Flying With Baby

My baby sister decided to get married as far across the country from me as she possibly could. With the craziness of Jon's work schedule and the craziness of weddings in general, it ended up being just me and Elise flying to Sacramento together for Beth's wedding.

I was totally terrified to fly alone with her. She's not prone to sleeping in my arms, so I wasn't sure how it would work. But I shoved her in a baby carrier and hoped for the best!

We are so beautiful!

Getting some wiggles out before she's confined to my arms on the plane

First time flying!

To appease the other children (who were sad to be left behind), Jon took them swimming.

It was great fun, until Aaron tried to drown himself:

"Dad didn't watch me every single second and I fell in!"

He was not pleased with his father:

Luckily he got over it quickly and everyone had a good time with Daddy.

(And this is why I never go swimming along with Aaron and Elise).

Meanwhile, Elise and I survived the first half of our trip:

FYI: Everyone at the airport is super nice when you have one of these attached to your chest.

Elise was a champion on all the flights.

She even managed to sleep in my arms, which was sweet:

Of course, by the time we got to CA, it was 12:30 am our time and she should have passed out.

I got this instead:

Thanks to Southwest's crazy outage, my entire family had their flights cancelled (luckily I flew out on United). Everyone made it eventually, but some ended up driving through the night, and some ended up flying into random airports all over CA. My poor dad spent hours and hours picking people up and dropping them off at the cabin we were all staying at.  Good thing we love Bethany!

Elise at Five Months

How are we already getting so close to half a year? We sure love you, Stinky Bug! You've been up to a lot of new things this month.  The biggest achievement? Food eating!

Daniel and Wendy had some delicious sweet potatoes for dinner one night, so we decided to give you a taste. You LOVED it!

Nummy sweet potatoes.

Begging for more.

Later that week Aunt Wendy watched your siblings so Daddy and I (and you) could go on a date. We went out for Indian food and you were a very happy sampler:

Curry is delicious!

Big open mouth for rice pudding

So much yummy food.

You continued your food love when we got home.

Yogurt is good, good stuff:

Of course, not long after this you caught a cold and got congested.

Now instead of food being your favorite thing,

 food is POISON and we are TRYING TO KILL YOU.

We were also looking back at old pictures of your siblings and realized it was time to pull out the jumparoo for you!  We put some books under your legs at first because all your siblings needed them. Turns out, you don't! 

Loving the lights and sounds

Not quite sure what to think of this new toy.

 You're not in love, but it gives us a chance to put you down. Same thing with the Bumbo,

Of course, the addition of the jumperoo means our living room now looks like this:

For such a small person, you sure require a lot of large equipment!

Sometimes this whisk is the only thing that keeps you from totally falling apart:

You love your big sister. And your whisk:

When your Sunday dress matches your eyes exactly:

World's most adorable chef:

This picture.

I'm dying:

Also known as "Why Elise really doesn't need to eat every 2-3 hours around the clock."

"Ha. Like you can stop me, Mom!"

Still nursing every 2-3 hours, plus an occasional "I lost my pacifier!" wake-up.

 Sleep training is SO happening at six months.

This picture is called "Slowly Breaking the Habit":

You are getting too big for the swing, plus too mobile to be swaddled.

The goal is to be both swing and swaddle free.

We're starting with swaddle-free, in the swing.

You are not pleased.

Non-photographed skills this month:

*getting much better at grabbing. Especially my hair or things I'm holding while carrying you.

*you'll usually go down about 90 minutes after you wake up. Still can't necessarily count on nap times, but I usually get one good one (2-3 hours) out of you every day.

*you still go to bed super late.  Usually Daddy is in bed before you are.

*still in sizes 3-6 months or 6 months. We're happily finishing off your size 2 diapers since 3 fits so much better.

You are still just sweet, and happy all the time. If you would just sleep longer at night, you would be absolutely perfect!

Things We Like To Eat

Elise likes to eat Mommy.

Shocking, but true!

