3ish months

Oh my sweet girl, it's really hard to keep up with time right now. I'm trying to pull the emergency break and slow things down with you, but the car keeps on driving and you are growing up before my eyes. I just adore you to pieces. You are so sweet, so smiley, and I could just eat your little leg rolls up! You continue to have a delightful temperament. I love to lay you down on the couch in our spare moments of time together, and always return a huge grin back to me and normally a little noise followed by a bunch of spit bubbles. No matter how tired or hungry you are, if I look at you, you will always smile. Even in the middle of the night I will go and get you and in the dark, I'll see this HUGE grin staring back at me. I have a rule to interact with you as little as possible in the night so you don't think it's play time, but it's so hard to ignore you when you're making sweet little sounds and grinning so wide. Speaking of sleeping, somehow you have figured out how to get out of the miracle blanket swaddle which is seriously crazy because it's like a straight jacket. I think you hop your back off the crib mattress and yank your arms up at the same time. Almost every time I go to get you from your crib, you are out of your swaddle. As far as sleep, you take anywhere between 2-4 naps a day. If you're in your crib or ergo, they are almost always 30 minutes. If I nurse you to sleep and put you in the swing, you still do your crazy long nap- usually 3-4 hours. I'm still putting you in the swing after your last feeding in the morning, around 5:30 and you will normally sleep until close to 9:30.  I know i'll have to give up the swing at some point, but it's awesome. You normally wake up once or twice a night.

 It is getting really hard to nurse you during the day because any noise you hear, you'll yank your head around and figure out what's going on. Then you look back at me and keep trying to smile instead of nurse. I normally have to swaddle you up and make it as quiet as possible to get any milk in you!

You are changing by the day. Your hair is getting so long and sticking up still. Of course everyone comments on it. Your receding hair line is definitely improving and I don't think it will be long before you have a full head of hair. I want to put your hair into a little pony tail on top like bam bam, but I think it might look a little odd with no hair in the front :) I took you in a couple weeks ago for some congestion, and you were 14 lb. You have the best leg rolls, and rubberband wrists. You're well into your 3-6 month clothes and size 3 diapers and it wont be long before we move you up into the next size!

Your head is getting stronger and I can tell you're getting close to rolling over. You are always sucking on your hands and are an expert at creating quite the drool puddle dripping down your arms. You love to sit in your rainforest bouncer and hit the animals and you also like to lay under your play mat and look at the little mermaid toy. Your grip is super strong and you're always pulling things to your face like burp clothes, blankets and toys. You're still not a big fan of your car seat, but if I give you some toys, you'll tolerate it for a while. You love being in the bath, but man alive you get ANGRY when we get you out. I don't know if it's because you're usually super tired by the time we give you a bath, or you get cold easily, or you just love your bath that much, but woweee. watch out!

I love you so much sweet girl. I get teary all the time thinking about how precious you are.

Mother's Day

Man am I blessed to be a mama. My whole life I dreamed about being a wife and mom and I feel absolutely lucky to have these two kiddos in my life and a man who takes the time to make events like mother's day so special. I don't get much recognition for being a mom, so it means even more to have a man so genuinely supportive of me.

We had such a fun weekend jam packed full of adventure. On Saturday morning we ate breakfast at our friend Jackie and Jason's house and then walked down to a nearby stream for a salmon release. Colter was so excited to watch the fish swim away! Definitely going to be a repeat tradition for us.

Saturday night we went to a park in Edmonds for a goodbye party for one of the pastors at our church. 

On Mother's Day, Ben made amazing red velvet crepes with a chocolate ganache on top and marscapone filling inside. yummmmmmm

He got me the most beautiful yellow roses. 

You can see the hearts in the background he taped up. I also got a love coupon book, and a bunch of different love notes.

At church on Sunday, we dedicated Madison. It was really special to be on stage with some of our closest friends- the Blankenships and Grants. 

The verse we chose is 2nd Corinthians 12:9 because of Madison's middle name, Abrielle, which means "God is my strength."  ⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

Madison & Emma are 2 weeks apart and destined to be BFF's

What a sweet day it was. So thankful for my hubby and kiddos who fill such a huge part of my heart. 

To my amazing wife!

Dear Becky,

I am thankful and extremely blessed that God chose you to be my wife. I am constantly amazed at everything you are able to do and the activities you put together for the kids. I can honestly say, and will go on the record, that you by far have the toughest job out of the two of us. Below are some of the reasons why we love you.

Thank you for all your selfless acts of service.

Thank you for managing the household and always having dinner ready to go.

Thank you for loving our kids and always having their best interest in mind.

Thank you for decorating the house at every holiday and making it festive.

Thank you for always being willing to go on an adventure.

Thank you for getting up in the night and taking care of Maddie during week nights.

Thank you for supporting me in my work.

Thank you for keeping the house clean and orderly.

Thank you for going out of your way to make everyone in the family feel special.

Thank you for encouraging me to be the best Dad I can be.

Thank you for all the creative projects you do with the kids.

Thank you for fostering our kids creativity.

There are many other reasons that make you the best wife for me. I love you very much and wish you the best Mother's Day.

Love, 

      Ben, Colter, and Maddie

The hubsters birthday

Ben turned another year older on May 1st and we had a lot of fun celebrating him!



