An update

Here are a few updates on what we've been doing since the last few times have all been bigger events.
At Daniel's 6 month checkup yesterday he was 15 lbs and 25 in.  I can't remember his head circumference, but it was quite a bit bigger.  The best part was how Dr. Flinders described him.  "He's more round than he is tall."  Just call him chubby.  We already know he is. :)  Daniel's doing good overall.  He has a bit of eczema which would probably not even be there if he didn't drool and spit up so much.  I just have to keep him as dry as I can especially where his pacifier sits against his cheeks.  We got some cream that should help though.  Plus, Melissa gave us some formula that's been helping too.  Thanks Melissa! Daniel would seriously eat all day if we'd let him.  He's more interested in food than learning how to sit up, crawl, or really anything else.  That's probably why he's a little bit lagging developmentally.  The doctor's not worried.  He says he's just moving a little slower than Lizzie, but that's normal I guess.  Girls hit developmental milestones quicker than boys usually.  He almost sits on his own.  He grabs toys and things he wants to play with/eat.  He doesn't quite switch objects from one hand to the other yet.  Probably another factor is his sleep.  He's never been good at sleeping so when he was awake we'd have to hold him constantly or he'd be screaming.  Now he's getting a lot more time on the ground and playing with toys since he's sleeping better.  If we're at home he'll take two good long naps (finally!!) and wake up once or twice during the night.  The doctor gave us ways to help with that and definitely does not want him having a bottle at 1 AM anymore, which is fine by me.  So far, the plan is working.  Last night he woke up once and when I gave him his pacifier he went right back to sleep!  I'd forgotten what an almost full night's sleep will do for you. :)
Lizzie is loving her little brother and most of the time she's a good help.  We have to watch her close because she's sure he wants to eat her food.  I had to jump out of the shower when I heard him choking and of course found 3 cheez-its in his mouth.  She really does great most of the time.  When I'm cooking she'll go over and pat his back or head saying "it's ok Daniel, you're just fine" or "oh Daniel!" which is super cute.  She LOVES preschool.  As soon as Daniel's taking his nap I hear "Mom, it's time for PRESCHOOL!"  That's all caps cause she yells it super loud and jumps up and down.  She has seriously become my best helper.  Sometimes she can help calm Daniel down better than I can.  Part of that is because he loves seeing everything she does.  They laugh at each other all day long.  Lizzie is going to have surgery to reconnect the ureters at the right angle.  It's Feb. 25 so hopefully everything goes well.  I think the hardest part will be keeping her quiet for ten days.  I guess we're going to get a lot of books and movies to occupy our time.  She's still completely enthralled with Toy Story and How to Train Your Dragon.  Most of her imagination type games/stories always involve Toothless at some point.  I can't believe how much she's talking.  I forget she's 2 because when we're here at the house she'll have conversations with me that are way above her age, but it makes sense cause she's always been so observant like a sponge and now she's using all of it.
I'm just enjoying my time with the kids and doing my calling as primary chorister.  I love my calling and to be honest, wouldn't want any other one (even though I've never really led, or taught singing in my life).  Most of it's easy and fun because of being a teacher.  The only hard part is doing lessons/activities for 120 kids.  We have 240 all together so it's crazy, but they seem to be calming down now that the year's going.
Spence is getting a bit more free time since he quit BYU Magazine last week.  He's still busy with a full-time job (Family Learning Tree) and full-time school, but it's better than having the magazine on top of that.  I know he'll miss the people he worked with, but it's been good to have him home for a couple of hours.  Recently we've been reading books out loud together, which I love.  There's nothing better than being able to enjoy a book like a movie, right at the same time.  We'd get excited, frustrated, sad, and happy together.  We'd predict what would happen and see if we were right.  It's definitely cut into my sleep time, but it's all worth it.  We just finished Elantris (awesome!) and are starting Mistborn.  We're also exercising in the morning together.  Yay for us!  I know this is long, but I wanted all of this written down for me.  Plus I felt like I haven't been able to just talk about our day to day stuff.