Hiking

Brett caught the hiking bug, and we are all enjoying the fall weather and beautiful views of the changing leaves.  We've done a couple of family hikes with Aaron and Abby in the double stroller.  Cascade Springs up AF Canyon is amazing and very stroller friendly.  We also did a hike up Logan Canyon with my sister and her family and my parents this weekend. 

Most of the hikes around here are not so stroller friendly, so Brett and Emmy are tackling those.  Emmy LOVES to hike and is quite the little hiker.  

She especially loves her new CamelBak handed down from Uncle Nate.  

The beautiful view on their way to Horsetail Falls.

7 Weeks

 Here's Aaron on his 7 week birthday. 

There's a reason Brett calls him "Tank".

Actually, there are two reasons: one on the left side of his mouth and one on the right side.  Those cheeks are so chubby and so kissable! 

Aaron has already grown out of most of his 0-3 month clothes.  He's so LONG and so perfectly chubby!  I am loving this handsome little man!

Aaron's Blessing Day

Aaron was blessed by his daddy on Sept 2.  We had the blessing in the evening in the Relief Society Room so that more extended family could come.  We had over 40 family members there!  We are so lucky to have such a great network of extended family that lives close by. 

Brett gave a beautiful blessing, but it was a little hard to hear over Aaron’s crying.

 

 

I was vain and didn’t want to swaddle him because I wanted everyone to see just how cute he was with his bowtie and vest.  And Brett told me afterward that the hands supporting Aaron were tilted and Aaron started to slide downward.  Gratefully Uncle Ty noticed and stuck his hand under to support Aaron’s bum.  Thanks, Ty!

Aaron's blessing outfit was made by my mom.  I cut it out before he was born, but for some reason I was scared to work on it so I kept putting it off.  Well, I put it off long enough that it didn't get done before he came!  Thank you to my mom for putting it together!  And she made little shoes to match!  Doesn't he look so handsome? 

 I couldn't decide which picture I liked the best, so you get several.  It's all the looks of Aaron!

 Slight smile:

 Open mouth:

 Staring at a very interesting light:

Waving his arms and kicking his legs because he's excited:

Want to know why he's excited?
 
Two of his favorite people finished their baths and are talking to him!

These three sure love each other!  It's been so fun to watch Emmy and Abby with Aaron.  They adore him, and he's beginning to adore them, too.  It's neat to hear Aaron calm down when one of his sisters talks to him and to watch him smile at them.  Three kids is still pretty hectic (notice that Abby isn't dressed in the above picture), but it is so rewarding!

No More Diapers!

Potty training Abby started back in January.  Emmy was potty trained by her second birthday, so of course Abby would be too.  I figured that would give us a couple of months before the baby came and hopefully she wouldn’t regress too much.  I certainly wasn’t going to have two children in diapers!

Well, surprise, surprise, Abby is not Emmy.  She wasn’t quite ready before she turned two and then our summer turned into vacation after vacation and potty training on the road is a nightmare.  So I had two in diapers, and it wasn’t all that bad. 

 A couple of weeks ago, Abby started telling me every time she peed of pooped in her diaper and would demand I changed her right then.  I decided that when we ran out of diapers I wasn’t buying anymore.  The time had come.  I started to lose my nerve as the stack of diapers dwindled.  What was a I thinking trying to potty train with a brand new baby and little sleep at night?!?!  Then one evening as I was filling the bathtub with a naked Abby looking on, she suddenly turned walked a couple steps to her little potty, sat down and peed.  She knew she needed to go, she knew there was no diaper to catch it, so she went on the potty.  That showed me that she really was ready.  We went to the store and bought a few prizes for her to earn by going potty, and set the start date for Monday.

And so, this past Monday I prayed for extra patience, moved the little potty to the kitchen (where we spend most of our time and it is tile floor for easy clean up), and put Abby in undies.  She was quite willing to sit on the potty and put stickers on her chart and went every couple of hours when I asked her if she needed to go.   We didn’t have any accidents all day!  That evening as she was eating dinner she suddenly grabbed her undies and scrambled down from her chair.  I helped her get to her potty, and she peed the rest in the potty.  Day one: one partial accident.

