Oliver's blessing

This post will be mostly pictures, since I currently lack the energy for lots of words, courtesy of a stomach flu bug my son (Andrew) graciously gave to me. On the other hand, Andrew suffered through it on his birthday (Christmas Eve), so I guess we're even!

Last Monday we let the kids do family home evening, so they retold the Christmas story using the strangest assortment of toys: Evelyn's Belle doll was Mary. The wise men included  the king pig (from Angry Birds) and a penguin; the donkey was really a puppy, and the angel was a sea horse. There was also a triceratops, but I don't remember what it's role was. Dan and I couldn't stop giggling.

Andrew celebrated his 7th birthday with friends last week, at the local aquatic center. We decided this was easier for all involved, since trying to do the kind of party I've done in the past was beyond my abilities with a baby. Bubby graciously took Oliver while the rest of us swam, but she may have regretted it since Oliver cried most of the time before finally falling asleep.

Saturday, the kids got dressed up for a lovely tea party at Bubby's house; Dan and I used the time to clean house and get ready for company on Sunday.

On Sunday, we (finally) blessed our sweet baby. Grandma made him a darling blessing outfit out of scraps from a wedding dress she made a few years ago.  We were grateful to have so many family in attendance: my parents, Bubby and Poppy, Sarah and her family. We missed those who weren't there, but we understand about distance, weather, and illness.

We had a lovely Christmas (aside from the illness! luckily, no one was sick on Christmas itself). I took lots of pictures, but none of them turned out well, so you'll have to use your imagination. The kids were thrilled with their gifts and even more thrilled to play with cousins and eat lots of good food. We had the chance to visit Dan's Aunt Karen and Uncle Phil, and they always put on a good spread. Trisha made filet mignon and twice baked potatoes for Christmas night, so we had plenty of good things to eat that day! (And then, of course, I got sick, so I made up for all the calories consumed on Christmas . . . the only good thing about the stomach flu, I think.)

We hope all our readers (you few, you happy few . . .) had a lovely holiday as well. Preferably sans sickness . . .

In the bleak mid-winter

This has been a rough week--I imagine it has been for most people, after the news of the Connecticut shootings. I don't want to say a lot about that (a lot has already been said), but it's been on my mind the last few days, particularly since my Andrew is the same age as all those poor children. It's heartbreaking. It does make me grateful for my little gang, though, even on days like today when Andrew seems determined to make it hard to be grateful for him. (He spanked his sister tonight because she'd taken her underwear off before putting her pjs on).

Dan and I were both sick today, so we kept everyone home. Dan has some kind of sore throat and I've got something that feels flu-like (chills, aches, etc.). Parenting is hard under the best of circumstances, not to mention when both parents are sick! Hopefully we're over the worst of it.

Yesterday we helped clean the church. I think it's good for the kids to help serve, even if they get in the way more than actually help. (There were several families with little kids yesterday, which helped). Andrew announced afterward that he liked cleaning the church more than going to church.

On Friday, we took Oliver to see one of the occupational therapists from the NICU. (They like to track the babies' development). She said some great things about Oliver--she complimented his fat cheeks and his nice round head and said she could tell I was still nursing. Also, Oliver's right on target for his adjusted age--no developmental problems that she can see so far. All of that was good to hear.

However, because we made a family trip out of the visit and took Evelyn out to lunch afterward, we felt like we needed to do something for Andrew (who was in school). So yesterday, he got to pick his lunch spot. He relented at the last minute and offered to let Evelyn share the lunch with him. He can be sweet when he wants to--moments like this give me hope for him!

Today was Oliver's 6 month birthday! Hard to believe it's already been six months.

Oliver at 2 months (about 36 weeks development)

Oliver today.

December

Judging by the state of our camera, this week was all about Oliver.

That wasn't really the case--he's just a captive audience when he's home with me.

Dan and Evelyn finished up classes for the semester (him at college, her at preschool). Andrew still has a couple of weeks to go.

This was a pretty quiet week, but we're gearing up for things to get busy. We had the ward Christmas party this week, which Dan always loves. I enjoy seeing people, but they do have the same food every year (the one time they tried to change it, the older folks in the ward--of whom we have quite a few--apparently protested). I entered a couple of online writing contests (which I did not win, but which were good experiences nontheless).

