Awesome or Awful?

Ok, so this video will make you either think I'm an awful mother to let my son eat ice cream out of the container, on the counter. Or, I'm a pretty cool mother that lets her kids let loose every once in a while. I choose to believe the latter. Oh, and this really is what it looks like. I knew he started to do it and I let him. He was so happy.

So, I already posted some pictures from this photo shoot but I noticed I didn't post this one and it is so cute!

6 Months, Really?

I can hardly believe it but Brynn is 6 months old now. She had her 6 month check up on Monday and she's doing great! She weights 15 lbs 15 oz and is now in the 50% for weight (compared to her other appointments where she was 75%). That baby chub is already starting to melt away.
Brynn is still in the 50% for height too. She's just an average baby girl now.

Here's Brynn's first time sitting down to eat real food. She still isn't eating the cereals very well but I try every day to feed it to her. She does like those Sweet Potato Puffs however and it is so cute because Caleb likes to put them in her mouth.

Brynn is sleeping from about 7pm to 7am these days and takes 2 or 3 naps. She likes to be held, she likes to laugh when you play peek-a-boo or tickle her and she likes hold and suck on toys. She is also starting to pay more attention to Caleb. That is one I've been waiting for. It is fun to have two kids and see the way they interact with each other.
Once when Brynn was on the floor and started fussing (because princesses can't be left on the floor for too long) Caleb said, "Poor Bwynn." That is something I say when she is tired and crying and we can't put her down for some reason, or because she has been in her car seat too long. Caleb just took it to mean it's something we say whenever she cries.
Overall, Brynn is happy. When she first wakes up she gives you the cutest smiles and I feel like her face is more angelic than ever. I just like that she has a look about her now (more than just a newborn face) and it is so perfect. I love her!

These are the Days

I've been sewing again! I made a little outfit, headband and even booties (not pictured) for Brynn's 6 month pictures. We took those today and I will post them when we get them! Doesn't this dress look so elegant? I love it! (Thank you Pinterest for finding me a free pattern)


Thanks to a Relief Society activity at church I learned that it is ok to add spinach to smoothies. Caleb loves to make them and eat them:

Caleb picked up Brynn's blanket and said, "Bwinn blankie. Give to her?" I told him he could. He did this when he "gave it to her." (I asked him to do it again for the camera)

OH, and I forgot to mention Brynn is getting her two bottom teeth. I can't believe it. I was so excited with every new thing that happened to Caleb but with Brynn I don't want her to get bigger. I'm sad to see those new teeth coming in. Oh well. That's how time works I guess.

Halloween Bag

Here is a blog that is doing a cute personalized Halloween Bag giveaway!

A Little Cuteness

If this isn't the cutest thing, I don't know what is:

We were watching our favorite Sabbath appropriate video on Sunday morning and Derrick started making Brynn dance. I thought she looked like a doll since she was still in her sleep sack so I took a short video of it:

Our New Home

Here's our new home minus the third car garage to the right:

If you are so curious as to what it looks like I provided a quick tour of our house. We still haven't unpacked everything so forgive the mess.
First Floor:

Second floor:

Backyard:

We love our new home and we love our neighbors. We are all so happy here and we can't wait to get more settled.

Bath Time

Is it awful that I didn't take any bath pictures of Brynn until she was 5 months old? The first kid really does get the most attention. Oh well, here's Brynn and her rolls in all their glory.

New Place

We've moved, and we finally got internet last night. I'll post pictures of the actual house later but here's a start. This is what our back yard opens up to. It's nice to have the beautiful view and still be in a residential area.

We are at the top of a culdesac and there are kids all around. There is a boy next door just one month younger than Caleb! Every evening we go out there are kids in the street riding bikes and scooters and playing with toys. Our neighbors are super friendly and have welcomed us with friendly gestures (inviting me to a church activity I didn't know was going on, giving food gifts, offering to pick and eat food from their garden, etc.).
We have a trampoline in our backyard, which Caleb enjoys (he also loves the neighbor's toy gun that he is holding):


We've heard that in the field there have been mice and snakes and coyotes but our neighbor has 4 cats for the mice (which also keep the snakes away) and a big dog for the coyotes. That makes me glad because I don't want animals. Hopefully those neighbors don't move away!
Here was a little video I took during the actual move:

Whenever we leave Caleb always says, "Back, new house." He loves to explore the new house and play with all the toys he forgot he had. That will wear off soon but it is fun for now. He also loves the local park, it is BIG.
Here is a picture and video I took before and after the move:

