Just like thier mommy....

For Valentine's Day I got the girls baby carriers for their baby dolls. They've been quite interested in seeing me haul Ian around in the baby carrier, so I thought they would enjoy them. Well, I was right! The other day when they were playing, I made them stop to take this picture:

They were playing me! Even though we have a double stroller, it's almost easier to do what the girls are doing above to pick Rachel up from school. Audrey is perfectly content in the stroller and Ian loves the baby carrier. Anyhow, these cute girls each had a smaller baby in their baby carriers and a larger baby in their strollers. Gotta love it!

Joy School

Audrey has joined a little Joy School group and she is loving it! She would go every day, if she could. We are only doing it once a week right now. I have a fabulous friend who has volunteered to teach until the other two moms with newborns get their act together. I'm hoping to start taking turns teaching in March. On this particular day of Joy School the focus was yellow, so Audrey was excited to wear a yellow shirt, yellow bow, and take Lemon Meringue (a Strawberry Shortcake character) for show 'n tell. Audrey loves putting on her backpack and going to school. And then she is so cute once we get home. She totally mimics Rachel as she pulls all the things out of her backpack that she made at Joy School that day to show me. She loves being a big girl and going to school!

Bedtime

Most nights we are able to have a pretty good bedtime routine. The girls usually go down around 8 pm. Ian's usually awake around then and joins us for scripture reading, songs, and prayers. Then the girls go to sleep, Ian gets a little catnap (he can currently only stay awake for a max of an hour), and I get ready for bed. Then Ian wakes up to eat and goes to sleep for the night. And hopefully by then Andy's home and crashes in bed with me. It works right now and I'm grateful, since it's usually just me orchestrating getting everyone to bed...

One night I couldn't resist taking a picture of my 3 cuties:

Sport Buddy

Andy know has someone to watch sports with him. Ian enjoyed watching the Super Bowl with his daddy before he went to bed! :)

Aunt Amy's Visit

The first weekend of February we were spoiled with another visitor. Andy's sister, Amy, flew down from Denver to meet her two nephews. Amy is expecting her first baby (a boy!) on March 25th, so she decided to fly down while she still could to meet these two babies. It was so much fun to see her and get to spend the weekend with her. We just hung out and all the little ones enjoyed the attention they got from Amy. We are glad she was able to make a visit and can't wait to get all 3 of these boys together some day! :)

Landon, Liam, and Ian

Grandma Time

I have decided that adding a third child hasn't been as hard as I thought it would... And I believe this is true due to how spoiled we were by our grandmas. I think everyone was a bit concerned, since Andy wasn't going to be able to take any time off work and his hours are horrible this time of year - he doesn't get home until 9-10 pm most nights and is working every Saturday. So, the help we got from the grandmas was so needed and so appreciated!!!

My mom was able to spend a week with us. She drove down as soon as she knew I was at the hospital. She took right over by taking care of the girls during my hospital stay and then helping out around the house once I got home. It was hard to see her go, but reassuring to know that another grandma would be coming in 2 short days...

Andy's mom came down and was able to spend almost 3 weeks with us. She was a huge help around the house and letting me take naps. The nighttime routine would have been hard many nights if she hadn't been there to help.

I am so grateful for these two women in my life. They are amazing examples and sacrifice so much for us. I am so grateful for the relationships that my children get to have with their grandmas!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Can you see the dimples?

One Month Old

Ian hit his one-month mark on Sunday. It's hard to believe it's already been a month, but at the same time it seems like he's been part of our family forever. We are definitely enjoying him! He is growing lots - he's already 10 pounds. He's grown out of the newborn clothes and diapers... At about 2 weeks old he got acne really bad. I didn't think anything of it - Rachel had it as well. His has spread quite a bit though on his back and chest. Yesterday the doctor was concerned it may be an allergic reaction to something I'm eating. So, I'm cutting out dairy for the next 3-4 days to see if that helps. We shall see... On top of having red spots all over he's also balding. He has quite the receding hairline. :) But he's still as cute as ever!

We have decided that we finally have a newborn who actually sleeps all those hours the baby book's talk about. Ian sleeps a lot. He's also doing really good at night. Most nights he only gets up once - somewhere around 3 AM (one night he actually went until 5 AM). He's usually down for the night around 10 PM and then wakes up somewhere around 7 AM. A lot of the times he'll then go back to sleep until 10 AM. It's nice when he does that because I can get Rachel off to school, get myself ready for the day, and spend some time with Audrey.

Ian just started doing intentional smiles, so we are enjoying that. He loves his woombie - maybe that's why I finally have a baby who sleeps. Ian is definitely already very curious of the world around him. When he's awake he's looking around a lot. He really likes lights, fans, and looking out the window. When the weather is nice, he enjoys being outside. Ian also enjoys the swing - sometimes that's where he takes his best naps. And he tolerates the bouncy chair for about 15 minutes at a time... Ian also really enjoys his baths. He takes a binky every once in awhile, but doesn't necessarily need it to sleep or be happy. It's more just something different to do... It's fun to watch and see him grow and figure out what he likes and doesn't like.

We are definitely enjoying having a little baby boy in our house!

First Real Bath

Ian enjoyed his first real bath this morning. His cord finally fell off Monday afternoon. He enjoyed his bath so much that he was quite upset with me when I took him out. Audrey loved being able to help with his bath as well. And as you can tell, my handsome baby boy is suffering from a horrible case of baby acne... No fun!

Mohawk

Ian has enough hair to sport a mohawk. The girls have fun helping his hair stick up. :)