18 months

This girlie had her 18 month checkup today. She gave scowls and crusty looks to the nurse and the doctor.

She did NOT want to sit or lay down on the baby scale at all. Finally, the nurse had her stand on the big kids scale, and she said it read as 23 pounds 2 ounces. That's 33% on the CDC chart, but my doctor likes another chart that includes babies worldwide and therefore includes more breastfed babies, and it's 50% on that chart.  She is 32 inches tall, and 61 percentile there.  So she is growing great and eats like a champ (and I love our doctor. She thinks it's awesome that Millie is still nursing -- in fact, she is still nursing her 15 month old. We have shared stories of being working moms).

But she had an ear infection! I feel bad I didn't realize, but it makes sense, because she had a cold for a long time and has been having rough nights. 

I took the boys with me this afternoon to Costco to pick up her medicine. This is not the picture from that trip (imagine four boys hanging onto/off of the cart, reaching over to kiss her cheeks, and fighting over their shared drinks), but it is one when she went one morning with daddy. Sits up so big girl now.

The autism screening went perfect. She also has lots of words, and James (who was with me) helped remember many of them to tell to the doctor, like mama, llama (she loves Llama Llama Red Pajama), Dada, baby, "Boss Baby," ball, NO, yes, Ax (Max), Dee-do (Andrew), duys (guys), dat, dis, side (for either outside or other side when; nursing),more, and plenty of demonstrative squeals.

I feel like she is ready for her own baby stroller. I borrowed the one from the church nursery one day over the break when we went to the church gym for a nerf gun battle.

She liked this baby at Walmart. But she has her own baby and carrier (that we gave to then 2-year-old Maxwell when baby Benjamin was coming). She does so-so with baby dolls still. I don't want to push it, I feel like I don't have to stereotype or force her to be a certain way, but....after four boys I kind of really want a girl to play with dolls! There, I said it.

This girlie still loves books.  She toddled away from me before getting her jammies on one night and went right to her favorite book-reader and demanded "Ah! Ah! Dat! Dat!"

I think most of his mornings are spent reading to her.

Oh how she loves getting her ears cleaned. Look at that joy!

She loves wearing jammies and a coat over them. That's good, because she hates blankets. She kicks them off completely. She fell asleep on the kitchen floor one day over the holidays when she was sick, wearing her favorite outfit.

JB will get her dressed for the day, but soon she will bring him her jammies and want them back on. So sometimes she just stays in them because it's warmer for her closer to the floor, right? 

She LOVES her brothers. She needs to be right by them, even tucking herself into bed by Andrew  (she doesn't do this with James however -- he gets mad at her and pushes her out!)

She toddles around the house and hollers "Duys!" or "Boys!" Then she scoot-swooshes backwards downstairs to be with them.

Max has become our main baby-sitter now for when we go on a date or run errands. But a couple of times when JB has to go to a morning closing or appointment and I am not quite done with work, JB has tried to leave her with our neighbor Sherida -- a wonderful woman and the cutest grandma. Millie cried. And two weeks ago, Nona came over to help JB out in a pinch -- Millie cried the whole hour. This made me so sad. Nona is so nice and wants to be a friend to all her grandkids, and Millie won't give her or Papa the time of day.

I'm thinking her first opportunity to go to nursery this Sunday is going to be a big fat crying NOPE.

Basketball fans

These pictures have been sitting in draft form for a while. JB took each boy to a basketball game within the span of a weekend or so in December.

Andrew went to a home Utes game. Look at that proud face. He really seems to be liking the U.

Max went with JB to a late home Jazz game. I think these were Andrew's Jr Jazz tickets, but it was an 8:30 start. That's too late for a 7 year old. So Andrew went to the Utah game and Max went to the Jazz game.

And these were Ben's Jr Jazz tickets to a Jazz game, too. Upper bowl.

Ben is on a Jr Jazz team again this winter, as well as the older boys' super league team.

