Funny Kids

Of all of the kids Andy pauses every time Ali is in reach to give her a hug. He can’t get close enough to her. Yesterday he kept trying to bite her head. He really loves her! I think it is that he his only 18 months, but at this point he doesn’t seem jealous. When I am feeding her he just does his own thing except the occasional pause to “love her.”





This picture shows that it was "love at first sight."


My mom was with us last week helping while I recovered and got used to being the mother of four. She wrote my sister Connie, on a mission, and filled the letter with funny things that the kids did and said over the week. I guess I am accustom to their quirky ways so I hardly noticed. It was fun to have her point out a few things. I stole the following excerpts from the letter she wrote.

“Andy has shoes that he wears all the time now so he can walk outside. He walks like a robot, very slow and cautious, gets down to crawl over the elevator threshold, and if the sidewalk gets a little bumpy. When I let him out of the car to walk to the store he just heads out, doesn’t matter what direction, just going, doesn’t know his name or at least doesn’t respond. I think he is going the way of gravity actually.



“Cara loves her ‘siser’ and she is so proud to tell everyone her ‘siser’ is here. The first night Cara made a bed on the floor by Ali’s crib. She was up with Carrie at each feeding. Carrie was so excited to call Cara and tell her it was a girl. Cara nonchalantly replied something like, "My baby siser is here." She already knew it was a Sister. She was excited after the phone call. I was with her and she was ready to go see her siser.

“Caleb was holding the baby at he hospital for about two seconds when Cara yelled ‘He’s not taking turns!’



“Caleb has been telling me what keeps him busy. He is in two clubs a rock club and a deer club. In the Deer Club they make a plan: ‘we find the deer and sneak up on it, when it is under a tree, then we get our deer-whackers and wack’em until they are dead.’ I asked what they do after they kill them and he said ‘we eat um.’

“As for the Rock Club, he asked me if I thought Connie would let Mia [her dog] be in his rock club. I asked what he does in his club and why he would need her. He said he and Issac get all kinds of rocks. They need Mia to help find them, and then she is to dig them up. I caught him out on the tailgate of my truck, in his yard, with rocks lined up. (The back of the truck full of little girls.) I asked what he was doing, ‘I’m selling rocks grandma.’ He had all of his and Cara’s money outside, I guess for change. He told me, ‘We sell some and we give some away.’ He’s quite the businessman.

“I asked the kids to dance for me one night. Josh played the guitar while Andy bounced, hardly getting his feet off the floor. Caleb is a bit crazy of course, although he does have some sharp moves like a rap singer. Cara showed me some ballet moves. I asked her where she learned ballet, she said, ‘from my pajamas.’ She has ballerina PJ’s with dancers in different poses. She would study her PJ’s then show me the move."

Ali Pictures

As requested here are a few pictures of perfect baby Alice.


This is the Kirk baby leg stretch. I think she tried to do that in my tummy too.


This one makes me laugh. Look at how paitent she is with Andy's loves. This was after he pulled the flower off of her head. I think she will be a headband girl because Andy can't stand for a bow or flower to be glued on her. This also shows her size next to Andy who is almost 18 months.


It is impossable to show how small 7 lbs is, but here she is compared to my shoe. (She was an ounce short of regaining her birth weight at one week.) She is doing great.

Cara turned 4!

What happened to my baby girl? She is growing up! She is still as sweet and good as ever. She is more emotional than she used to be, but I guess that comes with being a girl. Unfortunately her brother, Caleb, can talk her into almost anything. He talked her into combining her birthday money with his so they “can buy anything we want.” Of course he made it clear to me that it won’t be a girl toy. How do I teach her not to give in to his devious plans? On a year that her birthday could have been entirely missed (Ali was born exactly one week before Cara’s birthday and eight days after Caleb’s birthday) she had a great one.

On Saturday Grandma Iva and Aunt Merle took Caleb and Cara to Disney on Ice. They LOVED IT! I found a good deal on the tickets before Ali was born and we have been calling it her “birthday party.” I wanted her to have something to look forward to. (Grandma Iva made her the Happy Birthday crown.)


