Oaklee turns one!

This was the quickest year of my life! But one of the sweetest by far. Words can’t even express how much we love this little girl. Patrick even admitted how happy he was that I talked him into one more :)

This girl woke up and caught on quickly something special was going on. She was the sweetest thing, loving the decor above the table and giving hugs to the adults throughout the entire day. My parents made the trip down to celebrate with us, which made the day even more special. 

I know its blurry, but it just captures what life is like with her perfectly.

Details to Remember:

• Buying pink decorations literally made my life. I won’t ever take that for granted.
• Oaklee kept giving my dad hugs throughout the day and attached to my mom’s hip.
• The boys excitement over every single thing.
• Homemade Cafe Rio Salads for dinner. Ledger out ate everyone by far!
• The boy picked out her Coconut cake and said it tasted, “Fantastic!”
• Oaklee was my only baby to really enjoy her cake. She loved hers and my mom’s as well.
• It was just a very happy and sweet day. Grateful she’s ours.

Oaklee at one:

• In 12-18 mo clothing.
• Size 4 diapers
• She has the smallest feet! Shoes are such a struggle. Still in the first size of mocs.
• 8 teeth, a bottom molar just popped through.
• Sleeps from 6 pm – 7 am.
• Still not walking, my slowest walker by far!
• Says: “Mama, Dada, A-choo, Banana, Night Night, Hi, Boo.” Cannon recently taught her how to growl…
• Loves emptying any shelf or drawer in record time.
• Loves her brothers and Pog.
• Has bonded with her dad a lot more lately, they are the cutest little buddies.
• My number one mama’s girl out of all my kids.

It’s been a struggle to watch my youngest turn one! But looking forward to see who she becomes even more. Happy Birthday Oaklee Grace, we love you!

October 2017 Update

It’s been awhile since we’ve updated, so here goes!

Patrick – Started a new job this summer. Now knowing where we are going to be, we bought a home in North Salt Lake. He works for National MedsTrans, a division of United Health Care. He manages transportation benefits for health care plans and members. He’s been staying busy after work with all the projects Ashley has lined up for him working on the new house.

Ashley – Stays busy running the kids around. She’s almost finished painting the entire house, (including ceilings) hallelujah!  She can usually be found with Oaklee on her hip, and Pog at her heels while simultaneously helping with homework or playing with the boys. Moving out of the small rental has done wonders for her sanity.

Preslee – Continues to influence in many different ways. Ashley received the sweetest e-mail from an Atheist who had discovered her Instagram account. It’s been long enough now that Ashley is hearing back about Presentlee, and the hard work is paying off. Ashley has been busy designing new products that will be released within the next month that will hopefully help people in need.

Ledger – Loves 1st grade! He loves playing soccer at recess and loves playing with Oaklee when he gets home. He looks forward to mom reading him Harry Potter ever night before bed and thinks having his own room is the greatest.

Cannon – Has excelled with preschool! He’s become such a happy kid and become more willing to put himself out there with other kids. He’s been doing well in speech and mastered the initial “f” and “z” sounds and started working on “s” this week.

Cruiz – Is also attending speech and finally mastered his  initial “f” sound! Yay! He also loves preschool and wrote his name for the first time yesterday. He spends his afternoons building storm trooper ships with Legos and cuddles up with mom every night before bed

Oaklee –  It’s hard to believe Oaklee’s first year is coming to an end! The last few weeks, Oaklee went from being a easy laid back little thing to full a full on tornado! She empties the kitchen drawers in seconds and squeals with delight the entire time she’s doing it. She has no interest in walking and speed crawls everywhere she goes.

Pog – Seems to be getting a little ornery in her old age :) She’ll be turning 10 this December and for whatever reason hasn’t adjusted well to this move. She follows Ashley around wherever she goes, and scratches at the back door continuously. She’s in heaven though while Oaklee sits in her highchair and feeds Pog her entire meal.

She’s on a roll!

This little four month old finally rolled, and boy, did we celebrate!

I couldn’t help but laugh to watch how excited her brothers became, and she definitely soaked up the attention. I suddenly realized why the youngest children are the way that they are… Sorry Pat :)

Each milestone we reach with her makes my heart nearly burst! I’m so grateful to be reaching each new milestone, which reminds me we have a healthy baby, but I can’t stand that fact it’s the last time we’ll experience it. I need to start figuring out how to cope with this whole last child thing. You’d think the sleepless nights would do it for me!

Dear Ledger,

Last year I had a difficult time deciding if we should send you to kindergarten. You are young for your age, and can be pretty emotional at times. I knew you would be fine academically, but I was worried because you are so tender-hearted.

This past winter, you were difficult. I was at a loss knowing how to help you. I checked in with your teacher to make sure you were acting okay in class, where she shared a few instances where you cried silent tears, but reassured me you were one of the friendliest kids in the class, and doing just fine. (Looks like you inherited my love for talking :), I was adamant to help you become less emotional, and a little more tough.

After trying different things, I finally fell to my knees and prayed for guidance, when the direct thought came to mind, “Why are you trying to change his strength? Be patient, guide him in methods to handle his emotions, but don’t take his gift away.”

I sat there on my knees for a long time contemplating what I had just learned. Strength? Gift? Here I was with tunnel vision, failing to see what you’ve been blessed with. And as I sat there, and thought about who you were, it became so obvious. I instantly felt horrible for trying to change that about you.

