Welcome to boys

Monday morning I left Mathew in the play room while I went to get dressed. I soon heard a crash and screaming. I knew right away what it was. Mathew recently has been obsessed with climbing the chairs in the Kitchen. He'll hold on to the back of the chair and then start rocking back and forth as fast as possible before I get to him. Well this time I didn't get to him and when I walked in he was lying in a little pool of blood and I thought he'd cracked his head open. When I picked him up I saw that his finger was smashed and split open. He was hysterical so I couldn't even get a bandaid on. I called Matt and he came quickly and helped tape it up. I dropped the girls off at a friend's house and took him to the doctor's. The doctor taped it up again and sent me to the emergency room where we waited for what seemed like an eternity. Finally they numbed his finger and gave him 3 stitches. The doctor said that the top bone in his finger was split in half (the long ways) and he would heal fine but it would really hurt for a while. We need to keep an eye on him the next few days to make sure he didn't suffer any head trauma since there is a bruise on his head but no bump.

His little fingers are so small it is nearly impossible to keep any sort of bandage on. He pulled it off 3 times yesterday and I was ready to tie his hand behind his back but a sock ended up working pretty well. Everyone keeps on saying "welcome to boys". Mathew has two sides to him, he's sweet and fun to play with but he is also a thrill seeker and fast. I was feeling so guilty all day yesterday--I can't believe that happened. But I also feel so blessed because I keep on playing the scenario over in my mind and I don't understand how he didn't crack his head open. When I saw him his finger was pinned under the chair and his arms are so short, I don't see how he didn't hit it harder when the chair crashed down.

Weekend in Eagar

We went up to Eagar on Friday and got back tonight (Sunday). We went on a long drive and saw 2 herds of wild horses, Elk and wild Turkeys. Here are the wild horses.

We went to a Pioneer day party. Mathew loves to scream until he gets what he wants.

The kids were in heaven.

These past 2 weeks have been a lot of fun. Last weekend we spontaneously decided to go up to Eagar. So we left Saturday (on the road 1 hour after deciding to leave) and got back Sunday night. It was a short but fun trip.

The kids finished up their tennis lessons Mon-Thurs and then Mom flew in Thursday afternoon. She brought a really fun game called Slamwhich and we all played that night. Friday we spent most of the day cooking a big Turkish meal--very yummy. Saturday Morning we all went to see Ratatouille which was hilarious. When Matt and all 3 kids went down for a nap I started showing my Mom the research I'd done on Puerto Penasco houses for the family reunion next year. It's difficult to see what the houses are really like on the web so we started talking about how we wished we could go see them. Matt said he could take Monday off so we decided to pack up right then and head off to Mexico. In less than 90 minutes we were on the road in 2 cars driving to Mexico. It really was fun. You can't go to Mexico without and adventure and this was definitely an adventure. They must have changed the main road there because Matt and I kept going down the main street the wrong way..it was completely not intuitive. We spent most of the time looking at houses and Matt took the kids to get hermit crabs on the beach. There were a lot of jelly fish out so they didn't really get in the water much. At night we went on the roof to see the sunset/look at stars or walked on the beach and then played Slamwhich and loteria. The kids were in heaven.

This is the acquarium; a very up-and close experience. Sometimes too close.

Sleep training

This week was awful--sleep training with Mathew was very hard. Last night we let him cry for over 2 hours. He did the same this morning for nap time. Afternoon nap he cried for 10 minutes and same tonight when I put him down. I'm hoping there's light at the end of this tunnel. Next time I hope someone reminds me to start earlier. Mathew is at such a cute stage. I wish I could bottle up the cuteness. I feel such a bond with him and feel like there is so much communication between us. He started to enjoy books this weekend and also likes music. He loves playing with his sisters. Matt has been dunking his head in the pool and he doesn't mind.

Recital

Last weekend was the girl's recital. Ellie danced (tap) to a Shirley Temple song "Baby take a bow" and Sophie danced "Shake a tail feather" (jazz) and "Orange colored sky) (tap). We got a babysitter so that we could actually watch the show and it was so cute. Poor baby sitter, Mathew cried the full 3 hours we were gone. Sophie and Ellie did such a good job at the recital--I was proud. After the show, Ellie told the babysitter that she just had her recital and she won.In a way it's true because she really did steal the show. There is something about Ellie's personality that is that captivating. She definitely has a mind of her own and it shows. I had dozens of people come up to me and tell me how absolutely darling Ellie was. Sophie did excellent--she truly puts her all into things and I'm so proud of her. I couldn't believe how brave the girls were to just go back stage with the teacher before the show. Other girls were crying, etc but these girls were just excited.

Sophie's been in a Kindergarten prep camp at the school so I signed up Ellie for swimming. I put her in level 2 mostly because that was the only class open, however, she really has never swam by herself without floaties. Then I told Matt we needed to get her ready for it so we we took the floaties off and she is a fish. She can swim half way across the pool--over or under water. In the shallower part of the pool, she can dive down and pick up rings by herself. After her second swim class, her teacher told me she thought Ellie should move down to level I because "the other kids felt comfortable putting their heads under water"--I just about fell over. I ended up just pulling Ellie out of the class because the water was freezing and Ellie didn't want to do anything. We have been going to the movies with Ellie's friend Summer on Wednesday mornings (see Ellie and Summer above). They are quite a pair.

We took the training wheels off of the girls bikes and have been giving that a try on the grass. There is this low hill that is perfect to give them the momentum to stay up.

Mathew's officially walking now. He's been taking more and more steps everyday but now he almost prefers it to crawling so I think it's official. It's odd that he is walking and not sleeping through the night. This week I decided to bite the bullet and work on sleep training. He was used to sleeping in our bed and nursing all night so I knew this was going to be a long process. On Monday night I was up all night with him. My goal was not to let him nurse all night. I did give him a bottle but it was a struggle just to get him not to nurse. Tuesday I switched from giving him a bottle with milk to a bottle with water. Last night (Wednesday) he slept from 9:30 to 4:00am!! That is a record! At 4am I didn't even give him water, I just rocked him and got him back to sleep. I've tried sleep training with him so many times and it's never worked. This time was so different, it's like he has matured so much. He never responded to patting before and now it totally works.

I've been working with Mathew on Patti-cake for a while and today he got it--it's so cute. The only problem is that whenever he wants attention he starts doing it and I can't resist but go play with him. I'm never going to get anything done. Today I broke down and went to buy a gate. It's one of those really long ones that you can arrange any way you want. I moved it about 5 times because he just gets into everything--I can't decide what is priority to keep him out of.

Sam and Sheila were in Phoenix a few weeks ago and spent the night on Friday night. They were going to babysit for us while we went to the temple. We got up in time to make the 6am session Saturday morning but as we were going out the door I couldn't find my recommend.

Mathew's first steps

Mathew took a few steps during church last Sunday and totally caught Matt and I off guard. I think he did it by accident but he's been working on it all week and will probably be walking in the next few weeks.