Life!

So I really am having guilt over not keeping this blog updated. I have my Chatbooks that have dates and captions, but I still feel like I'm going to look back and regret not doing a better job of record keeping. Especially since it is easy to do on a computer. So here's to blogging at least once a week. Even if they're small posts. For now, I'll try and just do a little summary of everyone to get myself caught up.

Kennedy- This little girl steals the hearts of everyone she meets. She is so outgoing, friendly, flirty, and attention loving. I have yet to this day, in her 15 months of life, gone out somewhere and not received a compliment about her. She's adorable and she knows it. My favorite people are those who compliment Swen as well. I thank them for remembering I have two kids sitting right in front of me, and he is adorable and perfect too! :) Kennedy's favorite thing to do is try on clothes and accessories. She layers as much on as possible. On laundry days she often wears clothing from all four of us! She talks constantly and repeats whatever we say.. Her favorite words are "bye bye, no no no, hi, and tractor." She wants to do whatever Swen does, all the time, and if she can't, she becomes furious. I've never seen such a tiny person get so mad and so loud so fast.  It's amazing. She was born with a loud scream and it's grown louder with age. I love it, and I know she will always stand up for herself.

She also loves have a baby to hold, and she likes helping me with household tasks. She loves to fold laundry, unload dishes, and make the bed. I try to show her that I enjoy doing these things because staying home and being a mom/taking care of our house is the best job I've ever had. I love it, and I hope she aspires to do the same one day. Side note: She's too young to help me cook, which is okay because that's Swen's favorite thing to do! I never cook alone anymore, and I love his help. Kennedy is still nursng to fall asleep... And often through out the night. It's exhausting, but right now I don't have the energy to do anything about it. Also, she's so healthy because of it! This girl never gets sick. Even with Swen coming home with germs from preschool, she has yet to be sick once. If only breastmilk prevented broken elbows. She fell off of our couch and landed the wrong way. Luckily, the cast only needs to be on for three weeks, and it doesn't seem to bother her at all. And she sort of looks adorable in her purple cast. I love this girl with all of my heart, and I don't know how we lived without her.

Swen- This kid has become my best friend. He talks to me and makes me laugh ALL DAY LONG. His favorite topics of conversation include cement mixers, tractors cars, monster trucks, and suckers. I love hearing what is going on inside his head, and I hope he always wants to talk to me this much. Age 3 is both the greatest and hardest, and those feelings are like a daily pendulum. His moods are crazy! :)  He started preschool this fall! He LOVES it and I'm so glad. We originally had him signed up to go through a local neighborhood teacher, but for various reason we switched to a Canyons School District preschool. His favorite things in school are snack time and free choice, where he plays with cars (surprised?). Picking him up is my favorite because he tells me all about his day. He only goes two days a week for a couple hours, and it isn't enough for him. He asks to go every day. Next year we might send him a couple more days, but for now, I want him home with me!

Swen is either the best or worst big brother in the world. He can be so sweet and share, but other times his mission is to make Kennedy miserable. It is EXHAUSTING keeping them happy and not fighting. I know they'll be super close one day and that the fighting is all just a phase. But it's a phase I'm tired of. My favorite quality about Swen is how snuggly he is. Since he was born he wanted to sleep on people and be with people. That hasn't changed. I get quality snuggles every afternoon while Kennedy naps. We read books, watch TV, or play with cars while he sits on my lap. I know it will end one day and that will be AWFUL. I love my boy more than I ever knew I could love anyone; I'm so grateful he made me a mom.


Matt- I just said to him, "Okay I've done Swen and Kennedy. What should I say about you?" He replied, "nothing at all." And that is how you know Matt hasn't changed. He still likes to spend time with me and the  kids and other than that, he likes to pretty much keep to himself. Oh and rock climb! He still loves to climb and is getting so good at it. I'm jealous of his passion! He is still working in Provo for a solar panel company; he likes it there and that makes me happy. We've been married for over five years, and while I'm not going to say we have some amazing, perfect marriage, I grow more grateful every day that we somehow found each other. We are both stubborn, independent, quirky, awesome (of course), and I don't think we would do well being married to many other people. :)

