Previously On Downton...

Guys, are you just loving this season of Downton? So many questions...like who the heck is Mary going to end up with?? Personally I think she should totally Marry Charles Blake he is so much hotter then that other guy. I look forward to this show every Sunday. Larry is the best husband he takes the kids puts them to bed, and we watch this show together drinking diet coke and make all sorts of awesome (to us) commentary. I love it all and can't wait to see what happens the next few episodes. What do you guys think?? Think it will end with WWII starting?? Think a Nazi will make an appearance? Will there be another spotting of the prince? Also is Mrs. Crawly going to marry that man? I'm dying! The other night I told Larry I totally would have loved to live this life, be a lady live in a huge castle. He told me with my luck I would have been a kitchen maid, a hot kitchen maid, but a maid none the less!!

Noah Dean Harris 2 years and 10 months old!

Oh my sweet Noah. Where do  I begin?? Currently at this phase of life a few words that come to mind to describe this blonde haired brown eyed boy are....

Crazy 

Wild

Active

Constant

Destroyer 

Loving

Rough

Relentless 

Energetic 

Noah is everywhere. He is so your typical 2 year old but maybe 100 times worse then you are thinking. He is constantly moving, well running, and running away from you. He is playful and joyful but OH SO much work!! Every time it gets a tiny bit quite my heart skips a beat in panic and I will say "Where is Noah?" We have had so many times where he has run off and we can't find him because he is hiding from you, or just to far away to hear me yelling for him to come back. 

Noah loves to be chased, wrestled, and tackled. He likes to play rough and loves to be in the thick of it all. He loves to play with Max and you can always find him following him along copying whatever Max is doing or saying. That being said, Noah can take Max down whenever he wants, he knows just how to push his older brothers buttons!! He is a stinker and he knows it! 

Noah has an infectious laugh and smile. He still has that big toothy grin that is so dang cute that even when he is being naughty its hard not to laugh at him or smile back, which he loves! Sometimes when he is doing something particularly naughty and your looking at him telling him to stop he will blink his eyes in a funny way, almost like batting his eyelashes, which are long and beautiful might I add. Its hard not to laugh, he is irresistibly cute! 

Noah loves to be read to. Usually if he is mad about something or needs to be distracted you can get him to sit down and read some books. He will sit for a long time reading books and gets mad if you get distracted...he'll yell "TALK TALK" and hit the book until you start again. He loves the Olivia books, any type of flap book, and this one book called "Where's the cake" that has no words just a story with pictures that he will sit and point out all the different things in it. He loves going to the Library and picking out new books. My mom will take him lots of times in the evening while Im trying to get the other kids to bed, because Noah goes to be at a different time.

Speaking of SLEEP, Noah has been a bit difficult in that area. He is a great sleeper, it's just that he is in the phase of still needed good naps, but then if he naps he is up till 10, 11, or even midnight if he's in the mood! He has been taking 3 hour naps for a long time and if he doesn't get a nap he will tend to fall asleep in his high chair during dinner! It is a rough balance because he is a monster without a nap but then most nights I need a break and don't want him up with me. Some days are better then others but for a while I just took full advantage of the nap then planned to just play with him alone with Max went to bed. He finally learned to climb out of his pack-in-play about 2 months ago...it was a sad day indeed! He now sleeps in the bottom bunk with Max. Its pretty funny actually but they seem to be doing well and like the cuddling together. He still sneaks into our room a few days a week and sleeps between Larry and I. Some days i notice because I can hear his pitter patter of the running feet down the hall and some mornings I wake up with a snoring Noah right next to my face :)

Noah is a really good eater when he wants to be. I usually can get an egg down him, cheese, turkey, pasta, yogurt, and he LOVES his bottle and pacifier...something we need to get rid of soon. He can be bribed really well with Cheetos or any other type of chip. He likes all types of things and is more willing to try food then any other kid.

Noah misses Max when he goes to preschool but we have a good routine down and get some alone time with scout in tow. We go to target together a lot or run other errands. Noah loves to watch Frozen and eat popcorn in the shopping cart and talks to me about Elsa and Olaf. He freezes me with his hand and sips on my diet coke. That boy has it good!

