Diaper Crisis @ 7 months old

Another month has sped by and we're on the downhill slide to Preston's 1st birthday! Wahhh!

I swear, he'll smile a million smiles for me, but as soon as I put that big black thing
in front of my face, he goes stone cold on me!!I'm done with this photo shoot, will you just put me down for a nap already??!?!

So glad he'll take a binky and sooooo glad he can put this thing in himself!!!

Onto the crisis portion.....

I'll admit it -- I'm a diaper SNOB! Pampers please!! {and Huggies wipes!} No cheapo generics for me!! (****disclaimer - I do not think any less of you if you choose to diaper your baby with the generic variety!!) I've been a Pampers user since Brooklyn and Blake were approx 9 months old. That's all Gavin ever wore from the day he was born til the day he was potty trained. I love those soft, sweet Pampers Swaddlers on my soft, sweet babies! Then it's onto to Pampers Baby Dry with the suuuuuuper streeeetchy tabs. Love 'em! Preston has been a Pampers-only baby..................... up until this week. For whatever reason, we have had poop explosions left and right, up and down, morning and night with my beloved Pampers dipes! I'm so dang sick of scrubbing poop stains out of clothes that something HAD to change. Like yesterday. So I borrowed a few Huggies diapers from my sis to try on the Presty-bum. They seemed to do alright so I went out and bought a honkin' huge box of Huggies dipes. First time Preston wore one overnight, poop up the back upon retrieving him from his bed in the morn. Did I mention the box has 126 diapers in it?!??!? Did I just waste $25?? I dunno, but I'm outta my mind about this diaper thing!!

Here's his cute little Huggies-clad bum anyhow :)

In other Preston news, he's such a happy little fella! Sometimes he's so nice and quiet I forget he's even here! He has become Mr. McGrabby, reaching out for glasses, jewelry, face parts, remotes, cell phones, etc. He also does this scratching thing that I absolutely love!! Especially when he does it to me while he's nursing. He's teething badly right now and we're just waiting for those top two teeth to bust through! It'll be any day now! We're still moving slowly in the baby food department. We've done oatmeal cereal, peas, butternut squash and bananas. I still get giddy every time I open my freezer and see all those little cubes of baby food!!

Brooklyn has taken to the big-sister-to-brother-#3 role quite nicely. She asks to hold him immediately upon me bringing him downstairs after naps. She loves just holding him on her lap or picking him up and carrying him around. *yikes* I had to get over myself and just allow her to mother him. She's actually made comments about how he's the perfect baby brother, etc. Far cry (no pun intended) from the wailing we heard back when we announced we were having a baby boy!! LOL!

He's like a little koala baby here!

For the longest time (what, like two months??), Preston has been playing peek-a-boo with us. I've been meaning to get it on video and post it here, so FINALLY here it is!! And I love that he's so stinkin' ticklish!!!

I {heart} WICKED!!

Shortly after we saw Wicked in LA two years ago, I told Matt that I wanted to see it again. When I found out it was coming to the valley, I reminded Matt that I *would* be going, no exceptions. LOL! The plan was originally to take Brooklyn (all the kids are fanatics, just like their mama!), but we decided that my mom and I would be going instead. That was her Mother's Day gift from us this year. :)

Last night was the night!! I'll admit that I wasn't AS excited as my very first time, but I still got butterflies in my stomach as soon as we walked in and saw that stage!
I seriously had to refrain from belting out the lyrics right along with the actors/actresses! I think I may have actually hummed out loud a time or two. ;) And I may or may not have felt a swelling of emotion when it was time for the curtain call at the end of the show. I'm such a baby!!! I had to get myself an overpriced souvenir t-shirt too. My mom was trying to convince me to get the witch hat. "If the hat fits....." hahaha

