Our Christmas photo

Just for the record, last Christmas we decided to send out a different kind of Christmas picture. It looked something like this. Ryan picked out who got which mustache. We did try to put one on Leia, but it scared her to death... so she was clean shaven. We were not able to send one out to everyone, since they were a bit pricey, but we did give some of our friends a good laugh.

The other keeper.

Aquarium

Last Saturday our whole family was together, which has been extremely rare lately, so we decided to finally take a trip out to the aquarium in New Jersey. I have been wanting to go there since a few friends and colleagues of Ryan had mentioned how wonderful it is, but to get in is rather pricey for a family of 5 on a resident's salary. We were fortunate that they had a special going on if you ordered the tickets online which made the trip more doable.

The trip was great and we decided to weather the crazy wind and venture out. I think in New Jersey it was worse. Not as bad as the Fontana winds that take out semi- trucks on the freeway, but pretty close. I was coming around a bend and literally could not turn the stroller due to wicked winds. Ryan laughed at me but was quick to come to my aid.

It was a little crazy once inside due to the amount of people there, but we decided quickly where to go and everything fell into place from there. We visited the shark petting area first which Ella was hesitant at first to try but then was great and touched one. We then moved on to the sting rays which all the kids loved... we even went back later in the day. This petting area had a special place where the little little kids were only allowed and could get super close to the rays. Ryan took Leia first and then Ella. Ella actually made a sting ray friend who Ryan said the ray would keep coming back to her like it wanted Ella to pet it. So cute. Ella made a new friend and was tickled to tell the story. While that happened I held on to Leia and she just had a ball touching the water while I did the super mom grip so she would not fall in while looking up across the water to make sure Jonathan was OK. He was fine except that he was covered in water!

In between the two sting ray visits we went to all the other areas of the aquarium. At one point Leia announced, " no fishies" so she was done looking for a bit. We were able to walk through a tunnel with sharks passing over us which was really cool. Then of course we looked at all the little tanks filled with fish, jelly fish, or something else you can find in the ocean. It was a great day, the kids had a blast, but most importantly it was nice to spend it together.

Ella getting ready to touch some sharks while Leia looks at them.

Jonathan waiting for the next sting ray to come by. A little side story: Jonathan was next to a mom with her teenage daughter who were both waiting to touch a ray. The mom commented how brave he was. A few minutes later a huge ray comes right next to all three of them but something spooked it so it flapped up its fins, girlie girl screams escaped their mouths while Jonathan dodged the splash and the mother/ daughter combo proceeded to get drenched. It was an entertaining moment.

I thought the blue lobster was quite amazing to look at.

A few threats from daddy is what helped create this decent picture of the kids.

Yes, yes, our kids were almost eaten up by a shark. Luckily they escaped but I can't say the other little kids in the picture were as lucky.

The actual shark tube... it was hard to get a picture w/o the flash that was not blurry.

longing for Spring

I am rather done with Winter and so is about half of our house hold. When I look out the window I wish I would see grass and not this icy stuff that is lying around. I just love it when the snow melts away and the grass begins to turn from brown to green. Then the leaves start growing and once again the lush, green PA trees make their appearance. Many residents also plant bulbs so those as well pop up and start to bloom all over.

Oh winter, please be over soon. I want the kids to be able to play outside and visit the zoo again. Not to mention check out a few parks in the area. It has been a little warmer and the other day a heard a bird! Wishful thinking has gone into overload.

18 months

Back on February 5th Leia turned 18 months old. It is a big deal since she is now legal for Nursery, which she enjoyed going full time last Sunday. It helped that Daddy dropped her off. It seems not to be as traumatic when he leaves compared to me.

The last month has been a rough one for her. Being sick mixed in with teething has made her grouchy and in pain. I would look at her and wonder where MY little Leia went but luckily last Sunday she was once again a happy little girl toddling around.

Her checkup has rather crazy. That morning was a very icy one so school was canceled for Jonathan. I deiced my car once and as I was walking out with the kids my car had iced over again. With everyone buckled in we sat in a cold car waiting for the windows to clear with me praying we would not be late. I wasn't even sure if the office was open, because sometimes things are cancelled out here due to weather, but the office was open. We had to walk extremely carefully as to not slip in the parking lot that was yet to be plowed. Once inside I filled out paperwork and did not finish it before they called her name. The kids were rather well behaved but it still gets pretty loud in those small rooms. When it was time to weigh Leia she lost it and could not for the life of her sit on the baby scale long enough to get an accurate number. With that idea scratched, we headed out to the hallway to get a measurement with me holding her... Leia screaming and 2 other kids in tow. We passed by her doctor and I just gave him a thumbs up sign which I think he laughed at. Luckily we got the number and were able to get through the rest of the exam. Leia did get a shot, but I armed her with a lollipop. I am sooooo grateful I had a good attitude and was able to laugh about the whole thing because it was quite a fiasco.

