6 Month-a-roos

Now I normally wait until 6 months to even think about giving the baby solids. . . but this boy is growing up faster than the others did. He's got 2 teeth (and another one can't decide), he's crawling and pulling himself up (although he hasn't mastered a stand yet). And the boy gets mad if we don't share food with him! So at about 5 1/2 months we started introducing a little bit of food. We've let him taste too many things to make an exclusive list, but these are main foods he has tried so far:

• rice cereal
• oatmeal cereal
• peas
• bananas
• apple sauce
• pumpkin

Ammon also likes to chew on our pizza crusts, brownie crumbs, and other miscellaneous taste-tests of whatever we are willing to give him.

We started feeding him solids at dinner-time every other day, but the last few days he has been eating a small bowl of solids at pretty much every meal. The kids think it is fun to feed him--even if it does mean a little extra mess to clean up.

He's also been getting extra giggly and smiley. Maybe because he is getting into everything. He especially likes Grant's flip flops (don't worry, I take them away) and paper (mainly in the form of books). He likes to play peek-a-boo, and our newest tradition is a round or two of peek-a-book with the blanket when he gets put in his bed. This also seems to help to keep him from crying when he realizes that he is getting put into bed. :)

On another note, the Fall and Halloween decorations are up, hooray! Logan informed me that he was worried I wouldn't keep my promise (I've been telling him for the past few days that we would put them up), so whew! I am a lady of my word. Grant stuffed a huge brownie in his mouth when I wasn't looking, and before he had eaten his food, so I actually stuck my hand in his mouth full of teeth and pulled it out and threw it away. It isn't my most pleasant memory. Grant's finger also warrants a picture because it looks pretty spooky. You can see under half his fingernail, which is all black and gruesome, and it will surely fall of in the next little while. Joe went out to dinner with a guy from UT, so I made a teriyaki-chicken stir-fry with ramen noodles. It wasn't that bad, but the thought of it makes me shudder. Also, I was really faithful in doing couch to 5k for 2 weeks, but then I missed 2 weeks. Oops.

Chapter 30: Making It

(Ammon's first big-boy bath with Grantee)

(What I found when I downloaded pictures. . . + several shots of door frames, drawer knobs, and carpet.)

How do you define chapters in your life? By years? Moves? Births? Deaths? First days of school? Do you ever take a minute (or hours) to remember memories that happened over the course of your memories? Does it feel like those events happened to another person, or like your life is a movie you watched? I don't quite know how to describe the feeling, I guess I am assuming you know what I mean.

There is a song in the musical Wicked called "Thank Goodness." It shares some pretty insightful lines about happiness, but one of my favorite parts of the song says,

There are bridges you cross
You didn't know you crossed
Until you've crossed

Anyway, I was just thinking about that. There are definitely some chapters that are more clearly defined than others: graduating from school, the birth of a first child, moving from one state to another, starting a new job, being released from a calling. Then there are those chapters that you look back and realize they have closed without you even knowing it: becoming an adult, watching your kids grow up, letting go of a tragedy or sadness, overcoming a challenge or trial (probably the biggest "bridge" we don't know we've crossed until we can look back and see the bridge behind us).

So today I am defining chapters by years. I can remember hanging on the monkey bars when I was 7, wearing a purple dress and parading around outside with a purple umbrella, going to the store and blowing all of my money on 2 Barbie dolls and then having buyer's remorse for the rest of my life. Ten years ago I was 20. I was newly married and living in China with my sweetheart. Boy was that fun! In less than a month we will celebrate Logan's birthday and he will get baptized! I turned 30! I think we opened and closed a lot of chapters this year. . . baby, moving, birthdays, callings, work, new school, friends, furniture (yay! got it yesterday!), accomplishments. I think we're doing ok--even great! We're making it.*

*This is how I get through life. . . I tell myself: in 10 years this (broken dish, speeding ticket, bombed test, etc) won't mean a thing. We will make it because there is no other choice. And there isn't! Come What May and Love it! (<---click on it)

