Malcolm is 4 months old!

Wow! I can't believe he's already 4 months old and well on his way to 5! I took him to the doctor and he weighs 17 pounds 1/2 ounce (85%) and he's 25 1/2 inches long (70%) and his head is 17 1/2 inches (80%).

Malcolm loves his blankie.

Malcolm is so great and makes all of us laugh. You may not believe me because when you see him he's glaring/crying/concerned/perplexed/serious face. He smiles a lot actually . . . for me at least.

Good news though, he loves his Daddy! I knew if that guy would just hang around for a little while that Malcolm would get used to him. Malcolm still prefers me and will look at me wherever I am, but he loves Daddy-O!

Malcolm still loves Stella and saves his biggest smiles for when he sees her.

Malcolm always pulls Stella's hair. I'm surprised she's not bald.

Malcolm has definitely found his voice this month. He yells at his toys and yells at me sometimes too.

Malcolm likes to look at himself in the mirror. Though, he might be smiling because there is 2 of me in the room now.

Malcolm had lots of babysitters this month because I was busy taking people's pictures, so he's getting a lot better with others. He seems more calm when there are other little kids around to distract him from the fact that I'm no longer holding him.

Malcolm loves his bathtime and splashes the water with his hands and feet, though I still don't think he knows his hands and feet belong to him yet.

Malcolm grabs his toys now and tries to shove them in his mouth. His hands have made it into his mouth too. When he decides he's done eating, he'll shove his fist in his mouth. He's trying really hard to get the whole thing in there.

Malcolm slept for 13 hours twice the week before Christmas. I thought we were starting a new trend, but not so. Total fluke, but a much needed fluke for me to be able to work during those sleeping hours.

Malcolm drools so much. His shirts are constantly wet. Speaking of clothes, he's grown out of everything! I just put away the rest of his 3-month clothes and most of his 6-month clothes. He's wearing 6-month jammies, 9-12 month clothes. Elliot was making fun of all of his muscle shirts I kept putting him in.

Malcolm is still sleeping in our room which we are going to change in the next month. He still wakes up every 2-3 hours which is why I hesitate to move him into Stella's room. I think he'd fall back asleep if I just left him alone, but I think I get him right away because I don't want him to wake up Elliot. I don't think I want him to wake up Stella either, but I think she'll get used to it faster than Elliot would. So basically we're all just really tired over here.

Malcolm eats so much. He's never satisfied. He'll suck down a 4-6 ounce bottle after I've already fed him. I might be stubborn, but I'm holding out until at least 6 months to stop nursing. Little stinker. It is cute to see him get excited and grab for the bottle though.

Malcolm's eyes are still so blue that I'm almost certain they'll stay blue!

Malcolm needs a hair cut. He has a serious mullet going on.

Malcolm laughs, but not very much. The boy is a hard one to crack. He grunts and tenses up when I tickle him, and if there is a laugh, it's a short one.

Malcolm's doctor asked if he was rolling over yet and I realized that I never put him down. We'll be working on more floor time in the next month.

I also decided that the reason 2nd children don't get as many pictures taken of them as the 1st child did is because you have to protect said 2nd child from said 1st child. Stella thinks Malcolm should be older.

Hooray! Malcolm has done several trips in his carseat this month without screaming! This is good news for the safety of our family.

Malcolm has a great double chin. He is very kissable. So my lips are pretty much hooked to his face all day. Love this guy!

Stella Got a New Bike

We told Stella that she was getting a new bike for her birthday in July because I sold her small bike at a garage sale in March. Yeah, we didn't quite make it to the store to get one until now. I can't believe she almost went a whole year without a bike! That is a tragedy!

So when we finally let her pick out a new bike, we had to take a trip to the park to give it a proper ride. Some of the Campbell kids joined us. I didn't actually get a picture of her on the bike. Sometimes she wears her helmet all day.

Sam has a great head of sweaty hair. Reminiscent of Tommy Boy.

Malcolm loves being outside. No, really. He does.

Christmas

Merry Christmas
from the
Dibble Family!

(Stella decided against coordinating with the rest of our outfits when she saw her new dress on Christmas morning)

(picture taken at 2:00 a.m. . . . Santa finally came . . . zzzzzzzzz . . . hopefully we're on the earlier delivery schedule next year)

Stella and Malcolm were both super excited about Christmas because they both woke up at 6:00 a.m. Dad gave Malcolm a bottle (thank you) and sent Stella back to bed and they didn't wake up until people started arriving for our annual Christmas breakfast with several people from our Ward. Since we weren't going to open our presents until after church (our church starts at 12:30 p.m.), Santa was nice enough to NOT wrap Stella's gift so she could see it right away and wear them to church. Black nigh heel boots! Santa DID get our letters!

We love our tradition of breakfast with the Ward members (I hope they like it too). Grandpa Dibble and Elliot's coworker Curtis Gruninger have been coming for the last 3 years to help cook (he's the one with Lolly the Jeep). This year Curtis brought his mother and she practically took over my kitchen and wouldn't let me do anything (which turned out to be a good thing because I don't know how to cut pineapple). She made all of the fruit plates look so pretty.

