Growing Up

Spencer just continues to grow! Here's a little update on him:

About 2 weeks ago he came down with a croupy cough. I ended up taking him to Good Night Pediatrics after Jon came home from work. No antibiotics, but we had to do breathing treatments with him for about 4 days. He finally got both of his bottom teeth in. He's a much happier baby now that they're here (and I'm a happier mom)! He's also got to try rice cereal, which he really likes. This was his first time trying it and you can tell that he's pretty excited about it.

And I just gave him sweet potatoes today. He didn't like them so much, but I think that he may like them more if I warm them up a little bit. He tends to like things on the warm (if not hot) side.

(I thought he was still cute, even when he was crying.) He can't quite crawl, but he wiggles and squirms all over the place. He can slowly, but surely, get to where ever he wants to go. He does get up on all 4 and rock, but he hasn't quite figured out how to move his hands yet. He can finally consistently sit up by himself.His most recent trick is sitting himself back up from crawling position. I took him to the doctor yesterday for his 6 month check-up. He weighs 17 lbs and is 28 in long. The poor little guy had to get 4 shots, but he got over it quite quickly. (I'll be taking the girls in for their flu shots tomorrow and I'm sure that it won't go so easily!)

We all love having this happy little guy in our home!

Move #7

I guess that it is becoming more and more real every day, but at the end of the month Jon and I will be moving for the 7th time since we've been married. I really don't like to move, but we haven't lived in the same house for longer than 2 years (actually less than that). We have lived here for almost 16 months now, so I guess that our time is up. We have been looking for a new home since Spencer was born. It has definitely been a frustrating process. We absolutely love the ward that we live in now and it took us about 4 months to decide that we would have to look at homes outside of our ward boundaries if we didn't want to have to move again in 2 years! After looking at lots of awful homes, we finally found what we were looking for. It's a little further east than I would like it to be, but I'm willing to deal with it. The home is 4 bedrooms and a den. The kitchen and family room are very open. The girls' bedroom will actually be able to fit a real bed in it (as opposed to Savannah's toddler bed and Melanie's crib). They are very excited about the move too. (Savannah just wishes that all the current furniture would stay with the house!)We close on the 19th, but won't be doing our official move until the weekend after Christmas. So Merry Christmas, we get a new house!

FYI: We are planning on renting out our current home, so let me know if you know anyone that may be interested in a nice little 3 bedroom home.

Picture Tag

Thanks for the tag Heather. I'm not sure that any of my pictures could top your stellar perm! But here is what I came up with when searching through the pictures files: The 4th picture in the 4th file!Definite bonus points if any of you can guess where this picture was taken.

This was about 4 1/2 years ago. We were living in Ohio. It was Jon's 3rd (and last) year of law school. This is Savannah, climbing on the little fence that went around our front patio. She has always been a climber and has an excellent sense of balance. She was about 21 months at the time. We were just so happy that there was no snow outside and that you could actually feel the sun when it was shining! So her and I spent a lot of time outside those last 2 months before we moved back home.

Unfortunately, now that I started looking at some of these old pictures, I want to post a few more of them. So, sorry for the long history, but here are a few more picts from when we were in Ohio!

Ada may have been small, but it did have a nice park. Savannah loved going there and so I would take her whenever I could (when I had a car and the weather was nice). She loved the swings and the slide - definitely her favorites!Here are a few other pictures of her out in front of our apartment. We had a large field that she loved to just run in. She was also completely fascinated with the drain that was in the parking lot. It was always funny to me, but she loved to run over to it and look down in it.And I love this picture. It's Savannah bird watching! She would see a bird and try to get as close to it as possible. I was surprised at how close she actually got. And I love how she's all crouched down like she's hunting it!I love this next picture because of a number of reasons. First of all, Savannah is wearing her favorite shirt - her "Sunshine" shirt. She loved to wear that shirt (and it's probably the reason that her favorite color is lime green). And she's playing with her bubble blower. Grandma sent her that for Easter and she loved it (still does). We played with it a lot outside. And I don't know if you can tell, but there was a fairly decent breeze outside that day, yet it was still warm enough to wear shorts and short sleeves! And last of all, this picture was taken at the Moot Court vs. Law Review annual softball game.

All of the law students loved Savannah (because she was so cute and none of them had any kids)! Notice that she's not even standing close to Jon! We were just happy that Moot Court won the softball game! Nice job Daddy!Hopefully I didn't bore you with all of this. And let me know if you liked all of the old pictures, maybe I'll post some more and tell you about all of the adventures that we had during those crazy years!

Teething Time

I hate it when little kids are teething. It gives them runny noses, messes with their stomachs, makes it hard to eat, and makes them crabby! Melanie has been working on getting one of her top molars in. Those stinking molars take forever! I think that only one of the four corners is through so far. Poor little girl has been so fussy too! When she doesn't feel well, then every little thing is a crisis! And Spencer just got his first tooth on Sunday! It is one of his bottom front teeth. I wish that I could say that he's happier now that it has broken through, but I'm afraid that the other bottom tooth is not going to be far behind!

