Steve has been really good about playing board games with the kids on Sunday. It's a nice low key activity that the kids love. Elsa watched from the exersaucer. :)
Elsa has Steve's hairline. :) She's my baldest baby to date.
Both Rowan and Nadia needed a current family picture for school. It rained outside the day we planned to do it, so we did a quick inside shot. I'm hoping to get some professional ones done in the not too distant future.
Just hanging out in the morning watching Elmo baby toys from afar (because up close they are apparently too scary).
I'm trying to keep up with life and failing miserably. There's so much I want to do and only so many hours in the day. Elsa is such a great baby and I love her to pieces, but her naps are rarely longer than 30 minutes and she demands a lot of time and attention. So when I do have a spare moment, usually I'm just trying to keep up with the house, a few projects I'm taking on, Sunday School- the list goes on.
Rowan is loving school and doing well. He gearing up for his Boosterthon fundraiser this week (Thank you again to all who have contributed! He raised the most money in his class!). I want to get him started in some kind of sport after school, so hopefully we can start doing that soon. We're still watching our neighbors' kids several times a week after school and we've been enjoying lots of play time with them. Nadia is still doing really well at preschool and it's been so good for her to get out of the house.
I don't know if I've ever mentioned this on the blog before, but we've been struggling to get Nadia to talk to people outside of our family. She's always been shy, but back in Illinois she had friends and would talk to them. With moving to SC, we've taken a while to adjust to the ward and make friends. In the meantime, Nadia really retreated into herself and wouldn't talk even to me if there were other people present. I did a coop preschool with some other moms and after a year, she still wouldn't talk to the moms or the kids. She'd nod her head and respond to what they were asking her to do, but mums the word otherwise. It's been difficult and heartbreaking when we go to playgroup and other kids would try to engage her. This year we're really working on her to come out of her shell. Preschool three times a week has been a great way to get working on this. I'm also signing her up for speech classes to help with her lisp and help her get more confidence talking. While it's cute to hear her say "whobody did this?" and "It's we're room", it's clear she still missing several sounds in her speech and has difficulty finding the right words to express herself at times. Having kids over after school has helped and she is talking great with Becca and Josh so that's been good. I've also started to ask more people over for playdates and she is leaps and bounds from where she was last year. But there is still room for improvement and I hope this year in preschool will help a great deal.
Steve is applying for jobs this week, so keep us in your prayers. We still have 2 years of funding here if we choose to stay longer. Ultimately I just want to end up wherever is best for our family. I look forward to putting down roots somewhere, but SC is continually getting better for us and I'm happy to stay longer.
Some pictures from today. Elsa was quite popular at church, especially with her super cute shoes. Thanks Krystal!
It's pretty clear that Elsa rules the roost and our hearts right now. Everyone has a hard time NOT kissing her all the time.
In other news, I had a yard sale with some friends in the ward yesterday. It was interesting to be on the other side of the transaction this time. It felt good to get rid of some things I've been holding on to and make some money in the process. I woke up at 4am because I remembered some other things I wanted to sell, so by the time the sale was done, I was ready for a nap! But it's definitely something I want to do again before we move. I'm hoping to downsize a lot more than I did with our last move.
What's new? Well, someone turned into a big first grader.
Offsetting the USA shirt with the Canadian backpack. Rowan couldn't find a Minecraft backpack, so we improvised with pins.
Grandma bought the kids new back to school shoes. They light up- what could be better?
Rowan is LOVING being back in school and we are loving being back on a schedule. I feel so much more productive and we're settling into a good routine. I'm still watching my neighbor's kids a few times a week after school and that's been going well too. Rowan has been very responsible about making sure he has his backpack ready every evening and doing homework when necessary. He loves having a desk of his own and has already made a few new friends. We're looking forward to a good year with Mrs. Jackson.
Someone else turned into a brand new preschooler...
This is actually just a preschool registration day, but Nadia insisted on getting fully decked out for the occasion.
Nadia actually has two kitty backpacks to choose from each day. I don't know what she'll end up putting in them, but a girl needs options.
And of course Nadia needed a Minecraft pin on hers too.
Kitty shoes that light up on their noses. Someone is a genius in marketing.
Someone else is the sweetest baby in the world. Elsa probably cries the least of all of our children now. And she is rolling over, laughing, and cooing like crazy. Her lame mommy doesn't have much video it...yet. For shame.
But I did get a video of her learning to play with her toys on her vibrating chair. She also likes to rock the chair by kicking her right leg. We're pretty sure she's right handed.
A little bit of the laughing
I cannot emphasize enough how much Elsa loves this chair. She sleeps, plays and sits in it all the time.
What's old? Well, here's a ton of pictures from Elsa's blessing day. Steve's parents were able to come and be with us for it and we are so grateful that they were here.
