Ashlee-6 Months

Six months has come and gone and our little lady is growing, growing and growing some more. I laugh at how fast time flies only because it keeps me from crying about it. The last 6 months have FLOWN and I don’t know how to make it stop. But until I figure that one out I guess I can only write down her stats and the fun times the last 6 months have held for us.
Weight: 14.1 lbs 25th Percentile
Height: 25 ¼ inches 25th Percentile
Ashlee is able to roll over to her belly from both sides and is close to getting over to her back. When she is on her belly she will scoot to get toys and even started army crawling the other day. When on her belly she will also push herself up for a while. She hasn't quite learned how to sit, she leans forward for a while and then always falls to the left side. I guess she must be heavier on that side or something. One thing this girl has perfected is smiling and giggling. She was early to smile and has never stopped. She will smile for everyone, at least a little. She is very ticklish on her neck, belly and legs. She giggles the most when you laugh at her first and Ethan can make her smile by doing the smallest things. Ashlee rarely cries and when she does it means something is really wrong. She started solid food at 5 months and since then has had rice cereal, peas, green beans, carrots, pears, bananas, applesauce and some vanilla yogurt. She loves her food and eats well. The only problem we have had is that Ashlee will only eat her green beans if they are warm. Her hair is coming in good, but it’s super blond so from a little bit away it looks like she is bald. Her eyelashes are supper long and her eyes are super blue! Ashlee loves to hear her own voice and talks ALL the time. She is no quiet girl either, you can hear her upstairs when you are downstairs and downstairs when you are upstairs. People have commented how they heard Ashlee during church and they are sitting pretty far away. A few weeks ago Ashlee started waking up a lot at night and wanting her binky. We’d give it to her and then she would go right back to sleep. It was getting to be a bit much for us so we decided to stop swaddling her and attach her binky to her PJs. The first night she cried a bit, well quite a bit, but the next night we were good to go. She has been sleeping solidly through the night since then. It has been amazing!

Ashlee has two siblings that LOVE her unconditionally and want to always be by her side… or on her. It’s funny how when I first had Ashlee I had a feeling of guilt for the kids because we had just ROCKED their world. Their lives would never be the same again, yet here they are so happy she is here and part of our family. It’s amazing how it’s like she has always been here with us, our family has never been without our Ashlee! All we have to do is see Ashlee and we all get a smile on our faces. She truly does brighten each one of our lives!!! How grateful we are to have our family and to know that we are all family FOREVER!!! Happy six months Ashlee!!!

Just Because

.....I love this picture so much! This is our normal Ashlee, full of smiles, giggles and happy faces! Can't believe she will be 6 months old on Thursday! How time rushes by!

Katelee's Ks

Katelee is doing very well with her colors and shapes. She knows all of her colors well. The only exception is brown which she calls black the majority of the time. Shapes she does ok at... Better some nights than others. She LOVES doing her own school. I'm pretty sure it's because she has seen Ethan doing it for so long she fells special that she is now included in the night time routine! We started doing K's about two weeks ago. K's are hard, right? How am I suppose to teach Katelee how to write a K? Wow... But I'd say she is doing pretty good...Just now I thought how I should have a first day of writing K's picture... It was basically parallel lines. I taught her by saying draw a line down and then in and out! Cheesy? Sure, but it works! Amazing how my patience has increased when it comes to the kids and teaching them 'school' things. But that is another post all together! I had to put two pictures of Kate... Her smile is different in each one, but the pride in her eyes is the same!
Katelee is such a joy when it comes to learning. She takes it all in and does well remembering things! She looks up to her brother and wants to be just like him.. Even wanting to do the alphabet already. I'm not sure I'm ready to start that all over again, but if not now, when? So we do A-F... That's about all I can take in one night! So proud of our little Katelee, next we start working on a lowercase 'a'! Ya! Keep it up girl!

That's My Boy...

Ethan is a Hilarious little boy. I use the word little meaning young, the kid is growing like a weed. Pants that fit him this winter are above his ankles and yet he still insist on wearing them. He has a silly boy sense of humor that as his mother I don't really get, but what mother does, right? He loves to say poopy, poop or anything he knows he shouldn't say. He normally does really well at not saying these 'naughty' words, but sometimes his deep inner boy takes over and it's almost like he can't control himself... He has done a few cute things lately that I wanted to document for him...

