Ups and Downs of Babyhood

I'm getting so behind these days with writing. Trying to keep up with 3 kids but I believe mostly due to the lack of sleep.

I love my dear Tate, but the boy has been struggling in the sleep department. Not conisistenly as some nights he goes to sleep and stays asleep fine, others he deosn't want to go to bed (which I think is just over-tired/stimulated), wakes up and just needs a binki. Last night he wanted to play at 3:30 in the morning-and play with someone. He wasn't very fond of jus the hand on the chest which is the only other way he's been calmed to go to sleep without screaming. So after I plalyed that game for 20 min and went back to sleep only to have him wake a few minutes later so John did 10 min.

We've had enough and I'm documenting because I've found I don't remember what we did with Tyler. I'm not a fan of letting him cry it out, which we did with McKenna. Yesterday after he woke up at 6 am and then didn't want to nap at 9 we let him cry...a lot. I calmed him down a few times and thought he was sleeping only to have him start back up a few minutes later. This morning he slept about an hour and a half this morning and that was reasonable. A few hours later he was tired so I laid him in bed and he went right to sleep-only 45 minutes later he woke up screaming. I could tell he was still tired but he just can't seem to put himself back to sleep. So after calming him down a few times-and feeling myself getting frustrated in the process I put him down and walked away-and did a lil reading in my Baby Whisperer Book. It was the safest thing to do. He "mantra" cried, but not a full scale wale so I think I'm ok with it.

On an upbeat-as it's always best to end on-he got his new lil Space Saver chair. It looks and reclines like a high chair, but it straps to a regular chair. I LOVE IT. Now I won't have to hold him in my lap while I feed him anymore.

He's quite the champ in eating, liking most everything. Peaches, Pears, Peas, Beans, Carrots (sometimes he likes and sometimes not so much) sweet potatoes, bananas, and then rice and oatmeal at each meal. I've been trying to make/puree from fresh fruit & Veg and am currently waiting for my own copy of Ruth Yaron's "Super Babyfood" which a friend of ours has highly suggested. Can't wait for more direction-I'm definitely a rule follower.

Fences & Heirloom Chest

He's done it again-We decided with a fancy new playhouse we needed to coral the kids in the backyard so John's built us a beautiful fence. The kids have had a good time with it, they love going in and out of the gate.

We also had some Cherry Wood from my Grandfather's Trees and he came up with the idea of making Amber's wedding gift. I think it turned out beautifully and Amber & Norm's face lit up when they saw it so I think they liked it. :)

Thanks and Good Job John!

Amber's Wedding

Amber's Wedding

My little sister Amber got hitched on June 11th to Norm Wahlstrom. I can honestly say he is one of the few people who I think might be worthy of marrying Amber. He's a great guy and he's quite her equal. This blessed event was the reason for our lil roadtrip to Utah and we're so thankful we were able to make it.

I was thrilled to also spend some extra quality/girl time with Amber as she worked on her cake one night and also by crashing her pedi/mani party with her future in-laws (Who were all very cute and sweet!) The night before she got married we had a "Sister" Send off party. We were sad Laura and our Mom couldn't make it but it was fun times with Shelly, Amber & Brooke. Don't know the last time we all got together. It was pretty funny, learned alot about Mafia on Facebook and we just chatted about this and that.

The next morning things were crazy-there were baths to take, hair appointments not too mention we had to get down to the temple and meet Ashley & Jordan (Who looked blissfully happy as a newly wed couple should) who were nice enough to watch the kids for us. I love weddings as you are able to see family you don't otherwise get much of chance to see-lots of Aunts and Uncles I haven't seen in years and a few friends from High School. It rained off and on through the day but I hear the overcast is always best for pictures, and there were LOTS and LOTS of pictures taken. Amber and Norm were ever so picture perfect with a dip and a kiss when bidded. (With 3 kids and a lot of family around I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I usually do, I was lucky to have John there taking pictures otherwise I'd have nothing!)

Amber did an amazing job with the wedding. She seriously took everything upon herself-although it was good that she hired the photography, the flowers and the catering out. She made the jewelry, the place cards, picked out and bought all the clothing so we all matched. She even made her own cake which tied everything from the kids dresses to the flowers in. All the decorations were amazing-I'm starting to wish I'd hired her to do my wedding.