Grandma also made Cara a butter fly birthday cake. Cara put the candies on to decorate it.


It was a good thing that she only had one candle. She had a hard time blowing it out.


Last minute we decided to have a few friends join us at McDonalds for dinner. It was so fun the Korinne and Ellie and their families could come. It made Cara feel very special.


She also got some great birthday presents.


Including a girl bike. Last summer she rode Caleb’s boy bike. This summer she can get serous about the bike thing with her own.


Aunt April even got her some Barbie roller blades. Only time will tell if she is persistent and brave enough to learn how to use them before they get too small.

Alice Sophia

Birth of Alice Sophia Kirk (Ali)
March 8, 2010 3:14 PM
7 lbs and 20.5 inches

She is so beautiful! She is named after her two living Great Grandmas. Alice is Josh's dad's mom, and Sophia is Josh's mom's mom.


It is impossible to show how little newborns are, but this picture with Josh's hand gives some perspective.


Here is the traditional family picture. It looks like I may have my hands full.


If you are interested in more details of the labor and delivery here they are from the prospective of Ali:

My birthday was perfect!! I am so happy to be out of my mommy and to join my family. They are so excited to have me. Although I tried to provide my mom with as much comfort as possible we were just getting so crowded! I was getting tired of living on peaches and rice crispy treats, too. (She has said that as terrible as it was this was her best pregnancy yet.) Mom did everything she could to put herself into labor last week, but it just wasn’t time yet. She tried to take caster oil twice, but I would have none of that and she threw it up. Thursday she had her membranes stripped and that didn’t work. She had her feet zoned on Friday and that gave her good contractions for the evening, but didn’t put her into labor. Finally she resigned herself to the being pregnant until her doctor appointment on Monday. She kept saying that she wanted to go to church on Sunday any way. (There were some changes in the primary presidency and she was moved from 2nd counselor to 1st.)

Sunday night I was trying to kick myself out right through her skin, but even that didn’t work. Apparently my kicking all night just makes mom tired. We had a 8:45 AM OB appointment with Doctor Fowers. Mom seemed healthy to the doc except her blood pressure, which was about 145/95. She wasn’t surprise because her blood pressure has gone up at the end of all of her pregnancies. She was prepared to give Dr. Fowers a list of about 100 reasons why he should start her, but her blood pressure was enough so she didn’t even have to cry or whip out the list. When he left to call the hospital he said he would schedule a start for “today, tomorrow or Wednesday.” Mom was relieved when he returned and told her that they could start her in 30-60 minutes.

We drove home and got dad and mom’s stuff and dropped Andy and Cara off at the Lows. Things went a little bit slow in the morning. We arrived at the hospital at 10:15, and the pit was started at about 11:15. I slept for the first few hours of labor, which the nurses didn’t really like, but I was fine. My heart rate was beautiful through the second couple of hours of labor though. For me the labor and birth experience was as smooth as can be all except a little scratch on my head from when Dr. Fowers broke my water.

For mom, however, labor and delivery were an entirely new experience. She had decided to mix things up a little this time by, one, not finding out what gender I was, and, two, by “waiting longer to get an epidural and maybe not even get one.” She had been studying the Hypno Birthing book and listening to the CD’s. She had peer pressure mostly from Erica, and from Cathie too. They both had natural deliveries this year with their fourth. Mom wanted to see what it was like. Mom says that labor went great. Even though the contractions were painful there was always a brake. She wanted dad close by to talk to her and to tickle her arm and back during the last couple of hours or so, but it was not nearly as bad as she thought it would be.

