2011 in Review–Partridge Edition

2011 has brought many changes and blessings.  With our recent travels and new baby we decided that this year a blog post review seemed a little more realistic then sending out cards.  If this is the first time to our blog, feel free to take a look around whenever you'd like.  Please leave a comment so we know who you are.  We truly hope that you have a wonderful Christmas filled with the love of Christ and family. There is no better way to think of the sweet baby Jesus’ birth then while I snuggle up next to our new sweet little addition to the family.  Such a perfect little being born in such humble conditions, descending below the least of men to save us all.  This Christmas is a new opportunity to be reminded of just how blessed we are and mindful of the Grace of God.  Merry Christmas to all and have a happy New Year.   

Here’s a little picture playback of what’s been happening with us this year:

Hyrum finished Joyschool and moved on to ‘real’ preschool this year.  He loves it and is currently learning to read his first two beginning reader books.   

We spent a good chunk of our spring/summer remodeling our kitchen from black to white and new countertops.  It was a time consuming learning experience for us and we were very happy with the results.  We also spent every day in our garden.  The boys loved the work and especially enjoyed the great rewards of their labors. 

           We spent some time in Hawaii with the Partridges.  It was such a fun experience to have with the whole family.  The boys loved playing with cousins, digging in the sand, eating ice cream, digging in the sand, swimming in the pool, digging in the sand, and riding the sugar cane train.  Dad had a blast scuba diving and swimming in the ocean.  Mom loved snorkeling and laying out in the sun. 
                              

We also had so much fun visiting our good friends the Snyders in Georgia.  We played, ate great food, got to see some of the amazing sites of the south, and even got to try out some real southern food.

We had a Rushton reunion in Utah.  It was great seeing the family (we did really miss Jeff, Jenn, and Lexi).   We spent time at a waterpark, playing outside, taking hikes, doing crafts, spending time on Temple Square, and just having fun.  We happened to attend church at the Joseph Smith Building with Elder Oaks and he was kind enough to chat with us and have a picture.    

Our greatest joy of the year was the coming of our newest little miracle. Owen joined our family on September 19th and has been such a pleasure to have as a part of our bunch.  He is the sweetest, most mellow baby we’ve ever had and we are so happy that he has blessed our family. The boys love him and give him kisses, hold him, ‘read’ to him, and play peek-a-boo. 

   Brett was hired by Adobe as the Team Lead over video analytics this year.  He really enjoys his new job and all of the opportunities that have opened up to him.  It’s a great company to work for and we’re excited to see where this company will take him.  They also have some great parties

We have our moments (and sometimes long episodes) of stress, chaos, clutter, crying, and tantrums, but looking back at the year we see happiness and a family attempting to do our best.  Just a few days ago we were holding hands walking on the temple grounds in Mesa, AZ looking at the beautiful Christmas lights and nativities.  Hyrum looked up at me and said, “We need to hold hands because we are a family and we love each other.”  It’s moments like that that wipe away every moment of sadness.  We thank our Father in Heaven for gifting us three beautiful boys and for the joy they are in our lives. 

                       

Adobe Christmas Party

No question about it I love playing dress up. . . some things just never change. Well, a few days before the big event I found out that the Adobe Christmas party was going to be 80s themed. After some crazy running around and searching I put together these awesome costumes. The party was amazing with everything 80’s: Delorean just outside the entrance, Mr. T lookalike bouncer, professional break dancers performing, live band, tons of games to play like Hungry Hungry Hippo, Candy Land, old arcade games, . . . basically is was awesome! We may not have won best dressed – bummer, but I definitely had the best hair.

Hyrum’s Christmas Program

Hyrum has been practicing with his class several learning songs and Christmas songs to perform at a special Christmas Program.  It was very cute to watch and he had a short speaking part that he nailed.  Singing the songs isn’t really his favorite thing, but we were pleasantly surprised to see him mouthing some of the words.  Right now in Pre-school he’s earned his second book that he can read all by himself and he can write his name without any help. I can’t believe how grown up he’s getting!

Cleaning House

The floors hadn't been cleaned in. . . well, a long time.  The boys weren't taking a nap.  I needed a moment of peace.  So, I taught the boys a new way to mop the floor.  It seemed like a good idea at the time.

