Catching up and new phases

For some reason I've had a mental block about blogging and picture taking all summer. Part of it is because I don't have a camera (still!) so I'm stuck either using my phone or my mom's camera. Hopefully in the next couple of days I'll have some pics to post; for now, here's an update on us!

We have had a lot of changes this summer, and we're feeling it! It's kind of hard to explain but everything has a different feel. Sayer turned three in July and has officially left the toddler stage. We now have a little boy who comprehends more, remembers EVERYTHING, and has amazing deductive reasoning. He can count to nine (he always forgets ten), tell you the names of his entire family, and is currently mastering his phone number. He can tell you every kind of tool needed to plant a garden, build a house, or fix a car; what's more, he can use most of them if they're not under lock and key! He is a little more obedient and a LITTLE less wild. He absolutely loves tractors and will ride around with his dad or grandpa for hours. He is really funny to listen to; today when I picked him up from school he told me, "Everyone called me SAWYER" and gave me this disgruntled look that was so funny I just laughed, even though people calling him Sawyer is my biggest pet peeve!



He and Sari are amazing together as well. Sayer is so protective of his baby sister and takes care of her constantly, whether it's getting her a blanket or binkie or telling me when she's hungry. Occasionally I'll wake up in the morning to find Sayer in the crib with his sister, tucking her in or just making her laugh! He has really taken on the big brother role and I'm so glad he is our oldest. Sari loves him and lights up whenever he's around.

Sari is now seven months old and has left that newborn phase. She smiles constantly, just like her brother, and has a really sweet disposition. She is now sitting up and putting everything in her reach right into her mouth so we have to watch what we leave lying around! She does get impatient sometimes and has the funniest little scream. Still no hair to speak of-good thing she doesn't mind the bows, because there's nothing worse than your baby girl being mistaken for a boy :)



I have officially begun my final year at ISU!!! This school year has a different feel, mainly because this semester will be my last one on campus before I student teach. I feel like I've entered a new phase too, because I'm actually in the classroom this year and putting my skills to use. I have a pretty intense class load, including spending every morning in a classroom at Franklin Middle School. I was really apprehensive about this because of the time involved but I have a hard time leaving every day. I am working with seventh grade literature students and have been paired with Mrs. Marci Bartu, who is an awesome cooperating teacher! I'll be sad to leave her class in December.

The start of the school year also meant taking my kids to strangers for the first time. I refuse to use the word "day care" because I have an issue with it, so we call it "school". Sayer absolutely loves school and most days he cries when we have to leave! His teachers are Miss Misty and Mr. Bryce, and he tells me all the time they're his "best friends" :) I really wasn't worried about leaving him because I'm so used to nursery, but Sari is a different story. Luckily, she has great teachers, Miss Tabitha and Miss Callie, who are great with babies and love to play with Sari. My schedule allows me to go in and nurse her at lunch, so that makes it a little easier to leave her every day.

We haven't seen much of Dad around this summer! Jake has been lucky (or unlucky) enough to be in Wyoming all summer for work. It's great money on the positive side, but it means he's only home on weekends so that's a lot to take! But we appreciate him so much for being willing to be away from home so much.

I think that's all! Stay tuned for some pics (I hope).

My little cuties

This weekend my family did family pictures. Since everyone was in their nice clothes, Kandice decided to take a few individual shots for my mom's "grandkids" wall. I think they turned out pretty great :) Can't wait to see the family shots from our photographer!


Here's a few shots of the three boys: Aedan, Dewey, and Sayer. These three were born within a couple of months of each other and always have fun together. They had fun playing with the wagon Sayer got for his birthday.




Say and Sari. He really wanted to hold Sari for the pic!



LOVE Sari's ears in this pic. She has the most adorable Dumbo ears! I blame her Grandpa Lilya :)


My handsome three-year-old...post-ice cream.


My plan was to feed Sari right before pictures so she'd be nice and happy. With all the excitement in getting ready and talking with the fam, I totally forgot. Mother of the year, right here! She tried so hard to be brave...


