4 years ago

I love you and I miss you more than words can express

Movie Night

We had a busy day yesterday. Our neighbor Maddy came over to babysit in the morning so I could do a quick bike up Temple Quarry Trail. I was a little nervous to go by myself but it was a Saturday morning and I knew the trail would be busy. I am actually more worried about animals than people and I have never seen anything on that trail but sure enough yesterday on my way home about 10 feet in front of me a Coyote crossed the trail. My heart stopped for a minute but then I realized he was probably more scared of me. Crazy though! I came home cleaned the house up and then we went to pick up dad. We ate lunch at this yummy Mexican restaurant down by the airport called the Red Iguana. The kids and I were so happy and to have dad home. We stayed close to the airport to eat because we had to pick up Grammy an hour later. She was out in California as well for the past 2 weeks helping her friend Sandy recover from surgery. Grammy also stayed long enough to be able to see Ryan's show. We picked Grammy up and then brought her home. We were home no longer than an hour when we loaded to the car up and drove to Katie's parents home for a birthday party for Ezra. It was mostly Katie's family but the kids had fun playing. We then came home and got PJ's on. Then we walked over to Tom and Shelly's (Cruz kept saying Shom and Telly's and couldn't figure out what was going on, it was funny) to watch a movie with the Milner, Tom and Shelly, and Us. We had to wait until it was dark enough to project "Ice Age" onto the outdoor movie screen Tom had made. Shelly had popcorn and treats. It was fun to watch the movie outside (it had finally cooled off), with neighbors and friends. It was a late night though but it was fun and worth it. Alegra really doesn't watch t.v. or movies so she had a hard time watching, she kept following Jack around and wanted to sit in front of him wherever he sat. Alegra didn't make it through the whole movie because she kept bugging Jack and she really wasn't watching. She liked to treats though! Dad took her to bad at about 9:30.

Cruz and Zoe were old enough to really get into the movie and Cruz is so cute to watch movie with. He totally reacts (loudly) and it is so funny!

Daddy's Home

We are so happy daddy is home. He went to San Diego for a conference last Sunday evening and came home Saturday afternoon. He stayed one extra day to go to Uncle Ryan's show. We are happy he is home.

Dad and his girls

Dad and his boy!

Tummy Time

Lexi has had a good last few days. Maybe her system is growing and getting the kinks worked out or maybe I really ate something that made her sick for a while or maybe she had some virus but we are sure liking this happy girl. Her new thing is to kind of scream. I think she likes to hear her voice. It is pretty cute. She also loves to giggle and Cruz gets her to giggle the best. We have been working on more tummy time lately. She hasn't rolled yet but I think it will come soon. She seems to be getting bigger and older looking every day (which makes me sad and happy).

Freaks of Nature Tour

Ryan a.k.a DJ Kaskade is on a huge tour this summer. On Friday night he played to a sold out crowd at the Staples Center. He is actually the first performer to sell out the Staples Center. Shawn happen to have work all week down in San Diego last week so lucky enough he took the train up to LA to see the show at the Staples Center Friday night. He said it was pretty awesome. He has some pictures on his phone that I will post later. The show was actually televised lived on a cable channel so I recorded it and the kids and I watched parts on Saturday morning. Dad came home Saturday afternoon and brought lots of garb from the concert. Shawn had an all access pass to the whole building and said it was pretty amazing! The kids are wearing their butterfly masks from the concert watching the show!

I don't know how Ryan does it though. He had that huge party, then an after party, then another huge show the next night (Saturday) in SF, then a pool party Sunday afternoon in Vegas, then a show in Aspen, CO on Monday night, a show in Park City Utah on Tuesday night, and then Denver on Wednesday night....and that is just what I know about for the next few days. Talk about no sleep and total exhaustion. As his sister, I totally worry. I just hope he can catch some zzzz's here and there. We are excited to see the tour bus and the girls this Tuesday as they will be in town for a day. Shawn and I will hopefully go to the show Tuesday night too (if Lexi cooperates).

