Kyla 8 Months

     I am having a hard time believing that this little baby is already eight months old. She is now rolling all over the place, scooting on the floor, and is so close to crawling. She gets up on her hands and knees and rocks and can crawl/inch forward a few feet. She can go from sitting to a crawl position and then back to a sitting position. I am sure she will really take off any day now. She has been much more content to just play on the floor now that she can get things to play with but I hate this stage when she has to put everything she finds in her mouth. I have already had to fish several things out of her mouth. The thing I find most often are those little plastic hair rubber bands. (Now that I am finally getting around to posting this, Kyla is really crawling all over the place. It didn't take her long.)

      This month Kyla got her first tooth. Her left bottom one came up a few weeks ago. Kyla also got RSV and she was really sick and miserable feeling with the RSV at the same time she was teething. Neither of us got any sleep for about a week. The only way I could get her to sleep was to hold her or to let her sleep in our bed. I am hoping we can move her to her own room soon and then we will have to get her to sleep better on her own. Even for her nap this baby sleeps really well while I hold her but she will only take a really short nap in her bed. She got spoiled while she was sick since I just held her while she slept. We are working on breaking her of that habit. I just hope she finishes teething soon.

     When Kyla gets tired she will start to fuss and will resist letting me hold her and cuddle her at first. As soon as she puts her thumb in her mouth, I know we are golden. Then she just snuggles right into my arms and closes her eyes. She seems to be good after only a short cat nap and then she wants down for another round. She rarely falls asleep after I nurse her.

     Kyla is making lots more sounds and she even said mama! Bynlee is trying to get her to say Bryn since I told her that Brynlee would be hard for Kyla to say and Annalyn is still working on Anna.

     Kyla got to try lots of new foods and so far I really haven't found anything that she won't eat. She was not a huge fan of the avocados or the rice cereal I gave her but she ate it. We feed her at the table with us, (she sits in the high chair) at least twice a day for lunch and dinner. Breakfast is trickier but I try to give her some kind of fruit in the morning. Usually it is a little bit of a banana. I need to start giving her more rice cereal. I have given her lots of mashed up fruits and veggies that she can feed herself but I have to be careful because she chokes really easily. She does all right with things likes peas and green beans but I have to smash them up first. 

     Kyla is finally growing some hair and her bald spot in the back is almost gone. Her eyes are looking more and more like they are going to be a dark blueish hazel color. She sure is a cute and cubby little baby. I think she is gorgeous. 

     Kyla got to go outside a few times during her last month of life but I don't think she really knew what to think of the whole thing. She was so unsure about the grass. I sat her down in the grass and she cried and would not let her hands touch the stuff at all. She just whined and waited for me to come and get her. Once I sat by her and played with the grass she seemed to calm down and relax around it but she didn't want anything to do with it. She loved the swing and she had a good time watching the chickens. 

     Kyla is such an inquisitive and observant baby. She loves to watch her big sisters and she giggles with glee every time they pay attention to her. She really puts up with a lot of being packed around and picked on and she takes it really well.

     Lately this baby seems pretty calm, laid back, content, and easy. Except for the whole not sleeping thing; she has been a dream. When I take her places she is happy to just let me hold her. She still goes to other people but she shows a strong preference for her family members, namely me and then her dad. I have loved getting to hold and snuggle this cute little baby. She sure is a sweet little girl. 

January 2015

     It's a brand new year full of all kinds of new possibilities. We are all looking forward to what this new year will bring. We started out the year by making some new year's resolutions. Joel and I both want to lose some weight and we want to build a house. We are a little uncertain about the future of Joel's job but I think we are just going to go on faith and move forward with our plan to build. The only thing we need now is some land to build on. Joel has been bringing home a whole bunch of leftover materials from the job sites he works at and he bought some industrial commercial heavy duty carpet for our future house. It has a wild design on it so I was a little worried about using it in our whole house. I think it would work in a bonus room or something though. We are thinking about building in a subdivision where the land is cheaper. Then we will live in the house for a few year and sale it so we can make some money. 

     Brynlee's goal for the new year is to learn how to swim and Annalyn wants to learn how to ride a horse and a baby bear. Haha, I don't know how she will accomplish the bear thing. As for Kyla, I suppose she just wants to learn how to crawl, walk, and talk. She has almost got the crawling thing down so she is well on her way.

     Brynlee got to go to the CTR 4 class at church and she was so excited to get a CTR ring. For days after she got it she would tell me how much her ring was helping her to choose the right. A few times she would tell me something like... "Mom, I almost hit Anna but then I saw my ring and that reminded me to Choose the Right so then, I didn't hit her!" Anna has one more year in nursery. I am still teaching primary with my mom but since our class is so much smaller they are having us take turns teaching and then going to relief society. It is kind of nice to get to attend relief society again but it has taken some getting used to. I would really rather just teach the class by myself but at least now my mom can take the baby when it is my turn to teach.

