November & December 2013

Yes, I'm going way back in time to November and December.  We did so many fun things I can't just skip over them!  I'll be playing catch-up for a while.  What can I say, I'm still trying to catch up from newborn life.  :) 

November and December were 100% survival mode months.  In many ways I don't wish to remember them.  Mostly I remember trying to get some kind of sleep, trying to get Max to gain weight, Andy watching lots of TV, trying to buy a car and a house...etc. But as I look back over pictures, we did make some fun memories! Most of November was spent in Texas trying to adjust to a new baby, coordinating a move, and starting a new job in Utah.  We did have a few fun goodbye parties. I had a girls' night, and we also had a little dinner party with Cameron's work friends he'd started FDP with.  We celebrated Thanksgiving with family back in Utah after the move.  We had a nice dinner at my house with immediate family.  Cameron's family did a big dinner the day after Thanksgiving with his Baker side.  (Can you tell we were a little out of it that month?  We're a little lacking in the picture department.)

Goodbye Dell!

Hello, Instructure!

I think we snuck in a zoo trip somewhere in November.

December was full of fun Christmas traditions. Andy loved building our mini-snowman.

Andy's favorite part of sugar cookies was pressing in the mold.

Sledding with Grandpa.

We also celebrated my beautiful Grandma Ruth's 90th birthday with the whole family.

We I made this masterpiece at a little party with our friends Dima & Monique.

We had a great time at our Lee family annual Crab feast. It was so fun having Dave and Wyatt in town! Andy sure loves all those cousins.  

Our little family the Sunday before Christmas:

I WON! I won the annual Messick family gingerbread man decorating contest.  This is a major deal.  Sara was in a really bad mood the rest of the night.

My winning cookie.

We took a family trip to see the lights downtown.  I was SO GREAT having Ben, Christine, and Sam in town!

Christmas Day!  The pictures are really lacking.  I had a particularly rough night with Max the night before (I think I had 3 hours of sleep?), so I was a little out of it.  Luckily, Andy had a great day!  (Despite our gift to him never arriving the night before like it was supposed to. His basketball hoop finally came 3 weeks later.)  He got some great legos from my parents and a bunch of great things from Greg & Kathy.  I think his favorite things from them were his football toss thing and his car track.  We spent the morning with my family and the afternoon and evening with Cam's family.  I gave Cameron a coat.  (That also didn't come on time...we were cursed!) He gave me an amazing spa day: massage, facial, pedicure.  Best. Present. Ever. 

Another Christmas Day pic.

We have loved having G.G. close!

We also had a few other fun outings.  We went to breakfast and went bowling on New Years Eve Morning.  Andy loved bowling. He couldn't stop jumping!  What I mostly remember from bowling is that Rachel lost and was in the worst mood about it.  Guess we have a competitive family. ;) New Years Eve was fun!  We met up with a friend from Amsterdam, Allen, and had dinner with him at Tarahumara in Midway (our favorite!).  We spent the rest of the night at Paul's and Christie's house in Midway partying!

Max at 6 Months

My baby is 6 months old!  How did that happen?!  Technically he's closer to 7 months old now, so I'd better hurry and do this post.

