Poetry

This morning I was gathering the scattered homework papers that Bryson Jr. had left on the kitchen table last night.  I glanced down at the papers in my hand, and noticed a type-written poem titled 'Winter Is', and after I read it I realized this boy has some great writing skills!  It takes longer to see his talent, as it's been known that I (and we as parents) get a little frustrated with how slowly things come to pass with what Bryson Jr. does as he is very meticulous, methodical and a bit dreamy :)  Getting homework, let alone any type of work, can take mere minutes when he has a mind to get it down....and hours when he is in another world.  It seems we are in the latter rather often!

Here are two poems he has written - the first the Winter poem just mentioned, and the other a poem about Friendship that he wrote this past fall.  I really was rather impressed with his writing in both of the poems, and wanted to be sure they were saved away in our blog book.

Winter Is...

Glee with snow, 

Gulping hot chocolate down your throat. 

Warming toes by the fire, 

Listening to a Christmas choir. 

Santa's coming on his way, 

In a bright, big, red sleigh. 

Sledding down steep icy hills, 

Making snow angels in white powdery snow. 

Snuggling inside with dad, 

Bundling up for the cold outside. 

Staying home from school during winter break, 

Putting up the Christmas tree. 

Winter is...

EXCELLENT! 

by Bryson Lord  

{written Janurary 2013} 

Friendship 

The important thing about friends is that they are always there for you. 

Friends are like a soft, fleece blanket that's warm and keeps you safe. 

When someone bullies you they'll stand up for you and say, "Don't bully him!" 

When you're bored to death, you could go to their house and ask if they want to play. 

Friends are fun to play with. 

If we are in the same class, we could help each other with our homework. 

If you have a hard time at school you could go up and talk to a friend. 

But the important thing about a friend is that they are loving and friendly. 

by Bryson Keith Lord, Jr. 

{written fall of 2012}

Family Ties

We are so lucky that we live by family and are able to head over to enjoy dinner and fabulous company each month...and many times within each month!  Back at Thanksgiving dinner we went around the table and said what we are thankful for, and I mentioned how thankful I am to live by family & that I am enjoying it more than I thought I would.  I really had worried that it would be too much to live by family - too much of what I'm not sure, but in my mind I was convinced it would be a hard transition after living away from family for all our married life.  

And yet, it's for moments like this that I'm grateful we are now experiencing living by family.  And realize it's not hard - it's amazing.  We get to experience precious moments of sharing love, memories and just those simple moments of sweetness such as Emilia being cuddled by Grammy Critchfield after Sunday dinner.  Absolutely beautiful moments where I just sit back and am thankful that our life road we are traveling has led us here, for this time.   

These are some of my most favorite times.  Ever.  

diapers & deli mustard

Today was one of the few days that I actually made it out of the house with baby Emilia.  The sun was shining after days of inversion and gloomy gray weather & I had my 6 week follow-up appointment at Better Birth.  I actually got a shower in before leaving and it felt great to be out of the house!  I love staying in with her and being cozy during these cold wintery days, however I start to get a little cabin fever and stir crazy by about day 3 or 4 and just need a little outing!

They checked me and Emila - and I'll say this over and over, but this really was the best and easiest recovery from a birth!  We talked again about how amazing a water birth is, and how my muscles didn't feel like they had run a marathon afterwards!  They loved Emilia's little face and her darling outfit (I should have taken a picture!) and weighed her in at 9 lbs. 6 oz.  She was fully clothed, so she might actually be an ounce or two lighter :)  It boggled my mind as the midwife handed her back to me that that is only 2 more ounces than Bryson Jr. weighed at birth - and Jacob was a pound heavier!  How in the world did they fit inside?!  After we finished up, I was able to sit and nurse - the birthing center is naturally laid back, but they also didn't have any other appointments after me, so I stayed on their plush couch to feed Emilia who had woken up.  It was much better to nurse in their comfy room than a few weeks ago when Emilia woke up in the middle of Target and I had to tuck into a dressing room to feed her - that was definitely not my favorite place I've fed her!  I also needed to give Emilia a diaper change - which sometimes when I change her she has this funny reaction - I don't know if it's having her bottom up while I clean her, or just the irony of the situation...but quite often she starts to go to the bathroom again.  I'm usually able to catch it in the old diaper or with a wipe - but today as I hurried to put the wipe on her bottom, it ended up that the wipe only caused the mess to go outwards and little flecks of that yellow deli-mustard #2 flew onto my sweatshirt and jeans.  Awesome.  I hurried to finish her & then wiped myself clean - it was only little flecks here and there, and it really was more funny than frustrating - for such a little thing it's amazing how much is in her little system!

