Bea's friend Lily from out east came out for a visit to Utah this last weekend. Lily, Ella and Bea are all just a few weeks apart in age but we have never been able to get them all together at the same time so here they finally are in their pajamas right before bedtime. We wish Lily lived closer to us so we could watch her grow up. She's so much bigger than I remember her! She came to our house in pigtail braids, which was my favorite hair style in college, so I was an instant fan. She readily gave us hugs and was so sweet to Bea. We love you Lily. Thanks for coming to visit!
Bea is in heaven with her new baby sister. She just loves feeding her and holding her. Much more fun than a doll. Check out her new blog violettelucienne@blogspot.com
Bea has gotten in trouble lately because she has been wasting things, mostly toothpaste. She put water in her pink toothpaste tube which made it super runny and then squeezed it out the other day as she waved her arm in the bathroom, splattering it across the mirror, wall floor and carpet. Then today I noticed she was gone for a few minutes and found her with an almost empty tube of Clementine's baby toothpaste and I asked her what she had done with it and at first she denied any wrongdoing, but eventually admitted to me that she wasted it....in the toilet because she"wanted to clean it" which didn't make any sense to me until I used the toilet and realized that my rear end was covered in sticky toothpaste goo that was all over the seat. It doesn't help that there is no door on my blasted bathroom so she can get in there whenever she wants. I feel like I have to put a baby knob cover on every door in this house! I transferred a couple of the ones I had previously used for the bathroom doors to the doors that go outside since Bea ventured down the street to visit friend Ella without telling me twice and keeps leaving the fridge and freezer doors open in the garage and who knows how long it takes me to see that. Hours probably. She is just trouble right now.
I'm a day late, but I haven't forgotten to write about you on your Birthday! Bea, you are one of a kind. When I think about you I can't even express how much joy I get from being around you every day. You have a huge personality and you constantly make me and your other family members laugh. People always tell me I should get you into acting because you are so animated and friendly. You hardly have a shy bone in your body and have an innate sense of confidence. To accurately describe your voice I would compare it to the Munchkins on The Wizard of Oz. You love to talk and play with your friend Ella and your brother, Henry and sister Clementine. You also love taking care of your baby dolls and you spend a lot of time wrapping them up, shushing them and pushing them around in strollers. Your love for babies hasn't changed, but you now understand that you need to be gentle. Yay! Goodbye BK!
You love taking care of your little sister and you two are slowly becoming better friends. Instead of running away from you with a look of horror on her face, Clementine enjoys your presence and you two have shared some tender moments and laughed together recently. You play at the pool together and you push your strollers around together. Whenever Clementine cries, you are quick to find her purple blanket or her bottle and then give it to her, talking like I do in a baby style voice, to calm her down. You are really excited about your new baby sister that's coming in October. You frequently talk to my stomach and tell her to come out. You also don't like to be carried for fear you will squish the baby. When we lay down at night together to read books, you rub my belly and say, "I'm not going to hurt my new baby sister". What a relief! I have been singing to you the song, "I'm trying to be like Jesus" and in the chorus it says, "be gentle and loving in deed and in thought," and every time you ask me, "mommy, be gentle? Be gentle to the babies?" I tell you yes and you gets a pensive look on your face and say, "oh, ok mommy". I think it's finally sunk in. It only took a year and 3 months to learn!
Just a funny photo of the girls and Daddy
Bea, you are still very average/small for your age and easily fit into size two clothing still. Some size three outfits still look just a little too big for you. It's kind of nice that you're so small because I feel like you'll be a dancer and I'm guessing smaller than me(I'm a very big girl) is probably better for dancing. Somehow you just have a dancer's body, flexibility and movements and so for your Birthday I have signed you up for dance classes and you went to the first one today! Your favorite book is Angelina Ballerina and have been talking about being in ballet for a long time. You have a darling black leotard and a stacked, fluffy tutu. At first you refused to put on your tap shoes(which is first) but when I threatened to take you home, you put them on and went into the room with a group of darling little girls you didn't know and had the time of your life. You did very well following the teacher and participating in your lesson, which makes me so happy to see because Henry at that age was impossible to put in any sort of class and expect him to follow any instruction. I almost cried when I saw you being so grown up.When you were told to go put on your ballet shoes, you have never beamed so bright! You love those ballet shoes!