• Generally, he has such a chill disposition.  People always comment on it!  I would agree.  He's pretty content...as long as he's being held.  :)  
• He's loving food!  We started him right at 6 months.  He tried some peas first and wasn't a fan.  He's unsure about rice cereal.  But he is a major fan of sweet potatoes and squash so far.  He also tolerates tiny strawberry pieces.  He's eating one baby food container a day right now.  
• I think he's improved (a little) in the nursing department in the past few weeks.  He generally frustrates me because he's so fidgety and a little lazy. (He gets frustrated when he has to work for the "harder" milk.  He unlatches and screams, demanding to switch sides instead.)  But I really do love nursing him.  He won't take a bottle.  And he eats pretty frequently.  Like...6-7 times a day.  I think that's more often than most babies his age?  But whatever, it works for us.  
• I'll tell you what doesn't work for me: how he gets up 3-4 times to eat/scream/whatever.  I think I was feeding the habit because I'd feed him about every three hours at night, whenever he'd wake up.  But after consulting my sleep bible a few days ago (healthy sleep habits, happy child), I've just started only feeding him two of the times he wakes up (somewhere between 10-11 PM and 4-6 AM) and ignoring him the other times.  Apparently, babies his age can be legitimately hungry two times a night, but not more than that.  Anyway--it's helping so much!  He's pretty much only waking up those two times now.  And I feel a world of difference only waking up one time a night instead of 2, 3, 4 times.  
• He goes to bed at 7 PM and wakes up about 7 AM.  He's a really good napper!  He sleeps a couple hours each nap, at 9 AM and 1 PMish.  He's such a pro at just falling asleep on his own.  I love that. 
• He can flip to his tummy now.  It's the first thing he does when you lay him down to sleep.  For a couple weeks it drove him (and us) crazy, because he'd flip over, realize he didn't want to be on his tummy, and then screeeeeeam for help because he didn't know how to flip back over.  But now he's used to sleeping on his stomach and seems to prefer it.  
• He's been sitting on his own for about a month now!  He's to the point he rarely tips over.  He loves the independence.  
• He seems to have had a growth spurt.  We don't have his well child visit until tuesday, so we'll see what he's measuring.  But I just barely put him in 6-9 month clothes a few weeks ago, and he's already busting out of them.  And he suddenly feeling so heavy.  I can't hold him too long without getting a dead arm.  
• He loves his brother.  Andy is so sweet to him.  He always brings him toys.  Max watches Andy all the time.  Andy cracks him up.  (Occasionally.  Max isn't quite as giggly or smiley as Andy was.  He has to think you're pretty funny before he'll laugh!) 
• He loves, loves, loves kisses.  He gets the biggest smile on his face when you kiss him.  
• He loves tickles and raspberries.  They make him giggle like crazy.  Especially if it's me doing it.
• He's a mama's boy.  And I love it.  

We love this sweet boy to the moon and back.  For me, life seems to get a lot more doable once these babies hit 6 months, so we're heaving a sigh of relief and celebrating that we made it! We love you, Max.  

This photos are from March

The next photos are from April/May. The poor thing had a rough bout with RSV.  He's taking a rest with Grandpa Mark.

Is he just the cutest, or what?!

Loves, loves, loves bath time!

Easter Sunday! 

He has the craziest/worst hair.  It parts naturally in the middle in the front and sticks strait up in the back.

First time trying food.  Apparently he hates peas.

And rice cereal is only slightly better.

Our Big Move

I guess it's about time to talk about our big move from Round Rock back to Utah!  Especially since it took place almost 5 months ago.  :) A couple days after we moved into our Round Rock house mid-September, we caught wind of a potential job opportunity back in Utah.  It was a finance position with a growing smaller company called, "Instructure." At first, we weren't interested at all: 1) We'd just moved into a house, 2) We were expecting baby Max in a month, and 3) We were very happy in Texas and weren't quite ready to move back to Utah yet (though we thought we'd like to in a few more years).  We forgot about it and kept unpacking and settling in to our new house.  We were approached again a week later and this time decided to at least think about it.  Over a period of a couple weeks, Cameron interviewed, we struggled, prayed, researched, talked to a ton of people, and ultimately decided to stay in Texas. Even though the opportunity was tempting, timing just wasn't right.  The day that Cameron told them no, I just felt sick about it.  The following day, we both just didn't feel that great about it.  We talked and felt like, "Why aren't we feeling better? Maybe us feeling so bad about this is our answer? Maybe we should take the job after all?" We decided to call back and tell them that if the offer was still there, we'd take it. And just like that, the decision was made!  Cameron would start the new job just a few days before Thanksgiving.  The timing was absolutely insane, and we're certainly glad that those crazy months are behind us, but we feel so grateful that we were guided by the spirit in making such a big decision.

