Precious Moments

I'm writing this down because I never, ever want to forget it.

Last night, we had a sort-of testimony meeting at Matt's parents. The gist of it was to share when you first gained your own testimony. No one was required to share anything, it was open to whomever wanted to. All the adults (parents, sibs + spouses) took a turn and a few kiddos wanted to say a few words too. Originally, Gavin stood up in the middle to talk, but then quickly sat back in Matt's lap and buried his face. I didn't want to force anything, so I just left him alone. He is rather shy in that regard. I was pleasantly surprised when he stood back up a couple people later and proceeded to bear a short little testimony for the first time --

"I know the Church is true, I know Joseph Smith was a prophet, I know my mom loves me, I know Jesus loves all of us..."

I immediately flashed forward 13 years and could picture him as a missionary. He started to get emotional and I couldn't hold back the tears. I know he felt the Spirit and it was so neat to watch that. Gavin has such a tender spirit and I'm so glad he had the courage to share what was in his heart.

Ready, set, RACE!!

Tonight was the pinewood derby for the scouts. Blake and Matt have been working on Blake's car for weeks now. I love watching the process of them brainstorming what kind of car to do, drawing the design, cutting, sanding and painting. I had good intentions of taking pictures of the whole process, but I always seemed to be stuck in the chair, nursing the baby, while they were out in the garage working away.

I loved watching Blake's excitement as he sat with his buddies to watch the races. I mean, don't they all look SO excited here??! lol

{cade dewitt, cameron ricks, todd turner, blake, garrett story}

His car in lane 3 here-

Blake ended up winning the award for the "shiniest car" and 3rd place overall out of 21 cars!! His car also had the second fastest time.

All three members of the bishopric have boys born the same year!!
Gavin McLeod, Ammon Fairbanks, Blake

I swear, this event isn't only for the boys, if you know what I mean. ;)

Adios, Magnificent!

Well, the day finally came a couple weeks ago --- the rooster crowed. It sounded like a prepubescent boy, all weak and squeaky and crackly. I wasn't going to handle that too well every morning right outside my bedroom window!!! He cock-a-doodle-dooed a few times then stopped. Today, he started up again so we called a guy in the neighboring ward that has land and raises animals and he said he'd take our rooster off our hands, so we made plans to take him over tonight.Like I've mentioned before, Brooklyn is the one who gets the most attached to these chickens. I told her the plan and she asked if she could get the rooster out to hold him and let him run in the yard. I took a few pictures of her as she loved on Magnificent one final time.We all piled in the car and Brooklyn held the rooster on her lap. She was the one to hand it over to it's new owners and he told her she could come visit her chicken when she wanted. I think that made her smile! :)

Now we have 7 chickens remaining. They should be starting to lay eggs here in the next month or so! That'll be an exciting day!

{1} month old!!

Somebody please slow down time!! I can't believe it has already been a month since Hayden was born!! She honestly is such a pretty baby. I love staring at her, taking pictures of her, kissing her, snuggling her, dressing her up, etc., etc., etc.!!

5 days old, after first pediatrician appointment

{GIANT bow}

Brooklyn and Gavin especially ask to hold her a lot. Gavin always wants me to take his picture when he's holding Hayden. Brooklyn is such a great helper when the baby is crying and I can't get to her right away. It's nice to have older kids to help out this time around!!Preston likes his baby sister a LOT. He is good at retrieving her binky and shoving it in her mouth when she's fussing and insists that she "wants her giraffe-y" and puts it on her. Haha! He also likes to help burp her after a feeding (I hold her, he pats her back) and he's been successful at getting a burp out a few times! I think that makes him so proud! I have to remind him to be soft with her but overall, he's pretty good with her. He has become quite the little mischief maker while I'm stuck in the chair nursing the baby, but now he knows I'll get up and get him while she's still attached!!

She takes a binky, yay! She's about to outgrow newborn diapers and is fitting more solidly into her 0-3 month clothes.

First real bath~ 1/8/12
She wasn't too sure at first, but settled down ok.I can't decide if she'll be a swaddle baby like Preston was or not. I swaddle her for sleep times when we're home and that's usually her cue to settle down and zonk out. She seems to be trying to wiggle her arms out lately so I've tried giving her a little more freedom (looser swaddle, leave her arm out) but I'm not sure she sleeps as well. For now, she sleeps swaddled up in the bouncy seat.I won't lie, adjusting to waking several times a night to tend to a baby is rough, any mom knows. I'm a grump if I don't get my eight hours of sleep and I'm not afraid to admit it. We've had a few fluke times where Hayden slept for five or six hours and it was glorious! BUT! It's usually still up every two hours, I sit in the chair to feed her for 30 minutes or so, then get back in bed. That leaves me with 1.5 hours of sleep at a time and it's brutal!! Since Preston doesn't take a nap anymore, it's hard for me to squeeze in a nap while he's running wild. I'm hoping that "we" can start sleeping better at night in the near future. ;)

Let's talk about her belly button, oh boy!! When she was born, we both noticed how much skin she had around the umbilical cord. It continued to shrink as days went on, but we were both a little concerned that she may have the biggest outie belly button EVER!! Her umbilical stump fell off when she was 2.5 weeks old and this is what we have left: a major OUTIE!! Maybe it'll discourage her from ever wearing a bikini? ;)Oh, and she has a fairly large skin tag on her neck. We got the referral to a plastic surgeon from our pediatrician to get it checked out, but we haven't yet.

