Tall, Happy Girl

Ashley had her four month check-up last week. She's 13 pounds 13 ounces (55%) and 25 3/4 inches long (92%). If she stays on that growth curve she'll be 5'11". I thought she was long when her 3-6 month onesies were stretching. Sienna was still wearing 0-3 month clothes at 4 months!

Brotherly Love

We brought out the Exersaucer for the first time for Ashley. I think the other kids were more excited than she was at first. Here's a clip showing Colby in his element.

At times he can be quite sweet. He likes to lay down next to Ashley and hold her hand. I just have to make sure he doesn't squeeze or twist too hard. More often he likes to lay on top of her, or hit her, just for the reaction. After he makes her cry he insists on kissing her to make it better, which usually leaves a big slober mark on her hair, often accompanied with food depending on how recent his last meal was.

Photo Shoot - Take 2

In April we took the kids to Sears for birthday photos. It was only half successful, since Colby was sick (see previous post). So we recently went again, this time for Ashley's 3 month shot and to try again for a 2 year birthday picture for Colby. He was much more cooperative this time. But we still weren't able to capture a true Colby smile. Such a smile is irresistibly cute, that looks either angelic or mischievous, depending on his mood and mine. Such as...Instead we got mostly forced "cheese" smiles. Can't you just hear him saying "cheese" in this picture?
Ashley can give us some pretty good smiles now, but she was also stingy with them during the photo shoot. Still cute though.

View all the pictures here.

May Newsletter

Pictures from May
Pictures from Orlando Vacation

Tennessee Tidbits
May 2008

May had a few major events that seemed to make the month go really fast. Our first adventure was a trip down to Athens, GA to visit Craig and Kim and family. They are our closest relatives, hence the cousins that Sienna and Colby know best. Sienna is constantly talking about Laila and Jeff and Adam, and what they did when they were at our house, or their house, or what she wants to do with them when they next get together, or making crafts for them, etc. Earlier this week she spent all morning telling us about her dream that involved them. We will be very sad when they move away to Wyoming.

Anyway, we had a fun time visiting a local park with a river running through it (don’t remember the name). Dads and kids waded in the river. Moms and babies watched from the shore, as each child successively slipped and fell, got muddy, cried, and got up for more. We watched Laila “play” in her last soccer game (Go Laila!), went to a fun indoor pool with lots of playthings, and visited Stone Mountain in Atlanta. It was a great trip.

Our next highlight was a trip to Orlando with all of Kristen’s family. This was a vacation three years in the planning. Including babies and two fiancées there were a total of 19 people, staying in four time share units. We spent a day each at Sea World, Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. We also took a drive over to Cocoa Beach for the “Beach” experience. It was a pretty windy day, and Colby cried about the sand blasting his back, but after a while he got courageous and had fun jumping over the tiny waves “crashing” on the shore. Sienna enjoyed the water some, but really had fun building a sandcastle with future Uncle Spencer. The amusement parks were a lot of fun, although very exhausting with three small children. It was nice to have other relatives around to help out and exchange babysitting during rides. Colby and Sienna probably had just as much fun, if not more, just hanging out at the time share with their cousins, chasing birds and turtles, watching movies, and playing with cars. It was a great vacation.

Meanwhile, we had decided to get our floors redone in our house. We’ve been saving for a while, and shortly before we left decided to have it done while we were gone. We had carpet and vinyl tore out in the kitchen, dining, and living rooms and walkways, and replaced with hardwood. We also had our bathroom re-tiled, replacing the 1970s mustard colored tile. It was all supposed to be done when we returned, but it wasn’t, so we spent another 3 days at friends’ homes, living out of our suitcases. We even took a day trip down to Huntsville, Alabama and visited the Space Center there. We’re still finishing up a few things here and there, but we’re really happy with the way it looks, and you should all come visit sometime so you can see for yourselves.

The last highlight is that Sienna was officially diagnosed with a mild case of asthma. She’s had a few episodes over the last year or so where she has a lot of trouble breathing. Her first episode took us to the ER. She had another minor episode last week, so after a trip to the pediatrician we now own a “nebulizer”. It is a device that vaporizes albuterol to help her breath better when she has an episode. If she continues to have episodes more frequently we may switch to a more preventative, daily treatment.

April Newsletter

Some of this is review for regular blog viewers (if there are any out there), but following is our monthly newsletter.

