Words

I don't have any new photos to add to this post (sorry) but I wanted to write it down before I forgot. Tonight at the dinner table our conversation was so hilarious! Sterling and I had been chatting earlier about Will's language. He says words that sound very much like the actual word, but he says it with his mouth closed and from the back of his throat. It comes out sounding like the 'wah, wah, wah' noise. But we have listened to it long enough that his speech is almost perfectly intelligible.  Haha. Tonight, though, we were trying to get him to actually SAY the word for real.

"Say 'ball' Will."
"uh-uh" (from the back of his throat)
"Please, Will say 'ball'."
Ruthie: "Will, I'll say 'ball'. Ball. Now you say it Will."
Will: "Bah"
*lots of cheering and clapping, and Ruth (this is my favorite) would say "Good job saying 'ball' Will, good job!"

"Say 'mama' Will."
"uh-huh" (several times)
Finally, "MA-ma" (it comes out very sing-songy)
*more cheering and clapping and commendations from Ruthie

This continued for the words 'uh-oh' and 'go' and 'down'. The words 'bye' and 'hi' got a LOT of intense waving, over and over again, until he finally did say 'bye'. Then we tried for a long time to get him to say 'please' which led to a LOT of intense signing, especially since he really did want another brownie, but he never did say it. As an after thought I asked him to say 'truck' and he said 'GUh' with gusto, which is pretty much the same exact thing, right? Haha.

So, he officially has seven words that actually come out of his mouth when it is OPEN. Then he has an entire language from the back of his throat. I kind of don't want his language to go away, it's the best. Along with his flat feet padding along our tile/wood floors and his sly kisses and hugs that he thinks he can give to get away with anything and everything. The other day I even said that he was still in trouble even if he gave me a kiss, so he peered at my face and then starting patting my hair. What do you do with that? Man, I melted on the spot. Also his deep-throated giggle. It sounds so boyish and so babyish all at the same time and I'm pretty sure it's the best sound anyone has ever heard in their lives. Another thing he does right now that I really love is sing songs. Ruth sings constantly (that's not an exaggeration, I promise...she gets it from both of us) and so when Will isn't yelling in annoyance at her, he's picking up on it. He can sing "up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky" with the exact pitches and sounds that you know EXACTLY what he is singing, even though he doesn't have the precise words. Oh, and I just remembered, he still falls asleep in his high chair when we swim all morning--I die every time! His head starts bobbing and then his eyes get half-lidded and he gets this dorky smile on his face right before he falls asleep. It's the best.

Oh I love that little man. As much as I'd love a little better communication, I can't help but hope that he'll stay this way forever!

PS I am always trying to remember Ruth's pronunciations because they are adorable, so here is one. She says 'tomorrow' as 'two-mar-yo' and it is the cutest.

PPS A while ago our bishop's wife told me that she bribes her daughter to stay in bed at night. They'll give her a whole popsicle if she doesn't come into their bed. I thought to myself, GENIUS! Ruth had, out of nowhere, started crying when we put her to bed at nights. Not just little sniffles but screaming like she was getting beaten to death and was on the verge of hysteria screams. Forever. Not fun. Especially since our neighbors can hear. (Side note, they have a three month old and about three times last night and twice today I went running upstairs thinking my baby was crying, only to realize it was coming from their apartment, haha.) So I started telling Ruth she can have a glass of chocolate milk if she doesn't cry when we put her to bed at night. Guess what?!?! It totally works! To think that one little glass of milk can do what hours of stroking, singing, laying beside her, soothing, and lets be honest, threatening and reprimanding could not. We've still had a couple of nights, but even those have been way better. Tonight as we sang Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star (always the last song on the growing list of songs) she says "Mom, I will stay in bed and sing songs to Will so he doesn't cry so we can have chocolate milk." Awww, so sweet! (Not that Will cries, but it's the thought that counts.) So yeah, I guess that just goes to show that I am not above bribery. She's happy and I'm happy and everyone goes to sleep happily around here once again.

Good golly, Miss Molly!

First, we have Molly the beach babe. She's cool and she knows it!

Her brother and sister are pretty cool too. Isn't it interesting that Ruth and Molly both have one brother and one sister but Will has two sisters? I just thought of it that way, usually I just think of them as my three kids. 

Miss Molly's cheeks are so squishable, you just can't resist!

