Madison
Another year seems to have come and gone with the blink of an eye. This Christmas season has been so much fun with Madison. Madison loved to find the hiding elf every morning, read a Christmas book every night, and open up the advent calendar daily. The first day she found the elf reading the scriptures on our game table. She was pretty upset when she found the elf not reading the scriptures the next day--there was a small meltdown until we explained that he hides in a new place every night. She seemed to be a much more obedient child with the elf "watching". I think we have lost a little leverage for obedience with the elf having returned to the north pole. Madison really loved opening the advent calendar. Some days were better than others with opening the advent calendar. One day we made a snow man out of some fake snow, made an ornament out of a pine cone, did some sort of craft, made cookies, watch a movie, eat a treat, ect. We read a book on days when we ran out of time or ideas for the advent calendar. Madison was so excited for Christmas morning that she went straight to bed Christmas Eve and didn't wake up once. In the morning she came in and told us that Santa hadn't come and she didn't even wake up in the night. She seemed pretty sad about that but became more excited once we went downstairs . It took us almost four hours to open up gifts as Madison stopped to play or read with each one she opened before she moved on. She also tired of opening gifts and tried to get Tyler and me to open them for her. My favorite part of opening gifts was when she started playing with the kitchen Tyler made her. At one point she said to no one in particular, "dad did a good job."
Me
Christmas seemed a little different for me this year having Clark around. I thought more of the Savior as a baby this year than usual--so helpless and dependent on others. I can image the Savior having a disposition very much like Clark--a calm baby looking around without much crying. This season I read Luke and Mark from the New Testament. There seemed to be many teaching moments for me as I read about the Savior's life. One thing that I have really taken away as I read of the Savior's life is how he always put others first, regardless of his own needs/wants. It reminds me of the need to let go of the things I want to do and pay more attention to Madison while she is awake. Madison gave up her naps around the time Clark was born and it was making me an irritable and not a nice person seeing her awake during the hours I thought she should be napping. I was feeling cheated because nap time was my free time to do what I wanted. I think I have become a more patient and kinder person this Christmas season. There is still plenty of room for change.
Clark
Clark seems to pretty much be an almost perfect child these days. He has been moved out of the cradle because he started moving around and his face was pressed up against the wooden spokes every morning. Now he is in his crib in Madison's rooms. Recently he has been sleeping through the night (going to bed around 11 or midnight though), or only getting up once to eat. Tonight he went to bed around 8, so we shall see what happens. I'm sure he will get up to eat at some point. I wouldn't be surprised if he will be awake for a bit also after eating. We have been letting him sleep and eat on his own schedule for the most part, but that is going to change soon. I'm hoping we can get him down for bed at night earlier on a more consistent basis. My favorite moments of him are right when he wakes up in the morning--he is such a happy baby. He smiles a lot more theses days (although he is still a pretty serious baby) and he is super chatty at times. The main thing that prevents perfection out of this child is his skin. It has only been since moving here that Madison's eczema cleared up. No break for the parents--now we are trying to control it on Clark. It's pretty bad too. There are patches of skin that feel like sand paper and the ointment seems to disappear a minute after applying it. He even has it over one eyelid. I'm afraid of getting ointment in his eye because he doesn't really close them for me. His eyelid is super red and patchy looking. Poor kid. Good thing our doctor in Utah gave us a huge jar of some prescription ointment for Madison, which we are just using on Clark now. Clark is the type of baby that is such a joy to be around that I'm afraid my third is going to be much more difficult. It seems that people have a really good baby, and then the screaming/strong willed/drive you crazy baby comes next in line. I guess time will only tell.
Tyler
Tyler finished up his first semester here at Hopkins and did very well. I'm sure thing are going to be more time demanding and difficult with each passing semester. Tyler wanted to work during the break and my dad was able to come up with some social media stuff for him to work on. At the same time he gave Tyler some book to read recently while here for Clark's baby blessing. It's on how to buy, market, and sell things on Amazon. My dad thinks this could potentially help us out financially while in school, plus he thinks Tyler might really enjoy doing it (although he did admit he in part didn't want to give it to Tyler because he doesn't the book to take away time from the other work he has prepared). My dad said that he himself would like to try it out, but that he doesn't have the time to invest. Tyler has been reading this book, which he has enjoyed so much that he even mentioned getting up early to work on it. Getting up early isn't Tyler's strength, so I'm curious to see what happens (I will say that he has gotten up early in the past when he is very motivated to do something).
