Our Little Christmas

We had our first Christmas by ourselves this year. It was fun and very busy. Christmas Eve consisted of decorating our tree, baking cookies, and starting some of our new traditions. We decided to open one gift (new pajamas) before bed and watch a Christmas movie. Macy LOVED her Dora pj's. We also began our tradition of eating delicious hamburgers on Christmas Eve. While in Florida we will be eating at Steak n' Shake. One of THE best burgers I have ever had (but I am satisfied with a fast food burger so I might not be a good judge). Finally, we ate cookies and hot chocolate while reading Luke 2. On Christmas we got up about three hours before Church to get ready (and still got to Church late *sigh*), took a few pictures and saw what Santa brought, ate some cinnamon rolls (another tradition), then loaded everyone up, went to Church (I caught about 10 minutes between taking out three children), came home and opened presents, took some more pictures, put Macy down for a very little nap, then we loaded everyone back into the car to go to Christmas dinner with another family, ate and played, came home for more presents and more pictures then fed two babies, cleaned up all the new toys, and went to bed. It was slightly exhausting. To prove it, both boys slept 8+ hours on Christmas Eve and Christmas night (Zack slept 10.5 hours last night). Merry Christmas to me! Now that you have read ALL of that, here are a bunch of pictures of our little Christmas!

Macy helped decorate some reindeer cookies for Santa. I know it's a little odd for Santa to eat reindeer cookies, but they were cute.

Macy's new Dora pj's.

Macy decorating our felt tree. We did a felt tree this year so Macy could decorate and undecorate it to her little heart's content.

Nick and Zack wearing their new pj's and posing for their Christmas Countdown picture. Only one day until Christmas!

Zack on Christmas morning.

Nick on Christmas morning.

The three kiddos.

The boys having a good time.

Zack with his new Broncos onesie.

A quick family pic.

Nick and his new Gonzaga onesie.

Our stockings hung by the chimney with care.

Macy Turns 19 Months

Macy turned 19 months last Friday. She is growing by leaps and bounds. I can barely keep up with her. Here are a few things she has been up to:

*Macy can find and start an episode of Dora on the Roku (Netflix Watch Instantly). I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing . . .

*Macy counts everything that there are multiples of and switches back and forth between English and Spanish.

*Macy will pick up clothes and put them in the hamper without being asked. She also takes things out of the hamper and makes a bit of a mess.

*She will look at a picture of Andy and me and say, "Mama, Da-ey" as she points to each of us.

*Macy will take my eye shadow applicator and put it up to her eye like she is putting on eye shadow.

*At Church Macy pointed to a picture of Jesus and said, "Jesus".

*Macy is getting used to her little brothers. At first she completely ignored them. Then she was really interested in them and would give them kisses, push them in their swing, help them with their binkis, and share toys with them. Now she pretends she is a little Mama and carries her doll around, puts it in the swing, and starts the swing for it!

*Macy says, "bye, bye" and closes the door or she will stand at a closed door and knock on it (she thinks that this will somehow open it).

*Macy has learned how to work zippers. This means there are a whole bunch of new things she can get into now.

*Some of Macy's new words: "I'm sorry", "Awww man", calls herself "May May", "more", "all done", "all gone", "ok", "fishes" (as in Goldfish crackers), says, "oh boom" when she falls down, and repeats pretty much anything we say. Today Andy got her to say, "Tebow".

If you like pictures of Macy you will really like this post because there are a ton!

Macy playing in her room
Macy showing off her full mouth of teeth.

Macy working on her computer.

Smiling big for the camera.

Macy grabbed my eyeliner, pulled the cap off, and put some on her eye. The picture is blurry, but you can kind of see the line on her eyelid.

Andy used this headband to keep Macy's hair out of her face.

Macy unzipped her pj's to find her belly button.

Macy at 19 months.

Macy found some of my ribbon and started building a tower.

Macy and her own little baby.

Nick and Zack Are One Month Old!

Nick and Zack turned one month old yesterday. I can't believe how fast the time has gone! They had their one month check up today. Nick weighs 9 lbs 12 oz and is 21.5 in long. Zack weighs 9 lbs and is 22 in long. They are quite the silly little boys. Nick likes to have his meals on time. If he's ready to eat he will start to get really sad and cry as if to say, "I can't believe you guys forgot about me!" But after he eats he'll often have a big smile and all is forgiven. Zack is often not too interested in eating. He gets all wiggly and grunts until he's done then he wants to look around with his big eyes WIDE open. They are both getting really good at sleeping at night. We often get a good 5-6 hours in a row. It's been very nice.

Here are some pictures from this past month.

They aren't identical, but you can definitely tell they are brothers!

Showing off their matching outfits.

All dressed up in their sports pj's.


One month picture.

Zack at one month. He has owl pajamas on. I thought it was fitting because he sometimes looks like a little owl with those wide eyes!

Nick at one month. He doesn't look around quite as much as Zack. He prefers to sit and ponder things instead.

Macy giving Zack kisses. Sorry if you get a little seasick!
Macy giving Nick kisses. She sure does love her little brothers.

Our First Thanksgiving

This was our first Thanksgiving all by ourselves. Andy is so nice that he wouldn't have cared what I made, but I wanted to put in at least a little effort so I chose a few recipes that you can just mix everything together and throw it in the oven. I think everything turned out pretty well. We spent the rest of the day watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (and missing New York), watching football (and by "we" I really just mean Andy), watching a couple of silly ABC Family Christmas movies, and trying to wrangle the children for pictures. Here are some for you to enjoy.

