where does the time go?

Can you believe I went from this.......

To getting this......
To seeing this everyday......?
My babies are growing too fast. The best part of today was when Scott told Will he was funny and Will said "I know dad, that's just me!" It really is, he's such a sweet, fun-loving, sensitive boy. Please don't ever change Will!! I still love that he wants to snuggle up on my lap, I love that he still wants a song, hug, and kiss before bed each night, and I love that no matter how much fun he's going to have going somewhere without mom (to a b-day party, to be babysat, over to his friend's house), he always gets a little teary and says "sometimes I get sad to leave you, mom."

Can you believe he went from this:

To this....?
Isn't his little chicken hat cute? I love it. My very talented friend Tana made it for Eli when she made Will's shark hat for halloween. The picture is Eli, just three days old. They grow so fast, I almost don't remember him being so tiny.... and he's wearing the 12 mo. onesie again!

first haircut

We did it! We cut the hair. It was an exciting event around here! It was a lot of fun, sort of sad to say good bye to that silky baby hair, but exciting to discover what was sprouting underneath. Actually we were quite shocked to find a FULL, THICK, CURLY head of hair hidden under the baby hair. It is awesome, we can't stop touching it, although it's a little itchy. Even Will's been rubbing his head all day.

Here's a before shot. Since his hair is SO tight and curly underneath the baby hair, we couldn't get it into much of a fro before cutting. I think we'll have to let the new stuff grow out to get a true fro going. But here's before. And I have to mention, those lips, seriously? Aren't they awesome? Ha! This kid melts my heart.

The after shot..... I think he looks a lot older. I'm pretty sure we cut a few inches off, and could have done more, but we didn't want to go too short.

So there you have it folks. For all you curious people out there, you are welcome to a little head rub anytime! :) It'll make you smile, if you aren't already.

when in cleveland....

....Do as the Clevelanders. Cheer for the Browns! Okay, not really, I don't even think we've watched a Browns game since moving here. But since these folks here in Cleveland are DIE HARD about the Browns, someone gave us this browns onesie for E. We had to put it on him before he grew out of it, snapped a picture or two, and now I can be satisfied to put it away. Although, I did think it looked really cute on him, I had visions of our football star in the making.

I had to take a bum shot. I especially like the chubb on the back of his knees that he's starting to grow.... and the diaper wedgie.

Look at that face, he looks like he is saying "Whatch you talkin' 'bout?" Oh I just kiss it way too much, that's probably why we have to maintain such a lotion routine.

a date with dad

Last weekend, Will and Scott had a day out together, so I could get some things done. They had a great time. They went to the Museum of Natural History, Wendy's for lunch, and to the tailor to get dad's suits altered. Will absolutely LOVED the museum and has been talking about it ever since. They saw all the things that Will loves. Here's a few photos Scott took, per Will's request....

I'm pretty sure he's in front of a burial, see the bones in the back? Well, he thought it was pretty cool.
I love this picture, it makes him look so big and grown up. He really is growing up, growing out of clothes, and acting more and more like a school age kid. Oh, my babies are growing too fast!
What a handsome little bugger.
Thanks for the much needed break Scott! I'm glad you and will enjoyed your day together! When's the next one? Hahah.... j/k

what three months can do

Yes, it's true. Eli is three months. We have now left the infant stage, and entered the baby stage. We commemorate each turning month with a little photo shoot in the same onsie. I put this size 12 months onsie on him in the hospital and have used each month since. Our big boy almost filled it out in the hospital and each month I wonder if it will fit.... or even look baggy. I'm thinking I should have done long sleeves, then we could see more of a progression. Oh well, maybe with the next babe.

At three months, Eli is very alert. LOVES to follow Will's ever move, and loves to smile at him. Giggles, is super ticklish, everywhere, and plays with his hair to no end. He wraps his little fingers all over in his hair and makes little knots, and then it goes all "fro-ey." Speaking of hair, I'm pretty sure it is about 3-4 inches long, and doesn't seem to be getting thinner, only thicker and longer.
Sorry for the lighting in these pictures. The pic above is E wearing one of Scott's baby hats. Isn't it fun? It fits him perfectly!! He's such a sweet baby. Takes great naps, goes to sleep like a champ, hardly ever cries, eat 8 oz. every 7-8 hours (yes, you read that correctly), rolls over from tummy to back, and has just started batting his hands at his toys on his little play thing.
Isn't he irresistible? I think so. Seriously, look at those legs, and those cheeks, and those dark eyes. Oh, I love this boy, more than I ever thought possible. My life has changed in a myriad of ways these past three months, and I am so blessed to have this gift in our family. I can't wait to see him grow up, but I don't want to wish the time away, it already goes so fast.

As for other family news, we're great. Will is amazing in all aspects of our life, and Scott is doing great as a dad, husband, and employee. Life really couldn't get any better.... okay, it would be nice if the the sun would shine a little more, I'm ready for Spring! But other than that, life is perfect.

my goal this week

"Let us relish life as we live it, find joy in the journey, and share our love with friends and family. One day each of us will run out of tomorrows.” - President Thomas S. Monson

get your bowling shoes on!

We had a GREAT weekend! Our weekend started off with Scott and I enjoying a date night. We went to the movie The Blindside. We LOVED it, naturally. It was so inspiring, if you haven't seen it, please go! It was great to have a night out with my hubby. We haven't had an official date night in a very long time. We even got popcorn, the biggest one possible so we could refill it on the way out! :) Yep, we're nerdy. Will loved it the next morning though!

