Family Pictures 2012

Pictures taken by my sister-in-law, Kara

http://claytonandkara.blogspot.com/

Here are some of my favorites:

Favorite family shot

He's so handsome!

Love Carter in this one

She also took some newborn photos.  I've never had newborn pictures taken of any of my boys!

Probably my favorite

Caleb Lately

With having this third baby, I'm so grateful that Caleb is so dependable and such a good helper.  He still washes his hands every time before he touches the baby.  If I have to make dinner and the baby is cranky, Caleb will hold the baby and keep him happy.  Caleb is actually really good at putting Bryson to sleep and is really patient if Bryson is super fussy.  He's so excited to see Bryson when he gets home from school each day.  Bryson successfully drank from a bottle for the first time on Sunday, and Caleb has been begging to feed Bryson himself ever since!  He loves Bryson so much and remarks all the time how excited he is to have a baby in our family.

Two funny things that I wrote in Caleb's journal this past week:

I didn't realize just how much Caleb loves to sing Christmas songs until this year.  We have to have Christmas music playing at all times in the car.  If anyone is talking too loudly, he wants the music turned up.  And no matter what song comes on, Caleb is singing along.  Some songs he knows the words better than others, but I am really shocked at how quickly he has picked up on the words to most songs!  He has a really good singing voice as well--hopefully he takes after his momma in this department rather than his daddy.

Caleb will not call Matt "Daddy" anymore for some reason; he will only call him Matt.  We thought he was just being funny and that he would forget after a few days.  But for over a week now, Caleb will only call Matt by his first name.  It's really weird, but also quite funny.  Every time he does it, Matt and I look at each other and laugh.  We'll see how long this funny phase lasts.

Freddy Octopus

Yesterday we mourned the loss of our betta fish, Freddy Octopus.  I bought him last March as our preschool fish.  We discussed possible names for the fish and then the kids voted.  The name that got the most votes was Octopus.  I explained to the kids that this name might be kind of confusing and that their parents might think that we have an actual octopus as a class pet.  (Apparently some still told their parents that this was the fish's name, and parents did think I had bought an octopus.)  So we added a first name to our fish and he was dubbed Freddy Octopus.

While teaching our month on Ocean animals, I was praying that Freddy would live for the entire month-long unit.  The kids enjoyed taking turns feeding him each day.  Freddy survived the month and continued to live; I was very surprised.  After preschool ended for the school year, I took over the job of feeding him each day because I was the only one who would remember to feed him; Matt had the fun job of cleaning out the fish tank every so often.  I found that I started to get a little attached, especially as Freddy seemed to be waiting every morning for me to remember to feed him.  He became a little annoying when he was still alive during the summer months when we did some vacationing, and I actually had to pay people to take care of our fish (I say this in jest--not a huge deal).

About a week ago, mischievous Carter climbed up and dumped a good amount of fish food in the fish tank.  I thought this would for sure end Freddy's life even though I was able to fish out (excuse the pun) most of what he dumped in.  As the days have gone on this past week, I noticed that the food I fed Freddy each morning sank to the bottom untouched.  Freddy started spending more and more time in his cave and swam a lot less.  The untouched food started disintegrating and leaving a little layer of film on top of the water.  I thought this might be the cause of Freddy's inactivity--he needed his fish tank cleaned out.  So Matt finally did it yesterday morning.  We went to Chick Fil A as a family for lunch, and when we came home, Freddy had passed on.

We pondered the cause of death (was it the dirty tank, the clean tank, Carter's excessive feeding that one day?), but I think we settled on the fact that with the cold front we experienced, the water was too cold for Freddy.  From what I read, this explains the reasons he didn't swim or eat as much.

While I was practicing the organ at the church last night, Matt had a little funeral service with the boys for Freddy Octopus.  (I didn't want to have anything to do with it.)  Apparently I wasn't the only one that got a little attached to the fish.  Carter went into a crying frenzy for 20 minutes where Matt couldn't get him to calm down!  Matt said that Carter finally calmed down when Matt suggested burying Freddy in one of the front flower beds so that Freddy could see all the pretty Christmas lights in our yard.  Caleb was very matter-of-fact about it all and told us the reason we needed to bury the fish in our garden was so that we can be like the Pilgrims who planted fish to help fertilize the planting lands.  I wanted to record this because this will probably be our first and last family pet, and Carter's reaction to it all was too funny.  

