As of today Shark Bait is three months old, and I just cannot believe it. He can roll over, control his hands and puts pretty much anything he can grab onto into his mouth. He is super smiley almost all the time and he is still sleeping like a champ. He has the most beautiful sparkly blue eyes, much like his sister Beebs and peach fuzz hair that has the slightest tint of red to it.

Shark Bait is long and skinny and just recently started wearing 3-6 month size clothes and size 2 diapers. They don't fit him in the waist, but smaller sizes are too short for his long body. He is absolutely precious and we just cannot get enough of his grins and giggles. We are so incredibly happy he is ours.

Long One

Shark Bait and Man Cub recently went to the pediatrician for a joint well visit. Man Cub because he had just turned 3, Shark Bait because two weeks earlier, he had turned 2 months old. Our pediatrician's office is a bit of a drive, so I like to double up on visits when I can, even if it means putting off one of Shark Bait's visits for a week. Or two.

The appointment went really well for both boys. Man Cub is right on track for his growth. He is the perfect weight for his height and he's still a little on the tall side for his age. Especially for our family. Shark Bait on the other hand is extremely tall. Of course, at his age they call it "long". He is not gaining weight very quickly, which I have to admit has me a little bit worried, but he is certainly growing in length at a rapid rate. Dr. M is not at all worried about Shark Bait's lack of weight gain which made me feel so much better. Shark Bait is reaching his milestones, he is happy and healthy.

Man Cub's official 3 year stats- he weighed in at 32 lbs 2 ounces and is 37.75 inches tall. He had to get one shot which he handled like a champ. He didn't even make a peep. His jaw just dropped when the nurse poked him, then he returned to playing on my phone. It was the perfect distraction.

Shark Bait's official 2 (and a half Ü) month stats- he weighed in at 12 pounds even and he is 24.5 inches long. He has grown 4.5 inches since he was born. He may not be chunking up, but he is super long, to the point where he can't wear any of his one piece 0-3 month clothes. They just don't snap anymore! It is looking like both he and Man Cub have a chance at being tall.

Shark Bait had several vaccinations coming his way at the appointment. The oral vaccination didn't bother him one bit, but the shots did not go over well. We really thought we'd broken our baby. For several days after the visit, our happy, laid back, never cries or fusses baby was miserable and, at times, inconsolable. His eyes were teary and his lips were so pouty. Luckily, after a few days he was back to his happy self, but the first few days following his appointment were rough. Beebs was such a big help during that time. She held him and comforted him so I could make dinner or get other things done around the house. He loved being held by her and was so peaceful when in her arms.

Supermoon Lunar Eclipse

Tonight was a Supermoon Full Lunar Eclipse. The space camp nerd in me was pretty excited! Three things happened all at once, creating an incredible show in the sky, which for us occurred from about 7:11-8:23 this evening.

First, tonight was a full moon and the moon was at the closest possible point to the earth in its orbit. This causes the moon to appear bigger and brighter than normal. Typically there are 4-6 supermoons a year, so while cool, they are definitely not anything overly extraordinary. What made tonight so special is the addition of a full lunar eclipse. The sun, earth and moon lined up perfectly, causing the earth to block the sun's rays, thus casting its shadow onto the moon. It made for an eery reddish orange moon, often called a blood moon.

A friend from church who happens to be a scientist invited us over and see the supermoon lunar eclipse. She got out her telescope, made some moon and star shaped sugar cookies and we had a little party in the driveway, all while taking turns viewing the moon. It was so much fun! We decided to try taking a photo of the moon through her telescope. With a steady hand and his cell phone, Bruce captured the image above. Perhaps not the most magnificent supermoon lunar eclipse photo I have seen, but we are pretty darn impressed with it!

I am so glad my kiddos got to see such an amazing sight. It really was beautiful to watch.

And in other news- Shark Bait learned how to roll over. Despite my best efforts to thwart his attempts at growing up, he figured it out. He rolled back to tummy several times over this evening and I managed to catch half of one roll on video.

First Day of School | 2015

After a long, hot summer, school started again on August 10th. And this year, we sent two little girls off for their first day of school. Sunshine started third grade and Beebs is in Kindergarten. Shouldn't sending little ones off to Kindergarten get easier with each child? It definitely wasn't any easier this time around. Maybe because Beebs never left home for preschool. I've been her preschool teacher for the past two years, so this really was my first time sending her off on her own. Luckily, she has Sunshine there to watch out for her, along with all of Sunshine's friends. From what I gather, Beebs is a popular little girl with a lot of third graders who wave to her in the halls and want to give her hugs each time they see her. 

This year I didn't get quite as good a picture to add to the collage, but I love this glimpse of just how much Sunshine has grown and changed since starting school three years ago. Where did our baby girl go!?

