Chuck E Cheese's

A long time ago, Eden saw a commercial on TV for Chuck E Cheese's and has been asking to go ever since. We learned a valuable lesson a couple weeks ago... never go to that place on a Saturday! It was crazy, but we didn't stay long and Eden still had tons of fun and got that out of her system... for now!

Swings

Sweet little Bentley was really enjoying his time in the swing.


Eden, on the other hand, was pouting because I was pushing Bentley and her at the same time. She didn't want me to push him. Awesome.


Good thing Brad just bought a book about Sibling Rivalry. I better start reading! :)

Sibling Love

When Eden is being loving to Bentley, I have to be sure to capture the moment because those precious, happy moments are few and far between!


I would say most the time Eden is just indifferent to Bentley and doesn't really care if he is around or not. Then there are fleeting moments where she is sweet and loving to him, and she laughs at the funny things he does, or kisses the top of his head. And then the rest of the time she just picks on him and is so quick to get frustrated with him! She definitely is having a hard time sharing with him, especially sharing mommy and daddy! In her defense, it is a little hard right now because he can't really play yet. Instead he just comes in like a tornado and destroys whatever it is she is doing. Hopefully as he gets a little older she will discover that he is actually a fun play mate, not someone competing for everything good in her life. :)

I will say though, she is always happy to share her food and that's because she knows she won't have to eat it if he does! He's a supportive brother in that regard. I love her mouth in these pictures as she is feeding him.


I love these kids, even if they don't always love each other. :)

School Time Series Play

Eden and I got to go on a "date" as she called it to see a play at Popejoy Hall. The show we saw was singing and dancing to the book "If you give a mouth a cookie" and some other children's books too. I'm grateful my sister Erin was willing to stay with Bentley so Eden and I could share this fun time together. I sure love this girl and her joy and excitement for the fun things in life.

Our date in Phoenix, AZ

My husband is awesome. He is so thoughtful and fun when it comes to planning fun surprises. A couple months ago he told me we would celebrate Valentine's day on the Saturday following Valentine's day and that he had all the plans worked out. As it got closer he let me in on a few more of the details which was that my sister and her family would come stay with our kids while we spent the whole day away! I was nervous, and hate leaving my kids for so long, but I knew whatever it was, he was putting a ton of planning into it and he was so excited about it.

A couple days before we were supposed to leave, everyone but me got a nasty cold. As usual, Eden's oxygen saturation was bad and she was so congested. Bentley had a cough and nasty nose and was teething too so he was super grouchy. Brad also had it and was tired and not feeling well either. I was tempted to just call the whole thing off, but again, I know Brad had worked so hard to get everything lined up that it was so sad to think of cancelling it.

So Saturday morning 5:30am Brad and I were sneaking out of the house to start our adventure. I still had NO IDEA what we were doing, but was pretty sure we would be going to Santa Fe for the day. It wasn't long before I realized that wasn't the plan at all and that Brad was heading for the airport! I soon found out we were headed to Phoenix for the day!

We arrived in Phoenix and had a yummy breakfast at Paradise Bakery and then we headed over to a resort where we would spend the day. We had an amazing couple's massage, hung out in the hot tub for a long time, and just enjoyed the warm weather. We had a delicious lunch there at the resort and then spent the afternoon just talking and enjoying each others company. It was so nice! Then we did a little browsing around/shopping and then flew home. It was the perfect day, and so nice to spend it with Brad, without anything to distract us. And one of the best parts was that because we had to wait for a flight home, there was no pressure to just get back, or cut things short which I know I would have done if we were in Santa Fe or somewhere close to home. We were "forced" to just relax and enjoy each other and it was exactly what I needed!


Thank you Kally and Dallen for staying with our kids for a whole day, especially because they were little sickies!! We appreciate your help so very much!!

