Jonah's 4th Birthday!

So Jonah turned 4! He wanted a bike for his birthday since he's been trying to take over his brother's bike for a long time now. Rich took him to the store last week and had him try out some bikes. Luckily Jonah wanted the cheapest one (thank you, Jonah). He liked this bike because it was red like his brother's bike. Normally Jonah throws a fit about wearing a helmet. Rich and I decided we were not going to let him ride his bike if he refused to wear a helmet. So in hopes that he would wear it, we bought him a Lightening McQueen helmet. Yes! It worked. Jonah loves it and hasn't complained about it.

The night before Jonah's birthday, Rich went out and bought the bike, and came home with some "Cars" birthday decor to make Jonah feel special. I thought that was pretty sweet of him! The next morning (on Jonah's birthday), we woke up before the kids and went in their room singing happy birthday to Jonah. He really didn't like it (no surprise). The first thing Julien said was, "Let's see how big you are today, Jonah!" lol.

Anyway, once Jonah cheered up, he came out and found his little surprises and was one happy boy! Sharing the birthday love with his brother!

Later, we had my dad and Carolyn over for dinner and dessert. Jonah felt very special all day and showed off his bike some more.
opening my dad's gift.

We are grateful for little Jonah. Here are a few facts about our birthday boy:

*He loves his brothers!
*He is so stubborn!
*He loves to be outside or even just in the car driving.
*His new thing is to say, "look Mom/Dad, I'm a statue." and he'll strike a silly pose.
*He has developed a love for coloring.
*He likes to hide things and when we ask him if he knows where something is (even if it's days later), he will know right where he put it.
*At home he is very silly and outgoing but won't give a stranger the time of day and becomes shy.
*When he is sick he denies it. Even if he is lethargic and feeling so bad, he will try to convince me that he is just tired.
*He is still our picky eater and would rather go to bed without eating than to try something new.
*When Julien is at school he is the most chill child ever, and is so content and calm; but once Julien comes home, the craziness begins and Jonah is bouncing off the walls.
*When you praise Jonah he tends to blush.
*He can hold his own when he wrestles his big brother.
*He's a whiz at the computer and also has great athletic ability.
*He's still a bit of a nightmare at church, but looks cute in his suit.
*The second he eats sugar he is CRAZY.
*He is the cutest sleeper and Rich and I always want to cuddle up next to him when he sleeps.
*He has the softest cheeks ever and I love kissing his face!
*He hates talking on the phone and always has. (Julien is exact opposite).
*He is all boy! Loves cars, dirt, noise, roughhousing, etc.

We love you, Jonah! Happy Birthday!

He is already...

(Click for a larger view)

I can't believe how big our little Cooper is already! I am cherishing every moment, but it's still flying by! I love this baby so much and am so grateful to be his mom! Cooper is starting to sleep a little better at night. He is starting to coo and smile and be so much more alert these days. It's a trip looking at him. Most of the time I feel like I'm raising Julien all over again. Other times he looks like Jonah. I am looking forward to seeing what his personality will be like. I love him to pieces and we are all so happy to have him in our family!

Don't know why I love it, but I do...

I always find it cute when my kids are taking off their shirt and it gets stuck on their head. I have pictures of Julien and Jonah growing up with shirts on their head. Today I had to capture one of Cooper. And check out how squishy my baby has gotten! Oh I love his chubs!! He is already like 14 lbs and only 8 1/2 weeks and is on a breast milk only diet! "Like seriously, Mom?"

Jonah's toy

Here we go again, Jonah found the perfect place to put his stickers. At least this time they were Spiderman stickers and not hearts. I love how Cooper was just laying there looking like he was loving it (I didn't quite capture that expression though). Not a single fuss.
Right now Jonah is loving his baby brother. He doesn't play with his toys, or tease him, and he can do whatever he wants with him. Oh how that will change all too soon. I do love watching the boys love on their baby brother. It's almost like you can already see in Cooper's eyes how much he looks up to them.

Chores

The other day, Julien was not happy about doing his chores. He slammed my bedroom door and left. A minute later I hear him trying to shove his magnadoodle under my door. "I know that you are my family but I don't want to clean it up. I love you."

I'm glad he can express himself, and he's smart to say I love you in that, but it still didn't get him out of doing his chores. Nice try, Bud.

Poor Babe

So last night Cooper was asleep in the bouncer and kept making these sad faces and letting out these little whimpers. By the time I got the camera out, his whimpers had escalated into cries. It is so cute when babies make faces in their sleep, but really sad when they have dreams like these. (Or maybe he had a tummy ache). I had to wake him because as you'll see, at the end, he was really upset. It breaks my heart, but it's cute at the same time. And I'm bummed that it's so dark. It didn't look dark on my camera, so hopefully you are able to make out his little facial expressions.

Ohh:( Just watching that again makes me want to wake him from his nap now so I can cuddle him. I love him!!!

We broke, but we happy:)!

