Has it been 6 weeks?

I can't believe that it has been six weeks since Miranda was born. For me, six weeks is the magic number. I start feeling much better by six weeks and that seems to be true for this baby as well. In some ways it seems like she has been around longer than that but mostly I can't believe how fast time has gone. When she was just about two weeks old and I was still feeling really uncomfortable and sick and not doing very well I remember saying, "If I can just make it to six weeks, I know that everything will be better." At the time, it truly seemed like six weeks would never come. Now I look back and it seems like it went so fast.

I am enjoying my time off work. Miranda is starting to smile quite a bit and she isn't scowling quite so much. Many people have told me that she looks like my dad. Len thinks she looks like my brother, Paul. I think that it is because of her eyes. She has dark eyes and she can do some funky things with her eyebrows (like my dad!) --notice the picture to the right. I truly think that she has a bit more Fuller in her than FitzSimmons but who knows. I don't really think that she looks like my other kids, although she has some qualities that Kanyon had as well. She is starting to get better at holding her head up. Her eyes are getting brighter and she seems to see more around her. She smiles at the kids and they laugh! It is music to my ears. She is starting to talk and coo at us as well and the kids think this is hysterical. She is a great blessing in our lives. I feel much calmer with this baby than I have with any other. I don't stress about other things. I have really taken time to just ENJOY her and love her. I love to just sit and hold her after I feed her. Sometimes I realize that I have held her so long that it is time to feed her again. She melts my heart when she smiles at me. She also melts my heart when she smiles at Leonard. There is somthing about seeing two people that you love more than anything forming a bond that will last forever. It nearly brings me to tears when I see Len talking to her and her responding to him. I feel so blessed that we can be an eternal family. I am so blessed that my husband still loves me and that he still wants to share eternity with me. And for the record, I love him too and I want to be with him forever as well. We are blessed with three beautiful children and I am grateful for the time we have together to form bonds that will last through eternity. I love my family!

Spring Break?

We went to beautiful Coeur d'Alene for Spring Break. We had a great time and loved spending time with Leonard's parents. Unfortunately, the weather was not very "springy". It snowed a couple of days that we were there. We really wanted it to be warm and beautiful. The kids were able to play outside in their mud boots and warm coats. We did manage to make it to the city park one day. It was pretty cold but the kids seemed to have fun. I packed Miranda in the front pack for the first time and she slept the entire time. We did manage to lose a pacifier somewhere in the park but otherwise had a good time. We walked to the beach and let the kids throw in some rocks and sticks and chase the geese that were wandering around. We had a good time.
The kids traveled really well to Coeur d'Alene. I think it was one of our best trips. Kaydra and Kanyon were very good and Miranda slept pretty much the whole way there -- other than to eat of course. We got there late but Grandma and Grandpa were still up waiting for us. I think they may have been a little excited to meet their newest grandchild. :) Then, because of Leonard's night shift schedule he and Neil (mostly Len) decided that they would continue to drive to Orofino that night. Len was very excited to go steelhead fishing. Mind you, we didn't even arrive to Coeur d'Alene until 11:00pm our time (10:00 in CDA). But they packed up and took off to go fishing. I will never understand what drives my husband! Thankfully, the kids went to bed well.

The next day we dyed Easter Eggs (the kids and Grandma did - Miranda was having kind of a fussy day). They had a great time doing that. Then Markell and her friend Josh came from Moscow to spend the night and have Easter dinner with us. When Neil and Len got home around 4:30 (they were unsuccessful with the fishing) we then went to town and took Markell and Josh to Tomato Street for dinner. It is a fun italian restaurant in CDA. The waiters/waitresses wear funny hats and they let you color on the tables which are covered with paper. They also brought out some play dough and a bag full of noodles and some string to make necklaces while we waited for our food. The kids thought it was great. The next morning we had a small Easter party complete with baskets and an Easter Egg hunt. The kids found all the eggs before everyone was even awake. We visited with Markell and Josh and then we had a fabulous dinner/lunch. Kay did a great job and the food was delicious. Thanks again for letting Markell and Josh share with us. We had a short lesson on the Resurection and the true purpose of Easter while we were eating dessert. I think that the kids understood what I was trying to teach them. It is so hard to know sometimes but we keep on trying, hoping that at least parts of the gospel are getting through. We went for a walk in the rain after dinner -- it was COLD! Josh and Markell went back to Moscow after that. We were very glad that they could come and visit us.

The next few days were nice and quiet. Len went fishing again with his dad and the kids and I enjoyed the farm. The kids love playing there and it was nice to be able to send them outside. It was cold but seemed warmer than it has been here. We woke up to snow a couple different mornings but had a good time anyway.


