Just remembering

In Sunday School today, we talked about being rescued, both spiritually and physically. I thought of a small moment in my life I was "rescued" and wanted to record it.

I was pregnant with Bryson and having a particularly hard day. If I remember right, I had just gotten off the phone with Nic, who was going to be coming home late. I was ornery, achy, sick, and ready to be done. I sat down on the coach and just started to cry! Hannah ran to the bathroom, broke off a little, tiny piece of toilet paper, came back out and started wiping my tears.

She did rescue me. She helped me feel loved, needed and soothed. I was supposed to be "the mom," the strong one, the comforter. But my 2 year old was the one comforting. What a good little friend she is to me.

Our Cute Little Monster

Hannah often pretends Bryson is a monster. I've got to say he's a pretty cute one!

• Bryson is 10 1/2 months. On our home scale, he is17 lbs. 4 oz.
  

• He's waving! And it is so cute! He'll stretch out this little arm and open and close his figures. CUTE!

• I think he'll pick up the word "Hi" pretty soon. It sounds like he tries to say the "h" sounds as he waves. He is starting to imitate sounds, babble, and noises. When I do make sounds with my lips (the raspberry?) he'll make the sound by spitting.

• He loves to put his hand to his mouth while saying ah, ah, ah. (Sorry, I don't know how to describe some simple things :)

• Teeth: He's got his two bottom, two top and is working on two more on the top.

• Occasionally he'll do this goofy grin, where he closes his eyes. What can I say... Cute!

• He's a headbobber. Just to be silly he'll move his head back and forth, back and forth.

• Mama's boy. He's pretty happy and content, until he sees me. Then he whines until he can get me.

• This boy LOVES the bath! He would play in there forever if I would let him.

• He's eating quite a bit. I love that I can stick him in his highchair with some graham crackers or zwieback toast and he'll be content while I make dinner. I've introduced some dairy: yogurt and cheese. He likes most foods and eats well. Now if I could just get him to drink! Still not much success with a sippy cup or a straw. (Any tips?!)

• He's started pulling himself into a standing position while holding onto things.

• He sure gets around! He's not up on his arms and knees, but he's got the army crawl down! He mostly uses his right arm and his left leg. Boy do they get red and rough. I've started keeping him mostly in long pants and long sleeve shirts to help protect his poor skin. He's sure fast!

• Peek-a-boo! He loves to play it and will occasionally illicit play by putting one hand over an eye.

• Sleep: I keep thinking we are finally there... and then he'll cry again through the night. We went 2 weeks of having him scream when he woke up. I didn't feed him. He would scream, yes, SCREAM for an hour to 2 hours! For the most part though, he is finally sleeping through the night. I will feed him when he wakes up at 5 or 6, but then he'll go back down.

• He is usually such a happy, content little guy. But when he gets mad, he's really mad (as you can see at night).
  

We sure love our Bry boy. He brings us so much joy!

(You might get a little dizzy watching the video, sorry.)

We're going to...

... the zoo, zoo, zoo!Nic told Hannah we could go to the zoo sometime, so after she asked, "Are we going to the zoo tomorrow?!" every night for 3 weeks, we finally went! We went on Labor Day, which was crazy... It was super busy. But we still had a wonderful time. Nic's sister and her little family came with us, which made it extra fun.Trek'n in style.Cute cousins. Hannah and Jonas.I love the giraffes!

Crazy couple of weeks

These past few weeks have been full of fevers and extra kids!

Bryson had a fever for about a week that I kept attributing to teething... until it got to 104! I then, finally, took him into the doctor. The doc said he had a red, swollen throat, but came up negative from a strep test. We were told just to watch him for a few days and if his temp stayed that high to bring him back in 3 days and they would then do blood and urine tests. Blah. He continued to responded well to ibuprofen. It took a couple days, but the fever finally broke.

Then it was Hannah's turn. She had a fever of 102 to 105 for about 3 days. Yuck! Its so hard to see my kids sick. Overall, they were pretty good, but a lot more needy. I hate to see them aching.

