Ellie at Four Months

Ellie had her four month well child check this week. We're excited to say she's growing!! And changing. She's starting to laugh, she still hates tummy time, but at the doctors office, was happy to be on her tummy for five minutes! (Just to make a lier out of Mom!) Ellie is almost starting to roll from her back to her front (she likes to go to her side) and loves to pull her legs up. She's still a momma's girl (wouldn't hardly go see anyone this weekend of visitors). She loves her sisters and will be content for long periods just watching Katie and Amanda read and sing and talk to her. She loves to stand, sit in the bumbo (until it makes her spit up), and loves, loves, loves to suck on her hands! I'm insisting in the binky--I'd rather have one week of binky withdrawals (like Amanda) than 4 years of nagging to get the hands out of the mouth (like Katie)! Ellie is so sweet with darling smiles and coos. We love our Ellie Bellie!!

Stats:
Weight 11 pounds 14.5 ounces (14th percentile)
Height 23.75 inches (29th percentile)
Head Circumference 15.5 inches (12th percentile)

Graduation!

April 22, 2011 at 5:00 pm, DeJong Concert Hall

Brett Thomas Nichols received his Juris Doctorate Degree from the
J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University.

It's been a long road, but we've had so many good times along the way. It hit me as Brett took his last final on April 21, 2011 that we're finally done-with law school, and school. It really has gone so much faster than I thought it would. And we suffered less than I thought we would too! I am so proud of Brett. He has balanced so many things and still succeeded, even excelled. I hope he finds the job that he wants that will value him for all that.
He came home from his last final and surprised me with a bouquet of huge, beautiful, white lilies! He said that as he left his last exam, his thoughts turned to me and he was grateful for supporting him. Wow! I was touched. (and it made up for him making me sleep alone as he pulled a couple of all-nighters this week!)
The graduation ceremony was nice. . . and long. I kinda wished we'd gotten a babysitter, but it was also nice to have the girls be able to watch Brett graduate. They've had to sacrifice their dad for three years for it after all! After Brett got his diploma cover and walked around the stage to go back to his seat, Amanda called out "Is that my Daddy?" and Brett heard it. Cute memories. I look at Mandy and think to myself, "That is exactly how long law school is!"
I spent most of the ceremony out in the halls with Ellie, who was so tired but decided she couldn't sleep in my arms. It was frustrating, but at least I got to see Brett walk, hear the best speaker (the first one), and from what I hear, I didn't miss much by missing the main speaker. Thanks to grandparents who basically had full care of Katie and Amanda!

We celebrated with Brett's parents and my parents afterward with
dinner at the Brick Oven Pizzeria.

J. Reuben Clark

Way to go Brett. Now on to Bar Prep and Bar Exams. . .

B Donald's

While Katie is in preschool each afternoon, Mandy usually just gets lunch at home with Mom, and a nap. Sounds pretty thrilling to me, but not so much to the two-year old. After getting Ellie's Easter pictures taken at the mall, we decided to treat Amanda, who was such a patient girl, with lunch at her favorite restaurant. (besides Applebee's--who knew?)--

"B Donald's"

She had a ball being the big girl (she's gets overshadowed a lot by big sister). She's even gotten brave enough to approach Ronald B Donald himself! (He had soda spilled on his lap--and since we're potty training, Mandy thought he'd pooped!)
She still isn't brave enough to go up into the caged climbing thing. She's a big vertically challenged and often needs Katie's help to get up steps or over obstacles. She was plenty busy, though, with the musical toys.

Ellie, worn out from pictures, pleasantly slept through the whole thing! Thanks, B Donald, for a fun afternoon!