     We started doing preschool again and I even got brave and signed the girls up for music class at the library. Brynlee has been asking if she could do it again and so far they have all been pretty good and they really enjoy going.

     All of my girls got colds this month. Kyla got hers when Brynlee and Anna seemed to be over them and she was miserable. She was also getting some teeth at the same time but I spent almost an entire night up with a crying baby one night. She also sounded really wheezy so I took her to the pediatrician and it was confirmed that she had RSV. There was nothing they could do for her since it is just a virus. Her oxygen levels were fine so I just had to watch her. We spent several more night up with her just being miserable. It is also very contagious for other babies so we didn't go anywhere for a week and a half. We had to cancel preschool and I had to stay home from church with her. I am so glad she is feeling better. One of her teeth broke through and hopefully the other one comes up soon so that she will sleep through the night again. She really has been such an easy baby lately. I got lucky with her.

     There was a little bit of snow at the beginning of the month and the girls had fun building a snowman. It was a small one. Now they are ready for it to be summer so they can go swimming. The month ended with some really nice weather and we had fun playing outside but it is still jacket weather.

     We went and got our picture taken at JCPenneys so that we could put more pictures in the picture frame Joel made me. I still need at least one more picture but I like how it turned out. 

I have been wanting to do something different with my hair for a while but I still wanted to keep it long. My sister Heather has been wanting to put some color in my hair for a while so I finally let her. I really like it. She just did some subtle strands of color so it is just a small change.

     My girls still get into lots of mischief but they have been obsessed with watching movies. I usually let them watch one after they finish up all of their chores and then they are pretty good. I don't like them watching so much television but it is hard to not let them watch at least one show a day. They still play a lot and we have lots of friends over to play all the time. We put the tent up again and they have had a blast playing in there. Their latest favorite thing to do is to play hide and go seek. They are constantly trying to get me to play with them. I am not allowed to find them right away either. I have to look in at least five other places before I can find them. Annalyn giggles so much during that game. I love it.

 We spent lots of time playing games, reading books, playing with toys, and spending time with family. We really are loving life and we can't wait to see what this new year will bring.

Kyla - Seven Months

Little Kyla Mae is now seven months old. She sure is getting big. Look how much she has grown in the last seven months.

     This baby loves putting her feet in the air. Every time I put her on her back, her legs go straight up. It is hard to get a picture with her legs down. She kicks her little legs a lot too. She loves to jump on my lap or in her jumper roo. She also tends to smile with her mouth all the way open. Really she just likes to have her mouth wide open all the time. Lately she has added the tongue so she smiles with her tongue out. She also has her thumb in her mouth for a lot of her pictures. Her eyes seem to get dark at times, when she was born I really thought they were brown, but they still look really blue at times. I am guessing they might be hazel like her sisters.

    Kyla is now talking a lot more. At least she is making a lot more new sounds. Her favorite is "dada" but she also says ba, bu, la, guh, she blows raspberries, and she coos and giggles. Her latest thing is this little grunt that she does. I think it is pretty funny. We are still working on mama.

     Kyla loves to eat baby food. She has had squash, sweet potatoes, peas, green beans, and carrots. Joel bought a lot of those jars so it is a good thing she likes them since we have enough to last for the rest of her babyhood. Kyla especially loves those cereal puffs and she got ahold of a cracker and some bread and she loved them and ate them pretty well. She also seemed to like the pears, bananas, peaches, and applesauce that I mushed up and gave her. 

     Kyla hasn't slept very well this month. She seems to be a light sleeper and with two big sisters around she is afraid of what she will miss if she goes to sleep. She also had a cold and for a while and Annalyn kept waking her up in the middle of the night. Every time Anna woke up she would wake up Kyla. Hopefully she will start sleeping well again. 

     Kyla learned how to wave this month. She doesn't really do it on demand but she loves to wave over and over again at us. She kicks her legs all the time and sits like a pro. I have even been able to let her sit up in the bath. Kyla absolutely loves bath time. She goes crazy with all of her splashing in there. She got to celebrate Christmas and had fun trying to open up the presents. She really wanted to eat the wrapping paper. 

     Kyla is rolling a bit more but she is the happiest when I just sit her up with a few toys and let her play. She is getting good at reaching really far and she has gotten ahold of several things she should not have and put them in her mouth. I have to really watch her. When she is sitting she can scoot a little bit and she can pull herself down to her belly and grab things. On her belly she can scoot herself all the way around in a circle and she can scoot backwards. She is well on her way to being mobile. I might not have too much time until she starts crawling. I am not ready for that yet. 

