Adelyn - 1 month

I didn't think about taking pictures until late in the evening when good natural lighting was gone. At least I took pictures!

{baby love}

Everyone in our home is loving having baby Adelyn.

For Jack being so upset about not getting a brother, he sure loves to cuddle & snuggle with Adelyn. He loves to talk to her in a high sweet voice. I adore him! He's the best big brother! The top picture I took after I went into my bedroom one afternoon where I'd left Adelyn napping. He seriously loves this girl!

Callie is a fantastic help to me! She is great about trying to calm Adelyn down if she gets fussy & I can't get her right away or if she needs entertaining. She often sits across from her in the car (we have captain seats in the middle) and she's great about giving her a binky or anything Adelyn needs when she's in her carseat. Callie has been picking Adelyn up when she thinks I'm not looking. I finally told her today (Mar 31) that it's okay so she has taken full advantage of being allowed to & she's carried her & held her a bit today!

Ellie is also very sweet with Adelyn. She loves to show her toys & I have to remind her (and Jack too) to not put the toys right in Adelyn's face. Ellie asks all the time if she can hold Addy & I try to let her often. She usually is only interested in holding her for about 45 seconds before she's ready for me to take Adelyn. She talks about the differences between the things she can do & the things Adelyn can do, since Ellie's a big sister! :) Yesterday & today I've caught Ellie laying on the floor next to Adelyn & then rolling Adelyn up onto her (Ellie's) chest. She's quite proud. I'm quite nervous. I did have a talk with the kids the other day about being very careful with Adelyn & I compared her to an egg after a friend gave me the idea. I shook an egg up so it would scramble to teach them not to shake her, I squeezed one really hard so it broke to teach them not to squeeze her too tight, and I dropped one to teach about not dropping a baby.

Jeremiah is smitten with his newest girl. He says how cute she is all the time & I love to see him kissing on her & cuddling with her. He has sweet & funny conversations with her, and the kids all love it when he makes Adelyn "dance." He loves his girls. He's such a great father!

Adelyn's first bath

[Sat, Feb 26] 2 days shy of 1 month after she was born, she finally got a real bath! Her umbilical cord fell off a few days before, but it was pretty gooey still so I wasn’t sure that she should have a real bath yet.

Adelyn never got real upset during her sponge baths & she did good for most of this one, but when she got mad that was it! The only thing that calmed her down was getting her out! Thankfully she’s pretty great about baths. I usually bathe her in my bathroom sink – it’s just the right size. The tub in the pictures is super cute (it was a baby gift for Ellie), but the sink is just so much easier. She really seems to enjoy having her hair washed.

Up to no good

I walked into the kitchen after changing Addy to find the freezer door wide open. Ellie was MIA. I was ironing a couple mins later & glanced over at the couch where she was now sitting eating a fudgesicle. I told her to get in the kitchen just as Jack was knocking on the door, getting home from preschool. I got him in the house & saw that she'd set the fudgesicle on the bar chair & it was making a huge drippy mess. But no worries - she was licking it clean! A little while later I realized there must have been a wrapper so I asked her where it was... in her room between the bed & the window wall (completely out of site). And yes, there was fudgesicle in the bedroom, on the couch & on the living room floor!

DIY Rambo

Jack is SUPER creative. For realz. He's always getting in trouble for making a mess of craft supplies & leaving the mess out. Or using things he shouldn't. When he saw this empty box of mine the wheels started turning & he started collecting stuff to turn it into a gun. I didn't help him at all! He did everything on here 100% by himself - even plugging in the hot glue gun & gluing! I love the Sid Pez in the back so he can cock his gun!

Love this boy! Tell me you don't love him too.

Valentine's Day

I was talking to Wendy a few days before Valentine's Day. I think she said something like, "I think it's so crazy how some mom's go completely overboard with the valentines. What's wrong with going to Walmart & buying a box of valentines & putting a couple pieces of candy in the envelope?"

Hmmmmm. And to think we've been friends for almost 10 years. I thought you knew me!

Anywhooo...

Here's the valentines Callie took to her class this year. Except it wasn't these ones. Because I forgot to take a picture of the finished product! Oops. Our straws weren't as cute - just plain pin-striped red/blue bendy straws from Walmart.



Thank goodness Jer's mom & Ann were over on Sunday afternoon so that I could be the slave driver I am! Really, I'm so lucky to have them here! They helped Callie & me whip those babies out. Otherwise it would have taken forEVER!



I didn't make Jack's valentines until Monday afternoon because he didn't need them until Tuesday (preschool day) for his party. Oh shoot, forgot to set the self timer & photograph myself. So here's the ones I copied. I remember these from when I was a kid. Love them!



Over the weekend the kids had been sick. On Valentine's Day Jeremiah was super sick. IN FACT I went to Smith's at like 2:30 in the morning to get him some Pepto! Talk about LOVE!

So on the day AFTER Valentine's Day we had our Valentine's breakfast (crepes this year). I gave treats to each of my Valentines. The kids each a dollar tootsie roll bank & a book. And a little marshmallow chocolate heart that I'd got from Smith's at 2:30 the previous morning.



Jeremiah got Ghiradelli Squares & I gave myself Lindor Truffles. I LOVE them!



