May Instagram

 Row 1 - Nudie, sore fingers, lilacs, waiting for Grandma, Mother's Day picture

Row 2 - T-ball begins, Mother's Day bouquet, sitting in a chair, Bountiful temple, first t-ball game

Row 3 - Setting up the tent, Norah running as usual, ward campout, my taste-tester, potty-training

Row 4 - Pinwheel, preschool grad, softball begins, Mustache May, summer toes

Row 5 - At the zoo, Sunday dress, 8 months, yummy watermelon, Happy 8 Years!!!

Also, learning how to read

 First popcicles of summer

 Happy Cinco de Mayo

 Mother's Day breakfast

 Anniversary date - Nickel Creek!

 At the Zoo

 Memorial Day

Memorial Day

 We enjoyed Memorial Day visiting Grandpa Bradshaw's grave and hanging out with family. It was a good weekend!

A Dress from Grandma and little Update

 My mom made this dress for Norah and after a year it finally fits her! I think she looks darling in it.

Norah loves it too. She calls it her "pwincess dwess".

I though I would do a little update on Norah since she turned 2 1/2 this month. Norah is at such a fun age right now. She makes me laugh everyday. She is a snuggler, singer, dancer and tease. She is either sweet as pie or a little terror.

Norah is very into Minnie Mouse, Frozen songs, fruit snacks, and swinging on the swings. She loves wearing her shoes and will wear them all the time. She gets very concerned when there is anything on her hands or clothes. She constantly asks for a napkin to wipe herself off or to clean up messes. Maybe she sees me do it a million times a day. 

She follows Logan around everywhere and they can be the cutest little buddies. She LOVES fruit and would be content eating it for every meal. Also a lover of carbs like her momma. She doesn't like white milk (never has) and it drives me crazy! We always mix in a little Carnation Instant Breakfast for some flavor. I hope to wean her off shortly.

She is such a smart little thing. She knows and recognizes many letters in the alphabet. She counts up to 12 and attempts to 20 but gets her teens all mixed up. She knows her colors, shapes, animals, etc. She talks in complete sentences and simply loves to learn.

We are venturing into potty-training, which will hopefully click faster than it did with her older brother. My baby girl is no longer a baby but a busy, smart, little girl who knows what she wants, when she wants it. She definitely holds her own as the only girl.

Preschool Graduation

 Logan is officially done with preschool!

He took from Miss Lesli at Magic Moments Preschool. She was a great teacher and taught him a lot. She always had fun activities and art for the kids. Logan is also doing really well with his letters and sounds. I'm so thankful for educators who take time for my kids and love them too!

His graduation was held at the library. Here he is reciting his part about the letter "D".

They sang a bunch of songs (that I got on video and will try to post for the grandparents). 

Here he is after he received his diploma. He also loved his graduation cap.

All the kids from both the AM and PM classes. We hope to see a few of them next year in kindergarten!

 

My big 5-year-old. He was so excited and I'm glad he felt so special. 

I tried to get a few more photos outside but he was so done with pictures. I think it was partly because he had a huge sugar cookie waiting for him in the car. 

Caught a smile!

Happy Graduation Logan!

Max at 8 Months

 My baby boy is 8 months old!

 Max continues to be such an amazing baby. Despite having 6 teeth, he is still sleeping great and enjoys being on a routine.

He wakes up around 6:30-7, takes 2 naps a day, and goes to bed around 8:00. He eats everything in sight (both edible and not) and constantly has a wet, drooly chin.

He recently learned how to pull himself up to standing and it is now his new favorite trick. He is always standing in his crib when I go to get him. He doesn't know how to get back down again which results in him either falling over or crying for help.

 He is still doing the scoot crawl on his tummy but will occasionally do a little bear crawl or step. He is so fast. All of a sudden he'll be under the kitchen table, eating leftovers on the floor from breakfast. He also took a tumble down the stairs (about 7 steps) and was luckily fine. Broke my heart but he was over it in a few seconds. Time for a baby gate!

He doesn't like to be on his back, making changing his diaper near impossible. I always change him on the floor instead of his changing table in fear he'll dive over the edge! The only way to get him to hold still is to start singing  5 Little Monkeys.

He is loving all of his baby food and has tried regular food as well. He has one of those mesh things that I can put a piece of fruit it. He LOVES it and is a complete mess by the time he's done.

Max is starting to get stranger anxiety and if I'm in the room, only wants to be held by me. He has a very sad bottom lip that sticks out when he's about to cry. He can turn on the tears in a heartbeat.  But 90% of the time he looks like the next photo:

He's starting to babble more and more. Sounds like ba-ba-ba-ba and ma-ma-ma-ma. He also knows how to wave. Smart little man.

