Introducing...

Rachel.  Our newest niece.  She was born at the end of July and this is a picture of her at 2 weeks old when Jonah and I flew out to help and be with this cute family.

(This whole post is with cell phone pictures.  Sorry.)

She is such a tiny little thing born only 5lbs 6oz.   And she was late!  My sister had quite the birthing experience but everything turned out just fine.  She was overdue and just like G, she was scheduled to get induced that day and then went into labor on her own.  When her contractions got extra yucky, she got an epidural but it didn't work.  While they were trying to figure that out, Rachel wasn't descending the way she should.  She seemed stuck and with each contraction, they could tell she was in distress.  Dr. decided an emergency C-section would be best.  Within just a few minutes, they had her out and it was an inspired decision because the cord was wrapped around her neck and had 2 knots.  She had expelled muconium (politest way to put it) but luckily had not aspirated any of it yet.  So with this complicated start, Rachel came into this world healthy and strong. Truly a blessing.

Her nickname became Spidermonkey due to her...well, look at her. :)

 



There is something about holding a newborn, or a sleeping baby, that I love. It calms me and I was in need of a baby fix, so this week was great.

 

 

This is Genevieve, only 20 months older than her baby sister.  Geoff, the father, has a theory that this cutest-chunk-of-a-girl-ever, depleted the uterus of all it's nutrients, leaving nothing for her sister letting Rachel come is at a tiny 5lbs. 

 



It took me a few days but I actually won Genevieve over!  This was the girl last Thanksgiving that literally did not leave her mother's hip and cried whenever someone looked at her.  Literally.   But by the end of this week, she was dancing with me, kissing me, letting me get her down from her highchair and getting her up from her naps.  Miracles!  I was so sad to leave because I knew she would not remember me when I see her next time at Christmas.  I figured I am going to have to "50 First Dates" her and make her fall in love with me all over again every time we see each other!  It's worth it!

Katherine and Jonah are about 1 1/2 years apart.  Both have what I call very alpha personalities and I was worried we would spend the week breaking up fights for power.

But they played phenomenally all week!  They are both into imagination/dress up games and it was hilarious to see them try to combine their two versions of play.  The vocabulary of each was completely different.  They would go off fighting in battle and while Katherine would be the Princess Fairy riding off to find her Prince Charming, Jonah would be the Robot Commander slaying the evil minions to find his crystal fractals.

But they adjusted to each other and had a great time.

Which was awesome for Amanda and I. While I cuddled with the baby, Amanda could slowly get back on her feet.  It was perfect. :) 

I also discovered that Jonah is a true northwest boy and had a breakdown every time we went outside.  He could not handle the heat and had a tantrum until the car's air conditioning was on full blast.  I have to admit Phoenix in August is not my idea of perfect weather, but I loved the sun and cherished every moment. 

I am so glad we could go out there while Aaron and Lucas held down the fort.  It was a wonderful week with my dear sister and brother and their adorable girls.  Cannot wait to see how they have all grown come December!

Peace. I'm out.

Should I be worried?

Jonah and I put up Halloween decorations and decided to make ghosts to add to our door.

Jonah was adamant, "Each ghost is spewing burning acid from their mouths to melt the rats and their homes to doom."

Uhhh.....

Remember back to July?

Where to even begin when you are so far behind?  I just pick some of my favorites and go from there.  Like most people, we had a busy and wonderful summer.  Lots of family and friends!

One of my most favorite times this summer was our Williams Family Reunion 2013.  Due to a lot of different reasons, we hadn't been able to get all together for about 5 years.  Way too long!  And we were still missing a niece Camille and a nephew Ethan.  But we had a majority and we made the best of it.

 

We had a lovely hike & picnic out at Silver Falls.

 

 

We spent a hot afternoon at the local watering hole. 

This is Talmadge. And I have to admit I truly enjoyed this kid that week.  He is a miracle child, being born after aspirating meconium for a suspected two days.  He should have died a number of times and should have a lot more set backs than he does.  He has significant hearing loss and is delayed a year or two in development, but he is bright and happy and crazy and super fun. 

I had the best time just watching him play in the water.  He was in heaven.  (And I got some cute pictures.)  All week he loved to dress up and play fight.  On the first day together, he "shot" me and of course I had to fall over and die with my tongue hanging out.  So then for the whole week, every time he saw me he had to shoot me and wait for me to dramatically expire.  I got exhausted from dying so much but it was worth gaining his friendship. And my own sign language name.  In the deaf culture you should wait until someone with hearing loss assigns a name to you.  Now in Talmadge's world, my name is a two-handed gun shoot.  Just like I always imagined it would be. :)

 

Some people weren't interested in getting wet.

This week Jonah sure loved his women.  And took advantage of any time one of them would hold him. I can't blame him.  He has pretty cute aunts and cousins.