She had a dinner instead of a reception at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building-which included a chocolate fountain (Sadly we never let the girls see it or they may never have left). My Dad MC'd the even and each of the parents spoke and thenAmber and then...Norm sang. It was awesome! He can't sing, but he can perform and it was fabulous! I still smile just thinking about it. The evening ended with Dancing, cake cutting and the tradition throwing of the bouquet and garter. Then we all lined the hall It really was a Picture Perfect Wedding! Thanks Amber for letting us be apart of it!

PS-While taking pictures in the JSM Building I looked over and saw none other than this intimidatingly beautiful girl I knew from Utah State. Her name then was Julianne Ball, and we took Business Law together where we learned about a girl who wasn't hired because she was Intimidatingly Beautiful and so she sewed the company I think it was. We thought that was pretty funny and realized that was pry why we didn't get a lot of dates or hired at the big companies. :) Julianne was there with her husband Dan to see an old roommate of hers from BYU who was getting married. Sometimes the world doesn't seem so big afterall.

Happy Father's Day Big John

The night before Father's Day I asked John which Father's Day he wanted-a day of pampering from his children or the "boy do I feel Like a Dad" kind of day. I was planning on pampering him, but it turned out to be more of a "Feel like a Dad" day. We did make him pancakes with homemade strawberry Jam and cream and the girls gave him a big bag of S&P pistachio's. We tried to make him homemade strawberry ice cream which was was creamy, soupy and delicious. :) The girls sang him our Official Happy Father's Day song to the tune of Happy Birthday. He bought himself a wheelbarrow that we're claiming as his great gift, although he did get a 2 hr Sunday afternoon nap, don't know if there's a better gift than that when you have young kids.

We sure do love our Daddy and our Grandpa's, whom we can't be forgetting as none of us would be here w/out you and our Dad wouldn't be the great man that he is. Thank for all you do for us!

Grandpa Payne

"Papa" Harris

Great Grandpa & Harris-Still kids at heart!

On the Road...

The Last couple of weeks were a little crazy and kind of a blur in my mind as we got ready for and went on our family's first road trip since adding Tate to the family and then have been recoverin since returning.. I had a lot of anxiety thinking of 3 young kids in a car for 13+ hrs. I have to admit things went rather well. Here is our report:

After McKenna got home from school on Friday, the 5th, we climbed in the van and got on the road. It was a pretty uneventful drive, with the exception of the deer who was lounging on the dotted line in the middle of the freeway, I think we might have brushed it's fur we were so close. I just remember John slowing down and asking or rather telling the deer not to move. It was a pretty close call. Tate was a dream-hanging out, then drinking his bottle then smiling, turning his head, closing his eyes and then falling asleep for the night, all around 8 pm. We pulled into Missoula around 12:30 pm got our hotel room and then we all pretty much crashed until 8 am.

Yellowstone
Saturday morning after breakfast we all piled back in the van and headed to Yellowstone. John has decided that Montana is just a bunch of Mountain passes, but we both agree it is a beautiful place. As we entered the Park we were greeted by a lone elk eating grass in front of the Yellowstone Post Office.

Our first stop was at Mammoth Springs, which judging by its name was thought to be a huge Hot Pots location. We got out, put our jackets on and started our “hike”. (McKenna is great at locating the mountains and as we drive through she asks frequently if we are going to hiking.) We spent most of our hike looking for some sign of life, apparently most of the pots weren’t running. It was still pretty amazing and beautiful.

Naps-a rare moment with all 3 asleep

We then made our way through a couple of herds of buffalo, sited more elk, passed some active hot pots, saw a few fishermen and finally made our way down to Old Faithful, which is erupting every 90 minutes +/- 10 min. As we waited we explored the Lodge and the visitor’s center. As we look for a seat to watch OF blow, McKenna realized she was afraid and refused to sit on the front row, but once the eruption started both McKenna and Tyler were hootin’ & hollerin in excitement. I hadn’t seen it in years but the water shooting is still amazing.

I spy...You!

Old Faith getting ready to GO

As we were leaving Yellowstone we had our first glinch in the peace-Tate started screaming inconsolably for about 20 minutes might have been shorter, might have been longer, it sure seemed like a long time…and then after we’d done everything we could, change the pants, offer food, binki, toys, cool air, he just stopped.

