as time flew by...

It's been a long while. This year has gone by so fast! I don't ever seem to find the time to sit and type out a post. Lots has changed since the last post in February. Gwen is 9 1/2 months, Matt started a new job back in April and loves it, it's been three years since we bought our house, Porter started kindergarten...

I still can't believe I have a 5 year old and he is in kindergarten. The first 3 weeks or so were really rough. Porter doesn't like change and going from 2 days a week for 3 hours a day in preschool, to 5 days a week for over 6 hours a day is quite a change. Also, there are 30 kids in his class so there is a lot of crowd control going on. I got a much better perspective when I was able to go and volunteer in his class for a few hours one day. There was a lot of, "Be quiet... Worry about yourself... No talking... I don't have time to answer questions right now... No whispering or you'll get a check mark by your name... Keep your hands to yourself..." His teacher is great and she does a really good job staying positive and keeping the kids on task. I feel sorry for teachers in California and all that they have to put up with. It was just a really big adjustment for Porter and I'm sure most kindergartners. He was awesome in class, and then when he got home he would explode. It was so hard to stay patient when he was screaming at me, "I hate you!" "I wish you were dead so I never had to go to school again!" "I hate school! I hate my teacher! I'm never going to school again!"

Things are much better now. Porter has lots of friends in his class and he is learning so much. He loves to sit and draw for an hour or so when he gets home from school. He draws the coolest pictures. He is doing great learning all of his letters and the sounds they make and he's starting to read as well.

 

Porter has always been very cautious and sensitive. He is a sweet boy! I love when he smiles a huge smile while scrunching up his little nose. Luckily he loves to take pictures because I love taking them of him. He is really into playing board games and card games. Some of his favorites are candy land, memory, old maid, and crazy 8's. He is into Star Wars, hence the whole Star Wars theme in the Halloween costumes. He had a Star Wars birthday party this year complete with a Darth Vader cake that Grandma Cheryl made.

 

 

Loch is still my little character. He has a deep voice... and its loud too. Even his whisper is loud. He is still very much into accessories: hats, gloves, glasses, mustaches, boots... His favorite boots are a size too small and he used to wear them without socks all the time so they got really stinky even though I washed them frequently. They are now referred to as his "corn chip" boots because even though he wears socks with them now, they are a bit stale smelling. They are navy blue, kind of Napoleon Dynamite style snow boots.

 

He is starting preschool next week and he is so excited about it. He likes to play "hide and sneak" and is excited to go to a carnival tonight so he can "trick or freet." I love to see his imagination at work. An hour ago, the couch was his delivery truck and all of the pillows were his packages. He even used his little push cart as a dolly to wheel the "heavy" packages. Yoda is a fitting costume for him because he says a few phrases a little backwards. For example, "I don't know" is said, "Me not know." His favorite colors are pink, purple and orange. He had a "pink" third birthday party. Well, his cake was pink and we had some other pink here and there, but I kind of threw a robot theme in there.

 

Gwen is the sweetest little baby girl there ever was! I was recently asked if I wish I could go back and stop at 2 and I quickly responded, "No!" I just love her! We mostly call her "Fenny" because that's how Loch pronounces it. She sprouted her first two teeth at about 8 months and started crawling shortly thereafter. She thinks she is so cool now that she can get around. Her brothers crack her up. I think she has a sweet spot for Porter in particular. She has always lit up around him and he is so good to her. She is a great eater- loves her fruits and veggies. Her laughs and giggles melt my heart.

 

Matt has been really busy with his calling as first counselor in the bishopric. It has been just over a year now. We are receiving so many blessing as a result of his service. One in particular is his new job. His schedule is SO much better that even with work full time and his busy calling, he is still home a bit more than with his old job. November is almost here which means Matt will be another year older. I am grateful to have him in my life! He is such an amazing person.

valentines

Happy Valentine's Day! Porter had a party at preschool today and had to take 23 valentines. I debated what we were going to do for a while and then Shelley and Kristen made the decision for me (and along with my mom, helped make all of the valentines!) They turned out so cute! They are crayons melted into hearts. The boys are really into legos so we got them sticker books with over 1000 of the coolest lego stickers inside and a Star Wars set of lego dudes. This pic was from the other day. Porter asked me to take a picture of him and send it to grandma. Here you go grandma: ) I can't believe my tiny baby is a month old already! She is the sweetest little peanut! The last two nights she slept for 6 hours straight. The night before that she went for 7! Woo hoo! I got a special treat today... Gwen smiled at me for the first time and I got pictures of it! It was the sweetest thing ever. She melts my heart. These are some shots from her first bath a few weeks ago. Porter took this picture of me and Gwen. He loves using my camera.We have taken a few trips to the zoo. I took the three kids by myself when Gwen was 2 1/2 weeks old and they were doing a bunch of reconstruction at the zoo. Lots of cages were empty and Porter kept asking why. After several covered cages in a row, Porter said, "This is a boring day." I wanted to turn around and go straight home. There's just no explaining to a four year old about postpartum and being able to get out of the house with a newborn (plus two)! The boys have been great with Gwen. Porter holds her for me every time I need to change Loch. He sings to her a lot. He has really been into coloring lately and has gotten quite good at it. He sits for 30 minutes to an hour sometimes. Loch always has some small toy he carries around at all times. Right now it's a small white dog that he snatched from Gwen's baby gifts from Grandma Cheryl. He loves to stand behind things like he's at a podium, and sing at the top of his lungs. He pulls the hymn book out at church and sings along- usually while rolling his eyes into the back of his head. It's just what he does when he sings and it's hilarious!

