Happy Halloween!!

Before moving on to Thanksgiving, I need to post about our super fun Halloween. The weekend before Halloween, we had our 4th annual chili/pumpkin carving night with the Ross Family. We laughed at how much our families have grown since last year - we added 3 kids in one year . . . Jen had twins and I had Kenzie. Crazy! The girls played together while the adults carved thier fabulous pumpkins. Dane did an elephant with an american flag in the background (yes, it does make a political statement), I did a sun . . . Jen and I both did cute faces with binkies for the Cam and the twins. I just drew some designs on McKenzie's tiny pumpkin.

I never loved Halloween until I had a child. Now I have TWO that I get to dress up!!! We went with a wild animal theme this year . . . Zebra and Giraffe (EE-bra and Gir-ASS in Cam language). Apparently they don't really get along too well. :)

I loved the little horns and tail on Kenzie's costume! I would like to thank Wal-Mart and Costco for providing us with such cute, cheap costumes, and my mother-in-law for fixing Cam's costume so it would fit her. Friday we went to my mother-in-law's work (Utah Food Bank) for the Halloween Party. Do you just LOVE my mother-in-laws costume?? (ITs Glenn Beck - fabulous and outspoken prominent Conservative talk radio/show host) It won scariest . . . in a workplace full of liberals - which is hilarious!
Cam really loved going around the offices and desks saying "Trick or Treat" and "Happy Halloween" - it was adorable. Except she didn't understand the concept of getting just ONE peice of candy, or that she couldn't eat them immediately as she recieved them - with the wrapper on.

Cousin Kaitlyn was a kitty cat and her little sister Hailey was a mouse . . . they were adorable too!


Halloween Night we first visited Brad and Jen to see the twins Brinley and Brielle in thier adorable flower costumes! Jen was a honey bee and Brad was a honey pot . . . sorry no pic of the whole family.Then we went to the in-laws for a little party with the cousins. Dane and I put on our costumes too - we were WILD - and we also eat our young. :)

Angela, Stephanie, Diane and Abby - Indian Princesses. Those are REAL saris from India.

Teletubbies . . . seriously??? It cracked me up.


We had another pumpkin carving episode. Dane's brother Taylor did Captain Jack Sparrow, Dane carved Severus Snape from Harry Potter and Dane's Dad did Joey - thier dog. The dog was so good - we asked Camryn what picture was on the pumpkin and she said "Joey" . . . and the other two . . . well they are simply awesome.

Happy Halloween!!!!!!!!! . . . now on to Thanksgiving

Blessing Day . . .

We blessed McKenzie this past Sunday (oct 25th). We decided a little last minute do it in October to avoid the oncoming flu and holiday seasons. Her dress was beautiful - thanks Nana! It was a wonderful day. I am so grateful to have a husband worthy and willing to take our children in his arms to give them a blessing - and for all those who participated. We felt a ton of support from family and friends that came!! Kenzie is blessed to have so many that love her already. Here are photos of Kenzie on her big day . . . and just some of the family and friends . . .

Kenzie is full on smiling, and it just melts our heart.

I can't believe she is almost 9 weeks old . . . time flies by too fast!

Don't grow up too fast little princess . . . .

Fall Fun!!!

Here are pics from a recent adventure to Discovery Gateway in Salt Lake - with sister-in-law and cousin and kids! It really is such a cool place and the kids love it - getting them to leave is ridiculous. Although getting a picture with 6 kids (3 and under) looking at the camera is actually impossible. :)


Next, some highlight pics from our trip to Hogle Zoo . . . we even got in free after agreeing to walk around an organic/natural/hippie baby expo just outside the zoo for a bit. I can call it those names, because I subscribe to much of the organic/natural/hippie school of thought. It was great though - I got a massage and coupons for all sorts of natural baby products - and Cam got her face painted for free. It was a great start to our zoo adventure.

Here is Kenzie - all bundled up. It turned out to be a hot day, but I was worried about my tiny one in the cool morning. Cam's first face painting - a purple heart . . . she almost held still through the whole thing, you can't see the smear in the pictures. :)
Camryn is eating a banana at the foot of this gorilla, pretty funny. She really does eat bananas like a monkey - she would eat 6 a day if I would give them to her.

