¿Huele bien?

A Little Birthday Tradition 

 For my birthday, Brandon and the kids took me to dinner Saturday night.  Sunday morning, they surprised me with gifts and cookies!  After church, Brandon made me dinner.  Then they all pitched in to make my cake.  Brandon told them Mom is not allowed to make her own birthday cake! 

 The happy crew before they tricked me!

 They tricked me and asked "Does it smell good, Mom?" 

 It looked so good, we all needed a lick...

What cute kiddos!

And usually Xander talks Isa into letting him sleep in her bed, but that night, she asked if she could sleep with him.  You don't get much closer than this.

Silly kids

2/15/2014

Xander loves wearing sunglasses.  The only problem is, his head is so wide, that they usually won't stay on his head (kids size is too small, and adults still too big).  We finally found a pair laying around that fit!  Yet, he said, "Mom, they falling down."
"No, they are staying on really well."
"No, Mom, they are falling down."
He puts the glasses on me.  I shake my head all crazy, and they still don't come off.  So we try it on him.  He shakes all crazy, and they stay on again.
"Mom!  They falling OFF!"
"Xander, silly, they are staying on perfectly."
"No, mom.  I need guwr hair."
"You need girl hair to keep your sunglasses on?"
"Yeah, mom.  I need guwr hair for my gwasses."

2/16/2014
Brandon was grading papers last night, and I fell asleep with Isabela.  At some point in the night, I awoke to: "Dad.  Dad?  Dad, what are you doing?"  I listen and wait.  "Mom?  Mom?  Mooom?" I wait.  "Moooom?"
"What?" I reply to the sleeping Isabela.
"What is that?"
"What is what?"
"What are you cutting?"
Um... thinking... "Piña." (Pineapple)
"Oh, ok.  Great!  I am starving!"

This morning, she had no recollection.  We ate fresh piña for breakfast anyhow, and "made her dreams come true."  The kids were quite giddy as they ate it, laughing that we could make real dreams happen.

2/10/14
Oh, and yes, Chauncey's fifth tooth did break through (just to his right of the bottom two), as suspected. I still can't believe how fast their teeth come in. (He did great a couple of days after it finally broke through, but today the 17th, he is already chewing his fingers again and crying.  Poor guy!)  

Chauncey Crawling

Valentine's Day 2014, so almost 8 months old!

A Little Miracle

After months of sitting on the potty, with absolutely nothing happening, Brandon took the kids tonight and Xander got to buy a new potty.  (Brandon and I had been discussing the inability for him to push correctly as he sat on the toilet seat and his legs sticking out, thus deciding to bite the bullet, which really isn't that much compared to a box of diapers.) 

Walking in the door, Xander was already proud to show me his new potty.  We set it up in the front room, and I asked if he wanted to sit on it, just to see how it works.  He tried to sit down with his clothes on.  I pulled off his pants and told him I wanted to really show him.  Then he sat on it backwards, which was weird because it has a lid, so it was a little awkward for a second.  So we turned him around.  Then, he peed in it!  You should have seen the surprise and shock on his own face.  Then it turned into joy! and jumping up and down, and shouts of jubilation.  Yes, still naked on the bottom half.  He even threw in a couple 360's in his excitement.  "I did it!  I went caca in MY NEW POTTY!!" (even though it was really only pee).  Isabela was just about excited as he was. She hugged him, kissed him, and wrapped her arms so tightly around him that we thought he might choke, and said, "I'm so proud of you."  It came out high pitched with so much excitement, I think her voice cracked.

This memory from our little investment: PRICELESS!

Chauncey

Three days after his top right tooth broke through, the top left one did, too.  Now it looks like another bottom one is coming in next to the two already there.  He finally seems to be free of teething pain, though, at least for awhile.  That is a relief.  Xander got two front teeth, then a set of molars before getting the top front teeth.  I haven't noticed any sign of molars in Chauncey yet.

He is pulling himself up to stand against chairs and anything else he can manage.  All he wants is to hold my fingers and walk all day.  Often he grabs things that are not heavy enough to support his weight, so they usually fall over on top of him.  He is strong and only cries sometimes when he hits his head. ;)  The kid really gets around.

