January 2016

Dear Friend,

Happy New Year!  Another year of todderhood is underway in the Erickson home.  Fair warning: this will probably be a boring (or exhausting) post for anyone to read because it is basically just a long list of toddler adventures that I had to clean up, but I have to document it for my future self.

 Elias had to spend the first week of the year in Europe for work and I had pumped myself up for a great week with the kids by myself.  After getting them all situated with breakfast on the first morning, I snuck into the shower for a few minutes to myself.  I came out to a slap in the face with reality.  Summer cut my shower short with a full-on fit about never going potty again. Once I got her on the toilet, I came out to find Smith in the laundry room covered in Vaseline.  Once I got him cleaned up, I went looking for Boyd and found him hiding under the tramp with a bag of chocolate chips.  Just one hour later, the boys pulled down my curtains in the living room.  But once I pulled out the ladder, they assured me they would fix it all by themselves.

I guess I didn't learn my lesson because I took a shower the next morning as well.  I came out to a quiet house.  I then noticed singing coming from the tramp room.   I walked in to discover my kids dancing in circles with broken bits of candy canes in their mouths and bouncing all around them.  They were all laughing and singing, "We are the kings of the candy canes".  They (Boyd is my guess) found a forgotten stash of about two dozen candy canes and they were celebrating.  Here is a picture after I had picked up most of the candy canes.  I thought the funniest part was when I brought back the vacuum in order to clean up the mess and they all met me at the entrance of the tramp and announced, "No vacuums on the tramp".  

I tried to fill the rest of the week with activities to keep us all out of trouble.  

We had play dough adventures, 

painted our nails, 

went on train rides (Boyd invented this game and it was a hit), 

had bath parties, 

destroyed the playroom, 

and spent an afternoon at the library.  

I love how my kids feel so comfortable there and make themselves right at home.  

Needless to say we were all thrilled when Elias got home.  

The kids refused to leave his side all weekend.  

He loved it though.  

In fact, on Sunday he told me to take some time to myself and a few hours later I walked out to this:

Science experiments are always more epic with Daddy.  

The boys are really giving me a run for my money when it comes to food.  They act as though I never feed them!  They can now climb up onto anything and unlock everything so they are always sneaking out something to eat.  

Boyd especially has a serious sweet tooth and if I ever go 6 minutes without seeing him, he is without fail hiding somewhere with a bag or chocolate chips or something else that's sweet.  

They tried to make muffins without me one morning.  I love the look that Boyd is giving Smith.  Sure, Smith has a handful of butter but Boyd is holding a pizza cutter.

For those of you that may remember, last month was Smith's cowboy month.  This month...he has been a dog.  He often insists on eating off the floor. (I can't tell you how many spilled bowls of water this has caused.)

He is always asking to be put in a cage. 

He is constantly panting and asking Summer to lead him around on a leash.  

He continues to be my artist who refuses to be confined to a piece of paper.  We are still dealing with him painting and coloring on my house and himself.  It leads to a lot of baths...and a lot of time outs.

He his still obsessed with shoes.  He found these "astronaut boots" at a church give-away and fell in love.  (They quickly disappeared once he brought them home.)

And every time I take off his shoes explaining that we aren't going anywhere at the moment and I don't like shoes on in the house, he promptly goes over to the shoe closet, puts on the first two shoes he can find and returns to give me a look like this.  (That face just melts me like butter!)

And he's our little music man! 

Boyd loves his cars and stuffed animals, but he has also been really into making rocket ships this month.  Out of laundry baskets or play dough, it really doesn't matter. 

He loves to make cars, trains, or rocket ships with whatever he can.  

Boyd will dress up every once in a while, especially if we are having a dance party.  But it is interesting to see how he and Smith play pretend differently.  While Smith becomes something else when he make believes (a cowboy, dog, or Octonaut), Boyd pretends that his toys come to life.  He is often pretending that his stuffed doggy is real and needs to be fed or take a nap.  

He is far more interested in jumping on the tramp or riding his bike than doing any art projects, but every once in a while we find something that he really likes.  

He is always the first one down the slide when we go to the park.  (Even when it greets him with a huge puddle at the end.)

Summer continues to love being a big sister.  

She often helps me out in the kitchen and insist we wear our aprons together.  (Thanks Gram!)

She can even make pasta salad all by herself.

She loves her daddy and often randomly asks me to take a picture of her to send to him while he is at work.

Her favorite thing is preschool.  Since it has been so cold outside, they have been doing a dance video for recess and she thinks it's a blast. 

She has become a little science bug, 

and loves to tell us about what they discover and record in their science journals.  

