Charlotte's Blessing

Charlotte was blessed today. It was a wonderful blessing that we got to share with a lot of my family. My brother Ric and his wife Lisa came down from Seattle and my parents and 2 youngest brothers came as well. Spending time with extended family and celebrating Charlotte was the perfect way to end a wonderful holiday weekend!

Family Fun

What a wonderful holiday weekend! Ryan took the second half of the week off and we had SO MUCH FUN playing together as a family!

Wednesday morning Ryan took Brayden to the St. Paul rodeo. Brayden loved seeing all of the horses and bulls and even the clown! They had a great time. Wednesday night we barbecued with our good friends, the Christensens, and then watched the 4th of July fireworks in the Oak Hills neighborhood. They were perfect! Brayden was loving it, while Landon and Charlotte enjoyed each other's company a little bit more. I found myself brought to tears with how proud I am to live in America.

Thursday morning we headed out to Seaside. We had perfect weather and topped the day off with a big bag of REAL salt water taffy. Ryan and I had set out our chairs and were enjoying relaxing and reading while the boys played in the sand. After a while, we realized the boys were no longer playing the sand - they had both fallen asleep! It was so funny we had to take pictures of their peculiar sleeping positions.

Brother and Sister

Seeing a comparison of two of my friend's children as babies (and how much they looked alike) prompted me to seek out a picture of Brayden right about Charlotte's age to compare. Although they are not "twins" I thought there were quite a few similarities! In fact, when I pulled Brayden's baby picture up on the computer and asked him who it was he said, "Charlotte." Haha.

Time flies when you're sleep deprived

I realized when I was going through my last batch of photos that it has been a while (as in weeks) since I have really taken any pictures of Charlotte. I can't believe she is already 5 1/2 weeks old...it feels like it's been 2 days! I attribute part of that to sleep deprivation though. Every day just rolls into the next and I've been so busy that I haven't stopped to count the days, or do much of anything outside of the daily routine. I have enjoyed keeping Charlotte home, away from the world and in doing so have kept myself largely away from the world as well. I have decided that it's time for my "maternity leave" to end though so starting next week I have vowed that life will get back to normal...or as close to a version of normal as we're capable of around here... :)











Charlotte is growing fast and getting so big. She is also experiencing classic male-patterned baldness. She has gone almost completely bald on top and it's starting down the sides but has TONS of hair left in the back. I have been tempted to cut her hair more than once, but can't quite part with it, no matter how uneven it is. She has also started smiling and interacting a little bit which is always rewarding. I look forward to continue to watch her grow and develop. I love my boys, but I am having so much fun with my little girl!

Tent: $30. Hot Dogs and S'mores: $10. Backyard Camping: Priceless.

For the last couple of years we have been proud of the fact that we have remained active through camping and hiking, even with little kids. Well, last year Landon officially broke us of our pride. What we planned to be a great 3-day trip with our then 15 month old and almost 3-year old turned into a nightmare 24hr. camping experience that we couldn't wait to end. Landon was obsessed with the campfire and chasing him away became a full-time job. We found ourselves wishing we had brought along a collar and leash and tied him to the tree (just kidding....or not...) Not to mention the fact the Brayden (then weighing in at almost 40 lbs.) seemed too big to continue carrying comfortably in our wonderful hiking backpacks. So, we packed up early, headed home, and vowed to never camp again with toddlers.


Fast forward to this year - still remembering our vow, yet wanting to continue to enjoy the outdoors, Ryan decided to do some backyard camping with the boys, and I think it was just as fun as any campsite camping we have ever done...probably because I was in the house in my bed! :) We roasted hot dogs over our tiny camping grill and finished off with S'mores...YUM! Ryan and Brayden slept in the tent, while Landon was more than happy to go into the house and sleep in his bed. Overall, we all had a great time with our backyard camping and I'm sure it's something that will continue to be repeated many times throughout the summer.

Baseball, Baby, & "Brayden"

Summertime has basically arrived and the boys have been enjoying many days playing outside. One of their favorite activities is playing baseball! Ryan has been working with Brayden and Landon on their hitting and catching skills. It's a nightly routine that the boys love!

Here is the most recent picture of Charlotte. Her favorite position to sleep in is with an arm or two above her head. She is still such a good baby and I am enjoying her so much!

