Four Weeks??!!

Seriously, where does the time go?

A few things about Ammon at 4 weeks:

• He's a baby. He cries sometimes.
• But, luckily, we've always been able to soothe him by holding him and
• He loves his pacifier. What a blessing!
• He's a pretty good napper.
• He just started sleeping pretty well in his crib.
• He will sleep about 5-6 hours at night, eat, and go back to sleep.
• If I need him to nap, I buckle him in the car seat, set him on top of the dryer, and turn it on. Wah-lah. It's magic.
• Instead of blow-outs, Ammon leaves little poops for me pretty much every diaper change. I'll take it. :)
• He can sleep through anything. In fact, I'm pretty sure that kids playing, vacuums running, and loud noises in general are his thing.
• He's the first of my babies that hasn't had a major pimple break-out. Knock on wood.
• He likes tummy-time more than my other kids did. Maybe because when he gets tired of it he just sets his big head to the side and the rest of his body rolls over. Or he's just the smartest baby ever, right? ;)
• He's got some big brothers and a big sister who adore him.
• Ammon was blessed 2 Sundays ago. Both Joe's parents and my parents were able to come, which was so wonderful! What stuck out: He is going to be a peacemaker in our family, a good example to his brothers and sisters, and he will live his life as a missionary. This last part really stuck out to me, because he has already become a missionary! We have found, and my parents have also commented, that people have never heard of the name "Ammon." We've had many ask us where it came from, and I know that Ammon is going to be explaining his name for the rest of his life. I hope he doesn't mind. :)

And the other kids?

• I just finalized this: Logan and Madison will be attending the Watson Science and Technology Center next year. We received a letter in the mail last fall telling us that Logan's grades and test scores qualified him for the Tech. and Classical schools in Dallas. I went to a meeting to see what it was all about and decided that if Madison could get in then we would send them both to the S&T Center. She went through 2 rounds of testing and was also accepted. What does this mean? Well, besides riding a bus, wearing uniforms, and doing extra homework, they will be in a pretty awesome school program. I'm a little nervous because I've enjoyed having them so close to home, but I think in the long run this will be a great thing for them.
• Logan just finished the 3rd Harry Potter. He's 7. I don't know how I feel about this. He understands it and really likes the series. As an English teacher (well, I have the degree), I never thought I would be for book censoring, but I just don't know that he is old enough to read Harry Potter. We told him he could watch the movies after he read the books, but he will have to wait with movie #4 because it is pg-13. Any thoughts on this topic?
• Madison is such a cute girl. She is just getting into the social scene. She and her little friends have been sending each other cute pictures with notes that go something like this, "Der Vivi, You are my best frend. Lov, Madi."
• Grant failed his last hearing test (he can hear fine, but this one sent tiny air-waves or something, that got stuck in his ear canal and didn't bounce back??? Something like that--it has to do with pressure in his ear). The last test he had he also had pressure in his ears, so now he's on an anti-biotic and allergy medicine to see if that clears it up, but if it doesn't clear up by his next visit then we will talk about what to do next. I am hopeful that this will help to improve his speech even more.