FINALLY!!

I am slowly feeling more like myself these days and the recovery is going good so I decided to post some pictures that I took a couple days ago of Alex in the jumperoo. This jumper has been a lifesaver, providing endless hours of fun for Alex while I would lay on the couch unable to do much else.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted pics of my littlest boy and wow, he has really changed. I apologize for denying you the cuteness of my baby.

Oh, those dimples make me so happy.

I caught him smiling up at Chris- he seriously loves to stare at him. It’s adorable.

And the tongue is ALWAYS out these days. Again, adorable.

This is not the best picture in the world and yet I love it. This is a classic Alex expression. He always looks surprised and it never fails to make me laugh.

Brendan had to get in on the action too. He just loves his baby brother and Alex adores him too. These boys are the sweetest and I’m so lucky to be their mom!

A very long story made short

These past few weeks have been supremely rough for us. It started with horrible colds, fevers, sore throats, runny noses like you've never seen before, long sleepless nights, and then finally strep throat. It was a doozy of a cold we all got but we survived. Until I had the most horrible gallbladder pain- it was seriously some of the worst pain of my life. I saw a couple doctors, had a bunch of tests done, and found out I had a stone blocking my common bile duct. Which made me extremely jaundice. This all ended with me being admitted to the hospital immediately and having a couple of procedures done, the last of which was on open cholecystectomey. They basically cut open my abdomen to remove that stubborn stone causing so much trouble and my gallbladder. All the while, Chris was somehow able to juggle our two kids, One of which was a baby with an ear infection and who was NOT sleeping well, and still found time to get work done and visit me too. I was in the hospital for a week but I'm finally home now. My parents are here helping out and I don't know what we would do without them. I'm nervous about the recovery (it's going to be long and I can't even lift my baby right now!) and I'm nervous about keeping up my milk supply to nurse Alex but overall I am so very grateful to be home with my boys and for the many small miracles that I have witnessed the last couple of weeks. Thank you to all my family, friends and ward members who have helped my family, listened to me cry, and were there to support us with kind deeds and words. The love I have felt has been overwhelming. It has been a trial, no doubt about it, but it has definitely made me more grateful for the important things in life.

Shame on me

It's been way too long since I've posted so I'm going to do my best to catch up in a very small nutshell.

This is from before Thanksgiving but Brendan look so sweet and cute I had to post it. One night for family home evening, we made a "thankful" tree and Brendan loved it. He was so proud of his tree!

We had a cold spell that made me want to never leave the house but when we did have to venture out, Alex's hat made it a bit more bearable. Sorry for the pun- I couldn't resist.

This isn't the best photo but I took it shortly after Alex started smiling. He just melts my heart. He is the sweetest, most lovable baby and I'm so lucky to have him. I wish I could write about all the adorable things he does and to document all of our struggles and triumphs, but I just don't have enough time or energy. But suffice it to say that he has his bad moments as well as his good, but for the most part, he's very easy-going and easy to please. Now if he would just sleep through the night... oh please, SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT ALEX!!!

Christmas was fantastic. Everything about Christmas makes me happy and we had such a wonderful holiday together as a family. My favorite part was watching Brendan get excited and enjoy the season too.

 Brendan couldn't wait to rip into his presents (the above are him tearing into the gifts from the grandparents). That boy was spoiled and he loved it.

Alex was adorable as always on Christmas morning enjoying his favorite activity- sucking on his hands and fingers.

This one is for Carrie. The hat was a gift from Chris' sister and Alex loves it and looks quite handsome in it as well. His dad couldn't be more proud of his budding Nuggets fan.

We also made it up to the DC temple to see the lights and it was beautiful. It did make me a little homesick for Temple Square in Utah, though. Nothing can compare to the Salt Lake Temple lights but we still enjoyed the DC temple and it was a great opportunity to talk to Brendan about the temple and why it's special. Plus we got to go with some wonderful friends and Brendan was so excited to get to play with their kids too.

Now I must finish wrapping some birthday gifts for a certain little boy who will be FOUR tomorrow. My, how time flies!

Good times

A few weeks ago, my parents came out to visit us, get to know Alex and spoil Brendan. It was awesome having them in town and I wished they never had to leave. It’s hard being so far from our families.

Brendan loved playing with Grandpa George and doing all sorts of things that I can’t/won’t do with him. He had so much fun, and I think my dad did too. He was a pro at soothing my sweet baby and putting him to sleep. (I had to get a shot of Alex’s rad baby mullet!)

My mom really wanted to take Brendan to the Build a Bear workshop and it turned out to be an excellent idea. Brendan was so excited to pick out his very own special bear.

Brendan loved helping stuff, wash and dress his bear. He picked out the clothes and everything. He even named him. At first when asked what he wanted to name his bear, he replied “Teddy” but since he already has a bear named Teddy, he picked another. His second choice was T. Bear and I think it is the cutest name ever. It amazes me what this kiddo comes up with.

These are not the happiest photos but trust me, he loves his T. Bear. He sleeps with him every night and carries him around the house. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

We also blessed Alex on November 4th. It was a special day for us and I really wish I had better pictures of that day but all I have are dark pictures and Alex is crying in every. single. shot. Oh well.

At least Brendan was smiling and had fun with my camera’s remote.

