Hello Again

Hi. We're still here. I do really well staying on top of blogs when I don't have an infant. The Wise Hero is nine months old on Sunday. And She is a dream. I love her cheeks that go on for miles and her rolls on her arms and legs that go on for days. She is perfect. And super chill.

The Hopeful Hero is a handful. She does all her exploring when I am occupied. So she can explore further. Case in point: Today I told her to leave her shoes and socks on at the playground and she noticed that my hands were full of the Friendly Hero. So she took them off. I noticed as the Friendly Hero started screaming, so while I was carrying him in, I told her, "I'm coming to get you next. You don't get to be outside without shoes and socks." She then ran to our friends and handed them her shoes and socks and told them, "Help me put these on? I not get in trouble." Super funny--but a handful.

The Peaceful Hero has a silly streak a mile wide. He loves to go to preschool and is excited that he is registered for Kindergarten. I'm in denial that I will have two of my children in school next year. He loves to tell jokes and make everyone laugh. He loves to play with everyone. He is a joy to be with.

The Friendly Hero is (ambiguous positive adjective). He likes school--as long as he tells you that he hates it. He really just hates spelling tests and timed tests. And I don't blame him. But he loves recess and gym and reading and math and science and social studies and dinosaurs. He loves to tell me the cool things he's learning. But He doesn't like school. In September we finally figured out his sleeping and so he is getting enough sleep and is super sweet. As long as you do what he wants--then he throws a fit for two minutes and then is super sweet again. I think about the Friendly Hero and he is wonderful and loving and stubborn. (Gee, I think he gets it from me.) He is earning the Lego Poe's X-Wing for reading 500 books in first grade and he read book 400 today. So he is amazing.

The Math Hero is doing well. I have so many days where I feel great about life and then I have lots of days where we are out of control. It's a fun ride and I've given up the illusion of control most days--who am I kidding? I love being in control. I just hide it better some days.

I look forward to posting at least once more before the Wise Hero turns one.

Changes

 The Friendly Hero started 1st grade back in August. He LOVES it! He is learning lots and growing and changing so fast.

 We had a weekend when my sister and her husband came. He showed the boys how to build really awesome tracks. And our train building skills have all improved.

 The Hopeful Hero, (The Minnie Hero) loves to dress up. She loves to put on the boys costumes. They are huge on her.

 In September Peaceful Hero started preschool. He LOVES it too. We get a run down every day of who he plays with and what part of Star Wars they play.

 The Haunted Hero has changed the most (and the least). She has put on 5 lbs from when she was born, and two inches. She is quite the chunk! We love it!

 She does smile, but we caught a cry here.

And she cheered up when she realized she was getting kisses and not laying-on-top-of-me hugs. Haunted Hero gets lots of those from Hopeful Hero. It's a dangerous thing, being the younger sibling.

My biggest change is that I can touch my toes again. I've been working on my flexibility. I have foot pain when I don't stretch. And so I've been working on it, and I'm so happy to say that I've gotten down to my toes faster than after any other pregnancy. Usually it takes almost a year, and here I am at just over 2 months and I can touch my toes! I'm so happy!

Four Kids

We took these, one hot, humid day in July. It was great fun. And The Hopeful Hero stole the pictures. It was lots of fun to see her do all sorts of things between the shutter. She is a doll!

What We Have Been Up To

Or in other words:
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE WORLD

We would like to introduce the newest Hero in our family!

Born July 17, 2015 at 6:15 pm

7 lbs 15 oz, and 19 inches long

We adore her chubby cheeks!

She is named after my great aunt. When we were first married, we lived really close to my aunt, and knew that she wanted visitors, but you had to be sneaky. We did our laundry at her house so she knew that there would always be someone coming to visit her...but also so she could feel like she was serving us--which she was! For two and a half years we had family night with her and loved her. Both of us fell in love our dear aunt. And we told her when we were expecting the Friendly Hero we would name him after her if he was a she. And her response was that she would come back and haunt whatever girl she is named after. (Which kind of sums up my aunt: funny, kind, and loving.) So until she gets another name on the blog, our daughter will be known as the Haunted Hero. 

