Neighborhood Fun

The neighborhood seems to be filled with little girls now. Ellie has made good friends with some of the kids near us and it's really fun to watch them all play. The other kids are all younger than Aeryn so she goes in phases where playing with them is fun, and others where she'd rather not.

Ellie and J were making "paint" by grinding up sidewalk chalk and mixing it with water.

Aeryn and A were just talking about something or another... probably mythology or books.

These are most of the kids that live in our immediate 2 buildings. Ellie had ridden her bike while Jim went running and didn't want to take her helmet off. Once she gets it on she will just leave it on for a few hours while she plays other things rather than put it away. We aren't sure why, but it is good for a little laugh.

There are some good climbing trees around, and evidently they are also good at catching the climbers who fall from their branches. Ellie's pants saved the day! She was literally suspended by her britches, which fortunately didn't tear.

Oregon Coast

On spring break we typically head to the coast. At least, when we stay in town for the week that is. This year we were extremely lucky and had near perfect weather. Temperatures were in the 60's, with clear sunny skies. The wind was pretty extreme, but we haven't ever been there when it wasn't. The kids had a blast, as always.

I stayed at the car to feed Tate and by the time I made it out to the water, the girls were already wet past their waists. They don't hold back when it comes to water.

Kick-splash water fight! I'm pretty sure Ellie won this one, in part because of strategic time-outs when Aeryn was closing in on her.

We made sure Tate was quite bundled up and I think we succeeded in keeping him warm. He did not appreciate the wind on his face though.

Jim was determined to have Tate get his first feel of the ocean, despite the chill. He had fallen asleep and didn't even flinch when his toes touched the water. I was quite surprised actually, even though he is extremely mellow and good natured the Pacific is still rather cold.

We tried to get a pic of everyone's feet together, but didn't organize it well enough to fit in the frame so it's just the kids here. Aeryn and I can share shoes now though so her feet can just count for both of us.

My loves. Part of me wishes I was in the picture too, but I really like having one of all my favorite people, especially one that gets genuine smiles from them all. It was a wonderful day. 

Our {3} Kids

Seriously, our kids are the best. Really, would you expect us to think any less? This spring break has been so fun. The best part for me has just been seeing how much the girls love Tate. He is by far the most entertaining person in our home, and they would hang out with him every single second if we would give them greater autonomy with him.

We had Tate's blessing scheduled for the first weekend of Ellie's spring break so that she would be here when it happened. Most of our family came out and it felt like half of sacrament meeting was filled with our friends. I'm not going to lie, I stressed about it like nobody's business and had an anxious pit in my stomach all morning the day of. I felt like I had pared my goals down to the bare minimum and I still couldn't keep it organized. That is a story for another day (I'm still a bit tense about it), but the one thing that I most regret is not getting a family picture outside the church. As soon as we were home people started changing clothes and scattering so it wasn't just that we didn't get a pic at church, we didn't get any pictures at all. I don't have a picture from Aeryn's blessing day either and it's one of the things I have always regretted. As it is, I have more pictures of myself on my blessing day than either of my babies. Considering the advances in photography since my infancy that just seems wrong.

To make up for this I declared that today would be a make-up picture day. I instructed everyone to wear the same clothes they did for his blessing and we were going to get a pic after church and all would be well. It was a grand plan, until Tate had a little hunger prompted meltdown five minutes before church was out, I forgot his tie and shoes (because the point was to recreate it exactly), and as soon as we were home the comfy clothes came out before I even realized it and there was no hope of getting a family picture - at church or not. In consolation I took a few pictures of the kids all together. It isn't all of us, but it's the three of them and that is at least something.

It was surprising how cooperative the girls were. Usually one of them is cooperative while the other is distracted, but I think having Tate there made it easier for them. This kid better get used to smooches - the girls are constantly trying to kiss him.

I'm a pretty sappy parent and I'm constantly thinking about how I will never be able to get any moment back. I take way too many pics with my phone and try to memorize every little thing. It may be a sickness. I want to remember the girls with this little baby as he is now because I know all too well that this phase will pass extremely quickly. Before Ellie comes back for the summer he will change so much. He rolled over a few days ago and it was extremely challenging for him, but then today he rolled twice in succession and it looked almost effortless. That's quite a good accomplishment for 2 months old, who knows what he'll figure out next.