The other night I went up to Girls Camp and it was Ethan's turn to say family prayer. He said the sweetest prayer that "Mommy would travel home safely." He told Chris multiple times that he missed Mommy and wanted me to come home. Little things like that make me feel like I must be doing something right...

Ethan shares my love of music and I couldn't be more happy. Since being young he has picked up on songs and had favorites. A while ago his favorite song was "Lover, Lover, Lover" which if you aren't familiar with it, goes a little something like this... Lover, lover, lover you don't treat me no good no more. Once while sitting in church Ethan just out of nowhere blurts out "Lover, lover, lover you no treat me no good no more!" It was hilarious and a bit embarrassing all at the same time. I often wonder what songs he sings during primary when I'm not there to snap my fingers and give him my look. Anyways his newest favorite song is "Dirt Road Anthem." He sings this song ALL the time. Just this morning we listened to this song the entire ride to Grandma's. He loves to blurt the chorus out and I. LOVE. IT! My son was born to be a small town boy. It's so cute to hear him sing, "chillin on a dirt road, laid back, swerving like I'm George Jones, smoke blowing out the window an ice cold Dr Pepper in the console. Memory lane up in the headlights got me reminiscing on the good times." Dr. Pepper of course is not the beverage said, however we sing it that way... Ethan decided that he'd like to sing during church and started singing that song, which made Katelee sing along as well... All I could do was smile and laugh. The boy is passionate about his music

Ethan loves hanging out with his grandpas'. He especially loves hanging out with Grandpa Blackburn in the mountains. My brother and dad have wildlife cameras in the mountains trying to track a big elk for the hunting season. My dad will go up to the mountains and check his cameras and a few times he has invited Ethan to go with him. This is all Ethan will talk about for days when he gets back. It's so funny how I use to go up to the mountains all the time with my brother and father and now my son shares that same love with the same people I loved going with. I was given a small Christmas tree for Christmas and we decided to have Ethan take it up to the mountains with his grandpa. They planted the tree and Ethan has not forgotten. My son's best friend is his Grandpa. They do everything together and really enjoy each others company.

Every morning Ethan picks out long pants and boots to wear. Many mornings we have small disagreements on wearing pants when it's going to get over 110 degrees outside. And if he does wear shorts we have small disagreements on him wearing boots with them. He would wear jeans and boots every day if we let him.... His boots are nice boots. They are real cowboy boots, and now they are coming apart from the sole, that's how much he wears them. And he doesn't care, he will continue to wear them until they fall apart and we take them while he sleeps.

The other Sunday Ethan came home from church with a nice necklace with a picture of Jesus on it. We asked him how he got it and his explanation went a little bit like this:

Mommy: Ethan why did you get this necklace?

Ethan: Oh um, I have to give it back to my teacher..

Mommy: Well why did you get it?

Ethan: Well they told me to come up to the front of the room and then people stood up and said things like we like Ethan, Ethan is really nice and stuff like that.
Mommy: (almost laughing) So you got this because people like you?

Ethan: (shrugging) Yeah!

Come to find out they do a think in primary where they draw a name out and then have the kids in primary take turns telling Ethan why they like them, so I guess he was telling the truth! So funny!

Every night we do 'school' with the kids. Ethan's school takes a while longer because we go over more. We do numbers, letter and sounds, shapes and then writing. Quite a few nights we start school off with Ethan saying this... "Can we take a night off of numbers?" It cracks me up every time. He acts like they are so hard and time consuming. Other than that he does pretty good with it most nights! He is getting smarter and getting better at writing his letters. He starts pre-school next month and I'm anxious for him.

He says funny things and sweet things all the time and I'd love to share them all, but there are too many to put down. Just one more quick one. The other day Katelee feel off her chair at dinner and bumped her head. I was in the living room with her and Ethan came in to see her. He had a concerned look on his face and asked if she was ok. Katelee, of course, said no. To which Ethan replied, "Well, we will just ask Daddy to give you a blessing, then you'll feel better!" It almost made me cry!

