Patrick and Payden are 9 months!

I know I say this every month but time just flies around here. Maybe that's why I have a hard time getting any cleaning done around the house! :)

Here are this month's stats for our two boys.

Patrick:
Weight: 19 lbs 6 oz (up from 18lbs 3 oz a month ago) - 33rd percentile
Height: 28.75 in
Head: 18.75 in

Payden:
Weight: 16 lbs 14oz (up from 15 lbs 13 oz a month ago) 4th percentile! - up from 2nd!
Height: 28.75 in
Head: 19 in

Patrick: He has recently started showing us that he has a very stubborn side whether it's taking a nap, learning to crawl or play on his tummy. When he wants something, he'll let you know.

• Constantly taking toys away from Payden. I caught a few tug-of-wars this past week and usually Patrick wins. Payden has started fighting back and has won a handful of times.
  
• has 2 bottom teeth. I keep thinking that he's getting the ones on top but no.
  
• I love his new smile - with his two teeth
• And with those two teeth, he is expertly biting off little bits of graham crackers and saltine crackers. Just beware of your fingers because boy does he love to chomp!
  
• He loves to jump! One of his favorite toys is the exersaucer and the johnny jump up. He screams and laughs and jumps all at the same time.
• When he's grumpy, it's "mum mum mum" and when he's happy... "da da da da" Hopefully this isn't a pattern of things to come!
  

Payden:

• He is now (as of the first week of October) a very accomplished sitter.

• He has been rolling in his crib but just last week we was able to roll over on the floor and now has been doing it all the time. It just took that one time and now he's all over! He loves to do it in order to get the toys on the floor. Diaper changes are quite the workout for him and mommy has you try to somehow get the diaper on a continually wiggling child. I'm sure it will only get harder as they get older.
  
• Last Sunday he blew his first little raspberries with his tongue, it is the cutest thing. Usually if I blow one at him, he'll stick his tongue out too and mimic me. The therapist that comes every week said that blowing raspberries is a precursor to talking. That made me happy!
• One little tooth on the bottom which makes breastfeeding almost impossible because he loves to chomp. The only time I can do it is when he is extremely hungry or tired.
  

More Pictures!

Monday Thanks

It's been a tough night and hard morning.

My list of thanks will come from the past week in no particular order.

11. Cancellation of Ward Choir yesterday and extra time to spend with family. Usually Christian takes the boys home and feeds them and plays with them. It's nice to have a break but it's always nice to have a change in plans.

12 Primary Program yesterday. I loved it and know it will only be a matter of time until our boys are up there too.

13. Payden blowing raspberries with his tongue for the first time yesterday.

14. A wonderful dinner of Chicken and potatoes. We cooked it a different way and it turned out wonderful. I'm always nervous cooking something I've never done before.

15. Laughing as the boys have figured how to jump in the Johnny jump up and have a total blast!

16. Watching Payden roll from his back to stomach and then back again on the bed. Then today, he finally has rolled over front to back to stomach on the floor and is so proud of himself! To watch it was truly something.

17. Waking up to the babbling of baby talk at 6am. (yet confused on how to get them to sleep a little longer).

18. The thrill of going to the pumpkin patch for the first time with the boys.

19. Introducing them to their first cow (2 month old calf) and having it moo right in their face. It was priceless.

20. Enjoying free time in the evening as the boys are usually in bed between 8 and 8:30.

First Pumpkin Patch!

Did I ever tell you how much I love my Fridays!

#1. it's Friday and I get to spend the next 2 whole days (the weekend) with my husband who I miss so much during the week

#2 My mother in law comes on Friday to help out. Our goal is usually to get out of the house which I love. Also, our church gets together on Fridays with other young mothers. We have a singing group where we sing actions songs and get to visit.

Today they were headed to the pumpkin patch. We never saw them but oh well.. we got there a little late.

We left the house about 10:45 and stopped first to see Christian and his coworkers. They hadn't seen the boys for awhile. Then we left for the patch. Still negotiating and getting to the patch took awhile. Plus I was driving and it had been forever since I drove...

Some highlights...

• getting out of the house and loving every minute of it!!
  
• A newborn calf (2 months) mooed right in our faces. We have 3 books that shows how a cow says moo and now they get to see it up close and personal. I loved showing it to them
• buying Fresh Peach salsa as a present for Christian
• Seeing a pig that was huge at only 7 months. It did some perfect snorting for us too!
  
• Taking pictures on the pumpkin and then taking pictures with the boys.
  
• riding the hail ride out to the pumpkin patch and seeing all the different varieties of pumpkins.
  

And now pictures!

Patrick and Payden - at play

Lately I have been having trouble keeping Payden and Patrick both entertained at the same time. I had Payden in the exersaucer which is getting to be one of his favorites but Patrick was getting bored of toys on the floor. I brought them upstairs and put Patrick in the Johnny jump up. I wasn't prepared for the amount of fun that they would have. (I also brought up the exersaucer so they could play together.). While Patrick was having tons of fun, I found the camera for a video. Sorry for the poor quality and lack of skill on my part...

Enjoy!

Countings Blessings

One of my blogging friends, Melissa from Bumblebee Grace started doing something on her blog awhile ago. Every Monday she gives thanks to the things that she receives.

I thought it was an incredible idea and a way/outlet for me to show thanks to my Heavenly Father for all he has given me. I know that as I do this, I will become more and more aware of the little moments that happen each day.

Without delay...

1.. Beautiful fall colors

2. Baby boys that are getting used to sleeping thru the night. Only 1 relapse due to teething in 1 week.

3. Getting more quality sleep =Better milk supply. The past week, the boys have got 2 full feedings of breastmilk when they usually only get one full bottle and then 1/2 and 1/2 through the rest of the day.

