October 19, 2014

I've wanted to give a little update on each of the kids for a while. We feel so blessed to have three beautiful, healthy children! We've had several reminders lately that each day is such a blessing.

SAMUEL is 4 1/2 and is a great big brother for his two sisters. He is REALLY into money and has been for the past couple months. Most days he spends a lot of his time counting his money. He's become really good at counting, adding, and subtracting because it! We do "school" about 3 times a week where we do songs about the days of the week, months of the year, say the Pledge, sing the Star Spangled Banner, work on an Article of Faith, and then each of the kids do their assignments. Sam usually does a page or two in his numbers book and writes his name. Then each day when the girls are napping him and I have a "lunch date" together and then he reads to me from his reader books. He's becoming a good little reader and he is just SO fun to teach. He takes correction really well and is always eager to learn things the right way. I love this about him! He loves to be read to so we read lots of books each day. He has enjoyed his Playsmart class at the library (30 min. on Thursdays, over now) and is enduring his weekly soccer clinic. He loves soccer but had a negative experience one day (he's a little too competitive...AND he asked his coach if he could go say a prayer with me that he'd get the ball, and his coach said no:( ) and now isn't excited to go. Just one more week of that. He likes to shorten words. I think he gets this from me but he's taken it much further! If I asked "Should we have french toast or pancakes for breakfast?" he may reply "French!" or "Pan!" Or "Frenchy" or "Pany." :) Funny kid. He loves to wrestle and box and is still just all boy.
Before Zoe was born Sam saw a nerf gun at Target that he really wanted. It cost $30. Ever since then he's been talking about it, begging for it, and working to earn money to buy it. He'd tell strangers about his $30 gun and everything. He talked about it nonstop. He worked for several months (washing neighbor Paul's car, walking/feeding Hershey the dog next door, doing jobs for me, keeping his diaper dry, etc.) and finally got it a couple weeks ago. He'd only earned $14 or so but we told him we'd pay for the rest of it if he didn't suck on his finger for a whole week (he'd suck on his finger to go to sleep at night). He did it!! Caleb held his hand every night while he fell asleep for a week more after that to make sure he'd broken the habit, and he hasn't sucked on it since. We're proud of him.

The exciting walk to the toy isle, money case in hand.

He couldn't look at me long enough to get a picture because he wanted to keep looking at all the other guns.

Sam really loves Eliza. I asked him if he wanted to go to preschool and he said he'd rather stay at home with Eliza. Some days he begs Eliza not to take a nap. I tried to take him on a date last week, but he didn't want to go without Eliza!

At the zoo several weeks ago Eliza really wanted to ride the pony. I only had $3 cash and the ride cost $2 per person. The lovely lady wouldn't budge and let my two kids go for $3 so I tried to convince Sam to let Eliza go. He was NOT happy, even with the "any treat you want" bribery (meanwhile Eliza was throwing a huge tantrum, kicking and screaming on the asphalt). Finally something clicked and he decided to let her go.

ELIZA is 2 1/2 and has come a LONG way the past month!! She went through a hard phase with adjusting to having a new baby, then our long trip to Utah. We've learned that she needs schedule and consistency and LOTS of love!! Isn't love just always the answer? That's what I'm learning! She is really growing up and is becoming such a peacemaker. She has the cutest little voice and LOVES to talk. She loves anything princess or pink. GIRLY girl. She's also really tough and can hold her own wrestling with the boys now. I love her prayers. She usually says, "Please bless us to be strong and healthy, and Daddy too, and Mommy too, and Samuel too, and Zoe too..." (while opening her eyes half way to point at each person while she says their name).
She knows when she's ready for her nap and will flat out tell us, "I'm ready to go to sleep." She still sucks on her pacifier to go to sleep. :/ She picks her own clothes, and knows what she wants when she wants it! She changes her outfit several times a day. Sometimes a shirt all of a sudden becomes "not beautiful" or "I don't need this one anymore." I finally got smart and we keep her shirts in a basket on the floor instead of hanging them up all day long!! (I'm in search of other simple process improvements that really makes our days easier!) She loves doing school in the mornings (lately she traces shapes or the letter "E") and also LOVES books and being read to.

I forgot that her bath water was running the other day... she didn't mind at all!

Goodbye hugs after meeting up with Caleb for lunch at Lake Parsippany. Love this pic.

Twirling around in her mini dress in the street singing, "I'm a Princess... in high heels.. let it go!!"

The kids get hooked on one thing for a couple weeks and then move onto something else. For several weeks it was riding their bikes and wearing their capes that Grandma Andersen made them.

Leaving for our date a few weeks ago. We went to Walmart and got magic clip princesses, a princess night light, and suckers. :)

ZOE is 4 1/2 months old and is the sweetest baby ever! She is calm and happy and sleeps well and is just sweet. Her and I have thrush (AGAIN) so we're back to doing nystatin 4 times a day. Hoping we can kick it permanently this time. Her torticollis has been a constant concern for us the past couple months as well and I've had to stretch her neck several times a day. She's gotten a lot stronger but we think she needs some help from the chiropractor, that it's a misalignment in her back. We'll see this week. She loves her fingers in her mouth and this week has started sucking her thumb. I kind of tried to stop her but she's persistent and I gave in. :) Her smiles and coos melt our hearts!

Zoe at her 4 month check-up