With Rich out of a job right now we didn't do anything for Valentine's Day. Actually, I made some chocolate covered strawberries last night that were delish! Oh, and today we said, "Happy Valentines Day" to each other! That about sums it up. We've been broke for many holidays throughout our marriage. Although I'd never say I wouldn't love to go out to dinner and have him say, "I'm going to take you shopping for new clothes, let's go to the mall (my dream);" I'm still okay with just letting the holiday come and go with no gifts. I guess I'm getting old. I know I'm not getting boring because if I had money I'd go all out. But I'm just sayin', I'm okay that at this point in our life we have to go without the spoiling. We had a great day at church, came home and hung out with the kids, and then later he enjoyed a basketball game on t.v., while I sat in the rocking chair with Cooper singing along to old Britney Spears songs at the top of my lungs in our room. I actually had fun (haven't listened to her for years and had the urge tonight). So all in all it was a great day. I guess I shouldn't say he hasn't spoiled me lately. He has in other ways. I can't tell you how much he has picked up the slack for me since we had Cooper. Let's just say he'd make an amazing housewife. So I'm really grateful for all of his help and effort and I'd take that over flowers any day!

I remember when I was in elementary school and we would make big envelopes out of colored construction paper that hung from our desks for V-day. All of our classmates would fill up the envelopes with valentines and we'd have a party in class. Those were the days! Now that I'm a mom, I get excited for my kids to experience these little joys in life. I had fun watching Julien write a Valentine for each of his classmates. He was very thoughtful of which card he wanted to give to each person. He wrote each of their names with excitement. It was also fun to see him come home the next day with a ton of cards and candy. Jonah was fascinated with all that he brought home and has been drooling over a cookie that Julien got and is waiting to eat. Julien also got a special Valentine gram delivered to him from a certain girl. He has like 4 girls that he always talks about, that he says want to marry him. Cute, sort of. My sweet Julien even made Rich and I each a card. I should have made cards for my family! Feeling kinda bad about that. Anyway, Happy Love Day people!The cards Julien got to pass out came with these heart stickers. As you can see, Jonah found the perfect place to put them.

And just because he is cute............

Picture Overload

A little update: So far I'm on day 3 of working on this post. I only have time to upload a little at a time. I'm all consumed with baby and everything else. So here are a bunch of pictures from the past couple of weeks. Things have been pretty crazy since we brought Cooper home. Although he is starting to sleep a little better at night and I'm able to function better, I'm still learning how to keep up with everything else. I hit my 6 week mark last week, so I'm finally able to exercise again (more intensely at least). I still have to lose 15 lbs to get to my pre-pregnancy weight, but ideally would like to lose 20. For now I'm just focusing on the getting the 15 off though. Third time is not a charm with losing weight from breastfeeding. It's definitely not falling off this time around; it just makes me more hungry. But NO excuses, I'm working out! Rich is making some big changes. We have decided that he will go back to school. We are hoping all works out with financial aid and he can start in the fall. For us, this is life changing. We know if all works out that we will have to sacrifice a lot, but we know it's the right thing. Anyway, I'll fill you in on that if it all works out for us. Cooper is getting sooo big! He is at least 12 lbs already. Probably more. He's breathing a little better and starting to get over his cold. We are still working on naps and night time. I'm going to try to get down to the library and pick up "The No-Cry Sleep Solution," for some helpful tips. Cooper is just so cute and we all can't get enough of him. And just so I don't leave them out, Julien and Jonah are doing great too.

Recent Pictures.........

I love him.

I love yawning pictures (of babies that is).

See how big he is getting!

Look at that tummy and those cheeks!

Taking a stroll in the park.

Cute. Cute. Cute!

So last Saturday we took some casual family pictures. I know that we went at the wrong time of day and the lighting wasn't right, but we are on a baby's schedule and that's when we could go do it. It was spur of the moment as we were trying to think of something to do outside of the house that day; we figured we would go take some family pics.

This one was the first one we took. I was testing out the lighting and told the boys to go sit on the grass, and this was the pose they gave me, all on their own.

I love this one of all my men.

Julien inside the resort we took pictures at.

Shoe shinning chairs.

Last but not least...Cooper got his baby blessing on Sunday. I'm obsessed with my little man in his outfit. After sacrament meeting, a lady in my ward came up to me (she is pretty southern and I find her to be really funny), she said, "OH MY STARS! IT'S HEAVEN IN A TUXEDO!" Lol! I agree!
By the way, it was a beautiful blessing and I'm grateful my husband could give it.

This is before we left for church. All I am thinking is, "please don't spit up or have a blow out!" Luckily he never did!Ready to go!

My men in their suits. Cooper is going cross-eyed here. We were really rushed that day so didn't get many shots at church.After Church, Jonah was over it. Jonah had a rough day at church! Cooper was pooped, and I couldn't get him to wake up for more pictures.

This wasn't Jonah trying to smile. It was him first making a mad face and then me telling him not to smile, so of course one came out.Wish he was awake!

He is asleep here, just having good dreams.

Told you I'm obsessed. Pictures keep coming.

Sort of awake.

...going...

...gone.

See, was "picture overload" an understatement!