Daily Activity

 This is a common activity in our house.  I put movies and books away, Patrick pulls them back out.  Again, why buy toys?

Here's Patrick throwing his books off the shelves

I added these next two pictures because 1) I think these boys are both pretty cute  2) I've been doing a few crafts lately and Patrick's shirt was one of them(pictures of my other crafts coming later)

New things happening

 I have joined a quartet!  My viola has gone on the back burner these past few...months, and while I'm still not spending a ton of time practicing, at least I'm not totally losing everything.  So, here we are.  We'll be playing for weddings, dinners, parties...pretty much anything that needs a string quartet.  If you know of anyone who is looking for a quartet, let me know!  We're relatively cheap. ;)  Jon is in the process of setting up our web page.

I've never had a picture taken with my viola so here is my first one.

Aside from that, my cousin Erika said she was running a half marathon and I decided to join her.  Why?  Because it's something I never thought I would do and I'm finding at this stage of my life I'm wanting to try and do things I've never done.  If anyone has any tips on how to breathe while running, please let me know.  I love lifting weights but running has never been a strong point, so while I can run quite a ways without my muscles getting tired, my lungs are a different story.  As a side note, in high school the doctors found out that I have this heart issue where it races and does funky things for no apparent reason and they did a whole  bunch of tests and ended up just telling me not to run farther than a mile at a time.  On top of that, I struggle with exercise induced asthma.  I went running yesterday and it was the first time since I've decided to run the half marathon that I realized I might physically not be able to do it.  I've heard of adding a 1/2-1 mile a week to train and stuff but in college I took a fitness class and it literally took me 4 months of running every day to work up to a 1 1/2 miles.  And I was lifting weights at the time and it was my most in shape time of my life.  Sooo runners, any advice would be appreciated.

8 months and some Sunshine

Hello spring.  I am sooo glad you have decided to join us.  You have no idea.  Time for outdoor walks, barbecues, swimming, hikes and everything else that goes with having nice weather outside.  Someday I will live somewhere where there's happy summer all year around........someday.  But until then, I'll enjoy this sunshine while I can.  Yesterday we broke out the motorcycle, bikes and stroller and went for a little stroll around the neighborhood.  Soo good for the soul.  I'm pretty sure half of Rexburg felt the same way because I saw about 20 times more people outside enjoying the nice weather.

Aside from that, Patrick turned 8 months old today.  8 months.  Somehow that makes him soo much closer to being 1 year old.

Patrick's faves:

Being outside in a stroller in the sun :)
Eating off my plate(much more exciting to him than eating off his own)
Talking in his cute, baby talk way
Standing up to anything and everything
Walking along anything and everything
Being tickled by dad
Cuddling with mom
Playing with and crawling after cousins
Clearing out the shelves of bookcases

Patrick's dislikes:

Being left alone in a room.  He'll crawl to find me every time...after he's had a little meltdown
Being left to fall asleep by himself(very recent)
Being held by people he's not completely comfortable with
Green beans
Getting hit by cousins

Patrick has gotten to where he doesn't need me to entertain him every moment that he's awake which has been nice.  He loves crawling to his toy box(or diaper box) and pulling everything out and finding something to play with.  We still get in our together playtime but it's nice having him entertain himself as well.  He is soo happy all the time until you get him in a situation he's not quite comfortable with and then he gets pretty emotional over the littlest of things.  It's something that we're working on but he seems to be going through the parent separation anxiety.  He's good if Jon and I are around but if we're not, he totally chooses he wants to be happy for.  Really I think he's just a little shy, wonder where he got that from, and we just need to introduce him to being around more people.  But, shy or not, we love Patrick more than we can say and he continues to make us laugh every single day.

Welcome Clayton Bridger!

Remember me saying my sister-in-law had her baby?  Here he is in all of his small cuteness. :)

 It's a good thing I have sister-in-laws having babies all around me because if not, I wouldn't have anything to remind me how much work little, teeny babies are.  Whenever I get baby hungry, I just go hold one of their babies and it satisfies the hunger. :)  Not because I don't love little babies.  I do.  Which is why I get baby hungry.  Holding an infant just has a way of bringing back all of my memories of being totally emotional and exhausted.  But, I do love this little guy and I do want another one just like him...someday. :)

FYI

I should have mentioned this in the last post but I had to clarify with my brother how the relay for life thing works.  If you'd like to donate or join the team, go to relay for life website, find "Team Dad" and then you click join or donate.  Thanks to everyone who wants to join us!  It will be lots of fun and worthwhile.  I know I'm mentioning this early since it's not till June but I just wanted to tell everyone early in advance so that they could plan for it.

Relay For Life

As everyone knows, my dad has been battling stage 4, small cell cancer for the past year.  It's like once your family faces a trial, you see how many other people are facing the same thing.  Cancer is everywhere.  It's horrible.  If given the power, cancer can take everything from you.  With that said, Derek had the great idea of getting our family involved in this relay for life.  A fundraiser to help families who are dealing with cancer.    