But Mommy likes to eat Elise, too!

Daddy, however, prefers homemade cherry milkshakes.

Possible more delicious, but not nearly as adorable as Elise.

Seth's Birthday Interview

*What is your favorite color? "Green. Because it represents my school. And because green is the color of most plants that give us the air! My school's name is Fountain Green Elm. Elm is short for Elementary."

*What is your favorite food? "Um...my favorite food is, um...noodles with eggs."

*Who is your best friend? "Gabe. Because we spend a lot of time together and he's really funny and we like to play a lot of games together."

*What is your favorite movie? "Zootopia, because it's funny. Because at the end he's like, "Niiiiiiiccccckkk...". That sloth guy. Flash!"

*What is your favorite TV show? (I should probably stop asking this since we don't watch TV--it just confuses my kids). "Uh...Avatar? Because it's funny sometimes."

*What is your favorite toy? "My Kindle, because it has a lot of games on it."

*What's your favorite game to play? "Roblox. No, wait! My favorite toy is the computer. Because it has Roblox on it!"

*What's your favorite snack? "My favorite snack is... Me: Or treat  Seth: "Oh, treat! Um, my favorite treat is Happy Hippo" (some friends in Germany sent them to us. They're chocolate and delicious!).

*What's your favorite animal? (long pause) "Cobra. IT'S VICIOUS."

*What do you want to be when you grow up? "An engineer. I want to build cars and stuff. Electrical engineer."

*What's your favorite song? "BEATLES!"

*What's your favorite Primary song? "Gethsemane. Cause I just like it. It's just my favorite song."

*What's your favorite book? "Minecraft Handbooks. They teach me more about Minecraft and they teach me how to avoid mobs."

*Do you like going to school?  "Well...yeah. Because I get to be with my friends like Gabe more often, but I miss my family a lot."

*What are you excited to learn about this year? "I don't know what I'm going to learn about so I don't know."
Me: What do you want to learn about? "Um, more... I want to learn about demisols?
Me: What? "Um, demisols?
Me: Missiles?  "Yeah. Dem-missiles."
Me: What are those? Like nuclear missiles? "I meant like...(points to summer goals)."
Me: Oh! Decimals! Gotcha.

Seth at Eight

Ah, my Seth Man. 

I can't believe you're eight! You're fully entrenched in the world of little boys now, and I love it. You might be a little crazy and a little hard to keep focused, but I love your energy and enthusiasm. You love getting to do "big kid" things like stay up later and stay home alone (briefly, for now). You take great pride in instructing Catherine and Aaron in things like Minecraft, math facts and occasional nonsense. You adore Elise and are always making her laugh. You have been such a great help to me! 

Thank you for trying so hard to be good and to do what's right. You are a sweet boy with a loving heart. I hope you'll always look for others to help. We love you, Seth Man.

Here's what you're up to at age 8:

*weight: 72 lbs. height: 4 1/2 feet. You're above the 90th percentile for height and weight.

*you would play Roblox and/or Minecraft literally all day if we'd let you.

*you still love playing war and will walk around making explosion noises most of the day

*you love reading and go through books like crazy. You've taken to reading Dad's Dilbert comics recently, which we find amusing since so much of it goes over your head.

*you love having friends over and ask nearly every day to play with someone (usually Gabe, but Jack and Thatcher are options as well)

*you've been saving your money for a PlayStation. You currently have about $80 saved. Dad is trying to talk you into buying something else, like a Chromebook.

*you love talking to people and will talk their ears off.

*you're prone to "embellishing" stories and then swearing they actually happened just like you said

*you love carrying Elise around. It makes you feel very grown-up.

*you had your very first "real" job this summer--watering the neighbors' plants while they were on vacation. You were quite pleased with the (very generous) payment they gave you in return.

Watering the plants

*you're working hard on memorizing your Articles of Faith (you've done 9 so far) and are making your way through Alma in the Book of Mormon.

*you're constantly losing money for not putting your shoes in the bin. Aaron is making a racket off of your forgetfulness!

