Baby on the Brain

Rachel has been asking me these wonderfully insightful questions that are sometimes challenging to answer. Among them are the following: "What will happen when there are no more babies to be born?" "Did someone paint the sky?" And the most challenging, "Why did Heavenly Father put bad guys on the Earth?" She has a unique perspective on her world, and I love to hear what she is thinking. Rachel has also found herself a new imaginary friend. A sister actually, named Emily. Emily showed up right after I suggested to Rachel the new baby we are going to have might be a brother, not a sister. Rachel must be old enough to understand that other people might think having imaginary friends is crazy. Every time she mentions Emily she holds her hands out to me and quickly says "she's just pretend."

All three of my children are affectionate, but Lilly takes the cake. She has always been good for a cuddle. I did not think it possible but lately she has become even more affectionate. I am constantly being bombarded with hugs and kisses, and requests to be cuddled. The cause of this increase in affection must be one of two things. We have really been working with her on giving up her thumb-sucking, and she may be looking for other ways to be soothed. The other possibility is that she is subconsciously worried about a new baby coming into her world. I love a cuddle, but this new need of hers is time consuming! I just continue to remind myself that someday she will not want to cuddle with me at all, and am trying to take advantage of her affection while I can.

So, my suspicion is confirmed. Carson can talk. He pointed to my sunglasses while I was buckling him in his seat belt and said "eye!" I tried to get him to say it again, but all he would do is smile and say "uh!" I have also heard him count to three, fairly clearly, and today he vaguely repeated a sentence I was saying to nobody in particular. What Carson does not do is speak on demand. To him it is a game, and he is always the winner.

We had a mega birthday party at our house on Sunday. It was in celebration of Carson, Ella, Brady, and Ian. What a zoo! We have had parties this size at our house before, but they have never seemed so crazy. The kids were insane! Usually in events like these, we do potluck. This time pretty much everyone showed up with dessert. We had cake, cupcakes, cinnamon rolls, and three different kinds of cookies. Still, everyone ate and was full, so I call that a success. Rachel and Lilly lived their lives last week in anticipation of this party, and they were not disappointed. Rachel does well as queen of the house when we have guests here. She does her duty to show people the ropes, and make sure everyone does what they are supposed to do. Lilly is the hospitality expert. She sees to it that everyone is happy. Papa was playing with all the kids, and Ella was happily observing. Lilly approached Nonna and said "You have to take care of Ella. Papa is not playing with her." Carson's role in all of this is to ensure he is wherever the party is, and spends most of the time chasing the big kids down.