Family Fun at Yellowstone

We just had my family reunion. Everyone was able to make it, including both sets of grandparents. This year Danny was in charge and it was AWESOME! We had a great cabin with a big living area for visiting, games, and chocolate consumption. I think I was the only person who lost weight on this trip thanks to my very happy baby boy. (I really miss chocolate!)

My dad's parents turned 90 last year and my mom's parents turned 80. We had a silly little birthday party for them including homemade birthday hats with Styrofoam bowls and pipe cleaner. I am so lucky to still have all 4 of my grandparents. It was a great chance to make some more memories with some of my favorite people! And yes, all 4 of them hiked Yellowstone too.

Isabelle had a blast with cousins. And I also determined, it's not just the age. She really is crazy intense!

We were able to go on a few hikes despite the weather. It was FREEZING!!! We woke up to snow, and then had lots of rain, but still had a blast! We all agreed we were glad we weren't tent camping.

And you thought she went somewhere without her sunglasses! HA! (Today she walked into church with them on. I didn't even notice until she started to get snickers and compliments on them. )

LOTS of game playing. Mike and Sam were in heaven to have someone to play.

Dancing princesses. Isabelle's more of a hip hop kind of girl. It was drastically noticeable next to graceful ballerina Jane.

I got LOTS of help with Michael.

Yellowstone day was the nicest day we had. We actually saw blue sky and some animals!!! Last time we went to Yellowstone we didn't see a single buffalo, just an eagle and 4 deer. This time we saw a ton of buffalo, lots of elk, and even a bear!

Waiting on Old Faithful.

Yellowstone Falls, thanks for the cooperation kids! I was hoping to get a new decent family picture...oh well!

The whole clan, minus my dad's parents. They got really cold at this lookout point waiting for everyone to arrive. We had to make a mad dash back to our car. Isabelle decided to drop her pants to her ankles with 30 people looking on. Apparently she needed to go to the bathroom. What a goof! Such a fun trip! I love getting to spend time with my family.

Wiggle Worm

This little man is the wiggliest kid ever! He cannot sit still for ANYTHING!!! Even when he's "relaxing," he is still always moving his feet. Yesterday at bath time, he made a bigger puddle on the floor than Isabelle did. He doesn't "talk" much, but man this kid likes to move! The difference between a girl and a boy!

On a side note, Isabelle and I were in Provo last week and she wanted to see the temple. So, I drove her all the way around to see. She said, "It's gorgeous!!" When telling Dad about what we did, she said, "We drove by the temple with Macaroni on the top!"

Obsessions

Isabelle gets on kicks, more like obsessions. Sometimes they are short lived, other times, they last TOO long. She's on a few right now. It always seem so random to me what she gets stuck on. She sure has a strong personality and it shows through with everything she does.

Sunglasses: thank you dollar section at Target. These things crack me up. She wears them almost constantly and I can't help but laugh every time I look at her.

Butterflies: also thank you dollar section at Target. Those glasses are the shape of a butterfly complete with antenna. Notice her shirt...one of 3 butterfly shirts she owns. I also have 8 different butterfly books, which we are now VERY familiar with.

Blue: She has a favorite color. The only thing we can pin it back to is the four wheeling. She always wanted to ride the blue one, but that has continued onto her clothes, crayons, underwear, cups, paints, food, hair bows...etc. She prefers the girly blue, but she'll take boy blue above pink now.

The new Ice Age Movie: "I need to watch my dinosaur show, Mom." I hear this phrase a gazillion times a day. Even if I actually give in and let her watch it, she wants to watch it again, and again and again. Move over Mary Poppins and Beethoven, we finally have a new show! Mike and I are quite grateful.

Dollar Store: The dollar store is the best bribe on the planet! She has a sticker chart that she has to fill up and then gets to earn a trip to the dollar store. Her latest pick was a 10 pack of white dice. She is crazy obsessed with them. Now to figure out where to keep them, where they have a home, and where Michael won't try to eat them.

