The Cookie Jar

Yesterday the kids and I made up a DOUBLE batch of big soft Gingersnap cookies. They are Daddy's favorite. Would you believe that this cookie jar was full to the brim just one day ago? I'm sure Mr. Stannix and I had at least ten a piece last night while snuggled up to our favorite show. I dipped mine in Milk, Mr. Stannix drank Juice.

Tonight the kiddos enjoyed cookies and milk as a bed time snack. They were so cute and giggly at the table. I love those two! Hyrum will  come up to me randomly during the day when he knows the cookie jar is full and go, "Pssssst. Coooooookie?" So adorable. Now if I could just keep the cookie jar full, we'd be set! Cookies and milk every night for everyone! Yum.

Two Months

Dear Joseph,
Today you are two months old! I can hardly believe it. You are such a handsome little man and I adore your smiles and coos. You are already quite the people-person and love to be looked at and talked to. Your most favorite time to interact is still late at night, but I'll take it. Your little grins are priceless and when I get them I can't help but squeeze you tight and smooch your chubby cheeks over and over.

At two months you will sleep for an hour at a time in your crib. Once I got a three and a half hour stretch out of you. Your favorite place to sleep though is snuggled up on my chest, beside me in bed, or in the wrap. You will also sleep for a long time when I put you in the swing so that I can get things done.You still sleep the longest and hardest first thing in the morning, but we're working on getting your days and nights switched around.

You love your big brother and sister and always have the biggest grins for them. Your big sister is very good at watching you and keeping you safe for me while I tidy or do the dishes. They both love you very much and you are constantly smothered in kisses and gentle hugs. Hyrum is always extra concerned and will say "Jo-peh pying!" every time you are crying. Camilla likes to tickle you under the chin and giggles at you when you smile.

Just before bed you enjoy your Daddy time. You will smile, blink, turn your head and coo while Daddy talks to you. I enjoy watching you interact with your Daddy and seeing the excited look on your face as your arms flail around beside you.

While I was nursing you the other day you were wearing your little man nighty and I loved holding your chubby feet in my hands. I feel like it's a bit unfair that time seems to go so quickly. You have lost that light weight newborn feel and can be quite a lug to bounce to sleep already. I love seeing all of the rolls on your thighs when I diaper that cute bottom of yours. It means that you're healthy and well and that I am doing my job.

I feel a special closeness to you after all of the time we get to spend together at night. You struggle to get comfortable and have a hard time with your burps sometimes. The older you get the easier things are getting and your becoming more content. It's been such a relief and it's nice to be able to relax a little bit more and enjoy you. The love I feel for you is amazing.

I'm not sure how I'd describe your personality at this point. When you are happy, you are such a joy to be around. You seem to have very soft, kind eyes and a quiet way about you. You don't mind sitting in the background and watching everything go on around you. I am excited to see your personality develop more over these next few months. 

I feel so blessed to call you mine and am excited for the months ahead! Keep growing little man! I love you.

-Mom

My Hockey Nut

My little boy has such a love for Hockey. Today he emerged from the front entry way wearing Daddy's giant mitts as Hockey gloves. His tongue was sticking out which meant he was concentrating extra hard on hitting that ball. The cuteness factor was so high that I almost died and had to jump off the chair to snap a few pictures.

January's Spring

This morning when I opened the front door to grab the mail I couldn't believe how warm it was. The air was crisp and fresh and smelled of spring. As I did the morning clean I cracked open the sliding door and upstairs windows, I couldn't help myself. While cleaning the children's room I had the thought to rearrange it so that the crib was away from the window. I followed through as a last effort to get little man to spend more time in his crib at night. Each child seems to have their own little needs and I think Joseph just likes to be close to someone while he sleeps. We'll see how tonight goes!

After lunch I looked outside at the sunshine and icicles melting. It was too warm to pass up a good afternoon outdoors! We kiboshed nap time and suited everyone up to play in the snow.  Since it was almost 10 degrees I decided to bring Joseph out to enjoy the sunshine and fresh air. It was pretty bright on his little eyes at first, but he got used to it. 

