she can move

At about 8 months old, Iris began to slowly inch her way across the room. She couldn't crawl, and she stayed in sitting position, but somehow I would find her in different places from where I put her. These pictures are from March 25th. It was one of the first times she made her way to the TV to play with the game controllers and then she made her way to the diaper bag and pulled everything out--spreading her sweet potato puffs all over the floor.


She's a lot quicker now--electrical cords and stairs beware! The older kids were asking about their cakes on their first birthdays. I said I just chose what to make for them, because they were too young to tell me what they liked. They started thinking of what Iris might want for her first birthday cake. They decided it should be made to look like a dog dish and electrical cords. Hmmmmm. That might be tricky.

mothers day

Will, "I like my mommy tookoo."

Me, "What's a tookoo?"

Will, "That means too cute. I like my mom what is too cute."

Elsa laughs, "I've never heard someone say that about a MOM. But, I GUESS you could say that."

naked baby

Here she is in all her chunky glory. I was getting out some clothes to put on her, and she just looked so cute I thought I might as well capture the chunkiness while it lasts. Although it seems like she's even chunkier now. This was back in March.

discovering her new love

Iris loves to swing. She can't get enough. I'm so glad it's finally warming up enough for us to go out in the backyard more often. These pictures are from her first swing almost 2 months ago during the first Utah thaw. She laughed out loud, she was so pleased. And, she still has to giggle with delight every time I put her in the swing. I'm sad that middle picture of her is so blurry because I love when she smiles like that with her little dimples showing.

science fair

Ah, the science fair. I was irrationally stressed out about Henry having to do a science fair project. Our evenings are busy enough that this science fair project was almost the really big straw that broke the camel's back. But, Henry finished it and worked really hard and got third place for the fourth grade. He was so proud. His teacher said he was really surprised and jumped up and down on his way to the stage to collect his ribbon. I really wish I could have seen that. He built different marshmallow guns and tested them to see which one would shoot the farthest. (The one with the longest barrel won.) As you will see from the pictures, the experiment was a family collaboration.

"About Will" by Elsa Arnold

Just so you know what real life around our house is like, the following was found in Elsa's mini notebook downstairs:

Will is my little brother. Whenever I tell him to go to sleep in the night he gets mad and crys. And then I tell him to go upstairs and when he walks past my room he still looks at me with an angry face. Will likes to fight after playing video games. When he is don playing video games he fights me and Henry. So now if he hurts us he dos not get to play video games. He is crazy some times he chases me and when he catches me he hurts me. And some other times Will hurts us to. Some times he is mean and gets so mad that he tells on us. But some times he is nice. The End.

I love that Elsa tried to end on a positive note. Oh my little Will--so sweet, so crazy.

6 months old

At her 6-month checkup she weighed 18 lbs. 10 oz. (89th percentile) and was 28 1/2 inches long (99th percentile). That makes her my smallest child, even though she started out the biggest. Maybe it's because she doesn't like to eat baby food very much and refuses to take a bottle. She got her first tooth last Sunday, though, and she's learning how to use it--biting me and arrowroot cookies and noodles.



She has recently become my newest kitchen appliance. She loves to sit on the counter and watch me bake and wash dishes.