What will it be next? Only time will tell!

Camping and 4-wheeling

We love camping! We had our first trip out this year a few weeks ago. We just went for one night to start the year off. We went with some neighbors, Aaron and Star, and their 5 year old girl and 3 year old boy to a place about an hour south. We had a BLAST!!!! We took our 4-wheeler and they brought 2 adult ones and a little bitty kid one.

The day before we left we had to get Isabelle a sleeping bag and us a new tent. Mike's tent of 19 years died last summer. As he was duct-taping us in, me 5 1/2 months pregnant, he said, "Hope you don't have to go to the bathroom tonight" HA! Anyway, that was the last trip for that tent. When we were getting a new tent, it rang up as only 15 BUCKS!!!! We told the guy that was wrong but he gave it to us for $15 anyway. We really like our new cheap tent!

What's better than hot dogs, cheetos, s'more's and a camp fire? Not much! Isabelle loved every second. Jake did pretty good. We got there just as the sun was going down, so he kept going off to explore and with him being black, we couldn't see him even when he was there. The next day after running after the 4-wheelers he didn't wander once. We learned our lesson: Run him as soon as we get to camp so he's too tired to explore.

By time we got the tent set up and pack and play up, Michael was done. He put himself to sleep by getting a hold of his beanie to suck on, while waiting for me to get the sleeping bags situated.

It was a cold night. Michael ended up sleeping in the sleeping bag with me snuggled purely because I was sure he was cold despite his 3 layers of clothes. At some point early in the am, Isabelle woke up and Mike didn't care why and told her to get in our sleeping bag too. So from about 4 or 5 in the morning, we all snuggled together in the sleeping bag.

The next morning was 4-wheeling time!!! Isabelle got to drive the little one by herself. It kind of scared her, so Mike made sure to get her on to ride it with him. Then she was asking all day for a ride.

Getting ready to go...

Michael hanging out with his toys. Later in the afternoon he was getting fussy. I put him in the snuggli and took him on a ride. He LOVED it! It settled him right down.

Mike teaching her how to drive it

About to go

"Ride with Daddy!" was what we heard from that point on.

The kids playing around. They have a good time playing together.

These sunglasses crack me up! She refused to put them on the way they are supposed to be on. They had to be upside down. She ate like 4 bowls of Cheetos! Her face was perma-orange for the day. We had a fun time and I'm ready to get some more camping in.

My Mighty Man

Michael is now 5 months old! Where has this time gone? A little post about my cute little man. I started calling him mighty man when he was 2 weeks old and rolling over from tummy to back. His physical milestones continue to be TOO early in my book. He's physically very very strong. He loved to stand in my lap at 7 weeks. He started rolling over back to tummy 1 week before he turned 4 months. He's been sitting unassisted since 4 1/2 months, but still a little wobbly. And also during his 4th month started figuring out the army crawl. This kid is on a mission! He's now 5 months and getting into the crawling stance and concentrating on how to go forward. He can't stand to stay put. He has to always have a toy. Sometimes his hands or feet will suffice, but he much prefers a toy or someone interacting with him. He's so happy to play on the floor for quite a while.

We have figured out he is allergic to milk. After my 3 month post where I said he was being happy, I jinxed myself. He still was crying ALOT! He was still spitting up ALOT, and he was still tiny. He had some of the worst eczema I've ever seen and his whole body felt like a lizard. Thanks to Aveeno, we were able to help a little, but he would still just scratch away. When changing his diaper you have to be fast or else he scratches the heck out of his upper thighs. He also can't EVER be naked or he scratches his chest til it's bleeding. He does LOVE the bath tub and is too busy splashing to scratch. Since I have completely cut milk out of my diet (have I mentioned milk is in EVERYTHING that is delicious?) we have seen a huge improvement in his eczema, crying, sleeping, and overall happiness. He also looks like he might be gaining weight. He's starting to grow out of some of his 0-3 month clothes. He's finally becoming a normal baby.

