Birthday Fun and More

We celebrated my birthday on Monday by going to Galveston. We turned Michael loose on the beach and he got soaking wet and covered in sand from head to foot. (Good thing we brought and change of clothes!) Matt got out our kite and managed to let out all the string --over 1000 feet!




Later, we drove over to the ferry connecting Galveston Island to the Bolivar Peninsula. That was pretty exciting too, except for the hour we had to wait in the car for the return trip.




Michael had a ton of fun helping me make Christmas cookies. The best part? The sprinkles!!!

Ummmm. You want me to do what!?

Christmas Newsletter

It's been another exciting year for the Compton family. We've added another member of the family, celebrated Michael's first birthday and transition to toddler-hood, and gotten Matt half-way through law school, including a busy summer of internships. And somehow through it all, I've managed to remain relatively sane. Below are some of the highlights:

Sarah

We welcomed our little girl into our family in October. She's only been here two months, but it's hard to imagine our family without her now. At her two-month check-up just this morning, she weighed in at 11 lbs. 1 oz. and 22 inches long. She is so petite and feminine; so very different from Michael.

Just this past week, she's started sleeping through the night on a regular basis, between 5 and 6 hours usually, with an occasional 7 hour snooze (heaven for Mom!) She's also working very hard at getting her thumb into her mouth. She hasn't quite made it yet, but her fingers are adequate substitutes for the time being.


Michael

Michael turned one back in February and has developed into an amazing little boy this year. He's gone from not-quite walking to running, climbing, jumping and kicking. He loves playing at the park, especially going down slides; picking up sticks, rocks, acorns, etc.; going to the library and reading books; helping Mom cook and shop; and playing with Dad. He gives great big hugs at random and little kisses upon request. All in all, he is the cutest and sweetest little boy in the world.

Matt

Matt just finished up his third round of finals, marking the half-way point in his law school career. We were told that the first year would be the worst, but so far his second year has been just as busy. He loved his internship this summer at the federal court downtown and is still juggling interests and opportunities for internships for next summer. He has enjoyed working in nursery at church each Sunday and also working the graveyard shift at the peanut butter factory every other Saturday. (Can you call it enjoying . . .?) He has also gone on a gluten-free diet this year and felt a huge difference in his physical health and mental outlook.

Jennie

I love being a full-time mom and continue to be amazed at how much I am learning "just" from being at home with my children. Despite a bad bout of morning sickness through the spring, I enjoyed a relatively easy pregnancy and delivery. Much to my surprise, the biggest challenge of having two children is not the physical demands of caring for two, it's the emotional strain of not being able to give more time to each one. I am enjoying teaching in Relief Society (our church's org. for women) once a month and attending a playgroup whenever I can (guilty secret --It's more about Mom getting to socialize than Michael getting to play!)

Thoroughly Fun Thanksgiving

The weekend before Thanksgiving, we celebrated Matt's 31st!!! birthday. We went out to dinner and enjoyed some almost-yummy gluten-free cupcakes. (I'm still experimenting with recipes.)

We had a very busy, but very fun, Thanksgiving week. I packed up the kids and headed to Leander the day before Thanksgiving. I was very proud of myself for making a three-hour car trip with two kids all by myself --with only two pit-stops along the way! We enjoyed lots of lots of family, yummy food, and play time.

Michael loves taking rides on the luggage rack outside!

The day after Thanksgiving, we met Matt at his parent's house in San Antonio. That Saturday, the whole Compton clan enjoyed another Thanksgiving feast at his grandmother's house. More family, yummy food, and play time!

The next day, Sarah received her name and blessing in Matt's parents' ward. It was a beautiful blessing, and my dad said that she was smiling during the whole thing.



Grandma gave her a beautiful blessing gown. She looked like a little angel.

Sarah 1 and Sarah 2.


After all the fun, we headed home. Matt is busy getting prepared for finals that start This Week! I'm busy getting ready for Christmas. Michael is just busy. And Sarah is enjoying not being busy.

Giddyup horsey!


Yes, that really is snow. This is our second winter in Houston and, oddly enough, our second Houston snow-storm. Michael was so excited! We were hoping it would stick so we could build a little snowman, but sadly, it melted as soon as it hit the ground.