This boy is crazy, sweet, loving, annoying and a holds a major chunk of my heart all at the same time. So glad to have him in my life!!!

A Problem I Have

Shortly after having my third child I realized that things were HARD, really HARD and I couldn't put my finger on just what it was. Sure now I had three kids to take care of. An infant is hard enough by itself, but I was having an extremely difficult time. Nursing seemed to go well, Ashlee got it! But the time involved was becoming VERY HARD and then I was told her mouth was too small and she wasn't getting enough at feedings. This would mean I'd have to nurse and then pump and feed her, MORE TIME for feedings. I started pumping as it it seemed like I was falling farther into a pit that had no way out. When I started pumping I felt ok about it because Ashlee was getting what she needed. Soon it became nearly impossible to pump any more, the pain was excruciating and made every two hours a living nightmare for me. (Pumping was 100x's more painful than actual nursing!) After many prayers, pleading to my Heavenly Father to help me feel better, many discussions with my husband and family and very close friends I made the sad decision to stop pumping. After that I quickly climbed out of that pit but I was still having a hard time adjusting to my new life. I was exhausted ALL the time. I could get some good solid sleep and still feel as if I was only asleep for minutes. This of course made it harder for me to function and it seemed like feedings brought out feelings of longing that I couldn't quite explain. I longed to still be nursing my child, even though memories of why I had stopped were fresh in my mind. I never felt like the longing was all part of a bigger problem I was being faced with. Soon I started having these feelings more often, like I was wasting time when I would sit down and read a book, take a little rest when I felt exhausted or watch a little TV. It even got so bad as feeling a longing to do more when I was running and only listening to my music. I felt like I should at least be listening to a book or conference so that I could be accomplishing more.... Lately I have come to realize that I have a problem with multi-tasking. Not that I don't do it, but that I do it TOO MUCH!! How can this be, you might ask! How can one possible do TOO much? And here is what I have to say about that. My whole life is a multi-tasking event. I am a FULL time MOTHER, FULL time WIFE, FULL time EMPLOYEE at the Bank and I am now the second counselor in the YW at church. I have a husband going to school FULL time and I am a FULL time FRIEND, SISTER, DAUGHTER and more!! Now don't get me wrong I realize that we all have a very FULL plate, but having my third child really brought this out for me. Do I feel overwhelmed? Of course I do, most days I end with a feeling of inadequacy when I look around my house and see all the things I didn't get to, then I get to work the next day only to face a desk full of papers and work that never ends. Then I look at my family and see work that should/could be done that just isn't. Ethan isn't getting his alphabet every night like he should, his writing is regressing instead of getting better, I just now started colors and shapes with Katelee... she knows all her colors but shapes are another story and about a million other things that I should be doing with my kids. Then there is my husband, this guy is amazing. He gets up early to go for a run, goes to school full time, helps out with the kids and then rides his bike at night. We haven't been on a "date" in quite a while and he hasn't complained about it. (I take that back, we have been to the temple twice in the last month, those are kinda our dates!) I could be doing so much more to support him and help make his life simpler, but I'm not. And so I feel a bit overwhelmed to say the least. Anyways back to my problem. Because of these feelings of inadequacy and being overwhelmed I have developed an internal feeling of need to get as much accomplished in one day, hour and minute that I can. This means that while I might be doing something like folding the clothes, my mind is swirling with ideas of other things I need to do or could be doing while I'm doing this. When I'm in the bathroom I feel like I have to be doing other things to make going to the restroom worth my time. And the worst part of this problem is that when I'm feeding Ashlee or singing the kids their night time songs I still feel like I'm wasting some time. Before I realized I had this problem I would sing a little faster and finish quicker than normal so I could go and do some of the other things that I so desperately felt I needed to get done. How horrible it sounds when I type that... Please do not get me wrong, I LOVE my kids, I LOVE being a mother, wife and everything else. My priorities weren't horribly wrong, as I still did things with my kids, I still spent time with them and I would have done anything for them, it was just the weight of the world, and everything that comes with it that was making me crazy. So one day I was thinking about running on the treadmill and I was trying to think of a way I could crochet my car seat blankets while I did that... I ran this idea over in my mind a few times and then as if a light bulb turned on I realized that I had a problem. Who on earth would try to crochet while running, who has an issue with waiting in a Dr.'s office for 5 minutes without having anything to read, who rocks their little baby at night and thinks of the other things she has to do? I realized in that instant that I had become chained down by my desire to multi-task. It sounds silly, I know, but it's crazy to feel like I do when I look around and see all the things I feel I need to get done. Once I realized I was trying to do too much I took a step back and reevaluated the things I "felt" were pressing and needed to get completed and prioritized differently. Family first, no need to have anything else in life if there is no Family.... This means singing them just one more song, 10 times at night, Holding little Ashlee a little longer at night when we get to quietly rock and gaze into each others eyes, Hold my husband hand while we drive and show him how much I love him and appreciate him, Smile and think how much I'm going to miss the yelling, screaming, fighting, laughing, joke telling and little spills one day when my kids are all grown and gone and most importantly this means making my kids feel and know that their mother loves them more than ANYTHING else I have to do at that moment! Life goes too fast to worry constantly about cleaning the toilet, doing laundry and anything else there is to do that day. So I didn't get all the laundry done because Ashlee took longer to eat than normal, I love the sweet spirit in my arms more than laundry anyways! I still catch myself trying to think of ways I can do two, three or even four things at once, I am doing much better about making the important ones a priority. When faced with going for a run or rocking my daughter a little longer, I'm going to pick my daughter!!! How thankful I am that I had a realization of what I was doing wrong and how to work around it!! What do we have, if we don't have family?

