North Pole Experience

In May last year (!) we bought tickets for our family to attend something called the North Pole Experience, which took place in Flagstaff, same city as my sister's cabin. So, 2nd week of December we took all the boys (Preston's first vacation/road trip) to my sister's cabin for the weekend.

Other than going to the event, we just hung out at the cabin. Which, the boys wanted to complain about at first, but, they spent pretty much a good part of the time just in the backyard playing in what snow there was on the ground. Unfortunately we didn't get to see the snow fall, but were thankful at least there was something to play with!

Naps with a view

Baby's first snow!

Gingerbread house decorating

Yay sledding!

The idea of the North Pole Experience is that kids get to go to "the North Pole to Santa's workshop", where they're led through different themed rooms before getting to see Santa then at the end. 

North Pole Experience- making toy section

Tree of teddy's

Writing lists

Mail room

The sleigh!

Mrs Claus and her helpers giving out cookies and hot chocolate in the kitchen

Our finished gingerbread house we left at the cabin

The elves, Mrs Claus and Santa signed our ornament for the tree

....and the boys got to keep teddy bears

Whew, these Christmases are coming harder to get by. As Nate gets older, he has more questions. More "how" and "why" questions.... it's getting trickier to think on my feet!

Nate : "Mom, is this really the North Pole?"
Me: eyes large, trying not to look panicked
"No, it's not. But Santa has a lot of workshops to make all the different kinds of toys"

Catastrophe averted, at least for this year.

Three Boys Comparison Shot - 4 Months

Lots of other news to catch up on, but for now, a quick look at all the boys around four months old!

Who is who?!

Answer : #1 Aaron, #2 Preston and #3 Nathan

Mommy's Favorite Things

Taking a note from Oprah this time of year (where she used to talk about her favorite things and then give them away to her audience, though sorry, no giveaways from me, haha!) I wanted to talk about the things that I am thankful and grateful for since Preston's arrival. You know, some things that have evolved over the years that are making life easier/more fun!

1. Let's be honest. Convenience wins! There are a lot of services, in the last almost six years, that have developed to make life easy. Delivery services. Pickup 'without getting out of your car' services! 

Meal delivery! As in where ingredients for dinner meals get sent to you, so all you have to do is prepare them with the ingredients and instructions included. You mean I don't have to go to the store, where a car seat takes up the whole cart? I don't have to plan, buy, and prep dinner? SCORE!

Example of instructions. Very close 2nd to someone literally bringing us food to eat!

Wal-Mart as well as Frys grocery store pickup. Meaning, you order items online, pick a day and time you want them to be ready, and then you park and someone brings your order to your car! No getting out! You mean, no battling car seat/screaming infant in the store again? SCORE! 

 No picture, but let's talk Amazon Prime! 
Now this one has been around longer than five or six years I think. But, today it is still awesome. Order something on Amazon and, if you have Prime, a special kind of delivery, you will get that item within a day or two (or sometimes even the same day!) It has been so handy, especially if I've done an errand and forgotten something, or just don't feel like doing an errand, chances are Amazon has it that I can just order it and receive it in the mail that week. If I can't pickup without getting out of the car, if it's something I can just get via Amazon than you betcha I'm going to do it! Whatever time I can save with just being home with littles versus going out. Seriously, it takes more time to prepare doing an errand with littles than it does to do the actual errand!


2. Now this one is just all about cuteness. Oh wait, and eco-friendly. There are so many more options for items Earth friendly and organic out there nowadays, for generally everything!

Honest diapers and wipes! Not only eco-friendly, but deliverable which goes back to awesome-ness number one :)

....and, Honest just has the cutest diapers! Here P is modeling one of their Christmas designs.

3. Now this I remember from having Aaron, it was just coming out at the time but it cost a bazillion dollars, naturally. They are down a bit in price so we got one this time around - and that is, a video monitor!

Hooray for being able to SEE baby! To SEE what is wrong with baby if he/she cries. You can possibly tell that in the past, when we lacked video and had to open said door, we woke up past babies from their naps to do so. No more! Plus, with this one I even even TALK through it. Now I don't even have to enter the room, haha! 

Those are a few things I'm finding myself grateful for this holiday season. As Preston grows, I'm sure I'll be finding other products that make our lives easier/more fun and cute! :) 

Two Months Old!

Cutie pie turned two months old last week! We just had his appointment.

Some tid bits :

--Now is 23 inches, 10.13 pounds! He has gained almost two pounds in the last month. I'm so proud of us :)

--Not sure I mentioned this before, but he enjoys bath time. Funny as the other two didn't at first.

--Eating every 2-3 hrs still, around the clock.

--Still on medicine for reflux. We're being told this is something they can outgrow, eventually. I hope we'll be feeling 150% confident about it doing better soon.

--...because he does still sleep in our room and is not sleeping through the night. He sleeps in the swing/car seat during the day. I'd love for him to do all his sleeping in the crib, but I want to feel good about his reflux being under control first. I worry otherwise about him choking :(

--Does take a paci now! It is 50/50 whether he uses it, but for the times he does I'm glad, when he's able to find comfort through something else other than me. Or, his fingers! He's much more of a finger sucker than the other two . At least those don't get lost!

--Not on a "schedule", but we do have a routine. He'll eat, then we'll play and have awake time for at least 30-45 minutes, then he goes down for a nap that usually lasts 1.5 - 2 hrs. Then pretty much the process just repeats itself!

