THE SMITH FAMILY

We're still alive...

2012-01-26T22:47:00.000-08:00

It been a long time since I've blogged. I'm not even sure if anybody reads this but I realized that when I blog I'm better at taking pictures and remembering the small things... so I'm going to try (key word TRY) to pick this up a bit again.

Here's a quick recap on the last few months...

Colin:

He turned 4! How did that happen!?! He's getting SO big. He loved having a birthday. He felt pretty special. 4 was hard on me. I think it's because 4 just sounds like a little kid, no longer a toddler. I had a real "my baby is growing up" moment.
He loves Joy School, especially when it is at our house. He says he likes it at the other kids houses too but that he misses me. :) Awwww.
He loves to snuggle but he can't really hold still for more than 3 seconds so it kinda drives me crazy. I still love it though.
He now knows his alphabet by sight as well as the sound each letter makes. He still has trouble singing the whole alphabet though. Getting things in the right order is difficult for some reason. Same goes for numbers. He can recognize all of them but gets lost on the order after 11. His favorite number is 100. Not too sure why that is. He just likes it.
He is SUPER personable and talks to EVERYONE. He tells every person in the grocery store that will listen who he is and how to spell his name and that his sister is Alyssa Winter.
He has more energy than I know what to do with.
He weighs 35.6 pounds.
He grew nearly 3 1/2 inches in the last year but I don't think he's tall for his age.
He has become super independent.
He is so smart when it comes to words and grammar. He'll correct his own grammar and has since he started to talk. There aren't many words that he doesn't know. I'm thinking of attempting to teach him to read... eek.
He is getting better at writing and I love his drawings of people. They consist of a circle for the head, eyes, smile, nose, and 4 lines coming out of the head for the legs and arms. Sometimes we get hair. Maybe someday he'll work up to actual bodies but for now I love the pictures he draws of our family.

I just love my Colin buddy.

Funny quote of his because he's always saying things that make me laugh...

"I love Grandma Susie and she loves me. She's my Grandma and I'm her boyfriend." PaPa has some pretty steep competition.

Alyssa:

She's now 15 1/2 months. Ahhh!
I don't know how we got so lucky to have this little girl as part of our family. She is so sweet. You can't help but love her.
She's TINY. At her last well child visit she was in the 5th %ile on weight (19 lbs. with a wet diaper).
She fell off of our love sac a whole foot and broke her arm. She was in a cast for 3 weeks but it didn't bug her at all. It was the tiniest purple cast you've ever seen. I couldn't believe that she actually broke her arm from such a small fall. She fell on her face trying to crawl several times before I realized there was actually a real problem and took her in for an x-ray. Poor baby girl. :(
She still does not walk and since her broken arm she still crawls one handed. I'm not sure you could even call it a crawl. What ever it is she gets around great. She has no problem standing on her own and she will walk along furniture but she has no desire to walk what so ever. Not even holding our hands. I have no idea how to encourage her to do it. She just plain isn't interested in it.
She give THE BEST hugs. She's a lover.
She is talking. We counted the other day and she knows well over 25 words. She prefers to talk over sign language. She just started to string 2 words together.
She refuses to say please no matter how hard I try to get her to do it. I know she can, she's done it before but if she wants something, she wants it NOW. Saying please is out of the question. Teaching her manors and patients is going to be fun.
She has all of this beautiful curly blonde hair. When it's wet it's down past her shoulders. But it won't dry straight. It curls up into all of these cute little ringlets. I absolutely love it. I was even able to put a braid in it for the first time.
She can climb up the stairs in a matter of seconds and she likes to slide down on her belly. It still scares me every time she does it.
She loves her daddy. She yells his name when he comes home from work and crawls to him as fast as possible for her hug. She's started calling him daddy instead of dada. Daddy might have a soft spot for her as well. Just maybe. :)
She's a piggy. She loves fruit and veggies and almost anything you set in front of her. She learned to peal oranges and ate 6 of them in one day before I realized it.
She has this funny little sense of humor. She thinks she is so funny and loves to laugh at her self.

I love this girl. She makes me almost want another one... almost...

Ty and I are just busy. We work a lot. We enjoy being together. I love this man more than I can say.

We had a fun Christmas. Ty spoiled me. The kids had a blast. Colin was on the naughty list for the majority of December :) so he was really excited when his daddy called Santa and told him that he could come to our house after all. (I love Santa bribery. Does that make me a bad mom?) We had a few weeks of terror & tantrums. Maybe all of that holiday stress that we were feeling rubbed off on him. He's since been much better.

Our New Years was very low key. We hung out at Uncle Nater's house. Colin was pretty excited about the fireworks that were set off out in the street. Alyssa was just tired. She doesn't sleep too well in places other than her own bed. Do parents of young kids even do anything on New Years?

I made a few resolutions and need to work on keeping them. I need some reward system to help motivate me to keep them. Along with the usual try and work out more kind of thing we are working on not yelling. I never knew I was a yeller until I became a mom. I do okay most of the time but when I'm stressed and my patients is wearing thin then I become a yeller. I didn't even realize it until Colin yelled back one day. They really do emulate our behavior. It's helped the peace in our house tremendously. We're all working on that one.

I'm also working on spending more quality time with the kids without TV and computers and all of the other distractions. Setting aside just a little bit of time from all of the distractions has helped us be happier.

Hopefully I can work on being better at keeping up our family journal as well. :)

Where does he get this stuff???

2011-11-07T09:30:00.000-08:00

Some of the crazy stuff my adorable son has come up with lately:

*The first real snow storm came in while Colin was asleep. He came running in our room Saturday morning yelling "Mommy! It's Christmas!" He was so excited! He now knows the difference between Christmas and Winter. :) He'll be so much fun this year for the Holidays. He played out in the snow 3 different times that day. I can't imagine where he gets his love for the white fluffy stuff... Tyler :)

*Since he brought up Christmas I asked him what he wanted Santa to bring him for Christmas and what he wanted for his birthday?

The Answer: I want a car that goes really, really, REALLY fast that you can not NOT NOT take away from me even if I'm naughty. I also want a house for my car to live in that doesn't have stairs because cars can't go up stairs. That would just be silly.

*We were in the car and heading up the Ogden Canyon and the radio lost reception so I turned it off. After a few minutes of silence Colin said "Mom, I'm ready to rock. Can you turn on the music?" I don't know where he gets these things.

*I was going to let the puppies into the house and Nya is on a cable so I have to undo her latch. Colin came up and asked "Can I do the honors?"

Me: "What are you talking about?"

Colin: "Can I do the honors of letting Nya off of her cable?"

Seriously, where did this kid come from?? What 3 almost 4 year old (sigh) says stuff like that?

*Ty had Colin out just the 2 of them and they passed a Chick-Fil-A. Colin asked when we could go to lunch with Amy and her 'grils'. Ty thought it was a pretty tricky way to get me to set up a lunch to his favorite place. It worked. We went out to lunch with Amy (minus the girls) and Meagan a few weeks later. He was SO excited to go to Chicken Ma Flay (as he likes to call it). It was fun for me too. Thanks for that manipulative trick buddy.

How I love that crazy child of mine.

Happy Birthday Alyssa!

2011-10-29T16:51:00.000-07:00

Our beautiful little Alyssa is one!

We had a little get together to celebrate one year of Alyssa. And it's been quite the year. Look how far she's come. This is her at 1 week! Isn't she stinkin cute!

Now look at her... still stinkin cute!

We served her favorite food: grapes.

We opened presents. It took a minute to understand what was going on but she's a pro now. She didn't like the fact that after she'd open something I'd take it away. At least I kept replacing it with another present.

This is her "get away from my stuff" face. Notice the hand ready to smack Emmit in the face if he get's too close. :)

She allowed some of the kids to show her how the lap top worked before taking it back.

Her daddy gave her a triceratops (my favorite dino) and she loves her. There were lots of kisses and hugs for this new litttle friend.

I could post a million present pictures but I'll spare you. Thanks to all who spoiled my baby. We feel the love. Then it was onto the main event. The purple cake. I'm usually a chocolate cake person for b-day #1 but since she's allergic to milk the chocolate got tossed. Instead we voted for strawberry cake with purple icing.

Digging in...

I think she likes it.

She likes it ALOT!

Now onto the stats:

Length: 28 3/4 inches (30th percentile)

Weight: 17 lbs. 7 oz (5th percentile)

Head: 43.5 cm (20th percentile)

She's a bitty little thing. She's started standing with the support of anything that is around and particularly likes to try and climb the stairs. She's made it up a few (so far I've caught her everytime on the way down.) It's time to get out the gate.

She loves her brother. He's her best friend. She gets so excited when she sees him in the morning.

She loves her daddy. When she hears him come home fromwork she crawls as fast as she can to him. She gets all excited and yells 'dada' until she gets her hug.

She loves her puppies and has just recently started showing interest in them. She's says "dog" and 'raw-raw' (Koda speak). She loves pulling Koda's ears and he has a lot of patients for her. Nya keeps her distance for the most part.

She's a little piggy and will out eat Colin by far. She loves food with color. Grapes, peas, & carrots are among her favorite. She'll even reach for a red onion over a banana because it's got more color.

She says 'mama' but only when she's sad and crying. I think I'm her favorite person of all but I know that won't last long so I'm enjoying every second of her cuddles. And she's a good cuddler. She also gives awesome (if not wet) kisses.

We love you so much Alyssa Winter!

Alyssa: So I can Remember

2011-10-09T20:18:00.000-07:00

There will be a big Alyssa post coming up. We have a very large milestone to cross in about a week and a half but for now I want to remember some of her firsts.
She's finally started to crawl. She's been scooting around on her bum for months and she perfected the lop-sided-one-legged crawl that Colin did about a month ago... but she has now moved on to using both knees. I now loose track of her if I take my eyes off her for more than a minute or two.
She also had her first spill off of the bed. I can't leave her alone anymore. She loves her new found freedom and uses it to chase the dogs around the room.
She also got her first tooth at 11 & 1/2 months. I've been keeping my eye on her bottom 2 front teeth. I can see them right below the surface... then one day I peeked in her mouth and she had her TOP right tooth! I didn't even know it was close to coming in. No crying/drooling/fevers or anything else that usually goes along with teething.
She's a sweet heart. More on her to come... Turning 1! Can't believe it!

Pinterest Projects

2011-09-27T13:49:00.001-07:00

I am a recent addict of Pinterest. If you haven't joined then I would almost suggest not doing it. It is incredibly addicting but fun.

I saw a quote on there the other day. Something along the lines of:

"Thank you Pinterest for making me feel so creative, even though all I've done is sit at the computer for the last 3 hours."

Then I realized that was me. :) I decided I'd put some of these good ideas to use. Here is what I've been up to. Maybe you can put some of these fun ideas to use too.

A FUN LEARNING TOOL

Take a gallon zip lock bag and add some hair gel, food coloring & glitter. It makes a cool and super cheap way for Colin to learn to write his alphabet or just to draw with his finger. I taped the bag down onto a white board so you can really see what he draws & it doesn't scoot all over the place.

It's been great for teaching him his letters. I'll write a capital and lower case letter and slide the paper under the gel bag so he can learn to trace it.

It is also a good quiet activity during Alyssa's nap time.

GIANT RULER

I've seen these on Pinterest but I've had mine for over a year. This just gave me the push I needed to finish it. I wish I'd have thought of this when Colin was a baby because I'm now missing 0-2 for him. Oh well, better late than never.

I just like this because I can take it with us when we move (someday) instead of using a door frame or something permanent. Colin has already grown nearly 3 inches this year. Makes you realize how fast they grow up.

FAMILY PICTURE BOARDS

I was so excited about this one. I have these super cute family pictures now so I needed a way to display them. I'm on a mission to get rid of my bare walls and this was my first project. It's pretty self explanatory I think. This is also my first Modge Podge project ever. I know, I'm a little behind the trend on this one. I also will someday purchase a more sturdy rod. This one was $3 so I couldn't resist trying it. I'm cheap, what can I say. :)

SIDE WALK PAINT

Colin loved this one. In fact, he's outside right now making my side walk pretty. Super easy and cheap again. Equal parts water & corn starch. Use a cup cake tin as a paint pallet. Then add food coloring.

*Tip: Use quite a bit of food coloring because it tends to go a little pale when it dries.

Colin loved picking out what color we should make each cup (notice there are 4 green cups) and it was an opportunity to talk about how to mix colors to make other colors.

We will do this one again for sure. I might have even enjoyed painting the side walk too. :)

It's a big deal

2011-09-25T21:37:00.000-07:00

A couple big deals going on around our house...

Ty & I have now been married 6 years! Can you believe it? I can't. Time flies when you're having fun with your best friend. I love him more than anything.

And look at the 2 cute little bundles of joy that have joined us since. Love my babies. I don't think there are cuter kids on the planet.

I couldn't decide which family picture was my favorite so you get to see them all.
Thanks Camille Garrison :)
She took our Smith Family pictures. More of those to come if I ever get around to it.

Now this may even be a bigger deal... Colin got his FIRST BIKE. That's a really big deal in a little guys life. We went to the DI and of coarse left with something totally different than what we had in mind when we walked in there. :) A $5 bike. We had to pump up the tires and buy some training wheels and do a little clean up and that was it. I say 'we' but really Ty did all of the work. I stood over him with the camera to document this momentous occasion.

This picture is to show that he does have a helmet... not that he's wearing it while he actually rides the thing. What are you gonna do? I don't think I ever owned a helmet in my life.

Isn't Colin's daddy awesome. I can often find the 2 of them out here working on something together. He's so handy.

Teaching him about breaking. A very important part to bike riding.

And then he was off.

Ok... sort of off. Our house is not the best place to learn to ride a bike which is why it has taken this long for us to get him one. Nothing is level or flat. So dad had to help him a bit.

Then he headed down hill and nearly ran me over. Good thing we taught him about the breaks.

I love my boys.

Teaching Joy

2011-09-08T00:17:00.000-07:00

My Colin is growing up so fast. I feels like he was a little baby then I blinked and now he's starting Joy School. I attempted pre-school but I'm new at this and apparently the local pre-school was full back in March. So I got lucky and fell into this great group of moms. We take turns teaching all of the kids & rotating between houses. I did Joy School when I was little and loved it.

(don't you love how he's still eating his breakfast)

Colin was so excited for school. He felt so big... until we got there. Colin has never even been watched by someone outside of our family so for me to drop him off at a strangers house with 5 other kids running around was a bit of a shock. He warmed up eventually and he now loves everything about it other than the first 5 minutes when I leave him. He gets SUPER shy. **I know... my Colin... shy... who'd have though.** By the time I pick him up 2 1/2 hours later he doesn't want to leave.

It's been good for both of us. I love being a mom more than anything but I think when your kids hit a certain age you both could use a break from each other. I think we both know how to get on each others nerves and a few hours apart each week has been really good for us.

