Good bye..

Justins stake president said it best "we love ya but don't want to see ya for two years!".

I didn't take a single picture at his farewell - say what?! it was so busy I forgot!! I think Justin's farewell was perfect for him, and couldn't have been any better! First of all the church was packed! Chapel, over flow, gym and the stage were all full. Justin and the other guy ( not sure his name ) gave really good talks. There was a lot of motorbikes at that house for the luncheon afterwards - we joked is this justins farewell or a hells angels gathering? :) ( for those of you who don't know justin had just finished building his own chopper and then sold it to a buddy right before leaving ). After the lunch when the motor-bikers all left they each revved their engine as they took off, it was pretty cool and very loud!  My parents yard was packed with friends, co-workers and family, it just showed how much Justin is loved by so many people!

Justin flew out Tuesday, July 30 at 9:20am from the Lethbridge airport.

We all snapped pictures before the tears started, and I shed a lot. It was so bittersweet, if your allowed to have a favourite sibling Justin's mine - sorry Darren & Lei Lani :). Theres a 4 year gap between me and Justin, and me and Darren. So once Darren moved out it was just me and Justin at home by ourselves for 4 years. We didn't always get along but when we did, we did a lot together. Thankfully my friends adored him just as much as I did so he got to tag along a lot with us.

 Crazy to think Will will be 2.5 yrs old when he returns! Justin's little mini-me.

 "123- blast off!"

 Im sad this picture is dark but here's where we got to see him off.

They sometimes all love each other!

three LEVI

My oldest baby boy turned three.

I always call Levi my wild child, but thats because he talks/sings/makes noise all day long and has soo soo much energy. he doesn't stop moving or talking unless he's asleep. but amongst the wildness of it all he's a very sensitive kid. he can always tell when i'm having a bad day, he'll ask if im sad or "fruster-ated" and give me a hug. he lets me know if Wills sad and how i should cheer him up or tell Will not to be sad and will go find him a soother.

His favourites:

food: 'something yummy in my tummy"
color: "yellow'
toy: "my color blue bike"
book: "can  roosters sing in tune"
activity: bike rides, hiking, playing with Will and going to the park

phrases: "thats a good idea"  "whats that about" "i wanna be frust-ated too"  "i love you the mostest"
 "ummm"

We sure love you a lot Levi!

four WILL

Wills four months old. Thats just crazy talk (as Levi says).

Thats four months of endless rolls and chubbiness. Giggles and smiles. We had a few firsts this week. First taste of Rice cereal. First medication - Zantac for acid reflux.

Still an awful sleeper and napper but the kid is full of smiles. Loves Loves to be held, maybe a little too much. But how can you not hold that little butterball. He really just melts Dave and I, we still can't believe we have him! We're so blessed to have such a lovable and snugable baby.

 (Will and his great Grandma "camel")

He's rolling from tummy to back. Which im fine with cause he hates being on his tummy so if Levi rolls him over he can now roll himself back. Hes blabbering lots and loves to stick out that tongue! 

 Best deer in the headlight look Ive ever seen!

19lbs - what levi weighed at 12 months!

We done it again..

We've got another acid reflux baby! I think were now pros at it so why not right? After 3 hours of Will screaming yesterday  and getting no sleep the night before, I finally just asked the Doctor whats going on? So after a length quiz about chubbs we got an answer - acid reflux. Since he's 4 months tomorrow we could start him on the medication right away. And maybe I am speaking too soon?? I think its working already!! Will was wide awake till 10:45 and then slept till 2:25!! and again till 5 and then up for the day at 7am. That's right folks I was only up twice last night!! Im really hoping it just stays this way!

 Way to go bubbs!

When we got back from Edmonton Bowie was a little needy, can you tell? We joke shes had a harder adjustment to Will then Levi has.

Levi has really said some funny things lately. I can see his little mind a going trying to process longer sentences and he knows so any words and sometimes they just get all mixed up but its cute! Were so excited to have the grandparents over for cake and ice cream this week for your birthday!

" Will's not mad mom hes just dramatic" - When Will was crying.

"What you ladies gonna watch, shrek?" - My friend was over and were gonna watch the bachelorette

"Will whats all that crying about? Oh my goodness son!" - When Will was crying

" Moms what yous about?" - Trying to ask what am I doing, but just learned the new word about.

Sleep {or lack of}

I try to be really positive about having a baby because I think its one of the greatest gifts we can ever have. Its absolutely amazing that our bodies can create a child and that we can give birth to them. Wills been a phenomenal baby to the point where I think " oh I could have a baby sooner this time". The only tricky thing with Will is he eats, and he eats very often. If he goes three hours, I am in complete shock! So night times are awful, I dread them every night. I hate going to sleep because I know it means I just wake up the next morning more tired then I was today.  

note: longest stretch of sleep since Wills been born is 3 hours

Put Will to bed at 9pm

up to eat 10:30.

