October - November - December

Time to catch up on the last 1/4 of the year 2012!

An Indian summer day at 

RBG.  Crosby made the 

most out of short season this year!

Brothers swinging away the afternoon

Millcreek Canyon

The boys were tossing leaves

while screaming, "Leaves 

EVERYWHERE!!"

Nice toss

Did I ever say that I absolutely

treasure my boys?  I had a rough pregnancy

this go-round; more rough times than

good-feeling ones.  I was always

ridden with guilt that I couldn't

go here and there with my boys like

I wanted to, but we were still able

to fit in some memories :)

Crosby has had a great experience at

Highland High's preschool!  This day he was

the star of the week and I was the weirdo

mom taking pictures but I dunno... I'm

proud of my kid!

October creeped upon us quickly.

I already knew October was Jig's

month because it's his bday

month but boy does this little guy

LOOOOVE Halloween!  He 

really really does.  He was a 

sad soul to see the holiday on

its way out this year; all of the

"pooky" houses lost their "pooky"

decorations and... no more

"piedah webs." :(

Next year, Boogs!

Croz was happy to do a

Spiderman encore this

year, even with a run in his

Spidey suit

"What do you want to be, Jig?"

Piedah man.

En route to her new home in NYC, Jess

paid us a visit.  We had so much fun!

She just sleeps on the couch, logs time 

with the boys, and stays up late with

me for girl talk.  Dream come true!

We fit in a festive pedicure session

2012 Thriller group... look at all the 

Becks, count 'em FIVE!

First time doing RBG's Garden after Dark.

It was fun but man was October a horrific

month for me pregnancy-wise.  I was dying

(from tight tight contractions way up high)

this night but I told D come hell or high

water I WANT to do fun things with

my boys before this baby comes!

Making friends with batty

I hauled these guys to Gardner Village

on a freezing cold day thinking they

would have a blast finding all the witches.

WRONG!  The candy store was

mediocre at best, who would have

ever guessed.

Halloween Night 2012.  Last

stop: Trick-or-Treating at Nan

and Grandpa's.  That night D got

to come with us and we went trick-

or-treating all around Munga's

neighborhood too.  Once again I

was in rough shape that night;

soooo many Braxton-Hicks.  Glad

I had D to do most of the work

Leaf-raking season seemed to

pass in the blink of an eye

Snow bombarded us in early November 

this year!  It was fun to welcome a genuine

Salt Lake winter for once.  These are the

winters I remember when we'd come 

visit from out of state when I was young;

that quiet muffle of snow surrounding me.

By Thanksgiving time I was feeling much much better
than October pregnancy-wise.  My mom and I found
these little joys on Pinterest and had some fun making
them for the Thanksgiving table this year.

Made my first-ever blueberry pie, first-ever

lattice top!  It turned out pretty delicious

with some rich vanilla ice cream melting

on top ;)

Thanksgiving night D had to work 

so I camped out at my parents'

til late.  I remember my mom

and I looking at each other,

saying how exhausted we were

that night!  My dad found Star

Wars on TV and Croz was 

ecstatic, despite how he looks

in the pic.

Fun meeting up with some dear friends.

Holiday time!

Santa came to ARUP this year and this

is how it went.  C'mon Jig, he won't bite!

This day D was outside with these guys 

for so long having a snowball fight and

making a snow fort.

We hit RBG once again, this time

to celebrate Winter Solstice. The

boys loved it and it wasn't 

freezing cold so they could

actually move their fingers while

they made pipe cleaner

snowflakes and threw their 

wishes into a bonfire.

A little time out for exploring

Funny how I relate everything to me 

being pregnant, but wow was I 

outrageously comfortable at the

end of course, but especially

on Christmas day.  I at least got 

some video of the boys opening

their presents, but this is one

of the only photos taken that

day.  Lennox and Beth.  Really

Christmas was wonderful, just 

a really nice time all day!  Beth

is on my mind so much right 

now; as we speak she's in the

hospital with flu and pneumonia.

Love her very dearly.

This is what Crosby gave D and me 

for Christmas, he made it in

preschool.  It made me cry.

Here I am one day shy of my 39 week mark.

Time to set the ship a sailin' folks!

Jig is Two

October 9, 2012 - Happy 2nd Birthday, Lennox!  It is unbelievable that you are already turning two.  It's also unbelievable just how loved you really are.  

A little glimpse into why the nickname "Jig" fits you so well.  Totally a birthday dance!