Since Emilia was fed I decided to hurry and run to Costco for the monthly groceries there.  I was hoping she'd fall asleep in her car seat and happily slumber while I hurried through the store to get my things - and thankfully that is just what happened!  I hadn't eaten lunch before my appointment, so after I paid and was on my way out, I stopped at the little food court and ordered one of my favorites - the hot dog.  I quickly put on the deli mustard, got my drink and went out to load up the car.  I had to hurry home not only before Emilia woke up, but the older kids would be dropped off soon from their carpool.  I stopped at a red light, and went to have a quick bite of the hot dog - however, when I opened up the paper I looked at that yellow deli mustard and I had a flash-back to changing Emilia's diaper just a short time ago.  I spend a large amount of time each day changing this little gal's diapers, and that poor hot dog was just one big reminder of all the yellow mustard in my life right now!  I knew I should have gotten the chicken bake instead! Next time...next time.

Speaking of diapers...this seems to be the theme for today :)  Jacob loves, loves his baby sister!  He comes to give her kisses and talk to her all the time!  Tonight he was sad over something, and I was trying to change Emilia's diaper as we had someplace to be.  I asked him if he'd like to help change her diaper, and you'd think I would have asked if he wanted his favorite dessert!  I talked through what I do to change her, and he helped by pulling the tabs across and securing the diaper.  He was so proud of himself, and I love what a great helper he is with her!

{photos from Emilia's first week}

1 month old!

Our little lady is 1 month old today!  I am in denial that time is going this fast already!  She's still this cuddly little baby, however she is growing out of that ultra-sleepy, and potato bug newborn phase.  Sigh.  Why do our children have to grow up?  I wish Peter Pan would show up & wisk us all away to Never Land! 

I am attempting to learn more about my camera and taking photos of Emilia on my own.  Pros and cons to this.  The pros - I am saving money and can do as many photo shoots as I like.  Cons - I'm not a pro, so I take longer and even though I click the camera like crazy, as I look through the photos I'm amazed at the low percentage of pictures that turn out.  Oh, and I don't know how to do any cool editing using Photoshop, so the only editing right now is what comes with the computer.  My goal for 2013 is to finally, FINALLY learn photoshop!  

Either way - I love photographing this darling face.  I could look at her all day - and in fact, I do that a lot which is why I'm behind on posting about this darling little girl :)   

I snuck over to my in-laws to take these photos.  I knew the afternoon light into their living room was just what I wanted, and then on New Year's night when we were there for dinner and games, I noticed that Lauren my sis-in-law has the best baskets and this cool white furry throw.  Perfect photo props!

And they have a great coffee table with these rough boards - I loved using them as the backdrop for our basket shots!

Little feet and toes....she is also growing out of the phase where she would fold her legs into her body like she was sitting indian style.  When I would change her diaper the first weeks her little legs would pull into her body and she would cross her legs at her ankles - Bryson and I would oogle over how cute this was.  We are just in love with everything about this girl!

The bear compare.  I never thought of this idea or saw it with the older kiddos - but I decided that since I'm terrible about remembering to get statistics each month, I could at least remember to take a photo!

                                   

Happy 1st month lovely Miss Emilia!  We can't imagine our family without you now that you are here, and we love to keep your darling cheeks covered in kisses and watch you make your precious faces...smiles are definitely starting to make more appearances! :)

new year's eve

We had our one year anniversary yesterday of living here in Utah.  I can't believe it's been an entire year - how does time not only go fast, but seem to move faster as we get older?!

Last year, we flew into Salt Lake on December 30th, and we decided to go downtown on New Year's Eve so that we could enjoy the lights before they came down.  We weren't sure how busy it would be with the First Eve celebrations, so we decided to head down early to enjoy the lights and some concerts on Temple Square.  It was so enjoyable, and we didn't feel that there were any crowds at the time we went (maybe we were still coming off living in NY crowds?!) - so we decided to repeat it again this year, and we hadn't been out as a family since Emilia's birth.

The weather this year was FREEZING!  I don't remember last year being so cold - we had coats, but were warm enough with just those.  This year, we put the boys in snowsuits and Bryson Sr. wore one as well, thanks to my sister Brooke's recommendation from when they had visited a week before.  Madeleine absolutely did not want to wear a snowsuit so she had leggings under her jeans.  We bundled up Emilia and I wore her in a sling on my front and put blankets around her.  I couldn't button my coat because she was up front, but my torso was super warm...almost hot with her riding there - it was my legs that were freezing cold because I had made sure everyone else was dressed warm and then forgot to follow my own advice.  That should be a rookie mistake - and I can't believe I didn't think that through better!  There was hardly a crowd at all - it could be that it was so bitter cold!, but also we try to get there earlier in the evening before the big crowds come in for the New Year celebrations.  Either way....we love our New Year's Eve at this beautiful place.