He's so smart and I love hearing all he has to say. He thinks like his daddy. He wants to know how everything works and he isn't afraid to take things apart to figure it out. He has a million and one questions every minute. He loves working with his hands and building with his tools. He loves cars and know all about how to take care of them. He tells me when I need to put gas in the car and he could probably change the oil & tires by now with how often he watches his daddy under the hood. He can name most car brands by the sight of them too. His dad has trained him well.

It's rare for him to sit still for more than 2 minutes. He has SO much energy. I wish I had a quarter of it. I can't keep up with him.

He speaks incredibly well. There is rarely a word that he doesn't understand. The doctor couldn't believe he was only 3 when we went in for his last visit. He consciously thinks about his grammar to make sure he's saying things correctly. He can name almost every letter of the alphabet by sight & knows the majority of their sounds. Numbers are another story. We're working on it but the order always seems to get mixed up. He knows all of the the numbers up to 20. They just never come out in the right order.

I love this kid so much. Can't believe he's on his way to being 4! The time sure flies.

The crazy things he says

2011-08-21T21:49:00.000-07:00

This is worth remembering so I need to record it.

The other day at work Colin was talking to {entertaining a} man while he waited for his wife. I was in the office eves dropping on their conversation.

After a lengthly conversation about all sorts of things the man said: "You're very intelligent."

Colin says so matter of factly: "No I'm not, I'm irritating."

The man: "No you're not."

Colin: "Yes I am. My mom said so."

I couldn't help but laugh. He keeps me on my toes. :) He might be irritating from time to time but I love my little guy.

My Sweet Alyssa

2011-08-04T20:40:00.000-07:00

I just love this little thing. She's such a smiley happy little girl!

Alyssa is now 9 months & I'm loving every minute with her. She's just so fun. She makes me smile all day long.
I love how fast her hair is growing & I love that it is my blond with her dad's curl. It's so adorable! She's a lucky little thing.

She LOVES bath time and can out splash Colin by far. The rag usually ends up in her mouth.

It's a good thing she likes to suck on wet rags because she crashed this week and sliced her tongue open on a toy. It was SO gross and sad. Blood everywhere but she'd happily sit there and suck on the cold rag. Her first real owie and I was too grossed out with all the blood to take any pictures of the event. It's still cut but it's healing fast. It doesn't seem to bother her anymore.

She only cried for a whopping 4 minutes and then she was back to smiling at me.
She LOVES her brother. He can make her smile & giggle. She tries to be right by him and she puts up with A LOT from him. He's not always super soft and gentle but she loves it. He can roll on top of her and she just laughs. His new favorite game to play with her is to lay her on a blanket and he drags her around the room. She thinks it's great. Mom cringes.

Here's another one of those Colin vs Alyssa pictures.

COLIN {closer to 1 year old if not older}

ALYSSA {9 months}She has the most beautiful blue eyes. They remind me of Colin's. Ty would say they remind him of mine. :)
She very very rarely cries unless someone else is crying. She's so sensitive to it. I'm not sure why but this is what happened when cousin Tristan started to cry. Huge crocodile tears well up and she gets so sad. She's cute even when she's crying though. :) We got Tristan settled down and she perked right up again. She's just barely getting mobile. She's not so good at crawling. She HATES being on her belly but she's pretty good at scooting around on her little bum. She can get just about anywhere she wants to go but she's still pretty slow. I'm grateful for that. My house is not yet baby proofed. She's recently discovered the DVDs in the entertainment center. It's a new favorite past time to take them all out.

She is still a mama's girl but she's getting better at letting other people hold her.

She knows her name as well as her nick name. Lu Lu or Alyssa Lu. She'll turn and smile at you if you call her.

Tristan is teething so he wasn't too happy. But he loved feeding Alyssa cheerios & she was happy to have them. She out eats Colin in almost every meal plus she's still nursing about 5 times a day. No wonder she has such cute chubby cheeks. Her favorite food is grapes. She'd eat the whole bag if I let her.

I love you my sweet little girl. You are a joy.

A Colin side note: He recently received his first buzz cut. I think it makes him look so much older. People used to ask me if he was 2 or 3. Now they ask if he's 4 or 5. Ahh! It'll grow back right?? It's been a good cut for the summer though. He thinks he's cool because it's like his daddy's.

Bear Lake

2011-08-04T20:06:00.000-07:00

It's that time again. The annual Brown {Smith} Family trip to Bear Lake. I was so excited to go up this year. I don't think we've had a vacation since last year when Ty broke his ankle in St. George. It was time.
Colin loved the beach but hated the water. It took some convincing to even get deep enough to get his swim shorts wet.

But he is completely content to play on the beach all day. That is when he isn't fighting with his cousin Lukey over toys. Luke & Colin are 6 days apart and the 3s have been rough for them. Their either the best of friends or the greatest of enemies.

Alyssa Lu just loves the sand. It's a good thing I'm not a super over protective mother. She'd reach far off the blanket just to get her hands in it.

And then she'd find a rock and pop it into her mouth.

I would catch her and make her spit it out and she'd just smile at me. She's too cute. I love how when she smiles her nose crinkles up.

Ty was great about wearing a shirt & keeping the sun screen on... until he went golfing the next day and forgot altogether. His legs got fried. I've never seen anyone burn like him.

On a brighter note he did try to wake board and while he couldn't do much jumping {ok any jumping} he did at least get up and play around for a bit without his ankle giving out. It's been over a year and he still fights it every day.
I wish I'd remembered my camera while we were out on the boat. :(

These 2 monkeys loved the beach day.

We also went on a hike to Bloomington Lake. This place is special to me. It's where Ty asked me to marry him. 6 years ago on this very trip he asked me to marry him on top of those cliffs in the background.

He was so cute and so nervous. He dropped the ring off of a 20 foot cliff into the snow. Luckily it wasn't hard to find. :) I said yes and now 6 years later we're bringing our 2 little ones to visit.

Of coarse Colin spent the whole time with his best friend Uncle Nater.

Alyssa took turns between mom & dad.

Grandma Susie, PaPa & Nater (Ashley & Jared below)

One of the cool things about Bloomington is how clear it is. Can you see the fish in the picture below?

During dinners all of the adults sit around and talk. Where's Ty?? Playing with the kids. He's good like that. I love that man! He's such a good daddy.

I'd love to say the whole trip was a success but the below picture about sums it up for Colin. He was a bit of a terror. We had a LOT of 3 year old tantrums & fits.

But the rest of us had fun. Can't wait until next July 24th.

A Battle for Control

2011-07-12T13:55:00.000-07:00

I have a neighbor who says she loves weeding her garden/yard because it is something she can control. She sits out there and as she pulls up each weed she says "I can control you and I can control you." I decided this year was the year that I would win the battle for control in my flower beds. I lose this battle every year. I have the tree-of-heaven, morning glory & a slew of other weeds that like to creep their way into my flower beds. So far I've been pretty good at keeping up on it but I'm sad to admit that this week I am losing the battle. The weeds have crept up on me and my flower beds are sad again. Is there anyone out there who needs to feel like they can control something? If so you are welcome to come help me with my battle. Maybe I'm not cut out for gardening. Wish me luck. I'm headed outside. Maybe I can win the war.

America's Birthday

2011-07-10T20:17:00.000-07:00

I tried teaching Colin the concept of Independence Day but it was much easier just to tell him it was America's Birthday. The boy loves birthday & he loves fireworks so he was happy. I have to thank America for having her birthday on a Monday this year so we could have a nice 3 day weekend.

We started the weekend with a trip to North Shore swimming pool to enjoy the sun.

Another first for Alyssa: swimming! And she loved it! She's a little fishy & could spend all day in the water. Her brother is another story. He loves it but you have to convince him to get in. Once he's in and over the initial shock of cold splashing water he's great. He spent the first part of the day with his Grandma Susie on the sidelines.

But once he got used to the idea he was ready for the BIG slide. It was another case of not wanting to go on the kiddie rides.

He loved it.

He also loved playing tag in the water on his daddy's back.

Alyssa was happy no matter where she was. She is always surprising me on how happy she is.

Especially if there is food involved.

That night we had a BBQ at Uncle Nater's house.

Alyssa loved her first corn on the cob. She got mad when I took it away. Like I said before. She loves food.

Colin was more interested in the bugs. His favorite right now is the potato bugs {or rolly pollies}. See that little guy in his hands? Such a good daddy.The next day we enjoyed a hike at one of our favorite places. We hiked up the face of Sundown at Powder Mountain. The snow is still working on melting and Ty can't resist snow in July. We also searched for lost treasures from the snow melt. We collected a few sets of keys and over a dollar in change. The puppies enjoyed the outing too.

That's right... I said puppies but there is only one in the above picture because my little Houdini Nya got off her chain. We chased her around the mountain for an hour. We did catch her eventually. Poor Koda was super jealous.

Alyssa's first time on a ski lift.

It's not very often I get a picture of our whole family including the dogs. Too bad Nya wasn't looking at the camera. Still pretty good.

Look at these happy faces. Daddy loves the snow & the mountain and Alyssa loves her daddy.

Colin loves his Uncle Nater. Have I told you he's his best friend?

Then for the actual 4th of July. We went to Liberty Day's & my niece and nephew did the chicken catch. This is them getting ready. The were pawing at the dirt getting ready to run.

Mason is in the blue & red shirt. There was probably 50 kids up there and he caught the chicken! He got to keep it and it is now living in Aunt Merisa's chicken coop. He named her Chicken. Fitting. :) He was so excited. Everyone else was pretty surprised. You don't actually expect your kids to catch the chicken. These 2 enjoyed games/booths, lunch and the park and then we headed home for a nap.

We came back for fireworks. The best fireworks ever. I love how close they are. Alyssa did pretty well with her first firework show. The noise didn't bother her but she was tired and would have rather been sleeping.

Colin LOVES fireworks. They are one of his all time favorite things.

We kept the celebrations going into Tuesday but going to hit a bucket of balls after work. Colin enjoys this almost as much as his dad. Check out that sunset!

I'm loving summer and I'm trying to squeeze in as much as I can while it is warm.

Marble Track & a Love of Food

2011-07-07T12:59:00.000-07:00

Alyssa has discovered that she LOVES food. I mean she's a PIG! She eats more than Colin & doesn't really care for baby food. She wants the real stuff.
We started out with her only liking pears. {that's all I ate when I was a baby too according to my mom.} That's all she'd eat. Then we slowly worked our way up to rice cereal. Little did I know that all I needed to do was give her what we were eating.

She loves ALL fruit. Her favorites are strawberries, bananas, grapes (by the hand full) & oranges.
{All of which I still have to shove down Colin's throat.}
She loves Cheerios (she sits with a cup full of Cheerios on the floor while I exercise. Keeps her totally entertained.) and crackers, puffs, bread, black beans, pork & beans, corn, & pretty much anything else you put in front of her. :) She loves to steal Colin's food off of his plate. I caught her with a cheese sandwich once & that goes against her milk allergy. I have to be really careful what's in reach.
I can't believe she can take all of this down without teeth!
She did not like peas in baby food form but she'll take down a bowl full of whole peas before you can blink.
The below picture is my favorite because it is the exact same face that Colin gave me the first time he tried peas. I really need to find that picture. :)

Colin has been pestering me to make a marble track for days. I had no idea what he had in mind but this is what I came up with.

It's made of card stock, tape & paper towel tubes for tunnels. Just drop the marble in the top and watch it go. Kept him entertained for hours. :) If you have a board toddler give this one a try.

LAGOON

2011-06-30T21:59:00.001-07:00

Ty's work has a Lagoon day. We packed up the kids (& Uncle Nater) and when we got there I realized I didn't pack the stroller. Lovely. So I carried Alyssa all day but other than that it was so much fun. Colin loved it.

We tried to get Colin to go on a ride with us first but he insisted on the bumper cars. Uncle Nater tried to give him a pep talk & at first he was pretty excited. Then this face. Quite the look of concern.

He kept the wheel cranked all the way to the left the whole time. We couldn't stop laughing. :) He looked paralyzed with fear every time anyone bumped him. At least there were no tears.

I have a video of it but I'm clueless on how to upload it on here. Drat.

Our next ride was the mini tidal wave. Alyssa even got to go on this one.

I think he likes it!

Definitely likes it.Then the lady bug ride (mini Rocket). I thought he'd be scared but he just laughed the whole time.

Here he is on Puff with Uncle Nater. His first "roller coaster". He loved it but wanted to go bigger.

This dragon ride {below} was his FAVORITE! He rode it twice. Not even a kiddie ride.

The boats was the only kiddie ride that he'd even go on after that. He preferred going on Bombora. That's a pretty big roller coaster for a 3 year old! He laughed the entire time.

How did he get lucky enough to get the green boat?? Oh that's right... he fought a kid for it. That's right. A hitting fight in the line where 2 little boys wanted the green boat. Parent's pulled the 2 apart and Colin got the boat because he was in front of the poor little boy in line. Love those 3 year old moments. :}

I wish this picture was clear. He wasn't too sure about this ride because it wasn't fast enough but I took him on it so Alyssa could go. I think he liked it.

Mom & Dad didn't do a lot of riding. But it was fun to see Colin enjoying himself.

Alyssa was unsure about the whole thing. She kept giving me this weird face.

See, here it is again.
And again...

What a fun day! Can't believe how brave our little guy is.

A Wedding

2011-06-28T16:01:00.000-07:00

My cute little sis got hitched. It was such a nice day. They planned the whole day outside and this was durring all of those rain storms. This was the only nice day that week. Lucky kids.

Congrats Dan & Kailee! Love you both.

This is the cutest picture of the day. Colin & his cousin Hadlee. What sweet kids.

Not only is Ty an awesome dad he's a great uncle. All of these little kids love him. Their latest thing is tag. As soon as we arrive somewhere they'll touch him & say "you're it" and run away. He'll spend the rest of the time playing with them.

My pretty little Alyssa. Too bad she tore the pedals out of the flower and put a whole in her tights before I could get a picture. :)

Studly Colin. He's so cute in his suit. :)

What a good daddy.

Colin loves his daddy.

It was a long day for Colin.

The boys.

At the luncheon in the park.

Making wishes in the fountains. This is Colin's new thing. He always wishes for a kiss. Isn't that so stinkin cute.

Happy Father's Day!

2011-06-21T16:54:00.000-07:00

Couldn't ask for a better father to my cute kids. Love this man SO much!

Some of the FUN stuff

2011-05-08T21:34:00.000-07:00

With all the junk we've been dealing with lately it seems like I never get the FUN stuff on the blog so here is a post of just the fun stuff.

There was still snow on the ground but it was warm enough to get out for Alyssa's first walk. The puppies loved it!
In the Valley it wasn't quite as warm and there was still several feet of snow so we went sledding. Look at all of these kids grow!