 

 

There are more pictures than I could possibly post on my blog.  I feel so blessed and lucky to have such a wonderful family.  I love and enjoy my in laws so much and would be friends with all my brother and sister in laws even if we weren't related.  I am so lucky!

"I love you!!"

 

 

To end, I'll just leave y'all with this FAB-ulous image. 

 

You're welcome.

My 2 Freak Outs of the Day

1. We picked up a brand new sister missionary at the church today.  Found out that her father is THREE YEARS older than Aaron.  3 years!  How did we get to be so old??

2. Lucas' peach fuzz is undeniably darker and he is going to need to S.H.A.V.E. soon.  Shave!
How did we get to be so old!!

Quotes of the Month

Competition is strong with this one.

One morning while playing Play-doh, out of the blue, Jonah asks why Lucas was born before he was.

"I don't like that he was born before me!"

"Well, I don't know why Lucas came first, but I do know that it was part of Heavenly Father's plan and now you get an awesome big brother."

"No, it's not fair!  And it makes me sad.  Because he was enjoying with you guys before me!!"

 ___________

Walking into the play place at the gym, Jonah and I were having the same old conversation of why he has to follow my directions.  I'm the mom, I'm in charge, and yes, I can tell him what to do. 

This concept can be very difficult for this stubborn four year old.  We signed in and I reminded him that these ladies were now in charge while I am gone.

And then like a movie cut scene, JB turned to the side and vowing revenge, he quietly but menacingly whispered to himself, “I’ll be in charge someday.”

Yes, but until that day, it is my mission to teach him to use his power for good and not evil!

___________

As usual, out of the blue (At least for me. Something was going on in his head.), Jonah comes into my room and states. "I know this sounds ridiculous, but I will never choose wrong again! Lifting his fist with emphasis, "I will stand up for the right!"

He turns and walks away, "Yes! I will stand up for the right."

Good luck on that quest. :)

______________

While on vacation, Jonah walks in on me getting out of the shower asking if he can swim in the hot tub with the other kids.  He suddenly asks me why I don't have a specific anatomical part that he does.  We've talked about this before of course, so I repeated the 4 year old health lesson about the difference between boys and girls. 

He just looks as me and shakes his head, "Man, if I was going to be a girl, I'd prepare for the worst!"

"What?! Why the worst? What's wrong with being a girl?"

Backpedaling, "Oh, nothing!  I'm saying, um, that, um if I was a girl...I would stand for the right!"

???????

I never could get him to tell me what he thought was "the worst" about being a girl.

___________

A few weeks ago, Jonah and I accompanied Lucas to a scout service project.  We were at the city commons center, sanding and refinishing wooden park benches.  Jonah started out strong, sanding like the big boys.  And then he asks, "Why are we doing this? Are we getting paid?"

"No, it's service.  The city does great things for our community and so we help them out by sanding the benches.  It's just a service we're doing."

"Oh. Well then, Mom, will you do some service for ME?" 

He hands me his sandpaper and walks away.

Pre teeth knock-out

Warrior Serenade

My own personal warrior came to me out of the blue and offered his services.  Anything I wanted. I asked for a song.

 

"I made it up."

Lesson learned

Pinterest.  Wonderful website to organize wonderful ideas.  Lots of activities for Jonah.

Here's a new one we tried last week.

Flubber. 

Elmer's glue, water, Borax (I use it in my laundry) and food coloring. Simple.

Jonah thought it was the cat's meow.  "Super awesome!"

All play includes some kind of battle, rescue and loud noises.  Exhibit #156...

One word of advice....Great for play.  Bad as a hat.

With my back turned, Jonah had tried the flubber on as a hat.  Did not end well.

Would not come loose.

After struggles, tears and getting yelled at, I finally just chopped it all out. 

Good thing this kid has more hair than anyone I know.  Cut it all out and you cannot even tell!  No joke.

Lesson learned: Do not, I repeat, do not wear flubber as a hat.

My Life & Times #2

A few weeks ago I was talking with a good friend about most embarrassing moments and I realized that I have just a few quality experiences in my life.  It got me thinking.  A lot of my experiences are most likely preserved in a journal somewhere, I'm sure. But others I'm not so sure.  So I decided to record them for all to enjoy. 

So, enjoy!

They will be written in no particular order or schedule.  :)

This one happened right after Lucas was born.  It must have been in the first few weeks after we made it to church. 

I was in the Primary presidency and was up front conducting.  Aaron taught the CTR 7's so sat in the back with his class.  I announced the closing song and prayer. The song happened to be "A Child's Prayer," one of my favorites.  As we sang, Aaron holds up tiny, tiny Lucas and faces him toward me just to be cute.  With my mothering instincts in high gear and feeling tender, I start to tear up. Nothing dramatic. Just so blessed and so grateful for my new little family. 

