Practice Makes Perfect

madison is going to be quite the experienced mom when her time comes. she imitates everything i do, especially when it comes to grace. plus, her doll has to be involved. if i pet the cat, so does madison, and then so does grace and then the doll, both with madison's help. if grace is being burped, either madison is helping me do it, or she's burping her doll. sometimes she wants dan to burp her (yes, madison lays against dan's shoulder and wants him to burp her like she is a baby). a little bit of regressing is normal right?

but really, madison is so good with grace and we are very grateful! she keeps us on our toes and makes us laugh every day. what a blessing she is in our family! below are some pictures to help catalog what a great helper she is.

porter and grace needed their diapers changed ... apparently so did the doll

grace and porter were asleep in their car seats... so madison got in the cradle, ready for bed with the blanket and everything

grace was sitting in the bouncer below, and by using her fingers and some grunts, madison told me to move grace. madison preceded to slowly back up until she was even with the bouncer, sat down, pulled up her shirt, and nursed her baby contently. out of her belly button! next, she burped her and fed her again, from the other side of her belly button. (between kamber and i, there was almost always someone nursing on the couch, no wonder she picked this up!)

again, imitating kamber and i, madison carried her baby around in the baby bjorn

the girls were laying on the bed and madison nicely covered grace with her blankie, till her foot popped out. madison pushed her foot back under the blanket over and over to no avail. notice madison's hair?

the doll wanted to swing with grace - how nice of madison to be so thoughtful!

the next four are of madison and grace snuggling together, except for the one that they are both wearing tights in. madison wanted to give grace a kiss and grace wasn't cooperating as well as madison would have liked.

i love this look and gesture. why? "i don't know?" :)

Four Months

the three grandkids!!

it is good to be home after 3 weeks in utah.

there is just something about the daily grind of dirty diapers, leaky sippy cups, soiled burp clothes, and goldfish crumbs in the carpet that i love. seriously. it is my busy and sometimes chaotic life as a wife and a mom that has helped me get through these last few months.

my favorite part of our trip to utah was my nephew porter. actually, it was seeing my sister-in-law, kamber, taking care of porter. i am so impressed with her strength, as she finished her last semester and graduates in may, as she loves and nurtures porter as a single mom, and as she mourns the loss of her eternal companion. i am continually amazed by this woman who dallin chose to marry. they are perfectly matched. i know dallin is proud of the way kamber is raising their son and how she is handling everything being thrown at her. she is an example to me of extreme faith and understanding. i love you kamber!

multitasking!

sound asleep and so peaceful

love this face

cousins - exactly 4 weeks apart

i love this little boy so much! at times it's hard for me to hold him. it makes me so sad that dallin isn't here to watch porter - to see his enormous smile and watch him kick like a maniac when he gets in the tub, or to help kamber in those hard moments when he is hard to console and she just needs a break. but i know that Heavenly Father prepares us for what is to come. porter brightens up kamber's life just as he does mine and everyone else's he comes in contact with. he is a blessing and is the next best thing to having dallin with us. we continue to have hard days, but we have good ones also.

and this boy's smile, makes them good ones!

Best Birthday Present

so much for my blogging break but this was too special not to share. kamber's birthday was fri, dec 5th (she turned 22) and we had an adventurous night at Texas Roadhouse (her favorite!) and Costco in st george. we returned to cedar late and found this letter awaiting us:

Dear Mrs. Kamber Ellsworth and Mrs. LynAnn Ellsworth:

It is with great sadness that we received news of the passing of John Dallin Ellsworth. I had the opportunity to review [Dallin's] application to medical school and I was extremely impressed, not only with his significant academic successes, but with the compassion, concern, and service he consistently gave to his fellow man. It is clear that his calling was medicine, and we would have been proud to call him physician. After a review of these exceptional attributes he displayed, it is clear that he was an outstanding candidate for admission to our medical school. It would be an honor for us if, on his behalf, you would accept a posthumous admission to the University of Michigan Medical School Class of 2013. We wish for, in this time, both strength and peace for a life well and passionately lived.

Respectfully, and in deepest sympathy,

Steven E. Gay, MD, MS
Assistant Dean for Admissions
University of Michigan Medical School

the University of Michigan is a top ranked medical school (number 5 i think?) and was one of Dallin's first choices. he worked so hard to prepare himself and it means the world to us to see that his dedication paid off. i am sure he is so proud (in a sort of humble, Dallin-type of way).

it's a tender mercy to witness one of his dreams come true.

i would like to say a big thank you to Dane Leavitt for all he did to make this possible. thank you, thank you, thank you!

Haitus

the last week was a whirlwind: my birthday (the big 2..6!!), family in town, porter's baby blessing, grace's baby blessing, thanksgiving, interviews for dan, and traveling to utah (picture this: 4 women and 3 kids, 7 suitcases, 3 car seats, and various carry ons. surprisingly, we all made it in one piece- no lost luggage, everything on time, and very well behaved kids. thankfully!!)

we have our hands full at the ellsworth residence with our three little tykes and i want to enjoy every minute of my time in utah. dan will be joining us next week after he finishes his current rotation. we will hang out in cedar, head to provo for a few days, and then take kamber and porter back to az with us, just in time for christmas so she can celebrate with her family (my mom and sis are going to head back east). we are in for some fun times as we try to make the most of this holiday season.

in the meantime, Happy Belated Thanksgiving, and adios (for a few weeks at least!)