Book Club

After my last experience with a book club (which was the best group ever, and I still miss it desperately), I decided to volunteer to help with a book group some ladies in my new ward here in Allen were just starting up.  I volunteered my services, and they nominated me leader.  Which was okay, I guess.  Just intimidating.  

Last night, nope...it's Saturday already...Thursday night was our first meeting.  We'd read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, a book they'd chosen before I entered the picture and one I'd already read and loved, so that was a bit of a relief.  I was nervous and had all kinds of notes and cheat sheets (no laughing, Melissa K.) and so many dog-ears and marked passages that Kirk totally made fun of me. 

I don't really know how it went, because I was too nervous to be a good judge, but it's over now, and I feel like I can breathe again.  I LOVE books and reading and writing, but speaking/presenting? No way.  Give me a paper and pencil and I could go on about a book for hours, more if I loved--or hated--the book, but ask me to talk about it in front of people and I suddenly can't remember my own name.

Breathe, Sonja.  Just breathe.  

Now I can read for fun...

5 Reasons I Adore Tanner

1. He sat in his car seat for nearly six hours today, with only a brief break to nurse, and he didn't cry once.  Not once.  This is typical.

2. He nurses like a bull rider.  He goes at it hard and fast, with his free arm waving about wildly, and then when he's done, he comes off with an air of triumph and a goofy little grin.

3. All you have to do is look at him, or say hi, and he breaks out in the giggles.

4. He puckers at applesauce and bananas and peaches, but he gobbles up grapefruit like there's no tomorrow.

5. He already gives great hugs.

Royal Army

In case you can't tell, these are fighting costumes. The guitar and ballet shoes pictures are actually boomerangs that can shoot lasers. And each color they are wearing (read--the more colors the better) symbolizes a different super power. Since Erilyn is only wearing pink, I suggested they count the different shades of pink and each shade could be a power. Erilyn has been prancing in her heels after Anthon all morning fighting bad guys.

Snow Day!

We had a record-breaking snow fall Wendesday night and Thursday, so we got that blessed of all winter days--a snow day! Kirk and the kids spent the majority of the day building snowmen, snow mountains and having snowball fights. I spent the day making batch after batch of hot chocolate, and doing laundry. Mostly I was trying to keep the kids as dry and warm as possible. Since we don't really have any snow gear (why bother?), and the snow was really wet, they were getting soaked and cold pretty quickly. Erilyn changed I think eight times, and Anthon was soaked to the bone over and over again. Every time they'd come in freezing, I'd give them a warm bath, put warm dry clothes back on them, and they'd head back out. It was an all day affair!

Anthon and his little snow man

Kirk and his snow man...or woman. I'm not sure.

Tanner's first snow experience. He seemed perplexed. I didn't keep him out very long, though, because he doesn't have a coat.

 

The players

I love snow days!

Bad night gone good

Last night started out normally enough.  Kirk and I spent the evening reading and talking like we usually do, and I headed to bed around 10:30. 

For the next four hours, it seemed, as soon as I would fall asleep, Kirk would start snoring and wake me up.  I finally asked him to sleep on the couch, which he did after warning me Erilyn was asleep on the floor next to me.  Fine.  Except, she was not asleep.  For the next two and half hours, I watched the clock and tried to convince Erilyn that it was indeed the middle of the night still and that she should go back to sleep.  Just as she started quieting down, in comes Kirk with Tanner, so I fed him while Kirk went back to bed...er...couch, and expected him to go right back to sleep as he usually does.  No such luck. 

Amazingly, this night of no sleep turned into a sweet, tender memory.  In the quiet of the night, I got to snuggle with my baby girl and talk to her and find out a little of what she thinks about.  Her whispered stories and soft little hugs brought me so much joy.

Because of this, when Kirk brought Tanner in, I welcomed him and was anxious to snuggle with this little one as well.  The quiet rhythm of his suck, swallow, breath seemed so sweet.  I was struck by the beauty of giving him life; of his complete trust and vulnerability; and I was overpowered by a sense of love for this sweet little guy. 