     Kyla protests really loudly and gets mad when we take things away from her. For now she is easily distracted with an alternative toy but she knows how to cry loudly in protest. She seems to be very observant and loves watching what is going on around her. Kyla isn't spitting up near as much as she used to but she will every once in a while. I think she might be starting to grow some more hair. At least I hope she it. It is coming in really slow so her little bald spot is nice and pronounced. Kyla has really been such a joy to have in our home. We are all pretty crazy about her.

Annalyn Update

     Annalyn is two and nine months. She sure is super independent, extremely stubborn, and extra cuddly. Lately she pretty much refuses to walk to or from the van. She wants to be carried and it is a real struggle to get her to walk on her own. She will often sit on the front step and refuse to move. She is constantly asking me to hold her and rock her in the "black chair." She loves playing with Brynlee and with little Kyla. She loves the color pink and she really loves to play with her little animal figurines. Her favorite animals are dinosaurs and she has slept with and packed around the "Land Before Time" movie for the last month. She loves clothes as much as Brynlee does and will not wear jeans. She likes to try on clothes. When I was organizing Kyla's closet Anna had a great time trying on all of Kyla's clothes. She likes it when I fix her hair and she loves braids and it is getting pretty long. It is longer than Brynlee's hair.  She also likes to put "braids" in my hair and make me look beautiful.

     We were saying a prayer a few days ago and Annalyn did not want to stop playing to fold her arms for the prayer. We told her to stop playing and fold her arms and she ignored us. Joel took her toy away and Anna was really mad. She scowled at him, folded her arms in utter indignation, and yelled, "I am not folding my arms. Hump. I am not folding my arms." She refolded her arm and said that a few more time. I just had to laugh since she was folding her arms while she said that and she was so mad. 

      Annalyn loves babies. She is constantly pretending to be a baby and whenever she plays with her toys, she wants the baby toys. She is constantly requesting the baby pancakes when we make them. Pretty much anything is better if it is baby sized. The other day she was sitting in on the toilet and she called me in all excited so that I could some and see her, "cute little baby poop." She was pretty proud of that. 

          Lately Anna has been obsessed with putting things in her pockets and she recently discovered that when she doesn't have pockets she can just stick things in her panties. The best was when we were at church and she got a present from the primary president. Her dress didn't have pockets so she just lifted it up and stuck her present in her panties. We have been trying to teach her to put things in a purse but it she doesn't have a purse she just might stick things in her panties. You never know what you might find in there. 

     Anna is so quick to get mad and cry, but as soon as you look at her or give her what she wants, she laughs and smiles at you. She also does this little baby penguin type shuffle when she is really happy and I think it is hilarious. She sure is fun to have around. 

Brynlee Update

My little Brynlee girl just keeps growing and is officially 4 and 1/2. She sure is fun to be around. She is the typical bossy oldest sister who likes to follow the rules (most of the time) and she likes to keep everyone else in line. She is very much a perfectionist and can't stand to be dirty. She is super dramatic about any injury she gets and she has a hard time sitting still and being quiet. She loves the color pink and is pretty girly. She picks out all of her clothes and comes up with some crazy outfits. She has got some eczema on her eye that we can't get to go away. She is great at playing pretend and is constantly pretending to be someone else. She likes to haul all of her toys all over the house or put them in bags and hide them in her room. Here are a few of the latest quotes from Brynlee.

It snowed in November and Brynlee woke up the next morning and started jumping up and down yelling, "It's Christmas, it's Christmas. I knew it. It's Christmas." We tried to explain that it wasn't really Christmas yet but a few days later when all of the snow melted Brynlee was devastated. "Oh no," she exclaimed. "We missed Christmas!"

The other day Brynlee had this baby doll that she was pretending was her baby. She wanted to take her doll with her to preschool but I told her she must leave it at home. She was really worried about her baby but I promised to watch her. Brynlee was really skeptical about my ability to take care of her doll. "I don't know if you can watch this baby mom. She is really hard to feed because her mouth is really small." I assured her that I could handle it and she gave me some very strict instructions. Among other things she told me I must "make sure to feed my baby. If she cries, you have to change her diaper, (whispered in my ear - but don't change it for real, just for pretend.) You have to take her in the car when I go to preschool and you have to hold her and take care of her." As soon as Brynlee got back from preschool she asked me all about how her baby did. Then we went to my sister Heather's house and Brynlee ended up leaving her dolls in the bathroom. We were almost out of Heather's subdivision when Brynlee started bawling so we had to turn around and go save her doll.

Sometimes Brynlee likes to tell on Annalyn just to get her in trouble. The other day Brynlee came and told me that Annalyn had bit her arm and that I needed to give Anna a timeout. I asked if Anna had left a mark and she told me that she did but that I couldn't see it. I told her I would talk to Anna but that I wasn't going to give Annalyn a timeout. Brynlee went up to Annalyn and I could hear her whispering to Annalyn something about how she wanted Annalyn to bite her arm and leave a little mark. She was trying to convince Anna to bite her arm just so she could get her sister in trouble. Luckily Anna didn't do it.    