Little Miss Brynn is now 5 months old and a happy little girl. The 5-year-old girl next door saw Brynn and asked, "What are those bumps on her legs?" Yes, those are fat rolls. She is chubby, but you just wait until she starts crawling. They will be gone before we know it. Here is her million dollar smile:

Our new address is:
618 W Canteloupe Ct.
Saratoga Springs, UT 84045

Thanksgiving Point Gardens

First off, Caleb now knows how to stand and smile for a picture. This is something that only started happening recently. When he does do it, it is a closed mouth smile like above and below. I think it's kind of cute. After I take a picture he asks to see it.

We started and ended or outing at the children's garden. There were fun things for the kids like a little stream that they could drop in an object and watch it float down, a sand pit with toys and these fun metal drums:

I brought Caleb's bike and he rode around the gardens while I pushed Brynn in the stroller. I just realized I hadn't put up any videos of his new bike yet so here it is:

We also found a grasshopper:

And, I can't have a post without a picture of Brynn now can I?

Brynn is Rolling

Brynn is doing a lot of baby talk these days. She was doing a lot more before I started filming but here is a little bit and some other cute moves:

Here's her roll:

Another note: Two things about this picture. One, when we moved here Caleb was terrified of the vacuum. Grandma has been holding Caleb while she vacuums and now he is used to it and isn't too scared of it anymore. He actually likes to walk around with the vacuum like this. Two, Caleb loves girl shoes. Here he is wearing Grandma's shoes. Once when we went into Lisa's room he asked to wear Lisa's pink shoes. I couldn't find them and he was so disappointed. He really did know exactly which ones he wanted.

Dresses and Yoga

Two outfits I made for Brynn:


A few days ago Julie, Lynne and Lisa were doing aerobics and yoga. Caleb watched them for a while. Yesterday he saw the yoga mat on the floor and starts doing what he saw them do. I asked him if he would do it again if I got the camera and he responded, "Yeah." So I got the camera and he waited until I was ready and here is what he did:

Kids

Yes, Brynn is a cute little chunk. We love her. She weighed in at 14 1/2 pounds for her 4 month check-up making her 74% in weight.
As for Caleb, Derrick took him on an outing yesterday to Home Depot. Caleb's present from the trip was a 47 cent paint brush. He loved painting water on the cement:

As for an update on Caleb's newest phrase: "Do it self." He wants to ride his bike without being pushed, open doors with no help, count numbers on his own and at other random times.

Stories

-We were singing Caleb his nighttime songs. While singing "My Heavenly Father Loves Me" we let him sing the last word of every phrase (we do this a lot and he knows it well now). He did good through the first verse but then he was getting distracted by a toy tractor and not saying all the words. At the end of the song we sang, "Yes, I know Heavenly Father loves..." Caleb finished the phrase by singing the word "tractor." Yes Caleb I'm sure Heavenly Father loves tractors.
-It was Kent's birthday last week. Now whenever we pull out a desert Caleb sings, "Happy to you. Happy to you."
-I'm always asking Caleb, "Do you want to help me" and "Do you want to come with me." Now if I start to do something without asking Caleb first he says, "Help me" and "With me". He means, "I want to help you" or "Go with you."
-There was a neighborhood watch party on Tuesday night where a fire truck came. Caleb oooed and awwed over it. That night as he was falling asleep we heard him saying, "Fire twuck. Wheeoooo, wheeoooo."

Fun Days of Summer

Here is Brynn in one of the onsie dresses (and hairpiece) I made for her. She looks so cute in them and it makes me sooooooo happy!

I think little Miss Brynn is going to be a thumb sucker

This was a fun thing we did on a warm Friday afternoon. Lisa was babysitting a 6 year old boy who was doing this with Caleb. Caleb has so much fun with other kids and I'm sure he loved this even more because he was playing with someone.

Lastly, here is a fun little thing Caleb figured out. He has this frog toy that makes noise when it goes down a shoot. Caleb discovered if he blew in it and sucked in it, it made a cool noise:

Wheeler Farms

We took a trip to Wheeler Farms on Tuesday because it was overcast and not raining. Perfect weather for Utah summer! While there we fed the ducks, saw the animals, rode on a wagon ride (pulled by a tractor) and Caleb played on the many tractors they had. It was a blast and Caleb didn't want to leave at the end. Brynn slept most of the time in the baby carrier. Everything worked out so well!

