Update

Wow, so much time and so little to say. Seriously, though I've tried to sit down and post many times and just haven't been able to string together coherent thoughts. I cannot guarantee that I've successfully overcome that, but I'm posting anyway.

With a newborn it seems Brennan and I do a lot of divide and conquer. The conquering part is good, but the divide part gets old. Last weekend my parents kindly babysat all the kids including Joshy. I never leave a newborn with a sitter and my parents know that so they always try to help once after we have a baby. It was so nice to sit by each other and actually have a conversation. I love Brennan.

Anna had a really neat adventure that I want her to post about, so hopefully that will be coming soon. I've been so impressed with her lately. She's been incredibly busy with homework, soccer, piano and ballet, but has had such a great attitude and really worked hard. We love Anna.

The other night we were coming home from my parents' house where my mom had done a big treasure hunt for the grandkids. I was telling my kids how blessed they are to have such great grandparents. They wholeheartedly agreed then Abby added, "I love Grandpa and Grandma so much and I would love them even if Grandpa wasn't famous and Grandma didn't give us treats." We love Abigail.

I was so worried about Nate transitioning to being at school all day long. In keeping with his habit of being totally unpredictable, he seems to be thriving. I think he just is so much happier when he's busy all day. He comes home happy and ready to get his chores done and play with a friend. He's gotten much more social and has also rediscovered his bike and loves to be outside every chance he gets. We love Nate.

Benjamin George is constantly making me smile. This was his get-up last Saturday. I'm pretty sure he was in those jammies all day, we didn't go anywhere so why not, right? Anyway, the way he was strutting around with his princess helmet and mis-matched gloves was killing me because I just knew in his mind he was the toughest biker dude EVER when he got on that big wheel of his. I keep being surprised at what a fabulous little companion he is. He's happy to entertain himself, but totally up for running errands or getting together with Abe and Belle. He's just a happy, sweet, really fun little guy. We love Benny.



Joshua is oh so adorable. Jan, I still don't know who he looks like. A lot of people say they see Brennan and Anna in him, but to me he's got his own look going on. This week he started giggling and none of us can get over it. He's so quick to smile, in fact every time I put him in his swing when he's still awake I'll go to check on him and there he is cooing and smiling at some invisible friend of his. It's the cutest thing. It does make me wonder who's hanging around here, but any friend of Joshua's from heaven is welcome here. Anyone who's had a baby knows exactly how I feel, but it's still frustrating not to be able to describe the feeling of complete joy he gives me. I love that he has the same effect on our whole family. We love Joshua.

Angels

This hasn't been my favorite week. I got a sinus/ear infection that gave me vertigo which made me nauseated. It's tricky bouncing or rocking a baby when your head is spinning when you're holding still let alone moving. I'm finally starting to feel better, but am still a little dizzy. The good news is:

Joshy and Benny have been angels. Joshua has never been more adorable, smiling and cooing, oh I can't get enough of him. Ben was so good natured to just play and watch shows with me while I laid around as much as I could.

One afternoon I stood up to go get Joshua and got hit with a wave of nausea. I knew I wasn't going to be able to ride that wave out so I set Joshy down on the ground and yelled for Anna and dashed to the bathroom. Anna quickly rescued Joshy from being "rescued" by Benny. She then grabbed the phone and called Brennan to tell him I was not in good shape. She knew he was supposed to work late that night but suggested he figure out a way to come home earlier. She then kept checking with me to see if she could get me anything.

Poor Brennan had a crazy busy day, but stayed home as long as he could and then did find a way to come home earlier than planned. My mom came to help me and my visiting teachers brought dinner yet again. I HATE being sick, but it has made me grateful for all the angels in my life, oh and for antibiotics.

Update

We went out to a balloon festival Friday night and had a really nice time.

such a pretty sight

This was definitely the highlight for the kids - sitting on top of the minivan.
Anna wasn't there instead we have Abby's friend, Paige.

This picture makes me so happy

Saturday we stuck close to home and watched some college football. Brennan kind of can't contain his excitement. For much of the day he was banished into our bedroom to watch so that I could watch something I wanted to watch when I was confined to the rocking chair holding Joshua. We all heard clapping, fake spitting, yelling and jumping up and down coming from the bedroom. Our kids thought it was hilarious to watch their relatively sane dad carrying on in such a way all by himself to the tv. We love Brennan.