Who says you need a sled to go sledding. Colin figured out that his bum worked great and he didn't have to worry about holding on to the sled.

Or carrying it back up the little hill.

Alyssa tried food for the first time. This may not be classified as "fun" because she HATED it! But it was fun for mom to watch. After a few attempts at getting her to swallow I gave up and haven't tried again. That is this weeks mission. Wish me luck.

And who could forget EASTER! It's a little late to report it but we had a really fun Easter this year.

First we COLORED EGGS with the Carter family. Colin loved it!

Alyssa did not.

See... told you... she hated every minute of it.

We colored a whopping 26 dozen eggs. I don't think this was all of them.

Then we ROLLED those eggs down a hill. I do love this tradition.

Now this part Alyssa liked.

And what little boy wouldn't love rolling *throwing* eggs down a hill. This one did!

Then we celebrated with the Smith side. We colored more eggs. By this time Colin was a pro.

And we hunted eggs. Spoiled little boy!

Spoiled mom & dad too. Susie does an adult Easter egg hunt. Fun!

Then the bunny himself visited our house.

Does this boy look excited to you??

Alyssa's favorite thing is the stuffed ducky. She hugs and kisses on him all day long. And finally...
Alyssa is sitting so well on her own I decided she and Colin could now bathe together. First I worried about him splashing her. Turns out she splashes WAY more than he does and I have to stop him from crying because she got water in his eyes. They both love having a bath buddy.

I am hoping for more fun.

Belly Button

2011-05-02T13:59:00.000-07:00

Here is the surgery update. We left the house at 7:30 am for Primary Children's. Colin's totally awesome uncle Nater came to stay with him so we didn't have to get him up. It was a total relief to not have worry about him all day. He hung out with Grandma Susie part of the day as well. I don't think he cared at all that we weren't home.

Alyssa was all smiles most of the morning. She was a bit tired and wasn't too happy about not getting to eat but she didn't protest too much at all. We got her checked in and jumped through all of the hoops and then started the wait. We were scheduled for 10:15 surgery so of coarse she didn't actually get taken back until after 11. Which was ok by me. I was dreading the minute they took her away from me.

When the time came she went to her doctors without a tear which made it much easier on me. I didn't actually cry but I sure wanted to.

The next hour was a long one. Just waiting...

and waiting... and waiting... until her doctor finally came out and said everything went well. They removed a little cyst (pea sized) and repaired her bladder and removed the bit of umbilical cord from her belly button. She was still "out of it" but I could go back and see her. Dad could come later after they moved her from post-op to her overnight room. This is what was waiting for me. :( No mom should have to see their tiny baby on a gurney. It was terrible. And all of those wires and tubes. I almost cried all over again.

She would cry and then fall asleep and then cry again. She was a little loopy when she was awake.

They brought us to our TINY overnight room consisting of 3 solid walls and a glass wall with a door in it. There was curtains we could pull to get a little privacy. It was probably only 10 feet x 10 feet. I was amazed they got a bed in there. No room for Tyler and I to stay the night so Tyler planned on leaving to go home with Colin.

Luckily it did have a TV and they were playing descent movies all day long. I sat and rocked and fed my baby all day.

My parents came to visit and so did Tyler's (they brought Colin). She didn't wake up much for any of them but when I tried to transfer her to Grandma Susie so Tyler and I could go get some food she screamed. She would go to dad or mom and that was it. They brought me food from the cafeteria downstairs which was fine. I wanted to get out of the box but I didn't want to leave her.

Ty went home with Colin and his parents and we started our LONG night.

This surgery is considered a same day surgery but they decided they wanted to keep her overnight to be sure they could control pain. This later bothered me when I realized they weren't going to give her anything stronger than Tylenol and that is something I could have done at home. But I guess it was good to be there incase something more serious happened.

We spent the night together in the hospital bed... or rather Alyssa slept while I held her. She didn't want to be put down at all. The few times I did get to sleep the nurses would come in to check on her, do vitals, or give her more Tylenol. I think I got 2 hours of sleep pieced all together. Not a good night.

Other than a higher than comfortable heart rate in the middle of the night scare (which turned out just fine) she did pretty good. I was tired. They told me at 6:30 am that she was given the OK to leave as soon as I wanted. I could try and sleep or pack up. We were out of there by 7. Tyler wasn't even awake when I got home. I settled Alyssa into her bassinet and climbed in bed.

Over the next few days she stayed on Tylenol. As long as she had it every 4 hours she was just fine. She slept a lot.

We took her bandages off after 7 days to discover that my little lady had`` belly button plastic surgery. She no longer has her cute little swirly cinnamon roll belly button. It's more of a regular in-y button now. And there is a smiley face scar (without the eyes) under her belly button. She's too tiny to have a scar like that but all things considering it looks pretty good. I'll take pictures of that soon. It's healing well and all the bruises from IVs and needle pricks are healing.

I'm just so happy it is all over and she is doing great. She is back to her usual smiley self. I love her so much!

6 MONTHS

2011-04-20T12:47:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my little Alyssa is 6 months! This last half-year went by way way too fast. She's such a sweet heart. We love her so much and we're so lucky to have her in our family.

She loves her brother so much. She smiles at him all the time.

She has the cutest little giggle. She saves it for only special occasions. She'll smile for anyone but her giggles are special.

When she's irritated or tired she rolls her little ankles so that her feet spin in circles. It's a sign that she's going to start crying. It's so funny & cute.

This is her sad little belly button. Her surgery is scheduled for this Friday and I'm going to be such a mess. I can't wait for it to be taken care of and to have it stop bothering her but I sure don't want to see my baby wheeled off into an operating room.

She sleeps so well {most of the time}. :) We have nights where she wakes up scratching at her belly button. Hopefully this will stop after the surgery.

She's growing so much. She has tried "real" food only once and hated it! I decided I wasn't ready for that yet and she doesn't seem to need the extra nutrition yet, but I'm sure I'm going to have to fight that battle soon.

I mean really... Look at those awesome cheeks! Does she look malnourished to you?

She's been sitting on her own for several weeks now. It makes it nice for mom. :) She likes to sit and play with toys, even though she still prefers to come with me where ever I go.

Alyssa gives the cutest {wet} kisses. She'll grab your cheeks and pull you in for an open mouthed slobbery one.

Colin loves her too.

She's a total mommy's girl but she loves her daddy too. She's so happy when she sees him. She smiles with her whole body and she kicks her legs in excitement. It's so adorable.

We love you baby girl! Happy 6 months!

Some Bad Medical Luck...

2011-03-27T20:28:00.000-07:00

It's been a bad year in our house as far as medical problems go. I believe I've mentioned some of them before. I wanted to remember all we've been through in the last few months. I think we may have met our deductible by the end of April. Who does that??

*Abdominal Cyst causing Belly Button to get Infected (needs surgery)

*Milk Allergy

*Ear Infections

*Constipation

*Retracted Testicles Problems

*Eczema x3

*Colds x4

*Sleep Apnea due to Large Tonsils (needs surgery)

*Skin Cancer (surgery scheduled)

*Physical Therapy for a Broken Ankle

*Arthritis caused by Broken Ankle

*Dentist Visits x3

Here is to hoping that we are done. I don't think I can handle anymore.

The most recent is Alyssa's cyst that is causing her belly button to get infected/red/and oozy. I took her to Primary Children's for an ultra sound and Carly (Anger) Durrant came out to meet me. She did her ultra sound. I haven't seen her in years but it was nice to see a friendly face. What a small world. She was wonderful with my little lady even though Alyssa had a blow out on the way down, cried because she was starving and then spit up (nothing new) after she ate. It was a long day.

Everyone keeps telling me that it's no big deal. Just laparoscopic surgery. But I keep thinking she's my 5 month old baby! It's a big deal to me! We schedule the surgery tomorrow. I'll keep you posted.

My Beautiful Kiddos

2011-03-13T22:55:00.000-07:00

Here's another boy vs girl picture. Alyssa is 4 1/2 months in these photos. The little one of Colin is 3 months. They look so much alike accept that Colin had SO much more hair than my little bald baby. They definitely have the same cute nose. :)

Here's my mischievous little guy.

Alyssa Winter had her 4 month appointment. The doctor took a look in her ears and said she had a terrible ear infection. He couldn't believe she was so happy & still sleeping through the night. She's too sweet & happy for her own good. I had NO idea she was sick at all.
So she's on antibiotics that are hopefully taking care of everything.

Here were her stats:

Length: 25 inches (55%)

Weight: 15 lbs 5 oz (75%)

Head: 40 1/2 cm (25%)

She's planed out a bit since her 2 month visit but she's still got those killer cute chubby cheeks.

I made her this shirt when I was still pregnant. For a while it fit her as a dress now it's getting tight even for a shirt. She's growing so fast.

Love these 2 little kids!

My Silly Colin

2011-02-20T11:15:00.000-08:00

Colin was jumping around in my clean laundry while I was trying to get ready for the day...

Me: Colin get out of my laundry!

Colin: Sorry mom. I'm irritating you.

What 3 year old uses the word irritated. The sad thing is I must say that enough that he actually knew the meaning.

(I love the above picture. He's too cute.)

Truth is he while he drives me up the wall sometimes I love this kid more than I can say. He keeps me on my toes. He's full of energy. He's growing so fast. I can't believe how big he is. He's a wonderful big brother! He gives the best hugs.

I love my buddy!

Keeping track of the fun things we've done this winter: We took a trip with the Carter family to Hardware Ranch. Cold but fun. After we ate at Village Inn.

I LOVE THESE 3!

Alyssa slept through everything.

We also went ice skating with the Carter group. Colin loved it! He mostly just leaned back on my legs and let me push him along.

Little Pigs & Sick Kids

2011-02-03T18:23:00.000-08:00

My kids are sick... when my little ones are sick they wear it on their face. They get red, puffy, watery eyes, runny noses & just look plain sad. Since their faces look so bad I decided to take pictures of their toes. :)

I just love feet pictures... not sure why.

I did take pictures of their faces as well... see how sad Colin looks. Tyler said Colin already has the man-cold. He whines and cries and mopes. He won't move off the couch or bed and asks you to get things (like his drink) for him even if it's 2 feet away. After a week of this cough/cold I'm getting pretty tired of the man-cold.

Good news regarding Colin. We went to the urologist and he does not have to have surgery for his little man parts. YAY! They said he has something called Retracted Testicles and they'll relax & drop down into their rightful place on their own. For now doctors orders are to keep an eye on it & if nothing changes in the next year then we'll have to cross that bridge but everything should just work itself out. What a load off my mind.

You can't stop this girl from being happy even with a major cold. She's too sweet.

I wanted to remember all of the stuff I am having to put on my poor Alyssa. This is our twice daily skin routine. Poor girl. But luckily it's working. She's a cute little soft pink baby instead of a cute little red scratchy one. I don't know that stopping the milk has done anything for her skin but it has helped with her spit up problem. I didn't even know her belly was upset until I stopped drinking/eating milk products.

Troublesome Threes

2011-01-24T14:22:00.000-08:00

So far 3 has been a bad number for us...

Colin is 3 years old and we are getting to the bottom of some issues he's been having and have discovered a few other issues in the process.

This poor kid has had some serious constipation issues since he was 1! That's a long time! We got a new pediatrician because of an insurance change and he's taking care of this little problem but it sure hasn't been fun. We did a 4 day cleanse where Colin was on 4x the adult dose of laxatives. Not fun for mom. After more poop than anyone wants to see we've got the little guy cleared out. Now we start on a year long regimen to fix the problem.
Colin has a slow moving digestive system. He's streched out his colon so we need to keep him regular enough to let it shrink back down. Hopefully it will fix itself in time & he'll be able to not be on constant meds.
The good thing that has come from this is there is no more pain which equals no more fear of going to the bathroom which equals potty training! He's been doing awsome since we started working on this little issue. Woo hoo!

Enough poo talk... now on to an even more embarrassing subject. :)
During these frequent doctor visits the doctor noticed a problem with Colin's little man parts. Apparently the family jewels have not descended into their rightful place. We meet with a specialist in a week to figure out what to do about this little problem. More to come on the subject that will forever have Colin blushing and mortified that I've put this out in the universe. Bad enough we have to talk about his poo problems.
Last... we have seriously dry skin in this house. Both children have such bad eczema that they bleed. It's horrible. I feel so helpless. We've tried everything. So the doctor put Colin on a prescription strength steroid cream that cleared up the eczema but clogged his pores. He scratched and gave himself a staff infection. Grrr. We're working on it.

3 months has meant a lot of doctor appointments for Alyssa as well. starting with her well child visit.
Basically she's a chunk! He he. I love it.
At 2 1/2 months she weighed in at a whopping 13 lbs. 2 oz. (95 %ile) and was 23 1/2 inches long (90 %ile). She's fat and happy and we love it. Colin did the same thing. Chunked right up then stretched right out.

The problems all stem from her skin. She's on a OTC steroid cream & we're currently trying every lotion/cream/moisturizer known to man.
Today we went to the allergist to do a scratch test. Basically they checked her for dog & food allergies. Luckily we don't have to get rid of Koda & Nya because I don't think that would have been possible. But she did test positive for a milk allergy. This means no more milk products for mom. She's not allergic to my milk as long as I don't eat any cow's milk myself.

I'm going to miss cheese. :(

She's still the happiest little girl you've ever met. Hopefully this helps her.

Pink & Blue

2011-01-24T14:14:00.000-08:00

Such cute kids. I love them so much!!!

Going in for a kiss.

New People

2011-01-24T14:08:00.000-08:00

Alyssa got to meet a few new people. Grandma & Grandpa Johnston have been sick so we didn't get to go visit them. I think they did get to meet baby girl one time before briefly but I didn't get a picture of the event till just before Christmas.

We also had the pleasure of meeting new baby Emmit. So excited to add another cousin to the Carter family. He's adorable. Alyssa is now sandwiched between 2 cute boys (Tristan & Emmit.) :)

Look at that proud daddy. (Spencer)

Alyssa is 2 months and a few days older than Emmit.

We also just had an addition the the Smith family. Kristen & Mike added little baby Nolan to the group. No pictures yet because he just came home today. I can't wait to meet him. :)

Christmas!

2011-01-24T13:58:00.000-08:00

OK... Playing catch up again.

We had a really fun Christmas & New Year this year. We were spoiled by our families & Colin was so excited that Santa came to his house. He was quite upset that he didn't wake him up so he could sit on his lap though. :) Santa came to our Christmas party a few weeks before Christmas and Colin was too scared to sit on his lap. He told me he was ready to give it a shot the night before Christmas. Funny boy. Too bad Santa is too busy on Christmas eve to wake up little boys. He was sure happy to open presents though.

We also had a fun New Years. We spent the evening at my brother & sister-in-law's place. They have a new baby too so we're in the same boat.

