Gracie is 8 months

Holy moly! 8 months already! Gracie is still my tiny little girl and I don't feel like she is really this old. I'm used to have 8-month-olds that are trying to crawl around and move. This little girl does not mind staying put. Her new trick in the last month has been sitting up. She is getting to be a real pro at it. If she can't reach something she usually won't risk falling over to get it. If she is on her back she kicks her legs and scoots backwards, but it isn't really on purpose. I'm not real anxious for her to be mobile, staying put works for me. She is starting to fit into 6 month clothes now, although the 3-6 month stuff fits her the best. She loves to spit and is developing a very silly personality. If someone laughs at her she will laugh back, even if it is artificial, she just like to be included in what is going on. Still doesn't love solid foods, but I can sometimes sneak veggies in with the fruit she likes. She is such a good baby and adds so much to our family.

Brothers

I worried about the 3 1/2 year (to the day) gap between my boys when Jack was born. I wondered if they would ever play together or be interested in the same things. I wondered if Haken would walk all over his little brother and ignore him. I worried that Jack would feel left out and get bored.

Turns out I shouldn't have worried. These boys are best buds. They may have an age gap but that doesn't mean they don't get along and love each other to death. Haken appreciates Jack's silliness and cracks up daily at the funny things he does and Jack worships Haken and tries to be just like him. It really is a great combination. I very rarely have to put out fires because then generally get along, and if they don't they can usually work it out on their own. Haken is fantastic at making others happy and compromising while at the same time getting what he wants. I really couldn't ask for two better boys! I think they will only get closer as they get older and the age gap is all relative.

With the cold mornings this winter this is how the boys like to warm up... We have a heating vent that comes out of the floor in the kitchen by the back door. They like to get a blanket and snuggle up together in their jammies to get warm before we eat breakfast. It also became a popular place to eat lunch. It was Haken's idea, and of course Jack does whatever Haken does. 

These pictures snuggled on the vent were taken a month apart even though it looks like they were on the same day. Those must be Haken's favorite jammies. The blanket is the one that Grandma Glenda made for Shad, it is their favorite because it is so big and they can both fit in it.

I'm going to throw this picture in because the title of this post is "Brothers." Shad has 5 brothers (and no sisters) and he is very close with all of them. That is one of the things that I really admire about his family is how tightly knit they are. I only hope my kids can be the same when they grow up. Two of Shad's brothers (Ricky and Ryan) came up from Arizona at the end of January to go to a family reunion luncheon that was held in Provo. It was a quick trip up and back but we still managed to have lots of fun with them. 

I took this picture because they are all sitting on their own Ipad's playing "Tiger Woods Golf." I guess this is how they play golf when it is 20 degrees with a foot of snow outside. They always find a way to work it in when they are together. No weather can hold them back. 

Treehouse Museum

Today Haken didn't have Kindergarten because of parent teacher conferences. I swear they find every possible reason to let the Kindergarteners have a day off. I thought I would take advantage of the day off and take the kids to the Treehouse Museum in Ogden. When Haken was 2 or 3 we had a membership and went all of the time but with 3 kids now it just isn't possible for us to go that often. We invited his best friend Chloe to come with us since she had the day off too. My mom and sister Jenni met us up there. I was really grateful that they came. Honestly I don't think I would even try to attempt going there on my own, especially when I have a baby to tote around with me (strollers aren't allowed). It makes for a much more relaxed day for me and the boys always love spending time with Grandma.

I thought it would be a pretty deserted day since most kids were in school but it was still pretty busy. There was a preschool group there at the same time, so there were a lot of little kids running around. I didn't really get any pictures during the museum with the exception of this one of Chloe in the play they  put on. Things get really crazy in there when you are trying to keep track of all of your kids.

However, I did get a few of the kids at McDonalds afterwards. They were getting pretty tired and silly by this point. It was a pretty late lunch. 

The progression of these next pictures cracks me up. Chloe sits there nicely smiling for the camera while Haken just goes about being Haken...

A disease called "Jack"

I am falling more and more in love with this boy everyday. He melts my heart and really any other person he comes in contact with. He has such a fun loving personality that it is hard not to love him from the minute he starts talking to you. 

This month his vocabulary has just exploded. He is pretty much talking in full sentences and anyone can understand him. Most of the time the comments that I get from people are "How old is he? He talks so well!" There are not very many just barely 2-yr-olds that you can carry on a conversation with. He also doesn't look like he is 2-yrs old being the little guy that he is. I love that he can express himself well enough to tell me exactly what he is thinking. 2-yr-olds have the most funny thoughts. Most people call them the "terrible two's" but I call them the "terrific two's." I'm not saying that he is an angel all of the time, because he definitely has his fair share of blow ups and tantrums but his fun personality at this age totally makes up for any of the little "tiffs" he has. Quite often Shad and I have talked about how we wish that we could just freeze our kids at this age for just a little while longer because it is so much fun. This is why Shad has decided to paint portraits of all of our kids at this age to hang in our home. He did one of Haken at this age and now he is working on Jack's. 

Everyday he just makes me happy. It's funny how happiness rubs off onto people. It must be contageous. If that is the case, this little boy is a terrible disease that spreads to everyone he meets.

Lest you think he is happy all of the time... He had a cold and pink-eye this month. He was pretty miserable for most of it. His dramatically happy nature also applies to the other extreme making him super dramatically sad when he doesn't feel good. It's pretty much the end of the world when Jack gets sick.

