Happy Halloween!

C

Little Man

Joseph wants to help. He is very curious, and he likes to get his hands into whatever anyone else is doing. If he hears the crinkle of a wrapper, he'll come running to make sure he gets his share.
Here he's helping Daddy assemble a kitchen chair.

Everybody tells me Joseph looks like a little man. They also use the words "hefty," "sturdy," and "healthy." He is not chubby anywhere, just completely solid. Weighing in at over 29 pounds, you can imagine how strong his mommy's arms are!
The other day, Joseph got into the toothpaste. After I cleaned him up and while I was on the phone with Poison Control (one swallow, no big deal, cup a milk, all good), he drew all over himself and the couch with a green marker. And then he has the sweetest smile and you can't get mad at him.

He is learning all kinds of words: break (from our family cheer "One, two, three, break!"), knock knock, hands, tickle, cool, wow, woah, mine, me, and no. All the important ones. And you've never met a more polite 18-month-old, saying thank you (which means thank you, no thank you, mine, and gimme) and sheez (please) all day long.

I love this boy!

It's a...

Healthy baby!

Okay, so those of you who don't know the gender yet may not even know the question was to be begged.

This is partly because we waited a long time to tell family.

And then there was the awkwardness of how to break the news. Most of the time it was like this:

"Yeah, I'm feeling really sick because I'm pregnant."
and
"Yes, thanks for asking if I'm pregnant before I tell you because if I wasn't you'd be in real trouble right now."
and
In response to people looking sideways, and sometimes even bending over sideways to get a better look, "Yes! I'm pregnant, okay!"

Really, I'm very excited to have another baby! And I'm not even bothered by the asking. I just never could come up with a fantastically clever way to share the news, so then it became more and more awkward as time went by. And the only way I could come up with to blog about it was to just wait a little longer until we actually had news of the gender.

We had an ultrasound today. And our families have already been informed. So now I can finally present to you the news of the day:

It's a boy!

I don't have a scanner, so for now I can only describe to you the relaxed state this baby was in. I mean, he was very active and even had hiccups. But there was one shot of him with his right hand under the back of his head, while he was trying to suck on his left hand. And then a shot of his two femurs in a very wide V-shape, spread eagle. The kid was chillaxin'. I've never seen a baby in anything but fetal position! Ha!

And everything looks normal and right on schedule.

And while I can now begin sorting boy clothes, I'm realizing that many of the clothes we have may not hold up much longer.

And I have put off thinking about names until now. And I think I will need some help. Here is the criteria:

1. Nothing that rhymes or resembles any of my immediate family's names.
2. Nothing that starts with B or Br.
3. L names are iffy.
4. Names ending in ie, ee, ey, or y are iffy.
5. James, Michael, Joshua, Callan, and Thomas are out.
6. Gordon, Bruce, John, Adam, Robert, Nathan, Bryan, Eric, and Andrew are out.

Go!

My Little Couch Potatoes

My Boys

Yes, the hoop is 4 or 5 times taller than Joe, but does that stop him? No way!

All set with all his gear: His well-used backpack from last year (that will need some duct tape here shortly) and his incredible lunchbox.

This boy was so excited to start first grade, he was up at the crack of dawn. Caleb completely dressed himself and got himself breakfast all before I was out of bed. A few people told me that first graders get so tired transitioning to all-day school. That wasn't true the first day, but on the second day it proved true.

Savanna, Joseph, and I have enjoyed a morning play date and some shopping. And while Joseph has been napping, I have been organizing!

Update

We just got back from an action-packed adventure to Utah. While we didn't blow a tire this time around, we did visit with almost every member of each of our families. (I visited my sister a couple months ago, so I've seen everyone this summer sometime.) The big news was that Bryan's youngest brother Andrew left for Ghana on Thursday. I've never seen someone more prepared for missionary service than Elder Lindsay.


School starts next week, so I need to hurry up and take care of the school supply list. Auditions for the choir I was in last winter/spring are coming up again.

Bryan's hand is still in a splint from a fractured metacarpal bone in his right hand, which happened about three weeks ago while playing church basketball. I have since banned him from the sport. I have been doing all the dishes, and I can't pawn off the diaper changes to him when he's home. But I do actually feel bad for him because his work productivity has gone down, in the form of typing with one whole hand and a thumb. And his atrocious handwriting is even more atrocious now. And then we went on vacation for 9 days (including two spent driving), and all he could do was remotely access his emails, reply to texts, and hope for the best. I don't plan to see him much this week while he catches up.

Like I said, Caleb starts school next week (full day!). And I really think it will do a world of good for Savanna to be the oldest kid around during the day. She's ready to shine! Joseph is walking/running, and now he's climbing on things and even climbing on stools to reach things previously out of reach. I need to re-babyproof.

More soon!

Year In Review

Okay, maybe not the whole year. But it has been a long time since I uploaded pictures, and here are some of my favorites in random order:

Sometimes we call him "Joyseph."

Falling asleep in the car. I think this was after Bryan's grandpa's funeral.

Patriot

On the way to Utah for the funeral.

Dear friend,
You never returned my phone calls and caused me a lot of frustration before you moved away.
But I forgive you, because you gave me this recipe. Oh, and the freezer raspberry jam that you couldn't take with you. Mmm boy.

Patriot and parade.

This is when we went camping. Yes, it was actually as bad as I expected. The kids did just fine and slept through the night. It was the multiple trips (for me) to the bathroom and the territorial hawk that kept me up most of the night.

Joseph is this helpful every day.

In which our friends came at the end of April, and we didn't feel like making dinner. Instead we got a pizza the size of a car.

Just, awesome.

In which we got to the end of a very long day with no fun for the kids, and then we stopped to visit Grandpa. All was right with the world.

See? More help!

Camping, building memories. Caleb, Savanna, Joseph? You better remember this because I went through a lot to make this memory.

Savanna's first haircut, which somehow gave her permission (in her mind) to then cut it some more. And then some more. I don't have a picture of the current hairstyle unless you look really hard at the previous picture.

Why do kids love boxes?

Our friends that came in April.

My haircut. Which now I'm trying to grow out again because I just can't stand to have hair in my face or on my neck. I should either go super-short, or long.

Savanna as Buzz Lightyear.

Please? More?