Sledding

In Which Oreo Hits Grant

Brian finished his classes this week. His last day was Wednesday and we’ve enjoyed having him available more. He has to administer a final this Wednesday but it should be pretty easy.

This upcoming week, Jackson will be the Star Student in his Kindergarten class. Because of that, he got to bring home a stuffed panda named Oreo for the weekend. We had to take some pictures of him having an “adventure” with the panda—so they went sledding. Plus we got some cute pictures out of the deal.

Jackson hit Grant one day this week. As we were putting Jackson in timeout he kept repeating that it wasn’t him it was Oreo. He sounded like he actually believed that Oreo could make decisions.

We started an obedience chart this week. The boys have done a great job. For their reward of finishing the chart they got to pick out a toy from the dollar store. Jackson picked out a rubber football tee that he said was only for rubber footballs. Grant got a Pixar Cars stamp set. Hopefully we’ll get to go again this week.

Update

In Which Our Lives Revolve Around Elizabeth

Ellie had her one month check up this week. She gained one pound and grew one and a half inches in just a few weeks, this put her in the 30^th percentile, dropping from the 50^th. I thought it was great—she finally passed her birth weight. The doctor, however, didn’t agree with me. She said she hoped to see Ellie back up into the 50^th. I had to explain to her that the 30^th was a record for my kids—they’re just really skinny.

The boys are enjoying having a little sister. Grant asks to hold her a lot and he asks multiple times a day, “Can I say hi to my baby sister?” Jackson just looks and her and grins. But they still haven’t shown any hint of jealousy towards her for all the time I have to spend holding her.

Grant was asleep in our room one night this week. Elizabeth was fussy, which usually doesn’t wake up any of the 3 McMillan boys. Grant rolled over and said, “Can you just feed her?” then rolled over and went back to sleep. He’s learning quickly how to quiet her.

Thanksgiving with Cousins, Eliza and Alayna

In Which Elizabeth Sleeps for Six Hours

The majority of this past week has been spent adjusting to a new baby. The boys have been really good. They both love having a little sister around and neither one of them has shown any hints of jealousy. Elizabeth is a fabulous sleeper. She’s slept for 6 hour stretches at night, for which I am very grateful and assume won’t last.

Elizabeth had her first doctor appointment this week. Her weight was down a little, so we have to have a weight check next week, but besides that she looked great.

Friday morning my mom arrived. We’ve had a great weekend of sitting around and taking turns holding the baby. She’s given the boys a lot of much-needed attention, and I’ve gotten some much-needed sleep. Thanks mom! Grant has spent a lot of time playing with Grandma’s computer (mainly rearranging her farm on Facebook) and Jackson’s been hooked to her cell phone playing Monopoly.

Saturday the boys went to a birthday party at a bowling alley. Grant would send his ball rolling, go get another ball and have plenty of time to wait and watch the first ball hit the pins. He also managed to get two gutter balls although it was bumper bowling. Jackson had a great time and jumped for joy any time a pin was knocked down.

Elizabeth Jane

In Which We Welcome Elizabeth Jane

Thursday morning I woke up around 7 with mild contractions. We went to the hospital, and it was slow-going at first, but after the doctor got there, I only had to push for about 10 minutes before we had a beautiful dark-haired little girl. She weighed 8 pounds, one ounce, and was 19 ½ inches long. She was born at 5:46 p.m. on November 5. Her oxygen was a little low, but luckily nothing else was wrong. They monitored her color a little for the first 24 hours, but everything ended up being fine.

The boys came later that evening to visit and meet their sister. My sister-in-law called while they were there, and Jackson answered the phone. She called to find out the baby’s name, which he told her was Elizabeth Jane. But at this point Brian and I hadn’t officially decided. He must be better at making decisions than I am. Grant kept calling her Kate, but he quickly caught on. The boys drew new family pictures to bring for her. They were adorable. Both boys loved her instantly and Grant just keeps asking if he can hold her.

The boys enjoyed a good couple of days with their grandparents and Brian went home a lot to help out with them. Elizabeth and I were fairly bored in the hospital, but grateful to get some extra rest.

We came home on Saturday afternoon to a great big “Baby Girl” sign with pink balloons on the house.

Aside from the baby, we had one other moment of drama. Last week, Grant was eating candy from a candy bracelet when I heard Jackson say, “Grant, don’t put that in your nose!” Too late. Grant had a tiny piece of candy wedged in his nose. I tried to get him to blow it out without luck. I was the only adult home and knew that I would need another one if I was going to try to get it with tweezers. So I was waiting and he was able to ignore it, but kept sneezing. After a while, I checked on it and it was gone. He said it was in his tummy.

Please don't make me touch the pumkin's insides!













38 Weeks


In Which Grant Sings Backward

Anne, my friend from college, came for another visit this past week. It was great to see her, and my boys were very excited for her to come. She was talking to Grant and he sang her the ABCs. She asked him if could sing them backwards. He said that he couldn’t. When she offered to help, he responded by saying he could do it himself after all. He promptly turned around, facing away from her, and sang his ABCs.

Brian had a job interview over the phone for a teaching position in the Houston area for the fall of 2010. He received another call back from them and will be going for an in-person interview in November. Hopefully it works out.

We had a great Halloween weekend. Jackson dressed up as Calvin, and Grant was Hobbes from the comic book series. Friday we went to our ward party and then trunk-or-treating. Saturday afternoon, we carved pumpkins. Neither one of the boys would get their hands dirty cleaning the pumpkin out, but Jackson got scrap a little out with a spoon. We finished off the weekend with a visit to a friend’s house where we had dinner and then went trick-or-treating. After about an hour, Jackson was too cold and said he had enough candy and wanted to go home. When we asked Grant if he was done, he said that he wanted to keep going. So Brian and Grant kept going for another 30 minutes or so, until Grant’s bag was so heavy that he was dragging it along the pavement.

Today at church the boys were rough housing in the hallway. Grandpa, trying to gently persuade them to respect the church building, turned to them and asked them, “Do you know where you are?” Grant replied, “We’re right here!” and continued to attack his brother.