July 2012 Update

PLAYING TOGETHER

 I tried to do a lot of fun outings with the kids the first week of July before I had to start my modified bed rest.  Here they are at the splash park.  Nathan loved the sport theme.

 The kids enjoyed our trip to the playground of dreams.

 They also had fun doing a sleepover in the bonus room.  Nathan especially loved having his sisters tell him stories and sing him songs.


THE FOURTH OF JULY

 The kids had a parade with all their dolls and stuffed animals.  They waved their flags and played instruments to a patriotic song CD we got from the library.

 To liven things up Jared surprised the kids with a new soccer ball which they had fun kicking around in the backyard.

 They had the most fun throwing their own boxes of poppers that Jared bought for them.

 We also had a nice backyard firework display. Here are the kids all sitting down for the show.

PIONEER DAY

 We had a Pioneer day family home evening celebration.  The kids dressed up in pioneer clothes and they played pioneer games.

 Here they are learning how to play hop scotch.

 We probably had the most fun trying to bob for apples.  Maddy didn't want to get her face wet.

 Nathan thought it would work better if he just used his hands.

 Abby was the most aggressive about trying to get an apple, but short of actually bobbing and putting her whole face in it wasn't going to happen.  This is one of those things that is a lot harder to do than one imagines.

ABIGAIL JANE

 Abby likes to try to do a pull up every night before bed.  She is getting really strong and can do one on her own with Jared spotting her.

 Abby just finished her Level B My Piano Adventure books and performed the last song she learned at the ward talent show. She did a great job.

 Abby also finished this needlepoint picture that she's been working on.  At first she had a really hard time and needed my help with each stitch, but by the time she finished the picture she was doing it on her own.  I was really proud of her learning this new skill.

MADELINE RUTH

 Maddy trying to build her little muscles.

 Here she is with one of her drawings that she displayed at our ward talent show.  She is getting to be a good little artist.

NATHANAEL LIVINGSTON

 Nathan's pull up technique is to use his legs on the door frame so he can pull himself up.

 Nathan with the watercolor picture he displayed at the ward talent show.

 Nathan has been crawling in and out of his crib for several months, so he was more than ready for his big boy bed.  He is very excited about it and insists on his bed being made first thing every morning.

JARED

 Notice anything different about Jared? He got LASIK this month and is now enjoying life without glasses.  The procedure went really well and he now has great vision.  This month Jared has been busy with work and studying for the DAT.  He also has been wonderful about helping with the kids, shopping, and housework while I've been on bed rest.

MARY 

 I finished this quilt for Thomas this month.  (If you can't tell, those are little monkeys on it.)  Since I've been on modified best rest most of the month I've been working on a lot of sit-down type projects.  I've also read lot of books and spent my time during the day homeschooling and reading with the kids.  It's been hard to be restricted in what I can do, but in some ways it's been nice to take a break from cooking, cleaning, shopping and other activities and really focus on the kids.


THOMAS CARTER

Thomas  has grown a lot this month.  I can no longer squeeze into my non-maternity clothes anymore!  He is still very active and often wakes me up with his kicking.

June 2012 Update

THOMAS

We were excited to find out at the beginning of this month that we are having another boy.  Nathan is super excited to have a brother to play with and share his room.  We are going to name him Thomas Carter Collett.  Thomas looks really healthy from what they could tell, but it was hard to get a good look at him because I'm already carrying him really low and he is breach.  We are hoping he will not get stuck down there in that position (because it would require another C-section).  He may be my most active little baby and he often wakes me up with all his kicking, which I don't mind because it reassures me he is okay. We are excited for Thomas to join our family in October!

Our little pac-man with his mouth wide open.

Hmmm, I wonder what he is thinking about.

One more cute picture of him.


NATHAN

Nathan is in monkey PJs which is insists on wearing all the time.  It is quite the struggle to get him into regular clothes when we go out.  Here he is coloring, which is one of his new favorite past times.   When I ask him what he is doing, he usually tells me he is writing "Dear Dad," or drawing a basketball or a dinosaur for his daddy.

Nathan still isn't old enough for swim lessons so he hangs out by the pool with me while he waits for his sisters.  He likes to put on his sunglasses and tell me how "cool" he is.  The other day Maddy told him he was handsome and he said, "No, I cool!"  He likes to jump and "do tricks" to show us how cool he is.  Grandma sent him a couple Super Mario shirts.   He has never even seen the games, but Jared told him about all the characters on the shirt.  He often says to Jared, "Daddy, I Mario. You Luigi."

