9-22

9. Modern medicine. Oliver has had a rough week with his allergies, which went crazy and led to him getting infections in both ears and eyes. He has been miserable, but it's finally clearing up thanks to some awesome antibiotics! I'm so grateful that I can take my kid to the doctor and get him the help that he needs.

10. On a similar note, I'm super grateful for health insurance! Because, dang, medicine is expensive.

12. Car clickers. Seriously. I went a couple of weeks borrowing my parents' car while mine was in the shop, and it was ridiculous trying to drag the kids out to the car without my clicker to easily lock and unlock the doors. First world problem, yes.

13. My mom. She's one of my best friends. I love that she taught me how to sew and encouraged creativity throughout my life. And, having raised 5 kids, she's one of the first people I turn to for parenting and kid advice.

14. My dad. It's hard to feel bad about yourself when you're at the shooting range with your dad. My dad taught me to do all sorts of awesome things, like rock climbing, rappelling, and the aforementioned shooting. I went through a weird phase in high school and knowing that I could do some hardcore stuff helped me to have confidence and like myself.

15. CJ! We're pretty far apart in age, so we were never very good friends growing up. But, it's been awesome to watch his example with his wife and family over the years. He's always been a calming influence among the siblings, and there are times when we definitely need that. :)

16. Carrie! She is smart and beautiful and so adventurous! She taught me the life lesson to not care about what other people think of you, and that has served me very well throughout the years.

17. Julie! She's always been one of my best friends and I know I can count on her for anything. And it has been so much fun being stay-at-home moms together! I'm so lucky that she's awesome. :) and Cecily loves Ellie SO much and it's awesome.

18. Gideon! Growing up with Gideon as a little brother was difficult. We fought a LOT, which got a lot scarier as he got bigger and bigger, and then was a 13-year old who was 6 feet tall! But, as we got older and both got a little more mature, he became one of my favorite people to spend time with. I miss him, and I'm so excited for him to get home from his mission next year!

19. Jonathan's mom. She was a single mom for basically Jonathan's whole life. I can't imagine how hard that must have been, but she did an amazing job. She is one of Cecily's absolute favorite people. It's so cute to see how excited she gets to go see Granny. :)

20. Washing machines. Can you imagine having to hand wash everything?? I can barely get everything put away.

21. Computers. Life as a stay-at-home mom can be kind of isolating, and it's nice to be able to get online and talk to people and get a little bit of grown-up conversation. And it's an awesome way to stay in touch with friends who have moved away!

22. Hot showers. Especially after a long day.

5, 6, 7 and 8

5. My religion. Being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is a HUGE part of my life. I love the gospel so much, and I'm so glad that Jonathan and I have the chance to raise my kids in it. The knowledge that I am a child of God, and that my family can be together forever has helped me through every hard time I've had in my life.

6. Books. I have always loved to read and it makes me so happy to be able to pass that love along to my children. I was definitely considered a nerd at times (especially when my friend and I read the dictionary during recess for fun when we were 10...), but I don't mind.

7. Christmas!! I don't understand this new trend of not liking Christmas, but whatever. I stinkin' love everything about Christmas! I'm a little shocked with myself that it's already November 8th and we don't have a tree up yet, but it's been busy. That tree will go up tomorrow!! I've already started singing Christmas songs with the kids and I'm planning our church Christmas party. It just makes me happy. And happy is definitely something I've been needing lately.

8. My awesome family! Tonight we're going out with a bunch of people from my family to see Ender's Game (!!!). I love that we're all friends who like to hang out with each other. It makes me sad when people talk about how it's been a few years since they've really talked to their siblings or whatever. A few YEARS?? I've only talked to my sister like once since she moved a few months ago, and I miss her like crazy! I don't know how those people do it. I love my family. I'm glad we're all stuck together forever. :)

Gratitude

I got a bit of a late start on the 30 days of gratitude thing.

1. My awesome husband. He's the coolest guy I know and he works so hard for our little family! He's so understanding of my weaknesses and crazy times, and is always there to help me feel better when life feels overwhelming. I love you, Jonathan! :)

2. Cecily! This little lady is amazing! This morning she woke up at 5:30 while Jonathan was getting ready for work and he put her on the couch with some books and told her to sit and read until I woke up, then he left for work. When I got up an hour later, she was still sitting quietly looking at her books. She had out away the ones that Jonathan got out for her and gotten a few more out. I'm so grateful that she can be trusted to not destroy the house or hurt herself when left alone for a bit.