*you are a sweet boy. constantly telling me that I'm "the best mommy" or that I make "delicious food." 

We love you, Seth Blood!

Seth's Baptism

Last December the Primary President asked if I would lead the music for the Eight is Great fireside. We had family in town, so I was planning to decline. And then I realized that SETH would be turning eight and I would have to be there anyway! It was such a shock. Eight seemed so far away...

It turns out that July is a really hard time to schedule a baptism. Between a wedding and a new baby, none of our extended family could attend. And, due to vacations, many of our best friends were out of town and couldn't be there either. I was more sad than Seth was--he had no idea. 

I gave him free reign to plan his baptismal program. Some of his choices were standard: former adored Primary teacher giving a talk, another acting as a witness, another giving a prayer, favorite song 'Gethsemane' as the closing song.  Some were fun surprises: "The Fourth Article of Faith" for opening song, a random friend's dad giving a talk, taffy and Jolly Ranchers for refreshments.  But it was all 100% Seth!  He even got to make some last-minute decisions when people didn't show up, and he loved having that kind of power.

I got to lead the music (sometimes it's just easier that way) and give the opening prayer when Catherine backed out last minute. His sweet teacher and surrogate grandpa John Anthony spoke on baptism and mentioned how he felt that he and Seth were friends before they came to earth. Dan Carmany bribed him to listen to his talk on the Holy Ghost with Lindt truffles (which Seth somehow managed to drool down his white shirt). President Brady spoke briefly and told of a time when Seth was little and stopped him in the hall just to say, "I love you, Bishop" (he was our bishop at the time).  It was so nice to see how many people were willing to take time away on a busy summer Saturday to show their love for Seth. 

Jon was able to baptize Seth (twice--we had a rogue foot the first time) and give him the gift of the Holy Ghost and a blessing. In the blessing circle were Jon, Dan Carmany, President Brady and Bro. Cowart. I'm so grateful for Jon and for all he does to be a good father and worthy priesthood holder.  

I hope Seth understood the significance of that day. He was a little excited and crazy, which is how he gets when he's the center of attention. 

After the refreshments were devoured by swarms of hungry children, we had Bente snap a few pictures for us before we left. This one pretty much sums up my crazy children that day:

Talia insisted that she needed a picture with Catherine.

There was a time these two didn't quite mesh, but now they're great friends!

Our family.

Please note that only 1 out of 4 children have shoes on:

After we got home, Seth got to open some of his baptism gifts from friends and family. He was quite pleased to be getting more presents so soon after his birthday!

Opening his card:

Reading a message from Grandma Cathy:

He thought this baptism plaque with his picture was pretty great:

He LOVED the CTR ring from his teachers, the Bradys:

We love you, Seth Man!

We are so proud of you and the good choices you're making!

Kids in a Castle

Why?

Because we can!

Saga of the Cake

This year Seth requested a Roblox cake. Since I think Roblox is dumb and a waste of his time, I wasn't too excited.  I looked for some ideas online, but they were lame. So I told Seth he could decorate it himself. (To his credit, he did pick lemon cake filled with fresh strawberry jam filling). 

Catherine also had to add her touch to Seth's cake.

"Catherine's touch" apparently consists of mounds of blue icing

Behold, the majesty!

Please take care to notice the decapitated Lego man.

The sides are supposed to be the tsunami they're escaping from.

The cake got even awesomer once Aaron joined the fun:

Every cake needs 57 candles in it!

And I do mean "in it" quite literally.

I had to be careful while cutting it:

The birthday boy with his special, special cake:

Aaron kept blowing out the candles while we were singing to Seth.

Seth was not thrilled:

Finally blowing out his own candles:

Please note the giant Aaron head coming in on the right to "assist" again:

When I went to put the cake away for the night, I found it like this:

Considering that Seth's favorite Roblox game is Survive the Disasters, I'd say this cake was about as true-to-life as it could be. At least it tasted good...