The rest of the month has been filled with a lot of mommy/toddler goofing off, 

hide and seek, 

horsey-back rides on Daddy, 

meal times, 

discovering the joy of milk bubbles, 
'

painting, 

making necklaces, 

playdates with friends, 

writing thank you cards, 

and meeting Daddy for lunch.  It has been freezing this month, but there was one day that it warmed up enough to go outside of our van during our minivan picnic.  

The kids were thrilled to play in the dirt!

The kids were hit with a strange stomach bug, so even though they never had temperatures, over the course of a week they each took turns throwing up for about 36 hours.  One day after meeting up with him for lunch, I sent Elias this text: 

Hey sugar-it's been two hours since we left you at the office. How are you? Smith fell asleep on the way home but when we got here Summer really had to go the bathroom. I hurried and got her set up on the toilet and then came out that back out to the garage to find that Boyd had taken multiple tools, including the electric drill and buried them outside in the snow. The minute I got those dried off, Summer called out as she had accidentally broken a small glass flower vase. I was midway through sweeping that up when Smith woke up and started screaming and I remembered I never unbuckled his car seat. I went out and got Smith and laid him down on the couch. Then Summer threw up all over the tile. I got her cleaned up, tucked her in bed and then went to get cleaning supplies from the kitchen in order to clean up the throw up. I then discover that the boys had climbed up on the counter and gotten into the baking sprinkles. Sprinkles were everywhere and their mouths were dyed blue. I finished cleaning up the throw up, and was halfway through sweeping up the sprinkles when Summer threw up again in her bed, missing the bowl I had put at her bedside. I took off her clothes and sheets and put her in the bathtub. I then discovered that she had accidentally pooped a little the last time she threw up so I had to clean her underwear as well. While she was relaxing in the bath, I finished cleaning up the glass and was preparing a load of laundry when the boys decided they wanted to take a bath too. They both stripped-down and Smith was halfway in the tub before he realized that he had pooped in his diaper. I got that all cleaned up, bathed our children, dressed them, and laid Smith and Summer in bed. Then Boyd cried out as he had fallen off a stool while trying to sneak some chocolate chips. He's okay now and I'm currently sitting next to Summer while she is pooping while throwing up onto a bowl. 

These kiddos are fun, but it's 24/7.  One day I got down on the floor to wipe up yet another bowl of spilled water before someone would slip on it.  The kids were all entertaining themselves in other parts of the kitchen or living room, so after wiping up the water, I took a moment to myself hiding behind the island.  Within minutes all three kids had relocated to be within eyeshot.  I felt really loved, but I had to laugh at how constant their love is.    

One night Summer had the idea of turning the master bathroom into a jungle and having a picnic dinner in there.  We made vines and a waterfall and Daddy even drew tiger faces on their oranges.  

We have enjoyed our winter with lots of snow adventures

including a new favorite - snow paint!

We have loved having a trampoline inside!  

It has saved us on many of these cold days.  

Summer has been setting some goals each week in order to have a movie night or slumber party on Friday nights.  Last week we watched a movie on the tramp and E surprised everyone with a special "movie night lollypop"!

Speaking of E...he's the best.  Summer took this picture of us one Saturday morning when our three kids dragged us both out of bed before 7am.  I can't imagine doing this parenting thing without him.  

He loves spending time with the kids (even though it makes getting anything else he wants to get done near impossible) and he is always up for a dance party. 

It always amazes me that he is in full-on daddy mode the moment he walks in the door from work.  Sometimes...it is to the detriment of his clothes.  

Yes, it's a crazy life.  And yes, some nights end like this...

but we love it and I love him.  He even cut and colored my hair for me.  He thought giving me a bob might be above his pay grade, but he did an awesome job.  We were able to escape to a little play one Saturday night for a date.  

We have made it a goal to fall in love with New Mexico this year, by discovering a new thing each month.  This month we went to a young artists workshop hosted by the Georgia O'Keeffe museum.  

We were excited to hear that it included free entrance to the museum, but quickly realized that our kids aren't quite old enough to be surrounded by priceless art.  We were both holding the boys back the entire 3.5 minutes we were there.  

Well, for those of you who don't know...and who happen to still be reading this...we are expecting a little baby girl the last week of May!  We told the kids on Christmas morning that I was pregnant and they all had different reactions.  Summer was thrilled and included a convincing pitch to her Heavenly Father each night in her prayer as to why it should be a little sister. Her reasons included "I just really want a little sister", "our family should have three boys and three girls", "baby brothers can be so difficult", "we can only think of girl names and not boy names" and "we really need a girl because my brothers are driving Mommy bonkers".  