Anna has been begging to go horseback riding for a long time now. One of her best friends has a horse that they keep at her Grandma's. Sadie's grandma was kind enough to let Anna tag a long with Sadie and let her ride. Anna was in heaven. I think she kind of belongs on a farm or ranch. Her dislike of germs doesn't seem to bother her when it has to do with animals. She also got to go to a play with my parents for her birthday date. She loved the play and loved having her grandparents all to herself. We love Anna.

The kids were discussing the movie "Jumanji" and Abigail could not for the life of her get that name down and kept calling it "Geometry". Now that would be an exciting movie. As evidence of Abby's sensitive and dramatic side I submit the following: the kids and I were discussing something Anna's friend had told her about a boy they know seeing his Grandpa's spirit. The kids all agreed that would be extremely creepy and I was trying to convince them that if it was someone you loved and had been close too it would be really neat. Suddenly Abby exclaimed with tears in her eyes, "Great!, now you've got me thinking about all the people we love who have died!" We love Abigail.

Nate seems very happy when he leaves for and comes home from school; however, whenever I ask how school was his reply is "Terrible!" I guess he feels it's not cool to like school. I'll take what I can get :) Last night we were all gathered round the tv watching a very important college football game. It was an extremely close and exciting game so Brennan was even more animated than usual. When a certain kicker kicked the ball out of bounds Brennan was irate with this poor young man and kept telling us what a stupid idiot this kicker was. Sweet Nate listened quietly and then said, "Dad, I'm sure he tried his very best." We love Nathan.

Ben took a nap with Brennan last weekend and when he woke up he turned to Brennan and said, "I'm going to go see Nate, he's WEELLY (really) funny." I love how much he loves his siblings and especially his big brother. Tonight we measured each of the kids and put their mark on the wall. They were all so excited and decided they also wanted to be weighed. I said, "Benny, go see how much you weigh" to which he replied, "I already did -- furty-six cents!" I've had such a renewed affection for this little boy since the big kids have been at school all day. He is truly just a delightful little companion.

Joshua is two months old today. Happy Birthday, baby love! There are days he's fussy and I do little other than rock him and sometimes I feel like I would give anything to just get something productive done. It's funny though because whenever I do have extended periods without holding him I miss him terribly. He's completely won me over and I just wish I could bottle his smiles and cooing so I could keep them forever.

A Special Day!

Today was a really special day, it was my Dad's swearing in as Lt. Governor. Brennan was out of town so couldn't be there and although I knew it would be interesting I decided this was something I didn't want my kids to miss. As I was getting ready this morning Ben must have sensed the importance of the occasion and wanted to change his look up a little bit. So with the help of my make-up this is what he came up with:






I'm really grateful I don't use waterproof mascara. We got him cleaned up, loaded him and Joshua into the car, picked up the big kids from school, and headed to the Capital. With my trusty (and ENORMOUS) stroller and a couple of fabulous staff members we got parked and guided through lots of tunnels and hallways to the Senate floor where they my Dad's nomination was approved. It was really neat to be there and hear all the nice things so many people had to say. I actually managed to hear most of it while bouncing the baby, or handing him off to my aunt to go help Eliza contain the perfect storm of Ben, Abe and Belle at nap time. They were less than impressed with the event, but very interested in storming the President of the Senate's office with a candy bowl in it.

Me and the 4 big kids on the Senate floor

After the confirmation we moved up to the Gold room for the actual swearing in. It was packed and mostly with cameras. My girls represented our family while I stood near the door. A dear sweet friend took Ben and Abe and Nate and another aunt took Joshy for me so I could hear. It takes a village. Seriously, between my sister and me and our total of 7 kids we had about 8 angels of mercy plus some staffers helping us at various times throughout the day.

My Mom and Dad

My sister, Eliza, Joshua, Me, Mom, Dad and my brother, Ryan

Abby, Belle, Anna, Benny, Nate and Abe

It was exhausting, but such a privilege to be there. This whole experience has given me even more respect for our system of government, our country, our state, and helpful people. We're truly blessed. For a much more entertaining version of this day check my sister's post out here.

A pretty neat moment

Dad's Swearing In from Andrea W. on Vimeo.

Fun, Fun, Fun!

We've had such a fun weekend. We kicked things off by celebrating my darling niece, Molly's, 2nd birthday. I could watch Molly and Belle (my other almost 2 year old niece) ALL day long. Such a cute age and if you want to read a beautifully written post my brother wrote all about her you can do so here.

Just look at that face

Some very focused party guests

birthday girl with her cute cake

After that party we went home and got the kids settled in and then Brennan, Joshua and I headed to another party for a neighbor who is running for our city council. Fun night.

