Time flies when you're...avoiding blogging?!

Man...it's been forever. I mean REALLY, is my last blog post about my Bryar's birthday party?! She turned one in October! Obviously I have been sorely neglecting this portion of my life, but don't worry...I'm back on the wagon so let's just hope I don't fall off again any time soon.  Obviously recapping would take way to long so let's just start with the now, shall we?

It's cold. I started this winter with a sort of zen. I wanted to balance out Ben's ridiculous hate of winter (have I blogged about this? I feel like I did...) so I went into winter thinking hey, this won't be so bad. That lasted for a bit. As in lastED...PAST tense. As in i am SO over it! Having 3 kids who have to be super bundled up to even step out the door, 3 kids who all need help with buckling in to carseats, and 3 kids who seem as anti-cold and wind as there father has made my zen for winter a serious thing of the past. That (coupled with all the cute spring clothing lines coming into stores now) has this girl is seriously dreaming of warmth. Who's with me?!

While my complaints of winter may not be showing it well, I have been adjusting more to life with 3 kids under 3. Sort of. I am trying to plan/organize more now. Mostly that just means that I try to get a lot more done when baby A is on visits with her bio parents (which she has every day at different times and for varying lengths) because taking 2 kids to the store is way easier than 3! But other than actually leaving the house, things have gotten better. Baby A has really turned a corner with the whole crying thing and is now a happy and energetic baby girl, which we are all loving! She smiles huge, giggles a lot, and likes to be on the floor/bouncy/bumbo where she can see everything and interact with whoever catches her eye. My favorite thing is how much she babbles! She is destined to be quite the talker because she babbles constantly! I swear she is trying to tell me something...I'm just not sure what yet :)

Bryar is such a handful! Pretty much anyone who has seen her probably knows that but it's crazy how much spunk she has. It's honestly hard to pin down because she can be so hard headed and independent one minute and then so snuggly and sweet the next. I joke that she is baby bipolar because she can go from laughing to crying to laughing all in the same minute! While I sometimes get overwhelmed by her mean streak (she totally dominates her big sister) I do love that she is so playful and goofy! She talks a lot (although I think you have to be me or Ben to understand her much) and loves to pretend play (talk on phones, play with baby dolls, etc) and watching her with her toys is unbelievably entertaining. While she can sometimes be hard to handle, I wouldn't trade her sweet cuddly moments or hilarious goofy moments for the world...she is just a crack up!

Hayden is definitely starting to hit her 2 year old phase pretty hard. Most the time she is the sweetest girl around, wanting to help mommy with EVERYTHING and often trying to be the mommy herself, but lately that 'tude has been coming out more and more. I think it is also more noticeable because all of a sudden she seems to be talking way more and having a MUCH bigger vocabulary (sometimes good, sometimes not...). The other day Ben did something she didn't like and she goes "I'm mad at you because you're being rude!" It's one of those moments where you can't help but crack up even though you are trying to tell her that's not ok... I really need to start writing down the things she says because the mantra that "kids say the darndest things" is just SO true! She surprises all the time with the random things she says! We have definitely had our not so pretty 2 year old tantrums (it feels like this week has been full of them!) but through it all I love how much she loves her family. She is the best helper and big sister and I am grateful for her every single day.


Right now we are just living it day to day and seeing what comes. Ben is in his first actual nursing school class, which is super exciting and he seems to be liking it, and I am officially NOT in school for the first time since...well since kindergarten. It's kind of freaking me out to not have homework, deadlines, papers and reading. I have to say I kind of miss it...but for now I am content to just be home with my menagerie of pink :)

Now like I said...let's hope I stay on the blogging wagon. I will post a few pictures soon but they are still on the camera and the transferring/uploading process feels a little to daunting right now. Another task for another time (plus that sets me up for my next blog post, which should be helpful for me!)

Being 1 is just s’more fun…and so are family pictures ;)

 SO…delayed (as usual) but better late than never: Bryar had her 1^st birthday and we celebrated with a fun little party! We decided on a s’mores theme since it’s fall and that seemed like a fun activity. Of course on the day of her party it was about 70 degrees out, which doesn’t really lend itself to sitting around a firepit, but hey, who can complain about nice weather in November!? Not this girl! So we just went with it and it turned out really fun! We had an assortment of s’more making options (classic, mini, berries and cream, pb cup, and mint) and all in all it was delicious. Peanut butter cup seemed to be the most popular of the non-traditional options, but I wouldn’t know because by the time I went to make myself one the whole bag of Reese’s were gone! Bryar seemed to have a blast and got nice and messy with her melty chocolate and gooey marshmallow, just the way it should be (plus I got Grandma Ashby to clean her up which was a fantastic bonus!)

