2020 In Review

January

This month we rang in the new year with a movie and games. Always a fun time! We took the girls to the Treehouse Museum in Ogden. It was a nice way to spend a cold afternoon. I figured out what to do with duplicate gifts from Wal Mart that makes it fun for the kids! And we found out that our 3rd baby is going to be another little girl!

February

While February is never a busy month for us, I had fun celebrating Valentine's Day and Leap Day. Both days were filled with fun memories!

March

March is also a pretty slow month, historically, for us. The biggest, noteworthy moment this year was finally learning how to make an omelet. I've done it a few more times throughout the year and I'm really getting into my groove with it. The hardest part is what to do with the extra veggies and meats. 

April

April was our first full month being in quarantine. It wasn't easy at first, but we figured out how to keep sane after a bit. We had a lot of fun celebrating Easter (the girls got to color eggs for the first time, on their own). And I also found alternatives to a balloon release to "celebrate" Earth Day. 

May

In May, we celebrated Cara's 3rd birthday (I can't believe my first baby is getting SO big!). Also, my nesting and purging bug hit for this new baby. Just getting things ready for our last month as just a family of 4 was happening a lot this month.

June

We enjoyed the beginning of our summer (the warm weather made being stuck inside MUCH easier...we could finally play in our yard!!). We spent the first week just getting everything ready for our newest baby (including a new car!!). We welcomed our little Lucy, such a happy day (and very quick and painful labor experience!!). Also, I didn't blog about it, Larry got his PRK done this month (just in time for his birthday). I know it was a difficult time for us to have him down and out, but we're all glad he got it done.

July

We celebrated the 4th of July. It wasn't as exciting as I had hoped with a very clingy newborn, but we still had fun. And I got a shot of my 3 kids in the same milk belly shirt. I love how similar they all look and how cute they are as little babies! 

August

August I got to try out physical therapy to help my DR with my abs. Even though I wasn't able to stay with it, I learned a lot! We also had to stop nursing and switch to bottles with Lucy. While nursing was way more convenient, it was nice to have her learn to nap without nursing and to have a bit more free time.

September

September brought my return to work, which wasn't as hard since I am still working from home. That's been an interesting transition. I also created a fun bucket list to do for the fall. I'm happy to say we did quite a bit of them too!

October

Lucy got bigger and cuter this month. My mom came out for a Fall visit. We did a lot of fun things and were REALLY sad to see her go. And we had a lot of fun celebrating Halloween (the girls' first time trick-or-treating and I wasn't going to let any stupid virus mess that up!)

November

We celebrated Gwen turning a whole 2 years old this month and took her (and Cara) out for the first time bowling. She's just growing and growing and getting smarter every single day. She's so funny and cute! I just love her so much. We also celebrated Thanksgiving with Marie and a fun matchy moment with my mom!

December 

This month I got to take Cara to her first movie (Croods 2) and she did SO great and we had so much fun. I look so forward to more of these in the future!! We also went to see Santa with the girls (see pic on this post). I really enjoyed turning 33 this year! We celebrated the most fun Christmas with the kids!! (even if I was a bit reluctant about it). And we did a goal recap (which I did okay on...could've done better though)

Even though being in quarantine for most of the year and having to deal with virus restrictions was hard (and I definitely didn't get to have the fun summer/maternity leave I expected) I gotta say this year wasn't nearly as hard for us as it was for others. I am very excited to see how next year goes! 

2020 Goals - How did I do?

My check-in for my 2020 goals:

• Perfect doing a French braid. I wish I had a better update on this one. I originally wanted to accomplish this one before Lucy was born so that I could do that to my hair when I went in to have her. I practiced a lot, but just couldn't figure out how to do it well enough to leave the house feeling like I looked good. I'm sure I could practice this more and get there, but it'll take quite a bit of work.
  
  
• Learn how to make an omelet. Check! This one I actually figured out the first time I did it. I'm not successful EVERY time, but I understand it and I'm very happy with how I do it.
  
