You Asked For It....

Well, some of you have requested to hear more Siena stories, so here you go!

The Failure of Gunny Bag

I decided to whip out good old Gunny Bag one day to see if it would entice Siena to pick up her toys faster. Siena had never heard of nor seen Gunny Bag, and I was curious to see how she would react to him. I said, "Whoaaaa, here comes Gunny Bag! If you don't pick up your toys, he's going to eat them!"

Well, it seemed to work at first. She got super scared and started frantically throwing toys in her bin as I moved the lethal Gunny Bag around her room. I'd yell, "Quick, he's starting to eat this one!"

Perhaps this was a bad move. Suddenly she got curious as to what exactly happened if Gunny Bag "ate" a toy. She stopped and asked, "What's going to happen?"

I tried to keep the hysteria in my voice as I replied, "He's going to eat your book! Look! He's starting to eat it! Quick! Pick it up!"

But she just watched in wonder as I started to move Gunny Bag around the poor "Curious George" book. I moved it around slowly, trying to give her every opportunity to rescue the book, but alack. Siena was more interested in seeing the book digested than saving it. So I announced, feeling somewhat defeated at Gunny Bag's lack of ability to motivate Siena, "Okay. Curious George is gone."

She asked again, "What's going to happen to him?"

I said, "Well, you'll have to do a job to get the book back."

Obviously Curious George wasn't one of her favorites b/c she didn't seem too motivated to get it back. Every so often she'd ask, "Is Curious George still in Gunny Bag? Is he lonely without us?"

And in fact, Gunny Bag seems to be an appealing thing to her. She'll now say, "Mommy, you are Green Gunny Bag. I am yellow Gunny Bag."

Well, we are now on the search for a good, motivating way to get her to clean up her toys. Any suggestions??

Gum Choices

*We were driving home one night and Siena said from the backseat, "Mommy, I have four choices of gum for you. I have fudge cream, chocolate, orange creamsicle, or sherbet. Which one would you like?"

I said, "Hmm, how about fudge cream?"

She replied, "No, that's what Daddy's having."

"Oh. How about sherbet?"

"No, that's what Turin's having."

"Oh. How about..."

Needless to say, even though she offered, I discovered that all of her "options" had already been given to other people.

This Starts With....

**One morning at breakfast she said, "Duh, duh, duh....Daddy starts with the letter 'D'!" I got really excited and said, "That's right!! Wow Siena, I'm so proud of you!"

Then she started making an "S" sound and said, "Mommy starts with the letter 'R'!" :)

Which Meds?

**I was nursing Turin one day and she brought in her doll, Albertsons. She asked, "What should we give Albertsons? Tylenol or Ibuprofen?"

I replied, "What do YOU think we should give her?"

She paused and said, "Hmm...oh I know! We can give her Benadryl."

Wow, does this lady know her drugs or what? Is her Daddy a pharmacist or something? :)

Death of the Witch

**One night Siena said to me, "You are Belle and I am Snow White."

I said, "Okay. If a really awful-looking old lady approaches you with an apple, say, 'No! I don't want that!' B/c it's poisonous."

A few minutes went by and then she came back in the room and said, "I don't think the old lady is coming anymore."

"Oh really? Why not?" I asked.

"Because I blowed her up," she replied in a frank voice.

I started laughing really hard but inwardly was somewhat alarmed--I thought, "Where did she come up with the 'blowed up' thing? Did she see something? Did I quote the "What About Bob" line about getting blown up?"

When Jared got home I related the incident and he said, "Oh, I know where she got that. From Sid."

OH. Evil Sid from Toy Story! Buzz Lightyear's fate was nearly sealed when Sid strapped him to a rocket. You've gotta be careful about what Pixar/Disney movies your kids watch....

The Not-So-Quiet Sacrament Meeting

Jared has had to work weekends lately, which means I've been a lone woman in church. I know lots of moms with more than two kids are in the same boat, but it still rather stresses me out. Siena herself requires one parent's full attention to keep her occupied, and I was curious how it was going to go that first week.

