Wanting to be big...

Leo gargles after brushing his teeth. every. night.

I guess it's one of those things he's learned because he has older brothers...

Let Him Eat {more} Cake!

I made Leo a lion cake for his first birthday. I used a 4-inch bowl to bake the cake for the head and then surrounded it with cupcakes dipped in OREO crumbs for the mane. Pretty cute and clever if you ask me.

We have given all of our kids their own cake to eat play with destroy when they turn one. It is their first taste of cake and frosting. We ate the cupcakes and he got the 4" round.

Hyrum kept pretending to eat Leo's piece of cake - he never did take a bite, though. He started before he had even taken a bite of his own cupcake.

After 20 minutes of filming him, Leo finally dropped the whole thing on the floor. He was sufficiently done.

On the Monday after his birthday, he got to go to the doctor for his well-child exam and his vital statistics are:

Weight - 19 lbs 14 oz (10th percentile)
Length - 31 inches (90th percentile)
Head Circumference - 19 inches (90th percentile)

These stats fit in perfectly with the rest of the family: tall, slender, big head.

We filmed the destruction of the cake, then put it through some software to speed parts of it up 10x. The end result is 6 minutes of watching Leo. If I can ever figure out how to get it attached, I'll put it here.

U-N-O

Has a year really passed?

Today we were at the YMCA for swimming, Julia Davis park for lunch, Zoo Boise to enjoy the spring weather and see some animals.

Happy Birthday Leo!

Six months

Height: 27.5 inches (90th percentile)
Weight: 17 pounds (50th percentile)
Head circumference 18 inches (90th percentile)
Teeth: 4 (are you kidding me?)

Accomplishments: rolls from front to back and back to front; while on his belly, he will scoot a bit to get to toys; he can move toys from one hand to the other; he laughs when tickled or when Hyrum does silly things; he is curious about lights (flashlights, lamps, overhead lighting, etc.)

To celebrate his half birthday, Sabrina and I made him a "Summer Cake" -- he didn't get to sample any, but I'll just say it was delicious. Bake a yellow cake according to package directions, poke holes throughout the cake with the handle of a wooden spoon. Mix one cup hot water in a small package of jello until completely dissolved. Pour the liquid over the cake and refrigerate for a couple hours. Frost if desired.

why children's clothing shouldn't have pockets

This week I have washed (and dried):

10 green army guys
1 penny
1 smarties wrapper
1 dinosaur
1 twig (it was shaped like a gun)


And for the record, Leo's second tooth has cut through his gums. Perhaps he will start being a little happier again. (And his cold will go away.)

5 months

Leo is now 5 months old. He sleeps fairly regularly throughout the night. He has one tooth and a second one coming soon. He weighs about 16 lbs. He is an agreeable baby - puts up with a lot of rough love from his older siblings. His eyes are blue. His hair is flesh colored. He likes to smile. He will laugh if you tickle his belly and laugh at the same time. He holds toys in his hands. He is wearing the onesie that my visiting teacher made for him (although his second middle name is misspelled, it should say Ryker).

OUCH!

Leo has been slobbering quite a lot. I thought it was much to early for him to get teeth. I was wrong. His first tooth cut through on Thursday (8-26). 4 months, 26 days old. I am currently rethinking my stance on nursing him until he's 18 months old.

It's a good thing he is cute.

4 Months, and Growing

Leo is now 4 months old. He smiles on demand. Puts his hands in his mouth. Babbles and coos.

This morning was his check-up at the doctor's. He got two shots. He cried for the pain of the needle prick, but as soon as I picked him up, he was just fine. (Unlike all of my other children.)

Weight: 14 lbs 8.6 oz
Height: 26.5"
Head Circumference: 16"

Leo's Blessing

We had family in town last weekend for Leo's baby blessing. We got to see both sets of grandparents, my sister Shanda, my brother Carson, Ryan's sister Genette and 4 of her children, Melissa, Brad, Cameron, Matt, and Ryan's sister Meggan. Leo didn't fuss at all during the blessing and slept through the rest of sacrament meeting in Aunt Shanda's arms. Our kids were the quietest I've seen them in quite a while. Roderic fell asleep on Grandma Gibby's lap, Sabrina sat between Cameron and Matt, and Hyrum sat on Cameron's lap (he really liked it when Cameron helped him lead the closing hymn).

Before church, after he got in his blessing outfit, he did cry, though. He was really hungry. His blessing outfit (that I made in February) fit him much better at 9 weeks than it did at 1 week.

My mom wrote down the blessing for us. We had some disagreements on the order of what was said. It is cool to have it written down for us.

Weighing Leo, results

10 lbs 15.5 oz

This boy is growing just fine. Congratulations to the 2 people who guessed correctly on my poll.

