Damon Jeffrey

This morning I was lying in bed in the darkness, listening to Damon breathe rather loudly. He was "doing time" in a dark corner of our bedroom for locking the girls in their room. (As a side note, I have had to switch some door handles around so that 1) I can lock Kyla in her room at night, and 2) I can lock the pantry and keep the kids from constantly snacking). For some reason, this morning I just started thinking about my oldest son and was just filled with an overwhelming love for him. I always thought I wanted a girl first, so she could help take care of the rest of the kids, but I am confident that we couldn't have a better first child than Damon.

I don't always give him the credit he deserves. As the oldest, I expect a lot of out of him, and I feel like I am always reminding him of the things he needs to do (make his bed, practice his piano, do his homework, brush his teeth, etc) instead of focusing on all the things he does that make my life easier. The perfect example was Sunday morning. Jeff is gone Sunday mornings to meetings at 7:30, so he isn't around to help us get ready for 9:00 church. And it's usually a struggle to get everyone looking good and out of the house by 8:55. Carter has been especially needy and wants to be held. But because I can't hold him, he sits on the floor and cries his big alligator tears while I hastily curl the girls' hair or brush my own teeth. Damon has always been really good about getting himself ready in the morning, and this week he was ready to go at 8:30. That's when I put him to work. He spent the next 20-25 minutes tending Carter, getting anything and everything I asked, and overall making sure we made it to church on time. I was sitting in sacrament meeting and I realized how we wouldn't have made it without him. He was exactly what I needed. And I made sure to tell him how much I appreciated all his help.

Those same feelings I had on Sunday came back this morning as I was listening to him sit in the darkness, taking his punishment without complaint. While there are things he does that drive me absolutely crazy, Damon is really good about doing what he is supposed to do. He rarely complains when I remind him about his homework or his piano, but just does what I ask. There may be times when he wants to discuss WHY he has to do something, but never over the things he knows are expected of him.

This year he is in a tough class at school. He got into an accelerated program, and it's been very demanding. Every week he has to learn 20 spelling words, and every Monday he knows maybe 5 of them. Yet by the end of the week, he almost always knows them all (here are some of his words this week, as an example: cooperation, defensive, century...hard words like that). He has to memorize a poem every month and pass it off for his teacher. He has math homework every night, and he has to explain HOW he came up with the answers. Yet with all that is expected of him, I have never heard him complain about how hard it is. He just accepts it and does his best. I know it doesn't always come easy to him (especially when it comes to writing), but he works hard. And I'm so proud of his positive attitude. I know that bodes well for his future success.

And it seems like he is growing up so fast. In some ways he is still that little, sweet boy he has always been. But in other ways, he is changing so fast. He started Cub Scouts and he thinks it is the greatest thing in the world. If I tell him at 4:30 that he has pack meeting at 6:30, he will immediately change into his uniform and talk excitedly about it for the rest of the afternoon.

He has a funny habit of running his hand through his hair (he has always loved hair), and so his hair is always sticking up in the front. It makes me laugh.

Last night we were carving pumpkins and Damon disappeared for a while. He came running down the stairs, a little out of breath, and said, "I did something bad and I'm going to be in big trouble!" After a bit of coaxing, he admitted that he was trying to light a candle to put in his pumpkin and had accidentally burned his thumb. Oh, and he hid the used matches under his dresser. Of course we had quite the talk about playing with matches and how lucky he was that something worse didn't happen, but I couldn't help but applaud his courage to tell the truth. It was evident (by the hidden matches) that he thought about not telling us what happened. But in the end, he did what he knew was right.

And I hope that he will always do what is right. And always work hard. And always help me get to church on time.

A couple weeks worth

My pictures loaded in reverse order, so I guess that is how I will recap the last couple weeks. While I was on my girls' get-away, Jeff had a birthday. And as much as he tried to tell me he didn't care if we ignored it completely, I still felt bad. So while he was on his little boys' get-away, the kids and I did a little something for his birthday. It really wasn't much, but the kids had a great time decorating and I made him a peach pie, which turned out pretty well. I'm not up to my mom's standards when it comes to pie making, but who is, really?

Damon did all this decorating himself. I thought it was great. Jeff wasn't thrilled with his interior decorating skills.

This one is a little blurry, and I'm not sure why.

Kyla pulling a little attitude and refusing to turn around for this picture. Notice Carter's new trick of pulling himself up on the stairs. And the fact that he has a pen and pencil in his mouth. I'm still counting on the fact that he needs his hands to balance and won't be able to get them close to his mouth (or eyes or ears for that matter) while he is perched on the stairs.


As mentioned above, I got to go on a little get-away with my mom and sister last week. It was originally going to be a larger group of 6 of us, but at the last minute, it ended up just being the 3 of us. We went to Boston. Everyone asked why Boston and we didn't have a great reason. We just wanted to go there, and it was convenient when flying JetBlue (which we were doing--my sister and I on buddy passes and my mom for free since my brother works for them). Plus who doesn't love Boston? It is such an awesome city.