I'm so grateful for Brad and his thoughtfulness. He finds a lot of joy in planning big surprises and though it gives me a little anxiety leaving the house and not knowing what the heck I'm going to do all day, I'm so grateful he does these things. It makes me feel so loved and cherished.

I love you Brad.

Tucking in the kids

Before I go to bed each night, I always have to go in and check on the kids one more time. With Eden, she'll sleep through anything so I usually untangle her from her cords, put her blanket on her, and then give her one last kiss goodnight. Bentley, unfortunately, isn't as solid of a sleeper. When I go in to check on him, I have to be ever so careful not to wake him! This particular day I took a huge risk in taking a picture, but I had to capture his cuteness.

Fortunately, it didn't wake him and this night, and is the case every night, I went to bed feeling so happy and fulfilled in my role as a mother. I love these babies so very much.

Precious - That's all I need to say.

Sleeping

Eden is not taking naps anymore, but some days it all catches up to her and she just can't hang on! Here are a couple examples of how hard she crashes when about 4pm rolls around.

This first one is on the bench at a restaurant. She fell asleep in the car on the 6 minute drive over and we could not get her to wake up!


This day she fell asleep on the way home from grandma's house so she had already been asleep for at least 30 minutes. I really needed her to wake up so it wouldn't make for a super late bedtime, but even though I dangled her from the couch and Bentley crawled around on her, she still didn't wake! ha ha poor girl

Eating

Eden has turned a huge corner with eating! We are no longer doing formula in the feeding tube during the day anymore! She doesn't eat a ton, and hasn't gained much weight, but she is consistently eating at every meal and is making huge progress! We still do high calorie formula through her feeding tube at night, but that's it! This is what I have been praying for for a long time now, so I'm so grateful.

The frustrations, stress, and struggles with eating are far from over, because it's still a hard battle to get her to try new foods, and eat more than about 5 bites, but we have made huge, significant progress and I'm so grateful!

Bentley is still an amazing eater. It's been fun learning with them both together what new food ideas we can come up with. Bentley is awesome though and will sit and eat pretty much whatever I give him, as Eden and I work through every bite of hers. He helps me cheer and clap for her as she eats. It's fun (usually). :) I'm so grateful he is mostly self sufficient when it comes to eating. It's such a huge blessing!


And though I've had no luck with getting Eden to drink them, Bentley on the other hand LOVES green smoothies!

Bentley - 10 months old!

It feels like Bentley has grown up and changed so much in the last month! It seems like the changes from 9-10 months have been major ones and he is acting less and less like a little baby!

He pretty consistently says, "mom" "mama" "uh oh" and "yay" (while clapping). It's precious and I love it.

He has two teeth on the bottom, and one completely through on the top. There are a couple others on the top that are on the brink of popping through any day now! He is definitely a grouchy teether.

He pulls himself up to standing all the time now, and he is starting to slowly cruise along the furniture. However, this also means we are having a lot of falling, usually hitting his mouth and gums on the way down. The poor guy gets bloody gums a lot, but it only stops him for a second!

He has the most precious smile. I love him so much. He is so adorable I just can't help but kiss him all day (and he gets frustrated and pinches my face ha ha).


Speaking of pinching, he is starting to get a little attitude when he isn't getting what he wants! He clenches his fists really tight and growls over and over again. It's adorable, but he doesn't like it when I laugh. :)

He loves to pull the magazines off the shelf and we have definitely had to start baby proofing things around the house. And of course, I don't realize what it is we need to baby proof until he has found it at least once! He is going to be much more mischievous than Eden ever was that's for sure!


And he still loves his baths! I'm excited for summer time with this little guy. There's a whole world of water play that will be open to us/him and it will be fun watching him discover it!


Right now he is sick with a cough/cold and it's so sad, but I'm loving that he is cuddling with me because I usually can't ever get him to sit still!

Happy 10 months little buddy! We love you!

Cute kids...

Eden and I made and decorated heart shape cookies to take to school. She loved it.