Weighing Leo

When Leo was born (Wednesday night), he weighed 7 lbs 13.7 oz. When we left the hospital 32 hours later (Friday morning), he weighed 7 lbs 6.5 oz. The Dr wanted us to take him in on Monday, just to check on him, he weighed 7 lbs 8 oz and the Dr was surprised and happy that he was already gaining weight! At his 2 week appointment, Leo weighed 7 lbs 12.5 oz and the Dr was concerned that he wasn't gaining enough weight, so he wanted to see him again in 4 weeks, instead of 6 weeks later. I tried to explain to him that my babies have all had their own unique growth curves. They are tall and skinny (wonder where that comes from?!?!?! :P). He still wanted to see him after a month.

Monday morning, the month is up. I get to take Leo to the Dr. I'm excited to see how much he has grown. The newborn sleepers don't fit him anymore, he no longer needs the smallest headroll for the carseat, so obviously he is growing. He eats really well, but he does spit up quite a bit.

Go ahead and weigh in on my poll about Leo's weight. You've got until noon (MDT) on Tuesday.

Amazing baby

I don't think it is possible for a 3.5 week old baby to ROLL from their tummy to their back. However, last night I watched Leo do just that. What does the future hold for this amazing baby?

Sewing for Easter

Back when I was pregnant, I did a lot of sewing. Have I mentioned that I haven't touched my sewing machine (or even fabric for that matter) since Leo was born? Last fall when cotton was on a good sale, I bought fabric to make a dress for Sabrina to replace this one:


I made the wrong size. It was too short and I couldn't add the sleeves because the armhole opening wasn't big enough for her.

Then it was Christmas pajama sewing and baby quilt sewing and a myriad of other projects, so the fabric sat, waiting for inspiration. Then I found the Sunday Best Bow Tie pattern and knew I HAD to make some for my boys. Easter was on it's way, Sabrina needed a dress and the boys could have matching ties...perfect. I finished these projects with time to spare and made a bonnet for the baby to match. Still I had time to spare so I made a onesie dress and then I decided that I should make a bow tie onesie as well.

Then Leo was born and I was really glad that he would have a matching bow tie with his brothers (and Dad).

Isn't he precious? One week old.

We took all the kids to my friend Tara's for Leo's first photo shoot - we even pulled Sabrina out of the last hour of school - and got some super cute pictures of Leo and of all the kids together.

And now that I have tied the bow ties successfully 5 times, it is really quite an easy thing to do. And, the boys left them alone during church, so they came home looking as good as when they went!

The difference a week can make...

Last Wednesday, I was tipping the scale at 166 lbs. and looked like this:


Today, I am happy to report that the scale reads 139 lbs. and I spend my day looking like this:

(photo by Hyrum)

Sunday afternoon, there was a gentle knock on our door (during General Conference) and Ryan answered it. It was our next door neighbor. She had found out only the week before that I was pregnant -- it's easy to hide your pregnancy from your neighbors during the winter when you don't spend much time outside and when you do, you're bundled up in bulky coats and sweaters. She didn't know that I'd already had the baby, but she wanted to give us a present for the baby. Ryan told her that we'd had our baby boy on Wednesday night and named him Leo. She replied, "Oh! That's perfect!" and proceeded to take out of the gift bag a stuffed baby lion. Is that so cute? Roderic and Hyrum like to make sure that Leo gets lots of time playing with his lion.

And I'd like to send a SHOUT OUT to my husband. During his time off this week, he took it upon himself to potty train Hyrum! Only a little bribery - every time he uses the toilet, he is able to play on the Wii. (Usually the Wii is only played on Fridays and Saturdays after jobs are done.)

Baby Leo

We had 7 correctly answered entries, so we put those names in Hyrum's firefighter helmet and drew one out. And the winner of our contest is: Lindsay! Congratulations! Watch your mailbox for the fabulous prize.

For those of you who can't get enough pictures of this baby (my goal is to take at least one picture a day), here's a smattering:

Introducing

Leo Hans Ryker Gibby

Leo: Short form of Leonard, English version of Dutch name Leendert; means Lion
Hans: Danish form of John; means God is gracious
Ryker: Danish and Dutch version of Richard; means strong power in Danish and to become rich in Dutch

Vital Statistics:
weight at birth - 7 lbs 13 oz
height - 20 inches
head circumference - 13 inches
chest circumference - 13 inches
birth date - 3.31.10 at 2306

Now comes the fun for you! Which of these Gibby babies are Leo?

Leave a comment correctly identifying Leo and your name will be put in a drawing for a fabulous prize! This contest ends on Monday, April 5 at 1800 MDT.