Three kids

This last month we've all been adjusting to becoming a family of five. Julia and Ethan love Christian and love to help change his diaper, give him hugs, include him in playing catch, hold him on their laps, and use him as a rug to step on. I think he's going to be the toughest Swift yet.

All three on the bed

Julia is a great big sister--she always tries to soothe him when he cries with singing, cuddling, giving him a pacifier, and letting him know she loves him.

I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship

I think he looks a little like Julia when she was a baby. He is growing really quickly--yesterday he even rolled over!

A couple of weeks ago we found a toddler bed at a garage sale, and decided to get it for Ethan so that we could upgrade Christian from the pack 'n play to the crib. At bedtime on the first night of the toddler bed, he kept hopping out of the bed to play with toys, but when we checked on him a few minutes later, he was sleeping in the bed.

Roommates--Ethan in the new toddler bed and Julia on her twin bed without the frame

Lately the kids and I have been going to the park a lot. Although it's quite a trick to keep track of Julia and Ethan while holding Christian or lugging him around in his car seat, it's better than going crazy being cooped up at home and the kids love it.

Usually we go to a park with a playground, but when the Swifts were here we went to feed the ducks for a change.

Swift visit

Last week, Joshua's parents and his brother Caleb came to visit! It was great having them here to catch up with, entertain the children, and do some sightseeing with. Joshua took them and Julia and Ethan to the Church sites at the Sacred Grove and Niagara Falls while Christian and I stayed home and caught up on some sleep. They also took a few days to see New York and also got to attend Christian's baby blessing.

Ethan and Grandpa Swift at the Grandin Print Shop in Palmyra where the Book of Mormon was first published.

Grandparents Swift with Julia and Ethan in the Sacred Grove

The visit to Niagara Falls

Joshua and Christian on the big day

The new, expanded Swift family

The whole gang

Alaska!

Great news! We wanted to let everyone know that we will soon be moving to Alaska. I recently accepted a job in the psychology department at the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA). UAA is part of the state university system with UA-Fairbanks and UA-Juneau. UAA is the largest of the three Universities with about 20,000 students at that campus alone. The psychology department that I will be in offers a bachelors, a masters in clinical psychology, and a doctorate in community and clinical psychology. I have been hired for a tenure-track assistant professor position that starts this upcoming Fall 2010 semester. As part of this job I will be doing some teaching, some advising, and some research. It will be a great position for me! We are all excited for the move, for the employment, and the opportunity that we will have to see spectacular views and abundant wildlife (believe it or not, I even saw a moose on campus when I was there interviewing). We would welcome any visitors who would like to see Alaska.

Easter

Easter always comes and goes so quickly--it seems like with Christmas there's plenty of opportunities for thinking about Christ's birth, but celebrating Christ's triumph over death often gets passed by in the springtime. Even though Easter was a little rushed this year, pondering Christ's resurrection and remembering that "He is Risen!" was the best part. What a joyful message to all of us. We hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

Last weekend Julia had her first Primary activity! She prepared a dozen eggs with symbols in them to tell the Easter story. We did it this morning from Bible scriptures and opening each egg in turn to show the associated symbol.

Yesterday morning dying Easter eggs--Ethan did actually do a couple, although he appears more interested in the car here.

When we came back from a walk in the park, the Easter bunny had hidden those very eggs (plus a few more). Julia did most of the finding at first, until they both realized there was candy spread among them, and they both got quickly motivated to find the rest.

Enjoying spoils of the hunt.