Christmas Letter 2009

Dear Friends and Family,

We want to wish you all a Merry Christmas! We love this time of year that we have to remember family and friends, and to reflect on the gift of our Savior, Jesus Christ. He has brought our family hope, peace, and joy through all of our ups and down in life. This year we have much to be grateful for.

Jared was able to dramatically improve his work situation without us having to move again. He now works as a Neurosurgery PA and loves it. He finds neurosurgery fascinating, and enjoys the regular hours and easy call schedule. He likes having more time for his family and recreation. When he isn't working or playing with the kids he is busy woodworking, rollerblading, reading, gardening, or riding his new recumbent tricycle. He put together a swing set in the backyard and has plans to redo many of the rooms in the house starting with the master closet. His new job has also freed him up for some new church callings including nursery worker, Elder's Quorum presidency 1st counselor, and choir member.

Mary loves being a mom and feels very blessed to be able to stay home with her three wonderful children. She has started doing home school pre-school with the girls which they love. In the rare moments when she gets a break from the kids and household responsibilities she enjoys reading, cycling, rollerblading, writing, and quilting. She is involved in a monthly book group and serves in the Relief Society as a teacher. She is enjoying decorating our new home and is excited for the planned home improvements.

Abigail (3 1/2) is imaginative and full of life. She is obsessed with princesses and anything girly and frilly. Her favorite activities include: dressing up, coloring, swinging, reading, helping mommy cook, dancing, and going on dates with daddy. Her favorite characters are Fancy Nancy, Angelina Ballerina, and Cinderella. She has learned a lot this year including her numbers, her letters and their sounds, and how to write her name. She is a good big sister to Maddy and Nathan, and we love the enthusiasm and excitement she brings to our family.

Madeline (2) has grown by leaps and bounds this year. She loves to be independent and do things herself. She is now sleeping in a big girl bed and starting to go on the big girl potty. She has learned most of her letters and especially loves the letter M. Her favorite things are animals, baby dolls, books, and choo choo trains. Her sweet smiles, cuddles, and cute little pigtails help to brighten our lives.

Nathanael (4 months) is a sweet, happy baby. Despite an early delivery and a week in the NICU, he is now a perfectly healthy baby boy. We loves his cuddles, laughter, and smiles. His favorite things are nursing, playing patty-cake, and being sung to. His name Nathan is fitting--he truly is our "gift from God."

We hope this letter finds you and your family well and hope you have a wonderful Christmas and New Years.

Love,

The Colletts

Big Girl Beds

BIG GIRL BEDS

Maddy informed us that she is "2 years old" and that she is now going to sleep in the "big girl bed." So we got a bed rail and after 2 weeks of trial and error she is finally sleeping in it. More than having to train Maddy, we had to train Abby to stay in and keep the door closed, but now they are both finally going to bed without too much trouble. Sometimes Jared and I like to listen at the door to hear what they say to each other. Here is one conversation: MADDY: "My white doggy! My dolly! My blankey!" ABBY: "Maddy you need to be a big girl and stay in bed or you have to go back to your baby crib!" MADDY: "No Abby! Two years old. Abby shh. Quiet. Shhh. Time sleep." As much as they argue I think they both have fun and are comforted knowing the other is in the room.

They still get each other riled up and like to giggle and act silly at bedtime, but overall they are doing really well.

DRESSING UP

So Abby still loves to dress up and now that Halloween is over, she is dressing up with a more wintry Christmas theme.

Abby got in this outfit and said, "Mommy I'm dressing up like you!"

Here is Abby dressed up like Mary. Notice the stuffed animal that she zipped into her pajamas. The dog is Joseph and the unicorn is the donkey. She loves to act out the Nativity complete with the birth scene (as she unzips her pajamas). Maddy is of course the little drummer boy with her new drum and mommy gets to play the mean inn keepers.

Abby likes to dress up Nathan too. Here he is as Ol' Saint Nick.

She thought he would look good with a funnel on his head like the tin man.

Thanksgiving 2009

We thought we were going to have to spend Thanksgiving up here alone since the doctor Jared works for was on call over the holiday. Last week he told Jared not to worry about sticking around, so we decided to take a last minute trip down to Boise to spend Thanksgiving with Jared's family. I for one was happy not to have to cook a whole Thanksgiving dinner myself.





The girls loved seeing their grandparents again and of course loved exploring their house and yard complete with cows, horses, pigs, goats, and squirrels. Here are Jared's parents in front of the delicious "spread."

Here we all are enjoying JoyAnn's wonderful cooking. We all talked about what we are grateful for. Abby said "flowers" and Maddy said "nursery rhymes." Jared is grateful for his new job and I am grateful for Nathan and that he is alright despite the difficult pregnancy and delivery. Neal and JoyAnn were happy to be celebrating the 20th anniversary of living in their house.

