Talking, Walking, and Climbing

Much to the delight of all those around him, Noah has started talking!

He has so much to say and plenty of emotion to go along with it all.  I just love his sweet little man voice- even as babies boys and girls sound so different.  A few of his favorite words are-

Taa-taa!

Hiiiiiiiiii!

Doo-doo (naturally this is the big kids favorite one to hear)

Cookie

Cheese

Ball

Buh-bye

Uh-Oh! (His favorite)

He's also climbing on everything- no matter how many times he falls off the table, he climbs right back up again.  He can't stand to be left out of whatever might be going on up there.

The same goes for food- if there is anything on anyone's plate that he doesn't have, he grunts and groands and points and says "Ehhh!  Ehhh!  Ehhh!" until he gets it.  He was especially impatient waiting his turn for the sacrament bread in church this morning.

He just keeps growing.  He sleeps and sleeps, then wakes up looking five inches taller and a month older than he did when he went down for his nap.  He's cutting his canine teeth, so a rosy complexion and runny nose is his signature look these days.  He nearly has a full set of teeth in there!

When he is awake, he is running around non-stop.  He can always convince someone to join him in a game of "chase" around the kitchen island, and is always delighted to find a smiling face around the corner.  He loves to sit and study his picture books, and will climb right onto the table and sort through the Lego box with Adam.  It's so fun watching his sweet little personality blooming, and he is completely adorable when he pouts out his bottom lip and sobs giant crocodile tears when he doesn't get his way.  For now.

Winter Catch Up and Musings on Life

We had a huge snowstorm last week- over a foot was dropped on us, church was cancelled, Jason's trip to Indy was delayed, and it has been so fun to play in!  And even more beautiful to enjoy from the window.

Noah didn't really like the snow, but one-year-olds never do. 

Jason, Leah and Adam had a blast sledding one day, and several other times they've bundled up to play in the huge piles of snow in our yard.

Adam was sitting at the table reading one day (a book with foreign languages, no less) and he looked and sounded so grown up.  He is just the right age to be looking forward to kindergarten, and I am so, so glad that I've had this extra year at home with him.  I am going to miss him so much when he's gone to school all day!  We have recently discovered Monopoly Jr. and Adam has loved beating me "like a pinata" just about every time we play.

We picked out and signed Emma up for her very own preschool.  She is so excited to be going to the same preschool as two of her best neighborhood friends.  I'm glad she'll have her very own something to look forward to in the fall.

Our mornings start way too early, and I'm always so impressed and grateful that Leah is always willing to get up and moving on to school.  That's not to say she likes it or always has a smile on her face, but she gets there, usually on time, and always with an "I love you, Mommy!" on her way out the door.

 But we sure do love the weekends!

One day I told the kids that I would give hot chocolate to as many neighborhood kids as they could round up.  They ran and knocked on every door on the street, had a great time playing "Zombies and Hot Dogs" (a version of tag, as far as I can tell), and then I handed out a dozen cups of cocoa to some very happy kids.  My neighbor friends called me the "amazing mom of the day" but I kept telling them it was a purely selfish move in an attempt to get the kids out from under my feet on a beautiful day.  It was a win-win all around.

One Sunday morning the kids and I were upstairs and Noah started gagging, spitting, and choking something down.  Once he could breathe again he started sobbing and I was super shaken up.  I hadn't seen any food on the floor and we were near a box of Legos, so I worried that he had swallowed or possible aspirated something that wasn't going to digest.

A long wait and a quick x-ray later showed that there was no sign of anything foreign inside, but I have once again upped my vigilance on keeping the floors clear and my little guy safe.  It was around this same age that Leah broke her arm and Emma's face was burned.  One-year-olds are just not that interested in personal safety!

 For Family Home Evening last month we created "Helping Hands" that outlined some of the services we have done in our family, community, and church lately.

I've finally admitted that my iphone makes it very easy to plop down on my bed and surf the internet.  I don't enjoy sitting down at the computer like I used to, and it shows in my severe lack of blogging.  Winter is always a slow blogging season for me, but I especially feel the loss of desire and the sadness of falling behind on the blog this year.

Noah is 16 months old now.  Traditionally that means pregnancy time.  Jason and I talk a lot about whether or not our family is complete.  We both feel like it is.  We're in a fantastic place, and I have very, very little desire to hit the reset button all over again.  Another pregnancy seems like a tremendous undertaking, and I'm already so tired, so full, so happy.  We're so blessed, and we feel like our family is in a very good place just as it is.  I just didn't know we would get to this place so quickly, and that part makes me a tiny bit sad.  I'm not sure I knew Noah was my last baby when I was pregnant, nursing, and not sleeping, and I envy women who have that closure with them from the minute they see those last double pink lines.  We know that it's not a race or a competition, and that at some point we have to choose to stop having children, and we are combining that with a lot of prayer.  Knowing that the Lord has already entrusted us with four of His sweetest spirits is a monumental task.  And that's all I have to say about that for now.

