We don't need to nag her about doing her homework.
She's a good eater.
Man, is she ever a good eater. Where does it all go?
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Ever so agreeable
Our little sweet-pea gets along very well with her parents. She's happy to take a bath.
We don't need to nag her about doing her homework.
She's a good eater.
Man, is she ever a good eater. Where does it all go?
We don't need to nag her about doing her homework.She's a good eater.Man, is she ever a good eater. Where does it all go?
Friday, March 21, 2008
Congratulations, Joseph!
Joseph's latest major accomplishment:
The conference was in Amsterdam, but Joseph was not able to attend so his former master's degree adviser went and presented.
The conference was in Amsterdam, but Joseph was not able to attend so his former master's degree adviser went and presented.
My Ebay Addiction
I was visiting one of my visiting teaching girls a couple of months ago and she confessed to having an Ebay addiction. I went home and got on, just to see what I could find. This was right before Christmas and I found so many cool presents that I have never stopped looking since then. Most of what I get is clothes for Emily. She has so many dresses that she rarely wears the same one twice to church, but when you see a dress like this, can you even resist?
Her closet is filling up so I justify my continuing purchases by buying 12- and 18-month clothes. These arrived in the mail a couple of days ago:
The question is, am I really saving money if I'm buying three times as much as I normally would if the deals weren't so good? Oh well. At least we'll have a well dressed baby.
Her closet is filling up so I justify my continuing purchases by buying 12- and 18-month clothes. These arrived in the mail a couple of days ago:
The question is, am I really saving money if I'm buying three times as much as I normally would if the deals weren't so good? Oh well. At least we'll have a well dressed baby.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Sleeping in our own beds again
Here are some pictures from our experience babysitting for ten days a week after we moved into our new apartment:
Emily loved the playground. It was her first time playing on one.
She also went to an Easter egg hunt and managed to pick up a few eggs when we plopped her down right on top of them. Otherwise, she got distracted by the rocks.
And here are some pictures I took during the week that I thought were cute:
Babysitting was exhausting and it took up our whole spring break, but it was fun and also educational. I kind of wonder how people can live with more than three kids and stay sane. It was okay for ten days, but I can't imagine it for years and years. It's probably different with your own kids... anyway, I now have a better idea of what it might be like to have more kids, and can hopefully use that to prepare myself for the future. Emily enjoyed having siblings for a while. She loved watching them play and getting lots of attention from them. But I think the whole babysitting thing tired her out as well. We're all glad to be sleeping in our own beds tonight. Maybe we'll be able to finish unpacking now.
PS - I don't know how she manages to pop her legs out of her sleeper like this. Joseph calls her our octopus baby.
Emily loved the playground. It was her first time playing on one.
She also went to an Easter egg hunt and managed to pick up a few eggs when we plopped her down right on top of them. Otherwise, she got distracted by the rocks.
And here are some pictures I took during the week that I thought were cute:
Babysitting was exhausting and it took up our whole spring break, but it was fun and also educational. I kind of wonder how people can live with more than three kids and stay sane. It was okay for ten days, but I can't imagine it for years and years. It's probably different with your own kids... anyway, I now have a better idea of what it might be like to have more kids, and can hopefully use that to prepare myself for the future. Emily enjoyed having siblings for a while. She loved watching them play and getting lots of attention from them. But I think the whole babysitting thing tired her out as well. We're all glad to be sleeping in our own beds tonight. Maybe we'll be able to finish unpacking now.
PS - I don't know how she manages to pop her legs out of her sleeper like this. Joseph calls her our octopus baby.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Catching up
It's been a while since we posted. Things have been pretty busy and rather crazy. It's spring break at the University (unlike BYU, we not only get a spring break, but we get a whole week off). Normally that would mean some relaxing family time and a lot of time to get caught up on various school projects. However, some friends in the ward were going on a week-long cruise to celebrate their parents' anniversary (50th, I think). However, the cruise didn't include children; so we accepted a request to tend house and children while they took their trip. To say the least, it has been educational.
I've had to adjust my cooking habits to account for three more people. Actually, the teenager probably counts for two people, and Emily has also suddenly begun to eat like a horse. That may be correlated with her recent increase in mobility. Here I'm making pancakes. Their pet bird, Mango, pooped on my shirt. It is nice to have a full-sized kitchen (although we're rather particular chefs and we've brought a few of our own things from the apartment to help prepare meals).
Emily has really enjoyed having space to use her new crawling skills. She's also learning how to play with others. As our only child, sharing hasn't really been on her list of things to learn. It's nice for her to get a dose of siblings. They play together a lot. She gets mad because she doesn't get as much attention from Mom and Dad. That's probably good for her too.
The house is quite nice (especially compared to our own cinder-block cubbyhole) and life is very cushy for Emily. She has been trying out several new foods lately. She likes pancakes a lot. She doesn't eat whole grapes, but she's actually pretty good at biting off little pieces as long as her parents are careful. Her top teeth have come in to match the bottom and she loves to use them. She also seems partial to puree of prunes. Go figure.