All joking aside, the deaths I am really mourning are those who lost their life in the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting.  With a son in Kindergarten, I was definitely shaken up and have shed tears on multiple occasions as I imagine what those families who lost a loved one must be feeling right now.  I debated whether to talk to Caleb about it, but in the end I decided to.  It was a good teaching opportunity to discuss how bad things happen in the world and people make bad choices at times.  But the hope that comes through our Savior, Jesus Christ helps us know that we will see our loved ones again someday.

I'm a New Aunt

My older sister and I have always been close...we shared a room together growing up and were best friends one minute and fighting like cats and dogs the next.  But if my mom threatened to split us up, we were quick to protest!  I've enjoyed living close to her these past 5 years.  We've been able to run/exercise together, teach preschool together, and watch our boys grow together.  I have loved having her around for advice as we embarked into parenthood at the same time.  Our eldest boys are 6 months apart, our next two boys are 3 months apart, and Bryson and Liliane are exactly 4 weeks apart.  I don't know if this could be planned any better!!

We can't wait to meet you, Liliane!  Hurry home!  We hope you make it home in time for Christmas.

Camping--Sort of

We were looking forward to a camping trip in November, but circumstances didn't work out for us this year.  With a newborn, I didn't want to stay the night, so Matt was planning on camping with the boys.  But Carter was recovering from being sick (a fever that would spike every night and a really bad cough), so we didn't want him spending the night in the cold either.  We still wanted to participate in some of the fun though, so we came up and joined my family the day after Thanksgiving for dinner and dessert.

One of the first things if not THE first thing Carter does when he sees my mom or dad is to ask for a ride on their "head."  He loves to ride on their shoulders, and my parents are both good sports.  Carter's other obsession that I don't think I've recorded is ears.  When riding my parents' shoulders, he often will rub their earlobes.  If I'm cuddling with Carter on the couch, he will often absentmindedly start rubbing my ears.  Weird!

Caleb and Dallin playing some football

Baseball

Climbing on a fallen tree

Big leaves Caleb found on our hike

This is what Bryson did for a lot of the time we were there.  He's 3 weeks old in this picture.

Caleb stayed the night since he wasn't sick any more and slept in my parent's tent.

Roasting marshmallows the next morning.

Caleb with his cousin Ellery.  Clayton and Kara joined us for Thanksgiving this year.

ER Visit

Friday, November 16th was a pretty eventful day.  Caleb stayed home from school because he came home from school Thursday with a temperature that lasted all through the night.  We think he had a run-in with the flu, because he was sick for the next 5 days or so with fevers, chills, and muscle aches.  Ironically, the day we kept him home from school was the day I had his flu shot scheduled at 3:45pm.  I just completely spaced getting their flu shots before flu season with preparing for the baby.  Carter got his shot a few days earlier when I was at a doctor's appointment with Bryson.  

About 11am, Caleb joined me upstairs to change Bryson's diaper while Carter was watching a TV show.  Let me back up and say a few days earlier, Carter went to the park with Aunt Ariane and cousins, Dallin and Gavin and stepped in an ant pile.  He got several bites on his legs and a few on his arm, so when he came home, I put anti-itch cream on and gave him some Benadryl so the bites wouldn't swell.  Because the medicine is old, there is some crusted medicine that prevents the lid from locking.  It was just laziness that we hadn't cleaned it up so that the lid would lock.  

So while Caleb and I were upstairs, he must have seen the Benadryl out on the counter (where I had neglected to put it away still), and decided he wanted some more.  He had seen Caleb taking medicine regularly the night before and that morning to keep his fever down, so perhaps this played into it.  He pushed over a chair, drank some, then came to me in Bryson's room with shiny lips.  I immediately asked him what he had found to drink because we only have water and milk in the house.  When he told me he drank some medicine, I started to panic.  I could not be positive how much was in the bottle prior to him drinking it, so after talking to poison control and deducing it was possible he could have had up to 2 oz., we headed to the ER.  (The ER is the last place I wanted to take my two-week-old baby!  Even the nurse told us to wash our hands carefully and not to trust that the room was clean.)  Because Carter was acting normal, first I nursed the baby, then fed us all lunch knowing we would probably be at the hospital for awhile.  Carter started falling asleep on the way over to the hospital, and I had to give him candy to stay awake.  Funny tidbit: he brought a sword (stick connected to a pants hangar) with him to the hospital in order to fight the doctor.  He felt he needed a sword to protect him after I talked to him about the consequences of drinking medicine.