During the sacrament we always whisper to Siena, "What does the bread represent? What does the water represent?"

Well, the entire sacrament meeting had been difficult thus far. I felt like Elder Ballard when he gave his talk about trying to keep his 6 kids entertained while his wife was singing with the choir--how the hand puppets weren't working as well as they should have, the coloring books weren't entertaining, etc. etc.

I was trying so hard to keep Siena quiet and still, and as soon as the deacons started passing the sacrament I whispered to her, "What does the bread represent?"

She'd had it by that point. She screamed in a 120 decibel voice, "I ALREADY KNOW!!! The BREAD represents Jesus's BODY and the water represents HIS BLOOOOOOOOOD!!"

All around us people were trying to stifle their laughter, and I was desperately looking around for the hole in the floor to crawl into....

Mistow T

**One day I was feeding Siena lunch and Turin was playing in the family room. He started to fuss a little, and Siena shouted, "Turin! Quiet!"

I said, "Ohh Siena, don't yell at him. He's just lonely without us. He wants some company."

So now whenever Turin makes a peep she'll ask, "Is Mr. T lonely without us?" Except she can't say her "r's" or her "th's", so it sounds like, "Is Mistow T lonely wifout us?" So precious.

The Philosopher

One day Siena asked, "Mommy, who broke the silence?"

I was a little taken aback by this question--I thought, "Where did she get that from? Was it a movie line? Is she referring to some historical event?"

Needless to say, I replied, "Gosh, I don't know."

She said, "Oh I know who it was. It was Contribution."

I started to laugh and said, "Contribution? Who is that?"

"You know!" she said playfully, "The snake."

Ohh. Apparently Ka from Jungle Book just had his name lengthened!

Some October Fun...

Well, we got out the Halloween junk, and Siena immediately found these pirate masks. The whole family got into the "pirate ship" and sailed the seven seas. Unfortunately, the photographer was able to capture only this extremely fierce group as he ran for his life. Which explains the poor quality of the picture. By the way, Siena wants me to let you all know that she wasn't a pirate, she was a parrot (you may notice the body of a parrot on her hat).

I (Jared) was able to help out at Siena's preschool. Michelle and a few friends take turns teaching about letters and other stuff. I did the letter D so we talked about dinosaurs, made play dough dinosaurs, ran away from a T rex by saying the alphabet, and made these cool dino costumes. Siena was triceratops, and her friend Sammy was another triceratops. It's so funny. Siena knows several dinosaurs and can even name them. She knows the chasmosaurus ( triceratops' cousin), tyrannosaurus Rex, pteranodon, stegosaurus, and deinonychus to name a few. She is a hoot. Lately she has been triceratops and I am T Rex. She always wins in the battles.

Turin loved the leaves, I might say that fall was his favorite season so far.

Pete, Kelli, Max, and Jillian invited or rather challenged our family to a drag race. Our cars consisted of paper towel rolls, soda bottle tops, and toothpicks. The competition was stiff. Some cars were built for speed, others for sabotage. In the end, Max was the winner (or should have been, his car was the fastest, but he kept letting his car go early). We had a blast and learned a trick or two that we'll be using in the next derby.

Siena and Turin just hanging out. Thought the picture was cute so we included it in the post.

Siena and Michelle. These two ladies are always having a good time together. It's fun to see how the kids love their mommy.

A Random Update

Well, it's been approximately 1.5 mos since my last post--even worse than my usual once a month post--so here goes a random, long post of the ALWAYS highly exciting things we've been doing. :) I started Mr. T on solids at 5.5 mos and he did great! I've been making my own baby food, mostly to save mulah but it also makes me feel like quite the Domestic Goddess. I've been feeding Turin stuff out of our garden--butternut squash, crookneck squash, and apples from my parents' tree. I steam them (gotta retain maximum nutrients, oh baby!) and then mash them up. It's actually quite satisfying, and every time I come home from the grocery store I say to Jared, (with the utmost humility) "Dude, just tell me I'm the bomb! Did you know those medium size jars of baby food are $1.09 EACH?? Aghh!"