We got to see tons of baby animals - giraffe, tiger, snow leopard, elephant - Camryn loved it!
Below is the baby lion.


Kenzie loved all the animals too!! Actually, she just slept the whole time, except when she woke up to eat - which is what put this little smile on her face.

Camryn has found a new love for her infant car seat. Whenever Kenzie is not in it, we can usually find Camryn in it. She decided to take advantage of the available seat while I was changing Kenzie's diaper.

Cam was quite tuckered out by the end of the trip. And yes, when she lays back like that, she does lean on Kenzie a bit, and as soon as we realized that, we put an end to it. But it sure made for a cute pic.

Finally, our latest fall extravaganza - the Pumpkin Patch. Although we picked a rough night to go - it was freezing cold and rainy - we got all dressed up and got some good pictures. The company and pumpkin pie afterwards werethe best parts anyway.

My girls are not at the ideal age for photoshoots. Kenzie is a bit small and Cam is in the can't hold still for more than one second stage. Kaitlyn and Hailey just sat and smiled, while my two girls squirmed and cried. Bribery for a sucker is how we got the picture below.

The girls love thier nana and papa!!

The cold doesn't seem to phase the kiddos!!! Camryn ran around yelling "pumpkin" (buh-kin) and picking up any pumpkin she could lift to put in the wagon.

I think when Camryn is like 13 or so and starts complaining about being the oldest and having the most responsiblity, I am going to remind her about these first few years of her life when she was simply spoiled rotten. Not in the sense that she gets whatever she wants, but she gets a whole lot of undivided attention from her parents. Admittedly, its not as much as it used to be with a little sister around. But if Camryn is awake and Kenzie is sleeping, I do my best to spend quality time with Camryn. Plus, Dane now often takes Camryn once or twice a week on a daddy/daughter outing after work to give me a little break. We have done TONS of fun activities lately, just for Camryn that she has loved. We go to Jump on It, Discovery Gateway, Hee Haw Farms, Hogle Zoo (of which I will post about with pics some other day). We will continue to do as much as we can - especially while both the girls are under 2 and free to take to most places.

Not to say I won't be doing them with my other children, but attention has to be divided and as each one comes along, they will probably be just slightly more "independant" (i suppose that is a better word than neglected, right??) - and as more kids come along, so do the expenses and the adventures may be less frequent. I could be wrong about this, but I have just realized with Kenzie, I can't just run to her every time she cries as I did with Camryn. She often whines for awhile in her vibrating chair . . . and even falls asleep before I get to her (which I actually like because she can fall asleep without being rocked all the time). Kenzie just won't have the ONE on ONE time that Camryn has had. Sorry Kenz, you are destined to be a middle child and I hope that's okay with you. :)

I love my two babies, and wouldn't change it for the world - but you can't ever go back to having just ONE. I don't know if Camryn will ever understand it, but I cherish our time together and all the things she teaches me. Although Kenzie may not get the attention Camryn has recieved, she will benefit from the "what not to dos" we have learned with Camryn. This all sounds a little strange maybe, but I think I am finally accepting this new stage of MY life and really pondering on the dynamics of our little family and how this affects my children.

How do you NOT pay attention to a face like this??? Coloring is one of our new favorite activites. We learn our colors and get a little quiet time!!!

Here we have Cam and Addi in the bath -

these girls are so cute together and just love each other!!

This picture sums up how Camryn feels about her baby sister. She just loves her and always has to know where she is. She was pretty worried when I left Kenzie with a neighbor to take Cam to the doc the other day. Then every time a baby cried in the Doctor's office - Cam would run to me and say "Neh-nee crying???" with the most concerned look on her face. She couldn't wait to get back to her baby sister. She usually wakes up calling Kenzie's name and cannot continue her daily routine until she has found her.

Here we are at Hee Haw Farms (cute little farm here in pleasant grove - so fun for little ones!)

Cam loved bouncing on the Hay Jump and sliding down the tubes!!

I think I need a corn box on my back porch. Awesome texture - Cam loved it - easier to clean up than sand - doesn't get into every crack - and not as messy as mud or water.

Cam LOVED to animal train (pulled by a little tractor). She would have ridden in it all day with her daddy - and was NOT happy to move on to the next activity.

