Our Family

Despite the ice storms, Santa did make it to Des Moines...and here's our proof! This Santa was awesome. Natali wasn't so sure of seeing Santa once it was actually our turn. Santa worked his charm and although I have no pictures of her all in smiles, I don't have any of her screaming and crying. Our purpose was accomplished when with some coaxing from mom she finally asked Santa for Kandyland Castle! He said he would put the order in. Thanks Santa!

Timid at first

Suckered in by a book...good work Santa!

As a child I always thought ice skating was so cool! I even had a ice skating birthday party one year. Right now...I feel like I am living my childhood dream and living on a ice rink! Just kidding, not a dream at all...more like a NIGHTMARE! It seems like we have had ice storm after ice storm and that everywhere and everything is coated in a nice layer of ice. Thanks Midwest!!!

Back in my teacher days every December I would throw a Polar Express Party for my class. So this year I decided that Natali was old enough to get it and we had our own mini version. We had tickets to ride the train, we read the story, decorated cake trains, and even watched the movie...all while wearing our PJ's! Fun stuff. She loved it and still is asking me when we are having our Polar Express Party and I am trying to explain...that was the party!

Isaac has been given the okay for rice cereal. He has actually done really good with it. Most of it comes running out to corners of his mouth because he keeps grinning at me, but he seems to get some down as well. I love hitting these little milestones but I hate it too because it means he is getting bigger. Isaac...don't grow up!

Yesterday we had Isaac's 4 month check up and are happy to report that our little guy is doing great. His current stats are:

Height: 25 1/2 inches (75%)
Weight: 17 lbs 8.5 oz (90%)
Head: 17 1/4 (75%)

He isn't rolling over yet...his big belly might be inhibiting that a little. But he is lifting his head well, grabbing his hands, and according to the doctor ready to try some rice cereal. We love our Isaac!

I have been delaying this but... it keeps happening. I've been "tagged". I haven't done it because I can't think of 6 interesting/unknown things about me. Here is my best try!

1. My husband was my first boyfriend and first kiss. It may sound lame...but I like it that way!

2. I can fit the bottom of a soda can completely in my mouth. A talent...I know.

3. I LOVE children's books! I guess it is the teacher in me, (taught 4th grade for 3 years), but I could spend hours in the children's section in bookstores. Someday I want a big library in my house just full of children's books.

4. I have been to a World Series baseball game, back in 99 (I think) when the Yankee's swept the Padres (bummer). I have four brothers and my mom picked me to go with her...yes they were jealous!

5. The pipes at my elementary school were broken (nobody told me) and the toilet back flushed/sprayed in my face. That means I had dirty toilet water ALL over me! Thankfully I lived 3 minutes away from school and immediately went home and changed.

6. The first time I was taken to my current in-laws (while were just dating) I shot diet V-8 out my nose onto their white table cloth from laughing too hard. Ben then continued by telling me it was his grandmothers and a antique. He was just teasing...but I wanted to die!

Thanks for the "tag" girls! I tag anyone who hasn't had this fabulous opportunity.

This Thanksgiving, we are truly grateful for the spirit that comes to our home when BYU beats the Utards!

What was suppose to be a "trace" of snow turned into at least 4 inches of white fluffy stuff! Natali was completely enthralled. Last year it snowed but it was always to icy to play in. So we bundled up and headed out doors. It was AWESOME...Natali loved it. She made snow angels, snowballs, white washed herself, and even ate some. I was freezing and had to bribe her to come in with hot chocolate and marshmallows. She would have spent hours out there. Despite the fact that I hate the cold and especially driving in the snow, today I was grateful for it....fun memories with Natali!

Ready to Play

Playing on the Deck

Out in the Backyard

Thawing Out!

All I can say is YEAH for moms!!! We were lucky to have my mom come out and visit us this last week. Thank heavens for having babies/grandkids because I know she wasn't coming for Ben and I, or Iowa! We had a blast just being together. It's wonderful when your mom is also your best friend. We ran errands, played with the kids, and she helped me beautify our little house. Thanks to her we now have window treatments, the kids clothes have all been sorted and organized, and I have some new clothes and accessories. Again...yeah for moms! She had lost of snuggle time with Isaac and Natali loved playing with her. We weren't trying to leave Natali out of the picture below, she was just having a well timed two year old melt down in the other room and I didn't feel the need to document it! Isaac is 3 months old now and steadily growing.

