{12.3.18 - 12.9.18}

12.4.18     My baby just keeps growing no matter how I feel about it. He has finally decided that he can sit up on his own which has been so nice! He's generally a happy little baby but now that he has a little more independence he doesn't mind so much if I am not holding him all the time. He'd still rather be held, but really, who could blame him! Especially now with our little puppy running around chewing on everything in his path it's probably better that I just hold Eli for a bit!
We decided to sleep train Eli right after he turned six months old. I would have preferred to do it another way, but he is just so stubborn! I tried rocking him until he was drowsy and then laying him down but that didn't work at all!! I also tried letting him cry and then going in to check on him and fix his binky after a certain amount of time, but he would just scream harder when he realized what we were trying to do and he would push my hand away when I would try to give him his binky. I really didn't mind rocking him to sleep for his naps and nursing him to sleep at bedtime, because even that was so quick and easy with him. Even his waking up in the middle of the night wasn't too bad because he would eat for about ten minutes and fall right back to sleep. But after he turned six months, when he started waking up in the middle of the night, it wasn't because he wanted to eat, but he wasn't happy to be rocked either. He needed his human pacifier. So one night, I was exhausted!!! We set up a bed in our front room and I shut the noise on the monitor off and I know he screamed...I don't know how long he screamed, but I slept through it. That happened for two nights and then after that he just realized what was expected of him. He's always had the ability to put himself to sleep, he just didn't want to. He is stubborn!! He's doing great, though! He naps better and sleeps great through the night!
We love him so much! I imagine being the baby would be the best...there are so many people around who just love him and want to make him happy! 

I celebrated my birthday this week and with Matthew working out of town the girls made sure to make it special for me! The night before my birthday I went down to help Axel fix his blankets after bedtime and I noticed the light in my storage room was on and I could hear some whispering. I tried to open the door, but I got in trouble because I was going to ruin the surprise!! When I got up the next morning the girls had gathered up a bunch of stuff from my basement...things like toilet paper and canned goods and decorations that I was storing, etc. etc. and wrapped it. They used a whole roll of tape and so much tissue paper! It was so great! Whenever I asked them to do anything they would say "it's your birthday!"  

We made me a cake and the girls helped me decorate it and they all sang "Happy Birthday" to me! It was great!  

Father and sons!! I love them!  

Bullet is such a little baby! He literally let me rock him to sleep! It was so funny! He also likes to be put to bed. When I can tell that he's getting a little too wound up I will put him in his crate and he almost instantly falls to sleep.  

I'm not sure why Alya felt like she had to sleep with her earmuffs on, but it sure cracked me up when I went to check on her before I went to bed! // My beautiful girl! (Alya)

The frost has been so pretty the last couple of mornings!  

Matthew and I were watching a show at the end of the day and Bullet just tucked himself right in under the blanket.  

Grandma sent us a picture of her tree that the girls helped decorate. It looks so pretty flocked with snow!

My birthday song! I love these kids!! 

This puppy may be too smart for me. I can't keep him contained!!!

{11.26.18 - 12.2.18}

Meet Bullet! 

We got to bring home our puppy this week! We are so excited for Dad to meet him!  

This sweet happy baby is so easy going!  

Eli has finally figured out this sitting business! // Lyla is such a ham! So funny! 

I think this really was the first time that Lyla and Axel played together and Lyla initiated it!!!! She was so cute helping him make a picture with these stickers! I hope this is the beginning of something good between these two!  

This puppy has kept me busy, but I like that he wants to snuggle with me! And look how big his paws are! // The girls like to walk the puppy around like this. Poor thing! I suspect they won't be able to do it to him for long, though! 

I love these little boys! // When our little puppy is awake he has some crazy energy, but he likes his naps, and the girls take full advantage of his downtime to try to bond with him! (Lyla)

I think this picture of Alya and the puppy is so sweet! // He's just so little and so cute!  

He doesn't mind his pen so much when he has company!  

Eli had his first taste of macaroni and cheese! He loved it...but that didn't surprise me. He's so easy to please!  

I hope these two will be buddies! They love running around the yard!! 

I think we succeeded in surprising Dad with his new puppy! We wrapped this bow around his neck and he and the kids sat right inside the front door so they were the first thing Matthew saw when he walked in from work. I think he was confused for a minute until he saw the puppy! I think he's excited...even though this tiny little thing is so much work! 

{11.19.18 - 11.25.18}

I'm so glad these two are little buddies! Eli thinks his brother and sisters are the greatest! And this second picture just makes me chuckle! This is pretty typical of how Axel handles Eli. When he's not torturing his baby brother he is planting all the kisses and loving so hard on him!  

Eli got to try licorice earlier than any of his older siblings. Oh, to be the youngest child! // Axel chose his wildlife mug for his ice cream at Grandma and Grandpa's.  

Axel and I needed out of the house for a bit, so we braved the cold and went for a little walk. He was the best little walking buddy!  

The girls loved helping Grandma decorate the trees in her yard! (Lyla) // Alya 

We started what may be a new tradition for after Thanksgiving - bowling!! We had so much fun! // How cute are these little Eskimos!?  

Look how cute his little bowling shoes are!!  

I think it took him a minute to really get into bowling, and if I remember right, his excitement didn't last long, but he was pretty darn cute! // Watching Alya was my favorite! She was so excited and proud of herself everytime she pushed her ball down the ramp! It was so great!!  

Lyla was so funny! She had a blast, but she was much more somber about it! Haha! // This little man was a trooper! He loved being held and snuggled by everyone, and he slept great through all the noise and chaos!  

