New Years Eve!

Our good friends and neighbors the Shattucks loaded up their u-haul to move today. 

While they were busy loading the truck I was able to help by watching their 2 little kids Sawyer and Paisley. They are such cute, sweet kids and it was fun to be able to play with them one last time before they move. Mason and Emma also loved having them over to play with. 

 Paisley was cracking me up. 

 We have had 2 balloons floating around our house for a couple weeks now (they came from Steven's work Christmas party) and Sawyer and Paisley absolutely loved playing with them. They had so much fun with them that we sent them home with them since most of their toys were packed up now. 

Once the truck was loaded their parents Jessica and Zach ran to get some late lunch before coming over to get the kids, so I attempted to get them to take naps while they were here. Paisley had pulled off my kitchen towel and at first was trying to put it on her head, but then settled for cuddling it. With the towel in her arms I got her to lay down on me and she was asleep pretty quickly.

 She is so light and little I could have held her all day, but I laid her down on the couch so I could try and get Sawyer to sleep. I got him to lay on my shoulder for awhile and he probably would have fallen asleep if Mason hadn't been making so much noise playing the Wii. He did have a little rest though before his parents came back. He had started to feel a little warm to me and when his parents arrived around 2 his cheeks and ears were bright red. 

They hung out for a little longer and we gave them a bag of goodies for their road trip tomorrow and then said goodbyes. When they got back home they told me Sawyer's temp was 103. The poor boy has had fevers off and on the last couple of days. I'm hoping we weren't the ones who got him sick when he came over on Christmas!

We hadn't really made any other plans for today or this evening even though it's New Year's Eve, mainly cause our kids have still had their colds. We have all been getting a little stir crazy though being cooped up in the house everyday, so we made a last minute decision to take them out for pizza at Pizza Pie. 

A few pictures from my phone. 

They of course loved getting out and eating at a "special place" and even Landon did surprisingly well.

 He started to get a little fussy towards the end, but I never had to pull him out of his car seat and he probably would have fallen asleep, but the girl bussing the table next to us was make a lot of noise and I think it kept startling him. We had a good time though and it was nice to get out of the house. Once we got home it was baths and bed as usual for the kids. Steven and I celebrated the end of the year by watching a movie and going to bed around 11 cause we're cool like that! 2014 has been good to us and we have been very blessed this year with the safe arrival of our little Landon. We have had many other blessings this year as well and we hope that this next year will be just as good.

Happy Birthday Dad/Grandpa!

Just wanted to wish this handsome, awesome, stud of a man a very Happy Birthday! We are so super lucky to have you as our dad and grandpa! Thank you for your amazing example and for all you do for us! We love you!

Landon at 5 Months Old

This boy just keeps on growing and wraps me tighter around his finger everyday! 

Here are some things about our cute boy at 5 months old!

He's wearing 6-9 month clothes and size 3 diaper

His eczema on his back has almost completely cleared up with the hydrocortizone cream and looks so much better!

He has now been in his own room sleeping in his crib for the past 3 nights and so far doing pretty well. I've basically created a nest of pillows for him to sleep in inside his crib. I know it's not the safest, but the boy likes to be cradled when he sleeps. He still prefers to sleep on his sides and no longer likes to be swaddled. In fact now he just sleeps with one blanket on that he likes to have tucked up under whichever arm is on top so that he can cuddle it. I think he gets this from me. He is still nursing once during the night anywhere between 2 and 5 in the morning and requiring us to give him his binky 1-5 times during the night. He is usually in bed for the night by 9 and awake by 6/6:30 in the morning. We're afraid we might have another earlier riser like Mason!

During the day we try to keep him up till 9 before his first nap. He will generally sleep till 11, nurses at 12, naps again from 1-3, nurses at 4, naps from 6-7/7:30ish, nurses again at 8 then goes to bed.

He's still drinking 6-7 ounces from a bottle or 15-20 minutes when nursing. He rarely cries before his feedings until the moment I stick him on the boppy then he gets impatient and fusses until he eats.

