Christmas Pics, finally

In lieu of taking pictures of my kids tearing paper off of packages, I decided to take pics of them playing with their toys this year. Grove did videorecord the destruction scene, but you'll have to ask him to post it if you really want to see. Here are some of their Christmas treasures.

Holland writing her first illustory
Holland bought Share Bear a very fancy Christmas outfit so she wouldn't feel left out....ahhh....

Holland & Haven reading the find a fairy book

Holland sewing a build a bear

Haven & her stable

Do you think she loves her unicorn bank?

Garett playing dinosaurs and pirates

Garett's awesome pirate ship

We love these dinosaurs! They're puppets with arms & legs so you can make them walk. Lots of good laughs and tickles with these.

Somehow I managed to not get any pictures of Story playing with her toys. I'll have to work on that! And didn't I take pics of the kids acting out the nativity and making Jesus' birthday cake???

Christmas was pretty laidback this year because we all passed around a stomach bug in the days surrounding Christmas. I was glad we didn't have plans to go anywhere!

The smallest of them all

The smallest of them all is now officially Story. I mean, I know she's smaller than my other kids (duh!), but she's officially the smallest 1 year old we've ever had. Yes, she's even smaller than Haven was at the same age.
Here are her 1 year stats:
28 inches - 15%
16 pounds 6 oz - less than 3rd%
Granted, she still drinks most of her calories in formula (soon to be milk) and with only 4 teeth she can't chew too much food. She doesn't like us to feed her with a spoon so semi-solids are nearly out.
Today I fed her about 1/2 a container of yogurt though - so proud of her for putting up with it! :)
She also had an ear infection when we went in today - weird because she hasn't had a cold or fever and hasn't been pulling on her ears or anything, but she has been cranky and up at night screaming - now we know why!!!

I had a dr appointment today too. My new dr ran some tests to get a good picture of what's going on with my body - nothing serious...
The major thing was food allergies, which kind of surprised me. I was skin prick tested in Connecticut about the same time I had my biopsy confirming Celiac Disease and the skin pricks were negative. This was a blood test. I was really curious about the results, but I didn't really think anything would show up since it didn't before. I was wrong!
My level 2 allergies are:
Milk, beef, and eggs. He said eggs had the highest reaction of any of them.
My level 1 and borderline 1/2 allergies are:
Peanuts and pork.
So I guess I was better off being a vegetarian all those years. And really, I don't ever expect anyone to remember these or even attempt to feed me. He said I need to be off the level 2 allergies for at least 4 months and then maybe I can have a little here or there and the level 1 allergies only have occasionally.
I think my life just got more complicated! Ugh! But still better to know than not I guess...

Happy Birthday to Story!

December 21st 2008

December 22, 2009 (yes, we celebrated a day late)

We're so glad you're part of our family, Story!

If you could learn a little less from your siblings, that would be great!

We don't blame you a bit for being overwhelmed by all the "help".

Yes, it's really ok & no one is going to take away your cupcake!

The tights are so interesting!

Elmo remote to go with the Elmo phone she loves so much.

That's one way to dig in.

The aftermath. By the way, she was not participating in this unless she was sitting on my lap so I was the beneficiary of her mess.

Fistfuls of yummy-ness.

Cautious at first.

Why is everyone singing to me and why is that candle so far away?

Best decision ever?

Marrying this guy! Happy 12th anniversary, Grove!

Visiting with Santa

Saturday was our annual ward Christmas breakfast with Santa. Three of the kids were brave enough to sit on his lap!

Picture taken & edited by GrandPar.

So proud of this boy!

The past few days Garett has decided to pick up some of the slack around here. He's been doing the dishes, cleaning the sink, wiping the countertops and table, fold and put away laundry. He is happy to clean anything and everything, even if it doesn't need cleaning. Lucky for him, most things need cleaning around here! :)

Today we were at Walmart and Garett went running around a corner at full Garett velocity and knocked over one of those racks that they hang at the end of the aisle. Down went the whole thing and all the contents. Once I got his foot unstuck from it, I went to find a store employee b/c I had no idea how to put that thing back up. Garett stood there and helped the man pick everything up and made sure everything was off the floor - even the things that slid under the shelves that I hadn't noticed. He kept saying, "I'm sorry, it was an accident, but I'll help you pick it up." He was so sweet - I think the employee was a little annoyed before he saw how much Garett wanted to help clean up his mess. Who can resist this face - really?

GrandPar took this picture while he was here last weekend.

Story Girl

I need to take some pictures of Story's adventures, but here's the scoop on what she's up to...basically her 11 month milestones...
She routinely takes 2-3 steps at a time. Today she took 6 consecutive steps. She's so proud of herself and looks around like, hey everyone! look at me!
We try to keep Story off the big stairs, but we have two steps down into our family room and she likes to play on those. She actually figured out how to go down them feet first - hooray! She figured out how to turn herself around and go feet first (instead of head first). She can book it up the big stairs in about 30 seconds so we have to make sure the stairs are blocked. Right now, we're using the ridiculous-looking combo of our ottoman and a garbage can to block the stairs. Since there's no railing on one side, a baby gate is not an option until the 4th stair up - still a long way to fall!
The safest place to leave Story is sometimes the couch. She has this uncanny sense of where the edge is, and not wanting to fall off, she somehow manages to stay on the couch - even when wrestling with Garett and tumbling all over the couch like it's her personal gym. Right now, I'm liking that she hasn't figured out how to get off the couch yet.
Story has, however, figured out that she can stand up in her highchair even when buckled. Darn it! She does not like her highchair & she squawks whenever we put her in it. My only hope is to hand her a piece of cheese before putting her down. The distraction sometimes works long enough for me to get her in the chair. I think we need to dig out the booster seat. Maybe she'll like that better?
There aren't many foods that Story loves, but she will eat cheese, noodles, banana (beware of the mashed pieces on the floor - super yuk), and she'll try a few other things. Most of the time, she puts the food in and spits it right back out.
Story likes to wave to people and blow kisses. She also likes to clench and unclench her hand when she wants something - kind of like "come here".
She will not keep socks on - I feel really bad for her frozen feet so I bought her a snowsuit with feet covers. Unfortunately, the more she walks, the less useful this will be! Maybe we need to go for boots that she can't take off???
Well, that's probably TMI for now so I need to go to bed!