October Slideshow, Videos, & kids stuff

Below is the monthly slideshow, along with a couple cute videos and the kids sayings. Enjoy!

October Slideshow

Ring Around the Rosies w/ Grandma & Grandpa Potts

McKinley practicing her primary finger play

McKINLEY: McKinley continues to be our inquisitive 4-year-old – always asking questions. Here’s some other things she’s been up to:
- One day McKinley was on a big Spanish word kick. She wanted to know the Spanish word for EVERYthing! Good thing her daddy knows Spanish. She stumped him, though, when she wanted to know the Spanish word for “panties.” (yeah….let’s hope daddy didn’t learn that one on his mission ;)
-McKinley is becoming more aware every day of our financial situation. One day she prayed “Please help the money to come back – lots and lots of money!”
-McKinley still loves her birthday and was talking about it a lot this month. We were watching the video slideshow I made from her birthday party & she said “Mom – can I skidoo into there - PLEASE?” (If you don’t know what “skidoo” is, you need to watch more Blues Clues.
-Another prayer from McKinley “And please bless Satan to be nice… and please bless mommy’s baby to get here for Christmas.”
-McKinley’s latest antic has been saying “No Thanks!” in her sweetest voice. It’s great that she’s learning how to be polite, but most of the time she uses it when mommy says something like “time to get ready for bed!” and she’ll say “No Thanks!”
-McKinley & Ireland were playing outside and McKinley came in and said “Mooooom – Ireland is ready for her nap!”
-Now that McKinley is 4, she wants to tell EVERYone, but she is a little shy, so when we’ll be talking to someone she doesn’t know, she will whisper in mom’s ear over & over “Mom, tell them that I am 4!”
-Another thing that McKinley has been saying a lot “Mom – I can’t wait till I’m a mommy!” mom said “Why?” McKinley says “So that I can use sharp knives!”
-McKinley & Ireland like to take the mattress off McKinley’s bed, strip the blankets and sheets off, and use it as a slide.
-McKinley was asking more details questions about how the doctor gets the baby out of mommy. We kind of sidestepped the answer.
-Mommy usually has the breadmaker going when we’re at church so that there’s fresh bread when we get home. She made homemade bread on a weekday and when McKinley came in, she said “Mom – what are you doing? It’s not Sunday!”
-McKinley’s favorite color this month is pink, pink, pink
-McKinley has been doing a lot of whispering into mom or dad’s ears – especially when there’s people over that she doesn’t know very well.
-McKinley’s prayer the other day: “Please bless that Ireland will marry Sam and I will marry Jack – because I love him”
-McKinley came in from playing outside – she was so excited - “Mom!! I am SO proud of Tundra! He dug up my treasure – my shovel – in the sandbox! I’m so proud of him!”
-McKinley has LOVED her new baby sister and especially loves to wash her hands so she can hold her and talk to her and sing to her. She is mom’s big helper and will get diapers, wipes or burp cloths whenever we ask her to – and she likes to help give Kezia’s baths, too. At first she didn’t like the name Kezia & would call her Trianna instead, but she’s warming up to the name.


IRELAND: Ireland is our BALL OF ENERGY! She is completely non-stop and full of life.
-One of the cute things Ireland has been saying after she gets ready in the morning “Mom – Ready to go. It’s a beautiful day!” (comes from a Signing Time song)
-Another (annoyingly) cute thing she does is when she does something bad, like hitting or drawing on the walls, and she can tell mom is mad, she will come over and say “hugs, mom, hugs” and give her hugs.
-Ireland has started singing in nursery, but there is no “low volume.” She screams the songs and doesn’t really have a tune. We are working on that.
-We love it when Ireland says “tell me a story!”
-At the Hoffman’s party, she and Jack Evanson were fighting over a toy and I hear her say to him “use your inside voice!” (she knows that phrase pretty well since she hears it about 50 times a day!)
-Mom found McKinley & Ireland in the baby’s room one day. They had gotten into all the birth equipment stuff – opened everything and shoved the rubber gloves down their shirts like they were pregnant.
-Ireland is getting really good at her shapes. She still can’t remember squares very good, but is getting better. What’s cute, though, is when you ask her what shape a heart is and she will say “LOVE.”
-One day Ireland decided she wasn’t Ireland any more. She came to mom & said “Mom – I’m a doggy! Ruff, ruff!”
-If you asked Ireland a question a month ago, her way of saying yes was repeating what you said, but now she’s just constantly saying “yeah!”
-Ireland amazes us with her full sentences and memory. We were driving and she said “I want ice cream like we had yesterday!”
-Ireland came in from paying outside and was crying. Mom asked what happened. Ireland said “McKinley hit me!” Then she marched back outside and yelled “McKinley – go in time out! GO IN TIME OUT!”
-Ireland LOVES the new baby. Maybe a bit too much. We REALLY have to watch her around the baby or she will lay on her or poke her everywhere. She talks so sweet to her, though, and is so cute. She has a hard time when the baby’s in the swing, though – and wants to push her or stop her. One time she had pushed her so hard, she fell over on her head! It was a bit scary, but she was OK.


KEZIA: We are so happy to have our sweet Kezia join our family this month!
-Her entire birth story is on our blog, but the short story is that Heidi went into labor (after Sherri stripped her membranes) about 2pm and Kezia was born at 9:34pm. There were some scares with an elevated heart rate from the baby, and hemorrhaging after the birth, but Sherri handled everything really well and Jason also gave 2 blessings. In the end, we are just so thankful she is here & healthy.
-Kezia seems to generally prefer her vibrating chair over her cradle – just like McKinley – although we’re trying to get her to sleep in her cradle more.
-We’re not sure about the binki. She doesn’t usually take it easily, but once she does really take it, she will hang on to it throughout the night.
-Currently, she’s waking 3 times at night – at about 2am, 4am, and 5am. She’s on a pretty good nap schedule right now during the day – with eating, awake time, and sleeping. She has been happier with this and generally pretty content with the world.
-She went in to her first doctor visit at 2 days and Dr. Daynes says she looks perfect (which we are SO thankful for because we had some worries about a heart murmur).
-She is nursing very well and we hope by her 2 week visit she will be back to her birth weight!
-She has BEAUTIFUL blonde/red hair & we’re hoping she keeps it!
-Her umbilical cord fell off at 5 days.
-She is very attentive and works very hard at turning her head and focusing on where a sound is coming from. She loves mommy & daddy’s voices!