A great weekend

Ever have one of the days, where your just uncharacteristically happy?  That was me this weekend.  I started off yesterday by doing double duty.  I headed out for my run, and took along Cam's IPhone, so I could listen to the morning session of general conference.  I took a new route, that took me up into the hills, on a fairly secluded dirt road.  It was so awesome to be out enjoying nature, and listening to our church leaders.  I think I had a smile on my face all seven miles. 
Sunday, it was just me, Lexi and Colton.  Abby spent the night at her cousin Pipers house, which allowed me to spend a little more time with Lexi.  I love Abby with all my heart, but she does have a tendency to hog the spot light here at home.  And since Colton still sleeps a good majority of the day, I got to play and goof around with Lexi a lot.  She is such a typical middle child, kind of going about her business when there is a lot going on here at home, but if given the oppertunity, loves some extra attention.

We had such a great weekend.  It really helped me to remember how blessed I am.  I have three beautiful kids, I live in a wonderful community, surrounded my nature, and the list goes on and on.  It was the perfect weekend, to hit the reset button, and erase all the silly stress that I tend to hold on to.

Running shoes

Not the most flattering pictures, but you get the idea

I bought Abby some "running shoes", as they are called in our house, the other day.  And she has almost literally worn them every day, with every outfit.  Yes, even dresses and skirts.

Oh, so tired

The other day, I went up stairs to take a shower, and left both the girls downstairs playing.  When I came down, a little while later, this is what I found:

Sound asleep, on the family room floor.  With her blanket of course. 

I'm gonna make him go to sleep, one way or another

A very slobbery baby Colton

Gradually, over the last month or so, Colton went from being a champion sleeper, to waking up 3 times a night.  After over a week of him waking up every couple of hours every night, I decided enough was enough.  It was time.  Time to "cry it out".  Both the girls were closer to 6 months old before I "forced" them to fall asleep on their own, but Colton just needed to figure it out, so we all could get a little bit better sleep.  He's done really good.  The first several nights he cried for about 45 minutes, but he's getting the hang of it, and last night, he only made a few peeps, before floating off into dream land.  He even has been going longer and longer stretches of sleep at night.  The other night, he slept from about 8pm to 5am.  Can't complain about that!  So even though I always dread this crying themselves to sleep stage, it is ALWAYS worth it in the long run.

Other Colton related news:

• I switched him off the thickened formula.  It did, originally make a huge difference in the amount he would spit up.  But, we hated this formula.  Absolutely hated it.  It was impossible to get it to mix up, and the unmixed chunks of formula would constantly clog the bottle.  Every feeding was so long and frustrating.  So good-bye thick formula, and hello good ol' regular formula.  He's adjusted really well, and his extreme spitting seems to have subsided.
• He seems to be attached to blankets, just like Lexi.  He also sucks on his fingers like Lexi.  Birds of a feather, flock together, I guess.
• And, as the picture shows, he slobbers, a ton.  And I know its common at his age, but, man, he's salivating like it's his job or something :)

Colorado, again

Cam had five days off of work, so we decided to head, once again, to Colorado to visit my family.

Our visit consisted of:

• 2 days of driving (one day there, and one day to return)
• 3 days of relaxing (sort of)
• 1 trip to Denver to visit with friends I grew up with
• Hours and hours of playing outside
• 1 ouchie
• 100 naps (might be a bit of an exageration)
• 500 attempts to get Colton to nap (NOT an exageration!)
• Very little sleep (for me and Cam, anyways)
• 1 six mile run
• 2 trips to the rec center
• and 1 large case of peaches

I ALWAYS enjoy when we get to go and visit my family, but, Colton is such a home-body.  He just doesn't do well when we are away from home.  It felt like the whole time we were there one of us was holding Colton, trying to keep him happy.  His naps were short, and few and far between, he woke up SEVERAL times each night, and prefered being held to anything else.  Thankfully, he is not picky, and will let anybody hold him.  Hopefully, by next summer, traveling with the little hooligans will be SO much easier!

We drove over on Sunday, and thankfully, the drive wasn't that bad.

Monday, my sister had put together a playdate/lunch with a few girls I went to high school with.  It was so nice to get a chance to catch up, and chit-chat.  That afternoon, Cam headed to the local gym to get some weight lifting done, and then after dinner, it was my turn, and I took off for a run.

Tuesday, was mostly relaxing and running around town a little.  There was a farmers market that I wanted to hit.  I was mainly looking to load up on some of their local peaches that are just amazing.

Wednesday, Cam and I took Abby to see the Lion King in 3D.  And my mom was kind enough to watch the other two rugrats while we were gone. I also spent a good part of the day peeling, cutting and freezing the huge case of peaches I had purchased.  Cam also squeezed in another trip to the rec center.

Thursday, time to make the 8 hour drive back home.

I failed to get my camera out till Wednesday night.  And Abby was in the mood to pose for the camera, so I got a lot of weird/silly shots of her, and few of every body else.

My mom, brother Jeff, Abby and Lexi

Abby wanted me to take a picture of her cleaning up.  I think she just wanted everyone to think she was really good at cleaning :)

I bought this super cute hat for Lexi.  She wore it all around the store, and in the car home from the store, but wouldn't put it on after that.

Abby got that cut under her bottom lip playing with the swing out back.

Lexi, literally played with her baby the whole time we were there.

Pose

Pose

Pose

Colton, with some very tired, sad eyes

Cam and Abby

It was a good trip.  I think the girls both really enjoyed being there, and Colton was finally getting settled in about the time we had to leave.

It was good to see my Dad, who, thankfully, after a few weeks of being REALLY sick from the chemo, was feeling pretty good.

I can't wait to go back, but I think it will have to wait till next year.

Colton, 4 Months

Colton turned 4 months yesterday.  Here is what he's up to now:

• He weighs 14 lbs 8 oz, which puts him right in the 50%
• He's 26 1/4 inches long, which puts him above the 90%

• He loves to reach and grab toys.  He is very entertained by the same lights and sounds toy that the girls loved.  I've also, in a desperate attempt to keep him happy in the car, bought him a little toy bar that hangs in his car seat.  He seems to love that, he no longer crys the entire time he's in the car seat.
• He's not even close to rolling over.  He doesn't arch his back, roll onto his side or anything.  Oh well, he'll get there eventually.
• He usually takes one good nap a day, the rest of the time, it's just 30 minutes here and there.
• He smiles, and laughs alot.  He is very ticklish, and enjoys when Abby sings a little song to him.
• He loves to be held. All the time.  I think one of my arms is much stronger then the other from carting him around all day.  I've also learned how to do a lot of things, using just one arm.
• He's still wakes up once in the night to eat.  I'm anxious for him to start sleeping through the night :)





Pretty much the face he made after every bite.  And yes, he is sitting in a purple Bumbo :)  And yes, that bib is larger than he is :)

• We fed him some rice cereal yesterday for the first time.  He made a lot of funny faces, and might have swallowed one spoonful.  I'm gonna keep trying though, I'm hoping that once he starts on solids, I can transition back to regular formula instead of this awful thickened formula.

He is a sweet little guy, and we are all enjoying watching him grow and learn.

1st day of preschool

Abby started preschool this week, and is loving it!!!

It's starts at 9am, and because the mornings are already hectic to begin with, I was in too much of a rush, that I forgot to get a picture of her BEFORE school, so here are some AFTER school pics :)