Hello Kitty! Hello Party!

I guess my little Avery Muffin is not so little any more. In fact, she hates it when we call her that. Along with Missy Goo and Missy Lou. She will quickly correct you and say, "I'm NOT Missy Goo. I'm AVERY!" She is four years old. She is mommy's little helper and my sidekick. I can't even bear to think about next year when she goes to kindergarten. My life will feel so quiet. So glad I get to enjoy her for one more year. Avery, we can't imagine our life without you. You have brought us so much joy and SPUNK. We don't know what we would do without you in our family. You fit so perfectly.

 Excited that she still loves princesses, dolls, and hello kitty. I know it won't be for long.

 Logan took pictures at the party. It was cute to see all the ones he took. We pretty much had a shot of everyone, doing everything. He didn't leave anything out. Ha-ha. There were way to many pics to post but here is Aves with some of her friends. Above, Janie, Below, Autumn then Brooklyn.s

 Avery decided she wanted a Hello Kitty Birthday Party. Lindsey, one of the sweet young women I work with came over to help me with the party since Mike was in Malaysia. Yes, Malaysia!! I guess I figured having a newborn baby and a husband out of town for 2 weeks wasn't enough. I needed to throw a birthday party into the mix. Seriously, I was exhausted this week & I don't know how I pulled it off. But I think Avery had lots of fun. So grateful Lindsey came to help!! 

 Mike and I gave Avery a Hello Kitty Scrapbook Kit. Well, in one afternoon, she cranked that baby out! She went through a photo box, selected her pictures, cropped them, and voila...A really cute scrapbook. She surprised me with her innate scrapbooking abilities. I think I was snuggling on the couch with Kallen (aka napping), so she did this all by herself!

Mike and I have been calling Avery "Miss Productive." She likes to be busy but in a good way. She can usually be found coloring, making things, organizing her room, etc. She likes to get things done. Now that I remember, as a baby, we called her our 'Busy Bee' guess the name still fits.

 I usually make the birthday cake for the big day. But with Mike being gone this year, I decided to treat myself to someone else making the cupcakes. They were delicious. Made by an in-home bakery in the neighborhood. Worth.every.penny!

 These were my favorite. I am not crafty, but saw these on pinterest and figured I could swing them. These were the goodie bags and turned out really cute!

 Pin the Bow on Hello Kitty. I had to even draw my own Kitty, Mike usually does this stuff for me. So glad Lindsey was here for crowd control on this game :)

I hope Avery Girl had fun at her party. To be honest, I was EXHAUSTED after.

I'm Cute

When Kallen was 4 months & 1 week old, I started feeding him oatmeal. The plan was to wait until he was 5ish months, but this kid was HUNGRY! He just wanted to eat almost every 2 hours toward the end of the day, so I thought I would give solids a try. Well, he LOVED it! And he doesn't like it runny. He likes thick, mushy oatmeal. 

Never had a baby so talented with the spoon. The food just stays in there. I think he was ready.

He is so happy when he eats. He just kicks his legs and squeals the whole time. My pediatrician said maybe that is why he was such a bad nurser, he just wanted some real stuff :)

Well, here were are and he is now 5 months old. He has started acting super hungry in the morning, too. So I started oatmeal and applesauce 2 days ago and he just LOVES it. I think I am due for a good eater. Here's hoping!

 Here's Kallen in touch-down position. As a newborn, he always slept with his arms above his head. It is so cute. He has stopped doing it all the time, but I don't want to forget. We always said he was making touch-downs in his dreams.

Kallen's "Everything's Cool" face. He is so interested in his surroundings. He loves to observe the world around him. He is fascinated with everything right now. But especially lights. He likes to walk around looking up all the time and studying them everywhere we go:)

 Kallen's "I'm About to Get Excited" face. This look means he is about to start kicking his legs and possibly squeal in excitement. He's happy!!! Watch out for some major cuteness.

 Kallen's "Super Smiley" face. We see this one a lot. We call him our smiley guy. He is always grinning at us and dishing out the love. He makes you smile just being around him.

 Kallen's "MMM" face. Usually accompanied by some kicking. I feel like the words are inside of him, they just are stuck there and he can't get them out. We've heard him talk a few times. It has caught me off guard. He's been caught saying "ba-ba" "ma-ma" "eat" and "go - bed" But then we never hear them again, so maybe it's just our imagination. But we know he tries to tell us things with his eyes and all those kicks.

We don't see this very often but this is the MAD face. Put that Ba-ba in his mouth ;) RIGHT. NOW!!

A Cute Case of Helmet Head

Well, today was the big day. Kallen went to Cranial Technologies to get his Helmet. Or, I guess the official term, DOC Band. It went so much better than I was anticipating. I have been very pleased with this company and the process involved. It is a long drive to Phoenix Children's Hospital every week, but I am positive it will be worth it.

Kallen has some torticollis (tighter neck muscle, actually pretty common among babies). I noticed around 2 months of age that he always slept on the right side. I tried to do stretches every day with him, tummy time, and bjorn rides as much as possible. But at night, he ALWAYS slept on that side. Even if I would turn his head the other way, he would move it back 2 minutes later. Needless to say, he developed a flat spot on the back of his head. I guess to compensate, the brain has started growing outwards (sideways) as well. So his head is wider than it should be, too. We also noticed a small bump on his forehead as the brain is trying to push out that way, too. The growth of the brain is also causing his right ear to move forward. 

It is amazing how much I am learning. And amazing how the brain doesn't care WHERE it grows, just that it grows. It also fascinates me how FAST the brain grows at this age. They feel he will be in the helmet for 8-10 weeks. That just seems so fast, but apparently will capture a ton of brain growth. 

 Kallen and daddy. He is such a happy little guy. He was so excited to be at PCH. The whole time he just kept checking out all the lights and fun toys! Exciting times!

