Pine Valley

A couple weeks ago we decided to get out of this 110 degree heat and go up to Pine Valley for the day. My family has been going there since I was little and we have gotten Travis to love it as well. It's not that far but far enough where you feel like you went somewhere:) So we picked up Grandma and we were on our way!!

This was Aiden's first car trip. He did really well going up but was kind of fussy coming back. All in all was not too shabby!

We had a yummy chicken lunch when we got there and then went on a hike. Aiden loved his first hike. He chewed on his fist for awhile and then fell asleep.

My happy girls!! They loved being out in nature and being outside without sweating to death.

I love going here. It's so pretty!!

Family of five!!

Daddy and Jordyn

On the way back, the girls had to go potty so we let them water a tree! I don't think this is a good idea for little ones just barely potty trained because lately Jordyn has been 'going' in weird places. Just yesterday she went poopoo in the backyard! Yeah.....um......:)

So pretty!

Cows!! There were quite a few right on the road!

Horses with a goat friend.

We would love to move up there....or just have a summer house maybe??? :) Can I have this one. It was so cute with a wrap around porch.

Or can I have this one? It's a blurry pic but the house pretty much uses up the whole pic. My dad said that the people that own this house won megabucks! Um......let's go play!!! :)

Aiden's three month stats

I took Aiden for his three month appointment on Friday. He's a little older than three months but his pediatrician was out of town before that. Can I just say that I really like his pediatrician. He's very laid back and tells me things that you wouldn't think would come out of a doctor's mouth! When he first came in, he had to tell me about a baby that was in the hospital. He checked his temp (in his bum) and the baby started screaming. The Dad all of a sudden yells....."YES! He doesn't like it!!" Seriously??? Some people are just crazy!
Anyway, Aiden weighed in at a whopping 15 pounds 1 ounce and is in the 77th percentile and was 24 inches long which is in the 40th percentile. Doc was very happy about it. He said that he is happy for one pound a month and we got 2 1/2 this month.

He was checking him out and I looked down and was taken aback because his pee pee was twice as big!! He must have seen my reaction because he said he has a fat fold and you can push it down! I guess! Having a boy sure is interesting! His doc then decided to tell me that he was a good size and that if any woman doesn't like it, then she has been with too many men!! Say what??? LOL! My doc must not know that he is only going to be with his wife..right Aiden? Right!

Doc then noticed that his head was tilted to the left which I hadn't noticed before (don't think it's too bad anyway) and it's just tight muscles on that side that needs to be stretched. It's a good thing that he has a massage therapist Mama!! Aiden then started to cry when he was messing with his legs. He has this adorable sideways, pouty mouth but I guess it's because some muscle isn't attached!!! What the....??? Doc called it some crazy name that I can't remember and said it might reattach and might not. He didn't seem worried about it and he smiles with both sides so I never worried about it. Hopefully it won't be a huge deal! And finally, Aiden has a heart murmur! So yay...we get to go to the cardiac doc to get it checked out. I'm not worried about it. Both of my girls have had to get it checked out and were perfectly fine! So he just makes it number three and hopefully it is just an innocent little murmur like the girls! Doc then said he looks great!! Of course he's great! He's perfect! He is such a sweet little guy!! We love him so much!!

Hmmm....

I was editing my blog to print out my 2009 book and I came across a post that is pretty funny! This was almost exactly a year before Aiden was born. She got her baby brother:)

Self soother

I was working on some church stuff the other night and Aiden started fussing with Travis. I was trying to hurry but didn't want to stop in the middle of what I was doing. I was going to get him after Trav changed his diaper and got him into his jammies. He laid Aiden down on the ottoman while I hurried to get my stuff done. He was awful quiet and I wondered why he all of a sudden wasn't fussy anymore! This is what I found.......

Dang that boy likes his thumb. He totally soothed himself and put himself to sleep! Maybe that is why he is sleeping 10-11 hours a night! I hope it stays this way even though I'm not a fan of the thumb.

Why can't he like the binky like Kenna? I can't take away his thumb! Well, maybe it won't last forever. Jordyn sucked her thumb as a baby but it didn't last very long. And if not, it's all Trav's fault. He sucked his thumb when he was a wee one!!

This is what happens when.....

Your big sisters try to keep you entertained!! :)

You leave a pile of laundry on the couch for too long!! (Do you see the doggie head in there?)

You still haven't put all of the laundry away!!

It feels like the surface of the sun outside....you make due with your kiddie pool, invite friends over and popsicles are a must!!

Chucks!!

I think Travis and I are opposite of what we are supposed to be. I absolutely hate shopping (no fun with no money) and he is always wanting to go to the store during the summer (always wants to get out of the house and by himself;). He happened to be at Kohls one day just looking around and found these.....

