Good News!

I took Porter for his 3rd hearing test yesterday and he tested within normal range! I am so thrilled and relieved and appreciate all the prayers on his behalf. The therapy for his neck seems to be working and I've seen improvement in the past couple of weeks....it will just take time but meanwhile he is growing and changing so much. I'm not sure of his weight but I do know he is a little tank and enjoys eating. He is still waking up once or twice in the night for a snack while Kamryn has been sleeping through the night for a solid week. (from appoximately 9:30 till 6:00) Anyway, I don't mind getting up with Porter because it allows for a little one on one time that I wouldn't otherwise get. Last week he actually rolled over from tummy to back and giggled for the first time yesterday. LOVE IT!!!!!! Kamryn grins from ear to ear and loves to be talked to. She's turning in to a little momma's girl quickly and has pitched a few fits here and there for her daddy and ward members and then she's all smiles when she can see me. It's hard to believe they are already that old!

Exhausted, dog tired, hammered, pooped, just plain, TIRED

Aren't these the cutest smile you've ever seen????

A couple of months before the babies were born I remember talking to my good friend who has twins that are now 2 years old. I guess in a way she was trying to prepare me for how tired I would be after the babies were born and told me the funniest thing I think I've ever heard. Her husband teaches at BYU Idaho and one day (when their twins were babies) he was giving one of his lectures and he actually fell asleep in mid sentence in front of his whole class. He says he actually felt himself nod off while he was talking. I remember laughing hysterically and wondering how that could actually happen but, now, I totally get it! I"M THERE!!!!!!!!!! The babies are almost 3 months old and I suddenly feel like I've been hit by a mac truck. I'm so tired, I gain a new wrinkle around my eye every day it seems, I get sleepy driving to the church (which is only a mile away), I want to cry when I think about the prospect of sleeping for even an hour, I hate putting my kids to bed because while they complain about having to go to bed, I'm sitting there thinking, "pleeeeeeease, put ME to bed!" Okay, I know it sounds like I complaining but I'm really not, no really...I'm not, yes, I would love to sleep for 8 hours straight but when these 2 beautiful babies give me their biggest grins, "coo" at me and turn in the direction of my voice, it makes the lack of sleep all worth it.

Nothing short of a miracle!

My new babysitter (beggers can't be choosy)

This is what Kaleb thinks of canning!

The first batch of peaches, not the most beautiful but pretty tasty!

"Have I bit off more than I can chew?" "Probably"

I can't believe it, I actually have all 4 kids down for naps at the same time! (a miracle) Please, give me a hand while reading this because I think I deserve it!!! I know there are a million and one things that I should be doing right now but I need to record a few things before they leave my VERY SHORT term memory.

Yesterday I spent the morning canning peaches....I came upon a great deal on fruit through a lady that I serve with on the Stake Primary Board. She has a daughter who lives in Nampa...she goes to visit her this time of year to pick up fruit for a bunch of family members. Okay, so I'm not family but she was nice enough to pick me some up. Peaches were $12.50 per half bushel, pears were $9.00/half bushel! Great price and beautiful fruit. I only got one box of peaches because I still have a bunch in storage but I got 4 boxes of pears....I'm waiting for them to ripen and hoping that they don't all ripen at once! YIKES!!! Anyway, I got started at around 8:30 and finally cleaned up at 12:30 and I only canned 10 quarts. Well, we ate a lot while in the process, that's half the fun and we had to throw a few rotten ones out along the way, and I stuffed the bottles full so as to conserve bottles for all the pears I will be doing. You might be wondering if it was worth all the work, my answer is YES! My kitchen was a complete disaster, kids were still in pajamas at 1:00, I was a messy disaster but I canned from start to finish by myself which is a major accomplishment for me and we have 10 more bottles on the shelf of yummy fruit. The best part of the day was that Kamryn slept all morning, woke up just as I was cleaning up and then Porter slept all afternoon, I feel fortunate if I only have to deal with one. Porter was so cooperative while I ran in and out of the house, he just sat in his bouncy chair smiling and talking to me... I can't say the same about Kaleb, he was only happy when his mouth was full of peaches, and he was a royal pain in the behind for about an hour and then I guess he finally decided that I wasn't going to stop what I was doing so he better get over it. Little does he know, the canning adventures have only just begun...pears will be most likely be ready Wednesday!

Update on a few things!

I took Porter for his first Therapy visit, it went well and I think I will be able to do a lot of it at home but will see the Occupational Therapist once a week for a while. Basically, the muscle on the left side of his neck that enables you to tilt your head and move it side to side is tight therefore making it really uncomfortable for him to have it in certain positions so that's why he always has his head tilted to the side. Yesterday she showed me some easy techniques to help work that muscle such as giving him lots of tummy time which automatically makes him use his neck muscles, simple holds to do that force him to turn his head the other way, propping his head up in the carseat so he can't lean it to the side, etc. Some of them are no brainers that I was already doing since I'd suspected a problem. He was pretty good during the appointment but seemed sore and a bit cranky in the afternoon but I could already see improvement so I'm feeling good about things.