We were supposed to be watching my sisters kids, but thankfully my parents took them for one of our nights. I was mostly worried about passing it on them them. We washed sheets, towels, and blankets, sanitized toys... and then had them come.

So one weekend we had my cute niece and nephew and then this last weekend we had my friend's little girl come stay with us for four days and 3 nights. Hannah loved the extra playmates and having sleepovers. But it has been very busy and we are grateful to be back to our normal routine... whatever that is!

So that's why I haven't posted in the last few weeks! Whew! Hopefully I'll be back with another post soon!

Hannah's First Dance Class

Hannah got to start dance class this past Monday. I didn't want to do two years of preschool with her, but she seemed ready for something. Hannah does really well with one friend over, but gets overwhelmed in larger groups. I thought this would be a good way to start easing her into those situations. My good friend (and the old YWs president), Melanie, teaches the class. It is "creative dance," which I think is perfect for a 3 year old. It helps that Hannah is familiar with "Miss Melanie" and also that Hannah's good friend and neighbor, Eva, is in the class.

Hannah is quite the little jumper and twirler at home. She was very excited to go to "dance", but at the beginning of class she was very tentative. Each of the kids were given egg shakers to dance around with for a minute. Hannah didn't take one, when offered one again, she said, "No, thanks." Finally Eva, her friend, got one for her and Hannah took it from Eva. Hannah just stood there and watched, taking it all in, as the kids jumped around, danced, and as Melanie instructed and sang "Shake Your Wiggles Out." After a bit, I got up and danced with her and then she started to participate. I sat back down, and although was still tentative at times, she started getting into it. Even though she wasn't doing all the jumps and moves, she would look over at me and give me a big grin.

Families could attend this first class. So Bryson and I went and watched. But next time she'll be on her own. It may take a time or two, but I think she'll be leaping and jumping with the best of them! She did enjoy herself. And so it begins... to years of dance classes, soccer, piano, etc. Hannah, we sure love watching you grow and develop. Happy dancing!

Articles of Faith 1 & 2

I had been thinking about starting to teach Hannah the Articles of Faith, but after receiving additional motivation and inspiration from seeing my sister's kids learn them, we decided to give it a go. We started the 1st one almost two weeks ago at Family Night and within about 3 days she had it down. We then introduced and started working on the 2nd one last Monday at Family Night. We will beginning working on the next one tomorrow.


We have tried to take the time to explain and help Hannah understand the meaning of the Articles of Faith in 3-year-old language. They get complex and have very large words (at least for a 3 year old!) So far I have made visuals to help. Although she doesn't need the visuals anymore to say them, I think it helps her understand and remember the words. I am always looking for pictures and ideas for the next one, so if you have any links to images or ideas to help, please send them my way. I thought I could find something online that was already put together with visuals for all of them, but haven't come across anything yet. Although I have found Family Home Evenings for them (geared towards a little bit older kids).

The 1st Article of Faith pictures were pretty simple: Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost.The 2nd took some figuring out and searching. The "punished" picture is supposed to be bars for prison that can be put right on top of the "men." However, to help Hannah understand what "punishment" meant (at least in the here and now sense) I also found a picture of a time out chair. The Adam and Eve picture is from the Nursery Manual and the "transgression" picture is from a website with lots of different LDS images.I am proud of Hannah and continue to be amazed at her memory and desire to learn. I am also always humbled by the great responsibility I have as a mother to teach my children, especially about the gospel. How grateful I am for the knowledge I have and the gift to pass that knowledge on.

Summer Fun

The park:
Hannah is learning to "pump" her feet. She loves the park and could stay all day. She is quite adventurous. And loves all the slides and swings.



















Bryson, what a cutie he is, loves the swings, too!























Swimming:

The kids also love swimming. We haven't ventured to the city pool once this summer. But we love pulling out our two little pools and splashing around in the backyard.(little watermelon face)

Wind Fest:
Spanish Fork had their second annual Wind Fest today. There were lots of kites and flags flying and some other fun activities. Hannah got to make her own kite and had a blast flying it. It sure was hot!