These little people make our lives quite fantastic. I want to keep them forever.

New tricks

In honor of being eight weeks old, Tate decided he was ready for some new tricks. Granted they probably aren't exciting to anyone other than me, but this little cutie has been sleeping through the night and no longer wants to be swaddled! He's two weeks ahead of Squirt on that milestone, not that it's a competition or anything (except that he is a Davis, so it probably is).

Correction: mom refuses to swaddle because he squirms so much the blanket somehow ends up wrapped around his head.

When Aeryn was a baby and I studied sleep training methods I learned that "technically" sleeping through the night is defined as 6 straight hours. By those standards Tate has been doing this off and on for a while, but since as parents we tend to define "sleeping through the night" as how it impacts our own sleep habits, I can say it's unofficially official now that he goes 8 hours between feedings and I am able to sleep undisturbed between 10 and 5 (though I don't really make it to bed at 10). 

Isn't it amazing how significant the little things are? It's so much easier to enjoy life with a baby when you consistently get some sleep.

Meet Tate

I had grand ambitions, of keeping this updated daily so our family could keep up on life with our new little guy, but I find that I'm too preoccupied loving on him (and trying to make sure I shower, eat lunch, and other such things) to get around to it. It seems we are finding our groove though, so with any luck the tides are turning.

We love having this little guy in our family. If you know us IRL, you have likely seen these pictures on facebook, but as a brief overview of the last few weeks here is our little Tate:

2 Hours 

1/8/14

8lbs. 4.8oz.

21.75 in.

9:22 a.m. (It was a long night!)

Three Weeks

Four Weeks

One Month

Six Weeks

Seven Weeks

Some little details about Tate:

He is a great sleeper.

His favorite song so far is We Will Rock You by Queen.

He already has more sports apparel than I have owned in my entire life.

Diaper changes are his least favorite thing in the world, which is a bummer since they happen very, very often. 

He will go from perfectly happy to having a complete meltdown in 1.2 seconds once he realizes he wants to eat.

Christmas 2013

This is the post where we remind ourselves that reality does not always match a Martha Stewart magazine feature (and by we I mean just me) and reducing personal expectations can be quite a relief. This is our year to have the kids for Christmas. It's always wonderful to have them together, and this is the first Christmas that we've celebrated with just our little family. It's been really fun to think about what traditions we want to keep and what we want to change. I'm not sure that what we ended up with looked anything at all like our previous family traditions but I actually think that may be a good thing. It's nice to establish your own thing.

The celebrations began with Oregon/BYU basketball. Jim took the girls and I babysat for the friends sitting just to the right of him so they could have a date night. She and I are both preggers, though about a month apart. It was a win/win since I don't really love stadium stairs or seats right about now. As fate would have it, they were all on television during a time out. One of Jim's young men saw it and took a screen shot, which has by now gone viral in our world of about 5-6 concerned parties.

The primary kids did a nativity pageant during sharing time on Sunday. Since I'm in junior primary for one more week I was able to see Ellie. I've got to say that this was cute, but the highlight of church was when Darion outed his brother and disclosed to the entire room that Joel has a crush on Ellie. Joel is on the far left, and this was not exactly news to either Ellie or me. It was however downright awesome and brought some entertaining giggles from the other kids and adults around.

I didn't have the energy to make gingerbread so the girls and I made graham cracker houses on Christmas Eve instead. They had a great time and accommodated my no-snacking-on-candy-till-we're-all-done request far better than I'd expected. I caved long before they did.

The plan for the day was to get up (still in our Christmas Eve jammies), open Santa gifts, and then have coconut waffles from this recipe we're completely obsessed with. Even Ellie liked them, but we were stealthy and didn't let her know there was coconut involved until after she had eaten them. It worked and she actually liked them. After breakfast we planned to proceed to the rest of the gifts. It was far less torturous than the wait until all adults are up, showered, dressed and have eaten, then search for your hidden stocking patterns I grew up with. I will say Christmas morning lasts far longer the other way though.

Our tree was pretty sad this year. My little Black Friday special prelit tree purchased in years gone by with no space or money is starting to run it's little life to the ground. The bottom strand of lights no longer works at all, and frankly it's not tempting to sit and test each and every bulb just to get it lit again. Nor do I care to go out and buy lights to slap on top. This is perhaps the most obvious difference in my attitude this year. Normally, it would drive me crazy until I did something about it. This year my mind is on so many other things that it's become very low priority to me. I'll worry about it next year when I'm not pregnant or insane. Unless of course I'm still insane. I think next year I may splurge on a tree stand so we can take advantage of the gorgeous and affordable fresh Christmas trees at least once while we live in Oregon.