He tried rice cereal for the first time yesterday, and didn't seem to know what to think about that. I think more ended up on his bib than in his mouth, but by the end he was kind of starting to figure out eating off a spoon.

When he is awake he is usually content to sit in his bouncer or play on his mat with toys as long as he can see people. If he can't see anyone or thinks he's all alone he starts fussing. He has been more and more interested in playing with toys and has also recently discovered the joys of his own feet. He has constantly been grabbing at his feet and there has been a couple times when I change his diaper that he gets his toes in his mouth.

He is so close to rolling over, but still just can't quite seem to figure it out. He hates tummy time and usually only lasts 5 minutes before he either starts spitting up or crying. He likes sitting up in the bumbo chair a little more now, but can not sit on his own yet. He loves to suck on his fingers, but does not use them to soothe himself, for that he needs his pacifier.

He is super ticklish on his ribs and legs and is pretty easy to get laughing. He loves when we play peek-a-boo with him and this is usually the easiest way to get him to laugh. I could listen to his cute little baby laugh all day!

He really is such a sweetheart and I am so thankful everyday for what a good, mellow baby he is! I just love him to pieces!

Landon's First Baby Food

In our attempt to get Landon to be a better sleeper at night I thought we'd try feeding him some rice cereal before his bedtime feeding. My hope is that it will help his tummy stay fuller longer and maybe help cut out his night feedings. This never worked with Emma and in fact made things worse by constipating her and making her tummy hurt. She was very easily constipated though, so I guess we'll see how Landon does with it. 

He didn't seem to sure about sitting up in this chair to begin with. 

 First bite he didn't know what was going on! The faces he would pull were cracking me up!

He didn't quite seem to know how to handle the spoon in his mouth, but I don't think it will take him to many more feedings to figure it out. 

Sick Kids & Julia's Farewell

This morning Emma was feeling a little better, but still sounded very hoarse and coughing a lot. Mason has also started to sound coarse and has been coughing too, but still doesn't sound as bad as Emma. With both of them sick there was no way we were going to be taking them to church, but it was Julia Israelsen's farewell today which I really wanted to go to, so Steven offered to stay home with them so I could go. Julia was our nanny during the summer of 2013 and has continued to babysit occasionally for us since then. She has also been my visiting teaching companion for the last couple of months. She is seriously one of the sweetest girls I know, she has a heart of gold, and an incredible testimony. She will be serving in the Ventura, California mission, and will make one awesome missionary! As expected her talk in Sacrament meeting was amazing and was very spiritually uplifting for me. I was so glad that I was able to be there to hear her speak. She had invited us to a luncheon after Sacrament meeting in which I made some brownies for, but opted to just drop them off and head home to help Steven with our sick kids instead of staying. I also had to go pick up Emma's medicine from the pharmacy still. When I got home both kids were doing pretty good, Emma's appetite has come back some and the fevers haven't come back. She has still been pretty clingy though and still just wants to be held all the time. So glad she is feeling a little better though, and really grateful that Landon so far shows no signs of being sick. Fingers crossed it stays that way!

Poor Sick Emma

This morning when Emma got up her voice was very hoarse and almost gone. She was also coughing quite a bit and by 9 had a fever of 100.5 which I gave her Motrin for. She ate some cereal this morning and was still pretty playful, but by the afternoon she was starting to act like she wasn't feeling so well. By 12:30 her temperature was 101 and I gave her Tylenol. 

An hour later it was 102 and she couldn't have Motrin again till 3. She looked and acted absolutely miserable and she no longer had an appetite so I called her doctor to see if I should take her in. 

They said to just keep giving her the Tylenol and Motrin to keep her fever down and that they were completely booked today so that if I wanted her seen I'd have to take her to Instacare. I decided to hold off a little bit and worked on getting her fever down. 

