The Children's Museum

The Children's Museum here has a free afternoon once a month. This month it coincided with Spring Break, so we went as a family. It was great--they had Irish dancers, and all of the regular toys. Or favorites are the food (with kitchen, grocery store, and delivery truck) and the trains.

The Crib

Little did I know that our big boy was going to become entranced with the crib three weeks after his little brother started sleeping in there full time. One day, after changing diaoers, the big boy climbed into the crib. "Look, mama," he said. From that point on nothing was safe. He climbs in, pulls a blanket over himself, grabs a pacifier (usually the one sitting in the crib) and Marron the puppy (his brother's puppy), and smiles. If he gets in and I'm not aware of it, I'll hear a sweet voice call out, "Mama, I'm stuck," or "Help me, Mama, I'm done."

Last week this came to a head when 20 minutes after nap time started, everything was quiet. I pulled out the book I'm reading--an interesting book on mesmerism--and sat at the table. I assumed both boys were asleep (I knew the youngest was.) Ten minutes later, the youngest starts screaming. I rush in and his older brother smiles at me from the crib where he is tummy-down, kicking his feet up: "I scared him," he explains. The youngest had a right to be scared: his brother had unswaddled him, taken the pacifier, woken him up, and dragged him out of his spot in the crib. Needless to say naptime was over for the day.

When we put the boys down for bed that night, my husband told the oldest not to climb in the crib. When I checked on the before going to bed myself, this is what I saw.

We smiled, took a picture, and then carefully put the boys back in their proper sleeping places.

Happy 5th Anniversary!

This week we celebrate our 5th anniversary. It is crazy to think that 5 years ago at this time we were looking forward to a temple wedding. My husband was sleeping in my little brother's room at my parents' house because our apartment was "too lonely" with only him there. Now we are in apartment #5 (if you count the apartment in Spain); the only furniture that still exists are file cabinets, book shelves, and the trunk my parents gave me after my mission; and our family has doubled in number. What a wonderful five years!

Trains

My sister-in-law graciously sent us some GeoTrax train sets that her son had outgrown and our oldest is having a ball. He discovered Thomas the Tank Engine a few weeks before Christmas, and had been driving a circus train (sent by my younger sister) around as Thomas. Now we have multiple Thomases and even Jack the Front Loader. In the morning and throughout the day, he will ask to play "tracks." We put them together and he drives the trains around. Sometimes he uses the remote control. Sometimes not. His toy cars have also become part of the set. They are hauled around and help Jack the Front Loader as he works with wood blocks.

Visting Family

With family spread all over the country, it seems that we only get together for major events: weddings, weddings, um, . . . weddings. We'll get partial gatherings for other things: baby blessings, sealings, graduations, etc. Well, since my brother gets married on Saturday, we've got the whole family around. My younger sister's family and mine are staying at my parents' house, and my other siblings are all at their houses near-by.

It has been a crazy few days, so far. All of the families have had children get sick--fevers, vomiting, congestion, coughing--yet we have persevered. We stragetically keep the sickest children from the new baby and hope his older brother doesn't pass on his cold. It has been fun to spend Christmas with family.

Yesterday we took family pictures. This has always been a HUGE deal in my family. We joke that my mom would tell us that we were "getting our pictures taken" and we should "stop pouting because it wasn't going to get [us] anywhere." (She never actually said it, at least I don't think she did.) Combine that with our perpetual self-confidence issues (what else do you get as a family of 5 girls and 1 boy?) and family pictures are slightly traumatic. Add to that combination sick children and you get yesterday from 3:00 to 5:00. (You could also throw in car problems and a baptism to prepare for, but that is only if you want realism.)

So here are the results. Hope you enjoy the blood, sweat, and tears that went into this.

Firefighters

Our big boy loves firemen. Maybe it comes from the fact that we had an apartment fire while I was pregnant with him and the firefighters were so careful that he and I were safe. There was another fire in our complex this summer, and he insisted of going outside to see the fire trucks. Luckily, a nice firefighter let us take pictures with him. Recently, he watched Signing Time, volume 11 (My Neighborhood) and loved that they taught him the signs for "firefighter" and "police officer." He walked around telling everyone that he was a firefighter.

So, naturally, we dressed him as a firefighter for Halloween (thanks for finishing the costume while I was in the hospital, Mom). Now, he wears a very worn firefighter hat all around the house. He also likes to put it on with his firefighter pjs.

I look forward to him getting a personalized tour of a fire station later this month.

The Boys

We welcomed our new little boy at the end of October. After some adjustment, his older brother is doing great: he loves to kiss, "watch," "hold," and "feed" his baby brother. The rest of us are also adjusting (to less sleep, different schedules, etc.).