She still has style!

I was really proud of her for getting a shirt that matched her skirt. Then she went overboard when I asked her to change into pants because it was cold outside. She got leggings and a jacket and figured that was good. She made her own headband by clipping her bows on the headband. And "remember, Mom, spots go with spots!"

In case I needed another reason to not be a fan of Dora the Explorer...

I have one.

Conversation at lunch...

Allie: Mom, if we go out on the trampoline, we won't jump on you because you still have a crackened open belly.
Me: Well, that would be nice of you.
Jake: All you need is Celtrixa
Me: What's that?
Allie: It makes the lines on your tummy go away.
Jake: Yeah, when you are pregnant and have a baby you get stretch marks. So all you have to do is rub that stuff on your belly and they go away.
Me: Where did you guys learn about all this?
Jake: From a commercial.
Allie: Yeah, after Dora.

They went on to talk about this stuff that I "need" because it will fix my "crackened open belly".
I have written before about the dangers of the commercials that play on the same channel as Dora. Why do they have those? What kid needs to learn about stretch marks? I wish they could be more like the Disney channel.
I went to the DVR and searched for the commercial after this conversation, and I found it. I was so annoyed that the kids had not only seen the commercial, but had memorized it, because it was not a good commercial! There was a lady in a bikini on the beach and it talked about how this stuff helps "even the most embarrassing parts of your body". My kids don't need to see that! It makes me want to boycott the tv.
Anyway, it was a pretty funny conversation with the kids. I love how Allie thinks my belly is "crackened" open and she is always concerned that I will drink water and it will come spilling out the crack. I don't know how many times I have tried to correct the misconception.
These kids make me laugh.
I was looking back through old posts to find the one about Clorox commercials when Jake was younger. It was so fun to read about the cute things these kids used to say and do. They are pretty funny. If you ever get bored and want to remind yourself of how cute my kids are, you should go back and read some of those old posts :)

Blessing day

Nathan Joe was blessed on Easter Sunday. What a lucky boy! When I heard our ward would be changing fast Sunday to accommodate Stake Conference, we decided to make plans to bless the baby on Easter. It all came together well and it ended up being a beautiful day. Mike gave him a wonderful blessing. We had great support from both sides of the family.

I am so grateful for the atonement and for the miracle of the resurrection. I thought of Sam a lot on Easter Sunday, and missed my dad. I am so grateful for the promise of eternal life. I am so grateful that we can conquer death. I am grateful that we can be with those we love beyond the grave. I love Easter. I am so grateful for a loving Father in Heaven and for my Savior Jesus Christ.

I am nursing Nathan. This has lead to many uncomfortable conversations with Allie and Jake.
Before we even brought him home, we talked about what the baby would eat when we got him. Jake was convinced that he would get any milk he needed just by sucking on a binky. Allie wanted to give the baby her doll bottles. A few days before the baby was born, the questions were more and more frequent, so we sat down and had a chat. I told them that I would be the one feeding the baby, and that I wouldn't need bottles. They looked at me blankly, so I told them that milk would come out of my chest. They still had confusion, but Allie was checking out her chest and wondering if she could feed him too.
Jake understood a little better and said "Oh, so if you go out of town, we are going to have to get a babysitter who has big chesties (what we call boobs around here) so she can feed the baby." I almost spit out my drink mid swallow and laughed for a long time at that one.
After we brought Nathan home, the curiosity didn't end. Allie was the worst...always trying to lift up the blanket for a peek. Jake just came over and said "I know what the baby is doing...he's drinking from your chest."

After hearing a conversation with Jake and his friends, we had to have another dinner time chat about who we talk about "chesties" with.
Allie took that in her own direction and when people would come over, she'd say "my mom is feeding the baby, but we aren't supposed to say that she is feeding him with her chest."

But the point of all these funny things they have said, was to get to one that has made me laugh over and over. I was holding Nathan one day (not even feeding him) and he had his hand resting on my chest. Allie came over, pushed it away and said "Mom! He was touching your privates!"
Wow...really?