Michael is turning into a great big brother. He loves to pat Sarah and show her how to play with her toys. He is talking a lot more, too. Every day he surprises me with a new word or two. His pronunciation still needs some work, but it is kind of nice to be able to hold a two-sided conversation with him, even if all of his responses consist of no more than one syllable. His favorite word? "Yeah!" This is his response to almost any question. Surprisingly/thankfully, he has yet to pick up the word "no."

Finally, More Pictures . . .

Okay, I'm finally making time to add a few more pictures of Sarah and "Big Brother" Michael. Sarah is now three weeks old and is a joyful addition to our little family. She's eating and sleeping well and enjoys hearing Mom sing to her.

In case you're wondering how we chose her name: Her firstname, Sarah, means princess, and it was fairly easy to decide on. It's a family name on both sides, and everyone we've known named Sarah has seemed to be an influence for good. We had a horrible time choosing her middle name and finally decided on Eleora, which is Hebrew meaning "the Lord is my light." It's not a family name or anything; we found it in a baby name book and it was one of the few names we both liked. And when she was born, it seemed to fit. :)

Michael wasn't quite sure what to make of his new baby sister at first, but he has actually adapted quite well. He mostly ignores her, but has given her a few hugs and an occasional loving pat. (We have to continually remind him to "be gentle!" And every time we go to get in the car, he makes sure Mom doesn't forget "bebe" in her car seat.



Coming home from the hospital.

This post would not be complete without a big "THANK YOU" to my mom. She came up to stay with us the week before Sarah was due and was a huge help with Michael!!! Coming home from the hospital, I was suffering from a spinal headache (from the epidural) which took over a week to go away. So while I was recouperating, my mom took care of me, Michael and Sarah for another week and a half. She is an absolute angel and I continue to learn what it means to be a mother from her. Thank you, Mom!!!


Dad gave Michael his first real haircut last week. I think he actually enjoyed it. We got him real excited about the buzzers being like a big bee going "buzzzzz" on his head.

Before

After


Come on Dad. Don't you have enough pictures already?!

Sarah Eleora Compton

Sarah Eleora Compton was born on October 23rd, 2009 at 1:39pm. She weighed in at 7 lbs 1 oz and we don't have her length measurements yet. Baby and Mom are doing well. The labor was MUCH easier than with Michael.

Misc. Fun

Matt is deep in the midst of his third semester of law school, but has managed to find time for a little fun here and there. He and Michael have become best buds in the last few months.

Sporting the latest fashion --cabbage leaf hats.

Whooooaaa there horsey!

Kite flying fun.

Michael now prefers running to walking, and I do my best to waddle after him. During our kite-flying adventure, he ran the perimeter of 1 1/2 soccer fields in order to touch the flags at every corner. Needless to say, he gets very excited about flags . . . and traffic lights . . . and balloons . . . and fire hydrants and . . .

As for me, I'm doing pretty well with only 2 1/2 weeks left before D-Day. This picture was taken several weeks ago.--I'm quite a bit rounder now.










Sunday evening fun in the tub. My husband, the Sharp Shooter.

Aunt Rachel came to visit us a few weeks ago. As you can see, she's a lot of fun!

Aquatic Adventures

Last Friday, Matt took the whole day off of law school and we headed down to Galveston for some famliy time. We went to the Moody Gardens' Aquarium, which was fabulous! Michael loved it and ran from tank to tank squealing in delight at all the fish, seals, turtles, penguins, sea horses, etc.





They have this huge tank where you can go "under water" in a tunnel and see huge sharks, sea turtles, eels, and schools of fish. I think that is the coolest part. You could literally spend hours just sitting and watching and never get bored!

Yes, the sea turtle really is as big as a grown man!

In the evening, we headed to the beach for Michael's second adventure with the ocean. Last year about this same time, we took him to the beach before he was really mobile. It's much more exciting when you get to play in the waves! He especially loved picking up sea shells and throwing them into the water as the waves came up.




Back at home, enjoying a nice evening of bubble blowing.

Bubbles, etc.

We had a lot of fun at Cousin Amelia's and Cousin Calder's (twins) second birthday party last week. There were a dozen or so toddlers running around, splashing in baby pools, and of course, eating cupcakes.