First smile~ 1/13/12
I swear, I've had to wait closer to 6 weeks to get that first smile from my babies, so I couldn't believe when I got smiles from Hayden just after 4 weeks! Melts my heart! And I actually captured one on camera the same day~

See why I can't stop staring at her??! She's so adorable!!! We love her to pieces!!

One month stats:

Weight- 9 lbs 9oz (52%)

Length- 21.75 in (79%)

Head circ- 15.25 in (97%)

Gavin's 6th Birthday

(How embarrassing that he has toothpaste all down the front of his jacket!!!)

Six years ago today (also on Friday the 13th), Gavin joined our family! Everyone comments how sweet Gavin is, and it's true! He has always had the mildest disposition, right from the start. He has started to show some sassy behavior lately though... don't know if it's the age or a bad example from a certain older sister. *ahem*

Today after school, we went and picked up his birthday balloons, a fun tradition that we started several years ago, I guess. Then we met up with Kristin, Spencer and Sophie for lunch at Chick-fil-a. I'm pretty sure that's where we went last year too? The rest of the day was pretty typical. Except Gav had a little meltdown when he realized that no one (family) was coming over for his birthday. He quickly recovered when he saw me decorating his birthday cake as a Poké ball!! The cake was far from perfect, but Gavin loved it and that's all that matters! Matt was leaving for an overnight trip with the Young Men so before he left, we sang happy birthday to Gavin and let him blow out his candle.

I made Chinese food for dinner since Gavin originally said he wanted to go to Panda Express for dinner. (#1, I said no eating out for two meals in a row and #2, I'm not brave enough to tackle a fast food restaurant by myself with all 5 kiddos yet!) I figured that was close enough!! After dinner, we ate some cake and then he opened his birthday gifts. He got a play parachute, Cars 2 Wii game, Pokémon White version DS game, Toy Story 3 DS game, Pokémon cards, a Pokémon plush and a Poké ball that opens and has a tiny stuffed Pokémon character in it. Can you tell the boy is CrAzY about Pokémon???

His facial expressions as he opened each present were so funny!!

There is something special about Gavin. I can't put my finger on it; he just has such a sensitive spirit. Matt teases me that he is my favorite kid..... if there was such a thing! Maybe I do give in to Gavin moreso than I do/did with the twins. I sure love to cuddle with him, especially when he's upset about something. I love his smile and his freckles that splash across his nose and cheeks. I love his curly hair and his cute little giggle. Our family wouldn't be complete without him!

Happy Birthday, Bean!! We sure love you a ton!!!

Six year stats:

Weight- 42 lbs (28%)

Height- 45.25 in (46%)

Sweet baby Hayden

About a week ago, we had Hayden's newborn pictures done by a girl that used to be in our ward. I had in my mind the adorable, curled up in a ball, sleeping baby pictures that you see all over the place but Hayden had other things in mind. She was a bit uncooperative, staying awake for almost the entire session and wanting to sprawl out everywhere unless she was swaddled. I left feeling pretty hopeless, but was happy to see she managed to get some decent shots of our precious baby girl!

You can see her long eyelashes here...Red beanie crocheted by Aunt Kristin~I will treasure these pictures forever! She is already growing and changing so much that it's nice to have this little snapshot of her so itty bitty.

Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam!

Well, since Preston turned three just before the end of the year, that meant today he got to go to PRIMARY!!! No more nursery for this little guy!
I was a little bit nervous how he'd do.... he pretty much loves nursery and since I'm still staying home with the baby for a few weeks, I wasn't there to take him to class or spy on him all during sharing time (I team-teach the class above Sunbeams). Brooklyn, Blake and Gavin were nearly 4 years old before they went to Primary since their birthdays are all at the beginning of the year, but Preston eeks in at barely 3 years old! I was a little worried how he would do. Apparently he went to class without hesitation and came home all excited about Sunbeams so I hope that's a good sign! :)

Ringing in the New Year!!

Last night, to celebrate the end of 2011, we invited Derek & Kristin (and kids) and Kimberly & JJ (and kids) over for dinner, games and fireworks.

Here is the New Years Eve stash!

Preston fetched his "headphones" and stayed outside to do fireworks the entire time!!! Big change from 4th of July when he cried the whole time we did fireworks. :)

He even held his own sparkler!

Matt & Blake lighting fireworks

Boys. I was a little worried someone was gonna get hurt. {*ahem* Matthew....}

Blake, Andrew, Brooklyn, Spencer, Gavin

Tired kiddos!! They didn't quite stay up until midnight, but it was very late!

Miss Hayden was awake for the ball drop @ midnight!

Our little family made a toast with sparkling cider to a healthy and happy new year!
~CHEERS!!

2011 was a pretty good year for us!! Matt continues to do well at work, we're all healthy and we have been very blessed. Obviously, the most recent blessing is our new, sweet baby girl, who we absolutely adore!

We hope that 2012 brings more excitement, joy and love to our family!

Things I would like to focus on in {twenty-twelve}:

- be a better wife and mother ~ listen, patience, voice
- serve others with a willing heart (including my family)
- make an effort to have regular FHE, family scripture study and attend the temple frequently
- get back into shape (never knew how much I'd miss running!)
- develop/enrich a hobby
- home improvements