  
• Start and keep to a skin care routine. So my skin isn't as great as my babies (obviously...hello 30 years of sun damage is probably not completely reversible). However, I have done GREAT with doing masks a few times a week and washing my face basically every night. I also make sure to lotion up my feet each night to keep them soft and smooth. I'm pretty proud of my work on this one. This one is already part of my routine so the goal kept with me.
  
  
• Read more. Hahaha I did read more, but definitely DEFINITELY didn't get all my magazines read...I honestly don't know why I keep getting them. But I did get SOME read and one or two of my books. I think this will be a "to be continued" goal for me.
  
  
• Learn more about football. Yeah...I didn't really do this like I had hoped. I learned more through watching and asking Larry about it, but I still don't understand more of it than I used to. This one might be on next year's goals.
  
  
• Work more on the house. So I started this one and got a lot of organizers for the pantry and got the kitchen cleaned out...and then I ran out of extra money and realized this one will be a slower goal to accomplish. I hate that, but I'm glad with what I got done in the pantry.
  .
  
• Stick to weekly plan. This is 50/50. I did great on weekly planning during the week, but weekends are still a little up in the air.
  

I obviously didn't stay on top of the blog (I typed posts up, but actually posting them always takes me so long. So sorry about that. I didn't do the greatest with complimenting strangers, but that was mostly due to not seeing strangers as much this year. We didn't do any sort of vacation and our one we were planning for February probably isn't going to happen. I had a lot of ambitions for this year and then everything happened and threw everyone off of what they were expecting. While there is a bit of a sadness with that, at least most of my goals could be accomplished at home without needing to be out and about, so that's at least good haha.

I feel like I might need a do over for the year though...anyone else?

Christmas 2020

Christmas was a great one, again, this year. We had a lot of fun for the whole month. We did the reindeer handprint craft I got at the Vintage Market Days back in October:

We got our picture with Santa (one of my favorites as it really represents this year very well):

I had fun wrapping at night while watching my favorite Christmas movies:

This is more winter, than Christmas, but I've enjoyed a LOT of the hot cocoa in cute mugs we were gifted in years past (because if there's one thing I miss from being in office, it's the free hot chocolate):

The girls got to do winter/Christmas crafts (including one with their Grandma Taylor):

We got some "ugly" sweaters for a fun Christmas Eve picture:

Then we had Christmas day gift opening:

This took ALL day long to do. I thought for sure it was going to end up an all-weekend activity. I think we got the girls way too much and have plans to scale back next year. I think it was just too much for them and became overwhelming. I personally prefer not to have TONS of gifts so that the girls really learn the meaning of Christmas rather than just waiting for the presents. 

Either way, we had a most magical and awesome Christmas. The girls are happy, mom is mostly happy, and dad is wanting to clean up haha. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and now to get ready for New Year's Eve!

Thoughts on Christmas as a Parent

Hello There and Merry Christmas!!

I absolutely LOVE Christmas time. It's been one of my favorite times since I was a kid. I loved coming into the living room with the tree and seeing the HUGE pile of gifts below it. I loved going to my grandparents home for a HUGE breakfast, and I loved all of us coming back to our house to show off what we got and start playing with everything. I remember having a friend growing up that was a Jehovah's Witness and it boggled my mind that she didn't get gifts and was okay with it!

That being said, having kids makes me wonder how many gifts we REALLY need to be giving them. Not only does it make me worry they'll have issues remembering it's about giving more than receiving, but also because they are at an age where too many gifts can be overwhelming and they get sick of opening them. I saw an "episode" that The Bucket List Family (on YouTube) posted showing their Christmas in a cabin, and when they came downstairs the kids only got one gift from each of the parents and siblings and I thought that was SUCH a great idea. I love the idea of being more minimalist with gifts and the idea of them helping pick out gifts for each other helps learn about the giving part. 

