A few random things

Check out J in his cowboy outfit

The socks even look like little cowboy boots!

I’m sending this outfit to my dear friend in Virginia (you know who you are!) when I’m done with it, because I’ve decided you just have to have it!  You’re gonna have more kids, right? :-)  You’ve got a long way to go to nine!

Mom, can you believe we forgot to put J in this little cradle when he was a newborn?  That would have been so much fun!  I have pics of S in it, and it’s a good thing I did this when I did, ‘cause little J’s feet only just barely tuck in with the blanket.

This is how we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day:

I did get J’s window covering done:

And Grandma N, remember how you gave S a pocket full of change when we were back there for the funeral?  She has guarded that money ferociously, and we finally decided to get her somewhere to put it.

Both girls were very pleased to put their money in their piggies, but they weren’t so pleased to learn they have to leave them up on their dresser and not play with them.

And last of the random things, have you ever seen a happier daddy?

Mommy’s Project

Daylight Savings time came around again, and suddenly we discovered it’s still light out when it’s time to put the kids to bed.  And kids don’t suddenly need less sleep just because it’s Spring.  Last year I had a dark blue piece of fleece I hung up in their window, and a very rudimentary tie system to keep it up during the day.  It wasn’t easy to deal with, and I was glad when it was dark enough to take it down. 

So, Monday I went and got some dark pink fleece, some pink buttons, pink thread … and a sewing machine!  I’ve been borrowing my mom’s for so long and borrowing from friends, and now C bought me my very own machine!  I’m so excited!  Beside the window covers, I’ve already got two things I need to do (hem my new scout shirt and make new seats for my girls’ play strollers).  I was so tired of having sewing projects piling up until I could get my hands on a machine, and now I don’t have to wait anymore!  Also, I bought it from this fantastic little store in town (I actually know the lady who owns it), and they give you a 1 year warranty, 1 year free service, and a free, one-on-one class to teach you how to use your new machine.  Whoopee!  Words can not express my joy.

Here is the fleece hanging up in their window.  It fits underneath their normal curtains, and over their blinds.

And when it’s rolled up, you can’t even see it behind their curtains, so I’ll probably leave it up year-round, instead of taking it down and putting it up each summer.  Now I just have to take that old blue fleece and do the same thing for J’s room.

Make-it, Take-it

We took the girls into Michael’s last Saturday to do their free art project.  They were making little dolls.  I remember teaching kids’ art classes at Michael’s and hating the parents who hovered and told their kids exactly what to do, so I really tried not to do that … but then, my girls are only 5 and 3, so they did need some help.  Anyway, I think they did a good job, and they were both very pleased with themselves.

I also learned something: it’s hard to help your left-handed child when you’re right handed.  S is definitely left-handed, so I can’t just put my hand over hers and help.  I put my left hand on hers, and we fumbled our way along, but it seemed to work out in the end.

And my right-handed girl declined help in drawing her dolly’s face, and did it all by herself.  Craig asked me, “What did she draw on the doll’s cheeks?”  So I asked Lila, and she said, “Tears.”  L had been throwing a fit on the way there, and I’d told her she had to get rid of her tears if she wanted to go in the store and have fun.  Apparently she hadn’t completely forgotten, and so she drew tears on her dolly!

Early Indoctrination

My grandma bought me this t-shirt for J.  It was the smallest size, and it’s a 3T, so he’s got some growing to do before it really fits him.  :-)

To demonstrate a point

So other people can understand my point of view when I say how big my little boy is.  I realize he may not be big in comparison to other kids, but compared to my other babies, he is huge!

Here is L at 11 months old. 

 

At the time, she weighed about 16 lbs, and she wore this little blue overalls set.  As you can tell, she’s crawling around in it, and you can see the little teeth in her mouth.

Here is S in the blue overalls.

 

S was a little bit bigger.  Here she is at 9 months, in the same blue overalls.  Notice, that she is also crawling and mobile by the time she was big enough to wear the overalls.

And now we have my little J.  He’s 4 mo old, and he’s already 16 lbs.  And he’s in the blue overalls already!

He’s only sitting because I propped him up on the couch.  He can roll from his back to his stomach, but then he just screams at me to turn him over again.  He is my little chunk, and we’re so proud of him.  I just can’t believe how BIG he is!

Laughing Baby Boy

Late at night, when J was still awake and slap-happy, I got him laughing. C grabbed the camera and got a video of it. He wasn't laughing quite so hard by the time C got the video out, but we still got a good shot of it.

And just so you know, I'd been reading my friend's blog about kicking a chicken who'd been attacking her little boy - so that's where the kicking the chicken comes in. I'm not an animal hater, I was just laughing at a friend's funny story ... that happened to be about kicking a chicken. :-)<

Baby Blessing

We had the chance this last weekend to travel down to Utah to have a baby blessing with both mine and C’s families.  J is four months old now, and I couldn’t believe that he fit into the 6-9 month size blessing outfit.

I thought the little cap that came with it was adorable, but C disagreed.  I turned to my mom for backup, and she surprised me by saying, “I’m with C.  I don’t like it.”  Come on, isn’t this adorable?

But I lost, and we left the cap at home when we went to the blessing.  We had a good time with our family.  Thank you to everyone who came!