He loves to play hide and seek and will hide under peoples covers especially under the fitted sheet. He thinks it is SO funny to be found. He is very ticklish under his armpits and has a tendency to take all his clothes off and run around naked multiple times a day. He always tells me his clothes are "TOO TIGHT" in a very whiny voice.  There are days when I dress him then walk out of a room and not more then 2 minutes later he has stripped down naked.

One afternoon I was putting Scout down for her nap. It took me about 10 minutes to help her then I came out to a huge mess that Noah has made. He has taken some styrofoam inserts that were on a bookcase and decided to completely destroy them making a HUGE white mess everywhere. I came out to fine him completely naked making snow angels with the white fluff. It was ALL over my house. I took a picture and sent it to Larry and the to my mom. She texted me back saying "please don't kill noah."

I love this little boy fiercely but sometimes its hard to balance the love with the frustration. Its hard to not get mad or irritated when he is continually on the go. I have to take deep breaths, remember this won't last long and just hug and kiss him a lot! And write down the good days so when I do want to kill him I will remember he is really cute and sweet.

Scout Elizabeth - 6 months old!!

My Sweet Scout is 6 months old! She has turned into the most sweetest, lovely baby ever. 

  

  

 6 months is a magical time for babies! Scout is sitting up, smiling, interacting but she isn't moving yet! She rolls around and kinda scoots tries to army crawl but her little arms can't hold her weight yet. She laughs a a lot and loves to be held. She is also particular and I am her favorite. If I walk into the room and don't pick her up or don't giver her any attention she starts to scream for me. She's even starting to life her arms up to be picked up. She loves her dad too, Larry can really get her to laugh. 

Her brothers also adore her and are protective of her, but they aren't all over her which is nice. If Max is playing in the playroom I can set Scout down, he likes to have her there and he will talk to her and give her toys. Noah did try to pick her up out of her cradle awhile back, the poor girl was being held by her neck and semi dragged towards me. He was trying to help. She is a very good napper and started sleeping thru the night about 2 weeks ago!! I can't tell you how amazing it is, Im hoping it lasts. 

Scout weights 17 pounds from her last check up. She is perfectly healthy and happy. She has the sweetest spirit and has brought so much love to our family. I love to just look at her, she is beautiful. She has beautiful dark blue eyes and perfect skin. I'm hoping her little bald head gets some more hair on it soon! She is so fun to dress as well, It takes lots of self control to not buy everything for her. 

She has NO teeth, which is a first for our kids. I am praying she is a better teether then Noah!! She is a very heavy breather, she could never sneak up on you!! :) She loves to give open mouth kisses and stuck on everything in sight. She loves to lay or sit on her blanket and be surrounded by toys to grab and play with.  

Over the last 2 days she hasn't nursed so I am thinking that she is slowly and sadly done with that. It was so great to be able to sit in quite and nurse her to sleep, to feed her, and to comfort her. It is an amazing thing and makes me have such a sweet bond with her. She was getting very wiggly and detracted though, and would always come off and on and it was hard to get any good feedings in. She will finally take a bottle from me and has grown like a weed since we started supplementing. She really hates baby food though, so we are just giving her little things here and there and taking it a day at a time, 

I am excited to see how her personality develops, and how her relationship with her brothers grows. She is one sweet and loved baby girl. I feel so lucky to be her mother and I hope we can give her the best life possible! 

6 months in some ways has flown by, Scout had been a very hard and fussy baby at first. Those first 4 months were a blur of constant crying, feeding, and more crying on top of 2 other kids. I was drowning but she sees to have moved out of the colic and into an amazing stage!  

Max Joseph Harris 4 1/2 years old.

    

    

Here is an update on my sweet Max...

Max is 4 1/2 years old. He is going to preschool 3 times a week for half days and LOVES it! He has lots of friends, loves to play, is learning his letters, and learning to write. He has come a long way from a boy who never wanted to be away from me, to confidently leaving every morning to go to school! He always says "Bye mom" and walks right out the door. I'm so proud!

He is in CTR-4 at church and loves going to primary. He loves his friends at church and has become quite the singer. He loves to sing the primary songs, I can often here him through out the house singing "Follow the Prophet" It is his favorite. One day he was asking his grandma who the last prophet was...she said President Monson, and Max quickly said he is the winner because he's the last one! He then demanded that he needed his own verse in the song and they made one up together. He did SO good in his first primary program, was so clean and confident over the pulpit, and has said 2 talks in primary. He is also becoming very good at saying prayers.