Instead of going back to sleep after he was done, he laid next to me smiling, with his little hand reaching out to touch my face.  I spent the next hour letting him touch my face and listening to his soft little coos and raspberries.  I couldn't get enough. Such a sweet night.

He's mobile

Ooohhh...almost there, buddy!

First complete rollover. My days of finding him where I left him and plopping him down on the couch, just for a sec, are over. My baby's gone mobile.

Tanner is 6 months old!

I can't believe this kid.  He is a dream baby.  Have you ever read Secrets of the Baby Whisperer?  I found it when I was pregnant with Erilyn and LOVED it.  It helped so much with Erilyn.  Anyway, in it, the author, Tracy Hogg, categorizes the most common temperments of babies into five "types:" the angel baby, the textbook baby, the touchy baby, the spirited baby, and the grumpy baby.  Without going into a lot of detail (the names are pretty self-explanatory), Tanner is by far, without a doubt, an angel baby.

I heard someone say once that she thought God always made the third child easy since he knew how difficult the jump from two to three kids can be and while I'm not naive enough to believe that's true, it certainly is true that my sweet Tanner is a dream come true!  He is a such a joy to have around; always pleasant, rarely demanding, and constantly smiling.

He's not a huge fan of tummy time, and never has been, so I have a hard time getting him to roll from his back to his tummy, though he's been able to go the other way pretty much since we brought him home from the hospital at about three months old. He can sit up with some support, grab at toys and pass them from one hand to another, jump (in his jumper), and laugh big giant belly laughs which are incredibly contagious.  Nothing like a baby laughing to kick you out of a bad mood. 

We've started him on real food and so far he's had, in this order, rice cereal (which he thought I was trying to kill him with!  He'd gag and choke and make yucky faces, so we gave up the cereal after about a week and moved on), peas (which he hated), squash, green beans, and sweet potatoes all of which he liked okay, and now we're onto applesauce, which he makes a face at but will eat. 

He loves baths and bedtime stories with Anthon and Erilyn.  He loves to watch them run around and play and laughs at them pretty much whenever they look at him, which is fun for them. I have the magic touch for him when he's sad or fussy (which is not very often), but I still can't get him to laugh like Kirk can.  It's adorable.  Sometimes all it takes is for Kirk to say "Hey buddy."  So cute.

I'll stop now, before I make a total fool out of myself bragging about my baby (when really, I had nothing to do with his temperment besides my genetics) but I will end by saying that, as if being a dream baby wasn't enough, he's also the most adorable, chubby little thing ever! 

Friends

For whatever reason, I'm feeling particularly grateful tonight for friends.  I have some of the best around.  They bless my life just by existing and I'm so, so grateful that our lives not only crossed paths, but have become intertwined.

Homemade

In an effort to have more control over the amount of sugar and salt my kids take in, I spent the weekend making homemade granola, granola bars, trail mix, chicken broth, and muffins.  The granola recipe needs to be tweaked before it'll be a hit for breakfast, but it made great granola bars.  Basically I just made Rice Krispie treats but with granola instead of Rice Krispies, and I added mini dark chocolate chips and the kids love them!  I also hid healthy things in my muffins, like carrots, and bananas, and blueberries, and bran flakes (not all in the same muffin). My freezer is now stocked with quick, healthy things for Anthon to grab when he's making his own lunch (I know, he's amazing). I also packaged snacks from the store (like pretzels) into appropriate portions, cut cheese and put it in baggies, cut up veggies and put them in baggies, and made a snack bucket (for Anthon to use for his lunches) and a "free snacks" drawer in the fridge that the kids can raid whenever they want (fruits and veggies only).

                                                                                                            

I'm also trying to be more creative about Anthon's lunches since even the best kids can get tired of PB&Js day in and day out, so I bought little containers to send salad in (one of Anthon's favorite things), and fruit, and whatever else comes to mind.  For his lunch tomorrow he's having a tortilla roll-up, with cream cheese, ham, lettuce and tomato, a homemade granola bar, an apple, and organic fruit leather (that last one's a bit extravagant, admittedly; we'll see how long it lasts), with V8 fusion juice in his thermos--(no juice boxes for this boy, he wants to do his part to help the planet).

