Hayden is 4 Months!

This week was a lot better than last week.  No, Hayden hasn't popped any teeth yet, and yes, Kylie throws major tantrums when I change her out of her PJs, but over all I was able to handle it better.

The weather is still amazing down here and we are just loving our walks.  Hayden looks pretty cute in his oversize cap, and Kylie is still collecting everything from rocks to pinecones.

Hayden is at the stage where he makes playing look like real work.  He is always reaching for things, always wants something in his hands, and is always playful.  This week we've started playing the piano together (all three of us), and he even likes to get in on Kylie's computer time.

Here is his reaching face.  It is soooo serious!

This week I played catch-up on Hayden picture-taking.  I have hundreds of baby Kylie pictures and not quite so many of Hayden, but this week he was just so cute I couldn't help it!  Plus Kylie doesn't stand still long enough for me to take any pictures of her anymore.  Hayden is such a happy kid that it is too easy to take pictures of him!  Like when he gets out of his bath (or even during his bath), he is so happy and excited.

Friday night we decided to all go swimming!  It was Hayden's first time ever going swimming and it was lots of fun to take him.  At first he was unsure at being wet in a huge, echoey place but once he was in for a while he really enjoyed it.  Kylie is so confident in the water that we can't even keep up with her anymore.  I think we need to get her into some 'Mommy and Me' swim classes this summer.

Saturday we left Kylie with a sitter while Brandon, Hayden and I ran some errands.  We are going mattress shopping- we are looking for a new bed for Kylie!  Hayden is growing out of the cradle and needs the crib now, so it's time to get Kylie a big girl bed!  We didn't get her one this time, but we scouted around to see what prices were.  While out we did a small Costco trip, and Hayden got to try riding in the cart for the first time!  He can't really sit up by himself yet, but when he is strapped in he can keep his balance.

Today Hayden turned four months old!!  TIme is going by quick!

Stimulation!

This week has been a hard one on all of us.  Brandon worked late almost every night, Kylie was, as usual, the Tantrum Queen, Hayden hardly ever let me put him down, and I was tired of not being able to do a single thing for me.  Sooo... yeah.  Total fun at our house this past week.

Amidst all these grey clouds, though, we still had an enjoyable time.  We've been taking walks every day (sometimes more), and playing outside every afternoon.  Kylie hardly ever lets me put her jacket on her anymore (not that she really needs it), and all the scrapes and bruises on her legs are evidence that shorts season has arrived.  Some new little boys moved in across the street, so Kylie just has a blast playing outside with them.

Hayden has has a tough week.  I keep thinking he is teething, what with all the excessive drooling, crying, nursing, and chewing on everything.  But nothing has broken through yet!  How long does it take to cut a first tooth?  'Cause if this isn't teething and I have to go through all of this again for a tooth I may just explode.

He has, in the rare moments he lets me put him down, started being more mobile.  Earlier this week while on his stomach he started to push his bum up in the air!  And just Saturday evening he started completely rolling over, back to front to back!  Hurrahs!

Hayden is constantly wanting to play with something now.  He is always reaching for my phone, remotes, papers, my plate, and anything else in his line of sight.  So we try to make sure he always has a toy to play with.  Kylie isn't too fond of this.  All of Hayden's toys, which she thinks are hers, are now being played with without her permission.  So sometimes it is a fight to let Hayden keep his own toy.  Thankfully she doesn't know the word 'mine' yet, but she definitely has the general idea.  We've been teaching her that if she wants something someone else has to trade it.  So she will bring Hayden a different stuffed animal or toy so she can have the one he is playing with.  She has found this also works with her friends:  if she lets her friend ride her bike, then she can walk her dog!  We just have to go through a little tantrum first of seeing her toy being played with.

Time Change Blues

The kids still haven't accustomed themselves to the time change yet.  This past week, while I have enjoyed sleeping in until 8 or 8.30, Hayden has been going to bed after 10 and Kylie has been falling asleep near midnight.  Not very fun.  Hayden is slowly getting back to a normal schedule, but, alas, I have come to the conclusion with Kylie that I need to cut out her nap.  NOoOOoo!  That nap helps keep my sanity in the middle of the day, but she has been sleeping about an hour for her nap, and Hayden is awake that whole time anyway, so I may as well sacrifice my afternoon so that I can at least have my night.  We have only been on this schedule for two days, but so far she has been good all day and going to bed at a decent hour.

