Surgery

Brynn goes in to get her tubes tomorrow morning. Part of me is really excited to get her taken care of and hopefully better and more comfy. But the other part of me is a little scared. Anesthesia for a 3 month old? Surgery for a 3 month old? I know it is all going to be ok, but I can tell I am in for a sleepless night! I'll let you know how it goes!

A Tribute to my Little Boy

I was such a slacker about posting for Morgan's birthday, so here is my tribute to him for his birthday...better late than never! Every day, I am more and more amazed by this little boy! He is hilariously funny, caring, sweet, conscientious and so so smart! He asks hard questions, has the sweetest faith, and loves everyone!

Here is a snippet of Morgan right now...

He gets up around 7:00 am - every morning - bubbly, happy and filled with energy (which is more than I can say for myself)
He is so good at entertaining himself - and Chloe - while I am busy with other things (showering, cleaning, cooking, blogging...)
He knows everyone by name...still...and never forgets about them!
He loves to sing. We sing disney songs, primary songs, random silly songs, made up songs, the name game, Jack Johnson and more all day long. We gave him an MP3 player for his birthday filled with all his favorite songs and pictures of him with his sisters. So cute!
He is such a boy and loves to play in the dirt, with cars and trains, with action figures, with bugs, with balls, with tools, etc.
He loves playing with Chloe, and is such a good sport about playing girly stuff...dolls, ponies, tutu dances, pretend play with the kitchen, tea parties, etc.
He knows and can recognize all of his letters and numbers up to 9 by sight and sound. He can count to 20 and is starting to sound out words. This has absolutely nothing to do with me...we do not work on any of this at home, other than me answering questions he has. I am a little worried that he is going to pass me up intellectually by the time he is in 1st grade! :)
The kid has an amazing memory!

He is still an amazing eater...he will eat just about anything (with the exception of cookie dough-odd, I know) and LOVES his veggies. A typical snack around here is yogurt, carrots, string cheese or fruit.
He giggles about everything and has the cutest little laugh! He is always saying, "You silly goofy!" to me and Seth.
He has a sweatshirt fetish! He is always wearing a sweatshirt...even when it is really hot. He especially likes the ones with pockets, zippers and hoods. I am sure his preschool teachers think he doesn't have any cute clothes because they are always covered by a sweatshirt! Hopefully summer will cure him of this!
He is very independent...he gets in the car by himself, buckles himself, pours his own drinks (usually without spilling), salts and wraps baked potatoes, loves to help in the kitchen, makes his own toast with butter, gets dressed by himself - shoes, socks and everything, does his own hair, sorts the laundry, cleans his room, starts movies all by himself, and the list could go on and on!
He loves to color, draw and write!
He has a watch fetish! He got a couple of Hello Kitty watches from McDonalds and he rotates wearing them - all the time! Grandma Colleen gave him a very grown up watch for his birthday and now he wears it all the time!
He never lets us skip scriptures or prayers...even when it is way past bedtime!
He is very conscientious of matching - he always picks shoes that match his clothes and tells Seth "That doesn't match" when he picks out the wrong outfits! :)
He still loves puzzles and is really really good at them!
He loves books. He "reads" to his sisters and tells the stories almost verbatim. He could sit through 20 books in a row and still want more!
He is so sweet and caring...he wants to include everyone and makes people feel special and loved. It used to be that if someone was crying it was probably Morgan's fault because he was definitely a hitter/pusher, but now, it is almost never him and usually he is the one consoling the crying kid! What a relief as a mother!
He LOVES his family! If Chloe sleeps upstairs, he wants to wake her up first thing in the morning, he always wants to cuddle and hold Brynnie, he gives the best hugs and kisses, he adores all of his grandparents, he adores all of his aunts and uncles and even their significant others!
He says the sweetest prayers and always wants it to be his turn. In fact, when it isn't his turn, we say 2 prayers so he can have a turn!

A couple of random stories about Morgan...

The other day, Morgan said, "Mom, I want to have 5 sisters!" I know your a great big brother, but keep dreaming buddy!

When I asked him what kind of birthday party he wanted to have he said a princess party...eventually I talked him into Dr. Seuss instead!

Any time we start going faster in the car, he asks, "Are we on the freeway mom?"

We were driving down the street the other day and "Gives you Hell" by the All American Rejects came on the radio. Morgan piped in from the backseat and knew every word of the chorus...Seth and I laughed pretty hard as we changed the station and he kept singing. He said, "Mom change it back to the "gives you L" song. I know it...but I didn't learn it in Preschool." I sure hope not! Turns out he thinks the song is about the letter L! Note to self: it is probably time to modify my radio listening!

I could go on forever about the wonderful things about Morgan, but I will stop there. I am so glad that I get to be his Mommy and watch him as he grows up! I look forward to the years ahead and am enjoying him so much right now!

Thanks for being my little buddy Morgan - I love you!

Games and Fun

We have been playing a lot of games around here lately. Morgan got a couple for his birthday and so every day we play at least 2 or 3 different games.