I also learned this year about a "Want, Need, Wear, Read" concept, where everyone only gets one gift for each category. Now we plan on having only one more kid (no more after that) so if we did one gift from each person then we'd all get 5 gifts, if we need the want, need, wear, read then we'd only get 4 (I'll still do some small things for stockings though) and I'm trying to decide which is best for us. One thing to know is Larry and I don't like the idea of our kids thinking Santa brings gifts because we feel that once you know the truth about him, it ruins the magic. I'd like to throw in a couple family gifts (maybe a big toy for the kids and something for the house for us? Maybe a family vacation? Something along those lines) or something that the kids don't know about so that there is a bit of a mystery with it, but I'm still working out the kinks.

I will say not relying on Santa can be complicated. For one, there's SO many movies and songs that talks about Santa bringing gifts. Then there's visiting Santa for our annual picture (why would we do that if we don't believe he's real?). Finally, there's the issue of when relatives or friends bring him up or ask what they are asking Santa for. I wish I had all the answers for handling this, but so far the best I've been able to come up with is to neither confirm or deny him for our kids. I will not say Santa brought gifts, I will not say he doesn't bring gifts. I'll let my kids figure out what they want to believe on their own. If they ask, I'll ask them who they think brings the gifts and why and see if they can make a story up on their own. And I hope they'll be able to keep a hold of the excitement and magic for as long as possible. If they ask about Santa specifically, I may lean them to more him being a character of Christmas (like Frosty or Rudolph)...we'll see how well that works out.

Anyways, these are my many thoughts, feelings, and hopefully good traditions/ideas on how Christmas will go down in our home. I hope it's as great for my kids as it was for me...and not because of the loads of presents under the tree.

Birthday Reality Check

 Copies from Instagram, because I can't find better words:

Silly fact about me: I used to want to be an actress. And one of the things I would do is pretend to be interviewed (my family watched a LOT of ET, and I'm not talking about the movie with the alien). One of the things I commonly talked about in these faux interviews was about my imaginary adult life and having a big house, lots of kids, a great husband, and how great life was and how lucky I am (I'm so dead serious, I did this ALL the time).

AS I get another year older (and prepare myself for Larry making his old lady jokes for the next 7 months), I can't help but look at my life and be so amazed and grateful that my manifestations have come true! Everything I dreamed up in those fake interviews has come true so far. I may be getting older, but life (and all these experiences, good and not so good) is getting so much better as the years come.

Lucy is SIX Months!

    I am SIX months old!

 

I like: Food!! She LOVES eating almost anything these days and hates just watching us eat. Sisters, being surrounded by people (maybe she'll be a social butterfly like Cara)

I dislike: Being hungry, being tired, being left on the floor/in the high chair/in the walker for longer than like 5 minutes and just left alone, her bottles if she's even a little tiny bit full

I am now: At her 5 month weight check she was almost 14 lbs (13 lbs 15 oz). Her 6 month check isn't until the 16th so we don't know her official weight until then. She is in size 2 diapers and definitely ready for 6 month size clothes. And rolls for days because of all the new foods she's trying (I'm convinced she likes food more than bottles).

A Typical Day looks like: 

She wakes up around 7:30 AM (though some days she's actually slept until almost 8, which is when I have to wake her up)

 

7:45 - I give her her probiotic, change her bum and give her a 6 oz bottle (usually only 2 oz is breast milk, the rest formula)

8-9:30 she plays on the swing, play mat, or whatever will make her happiest. Sometimes we'll do bumbo time, sometimes she just wants to be held.

9:30-10:45/11  nap time. No more swaddle, but she does get put in a sleep sac in the pack n play, binky in, lights out, and fan on. She usually is out within minutes.

11:00 - next 6 oz bottle and diaper change.

11:00 - 12:30 play time (swing, tummy time, play mat, whatever works) and she usually gets a poop out at this point.

12:30-2 nap time. Same routine as before.