We made the decision in mid-October, Max was born October 30, and we moved a week before Thanksgiving.  I flew out with both boys (with the help of my wonderful, generous mother-in-Kathy who flew in and out in the same day to help me), and Cameron drove all of our stuff with his dad in a U-haul.  We moved in with my parents in Bountiful until we could find a house.  We stored our stuff in Cameron's parents' basement.  We ended up staying with my parents until February 1, when we moved into our new house in North Salt Lake.

If anyone is counting, that makes four places we lived in 2013.  FOUR.  Also, this is the tenth time Cameron and I have moved since we were married almost five years ago.  TENTH.  Basically, we're ecstatic about the prospect of owning our own home and staying in it for the foreseeable future.  The last six months has been so difficult.  The decision to move was made so quickly.  I don't feel like I had time to really process it, because I was trying to adjust to a new baby.  I had such a hard time the first few weeks Max was born, I didn't really have the energy/time/mental capacity to adequately say goodbye to the many people I came to know and love in Texas.  I'm still sad about that.  Oh, and did I mention that my car was totaled a week before our move?  That definitely added to the excitement of it all.

My parents were so generous for letting us stay with them for so long!  They helped so much with babysitting, provided so many meals, cleaned up after us, were patient with the many things Andy ruined, etc. We weren't exactly the ideal guests! :)  Feeding Max was consuming my life, I was getting very little sleep, Andy watched wayyyy too much TV (because he systematically destroyed their house if I couldn't watch his every move), Cameron was adjusting to a new job, we were cooped up because of the cold weather.  We were just struggling in general.

After searching all over, we finally found the perfect house for us!  Cameron works in Cottonwood Heights, so at first we thought we'd live in Sandy or Draper.  We also looked in Murray, Sugarhouse, Holladay, South Jordan, and Riverton.  We ended up choosing a house in North Salt Lake that we love.  We're so happy to be here and really feel like it's where we're supposed to be.  We're enjoying getting settled and are starting to enjoy the calm after the craziness we've seen the past while.  Oh--and we finally found a new car at the end of February, so that's settled too.  :)  We're really enjoying being around family and getting to know our new neighborhood and ward.  We're so excited for this new chapter!

Our new home!

Andy: 2 years, 8 months

I'm sad to realize the last time I did a post about sweet Andy was 6 months ago!  And I feel like he's changed so much since then!  This is Andy right now:

• If I had to describe Andy in one word, it would be excitement.  He is so excited about everything!  It makes life so fun.  He's always clapping, jumping, saying "yay!", etc.  It's just the cutest thing.  He's always willing to try new things (except slides, which apparently terrify him), play with the big kids, and he says hi to every person we see at the grocery store.  He's such a big, wonderful personality.  
• Still big.  He had a 30 month well child visit and he weighed 35 lbs (89%) and his height was in the 96%, but I don't remember what it was.  He's been in 3T for a few months now.  
• He's become a decent eater.  He'll at least try most things.  For breakfast, he likes shredded wheat.  For lunch, PB&J or "tortilla" (quesadilla).  He is obsessed with oranges and applesauce.  I think he'd be happy eating bread and better for the rest of his life.  He asks me for it constantly. And he needs butter on every square inch of that bread.  In fact, he doesn't even ask me for bread.  He asks me for butter.  (The bread is implied.)   
• He's playing so well with others lately.  Especially compared to how he used to be.  Most of the time he does well with sharing.  The concept of taking turns seems to make sense to him.
• He loves control.  Example: if I tell him it's time to turn the TV off and I turn it off=major meltdown.  But if he can turn it off himself, he's just fine.  
• His favorite activities include blocks, riding his bike outside, playing at the park, playing in his new toy room, his new Kindermusik class, and playing with cars.  
  
