January iMoments

The things we do to get this boy to finish a bottle at night! Seriously, we fight to get at least 4 ounces in...and we usually resort to the "feed the baby goat" position.

Santa nailed it this year. :)

Still trying to figure out the best bread for our meatball subs. I tried putting all the meatballs in a loaf of french bread...and it was delicious! But nearly impossible to eat as it just fell apart. It's still a work in progress...

Robbie and Kris made us this awesome clock for Christmas. It's perfect in the basement!

Claire: "Look, Mom! I got the bags under your eyes and your messy bun, like you have every day!" From the mouth of babes...

This January it snowed. And snowed. And then there was inversion. And then there was more snow!

Joey finally crawled!! Yay!

And as soon as he figured out he was locomotive, he found his favorite place to be.

Every time I would look up, Joey was right by Maese's side.

Seriously. Every. Time. :) Only this time Joey brought some toys for them to play with. :)

Early out Fridays are even better with friend and Daddy's amazing hot chocolate!

It's been a long while since we made our own pizza for Family Pizza Movie Night. So we started up again, but let the kids each do their own pizza. They love it!

And Danny and I love getting creative with our pizza. This one was particularly delicious AND beautiful.

I never got a picture on Christmas morning of the girls in their dresses with their dolls in their matching dresses. My girls aren't going to be little girls for much longer, and I'll take every minute I can get. They are so cute!

This is when we discovered Joey has a milk sensitivity. We had been trying to supplement him with cow's milk. I had noticed more redness to his skin, and he wasn't sleeping as well. But then two weeks into our little experiment and he looked like this an hour after his bottle. Needless to say, we switched to formula.

Johnny has found his love for Legos! He spent hours at the table, by himself, constructing and playing with his new Star Wars set.

We took a crack at an apple pie (from scratch)...it was good! But not quite "our recipe"...the search continues.

Last year, I read the Book of Mormon three times. It was an amazing experience! But it's been a long time since I've tried studying it at all. So I found this fun study guide, and I'm embarking on a real study of the Book of Mormon on my own since we're reading it as a family. I'm very excited to see how it goes!

Nine months...he has now been out as long as he was in! I can't believe it.

Don't we all wish it was socially acceptable to lie down while we ate?

Johnny has gotten really good at his reading. He finished all seven "Little Critter" stories, by himself, in 20 minutes!

We switched to 9:00 am church this year, and you know what that means? Cookies. Every. Sunday!

Ava is my little baking buddy. We had Jenny's kids over to play, and since Ava doesn't have Luke to played with, we baked instead. She's such a doll!

And the kids LOVED her sugar cookie bars!

It finally happened. Well, 2/3rds of it happened. I update the chalkboard after a year and a half! Go me! :)

Another Family Pizza Movie Night creations...our Valentine's Pizza! Chicken, roasted red bell pepper, mozzarella, and fresh basil. It's a beauty.

Another milestone for Poseph!!

Danny woke up one Saturday morning with an entire dinner in his head. He smoked a pork loin stuffed with pesto and roasted red bell pepper, and gave it an herbed crust. Seasoned roasted red potatoes and broccoli on the side...it beat any restaurant, hands down.

The day your oldest daughter bakes cookies entirely by herself...and even cleans up the mess! #parentgoals

Sophie has really struggled for the last little bit when it comes to falling and staying asleep. So nearly every night she ends up sleeping with us...which puts Danny in the middle of the bed...which puts me on the very edge. And with a very sore back by morning. So I made Sophie-kins a deal: If she could stay in her own bed every night for ten nights in a row, I'd buy her a Beanie Boo. She nailed it on the first try! My back thanks her... :)

This little stinker makes a b-line for the night lights every morning. I'm pretty sure he knows he's not supposed to play with them...which is what makes them so darned fascinating! Good thing he's the cutest.

Way back on November 5th, 2014 I ordered these super cute chore charts...and now 2 years and some months later, we finally got them on the wall! We are all VERY excited about this! :)

Family Home Evening Goal

At the beginning of 2016, we set a goal as family to read the Book of Mormon every day, and to finish before Christmas. We totally rocked that goal, and have continued the streak of reading every night without too much effort. So we decided we needed a new goal for 2017, and Danny and I knew right where our weakest point was: Family Home Evening. 

We knew we needed a reward system, so it was decided that if we made it five weeks in a row with a "real" FHE, we'd go for a special treat. A "real" FHE needed a lesson, activity, and treat. This is always where we've failed in the past. The lessons are always hard to prepare when I don't remember until dinnertime on Monday that we're supposed to do FHE. Since we have 9:00 am church this year, the kids and I decided that we would use Sunday afternoons and evenings to make sure we have everything for family night prepared the day before. 

