100th Post

This is officially my 100th blog post! Yippee! I'm not sure why this is so monumental to me, but I thought it was at least worth mentioning. This has been my somewhat public journal for the past 4years and I am glad I have a blog to keep all of these memories in.

Now that I am back at work my posts may be more like monthly posts so this is how our October went.

Bentley and Jayda have loved having their nanny and papa visit them at night and so have I. Sometimes I am in need of a little help or just some company.

We visited the pumpkin patch with the Morgans. This is something we did last year and loved and we are hoping to make it a tradition. I wasn't great with the photography. Hopefully Heather got some cute pictures of all of us together like last year.

 Jayda knew right what to do this time and picked our a few pumpkins for her and her little brother.

 Little dude just chilled the whole time.

 Heather brought these two outfits for our little bugs to wear. They made their cute little cheeks look super chubby!

 These two are already great friends like their mamas.

 Jayda and Bentley took their first bath together. It was easier to bathe them both at the same time which was working great until recently and now Jayda does not want to take baths anymore even if they are by herself. I'm not quite sure what changed.

 My dad, Landon and I hiked Ensign Peak on the morning of his 25th birthday. I had never done this before and it was a really great hike. There is nothing like a 2 1/2 hour hike to give you a fitness reality check!

 Happy Birthday little brother!

 My work let us bring our kids in this year to trick or treat and luckily it was on a Friday so Bryce was able to bring them in. It was a little practice run for the real thing.

 After work we took her to Dick's Marketplace to do some trunk or treating.

 Halloween night was just my mom and I so we took the kids around our neighborhood and to my grandparent's house and in their neighborhood. Jayda absolutely loved trick or treating. She would knock on the door and keep knocking until they answered. She was not even afraid of any of the scary decorations. Halloween was a lot more fun this year with her being excited about it and understanding what was going on.

Can you tell by her face?!

  We love the tradition of having the Stettlers come see us on Halloween! I remember when they used to be as little as Jayda.

 Sunday October 30th was Bentley's blessing. What a great day with family and friends. My only regret is that I would have relaxed a bit and enjoyed the day more with people. I wish I would have taken the time to get some good pictures as well.

 This is what Jayda looked like one day when I picked her up from my cousin Candy's house. She had curled her hair, braided and put a clip in it, painted her nails, and put glitter on her face and in her hair. Jayda absolutely LOVES playing at their house. She never wants to leave when I go to pick her up. It is such a relief to know that my kids are with someone who loves them and takes great care of them on Monday's and Wednesday's. I can go to work and not worry at all about them at all. I owe her BIG TIME!

 Our little bear is holding his head up great now and is able to sit in the Bumbo on his own. I think he looks like an old man kickin' it in a big comfy chair. Yea-uh!

Bentley's 2 month

Bentley's 2 month appointment went well today. He is healthy which we are grateful for.

Here are his stats:

Height: 22.5 inches   29%

Weight: 11.1 pounds   32%

Head: 15 inches  10%

All of his percentages have increased this month except for his head. So he may be small, but he is at least going in the right direction for the most part.

Bentley has not been the easiest baby, he is not sleeping through the night yet and doesn't sleep much during the day either. He seems to be pretty colicky and wants to be held a lot. I have tried getting him on a schedule, but it seems to go differently every day. He also doesn't do great with a binky, but will take it occasionally which is helpful as long as you are holding him and putting it back in his mouth when he spits it out every 30 seconds. He'll get there someday.

Despite him being a bit more difficult, he is fun to cuddle and is great at giving sweet little smiles and even giggles. When I can make him smile and laugh at me it melts my heart. He is beginning to really focus on lights and sounds around him. It is fun to see him start developing and hopefully within the next few months he will start sleeping better and his poor little belly won't be so gassy.

 His first nap in his new bed. We had him in a basinet while Jayda was still using the crib.

All aboard the potty train!

This past week has been a big one for our little 2 year old. She transitioned into a big girl bed and started potty training. This was a step that as parents we weren't quite ready to take, but little miss thing had other plans. She started telling us that she needed a diaper change immediately after she had gone to the bathroom. We would also find her in the morning stark naked. She just hated having a wet diaper on. So we moved her into my old day bed and let her get used to that for a few nights. She has loved the bed and we have not had any issues with it. I was really afraid of this transition but for the most part she stays in her bed and is really good.

Conference weekend was the perfect weekend to start the potty training because Bryce didn't work Saturday and with me going back to work we would have no time that both of us were around enough. The first day was hard. She had five accidents and didn't quite understand the process. Day two started out with an accident but then she finally got it and was a little scared at first but was really excited when she got to pick out a candy from the bowl. In the next day or so she was able to pee on the toilet almost every time and by Tuesday she was 100% accident free. She is amazing! This was my number 1 fear of parenting and has not been as traumatic as I thought.

I don't believe it's because we did anything special, I know it's because she was more than ready. She is a smart little cookie and we are VERY grateful that this has been a smooth transition.

The next test for her is going to be how she handles being at a daycare all day. :(

Our sweet little thing likes to line things up evenly on desks, window sills, etc. We found her on the stairs just hanging out with all of her toys neatly in a line next to her.

 Her potty chart is now full of stickers!

 Waking up from her first night in her new bed.

Liberty Park

Liberty Park is one of my favorite places to visit in the summer because of all the ducks and geese you can feed. The last 2 times we have driven into Salt Lake to try to feed the ducks have been unsuccessful so we were happy to see that there was actually water in the pond and that there were no crazy hippy fests going on! We took Jayda for the first time and she is just like her mama. She loved it and was fearless.

What a great way to spend some family time together on Bryce's only day off that week.

Newborn photo shoot

Newborn pictures are my favorite thing. I searched the internet a lot and found a photographer who was cheap and that had really great pictures so I was really excited to schedule a photo shoot with Ashley at Miles of Memories Photography. She took these pictures in her home and we are really happy with how they turned out. The only thing I wish is that babies looked like newborns a little longer, they change so fast that you have to get their pictures taken within the first week or so and I was still really swollen even in my face. It's not about me though right? Right.
Jayda didn't want to have her pictures taken so we were lucky to even get these two pictures with her and her brother.

2 week stats

Bentley had his 2 week appointment today. He was able to get rid of the blue light last Thursday and the Dr says he is looking good. I think these 2 week appointments are probably just as much for the mothers as they are to check on the babies. I have all of these fears (probably irrational) that were nice to be able to talk to a doctor about and have them pacified. Newborns are always a little scary, but with the whole jaundice thing I have been extra paranoid.
Bentley seems to be pretty opposite of Jayda in his features so far. His nose is a little bigger, his chin is a little bigger, his cheeks are MUCH smaller, his ears are shaped differently and are pinned back more and his hair is lighter. He is also on the small end of the spectrum where Jayda was on the larger end. His 2 week stats are:

Weight- 7 pounds 12 ounces 23%
Height- 20 inches 18%
Head Circ- 13.8 inches 13%

This is Benltey's alien machine. It had to be plugged into an outlet at all times so we spent a lot of time holding him and watching movies.

Bentley smiles a lot and we were lucky enough to capture this one on camera. He is a lot like Jayda in that way so hopefully he will be a happy kid like she has been so far.