 

It was a lot of fun for a good hour or so.  They took turns pulling each other around on the towel and spraying the Eco-green.  Then out of nowhere Hyrum came out from under the table and he laughingly said, “Look Mom.  I’m all bloody.”  At first I thought he was joking because he was laughing still, and then I saw blood all over his hand.  I asked him where he was hurt and he insisted it was from Noah.  I looked Noah over and couldn’t find anything so I went back to Hyrum and found blood dripping from his hair.  Once I told him that I needed to wash his hair in the sink he started getting upset.  Not so much because of the blood dripping, but because he hates getting his hair washed.  What a strange boy.  It was a pretty good cut on his noggin, but nothing worth stitches.  He never seemed to mind or notice the cut.  The only thing that seemed to effect him was getting his hair washed.

Thanksgiving In Albuquerue

We had a great time in Albuquerque for Thanksgiving this year. Here are a few of the highlights.

Of course we had some amazing food, but the biggest highlight was all of the time they spent with Grandma and Grandpa. Early (6am) on Thanksgiving morning Grandpa drove the boys down to see some hot air balloons going off. Hyrum took some awesome pictures with his camera of the balloons that I’ll have to add later. As soon as they got back Noah ran to me really sad and said, “The workers didn’t let us get on the balloons.” It was pretty cute. They loved it. . .someday maybe the ‘workers’ will let them ride on one too.

We had a movie night.

One of the biggest highlights was helping Grandpa put up all their luminaries for Christmas. They got to climb up the ladder and use the drill. It was like heaven. They also loved spending a lot of time in the backyard with a little shovel they both called ‘the digger’. They flung dirt everywhere and dug all kinds of holes. Hyrum loved to pull weeds out and be Grandpa’s helper.

Owen got a lot of attention and was the happiest baby in the world. He rarely ever fussed and mostly spent his time smiling and enjoying the world around him.

We caught a nasty bug on the last day their and sadly had a long car trip back home full of puke. Hyrum was such a trooper. He had a bucket in the back seat next to him for throwing up. He threw up more times than I can count. He never whined or cried. He would wipe his mouth off with a paper towel and sometimes ask for a new movie or some water to drink, but there was never a complaint. He really impressed us. Noah did pretty well behaviorally, but didn’t quite recognize his sick cue's. I’ve never seen so much vomit come out of such a little body before. It managed to soak all of his clothes, seat, and it seeped onto the floor. We did what we could to get things cleaned up on the road. We did get the car thoroughly shampooed right after getting back.

The Man

Hyrum has taken upon himself the role of second man of the house.  With Owens coming he seems to feel a greater responsibility to take care of things which is both wonderful and makes me so proud but also kinda scary at times.  A couple of days ago, without even asking or mentioning it to me, he made himself a peanut butter and jam sandwich because he was hungry.  He got everything out including a plate and just made it.  I noticed later that he must have put the jam on first because there was a good amount of jam in the peanut butter jar.  After making it he ripped off a piece and put it on a plate for Noah too. He's really been doing well with being the big brother.  I haven't been able to do as much with Hyrum and Noah as I used to so they spend more time playing together.  They still fight and have their moments of sibling rivalry, but overall I think gaining a brother has brought the two of them closer together.

Hyrum has really been loving his preschool.  He has learned the sound and name of the first ten letters that they require to earn his first preschool book.  He is so proud of it and we practice reading it every day.  We've been on a waiting list since July to get Hyrum in the Mon, Wed, Friday class and we just found out that he will be getting in after Christmas break! We're so excited to let him spend more time learning with his peers.  

Sunday was our Primary Program and Hyrum had a short speaking part.  He walked up to the podium and told the Primary leader that was there to help that he didn't need her help because he knew his part. Then he got right up into the microphone and confidently said, "The Lord created the earth. . . actually, the Lord created the earth for all of us.  Ok."  (His actual line: Jesus Christ created the earth for me.) Then with a big proud smile he went back to his seat.  I just love watching him get older, even though it scares me.  

He's really a great helper with baby Owen.  He sometimes insists on carrying him, so we had to set a strict rule of no holding Owen unless Mom and Dad are right there.  Well, sometimes he lives by the spirit of the law and it makes my life a little more chaotic.  Last week I put Owen in his crib and had the boys playing so I could take a shower.  When I got out I went to check on Owen and my heart skipped a beat when he wasn't in his crib.  I found his little self on the floor all wrapped up in his blanket with a binky in his mouth. I immediately asked Hyrum about it and he said that Owen was screaming so he helped him.  I liked to hear that my cute little preschooler wanted his 'Baby Bubbles' to be happy.  With that said:  AHHHHHHHH! I can only imagine how Hyrum, who's head doesn't even reach the top of the crib managed to carry him down to the ground! SO SCARY!!!!  Yes, we had a nice long talk about the rules again.  

