Hali's is 9

Hali Marie Selseth was born November 28th, 2000. She weighed in at a whopping 10.4 pounds. She was a week over due. That last week I took advantage of it being Thanksgiving and I seriously enjoyed pumpkin pie. Now it is 9 years later and I am so proud of the girl my baby has grown into. I love you Hali!

I should also add that my birthday follows Hali's by 3 days. Hali always makes me feel special on my birthday even though I don't celebrate much. This year I felt very special. Hali and Leiton gave me presents and cards before school. I got Eclipse from the Twilight series. Very thoughtful. I got to spend the day with my little buddy Boden. Later that day my dad also brought over a cake for me! Love Love...

Comfy, Cozy Crazy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It is the holiday where I am thankful for so much yet hopeful for the season to come. It just feels so comfy cozy with family. The smell of turkey, the taste of pumpkin pie, the games played, the stories told, the laughter.....the memories made. Our Christmas wish lists are shared and plans are made for the holidays. It seems so weird that this holiday has become overshadowed by black Friday but that also brings excitement to the day.

This year was a first thanksgiving for two in our family. Boden enjoyed the day with his cousin Emma! We went over the river and through the woods (ok, not really the woods) to grandma and grandpa's house. We were lucky that grandpa was still feeling good as he had his second round of chemo on Wednesday and his last chemo left him pretty sick the days following. My sister and her husband and their daughter Emma came from Illinois to stay. Watching two babies is one of the funniest things to do! Everything is just so darn cute! Boden started sitting up! This might be because his elder cousin by 2 months has already mastered this task as well as crawling and getting into EVERYTHING! The food was so good. My favorite is croissants, Hali's is green olives! Leiton loves the turkey and Boden's favorite is sweet potatoes. We all played a game of Apples to Apples which was fun. Games are so much fun with lots of people. The fireplace had a fire going and we all had full tummies. My sister and I had a great time reminiscing of our younger years as always. That makes me feel old. And even the drive home was a blast as I played the Christmas song station and the kids sang the whole way home to all their "favorite" songs. I hope y'all had a wonderful day as well!

Boden

Boden is now 7 months old....I cannot believe it! It seemed like I waited forever for him to arrive and did not know at all what to expect with his arrival as to how it would affect everyone's lives. He has been a blessing to us all. He is so delightful to be around. He has been an extremely content baby from the start. In the hospital I thought something might be wrong with him since he never cried and seemed to sleep so well. That good behavior continued and I am still in awe of how easy it has been. He is now just starting to sit up a bit. He really enjoys standing up. He has stood up by himself while holding onto the couch and will imitate walking as I carry him across the room. He babbles, belly laughs and drools. He is getting his two bottom teeth in at the same time right now. He has been awaking more at night lately (about every hour or so). I blame that on my extreme irritability and lack of patience with my other children, but all is good right? Boden wants to be a big kid like his brother and sissy. He looks up to them with awe and gives them huge smiles which only makes them smile which sometimes is a huge feat! Boden has been a wonderful addition to our family. I am so thankful to get to spend his first Thanksgiving with him this week. A kind of neat note...I found this website while googling his name. It is http://www.miniboden.com/. They have the cutest clothes for kids! Too cool. I also saw on Meritcare's website that there are some other Boden babies being born. I had never heard of that name before I found it in a baby book. :)

Halloween...just to get it out there.

I know it isn't even interesting to see pictures of Halloween costumes anymore but I need to do things in order now! We all had fevers but we managed to put our costumes on and treck out for a good 2 blocks. Note, I said 2 blocks however do you see how full their buckets are of candy?? I am glad the candy is gone...I had a bad habit of eating their candy while they were at school. Oi!

Sickness

The flu has hit the Selseth household. Leiton woke up with a high fever Sunday morning. Hali was to get her bible in church that morning so my mom and dad were coming. My mom ended up staying home with Leiton. My dad who is still very weak from his surgery was able to come with us to church. He didn't come in or stay as we don't want him to get sick. On Tuesday morning I woke with a fever. Wow does that feel terrible. I still have to take Hali to school and take care of Leiton who is still sick with a fever. He woke up very thirsty so I let him drink as much water as he wanted. Oops! He threw that up. He did however feel better after that. In fact I was going to send him to school this morning. I took his temp and it was 101! He appears to be doing better. I guess that 24 hour rule won't allow him to go to school tomorrow again. He has missed a whole week of school! Hali has managed to stay healthy. I am so lucky to have her. She quickly takes over as mommy when she sees I am struggling. She asks if we need anything, cleans, does her homework, gets her breakfast, gets dressed, cleans her room...you name it. How did I luck out with her?? Boden has been struggling with a cold. It's his first cold and he is so congested. He hasn't had a fever so I don't believe it is the flu. I am just glad to get it and get over it. No more worrying if we are going to get it. We lived through the plague. I wonder if you can get it more than once??? HMMMmmmm I hope not.

Here I am at the end of the day and I'm wondering what I did? My days go so fast yet I don't accomplish anything....on my list that is. I have this short amount of time at the end of the day after the kids are all in bed that I can do what I want. Lately that has been pigging out on chocolate animal crackers and diet Dr. Thunder while watching smut reality TV. It's such a breath of fresh air! ha ha. I wait and wait for this time all day especially around supper time when it seems I can't take anymore. That is the loudest time of the day. Kids are hungry and I am preparing dinner. I also am thinking of all that needs to get done before bed time and the oh so glorious my time. Homework seems to last FOREVER! Why is 3rd grade now equivilant to my 6th grade?? I try to do my jobs cheerfully and this definately takes a conscious effort. Hali is getting her bible on Sunday so we have been taking bible classes and I have been reading and relearning some things. One of which is the importance of doing our work cheerfully and the best we can. It works! I wish I could post some pictures of my day today as I found some pretty cute and funny moments but that's ok.... I have decided I can post without pictures however pictures make blogs much more interesting don't you think?

What I'm up to....

I have been keeping notes on my Blackberry on topics I want to blog about so I will start with that for my newest blog. I have begun to use that phone as a lifeline. I have about 10 different lists that I add to on my memo pad every day. Lately I haven't been able to hold a thought for more than a few seconds. I even often forget what I'm doing WHILE doing it! I don't feel overly stressed or tired, I have just become a little too good at multi-tasking. I have even got caught saying to my kids "mommy can only do 23 things at one time!". I have been laughed at in stores for the things I guess I have been saying out loud because if I just think my thoughts it will be forgotten but if I say them out loud my daughter can remind me what I was thinking about when I ask. Even as I sit here writing this I just had to read back what I wrote because I forgot what I was blogging about! Leiton is a pro at finishing my sentences! I can't think of the words to finish them. So, if I remember, I will be touching up my blog with some of those topics I think of..and quickly add to my list.