Brothers Don't Shake Hands, Brother's Hug...

 We had one peaceful evening and then terror descended on the hospital room in the form of one big brother...

...who loves his new little brother!  

Thankfully, my parents took Jack most of the time we were in the hospital. Thanks, Mom and Dad!  (I love having them live so close).  Jack keeps asking to hold "it," which makes me laugh.  Jack mostly just treats Colt like a new fixture in the house, but he likes to "help" carry his carrier, hold him, and when Colt cries, he announces with concern, "oh, what happened?  Baby crying!"  Griff got him out of the car before Colt the other night, and Jack had a melt down because he thought Griff had forgotten about baby Colt.  He did NOT want baby Colt left behind in the car.  It was pretty cute.

He held Colt like this for a good minute... which is a long time for this two year old.

Checkin' out the new baby...

 

Since Colt was born so late at night, no one had a chance to hold him until they came back the next day.  Here is Colt meeting his Papa.

...and Grammy.

 

Aunt Nelly and Uncle Colton made the trek down to see their new little nephew.

 

Grandma and Grandpa came to see their new little grandson again, too... but somehow a picture didn't get taken with Grandpa.  We'll fix that the next time we see them.  Cindy and Randy were going out to dinner for Cindy's birthday since someone's arrival ruined the family birthday party. Sorry Cindy! :) 

And here we are posing with our new little man just before leaving the hospital.  

Look at that little smile! 

Aunt Baba came in town a couple days after Colt was born.  Here he is meeting her at home.  

Happy Birthday Baby Colt!

 Our newest love...

Colt Griffin Christensen

I was scheduled for induction on December 20th, but when I showed up for my final OB appointment on Dec 17th... our little man had different plans.  His heart rate was having decelerations in the office, and when we took a peek at him on ultrasound we found that I had low amniotic fluid.  So rather than spending the next two days monitoring the baby at labor and delivery, my OB opted to just induce me that day.  So the next hour consisted of a flurry of phone calls and rapid packing of a hospital bag.  I planned to take a picture of my belly the night before I was going to be induced, so a picture at the hospital had to do.

Waiting...The pitocin was started at 5:30pm.  Jack's wasn't born for over 15hours after pitocin was started last time and his delivery was really scary, so I think we were all anxious and gearing up for the worst.  But everything couldn't have gone better.    

At 11:24pm, baby Colt entered the world without a hitch!  A fat, pink, crying baby!  I seriously couldn't get over feeling like I cheated.  Everything went so well.  Griff and I are so thankful that our Heavenly Father watched over us again.

Colt was 2 weeks early and still 8lbs 11oz!  He was on track to be as big as his brother... but thank goodness he wasn't! :)

With Jack we all gasped when we heard his weight (10lbs 7oz).  But with Colt, we all gasped when we saw all that shock of dark brown hair!  I love it.  No one in my family has babies with hair like that.  I can't get over it.  Did I mention I'm in love? 

I love this picture because it shows off Colt's shaggy little head.  

Daddy, Mommy and Dr Bean.  Thank you!!!

Colt meeting his daddy for the first time.

 Our moms and my sister, Amy, were in the delivery room when the baby was born.  Our dads stepped out for the delivery, but here they are meeting their newest grandson.

We love being surrounded by our families when our babies are born.  These next two pictures are of those who could make it on short notice.  My mom, dad, Griff and I were supposed to go to the Mormon Tabernacle concert with David Archuletta that night.  Sorry mom and dad! :)  (Matt and Baba would have been there, too, if Colt would have waited for his original induction day... but we were still sooooo excited to meet him a little earlier)

Cindy, Mindy, Baby Colt, Griff, and Randy

 Amy, Mom, Mindy, Baby Colt, Dad, and Griff

And here is our sweet baby boy after his first bath.  Griff's says I gush, but I can't help it!  He is just so adorable!

And one more for the road... 

I am using the excuse that my sisters who are far away will want to see a zillion pictures, so I will post a bunch more pictures soon... :)

Jack's 2nd Birthday

So I was up at 5am unable to go back to sleep this morning... stupid pregnancy insomnia (or sore hips, or this cold or whatever it was that wouldn't let me go back to sleep).  I decided to come down and post about our new 2 year old... but wouldn't you know it, my camera is dead and I can't upload any of the pictures.  So I went with second best and I'm uploading the videos I took with my iPhone yesterday!  There will be a much better video and pictures to follow... hopefully today.

He got a little frustrated when he couldn't make any more shots...

The stool helped tremendously.  And he even went back to trying to shoot hoops without the stool later that day... don't know what was up with the crazy jumps off his basketball chair...but it was pretty funny.

