Oh baby!

Fun news! We have a new baby in the family. Her name is Amelia Jane and she belongs to my brother Russ and his wife Nat. She was born on January 17. She is just so cute and so tiny. I love squeaky soft new babies. There is nothing like that new baby smell. I held her at the hospital and kept breathing in her delicious scent. Yum.

She had some breathing problems and was admitted to the NICU a few hours after she was born. The kids didn't get to meet her until she got home a few days later. But meet her they did- after they were completely washed and sanitized, of course.



My cousin's wife Jennie made this darling hat for Amelia. I was the lucky lady who got to deliver it. It was so cute on her. We love her so much already!!!



She was about done with the kids and her cute hat at this point. Livvy had the death grip on Amelia and didn't want to let go. While she was holding her all by herself we kept asking her, "are you done now?" and every time she would reply "NO". Alrighty then...

Spenny Spenerton- 7 months

Spencer started out his seventh month with a bang! The day the boy turned 6 months he started pooping up his back and hasn't looked back since. Probably 85 % of his business is squished between his shirt and his back (a low estimate considering I just had to take a break from the blog to change yet another blow out). Talk about an explosive month. Somehow he gets away with it- I think it might have something to do with that irresistible toothy grin.

Which yes, brings me to item #2- teeth! Spencer has spent the last month adding some accessories to his cute-ness. His two bottom teeth came in about the same time he started exploding out of his diapers. His two top teeth have also cut through the gums. They are still working their way down and out. It looks as if they are planning on being rather large and in charge. Spencer is my first baby that has really let me know he is feeling those teeth coming down. He has been a bit sad. It's amazing what a little bit of motrin can do to adjust the mood meter on the little guy. Suh-weet.



The highlight of Spencer's month was watching Utah beat Alabama at the Sugar Bowl. He's a fan.





He is doing such a great job at moving his little body around. For the most part it keeps him happy and occupied. Sometimes he gets himself into little predicaments, like scooting under the couch or knocking things onto himself... growing pains. He also likes to push his body up (almost on his knees) and rock. Yikes. The other day there was a sippy cup on the floor that he had his eye on. It took him a good 20 minutes to get to it but he did it! It was so fun to watch. He would roll in the general direction of the cup and find himself at the wrong angle. Roll again to change the angle. Lift himself. Roll. Grunt. Smack his lips. Roll again. It was cute.



The other day I was feeding him a container of baby food. Taylor came by and begged to feed him. Uh, really? A HELPER! Get out of town!!! I stood at the sink washing dishes, watching Taylor feed Spencer and thought to myself "Now this is multi-tasking!" I've had a few days to sit on this and I figure I've got to strategize to keep the kids begging to help. They can't actually know they are helping (aka: working) if I want this to continue. I've got to turn them down sometimes. "Nope, can't feed Spenny today. That's a mommy job." That way they think it's a treat or something and beg to help more. I tell you what, I've got these kids cornered...

He was thrilled to meet his new baby cousin (more on her later). See that face. I think he just realized that she has arrived to steal his thunder.



He is so happy and so good. He gets showered with compliments about his good behavior all the time. It really is good (for him) that he is so mellow- he takes his role as the family doll in stride. Sara can't get enough of holding and squeezing him and then Livvy joins in and his limbs are nearly yanked off. He does his fair share of screaming in protest but he also rolls with it and allows them to love him.

I can't help but love this little guy! He brings so much joy to our family. He follows in the footsteps of Mary Poppins in that he is "practically perfect in every way".

Princess artwork by Sara

While we were at Disneyland we bought Sara and Livvy a package of little princesses to play with. The girls love these little figurines. A few days after we got home Sara lined up all the princesses on the table and drew pictures of a few of them. She did such a good job! She really is quite a little artist for her age.

Sleeping Beauty (my personal favorite)



Jasmine- she wanted to make sure I posted both pictures she drew of Jasmine.

Cinderella & Mulan

The next couple pictures she drew once she saw me scanning in her other pictures.

Ariel & Flounder

Pocahontas

Belle

Snow White- apparently all the scribble looking stuff is her hair. Ya think she was rushing?

Is your handyman a wiseguy too?

We have a situation at our house- it seems that my children have no discretion when it comes to bath toys. They pretty much think that every toy in our house deserves a go in the tub. Because of this haphazard thinking, many innocent (and expensive) toys have been laid to rest. Examples- Talking baby alive- talks no more. Race car that drives and makes noise- rusted out and thrown in the trash. The girl's favorite thing to do is to bring Barbie in the bathtub and wrap her up all cozy in a dripping washcloth. Not really that big of a deal until Barbie has a button to push and sings. Needless to say, a couple different Barbie dolls sing no more. That is just the beginning of a long list of toys that have met their demise in our tub.

Yesterday I put Livvy in the bath. She was playing with a couple purple mardi gras necklaces in the tub. I figured it was no big deal. Those necklaces were launched at us from off of a Mardi Gras Parade Float when we lived in Mississippi. I pretty much consider them disposable because we have so many. I didn't think they could be a hazard in the tub- until I pulled the plug. I saw the smaller of the two necklaces make its way, slippery as a snake, to the drain faster than I could grab it. I didn't actually think it would go down but down down down it went making all kinds of clickety clackety noises. The rest of the water drained out and the entire time I could hear "clickety clackety". So I guess I have a mardi gras necklace stuck in my pipe. After a quick assessment and realizing this was not a job for me, I decided to turn the problem over to Dave when he got home.