Fire Mantel Again

I got brave and asked a lady in our ward who has some serious decorating style if she would help me with the mantel. She came over and gave me some ideas that never crossed my mind--like a big flower arrangement in the middle (she let me try one of hers out to see how it looked), a clock in the middle, and an easel to help with height. I like the bold lines better than the flowers, but I think the clock might be too small for the space. Also the "stuff" on the sides are things I already had and used just to see how it looked. The teapot is down too low and the flowers are fallish, which might work for now but not long term. I like more bold and simple designs without a lot of clutter. I also believe decor should have form and function, so I don't want to buy a lot of "things" just for show. I like the China things because they remind me of the people I knew and time I spent in China. Hmmm. . . I just emailed her these pictures to get an updated opinion. She's probably cringing. :) Which one do you like, and do you have any suggestions for "stuff" on the sides?

p.s. click here to see a site that has some good fire mantel ideas.

The Cafeteria.

Madison came home with this paper she wrote about the cafeteria. Click on it if you want to see her very tidy handwriting. But if you just want to know what it says:

The cafeteria has food.

The cafeteria sounds loud.

The cafeteria smells great.

Oh to be six again. :)

Just some things

*Last week I received an email about Logan's upcoming baptism and agreed to meet with the cub scout leader after church. I forgot. I then emailed the leader and apologized. She then emailed be back this message: "I heard you just moved out of the ward." What? I looked at the original email. Oops. It seems I had agreed to meet with the cub scout leader of the last ward.

*The house is a mess. . .and this time the only one I can blame it on is. . . me. After deciding that it was time to start pulling out fall clothes, I have pulled out 3-4 bins of clothes, which have been dumped out, refolded, and spread out around the entire house. There are a few things I KNOW I have for Ammon--among them a cute sweater from The Children's Place, a red Cars shirt (actually that one's for Grant), and a white t-shirt with an elephant on it--but I can't find them! I keep looking through the bins I have already gone through wondering if I somehow missed it. The next step is going through the other boxes of clothes that are packed away in the garage. I don't know why I am so stuck on these 3 items--he has plenty to wear--but it's bugging me that I KNOW they exist, I just don't know where they are!

*I forgot to mention that Madison was the student of the week during the first week of school. My girl!

*Logan can't do jumping jacks. We tried last night for about 15 minutes. Joe and I laughed pretty hard, but I think he ended up being a little embarrassed. It really is pretty cute, though. He does the entire jumping jack motion in the air and lands with his feet together.

*Grant's speech is improving by the hour! He is getting really good at starting words that have the "f" sound--fun, four, five, fish, etc. He is also getting the "oo" sound down--you and two. This sound has been the hardest one for him to make, and he is excited about it. He can also say "Darth Vador" and "Star Wars" very well. I used to worry that it would make him feel bad that we kept correcting him and asking him to say things over and over, but I think he is happy that people are starting to understand what he is saying. He will come up to us and say the words he has been working on--basically asking us to practice with him. If we don't understand him we say, "I'm sorry, I can't understand you," or "I don't know what you are saying." He then starts trying the words with different consonants in front of them because he doesn't know which one it really is... kind of funny. He goes in for another hearing test on Thurs (he's had 6-7 of these in the past 6 months). He's getting tired of the testing, even though it usually means he gets to spend the rest of the day at dad's office (I think even that is getting old). He has upper and lower level hearing loss. We are hoping they will decide on this visit to put tubes in his ears to see if it will help.

a week in review

a little crawl

a push-up or two

and now I will sit down for you!

Sadly, I never got the gorilla/tri-pod I'm-sitting-but-gonna'-fall-over picture. :( Seriously, I can't keep up with the boy! He's also been awesome about taking a long nap for me after lunch--the same time Grant does. It's wonderful.

