Kylie's Perspective

We took advantage of the gorgeous weather yesterday and went hiking with aunt Jessica before she went home. I gave Kylie free reign of the camera and after sorting through the hundreds of pictures of cactuses (actually I think it's "cacti", but that sounds weird), sage brush and self portraits, it was cute to see the hike through her perspective.

CaliJason's cousin got married in Cabo in November but since we weren't able to go we were excited when they decided to have a wedding dinner in California. It was nice to be able to celebrate with them and have an excuse for a little vacation. It was a little crazy leaving the morning after Christmas, but it was worth it once we got there. I was a little (okay, alot) nervous about how Maddox would do in the car since he has decided that he hates driving. He did good and slept for most of the drive, but when he wasn't sleeping then he was crying. We pulled in around 5:15 and thought that the dinner started at 6:00, so instead of checking into our hotel we changed our clothes in the car. It sounds simple enough, but it was quite the scene with 2 cranky kids who wanted to get out and run around, a screaming baby, clothes flying everywhere. I think people thought that we were homeless people living out of our car. We had to laugh when we showed up at 5:45 and were the only ones there since apparently it didn't start until 6:30. The dinner was great, okay so I admit that I passed on the duck and other authentic dishes but when it came to the fried rice--bring it on! It was just a lot of fun to see cousins and extended family members that we hadn't seen in years. The next day we had a blast at Knotts Berry Farm with Jason's brother and sister and their families (Jessica was a party pooper and didn't want to come with us :). The kids were in heaven running around with all their cousins, the weather was perfect and the lines were so short, it was great. Maddox stayed in the stroller for all of 5 minutes, then I had to carry him in the sling the rest of the day. My shoulder was killing me, but atleast he was happy. We spent pretty much the whole day in Camp Snoopy, except for the one roller coaster I went on with DeEtte and then the 2 that Jason went on with Allen. Okay Jay, I admit that I am getting old since I was nervous to go on it, so you have to admit that you're getting old since you got sick on the silver bullet :). We got there when it opened and stayed until the kids were freezing their little hineys off, it was definately a fun day. The next day we had a luncheon at Jason's aunt's house. The food was yummy and the kids were excited to have another excuse to run around with their cousins. It was nice to have the chance to get to know Anya's husband better and relax before heading back to Phoenix. It was a short, but fun trip. On the way home I asked Jayden what his favorite part of the trip was. I thought he would say Knotts Berry Farm, or playing with his cousins, but no....it was the hotel, go figure.

Merry Christmas!

It seems like the month of December gets shorter and shorter each year. I refuse to do anything Christmasy before Thanksgiving because I want to be able to enjoy all of the other holidays too, but then it seems like there just isn't enough time to get it all done. Somehow we managed to pack everything into the short three weeks....getting the decorations up, doing ALL the shopping, wrapping presents, decorating cookies, sendind out Christmas cards, making treats for the neighbors, sending off packages, getting presents for the teachers, Christmas parties at school and with neighbors and we even found some time sip hot chocolate while watching Christmas movies and reading Christmast stories. It's kind of depressing to start taking down the decorations and turn off the Christmas music that has been playing non-stop, but it was definately a fun Christmas season while it lasted. Christmas eve we did the traditional "open first" present, which was (surprise!) pajamas and the nativity scene. Then we had hot chocolate and popcorn while we snuggled up and watched my all time favorite movie, "Elf". I think that's the only movie I can watch over and over and never get sick of. Jayden fell asleep during the movie and I was sad that he missed the rest of the Christmas eve stuff. Kylie helped me get Santa's plate ready then we went outside and looked for Rudolph's nose. Every year we luck out to see an airplane with a flashing red light and she was so excited and a nervous wreck to get in bed before Santa came. She had a hard time going to sleep, so I layed with her for a little bit and lo and behold we heard Santa on the roof (Jason told Kylie he was going to sleep, then climbed out our bedroom window and did a little dance on the roof). The look on her face was priceless. Santa even left a stocking on the porch for her and Jayden. I think we just bought a couple more years of believing in Santa. Jason's sister, Jessica, drove down from Utah and got here around midnight on Christmas eve, so it was fun to have her here to join the party. The kids woke up at 3:30, but after climbing into bed with us they fell back asleep until 7:30. They were so excited when it was finally time to go open presents. Santa scored this year when Jason won a Wii at a raffle during a company party. I'm not sure who plays it more, Jason or the kids. Poor Jayden has been counting down the days until Christmas for the past 3 months and when the day finally comes he gets sick. He spent all morning throwing up in between opening presents. It was so sad and so unfair, of all the days! He fell asleep for a couple of hours and felt much better when he woke up. We spent all day playing with toys in our pj's and finally got showered just in time for our big Christmas eve dinner. If only every day could be Christmas...

pedicures and makeovers with aunt Jessie (Kylie said that she wants to be Jessica when she grows up because she has probably the most make-up owned by any one person. Oh, and she's pretty cool too)

how Maddox spent his first Christmas:and:

but he did love the lights....

