the hunt times

2012-01-23T11:06:00.001-08:00

My younger brother Lance got married on the 7th to Stephanie in the LA temple. She is a sweet and quiet girl that Nixon is quite in love with. Not sure how that happened. It was a fun but long day. I was instructed to wear black pumps with my bridesmaid dress. I have no business wearing that high of a shoe chasing after three kids. My feet were sore for days.

I've decided that I am awful at remembering to take pictures so the only pictures I have of the reception are from the photo booth they had there. Surprisingly, we all fit in that little box. Nixon cracks me up.

christmas

2012-01-10T14:04:00.000-08:00

I just decided that I did a horrible job taking pictures this past Christmas season. We had both an elf join our home and an advent calendar but I really didn't take any pictures of any activities we did. I did snap a picture of the boys prior to the Naples boat parade. We went to a soccer friends house for a little party prior to the parade. The boys loved it.

Brynnley's favorite thing about Christmas were these shiny glass bulbs that I hung from the ceiling. We drove to Idaho to spend Christmas with Kyle's family. Nixon's face shows how we felt about that drive. I was shocked that we were able to load all the Christmas presents in the car without the kids discovering any of them. We made the drive in two days and arrived on Christmas eve. The boys put out their stockings, cookies, and carrots in anticipation of Santa and his reindeer arriving. Christmas morning we had church at 9am so we let the kids check out all their stocking stuff and Santa's presents. Logan wanted a Lego 4-wheeler (that took Santa 2 hrs to put together)Nixon asked for Cranky from Thomas and friends. He seemed to be really excited with all the treats in his stockingI painted these little superhero peg people for the boy's stockings. Ironman, superman, spiderman, and batman. Got the idea from blogs of course. I wasn't sure if the boys would like them with all the other big presents they were getting. However, they seem to really like them. I learned that I should have put some sort of seal on them because with all the playing they got the paint starting chipping. Have you seen the Disney princess peg people? so cute. I made some for one of Nixon's girlfriends and bought enough girl pieces to make Brynnley some. logan received a ton of Legos (those little pieces will be the end of me). His favorite presents are probably his new fast shoes and his razor scooter. Nixon got a ton of Thomas trains stuff, games, crocs, legos and a bunch of other typical boy stuff. He was thrilled with his new thomas pjs I made him. So much so that he stripped down as soon as he opened them.

The boys got an I pod touch to share. I think they are too young to have one, but it was perfect for the long rides in the car.

I didn't get B anything for Christmas. I did get her a Christmas church outfit. Other than that she received a doll, bathing suit, and learning toy from my older brother and wife.

The day after Christmas I got the flu (blah). But I managed to crawl around enough to help Kyle pack up to head to the cabin. And an even bigger success, I managed to make the drive to the cabin without puking. I ended up being sick for the better part of the trip. Even on the drive back to California my stomach was a little off. But the boys had a blast on our trip and never caught the flu.

First things first, Logan had to get on a 4-wheeler.

But dad had to plow the driveway a bit. These two played in the snow for hours. Nixon fell fast asleep on his ride. Miss B made it outside. Adorable. Stinkin adorable. After a couple of days alone all the cousins arrive. Mason seems to be a favorite from this trip. He's as crazy as my boys. I love this picture of my boys. I see this look between them numerous times throughout any given day. It is the look that fun and trouble are soon to follow. The whole family went sledding one day. After a minor traffic accident involving Kyle's brother crashing (softly) into his dad's new truck we found a nice hill and the kids had loads of fun. And that's where the pictures end. Looking back, I'm sad that I felt so crummy the whole trip. The snow is something special for us Californians and I wish I was able to enjoy it more with the family. But I came home 4 lbs lighter....not too bad.

10

2012-01-09T12:39:00.000-08:00

My dad called this morning complaining that I haven't updated my blog in a long time. My response, "Don't you know how busy these kids keep me? I don't have time to sit at the computer and blog." Then I tried to convince him to take the boys for a few days. But my parents had them over for a sleepover last week so that was pushing it.

I missed Brynnley's 9 month post. There was a good reason for it. I was waiting until her 9 month checkup to get her stats. Then the night of her checkup she woke up every half hour sick as a dog and I was too tired the next day to blog. Then the next day she broke out in a crazy rash covering her entire body and I didn't want to post any pictures of her (I realized I'm going to be a horribly insensitive mom when my kid's faces are covered in acne as teenagers). The rash on her face took a whole week to heal and by then I was busy with Christmas preparations so I gave up on her 9 month post.

So now she is 10 months.

She weighs somewhere around 21-22 lbs. However, she is only in the 75% for weight. Such a dainty thing. My brothers call her "heavy doll" (I had one as a child) and "big baby" from toy story.

Her height was in the 90th percentile.

She is CLINGY. Most of the time I don't mind it.

She crawls straight to my room when she is looking for me. Smart little thing. If I'm not in there she screams bloody murder.

She loves me most. Dad is a close second. Well...not that close.

Dad gets her to go to sleep at church every week.

The boys were either walking or close to it by this age. She isn't really close. She stands and walks along furniture and pushes toys around, but I don't see her walking soon.

She loves to eat what we are eating and drinking water. She pretty much wants to eat all day.

She nurses about 3 times a day. And probably still three times at night.

She smiles at everyone and makes them feel special. I keep the fact that she smiles at everyone a secret and let everyone feel like they are special.

She loves her pacifier and pillowcase.

While we were in Idaho I was so irritated with the lack of sleep we both got and promised to start sleep training the second we got home. Instead, I tucked her right into bed next to me.

She moves way too much when she sleeps.

She experienced the snow for the first time.

She started climbing stairs at the cabin (so glad I don't have to deal with those at home).

She has horrible skin. The "rash" she had at 9 months carried over to 10 months and I finally figured out that it was eczema. She also has had a diaper rash for over a month that I haven't been able to get rid of. I finally took her to the doctor to get prescriptions for all of her skin problems.

She plays peek a boo. She has started making some of the funniest expressions.

She is adorable. I know I'm her mother, but really she is. Love her.

scientists

2011-11-22T07:00:00.000-08:00

For about the last year and a half we have been taking the boys to the Lowes kid craft twice a month. Sometimes we do the projects there, sometimes we bring them home and do them during the week. Last week they got science kits and we spend a couple of hours doing science experiments. Fun stuff. Messy stuff.

Thomas

2011-11-19T07:00:00.000-08:00

Last week I took the kids all the way out to Perris to see Thomas. Logan has never cared much for Thomas but Nixon is absolutely in love with all the trains. My parents joined us and it was a fun day. The first thing we did was ride Thomas. Nixon wanted to actually sit in Thomas not in a train behind Thomas but what can you do. Brynnley was there and happy to be with grandma.

There is a small petting zoo that I took the boys through. Nixon was happy to meet all the goats, pigs, pony, calf, etc.

My shy chicken child Logan on the otherhand was petrified and stuck to only petting the rabbits.....but only after he saw Nixon do it.

There is an imagination center where there are stamps, coloring, and lots of train tables and trains to play with. Kind of a zoo in there but Nixon found a cranky and was thrilled. Cranky is a favorite. He tried to steal Cranky.

A hay maze to play in which perfectly displayed the difference between my boys.

Nixon sat on one end of the maze watching the trains go by.

Logan ran the maze continuously. At least he doesn't knock other kids over anymore. The boys wanted to meet Sir topham hat and so I waited and waited and waited in line for him. When it was our turn Logan was no where to be found (surprise surprise) and Nixon didn't want to go by himself. I don't think he ever looked at the camera he was fascinated by sir topham hat.

2011-11-17T19:54:00.000-08:00

I decided this week was the week to get those darn training wheels off Logan's bike. When I told him what he was going to do he told me he didn't want to. He asked me who could ride their bikes and so I listed........Reese, Harrison.......Kasen, Gabriel, and Collin (which is a lie because I don't really know that). But once he heard all those names he took off. He loves the riding, but doesn't love the crash landings.

logan's list

2011-11-16T09:30:00.000-08:00

I told Logan to circle some things that he wanted Santa to bring him for Christmas. Kyle and I have been cracking up because he circled 5 powered vehicles over $1000 dollars worth. No jeeps allowed, just firetrucks, police cars, and any 4-wheelers. At least he was thoughtful and circled the Thomas ride on and said that Santa should give that to Nixon. Maybe Santa should reconsider and actually give the kid one of these.

8

2011-11-04T13:02:00.000-07:00

Time really is going by too fast right now. The girl is already 8 months old.

This little baby of mine is the sweetest thing if I do say so myself. She loves the water, when we shower she just stares at it and reaches out to feel the water spraying her hand.

She sleeps completely folded over.

She is so stinkin chunky. Love it! This is a horrible picture but can you see that fat face of hers. Yum. I made her cry once this month because I was nibbling on her cheek and maybe it was too hard for her.

This next picture makes me laugh everytime I think about it. I didn't take the headband off of her because I didn't want to wake her up. Then about 30 minutes later I heard her talking so I went in to check on her. She was sitting up moving her head from side to side, like who turned the lights out? She was probably so confused that she couldn't see anything. I wish I had it on video.This month she started crawling and pulling herself up to a standing position. So now you can usually find me doing the dishes pantless. She just crawls on over, pulls at my legs to stand up, pulling my pants down in the process and says, "mama" over and over again until I stop what I'm doing and pick her up.

I have to constantly tell the boys that everything has to be picked up or she will choke. The other day I went through all the Legos making sure I had all of them (all 405 little tiny pieces). The boys think it is pretty funny that she is mobile now. They yell out, "here she comes, she's coming to get us" when she starts crawling towards them (don't mind all the toys in the background, it's raining today so every toy seems to be out)

She is senstive. Lately, she likes to blow raspberries while she has food in her mouth. So I tell her no and flick her mouth a little bit and she bursts out on tears. And doesn't stop crying until I pick her up and cuddle her for a bit.

This little girl eats and eats and eats. She nurses every 3-4 hours. She eats her baby food three times a day. She eats every fruit, vege, and meat. Not picky one bit. She eats cheerios, goldfish, chunks of bananas. She eats little pieces of whatever we as a family are eating. She eats asparagus and celery. I can't even get my husband to eat asparagus. She had her first taste of chocolate and looked at me with deep gratitude. If I am holding her and put anything in my mouth she stares at my mouth then at my eyes with a look that makes me feel like I am depriving her of something. If I am chewing gum she starts trying to bite my mouth. She is seriously such a crazy eater. Crazy eating results in crazy pooping (like 4 times a day, blah).

She still wakes up at night. She got a pretty nasty cold and cough that left her hoarse this month and was waking up at least 4 times at night. Now that she is feeling better she wakes up once or twice. She takes naps in her crib, and starts the night out in her crib and then out of laziness she ends up in my bed.

she is still pretty attached to me. She likes her dad for a bit and then she wants me. But it is nearing the time when she is going to be able to stay home with dad without me there.

she is an excellent cuddler. Especially when she is going down for the night.

our family is lucky to have this sweet girl

October

2011-11-01T14:03:00.001-07:00

Pumpkin patch visited

The boys chose the things they wanted to do there with the tickets we bought. It got them a train ride.

A motorcycle ride

Some bouncing in a bouncy house and a slide ride.

We carved three pumpkins and it took so long that the boys lost interest.

Logan told me he wanted to be ironman months ago. Nixon decided to be Dash from the Incredibles and so Brynnley became Wonder woman. Originally, I thought of just putting her in black, putting little ears on, painting her face and calling her cat woman. But then my friend sent me a link with a wonder woman costume and so I decided very last minute to sew up a costume.

The kids loved Halloween. They went to too many Halloween parties, where they ate too many sweet treats and candy. The boys were adorable trick or treating. Kyle and I were cracking up the whole time. Nixon fell a couple of times and would always yell, "oh no, my candy." Don't mind the scraped knees and bruises, as long as the candy was ok he was ok.

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T14:29:00.000-07:00

Hope it is WONDERful!!!!

nixon at school

2011-10-28T09:34:00.000-07:00

Nixon started home preschool a couple of weeks ago with two of our friends. He loves it. I love the two hours I get once a week (minus the week I teach) to get as many things done as I can with only one child.

7

2011-10-10T10:43:00.000-07:00

Sleeps in crib, but still ends up in bed with me.

Really close to crawling....gulp

Says dada

Like fries

Eats solids three times a day. One big bowl of cereal with either sweet potatoes, squash, peaches, apples, pears, peas, berries, or mixed veges.

Loves teething bars

Like avocados

Is hungry for her solids at exactly the same time of day every day.

Can hold her own sippy cup and loves drinking her water. I think if it were up to her she would stop nursing and eat what we all eat.

Wakes up ALOT at night. It's ok with me, I'm not ready to move her out of my room.

Pinches

Has great thighs......

Almost as great as her cheeks

Wants me to hold her all the time. Is fine with other people as long as she can't see or hear me.

Squints up her face when she is really happy.

Takes off every single flower or bow I put on her head.

Likes watching the water come out of the shower head.

Smiles or laughs every time the cat walks by.

this weekend

2011-09-18T07:49:00.000-07:00

Last week Logan's soccer game got rained out, so we were extra excited for this game. He is playing for LBYSO and is on the Red Dragons. However, the only red in their uniforms is a red thunder bolt on the shirt. The team mom got them red socks for next game so they will be a little more red. Kyle is coaching because they asked for a volunteer and apparently he was the only one to volunteer. Suddenly, he is called "coach" by eleven little boys. Kinda funny to me. Logan was so excited when he got his uniform that he wore it everyday and I had to keep washing it. So Saturday morning I went to get his uniform and couldn't find the shorts. I tore the house apart and then yelled at my husband to turn the football game off and help me look for the shorts. It worked.....he found them. But because I spent an hour looking for them Nixon didn't get any care prior to the game. So this Red Dragon supporter looked a little shabby.