Bath Time

Spencer loves playing in the water and highly enjoys bath time. I tried to get a picture of him laying in the tub, but I ended up with about 8 pictures like this, all with his eyes closed.

(He must get that from his daddy!)I just can't believe how big he's getting. He loves to roll and will spin in a full circle when he's on his tummy, especially if he's trying to get something. I just can't wait until he can sit up on his own - he's definitely getting close.

Melanie has enjoyed taking a few baths with Spencer. She loves to play with him all the time. And she didn't mind at all when he peed on her today when they were in the tub. Isn't that nice?

All Grown Up

Savannah is just growing up so fast. This past weekend she made a Ham and Cheese Sandwich for herself and Melanie all by herself. She got out the ham, cheese, mayo, bread, plates and knife. The only that I had to do for her was unscrew the mayo lid (and put everything away). But she did a great job making the sandwiches! She was so proud of herself!

This is her "fashionable" pose. She likes to ask me if she looks fashionable. And Melanie enjoyed the sandwich too!

Civic Duty Week

This past week has certainly given me the opportunity to reflect on how I blessed I am to live in this country. Tuesday was Election Day and even though I had an Early Ballot, I didn't finish filling it out until Tuesday. I try to do my best to figure out what all of the propositions mean and the impact that they will have. I have to admit that I usually just ask Jon how he's voting and for the most part I agree with Jon's opinions and vote the same as him. But there are a few things that we have differing opinions on. I'm just glad that Jon's okay with it when we don't see eye to eye. But I took the girls for a walk and let them come with me to "Vote". We just walked down to the Jr. High and turned in my mail-in ballot. The polling people were really nice and gave both of the girls a "I Voted Today" sticker. Savannah was kind of disappointed that it was so quick, but I didn't dare try to vote while attempting to watch 3 kids. And I have to say that I was so relieved that Prop 102 passed and was pleasantly surprised when Prop 8 passed in California. It just really renews my beliefs that there are a lot of people out there with good values.

And then on Friday I got to go down to the City Municipal Court House for Jury Duty! Now, I was originally going to send my summons back saying that I couldn't go because I had a little baby. But Jon talked me into it; which he later admitted was a mistake. I get so nervous going to Jury Duty. I always feel uncertain that I won't know which side to believe or that I'll mess up some how. I'm not saying that these are valid fears, but they're concerns that I always seem to have. Anyways, I was pretty stressed about it on Thursday night and Friday morning. I was supposed to be at the court house at 7:45 am and so Jon ended up taking care of the kids, getting them fed and dressed and to Grandmas houses. But I got all checked-in in the Jury Room and surprisingly out of the other 22 jurors, there was a girl there that I actually knew. So we visited a little bit while we waited. Then we had a judge come in and talk to us about how important of a job we had. He actually went on and on and on! I think that he was just trying to pass the time. Honestly, he spoke to us for about 30 minutes! My favorite part was when he explained that they value their jurors time and try really hard to not waste it! Finally a girl came in and told him something, so he finished his story and told us thank you for coming and that we were all free to go! All that stress, worrying about what I was going to tell them to get out of Jury Duty, and then all of us get released. I was all done and it wasn't even 9:00 yet! So, I guess that I performed my civic duty and allowed someone the opportunity to have a jury trial, but then they settled at the last minute and didn't even need us. I just hope that it gets me off for a little while now.

Happy Halloween!

We had a great Halloween, and I hope that you did too! We had fun at our ward Trunk-or-Treat on Friday night. We all got dressed up for the occasion.

The previous weekend we got to go to a Halloween Party. It was a lot of fun! We decided to match Spencer's costume and all went as pirates, nice looking ones I might add. We even got to carve our pumpkin. Jon made a Skull and Crossbones to match our pirate theme! Unfortunately, the pumpkin died before Halloween. The girls kept asking who smashed the pumpkin. Yeah, it totally caved in and I threw it out with the trash Friday morning.

Savannah has wanted to be Aurora for quite some time now. She was so thrilled with her costume. She loved that she got to wear it to her school party on Halloween.

Melanie wanted to be Cinderella, but complained of her costume being itchy. So she ended up being a butterfly instead (Savannah's costume from last year). Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of just her, but she was so cute!

We've also been helping out at my mom's annual Haunted House. Thanks to those of you that were brave enough to come! Here's a picture of Savannah with my sister and nephew one of the nights.

And we may have put a lot of work into making this poster for some friends of ours. They totally hate Peeps. So we made them a HAPEEP HALLOWEEN! poster covered entirely with Peeps. It turned out totally awesome! And they got a kick out of our little prank!

So I hope that you all had a very Hapeep Halloween!

