Thursday, December 25

Merry Christmas!!

Holidays are so much fun with kids! A is old enough this year to understand the gift-giving and stories about Jesus and about Santa. And it's adorable to watch him try to tell E about it since it's her very first Christmas.





We attempted to see Santa, but A was terrified and E was not sure what to think!


Luckily, his wishlist was pretty simple this year. So we made up for the visit by writing cute letters to the man in the red suit.



But more importantly than Santa, I loved watching him recognize the value in the true meaning of Christmas. He enjoys playing with the nativity and tells us "I lub Baby Cheesus!" I think it's so sweet!


Keeping with tradition, we were able to take the kids to Temple Square for Christmas Eve. I love this beautiful way to start the holiday off with remembering what truly matters. We took the Trax train into downtown and the kids thought it was fantastic!



Earlier in this Christmas season, we also went to check out the lights at our favorite park. We loved seeing it all lit up last year and thought it was just a fun thing that Draper locals knew about... but apparently people from all over the valley come to see what they call "The Tree of Life." Little did we know our park is so popular!


We also attempted to make gingerbread houses this year. It was a lot of fun! And, of course, the kids loved the candy!!


We have only had one big snowstorm yet this year but we were able to make a tiny snowman with raisins for eyes and a baby carrot for a nose. A thought it was fantastic!


The two things A kept saying he wanted Santa to bring were "striped presents" and "snow!" When we woke up on Christmas morning, there was a pile of presents with beautiful silver and red striped wrapping paper. And, even more impressively, there was a plenty of fluffy, white snow blanketing our backyard. Obviously, A was in heaven!



Watching the kids tear open presents and enjoy their new toys was so fun! I think we as parents went a little overboard because it took the entire day for the kids to open everything since they stop to play with each individual item.













I love this little family of mine and spending holidays with them is so great! Merry Christmas!

Saturday, December 13

First Annual Family Christmas Lunch

My family decided to try getting all the cousins, aunts and uncles on my mom's side of the family together for an annual Christmas party. Because I grew up with most of these cousins living nearby, I have great memories and friendships with them. As we've grown up, we've all ended up throughout Idaho and Utah. We had the lunch at the Maddox restaurant in Brigham City, and it was so much fun to see everyone together in one place!

Wednesday, December 10

Baby E at 5 Months

This cute girl has been growing up like crazy this past month! She was small enough when she was born that we're proud of how quickly she's growing and how healthy she is. This past month, I swear she's hit a huge growth spurt and is making so many developmental advances that I'm suddenly realizing she doesn't seem like my itty bitty baby anymore!


These are her stats right now:
  • Weight: 15 lbs.
  • Height: 26.5 inches
  • Diaper Size: She wears Size 1 but she's ready to upgrade to the next size next time we buy diapers!
  • Clothing Size: She fits in 0-3 Months but we've also started putting her in a few 3-6 Months outfits.
  • Likes: Rolling onto her tummy, trying to crawl, giggling and smiling, playing with her blankets.
  • Dislikes: Not getting attention, feeling hungry for more than 0.2 seconds.
She has the funniest laugh! It's almost a cross between a high-pitched squeak and a gasp for air. We love it and it makes us all start laughing. She likes to grab her blanket and throw it above her head and then pull it down quickly—almost like playing peekaboo—and bursts into laughter when she peeks back out.


Funnily, she loves tags and plays with the ones on her blankets as she calms down to fall asleep. She also prefers chewing on hard toys more than soft, plush toys and she puts everything she can find straight into her mouth. She also wants to touch everything and her hands are constantly moving. She has a really strong grip {and loves pulling mom's hair!}.

 

She already army crawls and gets on her hands and knees and rocks like she's ready to really crawl any day now! She is great at rolling but has never used it as a means for mobility; doesn't like to go from tummy to back.


She is a fantastic car buddy and loves falling asleep in the carseat. As soon as the car starts moving, she snuggles up with her blanket and dozes off almost every time! But as soon as the car stops and I try to get the carseat out, she's wide awake and ready to check out everything around us.

She absolutely LOVES A!! She watches everything he does with complete fascination and bursts into the biggest smile any time she sees him. He has been starting to realize how much fun she can be and they are starting to interact and play together more—which makes me so happy, as their momma, to see their friendship beginning to develop!





