4 Months Already!

Last Friday Spencer turned 4 months old. It's fun to look back and see the progress he's made already! I would have to say he started out a little on the fussy side but has since become a happy flirtatious baby that is delightful in every way! His coos, smiles, and laughs fill our home with increasing JoY! Jared loves to try and get him to laugh and is so gentle with him. Most of the time if Jared hurts Spencer it is accidental and Jared is so remorseful and apologetic to Spencer kissing him repeatedly. The love I have for my boys is beyond description. There are many moments where I just watch them and my heart is literally full of love that I feel it can burst; what a great feeling:) Today I took Spencer in for his well baby check up. Here are his stats:
Weight: 16 lbs 2 oz 72-73%
Height: 27 in 97%!!!!
Head circ: 17.2 in 84%

What a big boy I have! I just hope he keeps it up and we may have a tall Meservy boy after all! The pediatrician said he had very strong trunk muscles and was surprised he wasn't rolling over yet(he's been rolling to his side since he was born so I have no idea when he'll decide to complete the roll). She also said he was pretty advanced with his social skills (what a little flirt!) He does have a little eczema so I went and bought some Eucerin cream to help that out a little and also bought some Selsun Blue(that stuff's expensive!) to help his scalp. All in all I was pleased with his checkup and he's healthy as I expected:)

Gotta Love This

I got this video from an email from my friend Ali and I loved it! I actually watched it several times and was crying by the end. If you need a good laugh take a look!)

Baillie and State

This last weekend we got to go to go up to Idaho and watch Chris' little sister play basketball in Boise. We left on Wednesday and hit the bad storm that had several kids stuck at school and travelers stuck at the Maverick at Thanksgiving Point. We left early enough to miss that part but not soon enough to make it through the Idaho/Utah border. Luckily I have a sister who lives in Tremonton so we got to stay with her! What a treat! Just that day I had been talking to Chris asking if we'd ever stay at Angela's house because she was so close to home and we assumed we just may never get that opportunity. Well, I'm glad we got to stay Wednesday night. Jared loved playing with his cousins and I loved visiting with my sister.

I may be biased but I think they could've gone really far if they had better coaching. I could ramble on about what I disliked about their coaching but I'll leave that one alone. All I can say is I'm looking forward and at the same time not looking forward to my kids entering the sports world. I hope I never embarrass my kids, I can be really competitive at times and I've already seen the mama bear want to come out sometimes when another child is mean to mine! Watch out!!! Below are some pictures and highlights of our trip.

Our Goings On

So much has gone on but so little time (or lack of motivation) to record it. Here are a few things I've lacked posting about lately:

Jared:

• Swallowed one of those round decorative rocks that look like flattened marbles. Chris told me he put one in his mouth and when I went to retrieve it he gulped! My immediate reaction was, "Say Ahhh!" and it was gone! I was trying not to laugh when telling Chris he swallowed it. Thank goodness he was more serious and didn't laugh but sent him straight to his room for time out. I called a nurse and she said what I assumed, but I just wanted to check, that I needed to wait for it to pass and watch for it. So he swallowed it this last Friday and I still haven't seen it. But it may have passed because one time when he did his "job" he was getting up from his potty and while I was reaching for a knife to probe the feces someone flushed the toilet and Jared picked up his toilet seat think and dumped it in the toilet while exclaiming, "Good job mommy!" while I was wailing, "Noooooooooo!" So I hope it passed with those droppings but at the same time I hope it comes out the next droppings for my piece of mind. If I don't find it will he need an x-ray? I guess I'll be calling the nurse again soon!
• Fell asleep on the couch. Is was talking to one of my sisters and was on the phone for about 30 mins Jared had come to sit by me on the couch and laid down on his belly. When I got off the phone I looked over and he was out cold. This never hApPeNs! This was like 10 or 11 in the morning mind you and his naps are at 1:00. So I didn't think he'd take a nap that day but I went ahead and tried around 2:00. He didn't fight me so I laid him down and he would call for me every 10-15 but he was being good so I didn't go in and he ended up falling asleep I would guess around 2:40ish and slept till 5:00. Let's just say I got a lot done:)

Played with a dog. We visited my little sister and one of her roommates has a dog. Jared loves dogs but usually from a distance. Not this dog. He loved it! Jared loves to be chased and this dog trotted after Jared making it feel like a tag game to Jared.