The kids also managed to travel back home well. Not as good as on the way there but it was good.


I wish I had taken more pictures and when I got home I realized that I didn't take any pictures of Neil or Kay holding the baby! What was I thinking! That was the main reason that we were there -- so they could meet Miranda and I forgot to take pictures of the event! Oh well. They will be here when we bless her so I will take some then. We plan on blessing her on May 4 for those that are interested. Call me if you need more details.

All in all it was a good spring break but I will be glad for school to start again tomorrow. It also made me realize that I need to get some good ideas for entertaining my kids before summer break comes. It is a full time job!

Miranda - one month old

Here are some updated pics of Miranda. I also took a short video of her. Enjoy!

Update

I haven't posted for a long time! We have been very busy with mostly nothing! It has taken me longer to recover from this baby than the other two. I have decided that it is because I am now 30 years old. I am not sure how this happened, but it has. My body is taking longer to respond to everything! I celebrated my 30th birthday on March 5. Len let me pick out a new snowboard for my birthday to go with my new bindings. We went shopping about a week ago and I bought a K2 snowboard that is white with purple and pink swirls. I love it! I would love to use it this year but the season is ending soon and I don't know if I will make it. I am still recovering and not sure I will be up to boarding before the hills close. I am hoping!

Miranda was born four weeks ago. Today she is one month old. I still cannot fit into my regular clothes and I am still sore all over. We are driving to Coeur d'Alene this weekend and as much as I am looking forward to visiting, I am not looking forward to the long car ride of SITTING!! The kids are very excited and every day they pack a bag of toys that they are planning to take with them. They usually unpack it the same day because they start playing with the toys but it gives them something to do the next day! I have misplaced my camera. I plan to clean house today and start laundry for the trip so maybe it will show up and I can take a picture of Miranda for her one month birthday. She is a sweet baby. She loves to be held but sleeps pretty good at night in a cradle in our room. Last night we went to bed at 11:00, she woke up at 3:00 to eat, and then slept until 7:00. It could be worse. She has been going through some sort of growing spurt and often wants to eat every hour. She loves her pacifier unless she is hungry and she can throw a pretty good scream out there if she is not happy. She still has a ton of hair all over her head and usually it is sticking up in several directions. She is starting to smile but you have to really fight her for one -- they come most often in the morning. She has a scowl that she uses most of the time when she is awake. She loves her baby swing and will stay awake for awhile looking around before she is overcome and falls asleep. She is very cuddly still and fun to hold because she snuggles up so easily. The other kids are still infatuated with her. They love to hold her and I have to remind Kanyon that he cannot lay on her very frequently. I will post pictures this week sometime so you can see her. She is still very little. I would guess she is now about nine -ten pounds. We are enjoying our new addition. More to come....

A day of Birthdays!

Today is Kanyon's birthday. I put together this slide show yesterday evening to remind me about my little boy and how much he has grown. He is a great kid and so much fun to be around. Kanyon is such a happy boy and he loves life and every thing about life. I am proud of him and feel blessed to be his mom. I was looking through his baby book to find some pictures for the slide show and came across the part where we wrote about his baby blessing. He was blessed to be a peacemaker, to grow healthy and strong, to be inquisitive and to want to know about things. All of this is true about my son. I love him so much. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KANYON!

It is also my Grandma Parry's birthday today. She and my Grandpa Parry are two of my favorite people and I wanted to wish her a Happy Birthday as well. Kanyon is so proud to share a birthday with Grandma Great and I hope that it will help him to honor you for the rest of his life. How blessed we are to have such a great family!

Kanyon's Party

Today we celebrated Kanyon's 4th birthday. His actual birthday is tomorrow but we thought we would have some family over for some pizza and cake today. We had a great time and there was a house full of people! We invited all the local cousins that are around his age. Which is Courtney's family and Justin and Lisa's family (Lisa is in New York though). My parents were also there as were Jackson, Scott, Jake and Jana (and Riley). We had a good time. He wanted a smiley face birthday so that is what we had. The hat he is wearing he got from his school on Friday when they celebrated there. He loves to wear it. We had a great time and managed to eat five medium pizzas (I had ordered six) from Pizza Hut. So much love for a four year old. He loved all the attention.

Here's a funny story. Last night we had Uncle Kelly over for dinner. Out of no where Kanyon said to Kelly, "You are still a boy, Uncle Kelly, you are a big boy but you are still a boy." Leonard, joking said, "Because he's not married, huh." Kanyon said, "Yeah." He then pounded his fist on the table and said, "Hurry up and get married, 'cause we want some more cousins!" It was SO funny. It took all of us by complete surprise. It only could have been a better moment if Kelly had been with a date at the time -- no such luck!! We love our Kanyon!