90 Days

Our little man is 3 months old! By this time with Mckinley, I had already headed back to work leaving Mark at home in the Mr. Mom capacity so, for me, every milestone from here is a new one.

Things we love about the Kingman-

-has slept from 9-7:00 every night for a week

-rocks the size 2 diapers

- loves to chat and smile

-still hates the car seat

- is mesmerized by Mc singing & playing

-Wednesday nights are his least favorite. It is like he can feel my presence leaving the house as I head to mutual

-loves to "bite" anything that he can get close to his mouth

- thought you were teething...nope, just drooley

-isn't a fan of tummy time

- you are cuddler and love to just be held and loved on

- definitely a mamma's boy

This is him "talking" while I was trying to take his picture.

I think we have finally hit the routine that makes life with two kids seem normal and adjusted. It still isn't perfect but we are definitely getting there.

This is Mckinley tell me she is making a "pretty face" for the camera. Just hope this face doesn't make an appearance when we do family pictures next month :)

and if they don't dance well, they're no friends of mine

We came. We danced. We conquered (sort of). For the past few months, we had been working with Mc on going on the potty because only "big girls who pee in the potty get to do to dance class". She made it just in time! Classes started the beginning of September and she had been potty trained for about 3 weeks. Her class has 8 little girls, and one elderly, Miss Dixie (sporting her "eat, dance, sleep, repeat" t-shirt) as the teacher. Mc seemed kind of overwhelmed at first not really knowing what to expect. Let's be honest, the barrage of pink tutu's threw me off too. The galloping pony dance seemed to scare her a bit, she loved the "bunny jumping over the alligator" game and in the end, was Penguin walking like a champ. Mimi came to support her and bring her treats on her first day. I am sure it was also a show to watch this paranoid mom trying to keep her "active" child on task. All in all, it's fun to watch all the "firsts" for your kids because they are firsts for me too. I am excited to see her learn and I can't wait for the recital in Spring.

She was so excited to pose before dance.

Miss Dixie- the toddler whisperer.

a name and a blessing

Kingston in his "little man" blessing outfit.

It was awesome living in Utah when Kingston was born. Friends, family and everyone so close. It was even BETTER being in Utah to bless our son. We lived in Arizona when we blessed Mc and a lot of people couldn't come down A) because they had just been in town when she was born in October, B)our house could only fit so many and C) let's be honest, a 13 hour drive doesn't sound all too appealing at any time.

We blessed Kingston @ 11 AM. Family and friends filled the chapel (we were later thanked by the Bishop because it looked like a full house since so many were gone for Labor Day and our family alone filled most of the benches). Mark gave an amazing blessing. My favorite "that you may bring many to the Gospel with your personality"- how amazing is that. Mark asked his Dad to stand in the circle which was a special moment and it is always so cool to see all those worthy men surrounding our son.

Afterward, we had a little get together @ our house. We truly tested the capacity of our upstairs and had probably close to 50 people crammed and cozy wherever they could fit. We made it work!! Guessed about right on the food (not too much left over) and it was a great excuse to deep clean my house.

Mark bore his testimony about Family- I would have mirrored that testimony had I not been on the verge of tears the whole meeting. We are truly blessed beyond what we deserve. I sat back Sunday when everyone was gone. Both babies sleeping. Mark at the church doing is Financial Clerk responsibilities. We have a beautiful home. Two healthy, darling babies. Jobs. Each other. Supportive family. The ability to serve. Life long friends. Great parents. Good examples. I am grateful everyday that we are back in Utah and that my children will get to be around all the good things in life because we have our family here.

Three Generations. Just sad that Grandpa Junior missed it by a few months. I am sure he was there in Spirit.

Our Family of Four.

Mimi, Papa and Aunt Britty

Grandma Mary Ann

I think Kingston and Daddy were BOTH happy to be out of their ties by the end of the day.

60 days

Kingston is two months old! On one hand, it seems like he has always been a part of our family and on the other, it seems like only yesterday he was born. He really is a good baby and I think we (by "we" I mean Mc) have made the adjustment to this little guy being in our home. At his two month appointment he weighed 12 lbs 5 ozs and is 23 inches long. The shots were pretty traumatic- he has this heart piercing cry and because he doesn't cry very often, it was really sad. He has been a little feverish and that makes me the nervous mom wondering how he will react and constantly checking on him to make sure he is ok.

