Mornings

It is a goal of mine to capture our family as we are. Real, everyday, no staging or making sure we all look pretty. Just us. I want to shoot more pictures regardless of available light or if the bed is made. I am going to grab whatever camera is handy, the point and shoot or my Nikon.

These were shot with the point and shoot, no flash, hence the camera shake and grain. Technically imperfect but I love them. The morning light is flooding through, bed head is abundant and we all have sleepy eyes. This is what I want to remember. What I want my kids to be able to look back on.

Max and Kate love to climb up onto our bed and join whatever action is taking place there; lazy morning snuggles with dad, diaper changes for Rhett or just plain messing around.

Blankets and bears are never far from reach and here the bears needed diapers. I love Max's concentration, he always sticks his tongue out just a bit.

My heart is full.

Thanksgiving 2011

We celebrated Thanksgiving dinner with the Gunnell family on Friday in Mesa at Wendy's church building. The food was wonderful and traditional. I made pecan pie, my favorite, and the raspberry jello salad. Easy-peasy for this girl this year especially with three littles and the hour long car trip. 

We seemingly packed the house to spend the day in Mesa, it is a lot of work to get us somewhere! We finally made it out the door after 9am and once we arrived in town we spent the morning with our dear friends the Maldonado's. They are always generous and open to us hanging out with them. Phil and Brent went to our Mesa house to get Christmas decorations and the we took the kids to their park and talked.

We went to the church building at the designated time and set up the pack'n'plays for Max and Kate to nap. Poor kids put up quite the protest and in the end never slept. Thankfully a 30 minute catnap that morning in teh truck helped and they did beautifully during our time there. 

We ate, visited, the kids ran around like crazies, there was an impromptu kid talent show and frisbee football with the older "boys". I always feel like there is never enough time to properly visit when you have young children to tend and especially when you are nursing. I also wish I took more pictures. 

I want to remember Kate running to Grandma Standage and snuggling right into her. Which made Grandma beam! She loves our girl so very much and I am kicking myself for not capturing it. Grandma is 87 years young and is such a beautiful woman, inside and out. Max ran to Gordon, Phil's dad. I am so glad that my kids remember their grandparents and great grandparents. 

Stephanie did such a cute craft for the kids and they played Turkey Bingo. She had yummy treats for everyone that played. Max and Kate loved it! Cousin Kyle, the oldest and lonely teenage boy, was sweet and helped them glue on their feathers. 

Rhett spent most of his time either sleeping in someone's arms or nursing. It's a rough life.

By the time we left that evening around 6pm it was too dark to stop at the cemetery to visit Camden and the kids all crashed as soon as we hit the freeway. It was a whirlwind trip but I am glad we made it. We had a lovely day with family and friends and have so much to be thankful for. 

Rhett: 2 Months Old

It is such a different experience having a child who gains 3 pounds a month. Three whole pounds! I know you shouldn't compare your children but Max and Kate are my only reference point. When they were two months old Kate was 8 pounds, Max 9 1/2 pounds and he had gained 2 pounds in one month. It is just fun to look back at the numbers and I am grateful to have a "normal" and healthy growing boy.

2 Month Stats:

Weight: 11 pounds 8 ounces-27%

Length: 22.5" long-15%

Head: 15.25" -11%

Diapers: Size 1 but once we finish the supply we are moving to a roomier size 2 diaper.

Clothes: It varies wildly with the brand but he is in 0-3 months generally and today I put him in a Carter's 3 month. I think it is safe to say we don't have a newborn anymore.

Rhett smiles and coos, he loves attention and is a very content baby. Sleeping has regulated and he goes just a bit longer between feeds at night, roughly 3 hours and still about 2 hours during the day.

I love this sweet boy so much. He fits into our family perfectly. The kids still shower him with kisses, talk to him in high-pitched baby voices and love to hold him. He is a trooper and tolerates us all man-handling him. I kiss his cheeks endlessly and nibble his soft ears.

We love you little brother!

An Update...finally.

6 weeks old in the above photo and don't you just want to kiss those sweet lips? I just love this face.

This face is the reason 17 days have passed without me updating this blog. The boy still likes to hang out between the hours of 7pm to 10pm. And by "hang out" I mean stay awake and only be happy if he is held, bounced and so forth. We oblige. Editing photos and writing blog posts are rather difficult one-handed. (It has taken me almost two hours to get this far...)

And now the babe is 8 weeks old tomorrow! Wah! He has changed so, so much. 

These two faces are equally responsible for the silence. Even though I don't feel like we "do" anything, we "do" plenty! Every day tasks of mothering and housekeeping keep me quiet busy and by the end of the night I am exhausted. The older turkeys are full-fledged two-year-olds and take their job quite seriously.

I'll post more later, the little man in charge is calling me.

I'll leave you with these yummy photos. 

My view as I nursed him in the truck while we were playing at the park.

With a face like this he usually gets what he wants. 

Halloween 2011

Best family picture of the night

Sweet Viking Baby

Sweet Viking Maiden

We kept it low-key this year with the ward Trunk-or-Treat; minus the actual trunk or treating since we left early, the Midwestern carnival and one stop at our home teacher's house to show off the kids. 