• Jared loves TV and has learned how to not only turn it on but surf through the channels until he gets to a cartoon channel. I’ve been able to detour him by turning off the power strip that I plug the TV into. Well, he has been watching and even though it was tucked away he found it and knows if the light is not on then the TV is not on. He also uses this to his advantage when he doesn’t want us to watch TV. He turns off the TV and then goes and turns off the power strip little smarty.
• Went to a Valentines play group. Just before we went I went to the store so he could pick out a treat to share. He wanted suckers and he held them till we got there and continued to play with one hand while tightly grasping the suckers in the other. Luckily he eventually wanted two hands and gave them to me where I quietly dispersed of them to the other kids' moms.
• Friday night Jurassic Park was on and Jared was enjoying it. I didn’t have a problem with the portion of movie that was currently showing (the beginning part) but as it got to the point where T-Rex gets out and they’re in their cars feeling the tremble of T-Rex nearing I said ok enough! But Chris insisted he was okay. I tried even harder to stop Jared from watching when T-Rex was going to eat the man sitting on the toilet but Chris assured me they didn’t show it. WRONG! They showed the whole THING! Jared’s eyes were huge and Chris made light of it with him laughing and saying things like, “Cool, Did you see that?” I think Jared has survived but I still think it’s not age appropriate for a two-year-old unless his dad can make him laugh through T-Rex and Raptors eating people and other animals. Boys…
• Yesterday before church Jared got some nail polish which I saw. But I learned today that he knows how to untwist the cap and thus spill the lovely red color on the carpet! I immediately got out nail polish remover first cleaned up Jared before he made more of a mess and then dabbed at the spots and ended up pouring it straight on the areas with polish. Lastly I cleaned up myself

Spencer:

• Laughing more often when being tickled
• For about two or three weeks he hadn't sucked his thumb and I thought that's how it'd be but he has re-found his thumb
• I’ve been working on getting rid of cradles cap and it’s not going away!!! I haven’t tried Selsun Blue yet. I’ve just been scrubbing hard during baths and throughout the day occasionally scrubbing it with baby oil.
• He still spits up excessively. While telling my cousin of this she told me of something she used and still had almost a full bottle because she didn't need it anymore. I have yet to pick it up and try it but that would be awesome if we could cut down on the white stuff!
• Trying to learn how to sleep through the night (I put down between 9-10) Every other night has been Excellent and the other nights good. On the good nights he'll wake up between 4:45 and 5:00 AM and then on the excellent nights he wakes up between 7:00 and 8:00. The hard thing is every once in awhile we have to let him cry and I hate it. I've gone out to the couch but I don't sleep at all. but I guess a few hard nights are worth the eventually more continuous good nights!

Marjorie:

• I went to a baby shower at Olive Garden for two of my cousins. It was so much fun to talk to lots of my cousins and aunts especially knowing I won't get many more of these opportunities since we're moving to where no family is.

• Went shopping with Camille when I went to visit her in Salt Lake and then I went shopping again within the next few days with Ashley Atkin. I had Way too much fun and spent way too much money; but I saved a lot too! The bad thing is I went shopping with the intention of buying clothes for my boys but I couldn't resist looking at girl stuff so when I found a good deal it was just too good to pass up! I only ended up taking one thing back too which is good for me. I had bought Jared some Lightening McQueen shoes but they didn't have his size so I bought the smallest they had, size 11. He's currently wearing size 6 maybe 7 so Chris said that was way too early to be buying size 11 and I eventually agreed.

• As mentioned above I got to visit Camille and then she got to visit us twice. I'm so happy to have her close by even if she's still 40 mins away that's a lot closer than 3-4 hours away. Pictured below is her quaint little house and some pictures of her room.
• I got up the motivation to run once las week and again this morning after two weeks off. I can't wait for warmer weather. Right now I try to go to the Smith Field House indoor track Mon, Wed, and Fri mornings with Chris. We try to leave around 7:20-7:30ish to beat the rush of students headed for their 8:00 class but sometimes I'm not so motivated or one of the boys decides to sleep in making it hard to go. tBut as stated earlier I can't wait for warmer weather when I can go anytime and enjoy more scenery!
• Gave a relief society lesson yesterday and I tell you what I really struggled with this weeks lesson. Not the topic but how to give it. When I first found out the next two years we'd be teaching from Joseph Smith I was ecstatic! But I think I had envisioned something different then what the lessons are. I think I was thinking the lessons would be on the life of Joseph Smith and his character but understandably the lessons are more doctrine and so far broad, big doctrinal topics. Hindsight it makes sense to have lessons on things such as the first vision, and Christ our Redeemer since Joseph brought back so much truth to topics like these but I'm finding it a challenge to teach on it. I feel like the lessons are very broad and sometimes not always connected smoothly from point to point. So I try and do additional reasearch to backup the manual and by the time I try and bring everything together it's difficult for me to arrange it smoothly. I've enjoyed studying the topics sometimes I just don't feel like I'm able to convey what I've learned effectively when teaching.