She's started eating solids but more of it comes back out {and all over her!} than goes in. She just wants to play with the spoon all the time instead of actually eating. She's tried oatmeal cereal, green beans, peas, and applesauce—and seems to definitely have a sweet tooth {like the rest of our family members} because she likes the sweet fruit the best! But more than anything, she just loves to eat!! She gets so excited that she starts flailing when we are bringing her a bottle; and as soon as she sees her bowl of solid food, she starts grabbing for the spoon.


We feel so fortunate to have such a sweet baby! She loves her family and smiles, giggles, and squeals for us all the time. She is so spunky and it's fun to see her trying to be a big kid and wanting to play with A. We love her so much and are so glad to have her in our lives!

Thursday, November 27

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year, we spent Thanksgiving with M's side of the family. His mum loves to throw parties and hosts a grand meal every year! She hosted the dinner at her new house and had quite the feast for everyone. It's always great to get everyone together. Happy Thanksgiving!

Saturday, November 22

My 30th Birthday!

Turning 30 has seemed like such a huge milestone—and I have been dreading it! I don't even have a solid reason why; I'm just feeling old and think that life is moving way too quickly. So as my birthday approached, my feelings of overdramatic woe grew stronger.

We made plans to go to Idaho for my birthday because I wanted to share the occasion with my parents and my cute little family all together. Maybe it's the recently onset old age, but I've decided the best things in my life are the genuine relationships that are there for me through the good times and the bad. So imagine my amazement when M wanted to take me to dinner the night before we left for Idaho... and it was a surprise birthday dinner with my two best friends and their families! My husband is perfect and gave me the best gift I could have possibly ask for—a chance to celebrate this milestone with all the people who mean so much in my life. It was the best birthday ever. Cheers to being 30.








Monday, November 10

Baby E at 4 Months

This little princess is getting to be so spunky and fun!


At her checkup, these are her current stats:
  • Weight: 12.8 lbs.
  • Height: 24 inches
  • Diaper Size: She is still wearing Size 1.
  • Clothing Size: She is still wearing 0-3 Months.
  • Likes: Playing with daddy, mommy and A, eating, laughing and being tickled.
  • Dislikes: Sleeping, having to play by herself, being held horizontally rather than upright.
I love that she is chunking up a bit and has made it to the thirtieth percentile in weight! She has the cutest thighs with the perfect about of chubbiness. To celebrate her 4-month mark today, she had her very first experience with solid food!


She is doing better with sleeping and will fall asleep when we put her in her crib awake. But she definitely prefers sleeping with her parents, particularly smashed right up next to her momma. She is calming down and seems less colicky more and more each week, which has helped to her not be so squirmy. Because of this, she actually snuggles when we hold her and it's so fun to be able to cuddle with her!

Her personality is very outgoing! She loves when people notice her and she bursts into a smile at even the slightest glance. She has also started laughing—which is the cutest sound in the whole world! She also seems very strong-willed and knows what she wants. She definitely prefers sitting and standing to laying down!


Because of how much she would constantly wiggle and squirm for the past four months, she is really strong! She's a champion at tummy time and loves being able to see all around her. She started rolling from her tummy to her back about three weeks ago but acted as if it were accidental, like she fell over and it scared her. Then, a couple days after that, she realized she could roll from her back up onto her stomach. For some reason she does this constantly but refuses to roll onto her back {which seems like the easier of the two options!} so she ends up stuck on her tummy and cries for help... and then rolls back up again as soon as she can. It's a never-ending cycle that makes bedtimes a bit tricky lately!


She absolutely adores her big brother and I think that she saves her biggest smiles for when he plays with her.


He is very protective of her and tries to help when she is crying, but he has always been hesitant regarding any sort of physical contact with her. But just this past week, he was willing to hold her/let her lay on his lap for the first time ever! It was adorable!!


TV fascinates her and she loves watching Baby Einsteins with A. It's so cute to watch her little face while she is so captivated by the colorful moving images on the screen!

She loves her muslin blankets and always wants it next to her face to soothe and help her fall asleep. When it comes to trying to swaddle her, she is a bit of a Houdini and breaks free no matter how well we wrap her up.


Her motor skills are continuing to develop and she has discovered her cute little hands. She grabs at everything and immediately it into her mouth. She especially likes when I leave my hair down because it appears to be very fun to pull!


She loves interaction and seems to get bored if we try to set her with toys for too long. {And by too long, I mean more than 4 minutes!} She is amazingly happy as soon as she gets attention and flashes the cutest, biggest smiles ever.

I love that she has such a strong personality and has definite preferences and dislikes. She's a feisty little girl and is becoming so much fun!