Opening Day

Dating has been different with three kids vs one or two kids (and I don't just mean more expensive for babysitters). Ellie has come with us on all our dates since her birth except one, and to the temple. I don't mind. She's so easy compared to taking three kids anywhere! Brett planned an AWESOME date for April Fool's Day: Opening Day for the Boston Red Sox! We used to be able to watch them at home, but no longer. So, now we choose a special game now and then and go to Iggy's Sports Grill to watch. We got a late start (as usual) and as we packed up to leave, Brett told me that the game was canceled due to rain. NO WAY!! After all the work to get a babysitter, get all dressed up, get the baby fed and ready, now we can't even watch the game! Argh. I was preparing myself to have a date night to Cafe Rio and Walmart (lame date, I know). Brett let it marinate for a few minutes at home and a few blocks in the car, then reached over and pinched my knee (which I hate) and said, with his mischievous grin, "Happy April Fool's!" What? It didn't even sink in (well, the weather has been crazy enough that opening day could get rained out. . . ) Then I got it! That's was pretty low, but pretty good. I haven't seen the Red Sox play for a few months. Don't take away my hopes!Anyway, the three of us sat at Iggy's for a few hours, enjoying some good food and hanging out, reconnecting with the Red Sox. It was awesome. I've missed baseball! I was getting excited to start going to some Orem Owlz games (we have passes) but then found out they don't even start until late June. Argh! I was surprised that there were so many people at the restaurant for an early afternoon on a Friday. Iggy's was a bit busy so the waitress didn't come by too often, and Ellie was even really easy. She was easily entertained, super cute, and then slept for half of it. Nice!

The Red Sox lost to the Texas Rangers 9-5. Sad start, but it is baseball, and Texas almost won the world series last year. Anything can happen, and we love them anyway. So, thanks Brett, that was a rockin' date, and Happy April Fool's Day!

Choose your carpool wisely. . .

At the beginning of this school year, I was 6 months pregnant. With one vehicle for our family, I was responsible for getting Brett to his part time externship three days a week at a local law firm about 7 minutes away, driving him to school (depending on the weather), getting Katie to and from a three hour preschool about 15 minutes away four days a week, and all the while, dragging around in the car with me a two year old who was tired of spending an hour + strapped in a car seat. Katie has afternoon preschool too, so after dropping her off at school and prying away the two year old (who was dying to stay at school too) I raced home, fed Amanda as fast as she would eat (which still took about an hour), put Amanda down for a nap right after eating (poor girl must've had a tummy ache every day!) and if I'm lucky, she would go to sleep within 15 minutes, so I could wake her up an hour later to race back to get Katie from school. We'd get home and have about half an hour to almost get interested in playing something before it was back to the car to go pickup Brett. (and I was supposed to be preparing dinner while driving around too so we could eat when Brett got home). That's only the afternoon!
Needless to say, I hated spending so much time in the car. I had so much else I needed/wanted to do and I felt awful about taking away so much time from Amanda that she couldn't play either. That doesn't even touch on the topic of traffic flow in Utah County. (In a recent Provo City Council meeting, they actually addressed the citizen complaints that the traffic lights are so poorly timed that it GREATLY inhibits traffic flow in almost every part of town--their response: "we assure you that the lights are timed to allow the greatest traffic flow"--another post, I assure you).
Anyway. . . .long story short, I was greatly motivated to look for a carpool option for Katie to get to preschool. A family in our ward had applied for the same preschool but was only on the wait list. Most students lived closer to the preschool than we do (southwest of our home) and so they didn't want to carpool with us. I called at least half a dozen families about carpooling before I finally got a family that was interested. They live in BYU student housing (north of us). I was a bit hesistant about sending Katie with someone we didn't know well, and the schedules didn't quite match up, but it ended up saving me two trips a week to preschool. Beggars can't be choosers, I'll take it! Thus, Katie became friends with Luka in the back seat of a car on the way home from preschool every day. Katie has been asking me for probably five months when she can have a playdate with Luka (spending 20 minutes in the car with him and 15 minutes in the front yard at dropoff just wasn't enough fun for them). Now that winter is mostly over and Ellie is a little older, I finally relented this week and Luka played at our house after school yesterday. After dropping off Luka to his home at dinner time, Katie asks me, "Mom, when can I marry Luka?" You never know the repercussions of choosing a carpool. He may become your future son-in-law! (By the way, I told her that maybe in 20 years if he's still a good boy and will take her to the temple, she can marry him then).