February

The month of February started off with Brynlee complaining that her throat hurt. She was convinced she had strep so I took her in to quick care where they tested her but she was fine so I sent her to school and then picked up Kyla from Grandma's house and took her in to see the ENT doctor. They determined that Kyla still had a lot of fluid in her ears and since her tonsils were so big they talked about removing them. They gave us a few things to try to get rid of the fluid and set a follow up appointment for the next month. 

We celebrated both of my parent's birthday this month. My sisters and I took my dad out to lunch for his birthday and then we surprised my mom by cleaning her house and making dinner for her. When she came home from work the house was decorated and everyone was hiding. I think we gave her a good surprise. We had fun eating cake with her. Right after the party is when Kyla went to pick up Miriam and she twisted Miriam's arm. I was just getting ready to leave and Joel had taken the older girls to get a tool from his brother Jake's house. Miriam cried every time her arm was moved and was pretty miserable so I decided to take her to the doctor. My mom offered to take my other kids but they had plans to go to the movies and I hated to make her watch my kids on her birthday so I just took them with me and tried to call Joel several times. Of course I got stuck behind and tractor and I had to wait for a train so it took me a while to get there. I finally called Jake and told him to please send Joel my way. Just as we were going back to see a doctor my parent's showed up and took Kyla and Summer from me. I was super grateful that they were willing to change their plans to help me out. I went back with Miriam where they did an x-ray to make sure her collar bone wasn't broken. She looked so tiny and fragile on that big mat. While I was waiting for the results Joel showed up and waited with me. Miriam was in a lot of pain. I was trying my best not to move her arm at all. The clinic I went to was supposed to close at 8 but the doctor and nurse waited with us until 8:30 when we finally got the results back that Miriam's arm was just fine. The people in there were super nice and helpful. She had just pulled a muscle. Luckily we had a lot of help that night and Miriam is just fine.

Towards the end of the month I took Miriam in for her six month check-up. Summer had been running a fever so I tried to get an appointment for her as well but they couldn't fit her in. The next morning her fever was worse and she was saying that her ears hurt so we went back in to the doctor's office again and found out that she had an ear infection in both ears. She really liked that medicine she got to take. We also went to the dentist. The girls all did great but Brynlee had two cavities that she will have to go back in to get filled. 

It snowed a few days this month and Summer was a good helper at helping me to clear up the sidewalks. Kyla did not want to play in the snow very much and most of the snow was gone by the time the girls got home from school. We had a few days where it rained and a few days where the girls were able to play outside but for the most part it was cold outside and our family spent a lot of time inside trying to entertain ourselves with toys, games, and cleaning. I spent a lot of time trying to reorganize several of the rooms in our house and I finished editing some of our home movies from when Summer was a baby.

Brynlee and Annalyn celebrated their 100th day of school and Annalyn got to dress up like she was 100. She insisted that she needed to wear jeans for the day because that it what all of her grandma's wore and she wanted it to look realistic. Kyla is still loving preschool and got to see a real llama and make a llama craft when they went over the letter L. Kyla was the only kid who didn't pet the llama but she liked looking at it. 

In other new we went to the library, had lots of play dates with friends, I went and played Bunco with some friends and went to a Relief Society activity. We had a day with no school where the girls all had friends over.

The girls had some Wahooz passes that we used this month. Joel and I went with all the girls and they had a fun time. Summer tried the Frog Hopper ride that they have and she hated it. She screamed in terror the whole ride. Kyla would not even get on that ride this time but she loved the bumper cars. Her and Summer both went in the Ballocity thing and they loved that. Everyone loved getting prizes and playing the games. We had a fun time. After the trip to Wahooz Joel and I dropped the girls off with Alesha and we took the baby with us out to eat and we went and got some shopping done. It was nice to sneak away for a little date and the girls had fun. Joel and I got to count it as our Valentine's date.

Joel spoiled all the girls this year with balloons and stuffed animals for Valentines' Day. He got me some candy so we all felt pretty loved and spoiled by him. He also brought home a heart shaped pizza. I got to help in Anna's class for her party and that was fun. We made treats for Joel and had a little treasure hunt for him. 

