Busy Summer

It's only one month into our favorite time of the year and we have already done a lot of fun things. Being pregnant in the summer was not a smart idea. I am constantly hot and try to avoid being outside in the afternoon. I can't even imagine what it will be like when temperatures are in the 90's and 100's. I might melt into puddle. Despite the heat we have tried to do a lot of outdoors stuff. The kids have fun in the morning going out to play in the backyard before it gets too hot.

Makayla still loves to play dress up. Now she asks me to take pictures of her after some of her many outfit changes. 

Makayla still has a baby in her belly named Baby Kenzee. She has collected a lot of things for Baby Kenzee when she comes out, like diapers, clothes, and toys. She carries that stuff around all day long and sets it all out to look at it. We asked Makayla if Baby Kenzee was a boy or a girl and she told us, that Baby Kenzee is a "girl with a noodle." Can't wait to see what that looks like! :)

Makayla is getting pretty sassy in her three years. She yells at us a lot and has spent a lot of time in time out because she is either yelling or hitting. One day I told her that her behavior was not appropriate, and she told me, "you're not propriate, mom!" 

Even though we are dealing with a little sassy pants a lot of the time, Makayla can also be a real sweetheart. She is very animated with her her facial expressions and hand gestures. She can be so nice to Caden, and frequently looks out for him and gets him things he needs. I think when the new baby arrives she will be such a good helper and a great big sister. 

And Caden is just looking like a little boy more and more everyday. He is so cute and cracks us up with his growing vocabulary. 

Some of my favorite sayings of Caden lately include: 

• If you call Caden a name like "Buddy" he says, "I not Buddy, I Cada-tots!"
• He asks us, "What did you say?"
• He jabbers all the time. A lot of the time he is trying to talk but he can't get the words out fast enough, so he stutters. 
• Caden is becoming very independent. He tells us, "I do it by myself." If you try to help him, he gets so mad and goes back to try to do it again. 
• He repeats a lot of things Makayla says like, "That makes me so sad. I not going to be your best friend anymore!"

He loves to wear my flip flops around the house

One of my favorite things is when Caden wakes up in the morning. He is such a sleepy head! 

 Caden still loves his babies and Snuggle Bear.

We love having breakfast together in the morning

 And snacks in the afternoon.

 And snuggling on the couch is one of our favorite things to do.

Heather, Brooke, and Cicely were visiting from Nashville so we had an impromptu party for all the June birthdays in our family. Happy birthday to Preston, Hannah, Gage, and Brooke!

We had the Jones fam over for swimming and a bar-b-q. 

 Caden loved the ice cream. He won't eat dinner, but he manages to eat his ice cream all gone and parts of everyone else's, too.

I love this picture of Camden and Caden. They are only 18 months apart, and I predict they will be bestest buds.

We've gone to play group at the park

And the Herriman splash pad. This was my favorite day because Makayla and Caden were being so cute together. They played together the whole time and kept giving each other hugs and holding hands. 

We went to the air show in Ogden. It was really fun, but super hot. We only lasted a few hours

It's not all fun and games, though. I put the kids to work helping me with things around the house. This day they helped me fold their laundry. 

All of this playing and working has resulted in some very tired kids at the end of the night. I find that our bedtime keeps getting later and later. All worth it!

As for me, I am still very preggo. I forgot to take a picture this month, but I am getting bigger by the day. Baby in my belly is doing great. We had another ultrasound because my amniotic fluid was low, but the baby seemed to be doing fine. He/she was moving around and had its hands and feet up the entire time. It was so fun to see it again. I still feel like it's a girl, but feel like a lot of the medical stuff is suggesting that it is a boy. Only 12 more weeks until we know for sure! 

Thanks to Kayla for taking this picture of me... maybe I'll have to get her to snap a few pictures of my pregnant belly next time. 

And to end this month's post, have I told you how amazing my husband is? He surprised me for our 5 year  anniversary by getting me an anniversary band for my ring! I have been wanting one, but I didn't think I would get it for a few more years. I absolutely love it! 

Best husband ever! He also got me the 5 year Precious Moment and we went out on a very needed date night to a movie, dinner, and Hale Center Theatre. I feel so bad because guess what I got him for our 5 year anniversary? A card. That's it. I guess that means I will have to surprise him with something great for our 6 year anniversary! Love you Tyler! Thanks for being the best husband and spoiling me!