Fast forward to Dave getting home. I relayed the whole story to him and the response I got from him:

"Lift up your shirt, that should get it back. "

And she's off

We took Kristina to the MTC today. We thought that she was going to be in the Provo MTC for 2 1/2 months but it looks like she will be there for 3 weeks and then off to the MTC in Guatamala.

I am happy for Kristina and excited for all that she has ahead. I am also sad for me because I will miss her. We laughed and joked and cried at the MTC and then sent her through that darn door (you all know what door I am talking about) and off we went to Cafe Rio for lunch.

Saying goodbye to the kids the night before:



On her way out the door (Isn't she just so pretty? It kills me) :



In the car on our way:



18 months of livin' all squished into 3 bags:



Mom, Alan, Kristina, Dad



Stina and my parents:



Alan, Mark, Kristina



Here goes nothin':

Tonight we're gonna party like it's 1983...

We rang in the New Year by hosting an Ugly Sweater Party.

We had food spread from one end of the kitchen to the other. So. Much. Food. Whoa. It was a fun time and here are some pictures to prove it!

Dave picked out our sweaters at the D.I. which I completely appreciated.

When I got home and lifted my sweater out the bag I asked Dave,

"Is this my sweater?"

And yes, of course it was my sweater- ten sizes too small.

Why do men always pick out clothes too small? Sure it's flattering and all but not when you actually have to wear the item of clothing. I think he must have forgotten that I am 6 months post baby and hanging on to some extra flubbage. Or maybe he just thinks I'm a ten year old.

He response to me, "That's part of what will make it so funny. Besides, the tag says Large."

And sure enough- the tag did say large. Large if I'm 10!!!

But whatever, I have no shame so I wore my sweater. With pride. And fatness. And loved it. It was itchy though.

Sara was rather confused when I put on my "ugly" sweater.

She gasped and said, "Mommy, it's not ugly. It's so pretty." I should have known- pink and purple and silver glittery stuff- just up her alley.

How do you like Dave's fluorescent stripes?? Awesome!!!



Sam & Alan ran out of time to get to the D.I. before it closed so they called my 86-year-old grandma and told her they were going to a fancy sweater party. She opened up her closet to them and here is what they found. How Sam can still date Alan after seeing him like this is beyond me.



Yikes. I'll have you know Russ removed his shirt just for pictures. Thanks Russ. Really. Thanks. I mean, you look great and all. But thanks. Russ got his sweater (I prefer to call it a doily) from Smith and Edwards Country Boy Store. Need I say more? And Nat- well, that sweater was gross. Just plain gross. I felt itchy just looking at it. Don't these two make a lovely couple?



My parents raided their own closet to find these treasures. My dad just kept adding layers to his ensemble and well, the jury is still out on whether my mom really thinks that sweater is ugly or not.



I think Kristina raided my parent's closet as well. Is it offensive to look in another person's closet for an ugly sweater? Bailey (Aunt Nat's sister) said she pulled this green and white wonder out of her own closet. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be ugly or not. I am behind the times.



Micah and Lora opted for less ugly and more comfortable. Recognize Micah's sweater anyone? anyone?



The Group- Dave's brother Scott took this picture. He came to the party dressed more for a luau than a sweater party so he took the picture. And no, he wasn't wearing a grass skirt.



Truth be told, as soon as these pictures were taken, nearly all of us ripped our sweaters off and breathed a sigh of relief. It was kind of funny.

At midnight we headed to the backyard to spray Martinelli's off the deck. This is the second year in a row we have done it so I guess it's a tradition! I don't even remember why we thought to do it last year.

Spencer was happy as a little clam in his high chair. He was giggling and kicking at nothing in particular. I love this baby!



Kristina giving Spenny a New Year's smooch.



Me and my sistah!



Sara, Annie, Stina



We were trying to see how many people we could fit in a picture taken by someone in the picture holding the camera out with their arm. If you made sense of that, I applaud you.



This picture is disturbing, yet appropriate for these three, on so many levels.



Happy New Year everyone! I can't wait to see what 2009 has to offer!

Christmas day

The best word to describe Christmas Day- RELAXING!

I don't know how we got so lucky but our kids didn't even wake up Christmas morning until about 10:00 a.m. It was awesome. They actually didn't even wake up, Dave woke them up.

We opened gifts, ate breakfast, and lounged around in our pajamas all day. Dave's fam came over later in the day and we packed ourselves full of food.

It was snowy and lovely.

I love Christmas morning because everyone is bleary-eyed, yawning, and sporting bed head.

Bleary-eyed...



Yawning...



Bed Head...



Taylor looks rather exceptional considering the Christmas morning circumstances. I love this picture because his beloved blankie is by his side. I'm sure he will treasure pictures like this in years to come when his blankie has been loved to the point of disintegration.