Mom is quite proud of herself. Not only was she on patocin, which makes labor more painful, but Dr. Fowers broke her water about 30 minutes after she was started which also makes things more intense. That allowed me to drop and for things to progress more quickly. By 2:00 mom was at a 7, 100%, and I was at a 0. She had taken some fentanyl to take of the edge and they also slowed down the pit. Slowing down the pit slowed down progress so with no change from 2-2:30 she got some more fentanyl and they upped the pit again. It was 3:04 when I crowned and was ready to be delivered. It was at that point that mom was convinced that going without an epidural was a really bad idea (although I the end she decided that it is a better way to go for her). Mom said, “oh my gosh, the baby is coming out.” Dad ran into the hall and called to the nurses to “come and catch this baby.” The nurses were scrambling! They were telling mom not to push. Yah, right!! She didn’t listen nor did she respond. She just listened to her body and knew that it was time for me to be born. The nurses were relieved when Dr. Fowers made it within seconds of delivery. The doctor said that it was the first time he has sprinted in months. She still needed an episiotomy to get me out, but as soon as the doctor came he gave her one and I was born.

It was such a relief to be born. Dad announced to mom that “it ‘s an Alice!” Mom wanted them to wipe me down before they handed me to her. I was having a hard time waking up due to the fentanyl, but other than that I was perfectly healthy. They tried a few times to make me cry, but I am just not that interested in crying. It is just so nice to be born and to have a body, why would I cry? Even though I was tired as soon as I got up to moms skin I wanted to eat. I am a Kirk; I love to eat!

Caleb, Cara, Andy, and Grandma Iva came shortly after we arrived in our room. They were so happy to see me. They got to help give me a bath and hold and love me. They were so happy to see me. I am the sister that Cara has been dreaming of. Caleb told everyone who came into our room how much “we love babies at our house.” He will be a great brother. Andy was a little nervous, and a little rough. He just needs a little time to remember what great friends we were before he came to earth. I am perfectly happy and excited to be here. I have no reason to cry or fuss. I am healthy and strong and I already feel the love of my family.

Princess or Superhero?

I love this picture of Cara with her Joy School friends Jules, Abby, Korinne, and Cara. It appears as if they were having a hard time deciding if they wanted to be princesses or super heros when playing dress up.


Someday this picture of Cara in her "student nurse" scrubs may become a reality. She is a perfect little nurse right now. She is thoughtful, helpful, and tough as nails.


As a side note - Andy is FINALLY WALKING. I would guess he is on his feet 80% of the time. What a relief! He has been such a perfect baby for this pregnancy. He has been slow to make his milestone like walking and crawling which has made life easier for me and he is such a happy guy. He does have one bad habit, but just one, he loves the cup drawer. Lately he has taken to getting right on in.


Caleb celebrated his 100th day of school and made this cute hat. Caleb is such a funny guy.

Power Ranger Birthday - Caleb's 6!

Caleb turned 6 on Sunday. He has been so excited for his birthday. I have forgotten what a huge deal birthdays are for kids and Caleb seems to always take things to the extreme. I would guess that he verbally invited over 100 people to his "Power Ranger Birthday Party" before he and I had even discussed if he was going to have a birthday party. I had a 7 year old girl at church tell me that Caleb told her that he could only invite boys to the party after he had already invited her. I told her that was true because he had too many friends he wanted to invite. We narrowed the list down to 10 boys half of which came. It ended up being way fun. I will put some of the ideas at the end of the entry just in case you want to copy. Of course the presents are always a highlight.


One thing that Caleb gets really excited about and wants to help plan every detail is the cake. This one doesn't look professional like the one that April did last year, but Caleb couldn't have been more happy with it. I let him put the figures on it so they are arranged a little less than perfect, but that could describe most things about the cake. The think that he really wanted for this cake was for us to use every Power Ranger color. That was something I could do.


The awesome thing is that to a 6 year old it was the best cake ever.


Caleb also loves to plan the invitations. Josh always goes the extra mile designing them even though I give him a time limit. Caleb just can't wait to get those things delivered.


On his birthday we were going to the Kirks to celebrate and we were playing a number guessing game. (The "how many minutes until we will be there" game.) Caleb guessed seven and said, "I pick seven because I am almost seven." His birthday wasn't even over and he is already counting down to next year.