They were on sale for $7....normally $30. He couldn't pass them up. He also found some for Aiden when he gets older. You can't beat that price!!

Doesn't she look adorable in them? They will look even cuter when they match her outfit:)

(Don't look at her hair....we don't do it during the summer if we aren't going anywhere:)

Sooo big!!

We had to move Aiden to his crib three weeks ago because he outgrew the cradle! Can you believe how big he is?? ;)



LOL! jk... That is the cradle for Makenna's babies that she recently got for her birthday. My parents made both of them. They are so talented!

I decided to start putting him in his crib for his naps to get him used to it but then ended putting him in it that night as well. He's been in his room ever since since he sleeps so much better in there!

Farewell pretty cradle!

Feeling Guilty!

My Mom gave me a couple of rings that belonged to my Grandma that no one else wanted. I have been thinking about her a lot the last few days (remembering this post:) and as I slid those rings on my fingers, I felt her near me. One of them is a sweet, small ring that fits perfectly on my pinkie finger and the other is quite big but fits perfectly on the ring finger on my right hand. I think they are meant to be mine since they both fit just right. The big one is set quite high and has a few diamonds missing. It looks quite worn but I love it!! That means that she wore it a lot and that she must have loved it! I will wear them both proudly. I miss her so much and I have been worrying that I wasn't there enough for her when she was alive. We lived so close but yet we didn't see her nearly enough. I wish I would have done more for her. The last couple years of her life were needless to say not the best of her life. Because of a family member, she was constantly worried about money and nearly lost her home that her husband had bought for her. Even after her house was saved, she pretty much lived worried about money. I think the bitterness I had for this family member made me stay away from my Grandma. I didn't want to see my Grandma like that. Her house was a mess. Her yard was a mess. And she was a mess. There were times when we would visit and she would just break down and cry harder than I have ever seen before. This shouldn't have happened to my Grandma in her last years of life. It still makes me mad. But now as I look back, I wonder why I didn't clean up her yard. Why I didn't clean her house and make it spotless. In our church, we talk about service all the time. Why didn't I serve my Grandma??? I keep telling myself that it was because my Aunt also lived there and she should have been able to clean the house. I actually told my Mom right before she died that we should go over there while my Aunt was out of town and just clean that house until it shines but she didn't make it that far. She was gone before we had the chance to do that. But why didn't I just go visit her more??? I keep going over and over that in my head. She had 20 grandchildren and most of them lived by her. She should have had many visitors but I don't think she had very many at all. Why??? I keep telling myself that I was busy with my kids but they loved to go over there so what kind of excuse is that? I guess time just got away from me. But now I will wear those rings that no one else wanted and keep them close to my heart because all that I'm left with is the wonderful memories I have of her and the hope and prayer in my heart that she will forgive me! Please forgive me Grandma. I love you!!

Three months old

My little chunky monkey is THREE months old! I can't believe it! He is growing too fast for my liking. He is such a joy in our home and he makes us smile every time he does...which is a lot! Aiden is very laid back and he has started to sleep through the night for about 10-11 hours. It's wonderful. I can't quit kissing his sweet cheeks either. Love love love this little boy!!
Since his appointment isn't until late next week, I weighed him at home. On our scale, he weighs 14 pounds, 4 ounces and maybe 23 inches long (it's hard to measure a baby that is kicking his feet;)

He has just started noticing toys and last night loved sucking on it.

We are trying to get him to take the bottle so I can go back to work and he screamed for an hour and a half for Trav and wouldn't take it at all. He kept sucking on his hand and finally fell asleep with his thumb! He's been taking the bottle from me so we will just have to practice some more to get him to take it from his Daddy!! *crossing fingers*

He doesn't really like tummy time but does really well in his bumbo....especially if we are all around him at the dinner table:)

I ended up getting the exersaucer out the other day and he enjoyed it for a little bit. He mostly just looked at all the stuff but the girls had fun showing him how they all worked. It will be nice when he can start grabbing at them himself.

We all love this 'little dude', 'little guy', 'aidy baidy' (that one's mine;), 'little man', 'baby boy', 'chunka munk', etc;) He is such a sweetheart!!

Couple things I've learned with the third....

(Turn away if booby talk turns you off:)
~I have always had a hard time pumping!! It would usually take about 20 minutes to get like 2 ounces! It was so frustrating. That's probably why I didn't go back to work until Makenna was a year old and Jordyn was eight months. I couldn't get any milk pumped for them to eat. With this one, I decided to try to pump on one side while Aiden was using the other side. It is amazing the difference. I can usually get about 6 ounces in 5 minutes and sometimes more depending on how full I am. I guess I need him to help me let my milk down. It's not as big of a chore as it once was.

