New Nephew!

Welcome to the world, Rafe Nicolson!
Congrats to the parents James and Nicole and the adorable big brother, Cole!

FYI, by Dan: Rafe (pronounced ray-f) is the rare German variant of the name Ralph, which means "wise and strong". Nicolson, although unconfirmed, we imagine is from Dan's sister's name, Nicole. Hooray new nephew!!

**see comment's for Nicole's correction :)

Brighton Firestation

We have so much fun. Here was our Friday.

Learning fire safety and meeting a fireman in all his gear.

James owned the place. He made sure to be the first one in line. He skipped the first truck and made a beeline for the door of the second. The fireman just barely beat him to the door.

JJ: "Close the door."
Me:"I don't know how it works (if it will open again from the outside, if that's allowed, etc.)" JJ:"I know how! (pulls on the door)". Eventually the fireman closed it for him.

He immediately started pushing buttons and managed to open the firestation door.

I promise I'm not still 6 months pregnant, it's just a big coat.

And the icing on the cake: they had "orange cones!" there.

Then we went to the library where James showed off his mad mouse-using skills. I was impressed. We have a laptop so this is not a home taught skill.

JJ also earned some more TV watching privileges (went poo-poo in the potty) while at the library and again at home!

We also got to have our friend Adam along for the fun. I'm proud of our car for fitting 3 kids in the backseat!

Now to Friendly's for dinner! It doesn't get much better than this...

Ruth slept through the firestation and the library, but she gets to have fun too:

I am now one of those girls

I am now one of those girls I'm always jealous of who gets to brag on her blog that she got flowers for no reason. Actually, one flower, but that's perfect for me, a girl who wants to stay in budget and get flowers :). This made my week. Thanks, Dan!

As Dan has been establishing his schedule for the semester balancing class, research, TA-ing, prelim studying, young men's, and coaching youth basketball, he has made a real point to make his family a priority. As much as I may whine about how much he works, I have to admit I know that we always come first, and he's not afraid to make that clear to his professors and advisors. I love that Dan works so hard to be the best student and employee he can, but that he shows in word and deed his committment to David O McKay's counsel that, "no success can compensate for failure in the home".

I love you!

Did it!

HE did it! He finally went poo poo in the potty! He asked to go, sat on the toilet for a long long time playing with his sticker book (thanks Dad and Dianne) and finally went. Now he gets to watch tv for the first time in almost 2 weeks. He chose to watch Huckleberry Hound (thanks, Grampy).
SHE did it! She held her own bottle to eat the other night. We have been giving her 2 ounces of formula each night to help her sleep, but we might have to up it to 4 ounces since she hasn't been sleeping through the night anymore this week.

Upright Urination

James is learning to use the potty standing up. This has been a crash course for me in the complexities of this learned skill. Here are some things I've learned:

• It is harder than it looks...at least for James.
• Both laughter and hiccups can prove disruptive to the process. Messy.
• It is hard to remember to aim your boy part when standing up and push it down when sitting down, not the opposite. Messy.
• If all fingers on the "holding hand" are not together, one may disrupt the stream. Messy.
• The little boy toilet seat should be left off the toilet just in case a little boy decides to use the toilet by himself, standing up, with a very small hole to aim for. Messy.
• Be ready to lend a hand, because if any of these messy events occurs, the little boy is likely to get distracted and turn to look at his mess. Messier.

Moral of this post? Two fold:

1. Don't teach this skill to your little boys.
2. Don't use my bathroom :)

Roadtrip

Nicole (Dan's sister who delayed her delivery date to attend the funeral!), her husband James, son Cole, Andrea and Walt (Dan's parents), us.

and since all you could see was the top of her head...Ruth Charlotte
Wow, that 6 hour car drive to New Jersey is becoming much too routine! At the last minute we decided to leave Thursday night instead of Friday morning to allow 2 "down days" before the drive home. Saturday was the funeral services. It was the first time I'd been through an entire funeral service: viewing, funeral mass, and graveside service with funeral procession in between. It really is nice to have time set aside with family and loved ones to think about and mourn the passing of a family member.

After a family luncheon we went back to Aunt Charlotte's house to see it unchanged one more time. Dan's parents also allowed/encouraged us to take some items from Auntie's house to remember her. I have to admit, it felt a little awkward wandering around picking things out and making lists of things we might want, but it is nice for Dan to have some things from Auntie's home after visiting there for every major holiday and about every 3 weeks in between and to keep more of her belongings in the family.

