Christmas 2013

This year was only the second year to ever stay home for Christmas. I was a little nervous that I was going to be sad not being with our families, but it turned out better than I expected. It was nice to not have to lug our presents across the country and we actually didn't get sick. It seems like every time we travel, we all get deathly ill.

The kids didn't wake up until 9:30 on Christmas morning! Leo was cranky and spotted his iPhone before we could hide it, so the picture on the stairs didn't turn out great.  

Once we got downstairs, I implemented a new rule. The kids could open a present every 10 minutes. That way they would have time to look at the toy they had just opened. I thought it worked out great. 

Leo was still a little confused at how to open presents. Lilly made sure to help him out. :)

Lilly gave some good reactions when she opened her gifts. She also fake passed out multiple times.

Lilly's favorite part of Christmas is gift giving. A few weeks before Christmas, I let her buy whatever she wants for every family member. She loves it. Its sweet to see the thought that she puts into each gift. She knows her daddy doesn't leave the house without chap stick so she bought him a years supply.

We had a wonderful day playing with toys and face timing family members. We finished it off with some gingerbread house making.

23 Months

1- He is starting to enjoy nursery a little. He now only cries at the beginning and the end and does great in the middle.
2- He LOVES suckers. If he sees one, his life is over until he gets it.
3- He decided that he like playing in big piles of freshly raked leaves, as opposed to last year.
4- He is great at giving kisses. His sticks his lips out really far and says, "oooo" until you give him a kiss. Sometimes while he is playing with his toys, he will stop what he is doing and run and give me a kiss and then go back to playing with his toys. He is the sweetest little mama's boy.
5- He really misses his sister now that she is back in school. When he sees her getting off the bus, he goes crazy. He laughs, screams, and gives her a great big hug.
6- Him and Lilly play so well together now that he is a little bit older. She can always make him laugh the hardest.

22 Months

1- Whenever Leo sees a dog he makes a weird "eeeeheehee" sound. Whenever he makes it, you know he's seen a dog.
2- He has grown so attached to his stuffed brown puppy. He likes to stuff him in his neck when hes trying to fall asleep.
3- He loves to line up his cars. He will take every car, truck, or train that he owns and line them up in the windowsill. Then when he has done that, he will take them one by one and line them up in another windowsill.
4-  He has an obsession with his iPhone. He loves to watch his kids movies and flip through the home movies we have made. Its amazing how he knows how to get to his favorites and play them without my help!
5- He finally learned how to hold his own bottle!

21 Months

1- Leo is pretty dramatic. If he wants something and doesnt get it, he throw a huge fit. Whenever he is in the bathtub, he loves playing in the water as it comes out of the faucet. But if you turn off the water before he's ready, he flips out and screams like hes dying.
2- Leo loves watching Lilly do gymnastics around the house. He began trying to copy her and can now do really great somersaults.
3- When Leo is in his crib he loves to stand at the edge of his mattress and free fall right onto his stomach. He does this over and over for hours.
4- He usually takes really great naps. He sleeps for around 3-4 hours.
5- We have been having a hard time getting him to eat his vegetables. He never had a problem when he was younger and everything was pureed. We have started pureeing them again and hiding things in his green smoothies.
6- He goes crazy for his green smoothies. Whenever he sees us making one, he freaks out until that straw is in his mouth.
7- He loves any kind of fruit.

20 Months

1- Leo jabbers all day long. He talks to you like he's having a real conversation except you have no idea what he's saying. Its adorable.
2- Whenever Leo goes into a room he turns around and shuts the door and then locks it. He frequently does this in the downstairs bathroom and I have to rescue him.
3- When you ask him what a kitty says, he will give a little high pitched squeal. It sounds nothing like a kitty.
4- When I talk to him he says "ya" after everything that I say.
5- He can sign "more" when he wants more of something. I have no idea where he learned it since I never taught it to him.
6- When something is all gone, he raises his right arm and says, "gone".
7- He still drinks a bottle and refuses to hold it himself.
8- He loves cars, trucks, trains, and anything else that has wheels. He makes a car sound whenever he sees or hears one.
9- He loves to hit Lilly. If Lilly gets anywhere close to his face, he smacks her. We are working on teaching him to be nice and gentle.
10- He really hates getting his picture taken.

Leo is 2!!

He is here because they left us. I have so many emotions about Leo turning two. We worked SO hard to get this little guy here. He is a miracle in so many ways. If his brothers had lived, he never would have joined our family. It makes losing our twins feel not so horrible, because we have Leo.

He loved his train cake with a small picture of him in the front.

But his favorite part of his birthday was the train table he got. He ripped off that wrapping paper and he immediately got to work playing. He didnt even look up for a good hour.