Stormy Weather

Monday night, we had a HUGE monsoon storm blow through our area. It poured buckets of rain (even some hail!), we saw hundreds of lightning flashes and heard lots of rumbling from above. (sidenote: I couldn't help but think of the baseball scene in Twilight every time I heard a clap of thunder!) I absolutely love watching a good storm. Our power flickered and went off around 7:30pm, so after the rain stopped, we took the kids outside for a walk. I wanted to try to get some lightning pictures too. There was this super crazy loud sound going on and it was the FROGS!!!! We live right down the street (four houses in) from a golf course and I guess the frogs were lovin' all the rain!! We saw this extra-large, honkin' huge, monster of an amphibian just chillin' along the side of the road!
After awhile, we went back inside to get the kids in bed and it was sweltering in the house!!! Hot and muggy. Blech. We took one of our electric camping lanterns upstairs to leave in the kids' hallway. They were complaining that it was too warm and I was pretty miserable myself. What the heck are you supposed to do without any lights??? So Matt & I just laid down in the family room and went to sleep. The power finally came back on at 10:30ish and we were instantly relieved by cool air. Ahhhhhh!

I love the smell of the desert after it rains!! I missed the monsoon season so much when we were in California. Although the humidity is less than desirable, I'll take any chance that we get to experience some good rain, thunder and lightning!!

bLoG WiLd!!

Make sure you catch up with us!! I just posted 4 or 5 new blog entries!! Take a looksee, please. :)

Oh what do you do in the Summertime...

....when it's hotter than HECK outside???????

We've been suffering with temps hovering between 110* and 115* -- UGH! I know it's coming every year, but it's hard not to complain when you're cooped up inside all day except when you HAVE to leave the house! Just like those who can't go outside all winter; I guess it's our turn!

So these are a couple things we've been up to:

the LIBRARY!!

We visited the new library just a hop skip and a jump down the road for the first time last month. Since then, we've been going weekly, checking out close to the max amount of books (50) on the library card every time. The kids already have fininshed the summer reading program and we love reading new books together! There have been a couple that are definitely going on my "to buy" list for sure!!

The kids section of the library is decorated SO cutely!! My kids made themselves right at home on the "beach." ;)
Jumping into the pile of library books, head first. It warms my heart seeing my kids read books! :)

the POOL!!

There is this awesome aquatic complex somewhat nearby that we ventured to yesterday with a few other friends from the ward. It was BLAZING hot (this 1st pic shows the temp around 11:30am), but the kids had a great time splashing about!

Isn't this slammin'????!!!! Don't let the picture fool you. It was crazy busy, with kids crawling everywhere (a lifeguard's nightmare!) but I took this just as they were letting people back in the water following a lifeguard drill. Ahhhhh, memories from the good ole days!This dude stayed nearby me, except for one time where we got separated. I panicked, he was found and brought to me, crying, by a teen girl. A bit of a freak out moment because I was fiercely trying to keep my two eyes on all three kiddos (Prest was safe in my arms).

STAY COOL!!!

Daddy flies

Monday morning, Matt's car wouldn't start. And Mondays are his travel days for work, this one happened to be a day he would be working in Yuma. The company charters a plane for him and the ophthalmologists to fly to and from Yuma so they won't have to drive nearly 4 hours there and 4 hours back. So on this Monday morning, the kids and I dropped Matt off at the small municipal airport and had the chance to watch Daddy's "hairplane" take off. Then we got to pick him up later that afternoon and saw his plane "land down." (the quotes are Gavin-speak)

the photo above was taken before take off with my cell phone.

i was a little more prepared with my small camera for the video below.

Although my day was rough after such an early morning jolt to the day, I'm glad the kids got to witness Daddy flying to work. We talk about it frequently, but it's another thing for them to be able to see it first-hand. :)

I do have to admit that after two recent tragedies that hit a little close to home, both involving small planes, I'm a wee bit nervous the 2-3 times a month that Matt boards this teeny tiny plane to fly to work. I try not to concentrate too much about it throughout the day because I don't want to live my life in fear that something might happen to him. For now, I'm just grateful he DOESN'T have to drive an extra 8 hours roundtrip to get to work and back those days!!