She is absolutely, perfectly precious when she's sleeping.

That little fist! That little chin! The rolls! The dimples! The gorgeous eyelashes! Her perfect baby softness, sigh, sometimes it's just too much for me.

I know the lighting is terrible, but late nights are when we seem to hang out the most--thanks to Miss Molly's fussiness. I am so very grateful that I get some one-on-one time with her, even if I'd like some extra sleep. Who wouldn't want to stay awake to look at that beautiful little face? Those eyes!

A smile! Ok, so even I know it's a goofy smile (I always catch it when it's going away, those baby smiles are so quick!) but I love it SOOOOOOOO much!!!!!!

This picture. I die. There is NOTHING more precious than that sleeping babe. Her sweaty hair above her ear from nursing, the red cheek that's drooping down, the perfect contentedness. All wrapped under the love of grandma's quilt. Perfection.

Poor baby get a lot of lovin'.

I love this picture too. You can just FEEL the softness of those cheeks and lips. 

Sisters. There is just something so special and I am just so happy they have each other!

Those dark eyes. Oh I love my girls!

All three.

Now, I need to stop swooning over my beautiful babies and clean some bathrooms. Motivation please, anyone?

Stats

I just have to say, if I could pull off this morning, I can do anything with three kids. We usually don't have to leave the house before 10am. Playgroup, story time, and church are all 10am or later. This morning they had dr. appointments at 9am. Usually they are up at six, so it's no problem. This morning Molly nursed at 4:30am, then continued to be fussy so I tried to get her to fall back asleep by pulling her in bed with me. Which meant I didn't really sleep. So when Ruth woke up and knocked at 6am, I was really tired. So I gave her my phone to watch a cartoon in bed with me and went back to sleep. I woke up to Will yelling 'mama!' from his crib and got up thinking it had only been twenty minutes or so. Not so. It was 8:15!!!! (He never sleeps that long!) I got the kids dressed, hair done, and sitting up to the table with a muffin by 8:25, then I got dressed, got the baby changed and dressed and put her in the van. Then I wiped down the kids hands and faces and we all were in the van by 8:45. Walked in the door of the doctor's office at 8:59. Phew! Luckily, Molly didn't have to nurse before that or it wouldn't have happened. The only thing I felt bad about was that Will hadn't finished his muffin and I think he was still hungry, poor kid.

Ruth is (I think, I'm trying to remember, they didn't give me a paper on it like our old dr. used to) 37 1/2 inches tall and 31 pounds. That is 40-50th percentile for everything. They also did an eyesight test, which was sketchy since she doesn't know what a circle is (hey, stars and teacups are much more important, right?) and they had me fill out a form of what she can do at her age, and she could do everything except a few of the fine motor skills (draw a circle without scribbling, etc.).

Will was 24 pounds and 31 inches tall. That put him at 65 percentile (I think?) for height. They gave me an average, based on their percentile now and the parents heights and said Will would be anywhere from 5 foot 11 to 6 foot 1. But they said probably more like 6 foot 1 since he is above average right now. They averaged Ruth to be anywhere from 5 foot 4 to 5 foot 8--if you double her height at the age of two it said 5 foot 6, so there ya go. I had to fill out this big form of what Will can do at his age, and he could do very few of the language things, but could do every single fine and gross motor skill. Haha.

The dr. also had a talk to Ruth about who can and can't take a look at her 'peepee' and 'bum bum'. I'm not sure I'm ok that she had that talk with Ruth. Not that I think Ruth absorbed it completely, but just because I think that is a parental responsibility, not a dr.'s. Her point was that Ruth shouldn't let anyone look without her parents permission, and then she turned to me and asked permission before she checked Ruth out.

Molly had an appointment last week and the dr. said she'd give Ruthie a doctor bag when she came back. She totally remembered and had a baggie full of tongue depressors and gauze and bandaids for Ruth. It was awesome! She had also taught Ruth that her instrument was called an otoscope, and Ruth looked at it today and said "That's an otoscope!" and her doc was so impressed she remembered.

So everyone has had their flu shots now except me and Will had to get a shot today to finish up a vaccination. Poor kid. He was already having a bit of a rough morning. We got $1 ice cream at burger king on our way home to remedy the situation. They were sitting at the kitchen table and Ruth says "I'll eat all my fries and ice cream to grow big and strong!" haha. I tell her that all the time so she'll eat her food, but it was pretty funny she attributed it to fries and ice cream. I guess we should have a 'healthy foods' FHE sometime soon.

