Merry Christmas!

Kylie did something she never has done before this week!  She fell asleep on the couch!  As mentioned before, she is still debating whether or not she needs naps, and on Sunday last week she decided she did not need a nap, settled down to watch a show on my phone, and then fell fast asleep.  It was the cutest thing!  Kylie is not one to fall asleep just anywhere.  Usually she just sleeps in her crib, so I thought it was miracle!

We've had some nice weather down here, so I have started introducing walks to Hayden.  Luckily he is at the age where he will just fall asleep while in the stroller, and Kylie has been really good about walking beside me or at least staying close!  The first time I got out the stroller, though, Kylie thought it was for her and climbed inside.  Sadly, I wasn't paying close attention, so while I was getting Hayden ready, Kylie climbed to the very top of the stroller, and tipped it over.  She fell smack onto the tile with her head and it was the saddest thing!  Immediately there was the hugest goose egg on her forehead... so swollen it stuck out as far as her nose!  I freaked out a little hoping she didn't have a concussion or anything, but after a good cry Kylie acted as normal and still wanted to go for our walk.  The poor thing had a huge bruise on her forehead this whole past week!  Luckily it is healing well and no real damage was done!

We spent Christmas at home this year, our first time ever doing that!  I was excited to do Christmas for Kylie and Hayden and start some traditions.  Christmas Eve we went to the St. George temple to see the lights.  It isn't as outstanding as the Temple Square lights, but still very pretty.  Kylie loved running around and touching all the lights.

Once Kylie went to bed Brandon and I had fun setting up Christmas.  I had just barely managed to wrap all the presents the day before, so our big project was just setting up Kylie's Santa present:  a mini tramp!  It took way more time and muscle that we expected...

Christmas morning dawned and of course Kylie had no idea what was going on.  She wasn't fazed at all when she went downstairs and saw her new tramp or all the presents under the tree.  She just went straight to her Christmas cereal and started chowing down!

Eventually we got her to open her stocking, which was probably a bad idea, because then she wanted to eat the candy that was in there and spent practically the rest of the time with a fistful of candy that she was determined to eat while opening presents.  It may be a holiday... but we did not let her eat any candy until after lunch.  Kylie also had to pick all the candy canes off the tree before she decided it was time to open presents.  And she still wasn't interested in her tramp...

Finally we got to presents and basically she wanted to play with every present when she opened it (besides clothes), which I was fine with.  No need to rush through all the presents at once!  Her favorite toy of the morning turned out to be a tea set, which surprised me.  She seemed to know exactly what it was for and was so excited for it as soon as the wrapping paper came off.  That made me happy because I was afraid it would be a 'whatever' present that she wouldn't care much for.  So that morning we had a lot of tea parties!

Another toy Kylie got that she had a lot of fun with was her little puppy.  It barks and walks; she really  has fun following it around and making it bark at Brandon and me.

Eventually Kylie tried out her tramp and it is now one of her favorite things to do.  It is perfect for her because we have been having trouble with her jumping all over the couch, so this gives her her own spot to jump without getting in trouble.  We also have the love sac right next to it, so she likes to jump from the tramp to the love sac constantly.

Hayden slept through the whole morning, so he didn't get to see all his awesome presents (toys and clothes that he won't even use for 3 to 6 months...).

That day we also got to Skype with both Aunt Kendra in Italy and Uncle Dallan in California.  It was fun to talk to them and show them their new nephew!

On Friday we got a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Hansen and Uncle Tommy.  Kylie was so ecstatic to have some new people to play with and showed them all her  new toys.  We had a little Christmas with them and the kids got some cute clothes and Kylie got some new bath toys that she had tons of fun with.

We had a nice visit with them over the weekend, and Grandpa Pete and Brandon got a picture of Hayden they've apparently been wanting to do for a bit.  They kinda recreated The Lion King with Hayden over at Pioneer Park.  It turned out really good!

This week Hayden is 4 weeks old!  He is starting to stay awake longer and is slowly warming up to his pacifier in times of desperate need.  Kylie, on the other hand, has spent all week without a pacifier!!  Yay!!

Aunt Chantel's Wedding

Kylie is growing up on us!  This week she decided to completely ditch naps.  Sad day for me!  So instead she is getting some 'quiet time' where she plays in her crib for a bit so I can have a break.  Unfortunately, Hayden seems to know whenever I want to do something so he wakes up and demands attention.  With how much a baby sleeps you would think I would be able to get something done, but no!  Not with two kids demanding your attention all day long!

Hayden really likes to be held, especially while sleeping, so we decided to get him his Christmas gift early:  a swing!  He likes it, if he is already asleep.  If he is awake he won't stay in there too long.

This week Aunt Chantel got married!!  I wasn't planning on going, because of young infant and snow and flu/cold season, but somehow Brandon coerced me to come along with him, so Hayden got his first family trip!  He did great on the car ride up (slept the whole time), and even Kylie got in a short nap before she started her movie.

