28 weeks

She has become a complete momma's girl.  If I set her down and she watches me walk away from her she will immediately cry.  It drives me a little crazy, there are times during the day that I need to sit her down to get things done.  Sometimes I just have to let her cry, I have found that baby Einstein does help at times, there is a lion puppet that she loves and just smiles when ever she sees it.  She definitely reaches out for me when I hold out my arms for her.  She is sleeping great at night once again.  She is taking two naps a day one in the morning which is shorter and sometimes it is on the go while we are running errands.  But the afternoon nap we try to be home so she can sleep in her bed, so she sleeps longer.  She loves eating food and has been trying lots of new food lately, she still isn't a huge fan of the baby food fruit, but she loves the vegetables. 

Noah's first day of pre-school

Noah, had his first day of preschool today.  I was late in trying to find him something close to our new house.  So I struggled to find him something, for him that was close by.  I finally found something down the street, it is only two days a week which I was hoping for 3 days but I took what I could get waiting so long.  It is 9-12 on Tues and Thurs.  He was pretty excited to get to wear his new clothes.  I have to admit I was pretty excited to have a few hours of quiet with only me and baby girl at home. 

Noah was pretty excited to go, he was checking out the yard and everything.  He went right in and said hi to his new teacher Miss Melanie and put his back pack away.  He went and found his apple name tag and put it on and went to the table to sit down.  He was already talking to other kids when I left.  He didn't seem nervous at all. 

Ashton's first day of 1st grade

So Ashton was pretty excited to start school again this year and I have to say so was I.  I was ready for a routine and have some quiet during the day time.  Ashton's grade is unusually large and so the school was suppose to hire a 5th 1st grade teacher, well that didn't happen so they decided to do a 1st/2nd grade split class.  The principal asked if we were okay having Ashton in that class, they had choose students who had higher test scores and who they thought they would do good in the class, because they will be pushed along at a faster pace than a normal 1st grade class.  We decided that overall it would be good for Ashton so we gave our permission.  At first he wasn't thrilled about it, I think it was just because he was nervous about the 2nd graders. 

So the first day of school we were all excited and happy about school starting and we headed out walking to school.  As we got closer to the school Ashton got a little quieter and quieter, by the time we got to the school he was glued to my side and when I tried to talk to him he was whispering and I couldn't even hear him.  We finally found his class and meet his teacher and found his desk, hung up his back pack and sat down.  He was really quiet and I could barely get a smile out of him.  I could tell he was pretty nervous.  I took a couple more pictures and said I would be waiting for him outside when school was over. 

We headed home and Noah of course had to play on the playground for a few minutes before heading home.  The first day was early out so he got done by 1:25, we went to meet him and when he walked out of school, he had a smile on his face.  He had a good day, and was excited he knew a few kids in his class from last year.  I am hoping that this will be a good year for us and for Ashton. 

The first day that Ashton was gone until 3:30 Noah spent all day asking when Ashton was going to be home.  He was a little lonely, he did find some friends to play with the first day but that will soon change when pre school starts for everyone. 

27 weeks

This was our last week before the boys go back to school so I tried to have something planned every day, even if it was just meeting friends at the park or something.  We went to Wheeler Farms, went to chick-fil-a and just hung out with friends as much as we could this last week.  Caitlin for the most part is such a good baby to go along with whatever.  She has gotten better in the car sometimes she still throws fits when we strap her in her car seat but once we get moving she is usually fine.  I have found if she gets super fussy in the car I turn on a baby Einstein and she is fine.  She has started to reach out for me when I hold my arms out for her.  She does prefer me to anyone else, but she does love her daddy.  She gives him the biggest smiles when he comes into the room.  She also loves grey, she gets super excited when she comes around and she will grab handfuls of her fur.  Grey puts up with it for a few minutes then she is gone.  The cats still sleep under Caitlin's crib which I am fine with as long as they stay under the crib and not in it.  We are still working on getting her to take a bottle, so far she is still putting up a huge fight and won't take one.  But I want to be done with the nursing.  Things she has grown out of already, the swing I rarely put her in it anymore so I figure I should put it away.  The play mat, she is to busy rolling all over the place to get much use of it these days.  She is usually on a blanket with toys or in the exersaucer. 