Jeremiah & I don't exchange gifts and I LOVE it! Instead we have a tradition. Every year he makes me fruit dip & he washes & hulls strawberries. And I always make him sugar cookies. It's a fun tradition & something we both really look forward to. It's also great because it takes any pressure off of buying each other gifts. But since he was so sick I didn't make him his sugar cookies until Thursday (the 17th). I barely had them made before he got home from work so he took over helping the kids decorate while I fed Adelyn.



Our friend Warren arrived that afternoon from California to hunt with Jeremiah on Friday, so he was able to enjoy our sugar cookies too. :) He was so sweet with Adelyn! And not afraid of a fussy baby either - I like that!



Hopefully next year we'll all be healthy enough to enjoy our treats on Valentine's Day!

It's Raining, It's Pouring

When it rains here, often times it pours! Jeremiah's mom brought over lots of stuff for everyone to make boats with to have a boat race in the flooded street! Everyone had so much fun crafting their boats! Except me. I had to go to a baby shower. :(

Callie & Ellie


Callie, Jonny, Jeremiah's Dad, Ann (you can only see her arm) & Whitley (Jeremiah's cousin).

Jeremiah & his mom helping Ellie with her boat.


Jonny worked so hard on his boat. Too bad it wasn't air tight! haha

The kids all found toys to attach to their boats. You know, to steer them!

What Callie learned at school

I asked Callie after school today what she'd learned. First she said nothing. Then after a moment of thought she said:

"I learned that if you bring popcorn money on Friday you don't get popcorn. I had to share a bag." (Popcorn money's due by Thursday to get your own bag. But what a bunch of crap! We send extra money almost every single time! Apparently there's no rollover!)

Another minute later she shared another thing she'd learned today:

"I learned that our ham isn't good any more. I ate a bite of my sandwich and it tasted disgusting."

Awesome. And as a side note I've changed 5 - that's right FIVE - poopy diapers in the last hour & a half! From the same kid. I'm not complaining - I'm just saying! That's $1.25 in diapers. And it's drying out my hands. :)

Seriously So Blessed

Seriously.

Because of these 2.

Thanks to this little one:

It was the best weekend ever! (Feb 5)

For starters, my sister Tara came into town on Thursday night to hang out with me on Friday. On Friday evening she went to dinner with my parents & when she came back that night she had my sister Chelsea with her! All the way from Kansas! It was such a fun surprise! The funny thing was I'd talked to my dad while he was in Vegas that afternoon & he'd said something like "we're just on our way to Costco" & I'd said "We? Who are you with?" He said "Oh nobody, I just usually have your mom with me so I wasn't thinking." Liar! He had Chelsea with him! I never suspected a thing!

On Saturday morning I got up & got ready & headed to Abby's house. She & Summer were throwing me a "little" baby shower - yep, for my FOURTH baby (and 3rd girl!)! (It was mostly with the people I'm closest to.)

Abby & Summer threw me {and Adelyn} the most amazing party ever! Here's some of their awesome party stylin' (you'll definitely want to click to enlarge these!):

So people had been showing up & Abby got up & welcomed everyone to the shower & said before we got started they had a little surprise for me. In walks these girls!!!:

I tear up just looking at this picture. (Nope, not cause it's a bad picture of me!) Abby had arranged for my dear friend Wendy & my sister Kayleigh to come all the way from Utah (Highland & Sandy) for my shower! I teared up when they walked through the door - I was completely overwhelmed with emotion! I can't think of a more amazing surprise! (Wendy and I have been close friends since Jeremiah & I got married - almost 10 years! She's a sister to me!) I still can't believe that Kayleigh & Wendy drove so many hours to spend a few hours with me - there's a lot of love there!

So these are the people who worked their butts off for my fantastic party: Abby & Summer of course, my mom made cupcakes, Kate made a fruit tray, & Lacey was in the kitchen cleaning up forever afterwards! They all did more than what I just listed. They are all so good to me!

The tablescape was of so beautiful & Abby & Summer paid attention to every little detail! We had a chicken pasta salad on croissants, fruit w/my favorite dip, veggies w/dip, water (all dressed up in cute wrappers), and jumbo coconut cupcakes!

We played a laid back candy/candy bar guessing game. The prizes were delicious Rocky Mountain Candy Factory caramel apples! And lucky me - I won! I LOVE caramel apples!

Adelyn and I were completely spoiled by everyone! Crazy spoiled! Super cute handmade blankets, adorable outfits, crazy cute hair accessories, tons of diapers, lots of other stuff and even a pedicure for me & a frozen yogurt gift card for the family!

To wrap up the party everyone got to get their sugar on at the candy bar.

After 4 kids I've had a few showers - this was amazing!

Me with my sisters/mom: {Chelsea, Tara, mom, Kayleigh}

Most of my besties & my family: {Kate, Wendy, Summer, me, Abby, Chelsea, Tara, mom, Kayleigh}

THANK YOU Abby & Summer! I know how much work it is to throw a party like this - I truly appreciate it! I'm grateful for everyone else's help with the party too. Thank you to my parents for flying Chelsea in, and thank you to Chelsea, Kayleigh & Wendy for traveling so far to make this party even better than a girl could've ever hoped for!

I'm seriously so blessed.

It's exhausting being my friend! LOL!

Adelyn

Here's some pics of our little sweetheart (we're totally in love with her!).

We have been stumped about where she got her dark long hair & her darker complexion. These pictures don't really show how dark she is. Jeremiah keeps joking about a paternity test :) We know she's ours though because she definitely looks like our other babies - especially Callie!