Uh oh....


Here it comes....


SO sad...


And finally, one smile! It was worth it!

Here you go, Kandice...

So I'm being bullied by my big sister because I've been slacking on this blog; I guess that means it's time for an update on our lives! I really don't have an excuse for not blogging; laziness, I guess :)

Sari is now almost five months old! I can't hardly believe it. She is such a sweet baby and always so happy. I love this age because she is so interactive, but can't crawl or walk yet so she's not into everything! She was a little fussy for a few months because of reflux, but she's responded really well to the medication. It's amazing to me to see, even at this age, the personality differences between my two kids. Sari is definitely a girl and has a major attitude, especially when she's being ignored. If she cries, she's either hungry or bored, and both are pretty easy fixes! So we've been lucky this time around. She has this funny little scream that's not really an unhappy noise; usually it's what we get when we aren't paying enough attention to her. She still doesn't have much hair, but what she does have is curly and looks like it might be red! Her eyes are still iffy-today they look brown but they've been getting lighter over the last few days so who knows.



LOVE that smile!


I hope she never gets tired of the bows and flowers!



At her four-month checkup, she was 13 lbs. 8 oz, and 24 inches long. We were a little sad because it was her last appointment with our pediatrician, Dr. Parsons, who is retiring next week :( We absolutely love her and are sad to see her go!

Sari is also not the "baby" anymore! Jake's sister Mindy and her husband, Daniel, had a baby girl, Halee Enid, the first week of May. Sean and Diana (my brother and sis-in-law) welcomed Hank D the second week of May, and Kandice and Brett had Brianna Shea on June 16! They are all adorable and I'm sure they will be the best of friends for Sari. My mom and I got to watch Kylee and Aedan while Kandice was in the hospital, and Diana brought Hallie, Dewey, and Hank over to play as well. We went to Arby's for lunch where my brother Boyd is the manager. It was so fun! The little kids all LOVE Uncle Boyd and went running as soon as they saw him. It was cute to see how his face lit up because he kinda likes them, too :)



Sayer will be three in a couple of weeks. Oh boy, does this make me feel old! He has changed a lot in the past few months and we are really starting to feel the change from having a toddler to having a little boy. I can't believe how quickly he picks things up! His vocabulary is excellent but he still has some really funny phrases and words. For instance:

• "woovies" (movies)
• "axanent" (accident)
• "nas wight" (last night)
• "tomaryo" (tomorrow)
• "shubbo" (shovel)
  
• "Mom, whatchu DOin?"
• "I'm sad right now"
• "No, don't well at me, I'm nice Sayer!" (well=yell)

There are tons more but it'd take me a year to write them all down :) He and Sari are the best of friends. I was worried before she was born that we'd see a lot of acting out and jealousy from him, but he has loved her from day one and is very protective of her! It's pretty cute to see her face light up when he talks to her. This pic is kind of old; it's from Sari's very first day at church. She was about a month old.



This is another pic of Sari's blessing day. I forgot to post this before; it's funny because when I was putting her dress on I realized how small it was. If we'd waited another week, it might not have fit! No wonder she looked like this all day:



Sayer has also finally learned to pedal his bike. He got a really nice bike for his birthday last year, but couldn't quite master the pedaling part. So we'd have to push him around forever and it got really old. Then one day a few months ago, I realized he was actually pedaling on his own!



He also loves riding with Grandma and Liberty:



Now just to get back at Kandice, I have to post these:





Our good friend Callie came down for Memorial Weekend. She is hilarious! We've lived next door to the Tew's my whole life and they're great friends for all of us. Callie recently graduated from cosmetology school and was nice enough to come give Kandice and me new 'dos. Kandice's was wayyyy shorter; Aedan wasn't too sure how he felt about that :)



I didn't get any after pics, but we both looked fabulouso! Thanks tons to Callie for making us look so great!