After getting checked in and going to a room, a nurse put stickers on Carter's chest and finger to check his vital signs.  Everything seemed normal.  A doctor came to check him out and prescribed some charcoal mixed with chocolate milk to help neutralize the medicine.  The drink must have tasted very yucky, as I imagine charcoal would, because Carter did not like drinking it at all.  The nurse said we couldn’t leave until he finished this large cup of it, then left us to it.  It was so aggravating trying to get Carter to drink it.  He was in a bad mood because he was tired and extra tired due to the Benadryl.  He kept trying to rip off the stickers on his body, and he got mad at Caleb for every little thing.  Prior to the charcoal drink, he had done pretty well.  Bryson slept for the whole visit up until 1:30pm when he woke up to nurse.  So I had to stop giving Carter his drink in order to nurse the baby.  I asked Caleb to continue feeding Carter so that we could get out of there faster!  Carter refused to let Caleb help, so I asked Caleb to press the nurse button so that she could feed Carter.  I was hoping not to waste time and thinking that he probably would drink it better from a stranger than from me.  Carter threw a fit that Caleb pressed the nurse button, and in the process of this tantrum, he knocked over his drink, which spilled all over his seat.  He had only finished about 1/5^th of the drink so I was worried that he would have to start over (and not to mention cost us more money!).  But the doctor said he didn’t think Carter could have taken very much medicine since his vital signs were still steady 3 hours after he drank the medicine.  He said we could go ahead and get checked out.

About an hour later, due to some other emergencies and some miscommunication, we finally left the hospital.  Caleb and Carter fought like cats and dogs during that time, and Bryson was not happy and needed to be held.  It was such a difficult and exhausting afternoon!  And I know I was judged by many people who walked by our room wondering why I couldn't control my boys' behavior.  I was trying my best, believe me.  I was very touched that one of the cleaning women, who only spoke Spanish and had walked by our room a few times, tried to help the situation by bringing in some toys to entertain the boys.  The room did have a TV, but it failed to hold their interest after we'd been there a few hours.  

With all of that said though, I’m grateful that this incident wasn’t more serious.  I’m grateful that I came home from the hospital with all three of my precious boys instead of just two.  Carter is mischievous and stubborn and gives me a run for my money, but he has other precious moments that I want to bottle up because they’re so cute.  We’re glad he’s apart of our family and hoping that these antics are a stage that he’ll grow out of.  He’s definitely helping us reevaluate our parenting to try to teach him to make good choices.  This experience was a powerful lesson for both of us about consequences.  I should have put the medicine away and made sure the lid locked.  And Carter needed to learn that we don’t drink medicine if we’re not sick!

Month 2: Gratitude

For my 2nd month of my year-long happiness project I focused on writing in a gratitude journal everyday.  As expected, it really helped me with perspective as I focused each day on what I would write in my journal and therefore was looking for the good.  I also tried to think about how I recognized God's influence in my life each day--mostly those observations turned out to be our safety and health.  I know these are precious blessings that I hope never to take for granted.  This month's project was especially enjoyable as I was able to focus on all the things I love about newborns.  Third time around, I feel like I'm able to enjoy a newborn a lot more due to being an experienced mama.  I love all the grunting, stretching, and cute cooing noises.

Each month I'm trying to read a spiritual book as well.  This month I read: House of Learning: Getting More From Your Temple Experience.  Several good thoughts and ideas included that I know will improve my experience in the temple.

Exercise also is a daily goal because it makes me happy.  At my two week OB appointment, I was shocked when my doctor gave me the go-ahead to start running again.  So you better believe I was out there running the next day!  I'm 4 weeks out from having a baby and have run 4 and 4 1/2 miles for my Saturday runs, and I'm running 2 miles during my weekday runs.  It's tricky to do my running when Matt's at home to watch the kids so it usually happens at night as I'm not getting up early these days.  I'm still working on getting my time down; I can run 9-minute miles on my short runs, but about 9:45 miles when I go longer.

I set a goal to index 200 names a month as well.  That didn't happen this month. :o)

Next month my goal is to work on being calm and controlling my anger.  Carter is not always very nice to the baby, and I can't take my eyes off of him--ever it seems, which just isn't realistic.  I've noticed that Mama Bear comes out when he's too rough with the baby or he does something really naughty when my back is turned.  I need to work on my patience and control as I remind him how to act around the baby.  (I never had this problem with Caleb when Carter was a baby!  And my boys are all the same distance apart.)  Patience is an attribute that's lacking right now anyway when I'm going on little sleep each day.  I figured this would be a good month for this goal especially as I have Elfie, our elf on the shelf, to help encourage Carter (and Caleb at times) to behave so that they don't get any Christmas presents taken away. :o)

I've also gotten behind on my blogging, so I hope to catch up in the next few weeks.  Especially the exciting news that I'm a new aunt--my sister has adopted a baby girl!