I bought her a new bracelet the other day.  Her other one was looing kind of rough, since I never take it off.  I figured the first one lasted 6 months so I figured this one would last about that long too. 

26 weeks

This week she finally figured out she can roll from her stomach to her back.  So she is officially all over the place.  I am going to have to start thinking about getting baby gates up because it won't be long before she is crawling (insert crying here) I am so not ready for her to be growing up so dang fast.  She has become very attached to me, she will cry if I set her down and walk out of her line of sight.  It drives me a little crazy when I am trying to get stuff done, I can't hold her all day.  I try to keep her happy but sometimes she just has to sit and cry.  One thing that does help is if I put on baby Einstein, she loves it just like Ashton did when he was a baby.  That will usually buy me a little bit of time.  She is talking up a storm, she says, dada and ya ya she has also become a screecher, it is usually happy but man is it loud. 
She has become funny about nursing, I am wondering if I am not producing as much milk, cause she gets done pretty quickly but then sometimes I can tell she is hungry before 3 hours have gone by.  So I am not sure what is going on, I have been trying to get her to take a bottle but so far haven't had much luck.  I have tried three different bottles, and no luck.  This is the longest I have nursed any of my babies and I hate to say it but I am done with the nursing, it would be nice to be able to give her a bottle during the day when we are out and about, but she isn't having it at all.  So I am not sure what I am going to do.  I took all the kids to Tepanyaki one Friday night and I feed Caitlin some of the soup, and fried rice and she loved it.  She is definitely into food these days she wants whatever we are having. 

The seven year itch

Jason and I planned on going to dinner for our anniversary.  Mom and Myron were going to come up to watch the kids for us.  Jason got up Saturday morning and went to run a few errands, he was gone for about an hour and he came home with the most beautiful flowers.  He then told me how many places he had to go to find them, I guess it was quite the challenge.  We exchanged gifts in the afternoon when we had a quiet moment to ourselves.  Caitlin was sleeping and the boys were outside playing.  Jason completely spoiled me he got me a fun necklace I had asked for a while ago but had forgotten about, he also got me a Kate Spade purse, and a cake pop maker.  I seriously felt so spoiled it was nice.  I was a little nervous with what I got him, I was pretty sure he was going to he happy with it but sometimes you never know.  I gave him an exotic car drive where he gets to drive a Ferrari or a Lamborghini.  He seemed pretty thrilled with it so I was happy.  I also had gone to Kneaders and gotten us our favorite chunky cinnamon bread to make French toast and then I got him 7 different treats for our 7 years together.   We went to dinner at Tepanyaki and it was so yummy as usual.  We have been going there a lot lately it has been a fun change. 

Go Karts

So this has been the summer of the go karts.  Jason bought one and that started a chain reaction and he bought another one, then another and another.  Three of them are the same and one is bigger and goes much faster.  These go karts have been the hit of the neighborhood, I have kids all the time asking if they can ride them.  For the first couple of weeks I was fine with it, but now at the end of the summer I am getting annoyed with the knocks at the door asking if they can take the go karts out.  I now only let them come out if my boys are outside and they are using them too.  I know Jason is also getting annoyed with having to fix them, it seems like every day there is something needing to be fixed from, flat tires to broken ball bearing, and front axles needing to be replaced.  Jason has had fun trying to fix them and riding the big one himself. 

Ashton's rough week

So a few weeks ago, one Sunday afternoon the boys were rough housing and Noah kicked Ashton's front tooth out.  The tooth was loose, so Noah helped it along.  After Ashton got over the shock and the blood he was mighty excited to have the tooth fairy come and visit. 

