Kiss That Face

One look at him and you can't help, but want to kiss that face! I just have to say that I love this child messy or clean. Either way he is one happy kid! Minus the few complaints I get when I walk by him and don't give him any attention, he is truly a very happy baby. 

He thoroughly enjoyed his black beans the other night, duly noted in the lovely mess on his cute little face. He equally loves the bath every night. He is learning that we do not stand up in the tub. It is so cute when he stands up and I tell him to sit down; he looks at me with those big blue eyes and plops his little bottom down. We do that about 5-30 times a night. Andrew is even getting pretty good at reminding Carter to "sit down". What a nice big brother. Oh how I love this almost one year old!!!

Gimpy

Bryan had knee surgery on Thursday of last week. We have been anticipating this for a while and are glad this part is over. Apparently he has arthritis in his knee. We were preparing for the worst, but the doc seems to think he was able to do enough to help with the pain and swelling Bry gets with physical activity. Initially we thought he would need another surgery with a year of rehab, but hopefully that is not the case anymore. We are not out of the dark yet, but things are looking up. Hopefully he will be able to apply for the FBI sooner than later.

He was so funny coming out of the anesthesia (that was the part he was most worried about). He kept saying how tired he was and kept wanting to go to sleep. And let me tell you - I have no idea what combination of meds he was on that day, but it turned him into Mr. Sensitivity and I loved it! At home he kept calling me over because he just needed a kiss and he would tell me how much he appreciates all I do and that he doesn't appreciate me enough. He did this all evening while laying on the couch. It was pretty cute. I may slip him a pain pill or two the next time he is grumpy! *smile*

He is recovering well these days and is able to get around pretty well. The day after surgery was rough. Apparently his stomach does not do well with Vicodin. After many side-of-the-road stops on the way to physical therapy he decided to not take the meds anymore and has done pretty good since.

I am glad he is doing well and is starting to feel better. I hate it when he is not comfortable. I worry...it is in my nature I guess. Hopefully we won't have any more knee surgeries in the near future!

Forever Is A Long Time

Forever is a long time....and I am SO glad it is!

 

 

On Arpil 26th we celebrated the one year mark since we were able to seal our sweet Andrew to our family for time and all eternity. We had a wonderful day and started some traditions that I know we will continue to cherish doing through the years. We made a trip to the temple in the morning before church to take pictures. We talked to Andrew about what happened on that special day one year ago and how happy we are that he is with our family forever and ever. 

We took shifts at church since Carter was still recovering from his sickness, but Andrew's teachers said this was one of his best days at church. He sat in his chair all by himself longer than he ever has. Maybe we need to go the temple before church every Sunday - or maybe just let him run around outside for a little while to get some wiggles out. 

That evening, after naps and dinner, we headed to my parent's house to have cake together. I made an all white cake, including an actual white cake, white pudding filling, white frosting, and white whipping cream decorations with write writing that said "Together Forever". I really like the tradition of a white cake. We had vanilla ice cream and just enjoyed being together. I just wish Andrew liked cake a little more. Silly little boy!

Yes, Lainy is licking her plate! I do have to say that an all white cake is mighty tastey!

What a wonderful day. It was beautiful weather and it was so nice to spend time as a family and reflect on what it means to be together forever. I am so thankful for my family and the blessing it is to know that we will be together to eternity. 

He's Baaaaack!

Teething + sore throat + not eating normal meals + lots of nursing + not good sleeping + grumpiness + runny nose + cough = a very long week!

That pretty much sums up Carter past 8 days. I am SOOO glad he started feeling better and eating normal food again yesterday. He cut his 8th tooth on the 24th and by far this was the hardest tooth for him. On top of that he had a very sore throat and then was slammed with a cold. He ran a fever all last weak and it peaked at a whopping 103° on Thursday night. After a lot of rocking, holding, and doses of Tylenol he survived and is now the proud owner of eight shiny white teeth! He is back to eating, sleeping, playing, and being his cute self! Hallelujah!

I also got my camera back yesterday - hooray! I am SO glad to have it back so I can take lots of pictures of my cute family. 