~Even if you start giving your baby the bottle very early on, it doesn't mean he is still going to take it when he's older. My girls would never take the bottle so I was determined to make sure this time was different. I made sure he was used to me and then dove right in. He took the bottle totally fine. But for some reason he won't take the bottle now!! He probably knows I am about to go back to work. I have been giving it to him for the past week and he's taken it from me fine. Then yesterday, I left to go to the movies and he wouldn't take the bottle from Trav. He screamed for an hour and a half. Someone suggested laying my shirt or something next to him while Trav gave it to him so we did that today but it didn't work. He just cried so then I thought I would just get him going and then give him back to Trav. He wouldn't take it from me either. After an hour, Aiden finally took it from me and fell asleep! I go to work tomorrow and I am praying that he will eventually take the bottle from Trav. It hurts my heart to know that he will be crying and wanting his mommy and I will not be there.

~No matter how many kids you have, it will always be hard to leave them to go back to work no matter what age they are. It was hard even when my girls were older but it's going to be really hard with Aiden. He will be younger than my girls were and it will be interesting to see how it goes!

~The more laid back I am, the more laid back the baby is. He is probably my easiest baby and I'm sure it's because I'm not as crazy about everything.

Thumb?

This little guy is already 12 weeks old and he has just started to suck (or more like chew) on his thumb. I never want my kids to suck their thumb. It's a lot easier to take away a binky than his thumb:) But he will only chew on the binky....pretty much like his thumb but I don't have to hold his thumb up there;) I'm not too worried because Jordyn did the same thing and she didn't keep it up. So that is what I'm hoping. It's absolutely adorable when they are babies but I sure don't want to deal with trying to get him to cut it out when he's a big kid. In the meantime, they still make for some cute pics! Oh, and check out that budha belly!!

He is also checking out a lot of things now. He loves looking at the fish on his swing and he's just discovered the light that comes on in the middle of them. It's so cute. I can't wait until he really starts playing with his toys. I feel like he's bored all the time sitting in his swing. But if he is, he doesn't tell me about it. He sits in his swing like such a good boy. He will only start crying if he's hungry:) I'm thinking about getting his exersaucer out just to let him look at all the stuff. We'll see.

4th of July!

I don't know if it was because it was on a Sunday or what but it just didn't feel like the 4th of July yesterday. But either way, we had a blast. The girls were super excited to see fireworks since they got a preview the night before. We had just gotten home from our Stake's patriotic concert (which Trav played awesome in:) and there was a park that was going to shoot fireworks off and we could see them from our front yard!! Makenna was flipping out!! It was a pain getting them to bed but we did with the promise that they would see more the next day.

We then went to church the next morning and she kept asking me when they would be able to see the fireworks and then she would get all upset when I said 'later'!!! She doesn't get that later is not very long because she said, "You told me it was today!!!" Yes, but not until it gets dark!! :)

After church and a hard worked for nap (I had to lay down with Jordyn for her to relax enough to sleep and then Makenna laid down with me and fell asleep too:), we went over to Grandma and Papa's for dinner and fireworks. My mom found the bumbo that they used for my nephew and we put our chunky monkey in it!! He wasn't sure what to think but he didn't hate it! He actually stared at this little firetruck the whole time:)

And then he blew out his diaper so he couldn't wear his flag shirt anymore.....this is his reaction to that;)

My sweet girls:)

They were so excited to do fireworks that we did some sparklers before it got dark. Jordyn was excited.....at first.

Trav doing one too:)

Makenna was thrilled. I told her to look at me so I could take a pic. As you can see she smiled for the camera but she couldn't take her eyes off the sparkler.

Mahler! He wasn't too thrilled.

The next few pics are quite funny. They show the range of emotions from Jordyn:)

Interested.

Kinda nervous.

Scared!!! Starting to freak out!

Hmmm...wait a minute....it might not be so bad.

Ok.....I'm cool.

She then just wanted to watch.....J.J and Papa

Daddy and Kenna

Mommy and Kenna

Kenna in awe from some fireworks in the sky! You can see what the excitement did to Aiden:)

Jordyn looking at the ones in the sky! She loved those!!

So then we ventured out front to light some of our own and to watch all the other crazies light their illegal ones. The dogs weren't too happy about all the noise.

Aiden was still kinda bored with it all:)

He would watch the fireworks but this is about as excited as he got:)

Jordyn hated the ones that were close. She kept hiding her face when we were lighting them but loved watching the ones in the sky even though those had a huge boom to them.

Makenna just loves it all. She even did these fireworks that you just light in your hand and throw. This girl is fearless.

We had a great 4th of July!! Thank you Grandma and Papa for sharing it with us!!