I didn't take a lot of pictures and will have to steal more from my mom and sis, but here is a quick rundown of what we did while there:

We took a tour of Harvard, given by some students. Highly entertaining and beautiful campus. I had no idea it was so small (only 6,000 undergrads and 12,000 graduates). Truly elite.

The John Harvard statue, which is not John Harvard. It also says he was the founder, which isn't true, he was a benefactor. And the date on the statue is off by two years. Hence, it is called the Statue of Three Lies. Also, we chose not to rub the toe of the statue (you can see his left toe is a little more gold then the rest) after the tour guides told us that some of the students like to use "the John" in this location. Hahaha, very funny. But disgusting.

One of the gorgeous buildings on campus. The freshman eat here.

We ate at the BEST seafood restaurant near Harvard called Legal Sea Foods. It is a chain started in New England, and we had heard nothing but good things about it. It may have been the highlight of the trip, it was that good. The Clam Chowder, Lobster Bisque, Mushroom Ravioli, and especially the Boston Creme Pies. Everything was fantastic, and we even got to order off the lunch menu, even though it was after 4:00, when lunch had supposedly ended. Someone has pictures of the food. I must see them again. I am tempted to order a couple creme pies online. Maybe for Christmas...

Day two we spent on the Freedom Trail. I don't have many pics from this day, but it was a lot of fun. We walked about 3 miles seeing sights and enjoying the crisp fall weather. We ended at the USS Constitution, nicknamed "Old Ironsides." It was a ship in the war of 1812 that never lost a battle. Now it is a tourist location with awesome views of the city.

Here are my sister and I aboard the ship.

And here we are at some cool place along the way. This would be a fun place to do a photo shoot, no?

Then we rented a car and gave ourselves a "Fall Foliage" tour along Route 20 to Sudsbury. It was beautiful and so fun to get out of the city for a few hours.

We made it back to Belmont (a suburb) in time for dinner and the last temple session of the evening. It was a really fun day and so nice to be in the temple with these two.

I took a couple pics on the subway for fun. My mom would get out her crochet every time she had a few moments. I thought it was funny. Is the man next to her watching what she's doing?

And this one was outside the last car we rode on Day 2. My favorite part is the man in the leather jacket smiling for the pic. Nicely done, local Boston man.

I had a bit of trouble getting on my flight the next morning, as flying standby is not always what it is cracked up to be. And instead of taking the night flight to Vegas and taking shuttles home, I ended up buying a seat on US Airways right into SLC. It may have cost $40-$50 more, but at that point, we were all ready to be done with the stress of standby (Heather and my mom made their flights fine, but Heather had to spend the night in the airport).

Overall, it was a great trip. We didn't get to sleep in nearly as much as I would like, considering the time change and the lack of sleep flying all night to get there, but it was awesome. I'm definitely looking forward to doing it again. Just not flying standby.

Here are a couple more pics I got off the camera today. My freshman roomie, Tiffanie, came to visit for FHE and we decorated cookies. I only took pictures of the kids, though. That was dumb. But they had a good time.

Whirlwind summary, it deserves so much more. But at least it's documented. Perhaps I'll write more when I get more pics from the other two.

Eight Months and After Shots

Carter is now eight months old, and it seems like he is experiencing a burst of development. Besides the new trick of learning to crawl, he also impressed us last week by showing us that he is not only good at tapping, but also at clapping. We all think it's the cutest thing in the world.

At eight months, Carter still refuses to hold his bottle. He will hold it for a minute or two, but always drops it and rolls over (or sits up) and then starts crying. He really wants to be babied. Every day I make him try, and he is getting a little better, but every day I end up holding it for him so he'll eat. He would much rather eat anything rather than drink a bottle (including paper, toys, any sort of food or dirt), and I have to force him to get his ounces in every day. Strange, because he's such a big boy, you'd think he'd want all those calories, but he doesn't particularly care about them.

He is in 12-18 month clothes. The pants are a little long, but not horrible.

He also thinks it's funny when I wipe his behind (or maybe it's ticklish). I have never had a baby giggle when I wipe them, so it always makes me giggle, too, but I love it.

He started babbling this month, mostly favoring the "dada" sounds, but occasionally throwing out a "baba" or a "mama" when he's tired. He also learned to make a clicking sound, which he prefers over all other sounds. Future horse trainer, perhaps?

He got sick last week, with a fever for a few days, and had decreased appetite, increased sleepiness and overall more irritability. After the fever was gone, he got a rash on his chest and back that lasted for a day. He seems to be feeling better now, although he still is a little sleepier than normal (which means 3-4 hour nap in the afternoon) and generally he is grouchier than before. What is your diagnosis? I'll post what I think it was at the bottom.

Carter loves his binky, but I usually only give it to him when he's going to bed. This week has been different, though, because he's been so sad. I have let him have it a lot more. He likes to chew on it (teething probably, since he has no teeth still--well, one of his top teeth is exposed, but that is due to gum recession), and has no problem getting it in and out.