And last....sadly, I am back to posting with blogger. So long Live Writer - it was good while it lasted, but alas we cannot figure out a way to make the pictures import right for the blurb book. I may try and call customer service with Blurb and see if there is anything I can do, but for now I have to return to the very slow uploading of pictures and lack of cool formats with blogger. Oh well. 

A Hiking We Will Go

We decided to go on a family hiking trip on Saturday before it gets too hot here. We picked a trail that sounded family friendly and headed out around 7:30….well, that was the plan we actually didn’t arrive and start hiking until around 8:45. Long story short – it was quite an adventure! I may have been family friendly for a family of grown adults, but not of one including a baby, one that doesn’t walk so well, a 2 year old, and a little girl. It was about a 4 mile hike round trip and now that it is done and over with I can say it was pretty fun and it really was not that bad! I don’t think we will be doing any more hikes like this until our children are a little more independent with their mobility, but still it made for some great memories.

Yes, we even tried to stick Andrew in the infant Snugli – he was only 3 lbs over the weight limit…..it didn’t last very long, but it sure was funny to see him in there!

 

We took turns carrying Andrew. Yes, Bryan had Carter on his back and Andrew in his arms for part of the way. What a dad…what a man! I carried Andrew a bit as well and my mom carried him quite a bit. Good think the little stinker doesn’t weigh very much!

 

Jayce was a trooper and hiked the whole way. He was full of energy and had a blast! The perfect age for hiking!

We ate lunch at the top of the trail in a nice, big, cool, shaded cave. Andrew kept pretending he was a bear. It was pretty cute!

On the way back down I had Carter on my back and he zonked out. Poor baby was so tired. I was so careful to keep him coated in sun screen except I remember to re apply it to his arms and legs, but failed to remember his sweet little face. While sleeping he got a little burnt on his cheek and the side of his nose. Poor baby!

This hike made me realize how out of shape I am – whew was I sore the next day….well, to be honest with you, I was sore for the next couple of days – my ankles were even sore! Time to get on that treadmill!!!

Easter Festivities

Well, better late than never. Due to the lack of camera I had to collect all my Easter pictures from various locations! I had high hopes to do quite a few Easter crafts and even had all the supplies, but alas time got away from me and we only did a couple. There is always next year, right?!

We made a papier-mâché egg. This was quite a time consuming activity and Andrew only last through the first layer of tissue paper and I finished later on. He was not a fan of the gooey and messiness of the activity either. The end product was pretty fun though!

We colored eggs with Shell and Rich. It was a bit last minute and kinda late at night, but hey – at least we were able to do it. I put Bry in charge of mixing the colors and we ended up with the wrong colors in the wrong cups, but that’s okay! Andrew was really into dipping the eggs while Carter was being his usual “Carter Monster” self when it comes to activities like this.

 

We started a family tradition of doing the commercialized Easter activities the Saturday before Easter Sunday. I am really beginning to like this tradition! There is no stress before church, no sugar hyper children during church, and we are able to enjoy and focus on Christ on the Sabbath. I think we will add things to this Saturday of festivities as time goes one, such as planting flowers to focus on new life. Andrew was really excited to find all the eggs the Easter bunny hid around the house. That silly bunny left foot prints all over as well. Who does he think he is jumping on the furniture?! There was no hesitation in getting into the chocolate….or “coclate” as Drewbie calls it. The child loves his chocolate!

We had Sunday dinner with my family on Saturday so that my dad could be there since he had to head back to Cali on Sunday. It was a wonderful meal of ham, creamed corn, rolls, jello, salad, deviled eggs (of which I did not partake since they were made with miracle whip YUCK!), and a beautiful fruit salad! I love holiday meals – they are divine!!! I am glad we do not cook like that year round though or else I would be quite round!

We planned to have all the Baker brothers and their families over for Easter dessert on Sunday evening, but plans changed and we were excited to have just Brig and his family over. The kiddos has a blast playing and we did an Easter egg hunt in the backyard with SO many eggs. Most egg hunts were cancelled on Saturday due to to the poor weather.

I made these festive Easter sugar cookies – a bit of work, but fun!

It was a wonderful Easter. I am so grateful for this time of year to stop and reflect on our Savior and His love and sacrifice for us. I am so grateful for the gift of eternal life and that I can be with my family forever.

