aaron.anica.emily.isabel.claire

Izzy was born into the perfect setup with a clever older sister who came before to blaze the trail and teach her important life lessons. Unfortunately letters and numbers aren't the only thing Emily is learning in Kindergarten. A couple weeks ago I overhead Emily talking and it sounded like she said "Damn." When I asked her what she said she looked at me and said, "Uh, ram?" To which I replied, "Well it sounded like you said damn." "Is that a bad word?" I told her yes and she wanted to know why. Good question! I told her it isn't good to say and started to say, "Unless your talking about . . . well, nevermind . . ." That didn't fly. "Unless what mom?" she persisted. "Well unless your talking about a structure used to hold up water." "Oh, like a beaver builds?" "Exactly Em." Fast forward to a few days ago when I was working on my computer that kept freezing up. Emily working nea...

We're still trying to figure out a good recipe for lemonade in our household. It seems like just when we get the right amount of sugar mixed in someone comes along and squeezes in more lemon. Aaron recently lost his job and I, for certain reasons, felt compelled to quit my part time job. Timing a little off? Maybe. We've enjoyed the last several weeks together while job hunting and we were even considering going into early retirement until we realized it doesn't pay very well at this stage in our lives. We usually go to the gym each morning after dropping Emily off at school and we had to laugh at the following experience. I had decided to try something new other than my normal routine and so I rushed Aaron to get to the gym on time so that I could go to a hydro aerobics class. Now for whatever reason I had no expectations in my mind of what the class would be like, but I was totally shocked when I walked out of the locker room to see 20 gray haired elderly ladies and ...

Emily brought this assignment home from school today. Should I be concerned about what she's learning? :) It made me laugh especially as I tried to help her with it.

In July we were lucky enough to take a trip down to Cali and stay with our friends at the White House. We had a blast and shared a fun-filled relaxing few days with them. We took a little trip to Beverly Hills where we were right at home (ha!ha!) Me on Wilshire Boulevard A sweet Rolls I wouldn't have minded driving home in : ) Aaron and Em on Rodeo drive We even sighted the Governator and I got my best paprazzi shot The four of us (Izzy in the stroller) on Rodeo Drive We caught some rays at Newport Beach While Izzy was lulled to sleep by the ocean waves We even got in a little Rock Band time And Em was able to perfect her guitar skills Thanks to the White family for letting us come hang out with you guys! We love you! P.S. J.D. thanks for keeping track of Izzy's feeding schedule while in Beverly Hills. I could tell you missed Maddie and Adrie and we did too : ) P.S.S. Marky I asked Emily about your toothbrush and she said she used it, but we're still trying to figure ...

Emily has lost 3 teeth to date. Her two bottom and one on the top. I wasn't ready for it to come so soon, so when she told me her teeth were loose I kind of freaked out and asked her what she did to make them loose, then I had to call my Mom and ask when she's supposed to lose her first tooth. I was assured it was probably time, as my teeth came early and were lost early. Emily was so excited to have the tooth fairy come to our house and diligently put her tooth under the pillow. She plagued us with questions about the tooth fairy to which we had fun making up answers too. As I was laying with her that night she asked if she could write the tooth fairy a letter. I told her she probably could and asked her what she would say. She said she'd ask the tooth fairy to come and live at our house. Then with big eyes she said, " . . . and then she could teach me how to fly!" She also wondered aloud what the tooth fairy would leave for her under her pillow. ...

Practice: consists . . . of . . . teasing the boys . . . and tackling and wrestling them to the ground Game Day: She swings She runs High five from Dad Makes it to 3rd And don't forget the slide into home. Boy that was close!

One night when Izzy was a few weeks old, Aaron and I had woken up with her several times through the night and by the wee morning hours we were slipping in and out of consciousness. I had just fed Izzy and handed her off to Aaron to burp her. In my sleep I was listening for the sound of his hand patting her on the back as we lay there. As he slacked off I would prompt him to continue burping her. I don't know how long this pattern went on, but it seemed like a short time before she started crying again to be fed. I asked Aaron to hand her over. He told me he didn't have her. It was then that I spotted her in her cradle and realized that my feeding her had been a dream and he had just been patting his chest in response to my prompts to burp her.

Our anniversary was last weekend so we went on a date while my wonderful mother watched the girls. We took the train down to Salt Lake and ate at P.F. Chang's. Because we had to wait to eat, we missed the train we wanted to get on and had to wait an hour for the next one. We picked the girls up and were driving home when Emily pipes up from the back seat, "So are you going to tell me what took you so long?" We told her about riding the train and the long wait for dinner and she said, " Oh I was thinking you guys got taken to jail or something . . ." Really Em?