Max LOVES to play outside. He loves to run around at the park, climb trees, and rocks. I can often find him outside in our backyard climbing on the rocks (noah right behind him) playing some sort of make believe game. He has such a great imagination! He goes on hikes with my mom out into the area we live in there is lots of different trees and places for them to explore. They have a tree they call the bucking bronco that he likes to hike to.

He is WAY into ninjas, fighting, and swords. Most days he is never not holding some sort of weapon. He loves to stick swords down the back of his shirt, often when we go places like the grocery store. He is all about ninjas and likes to play with Noah ninja games. During christmas I got him new santa jammies, and the second he put them on he came down stairs and declared he was a Santa Ninja! To say we have a big arsenal of weapons is an understatement.

He is a good big brother. He is very protective of Noah and Scout. He loves to give scout kisses, and rubs her little head. He gets super protective of Noah. The other day Noah said a bad word so I put soap in his mouth, Max was so worried and was screaming and crying for me not to do it to Noah. It's kinda a crack up how emotional he gets when Noah gets into trouble.

Max also LOVES LOVES legos!! This boy will do anything for a lego. At first he loved the ninjago lego mini figures because they were ninjas but now it's anything lego. He loves to sit and play for hours with them. He will make little guys, and give them all sorts of weapons and play so well. It is the best during nap time in the late afternoon when the 2 babies are sleeping Max will sit in the playroom and dig around the legos making things and coming to show me them!! He makes all sorts of story lines, and names for them, he is getting more creative as the months go by.

We still are trying to learn to be a better sharer as well as not interrupting mom so much. Max can be a bit demanding when he says MOM MOM MOM over and over while Im busy doing something else. He wants constant attention when he is trying to tell you something, and sometimes gets really emotional if your not looking directly at him, that can be hard while trying to take care of other kids, make dinner, or clean. We are working on that and obeying quickly. He is still very particular about is food and still needs everything individually spaces so nothing touches. He has mellowed a bit when it comes to walking on grass, wood or sand barefoot but is still particular about things he wears or how it feels on him. He likes things a very certain way and I am usually happy to oblige or already prepared for him but sometimes it does drive me nuts!

For example: Max loves pizza from costco but he doesn't like pepperoni but he doesn't want just cheese pizza he wants pepperoni pizza and then for me to take off all the pepperonis and cut it all up! You'd think I could just sneak getting him a cheese and cut it up before he saw, but NOPE he wants to check I got the right one before I cut it up!! I've learned to roll with it. Also one day Larry bought him a churro then broke it in half to give to Noah...I had warned him Max wouldn't like it but Larry said he wouldn't know the difference, wrong! Max saw the churro said it was broke then began to cry uncontrollably. There is no tricking him!!

Max is so smart, and knows all his letters and sounds. We are working on trying to know them instantly so that he can start to sound out words. Our goal is to get him starting to read by the summer whee he turns 5! He is looking forward to going to pre-k 5 days a week in the fall!!

One other thing about Max is that he is a really good swimmer. Over the summer he started to swim really well with his puddle jumpers. Once he felt confident in the water and started to even put his head under, which he use to never do, he finally decided to learn how to swim! That boy caught on so quickly, every day he got better and better. Now he can swim all over the pool, jumps in, and even does flips! It's amazing to see how he is hitting all these developmental milestones.

I love being Max's mom. He has taught me so much over these last years. I never know the bond or love that you could have to someone before I had him. He is amazing. I love being able to hug him, give him kisses, take care of him, feed him, and hear everything he wants to say to me. I can't wait to see how he grows up even though it kills me to see it. He is full of energy, and has such a bright spirit!