Two days later the boys were playing inside and I was upstairs in my room and I heard screaming.  I didn't really think much of it cause there is a lot of screaming at my house.  But it kept on going so I was coming to check it out and Ashton had slipped on the wood floor and hit his head on the stair post and had blood all over his head.  You know how head wounds bleed a ton.  I took him in the bathroom and got it cleaned up the best I could and decided he might need stitches, it wasn't very long but it was really wide.  So I sent Tate (the boys friend home) and packed up all three kids and headed to insta care, right after I called his pediatrician and the nurse said she doesn't touch head wounds.  An hour and a half later we finally saw the Dr and Ashton got three stitches.  He handled the whole situation really well right up until the end.  We got checked in and taken back fairly quickly, they put the numbing stuff on his head and said we had to wait 20 mins for it to numb the area then the Dr could check it out and do the stitches.  So we went back to the waiting room, I feed Caitlin and we waited and waited for almost an hour before they called us back to the room.  We got into the room and the nurse said the Dr would be in shortly.  We waited for another 30 mins or so, by this time the kids were all restless.  The boys had looked at all the books they wanted and they were tired of being cooped up in this tiny room.  Caitlin was being pretty good but I was having to hold her and pace the room to keep her happy finally the nurse came back and said we were moving to another room for the Dr to do the stitches.  We waited a few more minutes and the Dr finally came in and looked and confirmed we needed stitches.  She started to clean the wound and Ashton said it hurt she then had to give him a shot to numb it again.  This is where he lost it, he started to cry and was really upset and there wasn't much I could do to comfort him while I was also holding Caitlin.  They gave him the shot and he screamed and then the stitches went in.  They were really nice and gave the boys otter pops, but I was still annoyed we had been there that long. 

The very next day while they boys were outside playing Ashton came running in and he had his other front tooth in his hand.  He had knocked it out by hitting his face on the stroller in the garage.  Not exactly sure what he did, he was just being clumsy.  Ashton was thrilled that the tooth fairy was going to visit him again so soon.  This time the tooth fairy gave him a bionicle he was so happy when he woke up and saw his prize. 

 
Now as if this wasn't enough for the poor kid to endure 4 days later while playing outside he stepped on one of the go karts and pushed it out from under him and knocked yet another tooth loose.  It was already loose but he knocked it loose so that it was just barely hanging on by a tiny piece of his gum.  I had to talk him into letting me pull it out, but he let me in the end.  The tooth fairy left him a little extra money this time and a note thanking him for all the teeth he had given her this last week.  After this last tooth I kind of threatened him, that he better not loose any more because the tooth fairy needs to go to other houses and not spend so much time at our house.

Nashville

So Caitlin and I tagged along with Jason on his annual conference, this year it was in Nashville.  Mom was going to watch the boys but she had to go to Canada to take care of her parents, but luckily Val was still off work so she was able and happy to take the boys for us.  I was pretty excited to go and have a break from home and see somewhere new. 

Dad came and picked up the boys and then we headed to the airport.    We made it to the airport and got through the very long security line and made it to our gate.  I went to take Caitlin out of the stroller for a few minutes while we were waiting to board the plane.  I noticed she had a poop blow out, it wasn't horrible but enough that I had to take her to the bathroom and change her clothes.  I decided to put her pj's on instead of another outfit.  We were landing in Nashville around 9:30 so I decided it would be easiest if she was already in her pj's. 

Caitlin did really good for her first flight, I had timed her feedings right so I nursed her as we took off and then she slept for a little bit and then I just had to entertain her for the rest of the flight.  Jason and I were not sitting together, he came and got her for a few minutes but the minute she started to fuss he brought her right back.  But overall she did really good.  We got to the hotel pretty late and got checked in, we had been upgraded to a two room suite which worked out perfectly for us we were able to put Caitlin in the sitting room so we could be awake in the bedroom.  It also gave us two bathrooms which was nice since the bathrooms were pretty small.  We stayed at The Gaylord Opryland Hotel, it was a huge amazing hotel. I seriously didn't leave the hotel for days, before I got bored and needed to see something else.  There was shopping, restaurants, boats, plenty to see, and a bonus was there was a huge shopping mall just a short ten min walk away. 

it was a pretty low key trip for us, Jason was super busy we only saw him at night for dinner.  Caitlin and I would get up in the morning and hang out in the room I would get ready when she was napping then we would head out for lunch and to explore for a while then it was back to the room for her afternoon nap.  I tried to keep to her schedule as much as possible, but one day she had her nap in the stroller at the mall after I had feed her.  It actually worked out great she slept long enough for me to get a pedicure.

 At night we would meet Jason for dinner and when Caitlin had enough and needed to go to bed I would head back to the room.  The final night of the conference we all dressed up I was excited for Caitlin's dress she looked so dang cute and was the hit of the party.  She was really fussy through most of dinner and I was thinking I was going to have to go back to the room.  But once the show started she calmed down and lasted through the whole show.  Which was nice, but once it was over I had to get her to bed.

