The Verdicts Out

Family Vote:

The Beloved, Lou, and Ruckus -  Voted Girl

Me, Little C, and The Baby (because I'm sure he understood what was going on :) -  Voted Boy

And, drum roll please.....

Can you believe it?

I want to - but can't. 

Not until I see her and hold her perfect self in my arms.

I sat there, stunned when the ultra sound tech revealed the news -

over joyed but disbelieving.

I have boys.

I am the mother of boys.

Nobody has ever referred to a "her" being inside of my body or said the words, "your daughter" in reference to my life.

A daughter?

So many thoughts.

Wow. Amazing. I don't know how to do girl hair. I'm going shopping. Chick Flicks. The Beloved will be such a good dad to a little girl. Spoiled. Boys will protect her. They'll adore her. Friend.  Daughter of God. She'll need a sister. This will soften our home. Barbies. 

New Adventure.

I love her.

Her?

 What the world!? 

A 

she, her, female, damsel, lady, lassie, mademoiselle, Miss, daughter -

A baby girl. :)

Accumulation of girl clothes after only one day from finding out baby's a girl.

P.S. Little Baby inside of me - if somehow you happen to be a little boy- know that our excitement for your arrival won't be diminished.

The protective mother in me must relay this disclaimer. :)

We love you little human.

Girl or Boy. :)

The Baby's Growing Up

It's hard to imagine that when Lou and Ruckus were The Baby's age they already had a younger sibling. The Baby still seems so much... well, like a baby. 

Our little guy kind of got ripped off on his second birthday because we were traveling in the car to UT but we made up for it once we arrived.

We celebrated with cousins, aunts, uncles, and Grandma and Grandpa - 

he was spoiled beyond belief.

Blowing out candles on ice cream cake

Grandma helping The Baby 

Playful Toy Story book from Aunt Ruth and Uncle Dave

Amazing LEGO tractor from Grandma and Grandpa

Hugging his new treasure

The Baby picked out Boo from Monsters INC with the B-day money Buckabu and Papa mailed him.
So cute.

Dear Baby (for a little bit longer),

You couldn't be cuter.
You were born ready to be big - to be part of the group - to run with the boys.
And now your two year old body allows that a little more!
Whatever your brothers are doing - you believe you should be included in every moment.
And I admit, it can get boring inside with mom -but, you're an escape artist. 
If they're jumping on the trampoline, you will wait until I'm gone from the kitchen, go through the garage, out the back door where you proceed to pull a chair over to the tramp and climb on quickly before you get busted.
If they are riding bikes outside you quietly unlock the front door and grab your coaster, masterfully riding it down the sidewalk as quickly as your little legs will allow. 
You make really good time too.
Even if you have played, and played, and played... if you are missing out on one event - your heart is broken - and escape is necessary.
You love to clap.
After we sing - we must clap.
After you give a prayer - we clap.
You love music.
When we are riding in the car I can hear your sweet little voice singing along to the lyrics.
At Uncle Jordon's wedding you discovered your love to dance -  I think you danced the full hour, busting a move, loving life. 
You have pretty amazing rhythm for a two year old.
You share a room with Ruckus and if you aren't asleep by the time he comes in you torture him with your nonstop chatter. 
He'll scream, "The baby is making fun of me. He's being mean."
and you love every moment. Granted, Ruckus is a little sensitive when he's sleepy, but I kind of think you're really out to tease him.
You respond so happily  to his reaction.
You get this from your father. :)
You don't only tease your sibling closest in age, but you tease, Lou, Little C... and your sweet parents.
You love to pretend like you're a puppy or a horsey and chase us.
Your true favorite is bugs though - you must try to convince everyone that they have a bug crawling somewhere on their body.
Usually up their nose.
This trickery brings you great joy.
If one of your brothers is on the laptop you'll pull on their neck from behind and push them over while laughing hysterically, trying to catch them by surprise.
You act super tough, but if one of them retaliates you run to me and say, 
" (so and so) is being mean. (so and so) hurt me".
I give you kisses and you happily gallop away, off to find a new adventure.
You're vocabulary has grown drastically in the last month.
You'll tell me that you pooped and then say, ooow, gross.
The first thing on your mind when you wake up in the morning, after handing me your blanket out of the crib, is your stomach and you immediately say, "food". 
You then begin listing off the options  -
Poptarts,
granola bars,
cereal....
It's like your body is screaming - feed me anything woman! I am starving.
And boy you can eat. 
You out eat your brothers and possibly me.
Daddy usually helps you in this endeavor... because right now Daddy is your fave. Plus you LOVE eating off of his plate - everything seems to taste better to you when he can dish it from his side of the table. He loving puts up with it... and I think it's adorable.
You have such cute dainty eating habits too, not that your face isn't covered in food, but you use your utensils appropriately which makes your papa so proud.
You L.O.V.E. Papa and he's a sucker for you too. 
You refer to him as both Papa and Buckabu and the great thing is, he responds.
Buckabu adores you but also enjoys a laugh when most of the responsibility falls upon Papa at your request.
You love to sit on his lap, gripping his scout bear stuffed animal, while watching cartoons. You could sit there forever.
I've almost never seen you sit so still.
You love, love, love to give hugs and kisses.
You have the best pucker lips alive and you must mug on everyone before you go to bed.
You also must shut your own door at night and you have to say (by yourself... or all is lost) 
"on your marks, get set, gooooooo" and then you push the door closed triumphantly from your crib.
Then you say from your closed room,
"love you Mom"
"love you Dad"
usually your brothers get a shout out as well.
I've heard people in the past refer to "cuter than words" kids with statements such as this -
"You're so cute,  I could just eat you up"
or
"You're so adorable, I could just squeeze your cheeks off"
... and was a little disturbed by the violence inferred...
but you seriously are that cute.
And it's ALL declared in love my friend.
I get those statements now.
I could squeeze you forever because you melt my heart.
We're all smitten with you.
I am so glad and blessed to have you as my son.
I love you my sweet boy,
Mama

