January

Happy New Year!
January

We celebrated New Year's Eve at the Barrett's with the Thygerson's.  We had homemade pizza, visited while the kids played, and set off a few fireworks and sparklers for the New Year!  Lucas went to sleep hours earlier, but the girls made it all the way until midnight.  Hello 2014!

 Matt giving Emilyn oogy boogy shakes!  Happy New Year's Day 2014!

 Lucas doing some damage and making some music with some pans.  His whisk and the big pan are his favorites, but he needs to take everything he can out to really let his creativity flow!

 Mike and Alison were able to spend the night with us on their way into town.  We actually spent the night at their house on our way back to Utah, and then they decided at the last minute to spend the second week of vacation coming our direction.  Mike's dad was sick with a flu so they wanted to give him a little bit to feel better, so they arrived at our house late the same night we came home from our trip.  We were very happy to have them.  I got to spend some good time with Alison this time.  The kids were able to play the next day they were here, we had a dinner with the Barrett's and Thygerson's, we had a date night to dinner and a movie with the four of us (that's where Matt and I are in the picture above), and Alison and I got away for an afternoon to have lunch and shop a little.  It was so nice to have her here for the week.  It's unlike me, but somehow I didn't take any pictures of the kids while we were at their house, or when they were here visiting.

 Emilyn's drawing of some of her Christmas list wishes.

 What is a friend assignment from school by Matisyn

 The girls got a new fairy coloring book for Christmas.  They both are getting to be so good at coloring.

 Matisyn's letter to the tooth fairy.  The tooth fairy forgot to take the tooth last time, and she didn't want her to get into trouble. 

 Looking handsome in his Harley Davidson outfit from Mike and Wendy for his birthday.

 Lucas has been crawling into things like this castle.  He is our little Baby Zilla.  He eats anything he can get his hands on.  Stomp, stomp, crush, crash into the little princess castle or into the Barbie RV.  He's not quite as little as he thinks he is!

 The girls had a great day playing together when they both had a day off for Martin Luther King Jr day.  These were some of their dress up choices.

 Lucas loves a good tape measure!  If he finds one he won't give it back, and he walks around pretending to measure things, and pulling the tape out and in.

 Eating rice noodles and sporting his new hair cut!

 The girls and their furby friends

 Emilyn's letter R practice page

 Celebrating the triplets turning 11.  Lucas wanted to get into the fun and wear a crown and wand and be a princess too.  Matt was out of town in Denver for the weekend for work, so he wasn't able to see how cute he looked so I captured it in a picture!

 Lucas always has to feed himself, and soup is no exception.  It makes for some fun clean up every time!  I'm always just grateful when he'll eat something new, so the mess is worth it.

 The girls and their Lego creations

 My first gluten free bread attempt.  It's supposed to look more like a batter, than dough, so it was a definite failure.  I haven't found a good gluten free bread recipe without eggs, so I'm not even sure if it's possible.  I'll keep exploring.  I feel better now though because I found a vegan brown rice bread at Trader Jo's that Lucas seems to like.  I don't feel as pressured to be able to make him one now.

 Just because he is so darn cute!

 The "before" haircut pictures.  It was getting long in the back, but I loved petting it, and I was sad to cut it off.  I just didn't want the poor guy to have a mullet.

 I was expecting him to panic a little when I set him down, or be afraid when they used the clippers.  Everyone has told me that baby boys do not generally like the clippers.  He was an angel though.  He sat right down in his little car and looked around while she cut his hair.  I wasn't sure what I wanted, this boy stuff is new to me.  I just said shorter, and she suggested a length I could spike, which sounded good to me. 

 What a handsome boy!  I was a little sad to see his baby hair cut off, but now that I am used to it, I really like it.  It makes him look older, which isn't my favorite, because he is my BABY!  But, it also makes him look extra cute, so it evens out.

 Emilyn had her Kindergarten doctor's appointment.  We couldn't wait until she turned five because the school wanted the immunizations done before we registered for Kindergarten at the beginning of February.  She was so happy to show how big she was getting, answering questions about knowing her letters, being able to skip, ride a bike, count to 10, etc.  She was nervous about her shots though.  She held my hand, and was a trouper when they gave her three of them, plus a finger poke to check her iron, I think.  All of the tests checked out well, and she is a healthy, happy girl ready for Kindergarten!

Emilyn's 5 Year Stats (three months early!)

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Weight:  37.6 lbs  43 %

Height:  41 inches  33 %

 Lucas "helping clean" our room.  Matt had left a suitcase half unpacked for weeks on our floor, and Lucas actually helped by taking the rest of the stuff out of it finally!  Way to go buddy!

 Lunch out with the girls!

Lucas is 15 months old!