The Not so Kids Festival and Randoms

Today we were invited by Julianne (sister-in-law) to a kids festival in Salt Lake City. We got there and couldn't get a hold of her on her phone. She finally called us as we were leaving and we found out we weren't at the kids festival but at the farmer's market! Oh well, Caleb still had fun and we met Scott and Julie for lunch at a taco stand. Caleb did get a cat balloon and we shared some raspberries.

Because of the mix up Julie grabbed a few things at the festival before she left. Those things were from the Home Depot stand. She got an apron, boat kit and helicopter kit. Caleb and I made the boat today (he helped me hammer in the nails). Then he brought the boat into the bath with him. He loved it, thanks Julie!

Brynn is a good girl. She eats well, sleeps well and has not been sick yet. She smiles a lot and will giggle if you really get her going. She loves being held while walking around or put under a ceiling fan while it is on. Sometimes she enjoys the swing too:

Caleb has this new thing when he is driving the toy car he likes to wear these funky glasses. He almost looks like he is trying to be cool with them. He pulls it off well I'd say.

Other Randoms:
Caleb has a few favorite phrases:
"What that is?"
"I don't know." - He uses this in the correct context too.
"Love woo." - He always says this when Daddy is leaving for work and other times.

Caleb Stories:
-We were in the basement and Grandma started talking to Caleb through the vent. Caleb got a kick out of it. When we went to a different room he looks up at the vent in there and said, "Work?" He was asking why he didn't hear Grandma's voice through that one too.
-When he brought home the balloon cat from today we told him to show the kitty his balloon and he showed it to her with much intent.
-Caleb was going on an outing with Grandma. He goes up to Brynn who is lying on the floor, looks down at her and says, "Bye Brynn. Store." I loved that he recognized her and told her where he was going.

The 4th

Caleb had a lot of fun running around with all the "kids," or so he called Derrick's younger cousins. Caleb sure ate like it was a holiday: 1 piece of hot dog, some fruit then he kept going back to the dessert table and ate like 6-7 cookies. As we were leaving he could only remember one thing though:

Here's a short video of Brynn:

When we got home we did a few little fireworks since Caleb goes to bed before the sun goes down. This fireworks being legal in Utah is both cool and crazy in my opinion. I wouldn't be surprised if someone in the state blew off a hand yesterday. Anyways, here's Caleb with his sparkler:

Short Post

Caleb talks about Brynn's outfit:

"Painting" and Pool

We refinished the used swing set Derrick's parents just bought. Caleb loved to help paint. We gave him some paint in the lid as you can see in this video but he soon realized others were getting paint straight from the bucket and he wanted nothing more to do with the lid. He got pretty dirty but he had fun. The day after we did it he was showing Derrick everywhere he "painted."

We had a fun Saturday night. We went to the community pool. I stayed out of the pool with Brynn and Caleb had fun with everyone else. One of his favorite things to do was watch the kids come down the medium sized water slide. He also loved the water shooting out of the ground. I was surprised to see him jump from the edge of the water into Grandpa's arms.

Brynn is doing well. She is an allstar sleeper. I thought Caleb was good with sleeping through the night at 2 1/2 months, Brynn did that before she even hit 2 months. She loves to lay on the floor and look at lights. She is often more happy on the floor than in our arms, go figure that one out. Caleb is still so sweet with her. He will often stop when he is walking by her and say, "Hi Bwynn."

Father's Day Stitches

At 2 years and 2 months Caleb got his first stitches. He fell off Grandma and Grandpa's bed, hit the side table directly above his left eyebrow and split his head open. It didn't bleed a lot but boy was it opened up wide. I did not want to see Caleb get stitches so Derrick and his dad took Caleb to urgent care. Derrick said it was good I didn't go. They put Caleb in a straight jacket, the assistant held Caleb's head still and they put a cloth completely over his face, except where the stitches were being done. Caleb was crying like he was going to die. I'm sure I would feel the same way too in his position. Derrick talked to Caleb (not that it helped much) and watched the procedure. Derrick said when they cleaned it out it was twice as deep and when we saw it *shiver.
However, after the 3 stitches were done they gave Caleb a lollipop and he was much better. In fact, Caleb went straight from urgent care to nursery at church and he did great. I did feel a little bad though because they missed the cookies and brownies that were handed out to all the dads at church. Sorry guys!