I'm happy to report that so far, it's worked wonderfully! We've had some great family nights. Claire, Sophie, and Johnny have all prepared and presented a lesson (complete with their testimony). They've planned and executed treats and activities. It's been awesome!

On Monday, January 30th we reached out 5th week of not missing a Family Home Evening! It was Sophie's turn to do the treat, so she got to pick where we went...and she picked Menchie's. It was a perfect treat.

I have really loved the comfort and confidence that comes from following the words of the prophets. To deliberately and tenaciously work at something that you aren't very good at naturally, to come closer to living all of Heavenly Father's commandments. Danny and I both feel really good about the foundation we're creating for our children, and for our family. It's not always easy, but I'm always happy we did it when we're through. ;)

Next treat: Monday, March 6!

Decorating The Girls' Room

When Claire turned eight, I gave her some things for her "Claire Wall". And Grandma Candy gave her a beautiful piece of art for her baptism. Fast-forward 16 months and I did the same for Sophie's eight birthday...and so did Grandma Candy. Now that Sophie has been eight for more than three months, we finally got everything up on the wall! Although this time, it wasn't entirely my fault it took so long...

The girls have seriously struggled keeping their room clean. Their room has been a source of serious angst for me, and a constant point of contention between the girls and me. Finally I had the idea that if they cleaned their room, top to bottom and everything in between, we'd decorate their room. It finally worked! The girls and I worked together over the course of a couple of weekends, and got it done. I was also happy to use the "dollhouse" my Mom got me for my birthday in their room, and I think it fits just perfectly! 

We all love how it turned out, and the girls are confident it will help them keep their room clean. And I am definitely cautiously optimistic. :)

Nine Months

18 lbs 7 oz ~ 32nd percentile

28 1/2 inches ~ 56th percentile

Head circumference: 18 3/4 inches ~ 100th percentile

Another month already!! I'm becoming more and more aware that we only have a little more time with Joseph as our baby. The kids and I were lamenting a while ago about how big Joey was getting. I said, "only a few more months and we won't have a baby anymore.". Johnny replied, "Can't you just go get those rope things put back inside of you so we can have another baby?!" No, John...I can't get those "rope things" put back inside of me. :)

As you can see, Joey had another well-child check up this month. He didn't gain even as much as he did the month before...but he went up in the growth chart! That was good enough for me!! I was seriously worried about it. Especially because over the Christmas break we introduced him to cow's milk. I knew he wasn't getting enough milk from me, and I was starting to get concerned that he was even staying adequately hydrated...never mind adequately nourished. He seemed to take it just fine (with a little added chocolate, of course), and I kept him to one 5 oz bottle per day. Well, after about ten days, we started to notice some changes to his skin. Then one day, after his afternoon nap, he woke up with a biggest rash on his face! I knew right then we had to stop the milk, but I stressed not knowing what else we would do! Danny and I discussed it, and we decided to start trying formula. We started mixing it 50/50 with breastmilk and believe it or not, he took it better than even his nighttime breastmilk bottle! I think it was an answer to this mother's prayer. I don't love the idea of him switching to formula. But at this point, I have pumped and taken supplements and worried over my never-increasing milk supply for nine months! I think I've done enough, and I really think Joey will be better off. Dr. Stewart felt like he was looking great, and just wants me to stop in for another weight check in six weeks before Joey comes back in for his one year. His one year?! Ouch...it makes my heart hurt just thinking about it.

Joey has grown up SO MUCH during the last month! His milestones have exploded...he is officially mobile! And oh my is he mobile. I have forgotten what it was like to have a mobile baby. I have to be aware of him constantly, and I'm terrified I'm going to miss something and he's going to have a terrible accident.  I'm going to forget the baby gate, miss a battery on the floor, something! And what's worse is that I don't have all little kids who I am aware of constantly. I have older children that can forget the baby gate, miss a battery on the floor....something! It's a little more than nerve-racking at times. But I think we all get better about watching him every day.

Joey loves to walk around the main floor in Luke's old walker, and he tries to follow the kids everywhere. He loves playing cars with Johnny, and generally playing downstairs with anyone who will stay with him. He's become a huge handful at church in that he just never holds still! But oh my goodness is he a blast. He loves to wrestle and growl and suck on your face. He still greets every morning with smiles and laughs. We don't know what we'd do without this boy in our lives. He makes the world a brighter place.

Here's what Joey is up to at nine months:

*Still rocking the size 3 diapers

*Size 9-12 month, and even the occasional 12 month, clothes

*Crawls!

*Gets from laying down to sitting up and back down again

*Pulls himself up to his knees and even sometimes to his feet

*Had to lower the crib to keep him safe at night

*Still no teeth!

*Starting to wean :(

*Babbles and growls

*Gets into everything he can!!

Don't cry, Poseph! We'll love you even more next month! :)