Jason is exploring another new country this week.  This time it's Chile.  I've been comparing last year's relative nightmare to this year's relative ease, and I am pretty sure the biggest three differences are that we aren't experiencing subzero temperatures this year, so we're not homebound with constant school cancellations, I don't have a fussy, sleepless newborn this year, and I got to go to Puerto Rico just a few weeks ago, and I have my own trip to New York City just around the corner.  Compared to last year, this year has been a walk in the park.  It's still not my favorite time of the year, but we've done a great job of keeping busy, and all in all I'd say the Five Musketeers are doing just fine.

Best First Kiss

This little fellow gave me the best first kiss I've had it a while.  

And boy was he proud of it!

Leah Is 8

Leah turned eight while we were in Utah.  This was an especially exciting birthday because Leah got baptized!

We believe that people should be baptized by immersion when they are old enough to make that decision for themselves- the decision to follow their Savior and try to be more like Him.  Along with being baptized and covenanting to Heavenly Father that they will keep His commandments, always remember Him, and serve and love others, a person who is baptized is given the gift of the Holy Ghost, who serves as a comforter and helper to them to make right choices.

Leah was ready to be baptized when she turned eight.

It was an exciting day for our whole family.

We spent a few months leading up to Leah's birthday holding a weekly "Baptism Class" with just her and either Jason or I.  It was a great opportunity to talk to Leah about the promises we make to Heavenly Father when we choose to be baptized and about her testimony.  Our girl has a sweet testimony.

All of Jason's sisters were there.

Along with Grandma Morales-

Grandma and Grandpa Henscheid-

and Grandma Great!

The whole Henscheid family was there as well, with the exception of Uncle Aaron and Auntie Kirsten and their two girls Claire and Ella, who live in Washington.

It was great to have so many cousins together.

Especially Leah's favorite two.

Leah sang a sweet song with her cousins, her Grandma Cathy gave a talk on the importance of being baptized as Jesus Christ was baptized, and Grandma Suzanne talked about the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Jason baptized Leah and gave her the gift of the Holy Ghost.

After the baptism was over we had a sweet family hug.  Just the six of us!

This is the best picture I have ever seen of the love that Emma has for her baby Noah.  And his feelings about it.

So much love.

After the baptism we headed over to my parents house.

We had many of our family and friends join us for the baptism and luncheon afterward, which was such a blessing.  Living in the Midwest is a wonderful opportunity for our family, but it doesn't give us many chances to be surrounded by loved ones.  We felt especially loved this day as we were joined by so many people from various stages of our lives who came to support Leah on her special day.

Friends from our undergraduate school days-

And friends from our graduate school days-

And friends all the way back from my junior high days!

I think Leah enjoyed being the center of attention on her special birthday.

Grandpa Art was also able to make the trip, and the kids all had fun getting reacquainted with him.

It was a special treat to have Grandma Great there as well.  Grandpa Great and Leah share the same birthday, and it is always fun to get together with Grandma.

This is my new favorite picture of Emma ever.

And of Adam.  He's so funny.

That night we took Leah out for her birthday dinner date with just Mom and Dad.  She chose IHOP.  We had been telling Leah for weeks that she was going to have the opportunity to start cutting her own food once she turned eight, and she was still plenty sad about it, even though it was only a pancake.

We had a great visit with her that night, and talked about everything from her best friends to her challenges at school to the goals that she hopes to accomplish as an eight-year-old.  We also had a more in-depth conversation with her about marital relationships.  Eight might seem young, but Jason and I compared notes from our respective childhoods and both decided that we knew plenty by that age- and should have learned more from the right sources (not our peers)- at a younger age than we did.  We have had many conversations with all of our kids about where babies come from, simply because they want to know how the baby got in there, but this night was a big-girl only moment to talk about love and family and marriage.

We are thrilled to have such a wonderful eight year old sweetheart in our family.  Leah is helpful, creative, considerate, and patience beyond what is often deserving.  She is a willing little guinea pig for her parents and always offers forgiveness for the times that we are trying to figure out how to raise our children and don't quite get it right.  She has such a tender heart and tries so hard to be a good example of Jesus Christ in our home and at school.  We are so proud of the decisions she has made in her life, and especially for her decision to be baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  Wonderful things are going to happen to this sweet girl this year!