2 - next 6 oz bottle and diaper change

2-3:30 play time

3:30 - 5:00 nap time. Same routine as before. If she wakes up before 5 then her and I will hang out while daddy works out with the older girls

5:00 - next 6 oz bottle and diaper change

5 - 5:30 play time

5:30-6 we do dinner. We JUST started giving her little tastes of food tonight at this time so she can be a part of dinner.

6-7 doing whatever for the night (aka free/play time)

7-7:45 we start our show for the night, at 7:10 ish she gets her last bottle of the night (5.5 oz) and just relax at this point. She might get a little cranky, especially if she woke up from the last nap early, but we keep her entertained until bed. If it's bath night (Sunday and Thursday for her), that starts at 7:20 ish

7:45 get ready for bed. We change her diaper, put on the owlet, put on pajamas, put on the sleep sac, lay her down and give her the binky. No more swaddling and she's good at putting herself to sleep.

This Month: We got to celebrate Lucy's first Thanksgiving and she got to try even more foods - she really likes food. She seemed to really like little bits of stuffing the most haha.

We started a lot more of Christmas decorating as well and it's really fun letting her touch everything and see it light up. I wish I felt confident enough to go out for a drive to look at lights, but maybe next year.

Lucy officially loves getting her lunch and dinner food dishes, I think her favorite thing is being put in the high chair because she knows food is coming haha. She's definitely developing little rolls all over.

We also knew we wanted to get her into the nursery by the time she turned 6 months so this last week we've been spending our time after dinner in the nursery with toys and books and the bumbo chair. I also was working on switching her closet over to the 6 and 6-9 month sized clothes so I hope that helped (we're just barely putting her in the room tonight, so fingers crossed she'll transition as well as the other girls). We also decided we need to get another pack of binkies for her crib so she has a few to find in the night.

Update on last month's goals:

• Binky work at night, or more self soothing
  
  
• Possibly move over to her own room??
  
  
• More book time
  
  
• Work on sitting up and grabbing
  
  
• More Holidays!!

Goals for next month:

• Get her used to more time in her room (for naps maybe?)
  
  
• Sitting up - she's got a good, strong core so I think sitting up will be easy for her
  
  
• Work on starting to crawl a little
  
  
• Ring in a new year as a family of 5!
  

That time I took Cara to the movies - and we stayed the whole time

So I may have mentioned taking Cara to see a movie a while ago (we went to see Ugly Dolls, but only made it maybe 30 minutes into it before we just left). Even though that wasn't the best experience I knew I wanted to try again. 

Luckily, I knew our Cinemark in Americna Fork had some really comfy seats and with the right snacks and blankets I could probably get her to sit still for a whole movie (she's been doing REALLY well with family movie nights lately) so I tried another attempt. Croods 2 has been advertised and she loves the first one so I figured it was perfect.

We ended up going to a showing during nap time (she never really needs a nap anymore so I knew she'd be okay). We got us some snacks and got comfy in our recliners and waited for the movie. I was nervous with potty training, but she's done so good with it that I wasn't TOO worried, I just told her at the beginning that she just needed to let me know if she needed to go and I'd take her. 

She ended up stealing the popcorn and leaving pieces every once in a while on the arm rest for me haha. But whatever works, right?

We luckily made it about 90% of the movie just fine and then she wanted to go potty so I took her real quick. She must have thought it was cool because the remaining portion of the movie we went back and forth between the theater and the bathroom. But it was fine, at that point you kind of knew where the movie was going so I didn't feel it was TOO important.

The movie excitement wore her out on the way home

I'm so looking forward to more movie days with this girl - movies are one big thing I miss from our days before kids so this is so much fun to have a kid old enough to enjoy being at the theater again. And this movie was REALLY cute too!

Thanksgiving 2020

Happy Thanksgiving! I am growing to absolutely love Thanksgiving, this year was MUCH smaller than normal, but that's kind of a given with everything going on in the world right now, but we still had fun.

