Los Aldama

Warning- my grammar is terrible at 11:00 at night, but I feel my day is worth documenting! It's now 10:45 and I am sitting down literally for the first time today other than the time I have taken to feed a baby. I cannot believe how often I think to myself, "Is this how superman feels?" It has been cold and we spent the whole day inside the house. I was pretty proud of myself for how busy I was keeping the kids. We really did have a fun day, for an inside day. We painted, danced, did music and rhythm sticks time, read, etc. I had decided that the only thing that I really needed to accomplish was to go grocery shopping. We had an appointment this morning, ate lunch and then Corom took a good nap. By the time he woke up it was about 3:30. Off to the grocery store we go... It took about 15 minutes to bundle all of the kids up. This winter thing is so much harder than the kids being able to just go outside in a pair of flip flops. I got one child dressed. "GO stand by the door," I say. I get the other child's shoes on. "GO stand by the door... I just have to buckle the baby in the carrier. Then, Elijah decided he was hungry. So, I unbundled him and fed him. In the mean time the jackets come off and the kids are off and playing again. Going to the grocery store- Take 2. (20 minutes later) I then re-shoed the kids and put jackets back on. Being on the 3rd floor, it takes a lot of patience and time to make it to ground level. I either carry both babies down or take the long road of holding Corom's hand while he climbs down himself. (The latter is much better for development, but at times really inconvenient) I decided that because the kids were already with me and we had made it this far that we would do a quick laundry room trip to change the loads. Fast forward a few minutes, Noelle and Corom decided to play tug-of-war with a tricycle in the laundry room. Corom fell head first and the tooth went through the lip. Ouch! Good bye grocery trip. So, we go upstairs and unbundle, ice the lip and by then it was time to make dinner. The kids were so wound up by this point that Noelle put a toy in the middle of the living room and they ran around in a circle about a hundred times to preschool music. A few hours later dinner had been served and dishes were done. Sleeping Elijah and I snuck away after Dan and the kids fell asleep and I just finished putting the groceries away. So, you are probably asking yourselves "Why are you telling this story?" It is really just to answer the questions that I hear so often, "I try to call you during the day...Why didn't you pick of the phone?" or "How is it being a mother of 3 kids?" At the end of most days, I think to myself, "Wow! what a day!"

I did a triple appointment with the kids yesterday at the doctor's office. We did end up doing the H1N1 vaccination for the older kids at our doctor's suggestion. Elijah also got his 2 month vaccinations. As of yesterday our little Elijah who was 6 pounds 10 ounces at birth, weighed in at...

12 pounds 12 ounces!!!!!

We were floored. He is in the 75% for weight and the 50% for height. I wouldn't have been so surprised but Corom always lingered (and still does) around the 3-5%. He is tiny and apparently Elijah is going to be BIG! I thought this would give you all a laugh. I can't wait to take him home at Christmas for everyone to see!

Happy November! I always want to fast forward through this time in the year to get to the holidays quicker. Today we were able to slip in a little of play time outside, but boy is it getting cold! I just wanted to take a moment to give an updating post. Life is so full these days, full of moments that I want to write down, moments that I wish I could photograph. My kids are growing so fast. These pictures of Corom below are ones that I took today. We have a family photo from last fall that hangs above our couch. This time last year he was a squishy little baby, just learning to eat baby food and not yet crawling. Now, one year later, I can't believe the little boy that he has become. He is right in the mix with all the neighborhood kids. He is playing, talking, climbing and exploring. He loves life and loves new accomplishments. This reflection comes as I just went out today to buy Elijah a new diaper size. He has outgrown his newborn diapers and outgrown his size 1. He is now a size 2! (What a sweet baby he is) As much as the boys are growing, Noelle is also. I was just telling my mom this morning about how her imagination has taken off. I have been praying for strength as a mother and am finding that the more I stop to think about my blessing and how lucky I am to be a mother, the more I take moments to reflect on how beautiful my children are. My favorite part of this week was watching Noelle take part in her first primary program. She has been learning songs all year long in primary and performed them in Sacrament meeting. The topic of the year is "My Eternal Family". All of the songs were about the importance of the family. Noelle got to write her own part. She wrote, "My mom gets me dressed. She makes me a snack at 7:00". Apparently this is what she is grateful that I do for her. (No, we don't typically eat snacks at 7:00, but my 3 year old thinks we do. She did stand at the pulpit, but froze. Her teacher read her part for her. The spirit was so strong in that meeting. I was so proud of Noelle for getting up in front of so many people and sharing her simple convictions in the way she understands- through beautiful music. I look forward to many more opportunities for Noelle to participate church programs and to build her own testimony of the family and our Savior. I hope you all have a great week. Enjoy the pictures!

Happy belated Halloween to all! It has been so fun looking at all of your blogs filled with cute costumes and funny stories of parties, candy and trick-or-treating. Such was our Halloween. When you have kids the holidays seem to spread out over the duration of the week and not just the day. We felt lucky to get a lot of use out of our costumes this year. It was a week of treats and friends!!!! Our big Saturday events consisted of our church party in the morning, a huge trick-or-treating event at a local shopping center in the afternoon and trick-or-treating in the evening around our complex. Noelle was Ariel from the Little Mermaid. (A really cute costume, but not very fitting for Utah weather) She won the costume contest award for "best princess costume" at the ward Halloween party. Her favorite festivities were the parties with her friends where they all pranced around in their costumes. Corom was a white tiger. I just wanted to eat him up. He was so squishy and lovable in that fury tiger costume. Add the "growl" to the mix and he was simply adorable. His chubby cheeks added the perfect finishing touch to the costume. We had practiced saying "Trick-or-Treat" all week and it was Corom who executed the words. As excited as Noelle was, she froze at the doors and let Corom do the talking. (Yes, Corom is talking up a storm these days) Elijah followed the tradition of the Aldama babies dressing up as pumpkins their first Halloween. I just love celebrating holidays with these kids! We have a huge bag of candy on our fridge and oddly enough, the kids aren't interested in it at all- they haven't even asked for any. (Mom and Dad are sure enjoying it!)

On Sunday we blessed Elijah at our ward building. Almost all of the Shirley family joined us for the occasion. Dan offered a beautiful blessing and we enjoyed having the family at our ward for our testimony meeting and Dan's Sunday school lesson. Elijah is a sweet little baby. We are so grateful that he is a part of our family. Aunt April hosted us to dinner that night. What a special day for our family. Thank you to all who came. As for this week, the weather has cleared once again, and we have been spending our days outside!!! I have spent the last 2 days at the zoo. (Loving our season pass) We take our time watching the animals and picnic lunch. It makes for the perfect day. The last 2 days Corom has fallen asleep on the way home and taken fantastic naps! These days are in such contrast to the ones spent inside on snowy days. We are all so much happier outside.I hope you all have a wonderful week!