Brynnley tried desperately to eat the grass the entire game.

When the other team made a goal I felt myself getting anxious and upset, like a crazy soccer mom. My future flashed before my eyes, in which I saw lots and lots of sporting games. I need to keep telling myself that he is only four and it is just a game.

Anyways, 30 minutes is a long game for these little kids. Theyy were sweaty and exhausted but happy as can be. Logan didn't score any goals, we have some pretty amazing 6 year olds on our team

Logan hasn't taken a nap in such a long time. However, after the game he zonked out shin guards and all for 3 hours. Apparently, it's exhausting being a coach too. Not sure why they are sleeping with tulle. Kyle set up the crib. Nixon calls it a bird cage. He never slept in one so he's not sure what it is. The boys aren't supposed to get in it so they have been getting in plenty of trouble.

Brynnly joined us for date night. Lets just say she won't be invited back. And check Nixon out now.

ALOT of hair came off of his head!! I cringed when kyle was cutting nixon's hair even though I agreed to it. Watching all that shiny, blond hair fall to the ground was sad. I actually ran over and picked up some of it. I felt like the witch on tangled. He looks precious though. My friend actually didn't recognize him today, thought I was babysitting someone. Ha.

6

2011-09-15T12:53:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of the month B turned 6 months. But she was getting two bottom teeth, received four immunizations that gave her a fever for a few days, and caught a cold so I was occupied taking care of a grumpy baby (and two crazy boys) so there was very little free time for me.

At 6 months:

18 lbs 3 oz

2 ft 3 inches

Sits up. Sadly, I must admit that her brothers have both knocked her over at least once.

Has two bottom teeth and has biten me a time or two. When I screech and tell her no (with a little flick on her mouth), my happy baby just smiles and laughs.

Reaches for everything.

Eats solids 3 times a day. Rice cereal and applesauce, pears, carrots, sweet potatoes and squash. Time to sneak some greens in.

Eating solids has made other stuff solid. Great.

Still wakes up at night at least once.

Still sleeps in bed with me.

Fell out of my bed today so the crib will be going up soon.

Rocks as though she wants to start moving forward.

Cries if I leave the room. It makes me smile, except when I have something to do.

Carries around a pillowcase still.

Loves her paci.

Is amused by her brothers.

Her only word is mama

When she babbles she sounds like a gremlin.

Fits in some 3-6 months clothes and 6-12

Should probably be in a size 3 diaper all the time, but I have so many size 2s that I only put her in a 3 at nighttime.

I lay her on her back to sleep, but she rolls onto her belly and seems to be more comfortable sleeping that way.

She still wakes up around 6 and fusses until I put her next to me on my pillow. Then she puts her hand on my cheek and falls asleep. I may be tired at that time, but I never get tired of that early morning moment with her.

Love her.

2011-09-08T09:27:00.000-07:00

What a difference from last year! Last year, he wouldn't let me take a picture. Last year, he started preschool crying his head off, screaming "mom, don't leave me." This year because everything was familiar to him (minus a change in some kids) he walked right in. I think I need to start talking to him about how he is going to be in a new school next year. Maybe if we talk about it daily for the next year my shy boy will be ready for kindergarten.

Sidenote: He had his 4 year old physical last week. Wouldn't say one word to the NP. Just buried his head in my chest, so shy. Cried when they took his blood pressure and because he kept moving the machine kept rechecking it.

He's always been pretty strong, doesn't cry much. But he got 4 boosters....man alive!! There was screaming, crying, tears streaming down his face. I was wrestling him, while trying to comfort him and had the other two kiddos there. It was rough, so rough that I told the nurse my husband would be bringing him next time for his shots. Apparently he doesn't need anymore until he is 10 (aside from a TB test).

He weighed 39.5 lbs
Height 3 ft 7 inch

Their computer system estimated he would be 6 ft 1inch as an adult. Kyle cried. He wants a really tall kid and 6'1" doesn't cut it.

2011-08-24T13:34:00.000-07:00

She's sitting up on her own now! She rolls over and squirms all over. In no time she will be mobile.

super birthday

2011-08-23T16:24:00.001-07:00

Whew!!! Throwing a birthday party is a lot of work. It was the first time I threw a "friends" birthday party. I knew it had to be superhero themed. Logan LOVES Ironman. But I decided to make it superheros so that I could make superman capes as party favors. I waited until the last minute to sew the capes (partially because I was waiting for RSVPs). Fortunately, my friend Melissa helped (actually she did it all) me the night before the party. I found myself finished up the superhero masks the morning of the party. The kids decorated their masks during the party and were adorable running around in their masks and capes. We invited 8 of Logan's guy friends. His best friends at the moment are: Harrison, Andrew, Gavin, Gabriel, Kasen, Drake, Thyssen, and Liam.....and his brother of course. I knew a few of the sisters would be joining us so I made a few pink superhero masks.

Brynnley tried one on before the party. Her tongue is super all on its own. They bounced

Miss B joined us for awhile before she passed out. Carrying those supercheeks around is a lot of work.

They beat the candy right out of batman

They recharged

They opened presents. It was a group effort.

Super Harrison

Super Thyssen saying goodbye

Super GabrielKasen

I was so tired after throwing the party that I called Kyle at work and told him I wouldn't be cooking dinner. We went out to dinner where Nixon was complaining of a stomach ache and wouldn't eat anything. Minutes later he threw up.....a ton of tootsie rolls. He then told me that his stomach felt better. Apparently I let him party too hard.

The next day my family came over for a party. Logan thought he was turning 5 because he was having another birthday party. Logan starts soccer soon so he got soccer gear along with an ironman mask and other toys.

This is pretty much how I have seen Logan since Saturday. I have to force him to take off his cleats.

Monday Logan met up with Kyle for his birthday lunch. He thought he was turning 6 because he was having a birthday lunch. He LOVES el pollo loco salads and so he received his birthday wish. Laura the manager also brought him an ice cream sundae and balloon and sang happy birthday to him. As expected, Logan hid behind his dad, shy as can be.

4

2011-08-19T15:25:00.000-07:00

He's 4 (turned it on Friday but I couldn't get my computer to work). What do I say about this 4 year old of mine? For about the first year of his life I remember looking at him with nothing but love and sweetness. I would see mothers speaking with anger toward their kids and thought, "no, I will never be that mad at this sweet baby of mine." oops!!! This 4 year old of mine has given me a run for my money.

He challenges me daily.

My patience (or lack thereof) is tried constantly.

He is a tough, rough, active boy.

He knows right from wrong. He tests boundaries.

He is smart, but sometimes plays dumb.

He is shy.

He is super athletic.

He hoards his toys.

He loves superheros

He loves salad and hamburgers

He loves icecream

He loves sports, anything active he wants to do it.

He loves his siblings.

He prefers dad. (probably because I'm so mean)

He is just as surprised as I am when he listens. He says, "mom, I listened!" with a shocked, happy face. I used to think that he was just ignoring me. How could he not hear me yelling at the top of my lungs at him. But now I think he just gets caught up in what he is doing and really doesn't hear any outside distractions. Either way it is frustrating.

His preschool and primary teachers never have a problem with him.

As a kid I thought of birthdays as just a time to get present, eat what I wanted, enjoy the company of friends, etc. But now being a mom, I enjoy birthdays because it gives me time to think back to that miraculous day that I gave birth. Logan's birth is special because it was my first. He made me a mother. I love him. I expect a lot out of him. I am grateful to my Heavenly Father for blessing me with Logan.....but if you happen to be walking by my house and hear me yelling, "what have a done to deserve this?!?!" know that it is probably in reference to something my darling dear Logan has done.

I told Logan that 4 year olds are really good. We'll see how that goes.

5 months

2011-08-19T15:24:00.000-07:00

Miss b turned 5 months while we were on vacation.

No stats until 6 months

She still is a happy baby. I get comments all the time from people who are surprised that a baby can smile and laugh so much.

Second most frequent comment is on her cheeks. Yes I kiss and squeeze them all day long.

She is very interested in food. I am usually holding her while I eat and she watches each bite. Sometimes she goes in for the kill when she sees the spoon going up to my mouth. She ends up biting my chin and then gives me a dissapointed look.

She drinks water out of a cup. I just give her a few sips out of my cup and it makes her happy.

I gave her a taste of bananas and rice cereal but I wouldn't say that we have started solids yet.

She rolled over from her stomach to back.

Loves her feet still.

Grabs for everything.

Holds toys

Loves Johnny.....jumper that is.

Says "ma ma" but I don't think she knows that I am mama.

occasionally will cry if left alone in a room. Is fine if one of the boys or dad is talking to her.

Sleeps with me still. Within the next couple of weeks her crib is going to have to go up.

wears 3-6 months clothing, size 2 diaper.

wakes up (smiles and all) at least once to eat at night.

She went to 5 new states this past month. Oregon, Wyoming, Montana, Arizona, and Nevada. She visited the Hunt cabin and Yellowstone for the first time.

I just can't stop kissing this little baby of mine.

the huntington

2011-07-13T14:29:00.003-07:00

Went to the Huntington Library last week with my parents. I think I was a little too relaxed watching the boys because I knew I had help so we lost Nixon for a couple of minutes. After he got chewed out we didn't have any other problem. It was hot, hot day at the huntington.

Nixon and grandma in the children's garden with steam. Scared the boys because they couldn't see.
Brynnley got stripped down because it was so hot.

Grandpa with the boys. They sure love him. He plays with them nonstop. Logan asked all day if he could go stay the night at grandpa's house.

baseball

2011-07-13T14:29:00.001-07:00

Logan started t-ball last week with his new friend Liam. He calls him "big boy Liam" because his cousin's name is also Liam and we call him "baby Liam." Of course Logan loves playing and has been looking forward to going back since we left the field last week. He asks to wear his new baseball shirt every single day. I can only wash it so many times! The kid throws hard.

fourth of july

2011-07-13T14:27:00.001-07:00

We went to my uncle's house on the 3rd for a dinner, ice cream, and their block parade. It was huge and led by a fire truck. I waited to the last minute to go to the store to buy decorations for their bikes and so I ended up not being able to find anything. I had to made due with my small craft supply. I don't think the boys really cared what their bikes looked like anyways.

Logan thought he was hot stuff riding his bike in the street. He never looked back to see if we were with him.

Nixon decided to let us know that he had to pee as we were standing waiting for the parade to start. I wasn't about to have him pee on someones tree while their were hundreds of people walking and so he peed his pants. Lovely.

Nixon doesn't ever really feel the need to move fast. So I was with Logan who thought he was racing and Kyle stayed behind with Nixon . Towards the end of the parade Kyle runs up to me with Nixon in his arms, who was out. He was slightly panicked and said, "Nixon is unresponsive." Who says that? Especially to a former ICU nurse!! Unresponsive....I started thinking, where's the crash cart, push some epi, charge to 360. Wait, where's speed racer Logan? Apparently Kyle was actually worried because Nixon fell asleep while riding his bike. Only my Nixon could fall asleep sitting up on his bike. He stayed asleep the rest of the night with me monitoring his respiratory/heart rate. I instructed Kyle not to ever say unresponsive to me again unless one of them really is. My heart can't handle that!

The fourth we spent at my parent's house just hanging out. Didn't take a single picture and the boys were both asleep before fireworks. Oh well.

4

2011-07-06T15:41:00.000-07:00

On the fourth, Brynnley turned 4 months. She is the absolute best (although I should say that I always think my babies are great, I love babies)! She's so happy, so chunky, so cuddly.

She weighs 15 lbs 8 oz

Length 26 1/4 inches (taller than both her brothers at this age)

Doesn't roll over

Doesn't like to be on her belly

Loves me the most (she should, right?!)

I love that she loves me most

Is happy as can be!

Discovered her hands

Jumps in the Johnny jumper

Reaches for toys and can hold them for a little bit

Laughs

squeals

when I'm nursing her she watches me from the corner of her eyes I think just to make sure I won't leave. And then smiles every few minutes.

Still loves her pacifier

Pinches....it hurts

Is quite the drooler. Hardly ever spits up, but drools all the time.

Still loves sheets. I've bought different blankets of different textures but she loves my sheets. So I finally just took off a pillow case and we carry that around. Doesn't she know she's my only girl and needs to have a cute blanket?

Sleeps for about 7 hours straight at night

Isn't as scheduled as my boys were because we have to be out and about in order to keep the boys entertained.

Still sleeps in bed with me

When its time for a nap or bedtime she likes to be rocked for a little bit and then put down with her pillow case and pacifier and left alone to fall asleep on her own.

New places: the beach, Idaho, Utah, airplane ride

First temple visit: Idaho falls

Apparently my perfect baby has a few flaws......2 to be exact.

One my friend Megan discovered while holding her. She told me her rib felt funny. I blew her off at the moment, but if you know me you know I don't blow off medical things EVER. So as soon as I got home I started a full head to toe assessment on my little one, counted and felt every rib and intercostal space. Sure enough my hair stylist friend was right! So I had the doctor check Brynnley out. He said that we will just keep an eye on it and if it gets too abnormal than we will xray it. But I had my brother check her out and he said she probably fractured it during birth and that is how it healed. Who knows?!

The second little imperfect is that she has labial adhesions. Since I know there are a few guys who read my blog I will leave it at that and let you just google it if you want to know what they are. But I should just clarify that hers are congenital not due to me leaving her in a wet diaper all day.