Griff's parents gave Jack this bulldozer.  He obviously loves it.  I tried to get him to say it, because it is so cute when he says "Like bulldozer!"  Oh well. The dancing is pretty cute. ;)

Christmas Lights at Temple Square

This year, Matt and Amy invited us to go downtown to see the Christmas lights for FHE.  They road Trax with my parents, which I am sure Jack would have loved... but his sick daddy and his prego mommy weren't up to it.  So we just met them downtown. The little boys all really liked the lights.  Jack kept saying, "like lights temple!"  So cute. :)

Going to temple square is one of my favorite things to do at Christmas time.  In fact, this used to be my birthday date when Griff and I were dating.  We'd go to dinner somewhere fun downtown, and then we'd walk around and look at the lights afterward.  They are just beautiful!  My favorite ones this year were the trees that were two toned... you know with red and yellow lights or green and blue.  I wish I could come back and see them again with snow on the ground... but at least I made it once! 

After lights, we made our way home to my parent's house, where my mom had White Chicken Chili and homemade cinnamon rolls waiting for us... heaven!  And she even had made shortbread cookies for dessert.  

I swear the best part of my night was when we got back to my parents' house, and Jack and Wesley played together.  They were running around the house giggling together, and it made me so happy!  I wish I had caught some of it on video.  Those little boys are so cute.  

I experimented a little with my camera... so there are some pics that are brighter than others... 

Christmas Tree

This is a video Griff took after he put up the Christmas tree while I was working.  This is so Jack.  He is really into bouncing and jumping.  He'll announce: "I'm bouncing!"  or "I'm jumping" and away he goes. If you listen to the end of the video you can hear him say it.  Anyway, all that excitement of having a tree with lights on it in his living room had to come out somehow...

Thanksgiving and My Birthday!

It's kind of fun that my birthday falls on Thanksgiving every once in awhile.  I think it is probably the best holiday to have your birthday on, because it is all about good food and good company!  This year was a big birthday for me, too.  Goodbye 20s and hello 30s!  I was surprised that I didn't feel old at all.  In fact, I am just really excited for this next decade.  I feel like Griff and I are in our prime, and our lives are full of exciting expectations and big plans!  

We spent Thanksgiving day with Griff's family.  We lounged around playing card games, browsing through Black Friday ads, watching football and completely enjoying the fact that Jack was otherwise engaged with his cousins and the toys at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Mid-afternoon we walked across the street for dinner with Griff's grandparents, Aunt Janet and Uncle Ron, Donna Mae, and ourselves.  Griff's grandma made some wonderful pumpkin pies, but since I'm not really a fan of pumpkin pie I didn't really think it was very fair that I had to have it for my birthday cake.  Birthday cakes are important in my opinion!  So Griff made me a Poppy Seed Bundt Cake, which I have totally been craving.  It has this buttery delicious glaze you pour into the pan before you turn the cake out... seriously fabulous!  And Griff rocked it!  We went back to Griff's parents where I had balloons, cards, and gifts waiting.  A very fun birthday!  Here are some pictures of the day in no particular order...

I think Jack single handedly ate most of Donna Mae's jello salad... 

 Jack was being crazy at Grandma and Grandpa Cassity's house... so we were only too happy when he wanted to play in the dog kennel. :)

 Teneil with her new fiance Colton... we're excited for their wedding in June!

We finished Thanksgiving by picking my parents up at the airport.  They were coming in from visiting Erin and Jed in Detroit.  After dropping Griff and Jack off, my mom and I scoured through the black friday ads again and made plans to go to Wal-Mart at midnight.  It was actually pretty fun!  My dad ended up coming, too, and I think he was quite literally in shock at all the hullaballoo. :)  I was exhausted the next morning and didn't rouse out of bed until 8am (which is late around our house).  I stumbled down the stairs to find Griff making me crepes and urging me to shop some more.  I thought he was so sweet!  So I did go out for another couple of hours.  When I got home, Griff told me to take a nap while Jack was sleeping so I would have a fun night.  He was taking me to dinner at Cheesecake Factory, then to a movie... I was excited!  My parents were babysitting, so we dropped a happy Jack off and a well rested birthday girl and her husband went out for dinner.  Our dinner was delicious, and I loved going on a real date with my husband. :)

After dinner, my mom called me frantically because Griff had left his wallet at their house when we dropped Jack off.  She even offered to drive it to us.  I chuckled thinking she was imagining us washing dishes to pay for our dinner and assured her that Griff had cash, and I had my wallet to boot.  Then I remembered our movie tickets were in Griff's wallet, dang it... so we headed back to my parents to pick them up.  When we got there I raced inside with our leftover cheesecake for my parents... I buzzed right past balloons in the entrance, saw a birthday sign for me and thought it was sweet my dad had put it up early, and then it finally set in when I burst into the living room and my friends and family were all over the place.  Griff had thrown me a SURPRISE PARTY!  I caught everyone off guard, but it was still a great surprise for me~  Our camera died early, so I only got a couple of pictures of the night - bummer!  I wish I had pictures with all the sweet friends and family who came to share my birthday with me.  Griff even made me another cake!  I had been vacillating between two the day before, so Griff just made the other one for this party.  Chocolate Mint Bundt Cake - another fabulous cake!  What a guy!  I seriously have the best husband!  Honey, thank you for making my birthday so special... and I seriously can't wait to spend the next 30 years with you!