How many other kids wake up early and want to help take care of their baby sister? Every single morning! You’re love for Oaklee is unreal and people have been commenting on it lately. You will literally drop anything to help her, and have created such a sweet connection between the two of you.

How many other kids come home upset, because a classmate was crying? After learning her mom had moved to a different house, you asked your dad if you could go to the store to buy her something to help her feel happy again.

How many other kids recognize within seconds when their mom and dad are struggling with grief. You came this way, and it’s truly a gift. You’ve always known that words aren’t always the most helpful during those hard moments, and usually respond with a big bear hug, letting us know you love us.

Ledger, I’m sorry I was slow to recognize your gift. To my surprise, as soon as I quit fighting you on it, you began to flourish. I know there will be times it will be difficult to control the many different emotions coursing through your little body, but I have no doubt if we keep at it, you’ll learn how to do it. I realize, that tender heart of yours, will help you accomplish big things in life. This world can always use a lot more love, and that’s exactly what you have to offer.

Love you buddy, thanks for being patient with me as I try my best to help you and your siblings navigate through this crazy world. You guys teach me far more than I will ever teach you, and for that, I am grateful.

Love,
Mom

Speech Therapy

After Cannon and Cruiz had their tongues clipped, the next step was to get them into speech. They’re currently enrolled in a weekly speech class through the school district and are thrilled about it.

Their first class was this week, and they were so excited, especially since they were able to wear backpacks and came home with homework, just like their big brother.

As you can see below, they were a little nervous leaving me for the first time, especially my tender hearted Cruiz. But all went well, and they both came walking back to the car with big smiles. I love being a mom, and being able to be apart of each and every milestone. Here’s to hoping we see some improvements in their speech.

 

Oaklee’s Blessing

On February 5th we blessed Oaklee Grace. It was such a special day celebrating our little girl.

I decided to use the same blessing dress that my Grandma Wightman made for my blessing, (29 years ago) and the same dress we blessed Preslee in, (Eight years ago, you can see it here). Using the same dress for both of our girls made for a sweet experience.

Though I love the similarities between both of our girls, I wanted to make the day her own, so I ordered a different bow, and some cute accessories, to change it up a little bit. The blanket below was knitted by my Grandma Siddoway, and has been used for all of my kids on their blessing days.

We blessed Oaklee in Sacrament meeting, and her dad, Grandpa Sullenger, Grandpa Siddoway, Uncle Jamie, Uncle Dustin, Uncle Rhett, and Bishop Gunnerson stood in the circle.The twins were a little loud during the blessing, they were confused why everyone had walked up to the front, and were jabbering on about it. But I tried my best to quiet them down and listen to what Pat was saying. It was a little bit of a struggle to hear, but I did notice the words joy and happiness were repeated throughout the blessing, which I thought was fitting because that is exactly what she has brought to our family. After the meeting, both my dad and father-in-law mentioned that Oaklee thought Pat was talking right to her, so she stared and grinned at Pat through the entire time.

We came back to our place and had small brunch that consisted of yogurt parfaits, sausage, donut holes, muffins, fruit, and juice. It’s always fun to have both sides of our families together.

I’m so grateful for the gospel, a loving husband who has the priesthood, and for a supportive family who all drove over three hours to celebrate our sweet Oaklee. Once again, each stage is bittersweet when it’s your last, and I’m holding on to every moment with her.

A big thanks to my SIL, Alisha for taking the pictures below. It’s fun to be in the pictures every once in awhile.

We love you Oaklee.

Bookroo

This post is sponsored by Bookroo, all opinions are my own. 

I recently discovered something that makes my elementary educated heart incredibly happy. If there’s anything I’m more than happy about investing in, its books for my kids to read. We do a lot of reading in our home, and to help with the process, we recently discovered Bookroo. And I think we’re officially hooked.

What is it?

Bookroo is a subscription - based box service that sends either three board books or two picture books right to you door step each month. The combined retail value of the books always exceeds the subscription price!

Bookroo looks for hidden gems to send in their boxes, rather than the classics you may already know about or can easily discover. Their books are extensively reviewed by a panel of 12 families attending Stanford University and their combined 22 kids.

Cost:
The cost of one box is $17.99 + $5SH for 1 month; $16.66 + $5SH for 3 months; $16.33 + $5SH for 6 months; and $15.99 + $5SH for 12 months.

Inside the Box:

Once the box was opened, we found two picture books wrapped in fun wrapping paper, along with a card telling a little about each book. Cannon and Cruiz were thrilled they were both able to open up a present, which made them feel like the books were special, and they’ve taken really good care of them. I’m grateful, because they can be a little rough on things.

My Opinion:
Its been one week since we opened our Bookroo subscription box, and both books have been read multiple times. My boys have really liked them, and Cannon keeps asking if we can go on an adventure each day :) My favorite part about this service is that I’m pretty sure I would have never stumbled across these books by myself, but they will now be apart of our collection for life.

I actually looked up the cost of both books on Amazon, and learned the subscription box is a couple dollars cheaper than buying them separately! This made me more than happy to continue my subscription for my kids. And I can’t help but think this would make the cutest gift for any child!

If you are interested in trying Bookroo for your family, {here} is a 20% discount for their 1 or 3 month subscriptions.

Happy reading!