Andrew's coach was out of town last Saturday because of the holiday weekend, and they asked JB to help coach the 1st graders, but JB was already committed to helping Max and Ben's super league team (the Stars) at the same time. What would this family of boys do without their talented dad?

Andrew starts basketball

I can't believe we are back at the same gym where it all started. It seems so long ago that Max and then Ben were at this level of Jr Jazz beginning basketball, and it is so much fun to watch Andrew out there.

He hustles well and holds his hands up and looks at me for approval sometimes.

We told him it's ok to chase after the ball and go for the ball, even if someone else is. Sometimes kids at this age are too nice (and they are taught to be nice to others) but they give up the ball or back off when another kid is more aggressive. 

Andrew is so social. He knows lots of the kids on his team and on other teams from school and likes to chat away.

Millie and Jamesy play on the sidelines. It's their life as the youngest siblings!

Long winter break

Our school district had two full weeks off for winter break. The boys finally went back to school on Monday, January 8th, while their cousins went back several days before.


We went to the zoo one day with the Richards cousins and had a great time. But this is the only picture on my phone from the whole experience. It was crowded and I was anxious about losing sight of the kids.  So I took this in the parking lot when JB was teasing the boys that we were able to bring a wild kitty-cat cheetah home with us.

She loves that coat. It came from our neighbors. 

Like last year, we had to find things to do to keep the boys from fighting. Lots of movies. Lots of games. We got Exploding Kittens for Christmas from my sister Rebekah, and the expansion pack Imploding Kittens, and this has been a great hit. Though it went into time-out for a day after some tears about who was picking on whom (cough cough Ben and Andrew).  Max learned Scum at Scouts and taught us that (I played at BYU but forgot how much fun it is). We also did Slapjack, Spot-it and Uno.

Most of the kids have had a bad cough/cold they couldn't shake for most of the break. Baby girlie is having some rough nights. Ben sounded like a seal. James has constantly chapped lips. Max's hands are super dry.

BUT, it was nice weather for several days, so we tried playing outside.

I had New Year's Day off of work, but then it got really busy when Senator Hatch announced his upcoming retirement...and then even busier when President Thomas S. Monson passed away. 

That was a tender, bitter-sweet kind of day at work. We did a lot of prep work over the past couple of years, but it was still sad. I spent Wednesday morning from 5am-9am reporting live from Temple Square as I found different people to talk to and share their memories and feelings.

New Years Eve 2017

Our tradition continued this New Year's Eve when the Peters invited us over again to celebrate. We LOVE this evening of great food, games and lots of fun chat.

The 3 older boys played the Wii downstairs, and James played in this box.

We had to keep reminding them to let James play some video games, though competitive Ben said it messed up their scores.

Millie would not cooperate for a picture of her darling new unicorn knee high socks.

She did like going to the stairs and yelling "Guys!" then sliding down to see them playing.

Around 8 or 9 PM we got out the noise makers and hilarious glowing glasses.

This family is our favorite and we are so glad we are friends. It was fun to talk to Katie about BYU!

Outside we did poppers forever. Each one of our faces just cracks me up -- and look at Andrew's hilarious pose below. Who taught him that?

2016 party (with the long-lasting Stormtrooper balloon)
2015 party (with the long-lasting R2D2 balloon)
2014 party (when I changed their clocks afterward)
2013 party (with mustaches) (probably the first official NYE get together with them)
-I can't find any specific NYE posts for 2010-2012, but I know on December 31 2010 we had a two week old baby Andrew so we didn't do much
-related: 2010 January party with Peters (in which I show off my gaming skills)
2009 January resolutions (some still actually are on my mind)
2008 Dec 31 post (about going to bed early)

Christmas Day

Christmas Day was so much fun. We tried to stretch out the opening of presents so we wouldn't be all done by 8 AM, but such is life.