Axel got into our scripture reading one night! He was so cute just sitting over there on the fireplace like he knew exactly what he was doing!  

Eli had quite the diaper which led to his first sink bath! He is just so cute!! 

Tia loves her squishy babies - and we love our Tia! Also, Thanksgiving Navajo Tacos at Nana's house is my favorite tradition! 

These baby giggles are my favorite!!

{11.12.18 - 11.18.18}

Oh he is just so darn cute!!! 

The kids have thoroughly enjoyed playing hide-and-seek lately. This is where I found Lyla and Axel one round. 

Eli prefers finger foods to purees because the independent little squirt loves feeding himself. // Over Halloween Axel took a fall and hurt his mouth pretty bad. We ended up at the dentist this week because he still just hurts! One of his front teeth was pushed up into his gums and it killed the nerves so he was put on an antibiotic to try to kill any infection and we are hoping that he will be able to keep his tooth!  

This little naked baby is getting stronger and stronger every day. He really doesn't seem to be in too big a hurry to start crawling though. I'm just glad tummy time is a little bit better! // Axel has had a hard time eating and sleeping this week because his mouth is just still so tender, so we have had a lot of late night visits while he has a late night snack.  

I just can't handle how cute he is!!! 

Before // After
I finally decided it was time for a haircut. The man that cut Axel's hair thought that his sisters were the ones who cut his hair before...and I was too embarrassed to fess up to it, so I just let the girls take the blame! Haha!! He looks so handsome and grown up now! 

For some reason I think watching him lay on his tummy and color makes him look so big. And I think it's so cute, but it breaks my heart a little that my kids are just growing up so fast! It's so bitter-sweet! 

Sorry this video is sideways, but my kids are playing slap jack together. Axel doesn't quite understand but I love how patient my girls were with him! They were having such a good time! 

And this just cracks me up!! Snapchat filters are pretty fun sometimes! He thought this was so funny and I don't want to forget how he used to say "What the What!?!?" and "What the heck!?!"

{11.5.18 - 11.11.18}

We have loved dehydrating our apples from our tree this year! The girls love helping in the kitchen and they thought the strings of apple peels were pretty awesome...and tasty! // The girls got too hungry to wait for me to finish nursing Eli so they took matters into their own hands. They actually did a pretty good job, too!  

I love sleeping babies! // Big sisters are the best helpers!  

Lyla took this picture of Alya one morning and Alya took one of her first selfies! Haha!  

And Alya took this series of Lyla. She is quite the character!!  

The kids got to be butterflies with their aunts! They are the cutest insects I've ever seen! -Lyla-

-Alya-

How cute are these kids of mine!? // -Axel- 

His face is one of my favorites no matter how clean or dirty it is! // Matthew is getting an early Christmas present this year! He has been working out of town a lot these days and we have sure missed him, but it worked out to my advantage in surprising him. The kids and I drove up to Payson and picked out what is soon to be our new silver lab puppy! He is adorable and we are so excited to have him join our family! 

{10.29.18 - 11.4.18}

11.4.18     This little boy just gets more fun by the day! He is so close to sitting like a pro, but I still feel better about leaving him with pillows behind him just in case. He just doesn't seem in too big a hurry to grow up too fast, and I like that he is content to stay my baby forever! He is so smiley and loves to watch his siblings, and they love to play with him. Eli celebrated his first Halloween this month and he made the cutest little raccoon I've every seen! He loves to snuggle Mom all night long...it used to be that he wanted to nurse about twice a night, but just in the last week or so I've just felt like a human pacifier...so sleep training might be in our near future, unfortunately! Eli is staying very consistent on the growth chart weighing in at 17.3 pounds (50%) and measuring 28 inches long (90%). We sure love this boy of ours! 

I love how he just goes to town on his toes! And how cute are those little feet!? 

I just put Eli in my hamper trying to entertain him and Axel almost instantly grabbed the hamper and started pulling him around the house.  

We made a whole bunch of apple sauce this week! Hopefully the kids like it because we have a lot of it!  

Matthew is still working out of town, so we decided to take a trip to Grandma and Grandpa's house for Halloween. We had so much fun! Grandpa helped us carve pumpkins and Lyla really got into it! // I wanted Axel to stay warm for Halloween and realized he doesn't have many good clothes for layering so I dipped into the girls' old clothes! Oh my goodness, he is cute! (And I love his fountained out Alfalfa hair!) 

Still with the hair! Haha!!! Axel had fun carving his baby pumpkin also! And I can't believe I can't find a picture of all the pumpkins finished! // Sarah brought the girls back some sea shells from Hawaii. The girls love these kinds of trinkets!  

Getting ready to go trick-or-treating on Logan's main street! 

I just can't with these kids!!! I think they are so cute!!!  

We met up with Diana and her kiddos and had so much fun trick-or-treating at all the businesses on main street in Logan. It was cold, but the kids did so good and we had so much fun!  

One of the businesses took pictures of all the kids and uploaded the pictures to their website for the parents to download for free!!! I wish Eli had been with us for this one, but he got to stay home where it was warm with Grandma!  

Seriously...I just can't get over how cute I think this little Alfafa looked! 

We tried to go trick-or-treating around Grandma and Grandpa's neighborhood, but it was a huge bust! We still had a lot of fun, but the girls were really happy we went to Logan that morning where they actually got a lot of candy! haha! 

I love how Axel says "Alfalfa" in this video! He cracks me up!