On Saturday, per Will's request, we went bowling. We found a great, family friendly, bowling alley and had a great time. Will wasn't so sure about our cool shoes at first, but he was very excited to send his ball down the lane.

A lesson in bowling, from Dad beforehand. Will was pretty proud that he could carry his ball all by himself! What a big boy!
Great form Scott! :) Isn't he cute, even from behind.
This is what Eli looks like all smooshed into his carseat before we go anywhere! He's awesome.
And of course, no Saturday would be complete without a good wrestle before bed. Even Eli loves to join in on the fun! Being the only girl in the family has it's advantages, I'm not expected to wrestle, and when I do, they have to "be nice" to mom!
I sure love my little family! We have some great moments together and love to laugh with each other. On the way to church, we were laughing SO hard at Will that we both started crying. He was on a run of what my mom used to call "diarreah of the mouth." He was barely stopping his chatting, noises, expressions just to take a breath. He was seriously on one, it was reminding me of the movie Elf, when Buddy is talking to his little "brother" after school and it's one question or comment right after another.

I did have a little time to do some crafting this week. I've been seeing these all over the place and thought I could probably make one myself. It was fun to make, only took me a few minutes, and is very fun to wear..... even when little kids stare at my head and wonder why I have feathers in my hair. ;)

You can go HERE if you want to know how I made it. Pretty self-explanatory, but just in case....

dressed to impress

I love dressing the boys up on Sunday. Including Scott! :) They ALL, always looks so handsome. Usually we are rushing, late for church, running out the door too quick to grab a picture. But this was our first week of later church. Ah, it was such a nice morning. We relaxed, bathed the kids, and were able to get ready slowly without any fights.

Here's the finished product:

I couldn't help taking an extra shot of Eli. He's such a little man, looking all dressed up and so big. He's almost 3 months! What a cutie. Those cheeks get kissed a 1000 times a day......

"D" is for dinosaurs

We hosted preschool this week at our house. We talked about the letter "D" and Dinosaurs. Who do you guess was SO excited about talking about dinosaurs? Yes, Will was very animated, to say the least. We did some really fun activities, I meant to get pictures of a lot more, but when you've got kids running all over your house, you kind of forget the camera.

To start out, we had a mini dig. They each got to find a dinosaur hidden in their "pail" amongst sand and rocks. They loved using their popsicle stick shovels to find their dinosaur and they especially loved showing everyone when they found their dino.

Then we moved on to decorating our own dinos. We used cereal. Most of the kids just wanted to eat their cereal, but Will was pretty excited about making his chocolate chips into spikes.

Can you believe it, that is all the pictures I have. Here's some of the other fun things we did this week to discover dinosaurs:

-we made a volcano and watched the hot lava explode

-we made our own "Shoeasaurus" using a tracing of our feet

-we made dinosaur nests and put eggs in it

-we marched around and sang the Laurie Berkner dinosaur song

-we ate breadstick dinosaur bones, and pretended to be paleontologists while we dug out chocolate chips from chocolate pudding

-we read lots of dinosaur books

We had a great time. Will loves when preschool is at our house and we have a lot of fun planning fun activities.

words to live by

Last night I spent ten minutes reading. I picked up my Ensign before bed and started to read an article. I am SO glad that I did, it was one of those times where the words and the message just speaks to you... you know what I mean? I've been debating over new year's resolutions, and if I wanted to make them or not. I think goals are great, and everybody should have them, but I have issues with resolutions. Mostly because I'm always changing, rearranging and doing things over throughout the year. Then I feel bad or guilty because I changed my original goal. So this year, I opted out. The only "goal" I've made for myself is to do a complete 30 day workout with my new video The 30 Day Shred. It's awesome. Anyways, onto this article. I really enjoyed reading it, it was the best 10 minutes of my day. One part really stuck out to me.... these are my new words to live by:

"As a new year begins and we try to benefit from a proper view of what has gone before, I plead with you no to dwell on days now gone nor to yearn vainly for yesterdays, however good those yesterdays may have been. The past is to be learned from but not lived in. We look back to claim the embers from glowing experiences but not the ashes. And when we have learned what we need to learn and have brought with us the best that we have experienced, then we look ahead and remember that faith is always pointed toward the future (I love that). Faith always has to do with blessings and truths and events that will yet be efficacious in our lives."

Love it. If you want the whole scoop, go HERE. This is an article called The Best is Yet To Be, by Jeffrey R. Holland

What an inspiration. Truly, we must live in the moment and look forward to the future. I often contemplate about the "good 'ol days" and I think that is okay. But I need to remember that those were good days, and there are many more wonderful amazing days yet to come!

Happy 2010!

have you ever....

Have you ever watched a baby fall asleep? I just did, it was amazing. I have been blessed with babies who are chubby, content, and who fall asleep mostly unassisted. Tonight, I put Will in bed, sang him songs until he was breathing heavily, while cradling my little E. Then I went downstairs, sat by my fire and watched Eli fall asleep. I swaddled him, smiled at him, and got several smiles and endless "coos" from him. Then I laid him on the couch to fall asleep (I'm hoping he just takes a little cat nap... that is why he's not being put in his bed, we want him to eat in an hour or so). He's so snug in his blanket, and he just laid here for about 10 minutes "talking" to me. Smiling every time I glanced at him. Then, the talking stopped, he whimpered a little, I gave him the binki, and his eyes started getting heavy. Now, he's blissfully sleeping, like a little burrito. So sweet and innocent, I just love it. Now I get to enjoy a few moments of quiet before I really start my 2010. This is a great way to start though.....