Beth and Philip

Saturday, February 24, 2018

January

Lily has been knocking on doors lately and singing, "wanna build a snowman?" We finally got our first real snow this year and so we had to make snowmen, including Olaf.

Eliza wants everyday to be her birthday or Christmas, so she can open presents, but also give presents. She also has been asking me to call her Elsa and Lily is Anna and I am Olaf. They are into dressing up like pirates and musketeers lately. Lily has the UURRGH down. Some of the other things she says cute is horray, of course, to the rescue.

Lily has been adamant that she wants to fly. She is sure it can be done. She gets an idea in her head and I can't change her mind about it. She kept saying she wanted to fly for over 20 minutes. she found her shoes and socks and said she was ready to go fly and couldn't understand that I didn't know how to fly. She tried eating some deodorant and salt for the sidewalks this month and called them "yucky".

Henry is a sweet baby who is content to just be with us. He is not fussy unless he needs something and that is pretty easy to figure out. I worked for the first night since having him and he has taken a bottle great. He has been smiling more and more and it is so fun to see. The girls continue to love him and say, "he's so cute". Lily will say his name and it sounds like Harry.

We went to the zoo and the girls liked seeing the animals especially the elephants, seals, monkeys, and lions.

November 2017

We had a great Thanksgiving at Mom's this year. Lily loved riding Jotham's horse, Justice, and it was fun to see her great big smile. She wanted to ride him as much a she could and took several turns.

Eliza was brave and rode him as well by herself. Philip had to work, but we had a Thanksgiving with his family the weekend before he was able to go to. He set up his white dome and the girls got to get in the hot tub with cousins at Jolene and Garrett's house.

Henry Philip was born November 29th at 530 am. I started having contractions before going to bed, but it wasn't until midnight they became regular and I knew for sure I was in labor. We left the house about 230 when Ruth came to watch the girls, then he was here 3 hours later. The epidural started working about 430 but only on one side. They gave me an extra dose to help, but I couldn't get up for several hours after delivering because my leg was still asleep.

December 2017

Eliza and Lily have been so excited for Christmas and not only to open presents. They are excited every time we see Christmas trees or lights. They love candy canes and snow. We had fun taking a picture of our family acting out the nativity and having a real baby Jesus (Henry).

Eliza caught on that we weren't the only ones to do this as we went to see another live nativity. It was a challenge wrapping the gifts because they were always around wanting to help, maybe next year I'll let them wrap some gifts. Eliza had me wrap up a tennis ball and put her name on it and put it under the tree. She was just as excited to open it as everything else. Many of the ward members have brought by baby gifts for Henry and they love opening it for him. They also gave the girls things to help entertain them and not to feel left out. They gave coloring books, sticker bracelets, water coloring, barbies, snowman kit, books,games and treats! They watched Frosty the snowman for the first time and Eliza kept singing the song afterward. She came back from church and started calling me Bethlehem and has for several days, so I think primary taught her about Jesus' birth. When asked what her full name was she said Eliza and I prompted Eliza Beth and she said" no, Eliza Bethlehem." Eliza also loves her music class, she is playing the bells as loud as she can.

Lily has been a little more of a challenge this month and I put her name on the naughty list for putting Vaseline in her hair, writing on the walls with pen, opening gifts before it was time and not listening and obeying.

She has loved having Henry here and asks daily to hold him. She can be so sweet kissing his hands and talking to him. Eliza has stepped into her big sister roll and is quick to tell me he is crying or she gives him his binky to help him. Lily continues to grow bigger and asserting her independence. She loves riding horses and trains. She loves the snow and can't wait to build a snowman. They both go outside to play, but end up just eating the snow mostly. They also have a love of plain butter

I was grateful to have mom watch the girls when Henry was born. It was nice just to be with the boys and to be able to sleep as much as I could. Mom came back with girls and stayed while Philip was working.It really helped me get enough rest and ready to take on all three by myself.
Henry has been a great baby and is growing too fast as well. He gained back more then his birth weight by his 2 week appointment 8 lbs 6 oz. He is breastfeeding well and that helps me not feel so stressed. He sleeps well at night if he is in bed with me and takes 4 hour breaks from feeding, but wakes up 2-3 hours if he sleeps in the cradle.

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

September 2017

Eliza started preschool at Butler Elementary and hasn't struggled in wanting to go at all. She has taken awhile to warm up to her teacher and other classmates, but I see so much progress in her. She has one friend from church that is in her class and knowing she knew someone was a relief to me. She now says her name is Eliza R. and her friend calls her church Eliza, because another little girl is Eliza S. She spells her name on her own and never forgets to put the R at the end on everything she does. She also is doing the online preschool upstart and has really loved that too. She has to be limited on her time because she was doing it all the time. Eliza started Let's Play Music classes also this month and it amazes me how much she is able to understand and remember each time. We listen to the music CD all the time and she likes that she gets a sticker and a star if she completes her homework. The belles are loud and ring in my ears, but she and Lily like to play on them when we listen to the music.

Lily continues to be a handful, but she can also be super cute too. She gets into good sleep habits and then all of a sudden she is back to sleeping in our bed for a part of the night. It is so frustrating to not have it be consistent, but I don't have great will power in the middle of the night and give up too soon to make a permanent change. She is starting to skip her naps more often and she gets harder as he get more tired. She misses Eliza lots when she is at school and is constantly asking where she is. She wants to go right in and play with all the kids. She often is in tears as we leave Eliza behind. I enjoy that I can spend one on one time with Lily and it easier to just have one to run errands with. Lily continues to grow and grow. She is wearing 4T shirts/PJs and same shoes as Eliza. She continues to love cuddling and is a great mother to her babies and stuffed animals. She loves dressing up and dancing to music and especially when Eliza or Daddy will be her partner. She loves jumping on the neighbor tramps and running outside. I have had to be super careful of keeping hold of her hand. This month, 3 times, I have had to chase her down the street because she just takes off. Two of those times cars stopped and could of hit her if they hadn't been watching closely.

Philip spent the last two weeks of the month in Washington DC and I went for about a week to stay with him. I loved being with just him and being able to see the sights. I walked for hours every day and saw so much. So glad to live in the west and not have to rely on pubic transport or GPS every time I drive somewhere new. Here are some of the highlights.

Washington Monument Lincoln Monument