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This is right after Tristen washed her hands, didn’t dry them, walked over to Micah, faked a sneeze and the loose water on her hands went flying all over him.  He looked at her, rolled his eyes with a little smirk and then caught me with the camera snapping a shot.  Isn’t Tristen immature!

For Chloe’s 8th birthday, we headed down without a gift, so when we stopped to get gas, I tried to figure out a good present.  In honor of the year she is going to get baptised, and to the disgust of everyone else (except the other kids that wanted a few scratchers of their own) we got her 8 lottery tickets, and said she could have all of the proceeds.  No wonder the lottery prizes get SO high….because you never win crap!

breakfast                 lunch                    dinner

Scout usually gets on about seven day kicks for most things.  He is currently into his piggy bank, basketball (especially after yesterday when he went with his dad and Grandpa to a UCLA game), his “Poopsie Doopsie” book, and a few others.  But about a week later, he is on to bigger and better.  Although, there is one obsession that has taken over his life.  (I guess there are technically two obsessions, but the first of B-Ka-NayNay AKA Trilby, Skylar and Calin is kind of old news by now, since that has been around since the day he could talk.) The other is Rice Soup.

He walks around all day long talking about Rice Soup.  Whenever food is even discussed, it is begged for.  When we drive by any sushi place that he recognizes, he calls out Rice Soup!  When he doesn’t eat what I have given him, he puts his head on his shoulder and sweetly, but in a con man sort of way, says Rice Soup.  This morning, I was getting him ready for church, and was trying to divert his attention from me brushing his hair when I said we were going to go down to have breakfast in just one minute.  He expectadly asked for Rice Soup.

I guess it could be worse, and he could be calling out for french fries all the time.  Miso soup with tofu, seaweed, green onions and rice is thankfully a pretty healthy meal….and I guess isn’t all that bad in excess.  I definitely need to learn how to make it, so I can have it on hand more often.  Until then, I might just have to resort to rice in hot beef broth with some rice and tofu if I have it.  Not nearly as good, but he hasn’t caught on to it yet.

And I wonder…….this kid has loved rice from the first time he tried it.  He has also loved Miso Soup, California Rolls, Soybeans, Tempura, and about anything else he has tried that is Japonese.  I wonder if it is just in the blood, or if it is from being overly exposed to one of our tried and true favorites….Good Choice Sushi.

Scout has recently learned the capital’s of California and Hawaii.  He says both so cute.  Sacramento is always a bunch of new jibberish with a “mento” at the end, and Hawaii’s is “Honowuwu”.  We have tried to move onto Utah’s capital, but he is kind of attached to his first two only…….off to work.

I know it won’t last long, so I am abusing Scout’s new penny obsession to the max.  He is really into putting pennies in his piggy bank, so I can get him to do about anything for the mere price of a penny.  This morning, he kept begging for a penny, and I explained that he needed to earn his pennies.  So when he did something nice, or did a job like cleaning up his toys, then he would get his penny.  Before I could even finish my explanation, he ran off, yelled “K” (o.k.) to me, and started saying “clean up” over and over.  I went into the toy room a minute later to see him trying to clean up everything in sight.  It was very impressive, and he definitely got his penny.  I was afraid his obsession had gone too far when we were at the doctor’s office in the waiting room last week.  Scout went around to the other 6 or 7 people in the same waiting room, and put his hand out and said, “money”.  When I told him he should not ask that, he included the word “please”.  Thanks to his charm and a few elderly ladies, he ended up a few cents richer.

An interesting side note to having Navy is….I am even more in love with Scout.  As I watch him constantly call out “Angyels”, kiss her nonstop, sing little songs to her (even when I haven’t asked him to),  climb next to her wherever she is and sometimes fix her bow, give up one of his favorite blankets for her (it was hers to begin with, but she wasn’t born yet, and it became one of his favorites in the meantime), not get jealous of her, etc., it makes me fall madder in love with him…..and her.  I hope they are starting to develp a special little bond already.

Speaking of “in love”….. Micah asked me the other day, “Hey babe….Valentine’s day is coming up really soon.  I can’t remember what I am supposed to do on this holiday.  Can you remind me.”  How classic is that!  He makes me sound high maintenance.  My answer was simple.  I told him that all I ever want is a love letter for me and any girls he has.  So starting this year we are both on double duty — he is in charge of me and Navy, and I will cover him and Scout.  Easy Peasy Japoneasy!

Calin was a big bragger for many months that she had never changed one of Scout’s diapers.  But it came back to bite her in the rear because when Scout started talking, he had a name for everyone except her!  Skylar is Ka, Trilby is B, Tristen is Blelly, Ryan is WyWy, etc.  But whenever we asked him who Calin was, he would just sort of mumble something that never sounded the same as the last time we asked.  Eventually (probably about 4 months later) he started calling Calin NayNay.  She lit up the day she actually had a name.