Hayden is coming to love playing with toys.  He is always reaching for things, and now when he gets ahold of them they are finally making it to his mouth.  One thing he really enjoyed playing with was the grocery ads.  He would have so much fun playing with the paper while I made my grocery list.  He is also starting to laugh a lot more as well.  He has been laughing for weeks, but now it is easier to get him to do it.

Kylie has been watching a lot of Tangled lately, and she also found her little birthday crown that was tucked away.  So now whenever she watches it she wears it and she also likes to act out the scene where Rapunzel has the crown for the first time (wearing it on her arm, looking through it... etc...)  It is pretty cute.

On Wednesday Aunt Kelsey came through on her way back from California.  Of course Kylie was all over her the whole time, but she would never sit still long enough for a picture.  Hayden did though!

Aunt Chantel and Uncle McKay also stopped in for Thursday night.  They came in way late, though, and left early Friday morning.  Kylie was so sad to see them go.  She always cries whenever someone who was visiting leaves.  She really enjoys playing with people.

Just wait, Kylie!  Soon enough you will have a little shadow that will want to play with you all the time!

(Oh, and Kylie has also been refusing to wear pants this week.  I don't know why, but maybe I should take this as an opportunity to try potty training again... maybe...)

Family Fun Weekend!

Friday afternoon we commenced on the long journey up north to see family.  Luckily both kids had naps along the way.  We stopped in Meadow to feed Hayden, and we let Kylie roam freely around the car, and when we were done she did not want to be back in her carseat.  In fact, she cried/whined the whole way from Meadow to Nephi.  That is essentially half the trip.  Not enjoyable.

Friday night we spent with Brandon's family.  Kylie was super excited to play with Grandma Shari, and one of the first things she did was go and raid her jewelry.

It was a long night and hard to put the kiddos to bed, so thankfully they both slept in Saturday morning.  That morning we went to play at the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point.  I worked there for a year and a half, so I was excited to take the kids for the first time.  Kylie just loved the first area, which is an activity lab and very hands-on.  She had fun making things fly and trying out all the other activities there.

When we go to the actual museum Brandon started the whole thing off on the wrong foot by badly scaring Kylie.  After that she would freak out about nearly everything, especially if it was Brandon showing it to her.  We got her to touch a few fossils, though, and to go in the dark cave with Brandon.

Something I thought she would love is the Erosion Table in the middle of the museum, where you can play with water and sand.  Sadly, though, Brandon was the one to introduce it to her so she was terrified and wouldn't even consider doing anything with it.  Luckily she had lots of fun at the sand quarry at the end, so at least she played somewhere in the museum.

Hayden was a good little guy and just chilled in the stroller.  Grandpa Gary held him the second half of the museum.

After lunch Kylie was in desperate need of a nap, but she didn't end up taking one until about 4 that afternoon, so we were late in our transition over to my family's house.

Once again Kylie was super excited to play with Grandma Tess and Grandpa Pete.  She is always happy to have new people to play with.  My parents were awesome and watched the kiddos while Brandon and I went to a movie that night (at 10 PM!).  Kylie stayed awake the whole time we were gone, and Hayden luckily slept.

Sunday started early, thanks to the time change, but we all managed to get up and dressed for church.  Kylie had few issues at the start of Sacrament meeting, but she settled down and sat and colored the whole time.  Then she went to Nursery where she easily assimilated herself.

After church Kylie played her favorite game at their house: yelling over the edge at us.

Sunday evening was Uncle Tommy's Eagle Court of Honor, the very reason we came up this weekend!  It was a nice meeting, and Brandon gave a talk.  I was in and out almost the whole time with one kid or the other, but I managed to hear most of it.  Brandon even gave a talk at it!

Once Tommy was an official Eagle Scout we had to pack up and head back home.  We weren't excited to leave so late at night, and neither were the kids.  Kylie was great most of the way home, but Hayden screamed bloody murder almost the whole way.  Ugh... It made me never want to take a trip again!  But I am thinking that he was just sick of his car seat and traveling everywhere.

