December 8

My mom came on the 21st to help with Ruby. She's so great. I'm so thankful for her. She helped clean and shop for Thanksgiving. Then Casey, Kami, Kristal, and my Dad came Tuesday night. We had a great meal and went to see the movie "Megamind" on Thanksgiving and we had a nice time being together. Saturday night we went to see the Cactus garden at the Chocolate Factory. Our kids look forward to that every year.

Then this week was my first on my own. It wasn't too bad. Except for having to drive the carpool, that was a pain. But I shouldn't have to drive again until January, so that will help a lot. I did the vacuuming and went to Sam's club this week, that was too much too soon apparently because I started feeling bad again. Hopefully I'll get back on track faster this time and I'll let Bob do the vacuuming this week.

Ruby is really spitting up a lot now. Rachel spit up a lot too, but not as much as Ruby. It makes night time really difficult. Because if we don't keep her up to get all the burps out, then she'll be a little fountain when we lay her down.

Ruby was blessed when she was 2 weeks old because that's when we had the most family here. My dad and Casey and the Bishop Williams, Steve Whittle, and Foi Tuitama participated in the blessing. It was a nice blessing. Ruby was quiet for the whole thing. And she looked so pretty in her white blessing dress.

The kids are all loving Ruby. Danny and Rachel can carry her around and love to hold her. Aaron sits down to hold her, but asks to all the time. He's really good with babies. And Seth still loves the baby too and asks to hold her quite often. Seth has really adjusted to having a new baby really well. He doesn't seem to resent her or me since I spend so much time with her. Seth is still such a happy boy. And he's really starting to try to say a lot more words. He's still missing many sounds, but he has his own version of words and we're understanding more of what he says.

Danny is really helpful and thoughtful with Ruby. He tries so hard to make good choices. And he knows so much about the gospel. He's a great friend to his friends and he's fun to talk to. He and Aaron fight quite often, but I guess that's normal for brothers. But when he and Rachel and Aaron get playing together it's so wonderful.

Rachel is quite social. She has many friends and acquaintances at school. She has such a good time with her core group of friends. She works hard on her homework and is the top in her class. She is loving piano and tennis. She's been doing tennis for four months. At first she wasn't so sure about it, but now she's doing great and having fun, even though Jaclyn doesn't do it anymore. I'm so happy she likes it. I just wanted something she could have fun at and feel like she does well. Her coaches are great and they practice really close to home too.

Aaron is getting past some of his tantrums. He's doing great at his preschool this year. He's so smart and he wants to learn and do well, so I don't need to fight him to do his work or go to school, which is so nice. He still has tantrums and is very strong-willed, but it's getting so much better. He's a great help with Ruby and he and Seth are starting to be able to play together.