The Results Are In

Who would have thought that we'd have a baby whose head is on the charts (although it is still proportionately large compared with her other body measurements)! I took Macy to the doctor for her 4 month check-up, and here are her stats:

Weight: 15 lbs. 10 oz. (89th percentile)

Height: 24.4 inches (57th percentile)

Head: 16.9 inches (93rd percentile)

She's a beautiful baby, and we love her. I enjoy being a mother. I think sometimes our society and culture imply that choosing to be a mother who stays at home with her children is a cop out. It isn't. If I wanted to, I could have a successful career, or spend my time traveling, or pursuing hobbies, or maintaining my appearance and youth, or whatever else the world might deem as more important. But I have chosen to be a mother, and I find it to be a valuable, hard, rewarding, joyful, humorous, demanding, enlightening occupation. And now I will get off of my soapbox.

One for the Mama

I always blog about my kids lives, but I decided it was time to blog about my own. I've been thinking about my weaknesses for the past few months, and I decided there were some that I wanted to turn into strengths. So I picked one to work on first. Growing up with my mom and my grandma, they taught me a lot about empathy. And there have been some experiences in my life specifically so I could have more of it. The thing I've struggled with though, is letting other people know that I care about them and am thinking about what is happening in their lives. I don't know why, but I always worry that I am going to offend them. And maybe I will. But I would guess that 9 times out of 10, people would appreciate a little love and attention. So I decided that my fear of offending others would not prevent me from showing my love for them. And I've had some pretty amazing experiences since I made the conscious decision to ignore my fear and act on the impressions I receive. Just today, something very special happened as a result of acting on one of those impressions. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I know God can make our weakness become strengths , and in asking him to help us, and committing to follow his promptings instead of our fears, we are better conduits of his love. I'm grateful for that. So maybe that was all a little more spiritual than anyone wanted, but it is the thing in my own life that I am the most excited about.

By small and simple things are great things brought to pass.

I'm a Big Girl Now

It is official. Avery is potty trained. (I will love it when words like "potty" have been eliminated from my vocabulary!) She has been in underwear for two weeks with no accidents and I am so proud of her. Potty training is one of those things that mothers hold their breath over. I think by the time I have to do it with Macy, I'll have it down to a science. Yeah right. Anyway, I am proud that she has reached this milestone. She is a cute little girl. Last night she wanted me to sing another song before bed. I told her no, and she said she wanted to sing one by herself. I went out in the hall and heard her sweet little voice, "I am a child of God...." How true. I'm glad I get to be a part of her life and have her be a part of mine.

Beautiful Babes

Here's some pictures of the kids (thanks for the harassment Heather!) We were able to go to the fire station last week. Carston went with his preschool, and the rest of us went with one of our playgroups. Poor Carston got a little freaked out so I was glad I was there. He really listens to everything we tell him. We've talked to him about fire and how it is dangerous and can burn you. They were having fire demonstrations with people putting them out (fire fighters and their hoses, and adults with fire extinguishers). I think the poor kid saw the fire and thought he was going to get burned! After more explanation though, he was okay and had fun spraying the hose with a fireman.

3 Months Old

Macy is now three months old. I love having this sweet little girl in our home. She loves to interact with us. She'll "talk" with us forever, and she has started doing the cutest little giggle. I love spending time with her. There is just something about babies. It seems irrational. Here are these tiny little creatures who can't do anything for themselves. You have to feed them, change them, help them to sleep, get up in the night with them. They poop on you, spit up on you, cry, restrict your mobility. And I won't even get into pregnancy and childbirth. All this, and yet we love them fiercely the moment they arrive. I'm grateful that we are able to have her, and I'm grateful for the love she emanates.

The Dang English Language!

So a few months ago, we decided to teach Carston to say "three" instead of "free" I had him watch my mouth and imitate me, and he totally got it. So when people asked him how old he was (before he turned four) he would correctly pronounce the word three. But a little while after I started noticing some other changes in his speech. At first I thought he was saying it on accident. He would come and tell me that he hurt his "thinger." Or that his "thingernails" were getting long. But it was no accident. When I tried to correct him ("You mean your finger"), he would adamantly inform me that "No mom, it is my THINGER." It has been a few months, and I still can't get him to give it up. There are no fingers on his body, only "thingers!" I thought it was pretty funny how he automatically applied this new language rule to other things of his own accord. If "f" was really "th", then the opposite must be true as well. It is always interesting to see how their little minds work.