Blessing Day

Today Brett gave Owen a name and a blessing in sacrament meeting at church!  Owen is such a special baby.  He has a sweet personality.  At six weeks old he loves snuggling, humming, and sucking on anything he can get in his mouth.  It’s so cute listening to his almost constant grunts and hums.  I love it!  We love Owen so much and are glad that he’s a part of the family.  We hope that Owen knows that he is loved. 

Grandma and Grandpa Partridge would be coming into town for the blessing on Saturday night, but we decided to meet up with Ryan and Jennifer in Provo for a little celebration dinner before their plane got in.  When we were led to our table we were completely surprised to see Grandpa and Grandmama Long sitting there!!!  We were so excited to have them and feel honored that they would make the trip especially Grandpa Edwin, who Owen Edwin Partridge is named after.  It’s been such a blessing to have so much family support with my Mom staying with us for 2 weeks and then to have so much family here for his blessing. 

Adobe Halloween Bash

I've been told for months by Brett about the upcoming Halloween party and it finally came.  All the talk did not disappoint.  I really wasn't prepared for how big the whole thing was!  The walk through alone took over an hour  with fully built villages to walk through (Brett spent some long nights at work this week building the set), a totally decked out Harry Potter themed area, Book Land with several children's book walk through's -Disneyland style, haunted areas, and of course a whole section devoted to Angry Birds where we actually got to shoot at pigs with big slingshots.  Those are just a few of the areas but they also had a live band, magicians, live snakes, and so much more.  We had a blast!

A conversation with Hyrum

Today we were doing Saturday chores, and while we were cleaning I noticed a random dirty footprint on the wall all the way up by the light switch:

Mom: "Hyrum, where did this footprint come from?"

Hyrum: "Oh, it was just from my foot." (said very nonchalantly)

Mom: "Well, how did it get all the way up here on the wall?"

Hyrum: "I was just being a frog and jumping up super high."

Mom: "OK". . said very skeptical

Hyrum: "The frog just needed to get up there, but my robot can make footprints higher. My robot has super big feet."

Mom: "Oh, ok. Well, lets not put footprints on the wall anymore."

Hyrum: "Ok, Mom, but I didn't make that footprint it was just someone else."

Our life lately. . .

Things are still going well with our family of five. I am so happy that our boys love each other.  So far we haven’t had to deal with any jealousy issues.  I’m still trying to figure out how to balance preschool and our other activities along with a newborns naps and nursing times.  Overall, things are going great and right now I’m looking forward to adding working out to the schedule too.  The boys love their snuggle time with Owen and sometimes our biggest struggle during the day is who’s turn is it with Owen.  Excitement over the baby have worn down a little bit with the boys, but they still have so many precious moments with him.  Here are two that I captured this last week: 

 

(pretending ‘nap time’ together.  Noah read him a book while Hyrum gave kisses.)

Brett went to New York for work and came back with prizes.  The boys loved their new PJ’s.

We harvested the Spearmint from our garden.  The boys loved picking all the leaves.  I’m excited to add them more in my cooking and have herbal tea when we have sick tummies.  I dehydrated a bunch for storage and we made a couple of yummy smoothies.  The flavor is so strong that one leaf goes a long way.

 

And last, but definitely not least Hyrum is learning how to play Basketball at our community gym. So far he seems to like basketball more than soccer.  It’s cute watching him practice dribbling.  His favorite part of practice is stealing the ball.  Hyrum really wanted to show Dad his cool moves, so Brett came to the practice today.  It was fun having the whole family there.  Noah made some nice shots too and practiced passing the ball.  

 

Life at Home

The last few weeks have gone by so fast!  I can’t believe that Owen is already approaching three weeks old.  I think no matter how many kids you have each one teaches you something new about being a parent.  This is the first baby we’ve had while Brett has been out of school and working in the ‘real world’.  Life is less crazy now in a lot of ways and I am so glad to be where we are.  With our other boys I followed the ‘nurse when they make any noise’ rule.  They were great babies, but really had no routine and I always felt like I couldn’t do anything, because my schedule was so unpredictable (sometimes I would nurse every hour, sometimes every two).  This time I decided to follow the Baby Wise technique and I have been loving it!  Owen is such a GREAT baby so far.  He always has a four hour stretch and then a two and a half hour stretch of sleep at night.  I don’t need to rock or nurse him to sleep at night either.  It’s great!  I’m actually very optimistic that he will sleep through the night before too long.  Anyway, the last couple of weeks have been full of fun.