Other than that, we are just trying to enjoy our summer! I'm a little nervous for fall semester because since I will be going five days a week this year, I have decided to put my kids in daycare instead of having family watch them. I haven't done it yet because I have a slight phobia of strangers watching my kids and daycare really scares me; any suggestions as to how to get over this would be greatly appreciated! ;) I was lucky enough to get them into the Early Learning Center on campus, which is really great and makes me a little less nervous. I am very excited that this will be my final year at ISU and I will be student teaching in the spring!

Praying for Shannon

Yesterday our family got word that my cousin, Shannon, was in a very serious motorcycle accident in Utah. Shannon is 17 and the youngest of my cousins on the McBride side. She was life flighted to Primary Children's Medical Center and is in very serious condition right now. You can go here to see her story and progress each day. Please join our family in praying for Shannon!

No More Diapers!

At least, for one of my kids. Sayer is finally potty trained! We started around Christmas so it's been about four MISERABLE months. I just about gave up a few times because he just didn't seem to be getting it. But last week, I realized one night that we were out of diapers so he went to bed in underwear (he's been sleeping in diapers this whole time). He did have a few nighttime accidents, but that seemed to do the trick and he's only had a couple of daytime accidents. The last four nights he's been dry! The big thing is that I don't have to remind him anymore; he just tells me when he needs to go. Yay for Sayer! I never thought I'd be so happy to see him out of diapers :)

I just can't help myself...

So Kandice and I finally got around to doing Sari's pictures. We invaded my mom and dad's house today since they're in HAWAII (brats!) and they have a nice, big, empty bedroom with great natural light they haven't filled yet. Kandice is experimenting with a trial version of photo editing software and still has to finish some other pics she took a few weeks ago, so I knew I would probably have to wait a day or two before I'd get to see some.

But she couldn't wait.

And neither can I.














Aren't these awesome! Kandice got the brilliant idea to pull out my wedding dress and do a few with it and the wedding rings...I was so excited I just had to post these! More to come!

Sari's Blessing

This weekend was Sari's blessing day. We had about fifty people there to share her big day and almost all of them were immediate family! It was fun to get everyone together; all of our families were there except for one of Jake's brother-in-laws. The blessing circle was pretty big and one of the counselors in our bishopric joked to me that he felt like he was in stake conference and not just testimony meeting because there were so many visitors! Jake did a great job of blessing her and I was reminded once again of the blessings of having the priesthood in our home.

My mom and dad offered to host a dinner for everyone afterward, so we got to test out the new digs once again. It was quite a test with all of the McBride's and all of the Lilya's, but there was plenty of room and we all had a great time visiting and enjoying each other's company.

Here are some fun pics of the big day:


Say giving "Sissy" kisses


Sari was far past being amused by the uncomfortable dress at this point.


Sari with Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Lilya


Grandma and Grandpa Lilya


Grandma and Grandpa McBride


Aunt Jen and Sari-this was the first time Jennifer really got to spend time with Sari. It was also the first time my brother Boyd had ever seen her so the two of them had a few arguments over who got to hold Sari :) They had a lot of fun together! Plus, Sari got out of her blessing dress and was much happier in this pic.


My Grandma Louise and Grandpa Gene were able to come down for the blessing as well. It was really special to have them there, not only because Gene was able to stand in the circle, but because Sari is named after Grandma Wowo and it was really important to me to have her there for Sari's big day! She wasn't feeling well and almost didn't come, but she was a trooper and made it. I was so grateful and made sure Kandice got some pics of the two "Louise's" and it's something I'll always treasure.




Grandma was so funny; anytime Sari made a sound she got this look on her face. It was cute.


Kandice made sure to get this four-generation photo too. My middle name is Lou, which is a tribute to both of my grandmothers (Louise and Luella). My mom was also named after her grandmothers.


These are some pics Kandice took a few weeks ago. I love this one of Sari's face! She is so cute. I also like how my mom's nails match her outfit :)




It was a great day and we had a lot of fun! Thanks to Kandice for sharing her talents with us :)