This morning Brayden wrote his own name for the first time! We had to tell him how to spell it, but he was able to correctly write each of the letters we told him, except for maybe the "E"...which is my favorite. :) I couldn't help but take a picture of it - the handwriting was so cute!

Charlotte & Charlotte

Here is my daughter Charlotte, with her namesake - my mother - Charlotte. I assume this is the first of many "Charlotte" pictures to come. :)

My mom left on Thursday and surprisingly we are still alive. Charlotte still sleeps quite a bit and it has allowed for a nice transition period for the boys and for myself. Because of this transition period we are able to incorporate her into our lives easily, without much disruption of our normal routine. I hope the transition continues to go this smoothly....

My happy girl

Not to jinx myself, but Charlotte is such a good baby. Maybe it's the fact that it's my third so I feel un-fazed by the newborn stage, or maybe it's that she's only a week old, or maybe it's that my mom is still here helping me manage daily life, or maybe it's a combination of all three....I don't quite know what the reason may be, but I am sure enjoying her. I want to spend all day, every day, locked up in a room just staring at her sweet little face, cuddling and kissing her. I feel like I am going to explode with the amount of love that I feel for her every time I look at her or hear her little cry. She has the cutest little smiles that she does when she has fallen asleep after eating. Today I was finally able to somewhat capture that sweet little happy face, dried milk and all. I truly feel so blessed.

"Sprinkle" Fun

Last week before Charlotte was born the boys were begging me to to get the "sprinkle" (aka sprinkler) out for them to run around in. Thinking it was probably going to be one of the last times for a while that I was up for a production, I pulled out our little "sprinkle" and let the boys go wild. I think I had just as much fun watching and taking pictures as they did running through the sprinkle.

Meeting baby Charlotte

The boys were just as excited (if not more) to meet baby Charlotte as we thought they would be. Little do they know how their lives are going to change.... :)

It's a girl!!

If there was any doubt before, there is no doubt now...it's a girl! Our yet-to-be-named daughter was born today at 12:30pm. She weighed 8 lbs. 7 oz. and was 21 inches long. I was blessed to have my easiest delivery thus far, and am feeling great. I definitely think she is a little White, very reminiscent to me of Brayden as a newborn. It's amazing how quickly they change though, even from day to day at this stage, so I will be curious to see who she really ends up looking like. Brayden and Landon are coming to the hospital tomorrow to meet their new sister and I can't wait to see their faces. I think there is something magical about little kids meeting their new siblings. When I talked to Brayden on the phone this afternoon, she began crying and Brayden said, "Mommy, why is baby sister crying?" Already I can tell he is going to be a good big brother! :) We are so excited to have a healthy baby girl!

My little Picasos

Ah, the lure of painting. At our house, just talk of painting brings out the "happy" in my boys. Getting the painting supplies out is the ultimate reward (or bribe...whichever you prefer to call it. :) ) I love what painting says about each of the boys individually too. Brayden starts out with very deliberate brush strokes, carefully stepping back to examine periodically, making sure the final product is just how he planned it. If there is any color mixing, it is purposeful.

On the other hand, Landon throws his paint brush onto the paper, making large sweeping strokes and often getting most of the paint on the wall around the paper. Landon pools all of his colors together on the paper, making a kalidescope of colors.

I love both of their finished products. One more painting to hang on their bedrooms walls. But most of all, I love how with a little paint and a paintbrush, they give me a glimpse into their little souls as each of them so uniquely paints their personalities.

It's fun to be a kid

I came across these pictures today that have been sitting on my camera for a while now. They are especially significant because it captures one of my boys' favorite things to do: SWING! I'm not sure if it was all of the aerobics I did while they were in-utero that began the swinging fixation, but they would both sit on the swings for hours on end. Thanks to Ryan, Brayden has just learned to pump himself, which has been awesome, although my biceps miss the workout. :)

Is this thing on???

So, after reading (and loving) so many of our friends' blogs, we decided it was high time for us to join the blogging community! After all, we are so bad about keeping in touch with friends and family that live away (which is most of them!) that we thought this would be the perfect way to keep in touch. We'll try (hard!) to keep this updated regularly, but with a new baby on the way any day now, you never know how crazy things will get. Everyone has told us that #3 is "the hardest" and "the breaking point" etc etc., but I am really hoping for some semblance of normalcy once our new little friend joins the family. Here are the most recent pictures of Brayden (3 1/2) and Landon (2) just hanging out being the cute little men that they are...