Together Forever ~~ Yost family

This past Friday evening, my younger sister Becky and her husband Taylor went through the temple for their own endowments. Then the very next morning, they were sealed together, with their children Lexi and Ashton, for time and all eternity. It truly was a joyous occasion!!

You could tell Lexi had been crying when the matron brought her in to the sealing room. Grandma (my mom) took her and when she noticed all these familiar faces looking at her, she was much happier. The funniest thing, she kept pointing and craning her neck around to see {soon-to-be} Uncle Jesse!

Taylor and Becky, we love you guys so much and are so happy with your decision to go to the temple together as a family. You could see a change in your countenances almost instantaneously. Matt and I are grateful that you allowed us to be a part of your special days.

We get to do this all over again the first week in August when our littlest sis, Brittney, will be going through the temple and then be married a week later! :)

*******

Matt and I have been fortunate to attend the temple three times in the past three weeks. After leaving on Saturday after the sealing, I have this craving to go to the temple! There really is no other word to describe it!! I love how I feel when I'm there and the peacefulness I feel inside when I leave. Our new goal is to make it to the temple once a month. If anyone else ever wants to go, let's make it a date!!

4th of July ~ LeBaron Reunion

Better late than never, right??

For the holiday weekend, we headed up to the LeBaron family reunion in Strawberry. Since the Milo LeBaron family is one generation ahead of the rest of the family, the cabin was overflowing with bodies, so we camped out in front of the cabin in our tent. I'm sad I didn't take a picture of our tent lined up with JJ & Kimberly's and Jen & Dan's. :(

The kids always have a great time, running wild, roaming the great outdoors with their cousins. There were a few organized activities that we were sure to participate in:

A very MANLY game of musical chairs

Thankfully, no one was seriously injured!!!

An awesome dance party, during which we witnessed some pretty amazing dance moves. ;)

Purple Shirt & Pink Shirt

Working on Wayne's breakfastMy finished masterpieceCute PrestOur family on the 4thJust the kids

I'm so lucky to have married into such a big, united family! Thanks to the Nelsons for organizing the reunion this year. We had a great time!

photo courtesy of Doug Nelson

Preston is 6 months old!!

Stop it right now!!! Time is flying by so fast and my "new" baby is growing up right before my eyes!!! I can't believe I have a 6 month old on my hands!!!!

He's doing all sorts of tricks and making all kinds of new noises these days.

Exhibit A: Sitting up all on his own!! A little wobbly still, but doing very well with this new skill.Exhibit B: "Choice" noises.... listen carefully........

{I tried to get a video of him clicking his tongue, but apparently he has performance anxiety. Perhaps he is saving up these awesome noises for a quiet moment during church.}

We had his 6 month well check last Monday and here are his stats~

Weight: 18 lbs 15 oz (71st %ile)
Length: 29 1/2 in (99th %ile)
Head Cir: 18 in (91st %ile)

He's a big, healthy boy!!! Since Preston is finally six months old, we decided to go ahead and start solid foods. I busted out the oatmeal cereal, pumped up some breastmilk and we were all set! :)

Right??????

First bite

*GAG*

Whoops!! This gagging thing went on nearly every time the spoon went NEAR Preston's mouth! He even upchucked the majority of his previous feeding! I know I'm a bad mom, but I was totally laughing the whole time, poor little lamby!! It went MUCH better the second time around, this time mixing the cereal with water instead and making the mixture much more thick. I think he managed to swallow a bit this time. ;)

He'd better get the hang of this feeding thing QUICK because I've got almost 250 cubes of HOMEMADE baby food ready to go in the freezer!!!!

Peaches, bananas, sweet potatoes, green beans, pears, carrots, butternut squash, apples

Yep, that's right. I FINALLY did it!!! It took me until kid #4 to get up the courage to do this. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy!!! I'm so proud of myself and have this immense sense of gratification that Preston will be getting fresh fruits and veggies, made with love by mommy! :)

Preston also took his first dip in the pool this past week and thoroughly enjoyed it. Another waterbug in the fam.Such a cutie! We sure love our Presty-boy!!! He brings our family such joy and we can't imagine life without him!!