Happy Halloween! We have really been celebrating Halloween this year. We have been to about 4 Halloween events and tonight is our ward Trunk-or-Treat. Hope everyone has a fabulous Halloween...just of few pictures of my little pumpkins this morning!

For FHE on Monday I decided I was ready to carve our pumpkin. I thought Natali would love to stick her hands in and get all messy. I was mentally prepared to have pumpkin guts everywhere and armed with an immediate bath. To our surprise, our little girl wanted nothing to do with sticking her hand inside and feeling the cold slimy pumpkin innards! Who can blame her. Instead she would stick a spoon in and try and scoop them out. It was a fun activity to do! And Natali loved the end product. Natali and I cleaned the inside of the pumpkin and Ben's job was to do the carving. Good job Dad!

Isaac helping the best way he knows how!

Not to shabby if I say so myself!!!

This past weekend was a crazy weekend ...I am glad it is over! Saturday morning I had our Primary Practice for our Primary Program. Then later that afternoon I threw a baby shower. Then Sunday we had our actual Primary Program (I am the music leader so I was in charge of all the singing stuff)! I am happy to report that all events were successful! The practice was fine (done in an hour...yes!). And the Program was great. Not because of me, but because the kids just shined and did fabulous jobs .

The shower went perfect as well. I made this diaper cake as a gift/center piece. It was fun and pretty easy to make. I got one when I had Natali and I copied the idea. I thought it turned out pretty good for my first time.Looks like Isaac had rough weekend too! He had a doctors appointment earlier this week and his latest weight total was...16.10 lbs! Oh I just love it!!! He is making those cute cooing noises as of late, and smiling at us more and more. Natali is still loving her little brother and is a good helper at getting me burp clothes and diapers. Poor Ben not only had a rough weekend (watching all these kids) but school is pretty intense right now to say the least. He has a test every Monday from now until Thanksgiving, plus some on Fridays. He keeps telling me that after Thanksgiving it should lighten up a little bit. I can't wait till Thanksgiving Break!

We made our move into our "new" house in Valley Junction! It is small, but perfect for our needs. We have a downstairs room which is great for all of Natali's toys, Ben's books, and our office stuff. We are still settling in and finding the perfect spots for all our things, but all the boxes are unpacked, pictures hung, and it's starting to feel like home. Ben mowed the lawn yesterday...yes, we have a lawn! He was sooo excited! I hope that enthusiasm lasts. It is a great feeling to not be sharing any walls with a neighbor, or worrying if Natali is too loud. The only thing I think I want to change is the color of the shutters. The gray isn't horrible, but it would look better with a color that is more bold. We'll see if I feel ambitious enough anytime soon. After 4 years of marriage and two kids later, it is fun to say that we are finally in a house (even if we are still renters)!

ISAAC

Despite the fact that the Padres choked last night I felt it was time for Isaac to represent a little San Diego love. I know...he should have worn it yesterday...maybe it would have brought them some luck...but...oh well. So here is our cute little guy sporting his team attire! GO PADRES! Isaac is getting bigger each day, is becoming more interactive, and making more of those cute baby cooing sounds. Tomorrow he will be two months old. We have a doctors appointment so I am sure I will be posting his stats tomorrow! Yeah for chubby little baby boys!


NATALI

I found some of my old dress up jewelry and was letting Natali play with it. She had some play earrings of her own that she decided she wanted to wear. She loved it! She walked around the house shaking her head ever so slightly to make the earrings shake. Yeah for dress up and little girls!

We are ready for our move. We can't wait to get into our little house. I really can't wait to get out of that in between stage when you are kind still living at both places, hopefully that makes sense. Moving is such a pain, and is even harder when you have a "helper" who wants to climb like a mountain goat on your packed boxes, or empty the boxes, or play in the cardboard boxes before you can fill them up. Thank heaven for naps! To help distract her though I had a fun new activity for Natali to do. Do you remember those paint books that all you had to do was brush water on the page and the little dots of color dissolved and it looked you were using water colors. I loved those when I was little and them seemed less messy and I wanted to buy some for Natali. I couldn't find them anywhere and I was telling my mom about it. Leave it to moms...she found two books in a dollar store. They are super cute and Natali thought they were the coolest thing ever. It bought me some good packing time. The best part is that they are in Spanish (just the little captions at the bottom)! Obviously Natali could care less, but it just makes me laugh. Thanks Mom!

