Last Night

My handsome boys,

Last night you wore collared shirts to a beautiful backyard wedding. You looked so grown up. A lot of the extended family was there. They were so excited to meet you. Lots of hugs and laughter. And plenty of other babies to meet. Your dad is working really long days lately. He wakes up to leave for the day when you're awake for your middle of the night feeding. The past two nights I've been just getting you back to bed when he is heading out the door. It's nice to get to pray with him before he goes, though. I love your dad so much. He works so hard for us. He comes home around dinner time and always can't wait to see you. He was spoiled last week when he didn't have a job and got to spend all day with you. You're the first people he wants to see when he walks through the door. Last night after the wedding, we had a few errands to run. You boys slept in the car with dad. He was exhausted, and you were up past your bedtime. When we got home from our chaotic evening, I went to the kitchen to pack your dad's lunch for work the next day and he took you upstairs to get you into jammies and tucked into bed. He fell asleep before I came upstairs, but he left the light on for me.

When I woke up to feed you before I went to bed, you didn't even open your eyes. You were both so tired. Just like dad. And when I burped you, your hair smelled like your dad's cologne. So I knew he had cuddled you in his arms for a while before putting you down. He lives for that time with you. And I couldn't put you down. I am so in love with you boys. Once you were snuggled up together in your crib for the night, I sat on the bed in the quiet lamplight and listened to the deep breaths and occasional sigh from the three loves of my life.

I've caught myself worrying lately that your little lives have been too jam packed full of busy. That we don't have enough peace. That the peace should be the constant instead of the chaos. Life's funny like that sometimes. But what I forget is that all that busy makes the peace more peaceful.

I don't think our lives are going to slow down anytime soon, but I'm so grateful for the quiet that happens every once in a while. And a life without busy sure is boring.

I still can't believe I get to be your mom. That you are mine. What a sweet thing to realize over and over again.

I love you,

Mom

Tulips

Saturday we slept in and Lillie had a pretty high fever. Lindsay didn't trust my new fangled thermometer I got at one of my baby showers and wouldn't believe that Lillie really had a fever of 103. Lindsay tends to do that with illness though. Doesn't believe it exists. So, we went around the room taking everyone else's temperatures and then back to Lillie. Most reads were 98.4 - 99.1. Lillie's consistently read 103-104, so we decided the thermometer worked and Lillie did, indeed, have a fever. So they took her upstairs for a cold bath. And her fever broke. And she started acting more Lillie-like. Meaning her energy level shot through the roof, right where it belongs. And so, we packed up and went to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point.

 

This was the day I discovered that fantastic hat. And the first day the boys wore shoes. We were on cuteness overload.

The Duck Pond

When we started thinking about moving to Arizona, my sister and her family who live in Denver decided to come out for the weekend to meet the boys. We grabbed food for a picnic (firehouse subs...if you've never been you really should go!) and brought bread to feed the ducks at the pond near BYU campus. Lillie is just over 2 years old now and a total hoot to watch. Every time she threw a piece of bread into the water she said "there you go duckie!" Lindsay and Mackay sure have a lot of energy to keep up with her and Jessica proved once again that she will forever be the best aunt. Lillie and my boys sure love her.

Little Men

{For the next little while, I'm going to be blogging a little bit of catch up posts. More for me and my mom and sisters than anything else. But I thought I wouldn't deprive you all of the pictures.}

When the boys turned six weeks old, we moved them out of our bedroom closet and into their big crib in their very own nursery. About a week later, we were packing up to move to Arizona. If it wasn't heart wrenching enough to come upstairs one day to find their pack and play taken down, packing up their nursery was a whole new ball game. It broke my heart to take down the prints, cribs, and arrivals clocks. All that planning put away.

Cameron let me pack up the biggest poster to hang up here in Arizona. We brought their crib instead of just the pack and play. And for the next three days, I got to have my boys sleep in the pack and play right next to me while we camped as a family in our half packed up house in the living room.

Pretty sweet to let them be little for a couple more nights.

It was good for my heart.

Pool Time!

When I fall behind when I'm writing in my journal, I have a really hard time "catching up." The entire task overwhelms me so much that I stop writing altogether. To combat that terrible overwhelming feeling, I don't hold myself accountable for everything I missed. I pick up where I am and if I feel like going back, I can. So, eventually I will post things about the move and our last few weeks in Utah, but for now here are some pictures of our morning.

Cameron came home from a run. I was finishing up feeding the boys and we decided to take them for their first swim. We couldn't find swimsuits or even swim diapers in a size that would fit the boys, so I put them in some cloth diaper covers I made, without the absorbent cloth and out we went.

(Nash Blue, Gray Yellow)

 

Arizona, Here We Come!

Every now and again, Cameron and I get stuck in a

Fresh

I've been meaning to post these for a while now. Emilee came to visit us in the hospital the morning after the boys were born. I was so hopped up on meds that I wasn't able to be a part of this shoot (still confined to my bed...stupid catheter), but she gave me these precious pictures to remember my boys on that first day of their little lives. I don't remember much of this day besides just struggling to be present, but I am so grateful to have these. Grateful she could give me back that day, before the feeding tubes and monitors happened.

So thanks, Em. I owe you big time.