He also loves when I put my hand over his mouth and help him create the "babababa" sound. He has started doing it himself with his own hand, but usually ends up tapping his cheek or his ear, and it doesn't quite work out like he plans.

We are all still crazy about this boy, high maintenance though he may be. And as long as we can keep Kyla happy, and not hitting him with a broom, life is good.

Finally, here are the "After" shots of Kyla. About half-way through her haircut, she got really sad, and said, "I don't like haircuts." I think the reality was finally sinking in, and she won't be having a ponytail anytime soon. I think she looks cute, though. Once those bangs (the ones she cut herself) are long enough to stay out of her face, that is.

And here's my shot. Try to look at the hair and not the crazy face. I'm not a big fan (of the face--the hair is fine).

It's just a phase, right?

This little love of mine (Kyla) used to be my favorite. She used to be so sweet and happy and fun. I used to feel guilty that I liked her more than the other kids. But times have changed. Kyla has changed. And I am praying it is just a phase that she will grow out of soon!

While she still has moments of sweetness and times of happiness that remind me of the way things were, they are becoming fewer and farther between. This independent three year old has become so sassy and manipulative, it makes me crazy.

For example: If she asks me to do something (say, make her a piece of toast 30 minutes after breakfast has ended), and I refuse, she responds by throwing out as many verbal threats as her little mind can come up with. "If you don't make me some toast, I'm not going to eat today." "Make me some toast now, or I will throw a library book in the trash." "If you don't do it, I'm going to kick you in the face." These types of threats will continue until she finds something that reaches its mark. Usually it will be something like, "If you don't do it, I'm going to hurt Carter." She knows that will draw a reaction from me (because as evidenced by the time last week she hit him with a broom, she isn't joking).

If her threats fall on deaf ears, she will go into Jeff's office and get a push pin from the desk. Then she will come out and offer up physical threats. "If you don't make me toast, I will poke you with this pin." Then she will stab me with it until I take it away, haul her uncooperative behind to timeout, and cry for the next 3 minutes about how she doesn't like me anymore and she doesn't want to be my best friend. Oh, and that she wants her daddy.

She also can't seem to learn from her mistakes. The one she is consistently making right now is coloring and drawing on things that are not paper. Jeff and I decided a while back that we weren't going to spank the kids anymore. Not that it happened all that often, but occasionally we felt we needed to. The one exception is for repeat bad behavior. Kyla knows that if she draws on the couch, or the wall, or her sheets, or her shorts, she is going to get a spanking. And every time, I explain to her that we don't want to spank her. We don't like it. But we hope that she will remember the next time she feels like drawing to get a piece of paper and to show a little bit of restraint when it comes to everything else. So far, the message isn't getting through. Yesterday, she drew on the tv with crayon. Which scratched the tv. Again. Jeff wasn't happy. When informed that she was going to be spanked yet again, she begged for some "vigganer" instead (her punishment when she talks about killing with a sharp knife), but didn't get her wish. She also is grounded from any writing instrument until further notice, but since when has that stopped her?

For the most part, I am calm when she behaves this way. I understand that she is testing her limits and trying to figure out what is and isn't acceptable. But sometimes I lose it. Yesterday she was mad at me because I told her she couldn't take her fully assembled puzzle in the car to pick up the kids from school. She threw out a few verbal threats about how she didn't like me and wasn't going to come with me to get the kids. Then, she promptly marched upstairs to the room where Carter was sleeping, turned on the light, and locked the door behind her. We were already running late, and when she refused to open the door, I banged on it, yelling at her. I just snapped. And I may have given her a little swat once she opened the door and ran out. Dang it. There went my good intentions not to give her an emotional reaction to her behavior. I guess I'll have to try again.

It's just hard right now. And while I'm praying it's a phase she'll grow out of, I also look at it as an opportunity for me to grow. Because apparently I need some growth myself.

One more story about Kyla that really made me laugh. This one was on Facebook a couple days ago. Kyla was playing with a pirate and Cinderella, having them talk to one another. The pirate told Cinderella, "I'm going to kill you!" (I really don't know why she is so violent. It's a complete mystery to me). I told her that I didn't like her talking like that, so instead, she had the pirate say, "I'm going to make you dead." Hahaha. Maybe a little more gentle, but still completely beside the point.

cabin

A few weeks ago we went with our neighbors to their family cabin for the weekend. I took my camera with the intention to take a lot of great pictures, but we were having too much fun to remember and I only ended up with a few. We rode 4-wheelers, fished, ate, played games, fed local wildlife and enjoyed being away from home. My kids are asking when we can go back. We'd better be nice, and hope that we get invited back some day! Thanks Sumners!

I did find a picture of all the kiddies. Just no Jeff in these. I'm sure he's broken up. These are from our fishing experience. We told the kids that unless someone caught a fish, we weren't going to be eating dinner. Fortunately, we did have success and we could all breathe easily (and no, we didn't eat those tiny things. It was just part of the game).


And here's the other two riding the 4 wheelers. Man, Damon was in heaven.