He loves to be put to bed. He always smiles and makes a funny giggle when I snuggle him to rock him or put him in his bed. I lay him on his back and he immediately flips himself to his tummy and he sings to himself for a minute and out he goes.

He's discovering Jake. And Jake has finally decided Michael isn't going anywhere and has quit being naughty. Jake now hovers over Michael very protectively like he used to with Isabelle as a baby.

He likes to suck on anything BUT a paci. He has figured out how to get ahold of his car seat tent when nothing else is around.

His favorite person is Isabelle. She can make him laugh better than anyone else. His face lights up every time he sees her. She's overly loving most of the time, but apparently he likes that. She has even changed his poopy diaper without making a mess (they were both asleep, or so I thought). We're waiting a few more months before she gets full diaper duty. :)

He's gives out his smiles so freely now that he's not in constant pain! We love our little Mighty Man and his cute, determined personality.

We Love Jill and Tommy

My little sister and her husband live about 30 minutes away. It's so fun to have siblings close and we get to see them often. They like to come visit/play. I really think they just want to see my kids, but I'll take them any way I can. Tonight they came over for later afternoon play, dinner, cookies and games. They helped with dinner and a blow-out situation that required a bath, cookies, and putting kids down for bed. I LOVE when they come play as do my kids. Isabelle asks for them often and loves to talk to Jill on the phone. "I NEEEEED to talk to Jill." It's pretty cute. We love Jill and Tommy!!!!



My handsome little mighty man and Jill

3 Months!

I can't believe Michael is already 3 months! He's finally growing and quit crying all the time. The last couple of days have been a great improvement. Two mostly happy days in a row! At his 2 month appointment, he was still only 9 lbs. He was spitting up constantly and was starting to not sleep. We put him on acid reflux medicine and he's gained 2 pounds in 1 month! He finally graduated from newborn clothes to 0-3 month the day before his 3 month birthday. The medicine helped him not cry all the time and quit spitting up everything he ate and he started sleeping again. He still was really fussy 3-4 hours of the day. So, I have gone off of dairy and in the last 2 days he's finally a happy baby!!! I'm drinking lactose free milk which isn't near as nasty as I was expecting but it's really sweet. I haven't cut dairy out 100%, but the dairy I eat is minimal. I don't know why I didn't do this earlier. I got so sick when I ate ice cream when I was pregnant with him. And when we were in Mexico, I didn't have any dairy and he was super happy.

Anway, poor little guy has had a rough start, but he's finally getting the hang of this whole body thing. He loves his little hangy toy thingy. He will play under that forever grabbing the toys and stuffing them in his mouth.



He loves hanging out with sister. He watches her and always gives her smiles even when no one else gets them. She sings to him and it almost always calms him down at least for a few minutes. He also doens't panic when she picks him up and doesn't set him down quite so softly.


He's happy on the floor as long as there are toys.


He loves to sleep on his tummy! Every time I put him down for tummy time he rolls over and rolls over and rolls over, or he falls asleep. Only today did he actually stay on his tummy awake and play with the toys. In the process he scooted completely off the blanket he was on. He's an AWESOME night sleeper!!!! He sleeps from 7:30ish-7:30ish and I feed him around 11 before I go to bed! He then takes a great morning 2 hour nap, but then doesn't really do more than a couple of 20 minute naps until bedtime. He's got the cutest smile and it's so fun to see it all the time. He also started laughing last week. He's really ticklish on his tummy and feet. He has been so much fun the last couple of days!

We have HAIR!!!

Isabelle's hair is growing back nicely. Soft fine baby hair fell out and course thick adult MIKE hair grew in. Right now her and Mike's hair looks exactly the same. The same hair line, color, thickness, everything! She asks to put bows and ponytails in her hair. It's not quite long enough, but I oblige her anyway. She's really into fixing her own hair. This morning she even put mousse in it too. She put in a head band with a bow and 3 lady bug hair clips. It was awesome!