We brought them all to the ultrasound this month and she was so excited when they told us it was a girl.  She was totally speechless, but just went around the room with a huge grin giving everyone kisses.   She loves telling everyone that Mommy has a baby sister in her belly.  Even though we get some pretty snarky comments, such as "really, another one?" or "you just don't know when to stop, do you?" or one when Elias was with us, "you two should just try watching more TV", I'm just glad Summer has stopped inviting strangers to pet my belly. 

Boyd is really protective of my belly, getting upset at anyone who plops on it or announcing that no one is allowed to sit on my lap because there is a baby in there.  Other than that, he has been pretty indifferent to the idea.  He just takes full advantage of any moment I randomly fall asleep somewhere by sneaking food into a hiding spot. 

Smith seemed upset about it the first few weeks which is really out of character for him.  He tried to "smash baby" as he hit my belly multiple times a day.  He tried to convince me "no more baby.  We have baby Boyd.  No more." But he seems to have come around to the idea.  In fact, last week during speech therapy we were working on "st" words so we were playing with star stickers.  Each time Smith grabbed a new sticker he announced it as someone in our family before sticking it to the paper.  I was so impressed that he did the boys in blue and the girls in purple, and that the kid stickers were smaller than the mommy and daddy stickers.  But when he grabbed a fourth little sticker, put it on top of the large purple sticker and announced, "baby sister", my heart just melted.  He's such a sweet kid!  (Speech is going great by the way, it sounds like they will test out of the program at their annual review in May.)  

I love being a mommy.  I am really so grateful for these darling little people in my life, and especially to be raising them hand in hand with Elias.  

As a matter of personal record keeping...we were scared to death when we found out.  I don't know if I could ever forget the series of events that brought us here: the three years of infertility, the first round of in vitro when we were assured we would have twins and neither of them took.  The intense heartbreak that followed.  The second time we put in two little embryos and were blessed with SummerGirl.  The third time we put in two embryos and were blessed with the Boyd and Smith.  A year and a half later, discovering that I had gotten pregnant naturally against all odds.  I walked around as though I had been touched by an angel; as though this baby was a special delivery from God.  The miscarriage at 10 weeks.  The heartbreak and confusion that followed.  Feeling moved to do in vitro again, putting in one embryo and having it not take.  Feeling moved to try in vitro yet again, putting in one embryo and having it not take. The confusion that followed. Having a doctor tell us that due to scar tissue I may not be able to carry a baby to full term again.  Coming to the conclusion that we should stop trying and be grateful for our three healthy, happy children.  The peace that followed.  Getting excited about our new exercise routine and having some time back to myself for other interests.  The exhaustion and nausea that followed. Discovering that we got pregnant naturally but being fully aware that we may have a miscarriage.  The healthy first trimester that followed.  And here we are...at 22 weeks today.  I'd like to think I'm a wiser and better person after all of this, but I can't say that with convection.  I do recognize that any timetables I lay out for my life are a joke.  It's all in the Lord's hands.  I can say with convection that any pain or heartache we have to go though can be made bearable with the Savior on our side.  We can't have faith in outcomes.  We can have faith that by partnering with the Lord we can overcome anything that comes our way.  

The first trimester was rough.  I was confused, nauseous, and straight-up exhausted.  I felt like I didn't have enough in me to care for my three kids, how could I possibly take on one more.  

I do have to document one totally gross moment...after weeks of throwing up, it had been about 36 hours since I had consumed anything other than water and rice crackers.  I was making coleslaw for Elias' dinner and I eyed the Thanksgiving sugar cookies that the kids had decorated with friends at a playdate.  Note - the kids had decorated these, so they were covered in man-handled frosting and more sprinkles than could ever look appetizing to a healthy palate.  Yet, suddenly inspiration struck.  I grabbed one of those cookies, covered it in a pile of coleslaw and dug in.  The exquisite deliciousness of this masterpiece rocked my world!  My stomach hadn't been so happy in weeks!  It was an answer to prayers and I never even threw it up.  

Anyway, the glory of second trimester has begun and I'm feeing so much better!  Our callings have kept Elias and I really busy and the kids have been patient with our many meetings at the church.  One day last week we were there way longer than planned so I took the kids out to ice cream for a little fun.  They were all so excited!  It was fun to break the rules.  While we were eating, Summer announced that she, Boyd and Smith were going to throw me a baby shower.  Both of the boys started to disagree.  "Too big" Smith protested.  "Mommy shower" Boyd corrected.  So now they discuss the baby/mommy shower they plan on throwing me.  I love them.    

So...if anyone is still reading...that was our January.  Our messy, wonderful, exhausting, blessed January.  We hope this year had a great start for you as well. Thank you all for your love and support. 

Always, Elias, Brittany, Summer, Boyd & Smith