How it works:  we're in teams and we walk all night.  6:00 PM-6:00 AM on June 22nd.  At least one person from each team has to be walking on the track at all times so the more people the better!  People who have done it in the past say they set up a tent and sleep in between the times they're walking.  It's like one big, overnight party while helping a good cause. :)  So, if anyone's interested in walking with us, let me know!  Or even if you don't want to walk, we're still trying to raise money so let me know if you'd like to donate to the American Cancer Society(none of this is a fundraiser for money directly to my dad, in case anyone was curious). :) Here's a link to the Relay for Life website in case you want to look into it more: http://www.relayforlife.org/?gclid=CKbok9np664CFckJRQodwH-NKw

 We love you dad!

An eventful weekend

This past weekend, a lot of things happened.

First, we had a baby shower!  My sister-in-law, Kami, was due(notice the was) to have her baby in a few weeks so we threw her a little shower.

 Making/decorating onesies for the shower.  Aubree found the idea.  Best. idea. ever.  Kami multiplied the baby's clothes by 10 just from that one night.

                                     

I was obviously having too much fun to take very many pictures.  I felt like it was just a very relaxed, fun party.


Second thing of this weekend: Aubree's baby was blessed.  Patrick is so lucky to have lots of boy cousins close in age.  Patrick was born in July, then Keaton(Aubree's baby) was born in December, Kami's baby was born in March and Jen is due in July(which they think is a boy but haven't checked the gender yet).

Everyone at the baby blessing

Notice that Kami's not there but her child, Afton, is(she's the little girl in the front in the pink dress who's expression just makes you...laugh)?  Apparently she went into labor at 4:30 that morning and we didn't find out about it till we went to the blessing.  Apparently we had too much fun at the baby shower and caused her to go into labor(kidding).  Right after this picture, everyone drove down to Blackfoot to see the baby.

So, thirdly, here's Kami with her new baby boy, Clayton Bridger Mckee(named after his dad).

Over 4 weeks early and he still weighed 7 1/2 pounds.  Yes, we grow them big in this family. :)  Apparently the placenta looked horrible when she delivered and it was actually a blessing that he came early because he wouldn't have been able to survive had he stayed inside longer.  So, while it was a little unexpected, it was also a huge blessing that this baby is here and alive.  Aren't babies soo sweet?

And lastly, Jon's mom had a birthday and through all of this we hadn't gotten around to celebrating it yet.  So, we ended the busy weekend with dinner at Applebee's.

 Seeing these two look at each other and laugh, like they had some non-verbal inside joke, was one of the cutest things ever.

 Keaton being a perfect baby in Applebee's.  Notice Patrick tearing apart the menu in the picture above this?  That entertained him for a good 30 min.

  Patrick loves Ada.  I wish I would have gotten a picture of Cannon too(Ada's brother) because Patrick seriously thinks those two are the funniest kids ever.  They can make him laugh every time they just look at him and Patrick seriously could have "played" with them all day long.  

*Funny side story.  See Patrick's concentrated face in this picture?  Do you know what he was concentrating on?  Pooping.  Yep.  All over everything.  We didn't know it till Jon picked him up and noticed his seat was plastered, along with the back of his shirt and down his pants. I don't think Jon was too excited to get a fistful of all the slimy goodness. ;)  Anyway,  I grabbed Patrick from him and ran, arms outstretched, to what I thought was the girl's restroom and laid him on the changer.  A minute later a man walks in and I'm so confused and realize there's urinals in the restroom.  Oops.  So, I pick Patrick up and run next door to the girl's restroom where a sweet lady who also has a baby, lays her baby down right before I can.  Really?  Her baby wasn't even messy!  So, I just stand there holding Patrick out at arms length while she slowly changes her baby's diaper and talks and sings to him, acting as if I'm not even there.  Patrick was literally stinking up the whole place and every lady who walked in made a nasty face.  I finally decided to strip Patrick down without the changer and by the time I was done stripping him down, the girl, thankfully, was done.  Thank you to the nice old lady who handed me a million wipes and replenished the towels underneath Patrick's bum so we didn't get his poop everywhere.  And, sorry men if your restroom still smells like poop and you can't figure out why.  I didn't take the time to clean your changer off before flipping it back up and I didn't have the guts to go back...:)

Random Facts

Fact 1:  Rice Crispie Treats are easy to screw up.  It's simple.  Get distracted for about 2 minutes, leave the melting marshmallows and pretty soon your whole house will smell like roasted marshmallows over a campfire.

Fact 2:  Rice Crispie Treats are temperamental.  Who knew the marshmallows had to be fresh in order for these lovely treats to not be rock hard(I was digging through my cupboard and found old marshmallows after first batch was ruined)?

Fact 3:  Baking's not really my thing.  Cooking, yes.  Baking, no.

Fact 4:  My kids are never going to have Rice Crispie Treats made by me

On a happier note...

My last post was just the tip of the iceberg of thoughts I could express but I need to be a better person and focus on good things happening around.  I really need to work on not letting other people's decisions bother me.  So, I found these pictures today, and they made me happy so I just wanted to share:

Patrick's two little teeth

Patrick doing what he loves best...standing!

He's getting really close to standing without any support

Two boys I love, just hanging out...and chewing on diapers

This is a picture of our old living room.  Notice the lovely 70's furniture?  This is the before picture because we did a living room makeover. 

And this is the after picture.  I love when family members get new furniture because that means I get new furniture.  At least, new to me!  Thank you, Mike and Aubree!