An Outing

The Beloved had a business trip in SLC a while back and we decided to join him so we could provide glorious entertainment and F.U.N. - because that's what we do.

Boys viewing the SLC temple - beautiful.

Out to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory - the baby kept trying to steal sips out of  the Beloved's straw.

The boys were running from side to side trying to get their beautiful faces on the LIVE 10:00 news. :)
And they did it!

The Beloved says he's growing out his hair until the baby is born... boo.  He asked me to put it in a pony tail while we were in UT... yuck. :)
I told him once we look like one of those couples where you can't tell if they're both girls, or boy and girl from the back, I will cut his hair while he sleeps.

Riding the luggage carrier out of the hotel -

All aboard!

I love getting away - leaving the regular responsibilities at home - and simply enjoying one another.
It was a nice get-away.

Animated Ruckus Turns 4!

Taking a ride with Dad to begin the celebration

We partied at the park and Little C was trying to prove he could move the picnic table all by himself.

It turned out he needed a little extra help - I'm sure it was all the Baby.

Dressed in some of his b-day spoils that he so kindly shared with Lou. (p.s. Lou is wearing the present he  picked out for Ruckus - I know with a surety this was more than likely a premeditated-Lou-plan)

All Ruckus wanted for his b-day were lollipops. No joke. He was thrilled when he received a larger quantity than any 4 year old should be in possession of.

Little C sitting atop his perch at the park.

Finishing the celebration off with a "personal ice cream cone cake".
(Takes zero work and the title makes your child feel like a million bucks :)

Insistent upon eating his serving from the bottom.

There's my sweet ham face boy! 

Dear Little Ruckus,

You simply melt my heart you little stinker. I think you make me laugh at least 57 times a day. You are so clever and witty... you were born with an art for the comedic and it lightens my load.

A couple months ago we had to shave your head completely bald after you decided to do a self makeover with a pair of scissors. About a week after that you got the worst - absolutely no warning - diarrhea when we were in the middle of Fred Meyer. I whisked you off to the bathroom stall where we threw away your very non-salvageable underwear. Once you realized you'd have to put your pants back on without an under garment you freaked....

because...

this meant that you must be an alien.

Because aliens are bald and they don't wear underwear!

You were crying.

I was laughing.

Trying to explain to you that you were very much a human...

and no lack of hair, or underwear

would ever change that.

Your creative mind.

I love it. 

You cannot get enough of dressing up in various costumes and you must have a container filled with all sorts of treasures with you at all times. 