Even with these two little flaws she is simply perfect to me!

Odd story. I took her to her pediatrician. We are new to Kaiser so it was only her second appointment and our first time meeting the docs regular nurse. So when the nurse saw Brynnley she was commenting about how cute she was and how much she loved the flower on her hair. Typical comment for any baby is what I thought. Then she started talking about how she was having a hard time getting pregnant and how her mom really wanted a grandchild. Everytime I took off the headband she would put it back on. She wanted to measure the head circumference with it on, weigh her with it on, have the doc assess her with it on. I was thinking, enough of this darn flower! Then she said she was going to take a picture of Brynnley on her phone and send it to her mom. um ok. So she did. And then I started wondering if this nurse who wanted a baby so bad and had my chart with my address was going to steal my baby. Odd right? I may have to switch docs.

The boys still love her. They still get in her face way to much, they tug on her arms and legs to get her attention, but other than that they are super good with her. They like to share there comfort blankets with her which makes me cringe because they are so raggedy.

She found her hands. Cracks me up, because she punches her hand straight up in the air and stares at it. Sometimes she sees it while she's eating and has to stop eating just to check out her hand. So precious.

father and sons

2011-06-18T22:05:00.000-07:00

Kyle took the boys to our church's annual father and son's campout. He invited my dad also. The four of them had a great time. They played basketball. They went 4 wheeling

The owner of the property who is in our ward and our former stake president piled a bunch of kids on with him driving.....yikes

3 boys came home smelling like campfire and dirt. They loved every minute of it. Now they think the 14-18 year old boys that were there are their best friends. Fortunately, those young men are really nice to my boys.

attack of the killer bees

2011-06-18T21:44:00.000-07:00

Friday morning I decided to take the kids to the park to snap a few pictures of them. The park is about 10 houses up the street from us. Just as I was finishing up I heard Logan screaming at the top of his lungs so Nixon, Brynnley and I ran over to him. He was crying hysterically and was yelling that bees were stinging him. Sure enough we were suddenly surrounded by bees. Nixon started screaming and crying and they were attacking me also, so I yelled at the kids to hurry and run across the street. I picked up Logan's skateboard and crossed with them thinking the bees would be gone, but they followed us across the street. At that point Brynnley started crying, so with all three kids crying and the bees swarming around us I started screaming at the top of my lungs for the boys to run as fast as they could home, threw the skateboard down, and followed them screaming down the street. If my neighbors didn't think I was crazy already (which I'm pretty sure is impossible) they sure do now. One man came out of his house picked up the skateboard and brought it home to me. When I got to our house both of the boys were hiding on the porch in a corner crying. Once inside Logan was complaining that his head hurt and I found 2 stingers in his head. Poor kid. We all sat on the couch thoroughly tramatized. Nixon kept looking at me saying, "bees are scary," Logan kept complaining that his head hurt, and my heart was pounding out of my chest. Who would've thought bees would cause so much trouble. Kyle suggested that I get the boys ice cream to cheer them up, so we headed over to Baskin n robbins. Seemed to do the trick for the boys.......but I'm still afraid, maybe I need some ice cream too.

last day of school

2011-06-17T12:56:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the last day of preschool for the year and we all met at the park for a little lunch and playtime. I was a little nervous to go because keeping track of all three kids can be a little challenging especially when there are a bunch of other kids around. But it turned out to go pretty smoothly.

Logan's best buds at school are Gabriel, Kasen, Scottie, Griffin, and James. He tells me the boys play with the boys and the girls play with the girls. Except Layla plays with the boys too.

Here he is with Gabriel eating lunch.

Nixon wanted to be next to Logan while he ate his lunch. It may be hard to see but as we were getting ready to eat Nixon slipped off of the park bench and bit though his bottom lip all the way through to the outside. Poor kid. I wasn't sure if I would have to take him in to get stitched up so I called Kyle. His response, "How many more years of school do you need to go through before you know?" Ha!There were about six boys running around with sticks all over the playground. Would you believe that none of the got hurt or hit eachother. It's a miracle I tell ya.

Then all of the boys came out from behind the bushes with this long metal stick with the leader of the pack yelling out "up 2,3,4...up 2,3,4." It makes me happy that other boys act just the same as mine. Two and half hours later I ended up with two sweaty and tired boys who didn't want to leave the park.

And because picture taking didn't happen on the first day of school, with all the screaming, "Don't leave me mom" I got a picture of Logan and Mrs. Tami who we all love. Her kids are part asian also and she says that Logan reminds her of her oldest son when he was 3 years old. Logan and Mrs. Stacey.

over the weekend

2011-06-14T18:22:00.001-07:00

We were invited to a wedding in Idaho for Bubba, a long time friend of the Hunts. When Kyle told me we could get two free plane tickets I knew I wanted to go. So I called my mom to ask her if they could watch my boys. While doing so I could feel the tears welling in my eyes but the plans were made and tickets were bought. I decided not to tell the boys where we were going. Didn't want them to think we were going to the cabin without them. Last Friday we left the boys and I have to say that while I was still a little hesitant and sad to leave them I was also relieved.....I think I really needed a BREAK!!!! I enjoyed eating my meals in piece and just relaxing and not having to get after my boys. I think I need to take a few weekenders every once in awhile, because after this weekend I feel like I have more patience and energy to tackle the daily battles.

Me and miss B outside of the temple. My sister in laws mom was so kind to watch Brynnley for me so I could go in the temple. Don't mind the fact that I am squinting it was really bright and I have sensitive eys.

The reception was held in blackfoot along the snake river. It was so pretty. My sister in law and her family.

All the Hunts who attended.

Three days without my boys did my mind some good. Hopefully it didn't send my parents to an early grave!

3 months old

2011-06-08T20:58:00.000-07:00

She just gets sweeter every day!

love her face in between her bros, it's like, "get me outta here mom!"

Some things for me to remember about this age.

I worry about if she is gaining enough weight.

She eats every 2 to 3 hours during the day.

Sleeps from about 9pm to 3am without waking up.

Around 5:30am she eats again and will not go back to sleep unless I lay her on my pillow next to me. As soon as I do she smiles and falls asleep. So sweet.

She smells so good and since she sleeps in my bed with me (in her little infant separater) my sheets smell like a baby all the time. Heaven.

The boys have always had their comfort blankets and Kyle keeps telling me we need to figure out what texture of blanket she wants. As far as I can tell she just loves the sheets. She rubs them on her face until she falls asleep. I may have to cut up a pillow case for her.

She has so many rolls of fat on her chin area that I swear she is going to start growing things under there.

Her eyes are hazel. My dad and Kyle's mom have hazel eyes. Maybe they will stay, maybe they will turn brown like the rest of the family.

Logan and I call her miss B.

She is so happy almost all the time. Everytime I change her diaper she is all smiles, practically laughing. I actually told Kyle that I think something is wrong with her because she is smiling so much. But I can't find any diseases that cause smiling.

Her bros love her and are always in her face. drives me nuts.

And since I haven't posted about the boys much, I will just say that they keep me busy (that's the nice way of saying it).

Here is a pic of them from a birthday party last weekend.

This is how I feel most days about them. She must feel my pain.

2 months

2011-05-04T18:23:00.000-07:00

My newborn is gone and has been replaced with a perfectly chubby 2 month old baby.

She is a smiler

until she notices me taking pictures of her and it becomes serious business.

We just switched to Kaiser so she had her first appointment with a new physician today.

She had a rough time as a 1 month old, balding and zitty, zitty, zitty. Her face was covered in zits the entire month of April and suddenly cleared up almost completey the day before her blessing.

She smiles alot, especially after she eats.

Love the little sounds she makes.

Still eats every 3 hours, including nights.

She still sleeps in bed with me in her little separator. After her 5am feeding she grunts and wiggles until I pick her up and lay her on my pillow with me. Then she gives me a little smile and falls asleep.

She is in 0-3 months clothes, size 1-2 diapers.

Today at her appointment she weighed 13 lbs 10 oz was 23 3/4 long.

She still doesn't have brown eyes. Not really sure what color to call me, maybe hazel.

I love, love, love this little girl of mine.

Easter Sunday

2011-05-03T11:26:00.000-07:00

Love these pictures of the boys.

My friend Kadee gave me this dress for brynnley and I used it as her Easter dress. Brynnley was a zitty mess.

We went to my aunt's house for dinner and an easter egg hunt. My aunt and uncle do a separate kid and adult hunt. There is never candy in the eggs just money and figurines (like chicks, ducks, bunnies) that are worth bigger money.

Logan was upset because he only found 2 eggs (my kids were some of the youngest kids)

But it turned out that this little yellow duck he found in one of his eggs was worth $20.

Nixon found about 5 or 6 eggs with the help of my brother and ended up with about $4.

brynnley's blessing

2011-05-03T11:03:00.000-07:00

Brynnley was given a blessing at church on Sunday by Kyle. He did a great job. He tried to tell me that it was my job to share my testimony during sacrament meeting, but in my mind my job was to carry her for 9 months and give birth to her so I decided not to.

Brynnley looked beautiful on her blessing day.

We went back to my house for lunch. This is the only picture I took. oh well, I was tired.

story of my life

2011-04-07T15:41:00.001-07:00

I was cooking dinner the other night, but I ran outside to give Kyle the camera while he was teaching the boys to skateboard so he could snap a few pictures. He didn't capture very many skateboarding pictures. Instead, he caught the boys in an all too familiar act that happens numerous times during the day. Little brother is happy with sunglasses. Big brother yells out, "those are mine."

Big brother and little brother fight

Big brother usually wins and even though he just beat up little brother he is happy and proud to get HIS item back.

Defeated little brother throws a tantrum

And then seeks revenge.

I'm guessing that is where the photos ended because Kyle finally decided to step in before the death match.

bedtime

2011-04-06T08:45:00.000-07:00

Bedtime is a struggle. Since Brynnley was born, Kyle has almost fully taken over the duty of getting the boys to stay in their room in bed (without destroying it). The boys come out numerous times for numerous reasons that I'm sure most moms have heard. "I need to go to the bathroom" "I need a drink" "I'm sick" (when we ask what doesn't feel good, Logan says, "my tongue") "Mom, I have a question for you. Where do you live?" "Mom, I have a question for you. Where does Tami (his preschool teacher) live ? "Mom, why is this called a football?" you get the point!! We started telling the boys that if they didn't stay in their room and go to sleep they would have to sleep in the garage. Logan wants nothing to do with the dark, spider lurking garage. But the other night Kyle was at church so the responsibility of putting them to bed was mine. After they came out of the room about 100 times. I finally said to Nixon, "Do you want to go sleep in the garage?" His repy, "yep." He immediately grabbed his pillow and dog and blanket and marched out to the back door, saying, "come on" to me. I opened the door for him, he stepped outside and that was it. I thought it was so funny so I snapped a picture of him through the blinds (which he obviously noticed me doing). Of course he didn't sleep in the garage. When we asked him why he wanted to sleep in the garage he said, "the motorcycle." Makes sense. He loves Kyle's motorcycle.

one month old

2011-04-05T15:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Brynnley trurned one month. It's been a great month! I love her to pieces. I nibble on her cheeks all day long. I know she is a big baby but when I'm holding her she seems so little to me. I think the camera adds 10 lbs to her.

Logan is such a big helper. He is willing to get me blankets, burp clothes, and pacifiers. He will actually lay down next to her and talk and sing to her, show her toys, and most importantly put the pacifier back in her mouth when she gets fussy. I think the maximum amount of time he is interested in her is 10 minutes and I have figured out how to get a lot done quickly in 10 minutes these day. Nixon loves her too. Whenever he sees her he say, "awhhhh." And then affectionately tries to poke her eyes. Not sure why he is so interested in her eyes.

Some facts about this sweet girl:

-she takes a pacifier (I kind of wish she was like Nixon and sucked on her thumb)

-she wants to be held ALL the time. I don't know if you can spoil a baby but I hold her ALL day long. Minus the 10 minute intervals Logan will help me. She will be sound asleep with me holding her but as soon as I lay her down she wakes up and fusses until I hold her. I really don't mind holding her all day. My cousin Jamie lost her baby to SIDS in early December. Baby Tehya was just 3 1/2 months old. Kyle read something to me shortly after we found out about her passing that one way to prevent SIDS was to hold your baby frequently throughout the day in an upright position. So I do, even though I know there isn't any known cause of SIDS. Wish I could have a full ekg monitor and pediatric crash cart in my house. SIDS worries me!

-She eats about every 2 to 3 hours. Only nurses on one side at a time.

-To be honest I have no clue what happens at night. Sometimes I wake up and she is still in my arms. Sometimes she is in her infant separator (in my bed). I think she still follows the 2-3 hour feeding schedule at night but I really don't know.

-She poops with every single diaper change. She is in size 1-2 diapers.

-even though she looks big, she fit in newborn clothing until just last week.

-I put a headband and bracelet on her everyday, because I was told by numerous people to get her used to wearing them, or when she gets older she won't want to wear them.

-She smells delicious even though Kyle says she smells like spit up.

-She hardly spits up.

-She is covered in zits as of yesterday, ugh.

-she is balding...real attractive.

-She chatters her chin

-She makes eye contact, and tracks with her eyes. Her eyes are still blue, but I'm sure she will be brown eyes like the rest of her family.

-Still not sure what her hair color will be. The roots look light. The nurses at the hospital and Kyle said she was blond. Who knows.

I love, love, love her! This weekend I was watching our church general conference which is fairly difficult to do with little boys running around. However, I was holding Brynnley and the choir was singing, "the spirit of God," and I immediately thought about how she was just in heaven with our Heavenly Father. I'm so grateful to Him for sending her to our home.