Mc decided to cooperate with the picture taking and wanting to help hold the "two month" sign for her baby brother.

Sunday night he made the switch from the bassinet to the big boy crib. He is doing 5-6 hour stretches which is really nice considering I go back to work on Monday. He still isn't a fan of his car seat. Slept all but 30 minutes of church last week and is so smiley. He loves to coo and is a sweet addition to our family.

Yo, yo look who is big enough for the Bumbo.

Summer days, drifting away

Oh neglected blog! Finding time to blog about life, aside from a quick facebook status update, has definitely been something (among various other things) that has been cast aside. I venture to say we have done quite a bit this summer and going back to work at the end of the month is going to be a little bit of a shocker. So to document the summer of 2011....

We have done lots of this:

Swimming at Mimi's. Mc has found the floaties and never looked back. Swim lessons next summer for sure.


Also lots of this:

First Family outing- Rio Tinto zoo day. Everything was F.R.E.E. The carousel, train, food. Note Mark's super excitement as he double fists an Icee. (thanks Mimi and Papa).

Mc with her first face painting. She picked the pink/glitter plastered dinosaur.

We have had some of these:

Naked tantrums. A bare bum on the cold entryway tile seems to be the ultimate form of rebellion at our house.

And we even managed to get in some of this....

YARD WORK! Our front yard is finally done. It is really nice to pull into actual plants and bushes rather than a kitty litterbox/rock/weed garden. My parents helped me select and plant these little beauties.

In the last few weeks of vacation I have left we have plans for BBQ's, cool summer evenings, more fresh BLT sandwiches, Mark working on his motorcycle, me working on my tan and soaking up every last bit of the summer we can before it's over.

Reigning for a month....

Happy One Month Birthday to our sweet little boy! This my friends is Kingston in comparison to a bread box (you have all heard the saying, "is it smaller than a breadbox"). In this case, Kingston is about the same size.

Some things we love about you at one month old:

- you love to snuggle!

-bath time is a joyful occasion. You are so happy and relaxed and love to have warm water poured on your body

-how sometimes your hair looks red in the right light

-that you love to be swaddled and that this may be the key to getting you to sleep through the night

-you are so patient when you want to eat. You coax and will give one good yell to let us know it's time

- mommy and daddy finally figured out that aggressively pointing "it" down means we don't have to change your outfit three times in one day

-any contrast in light (the TV, the shutters, the fan) encourage you to make the "oooooo" face that is so darling

You have found your chuckle when you are sleeping, love to be touched and held and have already made life so much more interesting. Your sister is coming around to how lovely you are and everyone that meets you falls in love with you. We are surely smitten and can't wait to see how your personality develops over the next few months. All hail the King.

This has got to be the Good Life

Having two kids is significantly more difficult that I had previously imagined. I didn't expect it to be all together "easy" but this week was a trial by fire for sure. This whole week was me planning how I was going to make it out of the house by 8:15 AM on Friday for Kingston's appointment? It was accomplished- barely. We woke up that morning to Mckinley's usual routine of not wanting to get dressed, Cory had found and demolished a used pad from the garbage, I packed the diaper bag the night before and forgot wipes and we couldn't find the Sleeping Beauty doll that has to be in Mc's purse for her to leave the house. I had mascara on, a bra and my hair was combed so I chalk that one up to success.

Kingston almost weighs 9 lbs. and was in the 73%ile for height. It is already apparent that he has a little different temperament than his sister. We don't have to use the wipe warmer to get through a bum change, he loves his bath but on the downside, where Mc liked to roll solo for tummy time or to sit in her bouncer, he LOVES to be held. He likes his car seat as long as it's moving and has the sweetest smile.


Mckinley is still NOT adjusting. The saddest part is that anyone that comes to visit and spends even a moment focusing on her, is automatically someone who should be taking her home- away from this awful place! She hit the baby this week, broke all the eggs while relocating them in the fridge and peed on her bedroom floor. She has had fleeting moments where she will ask to give the baby a kiss or to help feed him but she loses interest quickly. She still has her shining moments where she wants to snuggle, says, "I wuv you" and is tantrum free and these are the moments that make it almost possible to make it through the week without losing it :)



Out of sheer independence- this is how her flip flops usually end up on her feet.


And the Mr. I love that Kingston's arms are crossed in the picture. My two boys.