Head shoulders knees and toes

I feel like I'm really able to enjoy my baby girl. 

Rumor has it, she's our last and so I'm very aware of how cute and fun a one year old is. I'm soaking it all in.

She has brought new meaning to the song, "Head, shoulders, knee's and toes" though. She had the Helmet. She was born with a broken collar bone. Her knee's pop like crazy. When she was younger one eye was droopier than the other. It shows up still every once in a while. She has way more ear infections than the boys and is one away from getting tubes. But her mouth and nose are perfect! :)

In other news....

*She gives the sweetest kisses and loves. I'm talking arms tight all the way around the neck, with a squeeze. I love a baby's kiss, when they lean in with that half open mouth and rest it on yours. One day I was nursing her and she would come up for a kiss then go back down to nurse. She did this about 6 times. Some times if she sits kind spider like to nurse, she'll wrap those little fat arms around my big fat waist and squeeze.  Also when she nurses she always raises her little hand up to my mouth and covers it so I'll kiss the palm of her hand. She just holds it there.
p.s. I'm pretty sure there is one more nursing story below. Continue at your own risk

*She's a blanky and thumb girl. The boys were neither. I love watching her bring the blanket up to her mouth while she sucks her thumb.

*She must hold everything on her own. She pretty much self feeds. We sit our 1 yr old in the highchair to feed herself and then we spoon feed our 3 and 5 yr olds.

Oddly enough, I trust the girl with an open cup and straw

She quickly learned that "ahhhhh" sound we exaggerate around babies after drinking liquid. One day she was in her highchair whining over something. Mike was walking around saying, "what? what do you need?" When he passed the fridge she let out a big "ahhhh" sound (as displayed below). Oh gotcha, you need a drink.

*She is definitely a repeater.  When she was really little it was a sneeze or cough sound. I noticed each time I would sneeze or couch she would repeat it. She gets in bed with us in the morn. She searches  around my shirt to nurse and when she finds what she's looking for I say, "there it is." It didn't take long for her to repeat that. One day in sacrament meeting she started pulling my collar out and looking down my shirt saying very loudly, "a e isssss" (there it is) and she drags out the "issss" just the way I did. Her knew one is walking around the house like she's looking for someone and saying, "way ah oo?" (where are you?) and when she see's someone she says, "day oo ah." (there you are). She just gets the right sounds in the right places. It's pretty cute.

*She does like her brothers. Ivan's 100% good to her 100% of the time. Jack on the other hand likes to give her a little slug once in a while or knock her over when he walks by. Usually he's the sweetest to her first thing in the morning. He calls her his little cutie pie as they enjoy a glass of ovaltine together. 

*I still like cute girl clothes. It's nice because long pants turn into capri's and dresses turn into shirts. This is one of my favorite outfits. These little leggings were pants when she was 6 months.

and do you remember this little red dress. It's just kind of a long shirt now. 

I love these 2 pictures, she looks so grown up playing in the cupboard. I can't wait till that kind of play really takes off!

It's hard to see, but the shoes are so dang cute

And I do think she is super cute in this

There is only one thing we don't like about her! She has THEE most ANNOYING scream. I guess that could be the, "mouth" part of the song. It's not like a loud crying tantrum, it's just this really loud ehhhh, ehhhh, ehhhh sound when she needs something or is mad. It's almost done me in. She'll sit in her high chair and do it over and over again as I'm frantically trying to get her food to her. Without hurting someone in the process.  Then when I sit it down in front of her she sweetly looks up at me and says with a smile, "kank ku" (thank you). And then the world is good again.

Turns out I was right! He is good guy.

 I have a couple friends in town and Mike so graciously watched our 8 kids while we went out for a couple hours. Kate (my neighbor) texted me this picture out her back door. Can you see, he is carrying 2 kids, walking them all over to the park. What a good man

I'm so happy to see them. I'm so glad they are here, they bring sunshine to my soul.

Monday we spent the day at another friends cabin. The cabin next to theirs had some crazy cool playground stuff. A giant log teeter-totter that all 4 of us got on and sadly did not get a picture. A big long metal slide and a fun swing

buuuut that's beside the point- the point is, Mike watched all the kids with not a word of complaint. :)

A 1yr old. Two 2 yr olds. Five others.

Teeth brothers

A year ago Ivan and jack were running in the hall and smacked into each other. Ivan's teeth hit Jacks head and it really smashed them back. They had to pull them. 

