200th post, 2nd birthday

Here are a few things we are working on with Collin:
Instead of screeching NO, we have taught him to say No, thank you. So he screeches NO THANK YOU.
He has gone to the potty twice. We have tried probably 5 or 6 times, usually we are just too late. We need to get a little seat so he doesn't fall in...
I have learned from the No to No, thank you that I have some power over what he says. We are starting to work on the word "mine" and not saying it so much. I think this one is going to be much harder.
Yesterday was Collins 2nd birthday. It was actually a pretty good day considering the fact that he didn't get a nap. We change from 1:00 to 9:00 next week (the singles ward that meets in the building has decided they don't have enough time to mingle after they're meetings get over so they are taking the 1:00 time slot back.) so when he doesn't fall asleep by 12:30 it won't matter so much.
We made a train cake and had a train balloon. His favorite toy is a little toy train that goes choo-choo and rolls by itself. He also got this awesome rocking elephant. Its really funny to watch him rock on it and yell Yee Haw!

He didn't get this bike for his birthday, its Aidens old bike and he just gets to use it until he figures out how to pedel. Then he can use his bike.

But he sure does love riding around like the big kids. He will do this for hours if I let him.

By the way, I am taking orders for pinata's :) Just kidding. I made this elephant pinata for his birthday, and even though it is 90% duck tape and missing a leg, the kids still enjoyed it. I don't think I'll ever make another one though...

Tall kids

So we had the boy's check ups today. Collin gained weight, so he's doing better. Landon is a big fatty, but we weren't worried about that. The thing that surprised me the most was their percents in length. Collin is in the 92% and Landon is in the 78%, which is where Collin was at Landon's age. I guess they got my dad's genes...

Both got shots, but Collin did good so he got a sucker. Sadly Landon couldn't have a treat and has been struggling this afternoon. I just feel bad for him, I can tell he's trying to sleep but can't. He just sits there (when he isn't crying) and scowls. Poor kid.

Crafty :)

Our apartment is a mess. Not only was it too small to fit all our stuff that we already had, now that we are moving with my mom to her new house down the street in 3 weeks I have started getting stuff to decorate the boys room. On top of that I have decided to become crafty and have pretty much bought Joann's out of felt. Chase and I are going to make a quiet book for Collin and Landon some day, and I'm making some animal things to put up in the boys room. Poor Chase, he is drowning in his school work and at the MTC, and then he has to come home to my "craft room" which is pretty much our whole apartment. I think he's going to love the outcome though.

Today for Collins birthday we took Collin and his two cousins to Kangaroo Zoo, a big warehouse full of blowup castles and slides and such. Collin was TOTALLY freaked out. We would put him on one of them to jump or run around and he would just back up as fast as possible and run back to us. I finally had to go pay and take him on all the slides. The last one he actually went on by himself, so we made progress. We were really surprised that he was so scared, especially with Trina and Aiden there. Even when I went with him he would say NONONONO the whole way up the ladder (which are not made for a mom to carry a 2 year old up them so we fell a lot. I'm pretty sure we entertained Stu and Chase more then the kids...) but then when we went down the slide he thought it was fun.
I can't believe he will be two next week. That is so crazy.

Videos of Landon

Landon is smiling and "laughing"- although you don't really hear a good laugh in either of these videos. He is growing so fast, its so much fun.

Big bed

Got Collin a toddler bed today. We actually got two because I found one after we bought the first that came with a mattress. So now we have a bed for Landon. Just no mattress.

Anyway. First night in the toddler bed is going a little slow. He's been in his room for an hour and thinks he has to get in bed by climbing over the little side rail instead of the open part. But he is laying on the bed, playing with his teddy. So this is a good sign. We decided to go ahead and get him a bigger bed for 2 reasons- he does not fit in his play pen anymore. 2- we will be moving with my mom next month and felt like we needed to have him in a bigger bed when we move.

All in all, I think things are going well :)

Family pictures

Love it

Thank you to Steph again for taking some pictures of us even though Collin was being totally out of control (how do kids know when we really want them to be good?)

Too many

This last weekend Chase and I found a great deal on a 16 gb flash drive. I told him we should buy it and use it to back up all our pictures. Little did I know we'd fill that up with only about 40% of all the pictures we have. So, we got a much bigger drive (500 gb) and I have been working on backing up all our pictures. Its been so much fun going through old pictures from when Chase and I were dating and engaged, birthdays, pictures from when I was little. I also realized that just like any other parent I have way more pictures of Collin then I do of Landon to this point. And that I loved Collin's outfits when he was 9-12 months old :) He had some really cute clothes...
Anyway, I feel much much better now knowing that all our pictures are off my computer and on a drive that we keep by our door for easy access. I've learned that I stink at labeling my pictures- I need to save the pictures under "Collin 6 months old" instead of "Collin". Not super helpful, especially when he looks the same at 6 months and 8 months.

Which boy is which

Both are 6 weeks old in the picture.

More pictures? For real

I took some pictures of Jacob yesterday. This one is my favorite. He looks sneaky :) And yes, I am TOTALLY jealous of Jacob's hair. If they take a comb and brush his hair it does stick up on its own. Its awesome.

They had matching pj's. Landon's are a little tight...

Collin took this picture and the next one. Born with skill
I like Landon's face

This is Landon looking at Chase

This is Landon looking at me

Much happier in these pictures then the ones on Sunday.

