Angel Baby

Some pictures of Jace in his blessing outfit... 

such an angel!

Little Sport

Thanks Aunt Christi- I'm feeling mighty sporty in my new shirt!

2 months old

A major breakthrough last night- on Jaces' 2 month birthday, Hailee gave him a little kiss on the top of his head- first time she's kissed him, first time I think that she's ever even considered it!  It was so sweet!  His big brothers are just as entranced with him as ever- they love getting out his toys for him to play with- Eli is still learning to keep the toys more than 0.5 inches away from Jaces' face though *grin*

He's getting so stinking big- he's completely lost that 'newborn' look- at least I think so...

And he's so wiggly- he's always kicking his feet when I've got him on his changing table- this was the best picture without his legs being a complete blur...

At two months, he's sleeping fairly well at night- usually goes from 8 or 9 until about 3am... unfortunately, I don't usually get to bed until close to midnight, so I don't get in on a lot of that sleep- and when I do go to bed early, he's up at midnight.  Figures.

Eating is still a challenge sometimes- several feeds will be great, then several are just plain crappy- no correlation to what I've eaten- he'll just latch on and then cough, choke, sputter, burp, burp and repeat... eventually he must get 'enough,' cuz he just quits.  It can be very frustrating for both of us.  I wish I knew what made the difference between the times he eats amazingly well and when he doesn't- every time I think I've got it figured out, he shows me I don't!  But he's gaining weight and happy, so for now I just go on...

Tonight was a lovely evening, and Jace and I hung out on the front lawn-

We were soon engulfed by almost every kid in the neighborhood, all wanting to look at Jace- it really was very sweet- even the 'big kids' were just entranced by this little guy!

Soakin' it up

Ahhh, I just love this time of the year... long days, hot and dry, being lazy and just enjoying the laid back pace.  Here's what we've been up to...

This boy is absolutely delicious!  I love how he is just so relaxed with his feet up on his abdomen...

 I just love his little feet!

Even though I didn't do a vegetable garden this year the weeds in my garden spot were going a little crazy.  So I made my boys pull some weeds- they complained and complained...

in all fairness, it was SO hot and they were sweating pretty good- and even though they did a pretty crappy job, it was good for them to get out there and work.  

Even though she hates dolls, she loves her doll stroller- pushes it all over...

Putting on his bike helmet backwards...

and wearing Hailee's pink crocs

Swinging...

Bathing beauty

this boy is so silly!

Water Fun

I took the boys to a great water park last week... Nathan stayed home with the 2 littles...

They are all fish... love, love, love the water!  There was a big water slide, which Dallin and Eli couldn't go on without an adult... but I could only take one at a time.  It was disappointing, but they still had lots of fun in the lazy river and smaller slides.

I got this...

it's alright mom, I got breakfast...

A blessed event

We blessed our sweet little Jace Sunday.  Nathan's sister Christi and her family came up for the weekend and it was so nice to have them here!  We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family.

In true Cotton fashion, Jace pooped out all over Nathan just prior to his blessing!

And that's the extent to which I got pictures of him... I just keep getting better.

Silverwood!

Bryson and Dallin both did the reading to earn their free ticket to Silverwood- the long awaited day came and the two of them were down right giddy!  I love how good of friends my boys are:

 I'm sure it was 90% Bryson/10% Dallin- Bryson is just a touchy-feely kinda boy- and I love that about him.

I think Bryson really thought he was flying the plane:

 Seriously, could Bryson be more excited?

 Dallin LOVES rollercoasters!  I've videotaped him during the ride a couple of times, and he's sheer panic the whole time, but always ends it with a smile!

  Bryson convinced me to go on 'round-up' - bleh... 

I do love corkscrew though!

We had a great time with just the two big boys.  Eli went to Chuck E Cheeses with his friend Megan- which he was happy to do- he is {surprisingly} NOT a fan of roller coasters!

Brothers

Keeping track

Yes, more words that she has... I'm posting about all of them because I need to know how many words she has for her next check up...  at this point, I'm so happy with her progress, but I need to be able to report it to her doctor!

She put 2 words together for the first time the other day... totally at my prompting and for sheer bribery, but still!  She said "mo ees" (more please)!!!  She really has to want what I'm offering her to say both words together, but will do it with coaxing.

some more words:
"pidy" (pretty) said the first time the other day after I painted her fingernails
"moo" (moo) says the cow
"buh-buh" (bye-bye)
"ow-ee!" (owie) - she howls this when she gets 'hurt'
"be-oh" (bear) dallin 'taught' her this word this morning- he is constantly trying to get her to say new words
"wa-wa" (water)

Overheard...

As Eli was coming out of the bathroom the other day, he excited told daddy, "I can do lots of tricks on the toilet dad!"

Wow.

Right now I'm loving that Eli calls sprinkles (like the ice cream topping), "sprinklers."

What we've been up to...

She's really leery of him... but still hangs out in his room with me every time I'm feeding him...

Harvesting the sweetest strawberries ever...

Jace has lots of willing 'holders'...

Oogling over the current Lego Club magazine for hours...

Jace digs camping:

my water babies:

 Such a great big brother... 

no, she's not learning how to ride on two wheels, but don't tell her that!  She heard me telling Eli that "this bike [is] Hailee's" so she HAD to ride it... Bryson was so happy to help her ride around the neighborhood.

A Major Breakthrough!

So our little princess is making progress in her 'relationship' with her baby brother.  She was in Jace's room with me as I was feeding him (as she always is!) and she had perched herself facing me on the ottoman with each of my feet on either side of her... she was babbling at me all sorts of unintelligible things, and eventually got around to her hair, eyes, hands etc.  All of a sudden, I had an epiphany!  Remembering her interest in his shoes the other day, I knew I had an 'in.'  But I had to start small.  Jace was pretty much out of it, so I turned him towards her and said, "look Hailee, Jace has eyes!"  Without even the slightest glance toward him, she turned her head and twisted her entire upper body as far from him as possible... but I had her trapped between my feet!  She couldn't go anywhere!  I then proceeded to tell her he had ears and a nose and oh, look at his mouth!  Each time, she softened up a bit, and I could tell her eyes were starting to turn toward me a little bit, and then came the clincher- I very softly and excitedly said, "Oh Hailee!  Look, Jace has FEET!"  The poor girl couldn't help herself... she flat out did not possess the willpower NOT to look, and while she didn't touch, she did a lot of looking... and then I revisited some of his other features and she hesitantly watched, (which involved looking at him!!), and even loosely pointed to some of her own features.

I didn't dare get out my phone to take a picture and spoil the moment.

More words

She really is picking up new words everyday (YAY!)

"ace" Jace... Shockingly enough, she says his name... She doesn't say any of her other brothers names... or look at him for that matter!
"nack" snack
"nini" mimi (my mom)
"us" brush... She loves to brush her teeth... And "spit" at (not in) the sink
"booh" book
"docky" doggy
"deedee" blankie