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Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Allergies, Asthma, Eczema...

Poor Katie Bug has an assortment of ailments. Truthfully, I am amazed that she can be so happy most of the time considering everything she has going on. I know no sleep, constant itching and not being able to breath would make me a GROUCH!! I took her to the Doctor yesterday and he told me that she definitely has asthma. Maybe I am uniformed, but I assumed asthma was usually brought up by sports or exercise, but he informed me that was not the case, and there are multiple reasons people have asthma. I got three different prescriptions and some over the counter cream for all of her problems and $235 later I am supposed to be giving her a minimum of three breathing treatments a day plus a new prescription allergy medicine. Did I also mention that she has pretty severe eczema that she scratches non stop while she sleeps. He enlightened me on the eczema issue and I was baffled I had not heard this information sooner since I have mild eczema myself, so for those suffereing, here is what I found out-- the major culprit for eczema is water and soap. I am never supposed to allow her to be in the tub for longer than five minutes and to only use soap when absolutely necessary. Lotion evidently makes it much worse and cream is always the way to go. I was pretty much 0 for 3 as she baths sometimes twice a day because she is always so dirty and I have been lathering her up with lotion her entire life!! I am really hoping all of this makes some improvements. The child sleeps miserable! She is constantly snorting, rubbing her nose, scratching her eczema, thrashing and pretty much just not sleeping! For those with experience with asthma (especially the allergy induced variety), I would love tips and information. Her allergies don't appear to be food related, but outdoor related. Unfortunately, we live on a farm in the middle of all sorts of fields so it's going to be pretty hard to find relief from that. They can't do more extensive tests and treatments until she is like 7 or 8. I am really praying she grows out of it. Thanks for your advice and experiences!!

Monday, October 1, 2012

Family Pictures -- 2012

For those of you receiving my Christmas card, you will probably see a few of these twice. Sorry!! Woo hoo for Jen for doing these for me!! I have learned some lessons regarding doing family pictures when they include adult men and children. There can be only one outfit and it must be done in an hour or less, otherwise everyone is far too grumpy (especially the grown men)! Jen and her sister, Allie are now doing pictures for others if anyone is interested. They specialize in the outdoor photos. It's $150 for now and that includes 8 photo edits and the CD so you can print whatever pictures you are interested in. My pictures would be typical for the pricing. Alli is also working on a photography studio so that they can do indoor photos in those as well. They also do fantastic newborn photos. They are working on a blog to display ideas but if you show up with poses or props you like, they are always willing to spice it up with new options. Their contact information is as follows: Jen (208) 313-3876 Alli (208) 313-3921

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

One Tough Little Cookie

Launa had her first day of school on the 27th. She was nervous, but really excited. We went to the school and met her teacher and Launa thought she was great. She is 7 months pregnantly currently. She must be patient because if I had to deal with 25 5-year olds while being seven months pregnant I'm sure it wouldn't be pretty. In the car Launa asked me "so... is she having a baby or is she just fat." I told her she was having a baby and that it was rude to say things like that and she responded "I know, that's why I didn't say it to her, I said it to you." Oh well, I try. Mark and I have been having a power struggle over her riding the bus. Our bus was supposed to come at around 7:15, but came that day at 6:58 AM. Luckily, we were ready, but I didn't want to put her on the bus by herself without Kyla to help her out. Mark was adamant that she was tougher than I thought and he put her on the bus. I went to the school to wait for her to get off the bus, and waited, and waited, and waited. I was told all the buses should be there by 7:35 but there were still lots of buses coming. I ran back to her classroom to see if she got there before me and still couldn't find her. ALL the buses came and went and NO Launa. At this point, I was having a little anxiety. I called the bus garage and they had to find her. They are all supposed to transfer buses at the high school. Evidently, she didn't know what to do (why would she for pete's sake, this is Kindergarten and she's 5) so she just stayed in her seat and didn't move. I'm not really sure if the bus driver realized there was someone still on there or not when I called the bus garage. Anywho, she was all by herself on the bus when the driver brought her back to Wahitis. I thought she would be crying and a mess, but she is and always has been so tough. Not one tear. She was shaking when I got her off, but I walked her to her classroom, got her settled and left 10 minutes later. I went back after school to see if she wanted me to drive her home, and she said no, she wanted to try to ride the bus with Kyla (I did go make sure she transferred at the right place -- it was pandemonium, the whole thing makes me nervous) and they made it home just fine. Rough start to the start of school. That night she asked me why Daddy and I put her on the wrong bus. It about broke my heart. Since then, she says school is okay, but that she doesn't even have time to play any more, and recesses are just NOT long enough!! It's kind-of true, it's all day kindergarten. Her favorite subject is P.E. and she says she hasn't decided what she wants to be when she grows up.

