Baby Girl

Hooray! Our baby has finally arrived! She is so sweet and cute and adorable! Everything went pretty smoothly. We arrived at the hospital at 7 am and she was born at 8:20 am. She weighed 6 pounds and 8 ounces and was 19 1/2 inches long.

Just like a baby, she likes being held all the time.

Now we are recovering and readjusting. . . .

Bob

The second boy has been calling himself "Bob"--as in Bob-the-Builder. He calls the rest of us names like: Bob's Mom, Bob's Dad, Bob's Sister, and Bob's Brother. Bob likes to build boats and houses out of pillows.

Bob and the man went grocery shopping. That is heaven.

What We're Up To

The second boy is saying things like: "Oh! my back hurts! Oh! my whole body hurts!" I don't know where he gets it.

The first boy is secretly a power ranger and is busy fighting evil forces.

The daughter played Jingle Bells at her Christmas recital. She did an excellent job! It is so rewarding to watch her practice something that is hard until she becomes good at it.

When the Man is not at work he shovels snow.

I am growing a baby. I am 36 weeks, and in case you haven't heard--the head is engaged.

Cancun

Toy Library

Last Monday for Family Home Evening we opened our very own Toy Library. Which means that we loaded up all the toys and put them into the windowless room which adjoins the boys' bedroom. We also put the boys' dresser in the "library". Finally the library was furnished with a lock keyed to our house.

The two older children willingly loaded up their toys because they were tired of cleaning up after the youngest child who recreationally unloaded bins of toys. Maybe he liked the sound of the toys crashing to the ground, or maybe the cause-and-effect factor thrilled him. No one knows. The result was a disaster area.

The Daughter liked the idea of her things being locked in a safe place that her youngest brother couldn't get to while she was at school. The First Boy liked the idea of the library being right off his own bedroom. They both liked not having to help clean up a mess they didn't make. The Second Boy kept asking why we had the library in the first place.

This is why I like The Library: The basement is SOOOO much cleaner. The upstairs is cleaner just because their aren't so many toys dragged up. The kids play with the toys they pick out. (In fact, Tuesday after school the First Boy asked me to let him check out some toys, rather than asking if he could watch TV. That was a nice change.) With the dresser in the library there is a lot less laundry--since the Second Boy can't change his clothes five times a day. I never knew if the clothes on their bedroom floor were clean or dirty. Now their aren't any clothes on their floor. Before they go to bed they pick out their clothes for the next day. Another bonus. I am no longer pestering the children to clean up the basement--everyone likes that.

So far, The Toy Library is a success. Ask me in a month if I still think so.

Quick Up-Date

The second boy enjoys "reading" books. He flips through the pages, discusses the pictures to himself, closes the book, says, "Amen," throws the book, and opens a new one.

The first boy likes television and computer games. Since he is not allowed to do these things until Friday, because he was naughty and I was mean, he has been "bored with nothing to do." When he tells me this it only makes we want to keep the TV and computer off longer. Instead, I told him that I needed his help running a machine--the food processor. I made a huge batch of spaghetti sauce and he manned the machine. He took his job seriously, enjoying every minute of it. After we finished he wiped his brow and said, "Whew, what a busy day! Now I am so tired." Today we are going to make an apple crisp. Guess who will be operating the Apple-Peeler-Corer-Slicer?

The Daughter rescued me on Saturday. I was so tired and the kitchen floor was overdue for a serious scrubbing. So, while I went downstairs and sewed, she moved out all the dining room chairs, swept the floor and scrubbed the kitchen floor. Then she enlisted the First Boy's help in scrubbing the dining room floor--I won't elaborate on his reaction to that suggestion. I'll only say that eventually he did his part. That's not all. After that she picked up the toys in the basement--all of which were strewn around by a certain 3 year old. I cannot even begin to describe what a wonderful gift her hard work was to me. She did it all on her own without me asking her to. That night Daddy took her out for a celebratory ice cream cone while I relaxed and watched Women's Conference.

1st Boy's Good-Time Spritzer

The 1st Boy found an empty sample size shampoo bottle. He filled it with water and told Daddy and me that the bottle was filled with "Sam's [named has been changed] Good-Time Spritzer. It will make you 10 years younger and make you strong enough to do anything you want--except fly."

He's been carrying his Good-Time Spritzer around for about a month. His brother and sister were happy to get a few drops on the head.

Today though, after explaining the magnificent properties of his potion he admitted, "It's really just a hoax. That means it doesn't really work." That's too bad--I could really use some of his Good-Time Spritzer.