Chris:

• For two weeks he's been playing basketball on Wednesday with a group of law students
• Three - four weeks playing tennis with fellow law student Derrick on Friday mornings
• One week going snowboarding on Tuesday(wants this to become regular)
• One week playing doubles in tennis with fellow Jeromites on Saturday evening
• And I think he's also been studying:) along with playing hard with his boysJ
  

So that's everything in a nutshell!

Jared in Spencer's Clothes

Jared every now and then shows signs of jealousy of Spencer. His most frequent show is when Chris holds Spencer. Jared does not like Chris to hold Spencer and he lets us know it. He tells Chris to put him down and immediately asks Chris to hold him instead. Just today he tried something new. He wanted to put Spencer's clothes on. I knew they wouldn't fit but I decided he needed to try them on to come to the same realization.

Thumbs Taste Good

At least to my boys! Spencer will be three months old tomorrow and about 2 weeks ago he found his thumb. I love how he's able to pacify himself at night allowing him to sleep longer but I don't know if I should be happy because I have a two-year-old who still sucks his thumb. Chris wants me to pull Spencer's thumb out everytime I hear/see it. I do pull it out quite often, except at night or naps, but I feel like our efforts are futile. Maybe I should try harder but I think I might like it, at least in the early stages. I just hope I don't have to pay for it too much later in braces:)

Like Father Like Son

If you know Chris you'll know that he likes his sugar. I often try to send chocolate with him to school so he won't go spend twice as much at the vending machine. Well, for Jared's first year of life we tried really hard to keep sugar away from him. People would often laugh or ask if we thought that'd do any good. Chris' response would be something like, "I hope, but if he's like me then probably not." Two years later we are finding out Jared is more like his father than in just looks. Many mornings Jared wakes up and one of the first things he says is, "I want candy!" And he has a nose for where candy is! He'll find candy in places I didn't even know it was. Or I hide it in a place I'm sure he'll never find and some how he'll see just a little bit of wrapper. That kid really has a gene in him that is geared towards sugar. The pictures are Jared eating the cookie batter. I turned around for a bit and his mouth was full of cookie dough. What a character!

Track & Mardy

So Mardy, Trent's wife, came down and stayed the night with us on Friday. Jared really liked Mardy and as the above picture shows, so did Spencer. She's going to be a great mom and we can't wait for her baby in April or sooner!

On Saturday morning I went with her and the boys to go watch her brother run in the indoor high school invitational track meet at the Smith Field House at BYU. The boys and I stayed for around three hours and I loved it. It reminded me so much of my high school meets and the feeling of getting ready for the race and almost hating it during the middle and loving it at the end of the race! It made me want to get out and run with them but I would be very embarrassed by my current shape and times that I would produce. I don't think I'll ever be in that great of shape again but I have memories...

A New Year

After a wonderful Christmas break it's back to the real world again; and today felt like it! We came back last Thursday from Idaho but today was when Chris started back up with school with just me and the boys at home. I loved being with family over the holiday and toward the end of my two week visit I was getting ready to have a schedule again and be productive. But today has felt anything but productive.

At the end of my day I have come up with my cons of my Christmas vacation:

• At home I was always cleaning and cooking with someone so it was always enjoyable and never overwhelming. Now I am in an apartment too small that has clutter all over and I'm constantly doing dishes by hand and cleaning up after two boys (it didn't help that Jared wet his pants today throwing in a load of laundry I wasn't planning on doing)


• Over the holiday I ate, and ate, and ate!!! I am now trying to break the bad habit of eating constantly and trying to eat things other than sugar and chocolate! I wanted to start running today and Chris was going to go to the Smith Field House with me and run with me and the boys on the indoor track before classes but he forgot and showered first thing and didn't want to go. So I used that as an excuse and didn't go either, pathetic! Maybe tomorrow.
  
• Now I don't believe in a thing as too much love but Jared definitely got lots of it over the break from family and Chris. Jared LOVES his dad and I love their cute little relationship but after Jared has had a constant taste of his dad for a long period of time he goins through withdrawls when he's gone for long periods of time. (Today I made the mistake of having Jared pray for his dad in our lunch prayer and immediately he started wanting him and I ended up finishing the prayer because Jared was too distracted) (To the contrary of my earlier statement Jared can sometimes get too much of mom and dad as he informed us after being home a day with only mom and dad (no grammys or aunts and uncles) he asked for Nursery!)