We stripped her shirt off, put an ice pack on her head and I had to work to get her to eat a popsicle and drink some gatorade. She is pitiful when she doesn't feel well and just wanted to be held all day. In her quiet raspy voice she would repeatedly say, "I hold you" if we weren't all ready. Pretty much any plans I had today including just keeping the house picked up went out the window, because how could I not just stop and hold her. Finally around 3 her fever broke after having had Motrin again and was down to 99.6 and I was able to talk her into taking a nap on our bed which she did for about an hour and a half. When she got up we tried to get her to eat something, but she was not interested and again just wanted to be held. It was then we started talking about the fact that she had not even peed since this morning and other than the cereal she'd eaten this morning she'd only had the one popsicle and maybe 6 oz of gatorade to drink all day. I'd still been debating all day whether or not I should have her seen and finally around 6:45 I decided I'd better just take her in before the Instacare closed at 8 and we'd only be left with the ER to take her too. It was about a 50 minute wait there before we were able to see the doctor. 

Waiting to see the doc, thank goodness for smartphones and WiFi to keep her entertained. 

Her vitals when we arrived were temp of 100.9, heart rate 135 and oxygen level was 95%. While we were waiting Emma did end up peeing again, for only the 2nd time today. The doctor was really nice and after checking her out, seeing her swollen throat and hearing her barky cough determined that she had croup and prescribed some Prelone (steroids). She said Emma probably didn't want to eat because how swollen she was so hopefully the steroids would decrease the swelling and she'd want to eat again. They gave her a loading dose there which she really did not want to take and was a huge fight to get it down her and then they called in some that I'll pick up tomorrow. I felt so bad holding her down to make her take the medicine, but I know it will help and I just want her to feel better! The poor girl could hardly even cry cause she had no voice left. I packed her back up and headed home where we had to fight her again to take more Motrin before bed. By this point she had medicine all over her neck and hair from spitting it out so I hurried and gave her bath before putting her to bed on the floor in our room where I could keep an eye on her through the night. I was just worried with her lack of voice that I wouldn't be able to hear her from her room if she needed me. I'm hoping these steroids will work quickly and she'll start feeling better soon. I hate seeing her like this!

The Day After Christmas

I love putting up Christmas decorations, but I think I love taking it all down just as much. By the time Christmas rolls around I start feeling a little claustrophobic with all the "stuff" around and it always feel so good to put it back away and that's what we did today. I think we had all of the Christmas decor down and put away by noon today.  Although I did have to make sure I got some pictures of the manger my father built me before we put it away.

 I also had to get pictures of Landon in front of the tree being his first Christmas and all. There was to much going on yesterday for me to think about it then.

Love this sweet little baby!

The rest of the day was spent just hanging out at home, the kids playing with their new toys and watching movies 

Today we have also been transitioning Landon into sleeping in his crib in his own room in preparation for tonight when he'll start sleeping in there permanently. I'm already having some anxiety about moving him out of our room, but I know it's time and he's getting to big to keep sleeping in the little rocker thing he's been in. Thankfully Steven has another week off of work so he can help to get up with him at night when he needs his binky.

Christmas Day

We were up a lot last night with Mason who was still not feeling well, and although we'd told him several times he couldn't go downstairs before us he still went down. As we were lying in bed I thought I'd heard footsteps on the stairs and sure enough Steven went downstairs to find Mason just sitting on the couch with his puke bowl on his lap. Steven made him go back upstairs and wait till we got ready for both he and Emma to come down. As I was prepping the camera I could here Mason telling Emma that there was a tent downstairs. 

All their presents waiting for them. 

Santa ate all his cookies and drank all his milk

Emma's stocking & Santa gifts. 

Landon's

Mason's

Mine and Steven's

Once I was ready we let the kids come down and they both went straight to the tent before locating their stockings and seeing what else Santa had left for them. Mason was loving his new big transformer and the 2nd How to Train Your Dragon movie.

Emma I think was mostly excited about getting the Frozen movie and didn't seem to interested in her cat at first. 