Oops, Logan says he's done (watching her). Better go!

newborn pics

2011-03-26T16:21:00.000-07:00

This little baby of mine is sweet as can be. However, she screamed and cried during her pictures so the photographer came back for a second session so I could get a shot of my sleeping baby. I love how they turned out. Pictures taken of Brynnley at 2 weeks old by Tegyn.

My friend Megan sells cute little girl items which is where I got her pink ruffly outfit.

My kiddos

2011-03-23T11:25:00.000-07:00

Everyday while I'm making dinner the boys play in the backyard, and always end up in the dirt. Nixon throws a lot of tantrums when I make him come inside to clean up.

A lot of the dirt is from a big brother pouring it over his head. His blond hair turn brown and his snotty nose soaks up all the dirt.

The culprit

We have all had colds over here and so Brynnley of course caught a cold. We (meaning the girls in this house) have had lots of sleepless nights over here. She had her pictures taken last week and I snapped a few with my camera. She cried almost the entire time. Fortunately, the photographer was kind enough to come back and give her a second chance.

She had a doctor's appointment today and now weighs 11 lbs 8 oz. Beefy baby and I love it!!

two weeks old

2011-03-15T09:58:00.000-07:00

There's nothing better than a newborn is there? I absolutely love everything about having a brand new baby (maybe if I was being a little picky I might change the lack of sleep that comes with a new baby).

I admit, I had a small meltdown on my last night at the hospital because I was worried that with two boys and a house to maintain I wouldn't be able to enjoy the newborn stage. Thankfully, we had amazing dinners brought in, and my husband has done everything for the boys when he is home, so I have been about to heal but more importantly just hold Brynnley for as long as I want to. Kyle doesn't care much for newborns, he prefers wrestling with the boys which is great for me.

Surprisingly, things have been going pretty smoothly with three kids. I have always heard that the change from 2 to 3 kids is the hardest, which may prove true in the future, but for now it hasn't been too bad. The boys still fight with each other, but they both love their sister. Thank goodness for preschool for Logan and nap time for Nixon. In fact I have been feeling so confident that I decided to go to the grocery store with all three kids. As soon as I walked into the store I realized my mistake and turned right around and left.

Kyle has been out of town for the past three days and while I survived, the tidiness of my house hasn't. I don't know who was more excited for dad to come home, the boys or me!

Brynnley is the best! It is a for sure thing that she is on team mom and Logan. Sometimes I get flashbacks of Logan as a newborn when I look at her. Those flashbacks save him from me wringing his neck. I get asked alot if there is a big difference having a little girl. So far the only difference is I haven't been peed on. I love seeing all the pink. I love holding her even in the middle of the night. I wish I could keep her a newborn forever.

fun(ny) new game

2011-03-14T23:27:00.000-07:00

for some reason we (trisha and i) thought it would be a learning experience for logan to learn to describe the animals that he loves to play with every day instead of just throwing them at his brother or packing them in his backpack. so yesterday i grabbed one of his animals (probably an elephant since they seem to be his favorites and are always within reach) and started describing/questioning him about it. it went something like this:

k - ready? it's gray, has big feet, has a long trunk and makes this sound (insert sound effect here)
l - an elephant!
k - good job buddy! let's try another.....

And so the game continued, through another elephant, a crocodile, a horse, giraffe and several other animals. After I felt like he was getting the hang of it I handed the box of animals over to him and asked him to make me guess an animal. His version of the game went something like this:

l - Ready? It's gray, it's an elephant, it has a long trunk, what do you think it is?
k - (laughing hysterically) an elephant?
l - yep. good job daddy

and he repeated his same technique in describing all the same animals i had quizzed him on just a few minutes prior, with literally the same descriptions. gotta love him! it has made trisha and i laugh out loud more than a few times over the last 36 hours.

now that you're up to speed w/ our little game, here's a few descriptions of logan's animals....let's see how you do!

it's black, it's a ladybug and it has red spots. what is it?
it's brown, lives on a farm, it's a horse and it eats hay. what is it?
it's white, it's a polar bear, it's really big and has big feet and teeth. what is it?
it's tall, has a long neck, it's a giraffe and has spots. what is it?

is it just me or is he really good at describing his animals?

Brynnley's birth

2011-03-10T09:25:00.000-08:00

Thursday morning I woke up and knew something was off. But I went about my day, got the kids ready, took Logan to school, and ran some errands with Nixon. Around 11 in the morning I called Kyled and told him I was feeling a little funny which means nothing to him, although I've said it each time I am in early labor. Around 3 in the afternoon I knew the end of my pregnancy was near. At 4 I texted Kyle and said, "what would you say if I told you I was in labor." His reply, "I'd ignore you." (I'm usually late, so 10 days early was probably odd to him. Although I'm not really a faker when it comes to pain so he should've known better). At 5 I decided to take the kids for a walk. I called Kyle to see when he was getting home from work, no answer. At 5:15 I called Kyle to see when he was getting home from work, no answer. So I texted him something along the lines of, "I tell you I'm in labor and you don't answer your phone." It may have been a little bit meaner of a text than that if I'm being honest. He called me right back after that. At 5:30 he got home and we loaded up the car to get dinner as planned. We went to Chipotle because of the buy one get one free facebook deal. When we pulled up to the restaurant the line was wrapped around the store and so for about 45 minutes we waited in line, all the while I'm contracting. Not sure why I didn't just cancel that meal plan and grab some real fast food. About an hour later we made it home and Kyle fed the kids while I called the doctor. I was completely happy and releaved to find out that my doctor was on call for the night. After talking to my doctor, I took a shower and got ready while Kyle got the kids ready for bed. Around 8 I told Kyle I was ready to go, the pain was so bad and frequent. He told me he had to run to the office. Every single time I have gone into labor he has had to run into the office to get a few things, frustrating yes! Since I was early I hadn't figured out a plan of care for my kids. But my younger brother Lance packed up and came to stay for the night with the boys. As we were getting ready to walk out the door my brother said to me, "I have to leave for work at 5 in the morning, so do I just lock the door when I leave for work?" Like he was just going to leave my kids sleeping in an empty house. The whole drive to the hospital I kept thinking, are my boys going to survive with their uncle Lance? Fortuanately, my friend Melissa met Lance at 5 in the morning so he could go to work. I owe her big time.

I told Kyle to just drop me off the the hospital entrance because I was having such bad contractions. The nurse hooked me up to the monitors and checked me. I was only 2 cm at that time. She said I was still really early in labor which was crazy to me because I was in more pain than I had been further along with the boys. She monitored me for 30 minutes and then told me to walk for an hour and if I wasn't further along I may have to go home. Kyle and I walked for an hour in the basement. I had to stop everytime I had a contraction. A couple of staff walking by asked if I needed help. Yes! I needed someone to get this baby out of me. After an hour of walking I decided to take the stairs back up to my floor hoping that walking 5 flights of stairs would help. Wouldn't you know that their was no access to the L&D floor unless you had a badge. Kyle told me to wait and he would go get it opened for me. But I refused to be left in a stairwell, at night, alone, in labor so I waddled behind him.

Back in my room, I got checked and I was 3cm. But they decided to keep me. Since I was trying a VBAC they didn't really want to help my labor move along at that point. They wanted me to be in good active labor on my own. The nurse asked me if I wanted to sit on a birthing ball and for some reason I said sure. So for about an hour I sat on that ball hoping the baby would drop further down. After every 3 minutes of contractions I decided it was time for an epidural, actually Kyle suggested that I get one at that point. Anesthesia came and had me sit up to insert the epidural, which I wasn't happy with. I much prefer the laying on your side insertion. After about 10 minutes of having it in the sweet medicine kicked in and I was a happy girl hoping to get some sleep. But sleep never happens in labor now does it. Especially when you have a snoring husband. Once I was in good labor the laborist came and broke my water, which had meconium in it, little stinker baby. He checked me and said I was 5-6 cm dilated. About an hour or so later the nurse checked me again prior to starting pitocin and said I was only at a 4 (which I was really bummed about). She started the lowest dose of pitocin. Within an hour I was having a lot of pain so I called the nurse. My nurse was on break but the covering nurse came and let me push the bolus button on the epidural. She asked me on a pain scale how bad the pain was and I said 8. She was surprised it was that bad but said to see if the bolus helped. 5 minutes later I was dying from the pain and Kyle told me to call the nurse. I told him a didn't want to bother them (aren't I a kind patient? I still remember how annoying it is to be called every minute as a nurse). But I called her and she decided to check me. In one hour I had progressed from a 4 to a 10. Anesthesia came back and fixed me up with a little more medicine. I pushed twice with the nurse to see how it would go. They didn't want me to have to push much because of the VBAC. My doctor showed up within 30 minutes. I pushed about 2 times and the babies head came out......and then she got stuck. Her shoulder got stuck. So for about a minute or two things got kind of hectic in that room. The NICU was called to resusitate her, which was then cancelled when my doctor was able to get her out. She got a lower 1 minute apgar score because of her breathing and color, needed a little bit of O2 and pinked right up.

The doctor and nurses were saying how huge she was but to me she looked tiny. I guess they have more experience at sizing up babies because she was 9 lbs 6 oz. Thank goodness she was early. She was much easier to push out compared to her brother and less damage was done although I did require an episiotomy. I have to say that I enjoy the delivery process more than the OR experience, but I still prefer the c section wound over the pushing a baby out wound. Unfortunatley, most of my hospital pictures I look naked in because Brynnley had a little trouble warming up so the nurses always wanted her tucked in my gown on my skin. I guess she was a pretty big baby if you look at this picture. I think her cheeks were so chubby and her eyes so swollen so I didn't see her eyes for at least 24 hours. Poor thing just couldn't open them up.

Kyle went and got the boys a couple hours after Brynnley was born. They were very interested in her, wanted to "pet" her, but didn't want to hold her. A hospital room is no place for two active boys, so they only stayed about an hour.

Brynnley's first bath in the hospital.

We had to stay in the hospital for 2 full days after delivery because she was LGA so her sugars had to checked every 6 hours for 48 hours. Her poor little heels! It was odd being in the hospital for a couple of days with a no name baby. We literally signed the birth certificate on our way out of the hospital. On the way home from the hospital we picked up the boys from church. They were thrilled to have their sister home. They have been surprisingly gentle and love to hold her (although it only lasts about 30 seconds).

I love having a sweet little girl. She's going to stay sweet....right?!

boys will be boys

2011-03-06T19:58:00.001-08:00

All the excitement in the room over a new baby, and these two yahoos can't stop looking for fire trucks

I know Trisha loves having newborns, but I can't wait for her to be big enough to play w/ her brothers....she is gonna love them!

Introducing....

2011-03-06T19:52:00.000-08:00

Brynnley Taite Hunt

She's Here! 5:03 am, 9lbs 6 oz, 21 inches

2011-03-04T08:35:00.000-08:00

It seems like a blurr now, but she's here. Both Trisha and baby are doing well (still no name). Here's some pictures of the recent events...Here's Trisha late last night

Baby Girl right after getting cleaned up
Dr Ricci, baby and Mom
Daddy and his new girlfriend (sorry Gato)
Who does she look more like, Logan or Nixon? We can't decide.
More to come....

Happy Birthday Nixon!

2011-02-28T20:08:00.000-08:00

You know the saying "better late than never"? I hate it. I hate when someone says it to me and really hate when I say it. So I'm not going to say it. Here's Nixon's Birthday recap....nearly 3 months late :|

When Logan turned 2 he hid behind me the entire time we sang to him and while his mother opened his presents. Nixon, on the other hand, enjoyed every minute of it. We stood him on a chair at his grandparent's house and started singing to him and he smiled back at us w/ his cheesy grin soaking it all up.

He couldn't get enough! When the song was over and he blew out his candles you would have thought he had just won the lottery...

In a way he did. He got a bunch of toys, stuff that both he and his brother would spend the rest of the night playing with. The dump truck that held his cake was a big winner, as Nixon has always been obsessed with big trucks (and motorcycles, and airplanes, and helicopters, and.....the list goes on).

Nixon got this plasma car from Trisha's parents. The combination of the plasma car, Nixon's chubby little body on it trying to get it to move, and the helmet that barely fit over his big head were almost too much for me. I love that kid!

Before the party started I was worried about how Logan would react to Nixon getting all the attention and presents. It didn't seem to bother him at all, probably because Logan hates attention. Even though we kept telling Logan that the presents were Nixon's, I think he believes deep down that they are his.

A few days later Nixon received a birthday package from my parents.... a water table. Both the boys absolutely love it, although playing on it usually includes Logan pouring all the water on Nixon's head!

After all the presents were accounted for, he got a plasma car, remote control police car, helmet, sleeping bag, handy manny tools, and a play tent.

On his actual birthday (a Monday) he got to come to work w/ me for a lunch date. For some reason my boys love my office (actually it's no secret, if you could see it you'd know why). Getting to spend one-on-one time w/ my kids is always fun. When they are together they are always engaged w/ each other, but when they are separate they say and do things that really reveal their personalities and I always end up learning something new about them.

Here are some special things about our newly minted 2 year old:

He throws some nasty tantrums.

He does NOT barter. "Nixie, take a bite of dinner and I'll give you a candy"....I am soon handing him the candy w/out him actually having a bite :\

He loves Diego, Dora, and Handy Manny (has a thing for the Latin shows).

He is a total clutz. If I had a nickel for every time he falls down each day, I could retire early.

He loves to eat. I say that because he usually eats all his meals, unlike Logan.

He loves all vehicles and has a really loud siren sound that he makes anytime he sees a fire engine, ambulance, or police car.