Our friends Dan and Courtney

The super cute mini S'mores...which I did in fact roast...bite size and delicious!

Grandma Ashby and Hayden

            Also, we got our family pictures done! A guy in our ward did them for us and we were really happy with them. The girls weren’t the most cooperative subjects (at least not at the same time…of course!) but there are still some awesome shots. We did some with baby girl and some without, that way I would have some to post! Here’s just a few of them:

The girls don't look too enthused but the concept was good!

Gorgeous Bryar Mckinley

My beautiful little "big girl" Hayden

HAHAHAHA look at Bryar's face...priceless!

Sweet sisters

Walking together

AWW :)

Sweet kisses

 

 

 

Me and Ben ;)

Halloween (a slightly belated post...)

We had a lot of fun this Halloween! We had first, second and third Halloweens amongst our kids and there was some definite craziness trying to keep all the pieces and parts of costumes on long enough for pictures, but it WAS fun. We started a few days before Halloween with our 3^rd annual pumpkin carving and caramel apple extravaganza with our friends Katie and Mark Barrera (and baby Cohen!) and our other friend Jenna. It was fantastic and we had lots of awesome pumpkins in the end (plus, who doesn’t love a caramel apple?! YUM!)

We made a quick round at our building’s trunk or treat and for some reason didn’t think to get the stroller out for Bryar and baby girl….bad decision! Ben and my arms were dying! Hayden had fun collecting candy though! Then we ran to the stake center and saw my family at their chili feed and then headed home. The surprise of the night was that Hayden threw a really big fit when we tried to put her to bed because she wanted her candy! I definitely turned into “that mom” because I told her I was going to throw it away and she wouldn’t get any if she didn’t cut it out! Luckily she got over it because there was obviously no way I was going to give her any candy after that! 2 years old and already candy obsessed…she really is a mini-me! Scary!

On Sunday our friends Courtney and Dan come over to see the girls in their costumes and we had lots of fun. They brought 2 hilarious wigs that ended up being very entertaining (see the pictures!) and it was fun getting the girls all dressed up again J They looked so cute in their costumes! Then we went “trick or treating”…but only over to the Barrera’s so we could see Cohen in his costume! Then they came over and played games and relaxed. All in all an excellent Halloween! (Of course we won't be posting any pictures of baby girl but rest assured she looked adorable...she was a bee!)

Being a mother of 3

I have long felt that the jump from 2 kids to 3 kids was going to be the most difficult for me. Personally, 1 kid was easy peasy... she could go anywhere we went with minimal extra effort. The hardest thing was probably remembering everything to keep in the diaper bag and that couldn’t really be considered hard.

When we (quickly) took the jump from 1 to 2 I wasn’t really concerned. 2 kids plus 2 arms equaled still totally doable. Hayden could walk well by the time Bryar was born so it just worked. 

       It was only when we thought about a baby #3 that my heart would stutter ever so slightly. We were going to wait a while, take a small baby break and let the girls grow a bit, but then we got the call about our new baby girl and we both instantly felt right about it. Never mind the fact Bryar isn’t even 1 and still isn’t walking, nevermind that would be 3 kids in 3 years (aka 3 kids 2 and under...) we just said yes and took the plunge. And I have to say that while I have my moments of going crazy, it isn’t nearly as difficult as I thought it could be! While I now wait to do some things until Ben is off work and can either go with me or watch the girls while I go, I have found that I am actually still able to do a lot of things with just the 3 girls and me. I go to Target and walmart or anywhere else that has a cart (Baby girl in her carseat in the main part of the cart, Bryar in the child seat of the cart and Hayden walking or holding on to the side and riding) and feel pretty good about what am I able to accomplish. Overall, 2 to 3 has been quite a bit better than I expected it to be.

       A few things though...

*If you see me in a store, feel free to NOT stare at me like I’m a freak or a baby factory or something. It is CRAZY how much people unabashedly stare at us! Even when I look at them and they can see that I see them, they continue to stare! I appreciate that we are somewhat of a spectacle and I would probably look at me too, but sheesh! I would even mind less if it looked like plain curiosity, but sometimes people just glare at us...so bizarre!

