First Day of School

It's back to school for everyone!  After a super fun and busy summer, we are back to a routine...  Let's start with Trevor:

Trevor started his second year of preschool with Teacher Cathy.  We love her!  It is a little strange that this will be our last year with a child in her class...  As expected, I drove up to the house, and Trevor did NOT want me to get out.  He is big and can hop out of the car and ring the doorbell without me!  So I had to let him have his independent moment, then get out to take pictures.   

Charlotte is a big 2nd grader!  Her teacher is Mrs. Nethercut (that's who we were hoping for) and she has some of her best friends in her class.  And as you can see, she FINALLY lost her top front tooth the week before school!  

And Mr. Scott...  He's in 4th grade!  He has Mr. Haskins, which will be his first male teacher.  So far we are both very impressed.  Scott's best friends are also in his class, so he is thrilled.

Now 3 days into the week and all the kids are happy and excited to be back!  I love our school :)

My Trevor

Yes, it has been a while...  But time to start again!  So I'm going for quick, short posts so I won't feel required to either document everything, or nothing at all.

I don't think I have written a full post about Trevor...  But I have PLENTY of stories about that funny little kid.  I recently showed this picture of my kids to a friend who knew nothing of my kids' personalities:

He first guessed Scott was our athlete (maybe he meant mathlete), and Charlotte was the princess.  Then about Trevor, he said, "I think I want to party with that kid!"  Very accurate...  He is definitely going to be the life of the party everywhere he goes.  So my little Trevor went off to his first day of preschool at Teacher Cathy's house.  He has been waiting anxiously for this moment for a long time.  Can you tell?

He was a bit annoyed that I made him stop and take pictures, then he ran right in the house and didn't even look back to say goodbye!  But then the best part was that Scott and Charlotte were up at Grandma's house, so I went home to a QUIET, EMPTY house!  Amazing what I was able to accomplish in 2 hours.

My little man

I have been trying for months to get him to wear this tie, and for some reason he decided he was willing to do it last Sunday! I love this little guy...

What's New with Trevor?

Sometime when it is not midnight I will write a long post about all the fun and adorable things Trevor has been up to recently, like turning 2!!! But for now, here are a couple of photos of something new Trevor has been doing recently -- timeouts. It is hard to sound stern about bad behavior while simultaneously looking for the camera to take a picture of the back of that curly blond head.

Why am I so happy?

Trevor turned 18 months old yesterday, which means he can now go into the nursery at church! Hallelujah! I can now wear my cute shoes again since I won't be chasing that cute-but-quick little guy around the hallways for 2+ hours. Trevor went in willingly today, and slept for half the time. So I consider that a BIG victory!

Big Boy Weekend

Wow! A lot of big news events happened for the Syphi boys this weekend...

First, Trevor has his first haircut. It was hard, because he is my only child to have curls. And lots of them. And they were SOOO cute. But I was afraid that I would be the parent who thinks her child looks adorable, even when sporting an out-of-control over-grown baby mullet. So we had it all chopped off. Trevor did a decent job sitting during the cut, thanks mostly to the lollipop.


Second, it was a red-letter weekend for Scott. On Friday, he ate (drumroll, please) ........

A CHEESEBURGER!

AND LIKED IT!

This is huge.

I had to bribe him with a trip to Sunsplash, but we were planning to go there anyway when Uncle Jeff and Aunt D get here.

He desperately wants a Nintendo DS, which I agreed to get for him IF he eats 25 new foods, learns to ride his bike, and reads 30 minutes a day. With our Hawaii trip 3 weeks away and the pressure of earning the DS before the plane ride at the forefront of his mind, he has been very focused on reaching his goal. He has 12 new foods to go, and added feta cheese to the list today with NO force from me. It was cheese, so it wasn't very risky in his mind. And it liked it, too! So tonight we made a list of the remaining 11 foods to try. Included are corn dogs, nectarines, cottage cheese (cheese being the important word), tacos WITH meat, and his own personal suggestion - bleu cheese. I told him he didn't have to try bleu cheese since it smells like dead ants, but he is motivated...

And that leads me to the second requirement for the DS -- learning to ride his bike. I think I will just let this video to the talking:

Trevor is ONE

My baby is one... How did that happen? Seriously. His official birthday was last Thursday, but we waited to have the 1st Birthday Rager on Saturday. We did the traditional cupcake, and just like his big brother, he just kinda looked at it, poked at it a bit, and decided he wasn't too interested.

So a few updates on Trevor's current tricks:

• He is pretty darn close to walking. Every time he takes a few steps and I pull the camera out, he's done.
  
  
• We have stalled out on 7 teeth.
  
  
• Ever since we got home from Christmas in St. George he has been a sleep champ. We can put him in his crib, close the door and with few or no objections, he can fall asleep on his own. I was going CRAZY in December because he was constantly waking up like a newborn, but a couple of nights of letting him scream did the trick. It may have been cruel, but it saved my sanity.
  
  
• He LOVES throwing balls. Can't get enough on balls of any size. And he does a pretty good job playing catch, which is of course adorable.
  
  
• He has the BEST curly hair! I will be very sad when we have to cut the curls off.
  
  
• The kid is into EVERYTHING! We never put cabinet locks on when Charlotte was a baby because she was only mildly interested in getting into stuff. That is not the case with Trevor. He is SO busy -- speed crawling everywhere, opening anything he possibly can, screaming when he can't get something he wants.
  
  
• He is a great eater. I'm determined with my 3rd child to feed him whatever we are eating for dinner. No more making 4 different dinners each night... So far, seems like he is allergy-free, so that goal may not be impossible to accomplish.
  
