Amelia at 4 months

This morning Joe stayed home so I could take Miss Amelia to the doctor's office. We went for her 4-month well visit. Can you believe that she is already 4 months old?!

I knew Amelia would be getting shots today, so I gave her some Tylenol before we left (smart mommy!). Doctor Arnold said Amelia is doing great! Here are her stats:

Length: 23.6 inches (35th percentile)
Weight: 11 lbs 12 oz (~20th percentile)
Head Circ: 40 1/2 cm

The doctor said that she has gained a little in height and is holding steady in weight. I am impressed that in four months she has nearly doubled her birth weight! Wow!

She didn't cry very much at all and is being a real trooper about getting shots. Here is a cute picture I took of her this afternoon and you can see the little Band-Aids on her thighs.

Can you tell that she is thinking about rolling over sometime soon? She is just growing up so fast!

We love our little Amelia. What a cutie!

Sand and Slip 'n Slide

It seems like swimming lessons have been our major daily event for the past week or so. However when we have not been at the pool, the boys have been keeping themselves busy in the sandbox and the backyard. Here they are playing in the sandbox with the big umbrella (because it's been HOT).

We also got out the Slip 'n Slide one evening. Jacob and Ephraim both thought it was great fun!

They haven't quite gotten the hang of going down the slide on their belly, but they are both pretty good at sliding on their knees (which maybe some indication as to why their pants have holes in the knees!).

Amelia has been busy eating, sleeping, and growing. She has also spent a lot of time looking extraordinarily cute.

I love this happy girl! She is such a cutie-pie!

Week of Amelia

While her brothers have been swimming, Amelia has been busy exploring the world around her.

She has started to figure out how to hold onto her toys and play with them a little bit more.

When we attended the baby blessing for Tennille Kirkham, we found that Amelia really loved their little take along swing. So I found a used one on KSL and got it for her. It is exactly like the Kirkham's swing, and she loves it!

She loves to sit back and watch her feet kick around. She also loves to swing and play with the toys. I love that it folds flat and does not take up very much space on the floor! It is perfect!

I have also been a bit more diligent about giving Amelia some tummy time. She is doing pretty well. Joe looked at this picture and said, "Go Amelia! You are almost to the finish line!" Haha!

Amelia prefers her tummy time on the boppy because she can see what is around her a bit more.

Isn't she a cutie? My little girl is growing up so fast! I can't believe that she will be four months old on Saturday!

Swimming Lessons thus Far

The past week the boys have kept me busy with swimming lessons each day. Ephraim and Jacob are both enjoying their classes immensely. Every morning they ask me, "Are we going to swimming lessons today?!"

Most of the time I end up feeding Amelia poolside, but I have had time to take some pictures. I have let Karyn run around with my camera as well. Here are some of the best shots, starting with Jacob:

This year Jacob is in Preschool Level 2 and he is learning some swimming strokes. Here he is on the side of the pool, practicing the backstroke with "chicken, airplane, soldier". He is getting pretty good at doing it in the water too.

Here are the strokes:

Chicken

Airplane

Soldier

Not bad, huh? He is also learning to do the crawl stroke. They have been trying to teach him how to side breathe, both on the side of the pool:

As well as on the kickboard in the water:

I am very proud of how well my little fish is swimming!

Jacob is much more fearless in the water than I would have predicted. He seems to be a natural swimmer!

I am really proud of the progress Jacob is making and definitely plan on doing one more round of swimming lessons to help cement what he is learning.

Ephraim has been having a blast is swimming lessons as well. He is in Preschool Level 1 and is getting more comfortable with putting his head under the water.

They get to play lots of fun games and splash around in the water. Ephraim loves it!

Ephraim thinks it is cool that he gets to use the kickboard too!

I think having his friend Clara in his class has helped Ephraim to be a bit more brave. This year Clara is like a little fish and is underwater all the time.

But Ephraim is getting more and more willing to take the plunge!

I am glad that the boys are having so much fun with swimming lessons. I am also glad that we will get to take a short break before starting the next round. It is a lot of work to get to the pool every day! But from the smiles on these faces, I know it is worth it!

Amelia's Dress and the New Sand

One of the projects that I have been working on with the help of Grandma Devereaux is a little dress for Amelia. Emily helped me choose the fabric, and Grandma Devereaux helped me with the gathers, which I haven't really done before. We got it finished and I think it is absolutely adorable!

Maybe it's just because the girl in the dress is so dang cute!

I am excited for all the fun dresses and skirts I get to make for Amelia. That way I can make her clothes that I know are modest as well as cute!

Today the boys got to play with a bunch of new sand in the sandbox. They thought it was great fun!

It seems the sand migrates out of the sandbox, so it is nice to get some new sand once in a while. Hopefully it will stay in the box a bit more now that the boys are a little older.

This afternoon we went to swimming lessons again. The boys are having a great time!

Jacob is learning all kinds of new skills and Ephraim is getting better about putting his head in the water. We will definitely be doing another session of swim lessons in August!

Today was also our last day with Grandma and Grandpa Devereaux. We had such a great time with them visiting at our house. The boys loved all of the fun things they got to do, and they will really miss Grandma and Grandpa!

First Day of Swimming Lessons

Today was our first day of swimming lessons. Even though we still have Grandma and Grandpa Devereaux visiting, we decided to start lessons because all our friends are taking lessons now and it is more fun to have people you know at the pool with you.

As always, I took my camera along to capture those little moments. Here is one little moment that cracked me up!

It appears that Ephraim cannot wear this swimsuit again because the waist is not quite tight enough! Good thing I am pretty sure I am one of the few people that saw him mooning the pool.





It looks like Jacob is going to be a little fish again this year. He is definitely not afraid to put his head in the water!

He is not afraid to jump in either. I thought this was a fun picture where he is completely in the air!

It was plenty warm at the pool! Good thing I have some cute little onesies for Amelia to wear. This is one of my favorites. Isn't it cute? Not as cute as the girl in it though!

Fourth of July Fun

This year the Fourth of July was the day after Amelia's blessing. So we still had some visitors, which was great.

Of course the menfolk were working on projects. Today's project was painting the garage door to match the rest of the house.

I really need to take a picture of the finished product. It looks so awesome! Our house is really looking great thanks to all of Joe and Grandpa's hard work!

We all dressed in our fourth of July colors. Here is Grandma reading to the boys.

I asked Daddy to take a picture of me and the kids on the front steps in our festive attire. Don't we look patriotic?

I love the little onesie that Amelia was wearing. She is the cutest girl! Check out those cheeks and chubby legs!

Of course we went to the cemetery after it got dark to check out the Pleasant Grove Fireworks. Joe and Grandpa manned the cameras while I fed Amelia and enjoyed the show. Here are some of my favorite shots:

I love that we don't have to go very far to see a good fireworks show. Plus we don't have to pay any money to see it (unlike Stadium of Fire)!

Love the way these pictures turned out! Way to go Honey!

You would not believe how many fireworks pictures we got! So many of them turned out terrific that it was hard for me to choose my favorites!

The boys loved watching the fireworks. I was pleasantly surprised that little Amelia didn't seem to mind the fireworks at all. She seemed just as enthralled as everyone else.

The best part of the weekend was not the fireworks, although they are beautiful. My favorite part of the weekend was spending time with my family. We had a great time barbecuing, chatting, and spending time together.

I am so thankful for those that gave their lives so I can enjoy my family and my freedom.