2011 in a nutshell

2011 was a crazy fast year for us. We started it out in Miami Florida as a family of 4 and ended it in Decatur Georgia as a family of 5.

January: Found out we were pregnant. HOORAY!!

February: Bed rest for Jessie, help from both Grandmas.

March: Found out we were going to get our first GIRL!

April: Off bedrest, Paul finished 5th semester, and the boys loved hunting for eggs.

May: Paul passed the COMP, we headed to Wisconsin for the first step in our long summer trip.

June: We played in Wisconsin with Jessie's family and the Arnolds.

July: Got to Colorado to visit my Colorado family the Abbajays, then to Utah to visit Paul's extended family, then to Arizona to catch up with friends and visit more with Paul's parents and sister.

August: We drove through Texas and stopped to visit Laurel, and Paul's brother and his family, then on to Ocala Florida for a quick stop to see Phil and his family, then back to Miami, just in time to celebrate Jessie's birthday. :) Paul started his first clinical rotation, family medicine.

September: Lullaby was born, Matix turned 3, and Paul finished his family medicine rotation and started the internal medicine rotation.

October: Monsters Inc. trick-or-treating madness.

November: Paul's birthday, Thanksgiving with the Bowdens, house hunting for our next move, and Hawken broke his leg.

December: Hawken turned 2! Paul finished his internal medicine rotation, we packed and actually left EARLY to move to Georgia. Paul's parents and my dad, sister and nephew came to help us move in and unpack. Paul started his OBGYN rotation.

We have had a good, and challenging year. We are yet again so thankful and happy with everything that has happened. We love our life and our family and even (sometimes) the trials we have been given. 2011 was good to us overall and we can't wait to see what another year brings us.

backyard

This is one of my favorite features of the new house. The window over the kitchen sink that peeks into the backyard.

Once it's warm enough to play outside more regularly, I foresee many meals being made inside while watching these busy boys run around outside. So nice. Sakina is a great watch dog too. She is huge and has a loud bark when she sees anyone walking by the fence. Just in case I need to stir... :) PS, see that big hole in the back fence? That's fixed now. Paul built it back up and now it's perfect. Hooray! :)

love

Lullaby has been loving all the extra attention she is getting from her grandpa. I love these pictures. She is just in love... and I think he is too. :)

Jolie

Little miss Lullaby has chosen her favorite auntie. It's Jolie. For those other (probably jealous now) aunties out there, it's your own fault for not being the first to meet her. :) Lullaby is completely smitten with Jolie and even took a snuggle nap with her, which she had previously only reserved for her daddy. :)

Any other aunties want to come visit and try to even the score? We would love some more visitors!! :) and now we even have an extra room and lots of space!! Hooray!

pictures

We have had a few nice days to play outside (more nasty ones than nice, so we take advantage when we can) and the boys LOVE their new HUGE backyard. It is so so so so so nice to have a place for them to dig and explore and be kids all so close to home, so if Lullaby needs a nap I can put her in her bed, or if dinner needs to be stirred I can do that, WHILE they play. So nice. These are some pictures that Matix took while playing in the yard. Picture #1 = favorite cars all lined up. Picture #2 = Bradley's legs and collection of sticks in his fingers. Picture #3 = Sakina. I especially love the one of Sakina, because you can see Matix's little shadow. Cute.

There were a few more in this series, but not worth posting (Jolie's tummy, the back of Hawken's head, and lots of Matix's own finger covering most of the lens).

Bradley

The kids cousin Bradley came to visit, and we were so happy he came. He is such a sweet boy. The boys spent a lot of time outside, digging and racing cars down the slide, and a lot of time inside watching movies. I love the 3 little blonde heads. :) Cute.

Bradley is 6 and doesn't talk very much yet. He knows how to communicate, but actually verbally talking is few and far between. I had only heard him say "up" once when he was much younger, and I knew of him saying a few other words other times from my sister, mom and dad. But, while he was here I caught him on film saying "ouch". You can read it on his lips both times he says it on camera too.

You can't hear it very well on the video, but read his lips at 0:13 and you can see he DID say it! Hooray! It was the most beautiful "ouch" I have ever heard. Perfectly articulated and lovely to hear. I am a proud auntie. Good job Bradley!

bath and books

While we had so many visitors here, I actually got in on a few pictures. Hooray! :) Usually I am the one behind the camera. Anyway, while downloading the pictures, I found these. The first is of us giving the boys a bath. In our new house, we have 2 bathrooms, which is quite the luxury for us.

Lullaby is back on her schedule (finally) and goes down around 6pm while the boys are just finishing their dinners and getting ready for their bath. We bathe them and then we read books in one of my favorite new places in the house, the "book nook".

