Oregon, brotherly love, and some smiles

Life is busy.  Sometimes I feel overwhelmed, in a not so good way, and other times I feel overwhelmed with gratitude.  This morning it's a little of both.  I love watching these two boys together.  Aiden doesn't look thrilled but he was actually quite happy when I took this picture.

Most of our mornings look a little like this.  Patrick playing with markers, his cars, and his backpack.  Favorites at the moment.  Afternoons seem to get crazy but mornings are filled with playtime.  

Aiden recently got this swing and it's become a favorite of his...and mine.  He quite likes those little animals hanging from the top. Thanks Grandma!

Another favorite of Patrick's is the movie Mamma Mia.  I guess it's because of the lively music but we kind of put it in as a joke, not thinking he would like it and he's begged to watch it everyday since.  I don't know if I should be happy about this or not. ;)  I get the same goofy grin Patrick does every time it's on.  

And we've graduated to the grinning stage with Aiden!  Too cute.  That's all I have to say about that.

6 weeks old

5 weeks

 I mentioned in the last post that we took a trip to Oregon...with a 20 month old and a 4 week old.  I don't know what we were thinking other than we love our family very much.  Unfortunately, my mom and Karolyn got sick on the trip and I'm afraid they had a less fun time in the car than my two little boys did.  I was amazed at how well Patrick and Aiden did.  Aiden slept the whole 24 hours, there and back and Patrick watched a whole lot of the Chipmunk movies, The Lorax, and Toy Story.  He also ate more chips than I thought would be possible to stuff into his little body.

Our only pictures from the whole weekend...swimming time!  A favorite hotel activity of ours.  We've never not had a good time when we've taken Patrick swimming.

 You can see his obvious excitement. :)

This is kind of turning into a really random post but lastly:

I've been thinking about this man a whole lot lately.  The newest grandson of his is starting to live up to his name and we're finding quite a few similarities between the two.  I'll be a lucky mom if little Aiden Kyle has some of the personality traits and looks of his grandpa.  Or as Patrick calls him, Papa.  Tears seem to come frequently when I think about this great man, and I always get the those feelings of overwhelming sadness mixed with overwhelming gratitude for his influence in my life.

One month

On Sunday the 14th, this little guy turned one month old.

                                                         
I now see why people say time goes by faster with their second child.  Tired or not, I wish I could keep Aiden in this stage for awhile.  He's such a sweet, cuddly baby and I'm trying to take full advantage of that.  If I was one of those parents that believed in co-sleeping with their child, he'd probably already be sleeping through the night because he sleeps better when he's cuddled next to me.  Sometimes I give in and we do nap time together-I just can't help it when I have a baby who snuggles in so well. ;)  His little personality is coming out more and more and I swear he's already given me a couple real smiles.  He's starting to coo and make all sorts of cute noises and I can't help but be in love with this little boy.  Physically he's grown quite a bit.  Since coming home from the hospital, he's doubled in weight.  For record sake, here are his numbers over the last month:
         2 days old: 4 pds. 10 oz.
         1 week old: 6 pds. 8 oz.(we were busy that week trying to get his weight back up to his birth weight)
         2 weeks old: 7 pds. 5 oz.
         1 month: 9 pds. 10 oz.

I don't know if I should be proud my babies gain weight fast or if I should take it as a sign that I'm eating too much candy so my milk is more fatty. :)  I'm going to believe my babies are just really good eaters.  Patrick wasn't a fan of nursing but did really well with the bottle and Aiden has been the opposite.  He caught onto nursing really quickly, which made life a lot easier at 2 in the morning.  It's amazing to see how different and unique our boys are from each other.

As I'm sitting here writing and thinking about how grateful I am for the boys in my life, as well as how grateful I am for all of my family, I can't help but think about people who are struggling right now.  On a personal and not-so personal level.  I feel an overwhelming sadness for those who were affected in the Boston marathon bombing, for the parents and family of the girl who went missing in Utah, and on a more personal level, for family friends who are going through the same thing we did around this time of year.  Watching someone you love slowly slip away due to brain cancer is heart-breaking.  Our heart aches for them.  And while we have the knowledge of eternal families and we know they're going to a better place(a phrase used much to often when trying to console someone in pain), we still grieve and feel an incredible loss.  Jon and I had the opportunity to go to a wedding this weekend(which will be another post by itself), and I was reminded how grateful I am that someday everything will be made right.  Someday, we won't ache for lost loved ones.  I couldn't help the tears from flowing during the ceremony and it had nothing to do with the actual wedding(although I was happy for the couple) and everything to do with the feelings and confirmation that what happens in the temple is real.  Eternal families are real.  We're praying for all of the families struggling right now and I hope that they're all able to feel some level of comfort-wherever it may come from.  

4 years and pictures!

Today is our 4 year anniversary.  These past 4 years have been fun, exciting, horrible, heart-breaking, and every other emotion you could think of.  While our marriage has it's ups and downs, I'm happy to say we still love each other. :)  And we rely on each other for everything.  In 4 years we've added 2 dogs and 2 kids and I hope by 5 years, we haven't added anything new to our family.  We have our hands full at the moment. :)

We also got Aiden's pictures back from his newborn session and I'm excited to put them on here!  I had a friend from college(Thanks Jessie!) do them and I thought they turned out super cute.  I wanted them done early so I had proof that I had a small baby...just in case I never get one again!  I love our little cuddly baby boy and I'm still so happy he's joined our family.  My only regret is that I don't have enough time in the day to cuddle as much as I really want to with him.  The joys of having a crazy toddler(who goes by the name of Patrick). :)

Brotherly bath time

I decided to put Aiden in the normal bath tub since he gets so cold with the sponge baths.  Patrick got super excited and started running around the house saying, baf! baf! baf!(aka bath), so I couldn't help but put him in as well.  Not to mention, it seemed convenient getting them both done at the same time.  Bathing two kids at one time is about 4 times harder than bathing 1 at a time.  Especially when one is completely helpless.  I was too preoccupied trying to cover their "manhood" and keeping Aiden up and telling Jon to take the picture to notice Patrick taking a swig of the lovely bath water.  

In case you can't see Aiden's face in the above picture, this is what it looks like close up.  Classic Aiden face.  It's adorable...

Patrick pretending he's innocent

Aiden's real feelings on the whole thing

So far, life with two little boys hasn't created one dull moment and I'm sure that's not likely to change anytime soon.

Two weeks with my two boys

It's now been 2 1/2 weeks since little Aiden Kyle joined our family and I already can't imagine life any other way.  It's amazing I can say that while I'm slightly sleep deprived.  That's big for me. ;)  We love both of our boys who bring a sweet spirit into our lives.  Lucky for you guys, I have lots of pictures from the last few days.


We've all been doing a lot of this...(notice Patrick smiling in the background for the picture)

And bath times look a little like this.  Patrick being a goof while Aiden calmly watches from his boppy pillow

Park days are always more fun when dad gets to come along.  Let's face it...dad will always be the fun one.

                                                  


This past weekend also happened to be Easter and we've all been on a sugar high ever since.  Patrick got to have two easter egg hunts and by the second one he caught on to the fact that the more eggs he picked up, the more candy he got.  He loved it. ;)  He also had his first experience coloring eggs and even though there were a few spills, he did better than I thought he would.

Aiden thought it was a better idea to sleep through everything.  Don't worry, we partied that night to make up for it...

Random question for all you mothers of two, what did you find most helpful with two kids: a bumbo seat(I know that will be in a couple months), a baby swing, or a double seat stroller?