The Whole Dang Family at 11 Months Ok.

Jonah is 11-months old, but this isn't all about him.

(Hint: It's always all about him. He is the tiny king of our family and he knows it and we all follow him around with stupid grins on our faces giving into his demanding chubby little finger pointing us anywhere he whimsically wants to go for a second before nonsensically changing his mind. And we laugh about it together in the same conspiratorial way suggesting that we're really in charge, but we just aren't quite sure. But we don't really care.)

Here's the ceremonious monthly photo portraying the fact that the babe does what he wants right now and at that moment the ceremonious monthly photo was NOT what he wanted.

Family stats:

Thomas works, works, works and is good at it. He is also very good at helping me. I won't make an itemized list, because it might make me look bad. :) He is GOOD. Sometimes I wonder if he has enough fun in his life because he is always busy making sure we are provided for and looked after, but he doesn't complain.

I am busy with the usual. Morning means: feed people, boss them around, make lunches, try and read some scriptures, ah! we can't forget family prayer again, don't forget your lunch!, Asher! Run along the side of the road so you don't get hit!, fine Ambrose- you can walk to your class by yourself- ah thanks for the hug buddy...and all that. I take care of what I can during the day while chasing around a baby, I get the big boys after school and it's a race to the finish line with homework/swim lessons/speech, then there's dinner (ugh- why is dinner such a puzzle for me- I am not new at this...), and then bedtime and I LOVE bedtime but not just because it signals the end of a crazy day- bedtime means:

I read a chapter of Harry Potter aloud. Ambrose particularly is captivated and I am too. We are into it people. Totally into it. It is fun.

Then we do prayers. Then we play 10 questions. Usually it's mom and dad asking scripture questions, family facts, silly questions, science or math facts... whatever.

Last night it was ridiculous and every answer was: "jammie jeans"... a phrase Asher used for a while to mean PJ pants. We thought we were hilarious. I believe one question was, "What goes on a sandwich with peanut butter?" Answer: "Jam-mie jeans!" hahahaha

Sorry you had to be there.

Sometimes the boys ask the questions.

Always we end with hugs.

Sometimes we also end with parents losing patience with little boys finding excuses to stay up later.

So that's us right now. The boys are doing well in school and swim lessons. The little one is bossing everyone around. And everyone is happy October is here!

This month we have the fall break play, Jonah's first birthday, ward trunk-or-treat, and Halloween. Oh yeah, and we are starting construction on our house. Fun times ahead!

Jonah at 10 months!

Life is completely flying by me right now and sometimes I feel like I have zero control except for to throw my hands up and submit fully to the care, discipling, and feeding of these three boys. That must sound awful, particularly to anyone who doesn't have children of their own, but it's what I signed up for so I am ok with it. It's just an adjustment.

So much energy, so much time, and so much worry goes into these little boys.

And above all - I hope so much love too.

I love them so much. It wouldn't be worth all the unshowered days, effort, and personal sacrifice if I didn't also completely love the heck out of these boys.

Someday I will have a clean house, more time for my looks and hobbies, and a lower level of activity and noise in my house, but I only have this time now to hold soft little hands, and smooth sweaty wisps of hair, and those cheeks. Cheeks for days people. That is payment enough.

I am doing my best to enjoy it.

Jonah's 10 months stats:
-Pulls to standing and takes steps holding on to things
-Still prefers dragging and scooting and army crawling to the few half-crawls he has actually done
-Is nearly weaned due to multiple painful nursing mama infections- this is a sad point for me- but we still nurse once each night and I cherish that time- I will probably end that this week
-Gets into EVERYTHING and is never content to sit still unless daddy is taking him for a walk in the stroller
-Says, "bu-buh-byyy" as he waves bye-bye
-Will imitate a "WooWoo" when you say woof-woof around dogs
-Loves to eat all foods so far

O H A N A

Thomas took these over the last several months. You can tell which child is a more willing participant when the camera comes out! I love them all.

Jonah at 9 months!

 9 months already!?

 Here's what the big 9-month-old can do:

GET INTO EVERYTHING! And he is never satisfied. If I hold him he wants DOWN so he can get into the dirtiest corner of our house with things he can choke on and he wants to put it all in his mouth at the same time if possible so he can turn around to whine for me to hold him so he can turn around and grunt/leap for the floor to start the process all over again. It is hilarious, but mostly exhausting. :)

He doesn't seem interested in crawling at all since he is very speedy at dragging his chubby legs behind him to get into whatever he wants. I am sure it will happen any day though.

Did I mention he puts EVERYTHING in his mouth? All babies go through that, but this one seems desperate to do so. Frantic even.

He waves now and says, "buh-buh-buh" for bye-bye. It's adorable.

He is a good sleeper, but has started being up for the day earlier. BOO.

He lets out a squeal of worry when his brothers come near. Especially Asher. He has been hugged too tightly for too long too many times. :) He loves to watch them play though and seems eager to grow-up already and join them.

Here's some highlights from the last month with our baby boy:

School starts this Monday and the boys are actually really excited to meet their new teachers, see old teachers and friends, and have all that recess time and the fun that comes along with school. I am excited to get my long days back with Jonah. We have had a good summer, but I learned just how well we all do with the routine of school. Once I recognized our issues and limitations the summer went better so it was a good one overall. Good lessons learned for me and them! I will blog more about the big boys next. Gotta run!

Jonah at 8 months!

A week-or-so ago Jonah turned 8 months!

Here's what Jonah Kimball can do now:

Scoot all over the house! It's a huge pain and awesome all at the same time.

He's acting like he's going to officially crawl very soon.