Saturday I had a fabulous nap, and Brennan and the kids cleaned the house. Happy day! That night we had a ward/neighborhood party on our street. They had a cotton candy and snow cone machine. I'm pretty sure each kid had an average of 5 cotton candies. Yikes. Brennan and I sat and visited while holding the baby and hardly saw any of the other kids. Ben had a great time chasing all the teenage boys with his spray bottle. The highlight for the girls was jumping into our neighbors' pool with their clothes on. They were giddy with a feeling of living on the edge. :) It was such a fun night, it's always so nice to feel connected to our neighbors, I wish we did this once a month.

Sunday evening my sister had us all over for dessert to hear about my parents' trip. Other than a minor dessert debacle (which we were in charge of and it's still a little too painful for me to talk about - okay if you insist I'll tell you. I worked all afternoon making and frosting cookies and as we walked out the door I handed them to Brennan so I could carry the car seat, diaper bag, other bag. He promptly set them down and forgot to bring them. Innocent mistake which he chose to find humor in and I'm just not there yet :)).

I LOVE it when babies stretch

sweet baby love

I'm happy to report that this little guy is finally starting to gain weight. Whew. He's even getting little rolls on his legs and his face and belly have plumped up. That makes a mama happy. He's the sweetest smiliest little guy, I can't get enough!!!!

The quote of the week is as we drove to Molly's birthday party I heard the kids talking in the backseat of the car and Abby said, "Yeah, I'm probably not ever going to be on American Idol because my nostrils get big when I sing and the judges will laugh."

Update

Every time I go to write an update I catch myself beginning with, "Things have been crazy around here." I'll try not to write that every time, if you're hear on a regular basis you know that that phrase goes without saying.

Joshy hasn't been gaining enough weight fast enough so I've been taking him into the pediatrician to weigh him and trying different things to see if I'm going to need to supplement. All my other kids chunked right up so this is all very new and was really stressing me out. I'm feeling better now that the doctor is on the case and he's gained quite a bit of weight the last week. He's started smiling at me and talking to me and it just melts my heart. We love Joshua.

Sunday night Brennan gave each of the kids our traditional back to school blessing. Ben, of course, was not about to be left out so Brennan gave him a blessing as well. I opened my eyes part way through and he saw me looking at him and in his very loud whisper and the most enthusiastic voice ever said, "I'm getting baptized!!!!" It was so cute to see how excited he was that I didn't have the heart to explain the difference between a blessing and baptism. Today he watched a cute little show and was totally enthralled by it. When it ended he said, "That was a great show, I never seen that before." So often what he says isn't actually that funny, it's that he's 3 and saying it. We love Benjamin.

Nate seems to be adjusting to all day school very well. I'm so relieved that he's come home happy both days. I can never get much out of him when I ask him all my questions about how it all went, but if I'm patient he'll usually bring up things that are on his mind. He likes his teacher and I think he's excited about some of the friends in his class. Yesterday his big concern was, "Mom, I'm just never going to be able to hold Joshua now." He also told me he felt bad for Benny because he, Abby and Anna would be gone so much. We love Nate.

Abigail has not stopped talking about her teacher, her friends and school. She is loving it and is so excited to tell us all about it. I met her teacher tonight and think she will be a perfect fit for Abby. I am so grateful for great teachers. The other night she was holding Joshua and we heard her say, "And don't worry, some day you'll grow up and get hair in your armpits." and then burst out laughing. She is a certifiable nut! We love Abigail.

Anna got called for her first official babysitting job tonight. I was sitting next to a woman in our neighborhood today at Back to School Night when she asked me if Anna would be available to watch her kids later that night. I called Anna to ask her and she said, "Are you SERIOUS?" She was sooooo excited and carefully picked out a game and some books to take with her. She was super nervous and thrilled. It was kind of one of those moments of truth as a mom as I panicked a little wondering if I'd trained her sufficiently. It all went well and she's hoping to be asked many more times. We love Anna.

Brennan and I are juggling all those things we all do and feel lucky when we squeeze a conversation in every few days. Busy, stressful, happy times.

How Do I Feel About School Starting Tomorrow?

So NOT ready. Not ready to have my kids gone ALL day everyday especially my little 6 year old, NOT ready to do carpools, homework, lessons, early bedtimes, early mornings. Usually I'm pretty ready for some structure in our lives by this time of year, but I'm just not anywhere close to being there this year I really want another month. Tuesday I get to go to back-to-school night at 4:00, 5:30 and 7:00. ARRRGGGGGGGG!!!