We sure love this sweet little boy and are so glad that he joined our family!

Halloween 2013

I love being able to coordinate these two's Halloween costumes! Last year we did Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf. This year we have a pirate and her parrot.

We attended our neighborhood Halloween parade and Leo won 3rd place and Lilly won 2nd place for best Halloween costumes. We also attended our church Halloween carnival. They had a fun dinner, tons of carnival games, and a trunk or treat. Then on Halloween night we went trick or treating with two other families from our ward. We had SO much candy by the end of Halloween!

We also let Lilly carve her very own pumpkin. She was so excited and only needed a little help from daddy.

Lilly Turns 7!!

Lilly turned 7 on October 18th! This year we implemented the friend party to every other year. So this year we celebrated as a family.

Lilly ate a birthday breakfast of her favorite cereal, Trix before going off to school.

We brought cupcakes at lunchtime for her class. It was fun to meet all her little friends! She was so excited to show everyone her little brother. After lunch, we brought Lilly home with us to open presents and get ready to head downtown for family pictures.

Lilly loved all her gifts. We gave her the movie "The Croods", lots of art stuff, a Rainbow Loom, her favorite caramel candies, and a feather bed comforter she has been wanting forever.

Then we headed downtown for family pictures.

Afterward we went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner with Aunt Emo and Aunt MJ. Lilly loved it when they gave her a sombrero, ice cream with a candle, and danced around the table singing to her. Actually, she was pretty embarrassed!

We are sure glad this sweet and sassy 7 year old is in our family!

Visit from Grandpa and the Boys

In early October, my dad, James, and Brayden stopped in for a visit while on their east coast vacation. They only stayed one night but the kids loved it! The boys were so sweet to play with my wired children.

They loved jumping on the trampoline with uncle Brayden. Whenever they would come in from one of their jumping sessions, they would be drenched in sweat.

Leo really loved his grandpa. He has this thing for his grandpa's. Dont get me wrong, he loves his grandma's, but he has a very special connection with both of his grandpa's.

When it was time for them to leave we were all very sad. It's so fun to get visitors when we live so far away from family!

First Grade

19 Months

1- He hates chocolate or peanut butter.
2- He throws tantrums. If he doesn't get what he wants he belly flops onto the floor and sobs.
3- He will go up to anyone with food (even complete strangers) and beg for food.
4- The first time we went to the pool this year, he was terrified of the water. But the second time he loved it! Now he is obsessed with the water!
5- He loves being outside. If you open the back door or patio door he will come running!
6- Whenever he hears music, he runs to the back wall "his stage" and dances.
7- He loves getting a free back scratch. He will climb into your lap and lay his head on your shoulder and wait for you to start scratching.
8- One day I gave Leo a little bowl of fruit snacks. When he finished them he came running back with his bowl wanting more. I didnt want him to have any more fruit snacks so I gave him a handful of goldfish crackers. When he saw what was in the bowl he flung it across the room, belly flopped onto the floor, and sobbed.
9- He loves watching movies on the iphone. It is a wonderful distraction for him while we are at Lilly's swimming lessons, waiting at Lilly's dance, or even when we go out to dinner.
10- He loves to play chase with Lilly around the house. They just run in circles and scare each other.

Leo's New Words:

"Hot"
"Oh mo" for "Oh no"

18 Months

18 Things about Leo at 18 Months

1- He likes to walk on his tiptoes

2- He can say "cheese" and says it for any food that he eats. Whenever I give him something to eat he holds in the air and yells, "cheese!"

3- Whenever he gets his hands on a phone, he holds it to his ear and says, "hello". It really sounds more like, "holla!"

4- He will come up to me in the middle of playing with his toys and pout his lips. So I give him a kiss and he runs off smiling. 

5- Leo loved having Kate stay with us for a week! It was so fun to see them play side by side and follow each other around all day. It gave me a glimpse of what it would have been like with twins, and I liked it.   

6- On Leo's first day of nursery he ran right in and didnt look back. But 15 minutes later they found Gus and told him to come and get Leo because he was having troubles breathing. He had realized we were gone and started crying and just couldnt stop. That triggered his asthma and he just couldnt get a good breath. Gus took him out and calmed him down and then I took him back in after my class. I stayed with him the rest of the time, and he loved it. 

7- He was sick again this month. He went to nursery for the first time and 3 days later had a cold. He was a mess and couldnt breathe. We had to give him 8 puffs from his inhaler every day. 

8- He loves helping me do the laundry. He helps by throwing all the dirty laundry into the washer for me. 

9- He likes to gasp and then let his mouth hang open. It makes things more dramatic.

