Four Months

13 lbs. 15 oz ~ 25th percentile

25 inches ~ 60th percentile

Head circumference: 16 3/4 inches ~ 64th percentile

Once again, I find myself taking a break from my frantic attempts to catch up on this blog to write Luke's four month post.  Either Luke is growing up too fast, or I'm destined to never be caught up on my life again.  I get the feeling it's a combination of the two. ;)

Luke is still our happy guy, though this last month has been a hard one for him.  We finally moved into our own home, so Luke spent a lot of time watching me and Danny pack and clean while his brother and sisters played at Grandma Candy's.  Then he had to deal with a stressed-out, over-tired, hormonal mommy that was living out of boxes.  If that wasn't enough, we got some rotten stomach bug, and Luke seems to have held onto it for the better part of two weeks now.  Poor guy has stopped sleeping through the night (yawn!), isn't eating as well, and has the smelliest diapers of any breastfed baby I've ever known!  But even through it all, he still smiles his way through life.  

Luke hates to be alone.  And he particularly hates to be where he can't see me.  Luke is still my Mama's Boy, though there are times I wish he was a little less attached. :)  He has also decided that he hates his car seat, which has made the kindergarten/preschool pick-up and drop-off a splendid experience for us all. :)  He will literally scream the entire time we're in the car.  I've never had a baby that didn't love the car.  Oh well, I suppose it was bound to happen!  Good thing he's so stinkin' cute!

His check-up with Dr. Baur went well, though she is a little concerned that his weight has dropped on the growth chart.  It may be due to this virus he seems to be struggling with.  He's started to spit up rather profusely, so I've wondered if he was getting the milk he needed.  We're going to go back for another weigh-in in a couple of weeks.  Hopefully, it's just cause he's sick.  If not, I suppose we'll do something about it!  Because of this tummy issue he's been having, Dr. Baur suggested that I give him some plain Greek yogurt to help him get the probiotics he needs.  We tried it last night and he loved it!  He was kicking and smiling and talking up a storm!  Too bad he's going to have to wait a couple more months before starting solids.  I'm a stickler for nursing.

Here's four-month-old Luke at a glance:

*Wears 6 and 6-9 month clothes

*Wears a size 2 shoe

*Still in size 2 diapers

*Still a binkie baby, though has found that his hands taste mighty good

*Is able to grab the toys on his bouncer and activity mat

*Is extremely ticklish, and can actually laugh out loud now

*Still loves to tell the funniest stories

*Has the most interesting color of hazel for his eyes

*Is getting much more tolerate of tummy time, and is able to lift his head just fine

*Still sleeps in his rock n' sleep sleeper in Mom and Dad's room

*Has started to take real naps in his bed, on a somewhat regular schedule

We don't know how we ever lived without your sweet smile, Luke.  We love you!

Brigham City Temple Open House

During the last week of August, we had the privilege of attending the open house for the Brigham City Temple.  The girls were so excited to get to go inside a temple, and we were excited to have the opportunity to teach them more about temples.  For a couple of weeks before our visit, we took the chance to explain the importance of temples, and why this was a unique chance for them to go inside before it was dedicated.  

We had tickets for the 1:30 pm tour, so the kids and I picked Danny up from work and we headed north.  It's amazing that with the Brigham City Temple, there will be 3 temples within about a half an hour drive from our home.  How blessed are we?!  Anyway, we arrived in Brigham City at the old K-mart, and parked the car.  Claire and Sophie were pumped to find out that we'd be taking a bus from there to the temple.  A real bus!  Johnny was a little less excited, with it being nap time and all.  Our tour guide on the bus explained the rules and the instructions for getting back to our vehicles, and she let us know some things to look out for.  In the upper rooms of the temple, including the Celestial Room, there would be a pattern carved into all the wood moldings.  The dot, dot, dot, dash pattern was actually Morse code for "Victory".  Apparently, Brigham City received that message after WWII was over because it was home to a military hospital.  Pretty cool!

The tour was amazing.  It is such a beautiful temple!  It is much smaller than the temples I've been in so far, but nonetheless spectacular.  On our way in, we were given little white booties to cover our shoes while in the temple.  The girls were a little unnerved by them, but compliant.  Johnny, on the other hand, had a full-on fit!  Because the temple is such a quiet, reverent place, we had to wait outside the doors until Johnny calmed down.  I ended up taking his shoes off and letting him walk in his clean socks through the temple.  Have I mentioned it was nap time?  Sheesh.  