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season.

Rant

2011-01-02T20:54:00.000-08:00

I have a few pet peeves when it comes to church. Ok, not so much church but the people in it.

If you or your kid are sick... STAY HOME! I understand you want to be spiritually fed for that week but please do the rest of us a favor and keep your germs to yourself. I've stopped taking Colin to nursery because every time he went he would come home sick. Luckily this year he starts primary & won't be subject to the germ infested toys in the nursery. And there's nothing more annoying than sitting in sacrament and hearing people cough from the benches around you. We are all packing into a relatively small room. Please just STAY HOME!

Next... going to church with kids is hard. I try to take Colin or Alyssa into the hall if they are upset or being too loud but they are kids. The only way they learn to be quiet in church is if you teach them while they are there. We bring books, snacks, crayons & other quiet toys but 1 hour is a long time for a 3 year old.

A few months ago we sat behind someone in church and Colin threw a fit on the floor. He was 2. It happens. A lady turned around and told me if I couldn't keep my kid under control then I should leave him home because he was being distracting. I was mortified and completely embarrassed. To say the least, it didn't make me want to come back the next week.

I've tried to avoid sitting behind this particular person since but today we ended up behind her. Colin's generally pretty good about keeping things to a whisper but he forgets every now and then. I've never received so many dirty looks. I left so irritated. Again... doesn't make me want to go back again next week. What am I supposed to do? Go inactive till my kids are 10 and old enough to sit quietly for 3 hours in a row... So frustrating.

Anyway... Had to get that off my chest.

Happier holiday post to come.

My Little Princess

2010-12-29T17:04:00.001-08:00

I told you pictures in her blessing dress were coming.

Her brother wasn't so sure what to do with her when she started crying. This was the face I caught on camera. :)

Didn't my mom do a great job with her dress?!
I love it!

Now to brag about how totally awesome my little lady is...

She has been sleeping 8 hours in a row at night for nearly 2 weeks in a row now. That's right... she started at 2 months old. She knows how to make her mommy happy. :) When she wakes up she just squeaks and coos at me. No crying. Then I feed her and she goes back down for another 4 hours!

How did I get so lucky?

I thought Colin was totally amazing for sleeping through the night at 3 months!

She smiles and giggles. I love it! She loves her mommy. I can get her to smile almost anytime. Her giggle is so stinkin cute!

She loves playing with her tongue. She's a little lizard.

She smiles when her brother is in sight too. She loves him.

I've never met a more calm & content baby. She's just happy no matter where she's at. She loves to be cuddled but doesn't have to be in my arms at all time. Great for a mommy of 2.

She's a tall little thing. She's at the end of all of her 3 month pajamas. She's still fitting in her onesies fine but her legs are long. She has to curl her legs up in most of her uni-suits.

She's got several chins and her cheeks are killer. I love them! There's something adorable about chubby babies.

She my little princess and I love her so so much! I can't imagine my life without her.

A Birthday & A Blessing

2010-12-13T14:15:00.000-08:00

Let's catch up...

December is a busy month anyway but in our house it has been even more busy than usual. On December 5th Tyler gave his beautiful daughter a blessing. My amazing husband was so nervous as is true to his nature when he's in front of a lot of people, but it was all for nothing. He gave Alyssa Winter a wonderful blessing as I knew he would. She's one lucky girl to have such a great daddy. And I'm one lucky girl to have them both. :)

I'm also a lucky daughter myself because my mom made Alyssa her beautiful blessing dress. My mother is one talented seamstress. I think Alyssa looked absolutely B.E.A.U.Tiful!

After the main event we went to my ever-willing-to-share-their-home Mother & Father-In-Law's. Our house is way too small for such a large gathering. We ate yummy food & hung out with family.

I can't tell you how much I love this little girl. She's such a sweet heart. She very rarely cries. She sleeps anywhere from 4-7 hours at night before waking. She's always so happy. She's started to smile, especially at her mommy. I love that she knows me. She loves to snuggle but is okay to be put down so mommy can get things done. I think I'm the blessed one to have her in my life. I feel so lucky to be her mom.

What a wonderful day!

(I need to work on getting better pictures of her in her dress before she doesn't fit in it anymore. She's chuncked right up in the last 8 weeks.)

On December 11th my little guy turned 3!!! I can not believe I have a 3 year old! Time really goes by so fast. He's getting so big!

Colin has been looking forward to his birthday for months. He had a lot of expectations about this birthday too. He told me he wanted to go bowling for his birthday, have a cake with cars & dinosaurs, have ice cream, and of course presents. He also wanted fire works for his birthday but that is where I drew the line. :)

We have 3 birthdays in December so we celebrated Luke, Kya & Colin's birthdays by bowling. Colin LOVED it!!!

Uncle Nater helped him out.

And so did daddy.

This is after my strike! Woo hoo! I'm really not a very good bowler. It's a big deal to get a strike for me. ;)

Alyssa snuggled with whoever would have her. She's such a good baby. :)

There was cake and ice cream & lots of presents. He's a spoiled little 3 year old.

And before the bowling extravaganza we opened presents at home.

Colin has hard wood floors in his room so we found this rug for his floor so he can drive cars. He and Ty played on it for a good hour that morning.

When Colin woke up this was the reaction. He threw his hands in the air and said "It's my birthday!!!" Check back to the bowling picture of me, it's not hard to see where he gets it. :}

I love my buddy!

I love this time of year. We always have a real tree. I love the smell. :)

Colin loved looking for a tree. He kept saying "this is a pretty good one mom!"
Then he helped decorate. I had 6 bulbs piled on one branch. He's so helpful.

Alyssa hung out with dad. Have you noticed he's always holding her? I think he might love her just a little bit.

She did wear a festive shirt for the occasion. She really loves looking at the lights.

Now the party season begins. We have a party every Friday, Saturday, Sunday & Monday for the rest of the month. Hope we make it through alive.

Boy vs. Girl

2010-11-08T11:38:00.000-08:00

It's been so much fun to have one of each!

There are a lot of ways that these 2 are different. It's been apparent from conception. Here's what I've notices so far (and Alyssa is only 3 weeks tomorrow!)

PREGNANCY

Colin: Night sickness that lasted the first few months, once I threw up I was fine. I carried him high & still can feel the bruises inside my right ribs because of this.

Alyssa: Constant nausea for the first 3-4 months, nothing I could do to get rid of it. I carried her lower & while I had to pee more often I'd prefer this to the rib beating.

I gained almost the exact same amount of weight with both even though Alyssa was a little smaller.

LABOR

Colin: Lasted 4 1/2 hours and I had an epidural in the last half hour. His shoulders got stuck durring labor, I was put on oxygen & his heart rate was a little funky if I lay anyway other than my left side. Not a long or particularly hard labor. I thought I was very lucky with how Colin's labor went until I had Alyssa...

Alyssa: Lasted 1 hour 45 minutes and I did it without pain meds. She couldn't have come any easier even though it hurt like crazy. :) Recovery has been a million times easier and I felt great after 2 days. I don't know if it was the short labor or the abscense of drugs but this time around has been a dream.

TEMPERMENT & SLEEPING

COLIN: Colin has always been sweet & easy going. He's been so much fun & slept through the night at 3 months. He's been an awesome sleeper ever since. I've never had a reason to complain about that. :) I was tired for the first few months of his life and Tyler spent a few nights up bouncing him so I could get some shut eye. (Sweet husband, I know). He wouldn't sleep in his little crib so he slept in his bouncer for the first few months as well.

ALYSSA: The sweetest most relaxed baby I've ever met. I keep waiting for the switch to flip and for her to start screaming. No mom gets 2 amazing babies in a row right?!? She was on a schedule by day 2 and hasn't broke from it yet. She goes to bed at 11 with Ty & I, sleeps till 3, eats & goes back to sleep til 7, eats then goes back to sleep till 11. I couldn't ask for more from a 3 week old. She's awake durring the day for around 3-4 hours where I just love and cuddle her. She never cries (unless she's getting a diaper change, but who likes a cold naked bum). Let's hope she keeps this up. :)

EATING

COLIN: Colin was a great nurser. He never had a problem with it. Now however it's like pulling teeth to get him to eat anything that isn't sugar coated or bread.

ALYSSA: She came out sucking her thumb and I was sure she'd be a great eater. And she is WHEN I can get her to wake up. She had a little bit of a harder time with the whole latching on thing but she's getting better. DADDY

BOTH of these babies love their daddy & theird daddy loves them. It makes me smile to see him snuggle them. Colin must have been feeling left out on all of the snuggling. I haven't seen him sleep on anyone in years.BATH TIME

BOTH enjoy & hate their bath times. Neither cares to have their heads wet but they love the warm water. We always wash hair & face last around here or the entire bath is spent screaming.

**Can you tell I'm re-using all of Colin's bath stuff. Poor girl only has blue towels. :)

Happy HALLOWEEN!!!

2010-11-01T11:20:00.001-07:00

In honor of Colin's nick name for Alyssa we decided to be crayons this year for Halloween.

In case you didn't know he calls her CRAYON. Not entirely sure why...

Colin wanted to be green
Little purple Alyssa

Mom & Dad were whatever color of T-Shirt we didn't mind ruining :)

We had our annual Halloween Party at Merisa & Steve's house. Everyone looked awesome but I don't have pics of everyone. :(

I have to say I am proud of the kid-o's costumes. They turned out great. One of the cuter things I've made them, if I do say so myself. :)

Trick-or-Treat at Grandma Susie's

Summer Baby (aka Minnie Mouse) & Colin Crayon

Luke (Buzz Lightyear)

Knocking on doors

Colin's such a good big brother

Hanah Montana, Minnie, Crayons, Buzz

Not pictured is Ella. You can't get that girl to pose for a picture to save your life. :)

I LOVE HALLOWEEN!

1 Week

2010-10-28T09:06:00.000-07:00

Definitely picture overload but this little girl is just too beautiful. I can't get over it. She is the prettiest little thing I've ever seen!

Her Uncle Nater let us borrow his camera and we set up a little photo shoot in the living room. I'm no professional but I think they turned out pretty cute.

This is her "what are you doing to me" face. She does this when I mess with her while she sleeps. :) Look at her lift that head!

Colin is the best big brother! He loves to hold her and help me out. No jealousy towards her at all (cross my fingers). He does seem to get a little bored **destructive** because mom spends a lot of time feeding little sister.

I love that they both have their tongues out (above)

She LOVES to suck her thumb. She was sucking her thumb withing the first 5 minutes of birth. I'm not sure how she found it so fast.

And we can't forget this little guy. Look at that mischievous face! Love him so much!

We're all doing great! Recovery on this one has been a breeze. I'm beginning to think I should have milked it a little more. :) Thanks to everyone for the help. Especially ward & family members with meals and Tyler for EVERYTHING he does. I have one amazing husband.

Alyssa is a sleeper like her brother was (again, knock on wood) and she only gets up 2 times a night. She eats, gets changed and then goes right back to sleep. She's amazing!

Her daddy can't stop staring at her. He loves her so much. It makes me smile to see him with her. He's not usually a baby person but if he is home then she is in his arms. We went to my parent's house the other day and she was passed around to all of my siblings and parents. Later he told me it bugged him just because he'd rather be holding her. :) She's got him wrapped so tightly around her little finger.

Alyssa Winter

2010-10-23T13:04:00.000-07:00

She's here!!!

Alyssa Winter Smith

Our beautiful little Alyssa Winter arrived on Tuesday, October 19th at 9:42 p.m.
Stats:
Weight: 7 lbs 2 oz
Height: 19 3/4 in
Head: 34 cm
Chest: 32.5 cm
She is perfect in every single way and we couldn't be more excited to have her here!

(Our last family picture before she arrived and the last pregnancy shot)

I'll start with her birth story:

I went to my doctor appointment at 10 am on Tuesday and the doc had a hard time pinning down her weight again. It actually looked like she'd grown quite a bit. Almost a pound in a week. I'm not allowed to have a big baby after having Colin because his shoulder got stuck during delivery. So he said he wanted to start me the next day! The hospital later called and said they didn't have room for an induction on Wednesday so we could come in that night or on Thursday morning. We decided to go in that night at 6.

We sent Colin home with his Grandma Susie for the night and set out for the hospital. I had butterflies the whole way. It took a few hours to get checked in and all of the paperwork in order so they started my Pit around 8 p.m. I thought we'd be in for a long night. After an hour on the Pit I started feeling pretty uncomfortable. It's been my goal this whole pregnancy to have this baby without an epidural. I asked the nurse to check how I was progressing. When I arrived at the hospital I was only dilated to a 2. After an hour I was to a 4 so that was some progress.

20 minutes later I was feeling a lot of pain and pressure. I asked her to check again and I was to a 7! Too late to go back on my wish of having her natural. They told me they wouldn't give me anything if I progressed past a 6.

The nurse left the room and my next few contractions were horrible! There was hardly any time in between and they were lasting several minutes. I told Ty I was feeling A LOT of pressure and needed to push. He ran and grabbed the nurse and several people came in to set things up. They said the doctor was on his way. They checked me and both nurses just looked at each other. They said "she's crowning" and asked if I wanted to feel her head! I wasn't thinking clearly and put my hand down there... bad idea... I pulled it away and said something along the lines of "that was grose, don't ask me to do that again."

Next contraction and her head came, next contraction and a half a push later and she was here!!! I couldn't believe how fast it went! Ty cut her umbilical cord and her first little cry as so amazing. The doctor arrived in time to deliver the placenta and sew up my small tear. He couldn't believe how fast I went either. 1 hour 45 minutes of labor! This has to be a record.

The cool thing about her arriving so quickly was that Colin was able to come and meet his baby sister right away instead of waiting til morning. His reaction "Look! She came out!"
Then he was more interested in playing with the car grandma bought him and making sure mom wasn't "broken." He's so cute and worries about me. :)

The next day we settled in for some visitors and just chilled at the hospital.

Colin is such a cute big brother. He loves her! So far no signs of the jealousy that I know is coming. He just loves her and tries to help out by getting diapers and blankets.

A proud big brother & Grandma Susie

But if anyone loves this little girl it's her daddy. He is so cute with her. She likes sleeping on his chest.

She likes her hands by her face and tends to scratch her pretty little cheeks.

This is what I woke up to this morning. My whole family piled into my bed! I can't even tell you how happy this made me. It's like our family was missing this little girl and we didn't even know it. I'm in some sort of euphoric state. No post partum depression here. I've never been happier. It's amazing how much I love this family of mine!

And it's amazing how much this Koda boy loves Alyssa. Every squeak and he's right there. He sleeps by her bassinet and checks on her constantly. He's my little baby sitter. I couldn't keep him away if I wanted to.

This morning Colin also asked if he could hold his little sister. I haven't pushed him to do this so he asked when he was ready. He was so cute with her. He couldn't stop smiling.