3. Oliver! This little man makes me so happy! He is so easy-going and social. He loves to laugh and dance and snuggle and he's always making Cecily and I crack up. I absolutely love his giant smile and fluffy white hair!

4. The new baby! Admittedly, this has been a very rough pregnancy. But I'm glad that our kids will all be close together and that I won't still be having babies when Cecily is 12! I'm super excited to meet this little person in a couple of months!

Oliver is 1!

Happy birthday, Oliver!! 

well, happy one-day-early-birthday!

This little man is wonderful! He's been such a good baby (for the most part). He doesn't really say any words yet, just dadadadadadada, and occasionally, mamamamamamamamma. He can sign "more" and "all done", but not really with any consistency. This past week, he's started folding his arms any time we say, "Time for prayer!" It is the cutest!

 Oliver has a very chill demeanor, usually. Obviously, he's not a perfect angel all the time, but for the most part, unless he's tired or hungry, he's perfectly content. Sometimes he'll sit and play in the floor by himself for like an hour at a time. It's kind of awesome. 

He'll eat pretty much anything he can put in his own mouth. He HATES to be fed by other people. His favorite foods right now are cheese, cottage cheese, grapes, and tomatoes. 

He has recently started to love reading books! Finally! Up until a couple of weeks ago, he had NEVER sat still through an entire story, but now he loves it! Especially when Cecily "reads" him the books that she has memorized (which is a very surprising number... this girl remembers everything!)

Oliver loves people. Seriously, anyone. I'm a little worried, because he has zero stranger-danger instinct. I guess Cecily stole it all and there was none left for him. He took his first steps earlier this week, not towards me, Jonathan, or even Cecily, but towards Miss Sarah, the lady who does story times at the library. He loves her! He has frequently abandoned me at church and story time to crawl into random people's laps. 

That's our little man in a nutshell! We love love love him! 

Pretty Pretty Princess!

Cecily has gotten VERY opinionated about the clothes she wears and her typical outfit consists of jeans and a t-shirt. This has been way harder for me than I thought it would be. I want to dress my little girl in adorable little bohemian dresses and plaid skirts, but she'll have none of it. 

So, today, when she randomly told me she wanted to play princesses, I was super excited! She decided that I needed to wear my "princess dress", too, so I donned my wedding dress, she put on her Easter dress, and we found our adorable crocheted crowns (which, coincidentally, are available for sale at my etsy shop! https://www.etsy.com/listing/122711996/crochet-princess-crown?) and headed outside. I've decided that I need to find more excuses to wear that dress, because it is so much fun to wear!! And, 4 years and 2 kids later, it still fits like a glove! Awesome! 

Of course, I had to bust out the tripod and take a few pictures of us. :)

Random happenings

 Breakfast with panda every morning. :)

Oreo mustache. 

 She's a little OCD... 

But, it's nice, because she can actually put away the silverware all by herself! And put everything in the right places!

Proof that he has hair! It's just invisible or radioactive...

It's already been 6 months?!?

Yup, our little man is 6 months old! He is the most smiley, giggly, darling little boy! I am seriously in LOVE with his adorable smile. It's huge and amazing! He has started trying to crawl, probably because Cecily tries to steal his toys all the time and leaves them *just* out of his reach. Poor kid. He wants desperately to stand up, and he's getting pretty good, as long as he has a finger to hold on to. He doesn't really dislike anything, except being hungry. He'll be totally fine, then 30 seconds later, he's screaming bloody murder until he gets fed. He loves instrumental scores, so he falls asleep to the Harry Potter soundtrack or the John Williams station on Pandora. He chews on everything and still spits up all the time. He loves Cecily so much! No one can make him laugh more than she can and it is so much fun to see them play together!

Somehow he has managed to get his arm out of his pajamas multiple times. I have no idea, but it makes him so upset. Not fun to deal with at 3 am.

They are so goofy. I love it.

(Ha, Cecily just looked at this picture and said, "What are Oliver and Ceci doing?" I have no idea, sweetheart.)

Almost crawling!

He has the adorably weird dimple just under his eye.