3 Cute Characters

It is definitely time for an update!  I am horrible at keeping up with a blog, and adding a 3rd child hasn't helped.  Life with 3 kids is so much busier than I ever could have imagined.  We are still trying to figure out how to keep up with everything after more than 3 months!  Maybe by 6 months I'll have it down :)  Although it is busy I can't believe how blessed I am to have such delightful and adorable kids who bring a wonderful, special spirit to our home.  I just want to jot down a few things about each of them so I can remember this phase we are in.

Kaleb:

• His most favorite things right now are probably dinosaurs and certain animals.  He loves cheetahs, leopards, jaguars, peregrine falcons, sharks, wolves, and most of the animals featured on Wild Kratts, his favorite show. He loves learning and talking about different kinds of dinosaurs and their distinguishing features.  He can tell you the difference between a pachycephalosaurus, hadrosaurus, ankylosaurus, spinosaurus, and so many more.  I love reading and learning about dinosaurs right along with him.
• He wants to be a super hero when he grows up and asks me daily to feel his muscles :)
• He loves to sing, and really has a knack for remembering song lyrics.  His current favorite are the songs from Hercules and the "Be a Man" song from Mulan.
• He loves to build with KNEX and legos and I am really impressed by the cool designs he comes up with!
• He adores Isaiah and is so helpful with taking care of him.  Kaleb is actually super helpful with so much.  I can't imagine a kinder, more obedient and well mannered little boy.  He is so wonderful.
• He often tells me I'm pretty.  I think he likes that it clearly makes me so happy :)
• He is very quick to let someone know (politely) when he thinks they are wrong.  He generally has an opinion on things and doesn't hesitate to speak up.
• He changes his outfit several times a day, which drives me crazy some days because of the pile of barely worn clothes on his bedroom floor.  It is fun, though, that he wants to have a say in what he wears and he is very particular about what he'll put on.
• For some reason, he recently lost the ability to keep his eyes open while a picture is taken :) 

Aliyah

• Words cannot describe the delight that this little girl brings to our home.  Pretty much everything that comes out of her mouth brings a smile to my face...except for when she is throwing one of her major tantrums.  Her behavior is so hot and cold...either so happy and sweet and so excited about life, or screaming and being completely unreasonable.  Luckily the happy times are the way most days are spent.
• She has 3 favorite movies right now.  Her most favorite is Hercules and she asks to watch it at least once per day.  She loves to sing and dance to the songs.  Her other 2 favorites are Enchanted and Mary Poppins.  Bee Movie and Despicable Me are also definitely in the running. 
• She is a little ballerina princess, and she will tell you that with confidence.  She loves all things ballerina.  She loves to twirl and pose and wear her tutu.  There is a cute ballerina show that comes on once a week, so it is a special occasion when we watch Angelina Ballerina.
• Aliyah's favorite word is DowDow.  We don't know exactly what a DowDow is, but it seems to be the answer to many questions and the name for many things Aliyah creates :) 
• She loves reading and drawing and building with legos and playing at the park and swimming and all things girly.  I have so much fun doing her hair and painting her nails and talking about how we both love pink.
• She gets spooked easily, thanks to a book called "The Monster at the End of the Book," which really isn't a scary book at all.  Ever since we read that book though, she is often frightened by loud noises or when any of us raises our voice at all.
• Some of our favorite Aliyah phrases are, "That's not ok!" "Don't forget..." "I can't know" "Just nothing" "I would love to" "I probably can" "How about [enter anything here], is that a good idea?"  "That's so awesome!" "That's a bummer in the summer"  
• She thinks Isaiah is pretty neat, except for when I am feeding him.  She tells me pretty much every time I sit down to nurse him that she doesn't want me to feed him.  She is so sweet with him though, and always talks about how cute he is and that he has the same bum as Kaleb's.

Isaiah:

•  We call Isaiah our little tank, or chubbers because he is one big baby!  He is 3 months old and he already wears some 6-12 months clothes.  I think his chunkiness must contribute to his disposition, because he is generally such a calm, happy baby.  (Jonny might disagree with me on that)
• He has become a super roller!  This kid can seriously move.  I thought he wouldn't move around as much and as early because of his chubs but he is all over the place.  It makes us a little bit nervous because he ends up on his tummy during the night and during naps and we worry about him getting into a position where he can't breathe very well.
• Isaiah has a smile that just makes us melt.  He opens his mouth so wide and looks so happy and excited that he is about to burst.  He acts like he is going to coo or make some cute little baby sound, and all that comes out is a crack in his throat because he is just too excited to actually "talk."
• Isaiah is a momma's boy and I am telling you...he loves me so much.  I have felt from the day he was born that he somehow conveys so much love to me.  When I get home from work he hugs me with his tiny little arms and just seems so thoroughly happy to see me and it fills my heart with so much joy.  I get the same reaction every morning, and I just feel like he has missed me and is so thrilled that it is time to cuddle.
• He watches Kaleb and Aliyah so closely.  It is clear that he already thinks they are so neat and wants attention from them.  
• Unfortunately, he is a spitter upper.  We lucked out with Kaleb and Aliyah, but now we get to smell that sour odor and get drenched with it ourselves each day.  He also drools a lot, mainly on Jonny's arm.
• Isaiah is such a great sleeper, which I firmly believe is due to the fact that Heavenly Father knew I'd lose it if I didn't get enough sleep.  I am very grateful for the divine help :) Most nights he gives me at least an 8 hour stretch.  There are occasional nights when he'll wake up and want to eat, but he always goes right back to sleep. He is also a pretty good napper most days.
• A couple weeks ago we decided that Isaiah's hair was out of control.  There was so little on top, so much in back and pretty much none on the sides...so we buzzed it.  We were happy to find that he got even cuter with his new do.

We are having a fun summer here in Spokane.  June was beyond busy and we were basically in survivor mode for about 5 weeks.  Jonny finished up his class and I started a job working for Family School of Music, which has been a huge blessing for us.  I work 2 shifts each week, which gives me a chance to get out of the apartment and Jonny a chance to spend more time with the kids.  July is a nice change of pace and we are loving having a little more time to relax and just enjoy being a family.  Jonny has applied to transfer to a few schools, so we are waiting in limbo as we wonder where we will be spending the next 2 years.  We have recovered from a horrible morning about 2 weeks ago when we discovered that someone had shattered our van window and taken my purse.  This has definitely been a learning experience for us...and yes, I did wish we could just move back to our sweet Sugar City.  Maybe someday :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

We had a fun little photo shoot to get ready for Valentine's Day, and can I just say how tickled I am that I can finally get both kids to look at me and smile for a picture! 

Showing off their new shades :)

They love each other so much!

Quick wardrobe change, since there can't be a photo shoot without capes!

Showing off their superhero muscles!

I love spending each and every day with these two!  They are so fun and delightful :)

Toddler Fun

Well we are counting down pretty quickly now...only 7 weeks to go until we are a family of 5 :)  I have purchased a few little newborn items and a couple warm 0-3 month items since most of our tiny baby clothes from Kaleb are summer clothes, and can I just say that looking at those little clothes and thinking of what I have for this baby (and the great deals I've found!) makes me smile.  I love baby stuff and I love looking forward to meeting our little Isaiah man.  I'm so excited for Kaleb and so nervous for Aliyah.  I think Kaleb is going to do great with the new addition.  He loves talking about all the things he is going to teach his little brother and he gets just as excited about the baby clothes as I do (ok, maybe not quite as much).  Aliyah on the other hand just wants the clothes to be for her, and she is still coming to me very frequently throughout the day saying, "I need you," wanting me to hold her.  I love this, most of the time, but I am worried about how she will feel about sharing me in a couple of months.  Since I know life will suddenly get really, super crazy I just have to jot down a few things about Kaleb and Aliyah and the stage they are in now.

Aliyah:

• Still looks up to Kaleb and wants to be just like him in every way possible.  Sometimes the only way to get her to wear a shirt is to beg Kaleb to put one on.  (Both kids love to run around with shorts and no shirt, and they call it being a wild animal)
• Calls Kaleb Beeboo.  It started out as Beebo, but has changed to Beeboo and I think it began with her attempt to say brother.  Kaleb usually doesn't mind the nickname and Jonny and I think it is really sweet, especially when she is concerned about him.  She will get really close to him and in a worried voice she'll say, "Ok Beeboo?"  
• Just after Thanksgiving Aliyah decided to start talking like crazy.  She is communicating so well, and it is fun to have her more involved in conversation.  For a while her favorite thing to say was "but....no" but she doesn't say that too often anymore.  Now her favorite answer to any question is "legahlegah" which we haven't figured out the meaning of yet.  I think she just likes that it sounds silly :)  She often sings that word over and over with a lot of feeling.
• Aliyah got 2 baby dolls for Christmas and she loves playing with them.  She has a nurturing side that comes out when she is holding a baby doll or stuffed animal, and I am glad to see it because when she plays cars and dinosaurs and action figures she can get really rough!
• She has started to talk a lot about bad guys, and seems a little bit scared of them.  She generally refers to the bad guy as either being a dragon or Tai Lung from Kung Fu Panda, and she often wants to be reassured that we would never let the bad guy get her.  Whenever she brings this up, Kaleb is quick to remind her that he is her prince and he looks for a weapon to go destroy the villain.  His latest weapon of choice is an empty milk or water jug.  A lot of the time Aliyah will go with him to fight the bad guys, which Kaleb loves except for the fact that she often says the bad guy is cute.  That drives Kaleb crazy :) 
• In addition to bad guys, Aliyah thinks many things are so cute.  The grocery store, bubbles, babies and stuffed animals of course, Grammy and Nonna, Daddy, green grass, and her shoes...the list could be updated each day with more "cuteness."  
• Aliyah loves the Batman theme song and sings it over and over, especially in sacrament meeting. 
• We've been working on ABC's and colors and Aliyah is picking it up so well.  I love it when she gets the colors right or randomly points out different letters she sees :)  I kind of feel like I've dropped the ball in teaching her these things before now, so I'm glad she's catching on so quickly! 

