Let it snow

We had a week of several storms in a row.  So we bundled up to play in it.

Andrew eats and eats the snow.  He even reaches down to others' boots when they come inside and eats any leftover snow that hasn't been stomped off.  If he's not outside and the older boys are, he's at the window wanting to go outside. It's good to have several little pairs of mittens to switch out when a pair gets wet and cold.

And I have quickly learned that when Thing One and Thing Two ask me to help them build a snowman/fort/igloo, it means, "Build it while I watch you. And make it big."

More about Andrew

Drewbers, Drewie, Andrew-boy LOVES to color. Any time of day we'll find him like this:

He also loves hats and hoods. If he can find one, he'll put it on his head.

He also loves to sing.

The video below has all three -- coloring, hat, and singing.

Here are the lyrics so you can follow along:

Horsey, Horsey on your way.
We've been together for so many a day
So let your tail go SWISH as the wheels go round!
Giddyup, we're homeward bound.


PS I think he's going to be left-handed. Anyone else notice how he colors with that hand? 

Santa

Santa was at Harmon's recently.  

Andrew would have none of it, but Max and Benny said hi to the jolly old elf.

Everybody says it -- these boys are growing so tall.  Look at their legs draping down.

Benny asked for Legos. Done.

Max asked for a Nintendo DS.  I told him mommy had to talk to Santa and say that present wouldn't work for our family.

I got the stink eye in return.  Too bad.

Andrew is two

 My sweet, squawky, super smiley boy turned two this week. We celebrated on Sunday with family, and a lion cake I made.

We got him to do a roar for the camera.  He loves animals right now.

The sweater came off for cake eating time.

And Andrew had plenty of unwrapping helpers. He got a set of farm animals that he loves. Sometimes they all say "moooOOOOooo" but that's OK.

We just love this boy.  He is entering the terrible twos, and will squeal and squawk if you don't understand what he needs/wants THIS MINUTE, but he makes up for it in all his sweetness the rest of the time.

Benny asks when Andrew will talk -- he does talk, a lot. You just have to understand his words.  He drops the first syllable most of the time. Cow=ow. When he wants milk, he says "ippy" and "want 'ome"  because we always ask him, "Do you want some milk?"  He'll go to the fridge but he knows not to touch it, so he stands by the counter and says "ight dere" because we would always ask him to stand "right there" so as not to mark the fridge.

He loves his night-nights (he has two blankets), and must sleep on one JUST SO and have the other on him. If it slips off at night, he stands up and hollers "(C)over Up!"

And when he needs a snuggle, he'll lay his head on your shoulder and tuck his hands under his belly. It's the best.

Benny boy is 5

Benny's birthday started with B-shaped pancakes I made the night before and left in the fridge for JB to dish up.

Those things are hard to shape! But JB said they were a hit. Much more of a hit than the paper streamers in his doorway and the Elf on the Shelf holding the streamer roll.

Benny LOVES Legos. He kept asking us in the days leading up to his birthday if we had purchased any Legos for him. We had to be vague. 

Oh boy was he happy.

He was so happy to get new Legos on Sunday from his cousins, too (thank you again you guys! They were a prominent part of his evening prayers last night).

I made him a basketball cake for after family Sunday dinner. You can't see it, but it's textured too.  This was the picture where all three of them had the best smiles, though Andrew is looking at me and his hat is crooked. His hat he won't take off.

Benny with the people who gave him his new favorite shirt the night before his birthday.  These pictures were taken over three different days of celebrating, and he has the same shirt on each day!

Benny asked us for, oh, SIX MONTHS when it would be his birthday.  The day after his birthday, he asked how many days until his NEXT birthday. I'd make a paper chain, but, boy that thing would be long.

Together again

The Richards siblings were all together on Sunday for baby Aaron's blessing.  With Jeff & Melissa in Arizona and Joe & Sarah in Idaho, it can be months before everyone is together. So we quickly grabbed some pictures.

I'm a little ashamed of my yelling: "All Richards to the living room NOW! Let's get this done before the children disappear or melt down!"

PS That scarf is the one I blogged about here. Silly craft blogs and Pinterest make things look so easy. But I love it.

And don't Max and Benny look so sharp in their new suits?  They are their Christmas presents from their grandparents. They love to look like Daddy and/or missionaries and don't want to take off their suits. But right after the pictures I made them change into clothes more suited for eating and playing.

Those are their new Junior Jazz jerseys, which they also don't want to take off.  They have had one Saturday of basketball games and are in love with the sport.  That's good, because I'm betting they will each be more than six feet tall.

Perspective

It's funny, people's attitudes and perspectives toward pregnancy.

At church, I get big smiles and comments like, "How exciting!" And I get the feeling some are thinking, "It's about time, Andrew is just about 2 years old now after all."

But at work, two people said -- I kid you not -- "Was it planned?"

Gulp.

I feel for those couples who are unable to get pregnant easily or even have a baby at all. The questions and stares they must endure.  And I feel for those who have their families more quickly -- they also get comments and stares. 

You can't win!

----------

This awful spituation of mine is also forcing me to gain perspective.  It does me no good to cry and be depressed over the awfulness and embarrassment and gagginess it gives me. 

Having to spit out a mouthful of saliva every 30 seconds day and night is terrible.  But there are more terrible things in the world, and this will end in 5 1/2 months. 

