Four Months

I think Andy is the greatest baby ever! I have so much fun with him. He is so happy. He coos and smiles when he is awake and sleeps well. I couldn't be more happy with him. Yesterday he had his four month well baby visit. He weighed in at 16 lbs. 2 oz. putting him in the 85th percentile. He is 26 inches putting him in the 90th percentile for height. If he is anything like his brother his hight will be off the charts soon. It is a little sad to see him growing out of his 3-6 month cloths at four months.



With his four month birthday he got to start "tongue training" aka solids today. He smiled and cooed, but did very little swallowing he just let the rice sit on his tongue. He didn't gag or scream like my other kids. The only person gagging was Cara. I thought she was going to loose it she was so discussed. She kept saying "Big kucky, Andy."



This month Andy also got his first "hair cut". I am not sure if it really counts because it was just the snipping of the long hairs leaving him with a cute little blonde flat top, but it does look much better.



He also went to an Aggie Basketball game and got to meet Big Blue. He wasn't that excited about it, but Caleb and Cara go nuts for Big Blue.

The Big One

My brother Cody and his wife Stephanie had their beautiful baby boy on the 10th. He was just 5 lbs 8 oz at birth. We took Caleb, Cara, and Andy over to meet him this week. Caleb seemed a little concerned that everyone was giving their attention to the new baby, Daniel, and paying no attention to his brother, Andy. With a sigh, Caleb plopped on the couch and said, “Okay, I will hold the big one” referring to Andy. I guess Andy will forever now be referred to as The Big One. With only 14 weeks in age difference here is a picture of “The Big One” holding “The Little One”.



Caleb also wanted to be sure that we weren't only taking pictures of Daniel so here is the picture he requested on him holding The Big One. Yes that is a 3-6 month outfit that Andy at the age of 3 months 2 weeks is growing out of.

Girl Crazy at Age Four

I didn’t know that four year olds could be girl crazy, but Caleb is great at surprising me. A couple of weeks ago on the way home from church he said, “Brielle said that she doesn’t kiss little boys.” Brielle is the six-year-old girl he has been “going to marry” sense early last summer. I didn’t think much of it sense the only time he really sees her is at church although he occasionally asked if she could come over and play. With Brielle having given him the cold shoulder on Sunday he asked Jillian if she would marry him at preschool on Monday. Jillian apparently agreed and he found himself on the track to marriage again. Their teacher told me that she found a lot of humor in watching him put his arm around her and her laying her head on his chest. She said that he also tried to plant a kiss on her a few times but luckily that was going a little too far for her. When I talked to him about it he tried to settle my fears by telling me that he is “not getting married until I am six.” I thought it was only girls that dreamed about getting married in preschool. I haven’t heard much about Jillian this week. They are no longer allowed to sit by each other in school or to play “the Princess Leia Game.” I think Caleb now has his eyes on another neighbor girl, another older girl, a kindergartener who is good at video games. He thinks she is “so cool”. Who knows she may get the big question this week.

While I was blogging . . .

After writing the comment about taking more pictures I looked around the room at what my kids were doing and decided there was no better time to start taking pictures than that moment. While I was writing my entry about December Caleb and his best friend Isaac were “sledding” down the stairs on a box, which they have been doing most of the afternoon. That is something I remember doing as a kid and so I showed them how to do it a few weeks ago. Caleb has been scared to do it until today. He tried it once and it hurt a little. When I would ask him if he wanted a turn he would say, “Cara can have my turns.” Isn’t he a nice brother? He so much enjoys pushing her down the stairs and doesn’t worry a bit if she gets hurt.



Cara was putting on all of her jewelry. She helped Connie clean out her jewelry when Connie moved out and now Cara has a seemingly endless supply. (PS don’t you love the curls? My mom would be so proud. I have been trying to figure out sponge rollers. My mom put them in my hair every Saturday night until I was probably 10.) I guess the curls made Cara think she should get all dolled up. She told me “Colby is coming”. Colby is Connie’s boyfriend who Cara has a not so secret crush on. It is funny how things change I remember Connie being in love with my boyfriends.



Andy got this darling exer-saucer from my mom when he was born. (Great baby gift!) Anyway, I put it together today. He can’t reach the floor and his head bobbles a little, but I think he likes it. It won’t be long before he can use his cute little hands and reach.

December Recap

We had a fantastic Christmas. I got a camera on Black Friday, but I am not a great at carrying it and actually taking pictures. (Maybe that should be my new years resolution.) I do want to take a moment to recap December though. Some of the highlights of the month include: Going to Temple Square to the “I am a Child of God” display and the lights, The Joy School Christmas Program, spending time with my sister Cathie’s family who was in from Alaska, playing in the snow, and of course the holidays.