*”Wow, you guys have been busy!” is a really awkward thing to say. Seriously.

* A question...how do you get all 3 kids inside when they have all fallen asleep in the car? Does anyone know where one could purchase an extra arm? Because man that would be convenient...

* There is really no way to know what our future is with our sweet new addition, but if we did end up keeping her permanently we would be SO grateful! But can you imagine 10 to 15 years from now?! I mean really...13, 14 and 15?! 15, 16 and 17? 19, 20 and 21? I’m kind of panicking just thinking about all that estrogen. After giving it serious consideration I think we figured out that the only time it won’t be TOO insane around here would be when they are like 4, 5 and 6 up till 8, 9 and 10. Either way though we couldn’t be more excited about our family right now and while MANY people think we’re crazy (or at least stare at us like we are) we are as happy as can be :)

Our whirlwind!

Just a quick update on the newest member of our family! This weekend we were blessed with a brand new baby girl! We got the call from foster care workers Friday and Saturday evening she was here :) it is an amazing blessing for our family and while we are probably a little crazy (a two year old, an 11 month old and a newborn?!) we couldn’t be more excited for this new adventure and can’t wait to see where this all leads. Either way we are grateful to share our love with a beautiful girl who could use it.

Heather
 P.S. I wish I could post pics and more info, but sadly I can't :( foster care rules, have to protect the little angel! Sorry friends. Locals can come visit though!

Tonsillectomies and French braids :)

I thought I’d make a quick update (in hopes of avoiding yet another post that is novel length) to let everyone know how things are going. Hopefully with all the travel and craziness behind us I will do a better job of updating regularly, but I make no promises :)!

ANYWAY, Ben got his tonsils out!!! YAY! The doctor told me afterward that the surgery went very well and that Ben’s tonsils were huge and definitely needed out (as if the constant strep throat and tonsillitis weren’t hints to that fact…) so we are very grateful we were able to get that taken care of. Hopefully now he won’t be sick constantly….or ever…or at least for a VERY long time!  His recovery has definitely been a bit of a struggle, but he has been such a trooper! Absolute minimal neediness or complaining, just a lot of sleep (thanks to his pain meds) and some popsicles. I can definitely handle that! I know he has had quite a bit of but of pain but he has actually seemed to turn a bit of a corner today so we are hoping the worst is over! 

Other than that it’s really just small things going on around here.

Hayden has been super entertaining for me lately! She has always been very girly and clothes obsessed, but she has really kicked it up a notch! She is constantly getting into her and Bryar’s clothes (current and grown out of) and puts on as many layers as she can squish into. It’s bad for the laundry but it balances out with how much it makes me laugh!

You can't see it here but she actually has a pair of jeans on under the white fleece pants and has two tank tops under the shirts that are visible (she had 5 shirts on!)

Matching is obviously something we need to work on!!!

Also, I did Hayden’s first French braid! Her hair has been driving me CrAzY lately because it’s getting long but is still super thin “baby hair.” Because of this I really can’t just leave it down (or else it is crazy and NOT cute) so I have decided to embrace this problem and really get into doing her hair cute. 

As for Bryar, she is getting so big! She will be one in a month (I can’t believe it!) so we are really pushing the table food and sippy cup situation because once the 1^st birthday hits bottles go bye-bye in this house! This week Bry had her first go at eating spaghetti on her own, and while it was a big disaster she also ate a ton! Of course from looking at Hayden you would think it was HER first time eating spaghetti…yikes!

I think that’s about it for now!

Heather

ROADTRIPPING...

So apparently I have been seriously neglecting my blog! It’s for good reason though, because to say it’s been a crazy few weeks for our family would be such an understatement! Before this Bryar had never even left the state and now she’s been to Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Nevada and California!  

Our life in a nutshell…

It all started in mid(ish) august when, very sadly, my uncle Ben passed away from an aggressive form of cancer that left us all pretty stunned. I can only be grateful that he is now in a better place and that I had the opportunity to go to his funeral.  Unfortunately Ben had school and work and there was no way he could make the trip, so the girls and I hitched a ride with my dad and little brother and drove from Lincoln to San Diego, California.  In case you weren’t sure, that is a LONG drive (made that much longer by a potty trained 2 year old and somewhat ill 10 month old!  Amongst other things that slowed us down…) and we drove it straight through! Let’s just say I was VERY grateful when we finally got there.  The service was beautiful and fit my uncle’s style very well…casual and lighthearted. I am so glad I was able to be there with many family members to celebrate the life of a kind and loving uncle.