Pipes AKA Erythema Multiforme

Last Wednesday Makayla woke up with what I thought were hives all over her stomach. She was scratching them, and I could tell they were really bothering her. I called and talked to the pediatrician's nurse and she suggested giving her Benedryl. By Wednesday night they still had not improved and in fact were spreading to all over her chest and her back. Some of them were even turning a purplish color. We had Makayla sleep in our bed that night and she was miserable. She tossed and turned and kept scratching all night long. Thursday morning the hives were spreading to her face and were all over her body. I called and talked to the nurse again and she suggested bringing her in since it was difficult to diagnose hives and rashes over the phone. I packed up both kids and we headed to the doctor. Aside from the scratching and hives, Makayla was acting fine. We weren't able to see her normal doctor, but the other doctor said that they were hives and it was concerning the hives were turning to bruises. She said it was a reaction, but probably from some type of virus, like strep. She wanted to run some tests, so Makayla had to pee in a cup which was a long and difficult process to get her to do that. We tried two times at the doctor's office and then ended up leaving to go get some lunch. Makayla ended up peeing in the cup in the Arctic Circle bathroom (and I'll be honest, she peed all over my hands too). In addition to the pee test they gave her a steroid to calm her immune system down and we had to take her to the hospital to to get her blood drawn. The blood draw was the hardest because I had to hold her in my arms while another guy held her arm still and another girl drew the blood. Makayla screamed and I just felt so helpless. There is no worse feeling in the world knowing one of your kids is hurting and there is nothing you can do. The only pictures I took were Thursday night. You can see how they were all over her body and they were bruising. Makayla couldn't say "hives" so she called them "pipes"

Even though it was traumatic, Makayla loved showing off her "bandaid" from her blood draw. 

Friday morning Tyler and I took Makayla in for a follow up with her doctor. He immediately diagnosed it as Erythma Multiforme. Basically it was a reaction, but it was not hives. The good news is that it is not a serious condition. He said it is usually caused from some type of virus, but since we didn't know of anyone who was sick, we will probably never know how she got it. The even better news is that the doctor said it would go away in a few days and she would be fine. And you know what? By Friday night they were almost completely gone. I couldn't believe that something that seemed so serious just a few days before, was gone within a few days. 

We are just so relieved that it was not anything serious, and Makayla is even more happy that her "pipes" are all gone!

Big Boy Status

 Caden is growing up... well kind of. At two years old Caden is showing no interest in a lot of the things Kayla did at that point. I remember Makayla was in a big girl bed and was fully potty trained by 2 1/2... not Caden. Not that I care (especially about the potty training), we just need to get him in a big boy bed before the new baby arrives. So Caden got upgraded to a Big Boy Bed. We just took off the side rail of his crib, but in a few months we will get him in his real big boy bed.

Caden loves his new bed. When we finish reading stories at night he says, "I hop in my big boy bed." And he insists on showing everyone who comes over his new bed. 

Like I mentioned, I'm not in any hurry to potty train Caden. I know boys are later to train than girls, and I don't want to do it before the baby arrives because I'm worried he will regress after, so I am letting Caden totally dictate his potty training. 

One day he came to me with is big boy underwear and said he wanted to wear it. We made a huge deal about it and had him sit on the potty for a while. He didn't go potty, but made sure to scream in my ear, "I need a wipey!"

How cute is this little boy in his big boy undies?

We just love our little boy, even if he decides he needs to grow up.

The Countdown...

As cheesy as this is...

FIVE Years

FOUR Jobs

  

Almost THREE kids

TWO houses

ONE Happy Life together!

Happy 5 Year Anniversary to us!!

Father's Day

How sad is it that this is the only picture I took of Tyler on Father's day?

I meant to take another picture when we were all dressed and ready for our many parties that day, but things got crazy, and I never remembered to take another picture.

I can't say enough about Tyler. He is such a great father to the kids and husband to me. As soon as the kids hear the garage door open they run to meet him after he gets home from work. Caden is especially attached to Tyler. A lot of times during the day he tells me, "I want my daddy." When I try to explain that daddy is working, Caden just gets more upset. Both kids love when Tyler gets home because he gives them all of his attention. They love swinging with him, wrestling on the floor, and reading stories at night. I mean seriously, who wouldn't love a picnic with Daddy on the lawn?

I feel so lucky to be married to Tyler. When we first started dating, I knew he would be a good husband and father, and he has proven that to me time and time again. We definitely don't tell him enough how much we appreciate and love him, but we do more than he will ever know! Happy Father's day!

Remember When...

Makayla was going through her closet changing clothes for the tenth time that day and she found her tu-tu from her baby pictures. We thought it would be really fun to play remember when and rein act their baby pictures. Here's Makayla...

 Caden is definitely too big to fit into his Tonka truck now, but he looked just as cute as he did two years ago.

 We only let one of our kids wear clothes each day... it saves on the laundry. Today was Makayla's turn.

 I think we have a princess in the making.