Lander-Johnson & Johnstone's

Our next stop was Lander, WY 3 hrs from Yellowstone where our dear friends Mitch & Jillyn Johnson and Jillyn's parents George and Linda Johnstone (aka Grandma & Grandpa J) live. The drive is another beautiful stretch in which we experienced Rain, Sleet and snow, passed a few deer who were nice enough not to jump in front of us. We pulled in to the Jillyn paren’ts home, the Johnstone Ranch around 10 pm.

The girls were thrilled to not only be out of the car but to find themselves staying in a very girly room with flowers on the wall, a fully furnished doll house, bunkbeds and their own lil tv. We found Tate sleeps very well in a pitch black room, might have to start dimming the nightlight at home. Our Dear friends Mitch & Jillyn and their daughter Josie came over for a very yummy breakfast of hot cakes, fruit and bacon. George and Linda live on the Wind River Reservation and so we went to the Wind River Branch for Church-where I think we left an impression.

I should’ve known trouble was brewing when Tyler was walking around with her “binki-blanket” and laying on the floor all morning, but I ignored the signs and my premonition to bring the binki-blanket to church. We sat down for sacrament meeting and I looked around and found only about 20 people in the room, a very intimate setting which turned into a nightmare for me as they began the opening prayer. Tyler decided she didn’t want to pray and began screaming very LOUDLY, so I quickly scooped her up and out to the lobby to wait for the end. Well the prayer ended up the screaming and crying did not. Since the building was pretty empty it seemed like the screaming only echoed through the halls, lobby, no matter where we went I was sure everyone could hear so we spent a lot of time in the bathroom. Figured it was pry the closest thing to a sound proof room, since I didn’t have the keys to the car. I kept up my mantra, “I’m older, more mature and I’m not going to scream at you”, hoping to keep my cool. Although it didn’t seem to be working on calming Tyler down as she continued to cry/scream, throwing her shoes and even telling me to leave the bathroom. She did finally find her "happy", which was on the bathroom wall, go figure so we found our way back to the chapel and sat down in time for the Sacrament. We lasted long enough to get the sacrament and before the deacons had even sat down Tyler started crying again. Can’t even remember the reason, but we pretty much went through the same routine in the bathroom, when we came back we found John, Tate and McKenna in the lobby as well. McKenna and Tyler then proceeded to dance around the lobby ignoring my plees to sit down. Finally John stood up to lay down the law and well then there were 2 lil girls screaming, the lobby doors open and everyone turned to see what had happened. I’m pretty sure the Wind River Branch won't forget us as quickly as I'd like them too.

Monday morning the girls were thrilled when John asked them if they wanted to go ride the horses. Last summer when we were in Lander McKenna had her first experience on a horse and never stopped talking about it.

What's a cowboy without a hat?

George (aka Grandpa J) was nice enough to let all of us take a ride or two or three times on Pretty Boy. I was surprised how eager Tyler was, not a moment of hesitation, she even asked to ride all the other horses. I had a lil trouble myself actually getting on Pretty Boy without stirrups and a sadle, nothing a lil push from George couldn't fix. Not embarrassing at all. Luckily we didn't document that part of the ride.

Even Tate got on the horse

We had a Wonderful time spending time and reconnecting with everyone. The girls had a blast with lil Josie and Grandma and Grandpa J. We were sad to be leaving but very excited to meet up with our family in Utah.

Jillyn was due and did have her baby on Thursday, June 11th (Ruby Victoria Johnson-7 lbs 9 oz, 20 inches long). She'll hate that I posted this picture, but she looked fantastic! ALL baby that girl was, at a price though-she's sick the whole pregnancy.

UTAH

It was only a 4 hour drive to Kaysville, but the weather was funky-the only time I drove the entire trip and I ended up having to pull over in Weber canyon due to such heavy rain. Crazy!

We arrived that evening to a wonderful homecoming! Grandma & Grandpa Harris, Aunt Amber & Brooke all came out to welcome us back! So much to write about I'll hit a few high points and then put Amber's wedding on it's own separate post. The girls were thrilled to see Mitzi and Pyper (the Harris Dogs), there were multiple visits out to see them and to feed them their snacks. Grandma had a whole new array of toys in the playroom-a HUGE Cinderella castle Tent to house the changing station and baby room was a big hit.

The girls shared a room and a bed (for the first time) while staying at Grandma & Grandpa's house. One night after John had put them in bed I went to do my nightly check and almost started laughing-It looked like they fell asleep with Lady and the Tramp in one of Tyler's hand and her other arm around McKenna. They're pretty hard sleepers once their out, John even used a flash getting the picture.