So I don't forget

Jan 23  - Chauncey became an expert crawler, after months of "almost crawling" and moving around everywhere, he can now officially crawl correctly. 
His top right tooth also broke through today.  A small corner of the top left tooth is pushing through as well.  Soon he will have his four front teeth. In a day his biting me went from a pain level of 0 to a 13, on a scale from 1-10.  But his laugh is so contagious now, it makes up for it.  He laughs so hard, and inhales air with a squeal that seems to get caught inside, that you wonder if he is going to calm down to let it out again.  Obviously, he always does.  But then we can't help but start it all over again.

Mid January - Chauncey started clapping, and can sit himself up from crawling position

After two years of being potty trained, and no accidents, Isabela wet the bed.  Walking out to us in the middle of the night, she was a little disoriented.  Brandon woke up to help.
"Dad, my pants are wet."  She seemed very confused.
"Did you wet the bed?"
"No. Not at alllll, Dad," her tired, whiny reply.
She wasn't fully awake yet.

Xander is as funny as ever. Surely his intelligence is average for his age, but I can never get over how smart he is, and the things he comes up with.  (Not that this story denotes his intelligence, but definitely his ability to humor us.)  He is fascinated by my moles.  We moved to Colorado when he was just shy of 4 months old.  Sometime before that in Logan, I had a mole removed from my collar bone because he had picked half of it off, and it was bleeding.  Yeah, that hurt, in case you were wondering.  At the same time, I had them take a couple off my neck that were much smaller, but he could also reach them.  No more bleeding, but for almost a year now, he finds the one, very small mole I have on each arm almost up to the shoulder and rubs it.  In church (and everywhere else), he slides his hand up my sleeve and rubs it.  At bedtime, he asks to touch my arm.  I lay with him, and he lightly tickles my arm until he falls asleep.  While playing, he runs up, jabs his finger or thumb into one, yells, "I got you!" and runs away.  Fascinated is an understatement.  Today, he kept squeezing both arms right where the moles are, then starting hitting them (obviously trying to play, though, as he did it).  "Xander, why are you hitting me?" I asked.  "Because I love you," was his sweet reply.  It's like my arm is his comfort blanket.  You can't help but love the little guy!

I love being a mom.

1/21/14

At bedtime last night, during personal prayers, Isabela prayed: “Please bless the entire world, and all the countries in it, and all the strangers that live in them… and please bless my friends like Wyatt, Sadie, Beckett, and Cindi (everyone in her primary class and her teacher), and please bless Xander, and Chauncey, and please bless Daddy.  And please bless mommy that she can clean the house better!”  From across the room, she couldn’t see my smirk.  Sitting right next to her, Brandon couldn’t hold all of his laughter in, even though he turned his head away from her, and she asked, “Daddy, why are you laughing?” right in the middle of her prayer!  He said, “Just because I love you so much,” and gave her a big hug.  Then she finished her prayer.  What a punk.  But she is so innocent at heart.

1/17/14

Xander's ability to pronounce more words and syllables is expounding quickly.  This morning he said, "carros" and rolled his R as he did so.  If you recall, Isabela only recently did that for the first time a couple of months ago.  He is saying 3 to 4 words together in Spanish now, a far cry better than the one or two syllables we had been working with.   He also is using everybody's full names sometimes.  If you ask him my name, he says Stephanie Amber Forster.  He is working on adding in the Hawkes.  I tease him that Dad's name is Brandon David Merlin Henry Forster.  He replies matter-of-factly, "No.  That not my daddy's name."  A bit of irony last week.  Isabela was whooping and hollering as she ran around.  Xander screams at her:  "Bella, be quiet.  Chauncey Joel Forster Is SLEEPING!!"

Isabela told her friend this morning her trachea was having a hard time.  She had to cough to get her food back up so it could go down the esophagus. She pointed to her throat on each side as she explained.  Yesterday, Brandon was teasing Isabela and told her we she was going to live in Alaska.  She said, "If you send me to Alaska, I will pick up a big rock, and throw it all the way back to Silt and knock your house down."  She finished with hysterical laughter following her statement, which made us all bust a gut laughing.  What a weirdo.  Wonder where she got that from. :D

I take back what I said before.  Chauncey squeaks as he laughs all the time, but he doesn't talk or coo much anymore.  Overall, he is still a very happy baby.  He is so close to crawling.  I would like to say he crawled a knee or two over Christmas, but it was just pretend.  On all fours all the time, but usually on his hands and tiptoes, rather than on his knees.  A hole even wore in the toe of his pajamas he pushes on it so much.  It is fun to see him working on it all the time.  He laughs, even, when he knows he is perfecting new feats.  The piano also excites him.  He sees it and flails his arms and legs until he is lowered down to play.  Pounding away at the keys always puts a smile on his face.  It is fun to let Chauncey play as an infant since we didn't have the piano when the other two were so small.