Kaleb:

• Kaleb is a very kind and loving older brother...most of the time.  He definitely likes to tease and he has become pretty bossy with Aliyah but he is much more caring toward her than she is to him.  He hasn't really ever been rough with other kids, which I've been grateful for.  Now if we can just convince Aliyah that it isn't ok to hit!  
• Kaleb absolutely loves dinosaurs, dragons, sharks, action figures (guys), cars, and building things (Legos, K'NEX, etc).  He is really pretty easy to keep happy as long as he has his toys and if he has enough rest and food in his body.
• He loves it when we plan activities for the time during Aliyah's nap.  We play Candy Land, or build with K'NEX, or do his sticker book, or read, or make a treat.  Pretty much anything that involves my one on one attention without Aliyah around to mess things up or knock things over makes him so happy.  
• Kaleb is learning the Articles of Faith and he is doing so great!  He loves it, which really helps.  He has the first 4 memorized perfectly and we're going to start working on the 5th.  I love the way he pronounces some of the words with his little 3-year-old voice.  Words like transgression and ordinances sound so cute coming from him :)
• About a week ago we started having Kaleb wear underwear to bed.  He has only woken up with a wet pull-up 5 or 6 times since we started potty training him in October, so we were pretty sure he would do great in underwear.  So far, no accidents!  Just in case, we bought a waterproof mattress cover, but he really seems to take pride in not having any accidents...day or night.  He has done so well with being potty trained.  I just hope Aliyah will be as easy. 
• Kaleb has an amazing imagination.  Honestly, in some ways I am jealous because I feel like I have no imagination at all.  I am so grateful whenever I notice him being really creative with his toys or really just any household item, because I think it is so valuable for kids to play like that.
• This is kind of a random, small thing but it makes me happy so here it is: Kaleb loves veggies!  His current favorite is bell peppers.  He really loves red, yellow, and orange peppers and would probably like green as well.  We just haven't bought a green one to try it out yet.  He also loves celery, carrots, broccoli, tomatoes, cucumbers and corn.  He requests them for snacks and I am just really glad because it makes it easier to get healthy food in his little body :) 

The semester is going really well for us so far. There have been some ups and downs, but we feel really blessed to be where we are right now.  Jonny has applied to a lot (I think 17) different law firms or companies for internship opportunities this summer and we are beginning to hear back from them now.  So far we know he missed the deadline on one, another canceled their intern program, one law firm selected another applicant, and he has interviews with 4 of the law firms this week.  It will be so nice to have a plan for this summer and be able to move forward on taking care of the different details.  Jonny is still loving law school which makes me feel very grateful.  He is so happy and excited for the future.  I'm so glad he found something he really loves to do.

I have just been enjoying my time at home with the kids.  It is cold and the weather is pretty nasty most days so we don't get out much, but we have a lot of fun at home together.  On nicer days we venture out and go on walks around the pond, usually to the mailboxes and then back home.  The kids are in heaven when we are outside, even if it is freezing cold.  I love to witness their joy that comes from such simple things.  Life really is so simple and wonderful right now.  I love our laid back days where we just play and cuddle and laugh a lot and enjoy one another.  Being a mom is really hard at times, but overall it is so much fun!  I love that I always have my little friends with me :) I am really grateful for how great I feel for being 33 weeks along, and I just keep waiting for the extreme discomfort to set in.  I have been experiencing nesting like crazy, which I have to say I really enjoy.  I get in these cleaning moods and I get so much done! Then, after a couple of hours, my body reminds me of its current condition and I have to rest for a bit but I love having really productive days.
 

Well that is just a little bit about each of us and our day-to-day lives.  Since I don't post very often, the next time I do will probably be all about our newborn!  Yay!