Zippidee-dee! Preston's 3!

I just love this boy.  I am so grateful for the day he came into our lives.

Earlier, I was thinking about the time when Preston was born.  Trent and I drove to the hospital in a blizzard that day.  And just a few short hours later, we had a beautiful baby boy.  The first several months of Preston's life were a little hairy.  When we went in for his two week check up, we found out that instead of gaining any weight, he had actually lost just over a pound.  After checking a few things, the doctor found out that he was tongue-tied, which made it difficult for him to eat properly.  We went to an ENT the same day and got his frenulum snipped.  A week later we went back in to the doctor for a weight check appt., and while he had gained a couple of ounces, he also tested positive for RSV.  To the hospital we went for a couple of days.  Of course any weight that Preston had gained, he promptly lost again, and then some.  So our little boy that came into this world weighing 7 lbs. 5 oz. was weighing in at about 5 lbs. 12 oz. three weeks later.  Well, he recovered from the RSV, and we spent the next 6 months in the doctor's office 2 times a week for weight checks and various other illnesses.  When he was 6 months old, they did some blood tests and figured out that the problem had something to do with his kidneys, and that his little body was burning calories faster than he could take them in.  We continued going in for weight checks every 1-2 weeks, and by the time he was 18 months old, he finally made it on the growth charts!  He was only in the 3rd percentile for weight, but we were so excited!

In spite of all of the  crazy health issues this kid went through in his first year of life, he was the happiest, most easy going baby.  Then he started crawling and walking, and turned into a holy terror, although he was still very happy. ;)

 

We had a fun day today.  We got the boys off to school, then ran to the store to get donuts (Birthday boy's request).  Breakfast of champions!  He spent the morning playing with his balloons and watching a movie with Viv.  Those two have been the best of buds lately.  Preston is getting to that age where he is getting more fun for the kids to play with.

After a lunch of chicken nuggets (also b-day boy's request) we took Vivi to school, and when asked what he wanted to do, Preston requested that we go through the car wash.  (He went yesterday with grandma, so I think it was fresh in his mind.)  That kid loves the car wash.  His favorite is when the blue foam squirts all over the car.  After the car wash, we went and picked up balloons for the balloon launch.

He requested yellow cake for his birthday this year.  I don't know what happened, but the cake totally fell apart on me.  Before I even attempted to put any frosting on it.  It took two cans of frosting to get it to look even a little bit okay.

He didn't notice or care though.  As long as he got to blow out candles.  He loved being the spotlight of the night.

He got some new Play-Doh with fun new Play-Doh tools.  He loves Play-Doh!  It is one of those things I can give him to play with, and he will still be sitting there an hour later, having a great old time.  Plus he's being creative while doing it.  Double bonus!

He also got a basket ball hoop.  He has been begging us for one of these for two months now.

He has already started making good use of it!  He wasn't quite satisfied though until we raised it up as high as it would go.  The kid loves a challenge!

And of course the balloon launch.

 

We usually will all stay outside and watch the balloons until we can't see them any more.  It only took about 5 seconds tonight with it being so dark.  Still super fun though, and Preston loved that it was his turn for the balloon launch tonight.

Like I said, I just love this kid to pieces!  I am forever grateful for the day he came to join our family.  Love you Buds!  Happy birthday!

Can I get a Woot Woot!

We are DONE, DONE, DONE!  With diapers that is.  Preston has quite decided that he no longer has need of them.  After 4 kids and 10 1/2 straight years of diapers (except for that 3 month break between Colson and Viv), you won't hear me complaining! ;)  So after doing a little jig about not having to change anymore diapers, it hit me.  We don't have a baby in our house anymore, and all of a sudden I felt a little sad.  Although, after a while of not having to change nasty, smelly, poo diapers, I'm sure I'll manage to get over it. ;)

Assume the Position

We always know when Preston is about to fall asleep.  The tell-tale sign is the arms behind the head.

Perspective

While out running errands the other morning, I noticed that all of the trees along the side of the road were covered with frost.  It was a beautiful sight to behold!  About 30 minutes later, I was driving back from the way I had come and noticed that because of the way the wind was blowing, the other side of the trees were devoid of frost.  They looked as green as they do on any other day.  This got me thinking about perspective.  When I changed my direction, or point of view, the tree looked very different.  I couldn't help but think about "perspective" in every day life, and how when I have a better, or clearer, perspective on things, I am able to cope with life better.  After thinking for a while about perspective, I remembered a talk that was given at a General Conference by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin (Come What May, and Love It).  He gave this talk shortly before he died.  It is one that I loved hearing at the time, and one that I love to read and refer back to.

Christmas Break Adventures

Another Christmas break has come and gone.  The kids started back to school this last week.  Those two week breaks always go by way to fast.  Here is a run down of some of the fun we had over break:

We went to the Zoo lights.

We all had tons of fun.  And it wasn't even too cold that night! :)

Of course there was Christmas.  My favorite time of year.

 

Ziggy came over for a play date a coupe of times.  Preston adores Ziggy.  Poor pup.  I think he is very worn out by the time he leaves our house.  We have all decided that Ziggy needs to be a dog model.  He is just adorable!

Trent and I were able to spend some time at the temple.

We celebrated Roger's birthday.  The boys all went bowling for his birthday, but I don't have any pictures.  Darn!

We did some sledding.

This was Preston's first year sledding, and he loved it!  His favorite was when they would wreck, fall out of the sled, and go careening down the hill.  Go figure.

They were all nice and tuckered out.  We spent a good two hours sledding before they all had enough.

All the girls went on a limo ride to Sweet and Sassy.