11/26/13

"Help! Help! Help! Help!  Heeeelp!  Heeeeeeellp!"  screams Isabela while they are playing outside.  I run out as fast as I can. "It's an emergency!! Heelp!"  My eyes are scanning frantically to locate the danger.  Isa is fine.  Xander seems to be fine.  When I inquire as to the trouble, she replies, "Xander put a chapstick lid inside the big garbage can and closed the lid.  You have to get it out!"  Yes, because I want to go dumpster diving in my outside garbage can for a tiny lid, that would then go on chapstick, that would then touch my mouth.  No thank you.  You can just toss the whole chapstick in the garbage as well (it is an old one, at least). 

Chauncey cut his first two teeth 3 days ago.  He chews on his fingers constantly, and whines (it's cute, because he really doesn't scream, just let's you know he is in pain), but teething has been sooo much better with him than the other two.  Also, both bottom front teeth broke through on the same day!  Isa and Xander cried for weeks for every single individual tooth.  It definitely affected my mental health.  So two at once, and mild reactions, are a sweet tender mercy that I appreciate so much.

Xander is getting smarter and smarter everyday, and becoming a little bit of a smart aleck with his new knowledge and words.  But again, it's super hard not to laugh.  Brandon says, "You have to brush your teeth."  Xander, with an all-up-in-your-face attitude, replies, "No. I. DooOoN'T," with awesome inflections.  At the age of 2, he speaks really well, and defends himself like no one else's business, explaining when things are not "fair."  His logic is getting impressive for his age.  His brain is definitely going through a developmental stage again, one that I can see progressing rapidly day to day.  He understands Spanish really well, but for the first time is trying to produce it using more than one syllable at a time.

11/15/13

At about 1.5 months old, Chauncey could lay on his back and push himself all over the house.  It looked like it hurt, but he couldn't sit still (unless he was cuddled in his bed).  He is a very laid back, happy baby.  Chauncey rolled over at 3 months at 2 days old.  I thought it was a fluke.  But, no, he never stopped.  He has been a little machine ever since.  About two weeks ago, about 3.5 months old, he officially sat up by himself for the first time.  He was steady for a second, and he was concentrating really hard, with a coy little smile on his face.  He knew he was conquering new feats.  A few seconds in and he was pretty wobbly, and leaned over laying on his legs.  Now he is getting stronger and better at sitting up.  I don't remember the other two doing these things quite this soon.

Isabela can write most of her letters now without having to copy them.  She asks, "What comes next in my name?"  If I help her out verbally with a few, she can write out her full name.  She is growing up to be quite the girl.  I can't believe how big she is.  As she plays with her friends a few times each week, it is interesting to see how their brains are developing.  Summer Sage can look at books for hours, and reads a lot of words (she is a full year older than Isa).  A few months back, her mom said for the first time Sage recognized a location they had been to some months before.  Isabela loves stories, but focuses so much more on colors, places, things, events, people.  She is the next navigator in the family (after Brandon).  She can tell you if we are going the right way and how many paths there are to get to the store.  Since she was little (two or younger), she has always recognized places we have been, even if she hadn't seen them for months at a time.  When I worked the after school program, and students would leave stuff behind on accident, Isabela could always tell me to whom it belonged.  She is very observant as to what people wear, what their hair looks like, and the designs on their backpack, etc.  These traits definitely did not come from me.  I would never notice if my best friend wore the same thing three days in a row.  (Oh, wait.  That's what I do.)  Oh, yes, and she loves to sew.  She makes little pillows and bean bags (which she cuts, I sew 3.5 edges, and she flips it right-side out, fills it, and sews the last little section).  Now she begs daily to make a dress for herself, which we will do soon.

