2 months and counting...

Deacon is now 2 months old and 11 lbs 14 ozs, so he is finally growing strong! He is a pretty good baby and he sleeps through the night most nights which is very wonderful for his mother! He is starting to coo and smile and we love it! He is always looking up in the sky, it's funny...he is always looking at the fans or the lights and loves music. Mostly only when his dad sings to him though ;)

Time is flying by! 

This picture was the first picture I got on camera of him half smiling ;) 

 He has a cute dimple I was trying to capture.

Some of these pictures he looks like his father and some he looks more like Cavin's baby pictures.  

This picture melts my heart! This was one morning when all the kids woke up early before school. They love to see him and were so excited to wish him a good morning! These are the moments that make everything all worth it!

September Fun!

September was a busy month! We had a lot going on and we had some fun times with family. 

Cavin started his 4th season of soccer and returned to the same team with Coach Steve and Coach Tory. He moved onto the big fields and is now with the Black Bulls and wants to be #10 like his dad was all growing up. He sure loves it!

Ragnar had his 37th birthday. The man is still so young at heart....I am pretty sure no matter how old he gets that will be the case ;)

My sister came to stay with us while my parents went on a cruise and we enjoyed having her. She was very helpful around the house and she read Channing lots of books and played many games. It was fun to have her around. 

Natalie accompanied Ella and I to Ella's first Women's Broadcast of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Ella sang prelude music with her A Days class and she loved being there. We went to an Italian Restaurant called Christopher's first and had a nice evening!

I can't believe she is old enough to come with me now!

We also got to spend an hour and a half with this awesome lady who kindly took a layover through Houston on her way to Russia to meet our little Deacon and see everyone! We love Daphne! 

We had a quick lunch! 

Looks like a lot of food, but that was a really small table for 6 people to eat on! 

Aunt Daphne meeting Deacon for the first time! So sweet!(Ella with the photo bomb!) 

She ended up having to leave out of a different terminal, so the kids loved riding the train around the airport! 

It was a very short but sweet visit and we really appreciated her taking the time! 

Deacon's Blessing Day!

Labor Day weekend we had the opportunity to have Ragnar bless our son Deacon at our church. My sister Marisa was coming that weekend so we wanted to make it happen while she was here. We are so glad it worked out and her family could be here, but as always we miss the family who can't be here for every special event. We had a nice weekend and it was fun to have both my sisters and my parents around. My best friend Stacey's family was able to come to the blessing and my other good friend Sarah. There were also a lot of good friends close by who came to church twice to participate in our special day which we got to share with my friend Brittany who also blessed her son. It was a nice day.

Finding something to bless Deacon in proved to be challenging. Cavin was so big at 6 weeks that he had a 9 month outfit that clearly wouldn't fit Deacon, and he was so small that the 0-3 month little suit I bought him was huge on him, so my sister Marisa was kind enough to look for something and found this. I think he looked adorable and it fit him pretty well.

I love him in blue because of his blue eyes and I PRAY that one of my kids' blue eyes will stay blue like their father's!

I love this picture because it depicts how sweet Cavin is to his brother, he sure loves having him!

 The two boys!

 Deacon with his protective sisters ;)

 These are the cousins...Channing, Cavin, Aubrey, Liam, Ella, and Deacon

This one makes me laugh because Aubrey and Liam have almost the exact same pose :)

My parents with the grandkids that were here. 

My kiddos with my parents.

 All of us...

 and then our little family.

 More family photos...

My sister Marisa with her family...aren't they cute!

My sisters

And lastly my 4 cute kiddos who I am so lucky to call mine. I sure do love them!

Deacon's 1 Month Milestone!

Deacon is officially 1 month old! I feel like it's always a great relief when they get through that first month of life! It sounds silly because it's only one month, but they learn so much that first month and for me it is the hardest one to get through. Deacon has been a good baby so far and I am so grateful. His only challenge has been eating! He has been very unlike his siblings who loved to eat from the very beginning! He was so sleepy that he never wanted to wake up to eat and when I would nurse him he would fall back asleep! It was very frustrating as I have never had a sleepy eater! After about 9 days he had lost over a pound. He started at 7 lbs 11 ozs and was down to 6 lbs 9 ozs and he wasn't filling his diapers hardly at all. I became really worried about him so the dr had me pump exclusively for a week to see how much he was eating and to really get him going and not have to work for it. I had gotten a new, nice pump, so we gave it a try and he downed a bottle and all of them after! He much prefers a bottle and pumping is pretty fast for me, so sometimes it's easier, but I don't want to be completely stuck to a pump, so we are still working on waking up enough to nurse. I think it soothes him when he nurses so he doesn't really suck. Anyway, we went to the doctor today and he was 7 lbs 3 ozs at 2 weeks and at 1 month (and a couple days) he was 9 lbs 3 ozs! He had gained 2 pounds in 2 weeks! YAY! I much prefer a little chubb on my babies and I am glad he is being more alert and gaining weight. He is a good natured baby, we sure love him and the kids can't get enough of him!

First Day of School 2014

I swear the summer flew by and here we are back to school. The kids have adjusted well to the new baby, but I think it will be good for them to get into a routine and have some more focused learning and interaction. Ella was so excited to start school as she TOTALLY loves it. Cavin is always excited about the things Ella is excited about and although he is much quieter, he too was counting the hours until it began. 

Ella started 3rd grade and has Mrs. Stinson and Ms. Polous as she switches classrooms. She was pretty excited to have 2 teachers this year. She really wanted to do her hair "crimpy" for the first day ;)

Cavin is now in 1st grade and has Ms. Carpenter. She is new to the school so we don't know much about her but he seems excited regardless.

And their silly face pose!
 
As you can see in these pictures Ella and Cavin are about the same height/size! They look like they should be in the same grade! It won't be long til Ella will have her brother towering over her!

And...we can't leave out cute little Channing in the pictures! She definitely has enough sass to think she is in school...but thankfully I get her for 2 more years. I sure do miss these kiddos when they are gone. Once they hit school age, I feel like time flies by!

Family Camp-In

Ella has a little obsession with reading a church magazine our church sends out once a month called "The Friend". Each month she reads it cover to cover several times. I sometimes dread when it comes because I know that almost every idea that it contains she is going to want to try. So as in usual fashion, this month they had a Family Home Evening idea of a "Camp-In". Since we have a newborn baby I was not looking to go camping, not to mention that it is August in Houston, so we entertained the idea and gave it a try in the house. We were supposed to have our camp in on Monday night but we had had a rough day, so after a few days we finally made it happen. 

We started with dinner and smores and as you can tell Cavin got more on his face and hands!

 Ella seemed to enjoy hers as well!

And...here is the difference in my children. Channing did not want to eat hers because it was too messy...so she opted for just a marshmallow! Oh I love my o.c.d child!

 Then off to games, songs, and books in the tent!

 Of course Deacon joined in for some fun!

Ragnar and I and of course Deacon did not spend the night in the tent...when you are only getting a few hours of sleep at a time...they are precious, so we stayed in the "tent" until the kids went to sleep and then happily went to our own bed. We are glad they are little and things like this are still a highlight in their life. I wish they would stay little forever!