Disclaimer

There is a reason for the lack of new posts on this Baker Blog. My camera has been sick. For some reason the lens was making a clicking sound and it was having trouble focusing. Luckily there is a place here locally I could take it to have it fixed while it is covered under the warranty still. I am happy to say it is fixed and now I just need to go pick it up yay! I did borrow my mom’s camera and have gotten pictures from her and Shelley’s camera so at least I have some pictures of the past couple weeks!

Second, I have been a blurbing machine. I have been working on compiling and organizing my first blurb book of the year 2008. WOW – it is quite a job!! It started off as well over 400 pages and that did not include all the posts!! I am hoping to be done soon, but have run across a little problem with the pictures and the posts I used Windows Live Writer for. All the posts done with Live Writer have really low quality pictures, so I have to go back in my pictures on my computer and re-import then again. This is making things very slow going!! Slowly, but surely it will get done and I am so excited about it!!! **If anyone has any input on resolving this little picture issue with live writer please let me know!**

So……nothing super duper exciting has been going on – I guess I am just guilty of putting blogging on the back burner due to lack of a camera, making a blurb book, and finding many other things to keep me busy!

Do the Drew

What has my Drewbie been up to lately? Wouldn’t you just love to know?! Here are a few little snippets of the life of Andrew and his daily happenings!

Hide and seek is a new favorite. I hide…he comes to find me…I scare him….he screams and laughs….he wants to hide and of course he hides in the same place he just found me! I love games with a three year old.

Andrew bit me the other night when I was putting him to bed. I always since to him and end with the same song and he knows it is kiss and then bed. Well, he must have been in a trance chewing on his monkey because when I was done singing he looked up to kiss me and bit my lip!! I startled me, which in turn startled him. It then took another five minutes to get him calmed down. It was pretty funny!

He loves when I “tickle” his back, arms, and legs when singing him to sleep. I just run my hands down his back, neck, legs, etc…It is more of a sensory therapy thing, but he likes it and thinks it is fun, but I can tell it really relaxes him as well. I am coming to really love and cherish the little moments we have together one on one at night before bed.

Last week he had tubes put in his ears because of his chronic ear infections. The put some good smelly stuff inside the little mask he had to wear to put him to sleep….and of course only my son said “ICK” when he smelled the cotton candy flavor they put in there. Nice!

He is on this kitty and doggie kick these days. He loves to get down on all floors and meow and bark the day away. He follows me around doing this waiting for me to tell him what a cute kitty or doggie he is. I love the way his imagination is developing these days. He is getting to be so big!

His favorite foods these days are chips, pudding, ice cream (depending on the day), chocolate, and shakes. Sounds healthy doesn’t it?! Anything to get some calories in the little man. We do make his pudding with cream or half and half….and he will eat toast, bread (this was a big deal!), cheese cubes, blueberries, and hashbrowns. We have gotten creative on introducing new foods and helping him tolerate them better and he is doing great! It is amazing what a little one on one time and fun and games while eating can do for him.

As I say often, time goes by too quickly. I am just enjoying my Drew each and every day (at least I try to). He is one special kiddo and I am so grateful to be his mommy.

Happy Birthday Mother Dear

This little tribute to my dear mother is about a week overdue….it has been sitting in my “drafts” folder waiting for me to finish it with just the right words. It is hard for me to put to words the admiration, inspiration, and love I have for my mom. I can only strive to one day be a women of her caliber.  In short, she is amazing. She has taught me so much and continues to teach me everyday.

I used Andrew’s and Carter’s handprints to make this bouquet of flowers for my mom on her birthday. Little hands make beautiful flowers!

Happy Birthday Mom!

The Ultimate Easter Cuteness

The cuteness of these boys is unmistakably, undeniably, almost too much for their own good!

I wish I could have gotten more pictures, but with church at 11:30 and getting Carter’s morning nap in, as well as breakfast and lunch for Drew, somehow my morning slips away and we are rushing out the door. Bry was so sweet to make sure I got some pictures since he knew how important it was to me…and I mean really, how could you NOT want to get pictures of these adorable children!

 

 

  

Is it really possible to have children this cute? I can hardly believe it myself. We surely have been so blessed to have such amazing little boys!!!! 

 

 

Happy Easter 2009!!!