Tuesday, May 19, 2020

February 2020

Peter is totally enamored with Liam. He hates when he sleeps and always insists to me that Liam wants to wake up. Peter is learning not to wake him up, so instead he stands over him staring and as soon as his eyelids flutter Peter yells "he's waking up!" Peter can actually be really helpful with him. I can lie Liam down and put on Aladdin Soundtrack or Coldplay's Paradise and Peter dances his heart out and Liam stares at him in awe. I've been able to take showers, make dinner, fold laundry etc.

Uncle Jacob came over and he and Liam were matching.

Lamoni does his morning scripture study o

One of the few times I actually went grocery shopping with all 3 kids by myself. I quickly learned to wait for Lamoni to help, and then stay-at-home orders came for COVID-19 so I conveniently wasn't even supposed to bring them. :-)

Peaceful sleeping baby pictures are the best.

Benjamin at group class. I can't believe how grown up he's getting to be. 

Lamoni took the older boys to the Natural History Museum. February was the last month open before everything shut down with the virus, so I'm glad we got a lot of fun in!


One of the last times at Grandma's house playing for what ended up being months!

Playing games after dinner at Grandma's house with Nate and Natalie, adopted members of the family.

Remember a previous post where I said Peter's produce stickers always end up on his forehead? Well, it looks like he probably ate an apple, a pear and got an owie on his upper lip and tada! Here is the finished result.



At Gravity Park - our 3 month membership ended there this month. The boys got to be quite the daredevils since we went there so often. 

Grandma Bear sent the boys Valentines cards and lollipops.

Playing a game with papa.



Grandma saved me and came last minute to the dentist with me when I figured out that getting all 3 of our teeth cleaned at the same time with an infant who likes to be held wasn't a great idea.

Home school group at the aquarium. We had a Valentines party and then did artwork of the sea animals.

Ali Ennenga is running for a political position in our state and asked to do a photo session with our boys so she include the pictures on her website and flyers. 

Peter usually wakes up earlier than Benjamin but doesn't like to be alone, so he takes care of that quickly!



Watching cello group class as a family. 


Lamoni is always the favorite, but especially when he's the ice cream scooper.

Peter is so independent. If he wants something he gets it. Doesn't matter how high or low. Doesn't matter if we say yes or no... No simply means he has to be more persistent or sneaky. Here he is reheating his food - he likes it to be just the right temperature and we can't always do that justice.





Playing with some of the toys and paints that Ali gave the boys as a thank you.

Grandma came over and it brought back memories seeing her working on her phone holding a baby!

Thank you, Kathryn, for the picture! I didn't even know she was taking it and I'm learning that pictures of the mom are usually scarce. :-)


Wednesday, May 6, 2020

January 2020

Liam is 6 weeks old and we moved him into size 2 diapers today! He has been leaking out of his size 1s and when I weighed him today he's about 14 pounds! Size 2 starts at 12 lbs. His 3 month clothes are small on him. I love every new stage, but I'm glad I ate up every minute of the newborn stage this time since it goes so fast!
Grammy was visiting from AZ and my parents ended up going to UT at the last minute for Adelina's baptism, so Grammy got to come stay with us! We really enjoyed having her and thanks to Lamoni helping with the shopping, cooking and the boys, we got to do hours of family history together. Time goes by so quickly when we're working on family history.
I had my couple days back teaching this week. So far so good!

For the last few months Peter (3 1/2) thinks that the microwave is some magical thing that makes his food the right temperature. He climbs up on the counter and uses it himself. Even if food is too hot he puts it in the microwave. He likes his food to be just the right temperature - he won't eat cold oatmeal, a cold burrito etc. Even if it's his fault the food is cold he throws a fit until I microwave it (sometimes it's too much work for him to climb on the counter). The other day he put his frozen blueberries in the microwave because they were too cold!

Peter likes things to be easy. If he has too many toys to clean up or when practicing piano he crumbles his body and complains loudly "it's too loooong! It's too haaaaard!" etc.

We're working on Peter giving Liam just one kiss at a time instead of smothering him with them. So of course he likes to smother him before we can get to him. He walks in to a room and announces "KISSIES FOR LEELEES!!!" and runs for him before we can intervene. He keeps us active and on our toes always!