Nathan gets really uncomfortable when he gets a poopy diaper and always wants it changed right away.  One day I walked by Nathan's room during his nap time, and it smelled really bad so I went in and found him asleep like on his changing table.  I guess he climbed up there and then fell asleep as he was trying to change his own diaper.  Poor guy.

Probably Nathan's favorite thing about summer is playing and helping dad in the back yard.  Here he is with a bowl full of blue berries from our garden that he helped pick.

MADELINE

Here is Maddy with a bowl full of raspberries that she  helped pick in the garden.  I love berry picking because it's a chore that the kids can do.

Maddy just finished up her first session of swim lessons.  She got some really nice teachers this year that did a good job working with her, but she is still afraid to put her face in the water.  Hopefully we can take her swimming more often so she can start feeling more comfortable swimming.

Here is Maddy with a picture of dolphins that she colored.  She gave it the "Maddy's favorite picture" award.  At storytime the librarian explained about award winning books and Caldecott awards for the best illustrations, so Maddy decided to give her favortie picture an award.  Maddy is excited about doing the library's summer reading program and so far her reading has improved a lot.  We think she is going to be a great little reader like her big sister Abby!


ABIGAIL

Abby finished up kindergarten this month.  Here she is on the last day of school with her kindergarten teacher Mrs. Beach.

I went to pick Abby up on the last day of school, but she got upset because she wanted to ride the bus and say good-bye to her bus driver.  She ending up riding the bus and we drove home quickly so we could meet her.

Now that summer is here I'm doing some homeschoool history and science lessons with Abby.  Here she is with a wooden hut that she made out of popsicle sticks after learning about the stick houses that the early settlers of the fertile crescent built.  She loves learning about history and especially likes the activities we do like creating a mini Nile river in our backyard, building pyramids out of legos, and writing cuneiform on clay (play-doh) tablets.

Abby loves to swing and play in the backyard any chance she gets.

Abby has gotten to be such a good reader that if I'm busy cooking or cleaning, Maddy and Nathan go to Abby and ask her to read books to them.  She is a great older sister, and I really appreciate her helping me when my hands are full.

Abby has really taken to swimming this year and has become a little fish.  She just finished her first session of Otters this year and they already want to move her up to Level 1.

Abby made a "Abby's favorite book" award to give to one of her books.  Her problem was finding a favorite  because she loves so many!

MARY

Here is a picture from a baby shower that I threw for one of the sisters that I visit teach.  It was nice to have a final get together with friends from my old ward since they just changed our boundries and our family was cut out of the Badger Mountain ward.  We now go to the Kennewick Park ward.  Everyone there is really nice and welcoming, but it will definitely take a while to feel at home there.

Other than the ward change and the baby shower I've been busy keeping the kids happy and busy this summer.  So far mostly swim lessons and homeschool but I hope to do a few fun outings this week before I have to go on bedrest on July 9th.

So far this pregnancy has been going really well.  My belly has been growing fast and I had to change my wardrobe to maternity clothes this month and now people can definitely tell that I have a baby bump.  (Sorry no pictures--maybe next post).  Nathan likes to pat my tummy and say "Hello baby bump" every morning.  It is really cute.  When I tell him that it's Thomas he says, "No. It's baby bump!"   I've been feeling really good this month now that my nausea is over and I have a little more energy.  I've been busy dejunking, organizing and trying to plan and get things in order so that things can be somewhat under control when I have to go on bedrest next month.

JARED

Jared on Father's day morning with his cute little kiddos.

We had a crepe and berry breakfast.

Here is Jared opening his present and cards.  He got a new carrying case for his grill/cookstove.

Jared got back from his Canada trip this month.  He went to Toronto for the national PA conference, but he got to do a little site seeing while he was there.  Here is a picture of the CN tower which is the tallest structure in the western hemisphere.

Here he is standing on the glass floor looking down 342 meters / 1,122 feet.  (Jared's editorial: Looking down from that height with nothing under your feet but glass is extremely disorienting and, in a word, freaky!) He also went up to the Sky Pod which is 446.5 m / 1465 ft.--quite a view!  He also went to the Royal Ontario Museum which was amazing (unfortunately he didn't take the digital camera, and none of his disposable camera pictures turned out).  Jared loved Canada and was really impressed with how clean and nice Toronto was. (I will write a blog post about Canada and why I've become a Canadaphile when I'm done studying for the DAT!  Until then, Happy Canada Day!)