Look Who's 2

Happy

Funny

Laughing

Silly

Dancing

Engaging

Henry

He is a breath of fresh air.

He makes all of us laugh with his antics and his infectious laughter.

He is so dang cute.

A little of Henry's likes

Food: cheese, hotdogs?!?!?! and candy. doesn't like breakfast food

Movies/TV: Mickey Mouse and Lightning McQueen

Toys: Playdough and cars

Outside: Throwing rocks into water, swinging, walks in the stroller, the trampoline, four-wheeler rides

Book: photo album of our trip to Disneyland

Loves Ya Ya (Mia), Memma (Emma), Yam (Sam), A (Clay) and can just about guess the time of day when we have to start getting ready to get the kids.

He makes me laugh when we are in the car. He knows where we need to turn to go to the school, grandma's, Aunt Lindsey's, Nate's office, or Rips. He can throw a pretty good fit if I don't go the way he wants to go. It took me a couple weeks to figure out what was making him so upset:)

Has a recent interest in the iPad...loves to play the Starfall Alphabet game. It's a great way to pass the time while I'm feeding the baby.

He doesn't like to wear diapers. I decided to try two things. First, I bought pull-ups. That seemed to be a good move. He actually went potty after I told him that is what he needed to do in order to wear them. And, he has continued to do so. There is only one problem. Some pull-ups have Mater on them. Then there are some with Mater and Lightning McQueen on them. {from the movie Cars} He goes through them one by one..."no...no...no...no...ya...ning" Wanting only the ones that have both characters on them. What a funny kid.

The other thing I decided was that we might as well teach him to go in the toilet, since he wouldn't keep a diaper on...{he ran around naked quite a bit this summer}... I bought a box and filled it with little prizes...playdough, cars, granola bars, goldfish, crayons, etc...and he gets a prize every time he goes "boop" in the toilet. He's doing exceptionally well, considering that he's just barely 2.

Tonight he was refusing to get on the toilet.

I pretty much told him that he had to at least try.

He still didn't want to.

"Why not?" I asked.

"no prize"

It occurred to me that we were running low on prizes, and he was not going to "boop" in the toilet if he wasn't going to get a prize.

I assured him that there were prizes (there were a couple left), and he promptly sat on the toilet for 15 minutes to take care of business.

Clearly, the prize box is having the desired effect.

Yes, we love all of our kids. But we all call Henry "the favorite."

see what I mean?

Got Pictures

Finally, I have resolved the almost 2-month long old issue of not being able to transfer my pictures to my computer. Hard for me to post without pictures.

So, I'll break it down a little and not overwhelm y'all with one post. We have football, first day of school, Henry's birthday, Deiter awake and smiling....lots of that one.

So, here are a few, and I'll add a couple posts, time permitting.

Here are some of my favorites of our newest cutie.

Sleeping...he's still pretty good at this. He sleeps for about 6 hours at night, and naps frequently during the day. However, he has several "not quite ready to sleep, but not wanting to be awake, and really tired, causing severe crankiness and wanting to be held really tight and rocked and not put down." I still maintain that he is a good baby despite the aforementioned condition. This was during one of Sam's football games. He really sleeps well despite all the chaos that is consistently around:)
Here he is at the homecoming parade, beautiful day, warm and sunny, smiling for Grandma.

Fresh from a bath (maybe???), wrapped up tight and cozy, looking mighty cute:)

Deiter Bruce

Introducing Deiter Bruce

We are all in love already. Even Henry, who is playing "piggies" with Deiter's toes here.

August 13, 2011

11:27 am

7 lbs. 3 ozs.

19 inches

Smitties

There seemed to be quite a bit going on this summer. Not much time for long camping trips, or any trips for that matter. So, when we needed a little reprieve, we often found ourselves at Nate's grandpa's place. A little bbq and throwing rocks in the river goes a long way with the kids. And spending the night there....well, you'd think they've gone to heaven.

One night we spent moving cows there, another weekend family reunion, and a couple odd picnics in between. It's always fun to go to Smitties.

Kayson & Ryker playing on the river bank. A truck + a pail + a shovel = hours of fun.
4-wheeler rides...wahoo
double wahoo with Uncle Darren
I love how Emma watches out for her littler cousins and siblings. so tender.
The rope swing means changing into and out of a swimming suit at least 4 times every day.
Aunt Sherrie's fudge is finger-lickin' good:)
Henry has a good arm. Look at how he pitched that rock.
Do you have to drive the tractor on Grandpa's head, Henry? Those two are quite the buddies.
Despite the wrinkles and puffy pregnant self, I like this picture. Cute kid. Handsome husband.
The cow herders on horseback.
Watching for the cows to come home.
I like this kid. And the lighting.

County Fair

This year the kids participated in the open class horse show at the county fair. They looked awesome decked out in their "cowboy clothes." And of course we couldn't leave Henry out.

Emma did lead line with the help of our fabulous friends. After a little incident on a horse that got spooked and ran away with Emma on it, so Nate had to pull her off, and tripped while he was doing that, and they both fell to the ground in the mud so that Emma was scared and crying but had to get back on a different horse anyway to compete in her class; Emma was brave and did very well, holding her reins correctly, and sat poised on her horse as Ashley led her around the arena.

Amelia placed third in her event of walk-trot where the kids go around the arena according to the instructions given by the judge. They walk, stop, reverse, trot, face the judge, etc. We were pretty proud of her.

Sam and Clay both did the trail course, but both broke the pattern, so did not qualify in that event. I suppose that if we consider that we had practiced for only a week, they all did stellar.

And they were all dang cute. The following day Sam ran the speed events, but forgot that he was trying to get a fast time, and kind of meandered through the courses a little. I think he could have been a little more aggressive...but that's Sam...more cautious than aggressive. And that's ok too.

Phew

What an emotional week. So many thoughts and feelings, petitions to the Lord, wondering, hoping, fearing...

We have been stretched this week. What a blessing that this phase of our journey has been so short lived.

Amelia had her MRI today. She did wonderful. Her hands were cold and sweaty as she got ready to go in. She was nervous, but took great comfort in everything she had been told about the ease of the procedure. I was disappointed that they ushered both of us back to the waiting room after indicating that one of us would be able to stay by her side during the procedure. That tore my heart out a little bit.

It was almost 2 hours later when Shari called to tell us the results of the scan, not the following week like we were planning.

Everything looked good. There were no abnormalities to speak of, and everything looked healthy. She does have BRE, and we will still monitor her for seizures, but we are back to the "best case scenario" that we were hoping for after the episode on Sunday afternoon.

YAY!!!!! What sweet relief. What a miracle. What an answer to so many prayers on Amelia's behalf.

I know that we have a Heavenly Father who loves us. He is mindful of us, and he wishes to test us, to stretch us, and help us realize our capacity. I would never ask to repeat this week again, but I would never ask for it to be taken away. It has been an amazing testament of the love of family, friends, and neighbors...and of our Heavenly Father.

Thank you for your thoughts, prayers, phone calls, meals, and offers to help.

If I can sleep tonight, morning will come early with another miracle just waiting to happen.

{we'll get pictures up quickly, promise}

Not Quite What We Were Hoping...We Think

Shari called this morning. The EEG showed the typical signs of BRE...but only on one side of the brain. She's ordered an MRI to rule out any "structural abnormalities". She suggested we call back in a week to schedule that after preauthorization had been done. I called today. They worked things out for us...again, very accommodating. We will do the MRI Friday at 1:30 pm...then have a baby on Saturday at 7:00 am. I'm thinking that sounds a little restful at this point.