In other news, Evelyn announced today that her nickname is Avalaunche. Not sure where she got that one! (Most likely, she made it up herself).


Oliver has been discovering his fingers. He puts them in his mouth as frequently as humanly possible (esp. when he's hungry). He's also started talking. His favorite words are "goo" and "glee" (as you can hear from the video). Andrew insists that he's saying "an-goo" (Andrew), but Dan and I are skeptical.

I told you it was a quiet week!

Bring on the Holidays

 Since Dan doesn't like starting the Christmas season too soon, we waited to decorate the tree until it was officially December (i.e., yesterday). The kids spent all week looking forward to it, but in the meantime, we tried to keep them occupied.

Evelyn was supposed to have swim lessons three times this week, for her final week of lessons. However, we kept her home on Wednesday, mostly because she had a cough, but also partly because Andrew had Tae Kwon Do at 7, the same time that my book group was meeting, and we couldn't figure out how to make everything work. (And she was sick).

I enjoyed my book group, although the book we read--Katherine Boo's Behind the Beautiful Forevers--was sobering and wrenching (about life in a Mumbai slum). I came away incredibly grateful that we have so many blessings and aware of our responsibilities to serve. Because I'd been reading the book, for FHE on Monday we talked about different ways that we can serve during the holidays and put some of those into practice during the week.

Wednesday, we took several bags of old coats and some new clothes (as requested) and donated them to a community drive. We also picked up some tags off the angel tree. We're hoping to come up with a few more service options, but we don't have all the details yet. (Ideas, anyone?)

At the Black Friday sale at the Gymboree outlet, I found Evelyn a girlie version of pajamas that the boys already had, so the kids get to sport coordinating Christmas jammies. I love Evelyn and Oliver's expressions here. Andrew, I think, looks like his dad in this picture. It makes me incredibly happy to see him looking more like his dad as he gets older (and not just because everyone always comments on how much the kids look like me. And like each other. I was at Jo-Ann's with Evelyn and Oliver on Friday--one of our first ventures out with O.B.--and a woman looked at Evelyn, looked at Oliver, and said, "Oh my gosh, your kids look a lot alike!")

 We also pulled out the finger paints, which the kids loved, but which also reminded me why we don't do crafts more often (even though I loved them as a kid): it takes almost as long to set up and clean up as the kids spend doing the craft.

 Trisha made this cute little pumpkin hat for Oliver. It's still a little big, but he'll grow into it. I took him out on a couple of walks earlier in the week when the weather was beautiful (in the 50s). And then a cold, bitter wind moved in and I didn't want to subject Oliver to that, so we stayed inside.

 

 I love this sweet little intent face.

Finally, on Saturday, we got the tree up. And the 3 nativities (a little ceramic one, Little People and Playmobil). And 4 advents. (I do like advents). Two are new this year: a second Lego Star Wars (Dan's idea) and a Playmobil princess advent for Evelyn. So far, they've been a big hit.

 

Dan and I have decided that Evelyn is going to be trouble in a few years. Somewhere in the last couple of weeks she's discovered boys. There's a little boy in her preschool class that she wants to marry (barring that, her dad will do). This morning she told her dad "I like boys the most." To which Dan responded, "talk to your aunt Sarah about that."

Thanksgiving--and family pictures reprise

Like the rest of America, we celebrated Thanksgiving this week.

And although the day itself is past, that doesn't change the fact that I am grateful for my husband, my children, my extended family, and my friends. (And also a good job and great community to live in).

Also, like most Americans, we traveled for Thanksgiving, spending the holiday weekend with my parents up north.

On Thanksgiving, we tried something a little new this year. My mom gave Dan carte blanche to plan the menu, which meant that Dan got to do something he loves (really, he gets enjoyment out of planning menus that continues to escape me) and my mom was much less stressed, as she got delegated from meal planner to meal helper.

