Happy Birthday Buddies!

Happy Birthday Caydin! We love you! We miss your sweet spirit!

Isaac Update

I thought I would give a little update on Isaac. The iron supplements have made a BIG difference in Isaac this last week! He has been a MUCH happier little boy! He is sleeping better, not wonderfully yet, but better. And, some mornings he's actually been happy when he does get up for the day! I'm hoping that as he continues to build up his iron, we might still see some more improvement in his sleeping habits, but, I'm very grateful for the improvements that have come! He is also eating better, and you can tell by the way he looks and acts that this last week has been a much better week than he's had in months! He's still coughing, but I think even that has improved, and hopefully as he continues to build up, he'll finally get all the way over all these stupid sicknesses he's had since November! Anyway, just thought I would share how he is doing!

This is a picture of Isaac at my sister's birthday party in December. Isn't he strapping?

For the last few months now whenever I get my camera out, this is the face that Isaac usually gives me. He pulls it while telling me "cheeeeese"!

Bullys

Okay, so I have to ask. My 10 year old brother slept over at my house the other night, and in the course of the evening, he confided in Rob and I that he is getting bullied at school, mostly verbably, but there has been one incident where he did get shoved down to the ground. He has told his teacher about it, and even gone to the principles office to report the shoving incident. I guess the teacher doesn't really do anything, and the principle basically told him (and a couple of friends that were there as well that went with him who also get bullied by the same kids) that she's never had those kids in her office before in trouble so she really didn't believe him. Now, keep in mind that this is only my brother's side of the story, but anyone who knows my brother knows that he is greatly concerned with doing the right thing and while he might embelish, like most kids his age, I know something is really going on. He's talked with my parents about it as well, and they really aren't doing anything about it either. I love my parents, but I also know that they are prone to give a lot of advice and tell you how to fix the problem, but they rarely take action, and this is one case where I think an adult needs to be involved. I remember being made fun of at school, and called names, and having issues with other kids on occasion. I think everyone has to learn how to deal with and get along with people we don't always want to. I really believe my brother's situation is different. He said that every recess is miserable. These other kids steal the balls he and his couple of friends play with. They are always swearing at them and calling them names. They constantly threatening him that they are going to beat him up after school. I'm willing to bet it's mostly threats, but to a 10 year old, it can be traumatizing. And, like I said before, there has been one incident where one of the kids actually pushed Thomas and in his words, he "went about 5 feet and fell to the ground." I know Thomas does things that probably don't help, like when they start picking on him or his friends, he threatens that he's going to go tell on them, but at his age, he doesn't know what else to do! Thomas is to the point where he doesn't want to go back to school. He's been off track since Christmas, but will be going back next Tuesday. He's also the type of person to stand up for others who are getting teased or bullied. I know that's actually what caused the shoving incident. One of his other friends was getting teased by one of the bullies, and the bully was bumping up to this other kid like he was going to start fighting, and Thomas went and tried to kind of break it up by getting between the two other kids and the bully ended up shoving Thomas down instead. So my dilema is that I'm not sure what course of action to take. I'm planning on talking to my mom about it, but my fear is that she will try to say that it's not that bad and do nothing. Like I said, I love my mom but I believe that sometimes she turnes a blind eye on things she doesn't know how to deal with because it scares her to go create a "stir" with people she doesn't know. But, I love my brother and don't want him to be traumatized for years to come because nobody was willing to help stand up for him. I think the situation needs to be tactfully assessed, and I think that a little extra attention from an adult during recess would mostly solve the problem. If the "bullies" knew that they were most likely going to get caught being mean during recess, I think they would back off. But, the fact that Thomas and his friends have out right told on them and nothing has happened has probably given them confidence that they can do or say pretty much anything without having to suffer any negative consequence. Anyway, I'm rambling. It has just been bothering me ever since he told me and like I said, I'm not totally sure how to handle it, or if I'm over reacting. What do you think and how would you handle it, knowing that the most obvious first choice would be talking to his parents, but knowing that they might not listen, and even be offended for bringing it up?

New House Pictures!

Here are a few pictures of our new place!

So, this is what you would see if you walked in from the front door. It's kind of hard to see, but right to the left is the front room. Just to the right is the 3rd bedroom (which we are actually using as an office). A little further to the left is an entry way to the kitchen. Across from the kitchen is the hallway where the laundry room is, a couple of closets, and the door to the garage. At the end of the hall to the left is the door to the kids room. If you go across from the kids room, it is another short hallway where the bathroom and master bedroom are.