Xander has been morphing into a true little boy.  He still doesn't mind wearing skirts with the girls, and playing dress up.  But he is realizing now he is the prince and not the princess.  (I will miss that, though. :D)  Mostly, though, he does any and everything he can to get a rouse from Isabela.  99% of the time, it works marvelously, so I don't see anything I can do in the parenting realm to stop it anytime soon.  She gets upset so easily, he just can't help making her squeal.  He is quick to apologize, then do it again.  It's so hard for me to keep a straight face as I discipline sometimes.  He is just so cute, even especially when he is conniving.

As for the rest of life.  We are very blessed.  Sometimes it is difficult to see others and what they have...I would really like a home of my own.  The biggest reason is so I can make permanent changes to organize food storage/preparedness items, and to have a garden. (Brandon and Isabela want their BIG and little puppy dogs, respectively, when we get a house.)  We have plenty of indoor space here, but it was not designed well at all for a family or for storing things.  Our stake president told us during stake conference that we need to make sure we all have sufficient water and heat.  He feels that we, as a stake, are not well enough prepared for the coming winter.  A friend told me her mom's stake conference had a similar message, "Gone are the days of telling you to prepare for yourselves and your families.  We have been told that forever.  Now it is time to prepare for our neighbors if we have the means to do so."  It has been interesting to see how many people have taken on the challenge in our ward.  The Lord truly does direct His church.  I feel so blessed to be apart of that.

Liter of Lite

Free light to every home...made from a clear plastic water bottle!
 This inspires me to help more around the world.  But also, what a great idea for a homeschool learning project!!  (and maybe even for your doghouse)

Another article:
http://www.progressive.com/AtProgressive/Liter-of-light-brightening-homes-in-developing-world.aspx

From their website:
About Liter of Light
aliteroflight.org

Our latest project is the Liter of Light or Isang Litrong Liwanag. It brings the eco-friendly bottle light to communities living without electricity.'

The Technology
What do you get with sunshine and an old plastic bottle filled with water and chlorine? Thanks to Alfred Moser and a group of MIT students, you get a 55-watt solar bulb that refracts sunlight! It’s powerful enough to light up a home but more than that it’s environmentally friendly, inexpensive, and easy to make.

The Movement
The Liter of Light began in the Philippines with one bottle light. Eventually, the movement grew to brighten up 28,000 homes and the lives of 70,000 people in Metro Manila alone. Now Liter of Light is present in India, Indonesia, and even as far away as Switzerland.

The Future
MyShelter Foundation is relying on volunteers like you to spread the Liter of Light movement where it’s needed. Using the Philippines as our home base, we want one million bottle lights installed around the world by 2015.

10/2/2013

8:18am

I leaned over and gave Isabela a kiss on the cheek.

“Mom, sometimes you and Daddy give me too big of kisses, and it’s hard for me to take care of them all.  So I wipe a little of them off so they are smaller for me.  Then I can handle them better.”

September

 

Ready for our Mexican Independence Day Celebration!

¡¿No se ve guapisismo?!

(Thanks Aunt Elena for the shirt!)

 Working on rolling over

  Spa Day with Isabela Mae!

My handsome little (tender-hearted) muscle man.  

Isa and her Monita.

(Isabela is sitting here with input on what I should write for her captions. This one is supposed to say "Happy Birthday because I love you!")

First Hair Cut

(Daddy got one, too!)

 After!

 Sad little boy! But isn't his cloth diaper the cutest?

 And Chauncey loves his jumper!

Mostly he loves chewing on it.

 Isabela dressed Chauncey... I had to help a little with the buttons.

Isabela's caption: "He looks handsome."

A definite favorite!

I can't get enough of this little guy.

My favorite thing he does:  If I am holding him, and he gets excited, he will grab my face and give my cheek a big open-mouthed kiss!

 

 He only sucks his thumb when he is tired.

Coming home, and getting ready for our....

 ...PICNIC!

 .All snazzy for our jazz concert at CMC!  They danced at the back of the room--ballroom and ballet style--for over 2 hours of music!  A few of their friends came and joined in, too.  I wish we had more pictures.

 A true thumb sucker... even with his binkie!

(Another favorite of mine!)

 Having a sleepover.

 The parade in New Castle with Emmet

Chauncey wasn't big enough to fit in the wagon yet.

 Rockin' the Shades at the parade

 "Look, Mom.  I made me a hammock!"

 Putting sweet Elmo and Xander to bed.