A simple January Day

Today was really a simple day. The boys were up by 5:30 am which really isn't normal but happens enough not to be too surprised. They played in the playroom while I tried to sleep until, larrys alarm when off at 6:30. Max went off to preschool and I put scout down for a nap. Noah and I played around, cleaned up, made beds, and watched some shows till it was time to get max. Noah fell asleep in the car ride to get max and took a nice long afternoon nap. AJ and oliver, the boys cousins came over to play for a few hours. Scout woke up and played along with them. She's learning to sit up which is so awesome she loves to sit and watch the world around her. I made dinner and grandpa set the table like he does every night. I got max ready for bed and my mom took Noah on an errand which always helps because he goes to bed later due to his nap. I had scout play on the floor in grandpa Drapers room while I lay with max. He loves someone to lay by him while he falls alsleep. Some nights I don't mind laying there listening to him tell me about crazy things but sometimes I feel rushed and uptight and so ready for him to go to bed, tonight it was calm and he slowly drifted away. He is so sweet. I then was able to get scout to sleep, she is so good and only cries for a few minutes then I hear her soft heavy breathing and she is out. She is such a blessing in my life. Noah came home and played around for another hour running around naked soaking up being the only one awake.noh man that boy is something else, how I love him fearsly but also can be steaming mad at him. He lay on my bed while I got him into his Jammies. I hope all my kids always feel safe and comfortable coming and laying on my bed. I took him into his room where he sleeps with max on the bottom bunk bed. Those two curled up together in bed is a sight to see. I laid on the foot of the bed while Noah told me he loved me over and over he always does that as he is drifting away. I laid there thinking about how I need to come write down this day and saying a sweet prayer, thanking my Heavenly Father for these sweet children. I want to remember this simple day and how at the end of it I felt so much love for my kids and so grateful to be a mom. I don't want to forget these days when I know that this is what I am suppose to be doing, because there are dark days where all I want to do is go hide in the bathroom for 2 seconds of peace and quite. There are days when just getting up and keeping my kids alive is a true effort and on those days I need to remember this simple day in January to keep me going and keep me continuing to do better.

Scout and Grandpa

We have such a unique living situation. Sometimes I love it, other times not so much. One of the best things about living in a multi-generational home is that your kids get lots of love from different people. Great Grandpa will chase the boys around and draw them funny pictures, my dad (their grandpa) will be "The Claw" or do a magic trick for them. My mom is their second mother and can take care of their needs just as well as me. It is a comfort to know that is anything awful happened to me they would still be looked after and loved greatly. Larry is gone a lot and most of the child rearing has been placed on me. Sometimes he doesn't see the kids for days at a time because of his schedule so it is an amazing blessing to have all this help. I also feel like I have amazing friends and people in the ward that love my kids and are always willing to help me out! I love this picture of my dad and Scout. When I am busy I will plop scout down by him while he reads the paper so this such a typical scene! Love that girl of mine! 

 

Harris Family Goals 2015

This year I am making a BIG push to better document our family. I feel so bad these last 18 months or so are not as fully documented as I had wished. I am going to get back at it and make it a priority!! We had an FHE 2 weeks back or so about GOALS!! We are trying hard to establish that early on in our kids lives. I think having short-term and long-term goals helps you keep prospective of whats really important and helps you grow and learn things as a person.

So here is our family and some individual goals for the year!!

• Weekly FHE! 
• Nightly family prayer, kneeling down together. 
• Better at sharing toys. 
• Max learn to read, more reverent during prayers, and riding a bike without training wheels. 
• Noah get potty trained!! Start learning ABC's and not destroying things as much!! 
• OBEY quickly. 
• Larry take and pass California BAR! 
• AnnMarie better documenting, practice more patience, and letting go of a perfectly clean home! 
• At least ONE family vacation! 
• Scout start sleeping thru the night, learn to sit up, crawl, and eat more solids. 
• Show more Kindness. 
• Attend the temple monthly (Larry & AM) 
• Forgive faster. 
• Clean up your own messes, especially toys. 
• LOVE EACH OTHER!! 

One other thing I have been doing is keeping a written journal for each one of the kids. I write in it every few days about what they are doing individual, and let them know how much I love them, and how hard I am trying to be the best mom I can be to them. I hope years from now they know I tried so hard to give them the best life. I hope they know how loved they are by their mom and dad and that I want to remember everything because it does go to to fast, it's hard to imagine them growing up but I know that just these last few years have flown by and I need to soak it all up, and write and type as fast as I can!!

A picture that makes me laugh and feel so blessed!

I was going through a few things on my moms computer and I saw this picture. It cracked my up she must have taken it one day when they were grocery shopping. It is so Max with his star wars rebel mask he got for christmas. He probably said he grandma take a picture of me holding this pineapple because he thought it was funny! Ha! My kids are so blessed and lucky to have grandparents that are around them constantly and that love them so much. I love having them grow up in this situation. There is more help to pool from, more experience, more people to take care of them and love them. This was just one funny example that I found. Thanks mom for taking him along star wars mask and all!