While doing a little tummy time Tate became "mobile" for the first time. He saw a plastic neon green golf club and just had to have it. He didn't go to far, only a couple inches but that's the most he's ever moved on his belly, usually he's just rolling or inch-worming on his back.

This was Tate's 2nd fav toy, something about that color.

Maddie had her 3rd birthday party-I still can't believe I forgot to get the camera out, but it was fabulous. Tinkerbell balloons, jewelry, makeup, papers and a beautiful Tinkerbell cake. The girls couldn't be happier to be having a party, but even more to be playing with their cousins. They've pretty much claimed them for their own as Tyler call her "My Keira" quite frequently. In the midst of the party there was a raging thunder storm which dumped Hail leaving random piles in the yards. No exaggeration, it was the weirdest weather-to which we were all to blame being from Seattle and all. If I had a dollar for everytime we were asked if we brought the rain I'd be rich.

Friday, the day after the wedding we visited Hogle Zoo. It was warm and sunny (shocking) and crazy busy. It was a lil crazy finding one another but once we did we had a great time!

Cute Kaitlyn Jane

Our Own Lil Monkeys

The Scariest Lion in the Park

Afterwards we stopped by Training Table for some cheese-fries and their special sauce-YUMMY!

Boise

Saturday we headed up to Boise to spend time with the John's sister's family the Chapman's. We don't seem them nearly enough and it was fun to see and play with them. The girls were in heaven playing with their cousins, and it was cute to hear them frequently calling after Alexia and Trevor.

Taco Night

Pre-School Graduation

McKenna graduated from Preschool on June 4th. Her teachers had it early since we were going on vacation and she'd be missing the last week of school. Even better they had it on a Thursday so John could go.

You know the movie The Incredibles and the Mom and Dad have a fight over Kindergarten graduation-yeah John and I had the same conversation. :) In the end he was thrilled to go for the 20 minute ceremony. It wasn't very fancy, no cap and gown, but the kids were so excited. McKenna was last to be called in and she came in running with her hands in the air. It was fantastic and very fun!

Congratulations McKenna and Thanks to such a wonderful teacher "Robison" and paras, Mrs Tudie, Mrs Cortnie, and Mrs Sandy.

Wednesday I did have an IEP meeting with her teacher, her current and future speech therapist, her PT and her learning specialist to go over how she has done on her goals over the last 2 years and to set new goals for next year. We all agreed McKenna has come a very long way both socially and academically. Her teachers say she is hilarious-and so good at including all the kids. It was noted she has learned the art of manipulation (my wording not theirs) using tactics of "I'm scared" or "I can't" going through all her teachers trying to find someone to do her work, or to put her shoes or jacket on for her. Man has that girl got my number, I fall for it all too often.

Memorial Day 2009

Our Memorial Day was much like the ones I spent growing up, with the exception that we didn't go visit the cemetery, or make it to my Grandma Harris' party. We did however spend the morning doing yard work & working on the playhouse. Our friends came and visited us, and then we started or maybe continued our own family tradition of going on a picnic together.

McKenna has been begging us for weeks to go visit the beach. I'm not sure what she had in mind but I thought it was a great suggestion and since there are beaches here why not take advantage? I quickly packed up a lunch threw it and the kids in the van, along with a couple of buckets, a blanket and some sun screen (so happy there is sun to be protected from) and called John from off the playhouse roof (where he is shingling today) and off we went. Our original destination was Pt Defiance, we were mentally trying to prepare ourselves for the crowds and as we started down Ruston Way on the way there we decided to just stop there. We overheard someone talking about the mile long lines of cars trying to get into Pt Defiance and were very thankful we stopped when we did. McKenna was in heaven. As soon as lunch was over she was off to build sand castles and to run in the sand and the water. We all had a lot of fun, I think even Tate who had never been and who won't remember but he was quite mesmerized by it all.

On a side note, Poor Tyler insists on wearing McKenna's shoes, takes a spill at least once a day. Today we were almost off the sidewalk and she was trying to catch up running as fast as her lil legs would carry her when down she went. She skinned her knees pretty good, and still refused a band-aid. Apparently they are really only decorations for her fingers, which are not hurt at all. Unfortunately that was not her only spill. right before we were leaving I looked up from trying to wash McKenna's feet of and as she was approaching only a few feet away, again down she went on the rocks. What can I say, she has my grace poor girl.