You LOVE to mow lawns.  We'll pull into the garage from being somewhere and the first thing you do is point up to where we hang the lawnmowers and say, "Mow! Mow!" 

Nothing beats the real thing, though.  And with your favorite person - Dad.

You love all of the different construction trucks but your favorite at the moment is forklifts.  The way you say forklift is, "Gibbis."  You talk so well that we almost always know what you're saying, however when you started saying, "Where's my gibbis?" we were confused for a few days.  

The magnitude of the messes you make are getting smaller, which is kind of nice.  The problem is that you are still so incredibly cute and kinda baby that Dad and I have a really hard time disciplining you... oops.  Until then we'll just grab the camera with every bad or wrong/funny thing you do...

You and those fingers... still!  It's the ultimate sign that we know you're tired and ready to get comfy with Flip & your blanket for sleep.  

You LOVE water.  The hose, sprinklers, pots filled with bubbles in the sink.  During the summer you'd come with me sometimes to Crosby's swim class and wade in the shallow end.

A while back I was worried that you wouldn't love reading.  I was wrong.  You love it!  Nan got you a new book for your birthday called "Digger Man" and also "Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site," and you really like them a lot.  You love the book "Piggie Pie" and when you see it you enthusiastically yell, "Ah read PIGGIE PIE!"

Adventurous little Jig.  Some other things you say that make us laugh are "Holy mokes" for holy smokes and "NUFF!" when you're made and you've had enough.  Also when you see anything remotely spooky, such as a black cat in a book or a shadow of a branch in the window or simply the night's darkness when we come home late, you say, "Hoween night."  You seem to have a fascination and fear about all things "pooky."  Every day when we take Crosby to school you pick out each and every Halloween decoration you can see, including "pider webs" and "keltons!"

You seem to have a really special connection with your Uncle Steve.

Whenever you can get your hands on any of our 1,000 puppies that we own you are a happy soul.  Crosby likes to claim them all as his own; not the case.  He steals them from you too often :(  The bandaid on your finger is from your first and hopefully last stove burn.  Oh, the horror.  But I know you won't do it ever again.

You love riding in Goldie, our truck, and hanging out with Crosby all the time.

You are still and have always been a wonderful sleeper... very content to go down for naps and bed.  We have been soooo lucky!  There are still times I have to peek in at you and hear those little peaceful breaths.  I love you so much.

Sometimes it's flour, sometimes it's rice but this is another of your favorite things to do... "trukin site"

... but if anyone is trying to force you to smile... GOOD LUCK!

Munga got you a new fire truck for your birthday, and you've been loving it.

On Sunday we had a little birthday party with some cake and ice cream.   Needless to say you were very very pleased with the cake Nan made!

We love you with all of our hearts, Lennox.  Here's to a fun year ahead!

Summertime is Long Gone

 ... and unfortunately I couldn't be more ecstatic.  We did have a summer though. It was just a very, very sick one for the mama of the crew.  I will preface what I'm about to say with: #1 I am happy to be pregnant NOW and I don't love to complain, but I will about this.  Thing is though, my first 4 months of pregnancy each time thus far have been a living hell!  I won't lie; there was no happy place to be found.  There is no convenient time to be ill every hour of every day, AKA pregnant.  I cannot believe how sick I was day in, day out.  It would creep in anywhere between 11 am and 1 pm each and every day.  It would stay until I could fall asleep at night.  A never-ending nauseous nightmare, pregnancy is for me.  We all know that it is a necessary nightmare.  However, nothing can change the fact that life flips upside down and that dark cave that I longed for so desperately... the one I could live in for 4 straight months... wasn't an option.  When it's over, the world is a more incredible place than ever imagined.  My boys got a real mom back.  I could look at the color green without dry heaving.  I could have a conversation with D without my lip curling at the stench of the BBQ chips he was eating with lunch. Just a bit of honesty from what happens to be MY experience with the 1st trimester.  Or as I call it, trudging through the muck.  I guess more than anything I apparently still need to vent about it, imagine that :) I could go on for hours about any aspect of any trimester of pregnancy and/or birth.  It fascinates me how varied each woman's experience is.  Our bodies are wicked amazing.

I have never felt especially moved to take a picture of my pee stick, let alone make it so other people have to look at it.  It's just it feels like the last time for EVERYTHING if this is truly our last baby.  I am still a little bitter about the sick part, but you should see how recklessly nostalgic I am about soooo many things.  I have already cherished Lennox as if he is our last.  D and I are mush at every last thing he does that is still so "baby."  Whatever's mushier than mush is what we will be with this new little baby boy.

