3 Bottles and a Baby

So the last few days have been pretty exhausting. Two days ago Lilly started coming down with a fever, and then yesterday she just slept pretty much all day. I was trying to bottle all the pears from the fruit tree in the back and managed to get 3 bottles ready to be processed when Lilly woke up crying. When I went to check on her she was burning up, and when I took her temp. she was 102.3. I gave her some tylenol and an hour later she was up to 103.0. I called the pediatrician and they got her in right away. Poor thing has a double ear infection and even today after a few doses of antibiotics she is still burning up and just wants to be held and snuggled.

Emmy has another loose tooth, but she still hasn't lost the first one.

Jaron's birthday is coming up on Saturday so the kids and I are going to have a little party for him tommorow night and then on Saturday I am going to take him to a Brazillian Grill that he has been wanting to try. I will post some pictures of the old man's 30th b-day party once I take them.

Funny

I just think this picture is hilarious.

A couple of firsts. . .

Jaron and I were sitting on the couch playing with Lilly when Emmy walked in the room and waved at her, and then started jumping around excitedly, "She waved back!" Sure enough Lilly was doing not only the big arm wave, but attempting the more delicate wrist wave. She still couldn't pass for a pageant queen or anything, but she is doing really well. Even more exciting is that she is saying her first word!!! She continued to wave and when Emmy left she told her "bye-bye" and Lilly answered with her own wave and a "bye-bye". She continued to say it so we know it wasn't a fluke. Our whole house was excited about it. I wish I had sound on my camera's video recorder so you could hear her, but you can see her mouth moving in the video.

Also today, Emmy is having her first "Late Night" with a friend. This is a replacement for a sleep over since sleep overs are just way too scary these days. Emmy and her friend have given each other make-overs, painted each others nails, danced and watched movies. Right now they are watching the latest Barbie movie and eating popcorn. Carter has a friend over as well, but she won't be staying quite as late.

Ward Camp Out. . . and stuff

Wow, I haven't blogged forever. So in the last little bit we had a ward camp out which we got several pictures from, so I will post them. It was a nice camp ground. We cooked steaks for dinner and the kids got to play on the toys that were available there. We didn't actually stay the night since Jaron had to be to work early and I had the paper route to do, but it was still fun.

Angie and Truman stopped by on their way through to Spanish Fork. The kids had a great time playing and Lilly, just like the rest of our kids, is for some reason scared of Truman! She kept hiding her head on Angie's chest and then when she couldn't see him anymore she would look up. I got some video of it, but it was when she actually started warming up to him a little. Still it was adorable!

We made a day trip to Pocatello and had lunch with Kristi and Clint at Buddy's (YUM!). We got to see Clinton's house which is coming along really nicely, I am so excited for them to be able to finish it and move in. Unfortunately we didn't get to see Katie and Corgin since they were making a trip to Salt Lake for the day (ironic huh?). Maybe next time. We also got to see my parents for a little while.

Ok, so here is my brag-fest about my kids. Carter is doing so well in gymnastics that they are ready to move him up to the next level, he is almost able to do a back handspring by himself. As soon as he masters it I will post a video of it. Emmy still hasn't lost her tooth, but it is getting looser (is that a word?). I had a conference with Emmy's teacher and she is in love with her, calling her a "living doll". She also told me that she would like to have her tested for the Spectrum program which is for advanced children. She is already reading at a 6th grade level and possibly beyond. The word on the reading test that stopped her up was "homogenized" . She told me that she does very well socially in the class as well and is not at all disruptive (by talking) because she has plenty of things for her to do to keep her busy enough that she won't get bored.

I am currently working on completing my enrollment at the University of Utah. I keep calling it Utah State University and if I am not careful I'm gonna get myself shot. Apparently they are rivals or something and every time I say the wrong name I insult people all around me =0) Jaron told me to be safe just call it The U. So that is what I will do. Well, I think that is pretty much it for now. Blog at ya later!

"A loose tooth and a new haircut!"

Emmy is feeling like a brand new woman! Yesterday morning she came into my room and woke me up to ask what she could eat for breakfast that wouldn't hurt her tooth. She told me it had been hurting for 3 days now, and I thought, "Oh great, she's got a cavity". Anyway, I told her to go make herself some oatmeal and fell back asleep. About 45 minutes later I awoke to her and Carter squealing and running into my room, "I have a loose tooth!!!" And then, of course, I got the wiggly demonstration by Emmy several times. Sure enough, she has her first loose tooth and she is super excited. As soon as it actually falls out I will post a pic.