His top favorites are...Hungry Hungry Hippos (a classic - and after more than a week, we still have all of the marbles!), Cat in the Hat I Can Do That (Chloe loves this one too and it was a big hit at Morgan's birthday party), Cranium Hullabaloo (if you have a preschool-age kid you NEED to check this one out), Cranium Cariboo (treasure hunt and ABC/123 practice all in one), and Green Eggs and Ham Speedy Diner (We played it once for Family Home Evening and Morgan thinks that we should play it for FHE every week).

What are your kids' favorite games? If you want to test-drive any of our favorites, we'd love to have you over for a game playing playdate! ;)

Well, I had been meaning to take some pictures of the kids playing these games and blog about it since it is the latest craze at our house, but then I saw this post over at Supermom Central and decided I would post without pictures for the chance to win another fun game from the I Can Do That series. We have loved the 2 I Can Do That games we have and I am sure the others would be a big hit too. Go on over and enter for your chance to win one too (or don't - that just makes my chances better right?).

Story Time for Brynn

The other day, Morgan brought a book into my room and wanted to read it to Brynn. It was so cute to hear him tell the story verbatim to her with inflection and everything. He even pointed to the pictures and explained more, just like I do when I read to him.

She was happy, he was happy and I needed to make dinner, so I left them like this and went in the kitchen.

I heard Brynn crying a couple of minutes later and I came back in the room to find this...She had started crying because she needed to spit up (like she does every time she eats) and he picked her up and draped her across his lap to pat her back...just like I do (this is her "magic position" to help her calm down because she can breathe better and it makes her tummy feel better). By the time I got back in the room, she was calming down and he was pretty pleased with himself for taking good care of her. In all honesty, I was pretty pleased with him myself!

A Very Sad Day - Part Deux

I have been meaning to blog this and keep forgetting, but on Easter afternoon, the kids snuck down and got out the scissors before we headed off to Grandma's. I cleaned up the giant mess, grumbling all the way - purse handles had been cut off of Chloe's princess purse, Morgan's belt had a big cut in it, and little pieces of paper were all over.

The next day, Chloe was sitting on my lap and I kissed her on the top of her head. Hmmm, I thought, her hair is kind of pokey. So I investigated, only to find that there was a distinctly shorter section right in the back of her head. Her hair is so short and choppy that it took me a whole day to realize, but I asked her to confirm..."Did Morgan cut your hair?" "Yep" And later I asked Morgan, "Did you cut Chloe's hair?" "Yeah."

I took all of the scissors away. The kids don't know where they are...yet...and I am hoping it is going to stay that way!

Rolling Over

Monday and Tuesday, I found Brynn on her back when I went in to get her. She sleeps on her tummy, so that means...she can roll!

WooHoo for Brynn!

This Outfit...

...caused an awful lot of drama at our house yesterday. Chloe saw it in her drawer when we were getting out clothes for the day, and said, "I want to wear my pretty outfit from Grandma Colleen". (sidenote: her birthday was in late March and we haven't talked about the outfit since, since it has been too cold. Apparently, there is nothing wrong with her memory!) Since it was finally warm...I dressed her in it, but it was a bit on the small side even though it was the size she normally wears. I told her it was too small and we would go get the right size at Costco, as I took it off of her.

Then it started: kicking, screaming, crying, "I want to wear my pretty outfit from Grandma Colleen," in between sobs, arched back, and the whole bit...for more than 30 minutes! I tried distraction, I tried bribery, I tried reasoning (all things that normally work) but she would have none of it! So, I managed to pry a dress onto her body and load her in the car so we could go exchange the outfit for the right size...praying all the way that they would have it! We had to make a couple of other stops along the way since it wasn't even 10:00 yet, and at every one, she said. "No! Costco!" Luckily, Costco had the same outfit in her size, whew! When we got home we changed her into her pretty outfit from Grandma Colleen and she wore it the rest of the day and to bed. She looked super cute in it and she definitely liked her present from Grandma...maybe a little more than I would have liked! Oh little attitude...I don't know if I will survive you through Chloe's teenage years...in fact, I don't know if I will survive you during her toddler years!

A Very Unusual Really Normal Morning

This morning at 6:38, two young kids came bounding into my bedroom and onto my bed. After wondering why in the flip they were up so dang early (and yes those were the exact words of my thoughts) I turned on the rest of Peter Pan so I didn't have to be coherent quite yet. We said family prayer and Seth was off to work. Both kids asked if I would go get Brynnie so they could see her and I told both of them they would have to wait until she woke up on her own - which was closer to 8:00.

By 8:15 I had all of the kids fed, bathed, dressed, and ready to get out the door to the gym by 8:45 - and nobody had dumped - I mean spilled - their cereal bowl all over the table and floor. Yep, it was pretty much a miracle!

When we got home from the gym, the kids played nicely together while I took a shower, got ready for the day, and fed Brynn again and then we were off to the backyard to enjoy the beautiful weather. I added a few coats of paint to a few of my refinishing projects while the kids rode around in their cozy coupes - filling up with gas and delivering mail - and despite a few way too close calls, nobody ended up covered in paint!

It got less unusual and more chaotic from there when I couldn't find my keys or phone, Brynn spit up all over her car seat, and Chloe went downstairs - all right as we were heading out the door to meet my mom for lunch, but all in all it has been a very unusual really normal morning around here!