Bugs

Aimee has really gotten into bugs this summer. While several of the other little neighbor girls shy away, Aimee jumps right in. We have lots of older neighbor boys who are semi-pros in the field of bug capture and keeping (torture). When her manual dexterity fails her and she can't pick them up she just tries to step on them. Porter has also caught onto this and does his best to coordinate his eyes and feet. It usually takes him 3 or 4 steps before he hits his target. Luckily for them, Aimee's latest catch it was slow and big. We found a big fuzzy caterpillar on our front door when we came home from music class one morning. We went inside and found an apple sauce bottle I had washed out a few weeks prior for bug collecting and gave the poor thing a new home. Thanks to the help of the neighborhood boys it has a lovely "habitat" complete with a stick, several leaves, dirt, and some "friends" which include ants and rollie pollies. Pretty much any animal or insect unfortunate enough to get caught in this neighborhood has a death sentence. I must admit I think that entertaining kiddos is just part of them filling the measure of their creation. Plus, I think it is pretty cute. Aimee had a nap with the caterpillar, took it to Wal-Mart, and had dinner with her new fuzzy friend. Until we are in a situation where we can have a puppy, I think these kind of pets are just gonna have to do. Sadly, the next morning the caterpillar had gone into a cocoon. It isn't nearly as fun to watch now, but Aimee is pretty excited to have it turn into a butterfly/moth.
I have a few videos of Chad helping the kids "play" with a cicada and making it chirp, but I can't find the cord to my camera to load them so I will have to post them later.

Horton

By now most people know that little number three is on the way, so I thought I would give a little background info. We found out about this one a little differently than Aimee and Porter. It makes sense now, but at the time it really didn't cross my mind. When I got so sick in July with oral herpes, I went to the doctor to get a prescription for a mouth numbing rinse to help me eat. While I was there he wanted to prescribe some narcotics for the pain and asked me if I was pregnant. I told him that I didn't think so, but he thought it best to be sure. Five minutes later I learned that I had not in fact miscarried as I had thought. However at my first doctors appointment a month later I was wondering once again and so was Dr. Martin due to more than normal blood loss. He ordered an ultrasound to check things out and we learned that all was well. About this time Chad and I thought we could let Aimee in on the secret. We told her all about the baby in my tummy that was growing so that when it got big she could have a new brother or sister. Because there are so many births around these parts the whole thing sunk in pretty well. She thought it was great. We asked her what we should name the baby and due to recently watching Horton Hears a Who we now refer to it as baby Horton. Dad Williams is concerned about this little nickname, but I'm sure Aimee will learn to call it what ever we choose in the end. I am currently 16 weeks, and my pants that got too big when I couldn't eat now fit again. Horton's official due date is March 7 and we are pretty excited around here!

itter man

My friend Andrea graciously took a few pictures of Porter when he turned one. Oddly enough it has been several months since then and I failed to post my little guy. He is now almost 15 months old, and a lot has changed since then. He has really grown into his personality. Chad and I figured the poor kid was sick nearly from birth until just before he turned one, and it has been awesome to see him change. While he and Aimee are most of the time "the best of friends" they are very different. Aimee is very independent and outgoing. Porter is a momma' s boy. Don't get me wrong, he is definitely all boy. He loves bugs and dirt, cars, trains, and airplanes, and he has a thing for sitting in anything that is wet. Going outside to play after it has rained always means extra laundry with him. However, most of the time Porter is still happy to sit on my lap in church if I give him something to look at or eat. Aimee felt, and still feels, that is an infringement of her freedom. Porter is comparatively cautious. If a hill or slope is steeper than he feels comfortable with, he either wines for help, or scoots on his bum. If he is running and starts to loose his balance he slows down and regroups. He is happy to be a part of the action, but doesn't need, and often doesn't like to be the center of attention like his big sis. Porter is also a very quick learner. Aimee got her fingers flipped seemingly dozens of times before she was convinced that she really had a certain boundary. Porter is much fast to decide it isn't worth it. That, or he will take the punishment personally and cry, followed by the need to be cuddled and loved, and assured that we still love him. He loves books! Sometimes it can be frustrating how much he loves them. He likes to bring me a book, and then gets pretty offended when I will only read him the one. He learns especially well when Aimee is the teacher. She was the one that taught him to fold his arms when we pray, and say at least half of his entire vocabulary, which is pretty big. She is definitely his hero. When hugs and kisses don't solve his problems, Aimee does by playing chase with him, or taking him on an imaginary wolf hunt.

While I admit it has been a little hard for me to adjust to his personality differences in some ways, like his constant need for affection when I think he should just play or get over an ouch, I have also come to adore it. I have a pretty big mom crush on him. It is hard to see my little man getting so big, but luckily he doesn't make me feel left out. He needs me and it is great!

aimee funnies

Since my computer downstairs is in an uproar, and won't connect to the internet, I am forced to do a post without pictures. I thought maybe the next best thing I could post would be some of the funny things Aimee has said to me lately.