Going to Temple Square –

Those of you who know me well know that being home more than a day without going out makes me crazy. I had read on a friend’s blog about the “I am a Child of God” display at the church history museum on Temple Square. I decided to hitch a ride with Josh and take the kids to Temple Square while he was at meetings in SLC. It was a great decision. We had a fantastic time. I had no idea how kid oriented the second floor of the Church History Museum could be. They had people stationed in each room doing crafts and telling stories for the kids. (This may have just been for the holidays.) We were the only ones there and received so much attention. The kids loved it. I think it is so worthwhile to have outings like that. The kids probably wont remember, but who they become is based on these formative years so even though the wont remember it will become a part of them.



The Joy School Christmas Program –



I am a huge fan of Joy School. My great experience is based in part on the fact that the moms I share the teaching responsibilities with are so awesome. We had a neat little Christmas Program and get together. The kids sang so well. Caleb has grown up so much sense last year. He participated, sang out, did the actions without a moments hesitation. I was very proud of him. The kids sang so well that Santa even came at the end of the program and made a group of preschoolers very happy.







Spending time with my sister Cathie’s family who was in from Alaska –

We all love spending time with the Coombs family. The kids have such a fantastic time together, and Josh and I have a great time with Cathie and Keith. I even stayed at my moms house while the Coombs family was in town so that we could all be together.


Emi used to say that she and Cara weren't cousins, but she now admits that they are, in fact, they get along great.


Colter and Caleb (if you can't tell) playing dress-up.

Playing in the snow –

I guess I live in the right place because I really like having a white Christmas. With the help of some serious adults the kids made an awesome snow fort and Cody even launched rockets in the snow for everyone. The kids loved riding on the sleds behind the four-wheeler and the horse (who wouldn’t). I think sledding behind something is the only way to go sense it requires no hiking.



Christmas –

I am so grateful that we are close to family and don’t have to spend our holidays traveling. We always spend Christmas Eve with my family, Christmas Morning at our home, and Christmas Day with Josh’s family. I love that we get to spend time with both families and Santa gets to come to our house.

Christmas Eve was awesome! The kids had a great time out side with the sleds and we even had a couple of snowmobiles to keep the big boys happy. As always mom prepared an incredible ham dinner, and she and Christie went crazy buying gifts for the kids. Josh and I gave Cathie some homemade jewelry (my hobby in December) and Cody a car emergency kit. Cody and Step gave me some darling, long, long sleeve shirts, just what I wanted, and Cathie and Keith gave Josh a helicopter, just what he wanted. The kids each got a couple of costumes from Mom and Christie. I can’t think of a better kid gift. Dressing up seems to be something the kids never tire of.





Santa did find us on Christmas morning. Caleb initially wanted transformers, but when he learned that Isaac was asking for a Clone Wars Storm Trooper Helmet he changed his order. Santa had to make some last minute switches, but Caleb got just what he asked for. Cara wanted my little ponies and Andy go a little thing to lay under and play with. Josh asked for a yoga mat, and I asked for hubcaps. (When I got my tires replaced this month in order to pass the state safety inspection they had to break of two of the hubcaps.) I was totally surprised when there was a full size shelf reliance shelf under the tree. (They are those rolling shelves to organize your food storage.) I have had my eye on them for years. Everyone got just what they had asked for.

For Christmas this year the Kirks had decided to not exchange gifts but instead to do Christmas for another family. Sara and Christina headed up gathering many of the things that the family was in need of. I was totally surprise at the wonderful gifts we received from Josh’s sisters even though “we weren’t exchanging.” April got us all nice name brand sweatshirts, and Christina went all out and got us a Wii. We were totally spoiled. My arm is currently stiff from playing the sports games over New Years.





The highlight of this Christmas for me has been enjoying my little ones. It has been especially fun to have Andy. He is such a sweet baby. I have thoroughly enjoyed sleeping him under the tree and using the tree lights as his night-light. I have loved holding him and talking to him. He is a fantastic smiler and always "sings along" when I sing to him. I have loved the excitement in the eyes of my kids and the cute way that Cara says Santa. She and Caleb are excited about absolutely everything. We got free Mickey Mouse snow globes on black Friday that we put in the kid’s stockings. When Caleb saw his he very cheerfully said, "Oh, it's beautiful! Cara do you want it." This year really was a very Merry Christmas!

Too Much Speech Therapy?

For the past year I have been taking Cara to Speech Therapy at least once a week. She loves to go and try’s so hard to talk. She says the word “doggy” – “goddy”. It drives me crazy so I often say to her “d - d - d doggy like daddy” and try to get her to repeat what I am saying. The other day she was sitting holding her toy dog. I heard her saying “t - t - t daddy, goddy.” She is so darn cute but I wonder if all of this speech therapy is going right over her head.

Cara has some funny ways that she says things that are simply bad habits, not that she can't say them right. For example, she says potty, "hotty". This has been confusing in nursery because they think she is trying to tell them that she is hungry or happy or something. It doesn't take long for them to figure out her body language.

Cara has NEVER said Caleb. For at least six month she called him "hunga" and then she moved to "wang" for about six months for the past three or four months she has been calling him "vuna". I think she is saying brother. I say, "say Ca." She says, "Ca". I say, "Say leb." She says, "leb." I say, "say Ca-leb." She says, "vuna." All of the correcting in the world will not get her to say Caleb.