Our Thanksgiving meal: stuffing (from a box, nothing fancy), sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, ham (we're not big Turkey people), cheddar bay biscuits, and funeral potatoes. We also had a store bought pie for dessert (again, minimal effort on my part, but my sweet husband didn't mind).


Our one and only good picture of all three kids, semi in focus.


The reason why we only have one good picture, Macy went wild and tried to take out her brothers.

Macy showing off her Turkey bow.

Nick with his Thanksgiving onesie and of course his football binki.

Zack and his Thanksgiving onesie.

I think we all had a pretty good day. We may just have to do it again next year!

Macy Turns 18 Months

We're a little late getting this post up with everything that has been going on, but our sweet baby girl is now 18 months old! She is now a big sister, old enough for the nursery at Church, and it is probably time to transition from calling her a baby to calling her a little girl. Time goes by so fast!

Here are few things Macy has been up to this month:

• Macy knows the motions to "Popcorn Popping" and goes around saying "pa pa pa" translation- "pop, pop, pop".
  



• Macy really likes to put her toys away. She likes to pick everything up and put them in boxes, baskets, the storage ottoman, the baby bathtub, whatever is handy.
  



• Macy is trilingual these days. She says "baby" in Sign Language, she says "hola" and can count to four in Spanish, and her new words in English include "purple", "duck", "bear", "ok", "Cheerios" and many others.
  



• Macy likes to give kisses. She gives one to Mama and Daddy before bedtime and also gives some to Daddy when she is in trouble as a quick and easy way to get out of trouble.
  



• When we are feeding Macy and food spills she is very good at picking it up off her tray and putting it back on the plate or into the bowl. I guess this girl really likes things clean!
  



• The other day Macy was playing in my makeup bag (as usual) and she found my eyelash curler. As she played with it she said, "scissors, scissors, cut". I have no idea where she learned about scissors, but I am impressed that she recognized that the shape of the eyelash curler does look a lot like scissors.

Macy and Mama posing for a belly picture.

Macy's first time to the beach.

Macy visiting the nursery at Church.

Macy at the Church Trunk-or-Treat. Some may remember that she was a WSU cheerleader last year also, but this is a slightly different outfit and the extent of a tired Mama's creativity three days before her due date.

Macy and Daddy. Daddy is hoping that next year Macy is a cheerleader for BYU, LIU, or Gonzaga. Just to change things up a little.


For Family Home Evening the night before my due date we gave Macy her own "baby" and read the Berenstain Bears New Baby book. Macy of course had no idea what was going on, but we tried.

Macy visiting Mama and her new brothers in the hospital.

Happy Birth Day!

The stork finally arrived on Tuesday, November 1st, 2011 bringing with him our two wonderful little Twin Boys! When we got to the hospital the doctor did an ultrasound and found that although both babies had their heads down, one had his body across and so I had to have a c-section. I was pretty upset, but I know that the little guy tried really hard (he had been in a completely different position the day before at my weekly appointment) and that it was what was supposed to happen and for the best.

At just before nine 'o clock we had our two little boys. Nickolas Steven weighed 7 lbs 11 oz and was 20 in long and Zackary Denis weighed 7 lbs 8 oz and was 20 3/4 in long.

They are both happy and healthy. It is so fun to see their two different personalities. Zack has been pretty alert from day one. His eyes are always open wide and looking around. He is also pretty mellow. When Nick is fussing he will just look at him like "why are you crying?" They are both great eaters. Nick is already back to his birth weight! Nick has been a little more sleepy, but he is starting to be more alert. He really likes his binki for comfort, but often loses it and that means he has to try and find his little hand to suck on. They both really like to cuddle. They sleep pretty well in their crib, but when we were in the hospital we took our best naps with them cuddled up one on each side of me.

Macy isn't too interested in the boys because they don't really do anything. She just carries on with her own business. She does say, "baby" and comes and looks at them sometimes. She does try to touch them every once in a while and yesterday she came and gave Zack a kiss without being asked to. I think they will all be good friends soon!

We are so happy to have the boys with us! We are a little more tired these days, but it is all worth it!

One last picture before heading to the hospital. Exactly 40 weeks!



Right before my c-section. If it looks like I am crying, it is because I am. I was terrified! But it was nice that Andy could be there with me.



The boys right after they were born.



Zack and Nick in their "Going Home Outfits".



Nick and Zack in their crib their first night at home.

Macy Turns 17 Months

Macy turned 17 months today! She is such a big girl these days. Lots of walking, talking, and being independent. Here are few things she has learned during the last month.

• Macy is a great walker now. She even does a little running these days. In fact she can outrun her Mama no problem!





• New words Macy has learned recently, "apple" "popcorn" (like Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree . . . we don't feed her popcorn) "green" "potty" and "uh oh".





• Macy likes to count. I will often hear her saying, "5, 6, 9, 10" over and over again.





• Macy likes to say letters too. The other day she guessed "R" during Wheel of Fortune and then bought an "E".





• Macy is getting pretty good at stacking things. She has been working on this skill for the last couple of months. She loves to stack old pill bottles and blocks. Some of her towers are pretty impressive.





• When Macy wakes up from bed or a nap she often greets us by saying, "Da Da Da". That is until recently. I walked in her room, she greeted me with,"Da", I said, "no it's me", and she said, "Mama!" and was very excited. I loved it!

Macy, Daddy, and Pooh Bear watching some Baby Einstein (again).
Macy playing with Mommy's hair picks.


I said, "one, two" and Macy threw her hands in the air and said, "three!"

Macy and Daddy looking at the phone.

"Hey Daddy! Where's your hair?"



Macy showing off her walking skills.