Our Cute and Silly Girls

As promised, here's the blog post on our girls. James has been doing so many sweet new things that he's monopolized the blog postings lately, but I thought it was time for the girls to catch up. Today, Laine had her kindergarten check-up at the doctor's office and it did NOT go well! It was at the same time as James's 1 year visit, and after she saw him get his shots, she wigged out. Let's just say that she did not get her ability to tolerate pain from me. She was kicking and screaming, "Don't you ever give me a shot again! You're mean! I wish I was Eve so I didn't have to get poked! AAGGHGHGHGHGH!!!!" Tomorrow is her orientation and registration. She's very excited to start school.

In the meantime, Eve, who has no empathy, was smirking and finding the situation highly amusing. She just smiled that sly smile of hers and said to Laine, "Oh, Laine, you'll be fine." Eve's been continuing to read a lot daily. She can read big words like "exquisite." I don't know what she's gonna learn by the time she gets to kindergarten. Lately, these two have been sleeping in the guest bed in the basement and thinking it's the funnest thing ever. They have an awful lot of fun together.

Mom's Orders: NPO

This week, James has been a sick little boy. On Wednesday and Thursday, he spent the day puking his guts out and pooping the stinkiest poops anyone has ever smelled. We've done tons of laundry because he's usually barfed on the bedding or on me. Towards the end of the week, I was averaging 3 showers a day. Well, I got sick of being the target of James's emesis, so I banned him from eating for a while. Later that day, Laine saw James reaching down my shirt, and she said, "James! Why are you trying to sneak a nurse-nurse? You're supposed to be strict NPO!" That's my little nurse in the making. (NPO stands for non per os, latin for nothing by mouth)

Note: Out of courtesy to the reader, no relevant photos have been posted. We will resume posting photos when gastrointestinal health has been restored.

Right Back At You, Mom!

Lately, it's been really frustrating taking the kids anywhere because every time we have to get back in the car, I have to tell Laine to buckle her seatbelt like 6 times. I'll say, "Ok kids, let's get buckled and ready to go!" and a minute later, Laine will be dancing around in the backseat having a conversation with Eve about princesses, so I'll say "Ok bud, really. It's time to go. I should only have to say this once. Get in your seat please." Wiggle wiggle wiggle.
"LAINE! Now! We have to go! How many times do I need to tell you to get buckled?!"
"I heard you the first time, Mom!"
"Oh yeah, then how come you're not buckled yet?"
"I was going to! See?"
We have this conversation every time we pile into the car. Well, the other day at dinner, Laine asks us to pour her a glass of milk. Chris was in the middle of scooping food onto Eve's plate and I was wrestling James on my lap and a few minutes passed without Laine's request being fulfilled. Well, she sure had a thing or two to say about that!
"You still haven't poured me my glass of milk! How many times do you think I should have to ask for a glass of milk in this family? Once! And that's it! I'd better not have to ask again or there'll be trouble!"
Chris and I were both laughing so hard at her stern little speech that she didn't get in too much trouble for being sassy and impertinent.

James's Cute Trick

I've posted so many videos and pictures of James lately that I'm worried I'll be accused of playing favorites with my children. It's not that I don't like my other two children as much. It's just that he's at that fun age where he's starting to do so much and he's learning and growing by leaps and bounds. This week, I'll write a blog entry on the girls to even things out. Anyway, here's the latest adorable thing James does.

James's Little Walk

Front View

Rear View

Dirty Looks and Haircuts

We were driving along this afternoon and in the course of our conversation we ended up discussing how much we hated getting dirty looks, especially when we didn't deserve them. We all ended up agreeing that we should try not to give other people dirty looks anymore when Laine blurts from the back seat: "Yeah, we won't look at any dirty people!" So, we explained what dirty looks were and Laine gave us her best shot at it.


Then we had some dinner and decided all the little buddies were due for haircuts, so off we went to Cartoon Cuts, the wonderful salon where you can play Sonic the Hedgehog or watch Scooby-Doo while you get your mop chopped. Each of the monkeys got a barber chair with its own TV, but James had to share with Mom since he was a little too wiggly to sit still while they trimmed back his first year of fuzzyheadedness to a cut more like his papa's.

Here's his head before:

And here he is on the way home:

The girls came out pretty cute too:

James Turned 1!

Today, our baby boy turned 1!!! We can hardly believe how quickly the year has flown by. Chris baked him a brownie cake in the shape of a number 1.

Here's James a year and 5 days ago. I miss being pregnant with him. He was such a good baby even in utero. I went into labor during the evening on Easter. I was working the night shift at LDS Maternity. Around 1 or 2 in the morning, I was pounding out contractions 3-4 minutes apart, and at 5 I decided to hand off my patients and go home. As soon as I got home and relaxed, my contractions slowed. I had a check up with Danielle, my lovely midwife, at 10 a.m. I was at 6 cm, and things were going slowly, so I went back to the Bradleys and labored in their tub and napped all afternoon. When I went back to the office at 4, I was finally 8 cm. We went across the street to St. Marks, broke my water, and got the show on the road. Chris got to catch our baby and announce that...

It was a boy! We had waited to find out what the gender was. Boy were we surprised. He was a sweet baby and a good sleeper right from the start.

Here's James opening his presents. He got some wooden giraffes and elephants among other fun things.

James is walking around in his styling new shoes from my sister. Happy Birthday, baby boy!

Spring Has Sprung

Spring in the Washington, D.C. area is gorgeous. Everywhere we go there are pink and white blossoms. This picture was taken in front of our next door neighbor's house. The video below shows James taking one or two little steps. He still hasn't taken more than half a dozen steps in a row, but he's getting there. He gets bored because he knows that he can get there faster by crawling. Sorry about the sideways video thing. I keep forgetting that I can't just rotate it after I download it.

The girls spent part of the afternoon giving each other "Fun Lessons." As if they needed lessons in having fun, right? The one-on-one tutoring sessions involved teaching each other how to turn a chair into a slide and how to build a fort. I'm glad they're prepared for emergency boredom now. Not like before when they had no idea how to pass the time. No sir. Now they've taken fun lessons.