I went to bed at 11:00

Up at 11:30 fussying - burped

up at 12:30 to eat

up at 2 to eat.

up at 3:30 to eat and Levi crawls into our bed

up at 4 fussying and i refused to feed - woke Dave up.

dave takes him to the couch,

up at 5 to eat

and then up at 5:30 for the day.

I figure I got about 3.5 hours of sleep in there. I think I am officially in autopilot mode, and just doing whatever to get by at the point. This is an average night.

So now were gonna try experimenting to hopefully find a solution to help us all get more sleep! Its a good thing your cute chubby bubby! So this week might be one crazy week. Wish us all luck!

 P.S. Wills 4 months old this week and Levi's 3. That's just craziness!

Family Pictures

We were up in Calgary Thursday & Friday for various reasons and while up there Laura and I came up with a great swap. I think I got the better end of the deal, thanks Laura for taking our family pictures! Hope your enjoy your new cut and color. 

Why are family pictures always a gongshow? It was right at both boys nap times and none of us had, had lunch yet and we were all cranksters. I was stressing about to wear and if we all matched.  Lucky Laura! She did fantastic and I'm in love with them all!

I can't wait to get these all put up in our house!

Medicine hat trip 1 & 2

Dave got asked to work in Medicine Hat three weeks ago and this past weekend. Paladin pays for our hotel and our gas. Its nice to get away and not have to clean but its a lot of work to take two kids for 4-5 days. Also Daves working 12 hour shifts the whole time so its just me and the boys trying to find things to do. The first trip was discouraging because I didn't know where everything was and getting discouraged trying to find my way around. The second trip was better because I felt more comfortable and I was able to plan ahead with my cousins that we were coming out there.

( i rotated these all to be straight but some turned again)

 The nice thing about being in a hotel was that i did try to nap when they did.

 Will getting ready to go swimming!

 The hotel is so big (takes up a city block) that they actually have 2 pools.

 We discovered their library, its way older then ours and doesn't have as much to do in it but Levi still enjoyed it.

 On the day we were leaving I forgot that We had to check out at 11am and dave wouldn't be done work till 7pm and I would have to fill in 8 hours of things to do. Thankfully after a lot of crying Levi crashed having a 45 min in the car.

Picking daddy up from work before heading home!

Of course we have to show dave the tepee.

And stop and see the bean in Bow Island, can you tell how impressed Levi was!

Trip 2:

By this point both boys were sick of the car with so much traveling the last three weeks, so I sat back there with them. Levi wanted to take silly pictures!

Heres Levi sleeping the first night we got there, at midnight YUCK!

Because we checked in so late we didn't want to say anything about our room. It was on the second floor and with only stairs to use. Normally it wouldn't be a big deal but hauling a very HEAVY car seat and toddler up and down the steep stairs was very frustrating. So the morning after getting there I talked to the front desk if it was at all possible to switch rooms? Because of the flooding in Medicine Hat our hotel was housing 30 evacuee families so it was extra full and they only had one room left. And that room was off on its own in a little building and with a kitchenette (hooray!!). So trying to move all our stuff from the second floor to another room with the kids was exhausting! Thankfully Levi is such a good little brother and helped keep Will happy so I could go back and forth between rooms. Also a nice guy saw me hauling heavy suitcases down the stairs and offered to help. So I repacked everything in the one room and we hauled it all to the other room and unpacked.  So much work!

2 minutes before this picture was taken Levi insisted he needed a snack cause he wasn't tired...hmm think your tired bud!

So I decided to be brave and take both boys out to Echo Dale park. Not my greatest idea, Will hadn't pooped in 5 days so he was a bear and Levi was ticked that he couldn't go play in the water. Im not very confident in letting Levi play in the water unless I'm right there. So we left after trying for an hour. Oh and did I mention it took me an hour to get out there because I missed the turn, BOO!

Here's Levi telling Will that "no more crying or we don't go to no parks".

Levi's favourite park we found, its a little but he loves the train on one side.

After the echo dale fiasco we decided to pick dave up and head out there at 7pm. It was bug city, a ton of misquitos. There was no swimming after 7pm, of course! So another disaster. Poor Levi got his hopes up twice.

Finally got a picture of this scrunched up face Levi makes lately.

Saturday we headed out to Elkwater to meet with my cousins. Levi loved it!

Sleeping at the beach.

It was a fun little trip but so glad to finally be home. Not loving all the laundry but am loving a little routine again! Thanks paladin for the paid vacation!