Pretty Alegra

I can't believe how big Alegra is getting. She talks so well and understands so much that sometimes I forget she is only 2 1/2. She is so sweet and loves to be a little ham. She is REALLY into the "cool" this summer, which is the "pool". For some reason she says it with a "c" even though we have practiced. We went to the pool on Friday afternoon with our cousins who are in town Nicholas, Clara, Ezra, and Aunt Katie. It was actually Ezra's 1st birthday on Friday. I didn't really have too much help so I put Alegra in floaties. They have a 3 foot section and she stayed in that section. I kept my eye on her the whole time and she did amazing. She was totally practicing swimming with her head under and everything. She swam so much that she was almost delirious with exhaustion when we left. I love this age because they seem so uninhibited. Cruz used to be like this but he is starting to come up with fears and excuses, which is totally normal, but in some ways it is nice when they are just willing to try stuff. Cruz is doing great with swimming too. He is all over the deep end of the pool and he goes to his back when he gets in trouble. He loves going off the diving board doing turns and cannonballs. He had a blast playing with water guns with Nicholas Raddon.

Legs and all her gear!

Happy 1st Birthday Ezra! I like to call him BRICK because he is a Brown version of Nick!

Yum Yum!

Dear Lexi Lu: You are so stinkin' cute and I love that you are liking sucking on your big toe lately, but boy, you have been tough to figure out. You are kind of a fussy baby. I thought once you hit 4 months you would kind of get better, but the last week has seemed worse. I feel bad as your mom because I think it is something with your tummy because you seem to like pressure on your tummy. You either liked to be held with my arms against your tummy or up on my shoulder with my shoulder on your tummy. We have been trying zantac for acid reflux but that hasn't seemed to help too much. You have never been too spitty but every time I would lay you down on your back you would scream. I think the zantac is helping with that some. It is kind of sad for me as your mom because I want to help you but I sure don't know what the problem is. You cry when you nurse especially on the right side, but you won't have anything to do with a bottle of formula. You will drink a bottle with breast milk in it though. I have tried changing a million things in my diet but that is super hard because there is so much a person eats in a day and I am not exactly sure when what I eat shows up in your milk. I do know sleep is super important for you to get. You are still liking to be swaddled and you like to sleep best in your crib. When you are happy you are so cute and giggly, but that changes so fast and then you cry. Hopefully as your little intestines develop we can figure this out. We love you Lexi Lu!
Love,
Mom

Sunday Afternoon Hanging Out

Alegra, her headband, her juice box, and her bug bites!

Cruz and his Magnatile shoes!

CAMPING!

Shawn took Cruz and Alegra camping last night up to Alta. They had a blast. I guess I shouldn't be the one posting about the trip since Lexi and I stayed home, but Cruz did tell me all about it. They found a camp sight and they were not by any other campers. They made a fire, got their tent set up, and then made grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner with their new camping sandwich makers. Then they had s'mores and Cruz had 3. I am not sure how many Alegra ate. The gang then went on a hike but it started to get dark, that is when they saw the moose (they think 2 or 3) but it was pretty dark at that point so it was hard to see. When they got back to the tent it was raining so they put the rain flap up. Then Cruz said they went to bed. Shawn brought them back this morning and then took off for work. I LOVE where we live. That is so awesome we are 10 minutes from camping in the mountains and Shawn can make it home to go to work. I think the kiddos are pretty tired, hopefully we get some naps in today. Poor Lexi has a fever and isn't feeling well from the 2 shots she had yesterday. Hopefully by 3 (24 hours after shots) she is feeling better. Shawn is so awesome to take the kids and do this. He totally packed them, got the camping stuff ready, etc. He wins the awesome dad award!

Lexi is 4 months old today!

The kids love seeing Lexi do her tricks, like sitting in her chair.

Unfortunately, Lexi doesn't love to be on her stomach....therefore I tend to forget, but she does need to spend more time on her tummy.

