November 12 - Game Day & Crosby is TWO MONTHS

Today was the SUU vs BYU game!  We were happy to have some tickets from Mindy!  Bryan took Andlie & Hazey and they had a great time.

Nora wanted to have a picture with her "boyfriend," Bret, before he left for the game.  She's 100% smitten by him.

Meanwhile back at home, Grama took Nora to "do whatever she wanted" all day long.  They read stories, went to the park, laid on the grass and looked at trees, had a picnic with pretend food, and just visited.  It was a great day for both of them!

Grama also got some cuddles in with Crosby.

During quiet time today, Nora found herself in front of the TV watching Minnie Mouse ice skate while she held her baby in one hand and her princess balloon in the other.  She's just the cutest.

Had to snap a picture before Grampa had to leave.

Nora was already in bed when we wrote on our "Thankful Tree" tonight, but Mindy snapped a cute pic of the rest of us doing it tonight.  I LOVE that my kids love tradition as much as me.  They are usually the first ones to remind me of things like the Thankful Tree and I love it so much.

Little Cros looks so tiny in his little bed.  Had to take a pic before I collapsed in to bed.

 

Also today.....Crosby turned TWO MONTHS OLD! 

He is wearing size 0-3 month clothes and size 1 diapers! No more size newborn for him!

He decided that he really likes to take good naps during the day and then laugh out loud at us at night while he reminds us that he is the boss and sleep is stupid.

But the biggest and best accomplishment is that he has really started making eye contact and giving smiles (more like huge grins) on command!!  He even makes eye contact with his mobile and rewards it with some smiles. Nice guy. 

In the blessing that his Daddy gave him in the NICU, he was blessed to be a calming and peaceful influence to people in his life and that's definitely proven to be true already. He is strong and opinionated (still hates the bath and getting his bum changed), but he is a pretty content and peaceful baby and brings such peace and joy to our hearts and home.

 

 

November 11 - Daddy's Day Off & Visitors

Daddy had the day off of work today!  We LOVE when that happens!  Spent the morning taking kids to school and cutting his hair and getting some smiles out of Crosby.  Today was the first day that Daddy got to coax the smiles out and noticed them.

Haze forgot his jacket when I picked him up at school today and when we went back, I snagged a picture of Andlie's "thankful turkey" in the hallway.  She's thankful for "house, friends, sports, school, and family."  That's a perfect kid right there.

Mindy's here!  She's been at our house since last night and today she busted out the Christmas outfits for everyone from Granny!  Nora immediately wanted hers on.

She also wanted some skates to match Andlie's tonight so we found Andlie's old skates and threw them on her feet.  And she loved them!  Andlie's such a sweet big sister and helped Nora skate for a while.

And then tonight, Grama & Grampa arrived!  Yay!

November 10 - A Day in the Life of Mom...AND...Haze's Loose Teeth & Smiles

I've been wanting to do an "In the Life of" post for a while now and I finally did it today!  I feel like I'm right in the thick of Motherhood right now and while it's HARD, it is also the MOST BEAUTIFUL job in the world and I feel so incredibly blessed to be able to be a Mom all day every day.

Today I took a picture every hour throughout the day.  Here's what my day looks like: (Pictures go in order from L to R row by row.) 

3:00 am: Up to change, feed, and burp Crosby.  Back to sleep around 4:00.

6:30 am: Up to change, feed, and burp Crosby.  Alarms start going off around 7:10 am.  No going back to sleep.

7:30 am: Up to do Andlie's hair and make sure she gets out the door for school with glasses on, hair done, clothes & shoes on, jacket on, lunch packed, homework done and signed, and library books in her backpack.  (Bryan has been up with her making her breakfast and getting her moving since 7:15.)  Bry takes her to school at 7:50 after a morning prayer with whoever is awake in the house (usually just Mom, Dad, and Andlie).

8:15 am: Wake Haze up and get him moving.  Get his clothes on, hair done, and give him some breakfast to eat while he watches a show.

