Current updates

Kiersa

Kiersa started saying "Mama" this morning, though I don't think she was really meaning to call me. She's just finally starting to babble. She's not crawling yet, though she did crawl on her hands and knees the other day for a second, but she still army crawls everywhere she wants to go.

Because of her adorable chub, she's officially a month behind my other kids on physical development. She sat alone at 6 months instead of 5, and will most likely crawl at 8 months (she turned 8 months yesterday) instead of 7. My prediction is that she'll walk at 11 months instead of 9 or 10 like my others. I'll miss her chubby rolls once she gets more active and burns them off. We can't even put shoes on her now because the top of her feet are too chubby to fit into shoes. Her hair is growing really fast and I don't think I'll need to shave it anymore because it's growing in nice and even. I only shaved her head twice, whereas my other kids were shaved closer to a half-dozen times before their hair looked decent enough to leave alone. We went to the park the other day with some $6 pizza and breadsticks from Little Ceasars, and Kiersa would NOT leave the breadsticks alone. She doesn't have teeth yet, but she gummed those breadsticks to death!

Baby #4

Since Kiersa is 8 months old, that means I only have 4 months left before our little girl arrives. We really like the name Paisley (thanks Linda mom), so we'll see if that's what we end up naming her. It's off limits to everyone else!!! We like our names to stay uncommon!

Talea

Talea is really into doing "talks" with her toys. She always wants to have a "Barbie talk", or a "Sheep talk", or a whatever toy it is talk with me or Hyatt.

She loves going to the mailbox to get the mail, and she even went out with a flashlight at night once to get it.

Tilly is obsessed with technology and picks it up instantly like her Dad. She has figured out how to operate his iphone, play golf on it and score par and birdie lots of times, and even called her Grammie in Ashland by herself on it, much to our amazement. She can operate a computer like a pro, including all types of mouses (do you pluralize that to mice???), and even picked up on how to operate my label maker. She may have taken 5 months to remember her age (4, not 3 or 6 or anything else), but she'll pick up any instrument of technology and blow you away with her skills. I don't think she'll be one to read instruction booklets. Oh, she also figured out how to work the DVD player in the car by herself, and the headphones, so she puts her own movies in and takes care of the fast forward, pause, play, etc by herself. Even our complicated DVD player at home that stumps me on occasion has been tamed by Talea. She obviously gets it from her Dad.

Some ladies in my ward started a preschool thing for the sunbeam age kids twice a week since no one in our ward has their 4 year-olds in preschool, so I thought I'd check it out. Yesterday was our first time going, but I forgot my camera. I haven't been one to want to send my kids to preschool, but I figured since this was more of a play date with some education involved, we'd try it out. There are 5 moms with kids. It's twice a week for 2 hours each time, and it's done on a rotation where the moms take turns figuring out a lesson and holding it at her house. Talea is such a social bug that she loves it, but she gets so excited for it all that she gets a little out of hand with her exuberance. She acts silly and gets loud, which I find annoying, and it would bug me if other kids did that, so I'm trying to work on that with her. Yesterday, we collected leaves and did crayon rubbings with them, then the kids made spiders by sticking pretzels in a Reese's peanut butter cup (that didn't work out so well), then books about the letter L and the number 4 were read and they watched a scooby doo pirate movie until the moms came. I like that it's with church members who have the same values and principles that I do. I think we'll keep going and see how it goes.

Hyatt

Hyatt's learning to be more boyish, even with all the girly influences. He'll say his stuff is handsome, never cute, and he'll say something is "cool dude". I took him to the bathroom at church on Sunday, and he said the toilet was a cool dude toilet after he peed in it. He'll say his clothes are cool dude clothes or they're handsome, and he'll choose to play with the horses instead of the Barbies when he plays with Tilly. He likes to make things blue (the fairies on Sleeping Beauty had a color fight over pink and blue), and he wants nothing more than to work with his Daddy.

When we got back from England, Hyatt was so used to being with Hyrum all the time that he now about panics if Hyrum doesn't take him when he leaves. He'll get dressed in a matter of seconds if he knows that's all he has before Hyrum leaves. He says he's a great "helping boy" and he needs to work with Daddy, whether it's out on the house or at the office or on the road.

Hyatt turned up with some mystery burns the other day. I have no idea where they came from, and neither Hyrum nor I have any recollection of Hyatt crying in pain from a burn, yet the huge blisters were there to prove it. I don't know how long he had them before I noticed them while washing his hands one day.

Hyrum and Tiana

With the economy getting worse and the housing market down, people aren't buying kitchens like they used to, so work is slower here. The contractors in the area say that during a big election year, the economy always drops and business slows, so hopefully things pick up soon. All the kitchen businesses are hurting for work because now that money is tight, people are spending money on upgrading their countertops to granite instead of getting new cabinets first. It doesn't make much sense though, because granite lasts forever, so to put something like granite on worn, old cabinets really is a waste in the end because you'll have to rip it off to put in new cabinets soon.

In an effort to cut costs and be of some assistance, I'll now be joining Hyrum at the office most days, on the condition that my kids won't be in a daycare or with a sitter. We made a playroom at Hyrum's shop so I can go down there and help him, and I'll be able to bring the kids with me. They have toys, books, drawing stuff, movies, food and bikes to keep them entertained, so I'll be able to watch the shop while Hyrum goes out to find jobs, and I can help him do the books, plus I'll still be able to play with the kids and help Talea with school stuff. I haven't painted the walls yet, but we got some leftover cabinets put in for storage and Tilly has found her new love...www.starfall.com...since it's preschooly stuff on the computer. Also, customers will finally have a place for their kids to play when they come in to get their kitchens designed.

His secretary/bookkeeper, Liz, will be quitting because we had to cut her hours back to part time (we really didn't need her full time earlier but she wanted insurance and we wanted to make her happy...now funds are tight), and she needs a full-time job. Hyrum's installers are rejoicing about her imminent departure. She has a "talent" for driving our employees nuts because she's really abrasive and a know-it-all type of person, and we thought we might lose our installers because of her while we were in England. Plus, she smokes right by the front door and makes the showroom stink! I'm not thrilled about going to the office to "work", but I'll be glad to get rid of the cigarette smell that Liz brings in the showroom and bathroom, and Hyrum's installers are practically singing praises to me for taking Liz's place since they think I'll be easier to work with (little do they know...). It's actually working out fine because we all get to be around Hyrum more and I can arrange things down there in a way I think is better for first impression.