Above, this was the first time I gave Turin applesauce. As you can tell, it was WAY too sweet for his delicate little taste buds! His entire body would shake as it tried to process this new flavor! What was so cute though was that he tried to be such a good sport about it--he never turned away as I kept giving him spoonful after spoonful.

There's a happier man! Look at those thunder thighs! At his 6 mo checkup, I was informed that he was now only in the 90th percentile for his weight. Slimming down slightly from the 92nd! Alack, he is only 50th for his height. The poor guy doesn't stand a chance of being tall. Jared is the "giant" in his family at a whopping 5'10, and I am the runt in my family at 5'3. Maybe some recessive genes somewhere may pop up.... However, his head circumference does match his weight (90th percentile). That beautiful Nordic head. Long like the Egyptian heads you see in cave paintings.

Jared's dad conned him into running a marathon in mid-Sept. After each long run he'd do during training, Jare would come home and say, "Remind me that I never want to do this again. Running more than 10 miles is just not fun. My body just hurts." However, he wasn't very pleased with his time in the actual event (which I am forbidden to reveal) so now he's saying he has to do another one b/c of his pride. I personally was impressed he even finished the race, considering the longest i've ever run continuously was a 5K back in college, and my little heart swelled with pride as I saw him cross the finish line. I seriously think anyone who can run 26.2 miles is AMAZING.

When Siena watches TV, it's a group event. She has to bring several toys along with her to enjoy the show. Next to her is "Thomas" the train (her version).

Just to let you know, though, she's rarely actually "Siena." Each morning she comes up with someone different to be. "You are Mater, I am Lightning McQueen" is a common one. And if I slip up and stop talking in a southern drawl, she'll call me on it. She comes up with parts for the whole family--I am usually Mater, Turin is Sarge or Ramone, and Jared is Sally (he'll always lament, "Why am I always the girl?") and if we forget and say, "Hey Siena--" she'll cut us off and say, "I'm not Siena! I'm Lightning McQueen" (or whoever she chooses to be that day).

Yesterday I was cracking up b/c she asked, "What is the monster's name in Hercules?" I told her that it was called the hydra, and she replied, "Oh yeah, the hydra." A few moments went by and then she asked, "Should Turin be the hydrogen?" (I should note: hydrogen is a word that Jared and I frequently use in conversation. Okay, not really. Sometimes I have to ask myself, Where does she come up with this stuff?)

This morning she said, "Mommy, who is Jared?" I said, "Silly, you know who Jared is! Jared is my husband and he's your daddy."

She responded, "No. He's MY husband! Turin is your husband." Well, whatever works I guess. :)

At the end of Aug we drove out to CA for a week and visited Jared's family and my brother Danny and his wife. Danny took this great family pic of us (yes, Siena is in her b-day suit--she'd just gotten out of the hot tub but I thought her face was so funny). As a lady in my ward aptly put it, "There's a lot of personality packed into that little body." Indeed!

Turin's eyes have gone green.

Siena with Scott

We also got together with Jared's BFF's and their wives, the Starkweathers and the Hawks. It was so much fun to see them and even more amusing to see our kids playing together! Here, Siena, McKenna, and Ambyr Hawks do their "funny faces."

Jacob and Jared with the kiddies. Siena took a particular liking to Jacob's son, Jared, and would follow him around saying, "Hey Jared, come with me, " "Hey Jared, let's go over here." "Hey Jared..."

Mike, Jared's other BFF, couldn't be there, so Jared and Jacob lovingly held up small pics of him in tribute. (though you can't see them, he was about 3 or so in the pic)

Me, Nichole Starkweather, and Kathryn Hawks. I think these girls are so great and I love being able to chat with them and hang out when we get the rare opportunity!

us with Heidi and Danny. They are such an awesome couple and I wish we could see them more...

