Updates (because I’m way behind)

After this I should be able to start fresh and keep up.  There are just some things I would like to document.

Let’s take a look at the year 2012 for my sweet little family.  Can I still call us ‘little’?

Well, for starters… we, as a family, finally finished The Book of Mormon!!  Yay!!  That was the first time for most of us, including me.  You might remember that K read it on her own a while ago and Anthony has finished it several times… I think.  That was a great accomplishment for us. 

It only took three years.  Yes, three years.  We have little ones with short attention spans.  No judging!  We read just about every night but some night we didn’t even finish a whole chapter before the kids started running around and yelling.  Boys are nuts!

No one made it into the ER this past year, thankfully.  The closest we came to that was a couple of Instacare visits.  One for B who had stepped on a piece of glass from H’s snowglobe.  It broke when she was excitedly running upstairs with it to show my grandpa.  She tripped and it shattered on the tile in the entryway.  Poor B… we thought we got all the glass out but a few days later his poor foot was infected and he was walking funny. 

Not a fun trip to the Instacare.  It was late at night, he was tired, the doctor is poking, digging and prodding his foot with sharp tools.  But he got it!  A teeny, tiny sliver of glass.  Amazing that something that small and seemingly insignificant can cause such a big problem.

The other trip was for K.  She had been at my cousin’s house along with the other two girls.  When my cousin brought them home she had me look at K’s eye. 

FREAKIEST thing I’ve ever seen!!  The whites of one of her eyes was puffy and swollen… protruding!  The colored part was still in it’s correct position but the whites… EW!  Totally weird.  It looked as though you could poke it with a pin and it would pop.  Basically, a giant blister. 

K has horrible allergies in the spring and summer so I assumed it to be an allergic reaction to something she may have touched.  The nurse at the Instacare was surprised when I asked her what she thought it might be.  “Haven’t you ever seen pink eye?”  That was her response. 

Umm, yeah, I had five (at the time) kids…  of course I know what pink eye looks like.  This was NOT pink eye!  Sure, her eye was red but there was no way this was your typical conjunctivitis.  The nurse was convinced that it was.  She told me that’s what the doctor would tell me. 

Not to gloat or anything but…

I WON!  It was allergies.  She had never had a reaction like that but it was nothing that a Claritin couldn’t clear up.  Thank goodness for allergy medication!!

Speaking of K…

Here are a few of her accomplishments from 2012.

• Started clogging and love it!
• turned 11
• improving her dance technique
• drawing/doodling is also improving
• started YASA
• Math is really starting to click for her

Some of A’s accomplishments

• started gymnastics
• almost has her back handspring without a spotter
• moved up from Beginner level, level 1, level 2 all the way to level 3 gymnastics in less than a year, something that isn’t usually accomplished that quickly
• She’s had a few opportunities to sing and/or take part in various programs
• Being watched by the gym to move up into their competition team (she doesn’t know this)
• Ride a horse for the first time (for Liberty Girls)

H had a few accomplishments herself

• Performed for the first time on stage (ballet)
• Quit ballet in order to take gymnastics
• Moving up the ladder just as quickly as her sister did.  She’s already in level 2 and has only been there since June.
• Proving mom and dad wrong in thinking that she wouldn’t do as well at gymnastics.  We obviously don’t give her enough credit.  We both thought she was a bit too clumsy and daydream-ish to do it. 
• Losing teeth
• Also got to ride a horse for the first time. (LG) 

C is growing fast

• Loves his new little brother and can’t get enough of him
• Is very protective of the baby
• Says “I like you” if you’re really loved.  But you can’t say “I love you” back.  Oh no… you have to say, “I like you, too.”  That’s his version of love.
• Become more OCD about certain things than mom knew possible.
• Has recently started telling lies.  Mostly about B.  B is always the culprit… even when he’s napping or strapped into his car seat.
• Still idolizes his daddy and wants to go everywhere with him. 
• One day he asked me, “Mom, why do you have a big butt?” 
• Must ride in the cart at the grocery store with the car attached to the front. 
• Went to his first Utah football game and surprised Dad with how well he did.  In fact, he got to attend TWO games!!
• Also got to ride a horse for the first time.  (LG)

B is growing out of toddlerhood and into boyhood

• Loves the baby and, for the most part, is very good with him but now that he is here, B likes to try and see what he can get away with.
• Learning more words every day.  “Damstairs”-downstairs (that’s my favorite), “Flunch”-lunch,
• Beats his big brother up on a daily basis
• Yells “ANSWER ME” if someone is not paying attention
• Also idolizes his dad. 
• Loves to make people laugh
• Thinks he’s hilarious… even when he’s not (laughs hardest at himself when being naughty)

Baby is definitely growing faster than I would like.  His accomplishments for 2012 are as follows:

• Being conceived… and later born (that’s a biggie ;))
• Growing a larger than normal average head.  (In case you’re wondering, he IS proportioned)
• Smiling!  This little guy started smiling early.  He’s the only one of our kids that started smiling socially so quickly.  His first smile was for dad on Thanksgiving morning.  He smiled a few more times after that for me and a few more for Anthony but then it stopped for several weeks.  He would only smile in his sleep and when seemingly staring at nothing.  The smiling (and cooing) just started back up about a week and a half ago.  Unfortunately I haven’t been able to capture it on camera yet. 
• Nursing like a champ!  Sure, he is slightly tongue tied but he doesn’t let that stop him.  He nursed like a pro from day one.
• One of my favorite things when he was brand new was his little yelp.  He would let out a little yelp before starting to cry.  YELP… pause… CRY.  It was so darn cute!  He no longer does that :(

Anthony and I had a successful year, too.

• Anthony started a new job in January (2012) that he has a love/hate relationship with.  But you take what you can get these days.  We are just happy to have a job at all even if the pay is really crappy.
• Becoming a mom & dad for the 6th time.
• More marathons (I don’t even know how many anymore)
• I gave birth (almost naturally) to a baby with a ginormous head ;)
• I also made it through those first two weeks of excruciatingly painful nursing.  You know, the blisters, the chafing, the soreness, the don’t-let-the-shower-water-come-anywhere-near-my-nipples type of first two weeks…. OUCH!  After that we’re golden!
• Becoming a Liberty Girls leader. 
• Anthony successfully built an adorable little kitchen for H for Christmas.
• And now we’re back to nursing… I haven’t yet been able to find the nozzle… the one that slows the flow!  Poor little guy has a hard time keeping up with the avalanche of milk that flows into his throat when it lets down.  It’s been a problem for all my babies.  They choke, unlatch, and I’m left scrambling to stop it from spraying them in the face.  It’s lots of fun!   

There is so much more that I am not remembering right now.  I can always think of a gazillion things in my mind but when it comes to actually getting it down on paper or typing it up, it all seems to disappear. 

If you made it through all of that… thanks for reading.  From here on out we should be back to our regularly scheduled programming blogging.