The most wonderful time of the year

At the beginning of November my long lost brother Jason came home from his mission in NY. It is so fun to have the four of us back together again. It feels like he was never gone. 

 The week of Thanksgiving we started off with a bang, passing the flu around to each other and Bryce going in for knee surgery. This was an injury from church ball last year, we just didn't know it was as bad as it actually was. He ended up on crutches for 4 weeks and is doing physical therapy to help restore his range of motion and his muscles.  I got to do the honor of shaving his hairy little leg.

When he was in the recovery  room afterwards he was shaking and loopy. He just kept looking at me and saying "I am so glad you are here. I love you. I was worried you wouldn't be here when I woke up."

 Jayda got her makeup done for the first time. This is her puckering her lips to show off the lipstick, eyeshadow and blush.

 We spent Thanksgiving at my Aunt Angie's house. Everyone but my mom was there (she was a partaker of the flu virus). Bentley was great. He loved the noise and the activity. He is going to be social like his dad and his sister.

 Bentley at 3 months, Bode at 8 months and Daxton at 6 months. No we did not plan the stripes, but it is adorable. :)

 I can't get a serious picture of these two to save my life.

 A few weeks before Christmas we went to breakfast with Santa at the Wight House on main street. All proceeds went to benefit the local food pantry. Jayda was excited to meet Santa for the first time, but when she got close to him she got too nervous so I had to hold the two kids in the picture.

 She didn't even want to go near the fake Santa. What is it about Santa that is so frightening to kids?

 Jayda re-discovered the dryer. Good thing we don't spend a ton of money on toys when she can entertain herself just fine.

 Christmas Eve was spent at my parents house with my brothers playing games, decorating gingerbread houses and having an excellent meal.

Ditched

Bryce and I were hanging out in bed this morning with Bentley and we looked out our window and saw a man who looked like he was in his 30's holding a present walk around the corner of our townhomes and go to the other end of the building where two cute, single girls live. It was only 8 am so I was wondering what he was doing. So being the nosy person I am I continued to watch.  A few second later I saw him booking it at fast as he could back down to the parking lot below our houses where he couldn't be seen. As he was running he had the biggest grin on his face, like an excited little boy. Then I realized he was doorbell ditching them with a Christmas present. What a fun way to start Christmas Eve!

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.