Theatre Buff

Caleb was involved in two 30 minute plays in May. He played the part of the backwoods sheriff in the  Mysterious Case of the Missing Ring and he played a thief named Chickenwire in the play called Afterhours.  He did such a great job and really looks and acts so natural.  He got many compliments as did I from parents in the crowd.  Many of them said how he was just like his older brother Cody.  After the plays his teacher Mrs. Bradley handed out awards and we gave her flowers.  She is retiring at the end of this year.  Don was out of town and could not go but grandma and Cayden went the first night and then I went the second night.  I made him a "superstar" star covered in starbursts.    

Mother's Day

These are the gifts I got for Mother's Day this year.  Don is always so good to me and he knows I love flowers even though I say that they are a waste of money it still is so nice to get them.  He picked them up on Saturday and hid them somewhere so that the boys could give them to me on Sunday.  Cayden made the orange paper/sticker card and wrote me nice card.  He also made the lovely  bead bracelet that is just a bit too big.  The only bummer thing about that day was that the YM president called a meeting that morning at 9:30 before church.  Seriously!  I was not happy about that and the ding dong probably got an earful from his own wife about it.  Don didn't get back to pick us up for church and he had the car seat but as I detest being late we got in the car, buckeld Kyle between Caleb and Cayden with their arms across him, said a prayer and then drove very slowly and very carefully to church.  I will deny this if ever asked about it.  Church was not such a guilt inflicting event like it usually is because the speakers did not go off about all the things that mothers should be doing.  I usually think that the speakers Basically give a list of things that if your not doing all of or not doing well enough then you suck. Or even if you are doing those things or atleast trying then you should have this perfect and lovely family.  Ummm not so much.   I know that technically that is not true but that is how I feel about it.  After church, I got a lovely nap and Don and the boys made me yummy chicken and potatoes.  Don's other gift to me was a giftcard to the spa in Mesquite along with a note that he would either drive me up and back or get me room because I always say that after I get a massage or spend the day the spa I don't want to have drive home after all that relaxing.  I really really want to use that gift card SOON. 
As far as the other mother's go in our lives I can't say how much they mean to me and our family.  My mom is such a good listener and really tries not to tell me what to do or what I should have done when I call her about things.  She sometimes offers suggestions but she really seems to just seems to want to listen which is really why I am calling her in the first place.  She is so good to my kids and to my husband and I really love her.  Don's mom helps our family so much in so many ways.  She is always willing to watch the boys when we need her to and her house has become a second home to Connor.  She helps with their diabetes and wants to be at all their events even though I forget to tell her sometimes.  She raised a loving and very unselfish son who loves his family so even if if there were nothing else she ever did, that alone would be enough. Without him I would not have had the opportunity to be a mother.
We love our Mawmaw and Grandma Adams too and recognize the importance of them being in our lives and that our children are so lucky to know great-grandmas like them. 
On Mother's Day I do try and think about other mother's like Mary and Eve and Emma and those other mothers in the scriptures, some of who are unnamed.  Also mothers like Marjorie Hinkley and Julie B Beck.  Even mothers who have never had children like Sheri Dew and Cody's drama teacher Kenna Dalley.  Each of these women are great examples to me and one day I hope to be able to tell them that.  They individually have traits and qualities that I would like to make part of me and my mothering.
Mothering is the hardest job on the planet but makes the world go round.

Kyle the Big Boy

Kyle had to help me with laundry one morning and then when I was in the shower he pulled himself up to a sitting position in his rocker.  He has almost outgrown his swing and he reaches up and bats at and sometimes hits the bird mobile above him.  These were both taken on May 9, 2012.

Kyle Brandt is 8 Months Old

5-9-12  This is how I found him when I got out of the shower.  He had pulled himself straight up in his bouncer.  Good thing he was strapped in.

I needed to do laundry yesterday 5-9-12 and this is where I put him, on the counter in a basket.  He quite enjoyed it.

It seemed like 8 months of pregnancy was eternity but this little darlin has been here for 8 months and it seems to have gone by sooo very fast.  He is such a little love and a good baby.  These are the things that he is doing.
He eats lots of food.  Tonight he had spaghetti and corn like the family.

He has tried grits, toast, peas from the salad bar at Pizza Factory, broken pieces of crackers, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, rolls, tiny bits of steak and chicken, Trix cereal, baby yogurt melts, baby puffs and various store bought baby foods.  He has not disliked anything yet.