Kate says a cute "Trick or Treat!" but never when she is supposed to and they both caught on fast to the whole handing out candy concept, stuffing it in their little mouths as soon as it was received. None of this put it in the bucket nonsense!

Decor around the house consisted of one key item. Cute footprint ghosts. I like it more because it documents the "littleness" of our family right now.

I'll redeem myself next year when we don't have a newborn and my kids are more aware of the festivities, then I'll pull out all the stops and become a fun holiday mom. I've got big plans and am excited to make traditions and memories with my kids.

The university does a wonderful job putting on fun events for the families. Arts, crafts, trick-or-treating around the campus, bounce houses and lots of goodies abound. It gets rather crazy and the kids are too small to really appreciate or participate in most activities so we are looking forward to next year already.

Here they are with their cute friend "Scarlett O'Hara". 

Last year we got maybe five doorbell rings so I decided to turn off the lights and not hand out candy. Only one doorbell ringer tonight and they were ignored as I nursed my baby.

Phil is hunkering down for the end of fall quarter which brings a week of finals. Oh the stress! Afterwards he gets two weeks off and we are very much looking forward to some down time. 

We both can't believe how fast the year is going. October just bit the dust and I know that with the holidays, busyness of every day life and school that 2012 will come rolling in. On one hand I am happy that the days tick by, especially in regards to medical school but in turn that means my family life is flying by just as quickly. My children are growing too fast. I want to savor these days at home with my littles and instead I am finding myself frazzled, frustrated and tired. Not good.

We have settled into more of a loose routine and are getting out of the house for appointments, park dates, etc. Rhett still eats every 2 hours, Max and Kate still need their mom to play with them and I need more kindness and patience. I fall short everyday. 

I have been reading a chapter in the Book of Mormon each day as I nurse Rhett and I have noticed a difference in my ability to mother and am so grateful for it. I need to up my daily consumption! So many things vie for my attention and it is hard to find balance. My kids, my husband, the house, chores, myself. 

I am tired of looking postpartum, having nothing to wear with this new and still chubby body. I know it takes time and most importantly good habits and a lot of hard work. My problem is finding the time with three small children and eating too many sweets. I need an intervention! I need to take better care of myself which in turn will lead to me taking better care of my family. I know this, now I need to DO it.

Ready, set, go.

Rhett: One Month

My sweet friend Lori sent us these fun month stickers in the mail since we are both detail obsessed. I am so very glad she did! Thank you Lori! Rhett and I did a mini photo session while Max and Kate were napping to start the fun documentation of our monthly milestones. Yes, the pictures are all the same but a certain Grandma in Utah won't mind and frankly neither do I.

Mr. Rhett is one month old. Stop! Time is slipping by so fast and this little man is changing every day.

He had his check-up on Monday and here are the latest stats:

Weight: 8 pounds 10 ounces! 17th percentile

Length: 21 inches:
Not sure I believe it since they said he grew almost an inch in the 3 days between coming home from the hospital and his initial check-up...

Newborn clothes and now in a comfy size 1 diaper.

Regardless, please note the whopping THREE pounds put on since birth! Good grief. Perhaps it has something to do with eating every two hours? Hmmm, little piggy?

Gaining weight is something he excels at, clearly. He was 5 pounds 13 ounces at birth, 5 pounds 8 ounces coming home, back to birth weight at his 3 day check-up, up to 6 pounds 15 ounces one week later and finally a hefty 8 pounds 10 ounces. Again, he is growing way too fast.

"Did you get my good side mom?"


Aaaaand we're done!

His brother and sister adore him still. If anything Kate's adoration grows stronger each day. She loves to kiss him, lays her cheek on his head and will try to comfort him when he cries and she is within reach.

Rhett has his "witching hour" between 7pm and 10pm where he is wide-eyed. He is fussy unless he is held, swaddled and he likes to be bounced with his bum patted, thank you very much.

He is starting to be a bit vocal, can follow you with his eyes and he calms almost instantly when I pick him up and talk to him. Love this boy!

Rhett's Newborn Session

One week after Rhett was born we packed up the truck, kids, Grandma and made the trek across town to my friend Leah's house in south Gilbert to do Rhett's newborn photos. Another photographer friend, Jen, joined us as well nearer the end. 

I knew it was going to be a big ordeal, we were jeopardizing naps and thanks to Murphy's law, what can go wrong usually will. Thus our morning was grouchy, the kids woke up really early and were whiny, my patience was thin and we ended up leaving the house later than I had planned. Max fell asleep right away and of course Kate fell asleep right before Leah's exit on the freeway. They didn't sleep on the way home thanks to the Barney dvd I put in before we left while they waited in the truck for me to nurse Rhett.

Leah was wonderful, patient and kind to us all. My mom was super Grandma entertaining Max and Kate, pushing them through their nap time since we were still shooting Rhett and by the end we were all exhausted. But it was all worth it.

Thank you Leah and Jen for the images of my children. It is always a treat to be in photographs with my kids, instead of being the one taking them.

I wanted a few shots of the kids to mark their two years, which is hard to do when kids are two.

Kate in all her sweetness.

Isn't he so handsome? You should see this full size, his eyes sparkle and I just want to eat him.

Giving kisses... and the very next frame is... don't ask.