In other news, Brynlee decided she wanted her hair short again so my sister cut it for her, we did lots of crafts, and They split our ward in half and added a bunch of new people towards the end of the month. We all lost some good friends that will no longer be in our ward so we were sad about that but at least we are still in the same ward as grandma. The also changed the name of our ward so instead of the 6th ward we are the Avalon Ward. 

Life sure can be crazy and is full of all kinds of crazy and unexpected twists and turns but it is also lots of fun. 

Miriam at Six Months!

Little Miriam has been getting so active and fun lately. She weighed 16.8 lbs at her sixth month check up which the doctor said was in the 50% and was 26.5 inches tall which is in the 70%. She is wearing 6-9 month clothes and is just about to outgrow her size two diapers. She is rolling all over the place and scooting all around the floor. She has gotten up on her hands and knees and rocked a few times so I have a feeling she will be crawling soon. She can sit up pretty well and is usually pretty content to sit and play with her toys.

Miriam had several colds and was super fussy and whiny this month. Her nose was super stuffy and she was up a lot at night and just wanted to be held. Usually she has a pretty happy and easygoing personality so those weeks were hard. She was feeling pretty miserable on the day she turned six months old which is why she looks kind of sad in the pictures above.

Miriam got to get her first x-ray this month. One of her sisters picked her up and Miriam's arm got twisted behind her. I heard a little pop and then she would not move her arm at all. She cried big painful cries every time someone touched her arm or when someone would move it. I rushed her into the quick care clinic and they were worried that something may have been going on with her collar bone so they did an x-ray on it. Turns out it was just a pulled muscle but Miriam did not move her arm all night and would still cry when it was moved the wrong way for the next few days. After a few days she was back to normal and rolling all over on her arm again. It was a scary moment for me and a painful one for her. Luckily nothing was broken and she is back to her happy self. 

Miriam got to try her first foods this month. I bought a few jars of baby food and all of the girls have had a lot of fun helping me feed her. Miriam has had some mixed reactions to the whole thing. She seemed to love the food at first and then she started to make the most disgusted faces and spit everything out. She learned how to blow raspberries and likes to do that as soon as I put food in her mouth. It took Miriam a lot longer to be interested than some of her other sisters but now she will try to grab everything we try to eat. She loves sitting in her high chair during dinner time.

Miriam loves toys, she loves paper, and she likes to try and put little things in her mouth. I keep trimming her finger nails but she is still constantly scratching her face. As soon as one scab disappears, she gets another one. Her hair is finally starting to grow back in but she is still pretty bald. her eyes are getting darker They are mostly are dark blue, brown color right now.

Miriam loves to stick out her tongue and is constantly playing with it. She has been making lots of fun new sounds and her favorite one is "dada." She loves her daddy and her smile lights up as soon as she hears his voice. I thought she was going to say mama first but it looks like her first word was "dada."

Miriam absolutely loves bath time. I started to let her take a bath with her sisters with just a little bit of water and she likes to lay on her belly and splash and move all over the place while she is in the bath. She laughs and squeals with delight for the entire bath. She still likes to be in the baby carrier but doesn't sleep in there as well. She likes to be able to take part in the action around her.

Miriam still wakes up to eat at least one time every night to eat. We are honestly so busy during the day that I have had a hard time getting Miriam on a really good napping schedule. Luckily Miriam is pretty flexible and falls asleep pretty easily in the car seat or in my arms. Most of the time I can transfer her to her bed once she is asleep and she sleeps in there pretty well but sometimes it is a struggle to put her down, especially when she wasn't feeling well.

Miriam still loves to jump in her jumper thing and she likes to play on her activity mat. Most of the time she rolls right off of the mat so I don't use it as much as I used to. She doesn't need the bumbo chair or the swing anymore so we have moved both of those things out in the garage and we brought in the high chair to take it's place.

We sure are grateful for this sweet little baby. We love watching her grow and learn new things. 