 One day I hadn't heard from him in a while (which is not always a bad sign, but this time it was). I went up into my bathroom to find this:

I was surprised that he could actually get the mascara open and actually knew what to do with it. LUCKILY it wasn't waterproof, and LUCKILY it was after his pinkeye was completely gone, otherwise I would have had to be mad because it was a brand new tube of mascara. I love his little look of innocence in this picture. By the way, still digging in my makeup bag as I take this picture. Lots of fun little treasures in there.

I had to take a picture of this when I saw it. Shad had just gotten home from work and was enjoying a snack on the couch. Jack came and sat right next to him and crossed his little legs, just like daddy.

SNOW!

Living in Utah you really never know what you are going to get when it comes to weather. Some winters we get tons of snow and others hardly any. We hadn't really had a lot of snow this year until last Sunday. This storm was quite the storm. It started snowing in the morning and by the early afternoon it was really starting to come down. We went to church anyway at 1:00 and braved the storm, however it was apparent by the end our our first meeting that we needed to go home and dig everyone out. The Bishop stood up after sacrament meeting to declare that last 2 hours of church would be canceled and I swear you could almost hear everyone give a big sigh of relief and silent cheers. 

It is a good thing church was cancelled. In the hour that we were in Sacrament meeting we received 10 inches of new snow on our car. The parking lot had about 18 unplowed inches of snow in it. People were getting stuck left and right trying to get out of there. Our van actually does pretty well in the snow, so we were ok. Shad and Haken spent the rest of the afternoon shoveling our driveway and others around the neighborhood, Jack and Gracie got much needed naps, and I got to have the afternoon to myself. Turned out to not be such a bad Sunday at all.

My snow angel

These next pictures of Jack were taken 2 days after the first big storm. We had another one come in and this time it was my turn to shovel since it was a work day. This one wasn't quite as bad as far as snowfall is concerned, but the wind gusts were incredible. The pictures don't do it justice, but the snow dunes in my driveway were HUGE! At the tallest point it was 18 inches deep. I think shoveling those dunes was tons harder than doing a flat patch of snow. I had to take it in segments and worked on it most of the day. Our school district didn't declare a snow day (no surprise) so I decided to declare one for Haken that day anyway. It was really for selfish reasons I will admit. He was a fantastic babysitter while I cleared the driveway. I don't think he missed much (it's only Kindergarten, right?) but he told me he doesn't EVER want to do that again because he hates missing school unless he is SUPER sick. I'm glad he is passionate about school and loves it that much.

Jack was only outside for a few minutes and consumed about a whole shovel full of snow. I hope it was clean...

check out the snow dunes behind Jack.
No way I was going anywhere that day.

Gracie 7 Months

I was just going to post Gracie's milestones every 2 months on the blog, but so much has happened this month that I thought I should also do one for 7 months.

Here are some highlights from this month:

Found her toes and LOVES them. I love that they are a toy that she can't throw on the floor and I have to pick up over and over again.

Got new boots! Compliments of my friend Shari. Aren't they adorable?! I does help that she is pretty adorable herself! Doesn't she look like a big girl! That 0-3 month sweater is finally looking too small. 

Sits up and plays with toys with a little help from the "Boppy." This is a huge improvement since I usually can't even get her to bend in half to sit down! She is still so stiff. When I would set her down she would immediately fall backward.

Finally eating solids! She wouldn't ever take rice cereal (or any kind of cereal for that matter). This month I buckled down and decided she needed to take something! She is just so tiny! So I started with all of the usual veggies (sweet potatoes, squash, carrots) She took them a little at first but then they would end up all over me. I really didn't have any success until we went to fruit. On my! Does she like fruit?! She pretty much lives on pears mixed with oatmeal and breastmilk. I was very grateful that she liked them because I canned a whole bunch of pearsauce last fall. I'm sure she will go through every last drop in the next 2 months. I try and do at least one meal of veggies a day. Usually it is in the afternoon when I have Jack napping and Haken at school. That way I can have a little more patience with her and try some new combinations. I have found that if I mix just a little bit of applesauce with some veggies she will tolerate them for a few bites. It is always a guessing game for sure. I am pretty tired of being sprayed with various veggies. I think I do more of my laundry than ever.

Had her first really bad sickness this month. I'm not sure if she got the pinkeye from Jack or if they both just got the same cold and then both rubbed snot in their eyes. It wouldn't have been so bad if it was just the pinkeye, but the cold with it was pretty miserable. I got really tired of cleaning out the goopey eyes every morning. I'm sure she was tired of me doing it too. It lasted about a week from start to finish. She looked SO sad! Looking at these pictures still breaks my heart! She felt so miserable that she even fell asleep in the bathtub.

Siblings

Can you tell this girl loves her brothers? Oh, and they kind of like her too! I love how sweet they are to each other! I honestly never worry about Jack "attacking" Gracie. The only time that he has actually hurt her it was because he was trying to give her a toy back and smacked her in the face with it (he's not always super coordinated but tries to be helpful). I just love how she is always studying them and you can tell how much she looks up to them already. Being a girl myself with two older brothers that I look up to, I know she will. No one can get her laughing like these two boys. She loves how silly they are. 

This first picture is my favorite because you can just tell that she is just in love with Haken. He is the best big brother anyone could ever ask for and so helpful to me. I don't know what I would do without him somedays!

She is always watching them, even when they don't realize it. Good thing they are such good boys!