 I can't even tell you how much I love this little baby boy! His smile melts my heart. He is our little smiley guy.

 On it goes for the first time.....

 He didn't cry & he still looked like my sweet baby "K." 

 Cutest kid I have ever seen. I think he looks cute in it.

 Toys, toys, give me TOYS! He was a little intense, and could have cared less about the helmet. He just wanted to explore and put the toys in his mouth.

 When we got home, we had to take his clothes off. This kid is a spitter. He was soaking wet, as usual. He was so happy, though, all day long! I was so glad that the helmet didn't seem to bug him. He is sleeping right now, I have my fingers crossed, hopefully it will be a good night.

He did get sweaty in the helmet. Every time we took it off for the skin checks he was sweating. I feel bad about this, but they say it will get better in about a week as his body adjusts. And poor guy, lives in Phoenix...hottest place on Earth right now.

Kallen, we love you and your cute little head. I can't imagine it getting any cuter :) Love you buddy.

We went to a place that makes wraps for the helmets. We are going to make it a University of Utah helmet. I know, hard to imagine him looking any cuter, but soon he will :)

Amazing Mom

Apparently, I am the world's most amazing mom! Ha-Ha.

Logan told me that I am REALLY good at making WATER. Somehow, I get it REALLY cold, and he just wishes he knew how to do that.

Avery mentioned that I make the best grilled cheese sandwiches in the WHOLE WORLD.

And to top it off, when Logan goes to college, he is really going to miss my PIZZA. (umm, it's frozen pizza, ha-ha).

Glad I could be such a talented mom!! :)

I am so Loved

Oh, my beautiful, sweet, amazing, adorable little baby boy. We love him so much. I can't believe he is 3 1/2 months old already. Where, oh, where has the time gone? He is starting to look HUGE now. I thought I would post some of my favorite pictures of him to help you get to know him a little better.

These were his newborn "Rockstar" pajamas. I am in love with baby pajamas. And these ones looked SOOO cute on him. He had so much dark, dark hair as a newborn. It was so soft. I loved when I would burp him. I would put him over my shoulder and snuggle into his hair. I still like to give him lots of kisses there. I literally do it all day long!!

I remember when he was just a few weeks old. We put him in these jammies and laid him on a blanket by the Christmas tree. The older three were in bed. Mike and I just laid down next to Kallen & soaked him in. We were in awe of this precious new boy that had just joined our family. And sad to think he might be our last :( It was a strange feeling. 

Now, we have a special routine with him. We call it JAMMER time. (named after HAMMER time). Whenever you take Kallen up to put on his pj's, he grins from ear to ear, sometimes squeals, and tonight laughed. He LOVES it. It is his favorite time of day & he totally knows what is coming next. His bed. I know, I would snuggle him all day, but at night, he just wants to be fed a bottle and then put in his bed. Maybe it is the only time of day he gets to be left alone. And that is how he likes it.

Our Christmas present!! And the best Christmas present ever. He was such a cute little newborn. With the most gorgeous PIERCING dark eyes. He would gaze at us and make you freeze because of those eyes. And his hair made him all the more loveable. We would style it in a little mohawk. He was Mr. Fashion already! 

Kallen loved to snuggle on the bean bag with his big brother, Daven. Daven bonded with Kallen really fast. He is our baby lover. I love watching how much Daven loves him!

Do you have a question? Kallen can always be found with his hands in the air while sleeping. In fact, right now, he is asleep in his bed with both hands up in TOUCHDOWN POSITION! Every night that is how he sleeps. It is so cute and always makes us smile. We have NEVER caught him sleeping with his arms down. 

Here he is in January as his first smiles started coming out. He wasn't the smiliest baby ever. But his smiles were super cute. Now, though, they happen quite a bit.

One day Avery informed us that Kallen told her she was his favorite. I guess she can speak Baby-Ease. I laughed, but I do think Kallen loves her a lot. And she loves, loves, loves him. She can frequently be found playing with him and telling him not to worry because "Sister is Here!"

Oh, Mr. K and his ceiling fans! Here he is smiling and talking to the fan in his bedroom. He was fascinated with fans as a newborn. He loved to stare at them forever. We took a short 3-day trip to Greer, AZ. When we got home, I took him out of his carseat. He looked up and just grinned from ear to ear. He had been reuninted with his fan!!! :) It totally cracked me up!

He is still in love with fans and especially lights now. Do we have an electrician on our hands?

 Logan snapped this picture at Avery's birthday party. Isn't it priceless? Kallen is the happiest baby and the sweetest little guy. So this huge frown is pretty rare. But oh so loveable!!

I just had to snap a picture of that little tiny foot sticking out of the blanket.

Kallen, you are a joy to our family. We love you so much! I can't believe what a sweet, good baby you are. I don't know how we ever survived without you in our family. It was like you were always supposed to be here all along! Luv you Mr. K.  Our K-Man XOXOXO

Logan Gets a Visit from the Tooth Fairy!!

Logan lost his first tooth on January 24th! (6 1/2 years old) He was so super excited about it. He was also very brave. He noticed that it was wiggly and was grinning from ear to ear when he discovered that! You could just tell he couldn't keep a poker face about it. It was a right of passage he had been excited to get to. 

I thought it would take several days to fall out. But the next day at school, he bit into an apple at lunch. It got super loose!! That night, he was very brave and told me to just pull it out. (I am the designated tooth puller of the family, Mike can't stomach it..ha) It came right out. And the tooth fairy even remembered to come. 

The next morning Daven happened to ask if the tooth fairy just takes money from the boys' piggy banks or if she gives them new money. Hmm....that is a good question. I think only the tooth fairy knows the answer to that :) hahahhahahaha. Maybe he/she does IOU's?