Kid Updates

I haven't written an update on each of the kids in a long time. Heck, I haven't really blogged in a long time, and I am sad about that. Life seems to be crazier than ever right now and it's hard to find time to do it. But after a really bad evening yesterday with Becca, she slept all night! So I woke up at 5:30 and wasn't able to go back to sleep. So I'm going to try to take a few minutes and record life these days.

Rebecca is 2 months old now. She is chunking up so nicely :). She is completely adored by everyone. I think the sweetest interaction is with Brigham. He loves her so much, and tries to talk to her and give her kisses often. He always says "I hold it! I hold it!" So I let him "hold" her on his lap and he's tired of it after about 2.5 seconds. My favorite thing is to just talk to her. Her pretty blue eyes just light up and she's so alert and happy and social. I totally teared up the other day when I was just so overwhelmed with love for this beautiful, perfect baby. She has been a challenging addition, but I love her so much I don't even understand it.

Brigham is 2 years old and still really not talking very well or very much. He uses a lot of grunting/mumbling noises and sound effects with a few real words thrown in there to communicate. He has had a really hard time since Becca was born and started throwing the worst tantrums. It could be because it also coincided with him turning 2 years old. Also his inability to communicate effectively contributes to his frustration I'm sure. But whatever the cause, he's been a challenge. He mostly picks on Kelsey and those two fight and scream like you wouldn't believe. They go back and forth between being best friends and worst enemies in the blink of an eye all day long. Their relationship is exhausting to say the least! I sometimes with they would just completely stay away from each other, but of course that's not going to happen. It's way too fun for them to pick on each other. But Briggs can become quite physical and violent. He hits and tackles people and throws things. But can also be the sweetest little boy you've ever seen. That's a 2 year old, I suppose. He is pretty obsessed with cars/trucks/trains/etc. and is rarely seen without one. He loves to hang out on the riding lawn mower and just sits on it all the time. He's also quite into balls and loves to just run around the yard kicking a ball. He is seriously the cutest and most handsome little guy. He's got a shaggy head full of hair that needs to be cut right now but he still looks so cute with his tan skin and brown eyes. He moved into a big boy bed about a month ago and has been doing really well. It was a seamless transition from his crib. He's also sharing a room with Kelsey now, which may or may not be a good idea. But so far it's working out really well. Tyler just likes to stay up late reading every night, so we had to change rooms around. There's just too big of an age gap for them to share a room. He is such a thick, solid, and heavy boy. He's an incredible eater and very independent. He will play by himself outside for so long, just riding his bike around or driving his cars in the bin of kinetic sand I leave out there for him.

Kelsey is 4 years old. She's learning to read and absolutely loves it. She's picking it up really quickly and feels like a big kid. She is in and out with joining us for homeschool, but she always surprises me with what she hears and remembers when I think she isn't listening. She's becoming more self sufficient and loves to make her own sandwiches at lunch and wash her own hair in the bath. I'm happy to let her do these things because it makes my life easier with every little thing my kids can do for themselves. She is such a sweet and loving girl, but almost to the point where it's way too much and I don't know what to do about it. Her love language is physical touch and she's always giving lots of hugs to everyone, and can often be very clingy to people. I feel bad because I know it's very innocent on her part; she just loves them and wants to show them. But I know it can be very annoying for people when she won't get off their lap or leave them alone. Mostly it bothers me as she's acting that way with boys in our CC community!! She is the biggest flirt I've ever seen and she's only 4! It is both hilarious and terrifying. She is somewhat of a picky eater and causes the most struggle at dinner. I've given up the fight and put her back in pull-ups at night time when Becca was born. Sometimes she would go a whole week without wetting the bed, but other times we couldn't go 2 nights in a row and I was so tired of washing sheets every day. I'm pretty bummed about that, but I've stopped trying to fight it and think that I can will her into not peeing at night! She is our most sneaky child. She tends to escape quickly and hide everywhere! Especially when it's time to clean, she is usually hiding under someone's bed or behind a door or something like that. It's pretty frustrating and I hope she breaks out of the habit quickly. With so many kids it's easy to sort of forget about them if you can't see them, and she has figured it out way too quickly and takes full advantage of it. So I'm trying to be more vigilant and demand that she stop sneaking off and hiding. Not a good habit to be into. I'm strongly considering putting her into speech therapy as she still struggles with the letters S and R, and has a few other funny habits that make it hard to understand her unless you're focusing really hard. She loves playing dolls and animals, doing crafts and reading books. She's growing up so quickly and I need to take more time to be with her individually.