I got to watch the parade in the morning with my girls, which is always one of the best traditions, everyone got in a good nap in the afternoon, and then we headed over to Larry's grandma's to have dinner with his mom and them. 

It was a tiny dinner party (with an unfortunate accident due to being in the early stages of potty training), but the food was really good. Unfortunately, with a new baby and potty training kids we couldn't stay too long so it felt like we just ate and left, but we still had fun visiting.

One silly part is my mom and I just happened to buy the same Thanksgiving shirt so we made sure we both wore it and took a "twinning" pic haha. 

So yeah, that's all of our Thanksgiving, we had fun, we ate lots, we took a cute family pic, and now we're going to get ready for Christmas...the best time of year!!

Gwen is 2!

Little Gwen Gwen is officially 2 and I can't believe it! She's grown so fast I almost don't even remember her as a baby. I remember she was my best sleeper and she was always so chill, but that's mostly it (unless I go read about her monthly updates I posted about).

Her Cinnamon Rolls for her birthday breakfast

For her birthday this year we went bowling at Fat Cats and it was a great time! I mean, I was busy with Lucy and keeping people entertained so I didn't get to see my girls bowl too much (even if it was their first time), but I'm told they had a great time with it!

After bowling we came home to open presents and eat cake and have a good time celebrating our middle girlie. After we mingled for a bit I went out Christmas shopping with Stace for a bit and Larry is the best hubby who worked on clean up so I could do that.

For my Gwen, my little blond haired adorable little girl. You are such a fun, amazing child! You are so smart and silly and even though you just like to sit back and just watch things, you are a force to be reckoned with. I know you will do great things when you are given a chance to lead and learn. I love how much you love stories and how much you like to run around. And even though it's still ear-piercingly loud I love when you get so wrapped up in playing that you scream out loud. And I love that you are still our greatest sleeper haha.

Lucy is FIVE Months

   I am FIVE months old!

 

I like: when mom tries to get me to say "mama", when my feet or cheeks are being played with, when I have a full belly and clean bum, when I've slept good, when I get to cuddle with mom...I'm actually a pretty happy baby as long as I'm involved in the action.

I dislike: being hungry, being tired, laying down for too long, loud noises, when the older girls get in her face (all like last month, but these things don't happen TOO often)

I am now: She's growing into 3-6 month size clothes and slowly growing out of size 1 diapers. We have a weight check on Monday to see if she's back on track for weight so I'll know better at that point, but I think she's gaining pretty well lately.

A Typical Day looks like: 

She wakes up around 7:30 AM (though some days she's actually slept until almost 8, which is when I have to wake her up)

 

7:45 - I give her her probiotic, change her bum and give her a 6 oz bottle (usually only 2 oz is breast milk, the rest formula)

8-9:30 she plays on the swing, play mat, or whatever will make her happiest. Sometimes we'll do bumbo time, sometimes she just wants to be held.

9:30-10:45/11  nap time. No more swaddle, but she does get put in a sleep sac in the pack n play, binky in, lights out, and fan on. She usually is out within minutes.

11:00 - next 6 oz bottle and diaper change.

11:00 - 12:30 play time (swing, tummy time, play mat, whatever works) and she usually gets a poop out at this point.

12:30-2 nap time. Same routine as before.

2 - next 6 oz bottle and diaper change

2-3:30 play time

3:30 - 5:00 nap time. Same routine as before. If she wakes up before 5 then her and I will hang out while daddy works out with the older girls

5:00 - next 6 oz bottle and diaper change

5 - 5:30 play time

5:30-6 we do dinner. We JUST started giving her little tastes of food tonight at this time so she can be a part of dinner.

6-7 doing whatever for the night (aka free/play time)

7-7:45 we start our show for the night, at 7:10 ish she gets her last bottle of the night (5.5 oz) and just relax at this point. She might get a little cranky, especially if she woke up from the last nap early, but we keep her entertained until bed. If it's bath night (Sunday and Thursday for her), that starts at 7:20 ish

7:45 get ready for bed. We change her diaper, put on the owlet, put on pajamas, put on the sleep sac, lay her down and give her the binky. No more swaddling and she's good at putting herself to sleep.

