Thumb-sucking Saga...and more

We finally have success!! Ella-marie and Hunter haven't sucked their thumbs for 48 hours. Yeah!! The thumbs taped, like in the last post, did not work so well. I went in to check on them and they both had their thumbs in their mouths and the wrapped tubes sitting next to them on their pillow.

So we amped up the tape and taped their thumbs plus their hands.

This has made us very successful. Ella-marie is very excited and was tickled pink that she could tell Grandma and Aunt Michelle today that she hasn't sucked her thumb for two whole days! I think that we're going to keep using the athletic tape for a few more days and then gradually wean them off.

As a side note, we are also now proud parents of the new spokeskids of Tough Traveler baby backpacks! As you can see, Levi and Hunter are both so excited to be a part of our hikes. Levi just gets up on my back and giggles because he's so happy. We're so ready to go camping and hiking with the cousins this summer. Helen...you'd better keep practicing with your backpack too...Uncle Ryan needs to make sure he's in good shape. Maybe we'll trade kids halfway through the vacation. Wouldn't that be a real treat?

Thumb-sucking Saga...Part 3

Well, we're trying to stop the thumb-sucking again. Let's reminisce for a moment...pep talks, bandaids, yucky fingernail polish, magic lotion, binky...I think that's all for now. I thought that we would try now to put gauze taped to their thumbs. Perhaps they will stay on and taste bad enough to keep their thumbs out of their mouths. Hunter's poor thumb is a nasty mass and quite bloody. I am going to try really hard to make this a success.

Answers to Guess Who?

Well, the finally tally is in...and the only person who got all of the children correct was me. Hmmm, I thought it would be tricky, but not that tricky. Here are the answers...
A. Hunter
B. Corbin
C. Ella-marie
D. Levi
E. Miles

And yes, the top letter matches the child down in the second section. Congratulations to everyone who got some right. Go team!

The power of a mother!

I just had to write this today because of my dear little Hunter. I just don't understand how much of myself gets rubbed off on my children every day of our lives. The good, and the bad, and the funny. Today Hunter, my dear sweet Hunter, who makes me laugh all of the time, made a little book in nursery. It was very nicely colored...but the thing that got me, was that he sat down at the table for lunch...and proceeded to read his book while he was eating. Note photo #1

So, what exactly did we learn from this? Perhaps I read too frequently at lunchtime at my house. Okay, so I know that I read too often at lunchtime. But let's be real here, how many lunchtime conversations can I have with a two year old, an 18 month old, and little Levi. Hunter is just too cute.

It's a snowy, snowy day!

Well, we had a few snow days this week. It still boggles my mind that school is cancelled here when we get an inch of snow. What's with that? Growing up we had to get many inches, and perhaps feet in order to get out of school. But, at least Spencer was out too, and so that made things a little easier on me. Spencer took the kids out to play in the inch of snow before it melted. I am always amazed that we started to get the kids dressed in their winter gear at 9:30am and I finally shooed them out the door, all dressed and ready, at 10:15. And that was only with three of them getting ready. I have some pictures to illustrate how much fun everyone had that morning. Hunter was not invited to go out and play. He has a cold and wouldn't have had any fun outside anyway. He did enjoy getting the stepstool out and standing and watching the fun outside. I think that a few people even threw snowballs at him and scared the snot out of him. (more snot than usual, I guess I should say)

Ella-marie and Miles are looking very chilly. I think that our front yard gets higher and higher, and steeper and steeper everytime you have to hike back up it.

Here is our front yard. Corbin is the bundled snowmonster that is gliding down the hill on the turtle shell. Miles is just standing at the top. Spencer and Ella-marie are starting the hike back up the hill after scaring Ella-marie beyond words by sledding down the hill. That was her first and only time sledding.

Miles seems to be in every picture that I took. I don't know exactly how that happened. But he's happy, and very glad to be out in the snow. Spencer was tuckered out when they finally came back inside. I thought it was funny to see Hunter through the window. So I took a picture of him like that too. He's so cute!

Guess Who?

We thought we'd work your brains this week and see if you can figure out which baby pictures belong to which baby. Good luck.

A.
B.C.D

E.

That may have been too hard with just their birth pictures, so here are pictures from their 4-6 months. Some of them are a dead giveaway. Good luck. And what cute babies!

A.B.C.D.E.