Folding

This girl is a little bit of a compulsive towel folder these days. She can’t stop practicing and so I find all the towels folded in the bathroom. She event takes the off the hooks to fold them. 😝 

School Carnival

Our elementary school had their annual school carnival last weekend. The girls had a blast at it even though it ended with tears from being too tired from a full week of getting up early with big sister for school. They jumped in a bounce house if their choice, got their face painted, fished for prizes, picked ducks from the duck pond and ate lots of treats. 

We had a good weekend with this event, homework, bike riding and a cousin’s birthday party. Getting in the routine of school and bed time and getting up early is going stretching all of us. Justin and I were definitely feeling tired this weekend. I am hoping it gets easier. 

4 Months

This girl was four months olds August 26th. She is such a delight and keeps us all smiling at one point or another during the day. She started eating some solid foods and was pretty excited about it. She has yet to sleep through the night but can do a six hour stretch on occasion. She weighed 16lbs 2oz and measured 26 in long at her well child checkup. She loves her sisters and they love love love her. They can’t walk by her without touching her or trying to get her to smile. She loves to babble and grab toys. She can roll from side to side but doesn’t really try to roll over. Her nicknames are Bug, Bethie Lou and Bessie. We are so grateful to have her as part of our family. 

Quiet Time Activities

As part of our daily routine I like to have a quiet time. This consists of me and the baby being able to rest and the other children at home play or read by themselves for a short time in the afternoon.

It is always a challenge for the older girls to learn to be content by themselves for the one-two hour time period. Yesterday I gave Jenna about four different activities (puzzles, books, building magnets) she could do to fill her time.I also had been working on sifting through all our girls clothes to get ready for the seasonal change coming up. There were stacks of clothes on one side of the room. This is what I found after quiet time. 😂😂😂Towards the end of rest time she started folding clothes. I couldn’t believe how much she had gotten done and was quite impressed with her ability! 

She then helped me fold a basket of towels and she did an exceptional job for being three. It is fun to see more of this girls abilities and personality shine with her older sister gone at school. 

Sickness

People kept telling me that when you send your oldest to school, you are in for a year full of sickness. We were only two days into the school year and it came true. 

Last week Natalie, Jenna Justin and even my dad all had a terrible bout of the flu that ended with congestion. Fevering for days, body aches, chills, congestion, sore throats, and eye irritation. It was a nasty virus and put a damper on our week. The original plan was for Justin to go to Utah to help out his family, but everyone came down with sickness and he wasn’t able to make it. 

Natalie fell asleep on a drive we made Sunday in effort to get out of the house.

This girls had two experiences this week that were parenting firsts. She threw up all over herself and the floor at Chik-Fil-A because she stuffed her mouth to full and gagged. A very kind mother sitting next to me ran to grab me extra napkins and tell the employees we were going to need cleanup assistance. It was embarrassing, but I am glad I am as far into my mothering experience as I am, other wise it would have been way more traumatic for me. 

Saturday morning she woke up very tired and wore out from the virus. I made her mad over grabbing a pacifier she was trying to reach and putting it in Beth’s mouth. Bring three, she really wanted to do this herself and being tired compounded her anger. When she gets this angry she has a pattern at times of holding her breath and passing out. I had left the room not realizing how upset she was and heard a loud thump. I ran back in  and she was just passing out and seizing from holding her breath. It was terrifying to me because it was the first time I hadn’t been with her from start to finish on one of these. It took me a while to piece together all that happened and at first was worried the virus had caused it. Thankfully Sunday she was much better and is still improving every day.

It was a miracle that this little babe didn’t get sick. I had a minor form of the virus and my milk must have been making the correct antibodies to protect her. She had a good week and started eating a little bit of solids. She enjoyed this far more than either of her sisters did at her age. She did great at her four month appointment and weighed in at 16lbs 2 oz and 26 inches long. She isn’t rolling yet, but definitely holds herself up well. She is a happy baby as long as she gets her sleep and her belly is full. She loves morning times, mom, and her sisters. She likes to smile at daddy, but has a harder time when he holds her. We will keep working on that. One day she will love him I’m sure. 

It was a long hard week, but we were still blessed along the way. A dinner from my mom, Priesthood blessings, prayers said for us, that kind lady at chik-fil-a, tylenol and ibuprofen, opportunities to exercise patience. It all gives us experience and helps us grow,  because it is hard. 

I am hoping the rest of the school year isn’t this bad with sickness and we can make it through a full week of school this week.