Pictures pictures and more pictures

OK- here we go! We had Chase walking this weekend along with Landon's baby blessing so Chase's parents came out to visit for a few days. I'll post pictures of Landon in his blessing outfit when it gets washed- we took some on Sunday but he was crying in all the pictures. I'll post a picture of Collin a long side, they look just like each other.

Chase at the big graduation on Thursday

He ended up getting a call from a friend, Rustin, who he knows from Snowflake, so they were able to sit by each other at the graduation

We got lots of people honking and cat-calling us from their cars while we were taking pictures. It was pretty funny

A lady was there taking pictures of her daughter- she pretty much came up and took our camera so she could take pictures of us. I didn't have any makeup on and I hadn't done my hair yet. It was great :)

We went to Thanksgiving Point on Saturday with Chase's parents and my brother and his kids happen to be going that day as well. This is Collin's cousin Sabrina

Last week we took some pictures of Landon and his cousin Jacob

I need to find the picture of Chase making this same face as a baby. He makes this face every time he cries. Sometimes Chase lets him cry for a second just to see the face because he loves it so much.

We went to the park a few weeks ago, so these are pictures from then

We also went to the Living Planet Aquarium a few weeks ago. It was a lot of money and lots of people- we probably won't go again for a long time, if ever. It was just too small. But the new penguins were AWESOME. Thats them in the background.

Talking

As I've watched my nephew's and niece's grow up there have been many times where they will come over and just be talking gibberish, and then about a month later they come over and can say sentience's that anyone can understand, not just their parents. I always thought, I can't wait until I have my own kids so that it will be more of a gradual thing, not so sudden. I've learned over the last few days that it is still a very sudden thing. Collin has been saying words for a while, but not that other people understand what he is saying. He also hasn't been speaking in full sentience's very much. He is going crazy now. He talks all the time like a normal kid now. There are still some words that are his own way of saying something (like love you sounds more like ah-choo, and he calls bananas bunny's. I don't know why.) but he walked outside today and said, oh wow, its raining.

Anyway, I'm very excited that he can talk so well, but a little shocked that its still a very sudden thing. I'll try to take a video sometime and post it.

4 weeks- no way

So I can not believe that Landon is really 4 weeks old. I look back on when we brought Landon home from the hospital and it seems like forever ago. It just seems like Landon has been here forever. Even though he can certainly have his moments of crying and needing to be held, he is been so calm and good.

New family pictures taken by my friend Stephanie. I really like how they turned out (even with Collin being a total stinker...)

New pictures!!

So cute :) Love these two little boys. Even though Landon looks very concerned, Collin is just squishing his nose on him. I don't blame Landon for looking that way, Collin tends to try to sit on Landon and really likes to rub his head on Landons head.

We did two Easter egg hunts this year- the older kids did it outside while the 4 younger kids stayed inside. It was really fun, and Collin seemed to really enjoy it (probably cause the first egg he picked up opened and jelly beans spilled out. It took a few minutes to get him back on track finding more eggs... After that he'd walk around saying "eggs, candy, bock (like a chicken)" He's pretty much totally crazy)

Right after Chase took these pictures Collin stood up and tried to push Landon off his pillow. I guess thats what Landon gets for hitting Collin in the face. Ah, the brotherly love...

Things are good, Chase just weighed Landon and decided that he weighs 11 pounds. Not sure that is totally correct, but he's probably close to that.

My sister was due with her baby on May 15th had her baby on Thursday, 5 weeks early. He is SOOO cute, has tons of hair, even though you can't see it in this picture. It was a little bit of a intense experience for Kim, but she's doing great, and Jacob looks fantastic. He is doing really well, still working on eating, but is looking great. So instead of Landon and Jacob being 6 weeks apart they are only 3 weeks. I'm pretty sure it will take both of them to beat Collin up in a few years cause Collin is a big bully, but I think they'll be able to take him :)

Amazing power

I have felt like my recovery with Landon has been pretty easy and uneventful except for two problems. The Monday after I got home my stitches were hurting horribly. I cried for hours that night because I couldn't sleep because of the pain. I thought for sure I had got an infection. I finally woke Chase up at 5:00 and asked for a blessing. Within the next few hours the pain subsided, and was completely gone by that afternoon.

The second problem started a few days ago. I started having a hard time nursing Landon on my right side because I had a very sharp pain. We thought maybe it was a clogged duct so I worked on it myself until yesterday. The pain was so bad I just couldn't nurse him on that side. I was dizzy and had the chills and a small temp. I asked Chase if he would give me a blessing. Afterword we called Doctor Nance and he said it was an infection and called in some meds. By 9:00 last night, 4 hours after the blessing, I felt 100% better. I nursed Landon and had no pain whatsoever.

I am so grateful to have a husband who can give me blessings when I need it. And I am so grateful for the power to heal. I always wonder why I wait so long to ask for a blessing.

We took some pictures of Collin at the family egg hunt, so I'll try to post those within the next few days. Speaking of Collin, another blessing is that he is doing better. He has really struggled these last few weeks, but things are starting to get better. Its been nice because its been so hard for me to see him so mad and upset.

Sleep...

Collin has been sick for the last week. He's coughing so hard that he throws up, usually in the car. We thought he just had pink eye, but that has cleared up and he is still really struggling. He doesn't sleep well at night, which makes for very hard days because both of us are tired from being up so much.
This whole new baby thing would be much easier if Collin wasn't sick, and we were all getting sleep :)