Pointing your toes
You love to be clean, which I don't know where you picked up, and frequently change your outfits(sometimes up to 7 times per day). When I don't know where you are, you are either changing your clothes or wetting down your hair. You don't like your hair to stick out and even when it looks just fine you say, "mommy, my hair looks crazy!" and you flatten it to your head. You love headbands and bows but won't let me do anything but a side clip in your hair. Sometimes you have two or three hair accessories in at once. You brush your hair all by yourself even when Henry whines and says he can't even comb his. You brush your teeth a couple times per day and I have to say you do a very good job on your own.
Darling little ballerinas
One of my favorite things about you is that you are just about as capable as Henry in so many ways. You make your bed and clean your room on a regular basis. Every morning you get ready for your swimming lessons all by yourself and get dressed without me having to ask. You are 98% potty trained and don't even wear a pull-up at night. You can swim across the pool and don't love any activity more than being under water. You love riding your pink bike and can already speed down the street riding it. As you try to follow Henry everywhere, you get a lot of scrapes and bruises, but you recover quickly and love to put on band-aids. Your Blankie is still preferred over anything I can offer for consolation and you don't throw as big of a tantrum for anything else as when we can't find your blankie.
Personality coming through
You often ask to go camping and you love hiking and playing outside in the dirt and in the water. You don't mind getting dirty, but sometimes I think it's because you just want to take a bath or shower! One thing I do if I'm busy upstairs and you don't have anything to do is throw you in the shower. In our shower we have a squeegie that might be your favorite cleaning tool ever. You spend up to an hour washing and squeegie-ing the shower door with a very serious look on your face. I usually have to pull you out of the shower because you are never satisfied with how it looks since after 5 seconds it gets misty again and you have to wipe off the water. I can only get you out of the shower if I wake Clementine up and put her in the bath, in which case you usually want to join her.
Bea, you really love to sing and your cute little voice is always heard all through the house. Your favorite songs to sing are, "I love to see the Temple", "I'm trying to be like Jesus", and "Away in a Manger"(you know all three verses by heart). You are also learning the 13 Articles of Faith songs with your brother, Henry, and do a very good job at pronouncing the difficult words. Your favorite books are "Angelina Ballerina" and "Everyone Poops". You love reading books and I can tell you will take after your Aunt Stefanie someday, reading entire Harry Potter books in one day. Your teeth are still offset and you still sport a wicked underbite which I think inhibits some of your speech. You have quite a few letter combinations you can't say, but you don't mind being corrected and are always willing to try to say things correctly, which usually ends up in a family giggle. I have not been very diligent at teaching you to recognize your letters or numbers even though you know how to count and say the alphabet. You do understand the concept of numbers though and you know your colors and shapes very well.
Bea and Ella on Ella's first hike to Cecret Lake
Playing butterflies with Ella
Buddies
Sweet girls
I am greeted every morning by your smile waking me up(usually a little too early) and you crawl in bed with me to snuggle a little bit. I look into your eyes with our foreheads pressed together and we smile and giggle and hug as you stroke my hair and belly. You have always been my little snuggler and I will never tire of holding your little body close to mine for a nice long snuggle. You are such a wonderful, happy, fun, capable, lovely girl and I enjoy every year of your life more and more. I will never forget last week when you said, "you're a really good mommy", just out of the blue. I'm so glad you think so. I am so blessed to be your mother and being around your amazing little spirit makes me continually be a better mother for you so you can reach your full potential and be nurtured like you deserve. I love you to the moon and back little one. Have a wonderful Birthday.
Today Bea was playing mommy with her baby doll and she told her, "if you don't clean up all your blueberries, you will go to jail". I always scare my kids into keeping their arms in their car seats with the police taking them to jail if they get caught, but spilled blueberries? That's taking it a little too far. Food is a big deal at out house though, so I can't blame her for taking it seriously.
These were some highlights from our super long road trip through Utah, Nevada and California....
Bea and Henry hiking in Bryce Canyon
At lake Powell, our friends brought their younger brother, Dave, who's 18 and going to BYU on a swimming scholarship and Bea fell in love with him. I want him to marry Lucy:) One day while were were sitting on the boat Bea looked at me with a silly smile and pointed to Dave and said, "He's my friend" with a shrug. He totally helped me with the kids, especially Bea, when we went out climbing up on the rocks and out for swims. Then on the way home she asked, "Where's Uncle Dave? I want my Dave!" so there you have it. He's seriously darling.
