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!"

Little Updates!

Savannah started school at the beginning of the month. Of course she had to wear her favorite colored clothes on the first day of school! Don't you just love all of the green?! She refused to smile for the picture. It took a few weeks, but she's finally made a good little friend and loves going so she can play with her! Savannah also helped Melanie out with her hair-do. Isn't it just so lovely? We finally got Spencer's crib set up. He's growing way too fast! The girls love to get in the crib with him. They'll just sit there and play with him! Spencer absolutely loves it and he just lays there and laughs at them! Savannah got her hair cut! She has been bugging me to let her get it cut and I finally gave in. I think that I was more attached to her hair than she was. It turned out so cute and we all love it! She's just glad that I'm not always trying to comb knots out of it. And we can even get away without having to do it because it's so cute as it is! Spencer rolled over! He rolled from his back to his tummy! He did it about 4 times that first day and has refused to do it since. Jon didn't get to see it.

Labor Day Fun

We had a good time on Labor Day! Jon got up before the rest of us and went running and then came home and mowed the backyard! But then it was time for a little bit of playing, so we all went bowling! This is the first time that Jon and I have ever been bowling together. I've taken Savannah bowling about 2 or 3 times, but I had never gone with Jon before. It was lots of fun. Of course the girls were done after about their 4th or 5th turn. Savannah liked carrying the ball herself and she even wanted to push it herself, but those just BARELY made it to the pins. Melanie had a good time just hanging on the ball slide (I don't know what those things are really called). We even had Jon's mom come along! It was great. Afterwards, we went to lunch at Red Robin. The girls love going there, and so that was lots of fun too! After most of us took naps, we drove out to Gold Canyon to my brother's house. We had an August birthday party for Jon, my mom, and my nephew Tate. We started out swimming, which was fun. I haven't done much swimming this summer after having Spencer. We also had burgers and ice cream pies! Here's Melanie enjoying a cupcake. Yummy! Jon and I also got to play his new birthday game that night - Quelf. The game has you do lots of crazy things! Here's my brother, Bryan, trying to lick his elbow. And then there's me attempting to do the splits. I'll just say that my sister-in-law, Maria, did a much better job than I did! We had a really nice day!

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

I know that it's almost been a month since your birthday, but I just wanted to wish you a Happy Birthday again!

For Jon's birthday, we went to lunch with his mom and twin sister and her husband. We went to Famous Dave's and ate way too much BBQ! But it was so good. They brought ice cream sundaes to Jon and Rachel and they both had a gigantic sparkler in them. My family watched the kids for me, and the girls helped my brother wash his truck. Our home teachers brought over these miniature hamburgers too. They are actually peppermint patties with green coconut and Nilla wafers. His family gave him a bunch of running stuff...clothes, an i-pod...stuff that he's thoroughly using. My family celebrated all of our August birthdays on Labor Day. Jon had a strawberry ice cream pie for his cake and it was so good! I picked up some 100 calorie treats...Twix and Reeses bars. My family gave him Quelf. It's a game that's similar to Cranium. He really wanted it and was totally shocked when he opened it. We played it that night and Jon's itching to play it again.

Spencer Laughing

Spencer is growing way too fast! He is such a content baby. He absolutely loves it when anyone will play with him. I can't believe how easy it is to make him laugh! And he is extremely ticklish! I hadn't been able to catch him laughing before with the camera, because he would become so fascinated with the camera as soon as he saw it. But here are a few shots of Savannah getting Spencer to laugh.

I promise that I made Savannah calm down and be gentle with Spencer as soon as I finished filming this!

Little August Highlights

Melanie found these pajamas that my mom got for Savannah 2 years ago when she went to Hong Kong. Melanie loves them! She likes the way they feel and that the shirt has pockets!Savannah got up from from her nap a little too early and decided that she was still tired. I don't know how she fell asleep on the rocker and ottoman, but she did it.Melanie pooped in the toilet. This has not happened since, and I'm not really pushing the potty training thing yet. But this is Melanie with her "special treat." Now Savannah and Melanie are continually asking for "special treats." Apparently they don't know what it means to be "special."This is what happens when Mommy is really tired and lets Savannah play with her hair. Savannah was so proud of her masterpiece.We made cookies as a treat for Family Home Evening. We don't usually get a treat, probably because we have a hard enough time remembering to do FHE. But Savannah loved helping with the cookies. And I think that I let her eat 3 of them that night. They're so good when they're right out of the oven.Spencer has found his hands. He will put them in his mouth every chance he gets. He doesn't suck on anything specific, just his whole fist. Jon said that Spencer looked like an "Ohio Baby" in this picture, because I actually put the matching cap on him. I just thought he was too cute to not take a picture.Melanie thought that it would be fun to hide in the closet. This is a very common occurrence around here. I don't know why they do it, but the girls think that the closet is the greatest place to hide.Spencer got to join in the fun in the Big Kid Tub! The girls thought that it was great having him in there with them.Melanie took her shorts off before she went to sleep and threw them on the floor. I was just impressed that she left her diaper on.The girls got to play out back in our little wading pool. They also played in the mud and pretty much covered themselves with it. They had a lot of fun!Jon has committed himself to running the RAGNAR in February. It is a 183 miles relay. Each team consists of 12 members. So Jon has started training and eating better. He has already lost a few pounds. Here is what we had for dinner the other night, black bean burgers with sugar snap peas. The burgers were actually pretty good. Jon's newest favorite thing is Edamame. Basically, they are soybeans, but they're great! You should try them if you've never had them.I just got called to be the 1st counselor in the Primary Presidency. I'm never quite sure what I'm supposed to be doing. But I am in charge of writing the Primary Program! It's crazy, but I've been working on it! So wish me luck!

One of these Eyes is not like the Other!

Savannah got a few mosquito bites about a week ago. Her bites always seem to get so inflamed. She got one right below one of her eyes and it made her face all swollen. She told me, "Mom, my cheek is going into my eye!" It totally looked like we beat her!