This is him saying "Ooohhh! She's so cute!"

She smiled for him too!

5 Years! & We're getting close...

2010-10-10T13:58:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been 5 years since I married this amazing man! Ty and I had our 5 year anniversary on September 24th. It was a bit of a lame anniversary to be quite honest. We didn't have any romantic get away or even go out. We spent our day working and we went to Ty's parent's house at night for a family get together. (Not that that wasn't fun, it just wasn't really anniversary-ish.) I think it's a little hard to do anything when your as far along as I am anyway.
We did however take a drive up to Powder (Ty's favorite place) and he even let me take a few pictures. :)

One thing is for sure, I love this guy more and more everyday. It's been an amazing 5 years. It's hard to believe we are about to have our 2nd child! Life is good.

I love the sunsets from up there. So pretty.
Colin was with us but he was crashed out in the car.

My mother in law took the girls to see The Lion King at the Capital Theater. It was great and the costumes were absolutely amazing! Thanks Susie for taking me! I loved it. I will have to get pictures from those who actually remembered their camera.

Life at our house has been busy. We are getting ready to welcome this little girl to her new home. My wonderful sister, Kailee, came and helped me clean blinds & floor boards. It needed it. She took this picture of me & I can't believe how large my belly has gotten! She's so close to coming I can't believe it!

My last appointment was on Tuesday and she is such a good girl and listened to her mama and flipped back around. Woo hoo! I went from a 0 to a 2 in the last week and am contracting all the time. The scary part is it looks like she may have lost some weight. She went from measuring 6 lbs 9 oz to measuring 6 lbs 3 oz over a week. If she doesn't put on some weight the doctor will start me to make sure we can get her the nutrition she needs. EEK! I could really have this baby any day now! So excited & so nervous all at the same time.

Another wonderful thing happening at my house:
PAINTING!!!

This basement project has been going on for 3 years! No I'm not kidding. Mud and sanding is finished so my house is no longer covered in the white dust and there is paint on the walls! I'm so thrilled I can't even tell you.

My wonderful dad did the ceiling texture, Ty's wonderful cousin Travis helped with a lot of the sheet rock in the stairs, and my great father-in-law came to help paint. Ty has done an amazing job on this project. It looks awesome! Thanks to everyone for the help. It looks like we'll get done just in time (minus the carpet) for baby girl to get here.

I'll keep you posted on what happens with baby girl.

Fun Run & No More Cast!

2010-09-20T15:34:00.000-07:00

Colin participated in a 1K race that his Grandma Suzie signed him up for. She works for IHC Pediatrics. He wasn't too excited about it at first. Large crowds scare this little guy. He got shy and clung to his daddy.
I love these 2!

But he soon got the hang of it.

He did the whole thing on his own (minus the 20 steps or so that his dad carried him after a brief accident with a kid on a bike). He's a tough little guy!

Grandpa walked with us too. He had the stroller just in case. :)
We were a bit of a sad sight: Me 8 months prego, Ty with a cast on his foot and 2 little 2 year old boys. (Luke was with us because Kristen had to keep up with her girls.)
We came in 2nd to last!!! Woo hoo!!
Colin got a little scared at the finish line because everyone was cheering him on (again afraid of crowds). He veered to the right and sat on the sidewalk and cried. Poor little guy.

Now for the exciting news: Woo Hoo! Tyler got his cast off on Monday! It's a very good thing for him and me. It was incredibly uncomfortable for him & it stunk SO bad after 5 weeks of working in the hot sun. :) Life is good again and he can shower without 2 garbage bags around his leg. Yay!

Before:

While waiting for the doctor Colin got out the camera. This is the only pregnant picture of me in a while.

I also got bangs :) (Thanks Rosie) I'm still learning to do them but I do like them.

I stole the camera back and took this beauty.

This kid cracks me up. The other day we were all in the car and he was talking to himself. Ty and I started listening in and he was saying "Gee Willickers!" I have absolutely no idea how or where he learned that!

Back to the main event: Look at Colin's face. He's saying "that's stinky dad!"

And it was super stinky.

Yay for the freedom of his foot. It means work has resumed on my basement and I have renewed hope that my house will be ready in time for baby girl to arrive in just a few weeks!

I Miss...

2010-09-03T10:26:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling a little blue lately. This post might be a bit of a complaining session. :) 33 weeks-ish pregnant and I am missing some things.

I miss...

laying on my stomach
my fingers and toes, they've been replaced by chubby sausages (my wedding ring now sits in my jewelry box, yet another thing I didn't have to deal with on the last pregnancy)
energy, my mind is always thinking of a million things I need to do and my body never keeps up
sleeping through the night without having to get up to pee, turn over, or sit up to alleviate heart burn
being able to walk more than 20 yards without feeling like I'm going into labor (I never had braxton hicks like this with Colin)
my clothes
being able to bend down and touch my toes
being able to look down and SEE my toes :)

Part of me can't wait to get her out of me. The other part is so not ready to be a newborn mommy again. Mostly she's not ready yet so I will make it through the next several weeks.

There is some good that comes with this part of pregnancy:

I love feeling her move (except when it's a jab to my ribs)
It amazes me how different this pregnancy feels from Colin. Colin was a roller and stretcher. He'd put his foot up in my rib and push. This little girl likes the swift kicks & punches. She seems like such a spaz sometimes.
I love that she knows her daddy. He can calm her down just by talking softly and putting his warm hand on her. She wakes up every morning when he leaves for work.
I'm having fun making things for her. I've got another blanket (really simple but so cute).
It's nice to be able to say "next month I'll have a baby" even though it's more than a month away. :)

The latest doctor appointment was Tuesday. She's doing great and all looks healthy except that she is currently in the upright position. Her little head is up in my ribs. I've been calling it her bum this whole time. Hopefully she turns back around in the next few weeks. Because her face is planted inside my rib cage we were unable to get a good picture of her. :( Can't wait to meet this little girl!

On a side note: I'm already working on my birthday/Christmas shopping. :) My goal is to have it done before the end of November. I think I'm going to make it too (at least for our little family.) Colin is a December b-day so it makes it hard do both in such a short period of time. I can't wait for the holidays to start! I'm tempted to get out my fall/Halloween box already.

29 weeks

2010-08-10T19:20:00.000-07:00

This is my little girly at 29 weeks. This was a fun ultra sound because she doesn't look like an alien anymore! :) She looks like a cute little baby. I love the profile pictures.

This one (above) amazed me. Her eyes are open & she's so cute. She's starting to put on weight to get ready to come out and meet us. We think she has my lips. :)

She's a little scowly in this one. She got mad and tried to kick the doctor around this time.

Sorry if these ultra sound pics gross you out. I've heard some people say they're too creepy.

I must not like surprises because I LOVE being able to see what she's going to look like & what she's doing in there.

I feel pretty good but my discomfort is rising. She's running low on room in there & she's finding my ribs more often. Trying to sleep is probably the worst of it. She's strong enough to wake me with a good kick or 2. Other than that and having to get up at night to pee (something I rarely had to do with Colin) I'm doing pretty good.

They did my glucose test at this appointment and the next day they called and said my levels were high. They want me back in for a 4 hour test!!! The thing that frustrates me is that they say more than likely it's nothing. 4 hours seems like a long time for "more than likely it's nothing" but I'll find a good book, sit in that doctors office, drink nasty sugar water & let them bruise my arms with needles if it mean everything is ok.

My doctor said she weighs about 3 pounds. If I went into labor today (heaven forbid) she would likely be ok with a lot of medical help. He said she looks really healthy & that's always wonderful to hear.

Can't wait to have her here. I get more excited everyday.

PS. For those who asked: I found the tutorial for the rag quilt here. I thought it was pretty easy and I was able to change measurements to make it what I wanted. My squares were 10"x10" with a 1" seam making the final 8"x8". There were 80 squares total (8x10). Hope that makes sense.
NaLoni, lets get together sometime. I'd love to see you & your new baby girl and help you get started even though I'm sure you could do it on your own. :)

I used a million tutorials to make the flowers but this one was a good one to follow.

St. George

2010-08-07T17:12:00.000-07:00

The Carter family headed to St. George for our family vacation this year. We started our long drive on Sunday. This is the longest drive we've taken with Colin & I was a little nervous. My nerves were for nothing. He did awesome! He fell asleep before we hit Salt Lake & woke up around Filmore then he just played & jabbered the rest of the way down.

We stayed at Wadman's house in Hurricane. It was nice because it is big enough to fit my large family. Colin slept in our closet. :) He likes dark rooms.

The first night we just hung out and played cards. The kids all ran around and got their pent up energy out. We also took the 4-wheelers & Rhino out around the house. Colin LOVES the Rhino.

Aunt Kailee driving the kids on the Rhino

This is the bunk room where the kids slept.

Lyndee & Tessa Rae

Sailor (She's such a cutie)

Monday morning we headed out on the 4-wheelers & Rhino to the Sand Hallow Sand Dunes. It's a bit of a drive & it was HOT! We got everyone up on the dunes & had our lunch & half of the group went out to play on the dunes. Colin & I stayed behind but Ty went out with the rest. Before long Tyler was headed back. He was by himself & was driving pretty slow. I had a feeling something was wrong. He told me he thought he broke his ankle. My reaction was some choice words. :) He went off a sand dune in 3rd gear & it was just a drop off on the other side. He fell about 6 feet onto solid rock landing all of his weight on his left leg.

I then went into panic mode & loaded him, Colin & a few of the kids up in the Rhino and drove down the trail. Ty didn't look so hot & I felt bad on every bump. Luckily my Mom was at the bottom of the sand trail with a truck & rushed us to a Clinic in Hurricane. They wheel chaired him in & took X-rays. This is about the point I had a minor emotional meltdown that I'm sure was helped out by my pregnancy hormones. I'm not a big fan of watching my family get hurt. Anyway, he broke a bone in his ankle & the doctor booted him up and put him on crutches. He told us we needed to see a specialist when we got back to Ogden. Not a reassuring thing... more on that later.

This is after we got home. Look how swollen & nasty it looks.

That night we had 2nd row tickets to see Disney's Tarzan at Tuachan and Tyler said he still wanted to go. So we rushed back to the house, showered & headed for dinner at Pizza Factory. Tarzan was awesome. Colin did so good through the first half. He loved watching the monkeys dance around & the music is great. The second half the play got a little serious for his taste. They started in on the love story between Jane & Tarzan and he lost interest. Really all of the kids lost interest. Several of us ended up at the top (back) of the theater where they could run around a bit.

Colin is checking out Kailee's 4-wheeler battle wound.

Tuesday we went to Zions National Park. There really isn't a lot for someone on crutches to do in Zions. Tyler was a good sport though. We all got in our swim suits & played in the Virgin River. The cool water felt great but I felt really bad for Ty sitting on the shore in the heat. Not his best day but we did go to the lodge & get ice cream. :) That makes everything better.

Ice Cream!

Look how big I'm getting. Eek!

Please notice the mark of the mom on my shirt. Colin thought it would be fun to bite the bottom out of his ice cream cone while sitting on me. Lovely.

Wednesday we went swimming at the Washington Community Center. While Ty couldn't swim it was at least shaded & he read his book. It feels so good to go swimming while pregnant. While no one wants to see a pregnant woman in a swim suit it is so nice to feel weightless. I'm going to have to go a bit more before this pregnancy is over. Colin is not a huge fan of the water but he came around & ended up having fun in the kiddy pool.

Aaron & Tessa

Silly Kid

Hanah & Colin

Sailor LOVED the slide. She's a brave little 1 year old.

Spencer & Hadlee

Grandma, Grandpa & Colin

Sailor Elle

This is where Ty spent his time.

Colin & Aunt Kailee (He loves her)

Late that afternoon we packed up & headed back home. Colin slept till Nephi then woke up for some dinner & was great for the last hour or so of the trip.

It was a fun trip but it sure felt like a long week.

Friday we went to see the Orthopedic Specialist. 2 hours of waiting later & he took one look at the X-rays taken in Hurricane & said we needed to get a CT Scan. Apparently the bone that Ty broke is pretty hard to break and if it has effected the joint then he will need to do surgery to put a screw in. If this is the case he will be casted and will have to stay completely off of it for 6 weeks. Not such a good thing for work (or his pregnant wife). If it hasn't effected the joint then they will just cast it (still for 6 weeks) but he can put weight on it in a week or so. We're reallllly hoping for that outcome. Wish us luck. The CT Scan is on Monday & we meet with the specialist again on Wednesday. For now Tyler is playing a lot of video games and spending a lot of time on the couch. He's starting to get seriously bored.

Bear Lake

2010-07-28T16:44:00.000-07:00

Every year we go up to Bear Lake for the Brown Family Vacation over the 24th of July. I love this vacation. 5 years ago Tyler asked me to marry him (officially) on this vacation. :) It's fun to go up and celebrate and be with family. Unfortunately the family is getting a little big & it's getting harder to find room & keep everyone happy so this may be the last year (at least that we all try to stay together in the same cabin.)

We had a blast though. So here comes the picture overload. :) They're a little out of order but who cares about such things.

Colin & his Grandma Susie looking down on me from the cabin deck.

Colin slept on his very own queen sized blow up mattress. He thought it was great. I woke up one morning and looked over to see him with his head on the floor and his butt up on the mattress. Wish I got a picture of that but this is him peaking at me to see if we're awake yet.

Grandma Brown, Grandma Susie & Uncle Nater

Not sure what this face means but I think it's pretty cute. :)

The beautiful view from the deck.

Colin & Summer

These 2 had fun playing all weekend. I'm glad they got to spend a little more time together.

We went on Uncle Jeff's boat & Ty wake boarded. I unfortunately couldn't do much more than sit there but of coarse I forgot the camera. Colin loves being on the boat & watching everyone board but by the time we got back to shore he was out. He slept on PaPa's lap until it was time to head back to the cabin.

This is what Colin did the rest of the time. He's normally terrified of dirt being on his feet & spent the first half of the day in his shoes. (I know, what a weird 2 year old.) Eventually he warmed up to the idea & had fun with all of the toys.

He didn't make it in the water past his ankles. He's a bit of a baby when it comes to cold water.

Our little family! I almost didn't post these because I feel so fat in them but this is what I look like at 27 weeks pregnant. It is what it is.

It was super windy & we all got fried on the first day even though I was trying so hard to be diligent about the sunscreen. It's just inevitable.

The next day was perfect though. No wind & we bumped our sunscreen levels up even more & didn't end up getting any worse.

I love this man! I made the best decision ever 5 years earlier when I said YES!

Now we have this little guy to enjoy and a little girly on the way. Crazy how much things can change in 5 years.

We had so much fun. Thanks to Susie & Steve and the rest of the family for making it happen. We loved every minute.