So back to summer.  I was dying that I wasn't able to give my boys the wonderful summer I had in mind for them; outside every day, swimming in many different pools, playdates and park time galore, zoo and Red Butte trips until they couldn't handle one more ounce of fun.  Well let's just say I tried and I have sweet, adaptable boys.  And so summer ended up passing the test.

Bon Iver 5.29.12 - Our first concert at Red Butte Garden!  It was absolutely beautiful up there.  The sound was amazing and the band did an incredible job.  The song "Holocene" is so close to my heart.  They played it to perfection.  Plus, we got to hang with Blake and Codi, which was fun.  A wonderful night!

I have to thank my parents; since D works so much, they help me out a LOT.  I am so thankful for them!  They are the best grandparents of all time.  On this particular night my dad was working on fixing the sprinklers and stopped what he was doing just so the boys could dig in the dirt.  

Loving the carousel

Skeptical of the carousel

Jig loves his polar bears

He is such a mini-D.  It astounds me.  We've watched this over and over, it's a treasure-

Jig's first haircut

Swimming at Mirjeta's; playing with Tavi & Tayt

Crosby's swim class @ Liberty Park

He had fun!

Spending Time

Playing with the marbles @ Marian's... one of Crosby's favorite things.  D tiled part of her basement this summer.  We love her dearly.  I love how she says to me, "You're one of my girls!"  She felt so badly that I was sick and brought us dinner one night.  I remember homemade enchiladas, fresh fruit, corn on the cob, and eclairs.  She is 92.

Croz and Luce... playdate on the moon

and Mars

My guys.

Cloud-gazing with Nan

Making faces with Grandpa

My mom got these guys dual shopping carts.  They absolutely love them and are very protective of them!

Ice cream for lunch some days.

Swim party at Kelsey and Bryan's

Cam & Audrey came to town!  Nan introduced Jig to the book "Boo Bunny."  He had a love affair with it all summer and loves to read it with Nan.  The kids were laughing at how he says, "Ha-ha-Halloween Night..."

Hanging with Uncle Cam

Cousins

Soccer with Dad

Jon & Susan had rented a huge bounce/waterslide house and so the kids had a blast playing and having a water fight

Camping at Redman

Jumbo hopped in the photo

Mountain Men

4th of July

My mom's gourmet cupcakes

Free wagon rides

I had time alone with Jig this day; we had such a good time

Cart racing

Eden's baptism

Reading is better with sunglasses

Lennox wanted to go for a ride in his monster truck.  Needless to say it had been sitting stagnant for weeks.

I was pushing him around for a bit when I finally noticed he was being bothered by something-

Especially when he started going, "Ooooh!  Oh!"

I felt so horrible... had no idea his bare baby legs were right next to a hornet's nest :(  So glad he escaped without a scratch on him

24th of July - we braved the parade

Poor Jig... SO hot!

Troopers

I was in a sleepy haze in bed one morning.  Finally I realized the door to Jig's room was closed and it had been quiet for a while.  I came in and Croz had barricaded Jig with a bunch of junk

Also there were new thoughtful touches all around the room.  I asked Croz what he did and he said, "I rearranged Jig's room."

Mirjeta invited us to a photo shoot

Don't grow up.

Mini people... I love them so.

Visiting Munga after her shoulder surgery

Another zoo day

Lennox was sick and feeling so awful.  D happened to have some extra time this day and was so happy to hang with Jig.  Lennox loves his dad so much.

Crosby jumps at the chance to vacuum

And supervises Jig when it's his turn

Twin church clothes

Croz found the Halloween box a little early

Serious business

Jig and the love of his life... Flip (he calls him "Flippo")

Girls' night away in Midway

Croz has been loving Legos recently; I love his creations

Celebrating D and Brandon's birthday.  We had delicious ribs, yummy potatoes, fresh fruit.  Pie, cake, ice cream.   It was so good!

My parents took the boys to LDS Hospital health fair and the Avenues fair; they had so much fun!  They said Jig wouldn't take his latex gloves off the whole time and Crosby performed laparoscopic surgery, no sweat.

Well... there's our summer in a nutshell.  Despite the condition I was in, I hope my boys had a decent summer.  I am so thankful for family, for health, for life.  Bring on the fall!