The whole upstairs of the house is one giant room, which we have turned into our playroom and the book nook is at one end. We love it. This house is amazing, and I am SO happy everything is fixed now. Paul rebuilt the fence today, the washer and dryer got fixed 2 days ago, and I was the one who figured out how to fix the dishwasher (go figure). Things are looking up. :)

Sakina is BACK!

Paul's parents brought our dog, Sakina, out to Georgia. We are all SO excited to have her back. We all love her, but I think Hawken loves her the most. Wherever she is, he is and vise versa. Thankfully Sakina is a very patient and calm dog, because this is what she has to deal with everyday, multiple times a day:

Sakina is loving her big back yard too. She isn't used to the cold(-ish) weather here yet, but will go out when we do. I have yet to train her to poop in one area of the yard only, right now she goes wherever she wants to, and with the kids outside so much, it's hard to keep up. Anyway, other than that, I am done with the complaining. :) Back to being a happy blog now, I promise. :)

This Christmas

Last night, we read the scriptures and told the story of Jesus' birth.

We snuggled up in warm Christmas jammies and we listened to Grandpa Chuck recite (as is tradition) "Twas The Night Before Christmas".

We wrapped the last of the presents and put them around the tree.

This morning we woke up EARLY, we opened presents and more presents and more presents.

We dressed in fancy Christmas clothes,

We went to church and sang Christmas songs. We came home to a delicious lunch and everyone took naps. Then we woke up and played some more.

This Christmas was a good one. The kids were completely spoiled by their grandparents. Paul and I are exhausted from all the holiday fun and the toddler crankiness that comes with that much excitement. We are so happy and feel so lucky for what we have been given. We wish you all a Merry Christmas!

alive and fairly well

Yes, we made it to Georgia. There have been a few hiccups along the way. Here they are:

• We could only drive 51 mph on the highway on our way here because of the way the trailer was weighted. Our trip went from the guesstimated 10 hours (via mapquest) to 14 hours (via stopping for hungry babies and toddlers) to the grand total of 20 hours!!! Yuck.
• When we got here, we found out that the fence was not finished, the heat was not working, the dishwasher was not installed, and the washer and dryer area was for a stacking washer and dryer not the traditional side by side kind...
• Once the dishwasher did get installed, it didn't drain.
• Unpacking boxes from Arizona that we hadn't seen in over 2 years AND boxes from Miami was pretty challenging. Not every box was labeled, and "helpful" children complicated the matter.
• Having house guests (my Dad, sister Jolie, and nephew Bradley came from Wisconsin and Paul's parents Lee and Stacy came from Arizona) in a freezing cold house, with no guest beds was... interesting. :)

It took a lot of work on everyone's part to get this place in order. Stacy ran around like the energizer bunny organizing the kitchen and all the bedrooms. Lee installed the washer and dryer with Paul. My Dad, Jolie, Paul and Lee built the playset in the yard. Jolie and my Dad cleaned up the yard of leaves and debris. I cooked the meals and played with the kids mostly. Bradley, Matix and Hawken played and watched movies and made lots of messes. Lullaby slept mostly (after hours and hours of screaming in the car). Jolie organized the playroom and ALL the toys. Stacy and Lee left on Tuesday. Jolie and Bradley left today. My Dad will stay here through Christmas. It was SOOOOooooooo wonderful having everyone here to help, unpack, install, fix and build things. We loved having everyone here and finally having a house big enough for everyone to fit! Hooray! :)

All in all though we are really very happy here. Most of the problems have been worked out already.

The title of the post is mostly because of today. Today, Jolie and Bradley left. They missed their flight so after 3 trips to the airport, they finally got to go home to Wisconsin. Then I came home (again) to a screaming baby (she is teething, of course). After calming her down, and falling asleep myself, I woke up to a crying Hawken. He was complaining of leg pain. He got his cast off a little over a week ago, and then today, he slipped and fell, and BROKE IT AGAIN. The next few days will be filled with doctor appointments, carrying around 2 babies instead of just 1, and fussiness. Oh Hawken, please please let your leg heal. :) What a day.

We plan to go see Arthur Christmas tomorrow, in hopes of making Hawken sit still. Wish us luck. Merry Christmas.

moving

We are on our way! We leave early early early tomorrow morning to head to our new house in GEORGIA!! We couldn't be more excited! Hooray! Wish us luck. :)

Thank heavens for this guy. He is a master packer and we are all packed up and ready to go (which is shocking... we are usually packing right up until the last second). Ready or not here we come!

happy

I love them I love them I love them. :) These 3 make my heart so full.

problem solving

After discovering where all the books were disappearing to, I asked Matix to get the books out from under Hawken's bed and put them away. He was in the bedroom for a while, then came out, asked for the "hooky string thing" (bungee cord), hopped on his bike and went back in. I followed him and this is what I saw. First he hooked his bike, then he hooked the bed, then he pulled.