1. We were at the mall, and the kids were playing in the little padded playland. Just behind it was some of those little coin opperated rides.
Aimee: "Mom, can I please ride the car?"
Me: "Baby, those rides are lame, let's just stay here."
Aimee: "Mom, I want to ride the lame."
Me: "Aim, lame means that they are not awesome."
Aimee: "Mom, I want to ride the not awesome lame."

2. This one is more sweet than funny, although I admit that I turned my head and laughed when it happened. Not that long ago, Aimee got a nasty little stomach flu. She woke up in the night throwing up. After we got her all cleaned up, and moved into the other room, where the bed was already made, and clean (so conveinient) Chad gave her a Father's blessing. We explained that Daddy was going to put his hands on her head and say a prayer with his Priesthood so she could sleep and feel better. Last Sunday we had a new couple over that just moved into our ward. While we were visiting, Aimee went over to Chad, who was sitting on the floor. She put her hands on his head and started saying a prayer. She was trying to give him a blessing. It was so sweet, and such a testimony builder of how impressionable she is, and the importance of what we are trying to teach her.

3. The sad truth is that I can't remember what story I was going to put here. It was one that Chad asked me to post, so I will ask him to remind me when her gets home and add it to the post later. Stay tuned I guess.

big girl bed

Several weeks ago Chad and I were talking about the future, as we often do. I reminded him of my friend whose husband just finished his residency in Ophthalmology. When they finished they had four kids and lived in a two bedroom apartment. Recognizing that our circumstances are unique and allow us to live in our great town house for a fraction of what most people pay we decided we would need to prepare for that type of eventuality. We decided that eventually we we were going to have to invest in bunk beds. This was a for the future, but my very skilled Craigslist hunter took it as more of a challenge. Two or three weeks later he found his smokin' deal, and we loaded up the van with the parts and pieces of our new bunk bed, and tied a couple of ma tresses to the roof. The timing also seemed convenient because it was just before Chad's brothers family and Dad would be staying at our house. It gave us two extra places for them to sleep. We decided to put Aimee and Porter in the same room for the weekend so that Dad would have a little privacy. As it turns out it has become a very permanent situation. Aimee and Porter love sharing a room! When Chad started rotations it completely changed the morning dynamic in our home. We had a great routine before and it was difficult for the kids to adjust to not seeing him in the morning before he left. This made everything better. Instead of waking up to two very sad little people every morning, I wake up to them laughing and playing with each other. Who knows maybe in seven years or so when Chad is done with residency we will have four or five cute little kiddos in one room, giggling and squealing with each other when I would rather that they were sleeping.

more tidbits

Where to begin? I am definitely behind on the happenings in the Williams house hold. First of all holy cow it has been hot! With heat indexes topping 115 degrees we have needed to find ways to enjoy outside and not have a heat stroke. The hard part is that so many of the kids friends have been out of town. While the pool hasn't been the party Aimee normally loves, she won't pass up an opportunity to get wet. I admit that I love that my babies love to play outside and be active, and Aimee's polka-dot, ruffle bum swimmy suit makes it even better. Plus, Aimee and Porter have spent the last month being each others best friend, and it has been so sweet to watch as a mom! I did manage to catch a funny video of Aimee leaving buddy mode and switching into her big sister mode. By this I mean she is my big helper, but also the one who calls the shots with the younger crowd.



Finally, I had to include a picture of Aimee's most recent shiner. This one happened while she was playing chase with Chad around the kitchen table. She turned to see how close he was getting and ran right into the corner of one of the chairs. I think she has a gift for black eyes. An older gentleman in Wal-mart asked me that same day if I was beating my kids. Between her hemangioma and eye she did look a little rough, but it didn't keep me from being T.O.ed at the guy for accusing me of something so awful.

nauvoo

Last weekend we had the special treat of having family out to stay. While we lucked into the visit due to location more than anything we were so glad to get the chance to spend some time together. Chad's brother Steve and his family are moving to Atlanta, Ga. We just happened to be the half way point. After a long day of travel, we became Hotel Williams. Aimee was sooo excited to see her cousins, and even more excited to see Grandpa Williams who was sweet enough to once again make a cross country trip to help one of his kids move. Aimee got to get out of bed the night Grandpa arrived to have him read her some books and share some Watermelon! Saturday morning we drove to Nauvoo. It was just under six hours with gas stops. We were lucky enough to get a room at a great place and then spend the afternoon seeing some of the more kid friendly sights. It probably would have been a lot more fun for everyone if Chad and I had had the foresightt to turn off the movie in the car so Aimee would have taken a nap. A tired Aimee had a run-in with an ox horn giving her a goose egg, and fell off her chair at dinner onto a hard floor and secured a big bruise on her cheek. Sadly, she was not up for all of the great activities at the Nauvoo pageant that night, and stayed at the hotel while Emily and I went. Sunday we went to church, walked down Parley street, and got prairie pearls at the blacksmith shop. It was a fast trip, but so great to be with family!


Below is Chad and Aimee making rope at the Family Living center, and then there is the video that the missionaries took (it was supposed to be a photo) right before Aimee got knocked in the head.