Shulamith- The only big change in my life is that by some fluke I was offered to teach a class at Salt Lake Community College. I am teaching Developmental Reading to freshman students, and all but one are ESL students. Teaching reading to ESL students was MY PASSION before I had kids(now they are my passion). I have the weirdest and strongest connection to immigrants that come here to better themselves and their families. I just think they are so amazing, and I love getting to know them and helping them. And teaching college students is way more fun than teaching 5-year-olds! I only have to go five hours a week in the evenings, so I get to be home with my kids all day, and I'm still home in time to put them to bed. Getting this class was such a huge surprise and a blessing. I hope I get offered a class in the spring as well. Other than this class, I try to cherish being home. It is really hard; having a 3-year-old and a 1-year-old is busy busy busy and crazy crazy crazy. But I know I'm where I'm supposed to be, and I'm beyond grateful to get to be their mom and be with them all the time. Oh and I got braces and I'm going to speech therapy! I had an overbite and my front teeth wouldn't close, so eating was super hard, which was all caused from having a tongue thrust. I'm super insecure about  having braces, but I know it will be worth it when they're off.

If you made it this far, I'm impressed. Hopefully I can do a better job keeping up with this, so the posts won't be as long and boring in the future.

Oh and us on Halloween!

Swenisms

One night Matt and I took the kids out for dinner because we had an awesome coupon. After we had been there a while, Swen became antsy so he got up and just wandered around our table. Before I could stop it, I looked over and saw him petting a girl's head at the table next to us. I quickly apologized, grabbed him and asked him what he was doing. He said, "good job be nice other people!"

I took Swen to the aquarium with a friend and her little girl. Whenever Swen was looking at some fish and another kid came up, Swen would immediately kick the other kid. After a few times, I told him he needed to be nice and stop kicking or we'd have to take a break from looking at fish. The next time a kid came to look at the fish with him, he would pat the other kid's head and say "good job be nice!" This happened over and over, and luckily most kids were confused, but still nice, when Swen would pat them. Now whenever we drive by the aquarium, he always says "So fun go look at fishers good job being nice!"

***Disclaimer: When Kennedy first was born and Swen was still adjusting, he would hit or kick her. So I would take his hand and put it on her softly and tell him "thank you for being nice. Good job being nice, Swen!" And that translated into be nice equals petting. And he's the nicest kid around, and therefore does a lot of petting! Haha!.***

Mom: Swen, we need to get ready for church.
Swen: Play toys with Marlee?
Mom: Yes, you can play toys with Marlee.
Swen: Share just one car with Marlee. No share two cars.

An entire community of town homes is being built next to us. Whenever we come home Swen, asks to go look at all the tractors working.
"Go look at tractors! Whoa look at that big huge tractor. Whoa look at that big huge cement truck. Whoa cool tractor. Super cool cement truck!"

Whenever we are out and he sees kids, he says, "Wow look at all those friends! Those are Swen's friends!"

While at Target we walked by the bra section and Swen said, "Look at all those boobs! Look at all those big huge boobs!"

Matt takes Swen disc golfing at least once a week. Swen loves it, and he especially loves the garbages there. This conversation happens several times a day:

Swen: Go disc golf with Dada, Eli, Seth?
Mom: Yes, Dada and Eli and Seth will take you disc golfing tonight after dinner.
Swen: Have black garbages there?
Mom: Yes, they have black garbages there.
Swen: Those are gross?
Mom: Yep, those are gross
Swen: Really, reallllllly gross!

Now imagine all these stories in an adorable Swen voice! He's hilarious. He cracks me up all day long.

Kennedy 7/8 Months Old

Dearest Kennedy,

You are only my second child and already I'm neglecting keeping records of your life! Sorry about that. Thank you for being such a happy and sweet little girl. Here's what your interests are at 8 months old.

Loves:
Being carried around
Eating any and all food (you are SO opposite or Swen with this!)
Playing with whatever toys Swen plays with
Sitting up all by yourself
Babbling constantly
Screaming and making loud noises
Smiling and laughing (especially at Swen)
Taking long baths
Showering
Riding in the front pack or back pack
Mommy (let's be real; Swen calls me "Mom" so you probably will too. Sad.)

Dislikes/hates because you're SUPER opinionated:
Mommy leaving you any time. Usually I can sneak away, but then the second you see me or hear me come back, you start screaming like the world is going to end.
Swen taking things away from you
Sleeping by yourself
Nursing if you don't feel like nursing- ugh this is so frustrating for me. I wish you would eat when I want you to! But I'm glad you know what you want and when you want it.
Loud noises. You still startle easily and get really upset afterwards.
Other people eating and not sharing with you
Not being able to crawl. You want to so bad, but you're just not ready yet!
Being alone

I love you so much, Kennedy! Even though I worry you may be a little bit of a drama queen, deep down I know we will be super close friends forever.