Update on James

Do you miss hearing about him? Here's what he's been up to:

1. Potty Training is still going well. He has started telling us when he needs to go and accompanying it with a timer impersonation "beep beep" since we use the timer to tell him when he needs to go potty. He still has not gone "#2" in the toilet, unfortunately, although he has told us twice that he has needed to. He even went potty on a big toilet at the museum yesterday!

2. Frequently taking his pants off to go potty (he insists on completely removing them) has given JJ lots of practice getting his jeans on. They often end up on backwards, but he is so proud of himself, I usually just let it slide. In the picture of that below, he thinks he is showing off his snow man shirt.

3. We have been having friends over to play frequently to help develop James' social skills. The main thing that he has figured out so far is how to fight back when someone takes his toy. This brings up a new issue to handle, but we're glad he's learning to stick up for himself.

4. James loves puzzles and is learning how to play board games too. Taking turns and following somebody else's rules long enough to finish a game is a tough thing to learn!

5. He is learning the sounds letters make. I would guess him to have about 50% accuracy right now. Vowels are particularly problematic.

6. His new favorite sense is hearing. He often says things like, "I hear something? What is it?". Or today he was sure Dan was still home and was in the shower because "I hear water".

7. He is particularly sensitive to temperature right now telling us things are "too cold" or "too hot" until they are just the temperature he wants. Our little Goldilocks.

8. At the end of February he will be doing a 10 week swimming course with Dan for 30 minutes once a week. We think it will be a good preparation for summer, but most importantly a fun thing for them to do together.

9. On Monday we are going to tour a preschool that James will hopefully be attending two mornings a week starting next September.

10. Mostly, JJ likes to play with all his fun toys while we avoid the cold cold weather!

"feeding" Mickey and Monkey

Loves taking pictures

Giant chess at the museum

He knows exactly how to find the "bah-code" and ring up his groceries at the museum and at Wal-Mart!

Jet Daddy made for him out of a diaper box

Backwards jeans

Cold weather. That's the side of our townhouse

So big! She's moving into her 3-6 month clothes!

Auntie

Dan's great aunt Charlotte, as in our daughter's name Ruth Charlotte, passed away yesterday. As we've called around changing weekend plans in preparation to attend her funeral, I have found myself explaining the type of relationship Dan had with his Aunt Charlotte. I don't know about you, but I don't even know all my great aunt and uncles names. Aunt Charlotte was a different story, however, and was a lot more to Dan and his family than the title "Great Aunt" would imply.

Charlotte and Alice were sisters. Charles and Walter Sr. were brothers. Charlotte married Charles and Alice married Walter Sr. They lived in the same house together in New Jersey. Alice and Walter Sr. had a son named Walter Jr. who became the fifth member of the household and grew up surrounded by his parents and aunt and uncle.

Not long after Walter Jr.'s son, Dan, was born, and within a short period of time, Charles, Alice, and Walter Sr., all passed away unexpectedly leaving just Charlotte. For the past 20+ years, Charlotte has played the role of Grandmother for Dan and has been the closest extended family member he can remember. Every holiday was spent with her along with frequent visits in between.

I met Charlotte first when Dan and I were dating and many times since. I cannot say I knew her well, but I did know her. She was a woman of faith, which I always admire even if our faiths were not the same. She was generous and kind and loved her family, my husband, and my children. I will leave it to others who knew her better to eulogize further, but I just wanted to explain who she was to us and say that we will miss her!

An extra dose of NASTY!

Nothing like getting a meat loaf (a good recipe) all ready to cook, looking at the previously unopened bag of saltene crackers you used in it, and seeing a swarm of weevils (sp?).

Did I mention I had just taken a bite of a cracker and James was on his 2nd or 3rd? EWWW! There goes dinner. And now I have to clean up the mess from making a dinner we don't get to eat and figure out what else to make.

How does scrambled eggs sound, everyone?

Ewww, ewww ewwwwww!!!!!!!

An extra dose of cute

Fly the Spy

Heard by a fly on our wall today:

#1
Mommy: You want to go to the library? Oh, wait, Daddy has the car for Young Men's Basketball.
JJ: Use somebody else's car?
Mommy: well, they wouldn't have your carseats (plus, isn't a little young to start with grand theft auto?)

