Little milestones...

Well, I'm a few days late with this entry, but life has -- as always -- been a little crazy. On Monday our sweet baby Eliza was two months old! I can hardly believe that she's so big, but I can also hardly believe there was a time we didn't have her! She is such a sweet little thing. She has the cutest little smile that we see more and more. She's sleeping through the night and is usually just as happy as can be. She's been cranky the past few days, but I'm sure she'll get over that pretty quick. Her big brothers both just adore her. Sammy especially hates to see her unhappy ever. Today he asked "But Mommy, why is baby Eliza fussing?" "Honey, all babies cry sometimes -- she's just fine." "I wish she was born the same age as me; then she'd never cry!" He said this with such sincere concern. It was very sweet.

Here's our little sweetie on her two-month birthday!


I went down to Cedar City on Monday with Joshy and Eliza, my parents, Ange, and Grandpa and Grandma Tarbet for our dear friend Barbara Adams' funeral. She is my aunt Glynis' mother and such a wonderful lady. I was really glad we could go down and support all their family. And it was fun to hang out with everyone who went down -- being cooped up together in the car all day leads to lots of fun conversations. Joshy and Eliza were amazingly good. Eliza slept pretty much all the time we were in the car, and Joshy was pretty happy watching movies on our portable dvd player. How did anyone haul kids on long trips without those things?! :) Joshy felt pretty special getting to be with Nana and Bapa and Grandpa and Grandma and Ange all day. Bapa had him laughing so hard while we were at lunch -- Joshy kept lifting up his shirt to be tickled again and again!



Sammy's first day of preschool with his new teacher was Monday, and he didn't want to miss it, so he got to have his first-ever friend sleepover! His good little buddy Boyd is in his class, and his mom -- my wonderful friend Katie -- graciously invited Sammy to sleep over and spend the day at their house. Sammy was SO excited. He talked all weekend about all the fun things he was going to do with Boyd, and Sunday evening he couldn't wait to leave Nana and Bapa's house to get to Boyd's. As soon as we turned onto Boyd's street, however, he started to freak out: "I'll miss you guys too much, I'm too scared, I don't think it will be like home..." and so on. I pulled into Boyd's driveway and got out to talk to Sammy. I told him I understood he was scared, but I thought if he just went inside he'd remember how excited he was and how much fun he'd have. But Sammy was not interested, and the more I tried to persuade him the more he resisted. So I said, "It's okay, honey -- I know it's a little scary. We can try a sleepover another time -- I'll just run up to the door and tell Boyd's mom you're not coming." But that made him even more upset, because he didn't want to hurt Boyd's feelings! He's such a tender little heart. So we went back and forth like this for several minutes, and a couple times he even got out of the car, but as soon as I started to close his door he jumped back in and clung to his carseat like a life preserver. I'm not gonna lie to ya -- I was getting a little frustrated. Finally I just grabbed Eliza (Joshy was at home with Dan) and walked up to the front door without him. He hid by the garage. As soon as I knocked on the door, Boyd came bursting out, so excited to see Sammy. Katie and I finally talked Sammy into coming inside, just to see Boyd's room. The turning point was when I told him Eliza reeeeally wanted to see Boyd's room, and could we please go in just for a second? Sammy cautiously crept into the house, looking like he was sure a monster was going to jump out from every corner. Within about two minutes he announced: "I decided I'm going to stay, Mom, you can go now," and he never had another moment's trouble. Katie said he was cracking them up at dinner the next night, when he told them he'd been a little "skittish" about coming to their house...

Oh, and just another funny little note:
Last night as we were going to bed and Sammy was dawdling downstairs, I called down "Sammy, get your buns up here!" To which Joshy, in a voice of great patience, replied, "Mommy, Sammy only has one bum..."

Anyhoo, I'd better get a move on -- I've got Halloween costumes to work on, treats to make, and decorations for Glynis' baby shower to finish up, not to mention a sink full of dishes. Never a dull moment!