While we were there for a pretty sad reason, we were also able to have some good family time.  We got to go to the beach twice, and it was awesome!!!  The first time it was the girls and I, my parents, and my younger brother David. The second trip also included an uncle, two aunts, 6 cousins and my grandma! It was great spending time with them! 

Because my uncle was buried in the family plot in Brigham City, Utah we decided to stop for the service on our way back and take a day break from the trip so it wouldn’t be quite so intense for everyone involved. It was an excellent decision! We were able to see even more family there as well as stay the night at my childhood best friend’s house and do some catching up, plus I was able to meet her fabulous fiancé before we came back the next week for their wedding…(told you we did a lot of traveling!)

Anyway, we were excited to be home for a little over a week before we turned around and went back to Utah for the aforementioned wedding! The drive was ok (we discovered on our California trip that while Hayden refuses to watch any tv at home, she WILL pay attention to movies in the car and we exploited that with an insane number of Disney classics!) but we were once again grateful to arrive in Utah!

We were excited to be able to attend our niece Sophie’s baptism while we were there! It was great to be there for one of their family events, as that NEVER happens with the distance between locations.  Then we rushed from the baptism in Springville to the wedding of my oldest friend Caitlin to her fiancé Creighton in the Draper, Utah temple. It was a fantastic sealing (the sealer reminded us of Bob Barker…) and we couldn’t be more excited for them! Then we headed back to Springville to spend some more time with Ben’s sister Emily and the rest of the fam, before heading back to Salem for the wedding reception. We were very on the move!!!

The reception was awesome! They had AMAZING food (chef prepared crepes and pasta dishes...YUM!) and the atmosphere was great. Backyard casual and fun but still VERY beautiful!  

THEN (oh yes, there’s more!) we left the next morning and headed back, but made a stop in McCook (we couldn’t just not see our Blomstedt’s!) and had an EXCELLENT extended labor day weekend extravaganza! We went to the Circus (kind of a big deal for me as clowns totally freak me out) and Hayden rode an elephant! She is such a daredevil, she just marched up the steps and climbed on, completely fearless! She also rode a camel with Staci and Jackson, and then we headed in to the actual circus tent. There were some awesome acts, but I have to say one of my faves was the super creepy contortionist who fit into a tiny box! Crazy stuff! 

The next day we headed out on the boat for a fantastic day on the water. Ben and Staci did some waterskiing and then we all went TUBING! Have I ever mentioned that I love tubing?! Because I do. A lot. Like it’s one of my favorite things. In the world. So needless to say I was excited to get out there! First I went with Ben and we had SO much fun, up until the end when we crashed HARD! We flew off in my direction and I’m pretty sure all of Ben’s limbs contacted me in a violent way on our way into the water! I got the wind knocked out of me for a second but after a quick breather I was back and better than ever.  However, while I was taking my break Ben and Jason decided to give it a go and they were doing amazing at withstanding Staci’s attempts to throw them off, all until a big jump resulted in Ben hitting his face on Jason’s fist, giving Ben a bloody nose! Oops! 

We had a few mild runs so the kids could get out on the tube for a bit before we went back to trying to throw people off, and then it was time for me and Staci to take a turn. Jason did his best to throw us, and he came close (a lot of times!) but we ended up just dropping off the back of the tube during a calm moment because we were tired and wanted to avoid a violent landing! The last tube ride of the day was me and Jason and I have to say we pretty much dominated :). Staci is pretty impressive at driving to throw off tubers but we lasted an amazingly long time. Needless to say we had an AWESOME time!  We love spending time with our Blomstedt’s, they are the best!

So THAT, my friends, was our past few weeks. Now can you see why I haven’t updated my blog?! I am making it a goal to update more regularly now though, don’t worry :D.

Oh and sorry for the inundation of collages, but I will be able to use them as scrapbook pages and it takes way less time than uploading 57 million individual pictures!

Oh, and for anyone who might be interested, Ben is getting his TONSILS REMOVED tomorrow morning!!! It’s a good thing because he has had constant tonsillitis and strep throat for months (literally) but it will be a tough procedure (or so “they” say) so any prayers sent our way would be appreciated!

Until next time,

         Heather