He loves his brother even though he gets picked on a lot.

He loves holding paper. He thinks dollar bills are just paper. We find them in his underwear.....that's where he stores almost everything if he doesn't have a pocket.

He's sensitive. Even if we threaten to spank him he will start crying.

He always says, "hold you" when he wants us to hold him.

He will let anyone hold him and he loves to cuddle.

He loves his doggy blanket (specifically the tail) and never leaves home without it. He also has a "soft" (blanket) that isn't so soft anymore.

If we see a dog or cat while we are on a walk he goes straight for the tail and rubs it against his nose just like he does with his dog blanket. He has a thing for tails on all animals, even plastic animals.

He sucks on his left thumb.

He was potty trained in December.

His nicknames are Nixie, Nixel, Bean, Beaner and Dweezle (don't ask).

Happy Birthday Beaner!

superman

2011-02-22T12:10:00.001-08:00

For valentines I made the boys reversible superman/batman capes. Logan has recently gotten into superheros. He hasn't actually watched superman but he loves him. He isn't allowed to watch Batman, it's a little bloody and dark I think, but he can pretend to be him if he wants. He always chooses to be superman though.

He flies everywhere. If I call his name, he yells back, "my name is superman." When I asked him who dumped out a bucket of water he said superman did. It's really cute. Nixon doesn't care much for his cape so I couldn't get any pictures of him.

sicko

2011-02-22T11:57:00.001-08:00

Just last week I was saying that I was lucky because my kids haven't been sick at all. Yesterday they woke both woke up yesterday complaining of a tummy ache and then started vomiting within minutes of eachother.

The good news was that Kyle had the day off from work so we were able to tag team all the laundry, showers, clothing changes, child consoling, vomit catching, etc.

It was a day of nearly total tv watching. I took the opportunity while everyone was lounging around to go do some errands for the baby. When I came home the boys had fallen asleep on the couch. That never happens so I think it is adorable.
Poor Logan is so scared of vomiting. He is very cautious about what he eats and drinks and really rests his belly. Because of that he stopped throwing up around 1pm.

Nixon on the otherhand, loves to eat and drink even when he is sick and I have to force him to stop because he has no control. Because of that he was still throwing up this morning.

It is sad for me to see my kids sick, without energy. But I have to say that they are super cuddly and much easier sick than healthy. No running around, no fighting, no bouncing off the walls. It made for a pretty relaxing day.

New toy

2011-02-21T12:46:00.000-08:00

A new toy for me! Kyle walked in the other night from his church basketball game with this lovely machine. A friend of mine got a new cricut for Christmas and passed her old one down to me. I jumped right up got some scrapbook paper and started cutting letters out. Kyle just watched me from the corner of his eye and then wondered what it was and why in the world I would want one.

I'm so excited to have one, not that I plan on having much time to make anything in the near future. However, I did make some signs for my church lesson on Sunday.

Thanks Chanda!!

Prepared

2011-02-14T19:32:00.000-08:00

3 weeks left until I get to meet my girl! (probably plus a few days since that's how it seems to go for me)

Nesting is well underway.

I have been balancing on step stools cleaning walls and ceilings and on my hands and knees scrubbing floorboards. Every surface, shutter, blind, windowsill, closet, and drawer has been cleaned. The showers have been scrubbed with a toothbrush (darn grout). I have moved furniture around, and found and organized every single toy in the house. I've finished projects that I have been needing to complete for months.

Kyle made the comment to me the other day that we were going to go broke with how much cleaning supplies I've been using. Which made me wonder if he thinks that I was going through that many cleaning supplies and that they cost that much, maybe I could've convinced him to hire a cleaning lady. I'm going to have to remember that next time I have a baby.

Nesting is a crazy thing and I think it confuses my husband that I can move a large bookcase byself while he is at work, but struggle just to walk these days. It really is a crazy thing this nesting sensation. Here I am with a huge belly, all this extra weight, achy muscles but still have the desire to clean and orangize and prepare for the arrival of my baby. Doesn't seem like such good timing. Seems like it would make more sense if my husband had a strong desire to nest.

Kyle doesn't nest.

In fact, I'm not really sure that he would admit that we are having our third child. I'm pretty sure he's convinced that all my extra weight gain is due to a rather large intact of junk food....which would partially be true. Maybe that why I'm having a hard time convincing him to set up the crib.

I have also figured out after 7 plus years of marriage that he doesn't like waking up on a Saturday morning only to have my cleaning plans thrown at him. So what is a pregnant nesting girl to do but to schedule a cleaning appointment with her husband.

Last Saturday I booked him for the entire day of furniture moving and carpet cleaning. He didn't complain once, although I think I heard a loud sigh once or twice.

But he cleaned my carpets and he cleaned them well! It doesn't get much better for a housewife than clean carpets does it?

My house is prepared and today I was able to get the majority of the baby stuff prepared. This morning I had a baby shower courtesy of two of my favorite people in the work, Megan and Melissa. Unfortuanetly, I couldn't find my camera this morning, which was crazy because my house is so clean right now. Kyle found it in the garage, I had been taking pictures of the boys outside and left it out there earlier this week.

I have to say that I really don't love showers. For other people yes.....for me no. I don't like all the attention. Makes me nervous just thinking about it.

That being said, if you are going to have a shower you want Megan and Melissa to be throwing it for you. They are two of the most talented, creative, crafty, kind gals around, and I'm lucky that they are both my friends.

I feel guilty that they threw me a shower. Megan has helped me get ready for each one of my babies in some way and I'm sure she is praying that I stop having babies so quickly. Melissa not only is moving this weekend, but has sick kids (twins), let me raid her twins clothes for hand me downs, and has gotten suckered into helping me with a ton of projects (painting and distressing all my bedroom furniture, painting my kitchen table and chair, and the list goes on). I wish I had pictures of the morning because it was decorated so cute and they did such a good job. I couldn't be more greatful.

And thanks to a group of great gals, this baby has plenty of clothes! I have to say all the pink is overwhelming, a definite change from what I am used to, but I love it!

I got everything sorted and put away today. I keep opening her closet to look at all the pretty clothes.

So, I think we are ready to go. Something I think is kind of funny is that I didn't get one burp cloth this time around, so I will be heading out to the fabric store on Monday to whip up a few of those.

I can't believe that in just a few weeks I will have another baby and that it will be a girl! Yikes!

"you're a big boy"

2011-02-13T18:44:00.000-08:00

We ordered a Papa Johns pizza the other day. The following morning Logan brings the box to me in the kitchen while I'm making his breakfast and says:

L - Daddy, I want you to eat this pickle

K - Buddy, that's not a pickle it's a jalepeño

L - I want you to eat it

K - But I don't like jalepeño's

L - Daddy you're a big boy, just eat it

I may be a big boy but I'm not man enough to eat a jalepeño at 7:30 in the morning.

T-Ball

2011-01-09T13:15:00.000-08:00

Logan started T-ball Saturday. You would never know it but he was excited to play.

However, the first 5 minutes we were chasing him down (the little kid is fast), trying to convince him to play. Dad finally ended up holding him over by the group of kids. Nixon sat under this huge tree for the longest time just sucking on his thumb. Adorable. Logan's facial expression never changed. This is his scared/cautious look.

Finally I told him it was time to stop acting crazy and start playing so he batted, threw, and caught the ball all with me right by his side. The coaches thought Nixon was part of the group also...nope he's just a big.

Logan loved it and talked about it non stop the rest of the day. Next Saturday may be another story when he actually has to go again.

new years

2011-01-05T15:07:00.000-08:00

I was feeling a little dissapointed that we weren't going to Idaho this winter because I know the boys would have loved the cabin with all the snow. So when a friend on mine invited us to stay at a cabin in Arrowhead I was thrilled. Unfortunately, I left all our snow clothes in Idaho thinking that we would only use it there. But another friend of mine had some snow gear thankfully, so we managed. We had a great time just hanging out and playing in the snow a little bit. I have to say that the snow was more like ice and I think I have been spoiled by the soft, fresh snow that covers every inch of everything at Kyle's parents' cabin.

But the boys didn't seem to know the difference and as long as they are happy I am happy. One of the benefits of being pregnant.....not walking up the hill to sled.

Nixon had the biggest smile on his face until the sled stopped everytime. Then he would throw a tantrum until the next ride.

December

2011-01-05T14:43:00.000-08:00

I haven't done a very good job at documenting December and now I can hardly remember what happened. In between holiday crafts, gingerbread trains and houses, elves hiding in our home, and Christmas cartoons only a few pictures were taken.

Church Christmas party. We ended up in the back of the line, but Nixon made googly eyes at one of the ladies in my ward who walked right up and put him in Mrs. Claus lap. He lasted with Santa for about a minute and was pleased to get a candy cane out of it, that he ate with the wrapper on.

Logan waited his turn and didn't go near Santa. Nixon wasn't too happy the second time around either.

Kyle's parents came for a visit since we weren't going to be going to ID for a winter trip. They brought along "the search for Santa Paws" which the kids watched nearly every day since then.

One night santa came down the street being pulled by a police car. Logan was most impressed with the police motorcycles/cars and sirens. Nixon was once again happy to get candy canes. They didn't care much for Santa.

Christmas eve we decorated cookies for Santa. It was a bit of the Nightmare before Christmas with my house covered in red and green sprinkles, and mounds and mounds of frosting on every cookie and face. Would you believe that Santa actually ate the cookies the kids left out for him? What a jolly guy!

For the first time in years, I couldn't sleep the night before Christmas. I guess it was a excitement for the kids mixed with a little bit of pregnancy induced insomnia. Christmas is so much fun with little ones. It took us about 2 1/2 hrs to open presents.

In November I asked Logan what he wanted Santa to bring him for Christmas and he told me a 4-wheeler. So I bought one. The day after I bought it I asked him again and he said he wanted a sword. I got each of the boys a lightsaber thinking it qualified as a sword. Logan looked at it on Christmas morning and said, "this is a lightsaber, not a sword." I don't know where he learned what that is, but he is still happy with it.

The 4 wheeler was a hit and the boys have enjoyed riding it ever since. Nixon is adorable stearing it.

Christmas evening was spent at my parents' house where I was so exhausted and didn't take one picture.

potty time

2010-12-07T13:56:00.001-08:00

Friday morning I woke up, put underwear on Nixon and decided it was time to potty train him. He is one month older than what Logan was when I potty trained him. He had a few accidents that morning but once he woke up from his nap he stayed accident free the rest of the day.

Saturday we had to go to Lowes and Sam's club and I thought for sure he would have an accident, but he went to the bathroom once at Sam's club and made it home in the same dry clothes. Then Logan and I went to my parents' house and I thought for sure Kyle would slap a diaper on him (he's not really the day #2 potty training type), but I was surprised to find out that Nixon was still in underwear and accident free.

Sunday I was a little nervous because of our 3 hour church but somehow he managed to let his nursery teachers know that he had to "pee pee" and between Kyle and me checking on him he stayed nice and dry.

We are now on day 5 and he still hasn't had any accidents since day #!. I'm sure there will be some down the road, but I really am so proud of my big boy who loves his underwear. His little chuncky buns are perfectly pinchable, his tree trunk like thighs are adorable and I'm loving watching him run around diaper free.

And because my boys seem to have to be in competition over everything, Logan now wants me to watch him go to the bathroom and then congratulate him everytime!

It's getting crowded

2010-12-05T17:57:00.000-08:00

Months ago we tried to put the boys in the same room. Kyle and I gave up quickly and so Logan's bed has been vacant ever since and he has been my bed buddy. Aside from the occasional foot in my face I really don't mind it. But lately he has had a group of animals that have to sleep with us always positioned the same. There is a Bronco bear on the left side of him that has to sleep on a football pillow with a little blanket. There is a brown bear that has to be on his right along with a penguin. A big mechanical grey cat and a small tan cat lay above his head. My bed is big, but it is getting crowded with all these creatures. I think it may be time to move all of them, including the boy out of my bed. It's only a few more months before another member of our family starts occupying my room (and it becomes an all girls room:).

definitely his father's son

2010-11-17T19:47:00.001-08:00

monday night i took logan to a basketball game, csulb vs sfsu. while neither team was very impressive, we both managed to have a great time. he was pretty overwhelmed initially, lots of people, bright lights and a giant modern pyramid tend to have that affect on people.

we watched the game for the first 10 minutes until Logan started getting a little antsy. then i started pointing out stuff around us to keep him entertained....retired jerseys, giant scoreboard, the 49er mascot, and the cheerleaders. any guesses on his favorite? yep, the cheerleaders. only he liked to call them "dancing ladies". and although that reference is accurate, it just doesn't have a good ring to it. the rest of the night all he would say was "daddy, when are the dancing ladies coming back?" trust me, they were not that impressive.

we moved closer to the floor at halftime, got ourselves a cold diet coke, and resumed watching the basketball game/dancing ladies. soon enough it was time to go home and put the party animal to bed...plus logan was pretty tired too.

from what i hear, the following morning logan kept telling his mom "when it gets dark tonight daddy will come home and take me to see the dancing ladies". i have no idea what trisha thought the first time she heard that, but i can imagine it was not good and involved the packing of bags! she called me after she dropped him off at school and i quickly explained exactly what he meant. crisis averted.

atta boy son, att a boy.

Seriously?

2010-11-09T18:32:00.000-08:00

I was driving to my dr's appointment this morning (don't worry mom, nothing serious) and was using my phone for directions. Traveling South on the 405 in the morning is painful enough, but I was nearing my exit I saw this on the screen:

Wouldn't it just be a lot easier to get off on the Brookhurst South exit? Maybe easier but definitely less fun!