My brother Jared and my sister, Jeni, and their respective families showed up, which meant that the cousins (8 of them, the oldest one 9 years old) ran rampant in the house and thoroughly enjoyed it. I don't think grandpa enjoyed the resultant noise very much, though.

We had a lovely dinner: Turkey, two kinds of stuffing (traditional and sausage/cornbread), rolls, sweet potato fries, corn on the cob, broccoli, pies (and probably other stuff that I'm forgetting). My mom, Mitcee, and I spent some time before the meal perusing black Friday ads. It was fun--but a little overwhelming.

My favorite moment of the day, though, was when Jeni, Jared and I dragged the kids (all but Oliver) outside and played different kinds of tag with them. We laughed until our sides ached. Jared's a natural ham, especially around kids, and the kids themselves were hilarious, since most of them shriek whenever "it" gets close to them, and some of them have very little sense of direction or self-preservation. (Kind of reminds me of this).

In the evening, after the kids were in bed, my mom and I braved some black Friday shopping. We went to a new outlet mall, scored some great deals, and weren't actually surrounded by crazy shoppers. There were lots of people, but everyone was pretty pleasant. We avoided Walmart like the plague, drove by Target (I went in but came out almost immediately when I saw how crazy long the line was), and when we passed Toys R Us at 11:30 p.m. and saw that there was *still* a line, we avoided that too. My favorite deal was two pair of Clarks shoes for $30.

We went to Kohl's the next morning, but not until around 9:30, and to Gymboree, and that was pretty much the extent of my Black Friday shopping. Pretty wild, huh.


We did go to JC Penney as well, but that was for a good cause: another photo shoot of the kids (this time for Christmas pictures) and succeeded much better than we did last month at Sears.

Here are my favorite shots (they had a Black Friday deal running that gave us an inexpensive CD, so you get to see lots more pictures than you otherwise would).

I think you can see his dad in this one (maybe it's the ears? or the gap between the front teeth?)

 You've got to love new permanent teeth. At least they're straightening out.

 Andrew wanted to do a crazy pose, so we let him. We will not, however, be ordering lots of this.

 This pose is quintessential Evelyn.

 Oliver wasn't super happy by the time we got his pictures, but if we wasn't smiling big, at least we still got some cute pics of his fat cheeks.

 We had a hard time getting the two oldest to both smile at the camera at the same time.

 Evelyn looks like she's trying to bite Oliver here. He doesn't seem to excited either!

Singing with the Birds--by Andrew Eves

This is the story Andrew entered in Reflections. I thought it was pretty good for a six year old. I typed this pretty much verbatim as he told it to me.

The first time I went bird watching, I didn’t know what to expect. I was both excited and nervous. We drove to a place where there was a path with lots of trees. It was called Rock Canyon.

At first there were lots of sparrows, then there was a few Red-tailed Hawks who were looking for a meal.  After a few minutes, there were 20 robins perched on a tree near the rocky path when I walked down the path with my mom. 

I looked up and saw something. I didn’t know what it was. It was colorful and it had a black mask over its eyes.

I asked my mom what it was.

She looked in her bird guide and said, “It’s an American Kestrel.” Then she said, “A kestrel is a type of falcon that is small. It’s a bird of prey. It is a fast diver. It eats insects and small birds.”

The kestrel swooped suddenly. It startled me. And then I saw what it was after, and why it had dived. It was chasing after a wounded Mourning Dove. The dove wasn’t able to fly very well. Then the kestrel swooped down and caught it.

It was so amazing, I could hardly believe my eyes. There were more kestrels swooping around after more small birds. And then I saw that they were all grouping together to eat their catch. Then I realized that that’s what bird watching was about. It was about seeing the beauty of nature, and seeing how other animals keep nature alive. It was so fun.

Me and my mom went bird-watching a lot. I’m going to tell you a little story about one of my favorite bird-watching trips. We drove along the road in Provo and I was looking out the window when I saw this huge group of sparrows near a green pasture eating seeds and insects. There were some grasshoppers and ants that they were eating. There were sunflower seeds, too. 

Later, we stopped by this big post, near a dead-end street. There were lots of rocks and some campers. 