I can't believe it, but Lexi is 4 months old today. She actually had her 4 month check up as well. She is our tall skinny girl. She weighs 12 lb. 9 oz. (only 28%), she is 25.5 inches tall (91% for her age), and her head is 40.5 cm (38%). I call Lexi my medium baby. She isn't as tough as Cruz was as a baby and she isn't as easy as Alegra was as a baby, she is just medium :). With Cruz I think a lot of his toughness was me being a new mom and not knowing what I was doing. With Alegra I felt so much more comfortable with a newborn and felt more like I knew what I was doing. She might not be as easy as I remember, I just remember she slept during the day a lot more than Cruz. Lexi has fussy periods but we have her on Zantac for acid reflux and that has seemed to help. She didn't spit up a ton but she would scream like she was in total pain when I would lay her down. She is so smiley too though and Cruz can really get her to smile. We love her and I am loving having a baby to care for.

This is Lexi's serious face :)!!!

Potty Trained

So I forgot to post about this but Alegra is basically potty trained. She still wears a diaper at night, but during the day she is doing great. It was so easy to train her too. Grandma Raddon had these princess pull ups at her house and she came home wearing one about 2 months ago. She really liked the idea of the princess on the diaper. She was getting close to potty train so I thought we could move to the pull up stage. (with Cruz we just went straight from diapers to underwear, no pull ups). We talked about trying to keep the princess dry. Alegra was starting to get the hang of it. Some days were better than others. I then bought the thicker training panties. She loved these and really wanted to wear them. She wore them for a week straight and had no accidents. Talk about easy! The past week she has had a few more accidents, but nothing major. I think it totally worked because she was ready. Good job Alegra. G & G Frye sent Alegra a cute Hello Kitty change purse as a potty gift, which was really nice. A little over 2.5 and she is in underwear, pretty good!

As long as we are talking bathroom talk, Cruz says the funniest thing. When he goes number 2, lots of times he will say, "mom, it was a clean break!" When there is nothing to wipe. It cracks me up. When Alegra is going number 2 she looks at me and says, "mom, I need some privacy!" She calls me when she is done. They are both so funny!

some random pictures

I just got the pictures off of Shawn's phone. We went for a picnic and a hike up at Alta a few weeks ago (pre haircut for the kids). It was a lot of fun except for the wing blew at our picnic. Alegra has some weird problem with the wind. She thinks everything is going to blow away and she TOTALLY freaks out. It is kind of strange!

Shawn captured Alegra's excitement to go down the Alpine Slide in Jackson Hole. This is her going up the chair lift!

The rug rats at the cabin, with their snakes!

Georgia and Alegra on the tube. She was fearless! I kind of like that age where they don't know fear because she is willing to try everything. Cruz used to be like that but he has definitely developed some fears lately. Plus, he likes to be the VERY best at everything and if he can't I sometimes think he doesn't want to try. We have been talking about how we "practice" things before we become good at them.

Cute!

She is so cute!

Chocolate Dipped Bananas

Sunday night the kids enjoyed making chocolate dipped bananas. Although it looks like they liked eating them, after only a few bites they were done!

Swim Lessons

Cruz and Alegra have been enjoying going to swim lessons this summer. Cruz has gotten really good and Alegra is learning how to float!

"Sweets" Candy Factory

The kids and I went on a tour of Sweets Candy Factory with our friends/neighbors Misty, Zoe, and Jack. It was a lot of fun. We had to wear hairnets, take off all jewelry, wear close toed shoes, and walk within yellow lines. The kids did very good following all of the instructions. Cruz loved talking to the tour director and luckily she was very kind to him. It was fun seeing how they made taffy, cinnamon bears, jelly beans, and all that sugar!!! We weren't allowed to take any pictures inside, so we snapped a few shots after the fact. They even made me put a hairnet on Lexi. Her head is so small we ended up putting a beard net on her.


Both Grandma's Love the Chocolate Orange sticks Sweeet's makes. We got to sample them along with several other candies!



Love Lexi's Hair Net!