My little princess loves to swing and was so happy to be "riding the horsie" - although funny that she wouldn't ride the real ponies at the farm this time, too scared. wierd.

I am not in any pics cause I am the photographer - carrying Kenzie in the Baby Bjorn. Thus - it was more of a Daddy/Daughter trip with mom just looking on, cuddling with Kenzie.

Nose Cleaning Incident. . .

Just a funny story for today I don't want to forget. Can't remember what Dane and I were doing, but suddenly Dane says to me "Look at Camryn." She walked out of our bedroom with the blue nose cleaning bulb (you know that thing you get in the hospital to suck the snot out of your kid's nose) - up her own nose. She has watched me use on Kenzie plenty of times. We decided to just watch her to see her next move. Camryn proceeded to walk up to Kenzie and put the bulb up Kenzie's nose. It was absolutely hilarious and Dane and I just started laughing as we lunged for Camryn to make sure she didn't shove it up there too hard. As Camryn realized that she maybe couldn't clean out Kenzie's nose like she wanted, she looked at the bulb and put it back up her own nose and walked away. Realizing we didn't want Camryn to walk around with anything up her nose, we thanked Camryn for being so helpful to her little sister and told her gently not to put things up her nose and had her give the bulb to me. Camryn was just so proud to be helpful and smiling from ear to ear. She even asked me to hold Kenzie about 3 times today - "Neh-Nee arms" as she was sitting next to me on the couch holding out her arms ("Neh-Nee" is Cam's word for Kenzie) . It took me a minute to figure it out - that she wanted me to put Kenzie in her arms. That was a sweet moment.

I swear everyday Camryn shows more and more interest in her sister and every day I love having these two girls so close together even more as I watch them interact and learn from each other!!!!! Don't get me wrong - don't want to be prego again in 7 months like it happened after Camryn, but I am grateful God knew better than me. Maybe after a good break two more kiddos close together might be fun (as if we can actually plan these things, but just food for thought).

Family Pictures

So - we had family pictures taken a couple weeks back by some wonderful friends and neighbors (THANKS!!) . . . what an adventure. I remembered how easy it was last time - Cam was 6 months old - smiled at EVERYTHING and couldn't run away or throw fits. Mostly I just wanted some good pics of the girls, and if we got a good family shot, then great. Let me narrate the experience for you . . . .

It was a windy, windy day but we went for it anyway - heading to a park by our place. We started with Cam and Kenzie together. I was just grateful Camryn let us put her sister on her lap, cause that had not happened more than once at that point.

Camryn was actually intrigued and held her sisters hand - SO CUTE. McKenzie didn't love the wind, thus the pucker face.

"Button" says Cam with glee - as she proceeded to push all the buttons on Kenzie's sweater.
Here is the turning point in the picture taking experience (which thus far had maybe been 5 minutes). Mom (yes, me) - trying to get Camryn to look up and smile - says "Cam, if you look at Mama and smile - I will get your Barbie." WHAT 18 MONTH OLD KNOWS THE MEANING of IF/THEN STATEMENTS???? Well, maybe some do, but not mine quite yet. All Cam heard was BARBIE . . . and that was it. It's one thing when kids throw fits because they are being spoiled or whatever . . . its another when kids throw fits cause their parents say or do something stupid (which was the case here). Dane had to run to the car and get Barbie . . . and every time we took away to try to get a pic without it, Cam had a meltdown.

Cute smile . . . well check out what she is smiling at. :)

Many of the rest of the pics of Cam, she has a sad face.

Yes, Barbie is up the tree.

These are the two family pics that sort of turned out. Of course Camryn was done smiling. And the wind was still reeking havoc on Kenzie (thus the stink face) and my hair. But I must say - my husband is one ATTRACTIVE man!

Daddy taking Cam away for a little talk to calm down.

But life without Barbie is still meaningless.

While Daddy is with Cam - we did get a few shots of Mommy with her new little baby girl.

Just as Cam calmed down about Barbie, she saw a tiny puddle of water in the creek and all chances of trying to take more pictures were dashed. We indulged our big baby girl and let her play in the water for a minute before leaving the park.