Friday, July 27, 2012

Gearhart Family Reunion

For the semi-annual Quinton family reunion (my Mom's side) we went to Gearhart, which is just a couple minutes from Seaside. This was my kids' first trip to the beach and they thoroughly enjoyed digging in the sand and playing in the water. It was so beautiful and fun -- I definitely could have stayed for a few more days. I anticipated 85 degree weather (yes, I know now that this was unrealistic) and it was more like 65 degrees so I had to swing into Carter's to buy poor Meg some warmer clothes. The kids loved playing with their cousins!! Mark was unable to attend so my parents helped me and were fantastic as usual. My mother-in-law let me take her Denali because it had a DVD player in it. I wish I could say they sat and watched peacefully, but it wasn't the case. Kate screamed so hard she threw up and then peed in her car seat. The other two did a little better. But THANK YOU to my parents for helping me. Without them it would have been miserable, so the help was much appreciated. Here are a few pictures of the trip -- notice my Dad actually giving a big smile in one picture, Meg and I doing the "two-headed monster" (she's in my Baby Bjorn with my jacket zipped up around us) and how you can tell it's slightly windy on the beach. :)

Monday, July 16, 2012

San Poil 2012

We spent the last week at Mark's annual family reunion in San Poil up near Keller. It was actually my best year yet as I actually made it the entire week and we really only had one rough night with Meg. I have had some serious war stories in the past with sick kids, grouchy kids, kids who won't sleep, etc. :) This year the weather was perfect and we had such a great time. The kids loved spending time with their cousins, Meg got spoiled with me holding her the entire time, we thoroughly enjoyed the jet skis and boats, the marble tournament, and lots of snacking and chit chatting with family. Mark's Mom always does matching sweaters for the girls and they turned out adorable. I guess that's one perk to having all those girls!! Before we left I took the girls to my Dad's orchard and picked cherries. They got to ride in the back of the pickup to get the full experience. Can you tell it was a tad bit windy. :)

Friday, June 29, 2012

Odds and Ends

I finally emailed myself all the pictures from iPhone. Since I have the phone available, I am trying to make an attempt of recording and updating my blog better. Here are a fun few pictures of the activities we have been up to. The first is of my Mom, with a goat. I walked into her house and saw a goat on the kitchen counter and her blowdrying it with her hair dryer. I thought the apocalypse was here!! :) She is helping Kameron nurse some of them back to health. One of them, "Bitsy" thinks it's a dog and is running back to her house, drinking out of the fountaain, getting on two legs so it can bang on the door and peek through the windows and snuggling up with her cats on the deck. It's really funny!!
We also attended Tyson's allstate football game. It's the final Mollotte so this was kindof a momentous occasion. Mark is sure sad at the thought of him going off to college. He will be missed!!
And, one of my favorite pictures of Launa and Kate.

Kate -- Need I Say More?

Kate is up to her same tricks. Her latest thing is switching her outfits a bazillion (I'm sure it's a legitimate word:) times a day. As exhibited below, she doesn't actually like to swim in the water, however she does like to get geared up like she's going to... I found a large chair, stacked on top with a small chair leading to the top of the bookshelf. She is still ALWAYS climbing!! She fell off a chair and banged up her lip a little this week as well. Who needs botox when you can just injure your lips and have plump scars? She is obsessed with popcicles and is always on the move, but she sure is irresistible. When we left for Seattle she got potty trained (Yay for Kate!!), and she must be completely naked from the waist down in order for her to go. But she yells "yay!! I go tinkle tinkle!! and then comes out wanting high fives. She has done great and I am so relieved she appears to be over that hump. This last picture is of a gargantuous snake at a lizard show they did at the local library. When it was over no one (including me) was interested in getting near the snake. No one that is, except for Kate. She was insistent and touched this bad boy like it was no big deal. I was holding her hand flinching and looking away.

