Landscaping project

 This summer, we decided our outside project would be removing the mulch and bark and putting in rocks. We had so many weeds growing and neither Michael nor I have the desire to spend hours and hours every week weeding and keeping a nice landscape. We thought rocks would make the house look much nicer and do a better job of keeping out the weeds. Friday we had the rocks delivered and as soon as we saw the size of the 2 piles of rocks, we knew it was going to be a a huge project and take up to a several weeks of working a few hours ere and there. I spent about 4 hours weeding and prepping the yard on Friday. The weather was miserable- raining, hailing, and windy. Then, Michael spent almost the whole day on Saturday bagging the mulch and getting the ricks in. Thankfully, we live in the best neighborhood and several of our neighbors helped us. That Saturday, it poured all day, but everyone stayed and worked though the miserable weather. They almost finished, but decided by about 4 in the afternoon that it was too rainy. They were all soaked to the skin.

Monday morning, Michael got right back out there and within minutes, more neighbors came to help again. We had no idea that 72 hours the rocks were delivered, we would be done. And it's all due to our wonderful neighbors. THANK YOU!
 

Admiting defeat or taking the high road?

This past Monday marked week 4 since I started potty training Jillian. When I began, I thought she was ready. We talked about it for weeks beforehand and got all prepared. Right from the start, it was pretty clear that she was not going to get it as fast as Annabelle did (Annabelle was the exact same age as Jillian  when we started potty training and Annabelle only needed 3 days to get it). After about 10 days of living in the bathroom, Jillian finally started telling me when she needed to go. I thought it would be easy sailing from there, but I was wrong. She seemed to only tell me when it was convenient for her. I swear sometime she wouldn't tell me just because she wanted to test me. Sometimes, she would be accident free until the evening and I would think that she's gotten it and then the next 3 days, she would be having accidents every couple hours. And she was also pooping in her underwear almost every day, which would make a huge mess and get me so mad. It was getting to the point where she would go through about 6 or 7 pairs of underwear per day. I had her go straight o wearing underwear because the pullups felt too much like diapers and didn't teach her anything. I have been so frustrated all the time that it has affected the mood in our home. I've finally decided that it's time to go back to diapers and try again at a later time. Michael mentioned doing this last week, but I absolutely refused to entertain the thought because I felt like that would be wasting weeks of hard work. I felt like I would be considered a failure and there would be no reward for all the effort I put into potty training. But then I realized that it wasn't about me. If Jillian wasn't ready, then there was nothing I could do to force her. If putting her back in diapers would make me less stressed and upset, then perhaps it was the right thing to do.

So yesterday, we went to the store to buy diapers, which I never thought I'd be doing for Jillian again. She occasionally tells me when she needs to go to the bathroom, but she has transitioned back to diapers with such ease that it's clear to me that that was the right decision. I feel so much more energized and happy now that I am not constantly making her sit on the toilet and life has become much more enjoyable.

See you later potty seat, pullups, and poopy underwear....... until next time.

Another year older

Yesterday was my birthday and I had a great day. I’m really excited for Michael’s gift. I haven’t gotten it yet (I still have some research to do to figure out which one I want), but he’s letting me get myself a double jogging stroller/bike trailer. Along with that, all week long, I had been getting cards in the mail, ecards or telephone calls from family and friends (my grandma even mailed me a big can of Ovaltine, my favorite type of chocolate milk that I only get when I visit her). Even my wonderful piano students remembered my birthday. They brought things like flowers, chocolates, cookies, cinnamon rolls, a birthday cake, and wonderful cards. My good friend also surprised me and took me out to lunch without my kids. It was wonderful (and thanks to Michael for letting me go alone). I am grateful for the wonderful people around me. Thank you for making me feel so special.

Different sizes and different personalities

Annabelle and Sarah both had a doctor’s appointment last week. Annabelle needed her shots for kindergarten and Sarah just had a regular checkup. I was really interested to see what the percentages were for weight and height for both kids. Annabelle is very tall for her age and Jillian is extremely petite and so I’m curious as to which end of the spectrum Sarah will fall.

At 5 years and 2 months of age, Annabelle weighs 44.4 lbs (72^nd percentile) and 47.5 inches (99^th percentile). Holy cow, that girl is tall. I think she’s also going through a growing spurt right now because she constantly asks for snacks and sleeps 10- 12 hours at night. But she’s got tons of energy and loves helping her little sisters.

Just to put into perspective how much smaller Jillian is for her age, at her 2 year checkup at the end of January, she was 23 lbs (7^th percentile) and 32 inches tall (20^th percentile).

At 10 weeks old, Sarah weighed 12.3 lbs (78^th percentile) and was 23.5 inches tall (81^st percentile).  If she continues to grow like this, she’ll be as tall as Annabelle at age 5.

Not only are they all different in size, but their personalities are so different as well. Annabelle is cute, creative, smart, and extremely kind, but easily distracted and very sensitive. Jillian is beautiful, smart, strong-willed, and defiant. There’s definitely a rebel streak in her. And Sarah so far seems to be very low-maintenance and easy. She may be the mellowest child of the three. Although they are all so different, I love them each dearly.

Secret Spy Girls

Annabelle has a pair of sunglasses and for the last little while, she and Jillian have been fighting over who gets to wear them, so I bought Jillian her own pair. She loves them and constantly wears them inside and out, sunny or cloudy. Annabelle is so happy that Jillian has her own glasses and they like to play a game that Annabelle made up where they pretend they’re secret spy girls and they’re wearing their secret spy sunglasses. It’s so fun to see them play and pretend together.