9:05 am: Get Haze & Bryan out the door with jacket on and homework signed and in his backpack.  Nora wakes up while I'm feeding Crosby again.  Get her bottle and change her out of her diaper in to some underwear as soon as Crosby finishes eating.  (If I remember, I get the bottle ready before I feed Cros.)

10:00 am: Get moving!  Try & have a quick shower and eat breakfast while Crosby takes a small nap.  Get Nora dressed & ready.  Hang out with Nora.  Read stories, play with Barbies, play dress up - whatever she wants.

11:00 am: Pump a bottle so we can get everyone to the dentist and have a bottle in case Cros gets mad/hungry while we're there.  (Usually this time is spent tidying up or paying bills or giving Nora & Crosby baths.)

12:00 pm: Haze gets home from school!  Feed Crosby again.  Usually what I'm doing when Hazey gets home.  Lunch time.  Today we picked lunch up on the way home from the dentist.

1:00 pm: Play time!  Haze & Nora usually play pretty good during this time.  Today Haze played at a friend's house while me & Nora played tea party.

2:00 pm: Load everyone in the car to go pick Andlie up from school.  Come home & have snacks & unwind a little bit.

3:00 pm: Homework time for Andlie & Hazey.  Quiet time for Nora.  Feed Crosby again while helping the big kids with homework.

4:00 pm: Tidy up around the house.  Do my chores for the day.  (I have one big thing I like to accomplish every day.  Today's chore was to clean the bathrooms & I ended up washing the bathroom rugs.)

5:00 pm: Feed Crosby while I nag everyone to pick up the house a little bit.

6:00 pm: Dinner time!  (This is also usually when Bryan gets home.)  Tonight was sandwiches since it was Skate Night for Andlie & Haze's school.  Everyone likes their sandwich a different way.  Andlie's is a whole half, Haze's has no crust, and Nora's is a half cut in half.

6:30 pm: Skate Night!  (This is usually when the kids play with Bryan or each other around the house or outside.)

8:00 pm: Baths!  Usually, the little two have had baths in the morning and the older two take showers.  Tonight we had to hurry & do Andlie, Haze, and Nora since they all went to Skate Night.

9:00 pm: After a quick cartoon and some Fishies, milk, and vitamins, it's off to bed.  Bryan has been brushing teeth and doing bedtime with the big kids while I feed Crosby.

11:00 pm: Feed Crosby one more time before putting him to sleep.

12:00 am: Finally bedtime for me & Bryan.

REPEAT.

No wonder I'm tired 99% of the time.  Totally worth it.  Wouldn't trade it for the world.

Other things that happened today:

Crosby shot me some SUPER cute little grins.  LOVING his newly found smiles!

He's also big enough to wear size 0-3 month/3 month clothes!  What the?!

Dentist.  Andlie has four "watches" that could quickly turn to cavities.  Hazey has 3 cavities that need to be filled plus a chipped molar that needs a root canal!  Nora's teeth look "perfect."  There were NO TEARS at the dentist!  Everyone did SO WELL.  The biggest thing we learned at our appointment was that Hazey has two loose teeth!  I didn't even know!  Both of his bottom front teeth are loose!  Can't wait for the Tooth Fairy over here!

And of course Nora wanted a picture if Haze got one.

November 9 - Ballet Class & Smiles

Oh, nothing.  Just snuggling on Momma's lap hanging on to the tip of her finger.

I asked Nora if she wanted to go to dance class today.  She immediately found her "ballet outfit" and kept telling me that she was "ready to go to dance class ballet." It was pretty hard to break it to her that she had to wait until she was three.  She would say, "But I'm all ready for ballet right now!"

Cute Crosby!  He's all of the sudden seeming so big!  He's gaining weight and growing tall and his hands & feet & legs are getting chunky!  And he's really been focusing on our faces lately and he's starting to coo and - our favorite - he's really starting to smile at us!  Eye contact, meaning to SMILE!