Aeryn's major Santa gifts included this Monster High high school set up and a Monster High toybox.

Ellie didn't want to take a moment to look at me as she was far too excited... but she got a new scooter and a soft knotted quilt kit as her larger Santa gifts.

These few phone pictures are pretty much the extent of our Christmas documentation this year. Now at 37.5 weeks I'm dealing with a lot of swelling and battling carpel tunnel as a result. It's definitely not my favorite thing, and really affects what I'm able to do. I woke this morning and picked up the camera to realize that I hadn't enough strength or feeling in my hands to hold it, let alone take pictures. It was discouraging, but honestly made it much easier to just be in the moment and forget about separating myself as a photojournalistic observer. I love having nice pictures, but sometimes I also love not worrying about it and being a part of normal life.

We got the kids Lego Rock Band and are using it as pretty much a karaoke deal until we get all the instruments from Jim's parents house. We also have the Beatles version. They love it. There are few things funnier than the kids trying to sing songs they have never heard.

After the insanity of the day was done (nice and early), we just hung around and enjoyed a quite relaxed pace for the rest of the day. I had to laugh when I saw that Ellie wanted to spend almost an hour playing with this wind up Lego car that I've had since I was a kid. Her favorite gifts today included a small Rudolph toy she'd asked for specifically, and a soccer goal and goalie gloves from her dad. It was only 36 here today so she didn't stay outside with either the scooter or the soccer stuff for very long.

Aeryn spent the majority of the day playing with her Monster High high school set up. Jim picked this one out too (for Santa, since he sometimes wants suggestions) so I'd say he is the yearly winner for favorite gift selector. He seriously rocked it.

It was fantastic. There was no stress, I took a nap, Jim went running, and the girls got to eat junk food and run amok most of the day. In a year or so I'm sure I'll care about being Martha again, but for this year low key has been delightful and quite a relief. Now that the 25th is over and we know we won't end up with a Christmas baby, we're a little more anxious for that adventure to start.

Peppermint Patties

Yesterday we got notice from Aeryn's school principal that there would be no school today. Honestly, I just about lost my mind. There was no school Friday and it was great fun, then Saturday nothing had melted and we couldn't go anywhere, on Sunday church was cancelled, and it was still below freezing when we woke today so there was no improvement. I vented on Facebook about being tired of being stuck at home and this morning a friend bailed me out in her husband's truck complete with chains. We took a quick trip to Kohl's, Target, and Sonic and my sanity has started to return. I can't tell you how good it feels just to get out of the house! I'd stayed in all last week because Aeryn and I had planned a girls day out for Friday so I was already burned out on being home by the time the snow hit. I guess this is good practice for having a newborn.

Needless to say, we've all needed to be busy. Jim made some awesome white chocolate coconut macadamia nut fudge (or something like that. I just call it delicious.), I made yet another batch of toffee, and Aeryn and I tried homemade peppermint patties. We got the filling made and frozen yesterday, then dipped them in chocolate today.

I've not dipped many things before, and I don't think Aeryn ever had. She did a great job, even if my OCD and control-freak nature kicked in and I tried to micromanage the process.

We only made a half batch, which is plenty for our family, but it meant I wasn't sure it I'd bought enough dipping chocolate. I did have to supplement with chocolate chips, but it all worked out in the end.

We even managed to keep a reasonably tidy kitchen! It's delightful. Nesting (or rather obsessing) has been kicking in and I am really particular about the house lately. I keep feeling that if I can't keep it the way I want when I'm just pregnant there is no way I'll be content with it once I'm even more sleep deprived and otherwise occupied. I guess what I'm saying is that I'm SO GLAD we did this and that we managed to keep it under control. Aeryn had a lot of fun dipping the patties and she tried so hard to do it just the way I wanted.

Taste test.... any guesses how they were received?

Success. It was a fun process with a tasty outcome. Luckily it's less than 10 degrees below freezing now, sunny, and the icy covering on the streets is finally melting, so we can all return to normal life tomorrow and stop making sweets continually.