Swimming Lessons

We finally did swimming lessons for P1 and P2 this year. They were both in the Preschool Level 1 class, and they did a great job! This session was 2 weeks long, M-Th for 20 minutes. I was worried about having it everyday, but it worked out just fine. This helped the kids get a lot more comfortable putting their faces in the water.

The both passed Level 1! Hurray!

Hill Aerospace Museum

We visited the Hill Aerospace Museum, and the kids enjoyed looking at all the big airplanes.

 

 

Friends Forever

I was blessed with a great group of friends on my journey through public school. Three of us became friends in elementary school, and two more joined us in junior high. What a blessing these ladies have been to me. We try to get together twice a year, once in the summer and once around Christmas. This year we planned a giant play date. Between the 5 of us, we have 16 (almost 17) children!!! Unfortunately, one of us had sick kids, so we only had 12 kids there. But it was still chaos!

Our cute little girls playing together:

The boys really outnumber the girls! 

(P3 didn't make it in the picture, he was asleep in his carseat)

It was fun to watch all our kids play together!

Preschool Graduation

P1 graduated preschool! This year has flown by!  P1 has loved preschool, and had a great experience. We had some fun field trips during the year. P1 said his favorite part of preschool was the Pizza Pie Cafe field trip. There were 8 kids in his class, 4 boys and 4 girls. Miss Mimi was his teacher, and she said that P1 was their valedictorian. They sang a bunch of songs for graduation, and they each shared what they were wanted to be when they grew up. P1 said that he wanted to be a dad, and my heart melted. 

My mom came to the graduation, and PE's parents happened to be in town. They texted me in the morning to see if they could visit, and I called them back and told them if they hurried, they could come to P1's preschool graduation. P1 loved his preschool binder that his teacher put together for each kid.

To celebrate, we went out to eat with everyone. P1 chose The Pizza Pie Cafe (surprise, surprise!). We had a good time, and it was fun to take some time to celebrate. P1 is excited and ready for Kindergarten!

Mother's Day

During the week before Mother's Day, there was one night when we were putting the kids to bed and I expressed my frustration that there were so many toys on the floor. We all went to bed, and I forgot all about it. The next morning, I was in bed feeding the baby when P2 came in and hopped on the bed. Then P1 came in saying "Mom, mom, mom..." So I was feeling a little overwhelmed that all 3 kids needed me before I had even gotten out of bed (plus I never get much sleep thanks to P3). But then P1 totally floored me. Instead of asking for something, or whining, he comes in and says that he cleaned up all the toys (with a little help from his sister, but not very much help because she just wanted to play with the toys according to him). My heart instantly melted!!! I was so touched. It was so sweet and thoughtful, and I was so proud of P1 for doing that all on his own initiative.

Then, for breakfast I cooked up some bacon which is a rare treat for us. While we were eating, I threw my hands in the air and exclaimed, "Bacon is the best thing in the whole world!" P1 then glared at me, and said "No it's not!!! You are!!!" And my heart melted again. It was so sweet and silly, and I loved how he glared at me when he told me. I had to check the calendar and make sure it wasn't Mother's Day, because it sure felt like it should be!

The day before Mother's Day, P3 said his first word. He said "Mom" about 200 times in five minutes. I got some on video, and it was quite adorable!

P1 made a gift for me in preschool. It was an oven mitt with his handprint on it. He was so excited to give it to me, that I had to open it before we went to church (9 am) even though we were running late. P1 is a super sweet boy.

After sacrament meeting, I took the kids home because they had coughs. P1's eyes started to get really red and goopy. They looked really sad. We had dinner with my family, and got to skype with my brother who is serving a mission. He comes home in 2 months!

That night, P1's eyes continued to get worse. When he woke up in the morning, his eyes were completely glued shut and he totally panicked. During the night, P3's eye started to get goopy too. So on Monday, we took all 3 kids into the doctor. They all had ear infections that were going up into the eyes. I also went to the doctor, and had an ear infection. We got to give the kids eye drops 4 times a day for 5 days (that was fun, not!), and they also each had liquid antibiotics morning and night for 7 days. And on top of that, they each needed a probiotic in the middle of the day. I was constantly giving out medicine!

P1 had the hardest time at first with the eye drops because he won't let anyone touch his eyes. PE and I had to both hold him down to do it the first time. But the next time, he actually let me do it! By the end of the 5 days, he was the easiest to do. I was very proud of him. P2 was the opposite. She was easy to do the first time, but by the end, she was the one putting up a fight every time. P3 didn't really like it either, but I was able to do his without too much trouble. The medicine helped everyone finally get feeling better.

8 Months

P3 is now 8 months old, say what?!?!? I already knew it goes by fast, but I think it goes by even faster when you are more sleep deprived.

Speaking of sleep, this boy still has never slept through the night. Ever. And he still gets up between 3-5 times a night. Every night. Gah!!! It's killing me!!! I have tried so many different things to help him sleep through the night. So many! I've finally just given up though. He basically sleeps in bed with me so that I can get some sleep. He loves his mama. He also doesn't nap very long, 30 minutes is typical.

I do let him cry it out, but it rarely works. He is very stubborn. This is a picture of him after he cried himself to sleep for a nap. He fell asleep sitting up, poor little guy. And now he can stand up in his little crib, and so he will just stand there hanging onto the edge for dear life, and just sob and scream.

P3 finally figure out how to crawl. He has been crawling backwards for a while, and then it finally clicked one day, and there has been no stopping him. As soon as he figured out the forward part, he was off like a rocket. And he is a very silent crawler too. I'll put him down for a second to go do something, and when I look back, he is gone! He is a very busy boy! He loves trying to crawl into the bathroom because he loves bath time so much. I caught him in the bathroom today, and he was just banging his rubber ducky on the side of the bath tub.

P3 loves chasing his siblings around, and playing with their toys. He found this pirate sword, and hit himself in the head a few times. He loves books, and he gets really excited when you read "Bubbles, Bubbles", a Sesame Street book.

 P3 has 2 bottom teeth, and he LOVES his toothbrush. He gets mad if I give the other kids their toothbrushes and forget him. He is still nursing, and gets distracted very easily. He is getting pretty good a eating solid foods. He is getting very coordinated and picking up food with his little fingers. He likes cheerios and bread. He is really not too picky. But he will try to take the spoon out of your hands, and feed himself. And he hates his bib. As soon as you put it on, he tears it off and throws it on the floor. He likes to throw lots of things on the floor. Spoons...food...sippy cups. He likes to drink out of sippy cups, but still turns his nose up to most formula.

 P3 likes to pat things with his hands, so he really liked the piano! And he was quite good!

P3 also enjoys the swings. Every time we go outside though, he always gets splotchy around the eyes. Hopefully he will grow out of that. Maybe we just need to spend a little more time outside. 

This boy keeps me busy! He has the sweetest smile, and is either very happy or very mad/sad. In some ways he is very independent, but at the same time, he is very clingy. He wants to always be near me, but is not exactly a snuggler. But he lights up our world, and we are glad to have him in our family!