He got four top teeth all of a sudden earning him the nickname: "chompy"- you must say it with a slight New Orleans accent. So he has six teeth now.

Just this past week he decided he prefers me to anyone and anything. He always loved me most, but he fusses for me now. It's not as flattering as it should be.

He takes two longer naps now instead of three naps.

And while we are here, let's talk about his brothers because they are just as cool and rascally:

Ambrose Carl!

 First let's all have a good laugh at this HILARIOUS spring picture of Ambrose and his Jack Nicholson eyebrows. So so good. And down below is the boy at his 6-year-old check-up.

At the time that photo was taken he was 47lbs and 47 inches tall. Pretty cool!

Ambrose loves his swim lessons.

He tolerates me forcing him to do this reading program over the Summer. It makes me slap my forehead in frustration because he is a great reader. I just need to get him to love it more. Working on that.

He loves to go to the water park and beach, have friends over and go to friends houses, pop popcorn, catch lizards, tease Asher, he comes up with art projects galore (mostly involving robots), his favorite color is green, and he is the snuggliest of all of our kids.

Whenever I ask him if he wants to learn the drums or guitar he says, "BOTH!" like I'm insane for asking.

He is either so amazingly, perfectly cute or an emotional nightmare. Sorry future Ambrose reading this, but it's true. We love you anyway buddy!

He is a little self-righteous at times about rules or church stuff, but I prefer that to rebellion in the long run so I put up with my kid reminding me that we don't do this or that on Sunday...etc. :)

He LOVES to learn as long as I am not making it a daily chore- so that's my challenge as a mom.

He is one of my very best friends.

Now for Asher Henry!

Oh this picture makes me laugh until I cry. The tiny smile, the pointed toes in slippers, the obedient pose... it's just too much.

And here's a day where he came out in the morning fully dressed telling me, "Mom, I a cool guy!"

He is very cool.

His language is EXPLODING! Thomas and I look at each other amazed every few days at what just came out of his mouth. We understand him and he is saying very complex words. It's nothing less than an answer to many, many prayers.

We are keeping him in the same preschool class next year and they will share him with the large class on campus so he can get all types of practice and social experience. I cannot say enough about how good school has been for him and what an answer to prayer it has been! Grateful.

He loves his family, teachers, friends, and baby bear.

He is the best lizard catcher in our family.

At his four-year-old check up a week ago he weighed 35lbs and was 40.5 inches tall.

He just officially learned to swim last week. 

He enjoys the water park, beach, Ruby and Joey's house, quoting silly lines from his favorite shows, dancing, and making presents for everyone.

He eats the same thing everyday and it drives me nuts. (Breakfast: granola, Lunch: PB&honey, Dinner: nothing! :) I force fruits and vegetables on him whenever possible. He will eat plain OnoYo with no topping.)

His favorite color is blue.

He will do any reading or math activities I throw his way. He cheers for it sometimes!

He is stubborn and we are constantly saying, "Asher, be easy to get along with please!"

He is so little and cute and funny and I am in love with him. 

He still gives the best hugs around!

Jonah's first food.

I don't remember when Jonah had his first food, but I think it was at 5 or 6 months. He stuck his tongue out a lot. He ate some. He put up with it, but he wasn't in love. He loves to nurse and I love to bond with him while he nurses so feeding him real food at this point in life is more of a fun activity. A curiosity. Not a necessity. Here's some pictures of Jonah's first encounter with food.




Look at that wild, long hair. Who's that polygamist witch feeding my baby! heh heh

Jonah at 7 months.

Jonah turned 7 months last week!

I guess that means he's really a member of the family now. We've tried him out for quite some time and we will most definitely keep him.

You know how annoying it is when people say they have the perfect baby? It's usually the baby you see fussing all the time anyway. Well I can say without any bias or attachment that if you are looking for the perfect baby: the search is over! :)

Actually we had dinner with friends last night and he had missed his last nap of the day and fussed because of it- but we are all so smitten with this very easy-going, squishy boy and so our entire family and group of friends are blind to these fussy times. He's just so sweet and pinchable and seriously goes with the flow-- but yes, he does best when we make sure he gets those naps.

7 months stats:
-Sleeps in the boys room so that room is officially packed with boys.
-Goes to bed at 7pm on the dot, fusses at 3am to be fed and quietly goes back to sleep when put back in his crib after, sometimes wakes up another time, but when he's not teething he usually sleeps until almost 8am.
-Is teething! Man those top teeth are insistent. He, being perfect (heh heh), takes it well and slobbers his way through it while biting anything he can get his mitts on.
-Screamed when Asher took a toy from him for the first time yesterday. That's never happened before so it was funny.
-Doesn't love rice cereal, tolerates bananas, and really enjoyed sweet potatoes.
-Still takes a bottle, but loves nursing with Mama the most.
-Does push-ups and can shift around in circles using his feet.
-Is smiley and popular wherever he goes.

Mama Stats:
7 more pounds to go! I got comfortable and have been stuck here for a bit. Time to get back to regular exercise!

Never a dull moment!

I haven't posted regular, everyday pictures on here in a long time. I was looking through photos on our computer today to find something for church when I noticed a few adventures that happened all within a few weeks of each other. It made me smile at how thrilling it makes our lives seem when sometimes I worry that we spend too much time getting "stuff" done. Truth is- there is always something wildly entertaining going on and always something fun to do when it comes to these boys. I may not always be patient or soft-spoken as we struggle to get homework and housework done in between the exciting adventures, but we get the "to-dos" done quickly and then we skateboard, or make something, or explore our way right on to the fun!