Annual Haunted House

My mom does a little Haunted House every year. She has kids in the neighborhood come and paint different scenes on large refrigerator boxes, and then she puts the boxes up along the side of her house. Then the kids dress up and act out something in the room that they painted to either try and gross you out or scare you.

(These are from last year.)It is a tradition that we've had for a long time. Probably the only year that she didn't do it was the year that Jon & I got married! If you live in the neighborhood, then you've probably seen her large signs advertising for it - especially the ones out in front of the Jr. High. It is going to be Tuesday and Thursday nights (Oct 28th & 30th) at 7-8:30 pm. Admission is 50 cents. There will be hot dogs, nachos, pop, and this year my mom wants to do smores. It is geared more toward the younger crowd, usually kids under 12 or so, but all are welcome. I'll probably be there the entire time both nights. I usually get roped into taking money or helping with the food. I'd love to see any of you come by and get into the Halloween spirit. Savannah loved it last year and is so excited about it again this year! If you need the address or any other information, just give me a call, or leave me a comment and I'll email you back.

My Hickey

On Sunday, Jon was home teaching and I was trying to get some lunch for the girls. Spencer was also hungry and so he was being fussy. So I picked him up and put him in my handy new sling. He was quite content to sit there and watch me make lunch for the girls. I had one of my arms in front of him though, so he didn't try jumping out. And since he was hungry, he started sucking on it. I didn't really mind because I didn't think that he was sucking very hard. Well, I got the girls' lunch to them and then I fed Spencer. After that I sat down with the girls, and I was like - What happened to my arm? I showed this red mark to Savannah and she told me that it was a mosquito bite. I told her that I didn't think so, because it didn't have a bump and it didn't itch. She informed me that it would itch later. She thinks that she's pretty smart. Anyways, it wasn't until that night that I realized that it looked more like a bruise and then it dawned on me - Spencer gave me a hickey! Nice job! I thought that it was pretty funny. Sorry that I don't have a picture of it, but it's pretty much cleared up now.

Schnepf Farms

On Friday, the kids and I went with some cousins out to Schnepf Farms. The girls had a great time! Savannah loved riding all of the rides. She was so excited and wanted to ride everything! She loved the Bumble Bees and the little Airplanes. Her absolute favorite ride was the roller coaster! She's truly my daughter! Melanie was much more timid about the rides. Even on the carousel, she wanted to ride on the bench. She rode on the Bees with me, but once was enough. Her favorite thing was going down the tube slide. I didn't get a picture of her on it though, because she always went down with me. For the most part, Spencer hung out in his stroller, in the shade, with Grandma. Surprisingly, he was awake the entire time, but he was also very good. We had fun riding the train. Don't you just love Savannah's face?At the very end we went and picked out our pumpkins. Savannah wanted the "Littlest Pumpkin." Melanie didn't want a pumpkin that was in the sun, because they were "too hot." So I pointed her toward some that were in the shade, but most of them were "too heavy," according to her. She did eventually find the perfect one though. We also got a pumpkin for Daddy and Savannah picked out another pumpkin for herself so she could carve it. We had a great time and just wish that Jon could have come with us!

Check Up Time

Yesterday was Spencer's 4 month check-up. The last 2 months have flown by. He ended up with 4 shots and 1 oral vaccine. He handled them fairly well. Here are his new stats:

Height: 27 inches - He's above the 95th percentile

Weight: 14 lbs 10.6 oz - That's the 50th percentile (I was guessing that he was 15 lbs, so almost, but not quite.)

And the one that Jon is the proudest of - Head Circumference: 44 1/4 cm - Between the 75th and 90th percentile (We always seem to have large headed children. That just means they're super smart, right?)

Spencer's just growing so fast. He loves to grab things, so you have to watch out or he'll get your hair, earrings, glasses, or anything else that he can manage to reach. He also loves to suck on his fingers and anything else that he can get in his mouth. If you hold him in your lap then he'll try to suck on your arm or hand and he is extremely slobbery!

I also just got a baby sling! (Thanks Allison!) It has become my third hand. Spencer loves to be held and there are just some times when it is not possible for me to hold him. So my new sling has come in quite handy. Spencer even fell asleep in it on the 2nd day! If you're interested, my good friend Allison sales them online. You can find a link to her website, Mod Mum, in my sidebar.

Is it Halloween Yet?

My kids can't wait for Halloween! I'm rubbing off on them, because they're starting to enjoy my favorite holiday too! But Savannah begged to get out our costumes. They had so much fun! Here are the results:

Savannah: The Butterfly Pirate!

Melanie: The Butterfly

Notice how her little antennas are bobbing! She was trying so hard to get them to bounce!

Spencer, the Pirate, eating his sword!

My little Skeleton, outgrowing his costume already and we still have a month to go!

We just can't wait for that Halloween costume store to open so we can go look at all of the cool stuff. Every time we drive past it, Melanie says, "I want to go to the Pumpkin store!"