My new best friend

These are a few weeks late. Nate smiled for the first time the day he turned one month old. He hasn't given me many smiles since then, but when he does, they sure are cute!

Conversation in the car...

Allie peed her pants twice in one weekend down at my mom's house. On the way back home, she said "Mom, since I peed my pants at Grandma's, does that mean I'm not potty trained anymore?"

One month old

I know I've been a slacker on the posting thing lately, and I feel really bad. I have lots to write about, but when I have time to write, I am generally sleeping...
So, I am late talking about Nate's first month, but better late than never!
The boy started smiling the day he turned one month old. The smiles are very rare, but we do get them occasionally.

With Allie and Jake, I took pictures of them each month, so we are carrying on the tradition. And just for your viewing pleasure, I will include the other kid's 1 month pictures...

Jake...

Allie...

Nate...

Jake and Allie wore these jammies too. I love them and as soon as they are out of the wash, that is the outfit of choice for Allie, so Nathan spends a lot of time looking like a skeleton.

We sure are loving this baby boy. I miss him when I'm not holding him. The boy is spoiled!

Photo Shoot

When we first got home from the hospital there were offers of food and friends who would watch my children. Everyone kept saying "I know how hard it is to have a new baby around." I would smile and decline the offers because we really were doing just fine. Other than recovering from the c-section, things were great. The boy slept 20 of 24 hours and the time he was awake he was generally happy. He was such a good baby that when spring break rolled around, I got jealous of all the people heading for sunshine, so we hopped on the band wagon. We went to St. George. It was a great vacation filled with sunshine, red rock, swimming pools, happy children, and a sleepy newborn.
Then we came home and Nathan woke up. He woke up and started crying. He is still a super cute kid and we all love him and love having him around. But when his eyes are open, he is crying or fussing. It might sound like complaints coming from me, but I am not complaining. In fact, Mike doesn't understand how I can look at Nathan's angry face and hear him crying and laugh and smother him in kisses. I love him every minute of the day. It's really nice to have those feelings because I remember having to put Allie in her crib and walk away when she was a crying newborn. I still loved her, it just got to be too much to take sometimes.
I don't know if it is because I have wanted this for so long, or if I am just delirious right now, but the crying hasn't phased me.
Jake and Mike have a hard time hearing him cry. They both suggest time after time that he must be hungry. (Even after watching me feed him minutes before). Mike doesn't believe me when I say he is just acting like a normal baby and that Allie was much worse (knock on wood).
Jake is so sweet with him, he is constantly following the cries to wherever Nathan happens to be and he tries to soothe him with his binky. If all else fails, he covers his ears in distress and asks me to make it stop.
Luckily, Nathan still sleeps well so we have lots of breaks from the crying.
Allie has had to be reminded more times than I can count that when the baby is sleeping, LEAVE HIM ALONE!!! I don't know why that is so hard to remember.
That being said, I am amazed at how adept Allie is at taking care of Nathan. Yes, she is sometimes unaware of her strength and seems to fold him in half without even noticing, but holding him comes naturally. She rocks him and sings into his ear (we are working on the decibel level). She reminds us all to support his neck when we are holding him and it is her goal in life to be able to walk around the house with him. Luckily that is one rule she remembers more often than not.
Contrary to what it might seem, the point of this post is not to talk about crying. The point of this post is to show some cute pictures I took yesterday of the boy child. My friend Kristin knows her way around the crochet hook and she made me some super cute hats. Nathan was covered in a red rash and got very sad before we got too many pictures, but I am happy with some of the ones I took. So here he is!

As soon as I tried to switch things up a bit and change hats, we got this...

So I fed him and we came back to the project when he was deep in sleep...

Pretty darn cute if you ask me...

Will she ever learn?

"But I ran out of paper Mom." Just the other day, I noticed a black circle on Nathan's head. I worried about it for a minute wondering what in the world would make such a perfect circle on a baby's head. Then I remembered that Allie was coloring near where Nathan was laying. I asked her about it and sure enough, we had to have another conversation about what kinds of things we can color on. Honestly...coloring on your baby brother?!? Come on girl!