Family is not a distraction to my life, but rather the reason for it!

Miracles....

We have all been blessed with Miracles in our lives weather we acknowledge them or not. I have seen many small and large miracles in my life and fear that I don't show my gratitude enough for them. Some of my large miracles include,

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  All three of my children, their good health and abounding love for me as their mother.


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  Their safe arrival here on earth and my good health while pregnant with them.


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  Meeting my husband and having him in my life FOREVER!


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  Having a Wonderful family that has stood by me through good and bad.


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  Meeting amazing friends that are always there for me no matter what!

There are so many small miracles in my life that I won't try to name them all. I know without a doubt that I have been blessed beyond belief. My cousin and her three small children were involved in a very serious accident a week ago while they traveled home. From the moment I heard about the accident I have had a pit in my stomach. Many, many thoughts have run through my mind as I have thought about this incident. I am so thankful for the safety of my cousin and her beautiful and crazy kids, but more thankful for the reminders it has given me. This incident has reminded me that:

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  Any ones life can change in a blink of an eye. Life is so fragile and sweet, we must not take it for granted or get complacent. Every day is a gift and a new opportunity to do something good!



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  Prayers are answered. Before my cousin got on the highway she pulled over and had her son offer a pray for their trip. He prayed that they would be protected, and his prayer was answered!


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  Family and Friends are always willing to help out no matter what the problem, situation or time is!


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  This world isn't that bad. So many people came to help her out in her deepest time of need. Makes me look around and see the good in things and people before the bad.


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  Angels are real. Sometimes people beyond the veil are their to help us out and pull us through something we don't feel we can do on our own.


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  We are our Heavenly Father's children, he loves us and wants only the best for each of us. He allows each of us to learn and grow in different ways. Being our Father he knows which way is best for each of us!


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  Miracles still happen to this day, they haven't stopped... All we have to do is realize and see them in our lives.

I have included her post from a blog that she shares with her sisters so you can read for yourself her experience! So grateful for Miracles!!!

http://junkintheirtrunk.blogspot.com/2011/07/miracles_08.html

Happy Fourth

Though our Fourth of July was not very eventful we still had a good time hanging out with each other. We did some fireworks before the sun went down because Chris and I had an event to attend that night for our friends. The kids didn't mind that it wasn't dark yet, so why not! We registered Ethan up for Fall Ball at a firework booth so we decided to get a few fireworks as well. We actually did those the next night....

Here is sweet Ashlee in her patriotic outfit.... and her gangster pose! And me in my Pj's... Nice!

Here are Ethan and Katelee in front of our flag! Go USA! We love this country and are so grateful to be able to raise our children here! To those who have and continue to fight for our freedom.... THANK YOU!