The Haunted Hero spent most of the pregnancy flipping up and down. She would be in breach on week, and head down the next. And so we were waiting to see if she would stay head down. Which she never did, so she was induced in the 38th week. Before the induction, I had a version--where my doctor grabbed the baby's head and bottom on the outside of my stomach and pushed her around the right way. I had an epidural so I didn't feel any pushing or grabbing. The nurses were all surprised that I have had two successful versions. They all told me that my doctor has the best success rate, and also that having the epidural was another key factor. And I was very grateful for all the prayers that my family offered and that we were guided in all the decisions to make.

Laboring was good. We read to each other and the whole experience was very peaceful.

After nine hours of laboring in the hospital, I pushed for less than 15 minutes and out came our precious bundle of joy! With the most delicious chubby cheeks!

Our first picture

Meeting the siblings, all of them adore her:

Peaceful Hero

 Friendly Hero

 Hopeful Hero

For months, she would come to me and say: "Minny (how she says her name) Mommy's baby, Minny's hand now." I couldn't explain that it takes a lot longer than three seconds to get the baby out, and that it wasn't time. But she waited and finally, the baby is in her hands.

 Our first family picture. (Sorry about the back lighting. We will be getting better ones)

 We are at home. We love her!

She has a mild case of Jaundice, which is on par with our family. She is kicking it faster, so much faster than the Hopeful Hero. And that is a great thing! She brings love and happiness to our family. I love this newborn honeymoon stage!

A Visit from Aunt and Uncle

We were super lucky to have our newest uncle come and visit us. Uncle J and Aunt K are making a trek across the US on their way to an internship. They had three weeks to split up between their family and they chose to spend three days with us. We loved them--so much that I didn't get a picture of them.

We had to take them to our favorite local zoo and park. The Hopeful Hero loves animals and still identifies them by their sounds. She loved the "baby aak-aak-aak" It almost sounds like a baby machine gun, but the baby goats were a hit.

 And the "Ooo-Aa-AAA!" are pretty cool too. She loves monkeys.

The boys loved the tractor, so Hopeful Hero had to try it out. She didn't really understand the awesomeness of it. She kept getting distracted by chickens.

 But the tunnels by the ground hogs were a big hit with everyone.

 The boys had to ride on the turtle statue as they ran around the zoo. We had a hard time keeping up with them.

 "Woof, Woof." Hopeful Hero loved the singing dogs and was pressed up against the glass until one came to say hello. Then she folded her arms and took a step back and kept barking.

 We loved the tire swings, and the kids loved that Uncle J would push them so well. They love to swing--they get that from me!

Star Wars Celebration 6

The Bug Hero got to travel to Anaheim, CA to spend a week with his brothers and dad at Celebration 6. He had a blast!

 Here he is with the actor who played Dak Rendar

 The voice actor of Obi-Wan Kenobi from the Clone Wars.

The boys!

We are glad that he was able to go and spend time with family and have lots of fun! We missed him at home.

April

So this blog has been neglected, because I'm really busy growing a fourth baby. And I have been doing too much tutoring. Tutoring is winding down--I love the end of school! In two weeks I will be completely free in the evenings, and in 2.5 weeks, The Friendly Hero will finish Kindergarten. Time flies so fast!

But I'm going to catch us up and recommit to blogging at least once a month. I figure that I can keep that goal!

 We went to tour a fire station. And The Peaceful Hero spent the entire time being a Colo Claw Fish, from Star Wars. See below:

I sure love this child's imagination--we live in a world of fantasy, and I am happy to say it. Fantasy is where I would rather us live, as long as we are kind and not busy killing all our friends because we think they are the bad guys.

 This is from Easter. The Hopeful Hero got some bracelets for Easter and she loves them. The boys got some legos. They all loved the candy. (But who doesn't?)

Bug Bowl: We love bug bowl. It's a spring time festival that the college puts on, and we love to go and pet the insects. The Hopeful Hero had to hold every bug--except the tarantula, but she would touch it. We went with a couple in our ward, because the Bug Hero was off Star Warsing with his brothers in Anaheim. They were good sports to touch bugs, even though they said they wouldn't have if the two year old wasn't so gung ho.

 There is a new statue of the solar system on Campus and we saw that at the end. They loved playing in the sun with their sunglasses.

 This was the closest thing to getting the three kids in the same shot. They were too busy running around and using up their energy!