Isaac is 7 weeks old this Friday. He is getting so big. He is having more awake time and is starting to develop a little bit of a schedule (if you can call it that). Last night Ben laid him on the couch on his stomach after a feeding. He usually likes a little tummy time. Anyway...I was in the other room and Ben starts yelling for me to come...and there was Isaac...rolling from his stomach to his back. Now to set the record straight, Ben and I are certain the couch cushion must have been on a slant, but none the less we are claiming (just to each other) that Isaac is a genius and already rolling! Just kidding...I am not that incredibly anxious for him to become mobile for a long time!

Natali just loves to give her brother kisses. We are promoting the kisses on top of his head, but I know that when I am not looking she kisses his face. But I can't blame her...look at those cheeks! Natali is still doing pretty good about being a big sister. She hasn't told us yet to take him back to the hospital (which my oldest brother announced to my mom a few weeks after bringing baby #2 home).

I love the look on Isaac's face..."Mom make her stop!"

Going in for the kill

Mission completed! What a sweet big sister!

Isaac is now 4 weeks old and getting more cute each day! He is just so cuddly...how could he not be with cheeks like that. He is a big boy. He has already graduated into the 3-6 month clothing since the 0-3 is skin tight on him and a pain to put on. This morning I was changing his onesie and after sitting there stretching out the arm holes to make it easier to put on, I finally decided for his sake and mine we were going to move up to 3-6 mon. clothing. Natali was a big baby as well, but she leveled off right after being born. Not Isaac, he is packing it on! We can finally start giving him baths in his little tub now that his cord has finally fallen off. I have been "wet" on several times...and I am sure there is more to come. The differences of having little boys vs. little girls I guess. This upcoming Saturday marks the first BYU football game of the season and you can all be assured that Ben & Isaac will be watching together (as will the rest of the family)...but now Ben can do it with his boy! I can't believe it has already been 4 weeks. I still wonder though...what is going to happen with his hair, and what color will his eyes be?

Today I took Isaac back to the doctors just for a weight check to make sure he was back to birth weight. Last week at his two week appointment he was 10.7 lbs. Just two ounces shy of birth weight. Today, at three weeks old he weighed...drum roll please...11.9 lbs! Needless to say, back and surpassed birth weight. We love our little chunk!

On Sunday Ben took Natali with him to church while I stayed home with Isaac. I took the chance to snap a few more photos. Ben has been so patient with all my picture taking...he hates having his picture taken. What a good sport he has been!

Our two kiddos!!! What little angels

Yeah for mom's is all I have to say! My mom left on Sunday and was here for a week. It was great! She stocked the fridge, made meals, helped with Natali, and best of all... just the fact that she was here. She was very diligent about not letting me pick things up or push myself too hard with the c-section. She also made sure I took as many naps as possible. It was always the big internal struggle...take a nap or stay awake with my mom. Due to extreme exhaustion I took the nap. The truth is Natali can be a handful, and I think my mom needed the nap too! She kept saying..."There is a reason you have babies when you are young!" It was so good to have my mom here. Hopefully she will be back soon.

It has been so good to all be home together. Natali loves being a big sister and mommies little helper. Sometimes she wants to help a little too much, but what else would you expect from a two year old. Isaac had his two week check up last Friday. His doctor said he looked great! His weight was, 10.7, so almost back to birth weight. So that made him 95% for weight, and he was 75% for height and head circumference. Everyone keeps telling us he will be our little linebacker, but I am not sure I could handle being a football mom (sitting on the sidelines watching your child get pounded). Ben keeps telling me it is inevitable. Thankfully that it is many years down the road.

Isaac is home! He was discharged from the NICU on Friday morning, and we have loved every minute of having him here with us. He is eating and sleeping well, and big sister is just enthralled in his every move. It is hard finding a balance of letting Natali feel involved while at the same time protecting Isaac. Ben and I keep telling ourselves that there are tons of kids out there who survived having older siblings, hopefully Isaac will be one of them! At the hospital they had him on a awesome schedule of eating every 4 hours. It was heaven. That stopped the moment we got home. Now he is back to eating about every 3 hours. I am feeling fine. My mom is here and that makes all the difference in the world. She is taking care of Natali and making sure that I am resting and napping as much as possible. I am already dreading the thought of her leaving. Thanks for all the calls, emails, thoughts, and prayers. We feel so lucky to have our little boy healthy and at home with us. The nurses kept telling us it was just amazing how quickly he was recovering and that his progress was so fast. We are blessed.

Today we brought Natali up for the second time to see baby Isaac. She came up once before but we didn't have our camera with us. Here we are waiting for Isaac to come to the window with Dad and Aunt Hollie.

Where is baby brother?

Here they come!