Still Here, Sort Of

For those of you who were wondering "where on earth are the McArthur's" (probably none of you!), we are alive and well...and living in our new home! Should I post pictures? Or should I just ask please, please, please come visit and see it! It is so exciting, and I love it. So does Nate, and so do the girls. It is almost too good to be true sometimes. In fact, I just remembered that last night I had a dream that I had to move, and I was so sad because our "new" room didn't have a vaulted ceiling. It just makes a room seem so much bigger, even if it isn't. Anyways, I love it, and cannot wait to begin our new (and permanent) life of our very own right here in Eagle Mountain.

Let's see, as for the last month, and some, there is one monumental accomplishment. (drumroll please...) Brinlee is in panties! Yes, my two year old is going through the process of being pottytrained, and to be honest, she is very good at it. It all started when she took her diaper of, twice, in the new house. Follow that with her getting out of the bathtub to go potty, and me finding little "surprises" throughout the upstairs. It wasn't pretty. So the next morning we woke up and said "Uh oh, no more diapers". And apparently Brinlee said "thank you mom", because she has had fewer accidents than I can count on one hand. Still in a diaper at night, but in the day I have a two year old running around showing plumbers crack in the cutest little underwear. Yay! Bailey has been the best help for this. You can see Brinlee get all excited when Bailey claps and cheers for her (Bailey gets a treat too when Brinlee goes and she is excited).

Sam is growing up so fast. He has started to grab for things, and sit up in a high chair. He is still as smiley as ever, and loves his thumbs. No binkey, just his thumbs. And when his toes are free, he reaches down and grabs them. It is pretty cute.

Bailey is in need of friends in the new house. She asks "can I go play with my friends" all throughout the day. When I ask who her friends are, it is anyone from the workers down the road, to the local walking group in the morning. Poor girl. Hopefully it will all change after Sunday, and we can meet some of our distant neighbors. She is the biggest help with Sam, too. She can make him laugh, and you can see his eyes light up when she comes to play with him.

Lets move on to Nate. Nate turned 29 (it took some convincing to get Nate to believe that he was going to turn 29, he was positive he was turning 28!). I wonder if he ever thought that when he was 29 that he would have been married over 6 years, have 3 children, and be an owner with his brother in their own company. I am so proud of him. He seriously works so hard. I have recently made up my mind to tell him that more often. I love him so much, and am so proud of all he does for this family.

Well, in that past few minutes I have ended up with two little munchkins on my lap wanting to take turns pushing the space bar. This isn't going to work! I will put pictures on soon, but now is not the time. Thanks for sticking with me through my little "blog vacation"!

Thoughts by Bailey

A conversation between Bailey and I the other morning.

Bailey: Mom, what's that?
Me: A bra.
Bailey: Oh. (a longing sigh) I wish I could have one.
Me: Well...you don't need one.
Bailey: Why?
Me: Because you have a little chest. You won't need one until you get bigger.
Bailey: Oh. I wish...(she trails off in a daydream sort of look, followed by a shake of the head to come back to the conversation). I mean, when I get bigger, if I have a little chest, I will buy a big one.

Poor girl, she had better start saving now. The genes are not in her favor.

We have a 4 year old

We are so excited that Bailey turned 4 about a week ago. Yesterday was her party, and now that all of the festivities are over she is still talking about having her birthday. So, to stretch out the fun for one more day, I wanted to do a little question/answer like I did last year. Here is Bailey in a nutshell.

Favorite color: Pink and Purple
Favorite person: Angeline (said An-gel-leen)...that's my favorite name.
(we know no one by that name...I'm confused)
Favorite food: Hmm...I thinkin'....it's broccoli, and I like carrots. Only little broccoli's.
(not true, but at least she knows what's good for her!)
What do you want to be when you grow up?: When I grow up I wanna be a big kid.
What is your favorite thing to wear?: Pretty skirts, and I like pretty shirts.
What is your favorite thing to do?: My favorite thing to do is play dress-up.
What is your favorite thing that daddy does?: My favorite thing that daddy does is goes on a date.
(let me clarify...a date with her, not me)
What is your favorite thing that mommy does?: My favorite thing that mommy does...hmmm, I'm thinkin'...is that...cleans the dishes.
(yep, I'm a hard working mom. no fun here.)
Where are you going to get married?: At the temple.
What's your favorite song?: My favorite song is I like to look for Rainbows

Bailey is so much fun. Some other things that she does that we are proud of her for:

Writes her name, can write most of her alphabet (upper and lower case), sings songs all the time (especially ones that she has made up), plays teacher with grandma, says her prayers, dances like a ballerina, holds Sam like the best big sister.