The best moment came when it was James's turn to open his first present, and he had a big box wrapped with his name on it. He opened it, saw the Batman Tower, and gasped, "Oh! Santa REMEMBERED!"

The other big moment was when Max got a phone. This came earlier than I wanted (I had said high school), but a friend did not need their phone anymore after they upgraded. It was quite cracked, so we paid to have it fixed. It is also very basic -- no data plan, lots of privacy protections, etc. But now with a texting app he can reach us after practices or while babysitting, and he can text his friends about homework so they don't have to text me. Everyone at middle school (he claims) has a phone, and kids younger than Ben are getting them (don't get me started about how mad that makes me).

Ben's main present was the Millenium Falcon Lego set. It is his biggest set ever. He says to write here that he is using it in his MOC (My Own Creation) of Takodana, from The Force Awakens. we took this picture after several hours of putting it all together.

Andrew got some mustaches in his stocking, which I thought would be just a gag gift, but it was one of his favorites that day.  JB kept teasing him that it must be cousin Andre visiting, because he didn't look like our Andrew.

My sister Rebekah, and a random dude on KSL Classifieds, help me fulfill these growing Chiefs' fans wish for new gear. Bekah brought the shirts out from Kansas City at Thanksgiving, and random dude had three new hats for sale in Salt Lake City.

Ben also got BYU socks, and Max a Utah shirt. Taking sides.

Andrew and James also got some things for play-pretend/imagination/dressing up, and Andrew got more Star Wars Lego sets.

Don't forget girlie! She didn't really care. I got her a little dolly and she just shoved it aside. And I wrapped up some new books for her because she loves books, but I think she was too distracted by all the fun happening around her to notice.

I gave JB replacement plates and cups I found on eBay for those that have broken out of our set, and some other things. He got me new boots and lotion and a new top, all of which I LOVE.

We went to see Coco in the movie theater with Richards cousins and Papa, and JB proclaimed it to be better than Star Wars (the boys disagreed). And we had dinner all together. Then we got a double blessing -- JB's brother Scott and his wife said they are having a baby, and my brother Peter and his wife HAD a baby, though it was December 26 already in Japan. Baby Birdie, the sweetest name for a girl after their boys.

Christmas Eve

Before Church on Sunday, I took a picture of the boys by the tree because I was so proud of how they looked. Ben and James usually wear a checkered or striped collared shirt, and I convinced them white shirts and ties would be fancy for Christmas Eve.

Millie-girl got a new bow (made by me) and I wore my Christmas sweater to church. My mother-in-law gave it to me 13 years ago after a trip to Hong Kong. I was wearing it each time we told family on Christmas that we were pregnant with our July babies, Maxwell and Millie. I could not wear it when I was 9 months pregnant with our December babies, Benjamin and Andrew.

JB also looked nice, I can assure you. But even on Christmas Eve a bishop is busy on Sundays and I never snapped his picture with us.

We went to Nona and Papa's house for traditional pizza dinner and new jammies.

Everyone with Nona and Papa: back row -- Maxwell, Emily, Spencer, Millicent, Benjamin, Millie, Jane. Front row -- James, Phineas, Andrew, Aaron.  We were missing Kate and Harvey in Idaho, and Carver in AZ.  And two new Richards baby cousins are coming in the spring.

The rat pack blonde crew of boys

The big cousins

The three youngest didn't cooperate very well for a picture together. Mine kept trying to walk away, for one thing. 

I had a lot of memories swirling about of Christmases when I was younger.  Six siblings got together with my parents at my brother James's house in Kansas City, and that left 5 apart:  Rachel in CA, Michael in WA, Peter in Japan, and Joe in Springville Utah. 

Weird that I have 5 children and I feel like my family is large! But it's not half of my growing up years.

Here are our five on the nice list before heading to bed.

I had everyone tucked in at 8 pm even though they begged to stay up later.  And I had wrapped everything the previous two nights.  Some time off work and a weekend meant late-nights with shows and Christmas movies!