This Thursday, we had a huge rainstorm that flooded the streets around our apt. We took Michael out to splash in the puddles and he loved it!!! Unfortunately, the traffic was so slow, Matt's car ran out of gas 1/2 mile from our house, so he dashed home as fast as he could, and then we all took a soggy walk together up to the nearest gas station and back to his car. --We were actually really happy it was just the gas and not the fact that he had been driving in 12 inches of water! The street in front of our house was lined with cars stuck in the water.



Ring-around-the-Rosie has quickly become a favorite since Michael learned to spin in circles. He's also practicing walking with his eyes closed and walking backwards --sometimes at the same time. I guess he's working on his spacial memory? He actually does surprisingly well and only occasionally bumps into things; thankfully, no injuries yet.



Michael is very "into" bubbles right now, including blowing bubbles, bubble baths, and making bubbles in his hair (ie washing his hair). His latest words are "bubble" and "pop." He's actually learned quite a few new words the last few weeks, including bee, ball, bird, and baboon --all "b" words! I've also been trying to get him to either shake or nod his head for "no" and "yes," but he hasn't gotten the nodding movement down yet, so it always looks like he's saying no. I have to go by facial expression and just guess which is which.

In other news --Matt is doing great! He not only got A's in both of his summer classes, he was also accepted onto the Law Review Journal's editing staff, a big honor! This coming week, he's flying to Chicago for interviews to (hopefully) line up another internship for next summer.

As for me, I'm feeling pretty good for being almost 7 months pregnant. I have to keep the AC running pretty much non-stop now and can't ever seem to get enough to eat, but besides that, I'm doing well.

Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree

Michael gets cuter by the day. He's learning lots of songs, with the hand motions that go with them. His favorite right now is "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree." His other acts include "The Itsy Bitsy Spider," "The Wise Man and the Foolish Man," and "Open, Shut Them." I'll see if I can get them on video too.


In other news, Matt just found out yesterday that he got a full A in his summer class! The professor even used two of his essays as examples of ideal answers. This is totally amazing considering that, between working full-time on his internship and taking 4 credit hours of evening classes, he literally had no time to study. We attribute it to 100% divine assistance!

Father's Day

We enjoyed a wonderful Father's Day last week. Michael and Dad enjoyed some down time together, with Frog and Toad, of course.




Michael was especially proud of the card he made for Dad.


Those boys sure do enjoy their food!


Water and a couple of buckets. What could be more fun?!

It's a Girl!!!

We had an ultrasound on Saturday and it looks like baby #2 is going to be a little girl! Mom and Dad are thrilled, of course. Michael, however, reacted to the news rather nonchalantly.

Easter Pictures, Etc.

Okay, so I'm a little behind with my blog updates. My only excuse is that I've been super-sick and tired from being pregnant. I'm finally starting to feel better, so here are some pictures from the last two months.

Michael and I left Dad at home (so sad) so he could catch up on his studies, but we had a ton of fun visiting with Nana & Popie and Grandma & Grandpa. As usual, we had a huge family Easter party and egg hunt the day before Easter at my parent's, and then we headed down to San Antonio to spend some time with Matt's family.

Michael took his egg hunt very seriously.

So many eggs to find!

The Aunties gave Michael a little more egg hunting practice.

Grandma got Michael a huge box to play with and he had a ton of fun crawling back and forth to get "Mooey."

Mooey and Mom.

Within the last month, Michael has become VERY attached to his stuffed animals, especially his frogs.

We took Michael into the pool at our apt. a few weeks ago, and while he didn't seem to enjoy it very much, he didn't throw a fit. Yesterday for Memorial day, we had a BBQ at my Uncle Eddie's house, and Matt took him in their pool. He freaked out at first, but with a lot of carefully planned distraction (an intense game of fetching the ball out of the water), we eventually got him in without minding it. Now we just have to keep him used to it!

After months of taking great joy in destroying every tower he sets eyes on, Michael has finally learned the joy of building them too. He was sooo proud of this one. I think it's one of the tallest he's made so far.

Funny clip of Michael helping Popie plant sod.