Life Lately

 Mariah and Chet were able to play soccer again this spring and had a great time. Their favorite part may have been the soccer cleats they got to pick out. Mariah kept talking about her "rose gold" cleats and how everyone was going to notice how cool they were and Chet wanted to wear his all the time. It was fun to see them improve through the season. Tanner took some time to play with them and give them a few pointers.  Each game Chet had a big ol' grin on his face and was jumping up and down the whole time. He once scored a goal with a goal kick from their team's goal. The look on his face was pretty great. 

Mariah was so good at encouraging and cheering on her teammates. She played hard but also made sure everyone was ok. Whenever someone fell down she would check to make sure they weren't hurt. They won enough games to be confident and lost enough to stay humble. It was a nice balance. 

Their coaches were so great. My kids thought it was pretty cool that Oscar was from Spain and Kate did a good job making sure everyone was happy and that their hair was up and out of their face. She even brought cupcakes for the team on her birthday. The kids were sad for soccer to be over, but Tanner and I are happy to not be making the drive to Oskaloosa three nights a week.

Here's Eliza sleeping on the floor after a big meltdown right before we needed to leave for soccer. Tanner could usually take Mariah and Chet to soccer but only if I dropped them off at the hospital. Every soccer night I was rushing trying to get dinner made and some put together for Tanner to eat while the kids practiced. It was always a little hectic. 

The kids were so sweet on Mother's Day. Tanner was on call that weekend but made me breakfast before he had to go into the hospital. The kids started working on a surprise for me while I got ready for church. This is the paper they put on the boys' bedroom door:  

Mariah then asked if I wouldn't come out of my bedroom while they worked on something. I told her that I would try but couldn't promise I wouldn't. A couple minutes later she came in and told me that I could come out if I needed to because she had taken care of the problem. Papers with this message were taped up all around the living room and kitchen:

Once I was ready, they had me sit down and each child stood by a paper and took it down to "reveal" love notes to me. After I walked around the room and read the notes they each told me something that I had taught them. We weren't able to go to church in person that day because some of the kids had runny noses so Mariah and Chet missed speaking in Sacrament meeting but that didn't stop them from giving their messages to me. Chet said I had taught him to work hard so he could make lots of money. Mariah said I taught her to be kind so she could have lots of friends. Austin said I taught him not to be grumpy so he will always be happy and Eliza said I taught her to smile so she would always have friends. It was so sweet and I wish I would have gotten a video of them. I loved how the older two helped Austin and Eliza write their notes and say something during the presentation as well. I think I'll keep them, they sure know how to make a mom feel good...most of the time. 

Two Months

Our little Vivi fits in so well with our family. I'm already having a hard time remembering what it was like before her. She isn't lacking in attention or love.  

• She takes a bottle, the first of my babies that has consistently done that. Tanner is great and will often keep her when I go to church on Wednesday nights for youth activities. 

• She's starting to smile and interact with us a little. She has the daintiest coos and the sweetest dimple. 

• She still spits up a lot but it is less projectile and doesn't seem to cause her as much pain. I went off dairy so that may be what is helping. We also took her to a chiropractor but we didn't see a huge improvement after that. It was worth a try though. 

This was at the beginning of April, you can see how far the spit up shot out of her mouth. 

• She takes a binkie still but doesn't usually want it unless she's hungry. But I'm not complaining.

• She likes to fall asleep with Tanner's hand on her face.

• She's my only baby that has fallen asleep during tummy time. It doesn't seem to bother her like it did my others.

• She doesn't fall asleep until 10:30 most nights but then usually sleeps a 5-6 hour stretch. She goes back to sleep well after eating in the night and that has really helped. Even though she's really quiet at her night time feeding, she tries her hardest to wake everyone up for her morning feeding with some really loud wails. After her morning feeding, she usually falls asleep in my arms and that makes it really hard to get out of bed. She still hasn't been the best napper but has started to improve the last couple weeks.

• Even with all her spit-up she is still chubbing up nicely. She now weighs 11 lbs 6 oz. Which is just 6 oz more than what Chet weighed at birth...yowza. 

We are adjusting to the craziness of a new baby and can't imagine life without our sweet little Vivienne