Brynlee loves it when Joel and I play with her. The girls and I were all playing outside one day when Joel just so happened to come home a little early and he came over to hang out with us too. I was the mommy dragon, Annalyn was the baby dragon, and Brynlee was the princess. Brynlee immediately assigned Joel the role of the big mean daddy dragon. Then she looked at me and her dad and told us "You dragons are in looove and you are married so you can go ahead and kiss."

One day Brynlee came out of her room and excitedly told me that she had cleaned her whole room. But then she told me, "just don't look on my bed. If you see a big blanket on my bed, never move it." She put everything that was on her floor on top of her bed and then she threw a blanket over it to cover it up.

I laid Kyla in her bed for a nap one morning while the girls were playing in Brynlee's room. Several minutes later I could hear Kyla cooing in her bed and it sounded like Brynlee and Anna were in there talking to her. I looked towards my room and saw that the light was turned on and a blanket was thrown up over Kyla's crib so that I could no longer see inside the bed. I called out, "Brynlee and Annalyn, you had better get out of Kyla's bed right now." All of a sudden Brynlee's little head popped up with a look of astonishment, "how did you know we were in here," she questioned. We put the blanket up so you wouldn't see us."

The girls spent a lot of time playing with all of my Christmas decorations this month and there were several interesting conversations. We have a wooden Joseph and Mary and several snowman and a grinch that were their favorite things to play with. There were a few times when Mary and Joseph would have a girl baby and the grinch was not always very nice. On one occasion they were all talking when all of a sudden Joseph's head fell right off. "Oh No!" Brynlee exclaimed. "Joseph just died!"

Annalyn keeps playing with the DVDs and she has scratched several of them so that they won't play anymore. I got onto Annalyn when I caught her playing with them one day after I had already told her to leave them alone. I told Annalyn she was going to scratch them. Brynlee walked up to me and sad, "It did not get a scratch mom, just calm down."

Brynlee was telling me about how she had a little bit of and accident and peed in her panties when she was at my mom's house. Apparently my brother Josh stole some of Brynlee's speed so Brynlee couldn't run very fast and then she just peed in her panties a little bit.

My grandma made some carmel popcorn one day and Brynlee kept talking about how much she liked the "popcorn that stuck together."

I had a friend over and she was telling Brynlee that she had a magic touch with babies and Brynlee really thought that she had magic in her hands. My friend also told Brynlee that she could say the alphabet backward. Brynlee then started walking backwards while she sang the alphabet. Obviously Brynlee can say the alphabet backwards too.

Brynlee came up to me the other day with her Snow White and Prince Eric polly pockets and she told me to watch because they were going to kiss. She then made them have a little make out session. I shielded my eyes and told her that was gross.
Bryn: "What!?" She demanded. "That is not gross. Why is kissing gross?"
Me: "You don't think kissing is gross?" I asked. "You aren't going to kiss boys are you?"
Bryn: "Yes, I am mom. I am going to kiss lots of boys."
Me: (Gasp)
Bryn: "What, you kissed dad when you were married. I saw the picture."
Me: "Yeah, but we were married."
Bryn: "OK mom, I will only kiss a boy when I get married."
I am going to hold her to that. I might be in trouble with this girl but we sure do love her.

December 2014

We had a blast this month making treats, eating way too many sweets, playing tons of games, and spending time with our little family and with our extended family. December was a fun month. Annalyn was sick with a fever for a few days and Brynlee got it too so we were stuck home for a while. We also all got colds but luckily it wasn't anything serious and everyone was healthy in time for Christmas. The girls spent many hours playing with all of the Christmas decorations and they didn't want me to take them down. When I took down the Christmas tree Annalyn just looked at me and cried out, "oh no mom! Why are you doing that to my tree?!" Joel took a few days off of work to celebrate Christmas and the New year with us. He had to spend one of his days off fixing a leak in the bathroom of our house. Our dresser was up against the wall so by the time we noticed that the wall was leaking, the whole thing was covered in mold. It was a lot of work but Joel fixed it and we were still able to spend some of Joel's time off doing fun things. He even went to Chuck E Cheese with us one day so we could use up some old tokens we had. We spent New Year's Eve at Joel's sister Joanna's house with all of his family. We stayed up really late playing games and eating food. We all had a great time. When we woke up the next morning the first thing Annalyn said to me it, "I like Joanna's house."

The year 2014 is over and overall it has been a pretty good year. Joel and I were looking back on it and we both had to conclude that the birth of little Kyla was the best accomplishment we could had ever asked for and the fact that we have three healthy girls that are growing and learning new things everyday has made this year a success. We may not have reached all of our goals yet but our family is growing and we are all pretty happy. We can't for to see what the new year will bring.