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Weight:  22 lbs 5.5 oz  43 %

Length:  31 inches  42 %

Head Circ:  48.5 cm  89 %

Lucas had his 15 month doctor's visit this month.  He didn't get shots because he'd been running a fever until the day before, and I wanted to space them out anyway because of his allergies.  He got a good report though.  Despite his allergies and all my worries whether he was getting enough food or nutrition, he is growing and learning as he should.  They asked things like, can he walk, crawl up stairs, say at least 4 words, respond to his name, stack a two block tower, etc.  He could do all the things they asked, and he had gained weight like he should, which was a big relief for me.  We love this baby boy!

Lucas's Favorite Things

Favorite Hobbies:  Dumping out toys, brushing his teeth, putting everything he finds into his mouth, taking baths, emptying cupboards, playing with sisters' toys in the playroom, and going on walks in his red car, crawling into little chairs and pretending to be a big boy, riding his tool bike around the family room, finding Daddy's tools to help him work (he loves a real, sharp screwdriver), pulling things out of the pantry, throwing things over the gate and down the stairs, playing outside, feeding himself, banging on pots and pans, and pressing buttons.
His favorite things include his blanket, binky, and Mommy!  Although his favorite time of day is when Daddy gets home from work.  He runs for the gate and squeals and claps.

Favorite Book:  Dear Zoo, and any other books with flaps and things to touch and feel

Favorite Song:  I wouldn't know, he cries whenever I try to sing to him!  He does like music in the car though, and gets especially excited when we play the "What does the fox say?" song

Favorite Toys:  Tool Bike (he likes to ride backwards sometimes to switch things up), Tool shape truck (he loves the tool noises and putting the shapes in and out), Stacking toys (especially the one with the balls that roll down once you have it stacked, choking hazards of any sort, play kitchen dishes and food, balls, and anything that belongs to his sisters

Favorite Moves:  Stomping his right foot to dance and shaking his head when he hears music. He also claps whenever he sees or hears anyone else clapping.

Favorite Quote from Sisters:  "Look Mom, he's a real boy now!"  They say this whenever they see him doing big boy things like climbing or playing with toys, or when he's wearing clothes that make him look older.  They think he is pretty perfect, even with his destructive tendencies.

Favorite Look:  Shy and flirty with his chin against his chest and his eyes lowered

Favorite Game:  Peek a Boo

Favorite Animal Sound:  ROAR!  He thinks all animals say roar, including soft fluffy things like bunnies and ducks!  He loves all animals.  He gets excited when he sees them in books or especially in person.

Favorite Noises:  Loud ones!  He loves the blender, vacuum, airplanes, etc.

Favorite Foods:  These only include the ones he is allowed, there are many others he has had a taste of and wishes he could have more (e.g. marshmallows)!  rice noodles, grapes, peaches, rice chex and rice krispies, rice granola bars, raisins, his special Snickerdoodle cookies

Least Favorite Things:  Having his diaper changed, having food taken that he isn't supposed to eat, getting out of the bathtub, seeing people leave and not getting to go, yogurt, getting into his car seat (although he's fine once we start moving, and will stay happily in it for a long time), having to come inside, having the door shut on him so he can't get in.


Dec 16:  Stopped taking two naps, still needs two, but will only go down for the morning one.  It will take some time to transition because he's pretty cranky in the afternoon.  Sometimes I just put him down for a little bit of a rest to help him make it to bedtime, but he cries most times, and doesn't fall asleep. 
Dec 20:  Great at going down stairs on his tummy now, he looks like a penguin sometimes because he slides so fast
Jan 8:  Finally started sleeping through the night. (15 mths)  Still not consistently, but when he wakes up I give him a binky and most of the time he goes right back to sleep.  I'm not feeding him anymore at night even if he does wake up.  I'm still nursing two or three times a day.  It makes me feel like he is at least getting some nutrition that he needs even if he refuses most of what I give him.
Jan 16:  Loves to Roar!  Thinks all animals roar, lions, monkeys, frogs, etc.
Jan 22:  1st all over haircut.  I took him to Cookie Cutters, and he had his first all over hair cut.  My friend Ashly had trimmed the back a few months ago, but this time they used the clippers all over the back and sides and trimmed the top.  We can spike it.  It looks handsome, but it makes him look too big!
Jan 28:  Started opening up the air conditioning vent and throwing things in
Feb 1:  Starting to feel less overwhelmed with allergies.  He is eating more, and we have found some staples that he likes.
Feb 4:  Learned to pull out the dining table chairs and crawl on top.  Smiles ear to ear because he is so proud.  Crawling from there onto the table was just a few days behind.  He does this over and over again.
Feb 5:  Dances and stomps right foot up and down to music.  He is quite the dancer.
Feb 7:  Started saying lots of words all of a sudden.  He had said the same few for a couple of months now, mama, dada, all done, more, and then right when I was thinking he hadn't said any new ones lately he keeps surprising me.  These are a few new ones: 
"der go"  there go
"tank tu"  thank you
"ama"  Grandma