New Years Eve - we made Chinese food, keeping with our tradition.

Games at Charity's house

We went on a lot of family walks during the holidays.



Faith and the kids came after Christmas. The cousins had a blast.


Lamoni taught the boys (Benjamin...) chess. He's a big fan now and likes to play against the computer on chess.com

Movie night at Grandma's with the cousins - and Ryan.



Lots of games were played while family was in town and people off work!

Benjamin and Katheryn have so much fun playing together. 

Spending time with Grace before she left for MN

Such a sad face!


This is Benjamin's favorite way to hold Liam so he can see him.



Peter has become very interested in letters recently. Here is his first version of writing his name. I can't remember what the picture is. Maybe a snowman?


We met Lamoni at the VA for lunch one day and ate in the car. 

Katheryn is a life saver. She will come anytime I need her to hold Liam. He has been having fussy spurts lately so if I'm in a presidency meeting or busy I can text her and she'll come save me!

Grandma Bear got to come and meet Liam. She made this blanket out of the softest material for him. She picked out fabric that looks "native" she said! Haha!


Girls night at Charity's house - passing the baby around.



Our girls night was Grace's going away party.

He's very calm in the water and likes it hot.

At Explora children's museum

All dressed up for church!




One day I told the boys we were going to "donate" our toys to kids who don't have very many (i.e. we needed to declutter). Surprisingly Peter didn't put up a fight, even when I grabbed a 3 foot tall hot wheels track that takes up so much room and they barely play with. When I got to the donation place and started unloading Peter freaked out screaming that I was giving his toys away. It turns out that he thought we were going to get "donuts". I did some quick thinking and told him that we get the donuts after we give some of our toys away to other kids. That calmed him right down and we went and got our donuts! There's a donut shop - Amy's Donuts, not too far from our house that has every imaginable kind of donut. The boys love going there and picking out any donut they want.


Helping me with laundry.

We just got Lamoni's car back from the shop (in December) from when someone crashed into the side of it and didn't leave a note, when he was rear-ended coming home from work! It was an elderly lady who had just dropped her husband off at the emergency room at the VA hospital so I'm sure she was distracted by all that was going on. 2 accidents in 2 months....

We got another snow!



We flew to LA for a business conference and Lamoni flew out a few days early to go to a work training. He ended up renting a car so he could go to the temple and this is the car they had for him!

Jacob and Kathryn flew with us too which was nice because I was a little nervous flying with a 2 month old on my own.

He did great, though! Slept the whole way there and back. I'm so lucky to have good plane babies!


We introduced him to the beach while we were there.





The boys have been really big into an audio book called "Tubby the Tuba". They listen to it every night. I was so impressed with this drawing Benjamin did of it!

The boys recently started sleeping in the same bed even though they have their own. They both want to sleep together. I can't believe it since I would've loved to have had my own bed when I was a kid!

Started to fill out with rolls.

Liam still prefers his swing. He sleeps in there for his naps and at night until his first feeding. After that he sleeps in the rock and play next to me, unless I can't get him back to sleep and stick him in the swing again! He likes white noise too.

Note the produce sticker on Peter's forehead. This is part of his fun personality. Every piece of fruit he eats (which is at least 3-4 a day), he puts the sticker on his forehead. He's quite a site by the evening!


Lots of zoo visits.

Cousins Leena, Paige and Sid visited and went to the zoo with us.

Papa is a natural with babies


The boys make costumes all the time. We introduced the boys to Peter Pan and for the next few weeks we had artwork and reenactments daily.

Liam unfortunately hates the sound of the violin. Especially when it's high and loud. He's totally fine with the cello and piano. A friend of mine lent these noise-cancelling headphones for me to use while I'm teaching and it's made all the difference! It had been pretty stressful knowing that he if he was awake he would be screaming if I was teaching. Now he peacefully falls asleep and I can lay him down.




It's so nice to have older kids to occupy the baby. I remember Benjamin was a full-time job at 2 months old, but Liam so happily lies there and watches them play. It's nice to be able to get things done.