After her appointment I had mine across the hallway so the poor thing had to suffer a little longer. My heart goes out to the prego ladies in the waiting room. I think with of all Leia's whining she made a few of them question why they wanted kids. My appointments are pretty standard: take my blood pressure... normal, measure my belly... normal, listen to baby's heartbeat.... awe.. cute, it's normal, and weight.... wow, how did I gain that much in one month, but still within normal limits... for now. I am grateful everything is normal because it does ease my mind and if boring appointments is part of that, I'm OK because I always love to hear the baby's heart beat.

Leia's 18 month stats

Weight: 22.4 lbs. no weight gain makes me a little worried.

Length: 33.5 inches

HC: 15.2 inches (OK last month they measured 19, so someone is wrong. My child has serious head swelling issues or someone messed up a measurement)

As for her developmental:

She can eat yogurt and applesauce with a spoon

She did a little jump, both feet, and stuck it

Her vocabulary is growing and it's more common for her to say 2 words together

Is becoming sneakier climbing on chairs and climbing over the baby gate to go upstairs... sigh

Loves playing with her brother and sister

Always looks for Ella to say, "Hi Ella" in the morning and "bye" or "night-night Ella" when they go to bed.

Is learning how to drink from a cup

Jonathan got his wish

The last few weeks we have been thinking a lot about the little fetus growing inside of me and wondering if it is a boy or girl. One day, Jonathan surprised me and said, " I hope the baby is a girl". Say what? Did I hear him right? Yes. Yes I did.

You see, Jonathan really thought this through. He felt if we had another boy then he would have to share the manly daddy bonding time with this new little bundle of joy. I guess he's not ready for that. Not to mention he might have to share his room. It does seems a bit selfish but I understand. The boy is a bit older than the other kids and does need the extra space and time with dad.

Well, the big day of finding out was this morning. Jonathan wanted to go so we pulled him out of school and he got first peek at the newest sibling. Within the first 2 minutes the tech scanned over the bottom/ leg area and Ryan knew it was a girl... no boy parts showing. He then said a sentence using she so I then knew it was a girl, or did I? Was Ryan being a git and trying to fool me? No. No he wasn't. We are in fact having a girl.

I am super excited about it. Strange because at one point I wanted to go through the little boy stage again but the last few weeks I kept thinking about having a girl and then last week I've had a girl's name stuck in my head. Ella has definitely changed me into thinking more girlie and I was starting to wonder if I could make the transition back to boyish things but luckily I get to stay in the girlie mode... where I finally feel some what comfortable in.

In all of this happiness Ella was not left out. She really wanted to see the baby but could not go because she is too young plus only two guests can be admitted. We told her she would get first choice of picking out a picture of the baby. For the record, Ella also wanted a baby sister so everything worked out. Ryan is already worried about paying for three weddings but has always wanted a little girl to spoil. Now he has three! How blessed is he? Good thing he picked a career to assist in spoiling but that will have to wait until school loans are paid off.

My biggest concern is if something "wrong" will be found during the ultrasound. I always pray for a healthy baby, that there are no major birth defects or diseases. This baby looked great. She did make it hard for the tech to get a picture of her hands but the tech was awesome and got it. Everything looked like it was in place and growing how it should be. We even saw the four chambers in her heart. For me, the most amazing moments are watching the heart beat and hearing it. Today her heart was 152 beats per minute. We did see her yawn which was precious. Simply amazing. It truly is a miracle.

So little fetus of mine if you one day read this blog entry I just want you to know how much we already love you. Be grateful you are a girl because if you were a boy these were some of the name options your family was trying to convince me into naming you: since I became pregnant with Leia the boys were trying to convince me, do I dare say use Jedi mind tricks, to agree in naming you Abraxis. Ella was sure you were a girl but when asked her opinion for a boy's name replied T-Rex but then when daddy asked it became Spinosaurus... so I guess your name would be T-Rex Spinosaurus Southworth. Hmmm, it truly is a blessing you are a girl.

best week ever?

What would make a kid's week a good one? Well, this past week was a pretty sweet one for Jonathan and it went a little like this...

Monday: holiday/ no school, played about 3 hours at a friend's house
Tuesday: no school/ snow day... very icy out definitely not snow playing material
Wednesday: delayed start of school by 2 hours
Thursday: regular school day but went out later for ice cream with dad
Friday: snow day, Chuck E. Cheese in the morning and playing in fluffy snow later in the day

This pic gives a little idea on how big the snow pile was.