A side note: Merisa had her baby. He's a beautiful little guy named Tristan Van & holding him made me so excited to meet & hold our little girl. Can't wait for her to arrive even though I'm terrified of being a mommy of 2! Eek!

This weekend it is off to St. George!!! Can't wait. I miss my college town.

25 WEEKS!

2010-07-15T15:39:00.000-07:00

Woo Hoo! Not sure why but to be able to say there is only 15 weeks to go is a wonderful thing. This week was a fun one because I had my target ultra sound. I loved being able to see each little body part & know that all looks healthy. It's even more fun to see that she has Colin's cute little button nose. She really looks so much like him. She also has her daddy's long legs. (Lucky girl!) Her legs measure nearly 2 weeks ahead of the rest of her. :) I always hoped my girls wouldn't get my legs. :) Ty thinks I'm just being silly. I'll get pictures & maybe the video up soon.

Tyler couldn't get out of work to be there for this ultra sound so Colin & Grandma Carter got to come and see baby sister. Colin was so dang cute. The second the image came up on the screen he yelled "That's baby sister!" When my mom said that she looks like Colin he said "She looks like me! Adorable!" (I didn't even know he knew the word 'adorable' let alone in the right context.) He's so funny. I think he's excited to meet her.
Here's what else is new in my pregnancy world:

I'm on my second bottle of Tums. This little one is giving me major heart burn every time I lay down.
We had a little bit of a scare the other morning. We were in bed feeling little one kick. She was really low on my left side. Nya (my puppy girl) came barreling into my room and pounced on the bed. She didn't know I was in there and landed right on my stomach. It hurt like crazy! I instantly started contracting & crying. It took an hour (seemed like ages) before I felt baby girl move again. She was clear up in my right rib. I have never felt her so high. She got out of there & took refuge under my rib cage. She now has found the new space to play & goes up there all the time. Scared me & Ty to death. It was good to have our ultra sound and not only feel but see that everything is ok.
Sleep is getting more difficult. If it weren't for my body pillow I don't think I'd get much sleep at all. It saves my hips.
Speaking of hips... my stupid sciatic nerve is still killing me. I tune it out most of the time but every now and then my leg give out on me.
I have a love hate relationship with maternity pants. I never wore them with Colin but I sure ballooned a lot quicker this time around. I'm not a big fan of the stretchy stomaches but it is sure better than trying unsuccessfully to squeeze into my regular pants.
My crafty-ness has continued. I made our little girl a baby quilt & I'm in love with it. I turned these 160 squares of fabric:

Into this!:

I've never made a rag quilt before and it was actually fun & easy if not a little repetitive but I LOVE the way it turned out. I'm also in love with the black & white demask fabric. I think it's so cute. I might be making a wall panels, diaper bag & another skirt out of it or something. :)

My next project is to paint an accent wall in her room purple. And when I say my next project I mean the next project I'll put Ty to work at. :) Poor guy. I'm having fun getting ready of this little one to arrive. Ty on the other hand is getting worn out. He's finished sheet rocking the stairs & our basement family room is getting so close to being done. I really can't wait to have the extra space.

Colin thinks he's pretty handy too. It's cute to see him work with his daddy. He knows the names & jobs of all of the tools.

We've got a lot of fun things coming our way this summer & I'm excited because I'm sure it will help the time go by faster to stay so busy. We have a Bear Lake trip next week & we're going to my second home of St. George the first week of August. Can't wait for that even though it's 112 degrees down there. Also looking forward to meeting Merisa's little boy. He's scheduled to arrive any day.

Camping... Well sort of camping...

2010-07-11T21:18:00.000-07:00

For my dad's 60th birthday we got him a membership to Sportsman's Paradise. It's pretty much a private fisherman/hunter/outdoors man heaven. We decided to go up as a family for the first time. There is a lodge with bathrooms & a shower, kitchens, leather furniture, big screen TV & more. Pretty much the only thing camp-ish about it was that we slept in a tent & cooked our food over the fire. :) It felt like camping in the back yard.

This was Colin's first real camping (sleeping in a tent) experience. Sad considering this is something Ty and I both really like to do. He did awesome! He wore himself out all day with his cousins & then slept great. He woke up once but went right back to bed once he figured out daddy & mommy were close by. Then he woke up when the sun came up thinking the string on the tent was a spider. He's a big fat baby when it comes to bugs. After Ty told him to man up & go back to bed, he slept again till after 9.

Aren't my boys cute :)

My sleeping could have been better but I'm pregnant and that's to be expected in my own bed let alone on a blow up mattress. It was still fun to hang out with family & just relax for a bit.

This is all 5 of us sisters. Meis is due any day.

The whole family... well almost...

Colin loves his Grandpa Carter. Grandpa took him out on the little paddle boat & helped him catch his first 2 fish. Colin was so excited. He got to help reel them in & when they'd get close to the boat he'd yell "I like him!" Grandpa would ask if he wanted to touch it & he'd say "No, but I like him!"

The above picture is Colin's first fish! I wish the boat wasn't so far from the shore & I could get a better picture.

This is Colin reeling in fish #2. Thanks for taking him out Dad! He loved it!

Busy Summer Begins

2010-06-28T13:23:00.000-07:00

Let the summer begin! It's been busy already. Here's what we've been up to.

Here's another baby update:

My last appointment went well. I loved seeing our little girl in there. She waved to me & her daddy and she was sucking her thumb. The pictures were a little blurry or something this time but the more I look at them the more I love them.

The shot above is her sucking her thumb.

I like this one because you can see her profile so well.

She's a little kicker now. I love feeling her bump my hands.
I can't wait to see what she looks like even though I have a long time to go. I wonder if she'll have the same beautiful curly hair Colin had.
I'm in LOVE with the name Alyssa Spring (my middle name) but unfortunately I will not give my little girl the initials A.S.S. so we are working on another middle name. Right now Alyssa Winter Smith is the front runner but we tend to change our minds. Colin was suppose to be Gage until we saw him.
I have so many great family members who keep giving me all of their cute baby clothes. I have 3 big boxes full of cute clothes already! I'm also loving shopping. Girl shopping is SO much more fun than boy!
I've started making skirts & hair bows. I went to buy a cute little skirt & it was like $10. Not super expensive or anything but I figured I could make one for less. I made this skirt for about 50 cents & I love it! I'm telling you she's making me more crafty. (Heather, I'll post my pillowcase dress as soon as it is done. It is really easy & super cute!)
My belly is growing & so is my discomfort but it really isn't bad yet. This is the fun part that I love.
She's going to have plenty of cousins to play with. Merisa, Lindey & Kristen are all expecting as well. Merisa is due in less than a month! I love that Colin has close cousins to play with.

Here is what else has been going on in our lives:

A me update: I'm in the young women's in my ward and our girls camp was this last week. It was at Camp Atoka in South Fork so I was lucky & came home to sleep in my regular bed every night. I had to ship Colin off to babysitters in the morning & sleeping in a tent in the cold with the bugs didn't sound so appealing while pregnant.

It was so fun to be up with the girls though. Our ward is pretty small but we have some really sweet girls. It reminded me a lot of all of my girls camps. It also made me really appreciate my leaders. :) I had wonderful leaders!

Colin had a rough time. He's not used to being without his mommy all day & evening. It was probably a good thing though. He became pretty attached to his daddy over the week. In the mornings he no longer asks for mommy, he asks for his daddy. Ty was glowing. He loved that. Thanks to all of my wonderful family that helped with the babysitting.

Tyler update:

Ty got a new job! We weren't looking for anything new but this opportunity presented itself & we couldn't turn it down. He's going to be an HVAC apprentice with his cousin-in-law. He started yesterday & is now in Vernal until tonight. :( I'm so excited for him but I'm a bit of a baby about the over-nighter part. Can you believe in the nearly 5 years we've been married we've never spent a night apart until now!?! In fact, I've never gone a day without seeing him in over 5 years! I'm so lucky in that way. Told you I was being a baby about it. :)

Colin update: We had a major breakthrough! Colin is sleeping in his big boy bed! Woo Hoo! He told me Sunday that he wanted to nap in there. I haven't even tried it since our first disastrous night. So I put him in there & after getting up once for a drink & some toast he went down without a fuss. That night he climbed in and stayed there till 10:30 am! I call that success! I'm so happy. I think he just needed to get used to the idea.

I also turned an old Lightning McQueen pajama shirt (that is now a belly shirt on him) into a pillow. It's not very pretty. It's lumpy & mis-shapen but he loves it & I told him he could only sleep with it in his big boy bed. He didn't care the first night but maybe that's what made him decide he wanted to sleep there eventually.

Funny story... Colin's first night in his big bed at 3:30 am Ty & I woke up to a huge bang. I knew he rolled out & I felt so bad. It's not a low bed & he crashed onto the hard wood. My heart was pounding, it was so loud! I sat & waited for the crying to begin but I heard him pick himself up & crawl back into bed all by himself! He didn't make a peep. He never made it back into the covers but it's so warm right now that it didn't matter. :) I asked him if he fell out of his bed and he doesn't remember a thing. He must have slept through the whole thing. :)

Colin went for his first horse back ride with his Grandpa. Colin loves this man! He got a little scared but he's still talking about riding Abby.

Last thing, I promise. My last cake class was last night. I really loved it. Here are my last few cake projects. I've thrown out a lot of cake in the last couple weeks. :)

Ok, sorry this was such a long post.

New Hobby

2010-06-16T22:04:00.000-07:00

For my birthday my totally amazing sister-in-law Kristen gave me cake decorating lessons. How cool is that? I've been wanting to do this for some time now & I just haven't. Here are examples of my first few projects. It's so fun. I love it!

This fishy cake is for Tessa's (Lyndee's baby) 1st birthday. I'm in love with it. We're also doing cup cakes with smaller fish on them.

This was for one of my first classes.

Someday I hope to actually be good at this but for now it's just plain fun. If anyone wants a cake made for some occasion then let me know. It's fun to do but the problem is neither Tyler nor I really like cake. :)

Changes

2010-06-14T15:33:00.001-07:00

This is me at 20 weeks (& a little bit)! Half way there! Wahooo! The changes in my belly are pretty noticeable now. People look at me like I'm pregnant not just fat. :) I can feel our little girl squirming in there and she's strong enough that we can feel her from the outside regularly now. I can even see my belly move around when she rolls or kicks. I love this part!
Colin felt his little sister for the first time. We were reading a book in my bed & she was kicking so I took his hand & asked if he wanted to feel his sister. He put his little hand on my stomach and she kicked him right away. He jumped and pulled his hand back. He looked at me with huge eyes and said "IT WORKS!" It's so fun to be going through this with him. Hopefully he'll be just as excited for her to arrive as we are.

I'm not big on the bare belly pictures but I didn't take any pictures while I was pregnant with Colin and I kind of regret it so I figured the half way point was a good time.

This is another big change at our house. Colin's BIG BOY BED! The problem is this is exactly how the bed spent its first night. Completely empty. Colin cried & screamed and threw a fit for his crib. Being too tired to fight him I gave in. (Probably a bad idea but I wasn't in the mood to deal with it.) So I'm going to give it a few days and be ready for the fight by this coming weekend when Ty doesn't have to be up for work. Any advice on the transition from crib to bed? I really want him in here and comfortable before baby girl arrives.

The other change is I am definitely nesting. There is a lot of cleaning going on in this house and it doesn't even look like it. It's driving me crazy. My hall closet got a make-over for the first time in about 5 years. My craft closet got torn apart & put back together in half the space (it's amazing) so Colin can take over the other half with toys and clothes. I should have taken before & after pictures. I'm getting impatient to get the office moved to the basement. I'm driving Tyler crazy :). I keep asking him when he's going to go get sheet rock or when sanding is going to start. I keep feeling like I'm running low on time even though I'm only half way there.

Last, I'm catching up on all of my blogs (scrap booking & cooking). Check them out at the links to the left.

18 Weeks & a few days!

2010-05-27T10:35:00.000-07:00

Here is my pregnancy update. I know you probably get bored with this stuff but this has become my journal and I want to remember these things.

* I asked Colin what he thought we should name his baby sister. He sat looking at my swelling belly & thought for a good minute. Then he looked at me and said "CRAYON!" He now calls her "Baby Crayon". It may be a nick-name that sticks. :)

* Colin says hi to his baby sister everyday. He closes one eye and squints the other like he's looking through a telescope and peers into my bellybutton like he can see what's in there. He'll ask her what she's doing & tell her he loves her. She likes to hear his voice and rolls around in there every time he talks to her.

* She also likes her daddy's voice. The first time I felt this little baby squirm was when her daddy was talking to her through my belly. So fun!

*Tyler is more excited for this little girl than I am (if that's possible.) He said the time is going by slower for him because he just wants her here. She's got him wrapped around her little finger already. He's such a cute daddy.

* I felt Colin move a lot more and a lot sooner than with this one. Colin must have been strong! My Dr. also told me that there is a lot of fluid surrounding her so she's got a big swimming pool.

* I love baby girl shopping. I've only purchased a few onsies but I think they are SO cute. I'm trying my hand at girly accessory making. (Bows, Flowers, etc.) I'm also going to try my hand at the pillowcase dress. This little one is making me more crafty.

* I've decided to move Colin into the large room (currently serving as my office). My office will move downstairs. Baby girl will move into Colin's room. It's a lot of moving but Colin has a lot of toys and could use the larger room. He'll be getting a big boy bed to go along with his big boy toilet. There's a lot of changes coming his way. I hope he adjusts well. I think I'm more nervous for that than anything else.

* I feel good. This is the part of pregnancy I love. I'm not too big yet but I'm starting to look pregnant, not just fat. My only problem is that stupid sciatic nerve pain. Grrr.

* I have my first maternity pants (Thanks Susie!) and I love them even though they just fall off of me at this point. So much more comfortable than squeezing into my regular pants though.

* I'm staying busy and time is flying by. I love that about this pregnancy. I'm sure it will slow down the closer I get but for now I'm enjoying looking at the calender and seeing 2 more weeks go by without even realizing it.

** A Colin Update ** We are currently fighting off strep throat. One night he was being a bit grumpy and within an hour he was burning up with fever. In the morning he sounded scratchy & hoarse and he wouldn't even stand up on his own. He slept on the couch all morning & wouldn't touch any food. He had some apple juice & threw it up all over the place.

I asked how he was feeling and he said "Mom, I'm just sick." :( My mom always said she could smell strep throat and I swear she is right. I thought I smelled it so I took him to the doctor that day. I usually wait a few days with fevers because they usually just tell me to wait it out.

I asked Colin if he wanted to go to the doctor and he said "No Mom. Colin just wants to go to sleep." He was such a sad little guy. I convinced him to go to the doctor because he could see Grandma Susie. At the office he had his throat swabbed and now he is on antibiotics.