Sophie and Johnny had a harder time paying attention, so the significance of the event was kind of lost on them.  But not on Claire.  She was so impressed by how beautiful and clean everything was.  She loved the rooms with the murals on the walls, and especially loved the beautiful baptistry.  On our way to the Celestial Room, we took a moment in a sealing room to explain to Claire and Sophie that this was a room very much like the one that Danny and I were married in.  We showed them the altar, and then lifted them up to see the mirrors and explained eternity to them.  What a special moment!  I even got a fleeting glance at our entire family's reflection extending forever and was so grateful for having married Danny in the temple so our family would indeed last forever.  

Then we entered the Celestial Room.  Heaven on earth.  The room was immaculate and stunning and peaceful and bright.  I know the kids felt something special there.  And I enjoyed those brief minutes of having my children in the Celestial Room of the temple with me.  

The Celestial Room was the end of the tour, so we headed out of the temple and back into the parking garage that was turned into a series of rooms during the open house.  We disposed of our booties (much to the girls' delight) and enjoyed some cold water and cookies.  Then it was time to explore the temple grounds before we found our bus back to the car.  

I'm sure I mentioned by now that we missed naps. :)  This was the most cooperative picture I could get of our kids.  Somehow, they're cute despite themselves. :)

The Brigham City Tabernacle is right across the street from the temple, and I thought it was just a beautiful view from the grounds.

But even more beautiful to me than the grounds and the temple are my husband and baby.

Danny and I love the temple.  I love the peace it brings to me every time I'm there.  How blessed we are to be able to have the chance to visit this special place.

Danny thought this would be a cool picture.  He was right!  My greatest accomplishment of 2012...

As we were walking back to the car, I happened to turn back and caught this image of the temple.  I loved how majestic and white the temple was, with the sun behind it, accenting the Angel Moroni.  And the sky was so brilliantly blue.  Just beautiful.

I have a testimony of the temple.  I know that it is God's temple.  I know that it is there that we are sealed to our families for eternity, and given the instruction needed to navigate this life and make our way back to our Heavenly Father.  I am so grateful for the covenants we make there, and that we are able to do that work for our dead.  I look forward to going there and doing Rachel's work for her, so that she can continue to progress on the other side of the veil.  I love this gospel with all my heart, and I feel like the temple embodies all the magnificence of the Restoration.  

As we left, Claire said, "That was the greatest place ever."  I hope Danny and I are able to give our children every opportunity to develop a love for the temple.  If they stay close to the temple, they'll stay safe from the adversary.  And that is our greatest wish for our children.

Friends, Fun, and Fate

Way back in the middle of August, we had our bi-yearly visit from the Robison clan!  Another perk to being back in Utah is that we won't miss their visits here.  Unfortunately, Justin had to stay home and keep learning how to be the most awesome doctor ever.  But we had a blast with Toshi and the kids!  Danny was eventually consoled, wiped his tears, and looks forward to when he'll see his bestie again.  You can hardly blame him for being bummed.  It's been two years since he's last seen Justin!

Toshi and I had so much fun catching up, and the kids had a great time playing together.  Well, by kids I mean Luke and Johnny.  For some reason, Sophie and Taija haven't figured out that by virtue of being born 2 days apart their destined to be best friends.  But Johnny and Luke, with their 2 month difference, are all over it.  

But Luke and Johnny weren't the only ones hitting it off.  Our Luke and little Mika were making quite the connection! ;)  As soon as we found out that Toshi was having a girl, and we were having a boy, and they would only be two months apart, we started planning a wedding.  We've even decided on a couple name for them.  Luka!  Move over, Brangelina! :)

We put these two babies down on the blanket to meet each other, and that's when I learned just how much like Danny our Luke really is.  He immediately starting making his move!  I've seen that exact face on his Daddy!

Here's the "Oh, I'm so tired so I'm going to nonchalantly stretch my muscularly-defined arms..."

This is where Luke thinks he's the smoothest 3 month old ever, and Mika's not quite sure she appreciates the gesture. 

She made her decision quickly.  Look closely...

Oh yeah, they're holding hands.  Introducing...Luka!

Toshi and I laughed and laughed!  We could hardly believe these two!  We both sincerely hope this makes it into a wedding video someday.  At the very least, it will make for some wonderfully uncomfortable get-togethers when these two are teenagers! :)  Luke and Mika's friendliness was contagious, and we were able to catch some hugs from the other pairs...

We had such a fun time that we knew we had to get together again before they left back to Florida.  So a week later, we had Toshi and the kids meet us at the pool for some swimming.  It was a little interesting having just Toshi and I with all 7 kids at the pool by ourselves, but we managed.  It became significantly easier when Justin's sister, Kate, showed up to help out.  

