6 month stats

My little Tyler went in for his 6-mo check this week.  He is right on track, weighing in at 18 lbs 4 oz and measuring 27 1/4 inches.  He is learning to eat some solid food and even asks for it by smacking his lips together or saying "Mmmmm."  He is a happy baby, loves to bounce and chew on things, and is an expert at rolling around on the floor.  We are expecting to see some teeth and some crawling pretty soon here.  

Ethan and Jared are both so sweet with the baby.  They love to talk to him, give him toys, and hold him.  

I'll have to do more updates later on the big boys.  I am exhausted and need to get some sleep.  :)

3 months

Our little one is 3 months old now. He is a joy and we are so happy that he has joined our family.

Baby Boy #3

In case you haven't heard the news (I can't believe I forgot to post it on my blog!), we are excited to be adding another little boy to our family in September.   I have had a pretty smooth pregnancy so far, except for some insomnia, for which I am very grateful.  Baby boy is very active and looks great in his ultrasounds.  In lieu of a shower, we had a gender reveal party, where we announced to local friends and family that we were having a boy.  Our guests were instructed to wear pink or blue to cast their vote.  We had a lot of fun!

 Eating and socializing

Baby brothers

Cousins

 Here is Team Boy: 

And Team Girl:  

We didn't want to give away the surprise, so we mixed it up!

Daddy shaking the pinata with the BLUE candy!  

Road trip

My mom, the boys and I took a road trip this month to visit my brother and see their new baby girl.  It is an 18-hour drive from KC to Goldsboro, North Carolina, not including pit stops. So we decided to break up the drive out by spending the night in West Virginia with my great aunt Butus and uncle Glen, and their daughter Anita, who we haven't seen in so many years. It was great to see them again, and fun to see where my mom grew up.

We spent a few days with Shawn and his family at Seymour Johnson AFB in North Carolina and got to see an F-15 up close. We spent lots of time doting on baby Blakeley and the boys had fun playing together.  We were also lucky enough to be there for a rare inch of snow which cancelled church and practically shut down the town.

On our way home we took a different route and stopped halfway to stay the night with my cousin Jenny and her family in TN.  It was fun to see her little girl who is just a couple months older than Ethan. 

It was a busy week, and totally wore me out, but worth it to see my family. :)

Winter blues

I guess it is time to post some more updates, since it has been over 6 months since my last post. Sorry! I think most of you probably keep caught up with us on Facebook now, but for those that don't, I will try to do better.

Near the end of last July, the hubby started a new job as a Database Developer at Commerce Bank. His job is in downtown KC so we started looking for apartments nearer the city. We moved to the Kansas City North area at the end of September and found a tenant to rent our house in Leavenworth a couple of months later.  It is a little bit of a struggle adjusting to apartment living again, but we are very grateful for a 3-bd place and a much shorter commute. Our ward is great so far, and we are in the Liberty MO stake now, so our stake center is right next to the Kansas City Temple, which is now less than 15 min away. My in-laws are kind enough to babysit for us so that we can go to the temple on Friday nights.  My parents also just got called as ordinance workers so we see them there every Friday night when we go. What a blessing it is to have a temple so close now!

Jared turned 2 in October and he continues to amaze and entertain us with all the things he is learning. His favorite activities are jumping, dancing, climbing, reading, singing and playing. He has such a fun personality and is a great big brother.

Ethan turned 1 in November and he loves to do whatever his big brother is doing. He is walking assisted, and has started taking a few solo steps here and there. He loves to climb on things and get into drawers and cabinets and pull out all the contents. He is a joy and is growing up so fast.

I still love being a stay at home mom and spend so much time with my boys.  My new business continues to grow and I enjoy sewing the orders that come my way while the boys nap in the afternoons.  I would love to get some piano/voice students here in our new place but that takes time when you move and don't know anyone. That is pretty much it for now. Just looking forward to warmer weather so that the boys and I can enjoy the outdoors more.

Enjoy some pics of my favorite boys!

Summer Days

Sorry I haven't updated my blog as often as I would like.  Here are the highlights of the past few months:

*House is on the market.  We did a lot of work on the house to get it ready to show, and I think it turned out really nice.  Click to see listing/virtual tour.

*Took a trip with my mom and the boys to Utah in March to see family.  Here is a 4-generation picture with Grandpa Kenny:

*Jared is 20 months old, started nursery at church, and has over 100 words in his vocabulary.  He loves Dora and Elmo, swimming at the pool, eating, and helping mommy.  

Here is a video of him when he was starting to walk.

Drawing a picture: 

Flashing his cheesy smile:

Fishing with daddy:

*Ethan is almost 7-mo old now, and is making a lot of fun noises, chewing on everything, and getting bigger every day.  He is rolling over and scooting, so I'm sure he will be crawling soon.  He is a very happy, laid back baby, for which mommy is extremely grateful.

*I started up my own home-based business, sewing nursing covers, cloth wipes, carseat covers and other baby items.  The company is called Mama Meadows.  Here are a few of the items I have made recently:

Nursing cover

Infant carseat cover

Cloth wipes (flannel) 

Burp cloths (flannel) 

Travel changing pad (flannel/terry cloth) 

I think that pretty much covers the big things.  I chopped off my hair last month, which you can see in our most recent family picture at the top of the blog page.  Oh, and I have lost 33 lbs since the beginning of the year.  :)

Thanks for reading.  Until next time...

My boys

My big boy is 16 months old this week, and he has just started to walk.  He took his first steps last Sunday, while we were going through an open house for a home that is for sale.  We were in the basement talking to the real estate agent, and daddy had just put him on the floor.  He was standing up and holding on to an ottoman.  He spotted some toys against the wall and just walked right over there.  We almost didn't realize that he was doing it!  Of course it is just our luck that he takes his first steps in some strangers' house.  If the house is still on the market when we get an offer on ours, we might have to put in an offer so that we can actually live in the house where my baby took his first steps.  I am still trying to catch him on video, so hopefully I will have one to post soon.

He loves to play and laugh, and scream and yell.  He says "dat" (that, what's that?), "cheese", "eyes", "choos" (juice or shoes), and "baba" (bye-bye).  He knows most of the major body parts and can point to them, sometimes on himself and sometimes on you.  He loves pushing his dump truck around the house, walking behind it.  He likes to color, when he isn't trying to eat the crayon/marker.  He also likes to play the piano, especially after mommy teaches her piano lessons.  And he eats all the time!   His favorite foods are fruit, cheese, cheerios, goldfish crackers, and whatever is on my plate.  Our other big accomplishment this month was getting rid of the "binky."  He left it at the library when we went for story time, and we haven't had any issues since.  And no jealousy issues with little brother either.  He likes to help push the baby in his swing, rock him in his car seat, and give him his binky.

Here is a picture of him that I took tonight, after his haircut (by me) and just before bedtime.

My baby boy is 2 months old now, and he smiles all the time--except when mommy is trying to take a picture.  For some reason, the camera makes him all serious.  He has started to make all sorts of fun noises and faces, and he has discovered that he can put his fist in his mouth.  He had his first round of immunizations last week, and at his appointment he weighed 13 lbs 4 oz., and measured 24 inches long.  He barely fits into his clothes, which means it is time for me to switch him to the 3-6 month clothes.

Here are a few pictures and a video.  I kept trying to get him to smile, but all we got were a few half-smiles and a bunch of serious and funny faces.

And here is a little video of him, with me trying to get him to talk and smile.