Here are pictures from April.

Colby is screaming at the top of his lungs upstairs. The good news is that Ashley and Sienna are sleeping right through it. Ashley has just started falling asleep without screaming – the last few nights it seems like Colby is filling in for her.

Ashley smiles occasionally now and is definitely more alert and attentive. Although getting her to sleep has been a struggle, I am grateful that she averages about one poopy diaper per week, and chances are that it occurs while I’m at work so I don’t even have to worry about it. Last week’s poopy diaper came while Kristen and I were on a date. How’s that for good timing?

I think Colby has started the “terrible twos.” When he’s in a good mood, though, he can be great fun – particularly because he’s talking a lot now. We bought him a new “big wheels” type tricycle. He loves his Pooh-car and it’s sad to put it away because he has so much fun with it and has learned to get around so well on it. But it was way too small and he was ruining too many shoes pushing it along. For “Performance” for family home evening tonight, Colby counted to 10 and then sang the ABC song with a little help from Sienna.

Sienna is our angelic daughter. Maybe angelic isn’t the right word – she definitely enjoys pushing Colby’s buttons – but she has been pretty good lately. All I have to do is tell her a Zorro story after she’s in bed, and she stays there and falls asleep almost immediately. She loves being outside. While I was mowing the lawn this evening, she spent over an hour outside riding her tricycle, and playing with the rake. (Colby is scared of the lawn mower, so he stayed inside. Ashley slept – she’s going on 5 hours right now! Hopefully that doesn’t mean we’re in for a long night.) Sienna loves primary and I think it’ll be good for her to start pre-school in the fall, as sometimes I worry that she’s a little bored at home – even though Kristen does a nice job trying to keep her occupied.

Kristen has discovered the world of blogging. You can check out our website at http://bandkshepherd.blogspot.com/. She also cut her hair very short this past week. Two men in the ward commented to me that it looks really nice, and she just got an email from the Bishop saying that she looks like she’s 21. I think I’ll punch the next guy who says she looks great.

I ran the Country Music Half Marathon this past month. It was so much fun – there were 30,000 other runners! Work is fine. The weather is really nice out here now, so I’ve started commuting on my bicycle again.

May should be a good month with trips to Georgia (visiting Craig and Kim) and Orlando (meeting all of Kristen’s family) planned. We may not be visiting Jerusalem, but hey, I’m sure there’s some Jerusalem display at the Epcott Center.

Love,
Bryan, Kristen, Sienna, Colby, and Ashley

OOPS!

About a week and a half ago I took the kids to the zoo with some friends. I usually make the kids walk the whole time, and push Ashley in the stroller. Colby was wearing some cheap-o Walmart version of Crocs that were a couple weeks old. At the end of the zoo trip we ended up at the Tot Lot in the playground, which is a padded, enclosed area for bouncing and jumping for toddlers (Colby loves it).
You have to take your shoes off and store them in cubbies, which is when I noticed that Colby had a pretty bad blister on his foot. So when it was time to go I threw his shoes in the stroller and carried him out to the car.

A few days later when I thought he'd healed sufficiently, I grabbed his shoes out of the van and put them on him, only to realize his feet had shrunk! As he's shuffling his feet in shoes two sizes too big I think back, trying to figure out what happened. That's when I realized that I grabbed the wrong shoes at the Tot Lot! Some poor kid got left with cheap-o Crocks, two sizes too small, with holes in the toes (see Pooh-Car post below), while we have a real set of Crocs in good condition for next summer!

I feel bad. I called the zoo and they took my information in case somebody calls about it. Perhaps some mother has written an irate blog about how somebody stole her son's shoes at the zoo. If you happen to read such a blog, let me know and I will gladly exchange back.

Dress-Up

It's 5:00 am and I've been wide awake since feeding Ashley at 1:00. She is having one of her best nights EVER. So why am I awake? Thinking about really important things. Like my grocery list, upcoming sharing time, upcoming vacation, things to do today, errands I need to run, etc. Sigh.

So I might as well be productive and post some pictures. I love watching my kids dress up. The more random and disconnected the better. Here are a few from this month.

One day Sienna decided they needed to wear vests and headbands. After he was properly attired, Colby kept trying to tell me something. His diction isn't that great yet, so it took a few tries. Finally I realized what he was saying: "Me a pretty princess". By the time I got the camera, Sienna had him convinced he was actually a prince.