The little girls had a night of pampering.  (I'll admit, I was a little jealous that I wasn't getting a pedicure too. ;)

Woot woo!  What cute, sassy girls.

We got to spend lots of time with Great Grandma...

And cousins Mya and Peyton.

We had a family New Years Eve gathering at our home.  We played games and watched movies all night.  The kids were still raring to go by the time midnight rolled around (except Preston of course... he was tucked up tight into bed by eight!  New Years is not a holiday for him quite yet.)

At one of the family dinners, Vivi manned the camera for me for a little bit.

She managed to take 238 pictures in no less than 20 minutes!  Good thing my memory stick was empty to start. ;)

Here is a smattering of things that she thought were photo worthy.

I think Preston was trying to take the camera from her in this one.

I think she managed to get a picture of every single ornament on grandma's tree.

Those were only a few, but I have many, many more.

Love the picture of a picture.

Uncle Dustin is not very nice about pictures.  You have to be very, very sneaky if you want a picture of him without his face being covered.  It's time to just embrace it and say "Cheese!" for heaven's sake!

What a pretty dolly.

And the classic photo of grandpa sticking his tongue out.

We had lots of fun being able to spend so much time with family over the holidays.  We love Christmas break, and are sad that it is over.  Can't wait for the next break!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Jee-Joe

Poor Vivi.  With Trenton and Colson both being boys, and also being very close in age, they are just the best of buds.  They seriously only fight about twice a year and they are connected at the hip.  They have so much fun together, which is great!  Except when their little sister wants to join in the fun.  They haven't always been the best about including her.  They have gotten a lot better though the last little while.  I think it has to do with the fact that she has gotten older and doesn't get into their stuff so much anymore.

Well, I think to cope with not having a constant best bud like the boys had, Vivi came up with an imaginary friend a few years ago.  She named him Jee-Joe, and he is small enough to fit in the palm of her hand.  Vivi has always said that Jee-Joe came to live with us because his family died, and he needed a new family to take care of him.

Jee-Joe has had lots of adventures.  Jee-Joe always goes wherever we we go.  He has an imaginary buckle right next to Vivi in the car.  He has taken turns having sleepovers at the grandma's houses (My mom even found a tiny little house for him, and she and Vivi made a bed to put in the house), sometimes he has gotten left behind at a store or at home (I think we accidentally left him behind in Wyoming once.  He always manages to turn back up though!), other times he has made big, huge messes (thank heavens they weren't real messes!), and he has taken many different trips.  You name it, Jee-Joe has done it.  The last little while, we haven't heard as much about Jee-Joe.  I didn't even realize how little Vivi had talked about him until the other day when she said she couldn't find him anywhere.  I asked her if Jee-Joe was at one of the grandma's?  Or was he hiding in her room again?  "No." she said.  "I just can't find him anywhere!"  Does this mean that she is growing out of needing her imaginary friend?  In some ways it makes me sad because it means that she is growing up and getting older, but in other ways I am ecstatic because maybe it means that she isn't feeling as left out by the boys. ;) 

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!  We had a wonderful Christmas at our house.  We got to spend lots of time with family.

We had all the family and Nicole over for Christmas Eve dinner.  We spent the night sharing our testimonies of the Savior, playing some games together, singing carols, and just getting to be together.

Vivi is really into holding Preston lately.  He doesn't even seem to mind.

Little Buds crashed before the night was over.

Grandpa read us the nativity story.

The kids all got the traditional pajamas for their Christmas Eve present, complete with new robes and books this year.

The kids must have been pretty good this year because Santa ended up stopping by and leaving a few things under the tree.

Coming down the stairs Christmas morning.

Bakugans for Colson.

Bakugans for Trenton.

A Ruthie doll for Vivi.

It was a trucks and tractor Christmas for Preston this year.  Santa and everyone in the family either got him a book about trucks and tractors, or they got him a new truck or tractor.  We didn't hear a peep from him the whole day.  He was in tractor heaven I tell you.

 Ziggy even came and joined in the festivities.  We love that pup.  He is seriously the cutest dog on the planet.

Trent and I were even able to squeeze in a trip to the temple the day after Christmas.  I just had to take a picture of the Nativity they have set up outside.  So beautiful.  Thanks mom for watching the kids for us!  What a wonderful Christmas it was!

Dinner Schminner

My littlest angel fell asleep on my lap this afternoon.  After throwing a huge temper tantrum about... actually, I'm not even sure what it was about, he needed a snuggle afterward, so we cuddled up on the couch together.  A few minutes later he started to feel like dead weight, and I knew he was out.  And we are still sitting here, two hours later.  I should be fixing dinner right now, but I can't bring myself to put him down and get myself up.  He is such a busy bee that snuggling moments with him are rare.  On the menu for dinner tonight: most likely, cold cereal.  Oh well, there's always tomorrow night, but who knows when I'll get hours of cuddling with my baby again.

Christmas Vacation

Yay!  The kids are out of school for two weeks.  Hallelujah!  And Trenteroo has taken the rest of the year off.  I am looking so forward to spending some much needed quality time with my hubby and kiddos.  I see many days of wearing pajamas all day in our very near future.  I think there should be a national pajama day where everyone gets to wear their pajamas all day, out in public and everything, and it wouldn't be weird because it would be national pajama day!  And it should be once a month.  Or maybe even once a week.  I could totally go for that.  Wow, I think I just need to go to bed.  I've got pajamas on the brain.  But seriously, I would live in them if I could.  There's nothing cozier, especially in the winter, than a nice, comfy pair of jammies.  And that's all their is, there isn't anymore.