I was looking up at the sky, watching some pigeons do a little dance and then they suddenly got startled. I wondered what startled them. Then they began to dance again and again they got startled. That’s when I saw it. 

A red-tailed hawk.

And then I looked up again and saw another one. Then I realized they were a pair. I thought they were catching food for a baby chick that was covered in fuzz. And then, a few of the pigeons got caught. Then the hawks flew off.

That is the story of how I went bird watching. It was so magical. Maybe you should go out and explore nature too.

The End

Reflections

 They announced the school Reflections winners at the end of a Veteran's Day assembly last Monday. Andrew won in two categories: Photography and 3-D art. (Of course, there were only a few entrants in each category--still, I'm proud of him for coming up with something to enter). He did *not* win in literature, a fact which, it must be admitted, wounds his mother's pride. Oh well.

He was pretty pleased with his medals, in any case. However, there was a little kindergarten girl who must have entered every category she could. After watching he walk away with *four* medals, Andrew turned to me and said, "Mom, next year, I want to enter *all* the categories." Um, yeah. Good luck with that, kid. I congratulated the little girl's parents (I have a pretty good idea how long it took them to help her assemble her entries), and they laughed and said that they knew better now; next year, they're only going to enter 2-3 categories.

 

 Here's the photograph Andrew took (and composed) and his sculpture. The sculpture, in case you can't tell, is Oliver wearing a pumpkin hat and laying on his little gym. The theme for this year was "the magic of a moment" and Andrew, somewhat conflating magic and miracle, decided that Oliver would work for his entries, given that his birth is, for us, a kind of miracle.

Andrew started Tae Kwon Do two weeks ago; this week was his second time attending. Part of the attraction is that his best friend has been attending for some months. Another part of the attraction is that I'm sure Andrew envisions himself as a real life ninja (we have strictly forbidden that he practice his forms on his sister). I think he's starting to realize that it will be harder than he anticipated to get to black belt, though--after his first class, he confidently predicted it would be a matter of weeks. I think he has a slightly more realistic perspective now.

I'm hoping this will be good for him--a way to channel his physical energy that promotes respect (and isn't highly competitive). Also, I'm really impressed with his teacher, who charges a nominal fee ($25 a month) and then donates all of the money to the local women and children's crisis center.

The only tricky thing, so far, is that Tae Kwon Do falls right after Evelyn's swim lessons, so Andrew has to sit through her lesson with me, then Evelyn has to wait for Andrew's class to start before we get her home, which means a late bedtime for everyone.

I had a minor scare this week: Thursday, we had dinner with Bubby and Poppy at the Pizza Factory. The adults ordered the salad bar. I had just started mine when I started choking--on mandarin oranges of all things! Still, it lodged in my throat and I couldn't get it down; for a little while I actually couldn't talk, which is when you know it's serious. Dan did a modified Heimlich on me and enough came up that I could swallow and talk. It left me a little shaky for the rest of the meal, though. All I could think was: what will happen to my children if I can't get this out? Not fun. However, the kids enjoyed their dinner. We don't get out much now, for obvious reasons.

One of the things I enjoy about having another boy is getting to put him in Andrew's old outfits. Here's a picture of Andrew at 3 months, wearing a Beaver sweater that Laurie and Matt gave us while they were living in Oregon.

And here's Oliver in the same sweater. Blue eyes notwithstanding, I don't think anyone will have trouble telling that these boys are related: round head, fat cheeks, button nose . . . check.

Oliver discovered his fingers this week and has since been busy trying to stuff them in his mouth as frequently as possible. I can't wait till he discovers his toes!

Evelyn watched this photo shoot and so insisted on being part of it. She sure loves the camera (it seems to love her too). Dan says we're in for trouble in a few years.

Oliver hit his five month mark on Friday. It's hard for me to believe it's been five months since his tumultuous entrance. When he was in the hospital, some days it felt like we'd never leave. And yet he's been home now for two and a half months. And he gets bigger and stronger every day. We're pushing 14 lbs now.

Since this is the season of Thanksgiving, it seems only right to note how grateful we are to have Oliver in our lives. And Evelyn. And Andrew. For all the trouble they sometimes occasion, we wouldn't trade them for anything.