Ammon is entertaining himself for longer periods of time. Today he crawled/scooted all over the bedroom for an hour looking for things to gnaw on. The kids have been pretty good at keep little toys off of the floor. . . although he did get hold of a Star Wars coloring book and chewed the cover off.

I should mention that last Sunday Joe took Grant to the E.R. for a smashed finger. It looked really bad, and we'd had some experience with smashed fingers (Madi smashed hers off), so we decided to be safe. They took some x-rays and said he was fine. . . and we felt kind of dumb because by the time we got home it was looking a ton better. It still looks bad. . . his fingernail will definitely fall off, and an inch of his finger is horribly bruised and scabbed over, but not E.R. worthy, for sure. He did, for the first time in his life, ask for a band-aid. Ah well. I'm trying not to think about it.

What else. . . do you want to help me come up with ideas for the fire mantel? We had fire places in the last 2 places we've lived, and I thought we did ok, but this one has a curved recessed area above the fire place, and I hate it! Even if I could fit a small picture/mirror in there I wouldn't want to because I think it looks dumb. Every other room in the house looks somewhat put together and ok, but I have been avoiding this room because of the lack of furniture and the fire mantel! So right now the whole room looks crummy, but I am itching to get it put together because I want to pull out my fall decorations (like the one on the left of the mantel in the pic). I need help!!

*I think Grant got the camera and smudged the lens because all of the pictures are coming out blurry. Or it could be because I spent 30 minutes pushing buttons on the camera and wondering just what those buttons did. . .and now I don't know how to undo everything. Oops. Also, do you see how you can see Ammon's reflection on the floor. . .pretty cool. Maybe my floor is cleaner than I thought. ;)

McGregor home: 10 p.m.

what the. . . ? is that. . . ? who drew this?!

*later*Madison confirmed that it is a bottom and legs "so that people would know what to do."

Lessons on Cleaning

I grew up in a family of seven. We lived in a very old, small house--like over 100 years old house. We had one teeny, tiny bathroom. Both my parents worked outside the home. There was little to no privacy (I sat on the washing machine while I talked on the phone), and our home looked like it had seven people living in it. At the time I couldn't figure out why the house always seemed to be a mess (I was crazy even then, and this might have something to do with why I am crazy now, but that is another topic for another day), but as a SAHM of 4, I now know why! My parents were always trying to figure out how to get us to form good habits; among other things, we had a chore wheel for most of my growing up years. Last night instead of sleeping, I tossed and turned in my bed and thought about how it is probably time to set up our own chore wheel and start giving the kids an allowance. This brought me back to some of my own childhood lessons on cleaning.

Do what needs to be done

"It's not mine." "I didn't make the mess." I said it, and now I hear my kids saying it. My dad taught us the absurdity of these words one family home evening when he showed us the money that he had hidden under books, toys, and objects all over the house that he had probably asked us to pick up. I remember very clearly the $100 bill he had stuffed in a sneaker that had been abandoned by the stairs for over a week. If you notice something needs to be done, you do it--regardless of why it needs to be done. Of course, we spent the next few weeks picking up everything in the hopes of finding money, but it was too late.

Clean behind the toilet

We switched chores each week, and there was a list of jobs that needed to be done for the room we were responsible over during the week. The bathroom was the dirty-dreaded chore, of course. One day near Christmas, my dad asked me if I had cleaned the bathroom. When I said I had, he asked me to go back and check the list. Then he asked me to go clean better behind the toilet. I think I came back 3-4 times to get it checked off before he finally went in the bathroom with me and showed me what I would have found had I really cleaned behind the toilet. . . cute, sparkly Christmas-ornament fishhook earrings. To this day I am a stickler about really getting down on my knees and getting the floor wiped--all the way around the toilet.

Don't wash hair down the drain

I was the one with the long hair, and occasionally the tub or sink drain would get clogged and daddy dearest was the fix-it man. I guess when I became old enough to be held accountable he decided that it shouldn't be his job to clean those nasty drains. So he called me in, pulled up the plug, and made me remove the long, slimy hair (without gloves). If you have ever done this job, you will never wash hair down the drain again. Now I take a square of toilet paper and wipe the hair out of the sink. It's much, much less icky that way.

