FOUR

It's official. We have a full-on KID, not a baby, not a toddler, a KID. Sara Jane turned four this week, and even though I've been rounding up for a while when people ask me how old my kids are, it still feels wild that I have a child this big!

For her birthday, she really didn't ask for much. All she wanted was to share cupcakes with three of her favorite people: Emma (her cousin), Thea (her school bestie), and Hadley (her bestie from birth). So, we had cupcakes at our family dinner on Sunday, then I brought cupcakes to her school on her birthday, and then we went swimming with Hadley and had cupcakes at our house. A total win, because this time of year, I don't want to be worrying about throwing a big birthday party anyway! My parents were also in town over the weekend, so she got to open presents from them too. Of course, my mom got her a princess dress and makeup, and Mimi bought her princess shoes and jewelry. She's the girliest girl! I was going to get her a play kitchen for Christmas, but didn't want to pack it all the way down to St. George, where we'll be spending the holiday, so I gave one to her for her birthday.

I took her to get her hair cut and styled at the hair school for her birthday. She really wanted to make it clear that she wanted to keep her hair long! I think she was a little apprehensive, but obviously, she felt comfortable enough while she was getting her hair blown out to take a little snooze. She was bobbing around, totally asleep, while the girl was trying to style her hair. Oh, that I could sleep as well as SJ!

We're in the steal-my-mom 's-phone-and-take-weird-selfies phase, so a lot of my camera roll looks like this right now:

Recently, we've had some more hearing testing done on my girl, and I am just amazed at how well she has developed in spite of her hearing deficit. They tested her language skills at school, and during her 504 meeting, they told us they've never seen a student at their school score higher than her in language development. (Okay, obviously, she's being compared to a bunch of kids who can't hear well, but still!) I'm so proud of her, and I actually brag about her all the time, which maybe I shouldn't do. Or maybe I should! She's the best!

I've posted all about her pretty recently, so I won't go into a ton of detail about my girl, but suffice to say, she's amazing. I seriously can't believe what a wonderful child I've been gifted, and I hope we can be best friends forever!

While we're here, let's do a little spotlight on Julia too, shall we? Our feisty little girl is so much more opinionated at this age than I remember her sister being. She knows what she wants and how she wants it, and it's hilarious and also kind of hard to deal with. She is finally, at 14 months, officially walking! It took her a little longer than it took SJ (they say don't compare your kids, but like, how do you not?), but we made it. No more ripping up her pants' knees! She's also quite the blabbermouth, and she's finally catching on to some sign language. Her favorite words right now are:

• Ma! (more)
• Ma! (mom)
• Baba
• Ba (ball)
• Aga! (again, with sign language)
• Foo (food, with sign language)
• Ahh-daa (all done, with sign language)
• Shh (shoes)
• Chee (cheese, smiling and the food)
• Beeebee (baby, and she cocks her head to the side:)
• Yes and no (she doesn't actually say it, but she's really good at nodding and shaking her head with her whole body)

My favorite trick of hers is when you say, "I love you!" and then she leans forward to give you a kiss while saying, "Mmm!" And then, if she doesn't really want to give you a kiss, she'll trick you out and give you her squinty smile while shaking her head. She's also gotten in the habit of sticking her tongue out when she's focusing. Hayden says she looks like me, but most people just say she's a copy and paste of her sister, who looks just like him. She's hilarious and the cutest darn thing ever.

This Christmas season has been wonderful! Once again, being a fun parent during the holidays is exhausting, but it's so worth it to watch your kids experience holiday magic. The weekend before Thanksgiving, Hayden took SJ on a couple of daddy-daughter dates, one to Savior of the World and one all the way to Idaho to see his grandma and pick out a Christmas tree. I stayed home because, since I hurt my foot, I had basically taken zero days off to just sit and do nothing, so that's what I did at home (well, as much sitting and doing nothing as one can do with a baby). They had lots of fun! SJ got to sing at Grandma's rest home. The song of the year (and the song of last year, honestly) has been "Last Christmas." Honestly, a great song.

The Monday before Thanksgiving, I finally went to the doctor to get my foot examined. Sure enough, I did tear my plantar fascia, and in two places! Not a full rupture, but I'm looking at at least a 12-week recovery before I can run and play soccer again :(. I'm now six weeks into recovery, and I feel like I've plateaued pain-wise, and it's really discouraging. But I'm trying not to let it ruin my holiday!

The night before Thanksgiving, we went and saw Wicked: For Good with the Layton family. We showed SJ the first movie the week before, and she loved it, so she came with us to see part two. This girl LOVES shows. Any kind of show: musicals, dance recitals, live music, movies, she loves them.

The pic on the right here is the only one I got from Thanksgiving Day. We spent it with Hayden's family, and it was the warmest northern Utah Thanksgiving I can remember. We were outside a lot of the time and even went to the park after dinner. It really was a nice, chill weekend. Thanksgiving isn't really my favorite (I just think it's too much family drama and hullabaloo about beige food), but this year's was nice.

We spent some of the weekend with my family as well, who were here to have Thanksgiving at the Walkers' house. We went downtown to see the lights at Temple Square, and I showed off my office in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. With the temple still under construction, the lights aren't as spectacular as usual. But give it a year, and they'll be just about finished!

We also upheld a tradition that we've done for the last four years or so, which was to go to the Christkindlmarkt at the This is the Place park. It's a lot of crowds, expensive knick-knacks, and over-priced food, but it really gets you in the Christmas spirit! Every year we've gone, we've seen Elder Uchtdorf in the parade. This time, Hayden had Julia on his shoulders, and as Elder Uchtdorf passed, he pointed at her and said, "That's a cute baby!" in his German accent. It's true! She's a cute baby, even an apostle said so!

We also went to the Festival of Trees, and SJ really wanted to go in the giant bubble.

We have so little time all together due to our crazy work schedules, so we try to make the most of our family time. Most of our days just look like this: feeding our kids and snuggling on the couch.

I think I mentioned at some point that my kids love swimming so much. I mean, I think a lot of kids love swimming, but I think my kids are especially obsessed. And I think Julia is even more so than SJ! She is CRAZY in the water. She has zero fear, and for a tiny baby who can barely walk, she will go all the way up the stairs and down the water slide all by herself. I see other parents going down the slide WITH their two-year-olds, and yet my barely one-year-old demands to do it all herself. Maybe that's bad parenting, I don't know. But if my kids aren't scared to do something that's pretty safe, who am I to make them scared?

SJ has also loved the Nutcracker this year, ever since she saw it with her grandma. Georgia performed a number from the Nutcracker on pointe, and SJ loved that. The Swoggers have been so awesome to babysit the kids a few times this month.

I'm going to end this here, but I'll do a recap of Christmas and the wedding next month. Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a good night!