Two Months



I just love his eyes, they are so piercing black, you can hardly see his pupils. It's one of my favorite features on him (and that cute nose). He definately has Jayden's eyes and I wonder if they'll have the same squinty smile that I love. When we were taking family pictures Jayden kept doing his fake smile and I kept telling him to open his eyes and smile normal, finally he got frustrated and said, "but mom, my eyes ARE open!" Ha! Love my cute little Chinese rugrats. I promise I'm not going to go on and on each month about how sad I am to see him grow up, but something just seems different this time around. It's not that I love him any more than the other kids, but I think it's just that I'm getting closer to being done having kids and it makes me sad to think of the day when there will never be a sweet little newborn in our home again. I don't want

to have a lot of kids, but I also don't want to stop having babies. It was different with the other ones, I was excited to watch them grow up and reach the milestones and I didn't even want to think about getting pregnant again for a long time. My biological clock just must be ticking or something. It was so nice having my other kids older and independant and my life definately was easier, but I also didn't realize what I was missing. Okay, enough of the sappy talk, on to the stats: 12lbs 3 oz (50%), 24 1/2 inches (90%) and his head is 15 3/4 in (50%). Our big accomplishment for this month was that I finally got him to take naps in his crib. I credit it to the sound machine, and shame on you moms for not telling me about that wonderful invention earlier! It was supposed to be a Christmas present, but I decided to give myself an early present and let him use it now. The first day I used it was the first day he napped in there and he's been taking 3 hour naps ever since. We're still working on the night time issue, he usually goes about 6 hours, but he's gone 8 a few times and it was heavenly. I'm also trying to convince him that he can't live without the binky, but he's not buying it. The novelty of a new baby still hasn't worn off with Kylie and Jayden. They both have their own special way of calming him down and they are beaming with pride each time they do (Kylie bounces him on her shoulder and Jayden bounces him in the bouncy chair, although I have this fear that he's going to catapult him out of it one day). Jayden cracked me up the other day....I was nursing Maddox and Jayden said that he wanted to feed him, so after I was finished I let him hold Maddox while I went to get his bottle. When I came back he had his shirt lifted up, ready for Maddox to latch on. Nursing your own brother has definately got to be a sign of true brotherly love.

Love Notes

Kylie loves writing notes for all occasions--birthdays, apologies, get well soon...I love any note she writes me, but it's the random just because notes that totally make my day. I've got a whole stack that I've been saving in my night stand drawer and here are a few of my favorites:

(she had made me a scarf out of some toole that was used for gift wrapping and decorated it with some butterfly stickers. This was the note she attached to it.)

(she had made me breakfast in bed and this note was on the tray along with her favorite stuffed animal)

( I let her draw in bed at night and sometimes she writes letters for me to find when I tuck her in, then I write a letter for her to find in the morning. Love the random corn comment.)

(a song that she wrote for me)

Miracles

They say you are strengthened through trials, so that must be why our ward is so strong. There have been so many heartbreaking trials that people in our ward have gone through (I hope you don't mind me sharing, but each one of these stories have really touched me). From my friend's sweet little girl who had a severe head injury resulting in a skull fracture, to the eight year old boy who was complaining of a stomach ache and they discovered that he had a tumor the size of a cantalope in his abdomen. There is also my friend who was on bedrest her entire pregnancy due to complications and delivered her baby just over 2 pounds at 28 weeks. Then there is the little toddler who was ran over by a car that was backing out of the driveway and there is also our Young Women president's husband who was diagnosed with bone cancer. You can imagine the heart ache experienced by each one of these families, but the true miracle is that although at times it seems that they were barely hanging on by a thread, through fasting and prayer each one of them have made miraculous recoveries. During this Christmas season my testimony has really been strengthened and there's no way that anyone could deny that Christ lives today and that miracles still happen. I also have several friends who have experienced trials that haven't always ended the way they would like and that's not to say that they didn't have enough faith. Infact, I believe that it takes an even greater faith to submit yourself to the Lord and say "not my will, but thine be done" and allow his comforting arms to get you through those unbearable times. I have another friend in the ward, Heidi that is in need of prayers right now. We were both so baby hungry and were trying to get pregnant at the same time. It's probably weird, but we both knew when the other person's "time of the month" was and would call each other around that time to see if the other person was pregnant. She was one of the first people I told when I found out that I was pregnant and I was so so excited when she found out that she was pregnant a couple of months later. During one of her routine ultrasounds they discovered that the baby has some serious heart complications. She was born 2 weeks ago today and has already undergone open heart surgery. It's so hard for me to look at my completely healthy baby and think of everything she is going through, needless to say, she's on my mind ALOT. I know that alot of you don't know her, but as a fellow mother I'm sure you can imagine the heartache she's experiencing so if you could, please keep baby Jersey in your prayers and during this Christmas season recognize all the little miracles in your own life.

Maddox's Baby Blessing

I have this fear that one of these times we won't have family visiting for a baby blessing and it will only be Jason and the bishop standing in the circle, thankfully that wasn't the case this time. We were excited to have family here to celebrate this special day. Unfortunately they all had to leave right after sacrament meeting since they were driving back to Vegas and Utah, but we still had fun with some friends who came over for a luncheon. I think we ended up with around 35 people, which was a little crazy at times with kids running everywhere, but we loved having so many great friends and family to share the day with. Maddox pretty much slept the day away. The only time he was awake was during the blessing, Jason said he was so cute as he was just looking all around. Oh yeah, and he was awake during the pictures, which he cried the entire time. Oh well, you win some and you lose some. We're just so happy to have this little man in our family, we love you Maddox!
The Jolleys (yes, Jason is still wearing his church socks. Don't ask.)

The Youngs

He just started smiling and it totally melts my heart every time. Love the little tongue sticking out. Love the little wink. Love the little dimple. Love this little guy.