--Seems to do better in the car when his brothers are back there with him. I have to agree in one way - it sure is nice to have their helping hands if Preston does get upset!

Looking forward now to celebrating his first Christmas this next month!

Preston's Baptism

With the craziness the end of the year brings, I was going to wait until next year to baptize Preston, but, since our long standing Pastor will be leaving our church in the coming months I decided to go ahead and have it done.

The Sunday before Thanksgiving we held his baptism -

I'm glad we got some pictures of Preston in his baptismal outfit (which, by the way, has been passed on from Josh's family, Josh and his three brothers were baptised in it). In the last few pictures you'll notice Preston is wearing an unusual blue..!! He took a royal crap in the family heirloom. Thankfully, it washed out. I was not going to be looking forward to having to tell Josh's mom the outfit was ruined! The other two brothers wore the same outfit and did just fine...

After the service we came home with both of our families and had a nice lunch and dessert. Blessed day.

Halloween 2016

So what if it's almost Christmas and I'm just posting about Halloween, right?!

Not too eventful...boys had school (which they weren't allowed parties or costumes as usual). When they got home we anxiously watched the clock and window to wait for it to get dark enough to start Trick or Treating!

Pretty easy this year - the boys wanted to be a Jack O Lantern, ghost, and I found a glow-in-the-dark onesie for Preston. Preston's unhappiness lasted the whole evening, daddy came home with him while I stayed out with my family and the boys to trick or treat in our neighborhood for the first time. It was a good opportunity to scope out our new neighbors! Everyone is pretty friendly. This year I let the boys keep all of their candy... :p No Switch Witch.

Kind of amazing to think that Preston could be walking next Halloween with us!

One Month Old !

The last two weeks have gone by in a flash! Preston is now a little over a month old. Here are some month old facts on this cutie...

--He is now over 22 inches long, and 8.13 pounds! He has gained 1.5 pounds since he was last weighed by the pediatrician's office. He has had formula (an ounce or two) here or there, but otherwise has been exclusively breastfeeding. This means things are going well in that department, yay! Feeling like my first real successful time thus far.

--Like his brothers, enjoys looking out the window in his room from the changing table. Very interactive there!

--After trying not to use the swing for sleeping, it has been a saving grace for us some during the day now. We think Preston has reflux, which would explain why he dislikes being flat on his back (and the first two weeks of constant grumpiness when I tried to do so constantly). During the day he either sleeps in the swing, the carseat or the Boppy. Putting him down flat on the couch/bed no longer works...

--Which brings us to nighttime sleep. Preston is on medicine now for reflux (TBD to see if it really is working, it has only been a few days and we're suppose to allow a week to see progress).  Yes, nighttime in general is suppose to be difficult with a newbie but I'm finding it's especially difficult with P. It can take awhile for him to fall asleep "for the night", sometimes between 10-11PM . I'd say maybe twice a week we'll get lucky with an earlier time. During the night, after he eats (still every 2-3 hrs generally), it's 50/50 as to whether or not he goes back to sleep ok. Again, I think this relates to being on his back possibly, since he is at night.
11/6/16 UPDATE : I think we'll start calling him Vampire Preston! Nights are rough. Now, they go something like this -- finally, when both daddy and I get into bed (still, not usually before 10-11), I'll nurse him and daddy will hold him to sleep. Then, two hours later it's time to nurse. Then, it's time for daddy to hold again.Put on repeat...

--Still an otherwise alert baby. I'm loving that we're already starting to get a little babbling, and I've even caught a few smiles! :)

--Likes looking/being outside, as well as watching the ceiling fans. Whether they're on or not...

--Doesn't take to pacifiers.At all. Maybe I've already mentioned that. Not that I totally mind, it'll be one less thing to wean him off of, but he does like sucking for comfort. That's where me and the top of the bottle come in, those are the only things he likes. It'll just be tricky to get him to hold a bottle top in his crib eventually? :/

Those are some tidbits for now. Holy cow, in two more weeks he'll be two months old and we'll see if anything has changed then!

Fall Break 2016

I best hurry to recall our little break last month before I forget about the things we did for good!

As I mentioned before, it was nice having Josh home to do things with us/ take Nate and Aaron out while I was with baby. They went to their Grandmother's house a few times, played with their cousin Autumn, daddy took them to a movie...

One day we did go out as  a family to a pumpkin patch (a whole only ONE this year we did), plus out for lunch afterwards.

Bouncing

Rolling in a large tube

The boys also got to visit the zoo - they were so intrigued by the Lego figurines there right now!

Lego!

Love looking at maps

One day they got to visit a little theme park of ours, Castle N Coasters - the cheapest, closest Disneyland to us. They LOVED it.

They also decided they enjoy golfing :)

Nate and Aaron had a playdate with their friend Ben one day, a playdate with one of Aaron's friends, Miles, one day, and daddy took them to a play place with a bunch of different tunnels and slides they crawl through. When daddy went back to work I took the boys to a bouncing place and lunch one day...a special little trip to Toys R Us when we realized a place they wanted to go to was closed...and otherwise, lots and lots of free play time at home. You know, as much as my older son likes to go out and do things, I can tell he has been enjoying just getting to do things here, too.

We hope, one day soon, the weather will cool down for them to start playing outside/going to parks!