California

This last week, we went with some of John's family to a beach house in California. We were able to hang out at the beach, and we couldn't get out of going to Disneyland. Can you imagine the damage done to my kids if I would have told them that no, even though all their cousins and everyone was going to Disneyland, we were not going to go. I'm sure they'd be in therapy for years just over that incident. Most of you know that I am not the biggest Disneyland fan. I thought maybe I would like it more after going this time, but sadly my views on Disneyland were further validated. Case in point, the Snow White ride. Does anyone remember that ride? We are standing in line, and there is this spooky dungeon chamber with a skull and you hear a witch talking all scary and cackling. Carston's cousin, who is three, starts crying saying she doesn't want to go because it is scary. Dumb parents that we are, we all assure her that it will be fun and she'll get to see Snow White. We were totally wrong. You see Snow White for all of two seconds at the very beginning, and then the rest of the ride is through the scary woods, with the witch popping up all over the place, scary music, etc. My favorite though is after you have gone through all that, when your cart is coming to the place where you get out, there are words painted on the wall: "And they lived happily ever after..." Ah, the joys of Disneyland. It just seems like the place where we teach our children to distrust their gut feelings. "It looks scary." "No honey, this is fun! I promise. See how fun it is!" Anyway, enough about my affection for Disneyland. In all fairness, Carston did enjoy the Buzz Lightyear and the cars. If you average the cost per rides that he actually enjoyed, I sure hope he enjoyed them ALOT, because they were pretty pricey rides! They did have fun though. Avery was so funny, when we were there she kept saying, "I wanna go to disneywand." I don't know what she thought Disneyland was, maybe the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She liked meeting all the characters, and Carston was very excited about Buzz Lightyear. It is funny sometimes to see how different my kids are. Carston was cautious about every ride, wanting to know if the people in it moved, if they were real, etc. Avery didn't think twice about anything we were doing. Carston was funny about the Pirates of the Carribean ride. Everyone was in line, and he decided he didn't want to go. I got off with him, and he started asking if the pirates in it were real and could move. I explained that they were toys, and so he decided he wanted to try it. He was scared the whole time, but I was proud of him for keeping it together. Later that day though, he said he changed his mind and he like it because Captain Jack was in it and he was nice.

What I enjoyed the most on this trip was just watching my family. I loved watching John playing on the beach with his brothers. They were little kids in heaven back in the sun where they grew up (check out the sand castle). I liked watching Carston having fun with his cousins. He idolizes his 8 year old cousin Jace, and he was so excited to go to California with him. My favorite was watching Carston tackle Jace over and over in the sand. He was so determined! I liked watching Avery playing with the sand, trying to push her hair up off her face (my all time favorite little girl move)! It was also fun to hang out with all the adults after the kids were in bed. It is a rare occasion when we can all get together and not have to be mommy and daddy at the same time.

It was a great trip, and we are glad that we were able to go. Now it is back to home life. Next week I'm attempting to get rid of Avery's diapers and get Macy sleeping through the night in her own room. We'll see how it goes.

First Time

I experienced a first the other day. I ran over my first school-cross-walk orange cone. I really didn't mean to do it, and I promise that I was paying attention. I turned left, heard a little thud, and looked back to see the crossing guard with his hands up in the air and a look of disgust on his face. I was a little unsure about what to do. What exactly is the proper etiquette in a situation like that? Am I supposed to turn around and offer to pay for the cone, or at the very least, tape it back together with duct tape? I guess my mom never trained me properly for this inevitable situation. Shame on you Mom!

Labor Day Weekend! New Adventures!

We decided to get adventurous this Labor Day weekend. We took our kids hiking for the first time. After stopping in a little town for breakfast with my parents (the highlight being a Rodeo Queen in a neon green dress with fringe-continuing the neon green-from the knee down), we headed to Ruth Lake. It was a mile up to the Lake and both Avery and Carston hiked the whole way (Macy was in a carrier). Carston was excited before we even started. As soon as he woke up, he asked if he could wake up Avery and tell her we were going hiking now. He also asked who the leader was going to be, and wondered if he could maybe be it. He thought he'd need a stick for that occupation. Anyway, they loved it. They had a blast throwing rocks into the Lake when we got up there. And I skipped my first rock ever, forget that John had people clapping because his rock almost made it across the lake!


After hiking, John and I decided to check into a nice establishment and send the kids home with my parents. Like I said, we wanted to be adventurous!



Later that day, we did a slip-n-slide with John's family. As much as it might seem otherwise, this was an activity mostly for the adults. Our slip-n-slide is really a huge roll of heavy duty plastic from Home Depot. You can see from the picture how long it was. The goal was to make it all the way to the end of the slide, and that only happened once at the end by John's 230 lb. 6 foot 5 brother. Even with the extra pregnancy weight, I didn't even make it halfway! It was fun trying though! Overall, we had a great weekend.

Macy Saige Roberts is Now Official (for the church records)!

We had Macy's baby blessing on Sunday. It was a neat experience for John and me. I feel like I've been especially sensitive to the spirit in my life lately, and my heart has been filled with so much gratitude for the blessings in my life. We love Macy and we are grateful that her spirit has come to our home and will be a part of our family. I love my family.