So this time around, with baby number two, Calin announced that she was So glad to “have a fresh start” with Navy.  According to her, she was going to become the favorite very first.  And you should see her!  She is always asking to hold Navy, and even offers to burp her and things like that. (Vastly different than what I saw with Scout!)  But, her involvement with Scout has totally increased too.  That actually happened a while ago, and according to her is because, “Scout is the coolest kid in the world!” Thank you…..and I agree!

I have been very impressed, and I can see that Skylar is amazed, since all of the duties used to rest solely on her.  So last night after her third round of holding Navy she called downstairs to see if she could bathe Scout.  WHAT!  I obviously answered yes.  And when Scout came down after his bath, he had the “Clifford Touch”.  (An ability that only they have to make a baby smell better than humanly possible.  Trilby has always had it, and passed it down to her offspring.)  She had cleaned his ears, made sure there was nothing dirty under his nails, lotioned him up, brushed his hair….the works.

So when I said at the beginning that she bragged about never changing his diaper, and she had to change one last night (possibly her first ever), I was proud of her overcoming a huge hurdle…..even if this is what I saw this morning…..

Either she is on to something that is the “latest and greatest”, she was lazy, she was clueless, she was never taught that the velcro ends up in the front, or more than likely….Nick Jonas said that is how he wore his diaper when he was a kid.  My money is on the last one.

Navy loves the bath.  Her tummy button fell out 1/2 way in the NICU, and the other 1/2 came out on day 8.  So on day 9, she got her first “real” bath from Nonnie, and seemed like she was in heaven.  We have her whole bath basket ready to go, and the warmest and cuddliest towel for afterward.  She loved the warm water, but wasn’t too into the cold when she got out….but the towel did the trick.

She also went to her first doctor’s appointment at 10 days old.  Dr. Carruth just loves to pose for these pictures!  He did a thorough job, and her jaundice is totally on the mend.  We now have a little worrying to do about her becoming anemic due to her body fighting off her red blood cells tirelessly.  But Dr. Carruth isn’t worried, so I take my cues from him.  Her stats came back positively.  She weighed in at 7 pounds 2 ounces — a great weight after her whole NICU stint.

And last but not least….she got her first official singing time from Nonnie.  Nonnie did a bit in the hospital, but it wasn’t one of her marathon sessions.  Between Trilby my Mom and Skilly, they could sing to her all day long.  Navy just sits there mesmorized and takes it all in.  Hopefully she loves my singing more than Scout did at an early age.  I just remember that the second I would open my mouth in song towards him, he would stick out his bottom lip, and start bawling!

Scout has adjusted to being the “big brother” perfectly.  He is constantly kissing her, rocking her car seat if she is in it, getting me anything I might need for her, etc.  But my two favorite things he does for her are…..#1 — If I ask him to sing her a song, he genuinely hums for about 10 seconds as he “sings” to her.  It is so sweet, and he is really trying his hardest.  #2 — Whenever she cries, he calls out “angels”!.  He heard me tell her when she was crying once, to look at the angels that were surrounding her — and that would make her happy.  So now, whenever he hears her cry or seem sad, he hollers out “angels” (which sounds like “anyels” with a ton of compassion oozing out at the same time). The best was today, during Scout’s nap — or so-called nap — he heard her crying, and from his room he yelled out “angels”.  We all just started cracking up.

But speaking of becoming the “big brother” and naps, Scout got out of his crib for the first time in 21 months today.  We heard him start crying, and after a minute or two, we decided to retrieve him.  When Micah went in, he was almost at the door to head in our direction.  He was crying, had a big bump on his head that he kept referring to as his boo boo, and the chair near his crib was toppled over…..so it apparently wasn’t a very smooth exit.  We will have to see if he learned that it wasn’t worth it, or if he has started a new bedtime ritual.

….the boys will play!  Micah filled in as Mr. Mom like a champ while I was at the hospital.  He took Scout on walks to explore, they visited parks and threw a zillion rocks, cooked together, Micah taught Scout the “Barnyard Dance” from a book of the same name where they skitter with the mice and bow to their partners, Micah wrestled with Scout and was the victim of Scout’s lethal “atomic leg drop” dozens of times, Micah made sure Scout had his favorite meal of “rice soup” (miso with rice in it) almost daily, etc.  I was so glad to know that Scout was not missing out even though I was MIA.  But my favorites were when they would stop by the hospital and peek in the window because Scout wasn’t allowed in……and when I caught Scout “chilaxing” next to his obviously exhausted dad with PJ’s on that gave me tears in my eyes.  I love that little boy…..and the dad who takes such good care of him.