2016 :: week 3

January 10

Sunday night we ate a delicious dinner of roasted chicken with my parents. We had ward conference, which means it was a much busier Sunday than usual. Both Anthony and I had meetings before and after church (he had more). My parents really saved the day by helping with the kids so we could both go to our respective meetings. Despite the long day, I really enjoyed church and felt inspired to be better. Anthony spoke about the need to cultivate charity in our lives and in relief society our lesson was about knitting our hearts together in love, patience and tolerance for one another.

January 11

The kids said goodbye to Anthony and he left for his first of many (already scheduled) trips of 2016. The week had its ups and down as all weeks without him do. I implemented a new bedtime routine and it was fairly successful. I am feeling much more optimistic about his upcoming travel.

January 12

Tuesday we met up with the half-day friends at the mall play place. The boys had fun playing together, but it got fairly rough. I find watching boys play together fascinating. They hit each other. And try to knock one another down. And then let someone else do the same thing to them. I was NEVER physical with my friends, but Will and these buddies love to battle--be it zombies, jedi knights, dinosaurs--and have no qualms about wrestling each other to the ground. Lauren and the other little sister that tag along usually steer clear, though the boys are never rough with them.



January 13

Lauren has started wrapping her blankets around her waist as if she was a princess. She loves having a long train and occasionally will drape a blanket over her head too like a bride's veil.

January 14

And just like that he is rolling all over the place. I first noticed him purposefully rolling from back to front about a week ago. Thursday morning I was reading on the couch with him resting on his play mat. I stepped out of the room for a few minutes and had to do a double take when I returned. Where was Elliott?! Only about three feet away from where I had left him. He had rolled over a few times until he got stuck at the couch. He was so pleased with himself. When we made eye contact he gave me his biggest grin.

January 15

Elliott is now eating rice cereal about twice a day, and will really only will eat it if we make it with pumped milk. When I fed him Friday night he would drop his jaw and open his mouth so wide when he was ready for another bite. He has learned the unfortunate lesson from his older siblings that loud squawking is the most effective way to quickly get my attention. There was plenty of that while I was trying to feed him, make dinner and keep up with the big kids' requests while we were waiting for Anthony to arrive home Friday evening.

January 16

The Patriots and the Chiefs played each other for the chance to go to the AFC Championship game. I was hoping it would a repeat of the Monday Night Football game Anthony and I went to in September of 2014, unfortunately it was not. The Chiefs put up a good fight, but it was not enough to stop the defending champs. I compared Tom Brady to Derek Jeter (both hawk beauty products) to make myself feel better, but it didn't faze Anthony one bit. We tried to play Bananagrams with Will while we watched, but it proved more difficult than I anticipated. Will is better at reading than spelling at this point and needed a lot of assistance.