#2: bedtime
Mommy: Thanks for being such a good boy today!
JJ: I not a good boy today.
Yes you were!
No, I not a good boy. I tried to take toys from Enoch (not a conversation we'd had, but yes it did happen)
Oh,but you said you were sorry, right?
No.
Do you want to say you're sorry tomorrow?
Yeah.

#3: bossing Enoch around
a. that's not what we do with our cups!
b. ice cream's ready! Come upstairs now for ice cream, its ready!

#4: potty training
Mommy: do you need to go potty?
JJ: No, my milk still turning into pee pee in my tummy.

#5: while falling asleep
I'm a brilliant, I'm a brilliant....
(except it sounds like, "I'm a buoyant.")

Yes, we are potty training. Today was day 5 and his only accident was #2 as long as we took him to the bathroom once an hour (we'll extend that soon). He doesn't tell us when he needs to go and he still sleeps in diapers, but I still feel this week has been a huge success!

Hi, my name is Ruth

Let me introduce myself.

My favorite things in life are eating and smiling, but there is a lot more to me than that.

1. I love toys, especially my green frog.

2. Funny noises make me smile and being tickled makes me laugh.

3. I stick my tongue out all the time.

4. I love to eat my hands, drink bath water, and very rarely take a binky.

5. Speaking of baths, the main reason I need them is because my tightly-clenched fists make my hands stink to high heaven.

6. I love watching my brother, especially when he makes toys dance on his head.
7. I poop a lot, a lot.

8. They call me the amazing "Ruth-ini". I regularly kick off socks and pants while swaddled. I've also been known to wiggle my jammies down to my elbows and most recently, as shown in the laundry basket picture, partially unzip my jammies. I was swaddled for that one too.
9. I've been averaging 8 hours a sleep of night. I'm trying to move toward 2 long naps a day, but its hit or miss.
10. I can pick my head up when on my tummy. I'm a perfectionist, so I keep it up as long as possible and then get really upset with myself when it finally hits the ground.

Betcha wouldn't have guessed

This is what Ruth's hair looks like when its wet. So why do I always comb out the curls instead of letting it just airdry? 2 reasons:

#1

#2

Enough with the pictures!

a couple more

Blessing Weekend

Its really not that many pictures...if you consider how many we took!

In our church we do not baptize infants since they are innocent and don't need it. We do, however, formally give them a name and a blessing at church. We did that this Sunday for Ruth. She was named Ruth Charlotte and given a sweet blessing by her daddy.

In honor of the occasion, my mom and step-dad flew in on Thursday night and Dan's parents drove up Friday night.

Friday Morning Activity at the Church Building

Friday night pizza

Toddler Monopoly with the Grandmas

Homemade Philly Cheesesteaks

Dressed and ready at church. My mom crocheted this entire dress! My Grammy made a slip for the dress too!

Beautiful shoes from Nana (my mom)

Bracelet from Nana, headband by Mommy

Me and my kiddos. The one picture we took of us with Dan is super blurry.

The whole clan

Ruth with the men of the family

Christensens
(James couldn't wait to go to Nursery, so he is not in all the pictures)

Gillespies
More portraits.
Happy before the blessing (blue chair pics above) and after the blessing, but she cried through the actual blessing :)

My brown-eyed girl

All of the men who stood in "the circle" for Ruth's blessing. They surround/help hold her while Dan says the blessing. Eric (friend and fellow Optics student), Walter (Dan's dad), Dan and Ruth, Gary (my step-dad), Bob (friend and fellow hockey fan)

Sleep and Giggles

Ruth is not one to fall asleep easily and peacefully unless we're out in a noisy environment, so it was a special treat for Dan when she fell asleep while hanging out on the couch with him (and a special treat that he got to steal some zzz's too).

Lots of giggles and a few laughs. 1+ minute, but it takes some time to get her worked up to the real laughs! Her first laughs were more grunty, but she's figuring it out more now.

Free Antibiotics

If you live near a Wegman's and need antibiotics between now and March 31st, make sure to fill your prescription at Wegman's for no charge with your shopper card!

Read about it here.

Stats +

Did I mention that her worst night's sleep this week was 6.5 hours and her best was 8? Most were in between there. Then she eats for 20 minutes and goes back to sleep for another 2-4 hours depending on the day and how fast I get in there when her brother wakes up and starts singing/talking.

and a sneak peak of Ruth's blessing attire for Sunday. This is the headband I made for her (in other words, the ribbon I added elastic to).