You are an observant fellow; silently, almost secretly learning.

When we do "school" at home - you sit there, sometimes responding but mostly it appears as if you couldn't care less about what we're discussing until a few days later you bring something up, or we're reviewing the previous lesson taught, and you know all the answers like you'd been an obvious active participant the whole time.

It amazes me.

You're a very smart boy.

You could play all day with your brothers. You enjoy them immensely but you're not a follower. If there's something else you'd rather be doing you're not afraid to say so which can be quite bothersome to your older brothers. But mostly you're just easy going -and want to play, play, play.

You are the last one... the very last one to finish all of your meals. Breakfast, lunch, or dinner - it doesn't matter.

Eating is a social event for you and you must be chatting the whole time. :)

You like to draw little pictures of characters with markers on the tips of your fingers. You call them your puppets and are so excited when I let you draw more than one so they can have friends.

You are tough and can hold your own in this little household. You'd rather play than fight... but if someone (a brother) ticks you off, you are a solid opponent.

You love candy, pop, SUGAR... anything sweet. While your siblings are picking out toys, you are drooling in the candy aisle. 

Every month you can pick out something to earn that we place in the very top of your closest until you have twenty stickers on your chart. A few months back you chose Cheetos as your prize to earn. It was the perfect motivator. 

You are a lover and protector to your family.

When any of us are leaving to run an errand, going to school, or when Daddy goes to work, you must receive a hug and a kiss and also say - I love you, goodbye.

If this for some reason doesn't happen you are so very distraught. 

And there is only one volume of distraught from you. Loud. :)

The other day you were going outside to play and shut the door quickly behind you.

Not a second later you opened it and said,

I love you Mom.

You closed the door again and then swung it back open adding,

And don't forget to floss. :)

What? So funny. Plus I really need that reminder. :)

You are a sensitive,wonderful little spirit who meshes with everyone you meet. You just love everyone. You for sure can be head strong, but you are a lover at heart and so kind.

With your b-day money from Buckabu and Papa you made sure you spent your money in such a way that you could afford to get your brothers something as well. You want everyone to be happy.

You have a gift for making us feel loved.

I love you sweetheart. I love that our Heavenly Father sent your spunky, hilarious, tender self to our home.

Love,

Mama

Mother's Day

The Beloved's last day to turn in homework was on Mother's Day so I knew the attention wouldn't be high...

but he was prepared in advance -

making sure I received surprises throughout the week prior and on the day of.

Thanks for the spoilage and your love.

Want to be Her Friend -

My sister shared this hilarious blog post with me.

It made me want to move next door to this author and be best friends forever. (Did you know you can still type out those words - doesn't have to be an acronym :) 

Loved it.

Worst End of School Year Mom Ever

by Jen Hatmaker on May 30th, 2013

 3670  340578  2211

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http://jenhatmaker.com/blog/2013/05/30/worst-end-of-school-year-mom-ever

Mostly Dancing... and Brotherly Fighting

Last night the boys had  a little dance party to some old school music...

but I think I took this footage too late because arguing and teasing started to be involved. 

I was so surprised.  

I Love Lamp.

I love carpet.

Sentences related to nothing happening at the present moment that I repeat over and over in my mind when on the brink of tears.

Sometimes I add in a  - 

I love light fixtures.

Change the focus.

It allows me to LIMH (laugh in my head - must take this moment to protest LOL) and makes the seriousness of my emotions drift away.

I hate to cry.

My parents recently embarked on their 18 month adventure of missionary service to Washington, D.C.

I support this decision fully and loved hearing the title of Elder and Sister Craner placed upon their heads. 

How cool to have your missionary companion be your best friend!

I look forward to the time when The Beloved and I can serve together.

My parents bless the lives of everyone they meet - how unfair for this gift not to be shared with as many people as possible - even if it means departing from Idaho - :)

My parents are my pals.

I am awfully proud of them.

But miss them greatly.

But to this note - 

I love lamp.

I love carpet.

And I love that they are serving the Lord.

We had a tiny family get together for my parents the day before they left and here's a shot of  the "calm room" - where my parents were visiting with family after the festivities were over. 

 Not sure why I only took two random photos of the event. :)

Sister #1 - thanks for all of your amazing help with the par -tay.

Love you!