Serenity Now!!!: October 2013

Thursday, October 31, 2013

12 Month Pictures

I'm quite sure that you could never be sick of looking at pictures of Jason, but I have had a lot of birthday posts lately...sorry.
Here's another one.

At 12 months, Jason is:
22 pounds 3 ounces (60%)
29 inches tall (25%)

That means he weighs more than any of the other kids at this age (he's got 4 pounds on Jake at this age!) and he's the shortest of all of them by a half inch.
The others were all walking by now and he has taken a few steps, so he is close.
I am so grateful for each one of our sweet babies. They are so cute! Be sure to click on the link below to see the others at 1.
Here's Jason's 1 year old photo shoot...

If you want to see the other kiddos at 12 months, click HERE.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Hair Cuts

Jason and Nate were in need of hair cuts. Jason's hair just seemed to grow overnight and it was too long to still look cute. He was getting quite a mud flap. So, we visited our pal Syndee.

Before

During

After

He did pretty well for the hair cut. He got restless at the end but was easily distracted with a pack of smarties. He's still got stick straight hair so it looks about the same, but the mullet in back is gone and I think he is incredibly cute.

Nate got to take a turn in the chair next. He loves having his head scratched. I used to sit outside his crib and scratch his head through the bars when he was a tiny baby because it always calmed him down. Now he requests it. Anyway, he sat through the hair cut better than I've ever seen a 2 year old sit because he liked having his hair combed and head scratched. Funny kid...

He's a handsome beast too!

Monday, October 28, 2013

Bottles

Jason drinks a bottle now. He's still pretty lazy about it and doesn't hold his own bottle unless he has to. That's okay though because I love that little bit of quiet time with him. When he eats he twirls his hair with his free hand. Sometimes he wraps his legs around my arm and snuggles in tight. I wanted to get a picture of that, but of course, he wasn't doing it on cue.
He doesn't mind formula at all and has even tasted cow's milk with no complaints. I guess I am always surprised when a kid switches over with no troubles because Jake and Allie were so hard.
Anyway, I miss nursing him, but he is growing up and I guess this is the next step. He sure is a cutie.

Sunday, October 27, 2013

The Party

Jason doesn't even really know that he didn't get a decorated chair with balloons. He doesn't know that his one and only gift was bought 4 years ago with another child in mind (then put away and forgotten till now). All he knows is that his birthday was just as wonderful as any other day in his life. I tried to respond to his cries a little quicker than usual so that made it even better than a normal day, right?
Allie felt bad for him all day because she seemed to think we needed to do more for him, but I thought we were doing just fine.

He chose Cheerios for his birthday breakfast...

I did go to the effort of making him a cute cake. It's by far the cutest 1 year old birthday cake of any of the other kids, so that's got to count for something.
We had grilled cheese and tomato soup (the other kids requested that for him) and he loved his dinner.

Then he got to dive into this...

He wasn't so sure at first, but then he tasted it and was a fan.

I made another cake for the family and the kids were excited to get an eyeball each.

Here is Jason's one gift and all the kids fighting over it...except him.

I think he ended up having a wonderful birthday. He is a cute kid and we all love him so much!

Friday, October 25, 2013

Fun, fun, fun

We had a great time for fall break this year. I went with my mom, sisters, nieces, Allie and Jake to St. George. We have made it a tradition for the last few years. The kids have come to expect it, so I guess it's a new thing. We drove down there on Friday and got settled into the condo and went swimming in the pool.

The cousins splashed around together and when they were shrivelled we got out and went to the Tuachan to see Mary Poppins.

Our seats were way up at the front, so we had a great view. The kids all loved it and are still talking about it. Especially the parts where Mary Poppins floated into the sky and when she pulled things out of her bag with "magic". Allie is still asking questions about that.

We have Mary Poppins songs stuck in our heads now..."She's practically perfect, in every way." It was great though.

The next day, we woke up and drove to Zion's. We had fun going on hikes, playing in the river with floating sticks and logs, and taking selfies.

The kids just loved being together. They are a fun group of kiddos.

I'm so grateful that we were able to go on the trip. Mike did just fine at home with the boys and it was a wonderful break for me. I think I have PTSD from being Nate's mom though. My brain kept telling me to look for Nate. I was just sure that he was drowning in the pool, jumping off a cliff, darting into traffic, or just plain getting lost. Then I'd remind myself that he was safe at home and I could get back to enjoying Allie and Jake. Funny huh.
Anyway, it was a great trip and I am so glad we could go. We've made memories for sure.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

One!

Jason...I can hardly believe it. One year, with your cute face in it, has been wonderful. You make us all so happy and you are incredibly fun to hug and squeeze and kiss. I am thankful for the easy going start you had and for all the fun months in between. You add a lot to our family and are a great book end baby.
You are quick to smile but surprisingly stubborn and quick to throw a fit too. You throw your body down, arch your back, kick and scream, bang your head on the floor, pull your own hair, all sorts of things to let us know that you are unhappy. Sometimes I have to just turn my head so you won't see me laughing at your crazy fits.
You are still crawling everywhere and can walk if you are holding onto something. You aren't convinced that walking is a better method yet though and won't even really give it a try. I'm sure that will change quickly.
You are an observer. You like to watch people around you and can watch them for hours. When we go places, you rarely give me trouble because you like to just watch the world around you and it is different than the same old boring stuff at home, so you like it.

You still just have 6 teeth, but you like to chomp things with them. You are a bit of a picky eater, but you are always up to try what we are having for dinner. Most of the time, the other kids are saying "ewww, yuck!" and you are saying "mmmm".

Speaking of speech, you aren't talking yet. You do the normal baby chatter, but you aren't saying any for sure words. You mimic sounds and are pretty good at making us smile with your little clicking, growling, and spitting noises. You do say "dada" a lot and you say it when Dad is around or leaving, so I think that might be your first word.

You are still a really great napper and don't seem to mind going into bed at night either. You love the bath but hate getting your diaper changed.

You love to crawl around and take Nate's toys when he puts them down. Then you look at me as if to say "what did I do?" when he gets mad at you for taking them.

You dance when music is on and you seem to scream less at the dinner table if there is music to listen to.
You like to add to the chaos when the other kids are acting up. You think that's your cue to follow me around and try to climb up my pant leg.

You love to look at books and will sit on my lap and listen to books for long periods of time.

You have the cutest smile and I love the way you bury your face into my neck and hug me back when I hug you.

You can make anyone happy with one smile. When your brothers or sister are having a rough day, all I have to do is put you in their lap and the smiles come fast. I am so thankful for you and am so glad you came into our home a year ago. When dad said "it's a boy" and then they showed me your cute face for the first time, I remember feeling so sure that you were going to be a wonderful addition to our family. Thank you for being my sweet boy. Happy birthday Jason Kay!