Meg's Summer Activities

I can't believe Meg aka "the Megster" aka "Meggy Megs" is now over 5 months. How does it go by so much faster when they are out of your body than when you are pregnant? Mark had meetings in Seattle so Meg and I went with him, so this was her first real "trip" anywhere. She hung out in the Baby Bjorn and did great. The photo is taken by Mark. We decided to take a "pedi-cab" (basically they pull you behind a bicyle). You know that poor guy saw Mark and was thinking, "oh no, don't pick me, please don't pick me..." He was impressive and biked us all around downtown.
Meg was loving her little exersaucer (as exhibited in the picture below:) but as of late, she's kind-of over it. She's up on her hands and knees rocking now and is really itching to get moving. I am still hoping it takes a couple more months.
She also has started eating. She pretty much chases the spoon around and is pretty aggressive about it. So far, she is NOT fan of baby rice or oatmeal, and her favorite is the sweet potatoes. Below is her first eating experience. By the end it was a lot more messy!
Her first swim. As a general rule of thumb, I don't take any pictures of myself in a swimsuit, much less post it on a blog. This was however the only one, so you know, just focus on Meg. Launa was the photographer as I wasn't comfortable letting her hang on to Meg in the water. Ah well.
Meg gets carted around A LOT!! Even though I am a stay-at-home Mom we are kind-of still running to and from all the time. She spends a lot of time trying to sleep like this...
And this...
My highlights are when I open my eyes and see her on her tummy right in my face with twinkly eyes and a big smile. How can you not wake up happy when you see that? I love to snuggle in bed with her and nurser her. She really is such a joy!! I just love her to pieces.

Launa Swim & Preschool

Launa had her preschool graduation party and it was a blast!!! There was a gigantic slip and slide that I was itching to go down myself (I restrained, don't worry). She loved it!! We really loved her teacher, Colleen. I have known her my whole life and she handled Launa perfectly. At five, Launa can pretty much write and list all the letters and their sounds and can count to about 40. I feel like she is very prepared for kindergarten and will really enjoy it. She just completed her swim lessons today. She also liked those. It was a little chilly but she was a pretty good sport. She can now swim from the shallow end to the deep end all by herself. It's just a doggy paddle, but she is relentlessly practicing and knowing her, will have it mastered by the end of the summer. Her teacher, Piper, was a girl in our ward so that definitely helped her feel a little more comfortable. She is always shy in new situations. Below are a few pictures of all of the above!! Way to go Launa!!

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Living on the Wild Side

So it is now 11:24 AM. The day is only half over and I just caught Kate riding the garage door up and down. She talked Jande's little boy, Hunter, into being the operator while she was the rider. When I yelled at her to stop, she dropped from almost the top and took off running, laughing her little head off the entire way. You'd think the fall would have took something out of her, but nope, she could have cared less. Two hours ago, I had to get out to run something into Launa's preschool. In the 15 seconds that I was gone, she had unbuckled herself, shimmied to the front (there are three car seats in the back of my Camry) and locked my door. Good thing I didn't stay to chit chat because she was moving on to the other doors when I came back and ran around the other side of the car to open the passengers side door before I was locked out with her and the baby in the car! Oh yeah, and she broke a glass cup about oh, an hour ago. All this and it's not even noon!! Did I mention she also peed (not in her bed, but in MY bed) and I am washing all the sheets for about the fifth time this week. Last week, she got into Launa's room, dumped out the entire craft kit and then pooped in Launa's room. Launa hysterically came downstairs screaming that Kate had left a "terd" in her room and everything reeked!!! I went up with the wipes and the sterilant to clean up. We then attempted to clean up the craft kit mess when Launa stepped in an actual terd and had it stuck to her foot. At this point, she was on the brink of lunacy and Kate was hiding (probably laughing knowing her). Truthfully, I was glad it was her and not me. If I had stepped in that, I would have had to have gone to my room and counted to a million for the safety of everyone in the house. Kate has an abundance of nicknames but due to her wild personality and lion's mane head of hair, she has now been referred to most often as "Tarzan". Ironically, that was what they called Mark as a child. Hmmmm.... I wonder where she gets it. :)

Monday, May 7, 2012

A Big Week for "Firsts"