The kids with Grandma and Grandpa Olson. I have to laugh at Siena's face b/c in some ways she reminds me so much of me as a kid--I could never just smile normally in pics, I always had to be doing some "dramatic pose" or something.

At the beach in CA. Turin was asleep in the car.

Mmm, Ghirardelli Square. We had their fudge sundae and I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. This place has special significance to us b/c it was here, back in 2003, that Jared and I first talked about marriage and decided (sigh of contentment) that we wanted to be together forever. :) And I should note. The fudge is MUCH better than the caramel. When we first came, I ordered a caramel sundae and Jared gave me a hard time about it. He said, "You're coming to a chocolate factory and you're ordering caramel?" To which I replied, "I like caramel better than chocolate." But oh, how times have changed. I have since realized the beauty of truly fine chocolate.... (although Ghirardelli is nothing compared to Lindt. European chocolates are far superior to American).

Siena in classic form. Whenever she sees someone her age she gets so excited and wants to introduce herself. She'll say, "Hi, I'm Siena! What's your name? Nice to meet you!" It is SOOO cute and she can make friends so easily. In fact, when we were in In N Out Burger waiting for our meal, she saw a girl her age and exclaimed excitedly, "Oh good, a friend!" She ran over to the girl and soon they were instant buddies, showing off their gymnastic skills on the rails. So tender.

Jared's parents put in a super nice pool and we loved playing in it! Siena adores Grandpa Olson and he always plays so cute with her. He could get her giggling so hard! Here they are playing "telephone"

I went to my 10 yr reunion this past summer and it was great! They did a day time park activity, where you could go and meet people's kids, and then that night they did a dinner at Weber State. It was so fun being able to connect with old friends and see what everyone was up to. I just wish more people would have gone!

Some of the girlies

Jare and I before we left for the dinner. It really was weird to think it had been 10 yrs since high school...it felt like the time had flown by so fast and yet at the same time high school almost seemed like a lifetime ago! And was I really 28? That sounded so old! Weird.

The smiles are never ending! For real! It's such a delight to go get him, even first thing in the morning, b/c as soon as he sees my face he just lights up and acts so excited. He flails his arms all over like he can hardly contain his enthusiasm. I really don't know if there could be a happier baby!

Looking so intently at Daddy. Jared is so cute with him. And yes, he's speaking only French to Turin as well! It will be interesting to see how well it goes over with a boy as compared to a girl.

My two favorite boys in the whole world! I feel like such a lucky girl.

The Latest and Greatest Siena Funnies

Once again, my intro to this post is down further (blog incompetent) so keep reading!

Yes, sad but true. Siena decapitated Greta. I'm hoping this was unintentional. However, ever since then she has been quite fascinated by the story of David and Goliath--esp the part where David cuts off Goliath's head. In fact, when Jared read her the children's version of the story in French, he explained how Goliath was "decapite" and Siena paused for a moment, then exclaimed excitedly, "Oh! Like Greta!" Yes, like poor Greta. Luckily she has been replaced by a new doll, which Siena affectionately named "Albertsons."

Other funnies:

*One day I was singing to Turin as I was nursing him. Siena came in and said, "Mom, you sing like a dog." Thanks...?

*Another time she said in a kind voice, "Mom, you're creepy." (I should note that I use that word all the time but apparently Siena has not grasped the correct meaning, b/c on the way home from church she commented, "What a beautiful, creepy day."

*I showed her a picture of Joseph Smith and asked, "Siena, who is this?" Her reply: "Josh Groban." Close, but not quite. :)

*One day I could tell she was quite upset, and I asked, "What can Mommy do to help you feel better?" She replied, "Mmmm...chocolate. Or gum. Or a Popsicle. Or...." and continued on with a lengthy list of sugary items. I guess she'll be one of those women that chocolate does wonders for.