Tuesday was accident free until the evening as well.  She peed while playing outside in the backyard and was super upset about it.  I was really glad she cared!

Since then, she has been accident free and even worn undies to bed!  I know we are not officially potty trained yet, but I am SO happy with her progress.  Overall it has been fairly pain-free.  Let’s hope it continues!  I look forward to the day I can relax and just wait for her to tell me when she needs to go.  Until then, I’m happy to not spend money on size 4 diapers!

Baby Weight

I had my 6 week post-partum visit this morning.  I felt like I should have had it a month ago because I have felt back to normal since then.  This has certainly been a super easy recovery…if only I was getting more sleep. :)

Anyway, the good news is, I’ve lost all the baby weight!

The only extra weight is about 15 pounds of “yes, I’d love another brownie,” “this one’s for the baby,” “I’ll finish Abby’s cake; we wouldn’t want to waste it,” and “I’m going to sit on the couch as much as possible because I feel like a beached whale and it’s way too hot to  move.”

Yeah, just those pounds left over.

I hope walking Emmy to and from school along with my morning walks with my friend will help to shed the pounds quickly because I’m sick of not fitting my clothes!  And based on the size of Aaron’s cheeks, I think he’s doing his part as well!  I weighed him on the baby scale my mom let me borrow, and it said he’s 12 pounds already.  He gained 4 pounds in 4 weeks!  

If he's gaining a pound a week, I should be losing a pound a week, right?

Look Alikes

When Aaron was born, we didn't know who he looked like.  He definitely had is own, boyish look.  But after a few hours, we started to see some Abby in him.   I think they have the same nose.  

When Abby was looking through our picture album last night (one of her favorite things to do now), she pointed at this picture and said, "Bah (her word for there/that) picture of Aaron?"  

No, my sweet girl, that is you!  But it does look  A LOT like Aaron!

I had a hard time finding a picture of Aaron that showed the same position and facial expression, but this one is close.

See the same eyes, nose, hairline...and big sister!  Aaron is like the boy version of Abby!  It will be interesting to see if the similarities continue or not. 

Emmy's In Kindergarten!

My sweet Ember Jane is in Kindergarten, and she LOVES it!  She was hardly nervous before her first day.  Brett gave her a back-to-school blessing the evening before, and I think that got rid of any anxiousness she was feeling.  (But she couldn't quite get a natural smile for her picture in the morning, so maybe she was feeling some anticipation.)

 She has Mrs. Christensen and is in morning kindergarten.  I was a bit nervous about signing up for morning kindergarten, but our neighbors were planning on morning, so if I wanted help getting her to and from school, I knew I'd better follow suit.  (Especially because Aaron was due to arrive only 2 weeks before the start of school.  We ended up with exactly 4 weeks which was really nice.  Thanks, Aaron!)  Now that we've finished a week, I am really glad we did morning kindergarten because it gets us up and moving in the mornings, it's helping to get Aaron on a bit of a schedule (as in, he takes a morning nap in the stroller while we walk and then generally stays asleep for awhile when we get home), and Emmy is used to eating lunch and then watching a TV show while I get Abby down for a nap; I think we'd have a harder time getting out the door to school after lunch.

When she walked out the classroom door after her first day, she said, "That was the funnest thing ever!"  When she walked out the second day, she said, "Today was even more fun than yesterday!"  And the afternoon of her first day, I overheard her tell her sister, "Abba, [yes, she does call Abby Abba; it's her own special nickname for her, I guess] kindergarten is the best thing ever!"  I think it's safe to say that she is a fan of school!

On the first day, they got their first homework assignment: to decorate a gingerbread man.  The note attached to the brown construction paper with an outline suggested using crayons, markers, macaroni, buttons, or fabric.  Emmy caught right onto the word fabric and ran to her sewing kit.  She immediately set to work making changeable outfits for her gingerbread girl with elastic around the back. 

We didn't have time to finish all the outfits, but she and Grandma went crazy decorating this one.  She definitely had the most decorated gingerbread man (girl) there!  My dad said he can't wait to see her 8th grade history diorama.  Overachiever, anyone? :)

It certainly is fun entering the school phase of our family's life.  I'm just trying not to feel too claustrophobic when I realize the "school phase" will last at least the next 18 years.