10- He finally decided that he hates baby food. He will still let me feed him yogurt and applesauce, but not much else.

11- If he is playing with something he knows hes not supposed to and you yell out, he will throw whatever he has and either run and hide behind whatever is close to him, or drop to the floor and hide his face.

12- He got 2 new teeth and was a little sad about it.

13- He started biting holes in his binkies and then 2 days later he decided he didnt want them anymore. It made me sad but it was so much easier than taking them away from him.

14- Whenever he falls he will just lay there and whine until you look at him, then he will get up and walk off like nothing happened.

15- He loves Otter pops and Gogurts. He thinks he's so big when he eats them.

16- When I am putting him down for a nap, and he finishes his bottle, he gets the biggest, goofiest grin on his face. He will just sit there and stare at me until I smile back.

17- He likes to put his bib on and take it off.

18- He is obsessed with being outside. He screams at the door until we go out and then screams when we have to go in. 

18 Month Stats

Height: 34 1/4 in. (95%)

Weight: 28 lbs 10 oz (93%)

Head Circ: 20" (99%)

17 Months

17 Things about Leo at 17 Months

1- He still loves baby food. He likes finger foods, but prefers to have me feed him pureed things.

2-  Whenever he hears the garbage truck, he runs to the front window and watches them so intently.

3- Whenever Lilly hugs him he looks at me and screams.

4- Whenever he hears Lilly's tap dance recital music he gets so excited and busts out his moves.

5- He loves to read books. Especially his ones about cars.

6- Whenever we go shopping, he likes to turn around in the cart, get on his knees and face forward.

7- He loves to fill and empty boxes and cups.

8- He likes to bring me garbage he finds on the floor. He shows it to me and spits.

9- He has an obsession with dogs. Whenever he sees one outside, he screams and tries to chase it down the road.

10- He loves to jump on the couch. He's not super coordinated so he occasionally falls off on his head.

11- His favorite movie is Tangled. We have it downloaded on all the iphones and he watches it daily.

12- He likes to pretend to wash his body when he is in the tub. He will go over to the soap and pretend to pump some in his hand and then pretend to rub it all over his body. Its adorable!

13- He claps at the end of songs.

14- He's pretty obedient. When I tell him "No" he will stop what he is doing.

15- He loves to play peek-a-boo in the patio curtains.

16- He loves to play chase.

17- Whenever he gets hurt, he only cries for a few seconds and then runs off like nothing happened.

16 Months

                                                  16 Things about Leo at 16 Months

1- Leo loves to spit. He spits to say hi, he spits when he doesnt like something, and he spits to get your attention. My favorite is when he wakes up and I open the door to his bedroom as soon as he sees me he spits and then smiles.

2- He loves to dance. In the mornings, after I run, I put Leo in the bathtub while I shower. We always listen to Pandora and have a dance party. He stands up in the tub and dances. I love it.

3- We found out he has allergies. As if the kid didnt have enough issues, he has to have allergies too. So he now has a club foot, acid reflux, asthma, and now allergies. Boo!

4- When Leo wakes up in the morning or from a nap he peers over the edge of his crib and yells until I pick up his puppy and his binky that he has thrown out. When I hand them to him, he plops his binky in his mouth and sticks his puppy in his neck, and then lays back down and waits for a back scratch.

5- After I change Leo's diaper, he heads straight for the bowl next to his bed that holds all of his binkies. He grabs as many as he can carry and then beelines out of his room before I can catch him.

6- He is way more cautious than Lilly was at this age. When we are outside he crawls over the cracks in the sidewalks because he thinks they are going to trip him. We bought him a firetruck ride on toy and he wont ride on it. Everytime we stick him on it he panics. He likes to climb on things but then cries when he sees how high he is and wants us to help him down.

7- He is now in 2T clothing and 18-24 month shoes.

8- He loves to climb into his toy basket and read books or throw toys out.

9- He is very patient with Lilly. She dresses him up and mauls him to death but he keeps going back for more!

10- He loves to put things in drawers. Everytime I open my kitchen cabinets and drawers I get a new surprise.

11-He loves being outside.

12- I sleeps through the night 5-6 days a week.

13- We switched him from Whole Milk to Almond Milk. Its healthier!

14- He wasnt too sure about the trampoline at first but now he loves it.

15- He loves to help me wake Lilly up in the morning for school. He slaps her face, pulls her hair, and sits on her. Lilly usually doesnt mind too much.

16- He is a complete nightmare at church. We usually end up back in the car with Leo strapped in his carseat. Nursery cant come soon enough!

16 Month Stats

Weight: 29 lbs 2 oz

Height: 33 inches