thumb sucking

hazel has been sucking her thumb since she was 5 months old

i have kind of loved it

she sleeps well, soothes herself

but her teeth are forming around her thumb now

and the dentist told us that 3 1/2 is when they like kids to stop

to prevent permanent damage

well guess who's three and a half..

we've tried to talk to her about breaking the habit

but she always reverts to her thumb when she is sad or tired

so we bought her this book for Christmas

to help her

(after all, she potty trained solely because of this other book) 

anyway, the book we bought her is called thumb love

and it is terrible

i hadn't read it by myself before i read it to her the first time

on Christmas

big mistake

when i read it to her, i realized it was awful

and i could tell it was hurting her feelings and making her feel ashamed

prior to reading this book i had never made her feel bad about sucking her thumb

i figured she needs it, and she'll outgrow it

and while i would like her to stop

i don't want to do anything to make her feel ashamed

i might try a reward chart..

any one have advice?

i'd better figure it out with hazel

since olive is also a thumb sucker

and eleanor looked like she was in her ultrasound, too

yikes!

update:
after a  couple of days of trying
and a reward chart
we decided to leave it be for now

when i told hazel she could
still suck her thumb and it's ok
she said, "thank you!
you're the best mom in the whole world!"
sweet girl

olive is 18 months

our sweet girl is 18 months old

olive holds a dear place in our hearts

she is a little bit cuddly

and a lot independent

olive wants to be just like her big brother and sister

she colors, plays with hot wheels, loves her baby dolls

she fold her arms while we pray

and loves music and to make noise

she screams and hits her siblings if they are mean to her

her hair goes half way down her back
tubes seem to be helping her hearing
and she just started speech therapy today
we can hardly believe what a big girl she is
she brings so much joy to our family

28 weeks

already in the third trimester

time is flying

 

 we're getting more and more ready to meet this little girl

grandma and grandpa olson bought her a car seat for Christmas,

we've been working on her cradle 

and we've even picked up a couple of outfits for her recently

less than 3 months to go

hightlights of 2011

in no particular order we...

bought our first minivan

conceived our 4th baby

michael and i missed less than 5 days reading scriptures together

noah started kindergarten

we potty trained hazel

i ran a half marathon

we made it through two bike crashes
and a near death experience for hazel

and most recently i finished indexing my goal of 10,000 names
by the end of the year

just a couple of things we're looking forward to in 2012 are...
baby #4 and michael graduating
and hopefully less bike crashes, injuries and illnesses
i'm excited!

ta da

our new table

doesn't it look awesome?

that michael sure is amazing

 i was really excited that someone wants to buy our black

table and chairs today

until i realized we'll really need new chairs

and my in-laws will be here this afternoon

ha ha ha....(nervous laugh)

guess what we found at a dumpster...

 a new table!!!

sure it's a little scratched up

but it is so perfect

 we already have a nice table

but it's becoming way too small for our family

it sits four

and since olive recently decided she's one of us

she usually refuses her high chair

and races her siblings to their seats

not to mention we're almost a six person family

the extra awesome thing about it
is that it was free
and we're poor
and have not had luck trying to find a cheap table
that seats six
michael is super awesome
and has been working his magic on it
he sanded the scratches out

painted it white

and we're letting it dry

holla!

such a blessing

now to find 6 chairs..

Christmas!!!

 MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Love,

The Olsons

Christmas Eve

this is my favorite picture from today

olive doesn't normally sleep like a little babe 

with her bum in the air

it was taken right before we woke her up from a nap

to go see the movie Arthur Christmas

***

we are all ready for Christmas tomorrow

 i'm making cinnamon rolls for my first time right now

the kids are trying super hard to fall asleep but having a really hard time

because they're too excited

so cute!

we're happy to be home for Christmas

the minivan express

i saw this idea on pinterest

and then got motivated to do it by my friend erin!

