I have been dying to write about how sweet Ammon is, but I’ve been so tired lately I haven’t gotten the chance. We just adore this baby. He is so sweet and easy-going. Even though I feel like I can’t get anything else in life right, one thing that is going right is Ammon.
He brings out the best in Lydia and me. Mary is still keeping a bit of distance, and Abe has been so busy with work that he hasn’t really had a chance to bond with Ammon, but Lydia and I are totally in love. Lydia will sit with Ammon on her lap until long after her legs fall asleep, and I just adore seeing the two of them together. Yesterday she sang him the sweetest song she made up about how Ammon will always be her little brother and that no matter what he does, she will always love him. She sang about how even if he made bad choices when he grew up, he would always be her little brother and she would always be his big sister. It almost made me cry to hear her singing such sweet things.
I didn’t know what to expect with a boy since so far I’ve only had girls, but he has my whole heart.
Other random pictures from of late:
Yesterday I made popovers for Lydia’s play date with her best friend in the whole universe (her words), Gunnar. He was a sweet boy, and he, Lydia, and Mary played together beautifully. It made me happy to hear so many squeals of joy all day long.
Here are some videos of the girls playing in the leaf pile today:
Today Abe dressed the girls warmly before taking them outside to help rake and jump in leaves.
My heart stopped when I saw this picture. I have never seen Lydia smile like that. I must be doing something wrong if nothing I have done to date produced this look. This smile was the result of Abe’s efforts to play with the girls in the leaf pile.
We went to dinner tonight at Black Sheep Restaurant with the Greens. I thought the light fixture looked like a Chihuly…My dinner.
I’ve been on a post-natal rage rampage all week. Sometimes I pray myself to peace and love and forgiveness, and other times I feel emotionally under water. If I can jump on another thought train–for example, if I think about Jesus, count my blessings, or meditate on my beautiful family–then I can resurface for a while. But if I jump on the wrong thought train and think about the issue bothering me, I get so angry that I can barely function. That’s unfortunate because there are three little people that kind of need me to function. Abe also appreciates functionality, but, thankfully, he’s functional enough for two right now.
Hopefully my problem will resolve soon.
Happily, I haven’t posted Arielle’s pictures of Ammon yet, so here they are!
We have no pictures of Mary with Ammon because she wasn’t interested. Today she showed concern for him when he was crying, but part of me suspected she was interested because she got to hold his binky before giving it to him…
Abe was out of town for half of last week and returned late Friday night. Friday was a little stressful because we had a two doctor appointments, and the second one lasted two hours. During that appointment, the doctor diagnosed Mary as far-sighted and cross-eyed, and she will have to wear glasses until middle school–at least. Also, because I didn’t take her in the first week that I noticed her cross eyes (instead I waited five months), the issue has become a whole lot worse. I felt so terrible and guilty that I didn’t take her in sooner, and I am praying the situation can resolve. I would feel terrible if she ended up permanently cross-eyed just because I was neglectful and didn’t take her in to the doctor right away.
The high point of Friday, other than having Abe return home, was our trip to the nail salon. I had the girls’ nails painted for Halloween to match their costumes. Sadly, Mary’s nails all came off before Halloween, but they were sure cute for the first couple hours they stayed on…
The girls treated the visit to the nail salon as a very solemn occasion. Neither of them cracked a single smile until specifically prompted. I think they enjoyed it though because they have both asked to go again.
Lydia’s nails.Mary’s nails.
I was so happy when Abe got home, although you would never know it because the first thing I did was demand that he check my hair for lice. With him gone I wasn’t able to do my full lice prevention routine. Also, I spent the entire day trying to squeeze in a shower, and finally at 7pm I gave up and went to bed with all the kids in bed with me. Abe’s presence makes it so much easier for me to act like a responsible adult and do responsible things like shower.
Saturday
Halloween! Yay! My favorite holiday! It was a beautiful day here in Orem, and we took the day at a relaxed pace. Everyone bathed or showered in the morning, and then we did some errands before nap time. After naps we carved pumpkins, did more errands, ate dinner, and trick-or-treated. I guess we live in one of the busiest trick-or-treating neighborhoods in Orem. One of the youth told me tonight that people drive from far away to trick-or-treat here. Abe and I had no idea it would be so busy, and so we actually ran out of treats at the end. Oops!
But we had so much fun trick or treating with our kids. I joined Abe and the girls until it got cold enough to worry about Ammon. When I got home, I was so busy answering the door every five seconds that I barely had time to dump more candy in our bucket or take care of Ammon. Finally I just put the bin on the porch, closed the blinds, and hid from the hordes of trick-or-treaters for the next hour. Normally I love the interactions of Halloween, but this year I just needed to take care of my baby.
Our shark post-bath.
On our way to Michael’s to pick out prizes for the girls for being so good while Abe was away.Pumpkin carving.Bazi is a great porch adornment.Our bear.
