Lessons

I hate being humbled by your children. Last week I took Porter to the park. He is in this pirate phase right now and insists that he wear his pirate hat, patch, and belt everywhere and he runs around screaming argh! When we pulled up to the park, I recommended that he take his hat off because it is kind of weird. He said to me quite matter of factly, "It's ok to be weird mommy. It's not a big deal!"

Last week we were at my mom's house and she was watching my brother's dog for him. He was being quite overbearing and needy (he is a golden) and so she finally let him out to run around. He never leaves the yard. About an hour later she realized we hadn't let Dodger back in. We called for him and looked all around the yard but there was no trace whatsoever. She jumped in her car to go look for him while Porter and I stood at the window on the look out. I asked Porter if he remembered what his books told him about losing things. He told me we should pray about it. We said a prayer and immediately looked up to see Dodger bounding up the stairs towards us. (thank you for the perfect teaching moment for a 2 year old that needs immediate results!) I tried to call my mom to tell her but she wasn't answering her phone. Porter proceeded to inform me that we needed to pray to find "mana" and immediately said a prayer, "Heavenly Father, please find mana and bless her to get home safe and be ok; name of Jesus Christ amen." I love that little boy!

Our Summer

Since I have been severely slacking in the blogging, bare with me as I present a chronicle of our summer. We have been beyond busy with family, friends, work and activities, so here goes nothing!

The LeBaron Cabin

June-Tommy's Ragnar Race

Tommy and Porter at the Finish Line

July 3rd- The Oakley Rodeo with Carrie, Joseph, the kidlets, Bobby and the Smiths.
July 24th: Hiking Dog Lake and the Rocket ShipDog Lake

Porter's Buzz Lightyear Rocket Ship
"Pat Pat Pat, 1-2-3 Blast Off!

August 4th- August 8th-Lake PowellFailed at taking hardly any pictures!

August 10-August 14th San Antonio, Texas

My parents and I took the boys down to my cousin Hayley's wedding. Lucky for us, Texas was having a heat wave. Can I just say I hate humidity which unfortunately limits me to like two states I can live in in the US!The TemplePorter's Dance Partner Jamie-Lynn (his second cousin) Porter had a ball with his second cousins at my Aunt Wendy's House. He cried everytime we had to leave.Rocking Out with Grandma English
(yes they did have glow sticks for the dancing! I didn't let Porter wear a hat and half way through the night he decided he needed a pirate hat made out of a napkin)

Sea WorldHappy Boy Despite the Heat
Feeding the "Dolflins"The Alamo

And finally, this was our kids at the end of Sacrament a few weeks ago. As you can see, we have exhausted ourselves! You wouldn't know that this is a picture of a 2 1/2 year old and a 4 month old!

The 4 Month Mark

This is a belated post which I forgot to post bc I was waiting to put up pictures, but clearly I didn't. I'll post tonight with pictures from our trips.

Jack is 4 months old going on a year. Here are his stats:
Weight: 17.65lbs. 93%
Height: 26.5 in. 93 %
Head: 98%
At least he is proportional, right?
He is pretty dang cute, a bit demanding and it is hard to resist smooching him every five seconds. He loves to talk, grab at everything, watch Porter play, splash in the tub, swim (when it's warm enough), walk in the walker, pull everything towards his mouth, and flash the cheesiest smiles that will melt your heart! Oh, and did I mention he is a spitting machine? I just got slimed (again!)

These two boys are keeping me pretty busy but I am loving having both of them around. Bath time is my favorite! Although Porter has been completely disturbed lately because he thinks there is something wrong with his fingers when he has been in the water for too long. (pruny fingers)

3 Months! (okay a little more but better late than never, right?)

So he looks a bit older than three months, but who doesn't love a chunker right? (I would estimate somewhere in the 15-16 pound area, yes you read that right) Nine plus hours the past two nights has made me love him even more! (a great testament against co-sleeping:)) He is growing so fast and getting so old. He loves: swimming, eating his hands, staring at his feet, looking at himself in the mirror, standing up (with our help of course) and as of yesterday, rolling over. Jack is a bit bi polar! He is usually super happy now, but when he is sad, he is SAD. And his mood can change in the blink of an eye. And as I've said before, this boy is a SPITTER! My brothers refuse to hold him because they are sick of changing their shirts and I must confess most of the time I just let him be in a diaper and nothing more because I HATE laundry. We are lovin' this little boy. Okay, and we still love this little boy too! Notice the new buzz cut!

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig!

Well we are back in our house. We are grateful to the LeBaron's for letting us crash for a year. We didn't save as much money as we had hoped, but we did manage to invest in a business, go to Disneyworld, meet our $7,000 deductible and then some plus co-pays and prescriptions, not to mention Miko's recent visit to the vet on account of a split paw pad due to a sharp object found in the park, replace the tires on my car, and above all and the main reason for renting our house, wait out the looming job loss we thought Tom would have, but luckily avoided (although we did have to float a pay check for a while here and there). So I have to tell myself in that respect most of that wouldn't have been possible had it not been for the move. So I count my blessings and thank Neil and Ruth Ann for allowing us to stay afloat!
Life is good! The move went smoothly (thanks to all who gave up your Saturday morning to help us!) and I must say it is much easier to unpack when you already know where everything goes. And thankfully our renters were clean people that kept our house in tip top shape! (We did have one minor setback with them having our water and gas shut off, but we should be good to go now) Jack has his own room now which means better sleep for all of us! It's nice to be back in our ward bounaries and closer to our friends which means craft nights and girl's nights for me! And Porter will be around more kids his own age which means more fun for him.
Despite the move, we have had an enjoyable 4th of July. Thanks to Bobbi and Sherm and Joe and Carrie for inviting us to the Oakley Rodeo on Friday, Porter was in heaven! Pictures to come when I get on top of my life:)
The rest of the weekend involved unpacking and getting settled and an Ikea run. But it was a nice weekend and hopefully our lives will be less hectic.

HAPPY BABY

Here is Jack at the chiropractor today. I think he hates it, don't you? He has been a joy lately, however, his spitting up is killing me! He is what doctors would call, for the most part, a "happy spitter". Unfortunately for me, I'm getting to the point that not only do I have to pack two extra outfits for him when we go out, but I'm having to start bringing myself a shirt too! Oh the joys of motherhood!

I'm a Believer

I love my baby boy but he was quite a challenge for me. He screamed and fussed and was never really happy. He ate every two hours and the longest stretch of sleep we got at night was 3 hours. Between that and his reflux, I was at my wits end. After an entire day of crying (every moment he was awake) I decided to take the recommendation of a woman in my mom's ward. She told us her daughter had taken their baby to the chiropractor and he was able to basically change the whole demeanor of the baby. The belief is this. When babies come down the birth canal, their bodies are ravaged and thrown out of alignment. He believes that lots of their crying comes from the pain their bodies are in as a result of this. I took Jack in to the chiropractor last Wednesday and I'm here to tell you I'm a believer. He did some slight adjustments with a small tool he has especially for infants. That night Jack slept for 8 hours!! I thought maybe it was a fluke, but the shortest time he has slept at night now is 5 hours. He is so much happier, cries so much less and he is actually enjoyable when he is awake. I know what you're thinking, this sounds ridiculous, but I'm here to tell you, whatever he did worked for Jack and even the sleep I get at night now is worth the money spent at the Chiropractor. I'll post pictures of this happy boy later but right now I'm enjoying him too much!