Brendan also finally saw a dermatologist for his scalp and we got him some medicine requires him to swear a shower cap at night. It’s pretty hilarious but the good news is the medicine works like a dream!

And here he is showing off his cool cap and pounding his chest like Donkey Kong, his latest obsession.

And on the 16th, I turned the big 3-0. Crazy.

Brendan was a little confused and thought it was his birthday so he helped me blow out the candles and open my presents. He even helped me eat one of my presents (a bag of my favorite candy- Swedish fish). Brendan’s always ready to help when a treat is involved. :)

Well, that is all the exciting stuff going on here. And now, I’m ready for Christmas preparations!  

Some kind of magic

First off, some pictures of my sweet baby. He had his two month appointment a couple of weeks ago and he is officially 10 lbs now! 10.1 to be exact, which puts him in the 14th% for his weight. I love my tiny baby.

This little guy just kills me. He’s so sweet and cuddly and loveable, and he knows it too. He’s definitely a mama’s boy so far (finally! Brendan was always a daddy’s boy) and I’m eating it up. He’s starting to smile at me and it is the cutest thing in the world. I had forgotten how amazing it is when baby’s start to smile. I’m definitely under his spell.

I couldn’t resist this “getting sleepy” face. Alex is still a pretty good sleeper and I couldn’t be more thankful since I know how rough it is to have a bad sleeper (aka Brendan), although if he happened to want to sleep a little longer at night I wouldn’t complain.

And of course his confused face. I love when he furrows his eyebrows and how his little forehead scrunches up. The cuteness never ends. Until…

my other favorite boy enters the picture, and then things usually end up like this-

Poor Alex. Brendan doesn’t quite know what to do with all the love he has for his baby brother and so he ends up being a little more rough than he means to be. But Alex takes it in stride and I know down the road, these two boys are going to be the best of friends.

Much better!

An Epic Post

I have tried to write this post a half dozen times over the last week or so but it seems that as soon as I sit down at the computer something comes up. Currently Alex is asleep in my arms and I’m typing with one hand, so please excuse any typos or errors but I’m determined to get this done!

A couple of weeks ago, Chris’ parents came to visit and help us out. We loved having them here-Brendan especially loved all the attention and extra play time.

We were sad to see them go but so very grateful for all their help and love. Every time Brendan sees a plane he waves to it and says, “Hi Grammy!”- he really misses his grandparents.

Brendan was totally stoked about Halloween this year. I found some glow-in-the-dark skeleton pjs and they had to be ours. I think I loved them as much as Brendan did.

 

It didn’t take long for Brendan to decide what to be for Halloween- he saw an ad for PartyCity that had a Mario costume in it and it was love at first sight. He HAD to have it. When we went to the store to pick it up, they were out of his size which really ruined Brendan’s day. He cried and cried until we finally went online and found one for him. When it arrived in the mail, he put it on right away and modeled for everyone.

The mustache was my favorite part but unfortunately the sticky side lasted about 2 seconds so we ended up painting a mustache on him.

The size that we ordered for him was a tiny bit small on him, as evidenced by Brendan pulling out his permanent wedgie. That didn’t stop him from loving it though.

We went trick-or-treating with the Andersson’s and Terry’s (which made trick or treating enjoyable for us too since we got to hang out with our good friends). It would have been perfect if Brendan had been Woody to complete the Toy Story theme Ella and Josh had going on, but Mario was still awesome. Brendan absolutely LOVED getting candy and the kiddos ran non-stop for the first half hour, they were so excited to go to all the different houses and get more candy. Towards the end, Brendan figured out how to get extra candy. He would ever so sweetly say “trick or treat” and get his candy. But instead of leaving the house, he would say “Wait. Just one more.” and of course no one can resist the cuteness of my child (especially in his awesome costume) so Brendan would inevitably get an extra piece of candy. Chris was delighted by this.

Brendan hasn’t eaten a single piece of his stash but on Monday morning, he dumped out his bag and began sorting it. He spent about an hour grouping all the different candies together in different arrangements. First it was by type, then by color and then by size. It was pretty awesome.

We also carved a pumpkin and this is the first year that Brendan actually participated. Brendan went back and forth deciding between a happy face or an angry face. In the end, a happy face won out. He was a bit grossed out by the inside of the pumpkin and lost interest in it after that so Chris finished up the job. I don’t have a good picture of the finished product but trust me, it was cool.

And of course, I can’t leave Alex out of this post.

He’s definitely starting to pack some fat onto his little body and I constantly want to kiss his chubby cheeks. He’s still a pretty good sleeper and really is the sweetest baby ever. I’m slowly adjusting to having 2 kids and figuring out how to get things done but it’s definitely been a challenge at times. I’m looking forward to Alex getting on a schedule hopefully sometime in the near future, which I think will help things. Every day gets a bit easier though and I’m grateful for that.

See, he’s getting chubby! This a classic Alex expression- he always looks a bit skeptical or confused and it never fails to make me laugh.

I can’t believe how big he’s getting. And these pictures were taken almost 2 weeks ago.

My parents are coming into town tonight (hurray!) for a week long visit so I’m sure I’ll be absent from the blog again for a little while. Hopefully these pictures will hold every one over.  Until next time…