He loves loves loves cheerios.

I have made him sweet potatoes, sweet potatoes and chicken, apple pear banana sauce, apple mango pear sauce, carrots, and banana apple sauce from my Bountiful Baskets produce.  I puree it in the blender and then freeze it in ice cube trays, pop out the cubes and bag them.  When he is ready to eat I microwave them and mix them with a little baby rice to thicken it up.  Both he and I prefer it to be thicker with even a few chunks.  The store bought baby food is so thin and so messy.  He likes a little substance to his food and it is less messy that way.

Bananas make him poop like rabbit.  The funny saying around the house is "who pooped in your pants?"  or "did a little rabbit poop in your pants?"

He gets up and all fours and crawled about 4 steps last night.  He does a little hop like a bunny once in a while.

He turns to a sitting position from his knees.

He scoots pretty quickly and will scoot toward me when he wants me to pick him up.

He raises his arms to be picked up.

He leans toward who ever he wants to hold him.

He babbles mama and dada  bababababa. Mostly mamamama and dadadada.

He is still super spitty.

He has two teeth on the bottom.

He likes to bite on dad's puka shell necklace.

He loves cords of any kind. 

We put up the barstools and video rockers as baby barricades and we have to put all the cords behind them or he gets them.

We put the plug protectors in to the walls.  He put one in his mouth the other day because it was on the floor after someone pulled it out of the wall to plug something in.  He actually had it wedged in his mouth and was just crying crying and drooling.  I did not know he had it in his mouth until I picked him up because those things are clear. 

He almost has outgrown his baby bath.  At Grandma Penny's over the weekend we put him in the bathtub just laying down and he loved it.  He was kicking and splashing and smiling. 

He has outgrown the size 2 diapers and wears mostly 12 month clothes but even some of those are getting too small.  I definitely prefer Pampers Swaddlers but got a box of Huggies as a gift so I am using those.

He is a super sweaty baby.  He lays on your arm or chest and when you him there is a puddle.  I bought a bunch of summer jammies for him because he was in the long footed sleeper ones and one night when he woke up I pulled him out of his bed and he was just drenched and so hot.  I usually only cover him with a light thin blanket.

We think he is knowing his name a little more.

We made the mistake of letting him sleep in our bed about 2 months ago when he had a little cold and now we can't get him to sleep in his bed for more that an hour at night.

He is starting to roll over in his sleep and almost prefers to sleep on his tummy.

He still loves his binky.  I swtiched to the Nuk ones about 2 months ago because they stay in his mouth easier and they are easier to put a clip on.  I don't like using the clip though because he sucks on it until you can seriously wring it out.

He has been waking up between 6:30 and 7:30am after going to bed around 10 or 11.  He wakes up and has a bottle then wants to take a short nap about and hour and half later.  He sleeps for about 45 minutes, usually when I am on my walk with him in the stroller.  Then he eats his breakfast, plays for about another hour or so and then around 1 takes his good long nap in the afternoon. He wakes up around 3-4 and has a bottle then has dinner with the rest of us around 5-6.   He has another power nap around 6 or 7pm then has his last bottle around 10 and goes to sleep for the night.

He smiles at the dog, cat and monkey on the animal game on my phone.

He flaps his arms when he is excited.

He is almost too big for the swing because he twists himself and reaches up to grab the hanging birds.

When I shower and there is noone else home I put him in his bouncer in the bathroom with me.

He rocks and bounces his little exersaucer to the point that it looks like someone is shaking it. 

He almost needs a haircut around his ears and the front.  He has the reverse bald man.

I thought he was allergic to oatmeal or some of the baby food because after we came back from Utah to help out after Ella was born his little nose ran for a month.  Plus the day I started him on baby oatmeal he got a pretty good rash all over his back and tummy.  I pulled him off of all solids to see if that did anything but it didn't really do anything but make him super hungry.  I decided that he has allergies to whatever is in the air here.  It is much worse when the wind blows which seems like every day for the last 3 weeks until today. He has been eating everything else with no problems-even cheerios which are made oat flour.  I have not given him baby oatmeal again though.  His nose had gotten better until this week when he got a cold.