I was SO excited for Ben's gift this year... a morning in the woods with our neighbor shooting guns! In the weeks leading up to his birthday, whenever a package came to the house, he would ask if it was a birthday gift. I always jokingly told him that I was getting him a bag of trash for his birthday. Little did he know I was telling the truth the whole time! Our neighbor collected a bunch of trash to use as targets and on the morning of his birthday, I gave him a bag of trash with one bullet inside... only it didn't quite work out as planned because the bullet fell into the trunk of my car so there was nothing inside! He was so jazzed and couldn't wait for the weekend to come.

On the night of his birthday, our neighbors Jared & Ann, as well as the Wornicks and the Heavilands came over for some brownies. Colter talked about blowing out the candles all day long and he was so excited to help dad. I think he mainly helped add a little saliva to his brownie.

To say that Ben was beaming when he got home from his shooting adventure would be an understatement. He had such a fun time- it made me so happy to see him so jazzed. If you know Ben, when he's excited about something, he enjoys talking about it. Needless to say I've been hearing quite a bit about Saturday morning. Our neighbor brought four different guns to shoot and they managed to use 300 rounds of ammo.

Saturday afternoon we ventured down to the Ballard locks for some boat watching and red mill burger eating. It was such a perfect day.. tons of sunshine, beautiful boats to look at. An added bonus was a train sighting, and a boat signal light right where we ate dinner. Colter could have stayed there for a million years.

Sunday afternoon we went to the Seattle food truck rodeo. Over 35 food trucks lined up with tons of delicious food! We got there towards the end of the festival, so a lot of things were sold out, but it was really neat to see how many different food trucks there are.

Check out that hair!

It was such a fantastic weekend which is perfectly suiting considering the fantastic man we were celebrating. We love you daddy/Ben.

last times

I was nursing Madison before bed tonight and watching her slip into sweet slumber. She does the cutest thing as she's falling asleep. Her eyes start to go back and forth as her lids get really heavy, almost like she's trying to fight the sleep that is overtaking her... kind of like me when watching a movie after 8 o'clock. Finally she gives in, her head falls against my skin like a dead weight, and her body feels absolutely perfect in my arms. I stared down at her face and drank her her sweetness. Part of me wanted to quickly put her down so I could tackle the 18 loads of laundry taking over the hallway, or clean up downstairs, or eat another thin mint. Then I realized. There is going to be a last time that this happens. It made me start to think that there is a last time for everything. I've already experienced some lasts with Colter. Nursing, ergoing after a short nap, etc. These things happen so quickly, that I almost never even realize that they're going to be done until it's over. I do remember rocking Colter back to sleep after a short nap soon before Madison was born and thinking that this was probably the last time that it was going to happen. I so wanted to put him down because my big belly was in the way and it was super uncomfortable  but I knew that this moment might never come again. Some last times are going to be great.. oh how I can't wait to change my last diaper! A last tantrum? yes please! But then there are the last times that are hard to even imagine. There will be a last time that Colter puts together a train track. There will be a last time that my kids fall asleep on me before bed. There will be a last time where my kids will want me to hold them in the rocking chair singing songs. There will be a last bath, a last tball game, a last trip to the kids museum. Oh how I hope to savor these moments instead of rushing towards the next day. So much of motherhood in the early years feels like a survival game. Just one more hour until dad gets home. I pray that God reminds me to linger just a little longer. Rescue the duck from the bookshelf with the firetruck one more time. Rock just a little bit longer. Throw nordy doll into the air to make Colter crack up one extra time. Watch one more crossing video and talk about the caboose. Tickle your face with Madison's soft, sticking up hair. Find more bugs in the yard. Get one more big gummy grin from your daughter. Read an extra book at bed time. Because you never know when that last time will sneak in.

2 months

Oh my sweet girl what a joy and blessing you are to our family. You have been sweet from the beginning. Your demeanor is just so precious and I love you to pieces. It's been hard this time around not being able to pay as much attention to you as i'd like- especially since you are constantly trying to make eye contact and offer one of your huge grins. Your gurgles and noises melt my insides and I praise God for the gift of raising a daughter...

You are still rocking the mullet style hair.. fairly short (but not falling out) in the front, and seriously long on the side and back and sticking straight up! You turn your head a lot in your sleep so you have developed quite a few dreads on the back of your head that I have to detangle on a regular basis.

At your 6 week check up you were 11 lb 6 oz and when I took you in for some congestion just after your two month birthday, you were weighing in at 12 lb. 4 oz.  You have mostly been taking 30 minute naps.. sometimes as short as 15 minutes. If I nurse you to sleep, you will sometimes sleep up to 4 hours during the day which is insane, I just don't want to get into the habit of feeding you to sleep. You just might be a pacifier baby. You do a decent job of sleeping at night.. usually in bed by about 8, with usually 2 wake ups before you're up for the day. We were having to spend 2 hours to get you to sleep at night, so the pediatrician recommended doing a little crying.. which felt hard with you being so little. However, it worked some magic and you now fall asleep within 10 minutes of crying with NO bouncing for a million hours. We moved you from the swing to the pack and play at night and it didn't seem to phase you at all.

You don't have too many new tricks this month.. I think your head is pretty strong- unfortunately I don't do tummy time as much as i'd like to. You definitely dislike the car seat... we're not sure if we purchased a car seat or torture device seeing as though you and your brother have not been fans. You love the toy bar on the vibrating seat and will kick your legs so hard and fast that you start to slide down the seat. You also like looking up at your toys on the play mat. You follow your brother wherever he goes and love it when he plays his guitar.

I love you so much my sweet sweet girl. I can't wait to get to know you more in the months to come.