February 1

I don't know if anyone reads this or not.  If you do, leave me a quick comment, just so I know.  I really do it for me, but I am curious to see who else looks at it.

Last week was a pretty normal one.  Kirk got home Sunday night.  He had a good trip and got to see his grandparents, Marsha, Steve, Cody and Molly.  His grandma Morris passed away on Wednesday after he got home.

Monday Michelle watched Cami for me and took her to the play gym.  Ellie and I stayed home for a while and then I returned some curtains to Kohls and picked up some new shoes at JC Penney before getting Cade from preschool.

Tuesday I was really tired from being up too much at night.  Cade had lots of energy and needed to play.  We invited Liam and Becky Bronner over to play and had a great time.  We stayed home in the afternoon.

Wednesday Kirk was off.  He went to work in the morning and Cade went to preschool.  In the afternoon he took the kids for a little hike at Bateman Island and I stayed home with Ellie and cleaned some rooms upstairs.  After they got home I went to the temple and Kirk stayed with the kids.

Thursday.  I don't remember what we did.  The only notes I have were about dinner.  The kids didn't want to eat and I started singing a song.  They didn't like that so I told them I would stop if they ate.  I sang and whenever they took a bite, I stopped.  They thought it was pretty funny and kept telling me to sing so they could take another bite and make me stop.

Friday Cade went to preschool again and then to speech.  He is doing so much better!  When they first tested him in October he couldn't say a K or a G sound and now he does both regularly.  He really progressed fast and I think they are going to test him again in a couple of weeks and we may be done with speech for a while.  He really didn't like going at first, but now he enjoys it.  The highlight of the day was that we found 4 star wars books and one princess book on the discard cart at the library.  The kids were in heaven.

Saturday I really wanted to go to Winco so I could hit it without 3 kiddos.  Kirk had to be at the family Expo and would be gone from 9:30-2:00 and had a couple of other things he wanted to do at home.  We were awake early and I ended up going to Winco with Cade at 6:30.  It was kinda fun to just take him.  He thought it was cool that we went without Cami and that it was dark when we left.  I got home and we had crepes for breakfast and then I gave the kids baths, showered and fed Ellie a time or 2 by 10:30.  Kirk hung out at home for a while in the afternoon and then went to hit some golf balls at the range.  The kids and I watched Hotel Transylvania.  We had dinner at Five Guys and filled up on french fries.  Kirk got called into work just as we were finishing eating and ended up seeing 2 patients from 6:30-9:30.

Sunday we went to church.  Kirk and Cade walked and Cade tripped and got a big scratch on his forhead.  Ellie has been doing great at church.  She usually sleeps for about 2-2 1/2 hours and then eats and then we go home.  It has been a great blessing.  Kirk gave a talk on agency and did a good job.  That night we had Aaron and Becky Bronner over for dinner.  They live behind us.  Their son, Liam, is 9 days younger than Cade and they have a lot of fun playing together.

Cade:

• Whenever we tell Cade someone is coming over he says "What!  Darth Vader is coming over?"  The funny thing is that Liam showed up wearing a Darth Vader costume this time.  
• He loves to play star wars!  We pretend to be different character and then fight the bad guys.  One day we put chairs by the window and pretended that all of the cars driving past were space ships.  We shot them down!  Another night Cade was running back and forth in the play room and I was shooting the ceiling with a nerf gun and trying to bounce it down to hit him.  
• I told Cade if he cleaned up the play room while I fed Ellie one night that we could play Candyland.  He ended up cleaning up all of the toys and then he wanted to vaccuum.  He got out the vacuum and turned it on and vacuumed all over the room.  Cami also took a turn.  We never played Candyland.  Cade likes to guess what people will say.  When we went up to bed he told me "When daddy gets home he will see that it is vacuumed in here and say did you vacuum and you will say no Cade did and Daddy will be so impressed."
• Cade likes to stand his light saber up by his bed each night.  One morning he was confused and told me that he had set his light saber up how he likes it, but it was knocked over in the morning.  I told him I had accidentally kicked it when I came in to cover him.  
• Cade asked me if dinosaurs ate people.  I told him that the dinosaurs died before the people lived on the earth.  He asked where the people came from because people have to come out of other people's tummies.  I thought it was a pretty insightful question.  
• Cade really loves his sisters and looks out for them.  If I can't help one of them right away, Cade will do what he can to help them.  He rocks Ellie's carseat or gives her the binky.  He will get diapers for me.  If she spits up he will grab a burp cloth.  He tries to compromise with Cami, get things she can't reach, or find the toys she wants.  
• One night I was getting ready for dinner and Cade said "What can I do to help you, Mommy?  I will do anything you need because I love you."  We got a good boy!  He is a special kid and I really love him too.    

Cami:

• We were at church and I wiped Cami's nose.  She got upset and told me to put the boogers back in her nose.  She didn't like my explanation that they were stuck to the tissue.  
• Ellie was awake and I needed to get her a bottle.  I put her in her bed so she would be safe and left the room to make a bottle.  Then I heard Cade saying "Cami, don't step on Ellie!"  Cami wanted to play with Ellie and climbed into her bed.  
• Cami was way too quiet while I was making dinner.  I went to check on her.  She was sitting in a box painting her toenails.  Luckily, the paint only got all over her feet and not on the carpet or her clothes!  She was proud of herself and thought she did a great job.  I was happy that she chose to do it in a box.  
• Cami got put in her room for hitting Cade.  When I went back up to get her, she was happy, but had ripped all of the blankets off of Cade's bed.  
• She can also be super sweet.  We were watching Brave and she came and snuggled with me under a blanket.  She looked up at me and said "mom, I love you."  Another time she told me I was her best friend.  
• Cami likes to dress up in a necklace, crown and high heels.  One day she did this and told me "I am the prettiest girl alive!"  No vanity here!
• Cami lets me babysit her dolls or stuffed animals when she has to go on a "date"

Ellie

• She is now eating 4 ounces 5-6 times a day and 3 ounces 2 times at night.  I just bumped up the daytime feeding, but don't want to give her any more at night.  
• She will sleep 4-6 hours to start out the night and then 3-4 after that.  She is usuallly up around 1 am and then 4:30 and then 8:00.  Luckily she eats and goes right back to sleep.  
• She is getting better at falling asleep on her own.  Saturday, Sunday and Monday she fell asleep with very little crying for 80% of her naps.  Sometimes she only sleeps 45 minutes, but often it will be at least an hour and a half.  Sometimes I think she is asleep and really she is just laying in her bed really quiet for 45 minutes or so before she falls asleep.  At least she is happy during those times.  
• Friday she had a hard time and took 3 naps all less than an hour.  She woke up from the last one at 3:30 and was still really tired and onery.  I put her in the bjorn and held her while I made dinner and played with Cade and Cami and she slept for an hour and a half.  
• Ellie loves Cade and Cami and watches them and looks around to find them when they are talking.  
• She smiles a lot and talks a lot and has giggled a few times.  She really likes her mommy.  
• Kirk has only changed a handful of Ellie's diapers.  Luckily, when I was at the temple this week he got to change a really poopy one.  When I was at Winco, he got to change a really wet one that resulted in new clothes.  
• She is growing, but still small.  She just hit 2 months old this week.  She is in size one diapers and 0-3 month clothes and I don't think we will be moving up before 3 months.  
• She can hold her head up well, hates to be on her tummy and wiggles all of the time.