Voila! Problem solved. What a smarty pants, huh? I love to see him figure things out like this. He could be an engineer in the making... Looking for an apprentice grandpa Lee? :)

cookies

Making cookies for daddy, just because he's a good daddy. We love him. :) and the boys loved taste testing the cookies before daddy got home.

free play set!

For those of you who don't know, we're poor. :) We live on student loans but still want to be able to provide a fun experience for our kids... This can be tricky to do, but with a little work, we have found some great deals. Like this! Paul found this guy on craigslist who was giving away the play set in his backyard. His kids are too big for it now, and he was giving it away for free to whomever wanted to haul it away. That's us! Paul drove to his house, helped dismantle it, strapped it to the roof of our car, and drove it home.

We are sooooo excited to be moving into a house with a YARD so that we can have a play set for the boys! So fun! Thank you to this nice man for giving this away, instead of selling it. He just made 2 little boys SO happy! :) The silly part is, it is still on top of our car. We don't get the trailer until Wednesday, which is when we can pack it. :)

sleeping in the car

Do they look like little grumpy old men or what? :)

sleep

This is how the princess sleeps. Still swaddled, although she usually wiggles her hands free, but then fusses unless she is wrapped up tight again. Paci to fall asleep, but spits it out later on. Always on her side, and now that she is so rolly we put blankets in front and behind her to prop her there, which she likes. She likes Great Grandma Evie's blanket (thank you Grandma!) in front, she nuzzles her face on the soft fabric, and Grandma Kim's blanket (thanks Mom!) behind her (it stays put better). She won't sleep on just a sheet either. She prefers to sleep on Liz's blanket (thanks again Liz!). Like I said, she is quite the princess. :)

first trip to the dentist!

On Thursday the boys had their FIRST ever dentist appointments! We read a book about going to the dentist and the boys, after being reassured there were going to be NO SHOTS, were pretty excited about it. I was... hopeful. :) Hawken was first, but this was his reaction to it. Not a fan.

Hawken hid like this for a minute and then we decided Matix should probably go first instead. Here was Matix at first... brave? Nope, he's a faker. Right after this picture was taken, he sobbed.

And by sobbed, I mean screaming, crying, hysterical sobbing. I held his hands, and tried to comfort him, but getting his teeth brushed was way too scary for him. See the tear stained cheeks? This was at the beginning of the brushing. By the end I had to hold his legs down so he wouldn't kick the dentist, yikes!

Hawken however, decided that he actually liked getting his teeth brushed and his biggest problem was that he kept trying to lick the tooth paste off his teeth while she was cleaning them. :) I love the dirty little cast in the picture.

Both boys got stickers, (even though Matix was horrible), and a few little toys.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE these dentists. They made the whole experience so much better than it could have been. They showed the boys each of the tools before they used them, and the boys could touch them and ask what they were for. Really, it was a good experience. Matix continued to pout on the way home, and Hawken was all smiles, as usual.

Both boys were congratulated on their good tooth brushing skills and there were no cavities. Hooray! Hawken though has to go in again on Monday because he has very weak enamel on the top front two teeth, the dentist says it's hereditary and not the cause of poor eating or brushing (phew!). He is going to get them drilled smooth and a little layer of something... cement? put over them to make them stronger. He has to get laughing gas for this, so we will see how that goes. He is already excited to go back.

Hawk

The first few days in his new cast, Hawken refused to walk, or crawl, or move around very much at all. I think the break was still pretty painful. Thank heavens for Sarge and all the loves he gave my lazy baby.

Now, however, is a different story. He is wild and tries to run. Today Hawken figured out how to JUMP with his cast on. Great. He is such an active boy, I was really hoping the cast would slow him down a bit, at least long enough for him to heal, but now I am worried he is going to break something else in the meantime... Yikes.

new love

Lullaby's new favorite thing:

She would sit in this little chair and bat at the little toys all day if she could. She giggles and laughs and smiles forever in this seat. She is such a good baby. Really. I can't say it enough, she is perfect.

More of Sarge

Matix finally found a dog busier than he is! Oh, Sarge, I miss how you would wear out our boys! :)

Even Hawken got tired watching Sarge run around his stroller.

These boys have been loving this sand box area in our complex. I think maybe when we get to Georgia, we might make one there. They spend so much time digging.

Sarge likes digging too. :) Matix and Hawken thought that was the FUNNIEST thing ever. They laughed so hard we had to literally run in before Hawken peed his pants.

Lullaby, of course was content to watch all the action from the stroller, she is such a good baby.