Another tooth gone

Annabelle has lost a second tooth. This time, she didn't lose it and was able to put it under her pillow. It’s right next to the one she lost over a month ago. The strange thing is there is no sign of a permanent tooth poking through where her first lost tooth was, and as I said, it came out a while ago. When she went to the dentist in February earlier this year, he said that one of her bottom front teeth was missing (as in it doesn't exist and she is one tooth short of the normal number of baby teeth that most kids have) and he couldn’t tell from the x-rays of her mouth if she was missing the permanent one as well.  

Anyway, she was thrilled to lose it. It had been hanging by a thread for days before finally coming out. She got a dollar from the tooth fairy and can’t wait to spend it at the carousel.

This is a video of how Jillian drinks the milk in her cereal bowl after the cereal is all gone.
Step 1: Tuck the napkin so far under her chin that it defeats the purpose of catching any milk that should spill down her front.
Step 2: Slurp the milk as loudly as she can.
Step 3: Tilt the bowl as much as she can to get the maximum amount of milk in her hair.
Step 4: Untuck the napkin and wipe the front of her shirt to get the milk that spilled and then wipe her mouth.

RUNNING

When Sarah was about 4 weeks old, I started running again. It's felt great to get out and start exercising. My body has quickly responded to the physical activity and I feel really good. I still have a ways to go before I get rid of all the baby fat, but it's slowly coming off. I've never been much of a runner. The only time I would ever do any serious running up until about 7 years ago was when I would play frisbee. In the first 5 years of marriage, I would kind of get into running, but it would only last a short time. After Jillian was born, I spent that next 8 months running quite seriously and grew to love it. Then it became too cold to run and right as it was turning nice again the next spring, I got pregnant with Sarah. So it's now been about 2 years since I was in running shape, but I've noticed that it's only taken a couple of weeks for me to feel like I'm back to where I was 2 years ago.

What I'm most excited about is the last 2 Saturdays, I've run up to the temple. That's almost a mile of straight uphill running. This past Saturday, I left my house to run while almost everyone else was outside. 4 miles and 45 minutes later, I return home ready to share my triumph of running up to the temple and this is what everyone else was doing.

This was fine with me, though. I got to have some quiet time with Sarah as I cooled down. I look forward to another summer of running (wait, did I really say that?) as well as my first ever 5K in July.

Jillian's a big kid now

A few weeks ago, I decided that it was time to potty train Jillian. I was tired of having two kids in diapers. Three weeks ago, I spent the week prepping myself mentally and preparing Jillian. Finally after the previous 9 days of sitting in the bathroom for hours and hours, on Wednesday of this week, something in her little brain clicked and she is now informing me when she needs to use the bathroom. It's wonderful! Of course, we still have several accidents a day, but she now recognizes the urge and can tell me. Way to go, Jillian!

Amazing...

Sarah is such an awesome baby. Last week, at 7 1/2 weeks of age, she slept from about 10:30 p.m. to 6 a.m. or later all week long. I didn't even know that was possible. Of course, it came at the best time because I began potty training Jillian last week so I needed as much sleep as possible so that my frustration with the potty training didn't get out of hand. This week she's woken up once to eat around 3 or 4, but then goes right back to sleep until 7 or 8.

Sarah also smiles at me. When we blessed her last week, she smiled at everyone else but me. I'm talking about people that she was only seeing for the first time. I have been constantly smiling as her since she was born, but still she showed me no love. Finally last week, I got her to smile at me and she does it quite often now. She also can fall asleep anywhere no matter what noises are going on around her. Her favorite position is with her arms raised above her head, sometimes with one hand raised in the air. I love this girl!

This video was taken while I was sitting in the bathroom waiting for Jillian who is being potty trained. The man's voice in the background is from my i-pod. Jillian was playing with it while she sat on the toilet.

Recital

 The day after Sarah was blessed, I held a recital for my piano students. Thankfully, my brother and his family and my sister-in-law were able to stay for a couple extra of days and help out with things. Since I was starting to potty train Jillian that day (I was planning on waiting until Tuesday when the recital was over, but I ran out of diapers), nursing Sarah still fairly often, had three piano lessons that day, and needed to make treats and prepare and set up for the recital, they were a huge help and I appreciate their assistance.

Both Annabelle and I were performing in the recital. Annabelle was so excited and has been working hard on her songs for weeks. I forgot to tape the beginning of her first song, so I only caught the end. I was going to continue recording her second song, but when she opened her other book for her song, the paper clip we put on the page that the song was on came off and she had to take a few minutes to find the right page. So I stopped recording and stared again when she was ready. She did fabulessly! I am so proud of her. She had a blast and can't wait for the next recital in December.

 My brother's daughter is 7 months old and the cutest thing. She smiles all the time and is such a happy girl. My kids loved having a baby around that was old enough to interact with them, unlike Sarah who just kind of lays there.

Sarah's Blessing Day

 

We blessed Sarah this past Sunday. It was such a special occasion. Sarah is such a happy baby and she brings so much joy to our family. Both of Michael's brothers and two of my brothers and their families were able to come. Sorry for all the pictures, but I have such a photogenic family that I couldn't stop.