El Dia de las Brujas (Halloween at Spanish School)

It's blurry but I just couldn't resist using this picture. This is Ethan's favorite teacher "Mari". So much so that he can't even tell me what his other 2 teacher's names are. But for that matter, he doesn't really know what the other kid's names are either. Kind of a strange side effect of not being allowed to speak English in class. They all play together, they just don't really converse too much.
So today was Halloween at his school. The kids got to dress up and bring treats to share. Last night Ethan and I took suckers and wrapped them in tissues and colored faces on them and made "fantasmas" (ghosts).
Ethan is really loving his school and he's making us laugh in the process. Sunday morning Taylor was making pancakes and Ethan asked for another one. Taylor told him he only had more small ones and Ethan's reply was "oh, chiquito pancakes", literally small pancakes. On the drive home today he was telling me about how they made their own "fantasmas" and glued the "ojos" (eyes) on. It's truly amazing what he's learning just by being immersed. I asked if they'd played any games at their party today and he told me they played "pato, pato, ganso" and explained that you sit in a circle and say pato until you pick someone and say "ganso" and then that person chases after you. Have you figured it out yet? "Pato, pato, ganso" is really "duck, duck, goose". I didn't even know the word for goose. I love that he randomly spouts spanish words and phrases- yesterday declaring that it was cold "hace frio" and telling me on Tuesday that it was "noviendo" (snowing). He's loving it and so are we!

Pumpking Carving with toddlers (AKA watch where you set down your knife)

Carving pumpkins got a little more complicated this year as I was feeding/carrying Miles most of the time so Taylor got to play zone defense with 2 boys very interested in "helping" cut with knives. Okay so Isaac wasn't interested in helping. You can see he's more interested in saying "jeez" for the camera, but he was interested in knives set randomly on the table.
Taylor let Ethan help cut for the first time this year even though he only got to use the little one inch plastic green one. Ethan was overjoyed- apparently that's a big step-up in status from last year's job of being the "goo-scooper".

Of course they had to do a scary face since let's face it, this has become a house of boys.

Proof that anything is possible with 3 kids- one completed pumpkin, one sleeping baby, 5 happy people and one big mess... left for the morning.

Halloween Grams-style

One of our favorite parts of living in Utah is living right next door to Taylor's parents. It makes it so convenient to do family dinner together each Sunday night which has many benefits. The boys love getting to see Grams and Grandpa (Pa-pa to Isaac) and play with their vintage little people and Mr. Potato Head toys as well as Oscar the dog, Taylor loves getting to use their grill, and I love not having to cook anything!
We decided not to grill this Sunday because it's getting cold so Taylor's mom volunteered to do all the cooking. So when we showed up, this is what we found!
How cute is that? Apparently Taylor's mom used to make all these fun "Halloween" foods for her kids when they were still at home and she's been missing making them the last few years. (What? Grandpa isn't that excited to eat deviled egg eyes?) She was so happy to make them all and see Ethan's face (Isaac was more interested in the helicopter toy she had). And he loves to play with her Beanie Baby decorations.

Ethan isn't normally interested in juice or soda at all (strange child) but he loved drinking Grams' witches brew (apple juice and ginger ale). Taylor had more fun than anyone playing with the dry ice and blowing it in people's faces.

This is how Miles enjoyed the party (which was fine by me because I actually got to eat a hot meal).

And dinner wouldn't be complete without dessert.

Thanks Grams! We loved it!

"Parenting"

Eons ago when we just had Ethan, I once overheard Taylor telling one of his friends that he couldn't join them for some activity because I was going somewhere and so he had to "babysit" Ethan. Okay so maybe I overreacted to him using that term. Taylor will tell you I did. But really, do I "babysit" all day? Is that my job now? So Taylor and I have settled on the term "parenting" for better or for worse.
While Miles has been a great baby so far, he is still a newborn and so there are still lots of sleep-less nights. Most nights he's been sleeping 3 or 4 hour stretches. I love the 4 hour stretches! But to help me get a little more continuous sleep, I have been going to bed between 7:30 and 8:30 each night and Taylor has been staying up with Miles and giving him his next feeding. This makes it so I can usually sleep until 2 or 3am and I can survive the next day on 6 hours of sleep if needed. It's been wonderful. And Miles really has been good the rest of the nights too, usually he eats at 2 or 3 and then will go back to sleep until 5 or 6. He does another sleep cycle usually so I would be able to sleep until 9 except that Ethan and Isaac want breakfast and then the day has begun. Thankfully Miles is happy to just eat at night and then go right back to sleep (barring the times when he makes a mess and changing him wakes him up or else he gets the dreaded hickups which guarantee we'll be awake another hour waiting for them to stop and him to calm down- he REALLY hates hickups!).
So we're all doing well and surviving with just a little sleep-deprivation. And don't let Taylor tell you he's got it rough. That's him playing golf on the Wii and rocking Miles to sleep one handed. Hey, whatever works and let's me sleep!

Who needs who?