Leia had fun playing in the snow and since she was pretty good about keeping her gloves and shoes on we were able to stay out longer than I expected.

Jonathan working on his "tunnel". Ella helping out and having a blast.

Leia discovered a tasty piece of snow that for some reason she kept licking. She also enjoyed sliding down the hill of snow that was created from our parking area being plowed earlier today. Many "wees" escaped her mouth with a few "woos" when she fell into the snow. The kids played in a similar one last year when we got "the storm" and have been waiting patiently for a big snow this year to once again have a snow hill to play on.

yummy ice cream

Daddy shared his DARK chocolate ice cream with Miss Leia and well, this was the result...

... sticky goodness and an edible beard.

Then older brother decided to get in on the picture taking but, being 8, had to be a little bit silly...

... but Leia had the last laugh...

... and mommy had the lovely job of clean up.

icy rain

I forget if it's called ice rain, rain ice, icy rain or something else but whatever it is I have never heard of it until we moved out here to PA and came to the conclusion that I do not like it at all. First of all, it makes a distinct noise as it falls from the sky and it woke me up last night. Then of course the layer of ice that covers everything and makes walking very slippery and dangerous. Snow is lovely but this stuff is wicked.

I do have to be more careful now and not have any major falls so I have to be extremely careful cleaning this stuff up. Ella is the early riser and once again went out with me to start plowing the walkway. Everything had a layer of ice. It was like breaking through a hard candy or maybe a candied apple. It had to be done so all of us could be safe walking out to the car. I went to work and took a moment to see what Ella was up to. After watching her and I became worried she might get hurt. I had to bring her inside and quickly finish.

Soon all the kids were up, we continued to have icy rain, looked outside and realized a new layer of ice already set up where I plowed. Unbelievable. The kids were behaving rather well so I went outside to once again tackle the walkway, while it was raining, and undergo the daunting task of getting that layer of ice off my car. It took a while to open my door and I was extremely nervous about damaging it. Once in I had to climb through to get to the trunk where my ice scraper was. Car started and the process began. It took awhile and at one point I looked up and saw the kids peering through the front window. The a little later I heard kids, my kids, screaming at the top of their lungs. I went in to check on them and it was nothing major. Ella just had a question so they decided to scream to get my attention. Lovely. Everything worked out and we ended up staying at home. Our parking lot was not cleared until rather late in the day. I felt like a true PA resident and did not attempt to drive in this weather.

Ryan, of course, has a much different story to tell since he HAD to go to work. No rest for the doctors. They must show up to work. He had more ice to deal with and a very hairy drive, up hill, to make it to work but he got there. It will be interesting to see what tomorrow brings... possibly Jonathan's 4 day weekend will turn into a 5-days. I don't think so but a little boy can dream.

Moving On

A new year means changes for our kids in church. I think Jonathan is now a Valiant. It is so weird to see him at the back of the room. It just seems like yesterday he became a Sunbeam. He could not sit in his seat for anything. Well, time has gone by, and now we have a new member of our family going through the Sunbeam phase of Primary... Ella!

To prepare her for the change, about a week before the move I would tell her she was going into Primary soon, how fun it would be and she would be with Jonathan and I. Also, the Primary Presidency gave her a scripture bag which she could not wait to fill with scriptures. It is a bit of a change. Going from playing with toys for an hour, snack time and then a short lesson to sitting though a 45 minute lesson, singing time and then another lesson is a big change for a three, almost four, year old. She was fabulous and had a great first day. It was so cute to see her walk into her class with a huge smile on her face, carrying the Bible for her teacher.

For all the little Sunbeams I wanted to do something special and since I am currently the "singing lady" so I was able to. I found some awesome happy face lollipops that a turned into suns. All the newbie Sunbeams came up to the front of the room and then everyone sang Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam. Ella loves this song and frequently picks it for FHE.

Since we live out here in PA, there are no close LDS stores so Ella's scriptures were ordered online and did not arrive for her to bring them to the second week of Primary. I think they came the next day. Ella was thrilled when she saw them and wanted me to read the scriptures cover to cover. Ummm, that would be the Bible, Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price and Doctrine and Covenants. I don't think her attention span, or mine, could last that long. She then discovered the pictures at the back of the book and was overjoyed. "Look there is the temple" ... "That's where Jonathan was baptized"... etc. I must admit it is awesome to see the picture of the Susquehanna river and it looks almost exactly like it did the day Jonathan was baptized.