Overall, the photo shoot was a great success. I LOVE the pics of Cam and Kenzie and the ones of the girls separately. We will try again for a family pic in the spring when hopefully McKenzie is smiling at everything and Camryn can be sufficiently bribed into smiling and holding still. :)

Here are a few pics of one of our last sprinkler days before putting the hose away for the fall/winter:

And thankfully, I am back to walking. There were a few warm morning left and now we go in the afternoons when it is beautiful outside. I love my new double stroller (bought it off KSL from a true polygamist - good story for another blog or ask me about it - its hilarious) and the girls love it too - although the moment we get home Cam is out of there to play on the playground!

I LOVE watching my two girls interact more and more each day. Cam seems to be more taken with Kenzie - "Neh-Nee" in Cam talk - each day. She runs up to her and gets right in her face - "Hi Neh-Nee, HI, HI, HI!" When McKenzie cries - "Neh-Nee sad, Neh-Nee crying?" and she runs to her. She loves to give her baby sister kisses and head buts (we have to be careful about that one) and tries to share everything with Neh-Nee. Today Cam brought me Kenzie's blanket and I told her to take it to her Baby Sister. When I walked over to supervise, Cam had draped the blanket all over Kenzie - head to toe covered. It was done out of love and I thought it was pretty sweet despite the possible danger. :) Although the craziness around house had probably doubled, so has the joy and love and the moments that melt my heart!

Surviving . . . maybe even Thriving . . .

You may think the title of my post is strange, but I am grateful my enlarged family is surviving (I was really worried about my capabilities) and really most days we are happy and healthy and doing better than before!! I must admit, there are the occasional days where both my girls end up crying most of the day (either at the same time or taking turns), I don't get a thing accomplished (chores/shower/anything other than feeding and possibly dressing the kiddos) and I have cried to Dane after these days wondering if I am up to the task of two babies. Most days, however, we have lots of fun playing and because I am busier, I am actually better at planning and being more organized and can even get the house cleaned, kids bathed and ready and dinner ready by 5pm - and spend quality time with each of my daughters in the mean time. Those days are my favorite and I have never felt more accomplished in my life!! One of these days I will do all that and get myself showered and ready before Dane gets home from work, but right now, the need for a nap wins over showering in the daytime. :)

Camryn has made lots of progress in acknowledging her baby sister. The second week we had McKenzie home, Cam started to be very sensitive and cry over everything and just want to be held and I was getting nervous. Turns out she had a double ear infection and after a few days of antibiotics she was back to her happy, semi-independent self. This past week Cam has been paying more attention to her sister - helping me burp her, trying to share her food and toys with her, pointing out body parts and holding her hand - which is all really adorable. She puts her baby doll next to Kenzie on the bouncer and "rocks" them both (which requires constant supervision :)

Although she is still a Momma's girl, Cam has been bonding pretty well with Daddy and becoming more and more independent. The two best things for Cam have been a baby doll set we bought her at Costco and Disney movies. She plays with her baby all day - takes her for walks in the stroller, puts her night-night, feeds her, and occasionally wipes her bum. The other thing has been Cam's new found love for movies. Never much of a TV watcher (well, she loved cartoons for 15 min on and off) - she will sit down to sometimes a good hour of both Monsters, Inc. and Toy Story 2. Judge me if you must, but it has been a life saver during nursing and times when both girls need cuddling at the same time for us to watch movies together. I must say I am grateful too - both those movies are pretty darn cute and entertaining and although I have many parts memorized, I am able to handle the repetition.

Camryn also loves shoes right now - and I am fine with letting her pull out all my shoes from the shelf and walk around in them. I think she walks better in my heels than I do.

McKenzie's first bath!

TOUCHDOWN!!!

Sleeping peacefully - which most days I can get both girls to do at the same time for maybe an hour or so - which is my nap time. Maybe not all moms with newborns need a nap, but I will fully admit that I am a bit hormonally imbalanced for a while as my body readjusts, and not getting enough sleep only adds to the problem. My husband just put up with 9 months of ups and downs from my physical pregnancy issues, so I have to do what I can to make my weeks of emotional/hormonal moodiness as bearable as possible. :) He is such a trooper!


Overall - we really are thriving and I am grateful everyday for our happy little surprise we call McKenzie! Also grateful for Camryn and Dane and the beautiful family I am SOOO BLESSED to have. Couldn't have (and didn't) plan for all this, but I wouldn't change a thing!