He's acting a million times better today and he's eating solid foods. Other than a scratchy throat he seems good as new. This morning he said "Mom, I feel good! Colin's all better!" (He has this thing about talking in the 3rd person.)

Another mom advice needed post...

2010-05-24T20:37:00.000-07:00

I'm in need of some parent advice: Is it too early to start Colin on potty training? (He's a little over 2 1/2 now.) We bought him a new training toilet and he was skeptical at first. This kid is terrified of going to the bathroom because of all of his bad experiences in the past but after a few times sitting on it with success he LOVES it. I put him on it before bath time & whenever he asks and every time he sits on there he pees. He wants to go sit on it all the time. Is this a sign of just liking his new toy or a sign he's ready? What do you think??? Any advice on the best way to train him? I've heard so many different things. What's worked for your kids?

It would be so so nice to have him out of diapers before baby girl arrives!

Drumroll please... It's A...

2010-05-17T15:09:00.000-07:00

GIRL!!!!

Woo Hoo! We're so excited! We don't have to change our habits of calling this little one "she". She's growing nicely and all seems healthy & well. She's pretty funny. It looks like she's flipping us off in her picture this week. :)

She's got personality already. (Ok, it really is her index finger but it looks like it)

Aren't these 3D ultra sounds amazing! So much detail. You can see every rib. She was a little camera shy and kept covering her face up.

First thing tomorrow I'm going baby girl clothes shopping! I can't wait to start getting a nursery put together.

We really couldn't be happier!

On a side note, after a day like today it is a good thing I'm already pregnant. After what a nightmare Colin has been today I might have decided I was done having kids. He's been a little terror today!

Happy Birthday to Ty & Mama's Day

2010-05-12T16:37:00.000-07:00

I love this boy! He's the best husband ever! This is an old picture from our 1 year anniversary but it's one of my favorites. Tyler turned 28 this week! He took the day off and after getting a few "have to do" things out of the way in the morning we got on to the "want to do" things. We went up to Brigham City and played disc golf. This is one of our favorite past times. Colin loves being able to run around and he has his own little disc to throw. Then we came home and Ty went to his night class. After we went out to the Prairie Schooner for dinner. It was just a fun family day. Pretty laid back but it was nice to spend some time together. So HAPPY BIRTHDAY Ty! I love you more than anything!

I have to add in a quick note to the mommies in my life. Sometimes the title of mom is one that I don't feel very worthy of holding. I lack patients & feel like I'm often doing more damage to the little man in my life than good. But I feel so lucky to have him. I have some of the greatest examples of mothers in my life that I look up to everyday. So thanks to my mom, my mom-in-law, all of my mommy sisters, our grandmas, my mommy friends and so many more. You're all examples of what I strive to be like everyday.

We went to my mom & dad's ward on Mother's Day & I told Colin to go tell my mom "happy mama's day!" He ran up to her and said "HAPPY BIG BROTHER'S DAY Gwamma!" He's so funny. I love that little guy!

26 & this & that

2010-05-01T13:59:00.001-07:00

JuMpInG

This is Colin's new favorite thing but I'm no fun. Every time I jump I start contracting. Not comfortable. So daddy gets to play with the little guy.

Vance & Holly

Vance & Holly were sealed in the Logan Temple last weekend. I love this picture of them. We made the trip up and also enjoyed a stop at Aunt Kailee's house & to see Cuyler. We don't make it to Logan often so we got everything in that we could. After we enjoyed a late lunch at Maddox.

I couldn't get Colin to un-squint for these pictures. It was a bright day.

OWIE!

This is Colin's owie. He gets bumps and bruises almost everyday but this was the first real bad one he's had. He tripped at my grandma's house and landed on a nail sticking up from the tacking strip in the carpet. It jabbed in then tore out. We debated stitches but in the end didn't take him in. It bled quite a bit and he cried A LOT! I felt so bad for the little guy. He's tough though and it's healing up nicely. He'll have a pretty good scar but ladies love scars. I won't show the picture of the actual wound. It makes my pregnant stomach churn.
26th BIRTHDAY

Thursday was my 26th birthday. I'm officially over a 1/4 century. :) My birthday was great. I went to work at my mom's for the day & that night Grandma Susie took Colin so Ty and I could go to dinner. He took me to Teppanyaki. Our favorite! Ty also spoiled me with white roses, a body pillow (heavenly), a hand held mirror (which is all I asked for), and new sheets (much needed. Nya put holes in our others.) That night was the best sleep ever! Body pillows are a must while prego.

12 WEEKS

2010-04-19T13:29:00.000-07:00

...and a little bit... but who's counting right? Actually I've been really bad at counting this time. The good thing about baby #2 is you are so busy with baby #1 that time seems to go by quickly.
Well I had my appointment today and I was disappointed in 2 ways:
1. We couldn't tell what this little bambino is yet so I have 4 more weeks til my next appointment. That's a long time to wait! Next time we'll be able to know for sure instead of just a guess though and then I can start my shopping:) What's your guess? Pink or Blue
2. Tyler pulled into the parking lot of the doctors office right as I was walking out. My doc got called into labor so my appointment got pushed back about 40 minutes. He ended up being back in 30 so Ty pulled up and all was over. He'll have to make it for the next one for sure. I felt bad for him. He did take me to get lunch so that was nice.

This however was the highlight:

I'm not too sure how to make these pictures show up bigger but it's a cute little thing in there. I got to hear the heart beat and see it in 3D. It looks a little alien right now but I love it! Someday I'll figure out how to add the video on here.

Here is an update on the last few weeks of my prego life:

My desire for chocolate has dwindled and has been replaced by a desire for all things sour. Sour gummy worms are at the top of my list right now.

I craved and ate bacon for the first time since I can remember. I even cooked it in my house. **gasp**

I am feeling less and less nauseous by the day and this is heavenly. I felt so horrible with this pregnancy, nothing like Colin.

I have horrible sciatic nerve pain (another first) and my legs give out on me every now and then due to this. It's really bad when I'm driving. I have to pick up my leg with my hand and move it from break to gas pedal. Sounds safe doesn't it. :)

My clothes are fitting tighter and tighter. I didn't ever wear maternity with Colin but I'm sure I will have to with this one. In fact, that's what I asked for for my b-day.

I can't wait to feel some movement in there. I keep thinking I do but I'm pretty sure it's all in my head. It's still a little early.

EASTER

2010-04-13T10:44:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite holidays and of coarse my camera wasn't working... so I won't be boring you with a million pictures, only a few...
Coloring eggs is a BIG deal in the Carter family. My mom bought and boiled a dozen eggs PER PERSON!! My family isn't small. We had 22 DOZEN EGGS! That is a total of 264 eggs!

Colin loved coloring them. He didn't even get too messy. I like that he's a fairly clean kid :).

Dad hid plastic eggs filled with candy while the kids colored. Colin ended up with a bag full of eggs. He was thrilled.

So after coloring our eggs we took them to a hill & sent them rolling. If you don't know of this tradition I think it's one you should adopt. It sounds lame but it really is so much fun. Give it a shot!

On Easter Sunday we celebrated with the Smith family. Nate brought his camera so I stole pictures from him :) Thanks Nate!

It was also Aunt Kristen's birthday so we had to blow out candles.

This is a miracle shot. I think it is the best picture of all 5 kids that we've managed since the 3 little ones learned to walk. I think it's so stinkin cute.

And here is my smiley boy. He really does love those Easter egg hunts.

The Smith family does an adult egg hunt too. Ty and I made out like bandits. It was great! Thanks Susie!

Our little family Easter was great too. Colin woke up and found his basket and got a few toys & candy. After all was said and done we ended up with a bucket full of candy. Not good to have around for a pregnant woman. I ate most of it :). Hope you all had wonderful Easter weekends too!

Sacrament Manners

2010-04-11T21:39:00.000-07:00

It seems like the more Colin learns to talk the more funny things he comes up with. Today during fast & testimony a lady in our ward got up and was bearing her testimony. She got a little emotional and started crying. Colin started yelling "No crying! Time out!" and "No throwing fits! Time out!" I couldn't help but laugh. Luckily we were in the back row so she couldn't hear him. :)

Next story: I've been having really bad sciatic nerve pain. It starts in my butt and shoots down my leg. Isn't pregnancy fun?! Anyway, every time it happens I tend to gasp because it takes me so off guard & it hurts! Colin's learned what's going on to some extent and ever time I gasp our conversation goes as follow...

He says: "Bum hurts?"

I say: "Yes, my bum hurts."

He says: "Med-cine non it?" (Medicine on it? {in case you don't understand 2 year old talk})

Then he tries to get the diaper rash ointment out. :)

He takes such good care of me. What a sweet little guy.

Tail

2010-03-31T20:44:00.000-07:00

OK, I know I just posted but this was funny...

I normally give Colin baths but I was running low on time today so I threw him in the shower with me. While I'm washing my hair he was sitting there and he pointed to his little man unit and said "Colin's tail." I tried to explain that it wasn't a tail but that went right over his head so for now the little unit is going to be a tail. Then he looked at me and said "Where mommy's tail go?" Oh boy...

A quiet kid means trouble...

2010-03-28T20:49:00.000-07:00

I've been spending a healthy bit of my afternoons on the couch and while I was snoozing away last week Colin was playing in his room with the dogs. I realized that it had become unnaturally quiet for about 5 minutes. Oh the amazing amount of trouble a 2 year old can make in just 5 minutes!

I called Colin and he came into the living room like this:

My initial reaction was to laugh. I was not expecting a little white powder covered child to walk in. Then Koda came walking in and I laughed more...

This was after he'd shook himself off (spreading the powder to the living room.) His ears aren't usually white.

I asked Colin to go get whatever it was he was playing with and he turned around and I saw this cute little white butt. He came back with a bag of pancake mix. And I thought I was being such a good mom by making pancakes for breakfast. Nope, I just taught him where the fun powdery mix is. Anyone know how to child proof a lazy-susan?
So I decided to check out the rest of the damage and followed the powder trail down the hall and into his room where Nya was busy cleaning house. There was pasta and pancake mix EVERYWHERE! I mean everywhere. I'm still finding it. It was in his laundry basket, change table, bed, all over the carpet, in his toy box... I could go on.
So I started with the task of cleaning up. I sent Colin out while I vacuumed... bad idea.

After realizing again that I couldn't hear the kid I went to investigate. The night before he figured out how to open the back door. He let the dogs out and he was running around in the dirt without shoes. Nya is our little escape artist and isn't allowed outdoors unless she's on a leash. She jumped the fence and took flight around the neighborhood. I watched her nearly get hit about 3 times. It's impossible to catch her. She always stays close but just not close enough to catch. So I called Ty in a panic to see if he'd come help me. An hour later, after much screaming at the dog, Ty pulls up in the truck, yells at her through the window, and she bolts for the front door. I was so mad. Why won't she listen to me like that?? Needless to say we've installed a chain on the back door.

You gotta love those 2 year old days!

Colin Is Going To Be A...

2010-03-22T15:10:00.000-07:00

BIG BROTHER!!!

Baby #2 is due on October 30th! I had my first ultra sound today and it is an it! A tiny little blob with a tiny little heart beat! I'm so overwhelmed with emotions that I don't even know what to think yet but here's what I know so far:

I'm excited for this little one to join our family but I'm a little nervous about starting over. Colin is at a fairly easy stage right now... hopefully he'll just be a big help this time around.
This happened so much faster than I thought was even possible. I'm talking fast. Got my IUD out on the 25th of January... had my monthly visitor on the 27th... Sometime in mid-February Ty said "Your boobs are getting bigger. Are you sure you're not pregnant?" I said "No way, not that fast"... February 26th I realized holy crap I'm past due. I took a little test and it had 2 pink lines. Holy crap! I'm pregnant!
I crave CHOCOLATE & SWEETS! Mint chocolate, Twix candy bars, Starbursts... Yummy!
I'm loving Asian food right now too, even though it gives me a little bit of heart burn.
I'm so excited for Colin to be a big brother!
I'm terrified of the sleepless nights that I know are coming my way.
Tyler really really wants a girl. I do too... mostly for the cute clothes, hair & accessories. Girl stuff just seems like so much more fun! But we'll love it no matter what it is. (Ty might throw a little fit if it's a boy though. He already asks me how our girl is doing.)
I hate being sick on top of being pregnant. Everything is magnified 10 fold.
If I don't eat within 15 minutes of getting out of bed and every 3 hours for the rest of the day I'm spending the next while in the bathroom.
I constantly feel like I'm about to throw up. I wasn't like that with Colin... this morning sickness thing is no fun at all.
I get tired really easily. I have NO ENERGY! It takes a lot of energy to grow a little one. I feel bad because my house gets neglected and Colin has been spending more time than usual in front of the TV while mommy naps.
I'm only 8 1/2 weeks along and I swear I'm already showing. I have a little pouch there that I can't suck in no matter how hard I try. Ty says I'm exaggerating.
I'm so excited to get out all of the little baby stuff again. Everything is cuter the smaller it is.
I'm so happy that this didn't take forever! I had a harder time getting pregnant with Colin and I'm so happy I don't have to go through that again. My heart goes out to those that are going through that. I know it's hard!
I can't wait to get him or her here! I'm ready to turn my office into a nursery.
I love this little jelly bean sized baby already!

Stinkin Cute Kid

2010-03-04T15:30:00.000-08:00

I haven't been feeling so hot. Head ache, sore throat, cough, stuffy nose... etc. Not fun. So I'm laying on the couch and Colin came up to me and starts rubbing my back. Here's how our conversation went:

Colin: "KOkay Mommy?"

Me: "Yeah Colin, I'm okay. Mommy just isn't feeling very good."

Colin: "Mommy sick?"

Me: "Yes, I'm sick. I'm just lying down for a minute."

Colin abruptly stops rubbing my back and runs out of the room. I can hear him in his room so I figure he's gone back to playing. A minute later he runs in with the thermometer out of his dresser drawer. He pushes the button and shoves it in my ear.

He had me laughing. What a sweet heart. He takes such good care of me. :)

Love... True Love...

2010-02-19T20:48:00.000-08:00

OK, so our ski trip was more for Presidents day than Valentine's day but it's getting put with this post anyway. We went up to Powder with Nate, Melissa and Kailee. My fabulous father-in-law hooked us up. It was snowing and a bit foggy but the snow really was great. I haven't been out with Kailee in... I can't even remember how long. I'm not sure I've even ever seen her board. I was the only one on skis.

