Saturday, June 30, 2012

June's Everyday Moments

June was pretty full. New baby. Packing. Adorable boys.

The boys absolutely adore Callen. No sibling jealousy going on here...we feel so lucky. They all take turns holding him, singing to him, and loving him. 


Ryder, especially, LOVES to sit by him and watch him. It is so sweet to see our crazy, busy boy taking the time to be a good big brother:

Ryder resting on my bed while I pack:


Joe & Amanda sent us such a fun Congrats package after we had Callen. 
They were delicious and we enjoyed every bite (THANKS!!!):


Lots of snuggling going on at our house:





Story time with these cute guys is always exciting:


Heading out for a walk with the littlest man:

Monday, June 18, 2012

I hate goodbyes.

Right after I had Callen Steph told me she and Brett were moving. Out of state. Boo.
I am SO incredibly happy for them. Truly. It is really hard not living by any grandparents or siblings.  And I am very very glad for her that her kiddos get to live by Grandma & Grandpa now. 
However. Since neither one of us lived by a lot of family, we did a lot together. Steph was my person. She was the one I could call for anything. She always listened, I loved her kids & she loved mine, and we would help each other out anytime. Date night swaps, carpools, girls nights (not enough of those), etc. It was awesome. She is awesome. 
So. before they moved we finally had the barbeque we had been talking about doing forever.
It was great. And I miss her. And the boys. And sweet, adorable Eden whose cheeks I just loved to kiss.
And maybe Brett too. ;)

Thanks for a fun last night together!! 

oh the fun these boys had!





Sunday, June 17, 2012

Birthday bash with the cousins!

We celebrated Weston's birthday with the family a few days late. It turned out SO awesome since we were able to have a relaxing afternoon with just family.  
Since Tave's birthday was right before the baby was born, we hadn't given him his 'big' gift.  We finally ordered it through Amazon and gave it to him earlier in the day. It turned out perfectly- both boys had some thing fun and new to ride outside:




Uncle Shawn came to celebrate with us, the boys sure love him:

Me & Tanneah, Chels & Callen.  These two will be best buds soon:


We went on a treasure hunt to find the party favors:






He was THRILLED to get a scooter and couldn't wait to try it out:


Blowing out the candles:

Chels, Rob, Syanne, Aydrien, Reverie, & Tanneah. Love them!

All the cute kiddos, I love that everyone has a buddy their age!!!
We love our cousins and can't wait for Mila & Kapria to get here so we're all together again!

Callen: 1 month

Our sweet little guy has been with us for an entire month!  


I can't believe how slowly and yet how quickly this month has gone. It was full of smiles and tears and many nights of feeling overwhelmed. I have 4 boys. FOUR!  Wow!! As tired as I am from late night feedings and chasing around 3 active boys, we really feel so blessed. 
Callen has truly been such a blessing in our home. He is such a calm and content baby and oh so very very loved by his brothers.  
 He only ever cries when he is hungry and having to wait for his food or if his diaper needs changing.  I try to feed him when he starts giving his hungry cues (waking up, wiggling/squirming, and sucking on his lip or fist) but it doesn't always happen as fast as he or I would like (due to other kiddos needing things as well).  Typically my boys have all hit a fussy period between 6-12 weeks where they cry a lot at night, so we'll see what happens....  We are hoping Callen's calm, sweetness will stick around through those difficult weeks.  Because so far he is a little angel amidst the craziness in our home!  


Because he had jaundice, his first few days at home were spent in the bili-bed. It was hard not to be able to hold him, but he got used to sleeping in here and was a little champ! We only ended up having to keep him in it for 3 days...those 3 days sure were long!


This month has included lots of late nights. Jeff has been so amazing helping me whenever I need it:


He has spent a LOT of time sleeping:




At one month old he is just starting in size 1 diapers. He weighs 10 lbs. and is beginning to get some chubbiness around his legs. So cute and sqeezable!  He sleeps pretty much all day long and then has a longer time of being awake in the evening after the boys have gone to bed. I think he just likes the quiet!  He loves to eat and has been an awesome nurser since he was born.  From about 8pm-midnight is when he just loves eating, then sleeping on mom and snuggling, and eating some more. He still wakes up a few times a night to eat but goes right back to sleep afterwards, which is awesome! (the other boys all had periods of awake time in the middle of the night..not a fan!)  He absolutely loves sleeping in the bed with Jeff and I. That's not so great, but since it gets us a couple extra hours of sleep at night, it's worth it!  
He is such a little snugglebug already and just loves being held. He started giving us the sweetest smiles this week. Definitely the highlight of our day every time we get one!  



We feel so blessed to have our Callen. We were worried about how the boys (especially Ryder) would do with him once they realized he wasn't leaving. They all absolutely adore this little guy. Everyone loves holding him, kissing him, and just being around him.  It is so fun to see these 4 darling boys all together and we are  loving every bit of being a family of 6.  Welcome to our family, sweet boy, we are so happy you are here!

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Grandma's Visit!!!

The first few weeks of Callen's life were pretty quiet. We hung out at home a lot and tried to get used to life with a fourth baby.  Shawn was our only family member around who came to see the baby and so it was kind of different. I've been really lucky with my other kiddos and had my mom there right away to help out. So it was a little tricky learning to balance everything.

Jeff's mom had scheduled her visit to be a few days after my mom left. Since my mom wasn't able to come, we were MORE than ready for some help by the time Jeanne got here!!!  
We had such an incredible week and a half with her here.  She spoiled ALL of us by playing with the boys constantly, letting me sleep in, and holding Callen in any of the downtime when she wasn't with the other boys.
It was so fun to have her here and to get to share our sweet Callen with family.  I didn't realize, until this time, how special it really is to have family around to hold and snuggle and show off our little man. 

We took Mom & the boys to 7peaks, it's always a blast. So fun, in fact, that I hardly took any photos:






We also took the boys to the Splash Pad while Mom was here to help out. And of course the splash pad fun always ends with time at the park:





Mom had come with some fun activities for the boys. They had lots of coloring and art/craft time with her:



On Weston's birthday we took him to get ice cream in the morning. (his party was later that afternoon)


Jeff had a full week in the daytime and then tried to spend some evenings with us:

We went to this darling little park in Provo that the boys LOVED:









And of course, Mom tried to get in as much snuggling and cuddling with this little guy that she could:


Thanks for the WONDERFUL week, mom!!!  We had so much fun!