Nigel 2 months

 ***my favorite

We have hit another milestone...the 2 month mark. At this stage Nigel is sleeping about 7-8 hours a night straight (like 9pm to 430isham) which is a huge blessing. As the Mama, I am still not sleeping that great, but I am grateful to have a break from nursing for a time. During the day we have no real schedule. I nurse on demand and he takes several cat naps throughout the day. He had some growth spurts these last 2 weeks which included days of endless nursing, like every hour to hour and a half, and then crying if not eating. He definitely likes to be held and we have no shortage of baby holders around here so that is good. He is smiling a ton and even trying to talk, mostly to Josh. Tonight we were looking at past baby pics, and yes, I know they all look a like, but he does seem to resemble Mara at this age quite a bit!
Mara so far is the best baby helper, as long as she is not busy, or wanting to be busy with something else. Mel can only be bothered to help for a few seconds, and Tristan loves him, but holds him all awkward-like, and he doesn't like that! Asher always wants to kiss him and Laney and Laurie like putting their doll blankets and clothes on him.
I am in awe everyday of the beautiful children I have and as crazy as it sounds, I would love to do this over and over and over again! ;o) I love that a baby in the house makes the world go slower and makes me take the time to sit down and cuddle my littles. I have read several books too, and I am finally becoming friends with the IPad because its quite a miraculous thing to be able to use it comfortaby one-handed! I can read scriptures and books and check facebook etc, with my free, non-baby-holding hand!
Life has been busy this past week with soccer starting up for Asher, piano for the bigs, horse riding, scouts, activity day girls...Josh has been super-busy working and being on-call so we have not seen much of him. When he is home, he is sleeping, or playing a new computer game. I know that having a newborn is stressful on him (and I suppose most men in general). I am preoccupied with baby and then I have the others to care for, not to mention oodles of laundry, driving, grocery shopping, dog, cooking, bathing, cleaning...I hardly have time to myself right now. He is feeling left out, I am sure. I planned a date for us last Friday, but then he got sick, so since I had already paid for the Y-night, I went an got a pedicure while he slept. Unfortunately it does take about 12-14 weeks before life is "more normal" and I can find more time for the two of us. Trust me, I know since I have done this 6 times before. I wish it wasn't so hard on a marriage, it is supposed to be a happy time, but let's face it...newborns are hard, the life-as-you-knew-it has been disrupted and everyone is sleep deprived and giving all they have to caring for little people instead of themselves and each other. It does get better though.
In my *spare time, I have been working on trying to get the scrapbooks updated. I am up-to-date with Nigel, Laurie and Laney. I am working on Tristan and Mara currently. I still have Mel and Asher obviously, but only a few things for each of them (ie. family reunion, birthdays, baby birth, first day of school). I do have loads for the family book to complete, and I am hoping that before the holidays go crazy, I can get up to speed and then stay current instead of playing catch-up! I am also busy buying Christmas gifts! Life is never boring around here!

2012 School Pictures

 Tristan, 5th grade

 Melina, 4th grade

 Ciomara, 2nd grade

Asher, Kindergarten

Little Hawkeye

Saturday was the Iowa Super Bowl: Iowa vs. Iowa State. Friday we wore our loyalty to school. Not to be outdone, Nigel also dressed for the occasion. Unfortunately the Hawks lost to the Cyclones, second year in a row, but fortunately, we did not have to watch the painful loss because we were watching our true loyalty instead: BYU. And, they beat Weber state! (I know, not sayin' much, but exciting nonetheless...)

Nigel 7 weeks Blessing Gown

 Nigel was sucha stinker last week abouthaving his picture taken after Church. So, today I putthe outift back on and tried to capture a few more shots. He was content for some, not so much for others. Here are the best.

 He hates the hat. After this photo he cried for all of them until the last one when I took the outift off and put the pacifier in....

Delaney's First Day of 3-year-old Preschool

 Getting ready to go...

At school..(don't you love the super-model pose?)

Today Laney started preschool. She goes 2 days a week, Tues/Thurs, for about 3 hours. She was so excited to go; she had to make sure she was wearing pink today, and she wanted to show her teachers the picture of her new baby brother. She went into the classroom without any fear and had a wonderful day, playing, making new friends, and drawing a self-portrait.
Most of the kids are siblings of the kids in Asher's 4-year-old class. I know a lot of the Moms and it is a super-good group. I had a chuckle to myself, as almost all of them just had a baby (this summer) or are super-pregnant. Such is life here with lots of young families and people having more than the average number of children. I love it!

Nigel's Baby Blessing

 Grandma Faye (Nigel's Great Grandma) made his gown, as she did for all 7 of them....

 Not happy about the hat.....

Sunday we blessed Nigel at Church. In the LDS Church a blessing is kind of a presentation of a new baby/small child for a family. It creates a record number for the child, introducing the child's name into a family's history, and officially recording them as a new member of the family and person in the Church. It does not make them a member of the Church. We baptize our children at 8 years old and at that time they become a Member of the Church. A blessing also gives the father, or another Priesthood holder, the opportunity to bestow blessings and promises upon a child at the beginning of his/her mortal journey. I am so grateful for my husband and the smart, strong, faithful and kind man that he is. I am so grateful that he holds the Priesthood and can bless our babies, give our children Father's blessings before school each year, bless us when we are sick, and even baptize our children. Josh gave a beautiful blessing to Nigel, and the little man stayed quiet and still so we could all hear.
Some of the things he was blessed with:
a healthy body
a testimony of the Gospel
to be a follower of Christ
to be a missionary
to serve others
to be a peacemaker

Grandpa and Grandma Stubblefield visit

Josh's Mom and Dad arrived late Thursday night and stayed with us through the Labor day weekend. We had a blast. I truly enjoy having company. It makes the days fun and fast and very entertaining. The weekend went by way too fast though....It is hard to see family only two times or so each year.
Thursday night we watched the BYU game (Go Cougars!) and Mitt's acceptance speech (Go Romney!). Friday Josh took off and we had Zombie Burger for lunch...yummy! and watched a movie for movie night. (Mara had a funny boo-boo. As the movie started, she said, "What the He** was that?" Instead of taking her punishment of hot sauce in the mouth, she went to bed, sans movie and popcorn).
Saturday we went to Ledges for a picnic and then headed back to Woodward to cross the Tressel Trail Bridge. It was a nice, muggy afternoon, but the breeze kept us cool. We (except me) picked our grapes and harvested rhubarb too. Mom and Dad juiced them all and now I have like 11 cans of fresh grape juice, ready for jelly.

Sunday we blessed Nigel at Church. He was good and didn't make a peep. Laurie and Asher though both yelled at me during it, so I missed some of what Josh said.

Monday we went to Chik-fil-A for lunch and Monkey Joes for play time. Then we headed to horse riding for Mel and Mara and came home to pizza for dinner.
Today they left :o( After getting kids off to school, bellies full with Grandma's pumpkin donuts, and taking Laney to her first day of preschool, they headed for Omaha to visit Grandpa Stubz and then fly home. Laurie was sick today, so instead of work, I stayed home and got to spend a few extra hours with them. So sad to see them go. We are truly blessed to have such wonderful parents (Prices and Stubblefields) who love and support us and love our children. Wish they all could visit more often.