The other night the boys were again running in the hall. Ivan tripped Jack and bam! another kid with bashed in teeth. Luckily this round was a lot better. He can keep his teeth for now.  The dentist pushed them back into place, however you can see they are a bit shorter than the others, which means they've been pushed up into his gums. Ug

We'd like to keep that helmet we had for maybell and add a face guard to it

I didn't get a good picture of either of the boys when the teeth were all bloody, bruised and swollen gums. They are cooler pictures. Oh well. 

MySpouse

Often times during the day one of us will send  a text to the other with a one liner like, "found it" and then the other person has to guess what has been found or done or whatever.

Today I got one that said, "finally finished." 

Even with a couple of hints I could not for the life of me figure out what he had finished. 

I gave him this jar of jelly bellys' for Christmas a couple years ago and today (2 1/2 years later) he finished it.  I guess I won't brag and say I can finish a jar that size of macadamia nut clusters in less than a week honey, what's your problem!?! 

 Good job dear. I'm glad it took you 2 years. I shall learn from you

Well Happy Fathers day to MySpouse

I love the way he is with our kiddo's. He's a much better parent than I am. 

I could make a list 10 pages long about all the things he does for me and our little family. Just to name a few.....He never sits after dinner and lets me clean up.  Never do I come home from some place where he hasn't cleaned up the house, started dinner, getting kids ready for bed or something to make my life easier.

 He's my lean machine

He and his 3 brothers work  hard to take care of things for their mom

Mike is such a good person. He is truly an example of putting the other person first. I have to force him to do things for himself. He's honest at work where other cut corners. I couldn't ask for better.

And a Happy Fathers day to my Father in Law

The best advice

My neighbor sent this to me. I thought it was pretty good. 

It's from a  women  who, after having a baby, read a bunch of different "advice" books. She then wrote this to her friends 

"You shouldn’t sleep train at all, before a year, before 6 months, or before 4 months, but if you wait too late, your baby will never be able to sleep without you. College-aged children never need to be nursed, rocked, helped to sleep, so don’t worry about any bad habits. Nursing, rocking, singing, swaddling, etc to sleep are all bad habits and should be stopped immediately. Naps should only be taken in the bed, never in a swing, car seat, stroller, or when worn. Letting them sleep in the car seat or swing will damage their skulls. If your baby has trouble falling asleep in the bed, put them in a swing, car seat, stroller, or wear them. Use the crib only for sleep and keep it free of distractions. If the baby is having trouble adjusting to the crib, have them play in it first. If the baby wakes up at night and wants to play, put fun toys in the crib to distract them. Put the baby in a nursery, bed in your room, in your bed. Co-sleeping is the best way to get sleep, except that it can kill your baby, so never, ever do it. If your baby doesn't die, you will need to bed-share until college. Keep the room warm, but not too warm. Swaddle the baby tightly, but not too tightly. Put them on their backs to sleep, but don't let them be on their backs too long or they will be developmentally delayed. Give them a pacifier to reduce SIDS. Be careful about pacifiers because they can cause nursing problems and stop your baby from sleeping soundly. If your baby sleeps too soundly, they’ll die of SIDS. Don’t let your baby sleep too long, except when they’ve been napping too much, then you should wake them. Never wake a sleeping baby. Any baby problem can be solved by putting them to bed earlier, even if they are waking up too early. If your baby wakes up too early, put them to bed later or cut out a nap. Don’t let them nap after 5 p.m. Sleep begets sleep, so try to get your child to sleep as much as possible. Put the baby to bed awake but drowsy. Don't wake the baby if it fell asleep while nursing. You should start a routine and keep track of everything. Don’t watch the clock. Put them on a schedule. Scheduling will make your life impossible because they will constantly be thrown off of it and you will become a prisoner in your home. Using the "Cry It Out" method (CIO) will make them think they’ve been abandoned and will be eaten by a lion shortly. It also causes brain damage. Not getting enough sleep will cause behavior and mental problems, so be sure to put them to sleep by any means necessary, especially CIO, which is the most effective form. CIO is cruel beyond belief and the only thing that truly works because parents are a distraction. Formula and solid foods will help the baby sleep longer. Solid foods shouldn’t be given at night because they might wake the baby. Don't stop the baby from nursing when asleep. Be wary of night feeds. If you respond too quickly with food or comfort, your baby is manipulating you. Babies can’t manipulate. Babies older than six months can manipulate.

Sleep when the baby sleeps. Clean when the baby cleans. Don’t worry. Stress causes your baby stress and a stressed baby won't sleep."

Many "little" hands make work harder :) (and longer)

Thank you for your help boys..... and girl

we are happy they want to help and work