I'm sure there could be more things that are negatives towards a holiday break but these are the ones I witnessed because I felt like today was so ineffective for me. But I hate being so negative so I'll end it with a list of the positive things I LOVED about this holiday season:

• Being with family. All of Chris' family was there for Christmas and it was so much fun being together and we did their annual Chinese dinner which is absolutely fabulous (even if Brandon doesn't think so;). And I got to see everyone in my family except for Angela (missed you!) My family borrowed the Meservy's Wii to see if my dad could do some of the games and for New Years we almost missed the New Year but luckily my dad interrupted our game playing to warn us we had five minutes till 12:00. The next day I invited my sisters to come over and play and it was really fun watching non-skilled video game players contest in different games (the next day I heard complaints of sore arms, backs, and even one admitted to a sore bum! he, he, he!)
• This one is on my cons list as well but I enjoyed the food. The whole time I kept saying to myself that I would regret having little self control over my eating but I decided then that I wouldn't care and take care of it later. So I did thoroughly enjoy eating over the break and now I'm trying to take care of it!


• Spencer became less clingy to me. I love how he loves me but when we first got there he would hardly let anyone hold him and it made me sad because everyone wanted to love on him but it's not very fun holding a fussy baby. But by the end he would let people hold them for extended periods of time! And people started to enjoy him more (not that he was never not loved or enjoyed it's just more fun to hold a happy cooing baby if you know what I mean)


• It's fun to give and get. I was excited to give my sister-in-laws their gift of jellies and a shirt. I bought the jellies I think the end of September or beginning of October and couldn't wait to give them. I almost bought me a pair but reminded myself I was shopping for others not me. During the vacation Bailey excitedly showed her jellies to some friends making me feel good! And now we are enjoying the gifts we received, most recently the basketball hoop that is really a family gift that we are all enjoying. Chris taunts me and tells me I'm not athletic which I respond to by taking him down! (literally, he doesn't last in my pin very long though:(


• And this isn't a holiday pro necessarilly but a pro: Spencer gave us his first little chuckle yesterday and a few today. I have to tickle him to get it out of him but it's the warmest, most happiest feeling to hear your child laugh for the first time.

I know there are additional items I could include in my pros list as well but I'll take in consideration of your time and spare you, plus Chris is calling for me to come to FHE. Yeah we're having FHE! Maybe we'll get our new years resolutions written down. (Another con to being away for the holiday, you're having way too much fun with everyone you don't want to set aside time to write down resolutions but hey who said you had to start January 1st!)

Jared, Spencer, and me sporting some of our Christmas attire

So to all those we spent the Holiday with we love you and miss you and really the cons are because we just had way too much fun and now face reality!

I had to add this real quick: I just got off the phone with my sister-in-law Mardy (Trent's wife) and we get to have her stay with us next Friday while she's down for her brother's indoor track meet at BYU. Yeah! My day just got better!

Trent and Mardy

Blessing Day

We blessed Spencer on December 30th in Jerome. It was nice since most of our family was there. All of Chris' family was able to be there and all of mine but my sister Angela and her family so we had a good turn out. Our sacrament meeting was last of the meetings and Spencer was due for a feeding soon after sacrament meeting was to start. So I hurried and fed him ten minutes before so when he was being blessed we were told by one in the circle that he was full of smiles. Spencer, if you know him, is already much of a mama's boy so I was a little nervous he might cry throughout the blessing. The above picture is those who stood in the circle from left to right: Kent Lee, Andy Lewis, Tyson Cook, Papa, Chris, Grandpa, Brandon Minert, Paul Lloyd, and Trent Bingham
After wards we went to Chris' house and had dinner. Jared enjoyed his cousins and I enjoyed having everyone there and visiting.
As I look back now when Spencer is 2 1/2 months old I am already amazed at how fast the time has gone. I knew it would go fast but I am saddened as I am putting away many of his clothes and advancing him into 3-6 month pajamas and clothes. But as I put away his newborn clothes I am gaining a little boy who smiles and coos back to me. So as hard as it is to have my boys grow older and pack away their things I gain joy in watching them progress and learn new things. I'm not sure how they say it but it's something to the effect that when you have children it's like having a piece of your heart in each of them and watching from the outside but experiencing joy and saddness along side them. How rewarding and challenging it is as a parent but how worth it! I love my boys!!!