the minivan express

is explained in detail here

but the basic idea of it is pretending your van is a train

and taking your kids on an evening train ride

to look at Christmas lights

while drinking hot chocolate and eating treats

michael read the kids a Christmas book

while i hid the tickets under their pillows,

and got the treats ready

then michael warmed the van and waited for us to come out

he was the conductor with a hole punch

ready to punch their tickets upon entrance

 the kids were so excited

 we brought their stuffed animals and blankets

 they loved driving around and looking at lights

 i could not believe how fast they drank their hot chocolate sippies

michael and i enjoyed ours, too

it was a fun night and it could easily become 

a Christmas tradition

waiting game

there is a lot of uncertainty in our lives right now

some more immediate than others

michael is sick again (or still, you choose)

more tests are being done

he's on an all liquid diet

i hope this doesn't last long

michael needs to apply for grad school

but he's not very motivated

and i'm not that motivated for him to, either

plus there are so many options

work full time/masters at night

full time masters/no work

masters here

masters anywhere else

so. many.options.

we are having our 4th baby in our 3 bedroom apartment

in 3 months

we have no idea where we'll put her

or her clothes

or anything that has to do with her at all

we're kind of at max capacity

and we know we'll be moving two months after she's born

but we have no idea where

so..

what's wrong with michael?

where will we put our baby?

what can i possibly do to get ready for her?

where are we going to live come may 2012?

is michael going to grad school?

where?

i guess it's just time to have faith

and rely on Heavenly Father

that he will provide a way

like he always does

Christmas jammies

i love our kiddies in Christmas pajamas

so much

that i don't even mind holding on to them for an entire year

since they're usually the previous year's clearance

christmas presents for the nephews

i made each boy a print for their wall

the oldest boys got "i hope they call me on a mission"

the second oldest got "choose the right"

and the youngest boys got "i am a child of God"

thanks to my mom for the wood from her barn

and to michael's dad for cutting the wood for us

 i sanded and stained them, then

i modpodged the printed pictures from this website

we got everything mailed out on saturday

so hopefully everyone gets their packages soon 

funny boy

today after michael helped noah get dressed for church, in an outfit i picked out, he looked in the mirror and said "i look ridiculous"

tonight while playing wii as a family noah told me "it's so lame" because he wasn't winning

25 weeks

ballet recital

hazel had her first ballet recital tonight

our little ballerina

 she did such a good job

 it was so fun to watch her

 i was so proud of her

she wasn't nervous at all

 hazel totally rocks the fake sleeping

(she's on the far left)

 after she performed

and we watched all the other dancers

hazel got to visit with santa

she told him how she wants dress up clothes

we had a fun night taking hazel to her recital

noah and olive went to evening care

so it was hazel's special night

but don't worry, we picked them up

before we went out for ice cream

ps: thank you miriam and garret for coming!
pss: ava we missed you!! hope you feel better soon

hazel napping

makes me so happy

too bad she woke up when i put a blanket on her..

ipod photos

olive at the library

 olive sitting on a toy shelf at the science center

 me with an oven mitt on, noah definitely took this

 noah also took this self portrait

 our bed

 the kids causing a ruckus in the living room

 olive wearing noah's thomas hat at winco

 the kids testing out a jeep powerwheel at costco last week

i love that they all fit together

i've had my ipod touch since last Christmas

i used it for tracking my runs

and i occasionally think to take pictures of the kids

but i rarely upload them

so these are random pictures from this last year

nativity

we went and saw the hundreds of nativities 

set up at a moscow church building last night

and dressed up as mary, joseph, 

an angel, a cow, and a sheep

 it's a little weird that they had michael stand

all alone

and of course i had to hold olive or she wouldn't participate

oh well, still fun

tubes

olive got tubes in her ears this morning

in spokane at 7:30am

which meant we all had to be in the car by 5:45am

i was so nervous about the drive

since olive couldn't eat after midnight last night

i thought she would cry for her bottle the whole way there

but luckily 

(more like huge blessing/ answer to my prayers)

she didn't make a peep the whole drive

she did not love the whole pre-op thing

or post-op much, either

(who knew she'd look so cute in a hospital gown and slippers?)

but by the time we left the ENT 

she was perfect the rest of the day

thank goodness

since we'd scheduled the kids' dentist appointments

for today, too

to avoid driving up twice in a week

the kids were so cute side by side

no cavities---yay!!

we also went out to lunch

and shopped a little
a very successful day!

24 weeks

i think it's true you get bigger with each pregnancy

gone are the days of regular clothes

maternity clothes or bust

i took my glucose test this week

i don't have gestational diabetes (never have)

but i am anemic (story of my life)

and of course, measuring big

we're excited for our little eleanor