This Month: Our nights have gotten a TON better! We still switch nights on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but we've gotten to where we don't immediately respond when she starts making noises. We want her to either put herself back to sleep or find the binky on her own and she's REALLY good at doing that. We've had a couple nights where we didn't need to do anything and quite a few nights where she just needs our help once. So we're sleeping MUCH better. I'd move her to her own room at this point, but I don't want to be walking into the nursery to help her so I'm okay keeping her with us for a little longer.

She's been a MUCH happier baby this last month too. She loves to play with her toes and with toys and she's rolling from back to belly ALL the time. She can roll from belly to back, but she still thinks she can't and will start crying before she even tries, so that's a bit of work. But other than that she's a smiley baby, but we still can't get her to laugh at the same thing twice...little stinker.

I took the older girls on a 4.5 day trip to Idaho and when we got back it seemed like things just felt better. The older girls got some mom time, Lucy and Larry bonded more (she smiles all the time when she sees him now), and even the kitties seem to be doing better now. I think it was great timing for us. 

Lucy got to celebrate Halloween AND Daylight Savings Time ending in the same weekend. I joked before the DST that it would either make her sleep WAY worse or WAY better, I knew it wouldn't stay the same....luckily for us it got WAY WAY better. I think that was when things shifted. Halloween was also a blast! We put her in the bumble bee costume we got for Cara when she was a baby and she was adorable. She got to come with us while I took the older girls out for trick-or-treating and everyone ooh'd and aaah'd over her. I didn't keep her out too long since she was getting squished in the stroller, but I like to think she still had fun.

As for food, we had to put a hold on giving her baby food at 4 months like the others. Her spitting up was just getting out of hand and with the dr worried about her not gaining weight I knew we had to focus on that. She still spits up very often, but it's not nearly as much. I'm excited to see what she is at her weight check on Monday. Because she stopped pooping ALL day long and doesn't spit up as much I think it'll be better. We've found we have to let her lay down to eat, then wait about 2 minutes before we pick her up, then burp her for about 2 minutes, then put her back down and immediately give her the binky and make sure she doesn't roll over so quickly. It's tedious, but it's necessary. Because she's been doing better and is ALWAYS eyeing our food, I started giving her tastes of our food this week (only soft stuff, nothing chunky, she loves Larry's morning smoothie haha) and that's been going really good. I'm thinking if her weight check is good we can actually start to give her food at our dinner time.

I'll say I'm really feeling we've got a good handle on the 3 kids life and it really hasn't been too bad...now that we're used to a baby again haha.

Update on last month's goals:

• Sleeping longer with no feedings or grunting: 98% check! She's doing great without a feeding and can sleep in, but we still need a tiny bit more work on binky stuff at night.
  
  
• More tummy time: now that she's all sort of rolling she's getting tummy time ALL the time.
  
  
• Sleeping without a swaddle: 100% check! She just has her sleep sac and a binky and she's good.
  
  
• More bumbo/sitting up time: we just started doing this more. She likes the bumbo, I've just been nervous it'll make her spit up more. But she does good as long as we wait till a while after a feeding.
  
  
• More rolling and laughing: she does this a lot, we just can't ever catch it on camera.
  
  
• More sensory stuff: she LOVES feeling things these days. I try and read her a book as often as I can at night and she loves feeling them. She also plays with toys more and I think she's liking feeling things (she's a grabber for sure - always grabbing clothes, hair, phones, books, etc.)
  
  
• Celebrate holidays: halloween was a big check, now we're on our way to Thanksgiving. I'm SO excited!

Goals for next month:

• Binky work at night, or more self soothing
  
  
• Possibly move over to her own room??
  
  
• More book time
  
  
• Work on sitting up and grabbing
  
  
• More Holidays!!