Bea and Clementine with Nanni and Papi
This is a great shot of the kids cliff jumping. They were so adventurous!
Oh and someone else was in love with Bea. One of the older boys, named Ethan was always helping Bea out, making her mud balls and just playing with her, chasing her, etc. and on the last day as Bea was on the boat she called out to me and I came over to help her and she said, "Mommy, I'm just a yittle girl!?" in kind of a question, trying to get me to validate that fact and I agreed with her and said, "Yes Bea, you are just a little girl" and she responded(stuttering a little as usual) "I'm just a yittle girl, but he's trying to yove me", pointing over to Ethan. Hahaha! At first I was concerned he tried to kiss her or something, but she said he was just playing with her so it was all innocent, but then I got to thinking, how in the world can she know at such a young age what a boy's advances mean, and does she really have the realization that she's too young to be in a relationship? How would she put two and two together at two years old?!!! I'm in serious trouble if 8 year olds are already after Bea. I think I'll definitely not fix her teeth until she's in college. lol!
Dare Devil Bea and Dad
Oh, and on the way in the night before Bea was yelling from the back seat, "Mommy, this place is for you! This is for you guys!!!" with her super happy face expression and nodding her head. She is just hilarious. We swam at the pool which is where Bea learned how to swim completely on her own!!! she was totally swimming and coming up for air and then would swim again. I am so amazed at how much of a fish she is. Then she totally put on a show at the pool by diving and doing belly flops from the side of the pool. The water came up the the deck level, so it wasn't that far down, but she would stand on the side with her huge sideways grin, eyes wide open and belly poking out, arms outstretched, and would just tip over and do a full on belly flop into the water. All the people in the pool were watching and were totally cracking up and everyone was adoring the kids and their love of the water.
Bea is officially potty trained. Woot Woot! We've been singing "No more diapers for me" from Potty Power and she couldn't be more proud of herself. Actually, I should correct myself because she only goes potty on the toilet 80% of the time. At least once per day I find her totally naked and squatting in a neighbor's yard, our back yard, or just today, the tennis court. She takes after her father and takes every opportunity to mark her territory. I really don't care as long as she doesn't pee in her underwear. Thank you Bea for never a dull moment.
Also, we were swimming in Vegas this past weekend and she swam across half of the pool, taking breathing breaks in between short stretches, so Henry and Bea are officially swimming at the same level. Lol. Henry doesn't like that too much so now he's taking swimming a little more seriously.
Here is Bea in her swimming class. She is the littlest one in her class by a couple of years and the teacher even said she could be in the class above her, except that she might drown because she would barely be able to reach the bottom. All she wants to do is swim underwater and look around with her goggles. Hopefully she learns to swim this year and then she and Henry can be in the same class next year!
This is Bea and Ella holding each other's baby sisters, Anna and Clementine. They play, they fight and they love their babies. We're so glad she lives just down the street!
Squinting on her new pink bike. Is this a blurry shot? My photography skill aren't what they used to be since I'm always in a rush:(
After I dropped Justin off at the airport we went on a walk and met some of our many neighbors and we met this nice Indian family who have a little boy and Bea kept monopolizing his bike. Bea just started taking off, pedaling and loving it, then she wouldn't even let him ride it anymore. I decided that it was time to get her a bike so on Monday morning we went to this local bike store and got her the cutest little cruiser bike. It's pink with white wall tires and fenders. I also got her a pink helmet and you can't believe how adorable she is riding it. Henry couldn't even pedal forward at this point in his life so I'm surprised that she can even do it. The funniest part is that every time she sees someone, even at a really far distance away, she yells at the top of her lungs "Look at me guys! I got a new pink bike and a pink helmet and I ride all by myself!!!!". The people either just smile and keep what they're doing, or they look behind them with puzzled looks thinking "wait, is she talking to me?". She also tries to wave at them at which point she almost falls off. She's the most friendly kid I have ever met, even though she almost kills babies.
Bea is growing up so fast. One of the things I notice more about her is that she finally understands why she shouldn't use up all the hand soap to wash her hair for hours in the sink and that she needs to be nice to her brother and sister. She is so capable and follows Henry everywhere she goes. She also has borrowed our neighbor's bike and goes racing back and forth on the sidewalk. I don't think Henry could even pedal forwards at this point. She's just so big now!