Eventually, the kids got sick of the water.  Danny had made it home from work and while visiting with us offered to take the kids to the raspberry patch out in the garden.  The kids were totally game for a nutritious snack!  

Then the kids discovered the sprinklers, and they had the time of their lives.  It's always funny to me to be reminded that really kids don't need much to be totally entertained.

Luke had too much fun controlling the sprinkler and spraying the screaming girls.  Toshi could definitely see he was his Daddy's boy!

But no matter how long we let them run and play, we couldn't keep from having to say goodbye.  For another few months, anyway.  The boys did their best to keep their emotions under control.  Hey, there's nothing wrong with a good hug!  (By the way, the matching swimming suits were total happenstance!)

We sure do miss the Robisons.  We can't wait until the hospitals here along the Wasatch front start begging Dr. Justin to come work for them so they can be close again.  How often do you have two guys from high school maintain their friendship, marry girls that turn out to be wonderful friends, and have a bunch of kids within months of each other that become fast friends themselves?  I'm telling you...there's a lot of fate between our two little families. ;)

Johnny's Birthday Party

A whopping three weeks ago, we celebrated Johnny's second birthday.  I just can't believe how fast life happens to us anymore!  I worked and worked to get caught up on the blog, and finally did it!  I was caught up for a whole 3 days, and now I'm in catch up mode again.  Sigh.  So we're going to start right where we left off...Johnny Boy!

To celebrate our Little Man turning two, we invited the local cousins and uncles and aunts to Grandma and Papa's house for cake and presents. 

These kids are too cute!

But cousins are only so much fun when there are presents everywhere!  Come on, what do you expect?  Johnny's a two-year-old boy with a one-track mind.  Bring on the presents!

Johnny got some Batman jammies from Mom and Dad, and little did we know that Isabelle, Eli, and Ava would be getting him a Batman costume and a light-up Batmoblie, too!  

Something that we try to do for our children's birthdays is give them a book.  We hope to instill in our children the love of reading that our parents instilled in us.  We started our collection of the "Skippyjonjones" books with Claire's birthdays, but we saw a new book while shopping for Johnny and just had to get it for him, along with the stuffed version of our favorite species-confused character.  After all, it is SkippyJONjones! :)  Johnny really liked his eyes...

Johnny got so many awesome presents!  Claire, Sophie, and Luke got Johnny some awesome Avengers cars than transformed, and they were the highlight of the party!  Once Johnny got those cars and trucks out, got them sorted and lined up, he was good to call it a night!  We seriously had to coax him away and hide the trucks until the rest of the presents were opened!  

"Best.  Presents.  Ever!"

But we weren't done yet!  Among the loot, Johnny received his first ball and glove from his Grandma Candy and a Clifford book, Matchbox car, and some doTerra oils from Grandma and Papa.

Mommy and Daddy still had a couple big presents waiting for the end.  Some yard tools (like a lawn mower and wheel barrow) so Johnny can help Daddy in the yard, and a wooden work bench to refine his tool skills.  Johnny loved all his gifts, and I think that everyone had a fun time shopping for him.  Two-year-old boys are a blast to shop for!

After presents, it was time for cake.  Johnny was so excited to pick out his cake this year, and he promptly chose the web-slinger cake to round out his Spiderman themed birthday.  The cake turned pretty awesome!

Johnny blew out his candle, no problem, and I'm sure all his wishes had already come true. :)

While Danny was dishing up cake and ice cream, and I was cleaning up all the paper from the mountain of gifts, the kids played.  We love how our kids have cousins their age that they are such good friends with.  Johnny especially loves Eli.

And Johnny had to try out some of his super cool gifts!  He tried to combining the Bat mask with his camo hat.  It didn't exactly work...

But once he ditched the hat, he was the most handsome Batman yet!  We ought to let someone know before they cast the next inevitable sequel. :)

Finally, it was time to eat the cake, and it did not disappoint.

Once we were all done with our yummy cake and ice cream, it was time for cousins to head home for bed.  It was sad to see everyone go, but Johnny was pretty pumped to get in his cool new Batman jammies!  Danny and I could barely handle the extreme cuteness.  

And just like that, Johnny's second birthday was done.  I can tell you his second birthday went a lot quicker than his original birth day! :)  I think he had a wonderful day.  And really, Danny and I loved celebrating two years of this little guy in our life.  Johnny is just the sweetest, funnest boy.  He is so good to me, and loves to remind me how much he loves me.  This little boy has my heart, and he makes his Daddy proud.

Happy Birthday, John!  We love you!!