Little bits and pieces

Andrew's latest:
- I am loving all of his words, but particularly "munch", which really means "punch" and he knows to do it softly and only to daddy and I think another rule is that he's not supposed to "munch" daddy in the face (he says it very quietly and moves his arm very slowly when he's doing it softly).  I also enjoy when he tells Rachel to "be nice!".
- He's a little bit OCD, and I hate to say that, but I don't know how else to describe it.  He doesn't like his clothes to get wet (i.e., spilled drink, wash hands and sleeves get wet, etc.), and he'll ask to change if he does.  He still loves pajamas, although he will get dressed everyday without a bribe (we were literally having to offer him candy to get dressed for a few weeks).  He cannot cannot cannot stand to wear anything but long pants and long sleeved shirts - anything short sleeve or shorts are completely out of question (at least it's winter), and if his pants slide up or sleeves are pushed up, he'll ask to have them pulled back down.
- Rachel teaches him everything she knows (for better or worse), it's fun to watch her be a little teacher to him.  The other day, she was teaching him ballet in the hallway.
- He is going through a terribly long phase (for the last 2 months) where he'll call out for dad in the wee hours of the morning asking for someone to lay by him.  It's somewhere in the 5-6am hour, so to keep him from waking Rachel, Brandon just lays by him until 6:30a.  We even bought an owl alarm clock that turns green at 6:30a so he knows he's not supposed to come out until the "owl turns green", and all it has been good for is keeping him in bed until then - but one of us has to be laying there (usually Brandon) and there's no guarantee that he'll fall back to sleep.  It's crazy.  I'm not ready for a knock out, crying, putting him back in his bed a hundred times, because 1) it will wake up Rachel and 2) we're already tired with newborn feedings in the night and 3) sometimes he's technically got "enough" sleep for his little body - although I shoot for 11 hours for him with a daily nap that's about an hour, he often only thinks he needs 10 at night.
- The other morning, he came in to our room around 6a at the same time that Kendall was fussing and said, "Mom, Nenall (Kendall) needs milk, Bubby needs milk".
- He is kind of clumsy and falls all the time.
- He's a goofy, fun loving boy who's smile still melts my heart!

Rachel's latest:
- In a prayer before Christmas, "Please bless Santa that he will deliver our presents on Christmas without any problems - like so he won't get stuck in the snow or something like that."
- She has been testing Santa's generosity with weird, random behavior - by doing things she knows is wrong, but is either bored or testing me.  Like she got Andrew to color on the tile floor with her.  I also found ball point pen marking on Andrew's top sheet and one of her nightgowns (tracing the letters on the top).  So I took away all crayons, pencils, pens and put them on top of the fridge.  The next day she asked to do a cutting project since she couldn't color, I told her that was fine - she often uses scissors by herself - but this time she decided to cut a chunk of her hair while I wasn't watching.  The worst part was that on all of these incidences she blamed Andrew (even the 4 inch long hair pieces that I found on the floor).  All of these likely occurred while I was on the phone or nursing.  Awesome.  After some serious talkings to and consequences, I think we're good now.  Just kidding.  She just peed on her carpet, and her third request to Santa - the Rapunzel barbie with short brown hair - just got revoked, and she has to earn it back.  Geez, girl!
- My thoughts on elf on the shelf - yes, we have one from last year but I bought a different kind than the one everyone has and you won't see me post pictures.  I hate to do something that is so trendy.  It is to promote good behavior, and I'd say it works only sometimes.  And sometimes he forgets to move at night - he's a tired little elf.
- Very responsible and will help out with little errands and favors (get this, do that, help Andrew with..)
- Shocking that she still has candy from Halloween in her little Home Depot Monster box she made - who's kid is she?  She always asks before she takes a piece.
- One morning she woke up and was so happy and she said, "Mom! I had the funnest dream ever.  At the very end of my dream, I got to give Jesus a hug."  When I inquired more about it, she said he was big and that he had on a red boy dress (robe).  Pure awesomeness.  She also told me it started out a scary dream, but it had a happy ending.

Kendall's latest (written at 6 weeks):
- Hooray for her first, darling smiles at 6 weeks.  Also a good time for the tiredness to set in for mom, and Kendall's random daily schedules.  She still does great most nights, but the daytime is completely random, I never know when she's going to sleep for 30 minutes or 3 hours.  But a lot of times, she'll wake up after 30-45 minutes, needing a burp or diaper change and then I put her back to sleep.
- With my first two kids, I was a huggies mom.  And now I'm a pampers mom.  Crazy, but she got bad diaper rashes with huggies diapers/wipes, so I did some experiments and she does much better with pampers and any kind of sensitive wipes.
- She will not take a binkie - aaaaahhhhhh!  I'm so sad about it.
- I feel like we're going through so many diapers.  Everytime the girl sneezes, poop comes out.
- Nursing is not even close to private or relaxing these days (except when it's the weekend and Brandon's around to help).  Rachel knows all about how babies get milk now and I have nursed in the most random places around the house - nursed while getting all sorts of snacks and sippy cups, wiping bums, put kids to sleep, at the computer (for my sanity), once I even tried to get something out of the oven while nursing, but had the sense to put her down (go me!), and also while going to the bathroom (TMI perhaps).  I am also adding to my list of "awesome" places I've nursed:  City Creek play place, Red Lobster bathroom stall, Nationwide Vision, etc.  I just love breastfeeding.  (sarcastic voice, but I really do like it, I just liked it a lot more when it was the first kid and I could sit around and watch Ellen)