• He loves to clean up.  He loves to sing the clean up song and is good about cleaning up his toys if I remind him.  The downside: he dumps out water on purpose just so he can wipe it up.  
• My biggest challenge with Andy right now is trying to help him learn how to play by himself.  He's incapable of spending five minutes on his own.  "Mom! Cars! Your turn!" Probably partially because of his personality and mostly because he's used to me spending every second entertaining him.  And now that we have Max, I just can't spend every second with him.  
• He made the transition to a "big boy bed" once we moved into the new house on February 1.  It's so cute: whenever he shows it to anyone, he says, "Ta da!!!"  He's actually done really well with the bed.  He does perfectly well at nighttime.  Naps were great for the first few weeks, and then...
  
• Much to my dismay, he's quit napping most days.  I always thought we'd just do "quiet time" in his room once he quit napping, but that's not going smoothly either.  He consistently poops during his nap time, so I have to go in there once or twice.  (I'm convinced he does it on purpose.)  There's literally nothing in his room, but he still finds ways to get in trouble.  Pulling at his blinds.  (I'm counting the days until they break.) Running around his room naked, peeing.  Shoving things down his vent.  I get frustrated he's not content with "normal" things like reading books and playing with toys, but really, these crazy things are what make Andy Andy.  
• We were a little concerned about his speech for a while, but he's seemed to improve a lot the past couple months.  For the most part, he can communicate everything he wants to say.  
• He still gets into everything.  He does better now that we're in our own place.  It was so tough at my parents' house.  I felt like I was saying "no!" 1,000 times a day.  He ruined so many things there, but frankly, I'm surprised it wasn't more.  He just has a knack for ruining things.  There will be a room with 100 things he can play with, and he somehow finds the one thing he shouldn't play with.  My parents weren't even brave enough to put up christmas tree ornaments, and I don't blame them.  I've tried to Andy-proof our new house as much as I can.  There are child locks on everything you can think of: every door, cabinets, etc.  If I have to feed Max or help him, I have to go through the house and make sure every door is closed and most things are put away.  He still gets into trouble (ie throwing our new baby monitor in the toilet last month), but this limits it a little bit.  It's always a little exciting terrifying for me when I'm feeding Max to listen and try to figure out what mischief Andy is up to based on what noises I'm hearing.  

  

  Too bad I don't have pictures of when we turned on the oven (twice) without realizing tupperware was in there.  And when we were scraping my parents' oven for hours.

  

  My moisturizer.  Apparently conditioning Andy's hair.

• He loves to cook.  Even more than tv--and that's saying something.  :)  If he sees that I'm in the kitchen, he comes running over, asks for his stool, and wants to help with whatever I'm doing.  He's the cutest sous chef I've ever seen.  
• He loves baths.  Loves, loves, loves them.  When I tell him he's going to go have a bath, he acts like he's won the toddler lottery.  He usually bathes in our master tub and acts like a king in there.  And insists on continuously running the water and lots of bubbles.
• He has so much energy.  It's unbelievable.  He just runs and jumps all day.  One of his favorite activities is literally running in circles.  I have so many people comment on it: "Wow, is he like this all the time?!" Yes...yes, he is.  
• He loves to say prayers and almost always prays to go on an airplane.  
• His favorite songs to sing are "Sunbeam" and the "Hello Song."  
• A few things he's saying a lot lately: "What's that, mama" "Whatcha doin' mama?" "That's silly!" "Pleeeease?" 
• Favorite tv shows: Bubble Guppies, Umizoomi, Paw Patrol, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  
• He's really warming up to Max and is so sweet to him.  He'll bring him his binky, his toys, etc.  If Max cries, he says, "It's okay Max!  One second!"  (I must say that a lot? :)  

He loves superman.  I don't even know where he learned about him.  He has a couple superman shirts and goes around saying, "Superman!" really loud while doing a fist pump. 

Funniest/weirdest picture.

Notice the ornament-less tree.

Andy has loved having a membership to Discovery Gateway.

He yells "yeeee hawwwww" around the house. Too cute.