*One night I went into her room because she was scared. I talked to her about the Holy Ghost and how he can comfort her. She was quite fascinated with the concept of a "phantome" (ghost in French) that was "holy." The next day while we were in the car she asked, "Mom, where's the Holy Ghost?" I thought for a minute and then said, "Well, he lives in our hearts." She replied, "No. I think he's at the park." This was followed by, "Actually, I'M the Holy Ghost!"

*Siena LOVES to sing. One day she asked if we could sing, "Mary had a little man." (this is the latest version of the classic nursery rhyme, apparently!)

*She loves playing with any two objects, always starting off by saying, "Hi!" So one day, she grabbed my pewter statue of Captain Moroni holding the Title of Liberty and said, "Hi! I'm Moroni. My dad died on the cross like Jesus Christ." I tried to stifle my laughter b/c she was getting a few stories mixed up. We'd just read about how Mormon, Moroni's dad, was killed by the Lamanites (once again Siena was fascinated by the picture of Mormon with an arrow protruding from his chest--is it morbid that my daughter is fascinated by death??)

*One day I asked Siena, "Where is Turin's bumbo?" She replied, "I took it to the depotoir." (The dump). How lovely.

*At dinner she squished a piece of bread into a neat little cube and declared, "These are the brass plates."

*One day she opened the scriptures and said, "And it came to pass...." I thought that was so cute!

Siena's "scary" face. She makes this face probably 90% of the time I'm trying to take her picture.

I need to write down all the funny things that Siena has been doing and saying before I forget about them! She is a such a high-spirited, energetic, VERY strong-willed little lady. And highly opinionated. You know, she's so much like her dad (ha ha....) Anyway, here's our little fam in San Fran. We just spent a week with Jared's fam which was super fun but there are WAY too many pictures to attempt to blog about, so I'm going to send out a photo album. If any of you would like to see all the HIGHLY exciting photos from our trip :) and you're not on my e-mail list, write your e-mail on the blog and I'll add you. We really did have a great time in San Fran; Siena just got super upset when we pulled her away from her latest and greatest "friend" (anyone who is remotely her age is automatically a friend--it's so cute, she'll go up to them and say, "Hi, I'm Siena! Nice to meet you. What's your name?") and she wasn't very happy about it.

Not that I meant to put two crying pics of Siena in a row, but I thought this pic was so funny (albeit blurry) b/c Siena had dressed up like Snow White (complete with Grammy's necklaces and all) and had picked a "poison apple" from the tree. The princess is in distress, as you can tell. She has such a great imagination and an AMAZING memory. I can't believe the stuff she'll bring up from months ago. So watch out if you promise her something and don't follow thru! She ALWAYS remembers and will hold you to it!

A happier princess with cousin Jade and Kate Mower. When my brother David tried to get in the pic with the princesses, Siena said, "I don't think so Uncle David." Okay then!

Siena rarely naps anymore, but she does have quiet time every day. Well, one day I went to get her out and couldn't find her anywhere until I checked under the bed. She'd actually crawled underneath and fallen asleep! I was thrilled :)

We only occasionally drink ranch dressing at our house. Ranch goes well on anything! Right?

"That's right, I AM the star of this show!" Yes, she does love to be the center of attention.

And how can you take a kid like this seriously? How is this for a fashion statement: princess attire complete with Carebear head!

Siena has taken to acting like a baby ... again. She babbles like cousin Brigham ("guh, guh." She calls this language "Brigmic"), and insists on taking baths in Turin's little tub. Although it is kind of funny that the little tub needs to be in the big bathtab. Oh well, saves water, right?!

She is an awesome big sister to Turin and is fiercely defensive of him. In fact, when anyone tries to touch or hold him, she runs over and shrieks, "NO! That's MY brother. Don't TOUCH him!" Hopefully she will not show the same overprotectiveness when girls come to get him for school dances and such . . . :)

Well, we sure love our little lady. She definitely keeps us on our toes and provides non-stop entertainment.

