Sweet baby J

     My sweet little guy is almost 3 months old already and I haven't posted anything about him:( I guess I am a little busy these days.  Jameson is the Sun, Moon and Stars for us right now. He is a very sweet baby just like Sketty was and it has made all the difference. I've decided I just really love having happy babies, as opposed to ones that scream all the time:-) He loves to sleep and often prefers to be put in his bassinet rather than being rocked to sleep. LOVE that!!!  He has great naps during the day and sleeps mostly through the night. Jameson has a very relaxed personality and I'm hoping it stays. We lucked out with Sketty and I see a lot of similar behavior in JJ.
    The big kids are at that age where they feel it a burden to have to help with the baby and often they'll make a big deal when I ask them to hold him. Hudson, on the other hand, is uber eager to get his hands dirty. He's always holding him, kissing him, asking where he is, getting him out of bed when he's supposed to be napping, etc.  He loves his baby brothers sooooo much. The second he thinks he hears one of the little boys he jets off to get them out of their cribs. A little too helpful maybe. But the little guys totally love him and it really is nice to have him help.
     Stetson loves him too. About every 5 minutes or so he'll say "Mom? Where JJ?" He always has to know where JJ is. When we changed his name we starting calling him Baby J and Sketty came up with JJ. He does call him Baby J too and the other kids call him JJ or Jaymo. I read an article about kids nicknames and how important they are to a child's sense of identity. I think our kids all have great nicknames that aren't weird or silly, or ones that they'll hate when they get older.
    Jameson is such a happy little guy who is so loved in this family. He has a perfectly round, bald head and fat cheeks with a double chin. He is all soft and squishy now and so delicious. I could literally eat him up! To echo Hudson, "I. Just. Can't. Stop. Kissing. Him!!!"


These pictures were taken right at 2 months. I wish I would have figured out how to make the onesies about a month earlier. Maybe I can still make a 1 month onesie and tweak the picture in photoshop:)  If not he'll just have months 2-12. That will be kinda weird though...

Just a random picture of him. J fell asleep while I was busy doing something.

These next pictures were all taken at 2 1/2 months. Its amazing how different he looks just in two weeks

Jameson at 6 weeks:
     11.5 lbs
     napping 3-4 hours at a time
     sleeping from 10 or 11 pm-3 or 4 am
     started smiling
     holding his head up
     not taking a pacifier anymore:-(

Baby J at 2 months:
     12.8 lbs and 24 in. long
     sleeping roughly 8 hours at night
     one long 4 hour nap in the afternoon
     rolling over front to back
     rolling back to front almost all the way
     cooing and smiling all the time
     starting to giggle/chuckle

Big Sketty-2 years old

I can't believe my Little Big Man is 2 already!!!  Even though he's a GIANT (33 lbs. size 8 shoes) he still kinda seems like my little baby. Maybe its the lack of verbal communication:-)  Stetson is by far the easiest two-year old we've had yet. Don't get me wrong, he has his days, but overall he's super chill and hasn't gotten overly destructive or terrible. He has recently discovered the large deck box outside full of old dirty trucks and 4 wheelers. He loves to bring them all in the house.... at the same time..... all day long.  Like a typical boy he loves horses, tractors and anything on wheels.  He especially loves motorcycles. Tanner is borrowing a little dirtbike from someone at work and Sketty constantly asks to ride it. He'll hear the garage door when Tanner comes home and run out screaming! He can't actually say that he wants to ride the motorcycle but he makes a vroom vroom noise while twisting his hands (like on the handlebars).  And he does that to everyone we see, no matter where we are. I get lots of questioning looks:-)  When we're driving and we pass a motorcycle or tractor he'll get all excited and then when its gone he says "Aw, Dang it!"

Sketty has the funniest personality right now.  He pretty much runs the family because he has all of us wrapped around his little bear paw.  We are constantly in stitches at all the funny things he does.  During church after a prayer or special musical number or whatever he'll usually yell out (super loud) at the end "All done! All done!" over and over again. Or he'll spot his cousins (whom he adores) and yell "Hey Jill! Hey Hai! (for Hailey)" from across the chapel. When he wakes up he has to ask where everyone is-"Daddy? B? Shish? Hud? JJ?" We go through this about 8 times a day. When I'm done telling him where they all are he says "Ohhh." He chatters on all day long and although he doesn't say many words I usually know what he's saying because he gets the inflection right. Then its just a matter of repeating it to him and he'll say Yeah if I get it right.

Some of his funniest funnies:

Someone taught him to do an air guitar. But really he looks like he's an ape scratching himself while bouncing up and down and swinging his head around. One of these days I'll video tape him because its pretty comical.

(showing off his new hand-me-down shoes)

He is super intrigued by gross stuff - dirty diapers, sweaty feet, mud, etc. When he takes his shoes off he wants everyone to smell his feet and then say "Ewwww!"

Someone tooted one time and it sounded (and smelled) disgusting. He ran over and tried to pull their pants down to check their bum. He kept doing this over and over and we just about peed our pants. He was bound and determined to see if the said person messed their pants. Then he ran and got a diaper and wipes and started yelling at this person to lay down on the ground. He was certain they needed their pants changed and he was yelling Ewww! the whole time.