This photo is for my brother Sam, who spent his whole crawling career without touching his knees to the ground. 

And demonstrating his pulling up skills. Gone are the days when I could just leave him in one spot knowing he would stay there. Life is suddenly a lot harder. But oh this boy melts my heart. 

Happy 8 Months Maxwell!

Norah's Stitches

 So Norah had a pretty tramatic experience on May 4th. Sunday night I was watching a show with the kids while Benj left for a few minutes to help his grandparents with their computer. Norah started screaming and I looked up and see her 2 tiny fingers stuck in between our TV hutch doors. 

I tried to pull them out but they were wedged so tightly I couldn't get them out. The doors hinge so I didn't want to move them in the wrong direction in fear I would break her fingers!

What felt like eternity (only about 1 minute) I finally got them out. I could see the skin was broken and the cut deep. Her fingers looked, well, flat and I was worried they were broken. I frantically called Benj (no answer), grabbed a wet hand towel and tried to have Norah hold it on her hand. She wanted none of it! She'd freak out and rub her fingers on her shirt and didn't want anything touching them. I called Benj again, this time he answered. All I said is "Come home right now!" and I hung up before telling him details. Grabbed the towel and tried to calm Norah down. Called Benj again and said, "This really is an emergency. Norah's fingers might be broken and I need to take her to the ER."

Norah with her bandaged fingers

He got home fast and I left with Norah, her whole arm wrapped in the hand towel and bandage tape to try to keep it in place. If you know Norah, you know she sucks her thumb. It was really hard for her to not suck her thumb since it was on the damaged hand. I felt like I was running around like a madwoman.

It being Sunday, our only option really was the hospital ER. As I drove, she would have little sad spurts. She started singing Let It Go in her sad little voice. That made me cry and we sang that song all the way to the hospital. They didn't make us wait too long and Norah calmed down by watching Minnie Mouse on my phone. By the time we got to a room of our own, it was probably around 8:30. 

The ER doctors and nurses took great care of Norah. I held Norah in my lap while they took a few x-rays to make sure it wasn't broken. Good news was it wasn't. She needed 3 stitches in each finger so 6 total.

The worst part was her getting the 2 shots to numb her for stitches. They wrapped her mummy-like in a sheet with her arm out so she wouldn't move. She screamed and screamed! I tried to stroke her head and comfort her, but she really didn't calm down until they were done with the shots. Afterwards she calmed right down. I asked her if she wanted me to sing her a song and I sang Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam. Then I Love to See the Temple, Popcorn Popping, and I am a Child of God. By the time I got to the chorus of the last song, she was snoring. It was about 10:00 by the time we left. Its no wonder she was exhausted.

She was really good about not pulling on her bandage and knowing she had an "owie". I had to replace the bandage for the first few days. Then she really didn't need one (although she liked having bandaids on her fingers). You can see on the photo below how it fell off while she took a nap.

We went in 10 days later to get them removed. Amazing how fast little bodies can heal. Norah did great while they removed them.

To celebrate getting her stitches out, she got a treat at Sweet Tooth Fairy. She chose a fairyfetti cake bite. You can see she was excited. 

So, this was my first (and hopefully) last experience with stitches as a mom. Its so hard to see your kids in pain. I hope we don't have to deal with this again!

Mother's Day

MOTHER'S DAY 2014

The kids look so thrilled in this picture, don't they?

Our Sunday mornings (even though our church is at 1:00) are always hectic and we're usually late. I made the family late today because I wanted a few pictures. Not the exact way to keep the spirit and prepare for church. However, that's how my life is right now - hectic. Being a mother is hard.

It's a good day if I get dressed before 11 am. 

It's a good day when there aren't 50 diapers strewn across every room in the house. 

It's a good day when I can greet Benj home with a smile instead of a look of desperation. 

It's a great day when I build a blanket fort with Logan, ignoring the piles of laundry or dirty dishes in the sink.

It's a great day when Norah wants to dance with me in the kitchen.

It's a great day when Max gives me open-mouthed kisses and big toothy grins.

And you know what? I definitely have more great days than just good days. Life is meant to be enjoyed. Motherhood is meant to be enjoyed. I find that the times I put the distractions aside and focus on these 3 special people in my life, I am a happier, better person. Not to mention happier kids too.

My family spoiled me with gifts (flowers, a hand-held vacuum, a precious hand drawn picture), a yummy breakfast, a sweet rendition of "Mother, I Love You" and numerous amounts of hugs and kisses. I am one blessed mom.