The day after Thanksgiving Jared did a little Black Friday shopping with his mom in the morning, and we spent the afternoon canning applesauce. We were blessed with an abundance of apples since an orchard in Pasco was giving away free apples for the picking. So we brought a van full down and used JoyAnn's canning equipment, kitchen, and expertise to can 88 quarts of applesauce.

Here are all the jars. I think this will make a pretty good dent in our goal to get our emergency year's supply of food.

Jared spent Saturday getting us a beautiful Christmas tree from the mountains with his brother. It's much nicer than what you can get from Grizzly Gus, but at the expense of long hours of hiking in the snow and exposure to wild animals (Neal saw a wolf track the size of Nathan's head). On Sunday we had a pleasant drive home (thanks to our new portable DVD player). We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and were reminded of all we have to be thankful for.

Look Who's Two!

It is hard to believe our little baby Maddy is already two years old. She is learning and growing so much. We took her in for her checkup and her stats are: Head48 cm (50-75%), Height: 33 in (25-50%) and weight 23 lbs (10%). In addition to physical growth she has grown a lot mentally. She talks a lot and loves to read books to herself. She knows all her colors and when she wants something, but doesn't know the word yet, she will point to it and say "black" (or whatever color it is) so we will know what she wants. Probably the biggest surprise in her development is the way she has taken to potty training. After our not so good experience with Abby we thought we would wait until Maddy was at least 3 years old to try, but Maddy obviously doesn't want to wait that long. She now goes potty about 3 times a day and will often come tell us if she needs to go. Yeah! Way to make mommy's life easier. She really has a sweet temperament and we love her sweet smiles and snuggles.



Abby helped me plan a little family surprise birthday party for Maddy. Abby loved making decorations, wrapping presents, making cards and frosting the cake. Maddy loved the surprise and the cute balloon animals Jared made for her.

Here is Maddy with a purple unicorn that Abby picked out for her from the dollar store. So fun!

Here's a picture of Maddy playing with her new drum. Maddy loves music so we decided to give her an instrument set to play with.

Maddy trying really hard to blow out her birthday candle.

Maddy licking her lips getting ready to eat her cake. Unfortunately the cake doesn't look too good since Abby snuck into it and ate quite a bit of the frosting off with her fingers. Despite that it was still delicious and we all enjoyed sharing a wonderful birthday with our sweet girl.

Boo!

The girls all ready to go the the ward trunk or treat Halloween party.

Our sweet little pumpkin.

We invited Abby's friend and her family over for FHE to help decorate pumpkin cookies.

Maddy kept decorating the same cookie eating the candy and then decorating it again.

The girls with their friends at the library Halloween party. They especially loved walking around the library in the costume parade.

Abby in her ballerina costume strumming her pink guitar.

Nathan all bundled up in his cute sweater and hat from Grandma.

Here we all are at the community center Halloween party. The girls loved running around the maze but were a little scared by the monsters that surprised us during the hayride.

The girls with the wild things.

A nice clown made Maddy a balloon dog on a leash and Abby a flower.

The kids with their Grandma Collett and cousin all ready to go out Trick or Treating.

Nathan was blessed on Sunday and we enjoyed a delicious feast afterward.

On Monday we visited the Mary Hill Museum in Goldendale, Washington. It was beautiful with lots of lovely paintings and even a children's room for the girls. Here they are with their grandpa enjoying the sculpture garden.

We also visited a life size replica of Stonehenge. The girls loved running around so much I couldn't get them to stop for the picture.

Our Cute Kids

My sister wanted some more pictures of the kids, so here they are.

Abby in her favorite sparkly ballerina PJs that she got from her Grandma Donaldson.

Here is Abby in one of the "outfits" that she likes to come up with everyday. She is wearing Maddy's PJs, some over-sized hand me down sandals on the wrong feet, and some upside down sunglasses. Hopefully she will develop a little more fashion sense as she gets older.

Here are Maddy and Abby playing princess dress up.

Here is Maddy holding her new baby doll and baby blanket made by our friend Georgeanna.

The girls taking care of their dolls together.

Our three little amigos. Can you believe they are all ours? Each so cute and precious in their own little way.

Can you believe how much Nathan has grown? Stats from his 2 month visit: Head: 39 1/2 cm (30-50%) Height: 22 3/4 in (30-50%) Weight: 12 lbs 8 oz (60-75%) Needless to say the pediatrician was very impressed with his amazing growth, although he is still small compared to 90-100 percentile Donaldson standards.

Nathan hanging out on the new quilt I made for him.

Looking at this picture you can tell he came straight from heaven. At this age both Abby and Maddy would scream for hours a day since they were both colicky and suffered from GERD so Nathan seems really easy in comparison. He mostly just nurses, smiles and sleeps. What an angel.