Church was good, I sang in the choir because I always complain about not being able to sing as many Christmas hymns that I want because the choir is always taking them all up, Stella and Malcolm behaved themselves with the Roberts family during church, Elliot cleaned up the building, we headed home, took our picture, changed our clothes, and then FINALLY Stella was able to dig into her presents. She had already arranged them in piles by name and apologized to me because I didn't get as many as she did. I made her spread them sporadically again trying to explain how piles are no fun. It's funny how kids sort of forget what they asked for when there are other presents to open.

Malcolm enjoyed his presents by yelling at them. He got some learning toys and a barrel of monkeys.

The girl loves quesadillas. She also got lots of books and somehow she got lots of shoes.

WARNING: The Ove Glove was not made at NASA. Do not become overconfident in it's abilities such as thinking it's a smart idea to stick your Ove Gloved hand into a pot of boiling water. It's not, so don't do it.

Suddenly it was almost 5:00 and we were supposed to be at my Mom & Dad's for dinner at 3:30!! The day always goes by way too fast! We gathered the rest of the presents for the family and the nerf dart guns to see what kind of ruckus we could cause at my Mom's. I'm sort of happy that some of my siblings have my punctuality problem as well because Lindsay and Keith had just arrived shortly before us, but the prayer was said and everyone was dishing up by the time we walked in. My oldest, yet way younger looking, sister Marci and her family came into town for Christmas this year which was so fun!

We ate up the mashed potatoes ("these mashed potatoes are so creamy") and chewed up the turkey ("so dry you could gag on it!") before we moved on to the nerf dart gun war. Don't worry Adam, Mom's divinity was safe. (p.s. those are quotes from a movie and tv show . . . can you guess which ones?)

To help digest the delicious Christmas feast, we busted out the guns. Nerf guns. Oldies vs. youngsters (Bill, Elliot, Keith vs. Alex, Alecia, Karl . . . . Lindsay joined later, but I'm not sure she knew which teams she was on).

Don't worry, Alecia's not really possessed with those red eyes, but she was quite the contender with the dart gun.

There should be some theme music to this brother/sister conquering march picture.

Uncle Bill, intimidating.

Alex was hiding somewhere for the first several rounds and then popped out to massacre passersby.

Uncle Elliot posted at a popular corner by the laundry room.

My Mom's house has lots of places that have 2 entrances. This makes for a good escape.

Grandpa was helping Brynlee with the dart gun and she was just at the perfect height to be shooting everyone in the junk.

Uncle Keith taking over the post.

An ambush around the corner.

Uncle Bill stalking his prey.

That's a happy, chubby baby.

I thought Stella would totally be in on the nerf dart gun action, but she sat in front of the TV instead playing the Wii. Another reason we can't ever purchase one.

Bryn got such a laugh after shooting Uncle Elliot in the nether regions that Hannah wanted in on the shooting.

Father/Son battle to the death.

Another ambush. Will they never learn?

I think Lindsay just shot whoever came by.

Lindsay challenged Karl to a boxing match on the Wii. I hope their deodorant didn't quit on them that day because neither of them wanted to lose. Karl, quit beating up your aunt.

Hannah and Brynlee duked it out too. That sound coming out of Hannah's mouth is one of my favorite sounds!

Uncle Bill and Aunt Marci loved themselves a little Malcolm. (Uncle Bill looks like he's glaring, but he got his turn with Malcolm too)

I love that Brynnie giggle!

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve at the Dibble's. Beth involved us in a Christmas in America program. Malcolm was a Nephite. A real tough one as you can see by his "I Love Mommy" muscle shirt.

Stella wrote yet another letter and left a stolen cookie for Santa (thank Aunt Xan) on Christmas Eve. She's so cute.

"Dear Santa, Merry Christmas Santa! Thank you for all these toys. If you didn't have time to make the trampoline, I'm fine without it. Merry Christmas! Love, Elliot, Whitney, Stella and Malcolm"

. . . speak for yourself Stella.

Letters to Santa and Bass Pro Santa

Lindsay, Grandma Anderson and I finally got around to taking the kids to Bass Pro because they always have the best Santa there. I just wish I would have taken a look at the pictures they were taking before we spent the time in line to see him. I guess Stella didn't care and Malcolm still doesn't even know he has hands, and the picture was free so it wasn't that big of a deal, but why can't people see that they are supposed to be taking pictures of people and not the sky?!?! It's a Santa picture for crying out loud, focus on Santa! You can barely see them!

The girls were happy enough to ride the carousel.

I found Stella's 11-item list to Santa on the counter one day. Notice the afterthought "To: Santa, From: Stella" just for directional purposes. I told Stella that we could probably write a nicer letter to Santa instead of this itemized list and we finally got that out the week before Christmas (I wrote one too . . . I asked for a trampoline).

(this one is a little better, but still seriously lacking in the please and thank you department)

"Dear Santa, I want a trampoline like Anabelle's trampoline and a long skirt like my Mom. Some high heels like my Mom. And a ring that is my size. A mini slugbug so I can drive in it. A big teddy bear. And I want to see you. Love, Stella Dibble"