The first ride up the lift I was sitting between Ty & Kailee. The chair came around and took me out... I took Kailee out... Ty sailed away like nothing happened. Lets just say my butt was a bit sore the next couple days and my thumb was fat and couldn't bend the rest of the day. I wish I had a great story to go along with my lame injuries but there it is. It was the only time I fell all day which I thought was something to be proud of. I'm strictly a groomer girl and there wasn't much groomed so it pushed my limited skiing abilities. It was a great day!
Foggy though...
Colin spent the day with his Grandma Susie. She gave him this "hat" (really a neck gator) the day before and he puts it on his head every morning. Such a goof ball. He was also lucky enough to spend some time at Aunt Kristen's house with Luke & the girls. He loves them!
This was our Valentines day which also didn't happen on actual Valentine's day. We celebrated on Saturday because Sunday was Brady's BDay party. Since like so many others we couldn't afford to go out for an extravagant date night I decided to cook our favorite restaurant meal at home. I attempted Teppanyaki and I must say IT TURNED OUT GREAT!!! Other than the flaming onion volcano I think I got it. (I was too afraid I'd burn the house down to even attempt it.) I was a bit nervous about the results. I made it all up and I think I came pretty close to the real thing.

Ty's steak:
My salmon: I'd never made salmon before... super easy. Colin even loved it and that's saying something. If you've never had the real thing, it is worth the trip.
Then we followed it up with chocolate dipped strawberries. White chocolate is Ty's favorite & I think it's become a Colin fav too. He helped dip them and ended up eating more than made it on the berries.
Ty surprised me with a candle lit back massage (which I've been begging for for months) in a bed of roses. Totally romantic and so out of character for him. I was pretty shocked. He's a sweet heart. Love you baby!

All in all our little Valentine's weekend was pretty great!

PS I'll get the recipe for the food up on the food blog. Link is to the left. If you'd like to be an author on that little blog please leave me your email address. I'm always looking for more recipes.

THANK YOU!

2010-02-08T15:37:00.000-08:00

Before I start with this post I wanted to say a BIG FAT THANK YOU to "MY mommy helpers." My little Colin buddy is doing much better. I'm so happy I have a network of mom's I can go to for advice. He's not 100% but he's now doing his business without one tear so I call that a success!

OK, back to it:

MOMMY's HELPER! Colin helps me with dinner almost every day. He stand on his "helper" or a stool to the rest of the world & stirs or pours things in. It keeps him entertained and I still get dinner finished. This particular day we made a birthday cake for Spencer, Lyndee & Aaron. It was his first beater licking and he loved it!

He didn't even mind the mess and that's saying something.

We watched baby Tessa so her mommy & daddy could go out for Lyndee's birthday. Colin loves her. He sometimes gets a little jealous when she gets my attention but he does pretty good. Tessa is an EATER! Colin decided that he wanted to help feed her and surprisingly he did really well. He even would wipe her chin with the spoon after each bite. He'll be a good big brother someday. (Emphasis on SOMEDAY. That isn't a hint, I promise.)

This has become our nightly routine. Colin loves to play hide-and-seek with his daddy.

Tyler would disagree but I think I've figured out where Colin's nightmares are coming from. Ty jumps out at him and Colin goes screaming from the room. Of coarse he starts laughing hysterically after and yells "Hide Again!" I'd have nightmares if someone was jumping out at me from dark corners and closets.

Please ignore the giant pile of laundry that we should be folding. It was much more fun to jump and play in. It did eventually get folded.

This has become a regular thing too. Ty or I lay on the bed & Colin dives over us.

I tried to get the dogs to get in these pictures but they refused. When Colin is playing on the bed they stay clear. Smart dogs.

Questions for the Mommys out there...

2010-02-02T13:06:00.000-08:00

I need some motherly wisdom bestowed upon me. I have 2 questions for all of the moms out there.
First: This is something that Colin will be forever embarrassed about me putting this out there for the whole universe to see but I'm desperate. He has the worst constipation ever! The poor kid is traumatized every time he poops. I'm talking screaming & the reddest face you've ever seen. He is a super picky eater. I can't get him to touch a vegetable so I try to sneak them in where I can. I've tried whole wheat bread, smoothie drinks with fiber (got so expensive with very minimal results), he drinks water like a fish so he's not dehydrated, and I've even given him MiraLax which works for a day or so but then it's back to business as usual. The doctor hasn't been much help. So my question: Is there miracle pill out there or something that will help a little guy "go" a little easier? Preferably one that looks and tastes like candy? :) Any suggestions?
Second: If there is one thing to be said about Colin it is that he is the best sleeper! He's slept through the night since he was 3 months. The last few nights he's been waking up screaming and gets all worked up. I'm wondering if any of you moms have dealt with night terrors and if you have any suggestions?

Night Time Snow Fun

2010-01-26T11:41:00.000-08:00

Colin and I were going to go sledding with my young women group... long story short, Colin and I were all dressed up in our snow clothes at 7 p.m. with no place to go. After all of the energy it took to get us dressed up I couldn't disappoint the little guy and just take it all off again. So Colin and I played in the snow, in the dark backyard. Colin loved it though. He wants to be outside all the time.

Isn't his hat sweet! It was Tyler's when he was little.

Don't mind his pink boots. Snow boots are expensive & he'll grow out of them by next year so his cousin Ella donated her cute pink boots. Gotta love free!

Daily Life...

2010-01-20T14:18:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pictures from the last few weeks. Colin is growing so fast. It seems like he changes and grows everyday.

MOMMY & ME:

BATH TIME:

I love bath time pictures. I think they are so cute. Colin loves his bath time.

He has the most beautiful blue eyes. I hope they stay this vibrant forever.

SUPERMAN:

Grandma Susie gave him these sweet PJs and cape for Christmas. He runs around the house yelling "Super Man!"

My Little Genius

2010-01-06T16:45:00.000-08:00

I bought Colin some magnet alphabet letters/numbers for the fridge and while we're putting them on the fridge he starts telling me what they are. He picks up the A and says "A"! He picks up the O and says "O"! He picks up the C and says "C for Colin"! and so on... I'm thinking my kid is a genius! I've gone over the alphabet with him a few times but nothing like this.

So I go to work and tell my sisters how amazing my kid is and Kya, my adorable little niece, walks in and says "I taught him that!" So maybe Colin isn't the genius I thought he was but Kya sure is. What 8 year old can teach a 2 year old the alphabet! I guess I better pick up where she left off and teach the kid how to read. :)

2 Year Old Energy

2010-01-04T13:49:00.000-08:00

Colin has been in this climb-all-over-mom mode lately. It is driving me crazy. I can't sit down without the child climbing me like a jungle gym. So the other day I got him to sit on my lap and help me while I was working on something. He sat still for a whole 3 minutes. Well all of that energy must have built up because out of nowhere he jumps up and smacks his head into my jaw. At first I just thought it hurt really bad, then I tasted the blood. I threw him on the couch and ran for the bathroom. After spitting out a mouth full of blood and running my tongue under cold water to stop the flow I was finally able to examine my wound. The kid hit me so hard that I bit threw my tongue. That's right. From one side to the other. I can now say I know what it would be like to pierce my tongue and it hurts. Needless to say, Ty put Colin to bed that night. I'd reached my limit. Good thing tongue wounds heal quickly.

Winter Wonder Land

2009-12-30T17:26:00.000-08:00

I think this little guy got the bug. The snow bug that is. He must have got it from his daddy. Don't get me wrong, mom loves the snow but nothing like these two.

I guess it's a good thing we have siberian huskies. Can we say SNOW DOGS. They love it too.

This is the winter wonder land that is outside my house right now. Isn't it beautiful! I love when the trees are covered in snow. It looks like lace in the sky.

This is the snow bank behind him. It is over his head and it isn't even January!!

That's right, we're starting him out early. This will be his job when he gets a little older but for now he really wanted to help mom with the driveway. He kept saying "shovel" so I went inside and dug out his summer shovel and bucket and he spent an hour outside with me shoveling the driveway. He kept saying "Colin's good helper."

And here are the Christmas pictures:

Colin was so excited when he woke. He yelled "YAY! Santa came!" It amazes me how much he can remember and how much he is talking. He's a little sponge.

Koda was pretty excited that Santa came too. He got a bone filled with his favorite: PEANUT BUTTER!

More presents... the pile of paper just keeps getting bigger. He was most excited about the bowling game that Santa brought.

Koda & Nya got Colin a big ball because they popped his last one. :)

Grandma Susie gave Colin this cute little cape. It is Superman on one side and Batman on the other. This is him wearing his cape and playing air hockey with Luke. These two love playing hockey at Grandma Susie's house.

We were so spoiled this year by our families and friends. Thanks so much to everyone! We love you all. Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and has a wonderful New Years!

Christmas Tree & Birthday Fun

2009-12-13T21:28:00.000-08:00

We got our little tree up so I had to post a couple pictures. It's a bit of a Charlie Brown but I think it's pretty cute now that it is all decorated. Colin likes it too. He likes to look at all of the different ornaments. I love this time of year!

Now for the birthday pictures. There are a lot of them. Colin was so cute this year. He love everything about having a birthday. He kept yelling: Presents YAY! Birthday Cake YAY! I wish I had a video of it.

I'll start with the morning of his birthday. He LOVES his remote control car.

Tyler thinks I went a little over board on his cake and maybe I've been watching too much "Ace of Cakes" on Food Network but I think it turned out so cute. This is without the cars on it but you get the idea. I do have a secret wish to become a cake decorator. :) I think my piping skills are a bit lacking though.

Colin loved it. He had a hard time blowing out the candles though. He blows too softly.

We had his birthday party the next day at Grandma & Grandpa Carter's house:

Grandma Carter gave Colin a HUGE piece of cake. He ate about 2 bites. There was just way too much going on.

Then it was time to open presents. He got so excited. He was a spoiled boy too. Thanks so much for all of the gifts. He's loves all of them.

Such a fun time. I can't believe that we have a 2 year old! Ahh!

Happy Birthday to Colin!

2009-12-11T13:01:00.000-08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR LITTLE GUY!
COLIN IS 2 TODAY!
He woke up and opened his presents. It was so cute. Every time he'd rip off a bit of wrapping paper he'd yell "Yay!" He got some much needed clothes which he wasn't really all that excited for but the last present he opened up was a remote control WRX STi (That his daddy picked out.) If you know anything about Tyler that is his favorite car. I think Ty was more excited than Colin and that is saying a lot. Colin chased the car around for at least an hour. He LOVED it! Tomorrow we are having his birthday party. Pictures to come.

Happy Birthday Colin! I can't believe how big you are. You are growing so fast. We love you so much!

Give Thanks

2009-11-24T12:42:00.001-08:00

I'm THANKFUL for...

Tyler
Colin
Family
Our Puppies
Great Food
Bubble Baths
Our Home
Great Friends
Music
Chocolate Pie
Movies
Heavenly Father
Jesus
Snow Flakes
Holidays
Our Parents
Dr. Pepper
Weekends
Hugs & Kisses
Oreos & Milk
Pajamas
Our Brothers & Sisters
Date Nights
Grandparents
Colin's Smiles
Our Health
Blessings
Books
Pictures
Flip Flops
White Roses

Hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving!

The Nightmare Before Christmas

2009-11-09T14:13:00.000-08:00

I LOVE LOVE Halloween. Next to Christmas it is my favorite holiday. I've been trying to do Jack & Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas for several years now and it just doesn't ever happen. This year I finally did it! I'm so proud of these costumes. I actually made them! That's right, I got out my sewing machine and made these babies.The only thing I bought was a $4.99 jacket for Tyler that I found at Savers. I couldn't pass it up. My dress is all from scraps I had in my material bucket. Let me tell you it took FOREVER to put it together but the final product was worth it.

My only problem was my hair turned out more pink than red. Oh well.

Tyler looked AMAZING! What a good sport. I'm so lucky to have a husband that lets me dress him up and paint his face. Doesn't he look awesome!?!

Now Colin was suppose to be Zero the ghost dog. I started his costume forever ago and when I finally finished it he looked more like bunny than a dog and he HATED the costume. It must have itched or something so I made this instead out of one of Tyler's t-shirts. He loved being a "Bumpkin."

The only problem I have with Halloween as an adult is you have to have a reason to dress up so Merisa & Steve throw a Halloween Party every year at their house. You would die if you knew how much money she spends on Halloween decor every year. She does more decorating for Halloween than Christmas. Here is their family:

Shanelle, Ryan, Rio & Sailor

Can I just say that my parents ROCK! My mom and dad made the best hippies. I can't believe my mom got my dad to wear that wig. He had a mustache too but that didn't last too long. Mom carried around her guitar all night and sang. So funny!

Aunt Daleen joined in the fun this year:

Spencer, Lindey, Hanah, Mason & Hadlee:
This family has a little bit of Star Wars obsession. This turned out so cute! I love that Hadlee is Yoda. Notice she has the glow stick up her nose. He-he.

And last but not least: Lyndee and Aaron were Hermione & Ron & Tessa was Hedwig. Lyndee made a dang good Hermione.

This is in the front of Merisa's house. I have a lot of pictures of the decor but I won't go into that. Every time you turned around you noticed something new.

TWICK o' TWEAT

We went Trick or Treating in Grandma Susie & Papa's neighborhood. Colin LOVED it. He picked up on what was going on really fast. He got a whole bucket of candy, most of which Mom and Dad helped him finish :).

Here he is with little Cowboy Luke. So adorable.

Ok, I'm done for the day. Hope you all had a Happy Halloween!

Catching Up

2009-10-27T11:22:00.000-07:00

So, Tyler doesn't even read our blog and he told me yesterday that it's been too long since I updated with anything so here's a little update.

First of all, I know this is the picture that is up above but I wanted to explain how hard it was to take this picture. Tyler wrestled the dogs up onto the ski lift and held them there while I set up the camera on the roof of the car and ran with Colin in my arms to make sure we got in the shot. It was a miracle the everyone was looking at the camera. Koda is even smiling! It's my new favorite family portrait.

The BUMPKIN Patch!!!

These re all out of order but you get the idea. We went to the little kid corn maze at the Fish Farm in North Ogden for Grandma Suzie's Birthday. Colin loved picking out his pumpkin and every time we walk out the front door he runs to his little orange pumpkin and yells "Bumpkin!" Such a cute little guy. He's talking more and more each day. I even got him to say Happy Yallo-ween today.

One happy little boy with his Daddy!

The maze is actually just a trail through the corn. There's no getting lost but they had spooky things set up. The kids loved it.

Mally & Ella checking out the grave yard.

Our FAVORITE place to be in the FALL!
We love taking drives to Powder Mountain. We are probably up there at least once a week but our favorite time is the fall. We went on a mini hike up to the top of Sundown. It was a beautiful day!

This is my new favorite picture of Ty & Colin. Love it!

Everyone have a Happy Halloween! I can't wait. I love dressing up!

Recipe Blog

2009-10-01T20:03:00.001-07:00

I was thinking of starting a group recipe blog. I'm always looking for new recipes and I think it would be kinda cool to have a place where we could all go and post recipes we like. Let me know if you'd be interested in being an author so you can post your own recipes to share.