I know of so many wonderful people who would do anything to be able to have a baby.  I'm blessed and grateful for this opportunity to bring a new sweet life into the world.

Instead of praying for the symptom to end, I pray instead for a healthy baby.  And I pray I will be kinder to others and understand their hidden challenges and griefs.

The town crier

I don't think many people, at least at church, check blogs anymore.  One still does; she said congratulations at church to me for my pregnancy news that I posted on here last week.

As I was smiling and saying thanks, all of a sudden 4 other women were right there surrounding me. "What's this?! You're pregnant? How exciting!"  I swear they came out of nowhere. I think women have a radar for this kind of news.  One said she suspected after I pinned something on Pinterest. and she thought she saw me discreetly spitting.  We really are a gossiping, wondering bunch, aren't we?

We told our boys last week at the 12 week mark.  Max squealed and danced, Benny immediately drew a picture of a baby, and Andrew kept playing with his trains ("What are those big ones all talking about? Oh well. Choo Choo!").

Now Max has taken it upon himself to tell anyone and everyone he sees. His teachers, his friends, people in the store....  We take a walk around the neighborhood each day, and three or four times in the past week we have run into someone we know in their yard or walking from their car to their home -- each time he practically yells our news.  It's different every time:

"We're having a BABY!"

"My mom is PREGNANT!"

"There's a baby IN THERE!"

No hello first, no howdoyado.

Oh well, it makes it easier to let people know without bringing it up in conversation.  And ye olde bigger pants have come out, so I'm sure more people would have been questioning soon. That and the spit. I get so tired of chewing gum.

A hint

Did you know....


1) Excessive spit and saliva is called Ptyalism? (Tie-a-lism)


2) It's only seen in Parkinsons, Rabies, mercury poisoning and pregnancy


3) It can happen in a subsequent pregnancy


4) 6-7-13 is a great due date, not only because the math adds up, but because it's the anniversary of the first date JB and I went on.

The Natural History Museum

This has been sitting unpublished in my list of posts! I have so many more posts unpublished in my head. But then I just put on my jammies pants and lay on the couch.

So, in September, we went on the free day to the Utah Museum of Natural History with cousins Emily and Jane. They were with Aunt Suzanne and Uncle Seth after their new baby brother was born.

Andrew had a love/hate relationship with the stuffed spider at one of the interactive areas.

The kids tried breakdancing on the glass over a dinosaur dig.

Then, a few weeks later, I was given the opportunity to do a radio story previewing the Museum's Family Sleepover events. They invited me and my older boys to check out the activities.

We pretended Max was a fossil found in the mountains, and carefully wrapped him up to transport.

Then we transported him carefully down the mountain. He wanted to do this over and over. It about broke my back.

Benny did it, too. They also made their own fossils out of clay, threw paper airplanes from the balcony, and more. The museum showed us where families could put their sleeping bags in the galleries, and we took a flashlight tour and had a snack. If you have the money, it would be a fun event for a family.

Family Pictures

I can't stop smiling when I see these pictures of my boys.

We went to Wheeler Farm two weeks ago with Kristy Merrill Photography.  She was FANTASTIC.  She was sweet, goofy, funny, creative -- and it all worked! The boys laughed and smiled the entire time -- no meltdowns, no "SMILE, OR ELSE!" moments. 

Max is getting so tall, my 7-year-old son.

That picture sums up Benny I think. So enthusiastic. Always on the go!

I just melt for those blue eyes. Can you believe he's almost 2 years old?

And here's the whole family:

I think the boys' daddy has some melty-blue eyes, too.  Nine year anniversary tomorrow!

Andrew takes requests

Just kicking back on a Saturday morning, wearing any gloves or hat he can find (obsessed boy), Andrew started singing his three favorite songs.


This is Sweet Caroline.  Sometimes he really sings it passionately and loudly.

This is We Will Rock You.

And the more traditional ABCs. Though he got tired of singing and more curious about what I was doing with the phone pointed at his face.

Halloween

When I say "We carved pumpkins" I really mean, "JB carved pumpkins."  With some artistic direction and help, of course.

That hat Andrew is wearing I actually made for my new nephew. It was for him to grow into. When Andrew saw it, he promptly put it on his head, stretched it out to be comfortable, and hasn't wanted to take it off since.

JB put candles in them for Halloween night. I had a fear that a child or our house would burn down, but neither did (I know, paranoid from working in the news).

We had a basketball player, a dragon, and batman.

Andrew wasn't sure of the costume or of picture taking before, but once he realized he was getting treats at every house, he quickly caught on to the whole idea.

Batman even tried out being a vampire for a while.

And this handsome one dribbled his basketball from house to house.

It was surprisingly a very fun night! No meltdowns like last year. Lots of pep talks, cold water, and comfortable shoes helped. And that was mainly for me, bahahahaha.   Now what to do with all the candy! You can freeze it, right?

Firefighters

Richards boys love firefighters. If we ever hear a siren or see flashing lights, it's stop what you are doing and look in awe. Then talk about it for five minutes.

Therefore, we were happy to see a local fire station hold an open house a few weeks ago.

They got to work the hose.

Get new hats.

And see several types of trucks.

Including an ambulance!

And the biggest ladder truck there. The boys' good friend Andy came along, and they modeled how tall the wheels are.

Andrew kept wanting to go back and drive the ambulance.

The aerial ladder demonstration and rescue from a second floor window was awesome.

We can never get enough of firefighters!