Bailey, we love you. Happy 4th birtday!

Our Little Sam

I was going back and forth about getting Sam's picture taken in his blessing outfit. Why, you ask? Well, we need to give back the outfit to my great friend who lent it to me and I kept thinking about scrapbooking pictures of him a whole lot bigger than he really was when he was blessed. I finally decided, "who cares if he is 3 months and was blessed two months ago...", and had my neighbor take some (I know, I know...the drama of a scrapbooker! Like it really matters, I am years behind as is!). I am SO glad that I went for it.
First, thank you Angie, you did an amazing job. Second, thank you Emily, for the cute outfit. And last, thank you Nate, for those wonderful McArthur genes that I am cashing in on. Here are a few things that our little guy does at 3 months, followed by the pictures.

• Sleeps through the night (5 nights out of 7)


• Smiles irresistibly cute smiles


• Scoots, scoots, scoots.


• Has rolled over twice


• Gets the hiccups every time we make him laugh (it is so worth it!)


• Sucks his thumb (we really aren't too excited about this one)


• Loves his mom, sister Bailey, Grandma, and Angie (one of my best friend neighbors)

My Daughters

I feel like my thoughts have been consumed by the new baby and the new house, so I thought I should do a little post about my girls. Just their names, and some words to describe them, but it will be fun.

Bailey:

• Girly


• Princess


• Sassy


• Too smart


• Social


• In Charge


• Silly


• Emotions, emotions, emotions


• Beautiful

Brinlee:

• Hungry


• Sweet


• Wild


• Emotions, emotions, emotions


• Sneaky


• Wild


• Adorable


• Naked


• Wild


• Oh, lets not forget wild.

I have the most amazing daughers, and I hope that I can live to be the mom they need and deserve. I love this picture of them, because I can say all I want about them, but only they can show you.

Confession

I would just like to preface this little announcement by stating "yes, I am a dork".

Okay, now that that is out of the way I will move on. I have to say that when I heard that the next Harry Potter movie was being moved from November 21st, to a whole year from today, July 17th, 2009, I was very bummed. However, I was soon after comforted by the announcement that "Twilight" has moved up its movie release to November 21st, instead of December 12th. I have now decided that I am okay with the whole situation.

Told you I was a dork.

Brooklyn

Hello everyone. It has been quite the past 2 weeks. I had a new cousin born on July 15 down in Hurricaine. My uncle and his wife are almost the same ages as Nate and I, and were having their third child. When Brooklyn was born everything seemed normal, but they found out the following day that there were problems that she needed to be looked at for. It turned out that she has a rare heart defect that required her to be flown to Primary Childrens and undergo a heart surgery that had only been done twice before. Once successfully, and the other one was not. Brooklyn survived last Saturday, and the surgeon said it was a miracle. The next step was to close her chest the following Tuesday, and with minor reactions to the stress, she once again fought through. We pray for her everyday.

They own a business, and have to put it on hold for however long it takes. They are staying at the Ronald McDonald house (which, by the way, I think is amazing!) while they can, and their two older children are staying with Angeline's mom and dad in their camper outside the hospital so that they can be near their parents. Their oldest boy is going to miss his first few weeks of kindergarden while he is up here. And I just found out about an hour ago that Angeline is in the hospital herself with complications.

I am watching this family go through this and just amazed that they are keeping it all together. Not only are they dealing with this trial, they are growing from this experience. I sat down with my uncle in the NICU, and listened to him tell me about how he knows that Brooklyn has a purpose and a plan, and his job is to do everything while she is in his care to keep her safe. But, ultimately it is up to her Father in heaven. The best doctors and the best hospital will not make a difference if it is not what her Heavenly Father has planned for her. As a parent, I know that would one of the hardest things to say. As Brad said these things to me I felt a testimony of it in my heart, and I knew that it was the truth. I am grateful that he shared that with me. That they are opening their lives for everyone to learn from.

Also, by them sharing this with us, it is allowing us to serve them. I want to ask everyone who reads this to pray for the Bailey family. Brad, Angeline, Austin, Kaitlyn, and Brooklyn. If you go to the temple, remember them. Maybe even put their names on the prayer roll. You may not know them, but you know me, and it would mean the world to me to know that they are being thought of by so many people. Thank you all so much, JoAnn.