Alexis is now 4 years old....where has the time gone! She is now reading small 5 letter words with Ethan....she loves...absolutely loves Monopoly Jr. She's really good at it too...I have played her about 6 times....and have yet to win! (I'm actually trying to win now...still can't) To watch her have to pay me rent when she does land on my 'land' is priceless. She had a haircut....it frames her face and she looks just darling with a little barrette clip in her hair. She is a great helper with Hunter...loves to feed him when I'm at work....loves to hold him and give him kisses, is always making him laugh when she laughs! It's just wonderful to watch her grow. She is into trains and her kitchen set....loves her magformers. She is really imaginative and loves to build things. She can write her name well. She loves to sing. 2 weeks ago, our family, well- minus Hunter- sang in Sacrament Meeting- 'A Child's Prayer.' It went really well- brought a tear to my eye when Ethan was cowarding down and she bent over and gave him a kiss up there....it was the sweetest thing! She is such a innocent little girl. She knows what she likes and folds her arms and sasses you when she doesn't get her way. (We are working on that part). We are totally blessed to have her as a part of our little family. You are loved, Alexis Marie!
Hunter is now 5 months old! Honestly, didn't I just have him....8lbs 5 oz....he is now 20lbs....a Butterball Turkey!!! :) I just can't believe it! He loves his family....When we each play with him...he giggles and laughs. He loves to babble and stick his tongue out. He is drooling all over the place...no teeth yet though! His back and belly are so ticklish....when you tickle him, he goes crazy laughing and giggles so much. I love it! He is wearing 12 month clothes now. He enjoys his belly and kicks trying to move to reach his toy. He holds his head up great and loves to watch what we are doing. He'll sit up for a good 1-2 minutes before falling over. He sleeps very well...taking naps during the day 2 times for almost 2 hours each. He puts himself to sleep and it's just so wonderful! We are very blessed to have him in our family. We love you Hunter Kade!
pics to come hopefully tomorrow...when I'm off work!!!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
60 degrees, late October, and sunny equals...
Chandra is working this weekend which means I get to entertain the kids for a while. Yesterday was supposed to be the best day for a while. After lunch I packed Hunter, strapped inside his car seat, into the bike trailer. The other kids rode their bikes next to us and we rode down a dead-end road and back. It was windy and now the kids have coughs, but we got out of the house.
Today we can't go out in the weather, but I wanted to get out anyway. I remembered when I was young that my family would go on outings during October General Conferences where we drove somewhere for the first session while listening to it on the radio, eat our packed lunch, and ride back while listening to the second session. Well, I modified that to reflect the times and situation; we live on the East Coast and we already had Conference. From our house I drove over 2 mountain ranges and then turned around. I was awe-struck at the beauty. My crappy camera-phone might have well just taken black-and-white snapshots for the comparison to what I saw and what you see. I describe it as a panorama of tie-dyed cottonballs held up against the sky. I have never seen entire mountains and valleys clothed in this hippie-esque garb and it was breath-taking. I rode past the entrance to Skyline Drive, which can be driven from lower PA to somewhere in SC I am told, and the line to get on the road was a mile long. On my road, Highway 211, the trees curved in over the top of the road on both sides. It was like driving along a curvy driveway lined by technicolor puffs. Some trees had pink and red leaves on top and green on the bottom; others were flourescent yellow.
I started thinking about all the things I am learning since I have moved out here. Things like I prefer having all my kids around as opposed to the easier 1 or 2, like nothing chases the grumps or blues away quicker than listening to Hunter laugh his 5-month-old laugh complete with squeeks and grunts, like beating Alexis in Monopoly isn't as fun as watching her face when I land on her properties and have to give her money. After coming home Ethan pulled out a human anatomy book I had on the desk. He began looking at the pictures and surprised me by how fascinated he was at seeing the different bones and muscles. He showed Alexis a picture of a baby in utero and explained to her exactly what it was, a baby inside the mom before being born. My experience from today helped me to appreciate the experiences my kids are having. I want more kids. I see it as having a child for every stage of development. When Hunter gets into the toddler stage, bring on another infant. Plus it doesn't hurt that the older kids fight over who gets to feed Hunter the bottle. I hope that keeps up until he can hold it himself.
On a different note I have been looking up information regarding physician assistants to prepare for my interview next week with the program here. I heard they want to know what the interviewee knows about PAs as proof that they are walking into the program with their eyes open. Well, the average age of the first year PA student in 2007 (the latest data published) is 25. 66% of the students are female. 25% are married. It seems I might add diversity as a married male with children...who would have thought that single white females would be the majority?
Anyway, things are crazy as always. With work Chandra and I both have pulled a 16-hour shift within the last month, but we normally stick to 8-12 hr shifts at one time. We have Chandra's mother come over from MD about 1-2 times a month to help out since our schedules overlapped and no one wants to come over at 3 AM to watch the kids.
Today we can't go out in the weather, but I wanted to get out anyway. I remembered when I was young that my family would go on outings during October General Conferences where we drove somewhere for the first session while listening to it on the radio, eat our packed lunch, and ride back while listening to the second session. Well, I modified that to reflect the times and situation; we live on the East Coast and we already had Conference. From our house I drove over 2 mountain ranges and then turned around. I was awe-struck at the beauty. My crappy camera-phone might have well just taken black-and-white snapshots for the comparison to what I saw and what you see. I describe it as a panorama of tie-dyed cottonballs held up against the sky. I have never seen entire mountains and valleys clothed in this hippie-esque garb and it was breath-taking. I rode past the entrance to Skyline Drive, which can be driven from lower PA to somewhere in SC I am told, and the line to get on the road was a mile long. On my road, Highway 211, the trees curved in over the top of the road on both sides. It was like driving along a curvy driveway lined by technicolor puffs. Some trees had pink and red leaves on top and green on the bottom; others were flourescent yellow.
I started thinking about all the things I am learning since I have moved out here. Things like I prefer having all my kids around as opposed to the easier 1 or 2, like nothing chases the grumps or blues away quicker than listening to Hunter laugh his 5-month-old laugh complete with squeeks and grunts, like beating Alexis in Monopoly isn't as fun as watching her face when I land on her properties and have to give her money. After coming home Ethan pulled out a human anatomy book I had on the desk. He began looking at the pictures and surprised me by how fascinated he was at seeing the different bones and muscles. He showed Alexis a picture of a baby in utero and explained to her exactly what it was, a baby inside the mom before being born. My experience from today helped me to appreciate the experiences my kids are having. I want more kids. I see it as having a child for every stage of development. When Hunter gets into the toddler stage, bring on another infant. Plus it doesn't hurt that the older kids fight over who gets to feed Hunter the bottle. I hope that keeps up until he can hold it himself.
On a different note I have been looking up information regarding physician assistants to prepare for my interview next week with the program here. I heard they want to know what the interviewee knows about PAs as proof that they are walking into the program with their eyes open. Well, the average age of the first year PA student in 2007 (the latest data published) is 25. 66% of the students are female. 25% are married. It seems I might add diversity as a married male with children...who would have thought that single white females would be the majority?
Anyway, things are crazy as always. With work Chandra and I both have pulled a 16-hour shift within the last month, but we normally stick to 8-12 hr shifts at one time. We have Chandra's mother come over from MD about 1-2 times a month to help out since our schedules overlapped and no one wants to come over at 3 AM to watch the kids.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
An overdue update!
For my birthday this year, we went up to Dulles to the Air and Space Museum! It was really really fun. The kids loved it!
This is Alexis some nights after dinner
This is Alexis some nights after dinner
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