We still enjoyed walking around and seeing the incredible light display - I'm always awed by how many they put up each year and how it transforms Temple Square into this twinkling winter wonderland.  It's always a beautiful spot, but the lights really give it an extra amount of "special'ness" to enjoy.

After we walked around half the square, I couldn't feel my legs and we stopped in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building for the kiddos to do the activities at the Family History Center.  They put together a fun scavenger hunt around the room for the children to research things, and answer questions and as part of the hunt you are to get your picture taken at a photo backdrop that looks like Ellis Island.  It's to represent all the immigrants that came to the United States, and especially to reflect on our own family members that immigrated here to join with other new members of the church.

It's really a fun area for everyone with these activities, and it was perfect timing to not only warm up, but I thought Emilia was ready to eat.  I wandered over to the big lobby of the building where they were having groups perform, and nestled into a corner and tried to wake this little cutie up...

She must have been really warm and toasty in the sling, because she did not want to wake up and eat!

After the children finished their activities at the Family History site, they came over to join me and we watched part of the Polynesian dance group.  It was like being at a mini-Polynesian Center performance!  They had different people from the valley dancing from the various islands and the crowds went from moderate to swelling in the lobby....everyone loves the spirit of these dances!  We packed up and went back out into the cold to finish our walk around the square and stopped for pictures at this traditional spot....

  

A very nice stranger saw me taking pictures of the others, and offered to take a family photo of us - which being all bundled up you can't see everyone clearly but at least we are all in one picture :)

We love the nativity sets that they have from around the world - Madeleine found the set from Japan and we all thought of our fantastic friends that we met in NY from Japan.  Madeleine misses Aoi and keeps in touch with her via gmail - I've told her that when the girls are older we should try to have Aoi come over as a foreign exchange student.  I don't know if that will work, but Aoi has said that she'd like to come out for a summer....hopefully these girls will be able to get together again in the future!    

We had a wonderful evening - in spite of the cold we still enjoyed walking around, the boys loved picking up ice chunks and being boys (!), and we loved the lights and also the candy windows that they have started up again at Macy's.  It reminded us of the wonderful windows of NYC - not quite as many, but definitely beautiful and amazing!  We hope to make this a tradition to go down and enjoy each New Year's Eve - perhaps when the children get older we'll stay longer, but for now it's nice to tuck home and get into warm and comfy clothes to ring in the New Year....if we last that long.  This year, all the kiddos looked like this sleeping beauty by midnight, and Bryson and I weren't far behind!  Happy New Year - we look forward to another wonderful and exciting year in 2013!      

Jacob's side-kick

Last night (Dec. 29th) we sat down to read scriptures and Jacob climbed into the chair with Dad & Emilia so he could be by the baby.  To say he LOVES Emilia is an understatement! :)  He is so happy to feel better and that we are now letting him within range of his beloved little sister once again.

As he was so excited to sit by her, we had to laugh as she was snuggled on Bryson's chest in her little potato-bug pose, he started to talk to her and in her sleep she lifted up her head and turned it to the other side.  Jacob would have none of this - he wanted to look at her, so he hopped up and went to the other side of the chair and Bryson scooted over so Jacob could have the perfect view of Emilia.  Again he started to coo and talk to her, and her little head bobbed up and again in her sleep she turned it away from Jacob.

We started to chuckle and Jacob hopped up again, switched places on the chair - moving Dad over once more - and sat down to talk to Emilia.  And, to our great surprise she lifted her head once AGAIN and turned it to the other side --- this time our chuckles became laughter and Bryson Sr. and I were laughing so hard we were crying.  Jacob knew the drill - he jumped up moved over so that he would be able to look at her and we watched to see what Miss Emilia would do.  She put her head up, it bobbed for a few seconds and then she lay it back down....looking at Jacob.  He got his wish in the end - he got to sit and look at his precious sister during scripture study :)

What a love he has for her - and thankfully in the end she must have realized that he was going to be persistent and stay until he got to gaze at and be by his sweet little sister.

I only wish I had had the camera on and taping...it was absolutely hilarious!
{These aren't pictures from this experience, but from the first day Emilia was home}

make 'em laugh

Last night I was laying in bed exhausted from being very pregnant.  Bryson came in after putting the kiddos to bed, and laid down and we started to talk.  Then I looked over and stated to laugh and could not stop.  When he asked what was so funny, I told him to look down at his legs - for whatever reason either the way the bed was made, or how he was laying - it looked like his legs were fake!  It was like the scene in the Wizard of Oz when the house lands on the wicked witch and just her legs are left sticking out - all flat and at weird angles.  

Bryson started to laugh at the sight as well, which made me laugh harder and we both sat there laughing until tears were streaming down our cheeks.  

And that's when I realized I haven't laughed in a long time, and that I need to laugh more and more deeply.  There is something so healing, powerful and that makes you feel really great like a good laugh. 

This picture and memory still give me a good chuckle! :)