  
• He absolutely loves playing with Scott and Charlotte. A few times he has wrestled with Scott, which was hilarious. Scott better live it up while Trevor is smaller, because I have a feeling Trevor will eventually pass him up in size.

We have his check up at the doctor on Thursday, so I'll update this post with height and weight. I would guess now he is about average for both. It seems like just this week all of the sudden his 6-12 month clothes are too small and we are ready to move on to bigger sizes.

Here are a few pics from the party. And once I learn more about iMovie, I'll get some video on the blog:

Trevor's baby curls

Wow. I'm so behind I don't even know where to begin! How about just a quick, easy post that doesn't require much writing...

I am so excited that Trevor's hair is growing out curly in back! It may not last, but I'll enjoy it while I can.

Snow in Roseville!

Since we live pretty far down in the foothills of the Sierras, we do not get snow. Growing up, I remember it snowing just a few times, with one HUGE storm in particular that knocked out our power for 3 days. So it was a pretty big deal when we woke up to this:


After our exciting Tahoe trip last February, Scott and Charlotte were especially excited to see snow. We just got a dusting in Roseville, but up the road a bit further and Grandma and Grandpa's house it was a Winter Wonderland! So we bundled up and went up for a visit so Scott and Charlotte could make snowmen, snowgirls and snow angels. Can you tell they loved it? Even Trevor enjoyed it - although all he was interested in was eating the snow.

Our litte Wookie

We have been trying for months to get on video Trevor doing his Chewbacca immitation... This is the best we've got so far!

Trevor is 6 months old!

Happy 6 month birthday, Trevor! (Don't tell him it was 3 weeks ago...) I just LOVE this stage because he is so fun and responsive AND he is not yet mobile!

In the past month, Trevor has learned all sorts of new tricks! First of all, at about 5 1/2 months I started giving him cereal and real baby food. It is something I usually like to delay as long as possible, but it really seemed like he was needing a little more than just milk... So hello baby food, goodbye innocent non-stinky diapers! He caught on pretty quickly and so far is a great eater.


Also, about 3 weeks ago, he started sitting on his own. I love that I can just set him down on the floor next to a basket of toys that are great for chewing, and he will entertain himself for a while!


And finally -- drum roll please -- he just got his first tooth! He was miserable a couple nights ago, and sure enough, that tiny tooth poked through on the bottom the next day. I'm sure there are more soon to follow...

Perfect park weather

Man, I LOVE fall! Today we went to the park and just enjoyed playing outside in the gorgeous weather. Scott and Charlotte were especially excited to pose for the camera today, for some reason. I took advantage of the moment to suggest that it would be nice if they would be this cooperative taking pictures when we go to the pumpkin patch...

More Trevor material

I feel very guilty that I have not taken a ton of pictures or video of Trevor so far... But the good news is the photos and videos that I do have are pretty darn adorable. And his new big trick is rolling over. So for those of you asking for more Trevor material, here it is!

Trevor's day in the sun

This weekend was about Trevor! We finally blessed Trevor at church on Sunday and enjoyed having my parents, Drew's parents and Aunt Shannon here to enjoy it all with us! And our dear friends, Jeff and Terri, even made the long drive from Fresno to be with us.

Trevor is so incredibly adorable! He is a good eater, as is made obvious by his double chin and sweet fat rolls around his ankles and wrists. He can go from being very serious and thoughtful to instant smiles and laughs if someone will just look at him. And he is a super easy baby, which I need and deserve with all I have to deal with in handling Charlotte. Yes, she is cute, but we are averaging 2.5 severe tantrums a day with that child. So thank you, Trevor, for sleeping, eating, smiling and just being cute! Mommy needs that...

First smiles

Trevor is now giving us his first adorable smiles! Although the poor baby wasn't smiling much the past 3 days... He's had a miserable fever that at one point hit 104 and we took him to the ER. But with some time, love and Tylenol he is now doing much better. But back to the smiles... I haven't managed to get the best ones on camera, but I'll keep trying! Thanks to our cute friend Rebekah who was able to get him to smile for this photo:

2 weeks home with Trevor

Trevor is now 2 1/2 weeks old! The kid is an eating machine and at his 2-week check up was already up to 9 lbs! I am really not excited for him to be getting big so fast. Many have asked how we are adjusting... Well, as can be expected, I am exhausted. However I can't complain at all about the recovery from the c-section. I feel great! But the real challenge now is managing 3 kids . This became very apparent to me one day when I FINALLY got around to brushing my teeth at 1pm. Getting myself and 3 kids ready for the day is something I still have to figure out.

Charlotte doing better adjusting to the new baby. She is now going to bed and getting dressed or changed without too much drama. Hallelujah! Although as soon as I start to feed Trevor, she has to be right there, sitting next to me. Her new favorite game to play while I nurse is "Mommy is a Park". Here's how it works: Charlotte climbs up on my lap and slides down my legs. Sounds fun, huh? It is really just a variation of a similar game Scott used to play when Charlotte was a baby. He called it "Top Mommy" and he would climb up and sit on my shoulders.

Here are some of my favorite shots during the past couple weeks: I love Trevor's thoughtful poses. I'm sure there is really a lot going on in that little mind as he sleeps!

Scott really does LOVE his baby brother! It is so cute to watch him hold and talk to Trevor.

Dad has come by a few times after work to hang out, watch basketball games, and take a nap with Trevor. I think I have this exact same picture with Grandpa holding Scott and Charlotte at the same age!


Charlotte always wants in on the action, whether I am feeding or changing Trevor.

And here's the first bath!