(Do you like the ipad-cover blanket?)

Box Town

 Tatum and Xander cruising in their cars.

Don't you love Xander's sunglasses upside down?

They are still a little big and really do stay on his face better this way. 

9/4/13

Two nights ago, Xander refused to lie down to change his diaper before bed.  He kept saying “No! Other one!”  In my confusion, he finally pointed to his cloth diaper (which I have only ever tried on him 3 times… I don’t really want to wash out toddler pooh).  I padded it extra (I really didn’t want to wash sheets as well).  He couldn’t even put his legs together like normal.  I asked if he wanted to switch back.  But, nope, he LOVED it. 

In the morning, he still didn’t want me to take it off.  Finally, we had to.  Then he did want his disposable back on again.

Today, though, he wanted his cloth one back on again.  I can’t believe my two-year old is cloth-diapering himself.  I am not opposed.  Maybe he will start to potty train sooner (Although, we have started already, with no pressure on him.  It has been slow-going, but I think he really enjoys sitting on the toilet so far, even though nothing has ever happened aside from reading stories.)

Jus Wuv Pats

When Brandon hugs Isabela, he sometimes pats her back or her bottom.  She would be furious, and yell, "Don't hit me!"  Brandon would reply, "They are just love pats, because I love you.  I am not trying to hurt you."  Soon, though, it became a game.  They would "pat" each other, and say, "Love pats!"  Only their pats were more like hits.  So Isabela started this game with Xander. She would hit him, pretty hard sometimes.  He would yell.  She would reply, "Love pats!" and run away.  So it began.  I have tried to stop it when it is just mean, and the other one is not having fun.  Then we have tried to teach that "pats" are soft, not hard. 

Today in church, a little girl came over to Chauncey in his carseat and touched him ever-so-softly.  She grinned and was so happy to play with a baby.  Xander sees her, walks over, and slaps Chauncey on the face.  To my surprise, Chuancey didn't cry, but he was stunned.  I grabbed Xander away (wanting to explode since he just hit my 2 month old baby), and explained calmly but firmly, "Xander, you CANNOT hit the baby."  Xander proceeds to grab my face, and look directly into my eyes. "Mom."  (He removes his hands and uses them to gesture and emphasize every word.)  "They. Jus. Wuv. Pats!"  (Mind you, the sacrament prayer just started.)  Now I don't know what to do.  Laugh. Cry from laughing so hard.  Or smack Brandon in the face since this is all his fault.  I opted for holding my two month old baby who was all smiles in all but 5 seconds after the incident.

A Waterfall!

Chauncey spits up all down my arm and onto the floor (not really that much, though).  Xander, with a wide-eyed, completely surprised look on his face, said “Ook! A watofaw!  A Watofaw!” 

Ward Campout

 8/23/13

 We heard the cows bellowing all night long.  The kids begged to take pictures on our way down the mountain. 

 At 2 months old, this was Chauncey's first camping trip.  He did splendidly well!  No crying did he make all night long.  It was cold, and I had him bundled and wrapped in a fleece swaddler.  I didn't sleep much because I was worried about him, but all three kids slept all night, toasty warm.

 Hanging out by the fire.

 Xander stood in this spot for hours.  He was a little unsure of the area.  He is about 4 feet from the jeep and the tent.  We were all over the place.  He didn't mind being alone, but he wasn't about to leave his spot.

About 3 hours later, his spot looked like this.

 Xander the photographer, begging to take pictures of me, still standing in his spot.

 Cuddling in our super warm sleeping bags.

 My littlest happy camper!

 Isabela sitting with Elsie, discussing all the important things in life.

 They had a coloring table set up for the kids for awhile.  It was a huge hit.

 The roasted pig.  Rocky and Don sampling the pig before dinner.

 It was delicious.

 It rained off and on all night, and into the morning.  It stormed in town, but not in the mountains where we were.  The weather was perfect, and the kids were happy to run around playing in pajamas all morning.

 Good morning boys!

 Another view of "his spot" in the morning.

 The kids played in the trees for what seemed like forever.  The game kept evolving:  hide-and-seek, fairies, sword fights as pirates...

 Xander found a frisbee.

 And they drew pictures in the dirt.

Thank you to my entire ward for making camping with three small children possible!  It was a perfect and peaceful vacation!