We got to sing Happy Birthday to a lot of people this past month and now its Sketty's favorite song.  He sings "Ha birdayyyyy, Hi Yah!" (the big kids always add on "cha cha cha Hi-Yah!" Thats where he gets it)

Stetson is very sweet about everyone's feelings. If someone is sad or mad he'll stand right in front of them, tilt his head to the side, do his crazy eyes, and open his arms for a hug. This brings laughter out of the grumpiest person. And he's the best cheerleader - for himself and everyone else.

If any of you have ever played Bingo in the car you know how obnoxious it can be. It usually causes big arguments because someone always claims to have seen the yellow car first.  Stetson LOVES to yell out "Bee-YO! Bee-Yo!  Mom, I Bee-Yo." Because he's so cute we let him win at Bingo all the time. Anytime someone calls out Bingo he yells "No, I Bee-Yo!" Like I said, he runs the family:-)

He's totally irritated by the neighborhood dogs that bark constantly. Sometimes he'll just go out back and start yelling "Bad Dog!" And then when they don't stop he comes in and says "Mom, UGHHHH!"  He gets super frustrated when they don't listen to him.

Stetson loves Baby Einstein movies. His favorite is the Old MacDonald one. He comes up to me all day long asking for "Yi-Yo" because they sing E-I-E-I-O. He's also VERY particular about his music. If he doesn't like a song on the radio he'll yell at me until I change it. He LOVES Adele and Jason Aldean. He'll bust-a-move right out of his car seat any time those songs come on:)

His favorite books right now are Brown Bear Brown Bear and Polar Bear, Polar Bear. Who is the genius that thought up those ridiculously simple books? I've never met a child who didn't know it by heart and completely love the book. 

Baby J was just too tired to enjoy the party. Got a quick little nap at Grandma's blazing hot house.

Back to School

Obviously these pictures weren't taken on the first day of school. I'm just not that

on top of things these days. Or like, ever. 

But I did manage to take them within a week of the first day so that's not too bad. 

The kids are loving being back at school and so is their mother. I love my kids but they just get bored when they stay home with me all day. I don't recommend having a baby right smack in the middle of summer. It jacks up the summer. Before baby Big Mama is too tired and big to do anything fun and its too close to the due date to go anywhere. After baby Big Mama is recovering and then when recovery is over its too stinkin' hot to take a newborn outside anywhere. So that leaves you with a house full of energy ready to explode. 

For the first time ever I was really looking forward to school starting. 

All the kids love their teachers so far and the two older kids got their best friends in the same class. Hudson doesn't have any friends in his class yet but he really likes his teacher. He feels like Kindergarten is just for him and I love that his teacher makes him feel so special. 

I've already gotten Sketty and Jaymo on a decent schedule. We drop off Huddy and then come home to play and have lunch and then we all go down for a nap. Its pretty fantastic!!! The big kids wait for Hudson to get out of school and then they all walk home together. That means I get about 3 1/2 hrs with just the two little ones and they sleep most of that time. I'm loving my schedule right now:-)

 This crazy kid has a serious shoe fetish. He'll get anyone's shoes and wear them wherever he can.

Also, he really needs to grow into that massive head. Its huge:-)

 Brynn's all about pictures and usually does a good job. Occasionally she'll pop a funny face or weird smile but for the most part she's my best model right now.

 And then we have Gomer. He was being a total Tard about taking pictures, like always. I happened to click the shutter right when he was doing this face and he just about peed his pants when I showed it to him.

 I had said "Just hold the sign in front of you Please!" So he shoves it in my face...

 So fun having a 9-yr old boy who thinks he's like 20.

 Apparently he was watching his brother take pictures.

 Can you hear it? "Uggghhhh, why do I have to take pictures?!?!"

 Look at me Hud.  "NO! I'm not taking pictures. I HATE taking pictures!"

Finally!!!


Did I mention I like having them in school all day???

Baptism Pictures

Brynn and I went down to the temple one night to take pictures for her baptism announcements.

These are the results. She was a darling baby, an even cuter toddler, and now she's such a pretty little girl. I have no doubt she will be even more beautiful as she gets older. My one and only:)

Busy weekend

Brynn had been looking forward to getting baptized for such a long time. Every now and then she'd come sit on my lap and say "Mom, I can't wait to get baptized!" out of the blue. We had fun

looking for a dress for her, taking her baptism pictures and preparing for her big day.

That's a big family! We still can't believe we have 5 children!  In a few years all those boys are going to be so big and I'm going to feel old and small.

Brynn's baptism was Saturday afternoon and then we blessed Jameson on Sunday.  This may be the smallest blessing circle we've ever had. A lot of the family was out of town, but we appreciate those that made a special trip out for the blessing and baptism.

Jameson is such a sweet baby and we feel blessed that the Lord has given us another perfect, healthy little baby--one who doesn't scream all the time and one that likes to sleep. I love all my babies, but I am especially grateful for the ones who are so mellow. It just makes life so much easier and the whole family benefits from a sweet, quiet baby.