Someone else started school this year... With the arrival of Shark Bait, I decided not to teach full fledge, three day a week preschool and instead started a one morning a week toddler class for children Man Cub's age. They come for two hours on Wednesdays and we are beginning to learn the basics of being in a classroom setting. We are three weeks in and it is still a little chaotic, but Man Cub and his friends love coming to school each week. Man Cub knows the names of everyone in the class and he waits anxiously for them to arrive each Wednesday. 

Shark Bait's Milestone Cards | 2 Weeks to 10 Weeks

I always planned on being one of those moms who religiously filled out baby books. I bought special books for each of my first three children and had great intentions of filling out each milestone as soon as it occurred. I was... less than successful in my efforts. Really, Man Cub is the only one with any sort of baby book so far, and that is because I took his monthly photos and combined them all into a photo book. I am working on a similar book for Shark Bait, but I also have another little fun project in the works for him as well.

Instead of an actual baby book, I bought Shark Bait a set of Milestone Cards. They are beautifully illustrated cards to help document each of those important milestones, whether it's turning one month older or getting his first tooth. I just grab the appropriate card, place it beside him and snap a picture. I decided not to stress myself out by feeling the need to get my big camera out and find the perfect lighting. Instead, I just lay Shark Bait on my bed, turn on the overhead light and snap a picture with my phone. So far, the photos have turned out super cute! It is fun to see how much he is growing and changing, and here soon, I'll be able to use this method to document some fun things like rolling over and sitting up. Hopefully not too soon though. I'm not ready for him to be that big just yet!

Sunshine's Baptism

The entire week after getting home from Hawaii was a crazy one, but we knew that would be the case. We arrived home late, late Monday night, Wednesday was Sunshine's birthday and Thursday my family began to roll into town for Sunshine's baptism on Saturday. By Friday night we had a full house and things were a little crazy as we tried to get everything in order for Sunshine's big day.

Sunshine was baptized on Saturday March 28th. She was one of 4 children from our ward alone that was being baptized that day, with the total number from the stake was somewhere around 11 or 12. It was a little bit insane. In my 4 years as Primary President, I had never seen a baptism with so many children participating. Considering the large amount of people at the baptismal service, it went really smoothly and I couldn't be happier with the entire day!

Before leaving for her baptism, Bruce and I took Sunshine aside so we could give her a final birthday/baptism day gift. Bruce had chosen a strand of real pearls for her and he gave them to her explaining that they were to be worn on her baptism day, and then again on the day when she is sealed in the temple. Of course, she can wear them on Sundays and special occasions until then, but we wanted her to have something to link the covenants she made on her baptism day with the covenants she will make when she is one day sealed to a spouse for time and all eternity. It was a really sweet moment when he gave them to her and I definitely cried. Darn pregnancy hormones.

After giving her the necklace, we headed to the church for the 2pm service. Sunshine wore the dress that I was baptized in 22 years and 1 month previously. She looked so beautiful in it and I love that our baptisms are connected through that dress. So many people came to support her, including a lot of non-member friends and even her school teacher! Of all the people who showed up for her special day, I think having her teacher there meant the most to Sunshine. It was incredible to see how many people took time out of their busy Saturday to be there for her. She was grinning from ear to ear as she hugged and greeted everyone.

The baptism went great and the confirmation portion of the service ended up being really neat. With 4 children from our ward being baptized, I was really unsure of how to handle dividing up the responsibilities for the confirmation part. I wanted to involve every family, but didn't want to ask one family to provide a talk and the others to just pick a song or say a prayer. After a lot of thought, I decided to have one of the 8 year old Primary teachers give the Holy Ghost talk, then invite each of the other three families to ask someone to bear testimony of their experience with the Holy Ghost. I knew I would be doing the welcome from the Primary, so I kept that our family's contribution to the program and had my second counselor give the closing prayer. It ended up being a beautiful meeting. I truly enjoyed each of the testimonies that were born and the Spirit was so so strong. Each of the children were given beautiful blessings as they received the Holy Ghost and while I can't remember what was said in any one of the blessings, including Sunshine's, I remember thinking how amazing it was that each child was given a distinctly different, yet truly incredible blessing. Each blessing was so personalized and beautiful without any of them saying the same things.

When it was my turn to speak, and give the welcome from the Primary, I struggled. I knew I would. I had been told by the bishop several weeks earlier that I was going to be released, and this was to be my last act as Primary President. I'd served with these sweet children since they were little Sunbeams, fresh from nursery and it was difficult to stand before them and say all I wanted to say. But I made it through and hopefully did not disturb the spirit that had been brought in by all the others who participated on the program.

After all was said and done, Sunshine got lots of hugs and congratulations before we headed home to celebrate with family and a few friends who stopped by. We enjoyed a huge dessert bar and eventually decided to have dinner as well. It was a really wonderful day and I loved watching Sunshine make her first covenant with her Heavenly Father. She was absolutely ready to do so and it has been wonderful to watch her continue to mature in the gospel over the past few months since her baptism day. Bruce and I are truly blessed to be the parents of such a sweet girl who is so close to the Spirit and wants so badly to do what is right. She is most certainly a choice daughter of our Heavenly Father and it is such an honour to be trusted to raise her.

