Family Update!

Chris: Chris is still working at Sam's Club, of course! He quit his second job. He had started a job over the summer for a company called marketsource. For this company he was an independent sales representative for companies like Criket, Sharp, and AT & T. Chris really liked working for them, but for as much traveling and paperwork he was doing, the money just was not compensating for it. Moving to Idaho Falls has made life so much easier on Chris. Now instead of driving 45 minutes back and forth to work everyday, he only has to drive 10 minutes. I love it too! Chris has also gone back to donating plasma. The facility for that in Idaho Falls is so much nicer than the one in Rexburg. This one lets him make online appointments, gives you a debit card, and has a daycare. Chris has been so wonderful and has been making appointments in the morning so that he is able to take Brenden, Aria and I just sleep in. It's lovely. Chris is taking a few semesters off of school, which is nice because we get to spend a lot more time together, and just having a baby, it has just been that much nicer to have him home.

Sadie: Well, my life is great! I have two of the greatest kids in the world, and I just praise them all of the time. I just can't get enough of them. I thought having Brenden and seeing him grow was wonderful, but now that I have two to watch grow, well, words just can't express what I'm feeling anymore. I watch Brenden grow more and more every day and see his personality progress. I watch him as he learns new things every day and think, Hey! I taught him that. And Aria, I just can't believe how beautiful she is! It's such a different experience with Aria than with Brenden. She eats so much better, she's so much bigger, and she's so voictrous and giggly already. I started doing Zumba again this last week and I love it. It feels so good to dedicate a few hours to myself every week. I've started cooking and baking every day again. After having Aria there was a while where I didn't have the energy to do much of anything, especially cook dinner. Chris and I started to get active in Scentsy again and had our friend, Amanda host our first party in a long time yesterday. It was hugely successful! I was worried about it going in, but it was a lot more successful than I ever imagined it would be.

Brenden: It's wintertime and guess what? That's right, Brenden has caught his first cold. Big surprise right? Not so much. Kids are just bound to get a cold in this cold weather. Brenden loves the snow! Our first snow this weekend Brenden was outside and loved it! Brenden loves to take showers and as the snow was falling down it was like a huge shower to him. The look on his face was pure awe. Lifting his hands up just waiting for the snow to fall on them. I fell in love with snow just watching the expressions in his face. He is growing so fast! I almost can't believe that he'll be 2 years old in a few months. Really, already? Brenden is just so stinking cute. He still isn't using a whole lot of words, but he signs like a champ! He sat and watched his first cartoon movie last week. I'm not a big fan of letting my kiddos sit in front of the tube and watch t.v. so I figured now would be a good time to introduce him to some educational movies along with some fun ones. Maybe once a week. Today I introduced him to some fun educational online computer games that I found on the fisher-price website. There was an ABC game and a peed-a-boo game. They were both fun. I also introduced him to paint, well, I had the most fun with that one. Brenden is just getting smarter and smarter everyday. It is so much fun to see. He understands the things that I ask and tell him and it's so great to experience these things with him. I love to ask him questions and wait to see if he's going to say yes or no. I know this may sound odd, but I love when he says no. It's in no way malicious, I'm not sure if he even knows what he's saying, but it's so cute. Every time that Brenden accidentally drops a book, he says, "oh no". I think its just so darn cute. I laugh. Brenden loves to "help" us. He'll throw things away, like diapers, he knows how to start a load of dishes, (AWESOME!) he rocks his little sister when she's upset, he'll put his finger in her mouth when she cries and she'll suck on it. He likes to help mommy with dinner and to bake. He likes to hold sister. Best of all? He loves to take his baths everyday. Brenden is afraid of balloons, yes. I let one go the other day and it squeaked a little and he let out the saddest cry. And Chris has been doing it every since, so he won't be afraid anymore. Sure, that's why. He's just mean. I love Brenden so much and he is growing up way too fast!

Aria Stats:
Weight: 10 lbs. 14 oz. (50th percentile)
Height: 23 inches (75th percentile)
Head Circumference: 39.5 cm (75th percentile)

Aria: She is just growing so fast it's ridiculous  I just can't believe it, not at all. First off Brenden took forever to grow because of well not eating. Being a first time mom I had no idea that he wasn't getting enough nourishment so he was Aria's size now when he was about 4 months old. Aria is only 2 months old and has grown so much! She's not a chubby baby in the least, but sometimes I think she is because she is so much bigger than Brenden was. This is such a different experience than it was with Brenden. I love every minute of it though. She is such my little champ. She eats super well, has excellent strength in her neck, she just started laughing this week, which I have been trying to get on video all week. She's not the little ham that Brenden was. She still won't take a bottle or a pacifier. She's a thumb sucker. She sleeps really well. We try to get her down to sleep around 10:30 and she usually sleeps until about 7:30 in the morning. I will complain in no way about 9 straight hours of sleep every night. Yeah, it would be nice if I could get her down to sleep around 7 in the evening, but that would mean me having to wake up around 5 in the morning, and I would not like that at all. Can I just say that I love having this little girl to dress up in the cutest clothes. Boys are just not as fun to shop for and to dress up. Sure, they've got some cute little suits and such now for little boys, but it's not as fun as the little dresses and all of the pink and purple and the cute bows! I wake up every morning and feed her, change her bum, and go through her clothes getting the cutest out fit and finding a bow to match it. Yes, it does make my day that much better. Now if only I could look that cute every day. We started sleep training a few weeks ago and Aria is doing so well at it! she self soothes so well and I am just one proud mama!

I love my life and I could not ask for a better family to be surrounded by. I look forward to all the adventures we will make in the next few years and all of the years to come. I am so very blessed and in love!