These memories have stuck with me for years--and I know their lessons spill over into all other areas of my life. I am thankful for goodly parents who took the time to teach me how to work and to be responsible. I just realized that all of these stories are about my dad. My mom is pretty great as well, but she is the first to point out what a good guy my dad is. I'm lucky to have both of them. Yes, I think it's time to make a McGregor chore wheel.

It's not a competition, but. . .

Since Ammon and I are attached, he gets to do a lot more than the other kids get to do. Like staying up late, going to Niagara Falls and riding "The Maid of the Mist," and attending his first BYU football game (pics are on Joe's phone). This for some reason implies to everyone around me that he is my one and only child, so Ammon gets a lot of attention and I get a lot of comments and advice on how to raise a child. That's cool, I guess. They mean well. I tell myself that they are actually complimenting me on how I look too young to have FOUR kids. ;o)

One night in July, Joe and I (and consequently Ammon) went to watch Harry Potter 7 part 2. Afterwords we went to get blizzards at Dairy Queen. Since Dairy Queen is about the only place to get ice cream in little bitty Warren County, PA, there was a good-sized line ahead of us. The guy in front of me looks at Ammon, smiles and coos, and then turns to his wife and says, "Honey, look at that baby. Do you remember when ours were that little?" Then they turn to me and say, "Treasure every minute, they grow up so fast. (gives me a "look.") We have three kids--7, 4, and 2 years old." I nod kind of slowly and say, "Oh. . . ours are about the same age. . . We have a 7, 5, 3, and this guy is 3 months old." The man looks at his wife and us and says, "OK. You win."

p.s. Ammon's first tooth broke through on Sunday. Not even 5 1/2 months and he can crawl and has a tooth. This boy is trying too hard to catch up to his siblings. :(

p.p.s. Ignore my man hair. Thanks to my changing pregnant/not-pregnant hormones, the last few months I have been shedding hair like a dog and I don't know what to do with it. It's quite embarrassing, really.

Reasons 100-101 why I like this house better

• It's finally cooled down at night. . . to 58!! And guess what? This house has screens in the windows, so I actually got to turn off the a/c and open the windows! It feels wonderful.

• Also, Grant, Ammon, and I went to story time at the new library. It was fantastic! But almost as good, maybe even better. . . I turned in a Star Wars book Logan checked out; it was a few days late. Can you imagine my amazement when I went to pay my fine--only to find that this library does not have late fines. What? Yes!

And on anther note, do you women have insights into your children when they are born? Little glimpses that show/teach you about their spirits, and what kind of people they will be? I feel like I have felt something of the sort with each of my children. When Logan was born I just felt like his spirit was old. . . I don't know how else to explain it. He was my hardest baby, for sure, and I have this maybe strange idea that it was because it was so difficult for his spirit to adjust to being in a place so unlike heaven. Madison I just looked at and felt like she was going to be my friendly, social girl, more concerned with what is going on around her. Grant I felt like he didn't want to be a burden on anyone. Like he was going to be calm and quiet and peaceful. OK, he is the one I think I must have been wrong about. . . haha, he's only three, so I guess he still has some time to prove me right!

Ammon. . . well, I never had that first impression, but I think maybe because the impressions I had about him happened more towards the beginning of my pregnancy. Some of them came from a blessing Joe gave me when we were thinking about getting pregnant (actually, I can't remember, but we might have just found out I was pregnant).* Interestingly, many of those same attributes were repeated during Ammon's baby blessing. I wrote everything down at the time, and when I told Joe about it he didn't remember what he had said the first blessing. Anyway, some of those impressions were that Ammon would be a peacemaker, a helper for his mom, and a missionary throughout his life. That, I think, has a lot to do with why we felt he should be named "Ammon."