January 2019

The year 2019 is officially underway and January is now over. We started the year off with games and food at Grandma Verna's house. Joel had the day off but spent most of it helping my dad help a friends with some house projects. The girls got the whole rest of the week off of school and we spent the week playing and relaxing at home. The girls all played with their new presents, made and ate treats, made slime, and did crafts, 

The library had a fun stem day that we enjoyed going to. The kids had so much fun playing with all of the things there that they did not want to leave. Brynlee got invited to a friend's birthday during the week and had a fun time swimming. I spent a night hanging out with some friends at a party and Joel got to go snowboarding with his Brother Jake and sister Joanna and some of their family and he had a great time. On Sunday the girls all got to move up to new primary classes and they all seemed to like their new teachers. We also got to meet at a new building, the same building we were at before, and at a new time. Now we meet at 10:30 and we only go for two hours instead of three. It was a lot of changes all at once. No one knew where to go and the Sunday school teacher got confused and let everyone out a half hour early but so far we are really liking the new time and we love only having church for two hours. It is leaving more time for us to spend as a family. 

On Monday the girls had to go back to school and our normal schedule resumed. I took Miriam in for her four month check up that day. She had a cold but we were still able to get her shots. We went to the library and to parenting class. Kyla started preschool and the girls went to school. I got to volunteer in Annalyn's class at school. My mom ended getting a job at the girl's school part time so I won't be able to go in every week. I sure am glad I was able to help out for a few weeks.

I got to go and play Bunco with some friends later that month. We decided to take the whole family out to dinner one night and used up some of the gift cars we had laying around. I was pleasantly surprised at how well our girls all did at the restaurant. I also got to take Kyla on a date night to Jabbers. It was so fun to just hang out with her and see what her little mind was thinking. We played with blocks together and played with some little doll figurines. Then I watched her go down the big slide they have there about 100 times. We finished the night with a trip to Winco for donuts. I love getting to spend one on one time with the girls. Later that month Joel got to take Brynlee and Annalyn on their date nights. He took Brynlee to dinner at Panda Express and to watch a movie. They saw the new Mary Poppins movie together. He took Annalyn to Wahooz and it sounds like they had a pretty fun time. Annalyn came home with lots of prizes. 

We had several days of sickness this month. Summer and Miriam started out the month with bad colds and coughs and then Brynlee and the other girls got them too. A week or so later Kyla got an ear infection and had to be on antibiotics. Exactly one week after that Brynlee and Annalyn both got fevers and Brynlee's throat was super sore. I took her into the doctor and they confirmed that Brynlee had strep throat. Annalyn did not so I figured it was just some other kind of virus. All three of the other kids had at least a day of a fever and by the end of the next week Kyla woke up in the night crying that her ears hurt again. I ended up taking her in for another check-up and they found out that she still had an ear infection along with a ruptured ear drum. The doctor prescribed her with some super strong medicine. She is already allergic to penicillian and the medicine they gave her gave her a super bad tummy ache. They also referred us to an ENT doctor to look at her ears and tonsils. It looks like we got to make a trip to the doctor's office every single week this month. I can't be sure but I think that is a new record for us. And now that we are into the second week of February the trips are still coming. Right now we are at six weeks in a row.                                                                                                                                                                                

I went to a relief society activity. The girls got to go to a birthday party for a friend and they had a super fun time. Annalyn made a new friend a school and we had her over once. Brynlee also had several playdates with friends. I spent a lot of time starting to exercise and organize our house. I redid my closet last month and did the girl's closet this month. I went through everyone's sock drawer which was a huge job. Now I have a bunch of things I need to get rid of. We made dirt cups for family night one day this month and the girls had way too much fun eating them. Annalyn and Kyla both got trims from aunt Heather.

We had a few days of snow but for the most part the weather was actually kind of nice for January. 

This month was busy and there was plenty of hard moments but there were also lots of moments of fun and laughter. I am grateful for this little family of mine. I am glad I get to spend my days with all of these little people.