Hello, Second Grade!

Today was Sunshine's first day of second grade. I know, I say it all the time, but I cannot believe how fast she is growing up. I have very clear memories of my second grade year. It is crazy to think that the things she is experiencing now are things she will remember for a long long time.

A few things she might remember from her first day of second grade...

* Sunshine is not in the same class as her two best friends. Sunshine has been friends with Abby and Audrina since Kindergarten, and they have been in the same class every year since Kindergarten. This year, Abby and Audrina are in the same class but Sunshine is not with them. It is very unfortunate, especially once I found out why she was not put in the same class with them, but Bruce and I decided to let it be a life lesson. We could have easily gone in and had her changed to the other class, but we don't want her to think that we can always magically fix anything in life that doesn't go her way. I don't want her to feel entitled to have things always go her way, so even though I don't agree at all with the circumstances that led to her being separated from her two best friends, we are keeping her where she is and allowing it to be a growing and learning opportunity. (And don't worry! Sunshine didn't do anything wrong- in fact, the situation could be taken as a compliment, but right now, it just feels sad)

* Sunshine was so, so nervous about her first day of school this year. I've never seen her so nervous. She was extremely anxious over starting a new grade without Abby and Audrina by her side, but we spent a lot of time talking about how this was a good chance to make new friends and Bruce gave her a beautiful father's blessing during Family Home Evening on Monday. This helped, but Sunshine still struggled to sleep last night. When she woke up this morning she told me she had a terrible night sleep, that she kept waking up and wiggling all night long. I made one of her favourite breakfasts (egg in the hole) and she ate 2 bites before telling me her tummy was full of butterflies and she just couldn't eat. She was a wreck!

* I walked Sunshine to her classroom. Audrina's mom and dad came in to say hi and check on her. Abby's mom came in to give her a hug. Audrina has been praying that Sunshine would do ok being in the other class. We've been praying. Everyone checked in after school to see how her day went... and we are happy to report, it was a great day. Sunshine loved her class. Her teacher had some really fun activities planned, she got to sit at the same lunch table as Abby and Audrina and play with them at recess. Despite her nerves and the fact that she is not with her friends, Sunshine had a great day and she is now very excited about second grade.

* Sunshine's favourite part of school today was drinking "jitter juice". It was sprite and ice cream mixed, and her teacher (Ms. P) told the students that the bubbles from the drink would chase away their butterflies. Sunshine was happy to let us know that jitter juice is yummy and that it totally did the trick and her butterflies went away.

Now, for picture overload... including one awesome pictures showing just how much Sunshine has grown and changed over the past three years of "first day of school"s.

Toothless

Today is a day for the record books. At 7 years 5 months old, Sunshine FINALLY lost her first tooth. She has been waiting for this day for over a year. She realized at the end of Kindergarten that most of her friends were losing teeth and she was not. She asked the dentist at each visit, when it was going to be her turn, and the dentist very accurately guessed that Sunshine would not lose a tooth until she was starting second grade.

We have since realized part of the reason that Sunshine is so late in losing her baby teeth- she is missing at least 3, if not 4, of her bottom permanent teeth. Without grown up teeth to help dissolve the roots of those baby teeth and push them out of the way, there is nothing to encourage them to leave Ü Luckily, her top permanent teeth all appear to be in place and they are starting to work their magic. And Bruce and I have earmarked our life savings for orthodontic work.

Two weeks ago we realized that Sunshine's top two front teeth were starting to wiggle and she has been working hard to free them. She asks me multiple times a day to "check my toofers" and one of them has progressively gotten looser and looser. This afternoon, we met up with Bruce's dad to drop Sunshine off for a sleepover and her loose tooth was barely hanging in there. Bruce was sure that his dad would pull it out and he was really sad about missing out on that parenting rite of passage. So while we stood in the Costco parking lot, Bruce grabbed a Kleenex from the car and took hold of Sunshine's tooth. One tug and nothing happened. He asked Sunshine to let him try one more time and she didn't even wince as he gave the final pull and the tooth was out. She was grinning from ear to ear, so excited to finally have lost a tooth.

Unfortunately, she is sleeping over at Grandpa's tonight, so the Tooth Fairy won't be visiting until Sunday, but boy is she excited! I, on the other hand, am a little sad. This is just one more reminder that my baby is growing up. But she sure is cute with that little tiny hole where a tooth use to be.

In other news from today- we had a glorious few moments of 77 degree weather when a monsoon blew in. The sky was dark and cloudy, there were a few drops of rain and a cool  breeze. It was heaven on earth I tell you! A welcome and wonderful break from triple digit, hellish temps. Beebs and Man Cub took the opportunity to dance in the rain and enjoy the lovely weather. We wish it would happen more often.

Last smile with all her baby teeth

The final tug

A tiny tooth and a very excited little girl

She's toothless!

And here's Beebs... dancing her heart out in the BEAUTIFUL weather we enjoyed this afternoon