Once they had a chance to check out their stockings it was on to opening presents from mom and dad. They tore into them one at a time, look at what they got, push it to the floor and want another one to open. They seemed to have the most fun just ripping off the paper.

Mason got an army man costume/dress up

 Emma got lots of princess dress up costumes. 

 Emma was especially hilarious when she would open a box of clothes, she would just throw them right over the edge of the couch with the wrapping paper. There were a few times when she got a new that she'd want that opened right then to play with, but we made them wait till we'd opened everything up before we started opening up the toys. Landon was sleeping during most of the present opening and it wasn't until we got close to the end that he woke up and joined us. I helped him open his presents while he was mostly interested in eating the wrapping paper.

Obviously at almost 5 months old he doesn't really care about presents to much yet. The other kids were excited to see what new toys he got though and wanted them out so they could play with him.

 Steven opening up our gift from Mason

 He made this cute little decoration at preschool 

Once the craziness of opening all the presents was over, we got the kids some breakfast. Poor Mason just got toast and Gatorade since he hadn't been feeling well all night, while the rest of us enjoyed cinnamon rolls and chocolate milk. Then Steven and I checked out our stockings and the gifts that we got each other. I got chocolates, lots and lots of chap-stick, a lemon press (that I'd bought myself), a measuring cup shot glass to use for the liver cleanse I've been doing, a magazine, and a handheld massager. 

The best thing I got for Christmas from Steven was this "spoken word" poem that he wrote and read to me. It was so thoughtful and sweet and I loved it. I really got so lucky wh

Steven got Dr. Pepper licorice, chocolates, a chromecast, a new wallet, a new Wii game (that he got himself) and a wrist pedometer thing. 

Steven also got me a neck massager and 3 boxes of my favorite Life cereal. I did try to find his favorite cereal which is Fruit Harvest, but after going to 3 stores and even looking online without being able to find it I gave up and just wrote on a box of cereal that we already had for him to pretend it was Fruit Harvest! I've told him now that he just needs to pick a new favorite cereal since they must not make his anymore.

Rosco in the aftermath of Christmas

Mason's loot

 Emma's loot

 Landon in his new swing with his new toys

 

The rest of our morning was spent playing with new toys, watching movies, playing the new Wii games and just enjoying being together and watching the snow fall outside. 

Cute Landon playing

Emma playing their new fishing game

These magnetic magformers were a huge hit with the kids. They played with them for a long time!

My parents had planned to drive up and spend the night here, but when the snow just kept coming outside they decided not to risk driving through the canyon. 

Our winter wonderland

So we skyped with them instead so that they could see the kids open the presents they'd given them. Mason got a dragon from the How to Train Your Dragon movie and the 1st Dragon movie. He was super excited about his gifts. Emma got a bunch of little princess figures, a little sister Mercer Mayer stuffed animal along with a book.

 Landon got new bibs with snaps that he desperately needed, and the brother Mercer Mayer animal. We were having a good laugh about the stuffed animals because they are certainly not as cute as they are portrayed in the book.

In the afternoon all of us, but Steven laid down for naps. When we got up we cleaned up the house, and since my parents weren't able to make it up here and we'd prepared a big Christmas dinner we invited our neighbors the Shattucks over to join us. Steven baked a ham and made his mom's au gratin potatoes and I made the "Christmas" jello that my mom used to always make for our Christmas Eve dinners. 

The Shattucks will be moving soon on New Years Day, so it worked out well to have them over one last time before they leave. Also, they have been trying to clean out their food in preparation for their move so they were grateful for a good meal too. We did still miss having my parents here though. Unfortunately I didn't really think about taking pictures during or after dinner while we visited, but we certainly enjoyed having them over and we will miss them when they move.

They left around 7:30, we put the kids to bed, and then got ready for bed ourselves. It seemed like a long day, but it was a great day and so much fun to see the excitement of our kids this morning even with one being sick. Christmas is certainly more fun and magical when you have the excitement of little kids in the house. We have felt very blessed this year and are very grateful for the ability we have to provide both needs and wants for our children.

Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas today too.