He was so cute, I could have taken a million photos with those chubby cheeks, sweet little lips and sparkly baby blues. Not to mention the perfect lighting! I love the way the sun casts and orange glow over everything mid-afternoon.

The kids had a lot of fun and really enjoyed getting out of the house for a few hours. The first thing they found were the puddles of water. Camilla even brought her rubber ducky out for a swim. It was pretty cute.

Joseph eventually fell asleep, so I set him down in his seat so that I could play with the kids. We constructed a snow man in under five minutes and spent the rest of the time searching for things to dress him up with.

Camilla was so focused and precise with everything she did and loved putting the arms on. I love that girl and her little personality.

 

Hyrum was just loving life! He is such a giggly boy and so fun to be around. We had a fun game of hide n' seek between our two little snowmen. His little tooth filled grins were absolutely priceless.

Little Joe enjoyed his very first afternoon nap outdoors all cozied up in snow gear and a blanket. I sure do love my kids and it was nice to take a full afternoon to just play with them and enjoy each of their personalities. They are all so special and unique in their own ways and it's nice to see the similarities and differences. I think the fresh air and sunshine was definitely needed. We were all suffering from a bit of cabin fever!

Wee Little Pirates

My house is being taken over by wee little pirates today. We woke up to snow again and Daddy has the car for the week so we needed something to keep us busy. The kids are having fun with it! They've spent the morning sword fighting and running around the house.

Hyrum likes to use his sword as a pirate telescope.

"Arr Matey's!" 

Hyrum's a pretty cute little pirate in his tight green pants!

He also makes a handsome little sailor when he turns his hat to the side.

We had to get Joseph in on the action too!

So far there's been lots of jumping on the couch and sword fighting. 

I think we'll spend the afternoon building a pirate ship and searching for buried treasure.

Then we'll all take really long pirate naps... 

I can always dream right?

My Little Sunbeam

Camilla's second week in Primary was a total success.

She loves her teacher and seems to be adjusting well to the change.

All week I've been hearing stories of her first week from different people at church.

"Did you hear about Camilla's first week in Primary?" 

A lot of them were pretty funny.

"Sister so-and-so knows the answer".

"I just always twirl to this song when my Mommy plays it". 

She is a total ball of energy and talks pretty much non-stop.

Gotta love her!

The Thing about Winter

The great thing about winter is that I can pull all of my groceries to the front door on the sled! 

It's a great time saver!

Hip-Hip Hooray!

Joseph slept a full three and a half hours in a row last night IN HIS CRIB!

This boy has only used his crib a handful of times since birth.
Usually we're up past mid-night hanging out or nursing often.
Most sleep happens with him snuggled up with me.
We've been in survival mode for the last couple months.
Whatever had to be done to get some sleep was done.
The awesome beginnings of sleeping in his crib were brought on by
a sweet prompting received late one night after everyone else had long gone to bed.
Try the soother again.
I held it in his mouth for a long time while we walked the living room floor together.
When he was finally asleep we made our way up the creaky stairs.
I gently placed him in his crib and tip-toed across the creaky old hardwood.
It felt so good to snuggle under my duvet next to Mr. Stannix
and sleep soundly for three and a half glorious hours.
So glad for answers to prayers.

Even Joseph seems to be shouting hooray!

He has been a much happier baby now that he's well rested.

I adore the way he sleeps with his hands in the air.

I am in love with the squeaks and grunts that accompany his stretches.

I feel a deeper love for this little boy after all of our long nights together.

After last night there is definitely a light at the end of the tunnel.