She got crawling down pretty quickly and has decided that it's already time to move on to other things. The toy room is upstairs. She seems to know that. She also pulls herself up to a standing position beside the couch. Today at dinner time, she played the head-tilting game with me. She would tilt her head to one side and I would match her. She would laugh and then tilt her head the other way. It was fantastic.
Without a doubt, it has been a lot of work and I don't know how I'll ever get caught up in school, but we've had a lot of fun. Still, we're grateful that families usually get bigger a little bit at a time. Taking care of four kids takes some getting used to.
I've had to adjust my cooking habits to account for three more people. Actually, the teenager probably counts for two people, and Emily has also suddenly begun to eat like a horse. That may be correlated with her recent increase in mobility. Here I'm making pancakes. Their pet bird, Mango, pooped on my shirt. It is nice to have a full-sized kitchen (although we're rather particular chefs and we've brought a few of our own things from the apartment to help prepare meals).
Emily has really enjoyed having space to use her new crawling skills. She's also learning how to play with others. As our only child, sharing hasn't really been on her list of things to learn. It's nice for her to get a dose of siblings. They play together a lot. She gets mad because she doesn't get as much attention from Mom and Dad. That's probably good for her too.
The house is quite nice (especially compared to our own cinder-block cubbyhole) and life is very cushy for Emily. She has been trying out several new foods lately. She likes pancakes a lot. She doesn't eat whole grapes, but she's actually pretty good at biting off little pieces as long as her parents are careful. Her top teeth have come in to match the bottom and she loves to use them. She also seems partial to puree of prunes. Go figure.
She got crawling down pretty quickly and has decided that it's already time to move on to other things. The toy room is upstairs. She seems to know that. She also pulls herself up to a standing position beside the couch. Today at dinner time, she played the head-tilting game with me. She would tilt her head to one side and I would match her. She would laugh and then tilt her head the other way. It was fantastic.
Without a doubt, it has been a lot of work and I don't know how I'll ever get caught up in school, but we've had a lot of fun. Still, we're grateful that families usually get bigger a little bit at a time. Taking care of four kids takes some getting used to.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Those Wacky Shells
Our little girl helps Mommy or Daddy cook sometimes. She's learned the basics and can whip egg whites into stiff peaks or prepare delicious deviled eggs. She has a little bit of trouble remembering whether there are three or four teaspoons in a tablespoon or tablespoons to a quarter cup, but she'll get that before you know it. We've had a bit of trouble teaching her to make pasta though. Those things are just so funny! How can you make anything out of them?
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Birthday fun
I just had another birthday. That makes 28 of them--29, if you count the original one. It was a lot of fun. I had a fun party and got some neat surprises. The university apartments we just moved into had a cowboy breakfast on the morning of my birthday. They had some good food and we got to meet a lot of our neighbors.
I opened gifts with Amanda and Emily. From my father-in-law I got a Dr. McNinja t-shirt. Very cool. My parents gave me the Chronicles of Narnia pop-up book. It's incredible. Amanda gave me some cookie cutters, Grimm's fairy tales, racquetball goggles, and a Zelda game for our old Nintendo. I love all the things I got.
Another thing I loved was putting up crepe-paper Easter decorations. We bought them on clearance two years ago and forgot to get them out last year. I used to put this sort of thing out with my mother when I was little and that always made the house special. It meant that the holiday was getting close and we could be excited for it.
A few of the gifts that came for me also had an addendum for Emily. Rebecca gave Emily the neat little ball in this video. Emily loves it. Emily's gifts to me included demonstrating her earnest crawl. She knows the basic mechanics of crawling, but when she gets excited (most of the time) she digs her toes into the ground and launches herself with her whole leg. Sometimes this manages to propel her quite a ways. Other times, it pushes her nose into the floor. She's sure a sweetheart.
I opened gifts with Amanda and Emily. From my father-in-law I got a Dr. McNinja t-shirt. Very cool. My parents gave me the Chronicles of Narnia pop-up book. It's incredible. Amanda gave me some cookie cutters, Grimm's fairy tales, racquetball goggles, and a Zelda game for our old Nintendo. I love all the things I got.
Another thing I loved was putting up crepe-paper Easter decorations. We bought them on clearance two years ago and forgot to get them out last year. I used to put this sort of thing out with my mother when I was little and that always made the house special. It meant that the holiday was getting close and we could be excited for it.
A few of the gifts that came for me also had an addendum for Emily. Rebecca gave Emily the neat little ball in this video. Emily loves it. Emily's gifts to me included demonstrating her earnest crawl. She knows the basic mechanics of crawling, but when she gets excited (most of the time) she digs her toes into the ground and launches herself with her whole leg. Sometimes this manages to propel her quite a ways. Other times, it pushes her nose into the floor. She's sure a sweetheart.
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