When I finally got to the dr's office I had to answer yes to this question: "Are you feeling dizzy?". Thanks Google!

Things I Have Learned

2010-11-07T19:04:00.000-08:00

Here are some things I have learned this week...in no particular order:

Daylight Savings Time is so not worth it! It's dark at 4pm, my kids are cranky all day, and the hour I supposedly gained is lost resetting all the clocks in the house
Nixon might like candy wrappers more than candy. He is always asking for his Halloween "nandy", but once it's gone he carries around the trash w/ him the rest of the day
I am WAY too big to drive a Toyota Corolla
Jamba Juice has some pretty good oatmeal
the BCS is bound and determined to screw Boise State
it doesn't matter how long I stay at a Krispy Kreme store that is soon to open, they always start making donuts the day after I leave
going to the gym only twice a week makes me feel guilty. which is somewhat surprising since I only went 2 times in the previous 6 years
Stockton, CA is a pretty nice town...IF you're the kind of person who likes Bakersfield, CA....and I am!
it doesn't matter how tired Logan is, he still wants to wrestle all night
I need to appreciate nice hotel rooms, because apparently they are more rare than I suspected
Facebook is growing on me
nothing makes Trisha more angry than sports on TV
nothing makes me happier than sports on TV
I always take a book on business trips but never have time to read it
it doesn't matter if the Broncos play in Denver or London, they still need to fire their coach
watching 48 Hours Mystery before going to bed is an interesting experiment
working until 11pm and then eating dinner is not good on your stomach
getting to know new people is pretty interesting...everyone has such a unique story
I am a firm believer in Murphy's Law
I have only voted for 1 winner since moving to California
I like chocolate. I knew that already but Halloween always confirms it
not seeing your kids for 3 days isn't very fun

My favorite quote of the week: "So, Californians voted for Jerry Brown and Barbara "don't call me ma'am" Boxer, and against marijuana. They elected 2 of the biggest idiots running for office and they weren't even high" - NPR Las Vegas

November beach day

2010-11-05T18:25:00.000-07:00

Kyle has been out of town for 3 days. Only 3 days, but I am tired. So to keep the boys busy I very reluctantly packed up the sand toys and sunscreen and headed off to the beach. Turned out to be the easiest morning.

We dug a hole and filled it with water and then the boys starting fighting over the hole (there has to be a fight over something), so I dug another hole far enough away from Logan, filled it with water and all was well.

Hopefully, this was the last beach day until next summer.

October

2010-11-04T08:45:00.000-07:00

Logan was star of the week at preschool. I talked to him about it the weekend before I knew it was his turn (because he is a little shy). On Tuesday morning he woke up and said, "mom, I don't want star of the week to come up at school." Sorry kid. He was happy on Thursday when it was all over. And then continued to wear his star of the week all weekend, everywhere we went. 3 year old pictures were taken a few months late 18 month pictures were taken a few months late

Pumpkin patch was visited

Logan was thrilled to drive the train

Nixon really wanted to ride it, but cried everytime we left his side so the ride never happened

He was happy to sit on this motorcyle while brother rode a firetruck. Once it started he cried and screamed through the whole ride.

He was happy just sitting on pumpkins, until brother knocked him off.

We carved pumpkins

Nixon didn't like sticking his hand in the pumpkin and once again cried

Either did Logan so he got a spoon

October ended with a Halloween party at church, the boys loved it.

And Kyle won us 4 free movie tickets by winning the chili cookoff!

Sometime in the middle of the month Kyle also turned 35. He chose to eat lunch with his friends, and play basketball that evening so there wasn't much of a celebration for him on his birthday.

Speaking of sports, why have I not realized that 3 major league sports are being played in the month of October?! Scary!!!

a frightening doc's appointment

2010-11-03T11:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had an OB appointment.

I dropped Logan off at school and Nixon and I started our drive on the 405 freeway.

All of a sudden a motorcycle policeman was driving next to me signalling 2-1 to me.

I was racking my brain for what 2-1 means?

So we drove next to each other for a little bit, trying to communicate, but my off ramp was coming up so I starting moving over lanes.

Now he was on my right side giving me the 2-1 signal.

I gave him my "I don't know what you are talking about" signal.

We continued next to each other for a while, until I decided to just pull over.

He got behind me, turned his lights on, and pulled me over.

He walks up to my car and tells me, "ma'm just so you know you aren't being pulled over unless a policeman's lights are on."

I was thinking, then just leave me alone.

He told me he was trying to figure out if I had 2 people or 1 person in the car, 2-1, since I was driving in the carpool lane.

My little Nixon was in his carseat, fast asleep.

Isn't it his job to just figure that out without distracting me while I'm driving on a busy freeway?

Gave me the perfect amount of anxiety right before my doctor's appointment.

Fortunately, my blood pressure was normal.

The whole time I was thinking......Logan would just be in heaven right now if he was in the car. He had a love/hate relationship with cops. Loves their cars/motorcycles, hates (fears) the actual policeman. He has been taught that policemen take bad little boys that hit their brothers to jail.

The actual doctor's appointment was not too exciting. I'm 21 weeks. New due date of March 13th. My doctor gave me the VBAC consent form so I can sign away my life should I choose to do it.

Nixon was an angel at the office although he walked up to everyone in the waiting room and wanted to sit on their laps and be held.

I need to start having talks with him about talking to strangers.

Pregnancy projects

2010-10-12T13:04:00.000-07:00

I started doing pregnancy projects, because otherwise it seems like I don't get anything done that I want/need to. So I decided that I would start and complete one project a week. I started doing them around week 14 when I was starting to get my energy back. Here is my project for this week.

Whenever Logan grew out of baby clothes I made sure they were washed, unstained, folded, separated by size and stored carefully. Whenever Nixon grew out of baby clothes I grabbed them, threw them in a trash bag, tied them up, and tossed them in the garage.

So it has always been in the back of my mind that I better go take care of those clothes. After 5 loads of laundry, folding, sorting, and reminiscing, I put them into boxes according to their sizes, sealed them up and had Kyle put them high up in the garage, not to be seen for a long time because..........

We are having a GIRL!!!!!!

(Still don't want to scan in any pictures of an ultrasound so a baby picture of me will have to do)

I can't believe we are having a girl. I was so anxious during my ultrasound and was about to tell the tech not to tell me what it was because I didn't know if I could handle the thought of having 3 boys. After the initial excitement of being told that it was a girl, I'm now anxious about having to take care of a girl, it's like starting over!

My ob also pointed out to me that I am going to have 3 kids, ages 3 and under. yikes!! She said it sounds like so much fun.....I told her to send on over her nanny and housekeeper and it might me a little more "fun" for me.

Back track

2010-10-07T13:11:00.000-07:00

Logan turned three.....along time ago (in August).

Originally I was going to throw him a birthday party, had the invitations signed and sealed to 8 of his favorite friends.

Then, Kyle's parents gave him his birthday present and he ran and hid in the corner embarassed.

So the party was cancelled before the invitations were ever sent.

On his birthday he got to eat lunch with his dad, all by himself.

Everytime I ask Logan what he wants me to make him for lunch he tells me "El Pollo Loco salad".........he gets a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. So eating an El Pollo Loco salad on his birthday was a real treat. An even bigger treat was that his brother wasn't anywhere near. The store manager brought Logan a birthday sundae and some of the workers sang him happy birthday, and he hid behind Kyle embarassed.

We had a little birthday celebration at my parent's house with just my brothers and parents. Instead of decorating a cake I bought some Toy Story action figures and stuck them on the top of the cake and called it good. We sang him happy birthday, and he hid behind Kyle embarassed. His favorite presents were his baseball glove and a microphone. Some facts about my 3 year old:

-his 2 year old year was rough.

-He loves sports. All of them. Hopefully he will make me money someday, and then I will be able to forget all the things that he has thrown full speed at my head and other innocent bystanders.

-His preschool teacher says he is smart. She says he knows more than the 4 year olds. Kyle and I don't know what to think about that, he sure plays dumb around here.

-He will still beat up your child (sigh)

-He loves salad and pickles

-He loves Nixon and especially loves to pick on him

-Whenever he sees a police car he tells me to race it.

-He sleeps in bed with me....every night. And I like it.

-He thinks it is funny to pee on the floor.

-His best friend is Harrison, they are quite the nightmare together.

-He loves anything with an engine and tells me all the time we need to buy a 4-wheeler.

-Even though Kyle and I have to resist to urge to strangle the kid, after he is sound asleep we have so many funny things to talk about because of him.

-He looks like an angel when he sleeps, too bad he doesn't nap anymore.

The facts of this pregnancy

2010-10-02T11:00:00.000-07:00

1. I am so grateful to be pregnant with my 3rd child. So much so, that I never want to complain about pregnancy symptoms. In fact anytime I gag it makes me smile because it reassures me that the baby is fine.

2. I'm 17 weeks along, the doctor pushed me back a week according to an early ultrasound.

3. I find out on the 12th what I am having.

4. I'm hoping for a girl.

5. If I was a betting woman I would say I was having another boy (and I won't be that sad about it).

6. I feel almost the same as I did when I was pregnant with both boys, maybe a little less tired.

7. At a 12 week ultrasound the tech gave me her best guess on the gender of the baby but I've kept it a secret except from Kyle and maybe one other person.

8. I am 90% sure I am having a VBAC. I was 100% sure I wanted one prior to getting pregnant, 99% sure once I found out I was pregnant, 95% sure after my first talk with my doctor, and 90% sure now at 17 weeks......so we will see how sure I am as I get closer.

9. I am always awake from 2-3am it's good thinking time.

10. During that hour of thinking time I think about rupturing and dying during the VBAC. So I started having discussions with Kyle about the care of the kids should I die. Our first talk was about school being more important than sports. Fat chance, right.....that's why I need to stick around.

11. Logan seems more concerned about his baby then he was with Nixon. Whenever he sees me leaning onto something (squishing my belly) he yells, "Stop mom, the baby is crying." Hopefully he is nice to the baby once it is born.

12. During quiet time one day Logan and I were talking and he said, "mom, I want the doctor to cut your belly open right now so I can see the baby." I can't believe he remembers that's how Nixon was born.

13. I'm not keeping track of my weight gain, I will just let my doctor worry about that. But I still fit in my regular clothes.

14. I've been doing pregnancy projects which I will have to get to later.

Summer Vacation, Part 1

2010-10-01T21:03:00.000-07:00

Since Trisha and I were married in 2003 our summer tradition has been to take 2 weeks of vacation and travel somewhere new. Since we had Logan in 2007 we decided that instead of traveling somewhere new every year our time would be better served by visiting friends/family who we otherwise don't get to see. So for the last few years we have been spending our hard-earned vacation in Idaho w/ my side of the family. This year was no different and in early August we caught a plane (that's a whole other story, one that I might just get to later) and headed up North.
We got to spend some time w/ the Bridges family in Salt Lake City (they are friends of ours from LB who must have suffered head trauma at some point because they decided to move to UT several years ago...and they actually like it). It was a beautiful day in the Happy Valley so we fired up the BBQ and let the kids play in the backyard.
After outstaying our welcome there, we were off to Pop and Grandma Hunt's house. This is usually the worst part of our vacation because even though it's only about 2 hours from SLC to Pocatello it seems like an eternity. This trip felt especially long for me as my sister's driving is like something out of a video game. But we made it in one piece, went right to bed, and the following day participate in the blessing of Cory and Ashley's first boy, Noah. I don't have any pictures of the blessing, but I do have this picture from the water-balloon game the kids played after church which, no offense to the proud parents, was WAY more excitingPart 2 to follow....

"You're Fired"

2010-10-01T20:37:00.000-07:00

Trisha started this blog so that friends and family could keep up w/ our comings and goings. I'll admit that she did a fantastic job initially, but lately her posts have been few and far between....and don't get me started on her grammar :). So we had a family counsel to discuss the future of this blog, and during that meeting it became painfully obvious that something needed to change. So, Trisha was fired. Of course she was immediately rehired as a part-time poster because even though I have every intention of posting here regularly I fully expect to have the same difficulties that she did carving out the time. The good part is that she is no longer alone here. Of course that does mean that our readers will hear a lot more about sports, fantasy sports, computers and current news, but that sounds like a win-win to me! So w/out further adieu, my first post....enjoy!

The boys

2010-09-23T16:03:00.000-07:00

Nixon got a haircut yesterday. I didn't take before and after pictures but he had a lot of blond hair that was starting to curl. He made quite the scene at the hair salon. There was a lot of crying, screaming, growling, thrashing.......I think his hair stylist may refuse service next time. With shorter hair he looks like a cute little boy now instead of a baby. And just a little school update on Logan. He is enjoying it more, no crying from either of us. Yipee!! I made the mistake of giving him a little treat (candybar) on the first day of school and now he thinks he gets one every time he goes to school.

Not how I thought it would go

2010-09-07T15:57:00.000-07:00

Logan started preschool today

It didn't go how I thought it would

I thought I would drop him off and enjoy three hours with just one child.

Instead, we walked into preschool together......and Logan ran right out the front door.

I kissed him goodbye and told him I would see him in a little bit......he nearly strangled me so I wouldn't go.

I walked out the door listening to him crying hysterically saying very sadly, "mom, mom, mom"......I rushed to my car because I was crying too.

I thought about going back inside pulling my tuition check out of the box and saying he was done with school for the year, but I didn't.

I called Kyle and he told me to shake it off, Logan would be fine.

I texted a friend for reassurance.

I called another friend who dropped off her daughter after I had dropped off Logan. She said he was still crying pretty bad while she was there.