I have to admit things have been a little more hectic with my mom gone. So I've made a deal with the boys. If they clean up their toys on their own without my asking or reminding, they can watch a short movie while I'm cooking dinner or doing dishes. Seems like a great deal to me and they seem to agree.
We got Veggie Tales Pirates at the Library the other day and apparently there's a scary rock monster in it. This is Ethan "comforting" Isaac since Isaac looks REALLY scared!

Missing you already

What can we say? We miss you already! Taylor loved you being here before the baby so you could teach us to make homemade wheat bread and the boys loved having you here in their home while we were gone. They didn't seem to miss us at all- even though they couldn't come to the hospital and see us. Miles loved those afternoon and evening snoozes on your shoulder. And I can't even tell you how many things I appreciated. You cooking, cleaning, chating, and spoiling us in every way possible. Come back soon mom!

Falling into Winter... already

Everything was warm and green when I went into the hospital to have Miles. Two days later, the leaves were changing and even starting to fall.
Last week we were out in the backyard playing with the dog and everything was starting to look gray and dead.
And out of nowhere there were roses on our rose bush! 6 perfect pick roses.

And then this is what the world looked like this morning.

Can we say "missing DC right now?"

Meeting the Great-Grands

Both sets of my grandparents live in Florida at least for now. My mom's parents though are thinking about moving to Utah and just happened to be in town when Miles was born. So one night they came up with my Aunt Cindy and Uncle Ken and had dinner with us. Don't my mom and her sister look identical?
It was fun to have them and they loved holding him. They also got to meet Isaac for the first time even though he's nearly 2. Here's to hoping they move closer and we can see them more often!

It's Official...Esquire

Well it's finally official. Taylor was sworn in last week as a member of the Utah BAR. Miles was only 7 days old and so I didn't want to take him into a crowded room. Luckily my mom was still here so I left her with all three boys (who wouldn't have enjoyed listening to State Supreme Court Judges drone on) and we had a nice afternoon just me and Taylor and his parents.
That's about as good as our view got. They had all the new BAR members sit in front together and we had no idea where Taylor was so this is just a random picture of the whole group.

I wish I could say, whew... it's finally all over, BUT apparently the Utah Supreme Court has been complaining for years that the new lawyers need more training (read into that statement- the new lawyers drive us crazy) so they've instituted a brand-new-this-year (Taylor's overjoyed to be a guinea pig) training/mentoring program. So he gets paired with a "seasoned" lawyer who can mentor him. Tragically that mentoring has to include several written assignments. So he's really not done even after 4 years of grad school and passing the BAR. And he's not even practicing law- he's doing accounting and administrative tasks almost 100% of the time. Poor guy!

Worthy of our Desktop Background

Can they love him TOO much? Sometimes

Ethan and Isaac are 2 3/4 years apart and I have loved that spacing. Ethan was old enough to be gentle with Isaac and also to be helpful and fetch things for me while I was nursing- like my cell phone or the TV clicker. Very nice! He was also understanding of the times I couldn't jump up to get him a drink or play on the floor with him. He never seemed to resent him and was always very loving and attentive even bringing him toys to "play" with as a newborn. He was even understanding of me being pregnant and happy to watch a few extra cartoons if I desperately needed a nap or was feeling ill.
The spacing between Isaac and Miles is just 22 months and it's been a little harder. Isaac has had a harder time entertaining himself if I'm ill and threw several fits when I finally said no more sitting on my lap to read books (since he didn't fit and it was painful to try). It hasn't helped that Isaac doesn't talk much so interpreting his screams, grunts, and points can be frustrating. I have to admit it worries me a little to see how he reacts next week after my mom leaves and he feels real neglect while I'm nursing or taking care of the baby. I am very hopeful that he'll want to be helpful instead of jealous.
For now, the only problem is that he loves him TOO much! Not really a problem, but more of a complication. With both Ethan and Isaac, I could just set them on the couch or even the floor and they were perfectly safe. Ethan never tried to pick up Isaac. Isaac isn't quite to that point so I've had to lay Miles down and strap him in to the swing or the bouncy chair or he's likely to get pulled out. And he's more likely to get wiplash in the swing than be rocked to sleep if Isaac is anywhere nearby.
I did let them both sit on the couch and "hold" him on the boppy and now it's become a habit every time Miles wakes up from a nap.
Isaac spends the whole time saying "hi" and petting him.

Ethan likes holding him but is much more excited to bring him toys and read him books.

Miles doesn't appreciate it yet... but someday he will.

He's Finally Here!!!

After much delay and much fanfare, we're overjoyed to welcome our new little pumpkin. My friend Jessica bought him this cute little outfit to come home in and he decided to be make himself match...
and he came out with strawberry blond hair! A major surprise to us since both Ethan and Isaac had dark brown or no hair when they were born. Taylor's maternal grandmother had red hair and both of his aunts do but not his mother or any of his other siblings. But we do know that his grandmother's genes were strong since Ethan ended up with her overlapping toes that again skipped Taylor's mother, him and his siblings, and jumped to Ethan. So happy surprise... we truly have a little pumpkin!