We arrived up north just in time to get everyone dressed and then rush to Aunt Chantel's wedding.  We all had a great time visiting with family and seeing beautiful Chantel and her new hubby McKay, but I think Kylie had the best time.  She was so cute in her new dress from Grandma Shari that she could get away with practically anything that night.  They had a little photo booth set up, and Kylie would pop in on everyone and ruin pictures.  In fact, random people would say goodbye to Kylie, calling her the little "photo bomber", so I guess most people weren't too upset.  Grandpa Pete was also there doing the pictures so we got to visit with him as well!!  And Great-Grandma Naylor had a fun time holding Hayden.

Hayden finally got to meet Grandpa Gary!  And Uncle Jordan!

We also did our Christmas with Brandon's family.  They spoiled us like they do every year!  Kylie really loves her new PJ's and her princess castle with horses that 'clip clop' down the ramps.

For the wedding, Aunt Chantel had life-size cutouts of Uncle Dallan and Aunt Kendra, since they are on their missions and couldn't attend.  Kylie would laugh at the Uncle Dallan cutout, but I caught her having a whole conversation with the Aunt Kendra cutout and then waving goodbye to her.  It was the cutest thing.

On Thursday we spent the afternoon over at my family's house.  Kylie had fun with Grandma Tess and Hayden just ate and slept... typical.  Grandma Tess made the cutest hat for Hayden, a little Santa hat with an attached beard!  He keeps trying to eat the beard, but he is super adorable in it!  Grandpa Pete got some cute photos of it.

On Friday Grandma Shari finally got her Hayden time in before we had to leave that afternoon.  Once again Hayden slept the entire way, and Kylie was okay until about the last hour when she was overly tired from the past few days and sick of being in the car.  Luckily she finally went to sleep, but lots of crying was involved.  

Now we are back home and back to our schedules!  Or lack of them, seeing as Kylie's ditching naps and Hayden doesn't really have a schedule.

Trimming the Tree

It is certainly a challenge learning to balance yourself between two kids!  The past two weeks have been hard, but rewarding as well.  First off, we got snow.  A ton of snow.  In fact, it still hasn't melted and it's been nearly two weeks since the first storm.  That's right, the FIRST storm.  And that snow didn't melt before we got hit with the next storm which basically put St. George in a panic.  Church was cancelled, nobody went out of their homes, and those that did slid around on all the snow and ice outside.  Which is still outside, by the way, a week later...  There are only two snow plows in our whole county, so all the streets are ice now...

But the good news is that Kylie got to play in the snow!  She just loves it and will let herself go numb with cold before coming inside.

Brandon even fashioned a sled for Kylie out of her kiddie pool.  He pulled her all over the neighborhood in it, and when I came outside to get it on video, she was done.  Go figure.

We also got Christmas set up in our house this past week.  Not as set up as I'd like, seeing as Kylie is a destructive two-year-old.  So our tree only has some tinsel and a star.  I tried putting a few ornaments on, but Kylie would of course take them off and chew on them and chuck them around the room.  But she had fun helping me decorate the tree!  She is also in this mode where she will 'pose' for the camera, each pose being sillier than the last...

Hayden loves our tree as well.  He will sit and stare at the lights for a bit.

The 'newness' of Hayden has worn off a bit now.  Kylie isn't as absorbed with him and loving on him anymore.  She does get concerned when he cries, and now instead of a hundred pictures of the carpet on my phone, she will take a hundred pictures of Hayden.  Which I don't mind in the least!  It's cute because she likes to play with the color tones when she takes pictures.

Hayden has been working out his neck muscles!  He always likes to try and hold up his head when we hold him, and Brandon likes to do tummy time with him, though he isn't as eager to work his muscles in that position.  It also requires Brandon to protect him from Kylie...

Hayden also had his first bath!  He is not a fan.

Something new that Kylie did this week:  she dressed herself!  I had a different outfit all picked out for her, but she decided that she wanted to wear this dress instead.  I was skeptical at first, thinking there was no way she could put it on by herself, but she did!!  Sadly, it isn't summer anymore, so I did have to add a few layers underneath it, but she was super excited that she put it on by herself.

I find it funny that by the time Kylie was two weeks old I had already taken hundreds of pictures of her, but I have maybe 30 of Hayden in the first two weeks (not counting the ones Kylie took).  He is still super cute and I love looking at him, but now I am just super busy with him and Kylie that I can't sit and take pictures of him all the time!  But I do manage to get a few cute ones!

He likes to sleep a lot.  Which is nice.  Although, lately he has decided to be awake for all of Kylie's nap, so I haven't had a chance to sleep at all during the day.  Too bad for me, but at least both of the kids sleep in until past 9 every morning!  

Hayden's First Photo Shoot

On Sunday, the day after Hayden was born, Grandpa Pete did a photo shoot with Hayden.  Hayden actually behaved well and Grandpa Pete got a ton of cute shots!

Grandpa Pete also got pictures of everyone who came to visit us this past Thanksgiving week.  

Grandpa Pete and Grandma Tess 

Grandma Shari

Aunt Chantel

Aunt Kelsey

While Hayden was great for pictures, Kylie wasn't.  She was being all goofy and trying to hide her face every time we tried to get a family picture.

Sadly, everyone had to leave early Sunday afternoon, so Brandon and I quickly started learning how to balance out our new family with no help (especially in the case of Kylie).  It seems that suddenly Kylie's energy is way too much for us to handle and we are already worn out with a new baby and playing hosts for a week.  But that is the next big step:  figuring out our new family dynamics!