The new little gal

And then there were three. I haven't posted anything since Paia was born. We named her after my mother who is Samoan. Her name means holy and is pronounced puh-ee-uh. Her middle name is Marquita, after one of Kimball's really wonderful sisters. Marquita will tell you with a very serious face that her name means "pearl of the opera."

Paia was born June 17th and was 8 lb even. It was a c-section, and honestly it about killed me. However, it's over, and we have forgotten all about it. The boys are so excited to have a little sister. Gussie is constantly trying to kiss and hug her. Leif calls her "our little princess" and watches her with awe. Just watches mostly. He's afraid of her.

In some ways, having three children has thrown us for a loop. A friend explained their decision to have two kids this way, "We don't like the children to outnumber us." I admit I was intimidated by the prospect. At any given time someone is always crying for something (while I'm trying to help another child, of course), and someone is always getting hurt (while I'm holding another child, of course). In our attempt to reduce the mayhem to a minimum, we do a lot of cautioning the kids to be safe or asking them to talk softly. Today as I went out to get the mail, Gus opened the front door and called after me, "Be careful, Mom." Yes, Gus. It's a dangerous world.

Chaos and ineffective parenting aside, we are thrilled to have three little pigs. I feel like I've won the lottery. I'm amazed at how life changes with time. We're a family of five, whereas just five years ago, Kimball and I were desperate for any children at all. We're outnumbered, and we love it.

Babies in 2008

This year there have been a lot of new additions to our family. On my side of the family Martin and Diana Palmer started off the year with their second little girl who they named Wren. Darcie (Palmer) and Adam Sanders had their first child -- a boy named Kjell (pronounced Shell). On Kim's side of the family, Sage (Christianson) and Curtis Child had their second child, and first boy named Sandor. Jordan and Shaun Christianson had their first girl (after 4 boys) named Elle McCaye. This week Howie and Thira Christianson had their third little boy. It's hard to round up pictures of all of these cuties, but we're working on it.

Gus...careful & troubled about many things

Gus has turned out to be our more agressive and adventurous child. He likes to jump off the couch or the side of the stairs and loves attacking Leif from behind. Wrestling is a favorite activity. He is also really affectionate most of the time and frequently says, "hug you" to us. Gus is also shy and often has his eyebrows knit in a look of consternation. We aren't sure what could be so troubling at his tender age, but every night when we put him to bed, he does ask us about "monsers." He is the type of little guy who tries to clean up all of one object in the room, and gets upset if Leif tries to hold onto one crayon when he has rounded up all the others. Currently his favorite phrase is "non't do THAT." He is very good about kneeling down for family prayer and singing songs with us. His favorite is "I Love to See the Temple." You can't understand very much of what he says because he doesn't enunciate well and everything sounds like a garble, but he tries REALLY hard, and we love it. Like most kids his age, Gus has to have everything exactly like his older brother. When we serve them food, he waits to check that his and Leif's are the same. This presents problems for us because he is allergic to dairy and often has something a little different than Leif. Yesterday we made homemade icecream and snuck a similar-colored, store-bought soy ice cream into his bowl. We breathed a sigh of relief when he didn't notice.

Leif...busy beaver

Leif spends his time reading books and "doing projects." He loves coloring, drawing, painting, and other crafts. He loves to go to the science museum with us and see the animals. He also really enjoys helping Mama cook. He loves doing "obstacle courses" at our local playground, which he makes up. He always has someone time these to see if he "wins."

Sometimes Leif's projects get out of hand. The other day, he pulled out his toys from a toy chest and made a big pile. He was very intent on whatever he was accomplishing by doing this -- muttering to himself the whole time and looking very pleased with himself. Later he told us this was a "sell-it pile" for his yard sale. Pretty sure he got that from a book. He and Gus both like to get a baby wipe and clean the walls, the toys, and the front of the appliances. We wish we spent more time with Leif doing sports but I have been pretty sick with this pregnancy and haven't gotten out a ton.