Love, Mommy/Mom

Stuck

When's the last time you ever felt trapped? I don't mean emotionally, like you're trying to make a choice and feel like like there's no winning. I mean literally and physically trapped! For me, it's every day between 2 and 4 pm. I often have missed calls and texts. Or people wanting do something and I have to tell them, "Sorry, I'm never available to do anything ever between 2 and 4. Ever."

Everyone knows it took 15 months for Swen to sleep well. Now at 33 months he is still a great sleeper. He sleeps all night long and naps every day from about 2-4 pm. He, however, isn't the problem. The problem is big eyed, chubby cheeked, gummy smiling Kennedy! She has followed in her brother's footsteps and will not sleep on her own. Unlike with Swen, I can't just hold her while she sleeps, because I have a two-year-old to take care of. This means that all morning long she is either cat napping or being tired because she won't nap longer than 15 minutes alone.

Then 2:00 comes! And oh it's a wonderful time. Swen, Kennedy and I all crawl into bed. Swen is on my left side, and Kennedy is on my right. Swen falls asleep RIGHT next to me. Sometimes on me a little bit. And Kennedy falls asleep nursing. And she continues to stay attached to me for the entire two hours. I usually can get about 30 minutes of sleep in before my hips and back start to ache from being stuck on my side. And then for the next 90 minutes I'm TRAPPED. I can't move. What if Swen wakes up? What if Kennedy wakes up? Nothing could possibly be worth it to move and risk Swen not getting his nap, or Kennedy not getting her only decent nap of the day.

So if you're thinking about calling me, or you want to do something with me between 2 and 4 pm, remember, I'm trapped, and I'll get back to you once my kids are awake :)

Life Lately

Here's everything we've been up to the last few months! :)

Kennedy: she's for sure done the most changing. This girl lights up my life. And everyone who is around her. She is the smiliest, happiest baby ever. I have yet to go out anywhere and not have someone stop me and tell me how beautiful she is! She thrives on people and loves to smile at them. However, she likes to smile at others as long as she's in my arms. She is very attached to me! She enjoys sitting up on her own and rolling over. She is very odd about how she eats. She only nurses on her own schedule. If I try to feed her and she doesn't want to eat, she seriously yells and whips her head away. Then five minutes later she will be starving and HAVE to eat right then. We've just barely started giving her tastes of some solid food. She's little, and I'm in no rush to get her to eat regular food. She's so healthy and growing so well that I don't want to interrupt that. She is obsessed with her big brother. He favorite activity is to watch him run around and be crazy. It cracks her up. I'm so grateful for this daughter of mine. Just a side note: I'm not mentioning her sleeping habits because my babies don't sleep on their own. They just don't! So I have about 6 or 7 more months of being exhausted, and I know she will learn to sleep on her own. Just like Swen did.

Swen: The biggest thing with him is how much he's talking! He can have conversations now, and I love hearing what's going through his mind. He's often figuring out where certain cars or people are. And also what he gets to do next in his life. He still loves garbage cans! Anytime we are in a restaurant, he throws away all of the garbage for anyone who will let him. He also got a basketball hoop for Christmas and he loves it! And he's getting really good. It's taller than him, and I'm shocked at how much fun he's having. He loves nursery at church and also playing in play places at fast food restaurants. He's becoming more assertive in his wants and tests my patience every single day. Make that every single hour. But I can see a difference in him when I'm kind and patient as to when I lose my cool and get mad. My goal is to always be kind and patient with him, so he knows that even when he's having a hard time, I will still love him and be there for him. I'm so grateful for Matt who is also so kind and patient. I don't know what I would do if I married someone who yells or screams at his kids. Matt loves Swen for who he is and is wonderful with him.

Shulamith: I'm still loving being home with my babies! Nothing's has changed here. I need a hobby. A hobby where kids are welcome. Anyone know of anything? Maybe I'll become a dog walker or something. I can push my kids in the stroller and walk dogs. Haha!

Mathew: he's now at Vision Solar working as the supply chain and inventory manager. He's really learning a lot and likes his job. He's no longer waiting tables on the weekend. Yay! He has two hobbies: rock climbing and playing Dark Souls. 

That's our lives in a nutshell! I so love going back and reading what I've written previously. So even though these posts are short and sparse, I still like doing them.