Well.  That's when the post-partum hormones, nursing trauma and lack of sleep kick in, and the graceful, touching tear or two turn into the ugly cry.  And I mean The Ugly Cry.  And I can't stop.  All of my emotions just coming pouring out my face and I can not stop.  The song ends and when I should have just looked over to another leader to finish out the meeting, I try to stand up and compose myself.  I can not.  Physically and emotionally, it just is not possible. So I'm trying to dismiss classes with a bunch of pointing and grunting but it's not really working.  Everyone is just staring at the crazy lady.

One 6 year old (Braden McClusky :), looks at me with literal disgust and confusion on his face, points to me yells, "What's the matter with HER?!"   I'm laughing now, a cackling, scary type of laughter that just freaks people out even more.  Teachers got the hint and cleared people out, leaving me to my cathartic outburst. 

Aaron came over and hugged me, saying "I'm so sorry. I did not mean to do that to you."

All I could do was laugh and pretend I wasn't humiliated in front of the whole primary.  Of course everyone was super nice and comforting about it and I think most of the kids just forgot about it the next week.  My only casualty is I don't think Braden McClusky ever looked at me the same again.  Poor kid. 

Ch-ch-changes

What a difference a few months can make.   Lucas really enjoyed band last year and is going to continue it in the fall. He plays the trombone, the baritone and the marching baritone (which I've been told is different.) He'll go from Beginning Jazz Band to Advanced Jazz Band and work more in the marching band. HE says he loves how it sounds when all the instruments come together with their own parts.  And I have to admit, they weren't that bad!  For a junior high band, I was impressed.

I hadn't seen this picture for a few weeks. It was taken in June at this end-of-the-year band concert. Mid June say.

And here's my baby end of July.  Crazy, right?! He turned into a young man overnight.  He cut his hair and grew a few  inches.  He had finally caught up to me in the spring, taking great pride he was as tall as his mother.  Then he went to scout camp and yes, when he got home, he was a half an inch taller!  He is now officially taller than his mama.  I had to tell him most kids pass me around 13-14 years old. :)  But still!

 

I love this kid.  He's still a talker and loves to just sit and chat about life, what he's thinking about, the minutia of his current video game and girls he likes.  He's set goals for his future and is working toward them. Yet he's still into his Legos and builds stuff with Jonah all the time.  Makes pirate maps with his young cousins and sword fights with anyone who will.

 

 

I love that he can still be a kid.  Even when he his turning into a teenager on us.

Making of a vampire

About 2 years ago Jonah was at cubscouts with me and face planted into a basketball.  I knew he had hurt his front teeth but I didn't know how much until they started to turn grey.  Our awesome dentists (Bob & Sharon) assured us that all was well, he had just damaged the roots, and that since they were still only his baby teeth, it didn't pose a problem. 

So for the last two years his front teeth have been discolored and a teeny tiny bit loose but gave no problems at all.

One Sunday a few weeks ago during the Williams Family Reunion, all the boys were playing in the living room.  All of a sudden Lucas comes running in holding something in his fingers.  He yells, "Jonah lost his tooth!!"  Apparently they were wrestling and Jonah's face collided with the corner of the couch and he had lost not just one but both front teeth!  Jonah came into the kitchen completely freaked out, bleeding profusely from his mouth and screaming, "Put them back! Put them back!"

I have to admit when I saw all the blood and the two literal HOLES in my baby's mouth, I was a little shocked.  Plus I realized real quickly that we had never explained kids actually are supposed to lose their teeth and that this was ok.  Jonah was NOT ok.  He was fah-lipping out and could NOT believe his teeth had just come out of his mouth!  On top of it all, he couldn't talk right. He had a severe lisp and knew he sounded funny.

We calmly tried to explain that all kids lose their baby teeth and we even had Garrison, our 8 yr old cousin, come over and show him his own jack-o-lantern smile.  See, you look just like Garrison?  It's ok!  As soon as Garrison walked away, Jonah under his breath said, "But I don't WANT to look like Garrison."

It wasn't until Aaron pulled up pictures on the internet of other kids who had lost their teeth and we explained the concept of the Tooth Fairy that he began to calm down.  The thought of getting money from a kind stranger sure took the bite out of disfiguration.

Plus, he kind of looked like a vampire.  And that was cool.

The next morning all horror was forgotten and his focus was purely on the Tooth Fairy and the money that was left. :)

(Sorry, kind of long video)

 

So, all is well.  Lisp is gone and so is any soreness. 

 (And he made me proud at the store.  He was set on buying a certain Bionicle with his tooth fairy money. Talked about it constantly. (Yes, I was going to subsidize such purchase for his emotional pain and suffering. Call me a softie :)  When the first store didn't have what he wanted, Aunt Renae and I asked if he wanted to choose something else or keep his money until we could go to another store another day.  He was so sad but you could see his mind working and he decided to wait and get what he really wanted.  Delayed gratification, folks.  He is stronger than I am.)

 

Anyway, like I said, all is well.  And now he can't wait to loose another!