Little Miss Meg (her latest nickname) has started rolling over. When enraged she can really roll over. When she's not, she doesn't see much of a point. I got a decent giggle out of her this week, but I'm still looking forward to her first real "belly laugh". She is sweet as ever, although she really enjoys hanging out in my Baby Bjorn pretty much all day. Launa just learned how to tie her shoe like 35 seconds ago and was so proud of herself. It's amazing how when they finally are interested in learning, everything just starts to click. Her job this summer is caring for our little garden. She is working toward a new bike. We'll see how it goes. Kate continues her thievery. My Mom had just got new Nordstrom shoes for mother's day (seriously, it couldn't have been the $8 flip flops!!:). She called after I had left and asked if I had seen them because she couldn't find them. I asked the girls and no one fessed up (I should preface this with a small story -- Launa once got mad at my Dad and stole his glasses and hid them. They found them like two months later after he already got replacements). Kate did however mention something about the garbage. My Mom spent a couple hours searching high and low, my Dad rifled through every garbage and the dumpster, I looked everywhere-- and, no shoes. I finally bribed Kate by telling her she could have a brownie if she would find Grandma's shoes. She marched outside and into one of my Mom's planting beds and pulled them out of the shrubs. Why this is fun for her baffles me? I think she is notorious at church for being a real "ball of fire". I also had a couple funny conversations with Launa this week as well. She wanted something and when I told her no, she did her usual "Why not?!!" The first two times I explained it to her and about the third and fourth round I finally said "Because I said so!!!!" She looked at me and said "That doesn't even make any sense!!" Then she also got mad and told me "You are NOT a stay-at-home Mommy." I said, "Okay, why not?" She replied with "You are a WORKING Mommy. All you want to do is work. Make the beds. Plant the plants. Pull the weeds... You are a working Mommy". Maybe her perception was a little off. I don't know too many (okay, none) stay-at-home Mommies who are not working Mommies.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Life at the Mollotte House

My friends I grew up with were in town and we had a little BBQ. It was fantastic to see them all and they told me I should really be recording all these little "classics" about my children/animals. These are the happenings for the last week and a half or so.

Jande had her hometeachers over. Prior to the home teachers coming over, Kyla had to run out and get Brayden's shoes back as he had left them on the back porch and Kate came over to run off with them. Fast forward a couple hours. Chad says to their home teacher "um... did you lock your doors?" He said no (this is the country after all), and they looked out the window just in time to see Kate running back toward my house with some loot in her hand. She was then going through the other two cars of the company that we had at our house. She had rummaged through the poor home teacher's wallet and run off with his keys and cell phone. Should I be worried? Needless to say, I had to leave my car in Moses Lake after MY keys went missing while I was digging up flowers at Jodi's. I have a pretty sneaky suspicion who the culprit was. Nothing like a two year clepto! A couple weeks ago, I found her in my father-in-law's car eating the M&Ms he left and standing where she had just peed on the seat. Thank goodness they were leather!!

The commentary between Launa and I:

Launa: "Mom, you remember last night when Kate colored all over the carpet with your lip stick?"

Me: Yes, I remember that very well.

Launa: "You sounded like Mother Gothal from Tangled".

Me: Did I?

Launa: "Yeah. You know that one part, when she yells at Tangled "You are never leaving this tower -- NEVER!! That's what it reminded of when you were telling Kate 'You are never getting in here again -- NEVER!!'

We welcomed three new additions to our household. Two orange kittens and one black one. I was devastated because I knew the cat had had them and thought she had abandoned them. I heard meowing two days later in my dumpster and ran to grab Jande (she is better under high pressure situations :) She rescued the kittens while I ran around like a lunatic. The kitties are in our garage (much to Mark's chagrin) and doing fantastic. The kids and I are loving them. Mark, not so much. He's more of a dog person.

Launa also learned how to ride her two-wheeler. I so appreciate her intensity. When she wants to do something she WILL do it.

Kate riding the scooter is kind-of awesome!! She doesn't like the baby version and can barely see over the big one, but she's a maniac on that thing and flies around the corners like it's nothing, giggling the entire time. I love it.

Jande and I have started getting back into shape. Picture us both attempting yoga, Brayden climbing on her, Launa pulling my pants down (repeatedly), 4 kids trying to do jumping jacks, 2 babies screaming... You know, just a nice relaxing workout. :)

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Experiencing Joy

The past couple of weeks have been... exciting. Kate is giving me a run for them money. I have cleaned poop off the front steps, the foyer floor, the table, the tub, multiple diapers, etc. Bleach is my best friend for peace of mind. You get the picture. It's been a little crazy, and therefore, I have been a little crazy. But, amidst all the insanity, I have had quite a few moments of what I would consider absolute joy. A small list is below:

* Meg's first smiles and coos -- one of my all-time favorite "firsts". She has deep, blue eyes and when she smiles I feel my heart flutter with joy. I am so lucky.

