My Boys

My boys. How I love them so! And in less than 5 months, I'll have another one to love! The nurse at my 20-week doctor's appointment today said that she has two sons, 2 1/2 years apart, and she loves it. She said that although there isn't any princess stuff around their house, she's their princess. And that sounds pretty great to me!

One of my favorite photos from Christmas day was of the clean-up. As soon as he saw Daddy with the vacuum, Hayden ran to the closet to pull out the Shark. He turned it on, then helped with the chores!

And if that isn't sweet enough, a few days later I came downstairs after having some me-time (a.k.a. nap time) and was instructed to check out some video that Rich shot. When Hayden got up from his nap, Rich dressed him in his Eagles team gear and set out to teach him a cheer. The Eagles had just beaten the Cowboys for a spot in the playoffs and Rich wanted some ammo for his friendly little family rivalry with my brother, Doug, who has been a die hard Cowboys fan since he was Hayden's age!

I couldn't stop laughing while watching the clips and decided that I needed to share the outtakes. I also had 2 other videos from the last week and realized that the collection of them documented my little boy in a way that I always want to remember. And as much as I think that I can't ever forget what he's like at this age, the reality is that I will. As I was sorting through his old baby clothes today (thinking that his little brother is going to be very well dressed!), I can't believe that he was actually small enough to wear those 0-3 month size outfits!

Wouldn't you agree that this princess has some pretty awesome princes?!

Snips and Snails

What a joyous day! We got a glimpse of the little baby growing in my belly with an ultrasound this morning. We got a thumbs up from the doctor that everything looks healthy and a CD of images to take home.

Here's the little foot that's been kicking my belly for the last month. In fact, I'd say it's mid-kick in this picture!

And here is our sweet little boy. Yep, it's a BOY! Many of you are not surprised and have told me that you see me as a mom of boys. And as I sit here typing this, watching Hayden run laps around the table, holding a toy football and cheering "Go Gators! Go Air Force!" my heart smiles thinking about having TWO boys running laps together. I also gasp with an, oh boy! this will be an adventure!

Especially if these boys share more than just their looks! As soon as I saw his profile, I instantly thought of Hayden. Wouldn't you say our little baby bears a striking resemblance to his older brother from his 20 week ultrasound photo?

On (the 12th day of) Christmas. . .

. . . we celebrate the birth of our Savior and delighted in a little boy's joy!

When Hayden came downstairs and saw the Christmas tree with all of the presents underneath, he was in awe.

He ran right over to inspect it, but he didn't tear into a single package! It was almost as if he wasn't quite sure what to do.

We took the stockings down from the mantle and started with those for a warm up.

We took a break for some breakfast treats, then got to the presents. It took a little coaxing to get him to tear into the wrapping. He actually kept asking for "help please, Mommy!" and handing the gifts to me (or Rich) to open for him!

He slowly got the idea and then proceeded to open each gift by tearing the paper off in 1" square chunks, insisting on throwing each piece into the trash before tearing off the next piece. In the interest of actually getting all the gifts open on December 25th, I helped out a bit by ripping most of the paper off for him. He didn't mind!

He was the perfect little gift recipient, too. After opening a present, he dutifully inspected it and gave it a "test run" be it a book, a train, a car, a puzzle, etc.

As the pile of presents dwindled, he really started to get the hang of things. His inspections of the toys grew briefer and briefer and he'd say "more, more presents" soon after unwrapping one! Seeing the delight in his eyes and the joy on his face was priceless!

Hayden wasn't the only member of the family with delight in his eyes. . . the furry "kids" love Christmas, too.

Newman enjoys being a menace, sniffing out his goods. Actually, we're a bow-free family because of Newman. He steals them off the packages, leaving teeth marks on mangled bows throughout the house. Despite his shows of joy after opening some catnip toys and cat treats, I think he'd be happiest with a big bag of bows!

Our shy (extremely fat) cat, Oscar, even makes an appearance downstairs on Christmas morning. He's more a fan of Q-tips than bows, but cat nip is his real favorite, so he certainly appreciates his new Christmas toys!

After Hayden had finished opening his gifts, he wanted to help Daddy with his!

And then he got Daddy to help Hayden enjoy his new books!

And -- gasp! -- there is actual photographic evidence that I was there on Christmas morning, too!

I wasn't the only one who was there, though. We had a "21st century Christmas" with Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Laura joining the festivities via Skype!

We hope your Christmas day was filled with joy and delight, t00!

On the 11th day of Christmas. . .

. . . not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

After the late afternoon church service,

we came home and let Hayden open his stocking from Grandma.

He found lots to delight in. . . a giant candy cane, a giant Hershey bar ("choc-lot!"), a Thomas ornament, and some socks covered in cars and trucks.

At dinner we asked him what Santa was going to bring tonight. He thought for a moment then said, "Thomas" with a huge grin on his face. He followed that up with "firetruck, cars, trucks". Even though he didn't put that order in last week when he met the big guy in person, I think Santa knows him well enough that he'll be a happy little boy tomorrow morning!

From our family to yours, we say, "Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!"

On the 10th day of Christmas. . .

. . . we spent the day enjoying family time.

Just like most of the country, it has been cold in Montana. Really cold. I don't think we've seen a day reach double digit temperatures (and many days never even reached zero!) in a while. And when you factor in the windchill, most days have been colder than -10 (as a high!). We've also gotten quite a bit of snow, with storm after storm rolling in from the Pacific Northwest. Perfect weather for staying inside to play with trains.

Rich and I laugh at this next picture. . . I caught him mid "nooooooo". He's been using that word more frequently in the past few days. And he says it with this pretty funny tone and inflection(funny the first 2 or 3 times, grating after the tenth). I can't think of a way to describe so I'll just have to catch it on video. And let you get a laugh at his expression!

It wouldn't be Christmas without some treats, so after playing Hayden had some of his favorites, "emmmms".

While Hayden napped, Mom and Dad were busy. Rich headed to the garage to wax the skis. Even though we've gotten a ton of snow, we haven't spent much time on our skis because we just can't bear the cold (well, we don't want Hayden to have to bear the cold). But highs in the teens and twenties are in the near forecast, so we're getting ready!

I bundled up to go outside and document the piles of white.

The front of our house (that's a yard stick stuck in the pile of snow):

In all fairness, that is the pile of snow Rich created when he shoveled the driveway. There was quite a bit of snow to remove (obviously)! Not including the man made pile, the ground is blanketed with about 12 inches, which you can see behind the large pile (on the left).

Poor Maggie hasn't been getting her daily walks because it's just been too cold. She still thinks she wants to go outside, but after about 2 minutes of running around the front yard she couldn't camouflage her true feelings. . . she was cold! (It was about 2 degrees when I ventured out there this afternoon).

The cats don't know how good they've got it. . . curling up all day on our warm, cozy bed or in front of the fireplace.

After I caught Newman posing for me I decided to do a little posing myself. It's been about 3 weeks since I last documented the belly and it truly has turned into something to document! Here is the belly at nearly 19 weeks:

And here, the mirrored self-portrait (for comparison):

Part of what I love about Christmas are the normal, every day moments tucked in between all the magic. We got to spend the day being a family, doing things we normally do, but had a holiday soundtrack in the background and beautiful, festive decorations in our surroundings. And that just made it all a little bit more special!