Eden still loves to draw and do anything craft related.


Bentley loves the trampoline.


We had a week of REALLY nice weather so we spent a lot of time enjoying the warmth and sunshine.


Eden and her friend Makayla always like to dress up together and this particular day they said they were going to the beach, and then they would come inside and paint. :)



At grandma's house the other day, I was reading a book to Eden about penguins and the blubber that keeps them warm. This quickly prompted grandma to help Eden do a "hands on" learning activity. :) Eden covered her hand in blubber (Crisco) and put it in a bowl of ice water, but it stayed warm! She loved it. Thanks grandma.


Bentley is all over the house these days leaving little messes everywhere he goes. I love his cute little legs. He is so precious.


Ruby got to spend the night with Eden. They both loved it and it actually went really well until 6am when Ruby was awake. Eden's bed is high so Ruby didn't dare jump off so she just paced around all over Eden and woke her up too. Not cool because we were already having meltdowns by breakfast. Back to the kennel for Ruby!


I don't love going up and down the stairs a lot so it's always nice when I can bring everything downstairs all in one trip. Bentley thought it was fun. Fortunately Eden wasn't awake yet or else I would have had to figure a way to get her in there too.


I LOVE these kids so much! I'm so grateful to be a mom.

The love plant...

As a stocking stuffer Brad got me this plant in a jar that has a message that is revealed as the plant starts growing. Eden and I followed the directions carefully to get this plant going, and we were beginning to give up hope when all of a sudden it started growing quickly! We were excited when it was finally tall enough to see our "secret message".

And now the plant is big and tall, and sits on our kitchen table for the time being, and Eden and I discuss it every morning at breakfast. :) Thanks Brad for a fun little surprise gift. I love you too. :)

Cupid's Chase 5K

A few months ago my cousin who lives in Durango signed up for a 5K here and invited my mom, sisters, and I do to it with her. I hate running so at the time I basically told her, "thanks but no thanks." About a month before the actual race I found out my mom and sisters had signed up to do it too and then I was kind of feeling like maybe I'd be missing out on some fun if I didn't do it. My hatred of running outweighed that feeling quickly though so I still didn't sign up. So then just about a week before the actual 5K, my mom injured her knee really badly and invited me to take her place at the race since she had already registered and paid. So I accepted, and actually as the race day drew near I was surprisingly starting to get excited about it. I was hoping maybe this would be the kick start I needed to really get a good exercise routine going for myself.

Well, it wasn't at all what I was hoping for. :) The running/walking wasn't bad, but the weather was HORRIBLE and FREEZING! I left my house very unprepared. I knew it was a little cold outside, but I figured once we started running, I would be fine. I had no idea the wind was so bad though and it seems like the longer we were there, the worse it got! Fortunately, before the run started, Erin shared her hat/scarf with me.



Since the run was called "Cupid's Chase" our shirts identified whether or not we were available for Cupid to use his match-making skills. Unfortunately for Erin, there weren't a lot of red, available shirts.


Here are the pre-run shots of the group, trying to stay warm. We were anxious for the race to start so we could warm up, but we had no idea what we were in for!


So the wind was blowing about 40 miles per hour, and right off the bat the course took us up a big hill with a huge dirt lot along the whole side. We were sand blasted going both up and then back down that hill. It was fabulous... Then the course turned and we had to run a big stretch directly into the wind. I think we were definitely working double strength just to keep us moving forward. Kally has been running a lot so she went on ahead as Erin and I stayed together switching off between walking and running. I'm glad I had Erin with me because we laughed and made jokes through our misery so it actually ended up being pretty fun.

On the final little stretch of the course we were running with the wind and all of a sudden I felt so light and free! :) We were definitely happy to be done! I couldn't wait to get into my car so my ears, hands, and face could thaw out.


So it definitely didn't leave me with a burning desire to do another 5K any time soon, but it was a fun experience anyway and I'm proud I did it!