Our Mexico Trip...only 2 weeks late!

At the beginning of February, we took a great trip down to Acapulco, Mexico with a stop at my parents and I got to go HOME!!!! I hadn't been home to Texas for almost 3 years!

The trip begins... The kids were perfect on the plane on the way down! We were glad there was no one in front of Isabelle on the plane. She just couldn't keep her feet still and she loved playing with the tray. Isabelle has flown quite a bit and has always done really well, except on our way home. There was someone in front of her and she was super happy which meant she was super loud. We kept trying to fill her mouth with food, and use our church voices but she was just happy and loud.


This was Michael's first airplane ride. We were glad the plane wasn't full and Michael got to take a good little nap on the seat next to me. He did really well on all the flights except the last one also. He cried alot! We were totally "those people" on the way home with the loud 2 year old and crying baby.


We spent a couple days at my parent's house. We spent the first day finishing my two sewing projects I wanted done for Mexico. I made a sling and a car seat tent. The second day we went to the Houston Zoo. I sure do love that zoo. Isabelle absolutely loves the zoo and had a great time. We did have some grand potty adventures. A trip with a still somewhat freshly potty trained kid was an adventure.


We picked Mike's parents up at the airport, they spent one night at my parent's and the next morning we left Isabelle with my parents and were off to Mexico with Mike's parents for a week. It was pretty much a piece of heaven. It was HOT and HUMID! It was a great break from the Utah winter. We always have a fun time with Mike's parents on trips. We play lots of games, eat lots of yummy food, and enjoy the company. It was also nice to have a very willing grandma to watch the baby so Mike and I could play in the pool and ocean together.


This was one of the nicest beaches I've ever been to. The water was warm, the waves were perfect for some great boogie boarding, the sand was fine and there were no rocks and it had a very shallow slope perfect for wading.

Michael did great on the trip. He slept just about anywhere and liked the water. The last day or so he started to get really tired of his car seat and wanted to be held more.

The sunsets were beautiful.


This 2 bedroom condo was quite fancy. This was Michael's room.

Of all the places to be when you forget your sunglasses...Mexico. Don't you love my $4 hidiousness?! Every time I see them I just start laughing! They worked at that was all that matters!




We went to a fort in Acapulco that was kinda cool.

Isabelle had a blast with my parents. They have a cat that scratched her a few times, but she still continued to torture her. She didn't ask for us once until the last night when Mom was putting her to bed she asked for Daddy, and that was it! We Skyped her one day, but she wouldn't talk to us. She's used to doing that with my mom, but not us. It was pretty funny. When she saw us at the airport, she was about 20 yards away. She screamed and started running at us with her arms outstretched, and yelled at the top of her lungs, "HI! Hi! Hi! Hi, Mommy! Hi Daddy! Hi! Hi! Hi!" all the way to us. It was classic and we were sad none of us had a camera handy. Mom spoiled her by making her a baby sling, just like mine, a matching hat and bag, a church bag, and diapers for her dolls, Sarah and Abby. Here she is with Abby in the sling with a blanket and Isabelle in her new kitty hat. It was hilarious to watch her put her dolls in it and bounce and sing. She is truly a little mommy!


It was an awesome trip! I decided I need to take a trip with just my new baby every time we have a 2-3ish month old. It doesn't need to be as extravagant as Mexico, but just us and the new baby. It was great one on one time. Mike had barely even gotten to hold him until this trip because he's always handling the toddler, while I take care of the baby. Until this trip, I hadn't really gotten to sit and play with him uninterrupted while he was happy. Jill and Tommy were nice enough to house/dog sit for us. I know it's a long drive for them, but they seemed to have a good time and my house was so clean when I got home!!! We had a great time and it was so hard to come home to the snow!