Then I spent my first three hours without Logan worrying about Logan.

Apparently he cried for 15 minutes with his hands on his face, then stopped, and started peeking out from in between his fingers and was fine after than.

His teacher called me this afternoon to make sure I was OK and to reassure me that he did fine today.

I cried again.

Hopefully tomorrow goes better.

No first day school pictures were taken, we both looked like a mess.

I've always hated school so maybe he gets it from me.

Bad blogger

2010-09-01T19:56:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged about vacation

I haven't blogged about my newly turned 3 year old

I haven't blogged about my newly turned 18 month old

I haven't blogged about all our summer activities

While blogging is probably one of my least priorities, other more important things like doing my hair, putting on makeup, keeping the house clean, doing the dishes, laundry, and sometimes even cooking dinner just aren't getting done these days.

All I seem to be able to get done these days are feed my kids, keep them clean, and keep them entertained.

I can think of quite a few reasons that I nothing is getting done around here but I will just share with you the top three.

Reason #1 Reason #2
Reason #3

(truth be told I was too lazy to scan in a picture of the actual ultrasound pic so that one is actually Logan)

sharing

2010-07-14T14:09:00.000-07:00

a room that is I lost my roommate of 16 months.
Logan gained a roommate.
There isn't much sleeping going on.

Swimming lessons

2010-07-11T22:55:00.000-07:00

Before I became a mom, before I became a nurse, I was a lifeguard/swim instructor. So since Logan is still only the age for mommy and me I decided to teach him myself. I found a pool and in exchange for using the pool I teach another little girl along with Logan.

Surprisingly, it is going pretty well. Logan is actually listening to me and has improved over the short 4 days since we have started. A couple of times I have questioned why I am doing this, the water is freezing since it hasn't been too warm outside yet, and the little girl screams at the top of her lungs, "I don't want to go under the water." So I dunk her. And then I tell her there is no screaming. I have also had to chase her around the pool to get her back in the water. So I dunk her and tell her to stay in the water. And now I remember why none of the lifeguards every wanted to teach level one swimming lessons.

Hopefully by the end of the summer I will have two dolphins instead of two guppies.

pool party

2010-06-23T18:57:00.001-07:00

Joy school is over and today one of the moms, Jill, had a pool party to celebrate. We had so much fun!

I was a little sad for school to be over. It was something fun for Logan to do every Tuesday. In the fall he will be going to preschool 3 times a week. Maybe we will have to start up joy school for the little ones.

Last day

2010-06-23T18:42:00.001-07:00

I woke up yesterday and thought I need to squeeze in one last day of Disneyland. As I walked through the bag check I saw this..... Lines, lines and more lines into Disneyland and California adventure, crazy lines. But I took a deep breath and picked a line and it actually moved along pretty fast. Luckily the majority of the people waiting in line went to get tickets for the new show so the little kiddy rides didn't have any line.

Monster's Inc. is a big show at our house. We watch it almost daily. Logan loves Sulley, but not in person. Nixon wanted to cuddle right up and start sucking his thumb.

After a couple of rides we watched the Drawn to the Magic show, which Logan and I both love. Nixon liked it too. Now Logan asks me to sing the songs all day long.

After a little water fun in the splash pad we left. Whew......I'm glad I'm blocked out now, but how do you explain that to a 2 year old?!

Last day

2010-06-16T13:08:00.001-07:00

Monday we went to Disneyland for the last time until summer is over. I wasn't planning on going since we just got home from our Mammoth trip and I had tons of chores to do. But while I was still laying in bed two of my friends asked me if I was going. And since alot of days are blocked out from my pass I thought I better head down there.

First we met up with Reese. We've never watched the Star Wars show before. Logan hasn't seen star wars movies yet, thankfully. He's more into the Little Mermaid these days.

It was so hot and crowded and poor Logi has sensitive eyes like his mom, so I gave him my sunglasses to wear. Reese got called up to the stage and once she left Logan started crying and came to sit with me. And then these two guys came out and I have to say that with the scary music I was a little nervous myself.

Darth Maul kept coming over to where we were sitting gnashing his teeth. Scared Logan to death. I covered Logan's eyes everytime either of the darths walked over because I wasn't about to be up in the middle of the night with a crying toddler who was having nightmares over these two guys. But I may have threatened Logan when he has been naughty that I will call up Darth Vedar. It seems to work.

Reese ended up being pretty brave and fought darth maul.

Since it was so crowded and hot I took the kids over to California adventure where we met up with the Hess girls for some fun in the water.

My boys love the water.......................................maybe I will squeeze in one more day next week before I am officially blocked out.

Mammoth

2010-06-15T09:00:00.000-07:00

Last week we went to Mammoth with my family It was a LONG drive

We spent a lot of time exploring and throwing rocks in streams. To be honest my dad did most of the exploring with Logan, they were definite sidekicks for the week.

Then on Thursday, Kyle arrived after making the LONG drive on his motorcycle. I'm not sure if the boys were more excited to see their dad, or to see their dad's motorcycle

Poor Nixon is a plumber in the making

Most of the lakes and hiking spots were closed because there was so much snow. Maybe next time Kyle will ski......I won't be skiing unless he makes me. We spent some time everyday in the jacuzzi

And just enjoyed some time together as a family, although I'm pretty sure my entire family needs another vacation after spending so much time with my two kiddos.

Logan and his new pet for the week.....a big elk that him and grandpa named Bill.

All I heard in between videos on the drive home was, "mom, I need to see Bill."

week one without pacis

2010-06-05T21:41:00.000-07:00

We took Logan's pacifier away cold turkey Monday night. He was get pacifier teeth.

Anyone who knows him knows he loves his paci. 2 1/2 years as a solid pacifier user and he's proud of it. You can tell him babies only use pacifiers and he will tell you he is a baby and needs it. No shame.

It's been a long week without the pacifier. Normally as soon as you put it in his mouth his eyes start shutting and he is out. It's magical. Now, without the pacifier he doesn't know how to go to sleep. My nap time has been ruined. My evening time has been destroyed. Now I lay in bed with him, impatiently waiting for his eyes to get heavy. Kyle told me that in desperation he was tempted to stick Logan's thumb in his mouth. Ha!! In my desperation I have thought about how much false teeth would cost so that we could give him his pacifier back.

I just keep reminding myself that he has had it for 2 1/2 years and it will take a little while to get over. He loved his pacifier and so did I!

Logan's life

2010-06-03T20:16:00.000-07:00

Last week Kyle's younger sister came down for a trip with her inlaws to Disneyland. We were able to steal her and her family away for a little bit. Logan was so excited to see his cousin Jake.

We also met up with them for a little swimming. Logan almost drowned. I had to pull him out from under the water. Scared us. Tuesday night after his shower Logan fell down and slit open his chin. We ended up at the ER to get him stitches. He was a pretty tough kid. Kyle held him down and I held his head and the doctor sewed him up. Poor guy, the needle was so big. When we were checking out, he spotted the doctor, pointed to her, and said, "her hurt me." Everyone in the ER giggled, and the doctor felt bad. he got three stitches. I think she should have put in 5. The next morning he pulled out one of the stitches. I told him not to touch his chin anymore and threatened him with having to go back to the hospital to get it redone. Didn't work because today he only has one stitch.

Life is never dull with Logan.

Nixon

2010-06-03T20:05:00.001-07:00

Nixon is 15 months now. At birth we nicknamed him bean. It isn't really fitting now. He's a big kid. Solid as a rock. Has a mean farmers tan. says uh uh when he doesn't want to do something. gives us the evil eye and thinks it funny. still sleeps in the pack n play in my room. loves cuddling with his blankets. is a picky eater. always wants to go outside. loves giving kisses.
He had his 15 month checkup today. He's in the 95th percentile for weight and height (I think he is only 3 lbs lighter than Logan), he is just a big kid. He wanted the doctor's stethoscope badly, she didn't give in, even with the tantrum he threw. He put his dog blanket in her face and barked at her. He rolled around on the disgusting floor and I couldn't get him to stop. He got a shower, and his dog blanket got a wash immediately. He got 2 shots and screamed his head off, but nothing a little lollipop couldn't fix.

He is our gentle giant.

This week

2010-05-07T19:22:00.000-07:00

We celebrated my birthday, as well as my mom and dad's birthday. Saw my pretty little nephew who has a crazy amount of hair for a 5 month old

Hung out with my activity day girls, we made mother's day gifts

About once a week we walk to Kyle's work. I let Logan ride his tricycle for the first time. He rode fast the entire way (about 3 miles). I was pretty impressed

Along the way we stopped to feed some ducks and have a snack of our own. Logan decided to share his snack with the ducks and pigeons

Nixon is very greedy with his food and didn't care about any of the birds swarming around him.

We went to Dland. While we always have fun.......Nixon is a little bit of a handful at the park, while Logan is an angel (angel might be taking it too far)

And today these two little buddies left for a camping trip

Accompanied by these two guys

I may have gotten teary eyed when they drove away. I know I'm crazy, but Logan isn't away from me often. I had to call Kyle to remind him not to let Logan fall in the campfire.

Now its 7:30, Nixon is asleep, I have the house locked up (because I get really nervous when I'm home without Kyle) and I don't know what to do with myself!!!!!

A little more proof

2010-04-29T12:10:00.000-07:00

These two are getting along much better these days, they even like being stuck in small spaces together.

Gone are my 20s

2010-04-27T21:38:00.000-07:00

I'm 30! Yikes! I still feel like I'm young enough to be in high school.....errr college. But then I also remember being 14 years old babysitting every weekend for a 30yr old mom, man was she old!! Here's a little recap of the most significant events of my 20s. You'll just have to imagine all the friends, family, and fun mixed in there.

As a 20 year old I got accepted into the nursing program. I took care of my very first patient at Torrance Memorial Medical Center. I was scared to death. He was a semi comatose, on his death bed, incontinent, etc, etc, etc. I cried the night before I had to take care of him. I swore I would never forget his name, but the 30s have caught up to me I guess because I can't remember his name.

As a 21 year old I met a Idaho boy at church. He carried a purse on our first date. It was a few months before I dated him again (and I immediately fixed the purse problem)

AS a 22 year old I passed my RN boards and started my first real job as a nurse in the neuro ICU at Harbor UCLA. I had come a long way in 2 short years, no more crying over patients.....well I may have cried with some family members.

As a 23 year old I became Trisha Hunt.

As a 24 year old I survived my first year of marriage (the sports, all I can remember are sports), first year as a full time grad student, all while I worked 16 hour shifts so I could continue working fully time. It was a rough year.

As a 25 year old I became family nurse practitioner, wrote the longest paper of my life, and graduated with my master's degree. Swore I would never read another book, and I've done pretty good at keeping that promise.

As a 26 year old I got pregnant with my first baby. I was so excited!! I started counting down the days when I could stop waking up at 5:50 to make it to work on time.

As a 27 year old I gave birth to Logan. Sweetest baby boy ever. I quickly found out that waking up at 5:50 was a breeze compared to the demands of a newborn.

As a 28 year old I gave birth to Nixon. Another sweet baby!

As a 29 year old I........I can't think of a major event. But surviving being a mother of 2 active boys is enough right! Lots of Disneyland, lots of park, lots of sand, lots of playdates, lots of cleaning up messes, lots of diapers. I feel lucky to be home with them every second of every day, although it may not be good for my sanity.

I look forward to the 30s and all the new fun and adventures ahead. I see a few more kids joining our family at some point, lots of school and learning, primary church talks and prayers, fun family vacations and lots of time spent at the sports fields. I see myself as the crazy mom on the sidelines screaming at, I mean encouraging my kids. I see a small possibility of me going back to work and maybe, just maybe a vacation alone with my husband (maybe to celebrate our 10 year, Kyle?).

The 30s should be great right?!

Disneyland again

2010-04-27T14:26:00.000-07:00

This time we met up with our friends/cousins for a morning trip to the park. It was an adventure for Melissa who took her twins and Reese for the first time alone, but hopefully I was a little bit of a help. Actually, I think I ended up looking like the crazy person standing in line with three kids. I got a few comments about how brave I was.

I can't believe it

2010-04-27T14:08:00.000-07:00

An arm around his brother! Things are looking up over here.

piano

2010-04-15T16:13:00.000-07:00

I was asked to play the piano for a church activity next week so I pulled out my tiny little piano (that is actually Kyle's, and he doesn't know how to play one key:)). The kids took over immediately.......and Kyle wonders why things don't always get done around here.
I tried teaching Logan twinkle twinkle little star. He wanted nothing to do with it, someday maybe.

A disney day

2010-04-15T16:08:00.001-07:00

We were blocked for a couple of weeks from the park so this week we went twice. First on Monday night as a whole family.

Logan has to sit in this car, won't step foot on the actual ride. Today I took the kids by myself. It was crowded. Fantasyland was a disaster, we waited in line for Dumbo for WAY too long, but we still had a fun time.

And Logan had to sit in the car again....there was a line for it also.

The kids took a 3 hour nap so it was a good day all around

Easter

2010-04-08T12:09:00.000-07:00

I've been waiting to post about Easter because I forgot my camera and my dad took all the pictures of the kids during the family dinner and egg hunt. But it is tax season and my dad is a CPA so I don't think I will be getting those pictures until after April 15th.

We had a pre-Easter egg hunt with some friends. The kids were so cute running from the starting line to the eggs. Once Nixon got to the hunt he thought carefully before picking up each egg.

Until he discovered candy in them and then he had to sit down to really concentrate

check out those cheeks

Logan just put one piece of candy in this mouth to get a little taste of it and then would throw it on the ground and procede to the next piece.