gwyneth eloise

My baby girl is here! She's so sweet and I just can't get enough of her. Gwen was born Friday January 13th at 7:53pm. She weighed 6lbs 12oz and measured 19 1/4 inches. Her arrival came quickly! Matt came home from work a little early on Friday and we were both starving so we decided to go to Chipotle with the boys. As we were eating, I was feeling a little weird but didn't want to say anything until I actually felt a strong contraction. I felt one and said something to Matt. He just kept staring at me as I ate, not knowing what to think. We were just talking about how it would be perfect for her to come that day since it was a three day weekend for Matt. Matt said, "Are you going into labor right now in Chipotle?" I just closed my eyes tight as another contraction came with a smile on my face and Matt squeeked out, "Yes?!" We went home and my water broke within minutes. It was about 5:30 pm and I had only had about 3 or 4 strong contractions. I was told to get to the hospital right away if my water broke. I told Matt to call Cheryl because I was pretty sure that it broke. He called and was asking how she was doing and what she was up to. I said, "No small talk, that was my water." I was sure now as more was coming. Cheryl got to our house 20 minutes later to take care of the boys and we were off to the hospital. On the way, Matt said, "You predicted 5 or 6 months ago that she would be born today and I still didn't have a bag packed for the hospital." My contractions were every two to four minutes. I had Matt park so we could walk in together. I didn't want to be separated this time. They were checking me in and I was scribbling my signature on papers during contractions. I was dilated to about a 3 1/2 when we got there. Kristen called ahead for me and found out all the good staff that was on that night. She got there right after me. I sat in triage for almost an hour and was already in transition. I was frustrated wondering what in the world was taking so long to get me upstairs to get an epidural. I finally got an epidural at about 7:30 pm and was at a 10, fully effaced, and ready to push. The doctor got all set up and with about 2 minutes of pushing, Gwen was out. The cord was wrapped around her neck three times. I was surprised that it all went so fast. We were eating dinner less than three hours before. I was so happy that my mom finally got to be there for the birth since Porter and Loch were delivered in the OR. Everything went smoothly. The doctor was great. Kristen requested an awesome nurse for me. The boys came to visit the next morning. Porter was really excited to meet his new baby sister. He couldn't wait to hold her. He was really sweet. Loch was more interested in wearing some purple latex gloves and operating my hospital bed. I had to stay an extra night in the hospital so I didn't get to come home until Sunday. Loch held Gwen for about 3o-40 minutes after we got home and Matt read a bunch of books to them. Both of the boys are excited about her. They come busting into my bedroom in the morning to see where she is and what she's doing. This was Gwen's face after her brothers were through holding her. Loch shared his bunny with Gwen and was so excited when I pulled out a fox that I bought for her a few months ago. I am so grateful for this sweet, beautiful baby girl in our family! I love staring at her with all the expressions she makes. She is so peaceful. I'm enjoying every second with her. They change and grow so fast at this stage, I'm just trying to take it all in. Welcome to our family baby Gwen.

Portland and Projects

Look at this cute little face! I got to go to Portland for a few days in September to visit my sister (and family) and meet baby Stella. She is so sweet and already two months older since my visit.

I had lots of fun hanging out with my sister. We saw two movies in the theater- something I rarely get to do having little tots, we went out to lunch several times, and did lots of shopping. This place had the best ice cream I have had in a long time! I wish I could go back... right now. It's called Salt & Straw. All of her tots are so sweet! Olive drew a bunch of pictures for me. Emmett kept calling me Grandma Sherry the first few days because my mom had visited a few weeks before.

I made a skirt for baby Stella. Olive is into unicorns so I made her a shirt with a sparkly silver unicorn on it. I used freezer paper. (That blue line is just a sticker that said the size.)Porter had a wear red to preschool day. (They do a different color every week.) So, just before I left for Portland, I made this shirt for him.

A few other little projects I did recently... a mini dish towel for Macy's kitchen.

I got a new dresser for my room ended up getting this nightstand for free with it. It was a fixer-upper. I wanted to paint it and put it in Porter's room. Here's the before: After: I still need to find new hardware that I like.

I'm trying to get Porter's room just right to fit both boys in there. It's a work in progress.