Update on the family (Month of February)

Not just Elise. I just looked over the blog and the last month has only about her. I need to say what else is going on in our lives.

Nothing.

Well, it is true. I guess we are doing other things, but nothing seems as fun as Elise. And she is the center of our universe.

Weston has been off track for the past three weeks. I have tried to keep him busy with daily activities: chore, reading, homework, piano, crafts, and "special stuff". For that I let them chose anything they would like to learn about and then we look things up on the internet or watch videos, etc. The favorite thing we learned about was the Sphinx in Egypt. We watched a NOVA video about it (actually Weston watched it 2 or 3 times). Very interesting. I am proud to say I have been there and seen it. I got out my photos of it and showed the kids. We've also researched polar bears, Presidents of the US, and "megabeasts" (Wooly Mammoth and Saber-toothed cats, etc). Weston is doing well in piano and has started playing both hands at the same time. He loves holding Elise and is such a good sweet boy.

Aidan had a little break from tumbling but has begun again and is doing great. I can tell he has gotten stronger. He is still singing all the time and making us laugh with his silliness. He is such a good big brother and is really teaching Brennan a lot. He has rubbed his silliness onto Brennan and is teaching him everything there is to know about cars. He is also so gentle and loving with Elise. I was talking with his teacher and she said that he talks about his brothers and sister quite a bit. I am happy to know that he loves them so much.

Brennan is crazy and fun. He is very independent, but yet very dependent. He really is showing his strong will. One of his favorite sayings is "my turn". He is questioning everything: Who's that? What's that? Who's that guy? and then saying "oh" when we answer. He loves Christmas things (still) and calls anything Christmas "Ho Ho" (like his pajamas, or a snowman, etc). He still likes my pots and pans, though isn't into them as much as he used to be (fortunately). He loves to help me cook though and anytime I am making anything he HAS to sit on the counter and help. He absolutely LOVES Elise. He smothers her with love.

Elise is such a happy baby. I already posted the smiling pics, and so many people don't believe us that she is already smiling, but she is! She is so happy. She loves to smile at her dad and brothers. She is a fairly easy baby. She wakes up just once in the night to eat and then not til 6 am. She is snuggly and cute and we are all in love with her! We will be blessing her in March.

We had Stake Conference a few weeks ago and Elder Warren G. Tate gave us a challenge to read the Book of Mormon three times (once a month...) and mark it differently each time. The first mark with yellow how God deals with his children. Next, in red, anytime there is a reference to Jesus Christ and his atonement (doctrines of the gospel). And last, in blue, mark when the Lord is speaking to me directly. I think it could be very interesting to see how things turn out. We are taking on the challenge (though I may give myself more than one month to read... I don't know how quick I can read right now).

Scott and I are happy to have a girl in our home. Scott is busy with work, his calling, and projects around the home (he painted the kids bathroom and it looks great!). I am getting used to having four kids in the home and running them around from place to place.

We are just happy!

My craftier side...

I guess it must come out more now that I have a baby GIRL, but my craftier side has kicked in! I had a mobile that had bears on it for my boys room. So I switched it up a bit.

If you remember Elise's room has a elephant theme. I wanted something to match that. So I made a green cover for the "arm" of the mobile and put pink ribbon in the twirly part.

Then to replace the bears I cut out the same shape of the elephants on pink material and ironed it onto some green. Added an ear, hung them on the pink ribbon and voila! I think it turned out pretty cute!

Thanks to my mom who has always done "projects" and has now turned me into her... :) And thanks to BA who came over to help me finalize it all. What do you think? Am I as crafty as my mom? Heck no, she is amazing! What about as crafty as you BethAnne? Not even close. You have a different craft every day. This is the only one I'll have for the next six months!

What a cute bubbly baby!

I know, I am a bit prideful when it comes to my kids, and I show them off way too often. But, how can I not when they are SOOOOO cute? I just love these photos!

Life with four...

It is a little busier. Scheduling is always hard with a baby, right? But with four kids, wow. I am lucky cause today I took a shower--not until 3 pm, but still, a shower is nice! (and, side note--Scott got me a towel warmer for Valentines Day and it is SOOO nice!)
I am loving having a little girl. She is so much fun, so cute, and so easy to love. She is a good baby and doesn't complain like my other children, so right now she is my favorite. :) She sleeps well--just wakes up at night to eat. And she eats well enough. No problems there, though it is a bit hard to know how much she eats with nursing. She is a happy baby--already smiling. In fact, she is laughing already! Twice now she has laughed while she was sleeping. So sweet!

The boys adore her and she has her daddy wrapped around her finger. I need to get more photos of them with her. She has been fun to dress up, though there isn't much to dress her up for, we don't go out often... And although she is a beautiful baby, her face is not great right now--full of baby acne. It came on really early, so hopefully it will be cleared before the baby blessing! (Which, btw, we are doing the first week of March--it is the best day for all family members.)

Isn't she just a doll?

Survey for my son

Weston has been taking Piano Lessons and we have been talking about if people want to play the piano. He created a survey--please take it and later we will publish our findings!! :)

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BDN9PJG

Gosh she's cute...

Of course I think she is cute... Here is the story of her birth--nothing exciting, but needs to be written down.

The pregnancy was LONG and painful and annoying. I kept waiting for the contrations to actually do something and put me into labor, but alas, that was not my fate. My doctor kept going out of town, too, so some days I wouldn't want her to come, and then others I was desperate for her to come! Again, my doctor was scheduled to go out of town from the 29th of January til February 8th. Since her due date was the 4th, and I wasn't about to wait til the 8th, we scheduled to induce on January 28th. A good day for a birthday! We got the call around 6 am to go on in and got there around 7:00. By 10:30 they finally had the pitocin going, 11:30 broke my water, and 12:30 we were ready to go! Only pushing during two contractions and then she kinda just popped out on her own. I had an epidural (thank goodness!) which made it very enjoyable, and after the birth I actually said, "That was easy!" The nurse we had was AMAZING! Don't good nurses just make a world of difference???

The recovery has been just fine, and I actually enjoyed those days in the hospital of being able to just push a button and have someone bring me water and Lorna Doone Cookies--and Ibuprofin. Now we have been home for over a week, and she is doing well. She sleeps well at night, and just wakes up twice to eat. I am nursing, but gratefully, she also takes a bottle! She likes her binkie (Brennan calls it a "bin bin") and loves her brothers--who ADORE her! Weston loves to hold her and last week held her for an hour and a half (while watching the Opera Aida... what a kid!). Aidan isn't quite as interested, but still loves her and exclaimed, "Elise is the best sister in the universe!" Brennan LOVES her, which is such a blessing, because he is such a momma's boy, I thought for sure he would have a really hard time with the change. But he is always looking for her, likes to hold her, and hates it when I take her away to feed her.

Scott is the greatest father and such a support and help to me. He has come home early to help out, and is always ready to answer to my every beck and call! He loves being a dad to a girl, and she definitely has him wrapped around her finger!

My mother was here to help out for a week. She swept and mopped, did laundry, watched the boys, did fun activities with the boys, drove them around, cleaned up, did the dishes over and over, made meals, and was a LIFE SAVER!!! She even recovered the kids little table. We've had a few people bring some delicious meals and so many people being so helpful and kind!

We are so glad she is finally here and we're grateful she is healthy and cute!

Photos

Here are some photos of Elise. She has so much dark hair--but not sure if that will stay. All of the boys were born with dark hair (though not so much or quite so dark)--but they are all blonde now.
She isn't very happy in this photo-- maybe it is the flower? I just don't know how to do this girl thing...

Isn't she so cute? Of course, I think so...