 

Grandma Rushton came and stayed with us for two weeks.  She was my right hand, left hand, and everything else too.  We were very grateful that she could come and be the fill-in Mom for the boys while I was gone and when I couldn’t get around very well.  The boys really miss her and still ask when she’s coming back.  I was so glad that Owen came when he did, but I must admit that I had planned on doing some canning and ran out of time.  My mom was kind enough to offer her help so that I could get my yearly canning in ( I really love canning).  We now happily have 26 quarts of delicious peaches and 14 pints of sweet applesauce.  My mom ended up doing almost the entirety of applesauce herself, because we started the process just as some crazy boys got home from camping. 

Brett wins Dad of the year when he took the boys camping.  It was a great experience for them.  What I hear from the boys is that they melted big marshmallows and went on a hike.  They also had story time together where Brett told the kids about the Restoration and then Hyrum made up a story about the Squirrels and the Fly Kings. . .he has quite the imagination.

Another highlight was BYU’s win.

We were also very happy to have some of the Partridges visit us just after my mom went home. Owen has a cute little cousin that he got to hang out with.  She’s just a few weeks older than Owen and they look like little twins together in their cute unplanned coordinating outfits.  It’s great having cousins so close in age.

Oh, and Hyrum and Noah are loving their little brother. Hyrum loves holding and snuggling Owen.  He can sit on the couch and hold him for about 15 minutes without getting fidgety.  They both love giving him kisses and cuddling.  Earlier this week Owen was squeaking a little bit and Noah ran to him and kept shoving his blankie's tag in his face saying, "Tag! Tag! Here's your tag!"  He started getting frustrated until I explained that Owen doesn't know how to use his tag yet.  Noah, in his cute way, then explained to Owen how to use it. I can't remember his exact words, but he explained how he could suck on the tag or twist it with your finger inside.  I am loving how well things are going with their transition of three boys.  

 

OWEN'S DAY!!!

September 21st was the date scheduled for my c-section. At 38 weeks I was feeling very pregnant and ready to burst. My body was exhausted and I was doing everything I could to not go into labor too early before my mom got here. Luckily, we have been blessed with great neighbors who were willing to be 'on call' just in case I went into labor early. On Monday (Sept. 19th) morning at 3 am I woke up with a little spill feeling. I was pretty confused by the sensation, because it wasn't a gush of fluid like I

had with Hyrum when my water broke. I sat in the bathroom for a while before I finally decided to wake up Brett and figure out what to do. After some discussion we decided to just go back to bed and make a trip to the hospital at a decent hour in the morning. It didn't take long after laying down when the contractions began to come stronger and closer together. By 5am my contractions were five minutes apart and I was not feeling very happy. I was also certain at this point that my water had broken, it was just not a gush like I expected. We called up my neighbor who kindly came over to stay with the boys. When we got to the hospital there wasn't too much waiting before they began prepping me for surgery. Going into this delivery I'll be honest in saying that I was very scared. The thought of someone cutting me open (I always visualize a chain saw), digging around in my insides, and then removing a living being from my body makes me a bit faint. Anyway, before I went into the OR Brett gave me a blessing that I was so grateful to receive. I really felt a calm come over me and peace that everything would be alright. The surgery went very well. I had every confidence in my ObGyn and I felt like the whole surgery was done in half the time that I expected. By 7am I was holding

our cute little Owen on my chest before they took him back to get cleaned. We are so glad to have this cute little man in our family. We had a hard time deciding officially on a name. In the days prior to his birth we began calling him Baby Bubbles. Hyrum and Noah were VERY disappointed when we let them know that he would not be known as Bubbles to the world. They still call him Baby Bubbles sometimes, so I'm pretty sure that will be a nick-name keeper.

We feel that Heavenly Father really blessed us during this pregnancy. The Doctor let us know that he was Coombs positive,

but we never experienced any complications from it. I am A- with an

anti-C antibody and little Owen is O+, had our blood ever met in the

womb we would have had some unhappy complications. We're so glad

that he stayed where he was supposed to and my body stayed where it

was supposed to:). Having him come in the morning to us was nice, because we had the whole day to spend with him and for the family to meet. Hyrum and Noah loved him from the moment they met him. It was a great day and we are so happy to have Bubbles with us. Blessings never cease.