 Jason stayed out and partied till super late, which he totally deserved after the long week had put in.  We stayed one extra day so we spent Sunday lounging in the room and then by the pool.  We decided to walk back to the mall to the Mexican restaurant Chuys, which we had eaten at already once that week but it was so good we went back.  The next morning we headed home.  I didn't get to see as much as I had thought I would but it was still a very nice getaway, but I was also ready to come home and see the boys I had missed them a ton.  which is weird because usually I don't miss them when I get away, it is usually such a needed break for me I just enjoy the down time. 

Camping

So a while back we were having dinner at my dad's house and I spoke up and said we should plan a family camping trip with everyone.  Everyone thought it was a good idea so dad got out a calendar to find a weekend that would work.  It took a while to find one that would work with most people and so set that date aside.  Well most everyone was able to make it the only ones who didn't were Jason and Leland.  It was a fun weekend we got up to the campground we stayed at Diamond campground up Spanish Fork canyon.  I got there around 5pm, Dad and Val were already there and had the camp mostly set up.  They had brought Gabe and Sydney (Val's other grandchildren) which my boys were so happy about cause that meant they had friends to play with.  Aaron showed up not long after I did.  We got our stuff set up and we walked around the campground and bit and had dinner and finally dad was able to get the motor home at least into the camping spot.  They had some trouble with it overheating and not wanting to get started again.  We roasted hot dogs for dinner and just enjoyed the beautiful night.  It was definitely warmer than I expected it to be.  Aaron was the awesome uncle and let the boys sleep with him in his tent.  I wasn't going to argue, I was fine with just Caitlin with me.  I wasn't sure how well she would do anyways and the last thing I needed was three kids awake at night instead of just one.  turns out it was good the boys slept with Aaron because Caitlin didn't sleep that great I had to finally put her in bed with me and she finally slept a little bit better. 

Saturday Nicole, Jonah, Lindsay and Jesse who is about Caitlin's age came up for the day.  Dad had brought the 4 wheelers and we were going to go for a ride.  But first they went to try a little fishing in the river by the camp but no one had much luck, which wasn't surprising with all the rock and sticks that had been thrown in the water.  kids and fishing not always a good mix.  After lunch everyone left to go ride the 4 wheelers.  Val and I stayed back with the two babies, there wasn't enough 4 wheelers for everyone anyways.  It was nice to just sit and visit with Val and chill for a while.  Caitlin actually took a decent nap so I was able to have a little bit of down time with no kids I enjoyed it thoroughly.  Once everyone got back dad wanted to know if I was ready to go on a ride but it was almost time to feed Caitlin again so I had to wait.  Then Ang and JD and their boys showed up they started dinner and we had dinner and Dad asked again after dinner if I wanted to go on a ride, but once again it was time to feed Caitlin so I couldn't leave her so dad took Val, Angela, JD, Ashton, and Gage and they went for a ride.  Aaron and I stayed behind with the rest of the kids.  Nicole and Jonah were still there for a little bit then they had to head home.  I was bummed to not get to go on a ride but that it what happens with a nursing baby, your life revolves around that baby and their eating schedule.  We sat around the fire for quite a while after the kids went to sleep, I don't know why it is so peace and nice to just sit and look at a fire, but it is such a peaceful thing I love it. 

Sunday we got up had breakfast and played for a little bit before breaking down camp.  I had hoped that I would be able to get a ride in, but everyone seemed anxious to get home.  We finally got everything all packed up and I tried to start my car to leave and the battery was dead.  My phone had died so I had plugged it in to charge for a few minutes and it killed the car battery.  Dad was able to jump me and then we were on our way.  It was a fun trip and I am so glad we went.  It was a little hard with Caitlin, I had brought the bumbo so she had a place to sit which was helpful, but she had to be held a lot.  The boys had so much fun and were plenty dirty when we got home.  I hope we can maybe make this a yearly thing I think it would be fun for the family.  I know it seems like Ashton wasn't there, he was I promise I guess he just wasn't around any time I pulled out my phone to take pictures.