We spent Memorial Day weekend at the sand dunes in St. Anthony for about the third year in a row with my family. My whole family was able to go and camp out in my parents motor home and spend our days on the four wheelers out on the sand. My dad found this little three wheeler for Em to ride and it was the perfect size. Her ride was equipped with this flag (it says "DUNE PRINCESS") which you can imagine she was less than thrilled about. Em riding her three-wheeler over a "jump" Aaron had to try it out and make sure it was working properly because we didn't have anyone smaller :) We were going to let Izzy ride with Em on the back of her three-wheeler but we decided she better learn to hold her neck up a little better before she does that :) I think she was pretty content to just take naps in the motorhome, but only because she doesn't know what she's missing out on Em eating remains of my dad's delicious dutch oven cooking Em and I hangin' out...

Emily has recently taken an interest in her appearance when it comes to having leftover food on her face, which I don't mind a bit . . . most of the time. The other day she had used a corndog to sop up the heap of ketchup and mustard on her plate and ended up with a mustard mustache. I mentioned this to her and she headed to the bathroom where she spent a sufficient amount of time making sure it was all cleaned off. I happened to pass by the bathroom and glance in as she was cleaning her face off . . . . . . . . . . with Aaron's TOOTHBRUSH! I asked her why she had Aaron's toothbrush and she said, "Oh I always use Aaron's toothbrush to clean my face." How could I not laugh. Several days later she was getting ready for bed and I had told her to go to the bathroom to brush her teeth. After a few minutes I went to check on her and she was using her toothbrush all right - to scrub her black, dirty FEET! I asked her emphatically what she was doing and she...

I hope and pray that the words sweet, cute, angel, love, etc. continue to be in Emily's vocabulary as her little sister grows. Emily is an amazing big sister. I don't know where she got her patience as a big sister, but she loves Isabel and is so helpful with her. I don't know what I did when Emily was a baby without a gopher to grab things for me. :) I try not to let my little sister see this because it might make her jealous, especially when she remembers the time I ran over her with my bike or sold her my hand-me-down clothes or listened in on her private phone conversations to later blackmail her. Hopefully Emily doesn't inherit my genes in the big sister department. If all she takes from me is bossiness I think we can handle it, although it is a little annoying for Aaron and I to take parenting advice from a 5-year old. She is continuously reminding us to be careful with Izzy because we're making her cold, uncomfortable, etc. We love her thou gh and ar...

Isabel Marie DeHart made her debut into the world on Saturday April 18, 2009 at 6:08 pm She weighed 7 lbs. 14 oz. and was 20 in. long We are in love with her curly blond hair Aaron is in love with his new little girl. I hardly changed any diapers in the hospital and unless I was feeding her I had to fight him to hold her. He claims I got to hold her for the last 9 months, it's hardly the sa me. Our family of four I DID IT! I had set a goal for myself to deliver naturally with this baby (I had an epidural with em and don't get me wrong I loved it.) Aaron and I took classes to learn relaxation techniques and how the body works through the delivery process. We learned a lot. I had been having some serious labor pains for the past several weeks and thought because of this I probably wouldn't realize when it was time for the real thing. I had hair appointments scheduled all day Saturday and was doing my last one (thank heavens it was my mom) when my water broke. She stil...

This is an ultrasound picture from our baby and if you can't tell it is her hand doing the "peace" sign. I'm sure hoping this child brings peace. Today was School Picture Day at preschool. That title alone makes any mom want to take a couple of sleeping pills, crawl under her bed, and not surface until the morning is over. I woke up early to prepare for the event. I laid Emily's clothes out for her - clothes I picked that were a compromise because I knew we would both be okay with the outfit. So I avoided any drama there. The trouble came when it was time to do her hair. I sat her down on the toilet and proceeded to curl her hair. She put no small amount of effort into making it a difficult task for me. I accomplished it in a short amount of time considering the situation. She then looked in the mirror and that's when all hell broke loose. The neighbors probably thought the beginning of World War III was happening at our house as she began yelling a...

Aaron would probably agree that my nesting mode has been in line with this guy - a little to the extreme . I've been unexpectedly out of work for a month due to my department being remodeled which has only exacerbated my nesting. (Too bad they couldn't have coordinated with my maternity leave.) Not only do I know where everything in our house is and have it labeled, but the decorations change daily. Em and I have kept ourselves busy and find new projects to do on a regular basis. Here are some of the things we've been up to. We created some wall art for our living room. We redecorated the fireplace mantel. We got the baby's bed set up and ready. We made curtains for the girls' room. We made wall hangings for the girls' room. I go back to work tomorrow and I feel like they're infringing upon my time. How dare they . . . :) My creative juices have just started flowing and in a month and half any energy I have will be completely exhausted by our new little...