Madison is 5 years old. She is still just a really easy, helpful middle child. She has such a gift for seeing things that need to be done and doing them without anyone asking her to. She's much more aware of situations, or people and their needs and just stepping into help. It's really quite amazing. She does particularly well with numbers and math, just like her dad. But she doesn't seem to be making much progress with reading. It's sort of plateaued and I try to not let it frustrate me. After daily requests I gave in and started giving her piano lessons. I think she feels like one of the big kids when she can say she has to do her piano practicing too. She is playing soccer this season for her first time and really loves it. Or at least she claims to. :) If you were to watch her on the field you probably wouldn't suspect it. She's very shy out there and is not a very fast runner compared to the other kids, but she still loves it and has a great time so I'm happy with that. Anything to keep her active and healthy is fine with me. She still loves dolls and takes care of all her babies so diligently. She is extremely nurturing and sometimes bossy :). Madi has such a silly side and loves to joke around and just be silly and funny. She is the one in our family that plays well with everyone (typical middle child I suppose) and is such a big helper for me with Briggs and Kelsey.

Brynlee is 7 years old. She recently started up lessons on the violin again and she's very happy about that. She loves her piano and violin and I never have to nag her about practicing, she just seems to genuinely enjoy it. She likes to make up songs on the piano too and is always asking me to transcribe them for her, which I still need to do. (I'm always putting her off and saying later, but still haven't done it.) She's also been doing dance the last few months but won't be doing it after this month. It's just too expensive for what it is and while I know she thinks it's fun to be in a class, I don't think that she cares that much about dance in particular. So hopefully we can find something else to suit us better. Bryn often gets overshadowed as she's sandwiched in between two kids who love the spotlight. But she is really a great kid! She is kind and generous and very helpful. She loves to talk to Becca and hold her when I'm busy. She is pretty shy in general, and often in her own world. She loves to craft and create, and is always writing stories. She has so much energy and moves quickly from one thing to the next, often leaving a mess in her path. She has found a cute friend at CC that she loves to be with and that makes me happy to see her having such a good time with another good little girl like herself.

Tyler is 9 years old. He is a reading maniac! He recently read the entire Chronicles of Narnia series, and then immediately began the Harry Potter series, and he's currently on book 5. Sometimes it's a problem as I have to constantly ask him to put his book down to eat a meal with the family, do his schoolwork, go to bed, etc. Although truthfully I am very happy that this is the biggest problem we have with him. I'm so glad it't not a video game obsession or something like that. He is playing soccer also this season and really loves it. He's improving a lot and I'm so glad he loves it. He also spends a lot of time doing legos and drawing. He's also made a great friend at CC for which I'm grateful. I've been praying that we'll find him some good friends. Homeschooling is a great thing, and I know it's what's right for us, but it can also be very lonely. He just hasn't found a great friend in our ward unfortunately. Not too many kids to begin with and we live so far away from them all anyway. I would really love if we could find some good kids in our neighborhood. Ty's a great helper and loves to have big responsibilities. He helps with yard work a lot, working with his dad. He also helps keep the pool clean and does a great job with whatever we ask him to do. He still loves to tease his sisters to the point of tears, but overall he is a great kid. He went on a fun father/son outing to dinner and a movie the other day and had fun with Kenny.

I'm pretty blown away at the incredible, wonderful little people we have to raise. They have beautiful, pure spirits and teach me so much. I am so deep in the trenches that sometimes I forget about the outside world and feel like I've lost myself. But I know that a heavy investment in their early years will hopefully pay off in the end. It won't always be quite so intensive, and I feel God sustaining me from day to day. I feel so blessed to have a healthy body to be able to work and teach and serve my family. We have so much to be grateful for amidst all the challenges.