Some other Ruthisms: She calls sneezes 'bless yous' as in, "Mom, Molly just had a bless you!" She really loves to pray lately and has to bless every member of the family, individually, about six times. Tonight we watched an lds video for scriptures and afterward Sterling asked her what it was about and she said "I don't know." So he told her it was about having faith like a little seed and so she says "Oh, I know that. There are seeds in grapes." Sterling didn't quite catch it so she says "Ya know, the little seeds in grapes, dad" and she makes her fingers all tiny like Sterling had to show the tiny seed. It was hilarious.

Oh, I also had a dr.'s appointment, and this pregnancy was weird. I gained the least, had my biggest baby, and then lost the least amount after. And no, that didn't all equal out in the end. It's ok though, I've hit the 6 week mark so I can start working out again. I did go swimming the other day and did some laps with the kids on my back and man!, I'm blaming the kids, but I was tired so fast!

And now I will end this lengthy post that no one will bother to read but I am glad I have it for my own record. Haha.

My Little Fam

First, a quick picture of Ruthie because her eyes look gorgeous.

I am having a really hard time taking cute pictures of Molly. Not because she isn't the most gorgeous baby that ever existed (she is) but because every time I pull out the camera it seems that five hundred little hands are pulling the camera, the baby, me, or all of the above. Then the baby cries and no pictures get taken. The one time I might actually get some taken would be Will's nap but Molly sleeps then too (thankfully,  I wouldn't change that for the world). So here are a couple that do not do real justice to how beautiful my little Miss Molly is.

A smile. She smiles all the time now and I love it! She especially loves to smile at 4am, silly girl.

Last night Sterling rough housed with the kids and it was absolutely hilarious. I tried taking video, but it's not that great. Will's hysterical babble every time he was trying to escape was priceless. Somehow I got into the tickling masses and, oh boy!, Will is not okay with his mama screaming in duress! Oh I love that I have a mama's boy--even if it did make their dr.'s appointments quite tricky this morning. 

Rough housing led to swing dance moves which led to Ruthie really wanting to dance with daddy. Which, obviously, had to include a tutu. Oh I love my little family!

Bowling

 Sterling had a big test today--his very first test in medical school!--and so he spent all last week studying for it. We had some LONG days. But on Friday he said he'd take a break for dinner so I thought we should have some fun while eating! It was great for him to have some time to spend with the kids and we had such a fun time. Ruth asks every day now when we can go 'bawling' again.

The smallest size they have. Aren't they the cutest thing you ever saw in your life?!?! 

Ruth is on a HUGE kick of dressing herself. Five hundred times a day. Usually she somehow involves that pink skirt.

Signing 'please' for some fries.

I wasn't sure how bowling would go with two little ones, but it was an awesome activity! They loved everything about it. They loved carrying the balls, lifting it onto the little helper thingy, pushing the ball down, watching the pins fall, and especially the fries and pizza! (Ruth and pizza, man, she can eat SO much-she loves that stuff!)

 

High fives after every turn.

Lifting it on.

Molly was there too, but it was so dark that my camera would flash and she would make funny faces for the camera.

A very successful venture. 

More high fives.

Will couldn't take a turn unless he was wearing daddy's hat--cutest thing ever!

And that was our night of bowling. It was such a great night. We needed the stress-relief at our house and the kids had such a great time and enjoyed having daddy around to play with so much! 

Here's a few pictures. Mostly of Ruthie wearing her new dress. End of summer sales, when you live somewhere that is summer year round, are really awesome. Plus, she really, really needed a new Sunday dress.

She looks really old to me here.

 I wanted Kami to see this dress because I love it so much. It is a lot more pastel than I thought it would be when I ordered it, but it looks SO GORGEOUS on Ruth with her coloring. I am in love. So is Ruth. She asked to wear it every single day between when we got it in the mail and when Sunday came around.

Will also got a new Sunday shirt. A little big--but it looks better than his super small one he has been wearing!

Doesn't she look so elegant standing that way? She was actually sulking. 

These pictures are for my sister Kami. I told her I wanted a dress just like this in every size as Ruth grows. It is so simple and yet it looks SOOOO pretty! I don't think the pictures do it justice.

The front is pleated and elastic.