He got his 6 month shots on March 13.  He got his first flu shot and that was horrible.  He had to get 6 shots that day and it was so very sad.  The flu shot gave him a pretty good fever that night and he was so so so very miserable.  We did not go back and get the 2nd dose mostly because it was so hard on him and also because it would have been at the end of April and I think that flu season is mostly over. 

We have been pretty lucky that he has not been super sick with colds and stuff.  I make the boys wash their hands as soon as they walk in the door from school and maybe that has helped.  Monday night though after we got back from Utah after Ella's blessing Caleb and I had a bad stomach ache most of the evening.  I am pretty sure that Kyle had one most of the night because it was seriously the worst night he has ever had.  He cried and cried and crawled all over me all night.  The only that settle him was a bottle and he had 3 during the night.  He has not done that since he was newborn.  Of course Don was not home.  He was in Vegas at a dinner meeting and stayed overnight for meetings the next day.  Both Cayden and Caleb slept in my room but both were woken up by Kyle's screaming.  Caleb eventually went to his room around 1:30 because he just couldn't sleep.

He has the bluest eyes and the chubbiest cheeks.  People come up to see him and say how cute he is then they see his eyes and just ooh and ahh over them.  His cheeks are so squishy kissable and he gets lots of kisses.

He has a super cute low kind of gutteral laugh and the boys spend lots of time trying to get him to laugh.

He loves it when his brothers come home from school and he just lights up and smiles and smiles when he sees them.

He is a good snuggle buddy with Don in his recliner and there are many times I find them both asleep in it.

His bedroom is still not ready for him because I am not ready to move him clear across the house.  He has the pack and play in our room since we Aunt Suzanna needed the cradle for Ella.  He has 2 sets of plastic drawers with his clothes in it and I do go back and forth to his room to get some other things once in a while.  His diapers and wipes are in our room too.  I have considered changing the office over to his room but it would be quite a major undertaking and would need to be painted too. All of the wires are in there for all the computers in the house and that would be a pain to move.  We would have to take apart my desk and the closet is not set up for clothes hanging because it is almost entirely shelving.

He has baskets of toys in the front room and in our room.  He has pulled the bow off of Minnie Mouse, the yarn pompom off a money Don brought him from Oregon and the butterfly off his yellow duck from Easter.  He seriously almost choked on the pompom because it came apart into lots of little threads and he of course put them in his mouth.  I did not know he had anything in his mouth until I took Cayden to school and heard him kind of gagging in the car seat.  When we got home and I pulled him out there was a wad of yarn on his shirt that he had gagged up.  

When he is sleepy and drifting off he makes these silly sweet little moany groany sounds.

He is not too far off of pulling himself up. He straightens himself up on us when he is climbing on us and when the video rocker is in his way he is reaching up for it. When it is not laying down in his way and sitting like it should he pulls himself up on it and straightens his legs.  

We sure do love love love this little monkey.  We even sang Happy Birthday tonight to him after scripture and prayer. 

We Love Our Ella Belle

We drove up to Provo on Friday, May 4 for Ella's blessing on Sunday, May 7. We wanted to go up earlier for Calley's graduation on Friday but Don had only had surgery just the week before and we didn't have the all clear from the doctor plus Cayden had his May Day dance that he finally was going to participate in. We made it to church on time which was good since it was a whole hour earlier than down at our house and clear out in Pleasant Grove too. Don and Cody got to be in the circle and I made a pasta salad for the luncheon afterward. We had a tasty lunch of sandwiches and salads and a delightful cream puff bar for dessert. After the blessing we went back for a nap and then headed home on Monday. We were glad to be able to go and support our family.

May Day

Well, after 4 years at Bowler Elementary Cayden finally participated in the May Day Dance. The 3rd graders did a square dance to Cotton Eyed Joe and Cayden did great. His partner was a girl named Isabella.   There was a question about whether or not he wanted us to attend because he is so funny about us watching him but he finally decided that we could go. I was so proud of him. This year he has really come out of his shell and done a lot of things that he hasn't before. The May Day Dance was just one of them.

Good Citizen Award

On Thursday, May 3, Cayden got an award at school for being a good citizen. It may have been from the month of January and they must have just gotten around to it or else they dated the certificate wrong.  Who knows. He got to eat a McDonald's lunch with the vice principal, Mr. Solomon and the other kids who got awards for the month.  He was pretty excited and we know that he is a good citizen!