At Sea

Today was the hardest, longest day we've had in a while. I came down with the flu on Tuesday night and spent all day Wednesday on the couch while my littles took over the house. When I heard plastic crunching in the kitchen I went in to investigate and found Hyrum and Camilla sitting under the table eating cheerios right out of the bag. It made me giggle a bit. It wasn't long before cheerios could be found all over my house, underneath the couch cushions, and in the bathroom. Come mid-morning I decided to put up the baby gate and barricade everyone in the living room. We may or may not have watched Disney movies all day long. I was so achy and tired and it took everything in me just to pick up all the dirty diapers and vacuum the cheerios up at the end of the day. Thank-fully Joseph has been a gem and has been going to sleep with little or no bouncing. Last night he simply layed on my shoulder while I patted his back. As he drifted off to sleep he would nestle his fuzzy little head into my neck. I love kissing the top off his head. The kids went to bed in the same jammies they wore all day and slept in the night before. All in the name of survival I guess.

We definitely have a bad case of the coups here today. There has been non-stop whining, crying, biting, toy stealing, complaining,  head bonking, and falling off things. It all started bright and early with Hyrum coming downstairs before 6:00am. Camilla was close behind and asking for breakfast on her way down. I asked if she wanted toast and Hyrum immediately ran to me repeating, "I uh tooooast!" over and over. I smiled, "you want toast too, Hyrum?" "Yeh-Pee! MMM gooo! Toe!" Ah he cracks me up. He then asks for jam repeatedly until I respond, only his J's still sound more like D's. I then asked Camilla if she had a good sleep and she goes, "yeah, I just slept for five minutes!" Then Hyrum interrupts, "Fweeping! Fweeping! Five min!" Before we knew it Daddy was heading out the door with Hyrum shouting, "Wub you!" I then read Hyrum The Cranky Bear book which he calls "Cwanky Beaw". Later on when I was playing with Camilla's hair Hyrum ran up to me begging, "Pet me! Pet me!" and pushing his head into my hands. I literally burst out laughing.

Although the day was chaotic and exhausting, a moment of peace finally came in the late afternoon when I was nursing Joe on the couch. Both kids had just woke up from their very short naps and quietly came downstairs. One by one they began climbing over my outstretched legs and snuggling under the blanket. Before I knew it Camilla had taken us away deep into her imagination. My floral couch suddenly became a huge boat lost at sea with a captain who we called "hey man". We rolled over huge waves and saw whales and sea lions on our adventure. It wasn't long before the sizzling slow cooker in the kitchen became a scary monster, a dragon in fact, and it was in pursuit of our ship. When Hyrum had heard the slow cooker sizzling earlier he was legit afraid and ran to me in tears. This time he just pretended to be afraid, letting out that funny scream of his and shouting, "MUH-UH! MUH-UH! Twuick! Hide! AH!"

Finally we landed on a sandy beach so that I could bounce Joseph to sleep because he was crying. "Joo-peh pying" says Hyrum. Camilla responds, "Don't say stupid Hyrum!". I must admit when he says Joseph's name it does sound a bit like he's saying that word. While I rocked the baby the kids made sand castles on my living room floor. Camilla's imagination continued to run wild and her brother wasn't far behind trying to repeat everything she was saying. The story got pretty intense and I wish I could remember all of the details. I love that girl and her ability to escape into her imagination and bring the rest of us with her. It was the quietest hour we had all day, and it was pure fun! I may have even caught a few winks while we were sailing and pretending to be "fweeping" with our eyes closed. Bonus!

Poor Mr. Stannix is feeling under the weather as well. By the time he got home we both plunked down on the couch and let the kids have their way with the house until dinner was ready. 

Afternoon Sun

This afternoon I enjoyed some quiet time with Joseph on the couch soaking up the afternoon sun that always pours through our living room window before it begins to set behind the rooftops across the street. This is one of my favorite things to do in the afternoon. The warmth of the sun on my skin reminds me of Summer and makes me feel warm all over. Today I enjoyed connecting with Joseph though. I propped him up on my legs so we were sitting face to face. I love when he makes eye contact and coos at me. His newest trick is to form his lips into a tiny little O shape while he makes conversation. It's pretty dang adorable.