Here is Bea during the Piglet Plunge, which is part of the Dirty Dash race that I mentioned in Henry's blog. It's sort of an adventure race with many different heats and categories. Two years old and up do the mile loop. While Henry cried about getting his socks dirty, Bea plodded along and actually laughed and had a great time sliding down the slip n slide. She said she liked it and she let some random strangers help her along the way. I'm glad she's so friendly:)
The only succession of shots where Bea is smiling. This is to prove that she was having fun...
Nice action shot in the mud pit
Nearing the finish line. Almost there! I'm seriously impressed she did this one mile race!
At the end of the race. She kept looking at her hands wondering what to do. If any of you know Bea, you know she washes her hands a million times per day, which she does not learn from me. You should have seen her trying to wipe her hands off on some grass covered in mud. Haha. Poor little piglet.
Bea with her first Italian Easter egg. This is actually a small one. When I was there I got one that fit my whole head inside, but those were about $50 here so we got the $5 one. They have presents inside:)
Two noteworthy things have happened recently. First off, Bea has finally started speaking in full sentences. For example I would tell her to say, "Please may I have a drink of water mommy?" and she would always repeat back, "have a dink pease, mommy" with some difficulty getting the words out and now, after about three weeks of some serious stuttering which I don't know where that came from, she finally will say the entire thing and also comes up with full sentences to say on her own. Her favorite thing to say as of this week is..."Henry Jackson Hohl, please stop that now. 5,4,3,2,1!" Wonder where she got that.
Bad action photo of Bea on the trampoline. She just loves jumping. When I got on, a couple of the rusty springs busted...and so I got off. This trampoline is maybe 40 years old?
The other milestone is that she has officially potty trained herself. It was during our trip to Boston that she just decided to go #2 in the potty every day and only had one accident since then. I think it had a lot to do with the fact we were swimming and I forgot swim diapers so I told her that if she pooped in her swimsuit the pool would close forever. She learned how to hold it in and now has no problems holding it and telling me when she needs to go. She even goes all by herself most of the time without needing any help(except wiping). She also changes her pull ups when they get too full of pee a couple times a day so I don't even need to do that anymore. I do, however, have to pick the used pull-ups off the floor all over the house. I have to work on getting her to throw them away, but I'm hoping she just starts to use the potty for everything very soon. We have definitely come far from my first attempts at potty training. I have to say that just letting your kid do it when they are ready is the way to go(unless you're like my amazing friend Christi who's kids are potty trained at birth). No fight, no messes, nothing. It's brilliant!
Dance moves in her Easter dress. Hopefully this fits again next year!
Bea ate a lot of Easter treats these past few days and I'm already about ready to take them all away! Bea ate a ton of candy this morning before I even woke up to regulate the baskets and then had a sugar crash in nursery and just sat there for a couple of hours doing nothing. She threw a major tantrum at the end of church because she tried to steal Henry's candy and he took it back and that was the end of the world. We hurried out of there and got home in time to take a few photos of the kids in their outfits which went surprisingly well.
Classic Bea smile
It still cracks me up when Bea tries to smile with her underbite and crinkled nose. haha! We're going to have to get that fixed soon and it might include breaking her jaw. I really hope not.
The kids in their rabbit ears getting ready for the hunt. My darling little bunnies!
I am praying that my kids are all better tomorrow because it's going to be a very warm 72 degrees tomorrow even though it was 40 degrees today and will be 50 degrees on Tuesday. I think the second coming is near. This weather is crazy. We were playing outside today for a few minutes and there was lightning and thunder all around us and then started to hail like crazy. We weren't getting wet so I just stayed out there with Bea doing the spider on the swing and as we were getting pelted by tiny hail balls and listening to the cool sound they made as they hit the metal on the roofs, she looked up at me and stuttered, "mmmmmmmmommy, this is so fun." I was so glad that she was having fun after three horrible nightmare days of vomit, poop and tears. We ran around and screamed in the hail and picked some up and ate it before we got too cold and went inside. I just love my kids.
Oh and as we were putting the kids to bed Bea said, "mommy, Yoocy come home. I want Yoocy." It made me all teary eyed. Henry also keeps telling me we need to record stuff for Lucy for the tapes we make her. We really miss Lucy around here but are so proud of her serving her mission. She's finding out where she's going to be sent this week. Hopefully it's actually Japan!