As for the new haircut, her friends at school have been telling her she looks like Hannah Montana, which to a 2nd grade girl is quite the compliment. She decided that she wanted to have bangs like Hannah and so yesterday I took her to the beauty parlor to get her some bangs. As we were driving there she said with a giant, satisfied grin, "A loose tooth and a new haircut!" She loves her new bangs!

This is a picture I snuck of Emmy and Ashton playing "school'. They were using one of Lilly's rattles for a bell and in this picture Ashton was drawing various squiggly objects and then asking Emmy what they were. She would come up with some random thing and he would say, "That's right!" in his best teacher voice. Pretty fun!

New Stats

Today I brought Ashton and Lilly in to the WIC office and they were weighed and measured. Any guesses as to how much Lilly weighs now??? 17 lbs! LOL she is in the 87% for herself (in other words, short and fat), but only 37% for babies her age. Ashton on the other hand is at 50% proportioned to himself and only 2% height and weight compared to other children his age. The lady at WIC wants me to give him supplements to help him try and gain weight before his next appointment . . . she didn't believe me that my kids are just really small, probably because she was looking at Lilly while I explained this to her.

Emmy was really excited when she came home from school today. She shared a story that she had written for show-and-tell today and her teacher told her that it was the best s-and-t she has ever seen. To make things even better for Emmy, all her friends asked her to read the story to them again at recess. She was pretty pumped up about it. She has been writing stories since she was about 3, so I am just glad that I don't have to help her spell out each and every word anymore!

Birthday Party for Old People

So yesterday was my little brother's birthday. He turned 26 and had no plans, so I invited him down for some home cooked food (he's a bachelor and so never gets any good home cooking). My parents decided to come for his "party" too, if you can call it that. . . We had lasagna for dinner at his request with a chocolate cake for dessert. I tried to get a picture of the stink, but he kept holding a paper in front of his face, so this blurry one was the best I could come up with. I did get a picture of Lilly after he tried holding her. She has only seen him maybe 3 times since she was born and her "stranger danger" alarm is kicking in. I wasn't in the room, so she let my mom console her. I have never seen her cling to someone so hard, it was pretty cute.

It was funny when Cody first got here, Emmy had a friend over whom I told to go home since we were having a birthday dinner with Emmy's uncle. Ashton heard this and said, "Aah man! I wish I had an uncle!" Also my mom was sitting next to him for lunch and as most of us know, her skin can get pretty red due to her lupus. So he was sitting next to her eating and out of the blue says, "You look like a tomato, a HUGE tomato!" That kid CRACKS me up!
Emmy and Carter are both supposed to read or be read to for about 20 minutes a day, so Emmy just reads to him and we kill 2 birds with one stone-- awesome! This is them tonight after Ashton and Lilly had gone to bed, getting their reading time in.

Palin for Pres... I mean Vice President!

I am not into politics the way some people are, but I did watch Sarah Palin's speech, and I am SOLD! She is the first politician that I have ever been able to see myself in, and I love her down-home demeanor. I was losing hope for the GOP, but I think she was a really good choice for V.P. I guess it comes down to this, if she can inspire a person who is otherwise oblivious to the political scene, me, for example, to be more involved in politics and more interested in what is going on, then I am sure she can do it with many more Americans that are just like me (and I am guessing there are millions). The fact that she has five children, is a "hockey mom" who just signed up for the PTA and has an "imperfect" family makes me feel that I will truely have a voice in the White House that understands me as an individual among millions. For the first time the Oval Office doesn't feel like a place for stuffy old men to sit around and decide things that will affect a lifestyle (mine) that they can't even begin to comprehend. So, for the first time in my life, I am truly interested in an election and I am 100% behind the McCain/Palin ticket!

Lilly the PILL-y

So you would think by the fourth little stink pot I would be used to all the nuisances of a crawling baby. . . but no, I am still blown away by Lilly's constant antics. My sweet little girl is still sweet, just fast and into everything she can get her little paws on. One of the worst things is when she manages to crawl under the end table we have in the corner between two couches. Trying to get her out reminds me of trying to coax a scared cat or something out from under a deck, not that she is scared, she is just having too much fun trying to knock the lamp over. Anyway, I had to grab a few pictures of her in her little cave before attempting to drag her out. I also took some video of her in the bathtub. She won't sit still in it for anything, she likes to crawl back and forth

over and over.