Ryan and I both thought it would be cool if we could find pink scriptures, Ella's favorite color. I could not find any so I decided to make her a book cover. I added her name to make it a little extra special and showed her the finished piece this morning. She was so excited and could not wait to show her teacher and friends. Today was a little rocky for her but she did well and seems to be adjusting. It is so fun to see her in Primary and the excitement she has about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Lately she has said a few prayers, deciding herself, what she wanted to say. These prayers are so simple, beautiful and heart felt. Tonight she simply said I love you Jesus and a few nights ago she asked Jesus to let Heavenly Father know I love him.

Ella wanted to look like the Statue of Liberty for this picture.

Her new scriptures case and cover. It's a bit too heavy for her to carry the full set so she decided to bring her triple and keep the Bible at home.


THAT'S NOT ALL FOLKS. The last, and smallest member our family has been making appearances in Nursery. I talked to her leader and she has been gracious enough to let Leia go to Nursery during singing time. Hopefully it will make the transition easier for her. It's been a little hard, she has cried some the last two weeks, but today settled down and when I came to pick her up she looked super cute sitting in her chair eating her little snack. Once she saw me she quickly gave the snack back and came over to greet me. She is so adorable. Time was not yet up so I stayed with her for 10 minutes and she decided to finish up the snack. I can't believe she is almost 18 months old and will soon be in there for the full time. So crazy. The kids just keep growing and time continues to tick by. There's no stopping it. I'm so grateful to celebrate these little milestones with them.

Christmas 2010

It seems like Christmas happened so long ago but I want to post about it before I forget any of the important things, which I think I already have.

For Christmas Eve we had some friends over, ate some yummy food and actually sat down and played a card game while the kids ran around and played together. After our friends left we did the whole PJ thing. All the kids loved their PJs but it was so fun to see Leia in hers. She was absolutely giddy over getting her first night gown. She would just walk around, stop, stroke her night gown, smile with a handful of giggles and then repeat the process over and over again. I called Ryan over to watch because it was that adorable. Jonathan received a pair of "baby" PJs which he requested and Ella's gift was a warmer, princessy night gown that came with a wand. After we were all PJified and somewhat settled we all sat down together and watched the church video about the birth/life of Jesus Christ. I must say, as sad as it seems, this was the first moment out of the whole season where I felt like we were celebrating the real reason for Christmas. Of course being the preggers I am, it was hard to hold back the tears which I failed miserably at. About halfway through the video, the story switched over to the account of Jesus Christ coming to the Americas and also the people in awaiting the signs prophesied to them about Christ's birth which is found in the Book of Mormon. It talked about how the believers were waiting for the sign of the Savior's birth and how the unbelievers basically gave a deadline for the signs to happen and then punishment would come upon the believers if the signs did not come to pass before the deadline. Well, the signs did come and during this part of the story Jonathan turned around and replied, "Ooooo, the nonbelievers just got poned." Ryan started busting up and had to explain the meaning of poned. I don't even know if I am spelling the word correctly. Anyway, it was funny but we were still able to refocus and enjoy the rest of the video.

Our kids woke up their normal times the next morning. Ella now wakes up the earliest but will always first come into my room so I know she is awake. I tried to stall her while everyone else got a little more sleep. Finally Jonathan woke up and I went in to get Leia. Then we waited on the stairs for Ryan to take a picture. The kids then proceeded down the steps to see what awaited them. Here are a few pictures we took.

The kids waiting patiently for the traditional Southworth stairs picture. Leia wins hands down for the best bed head.

Jonathan requested days before Christmas that Daddy would open his gift first. He made the gift, picked out a box, used up all the tape to wrap it and finally added a hand made pop up card. Ryan loved the gift and has stashed it away somewhere so it would not get broken. I just love the look on Jonathan's face... just happy and excited that Dad was about to open his present.

Ella was eying this present since it arrived in the mail. It was the only present wrapped in pink and she wanted to open it badly but she waited and got her wish of opening it first.

Miss Leia looks confused at what to do with the present. To be honest, all she really cared about having was the candy cane she spotted in her stocking. Once she was able to get hold of it she was one happy camper and just wanted to eat it. Silly parents wanted her to open presents. What were they thinking?

After Ryan helped Leia open her present he wrapped her into her new blanket and she just leaned back and said, "aahhh." She is so adorable. It is a super duper soft blanket. Probably the softest one I have ever made. I guess I can't say I made it. I just sewed a little border around it.

Jonathan seriously wanted a Snuggie for Christmas and frequently reminded me he wanted one. Then Ella blew the surprise and told him we bought one but he was still excited when he opened the present. He opened the box, put on the socks that came with the Snuggie and the following picture shows how he spent the majority of the day...

...playing his new Nintendo DS games. Ha!

After presents, the kids played with their new toys and I eventually snapped out of the restful day to make a dessert for the dinner we went to later that night. That is another story, that will be told another day, entailing the dreaded GorElla.

It was another wonderful Christmas.