* Launa started soccer this year. She loves it, and seeing her love it and be so happy and energetic brings me joy. She has come so far in her behavior and is actually very responsible and helpful (most of the time). She also learned how to ride the mini four-wheeler. I saw her driving Kate around and both of them having the time of their lives. That's what having siblings is all about. It made me happy.

* I had strep throat last week and told the kids "I've had it. Get out of my room and give me some space for 5 minutes (not the best version of myself, but the reality). After my being unkind (to say the least), Kate came to my room, climbed up by me on the bed, took my face in her hand and sincerely said to me "you feel better, Mommy?" So sweet. It amazes me how forgiving and kind children can be, even when I don't deserve it. She also said "Grandma has baby goats? That's awesome!!" I love her sweet voice and the quirky little things she says.

* It's spring which means I don't see a lot of Mark these days, but when he does come home, and he gathers up our little girls and coos and plays with them, it makes me realize again what a good decision I made. Watching him want to be with them even though I know how exhausted he is brings me joy. Kate saw our wedding picture and said "Mommy, that's my Daddy!!!" I said "Yep, that's when we got married." Launa and Kate both told me that I did a good job choosing a Daddy. :)

And that's what my life is about these days -- being somewhere in between crazy and incredibly happy at the life I have and the people who are in it. :)

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

An Epiphany


My sweet little Meg Caroline reminds me so much of my little Launa Virtue. She looks a lot like her and I have a sneaky suspicion she is also going to be quite spunky. The pediatrician said "Wow, this baby's got an opinion!" She also doesn't sleep so hot at night. Who needs that, right? When I had Launa, I read like three different sleep training books and was insistent that I was going to do it, whether she liked it or not!! They said that no child have to cry it out more than three days, that's all it takes. Um... that child psychologist has never seen the sheer will of my eldest and youngest. I have been so worried that my children would never sleep. All the studies suggest if they aren't put on a schedule as a baby, they will struggle forever. Launa is now 5 and actually gets tucked in and sleeps through the night in her own bed probably at least 95% of the time, so I feel relieved. Kate however did great as a baby and now is a complete terror, so what do I know? Today I was reading reviews of these books I've read to see if there were other people who tried those methods and found no success whatsoever. I found a description of a "high needs baby", and it was like an epiphany. The first category was INTENSITY. The babies will show signs of being really intense, needing more physical contact, not liking to go to other people, etc. Talk about hitting it on the nose!! It was like someone had exactly described Launa and Meg as infants. It somehow made me feel better that having a baby that refused to conform as other babies do wasn't all my fault-- sometimes they just are how they are. I sure do love my little troop of "non-conformists", although I could use a little more sleep about now!! :)

Saturday, February 25, 2012

If you know the Jehovahs Witness missionaries in this area...

Apologize to them for me.

I had just sat down in my room and was nursing the baby. Kate had gone outside and I could feel a breeze like she left the door open. So, I yell from my room "Shut the door!!" No one responds so I yell again again "Launa or Kate! Come on! Shut the door!" Then, I hear the cat meow and I yell louder "Seriously, shut the door!! That cat is in the house!!"

Of course, no one shuts the door, so I walk out with Meg still attached and try to catch the cat with my other free hand and shut the doors (they left both of them open).

Jande calls me like a minute later and says "so what did you say to those women?" I said "what women?" She said "the Jehovahs Witness missionaries that just barely left your house".

Oops. I don't think they'll be making a return visit and they probably think I'm totally scary. I think they walked up and heard me yelling shut the door and made a run for their car. Poor girls. So, if you know them -- tell them I'm sorry and I'm not normally that crazy! :)

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Meg Caroline Mollotte

We welcomed our sweet little Meg Caroline into our family at 1:28 AM on January 19, 2011. She weighed 7 pounds and was 18 3/4" long. She looks a lot like Launa, just a lot more mild and and not quite as blond and fair. I am in love. I am not one of those people who is dying to hold babies I don't know or anything along those lines, but I forgot how good it feels to snuggle a brand-new newborn baby with their soft skin and sweet little cooing noises. I had strep B so we had a long stay in the hospital. I was ready to leave but I loved having her hunkered down in bed with me as we got to snuggle for a coupe days straight.