The delivery was very relaxed. We got up Wednesday morning and waited for them to call us and say they had a room for us. We arrived at 7:15am, checked in and were ready to go. The nurses failed to get an IV in twice and once we convinced them that IVs never work in me (I apparently have bad valves that let blood out but won't let other things go in), they finally went and got the anesthesiologist to do it and of course he did it on the first try. We had to do this with Isaac as well but they stuck me 5 times before giving in. Finding the anesthesiologist took almost 2 hours so we didn't really get started until after 10:30. Then I got an epidural and we waited some more. When they finally checked me at 12:57, I was at a 10 and they set up the room, pushed twice, and he arrived at 1:03pm very warm and pink. He kicked the doctor as he was pulling him out and then bit the doctor while he was suctioning out his mouth. The doctor even said "ouch" and commented that they might have had a problem if there had been actual teeth in his mouth. He's apparently got the fiesty to go along with his hair.

Unlike Georgetown Hospital, we were allowed to take pictures and the nurses were even happy to take them for us. This one kept directing Taylor to do different things for the "first" time like put on his diaper and such and Taylor played along although I'm not sure he cared who put on his son's first diaper.

He was 7 pounds 9 ounces and 21 inches long. I'm grateful the extra 10 days didn't fatten him up too much and he came out really easily. He does have the same long skinny legs and feet like Ethan and Isaac.

We named him Miles Franklin. Miles just because we like it and I like the nickname Milo. And Franklin for Taylor's great-great Grandfather. He was actually named Frank but I don't really like that name too much and I do like Franklin from that little book series where Franklin is the turtle. And since he was 10 days late he gets to have a slow nickname :)

Frank Woodbury was born in St. George soon after the pioneers arrived. We have a book his daughter wrote about his amazing life. He actually gave President Thomas S. Monson his patriarchal blessing and a few years ago Taylor was at a function with him and other Woodburys and he said "Frank was my patriarch and every single word of that blessing has come true, and that has always been a little scary to me." He was the church patriarch for a long time and worked in the Salt Lake Temple for many years. President Harold B. Lee said at his funeral "I say this and I study my words when I say it- I have never known a better-living man, no matter what his position in this Church, than Frank B. Woodbury." We always give our kids their own unique first name and then a family name for a middle name. We have loved the middle names we've chosen in the past and hope that each of our kids will follow in their great examples. Miles has a good example to get him started.

Everyone is healthy and home now recuperating and adjusting to less sleep.

My mom flew in last Saturday after a week of changing her plane flight over and over waiting for Miles to come. She's been cooking and cleaning and spoiling all of us. It was so nice to have her early to get a few extra things done and to get the boys used to being with her while we were gone. They actually weren't allowed to come to the hospital to meet Miles- even in the waiting room- because of the Swine flu. Only 2 guests at a time and never anyone under age 14. Kind of a bummer to not have pictures of them all together in the hospital and to not see them for 2 days but hopefully it helps not spread germs.

My friend Jessica did get to come though and Miles spent 3 hours sleeping on her. Can I borrow you tonight at 3am?

I do have to admit that one of my favorite parts about this hospital was their snowcones. They call them "flavored ice" but really it was just a snowcone. Normally you don't get to eat anything during labor except clear liquids and that's usually just ice chips. So "flavored" was a very nice surprise I think every hospital should add.

So far he's been great. He likes to sleep with his hands up around his face and he kicks every blanket off his feet even if he's tightly swaddled. He does not care for a binky although Isaac is happy to take that off his hands for him.

Taylor spent much of the past 2 days doing this. Okay so he was the official diaper changer too.

And he held and played with Miles a lot.

Taylor is smitten.

Miles has yet to be convinced.

He does like his carseat though even though he looks like a doll since he's so tiny in it.

Isaac is very excited to point at him and declare "baby" and he's been bringing him toys and snacks all morning long. It might help that Taylor took a trip to the toystore last night to buy Ethan and Isaac toys "from Miles".

Of course Taylor insisted on getting one that moves on its own when you talk to it in hopes that Isaac would have an incentive to "talk" to it. Tragically Isaac finds toys that move on their own and are half his size very scary.

Ethan is overjoyed. Can you tell? He's been asking about the baby for weeks now and his only complaint is that we didn't name him Jonas.

You think we're ready to this? We'll see how tonight goes.

Ethan's First Rafting Trip

One of the highlights of the trip was getting to raft down the Yough river. Taylor's little sister Barbara is a guide so a group went down with her one afternoon and had an amazing time. The middle section of the river is slow enough for kids though so one day all the kids 4 and up got to go with the adults that could.
Isaac stayed behind with me and a few other cousins and pregnant and nursing people. He spent most of the day climbing in and "riding" around in Evan's little walker.
And climbing up and down the stairs that he fell down twice.

Luckily there were enough dads and guys to match up all the little boys with. Ethan got to ride with Uncle Fred, Jeff, and Dana and loved every minute of it although I heard a rumor someone dropped him out of a raft.

Here's the whole group together.

Lifejackets were required. Ethan doesn't seem to mind.

As were helmets which just look a little absurd on such small children.

But pretty cute when put all together with a grin that doesn't stop.

Just one more picture for grandma.

And even in the rain the kids are happy- sort of.

Of course jumping in the hot tub at the end of the day completed the adventure.