It's a Wonderful Life

Little Anna Marie is two months old now!  I feel all of the cliched things that it seems like just yesterday since she was born, but since she has made such a profound and wonderful impact on our family, I can't imagine our life without her!  I actually think about when she was first born often, and inevitably it puts a lump in throat.  Everything about her coming into this world was just perfection. OK, so these pictures are all pretty much the same, but I love all of the different expression and I didn't want to edit any out :) So here's an update: At her 2 month check up, we found out the Anna is 14.1 lbs (percentile off the charts) and 24 1/2 inches (off the charts again) with a 40 cm head size (80 %).  When the Doctor told me her stats, she said, "Now don't worry.  Breastfeeding helps prevents obesity."  I just looked at her and said, "Um I wasn't really worried."  It was pretty funny though, she's a big healthy girl :) ...

Friday was the long awaited day for the father/son campout.  The boys have been counting this one down, so they were beyond excited. Erik said they all had a good time.  Even after reminding, he forgot to take pictures though!  I'll just have to use my imagination I guess.  Both Jackson and Wyatt got a tick.  Wyatt's was embedded in his armpit, but Erik got it out with a hot knife or something (the hot knife didn't touch his skin).  I think it traumatized Jackson  more than Wyatt.  Jackson had one too, but I pulled it out before the head went in.  I guess ticks are really common around here- yuck! While the boys were gone, Anna and I enjoyed some girl time.  After getting some errands done, we brought a pizza to the Taylor's.  Taryn (she's Jackson's good friend and is 5 too), was really excited to do nails all together.  It was fun while it lasted, but Anna decided she wanted to go home early; she was being super fussy. ...

Well, what would a year be like for the Nyholms without at least one move?  It looks like we will be doing ours this summer/fall.  We just found out that the owners of the house we are renting are getting transferred back to Winchester and want to move into their house.  We had high hopes that they would sell us this house, so it is a disappointment.  My biggest worry is that we don't find a place before Jackson starts kindergarten, and he'll have to switch schools in October.  I really hope that doesn't happen!  I was never head over heels in love with this house, but I do adore the big backyard and the double Y cul-de-sac that we live in.  I'm almost certain we won't get both of those things with our next place.  Also, I'll be really sad if we have to leave the ward we are in.  So now we've hooked up with a real estate agent, and we'll start looking at places while towing along a 5 year old, a 2 year old, and a newborn . . .  fun....

You know that our week can't have been too exciting if my only post is on our butterflies!  We did get a lot of park play in, as the weather has been fantastic, and I started doing exercise walks again which has been really nice.  Let me tell you, pushing Jackson and Wyatt in the double jogger, and carrying Anna in the Bjorn on all the hills in the neighborhood is a WORKOUT!  I jogged for the first time since August on Saturday and that felt so great too- I feels so nice to be able to move my body again! (But I still have 17 lbs to lose, dang it) So, yes, our butterflies emerged from their chrysalises.  It was quite exciting. Intently watching them eat their food On Friday I decided it was time to release them.  Jackson loved the idea that they were now going to find butterfly friends to play with. The other day while I was holding Anna, I noticed she had started sucking her thumb.  Both of our boys were not thumb suckers, so it will b...

I had a nice Mother's Day yesterday. Erik and the boys did such a great job of making me feel loved and appreciated! In YW opening exercises yesterday, one of the leaders gave a little devotional on motherhood and she quoted one of my all time favorite General Conference talks given by Elder Holland. I read it when Jackson was a baby and it gave me so much comfort and hope then, but I think I really needed the reminder this year. Here are some of my favorite quotes: "with night feedings and night teethings, often the greatest challenge of all for a young mother is simply fatigue. Through these years, mothers go longer on less sleep and give more to others with less personal renewal for themselves than any other group I know at any other time in life. It is not surprising when the shadows under their eyes sometimes vaguely resemble the state of Rhode Island. . . . Do the best you can through these years, but whatever else you do, cherish that role that is so uniquely yours a...

Look who's riding his bike without training wheels??  Erik and I have been telling Jackson for a couple of months that we knew he could ride without them, but he wasn't ready to try it.  He kept telling us he'd do it when he's 6 :)  Well, I guess Erik decided to give him a little extra encouragement yesterday.  He moved the training wheels so they were always off the ground.  While Jackson was riding yesterday, he said, "Hey Dad, I don't think I need my training wheels anymore I'm not even using them!"  So Erik took them off and ta-da!  He had no problem.  The best part was seeing how proud he was of himself.  Those are golden parenting moments right there! Here's a video of one of his first rides (As you can see I got Wyatt in it too!) : Untitled from Jenny Nyholm on Vimeo .

Tuesday's playgroup was at a gymnastics place.  The boys had so much fun!  It reminded me of when Jackson and I took a Mommy and Me gymnastics class in Rexburg when Wyatt was a newborn.  It was fun thinking back to that sweet time. One of the biggest blessings of our life here in Winchester is the huge group of young kids and Moms that get together.  I never thought the biggest group would be found in Virginia of all the places we've lived :)  Some of the Moms have planned such fun field trips; it's really been great.  Thursday, we went to an ice cream shop. Wish the pictures weren't so fuzzy! A few weeks ago we bought one of those butterfly garden kits from Target and I'm obsessed!  It was so fascinating to see the larvae turn to caterpillars, get bigger each day, and finally form their chrysalides.  We can't wait until they emerge as butterflies! I thought this picture was really funny and adorable.  Little babies make the funniest expr...

So we finally caught and killed Osama Bin Laden yesterday.  By "we" of course I mean super brave, awesome Navy Seals :).  It really is a cathartic moment for our country.  I'm bummed I went to bed before the announcement was made.  At around 10:00 pm, Erik and I were watching CNN and someone came on and said the President was going to make an announcement at 10:30.  We were curious, but I was dead tired (as only a mother of a newborn can be), so I went to bed :)  Anyway, it was crazy to wake up to the news this morning.  In some ways it feels funny to be celebrating the death of someone, even if he is a super hated enemy, but justice was served.  Especially for the families of the victims of 9-11, it's nice for them to have some closure.  Here are some of my favorite tweets about it (Yes, I get tweets from famous people I don't know.  Erik makes fun of me, but it's nice to get a chuckle or two duri...

In honor of the Royal Wedding, I dressed Anna in white to take her to the tea party.  It was fun to have an excuse to dress her up :) (the cute bows and bracelet arrived just in time Molly :) ) It was great to spend time with friends while watching and talking about such a girly, fun event!  I do have to say I feel a special connection to Prince William.  In middle school, I had quite the crush on him.  I was convinced that if I could only get to England, and run into him, he would fall in love with me and I would become a princess.  How's that for an overconfident 12 year old?? Lots of yummy English desserts :)