The night before I went in, I couldn't sleep very well because #1, I was playing musical beds with Kate and #2 I thought I was having contractions but I didn't think they were the real thing. The next day, Mark told me he thought it was the taco soup because he was also having some pretty severe "contractions". :) I spent the day packing the kid's bags and getting everything that I wanted to get done done just in case. Mark came home that night and even though this is my third go-round, I was still trying to decide if it was the real thing. We left the house for the hospital around 10:30 PM and I think I had my iv and had been checked into the hospital around 12:00 AM. I was at a 5 when I arrived. Once my water broke, it was fast and furious. I went from a 5 to an 8 in like 10 minutes and once again, the Dr. almost missed delivery. She basically threw on her gloves and caught Meg. I got the epidural but went too fast to feel the full effects so that was really a bummer. I was glad it went fast.

We are now home and both doing great!! She is fairly sweet and mellow, but aggressive when she wants something (mostly food). The girls can't get enough of her. They both think she is a real-life baby doll. Launa called me at 1:30 in the morning when she found out I was in the hospital because she was up in arms that I had possibly not packed the correct outfits and headband for her that she had picked out. Welcome to the chaos, sweet Meg!!:)

Monday, January 16, 2012

What a Little Perspective Can Do...

Last night, we watched the movie "17 Miracles" about the Willie Handcard Co that walked across the plains as part of the Mormon pioneers. I cried multiple times. I can't imagine suffering like that, or more than anything else, having to watch my children suffer like that.

I just read a blog about a mother whose baby had "ED", a skin disease where everything that touches him at all causes excrutiating pain and sores all over his body. She can't even hold and comfort him because her touch hurts him. Suddenly, Kate dumping milk all over the island and coloring all over the walls and Launa yelling at me over her outfit and hair seemed like gifts. I lead a blessed life. Sometimes a little perspective is exactly what I need to remind me of that.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Christmas/Birthday Whirlwind






I did some poor planning (as, evidently, did my mother-in-law. Launa's BDay (and my Mother-in-laws and nieces) are on January 4th, my sister-in-laws is the 5th, Mark's is the 8th and my baby is due the 26th. So, seriously, the past few weeks really have been a whirlwind. I tried to get my Christmas cards all done early, only to learn that even though I had an email confirmation saying they were arriving, for some reason they never got printed. Sorry, it looks like you'll be getting a Valentine's Card/Birth Announcement instead.

We kicked off the Christmas holiday with the entire Jenks family (all 40 of us) in town. We ate lots of good food, did paintballing, saw a movie, had an adult date, and just had a good time seeing everyone. Launa and Kate played their little hearts out and are still asking for their cousins they don't see very often. We had Christmas Eve with the extended Jenks family at our house. I think there were around roughly 80 people here -- pretty sure it was maximum capacity, but shockingly the house pretty much made it out unscathed. We had Santa come and had a program and dinner. It was a nice night.

New Year's we did another party for Mark's family here and played card games, ate A LOT of food, and celebrated his 30th Birthday a little early (he claims that he always gets jipped and by the time his birthday rolls around, no one wants to get together for parties, much less eat cake).

Launa requested a Chuck E Cheese birthday party this year. It was a great winter birthday party. Simple. Fun. Launa even gave Chuck-E a hug and a high five. Kate was scared to death of him and mostly spent the day stealing cupcakes and hiding from me so she could eat them.

I can't believe my Launa is FIVE!! She has been up to her old tricks lately -- hiding the remote control and the garage door opener when she's mad at me, locking me out of my own bedroom, beating up the neighborhood boys -- today she even had the audacity to call Mark a "terd"... to his face. Seriously, the girl has some gumption, I'm going to give her that. She also has excelled in preschool and in Sunbeams at church where she evidently is an ideal student. She loves to learn and has already mastered most of her letters and is getting very excited for school. And, when in the mood, she still retains the title for my best snuggler. She also is already trying out cooking and wanting to do her own hair (and she is also surprisingly decent at that), and has gotten extremely FAST (she gets in her two-bits and then takes off running. It reminds me of my brother, Kameron). Miss Independent would be a good classification for our little Launa. She keeps me hopping and always guessing what she is going to do next.

The picture reel could use some organization, but at least there is something on here! :) My sister-in-law and I are due a week apart again. Gotta love us doing our belly bump! A few of Launa's BDay party and Mark and Launa on the dock after fishing. The front view of my pregnant belly, and yes, I feel as big as I look.