This is the front room. You can see that there is another entry into the kitchen from the front room. Also, notice my nice, new couches that I got for Christmas, yeah! I got both the loveseat and the sofa!

This is the kitchen with the view from the hallway. The entry to the living room is in the back to the left.

This is a picture of the kids room. We splurged and bought them new bedding, so Eden has a princess bed and Isaac has an Elmo bed. When we moved in, we actually had two toddler beds, which made more room, but a friend offered us this great 4 poster bed, pillowtop matress and all, for free, so we couldn't resist! She also gave us the matching dresser to go with it! I had always wanted a 4 poster bed as a little girl, so I was so excited to get one for Eden! We actually had great bed luck with this move because Isaac's toddler bed was given to us from another friend when we moved, which allowed us to put EmmaLee in the crib. Eden's toddler bed was actually bowing in the middle, as it has been through at least 4 generations of toddlers, so we very much appreciated the generous offers from both our friends!

Lastly, here is a picture of our room. It is quite large, and I can't remember if the picture shows it or not, but EmmaLee's crib is next to our bed, and yet the room still has lots of space! It's great!

So, that's a few pictures of the place! Tell me what you think!

Catching up with Photos!

I searched the boxes and found my camera cable, so here are some pictures!

So, first of all, in the middle of December EmmaLee rolled over for the first time! She hasn't done it since, but this is a picture of her right after she did it. So, I know she's capable, but I don't mind if she takes her time before making it a major habit!

This picture of Eden is of her on our last Sunday before we moved. She said she was a princess with her dress and hair up in a bun, and I thought she looked pretty cute, so I took a picture. If only we could get rid of the binki!

I thought this picture of Isaac was so funny! We'd gone out to eat the day before and got a lemonade and then forgot and left it in the car. Well, on this day we were out again and Isaac got the cup and pulled the now frozen lemonade out of the cup and was trying to drink it! It was pretty funny!

This last one of EmmaLee is in our new house and I thought it was so cute! She is 5 months old today and I can't believe how fast she is growing! She is seriously the best and happiest baby ever!

I'm Back!

Well, we got the internet today, and it's actually high speed, so I'm back, and faster than ever! I'm so excited! I have a bunch of pictures to download, but I went to download them and realized that I don't know where my cable to connect my camera to my computer is! I think it must still be packed somewhere, so I'm going to look for it, and when I find it, I'll post some pictures! I am feeling more settled in than the last time I wrote, but still haven't been getting much sleep. I think I found out a big reason why on Friday. I took Isaac in for a check up, and they checked his iron levels, which an 11 is the low normal, and his was a 6.5!!! Sooooo, we immediately put him on an iron supplement, and we've actually already seen a difference in him even in just 3 days! He is sleeping a bit better, and he's not nearly as grouchy as he's been! I guess low iron can cause a lot of problems, such as being super low energy, but not being able to sleep, being moody, having a low immune system (no wonder we haven't been able to get him better!), and a few other things. Hopefully now we'll be able to get him better, happier, and sleeping better! Anyway, I'll be back soon once I find my cable!!

We Moved!

Well, I now live in Springville Utah! Crazy! We moved into our new place on New Years Day. We actually don't have the internet right now, but hopefully we will be able to get it sometime in the next month, but until we do, my blogs will probably be kind of spread apart! I LOVE our new place, and it is such a change to have so much room! I feel a little overwhelmed right now with all the change, though. The kids have not been sleeping well at all, I'm sure from the change, so I'm tired from packing, moving, and unpacking, and then I've been getting horrible sleep on top of all of that, so I almost feel like I'm in a daze most of the day! And, because the weather has been so cold and bitter, we haven't tried venturing out much since Isaac still has a bit of a cough and we don't want him to go down with anything again! I know it'll get easier, and last night was the best night so far with the kids, even though it's still far from what I hope we get too! I think I feel very seperated from everything, even from being able to check e-mails and write and read blogs! But, I know that's normal, and once we are more settled in, it'll be good! We went to church today and there are a lot more people in our new ward, and more younger couples, yeah! So, I'm sure once we get more involved and get to know people it'll be great! And, like I said, our new place is awesome. There are a lot of little details that make it really nice, like high ceilings and wide hallways. I don't know how to download my pictures onto somebody else's computer, so it might be a little while, but I will eventually download and post some pictures! Anyway, sorry this is probably a bit of a boring blog, but like a friend has said on her blog, I guess if your reading it, you're either bored or want to anyway!