September 2009 Update

ABBY
Here is Abby playing with her new rag doll from her Grandma. She loves that the doll has red hair just like her. Abby is starting to do a lot more imaginative play with her dolls and stuffed animals which is fun to see. Although she still likes her new little brother more than any doll. Abby always wants to hold him, tuck him in, sing to him, help "milk" him, and push him in the stroller. She is always really sweet with him and thinks she is his second mommy. In fact the other day I was explaining to her what a woman was and told her she would be a woman when she grows up. She told me that she doesn't want to be a woman she wants to be a mommy with Nathan, Maddy, and Audrey (she still has her heart set on a baby sister) as her kids.

When she isn't "helping" me with Nathan she likes to swing and play outside. I'm sure she will have a hard time when it gets too cold to go out everyday. Other than that, her favorite activity is probably listening to music and dancing. She can get very creative when she dances combining ballet, Celtic dance moves, and mom's yoga positions into her dance. She is probably as curious as she is creative and is always getting into things. Her new thing is to come tell us "Mom (or Dad), calm down and don't worry about me." Which means she is about to do or get into something she shouldn't and she doesn't want us to know. We love her and are proud of the way she is growing and learning so much.

MADDY

Here is Maddy swinging with her rag doll. She loves to take care of her dolls by pushing them on the swings, in her stroller, and feeding them pretend food from her kitchen.

Here is Maddy with her sweet, gooby smile. She is talking a lot more and we are surprised at how fast she is growing. She is now at the stage where she wants to be just like Abby. As much as she wants to grow up and be like Abby, she is also having a hard time not being the baby of the family any more. When I'm busy nursing Nathan, Maddy will often purposely run her head into walls and furniture and say "bonk" to try to get my attention so I'll hold and comfort her. Despite her periods of jealousy, she loves her baby brother and is still our sweet little Maddy bear.

NATHAN

Nathan hanging out with his sisters. They always like to join him for tummy time and smother him with attention when he is awake. When he is asleep they like to wake him up so they can smother him some more.

Here they are both helping push him in his swing. I figure we don't even need the batteries since the girls love to push him every time we put him in it. We are just trying to convince them that Nathan doesn't like to go as high in the swing as they do.

Here he is again in his swing. It works like magic to calm him down when he is upset. He has started to get a little more colicky this month, but he still is very sweet and is a lot easier baby than either Maddy or Abby. He is starting to be awake for longer periods and likes to focus on our faces and is still as sweet and cuddly as ever.

JARED

Here is Jared with a bunch of his former co-workers at a good-bye party for him and the other PA that quit the CT program. This month he started his new job working for Kadlec Neuroscience Center. The surgeon he works for is really nice and his schedule is much better. He went from working 60-80 hrs a week to his now 35-40 a week work schedule. Jared is a much happier person these days as he now has more time to spend with the kids and in the yard along with his favorite past time--reading.

Jared holding his sweet baby boy.

MARY

There are no pictures of me for good reason--I still have 25 pounds of pregnancy weight to lose.

I had my 6 week appointment this month and finally got the okay on exercise. Jared's new work schedule allows him to watch the kids while I go out roller blading or cycling for an hour. It feels good to finally be moving after dealing with pregnancy, bed rest, and C-section restrictions. On top of trying to get back in shape, I don't have time for any other projects or hobbies since the rest of my time is taken up with trying to stay on top of household tasks and struggling to juggle three very young children. It seems that there is never enough mommy to go around. The other day I was trying to clean the bathrooms during the kid's nap time. Of course all three of them woke up and wanted my attention. As I tried to hurry and finish up Maddy decided to take off her own poopy diaper, Nathan started screaming, and Abby wanted me to get her a new band-aid for her scar. When I told her "Just a minute. You'll just have to wait!," she started crying, "Mommy doesn't love me anymore!" Needless to say I felt awful. Everyday I pray for more patience. I still have a lot of learn about parenting and taking care of 3 children, but I'm sure it will get easier over time as I figure out how to balance all of their varying needs. I'm so grateful for all of my supportive friends and family and especially my wonderful husband who helps so much, and gives me breaks when I'm feeling burned out.

Nathan's First Month

Wow. Can you believe how much Nathan's has grown! When I took him to his one month check up the doctor asked if I had some sort of magic milk. I told him no, but Nathan has a huge appetite. He likes to nurse every 2 hours. He now weighs 9.2 lbs (30%), is 21.5 inches long (45%) and his head circumference is 37.5 cm (30%). That is pretty good considering he was a month early and he only weighed 6 lbs 4 ounces at his two week check up.

Here is Nathan getting his first bath. He did the same thing Abby and Maddy did during their first baths--scream.

He finally calmed down after he got used to the water.

Nathan is a really good baby. He usually only cries when he is hungry. Although he does grunt/snort a lot--I think it's a male thing. The only hard thing is trying to coordinate all his feedings (he likes to nurse every 2 hours) with taking care of the girls. Other than eating he likes to be cuddled and loves to fall asleep in our arms. He really is a sweet, perfect baby.