Hmph.  I think I'm feeling a bit smug!

...and a little child shall lead them.

I am NOT good at mornings.  Rolling out of bed in time to get Anthon off to school is about the best I've ever done...until lately.

I was getting tired of telling the kids every night what they needed to get done before bedtime, and it finally occurred to me that if I gave them a list that they could understand, and a deadline, that, with proper motivation, they would probably get it done without me having to remind them.  So, I made them each a chart (each of their charts is different, which was another recent realization--why make their charts the same when they each have different capabilities?  Anthon can read, for instance, but Erilyn can't.) and told them I'd be sitting on the couch ready to read stories at 7:30 and if their bedtime stuff was done, they could join me.  If not, then no stories for the night. Fortunately, the possibility of no stories was motivation enough for them and bedtimes have been a DREAM.

Their charts...

I also gave them morning stuff to do.  And they're supposed to have it done before 7:00, which is when we're supposed to have family scriptures, and before they can eat breakfast at 7:15.  I presented this to them on Monday, as part of family night and even though I told them we wouldn't be starting it until Tuesday, they both did their bedtime charts on their own.  The first day, Tuesday, I rolled out of bed at 7:15 prepared to skip family scriptures again for the sake of time (it's easy to do when you're not immediately accountable to anyone; the kids are..er...were...unaware that this is supposed to be family scripture time) and met Anthon in the hallway.  He was dressed, pjs put away, bed made, prayers said, backpack ready, even teeth brushed, and was looking at me expectantly.  He said, "Are we having family scriptures?"  ?!?!  Oh right...I put it on his chart.  What am I supposed to say to that?  No? Well, I couldn't.  And to my credit (I'd like to think), I took his cue as an opportunity and we had family scriptures and family prayer that morning.  True, Anthon ate toast in the car for breakfast, but he was happy to do so, and I felt good about starting his day in a good way.

(I love the way Erilyn makes her bed--she did this all on her own before I had a chance to teach her anything!)

 (I made Anthon a blanket that matches his night table and a rug he has, but he loves this dinosaur blanket that Kirk used as a kid. I can't get him to use anything else!)

All week long, he was finished with everything he was supposed to do by 7:00am, in time for family scriptures, and we had a great week.  Even Erilyn made her bed all by herself every morning.  She stacks all her stuffed animals by her pillow...so cute!  It brought me to tears the other day thinking of how my children have lead me to be a better mother.  It is they who remind me of what's important.  They have taken the responsibilities I've given them seriously and fulfilled them all beautifully all week long and in so doing have encouraged me to take mine seriously and fulfill them.  I am so grateful for their example and to see them grow and learn.  It is a joy I never dreamed of but one I enjoy fully.

My baby is coughing again.

Not the same dry, can't get a breath-in coughs that he had with pertussis, and that landed him in the PICU a few months ago, but still. It breaks my heart to hear him coughing. Again. I think it might be croup. Poor kid. He's doing alright, though, and he has his 6 month check up on Thursday so I've decided not to panic unless he has trouble breathing.
He's a trooper, though. Always smiling at me and blowing raspberries. Kirk thinks his spitting is funny. Anthon and Erilyn think it's hilarious how often he sticks his tongue out and spits at them. I think it's....wet. He's always wet!
He's a very content baby. Happy to just be wherever and do whatever. He does love his jumper toy though, and he's getting to be quite a rigorous jumper. It's so cute to watch him go at it with a big ol' grin on his face.
I just love his chubby little legs and bum and I can't get enough of his chubby little cheeks. I ache for him to stay this age forever. I just love it. I'm trying to soak it in and enjoy it, but already I can see him getting bigger. He's days away from being able to roll all the way over and that alone changes everything.
Those cheeks are calling...

I love that Anthon and Erilyn both go to sleep on the floor by their doors so they can look down the hallway at each other.