The Happenings

I think it's been a while since I've done a real update. Here's a quick run down of our current happenings for our family.

 

Kelsey is 7 months now and so very close to crawling. She is getting around all over anyway, with rolling/squirming/sitting/laying/spinning, etc. Sometimes we have "Crawling for Kelsey" times where we will crawl all around the room to help teach her how to do it :). They think it's pretty fun.

She is in the (not so) fun stage of putting everything in her mouth. It's good that the kids love her so much and I can use that as a way to get them to help me pick up even all the little tiny things on the floor. They will say "we have to pick it up or else Kelsey will put it in her mouth and choke on it and die." Which could potentially happen, so I'm glad they're willing to help out their baby sister :).

 

She got 2 more teeth now, making 4 total. She eats a good 3 meals a day of baby food and nurses from me. She's chunking up a lot! When she doesn't like something, or when she's done, she will throw her arms up in the air. It's so funny and cute. Pretty much everything she does we all think is so funny and cute. That's what's great about having a baby around!

 



I love how she looks like a pink teletubby in this thing! At least I know she's staying warm.

 

Madison will be 22 months this week and I am amazed at how well she speaks. She talks in complete sentences and sounds so darn cute we often have her repeat funny things. But repeating is what she does best as she has been copying whatever her older brother and sister say for the last several months, which has obviously helped her learn really quickly. She prays over the food by herself and repeats us for scriptures and prayers too.She is always trying to keep up with Ty and Bryn. She still loves dolls and takes such good care of her babies. We took her bottles away a month or two ago for good. I know I let her have them for way too long, but it just wasn't worth the fight at the time. She and I both needed her to have them for a while longer because they comforted her so much. But the time came to get rid of them and she's done great.

Bryn and Madi are such good friends, but it causes problems at night time and nap time. It takes them SOO long to fall asleep every time because they just stay up talking and singing every song they know (and they sing a lot!), and playing babies. As frustrating as it is, it's also pretty darn cute. We have a baby monitor set up in their room so we can hear their little conversations and know what they're up to. They are hilarious and so darling together. But I do wish they would get to sleep!!

We are doing homeschool every day, and for the most part it's going very well. Kindergarten for Tyler, and preschool for Brynlee. I love teaching them, but every day is a juggling act and it's harder to keep up with other things. I know it's a learning process though, so I'm trying to just figure it out and be patient in the meantime. Some days I do better than others, that's for sure. Tyler is a smart little cookie and just really loves to learn. He starts sentences with words like, "apparently" and "as you can see", and he loves to watch documentaries about animals and dinosaurs.

Saturday, September 29th I woke up and went outside to go running only to find that it was SNOWING! And so begins our first full winter in Alaska. It sure was pretty, though. And the sun melted it all away during the day, so it's okay.

 

Kenny and I are doing well, too. Just always trying to keep up and stay somewhat balanced. I don't think I mentioned before, but Kenny was called to be the Sunday School President in our ward, and he's doing great at that too.

 

Funny story: Last week we had a hair-cutting incident. I was downstairs doing laundry, and the kids were upstairs playing. Madison had been playing with a pair of glasses, and got one of the nose pieces caught in her hair. Instead of just wiggling it around to get it out, Tyler takes it upon himself to quietly remedy the situation by CUTTING her hair out of it! I just about died. He said, "it was an emergency mom! Her hair was really stuck!" Then later, after his time out he said, "well wasn't it a good thing that I at least told the truth?!" As if honesty should always exempt you from a consequence. Ha! I don't think so, buddy.

 

Ty had his first dentist appointment a week or two ago, and Brynlee had a trial-run with the dentist. They let her watch Ty and sit up in the chair and look in her mouth, but didn't do a real cleaning. They were very impressed with both of them and said they were so well-behaved. I was grateful, because I wasn't able to go back with them since I had the two little girls in the waiting room with me. The best part is no cavities! Kenny and I also took turns getting our eyes checked--working on getting new glasses.

Everyone but Kenny had a cold for a while, but we're all doing better now and feeling so grateful for good health again. Life is good.