Time Out

This is what happens after both girls spend their play time screaming in each others faces. My mom used to make me and my younger sister sit next to each other in time out when we fought. I hated it. I love making my daughters do it though. Is that sick? I chuckled the whole time they sat there sobbing. Pretty soon they were ready to kiss and make up.

We'll have a Dalmatian Plantation . . .

Paige requested a 101 Dalmatians party for her fifth birthday. She actually requested a Vidia party first. I nixed the "Vidia" party. Do you know who Vidia is? From Disney's Tinker Bell movies? Here is what it says about Vidia on Wikipedia:

"Vidia: (voiced by Pamela Adlon in the films) Vidia is the fastest of the fast-flying-talent fairies. She often uses terms such as "dear", "sweetie" and "cupcake" without sincerity, makes cruel remarks, and is impatient when she is kept waiting. She's also independent, crafty and opinionated. She lives alone in a Sour Plum tree. Although she dislikes the other fairies, she has a soft spot for Prilla and later Wisp. She is principally an antihero, but sometimes an antagonist."

That is why I nixed the "Vidia" party. Somehow I convinced her that a party themed after an evil fairy wouldn't be very fun and so she picked 101 Dalmatians instead.

Her Honey & Papa (grandma and grandpa) came up from St. George for the party and brought 2 of Paige's Las Vegas cousins, Maggie and Andrew. I wish I had pictures of their little reunion. All 4 of the 5 yr old cousins (Paige, Anna, Maggie and Andrew) were jumping up and down, laughing and yelling and hugging, they were so excited to see each other. It was adorable.

Papa solidified his place as the world's most devoted grandpa yet again by sewing dalmatian costumes for him and Honey to wear. We dressed the kids as dalmatians as they arrived, and for the next 2 hours I had 9 little yappy puppies running around my house. It was pretty cute. We made shrink film dog tags, ate "dog food" out of dog bowls, had an in door scavenger hunt. . . I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

Happy Birthday, Paige!

Special thanks to Heidi for picking up my camera and snapping away!

Grant @ 2 months

This post is about a month overdue for those of you reading this in your subscription feed. Grant is now almost 3 months old. I've back dated this post so that it sits in chronological order on my blog.


Height: 24 in - 84%
Weight: 13.6 lbs - 84%
Head circumference: 41.8 cm - 88%

Grant is growing so FAST! He weighs 3 lbs more than Claire at this age. He wears 3-6 month clothes already and a size 2 diaper. Having a big baby is new territory for me.

Grant is an angel baby. His sisters were both easy babies, but he has redefined what that means to me now. I don't know how I've gotten so lucky 3 times in a row! I've honestly thought that maybe we should quit while we're ahead - number 4 is bound to be trouble.

Grant has been sleeping in his crib for both naps and at night from the first week. He was sooo sleepy for so long that it was easier to put him in his crib than anywhere else, especially with a 5 and 2 year old running around; the nursery is right next to the kitchen and living room and his crib is no more than 8 steps from my bed- it's a small house. Plus, he woke up only once (sometimes twice) at night from the very start. See, I told you he's easy.

Claire at this age spent a lot of time in the swing. She really loved it and would sleep there during the day. Grant has only been in the swing maybe 3 times, and never for very long. It's not really his favorite. If he's not sleeping in his crib, he's either sitting in the bouncy seat (a nice pink hand-me-down from his older sister) , or being carried around in the baby bjorn. I put him on in the carrier about twice a day. He really doesn't like to lay on the floor and I think he gets annoyed quickly by toys dangling in his face.


Grant is very good in the car and rarely fusses in his seat. He still sleeps through lots of noise and doesn't wake up for the day until about 8:30 am. He's starting to not want his binky as much. He only takes it to fall asleep if he's having a particularly difficult time, and as soon as he's settled, he spits it out. Grant doesn't cry. Really the only time he ever sounds upset is to alert me that he's awake and hungry, and sometimes when he's trying to fall asleep. Both Paige and Claire had a fussy time of day, usually lasting an hour or two, by this age where we'd have to employ all the 'happiest baby on the block' techniques, but so far so good with Grant.

Grant's smiles are fantastic! The first real one came at about 6 weeks and he's been smiling everyday since. I haven't gotten a good picture of it yet because my lens on my camera won't work that close up if he's in my lap and the picture quality on my phone is terrible, plus as soon as I get it out he stops smiling to stare at it. He is starting to coo and vocalize a little. Most of the time it sounds like a tiny growl.

Grant poops out of his diaper almost every time he poops! It is a little frustrating to change outfits four times a day and wash out so many poopy clothes. He's probably already soiled twice as many clothes than his sisters ever did, combined!

Grant had reflux that we took him to see the doctor and got medication for at 4 weeks. He stayed on the medicine for 2 weeks, and it helped, but I decided it wasn't worth it and quit giving it to him because by the end of the two weeks he hated the medicine and would get so mad when I gave it to him that he'd throw up. His reflux has improved on it's own since then and is all but gone now.

People who've only seen pictures of him ask me if his hair is red. It looks that way in some pictures but not at all in person. I think it's just his scalp or something, but it's a good question because there are some red-headed genes on Ben's side!