to get her going good. I love it.
She has the sweetest little twinkle in her eye, and it's like she is so much smarter than her age would suggest. She just gets things, which is both good and bad. That sweet twinkle is also sometimes a mischievous one and she will give you that same look and smile before she is about to do something she knows she shouldn't do. She will wait until I walk into the kitchen, then say, "Mom, tables not for climbing" and then she will proceed to climb up and jump around. If I just ignore it completely she will get down, game over. If I tell her to get down - game on and she just gets crazier up there. She loves it and it drives me crazy.
She is fiercely independent, which again, is both good and bad. All things must be figured out on her own, she won't take our word for it. We'll see how many broken bones/stitches/burns etc. we will end up with, but this girl will go far in life, no doubt about that.
Something that is totally precious, that completely redeems her from all the crazy she has caused for the day, is each night at bed time when I rock her. She loves to be snuggled and rocked and we sing songs together. She is learning the words really good and her voice is the sweetest. Her favorites to sing right now are Twinkle Star, Popcorn Popping, I am a Child of God, and I love to See the Temple. It amazes me that she's still months away from being two, but she can already sing most the lyrics to several songs. Hearing her voice as she snuggles up next to me is the best way to end what usually is a pretty tiring day with her. I love her to pieces.
And baby number 4 - this coming baby girl of ours still needs a name! We have no idea. Hopefully inspiration will strike soon and we will agree on something. I still can't believe we are having another baby soon, sometimes the reality of that hits me and I'm really excited and freaked out at the same time! I can't wait to meet her though. She is an active little thing and this pregnancy has been pretty uncomfortable, so as far as that's concerned, she can't come soon enough! It will be fun to have a big change of dynamic in the family. Hopefully the adjustment won't be too severe. Good thing grandma is close..... right grandma? please? help... :)