Jordyn's first day at preschool was lots of fun! She came home so excited to tell me that she had introduced herself to the other girls in the class, I'm not sure she was too thrilled about the boys. She also came home with homework which she was anxious to do....sure wish that excitement about homework would stick around! Just seeing her so excited made all the time and effort I will put in to the lessons, worth it!

Jordyn, Kaleb, and I spent the morning in the garden picking a bunch of vegetabled. Kaleb was helping me dig red potatoes and was so excited when we came upon a "hoog big one" (kaleb language) I had to take a picture because it's the biggest one we've ever grown. Our corn was also a success this year unlike most years when the bugs eat it all first. I love this time of year when we make dinners mainly from the garden. Last night we made tin foil dinners and put potatoes, carrots, beans, squash, onions, and a hamburger patty. Maybe I ought to think about getting a cow in the backyard! Anyway, I cooked them on the grill and they turned out YUMMY and the best part was the easy cleanup.

The girls both had their first soccer games last week but I failed to take my camera so Regan played her 2nd game last night and Morgan will have hers tomorrow so I will have more on that to come. They are both having a lot of fun and both are really good players. DJ and I had a ball watching Regan play last night because all the sudden she decided to be agressive and really hussled which turned in to 2 great assists. Morgan cracks us up because she's not super aggressive but when she puts her mind to it she does such a great job. She loves being on the same team with her friends and can often be found doing her friends hair while playing defender. Pretty hilarious and typical of a 6 year old in soccer. Hopefully I'll get some good pics of the both the girls.

Bad parenting moment!

I'm ashamed of myself! I got Morgan in bed way too late tonight (she requires a lot more sleep than any of our kids) She typically falls asleep very fast and never gives us any grief about going to bed but she was overtired and, I guess, needed a little TLC! She kept coming up the stairs crying and begging to sleep upstairs or have me lay with her but DJ and I were putting up more corn and taking care of babies so I kept taking her back down and telling her to, GO TO SLEEP! (in my not so patient voice) At 9:15, 45 minutes later, Morgan is still not asleep so march downstairs and tell her she's going to get a spanking if she doesn't shut her eyes and go to sleep. I went back upstairs and then had a wave of guilt rush over me so I headed back down to lay with her and, of course, she was out within 2 minutes. Why didn't I do that in the first place and save myself a lot of frustration and she would've been to sleep 45 minutes early! Sometimes I'm so ashamed of myself for having so little patience. Hopefully tomorrow I'll do better!

Off to Preschool!

Today is Jordyn't first day at Preschool! She was so excited because she has been very bummed that all of her little buddies went to Kindergarten this year. I was not thrilled at the idea of doing preschool again but decided that she really needs something to keep her busy so myself and 6 other ladies are taking turns teaching preschool once a week on Wednesdays from 9:00-11:00. We bought a preschool book from Sams and divided it up in to sections to work on each week and we each take a letter to work on and do activities, songs, snacks, etc. to go along with that letter. The best part about the whole thing is that we only have to teach a total of 4 times in a 9 month period because there are so many of us! I did this with Morgan for two years and it worked out really well so I hope this year will be no exception!

"Church was long and I'm tired" (direct quote from Kaleb)

This is one of my favorite "Kaleb" poses! This is what happens almost every Sunday since we don't get out of church until 4:00 and he is used to a very long afternoon nap from 1-4 most days! One Sunday about a month ago, on the way home he said, "church was long and I'm tired!" This past Sunday was no exception and he was asleep within 2 minutes of sitting down in his high chair.

Sunday morning before church Regan and Jordyn were acting out several scripture stories, costume and all and Kaleb came up the stairs with this on his head chanting, "I'm Nephi" He loves to get in on anything the girls are doing.

I couldn't resist taking these pictures of Kaleb and Porter in their ball caps! Kaleb loves to wear ball caps and was excited to find one of his old ones that fit Porter. He was giggling so hard and having the best time with Porter, it just made me so excited for all the fun times these two little guys will have in the future. I get the biggest kick out of him because if ever I put on a new outfit on the babies that he hasn't seen before, he'll say, "oh, mom, that is so toot (cute)." He is such a sweet little guy and really gentle with Porter and Kamryn and pretty patient with the lack of attention he gets from me. The other day I was standing in the kitchen and at the moment didn't have a baby in my arms so he reached up for me to hold him and said, "mom, the babies aren't crying." It was a sweet reminder to me of just how patient he has been through all of this. While on the subject of Kaleb I need to list some of his favorite things to do these days:

* loves to ride his bike which he calls his motorcycle

* spends hours trying to tie all of his trucks together with ropes so he can pull them like a train.

* has an obsession with water and often sneaks outside to play with the hose

* loves to dance and sing with the girls

* loves listening to books, particularly, "The Three Billy Goats Gruff" thanks to Lily.

* Loves to fix things with his tools, his favorites are the drill and hammer (of course he'd pick the two noisiest tools)

* loves to pile all of his little farm animals from Grandpa Rose in bed with him for naps and bedtime

* loves to bug hunt with Morgan and isn't afraid to pick up spiders (yikes)

* loves to play house with his sisters and often answers to the name, "Tommy" while playing with them.