River, Nya, Bea, Clementine and Henry in the tub. So adorable.
Bea and Clemmie are super sick. I don't know when my kids were sick last. We have had such a surprisingly healthy winter with only a few minor colds and even an entire month with no runny noses in February. I kept expecting my kids to come home from church with runny noses, but we were healthy all month!
Nice shot of Bea's serious under bite.
Bea and Clemmie now have a stomach bug and have been throwing up and pooping everywhere for two days straight. I have never done so much laundry in my life. The pile looks like Mt. McKinley in our living room. Clementine is so miserable and it's so hard for me to see her usual permasmile traded for groans, tears and furrowed brows. They both wake up several times per day and night covered in vomit or poop, crying for water and daddy, and it's taking a toll on me. I feel so sick from all the putrid and rancid smells. Of course it's like 30 degrees outside so I can't even crack a window to air the place out. I thought it was supposed to be spring!
My day consists of sitting on the couch cuddling my girls and doing laundry. Good thing I have a ton of already roasted veggies and fruit for the non sicklings to eat and plenty of water and bread for the sick girls. I have to admit though that it's been so nice to actually snuggle with Clementine since she takes after Henry and has never put her head on my shoulder since the day she was born. She and Henry are the least snuggly babies that have ever been born. Also, thank heaven for weekends and for Conference weekend so I get my husband home for two days straight. Unheard of! Please get better babies. I miss my girls.
Bea, what can I say about you at this stage. You keep changing week to week and every time I think you have moved on from your old ways, there they come back again. It does seem, though that it's two steps forward, and one step back with you so we're still headed in the right direction. Some days you are so gentle with Clementine and others you revert back to Baby Killer. Your personality around her is seriously like Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde. I just listen to you in the other room playing with Clemmie and every time you hurt her I immediately hear hushes and "it's ok Kemmie" afterward and you still get so violent when I have to take her away to nap or to eat something and do the brain slap to her head as I'm lifting her up. What's up with that, sista!? You are also super neat and clean and don't like to wear anything that's dirty, but you also make messes on purpose just so you have an excuse to use some water to clean it up. You really get excited when I ask you to clean up your messes and you're definitely better than Henry already at wiping the floor clean. Henry still has no clue how to wipe something up until it's actually clean, but Bea should be hired by Merry Maids for child labor.
One thing I have to mention is that you LOVE Away in a Manger and I have to sing it to you every night. You're favorite verse goes like this...
Me singing: "The cattle are lowing, the poor baby wakes"
Bea: " Poor baby mama? Poor baby wakes?"
Me: "Yes, poor baby" singing: "The little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes"
Bea: "No crying mommy? No crying he makes mommy?"
Me: " yes, no crying Bea"
Bea: " Oh, ok"
Me singing: "we love thee Lord Jesus, look down from the sky and stay by my cradle 'till morning is nigh"
Bea: " till morning is night mommy? Baby Jesus sleeps at morning and night?"
Me: "yes Bea, morning and night"
Bea: "Oh."
It's pretty sweet and you're voice couldn't be more adorable, like a whispery, sweet cartoon character, that is, when you're not screaming.
Today I was wondering if anyone in our ward would fast and pray for fast Sunday for the Steelers to win the Superbowl...and then I wondered if anyone would be wearing Black and Gold and I thought for sure half the ward would do it, even if people just wear black and put on some gold jewelry. I think I'm going to take a count. I have these Christmas dresses that are black and goldish, so I'm dressing my girls up just for fun. This is as far as I will go to putting my children in sports paraphernalia. Go Steelers.
This is a section from Clementine's blog... Recently Bea has poked her with a fork, sat on her, kicked her in the face, steam rolled her, stepped on her foot as she sat on the wood floor in Indian style, crushing her ankle, walked over her, tried to drown her in the tub, poured 10 cups of water over her head in sequence before she could recover and take a breath, pulled her hair, clapped her head in-between her swinging arms many times, pulled her arms back, locked her legs around her body/neck, and every time Bea hugs her, it's pretty much reminiscent of a WWF choke hold.
I just thought I should include this for future reference.
Other than her interactions with Clementine, she's super fun, funny helpful and sweet. I have a walking dichotomy living at my house!