Oh, the smiles!

As I'm sure most of you can tell, I still have not been able to figure out blogging. My little explanation of all these photos is down at the very bottom. I'll just say this, Turin has me completely wrapped around his little finger--I'm so crazy about my little man! Here's how he spends quality time with Daddy. And yes, for the explanation about the rest just keep going. I find blogging very tedious. If any of you have hints on how to do what I'm sure is a very basic thing, please clue me in. And by the way...who do you guys think Turin looks like??

So Turin is the SMILIEST little baby--I absolutely love it! As soon as he sees my face he breaks into a huge grin and makes the most adorable little squealing sounds. He's even laughing already, esp when I tickle him under the armpits! It's fun to have such a happy baby. Siena was a great baby, just super serious. Like, it was WORK to get her to crack a grin. People would use terms such as "intense," "deep thinker," "studious" to describe her (which is hilarious to think about now considering what an absolute spazz she's become). But oh, sweet Turin and his little smiles that completely melt my heart. Here are some samples:

Disneyland, baby!!

My awesome parents took our entire family to Disneyland and we had an absolute blast! The funnest part was seeing how excited Siena was. (Although it was a toss-up who was more excited--Jare said he could hardly sleep the night before we went to the park! :) I, on the other hand, after doing night feedings with Turin, heard the alarm go off and said, "Ugh, you have got to be kidding me--is it really time to get up??" (Yes, I was much more exciting and energetic back in the day when I got an adequate amount of sleep.) :)

Turin was an absolute angel baby and pretty much slept contentedly the entire time. I was really nervous about how he'd do on a 10+ hr drive, but he was a champ! He only started fussing the last 30 min of the drive, and other than that didn't make a peep. So these pics are in no particular order--I really hate how the pics you pick 1st end up at the bottom of your post and I blog so infrequently that I always seem to forget that fact. So anyway, here is a random assortment of pics. This top one is us at the Finding Nemo ride. You got in a submarine and went under the water for some deep sea thrills! It was super cute although Siena got a little scared.

And on a sidenote, Mr. T just had his 2 month checkup and he weighs 14 lbs! 92nd percentile thanks to my 30% breastmilk. He's already wearing 9 month clothes!!

As soon as we entered the park and Siena heard the music playing, she started dancing. She and her cousin Jade were so giddy they could hardly contain themselves! It was so darling.

We met Aladdin and Jasmine on the first day and Siena was grinning from ear to ear. I really didn't know how she'd do around the characters; in theory she gets really excited about the princesses, etc, but in the past when we've met them (eg at the Treehouse Museum) she suddenly gets really bashful and doesn't want to approach them. So I was shocked to see her willingly give Aladdin a huge hug!

Jasmine and Aladdin were both so attentive and cute with Siena, and they really took their time which I thought was cool--esp since the line to see them was so long!

Is this an ecstatic girl or what? :) I wonder when the day will come when she'll smile normally...

Mr. T has started giving us smiles and I absolutely LOVE it! Our camera has a delay so I didn't catch the smile in full, but you can see the end part here. Talk about melting your heart. Now that I'm starting to figure him out, what makes him tick, he is such a mellow little dude. He's got me 100% wrapped around his chubby finger.

My parents took us to eat at the Blue Bayou, and it happened to be on mine and Jared's 5 yr anniversary! What an awesome way to spend it! They brought us out some super cool desserts to celebrate, including one of our all-time favorites, creme brulee. (I'll post more about the 5 yr later, probably in Aug or Sept when I get around to it--I can only seem to manage about one blog post a month. :) I sure love my Jare! What an absolute dream.

Siena liked the Blue Bayou very much, as you can tell. Here with my parents and older brother Danny.

Turin makes this funny face where his eyes seem to become the size of quarters. And they're still blue, yay!!! I'm holding out...

Jare and Siena on the teacups.

