Is she growing?

Yes, she is growing!  Way too fast if you ask me.  However, Conner and Cayden want her to grow faster.  They ask me all the time if Allison is growing.  They want to play with her, but are told by Keir and I that she is still too little to do many of the things they like to do.  When we feed her, one of them usually asks if she is growing, as in right then, the very second she takes a bite, they want to know if that bite of squash helped her to grow so that she will soon be able to play with them.  I think this is a direct result of Keir and I telling them they need to eat their meal so they will grow big and strong.  Such sweet boys!  They love their little sister and want so badly to play with her.  Here is a short video to show that indeed she is growing.  Allison is trying very hard to crawl, but is still in scooting and pivoting mode, with an occasional push off the knees.  Oh, and Cayden always wants his fair share of camera time....

Pouring Concrete

For several weeks now, Conner & Cayden's favorite thing to do, is to pretend to go to work. Every morning we say goodbye to dad, and tell him to have a good day at work.  Sometimes we even visit him at work.  I think they would go with him every day if they could.  They love their dad, and they love what dad does.  The rocks, dumpsters, excavators, concrete trucks, loaders. . . what more could a boy want?  Well, I am trying very hard to let them be creative, and play "work" at home, but I have to admit, it is trying my patience.  At least three days a week, "work" consists of pouring (Keir would correct us and say placing) concrete in the playroom. Our playroom has built in shelves on either side, and the bottom row of shelves has 12 different baskets full of a variety of toys.  Pouring concrete means they gather ALL TWELVE baskets, one at a time in our play shopping cart, and pour (dump) them on the floor.  They then take turns with our noisy push roller thing from Ikea smoothing out the concrete.  See for yourself.  

The biggest problem is that the concrete is way more than a 2 & 4 year old can clean up, and mom ends up "working" all afternoon so we have somewhere to walk.  Help!

Not so New Arrival

There are many things I want/need to post as I embark on a new goal to keep our blog updated. However, I must begin with the arrival of Allison Grace.  For those who did not hear about her grand entrance, Allison arrived on March 27, one month early, while we were in Denver to take Conner to some appointments at Children's Hospital.  The story is quite long, but since it was almost seven months ago, I will give the quick version.  The day began with a visit to my doctor to make sure I was okay to travel over Vail pass to Denver. I was having mild, pain-free, braxton hicks contractions, but he said they were indeed false contractions, and that I was nowhere near going into labor.  He told us to have a good trip.  About the time we stopped in Silverthorne to eat dinner I was no longer pain-free, in fact I was in quite a bit of pain, about every 10-15 minutes. We kept telling ourselves to listen to the doctor, and that this false labor would go away soon.  We got to our hotel in Denver about 9 pm and went to sleep.  Well, everyone but me went to sleep.  I couldn't because I was still in a good (great!) amount of pain. With help from the hotel concierge, the local fire department, an ambulance, and Rose Medical Center, Allison made her grand entrance at 2:15 in the morning, only 5 minutes after Keir arrived at the hospital.  She is a happy, healthy, beautiful little girl.  Here are some pics from the last seven months.  I only hope her grand entrance is not a sign of things to come!