Anyway, I have been able to get little glimpses into his personality and who he is going to be, and I've recently had the thought that this little boy loved music before he came to join our family. He LOVES when I play the piano. If he is fussy at all I will put him in the swing or on the floor and play for him. He calms right down and usually goes to sleep within a few minutes. Sometimes I don't have time to play for him, so I've started just turning on classical music for him, and it seems to have the same effect. He really likes Gershwin and Chopin. Yesterday I put him up to the piano and let him touch the keys. He made a few sounds with them, but I think they are still too heavy for him to push down.

I was doing a good job of teaching Logan and Madison piano lessons. . . until I got pregnant. . .over a year ago. I really, really need to get back on that! It is a gift I can give them--for free! They are wanting and willing to learn (although Logan sometimes puts up a pretend fight). They love to practice, and we are actually really good at getting that into our routine--practice each song 3 times after we eat a snack when they get home from school. It's the sitting down and doing the lesson that I struggle with. So--maybe if I write down this goal and publish it for the world to see it will actually get done!

*Speaking of pregnancy. . . I really miss being pregnant and feeling that life growing inside! I love being pregnant, and when I see pregnant people I think they are sooo lucky. Am I crazy?!

Super Saturday

*Madison's bed is (finally) now set up.

*The upstairs is clean.

*The treadmill is assembled.

*The highs for the next week are in the 80's and 90's; the lows are in the 60's!

*I hung some pictures on the walls.

*It's (finally) starting to feel like a home!

No Not Yet!

Yesterday Ammon started practicing his crawl. He's not fast yet, but I know that in a very short time he will be faster than I am. I'm cheering him on, "You can do it! Yay!" and saying, "just wait another month!" all at the same time.

I'm not ready for it. . . emotionally! It really does seem like time goes faster with each baby. When Logan was this age we would go to the playground and I would put him on my lap while we went down the slides. I would watch the big kids and get excited for the day that he could actually play and be more excited about going down the slide than I was. I thought I had all this time ahead of me--not just for Logan, but to be pregnant and to go through all the stages many times over. Now, I can't see into the future, but I don't see many more babies, if any, in ours. Definitely not four more. . . so I'd be content if time could slow down and I could just savor what time I have--with each of my children.

So yesterday I saw Ammon scooting around, and then I found the book, What to Expect the First Year while I was unpacking. I haven't looked at that book for a good while because I think I kind of already know what to expect. But just for fun I decided to check out the 5 and 6 month section. I *almost* started crying because for some reason reading it made me think my baby wasn't a baby any more but a kid. . . and then those kids grow up to be adults. My mom would say I'm being like the three sillies and thinking about things I don't need to worry about.

Here is what is good about growing up:

Ammon (5 mos)--Sleeps through the night. Usually goes to sleep on his own. Can entertain himself for 10-20 minutes. Smiles and giggles.

Grant (3)--Pure joy to talk to. Says cute things. Can go to the bathroom by himself (minus a little help wiping). Can get dressed by himself (although it might be backwards). Has some reasoning skills, but is a little stubborn. Eats pretty well, but not always. Plays well with older children and children his own age (struggles with younger children and children who don't follow the rules--bossy pants).

Madison (6)--can get up by herself, get dressed, make beds--she can do a lot by herself. She helps around the house. She can follow directions (if she chooses to). Her reasoning skills are ok. Can carry an interesting conversation. Plays well with others.

Logan (almost 8)--can do almost everything for himself. Even better, he can do an awful lot for me. He helps a lot. His reasoning skills are awesome. He doesn't complain about what he has to eat. He can come up with solutions to problems. He doesn't need a lot of help to do his homework. Very good at conversing and playing with others.

I don't know what I'm scared of. Growing up is good. Can you imagine having a newborn every day of your life? We want them to become independent--we'd all be miserable if they didn't. And five months--he's still a baby, right? I have many more baby days to enjoy!

Oh. . .and two more reasons I LOVE this new house: bathtubs and CARPET! Much better for the new crawler.