Jefferson joined the school chess club and has been enjoying learning the game and playing everyone he can find. He beat me rather quickly, I didn't even see it coming. When playing chess you should make sure you protect your king, because he is apparently the most important piece. Who knew? Uncle Dave is really excited about Jeff's new hobby because Uncle D loves chess and played it a lot when he was a kid so he's been giving Jeff tips and strategies.

Here's a weird picture of the kids. I was making dinner and they were all scooting around the kitchen floor on their backs running into each other and having a great time. It was strange.

My Aunt Lis from California was in town last week and we had a great time visiting with her. She even came over and helped me move furniture. On Monday we went to Grandma Johnson's for lunch and had a lovely time. Alana was enchanted with Aunt Lis and had a great time playing with her. For dessert we had pie and after Alana and I ate my piece she was looking around for someone else to "share" with and I told her that Grandma Hawker had some left, she could go sit on her lap to share or maybe Aunt Lis would share. . . Alana perked right up and ran right past her dear Grandmother and jumped onto Aunt Lis' lap. Poor Mom!

Sweet Pete had a check up yesterday and weighed in at 10 lbs 2 oz, 24" long. He is in the 99% for height and 33% for weight. I've been noticing that he is getting bigger. It is amazing how fast that happens! I'll miss having a tiny baby, but I sure like this boy and I'm glad he is here. I'm really looking forward to starting him sleeping longer at night, I'll probably start that process in a couple of weeks. We'll both be happier if we sleep for a longer stretch than three hours.

Tonight the Watsons came over with dinner and we had a little party since tomorrow is Ellis' five week birthday and today is Peter's three week old birthday. The cake turned out super ugly but it tasted good. And we're sure the babies didn't notice as the cake looked fairly decent if you looked at it from far away and squinted, which is the exact view they had of the cake.

Ben and Jeff had a water fight during dessert, the fight ended when I (Alli) had a cup of water thrown at me by Ben. Tessa and I spoke to our boys, Jeffer decided perhaps it is time to start acting like he is not three years old.

Ryan and Steve spent the evening directing children from the comfort of the couch, but they were in charge of the birthday boys and that was a big job.

Tessa W. jumped on the trampoline and was happy to report that she is not pregnant anymore so it was a pleasant experience. The kids had fun playing with each other. The birthday boys were content most of the time. The moms had fun visiting with each other. So it was a successful evening.

Pictures!

Look Katie! I got it to work!

Two Weeks Old

Today is Peter's two week birthday! He is getting big fast, he has been gaining almost 2 ounces a day which is almost double what the doc says he should be gaining. So even though he is still jaundiced a bit, he is perfect. He is a very happy little person and is quite content very nearly all the time.

Yesterday Pete was having his afternoon sunbath on the kitchen floor and Jeff was doing homework at the kitchen table and Jeff was having a bit of a problem in that he couldn't remember baby brother's name. Here's how our conversation went:

Me: You can't remember his name?
Jeff: No, what is it again? Christopher?
Me: No darling, remember, it is something that Dad calls you sometimes.
Jeff: Well, it isn't Jeff, or Ryan, or Livingstone. . . what is it?
Me: It's Peter, Jeff, remember?
Jeff: Oh yeah, I remember.

About ten minutes later he forgot again and asked if it was Christopher again. He is crazy. Although, to be fair, Pete's belly button fell off yesterday so he did look quite different laying in the sun in just his diaper with no button. Maybe Jeffer just couldn't recognize him.

Right now it isn't working for me to upload pictures but I'll put some on later today. Plus I'll take a picture of Leah who got bangs cut yesterday. I just figured it was useless to fight her forward growing hair any longer, she looks really cute.

Big News!

Alana, Jefferson, Leah, and Tessa would like to introduce their new baby brother, Peter MacDonald Livingstone.

Peter has smiled whenever someone calls him by his name and he seems much happier since we figured out what it is!

We love you all lots! Sorry to make you wait so long!

More Comparisons

Thanks to Tessa W, I've got more pics to show you. It took Leah a while to figure out who these babies are, she was baffled about who Aunt Tessa would dress in pink.

But I think these pictures are funny. Jeff looks like Ryan, eh?

So there have been people wondering how I've got time to blog? Well today was easy because my parents came over to watch Conference with us and Mom made dinner for us so I mostly just sat around and rested. The kids got a new puppy today from Dave and Linz so they've been very entertained in the backyard.

After we ate dinner the kids bathed themselves and got ready for bed so right now we are watching "Enchanted" and little boy is asleep (he likes to sleep during the day so he can have me all to himself at night, it's awesome).

Comparisons

Here is a picture of Grandpa Livingstone and Daddy Ryan (I love those glasses).

Here is Alana Kay when she was new. Little What's His Name reminds me of her only she was beautiful and he is very handsome and manly.

A New Baby Person!

Some of you already know that our new baby was born yesterday, April 3rd at 12:02am. He weighed 7lb 9oz and was 21" long. Since the hospital doesn't allow children under 12 to visit we were anxious to escape so we could introduce the baby to his many and very excited siblings. So they let us go that day, we got home at about 6pm. The only thing that kind of has been slowing us down is that the dear boy has no name yet. But we have named all the other children and we are confident that this child also will receive a name. . . soon.

The kids went to school today and came home desperate to see new brother! They've had fun holding him and suggesting names. Alana holds out strong in her opinion that his name is "Kermit the Frog"; Tessa really loves the name she gave her chicken "Fish Blob" and thinks that it would work well for the baby too (she's kinda weird); Leah hasn't made too many suggestions, hopefully she'll just support us in whatever name we give him; Jeffer has lots of suggestions, Joseph, Eric, Matthew, etc. but my favorite was that he thinks we could name him "Jeff", apparently Jefferson likes his name and thinks it is suitable for all Livingstone boys.

Tessa and her boys stopped by for a visit today and we got to feel so happy about how we just have one each, but we did try them on as if they were twins. She did much better holding both of them, but I think it's because she's been training for that event.

Ellis is 2 weeks older than little what's his name. The size difference is impressive but not as much as the difference between Brighty and our Tessa at Kirsti & Brad's wedding 5 years ago when our 2 week old girl was scrawny and their 9 week old girl was. . .very well fed. They've evened up a bit since then.