4. Cuddles and songs with Mom before nap time

5. Cooler temperatures - high of 74 and cool night.

6. Boys in bed by 8pm - wondered what to do with myself until bedtime.

7. Christian taking the boys home from church for a good nap and letting me have a rare uninterrupted day of Relief Society.

8. Yummy fried rice for dinner - thanks to our neighbor who supplied the soy sauce since we realized late into the game that we didn't have any.

9. Leftover fried Rice for lunch

10. Lots of plums, apples and apricots to puree for my little boys.

Cuddle-bugs

In the last week, Patrick and Payden have all of a sudden turned into cuddle-bugs. It makes me wonder if they have always been this way and I haven't taken advantage of it before...

Typically, I would bring them up to our bedroom where we would lay and read books and then sing a couple songs. This last week, I have started something new which I think I will do as long as I can hold both at once! We come up to the room where I sit in the rocking chair with them and sing to them before their nap. It is the cutest thing! They both lay tummy down on each side of my chest. Sometimes they'll even hold hands while they lay there.

Here are their nap-time and bedtime songs... I usually pick one or two from list. They are all primary songs that I have memorized. It helps that there are multiple verses to each one. :)

My Heavenly Father Loves me
I am a child of God
Love is Spoken Here
Give said the Little Stream

Then, I lay them down in their cribs. Also last week, they have started liking their blankets more and more. Both of them will hug their blankets to their sides or chest as they sleep. It's the cutest thing! Payden has recently gotten to be a super expert at rolling over to his tummy in his crib. It's his preferred way to sleep now which is funny because he never rolls over when he's playing during the day. I figure one of these days he will.

First Graham Cracker!

I have always loved graham crackers. Maybe because I was snacking on them today, made me think I needed to do a post about this.

This afternoon... I was getting dinner ready and also trying to make cookies but had the 2 little men under foot. Payden was happily playing in the exersaucer and Patrick wanted to be in the kitchen with me. They have been very whiny today, due to some new teeth I found yesterday that are just barely making their entrance. I gave Patrick a graham cracker and he absolultely LOVED it. It was completely gone and his hand went right to the package where I got the first one from. After some time, Payden realized that he was missing out on the fun and wanted some. I gave him one and he was content to just look at it and play with it. About 5 minutes later he decided to nibble on it and finish it off.

Here are some pictures to remember the event: I'm still trying to get pictures of the first teeth.

A Day at the Park

After all the stresses of sleep training last night and today, this was a great escape for our little guys.

We and the little men went to a park pretty close to our house. We had SO much fun. Evidently they aren't too little for the swings there. I thought they might be. Next time I need to remember to bring a blanket so we can just sit and play.

8 months old

I can't believe the boys are 8 months old. Isn't it crazy how fast time flies. I find myself wishing for the older days when I wasn't so worried about them. It seems like I'm always worried if I am doing enough with them to promote them crawling, enough time on their tummies and helping Payden to gain more weight.

Here's a little bit about each of my two boys.

Let's do Payden first this time!

Payden:

We weighed him on 9/22 and he was a whopping 15 lbs 13 oz. That's 18 oz in one month!

• almost sitting by himself. Every so often he'll arch his back or fall over sideways. He does love playing while sitting up though
  
• absolutely loves Maddie. If Maddie is anywhere near him while he eats, he won't eat because he just wants to grab her fur or her collar.
  
• pivots now on his tummy. It's usually when he is playing with a toy and he drops it and can't reach it. He will turn and maneuver himself around to finally get the toy.
  
• almost flipping over from his back to his stomach. I've been working with him all week because he has been waking up in the night on his back and wants back to his stomach. After a few days of this, I have found him in the morning asleep on his back. We've realized he needs proper motivation to flip over to his tummy. Usually that motivation is Maddie!
  
• He is finally waking up as a happy boy. Usually one nap a day he wakes grouchy but the other times he is woken up by Patrick's talking and then he just rolls over to his back and lays and plays with his binky and takes both of his socks off. When I go into get him he is usually sucking on his feet, his socks or playing with his pacifier.
• We've started feeding them in our room at 6 am because they'll go back to sleep. He will drink his entire 6 oz bottle and then still want more. Usually I'll breastfeed him until he is full. It's the cutest thing because he usually grabs my shirt or my nose and I know what he wants.
• absolutely LOVES LOVES LOVES his Mum Mum rice crackers. He can down one of those things is no time but boy are they messy.
• On Saturday night, Christian's parents took us out to eat before the men went to the Priesthood session of conference. I brought some Gerber puffs with me to see if they would entertain them. Thus far, I haven't been able to get Payden to eat anything solid like this. He absolutely loved them!! I would hold one in front of him and he would open his mouth so I could put it in. He is also reaching for them and picking them up off his high chair.
  

Patrick

We weighed him on 9/22 along with Payden and he is 18 lbs 3 oz.

• has his very FIRST tooth! It's made him quite the little grouch (and the King of drool) at times but it is finally in. Now the current question is: Is there another one?
  
• sitting up now unassisted. There are still a few times when he gets excited and over he goes to his back.
  
• getting closer to mastering the pincher grasp. He can grab things off his high chair tray but doesn't yet know how to open his hand to put it in his mouth. He has done it twice now and acts pretty proud with himself.
  
• eating rice krispies with ease and also diced peaches.
• loves to be in the exersaucer and to jump up and down. He also loves the Johnny Jump up. Oh I wish we could move it downstairs; there just isn't a place to put it. It would make our lives so much easier in the evenings!!
  
• Also loves Maddie. He will giggle and giggle as Maddie plays with her toys; usually when I'm playing with them on a blanket. When it's getting close to nap time and he's a bit cranky, the best thing to do is to start playing with Maddie and he'll cheer right up!
  

More Pictures!