Aren't you done yet?
I really need to get Steve to take more pictures of me and the kids...
Grandma and Grandpa Luke played with us for a week before they headed back to Burley. Soon they will move to a new house and job in Washington. I'm crossing my fingers for an opening out there so we can see them more often. Once a year just doesn't cut it, but we were glad for the precious time we had together.
The kids made some Happy Birthday cards to Grandpa Luke before he left.
Nadia showed Grandpa how you are supposed to dance.
A lot has been going on here and I'm falling way behind. Soon Grandma Dorothy will be gone, school will start, and I will have copious amounts of time to blog... right? Rather than try to catalogue the past two months, here's a quick update of what's going on right now.
ELSA
It's been a long road with this little one. Or rather a short one where a lot of screaming makes it seem like a long one. We tried just about everything to make Elsa a happy baby. I went dairy-free, tried reflux medication, everything and anything to help her to be content, but with little success. Then I went to the doctor and they told me she was in the 90th percentile for height and combined with her weight, she was lagging in the 5th percentile. The doctor didn't seem to think that was an issue and so we didn't do anything about it. With my mom in town, I pumped a few bottles so we could do a few outings baby free. She still nursed fine, but we noted a few times where when she seemed inconsolable, a bottle would soothe her. I also noticed that she started to nurse less and less. One day she would only nurse for 5 minutes max and seemed to be getting worse. After 2.5 months of exclusively breastfeeding with the odd bottle here and there, we've started bottles and pumping. Elsa has changed into a completely different baby as a result. She's happy, I can put her down and she doesn't scream, she sleeps better during the day- all in all it's like someone turned the lights on. I really wanted to make breastfeeding work, but I've come to the conclusion after 3 kids that something is wrong with my body and if I can rectify that by pumping then I really don't need to beat myself up about it. The most important thing is that my child is happy. Our new motto could be "when baby is happy, everyone is happy." I'm so thankful that she is better and that I can finally get to know her beyond just trying to soothe her.
Elsa LOVES her thumb. Not such a fan of the binkie unlike her predecessors.
I bought this obnoxiously cute bathing suit at a yard sale and couldn't pass up the photo op, even if all she ended up doing was dipping her toes in at the pool.
If anyone should have juicy written on their bottom... yes, this is the obnoxiously cute part.
Elsa isn't always so sure about her siblings adoration.
But sometimes she obviously loves it
We had to upgrade to 3-6 month clothes at 2 months. Not as bad as Rowan who outgrew his 0-3 month at only one month old.
NADIA
Nadia's become quite the firecracker. She is super loving to Elsa and is quite a mommy's girl. Considering how she never wanted to snuggle much as a baby, I'm admittedly loving her incessant kisses and hugs. But I've noticed that she likes to push boundaries, especially with the family we've had over the summer. I don't know why, but she's given Aunt Chandra and Grandma Dorothy a run for their money while they were here.
For instance, one day she was sitting by Elsa and she looked at Grandma and said "Elsa likes to look at Mommy, Daddy, Rowan and me. And that's it."
Coming home from the car
Grandma: "Nadia, carry in your bag"
Nadia: "No!"
Grandma: "Then I guess I get to keep your bag"
Nadia holding Grandma's iPhone: "Then I'm going to keep your phone"
Me: "Give Grandma a hug goodnight."
Nadia: "No!"
Grandma: "I guess you don't like going shopping with me then."
Nadia: "I like toys..."
During wrestling with Grandma (or Grandpa Luke for that matter) Rowan always cries out for Nadia to come help him. Nadia is only to happy to fight Rowan's battles for him. She has also learned to write her name and is miles ahead of where Rowan was at her age when it comes to writing and knowing her letters. We're starting her in preschool three times a week this year and I'm hoping she'll make some new friends there and enjoy having an experience that is solely hers.
ROWAN
An added bonus to bottle feeding- everyone gets to join in on the fun.
Rowan is excited to be starting school next week, which is a relief since he was getting pretty burned out on school just a few months ago. It's funny to hear him take such pride in being a 1st grader and the privileges that entails. Now he gets to go to the big playground and do other cool things. I haven't really tried to get him to continue working on academics over the summer, which is probably for the best since he was so tired of it all by the time kindergarten let out. But he has become a voracious reader and has been enjoying all sorts of good books over the summer. He discovered Steve's Calvin and Hobbs collection and has read most of them. He also has been enjoying some of Steven's old books that Grandma Luke brought with her when they visited us. It's kind of crazy to me to see my little 6 year old reading War of the Worlds and The Time Machine. I love that he enjoys reading so much. He is also super loving to Elsa and can get some great smiles out of her.