We barely beat Aunt Chantel and Uncle McKay who were staying at our house for part of their Spring Break.  Thankfully we got Kylie to bed (she actually fell asleep in the car and just got put to bed in her clothes...), otherwise she would never have gone to sleep with the excitement of more people to play with.

We had a lot of fun with them on Monday, though.  We went on a small hike and completely wore Kylie out, and then went to lunch with Brandon (who had to work that day).  Kylie just loved playing with Aunt Chantel and Uncle McKay, and got pretty jealous when they played with Hayden after her nap.  Once Aunt Chantel put Hayden down Kylie wouldn't leave her alone the rest of the night!

Hayden also had tons of fun with them.  He is so happy with everyone; I love it!

Aunt Chantel and Uncle McKay left Tuesday morning, so now I finally have time to  unpack and get these kids back to normal, boring life!  And thanks to Grandma Shari and Grandpa Pete for taking awesome pictures!!

Enjoying Spring

The week started off wonderful with amazingly warm weather.  We like to take our walks after lunch when it is nice and warm (sometimes even warm enough to take off our jackets!), and also because I like to wear Kylie out so she doesn't fight me about taking a nap.  One of the things I hope Kylie will always be able to do is make friend as easily as she does now.  If you know me, then you know I rarely venture out of my bubble and am terrible at making new friends.  Kylie just amazes me with how she can go up to any child and just assimilate into whatever they are doing (except a basketball game, though she keeps trying...).  On Monday we met a new girl, Versale, and almost immediately they were good friends.   Versale was so cute and patient and just loved giving Kylie rides on her Razor.

Hayden loves the walks, too, and has been staying awake for most of the time, so I can bring him out to play on the grass for awhile while Kylie plays with her other friend, Sophia, and her puppies.  If you can't tell I am just loving this spring weather and playing outside.  If we had a backyard to play in all day long my life would be complete.

Hayden has really been working hard on grabbing stuff this week.  He is always concentrating super hard on trying to hold whatever is in front of him, and he has been really enjoying his toys finally!

Kylie is also getting creative with her toys.  One day she created these 'slinky pants'.  I have no idea how she got them to stay up...

And now we are on our way to visit family!!  We have a fun-filled weekend before us!

Cuteness Kills

This past week seems like it was very busy, but in actuality, it wasn't too crazy.  I suppose it feels like that because Brandon has been working a lot this past week, so it's just mainly been me and the kiddos.  When that happens I think poor Kylie suffers, because at times I start letting rules slide, and other times I have no patience when she can't follow simple rules.  It's like has to do the same thing every five minutes that I just told her to stop doing, to see if that rule still applies.  Ugh.  It's just a phase... it's just a phase... it's just a phase... right?

Luckily Hayden is just a major cutie-pa-tootie and just gives me a million smiles that help keep me happy when Kylie is pushing all my buttons.

He loves to play and laugh and try to grab things.  He also is loving bath time and just kicks the whole time.  He is also like Kylie was at this age - insisting that he always be sat up or standing so he can see what is going on.

We started off the week with some really beautiful weather, so one afternoon we went to the park and played some soccer with Kylie.  It was fun teaching her to kick the ball, though she did fall down numerous times.

Hayden also got his first experience with grass.  I couldn't really tell if he loved it or was just indifferent.  But he does really enjoy being outside.

On Saturday we went on a family outing to a fun themed restaurant: Pirate's Cove.  Kylie had a blast in the arcade after dinner and she loved looking at all the fun decorations everywhere.

Kylie is getting really imaginative when she plays now.  She is really good at playing by herself and finding (mostly) good things to amuse herself with.  I love to watch her and wish I knew what was going through her head sometimes.  Today she made this little circle of her stuffed animals and then did this interesting dance inside it.

This week Kylie has all of the sudden taken a big interest in Hayden.  Lately she has been slowly starting to play with him: dangling toys in front of his face, putting the pacifier in his mouth (well, more like smashing it into his mouth), and washing him in the tub.  But now she likes to hold him either laying down or on the couch.  Sometimes when I am holding him as I walk around she will follow me and tug his legs because she wants to hold him.  It's pretty cute seeing the love come from her for her brother.  Hayden has been warming up to her as well.  The sound of her excited voice used to make him cry (her shrieks still do), but now he will watch her and smile, and he just loves when she plays with toys with him.