When Jare was taking off Turin's onesie, he said, "Look, he looks like a pharoah. Take a picture."

Siena and Grampy all decked out and ready to go on the Woody Toy Story ride. This was seriously one of the funnest rides we went on, and Siena ate it up!

"Cheese! I love you Grampy."

The highlight of the trip was going to a Princess Luncheon at "Ariel's Grotto." Not only did the kids get to meet several of the princesses, but the meal was absolutely to DIE for. Seriously one of the best meals I have ever had in my life. I tell you, Disney knows how to do it right.

The princesses were all so sweet and really made it fun for the kids.

With Aurora!

Scott, Siena, and Jade with Belle.

And Cinderella!

the McMillan grandkids with Ariel: left to right, Jade and Brigham Stevens (Lisa's kids) Siena, Tyler and Scott McMillan (Danny's kids)

We even got Turin in there, although this is really not a cute shot of him...still, Ariel was such a good sport about holding them all while we took millions of pics!

At California Adventures. Boy do I love that handsome guy. The best part of CA adven was the roller coaster, CA screamin'. We sat right in the front and boy did it make my stomach do flips! I loved every second of it and screamed my guts out.

This was Siena's favorite part: the Buzz Lightyear ride. She took quite naturally to shooting all the bad guys, as you can tell...and after we got out she announced proudly to Jare, "I killed Zurg."

here was the other highlight for Siena: Lightning McQueen and Mater. She's been on a Cars kick for months and every day gets up and says, "I'm Lightning McQueen. You are Mater." Or Sarge, or Sally, or whoever. It's funny that if Mommy asks her to do something, she often says no. But as soon as "Sarge" asks her (and I do the voice and everything) she suddenly becomes ultra-compliant. Whatever works, I guess!

And here's the pic I wanted at the very top of the post. What a fabulous time! I felt like even with 3 days, we barely touched the park. WE'll definitely have to go again soon. Thank you Mom and Dad for such an incredible trip! Love you!

Siena Loves Turin

Well, lucky for us Siena has been nothing but sweet to her baby brother. She absolutely adores him! It's the cutest thing. If he's laying on my bed in the morning when she gets up, she'll say, "I want to sleep by baby Turin." And she's so content to gaze at him adoringly. She'll copy the phrases she hears us say to him, and it cracks me up to hear her gush, "Hi my little man! Ohh, you're so handsome." :)

We put Turin in bed with Siena this morning and she was thrilled! She calls him her "bebe frere," (baby brother) or "mon gar" (my boy). Granted, when we're in the car and Turin is wailing (he hates her car seat just like Siena did as an infant) she will yell, "Turin! Ne pleure pas! ARRETE!!" (Don't cry! Stop it!) and sometimes she does try to poke him in the eye, but other than that she's been nothing but a peach. As you can tell in the above picture, Turin's eyes are still blue right now, and I'm REALLY hoping they stay that way. I absolutely love Siena's dark eyes, but I also think it would be great to have a blue-eyed kid somewhere in the mix. Cross your fingers his will stay blue!

The feeling is mutual! Turin is crazy about his big sis as well!

"Look Mom, he's holding my hand!" I love this pic b/c I think it captures the adoration she has for her baby bro.

Mom and Dad are sure crazy about him too! It's been awesome having two kids. Turin is sleeping great at night (he went 7.5 hrs one night!) and is such a snuggle bug. I've sure loved having a boy!



Oh, and I just have to make a quick note about something funny that Siena said. I did plan on using this for my journal but I haven't been the best at that! And I really need to write these things down or I know I'll forget them. So here's a couple. Today she came out so excited and said, "Mommy! I went poo poo in the big potty!" I said, "No way!" to which she replied, "I know, crazy huh?" :)

Another evidence of how much she picks up on what we say: "I'm sorry Dad, but...I just can't take the test for you. I have to go do taxes." ???

on the way home from church to Turin: "Ne pleure pas dude." (Don't cry dude).

More to come!