We decorated eggs on Saturday while dad was at general conference for church(he has to set up the broadcast so we were loners all day and had to fill the time).

Surprisingly the mess was contained

But anyone who knows Logan knows he likes to throw and so one little egg didn't have a chance.

Easter morning Nixon woke up first and went straight to work cracking open eggs

Logan woke up and was really hesitant about the thought of the Easter bunny leaving him something.

On Easter we went to church, where the kids played in the nursery with Kyle, and I got to sit in the chapel and actually listen to every single speaker.

Here's where all the missing pictures should be. We went to my aunt's house for dinner with all my extended family. The egg hunt started out with just the kids looking for eggs but once the whistle was blown it was fair game for everyone. Some adults were too proud to look for money filled eggs, but not me!! I take my egg hunting very seriously, always have. I may have knocked down a cousin who was eyeing the same egg as me. In the end, I made a little money.

The next morning was rainy so instead of taking the kids to the park like we normally do they opened all of my hard earned eggs and put the money in their banks.

I found one of the big prizes, this money filled chocolate bunny....yes I am pretty proud

March madness

2010-03-20T16:33:00.000-07:00

March madness is in full force at the Hunt home. I suggested to kyle that he just go on a little vacation next year so I don't have to have basketball invade my life. It's madness I tell you!!

Logan is loving basketball and is a pretty good shot, even if it is with a soccer ball. Nixon tries

But he got demoted to sweat cleaner upper. He may have tripped Logan in the process and Kyle and I may have grinned and told him good job.

First

2010-03-17T12:18:00.000-07:00

First hair-trim by my wonderful friend Megan.

Naked dinners

2010-03-17T12:11:00.001-07:00

Last night we had a naked dinner night. Don't worry only the kids were involved.

Dinner starts out fine with food on the plate, kids clean, mom happy. Then tweedledee decided to pour his food off the plate

and tweedledum decides to follow the example of his baby brother

Then tweedledee decides to start blowing raspberries just to make sure little particles of food fly everywhere

Tweedledum follows

"dee" decides to wipe food all over his face and hair

"dum" wipes it all over his arms and chest.

And that's why we have naked dinners!!

Bad choice

2010-03-08T19:44:00.000-08:00

I'm not loving this new bed thing we have going on.

Naps have only been lasting 1 hour.

I have to sit in his room with him or lay with him for him to stay in bed.

My house is a disaster because he isn't taking good naps so I have no time to get stuff done.

Last night he didn't go to be until after 10:30.

I've begged Kyle to put up the crib again......he refuses.

I need the cage back!!!!

It's about time

2010-03-06T19:08:00.000-08:00

This kid has been in his crib forever and we finally decided to buy him a big boy bed. We boy bunk beds that can be used as two twins. So far all he wants to do is jump on the bed which is getting him in a lot of trouble today.

So far he loves it, although during naptime he asked for his little bed. To be honest it makes me sad that he isn't in the little bed anymore. Hope switching over to a bed isn't too hard, although i don't tend to him at night time. Kyle may be in for it!

Now I just need to get Nixon out of the pack n play.

Doctors and Disneyland

2010-03-06T18:52:00.000-08:00

Nixon had his one year checkup this past week. Basically he is a big boy. He is 26 lbs and 32 inches tall. According to the staff he looks like an 18 mth old, but to me he is still a little baby. Although now I realize that I carrry around close to 30 lbs in my left arm and wonder why I don't have a more muscular arm. He fought the doctor for every part of her examination, but was very friendly wanting her to hold him also. He doesn't love the nurse Florence, because he got two shots (varicella and mmr). But after she gave him a purple lollipop he was happy as can be. We went to Disneyland this week also with one of our friends. Logan has decided these past two weeks at our visits to the park that he doesn't like Buzz, which he previously has been obsessed with, and refuses to go on the ride. He now loves Monsters Inc and is waiting for an "UP" ride.

Uno party

2010-03-01T12:21:00.001-08:00

I don't know if you can really call it a party. I decided that I didn't want to be in charge of cooking so I convinced my mom to have dinner at her house and I just brought the cake, balloons, birthday banner, and birthday boy.

Since I didn't have to do much party planning, I decided to make my first shirt. I got the idea from a blog and copied her uno idea also. The first shirt I made was out of one of Kyle's t-shirts that I cut up. It ended up being about a 3 month old size. So I bought some knit fabric and made one that would fit my big baby. It isn't perfect, but I'm pretty happy with it.

I also made him a little cake with uno cards on the side (use your imagination)

He was hesitant at first until he got one taste of frosting.

Then the cake made its way into his eyes and the birthday boy started crying and needed a shower.

I made a tres leches cake also because we were celebrating my sis-in-laws b-day. She didn't know what I was talking about when I told her it was tres leches (in my white accent). She's from Argentina. I think the agreement between all party goers was that it wasn't the best cake....apparently not soggy enough. Next time. Nixon opened up a few presents after he got the frosting out of his eyes.

Logan thinks they are all his presents

The night ended with Nixon tripping on his pop up tent and hitting his head on the coffee table. it was the loadest thumb and was the size of a golf ball. We were supposed to get 1 year old pictures today that I had to cancel.

I ended up waking up every few hours to do a neuro exam on the kid, he hit that hard.

Big one year old

2010-02-27T19:08:00.001-08:00

Nixon is 1!! Some of the things I remember about the events leading up to and the day he was born.....

Crying on the way to drop Logan off. Not only was it my first time away from him for a night, but I knew his was no longer going to be the baby of our family. I get tears thinking about it.
Staring at the ocean on the long drive down pch having contractions every 5-7 minutes apart.
Kyle stopping at a convience store across the street from the hospital to get a diet pepsi (he obviously has no clue what contractions feel like).
Watching teenager and college kids running around Newport beach and thinking about how funny the difference in what we were both doing was.
From the moment I walked into the hospital (around 8pm)everyone told me how fast this baby was going to come, which I was exited about because from the moment I walked into the hospital I got very hungry.
Having a very new, young nurse.....and not really loving the thought of that.
Another nurse coming in to do all procedures like inserting tubes/monitors.
Eating lots of popsicles
Starring at the fetal monitors all night long
Watching the decels in the heartrate and telling Kyle each time that we needed to pray.
Having the anesthesiologist I used to watch insert epidurals when I was in nursing school.
That anesthesiologist telling me the same thing over and over again (risk/benefits of epidural...ya ya just put it in)
Deciding Nixon was the name
Not sleeping one wink
Being told I was going to need to have a section
Crying because I was having a section and this baby wasn't coming fast like I had been told all night
Dr. Ricci coming in early looking very tired
Dr. Ricci being mad the nurses hadn't called her earlier
The OR anesthesiologist telling me how happy I looked (while I was still sobbing, he wasn't very observant) while he pushed me on the gurney to the OR (around 7am)
The OR nurse telling me my makeup looked very nice.
Freezing in the OR
Struggling to keep my eyes open, I was so tired.
Kyle coming into the OR, asking me if I was ok, holding my hand.
The doctors talking about their skiing trips while they were doing my surgery.
Me wondering how much of my surgery was paying for their trips
Telling the anesthesiologist that I couldn't breathe, and him telling me it was ok
Nixon coming out and my immediate thought was that he looked just like Logan did.
Everyone telling me how cute his dimples were.
The pediatric specialist telling me Nixon was fine.
The nurse bringing him over to me to kiss.
Me telling Kyle to make sure he didn't let Nixon out of his sight.
Holding Nixon for the first time in the recovery room.
Thinking while I was staring at my new baby, Kyle didn't follow the right baby out of the OR.
My family coming to the hospital with Logan
Logan not wanting to come near me
My brother bringing Mexican food to the hospital.
Me not being about to eat it because I was told that I couldn't eat or drink anything for awhile.
Me telling Kyle to give me a drink and him refusing
Me telling Kyle I am a nurse practitioner and I said it was ok.
Every part of my skin itching thanks to the morphine
Seeing Nixon's little calfs and realizing he was my child.

I guess I could go on and on. I feel so lucky to have sweet Nixon.

I have survived my first year being a mother of 2

Nixon has survived his first year being a younger brother to Logan

Watch out Logan, Nix is getting bigger!!

A rare bath

2010-02-25T16:23:00.000-08:00

We don't do baths at our house, we are all about the showers. On the rare occasion when I do let Logan in the bath, the whole bathroom is flooded, the walls end up drenched, and I am soaked from head to toe. But I needed to kill a little bit of time, and the bathroom needed to be cleaned anyways, so I let both of the boys take a bath.
We don't have bath toys since they don't take baths, so I brought out some cups and kitchen utensils. Logan stood up and started peeing in a funnel and then the bath was over.

party

2010-02-25T16:19:00.001-08:00

Logan hosted a little Valentine's party a couple of weeks ago with a few of his friends who all receive a little bit of tough love from him. I didn't take many pictures but here are a few from the day. Thank goodness for wooden floors, my house was covered in sprinkles!

Pretend you don't see those blue cups ( I forgot to get red/pink one for us adults).

Valentines

2010-02-17T18:40:00.000-08:00

Kyle and I don't do much for Valentine's day. He always reminds me that he asked me out for the first time many years ago on Valentine's day and I stood him up, so now we don't celebrate it. Ha, funny that I stood him up on Valentine's huh.

Valentine's morning Logan ate a heart shaped donut and some healthier foods for breakfast and after he was ready for church I let him look in his chair backpack. It was cute to watch him look in the bag and then look at me with a look that I interpretted to say, "these things have been on the back of our chairs for weeks now and this is the first time I've looked in them to find all this fun stuff." He was happy. A truck cup, bubbles, heart sucker, toy story white board, and a few other things (all from the dollar spot at target) filled his chair backpack.

Nixon just got a scribble pad, but as you can see he rarely gets to use it.

After church and naps we went on a bike ride. We went to see the rabbits (wrong holiday for seeing rabbits, I know) and ducks. Really we just wanted to let the kids run around and get out some energy.

Poor guy can't move his legs fast enough to get himself a bunny

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

2010-02-08T11:51:00.000-08:00

Football season is over!!! We didn't have a superbowl party, but I made the boys football ties in honor of the big day.

I realize this is a horrible picture, but I'm lucky the two of them are sitting so close together. Maybe an arm around eachother will be possible in a few months.

Boys will be boys

2010-02-07T18:52:00.000-08:00

Last week one of my friends invited us over for a playdate. It is Logan's number 1 friend. They can play for hours, running non-stop, screaming, booming (which is an activity that only the two of them understand), wrestling, and jumping.

We let the boys play in the room with all the toys while we chatted and watched our two younger babies. Just then the boys walked out.......I couldn't stop laughing. Logan had no pants on, no underwear, and he had one arm out of his shirt, and his friend was half dressed as well. What were they doing?

We went into the room to get their clothes and there were two wet spots where each of them had peed on the the floor.

Wonder how they decided to do that!

winter vacation

2010-01-20T13:38:00.000-08:00

We spent Christmas this year in Idaho. Unfortunately I left my camera at Kyle's sister's house in Utah so I don't have any Christmas Day pictures.

My two little snow "angels" I let Nixon go sledding with his 7 year old cousin. He face planted, resulting in a little snow beard.

Logan loves his cousins especially when they have DS's with them

4 wheeling every day

Nixon spent about 30 minutes everyday outside and couldn't move a muscle

Logan spent hours outside

Nixon and I spent about 7 days in our pajamas. We just threw snow clothes over them when we went outside. Nice huh!

Doesn't it look like these three got along well.......they didn't. It actually was pretty miserable trying to keep them away from eachother. I love the cabin in the winter, so much snow. It's so different from home

But Nixon thanks us that we live in California, even with the rain right now (which I love)

Look who's walking

2010-01-18T12:24:00.000-08:00

He gets tackled to the ground pretty fast

These two keep me busy

2010-01-06T12:41:00.001-08:00

We're back from Idaho. I'm fully defrosted, wearing flip flops again, the boys are sleeping in there own rooms and beds....life is back to normal. All of my pictures from the trip are on Kyle's laptop, so I will have to wait to post about the trip.

While we were away, Nixon turned 10 months. Here are some updates on him

He is the sweetest thing, except when it comes to changing his diaper or clothes. He is a strong little baby and makes it nearly impossible to change him.
eats non stop
stands for long periods of time
takes 2 steps, and then crawls
has 4 teeth
claps
dances
shakes his head
says "dada"
still loves to be held....my arm is really sore all the time

He had a doctor's appointment today and is 23 lbs 30 inches tall. Tonight we will be looking for a new carseat for him because I can't buckle the one he is in, the little chunker.

The day is getting closer to when Nixon can take on his older brother. Logan keeps me busy!!! Anytime I step out of the house I get comments about how I have my hands full. He is mischevious, so so naughty, throws everything in sight, is on the go non-stop, and is the biggest bully you will ever meet......but I love him. And, on rare occasion when I do my hair and makeup he looks at me bewildered and says, "mom pretty."

After being potty trained for months, he decided to start pooping and peeing his pants. But within the last month he is doing much much better. He has decided that he wants to pee standing up but doesn't have the aim quite right yet, so I am constantly cleaning up the floor and toilet. At least he is going on the toilet.

If I could just stop him from beating up other kids life would be much easier. Oddly enough, his nursery teacher tells me he is sweet, never hits, but does like to throw. I think she is lying to me. My brother in law told me to get him punching gloves so that he could hit everything until he got it out of his system. Any ideas?

Can't you just see the wheels turning in his head in these pictures.....naughty!
Christmas cards never happened this year (I have my hands full), so here is the most recent picture of my boys.