Family Photo Shoot

Our friend Tatia took these pictures when Lexi was almost two weeks old. Thanks Tatia!

Lexi at 1 1/2 weeks

Lexi's Blessing

Joseph blessed Lexi on Oct. 30th when she was less than a week old, because all of her grandparents could come from Utah. Lexi was all dressed up with matching shoes, socks, headband, and bracelet. My mother and I had so much fun finding a dress for Lexi when I visited Utah in August. Lexi looked like a little angel and was so good when she was blessed despite the fact that she was starved.

My Little Turkeys

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We ate dinner down at the church with a bunch of families in our ward. I was glad I didn't have to make a whole thanksgiving dinner. We just brought a vegetable tray, salad, and dessert. Below is a picture of "Pete" our perky vegetable turkey. Nicholas liked him, but not as much as Mama did. Joseph was amused by how big of a kick I got out of arranging the vegetables to look like a turkey.

As a mother, it is my right to put my kids in embarrassing head wear. I have really exercised this right with Lexi. For Thanksgiving, I branched out and included Nicholas. In my defense, he LOVED his turkey hat. I thought I would be lucky to get him to wear it for a couple of pictures. Instead, he wore it to Thanksgiving dinner and slept with it a couple nights. We kept telling him, "Looking good Nicholas." Now when he wears the hat he says, "I'm lookin' good, Mama."

Lexi at 1 month

Weight: Approximately 11 lbs

Height: 22"

Diaper Size: 1

Number of Chins: 2

Eye Color: Dark grey/blue

I can't tell you how much we are enjoying this new little one. I had forgotten how much I LOVE newborns. Joseph and I fight over who gets to hold her at church or when we sit down to watch a movie. She is just pure sweetness. She is generally content to sit in her bouncer and watch the world in between naps. About twice a day, she demands to be held. Usually she likes to be held for about two hours in the morning and two hours at night. Of course we love to snuggle with her every chance we get, but sadly we usually need both our hands to manage Nicholas and the messes he makes. I think she somehow realizes that so she usually demands to be held when Nicholas isn't awake. She is pretty mild mannered. Even the pediatrician commented that she wasn't a fussy baby. She never cries when she is being held unless she is hungry.

Special Talents:

• Nicholas made coughing noises and grunts. Lexi makes squeaks and clicks.
• Making funny faces.
• She enjoys tummy time if you sit and pat her back while she does it.
• At 3 weeks, she started smiling at us on purpose and even started to laugh. Her laugh is just a little, "Ha."
• Going to the bathroom during diaper changes. It doesn't matter how prepared I am, she always manages to make some sort of mess at least once a day:)
• Making LOTS of messy diapers.
• She has a little tuft of long hair on the top of her head that likes to stick up like Alfalfa.

Things She Doesn't Like:

• Wardrobe changes are traumatic.
• She doesn't like her diaper changed, but she is coming to terms with that.
• She doesn't really like using a pacifier. She will suck on it for a minute or two when she is really hungry, but that is about it.

Sleeping:

• For the first 3 1/2 weeks of her life, she wouldn't go longer than 3 hours between feeding. Now she is going up to 4 hours between feedings at night.
• She likes to hang out and be held by Mama or Papa between 10 pm and 1 am.
• She sleeps better swaddled, but she also likes to sleep with her hands by her face.
• She sleeps either in her vibrating bouncer or in her crib.

Nov. 25-Lexi at the mall watching ice skating and the big tree lighting ceremony at the Galleria.

Nov. 25- Joseph admiring Lexi.

Lexi playing store with Nicholas. Nicholas gives her lots of play food to hold.

Nov. 13- Lexi all dressed up and ready to go to church.

Lexi spends a large part of her day looking like this.

Nov. 6- Lexi and Nicholas all dressed up after church.

Nov. 8- Lexi is all dressed up and ready to go to playgroup. This was our second big outing with just me and the kids. We went to the movie theater to see Lion King. It wasn't a very successful outing. Nicholas talked through the whole first part of the movie. He loudly named every animal he saw and announced when the animals were being "not nice." He then proceeded to wander the theater. He enjoyed touching all the lights that lined the aisle and flipping seats. Lexi then decided that she wanted to eat so we ended up leaving.

Who Do I Look Like?

I am the worst at figuring out who a child looks like. I think Lexi looks just like Nicholas when he was born, except with less dark hair. You be the judge.

Lexi at 2 weeks. She is dressed in the same outfit my parents took me home from the hospital in.)

Nicholas at 2 days old.

Me (Maren) at 3 days old.

Sadly, I don't have a baby picture of Joseph yet.

Nicholas at 25 months

*Photo from Nicholas' 2 year photo shoot. I don't know how to flip it so just turn your head.

Weight: 32.5 lbs

Height: Approximately 33.5 inches

Clothing Size: He is in 3T to 4T tops and 2T bottoms

Big Events in the Past Month:

• Nicholas is a BIG BROTHER: A lot of people have asked how Nicholas is liking being a big brother. For the most part, Lexi has been pretty easy for Nicholas to ignore. When he remembers he has a sister, he is very nice and soft. He will lay down by her and say, "Hi Lexi! Hi Lexi! Hi Lexi! Hi Lexi." We have tried to have him hold her for pictures, but before we can snap one he will start standing up and say, "All done." His favorite part about Lexi is that he finds it funny that Lexi will burp after she eats. Sharing Mom is the hard part of being a big brother. When I have to feed Lexi, Nicholas will say in a super sad voice, "Mama back. Mama back." He also hates it when I use the nursing cover. The first time I used the nursing cover he forgot Lexi was behind it and he ran over and jumped on Mom. We all gasped and Lexi let out a cry. We didn't yell at him, but our startled reaction let him know that he had done something bad. His little tender heart was broken and he melted into tears. It took awhile to calm him down.
• Nicholas now sleeps in a big boy bed: Grandmother Muhlestein let Nicholas go to the store and we picked up new sheets for his bed and a waterproof mattress protector for his birthday. We then dug up a Dalmatian comforter that use to be Uncle Morgan's and that Joseph had stolen from his house. Nicholas loves his new "puppy" bed and went to sleep happily in it. The first night he didn't fall out. The second night he fell out three times. Since then, he hasn't fallen out. The bed is up on risers so it is quite the drop. He sometimes has problems falling asleep and will come out. Grandmother Muhlestein was smart and told him that he would lose his binkie if he kept coming out of his bed. He has been better to stay in it since then. Our next battle will be about giving up the binkie.
• Nicholas had his Grandparents visit: Nicholas LOVED having all his grandparents come. (Almost as much as I enjoyed it.) He was very friendly and loved going with them. He is thankfully past his SUPER clingy stage. Now he is smart enough to know that he will have more fun if he goes with his grandparents.

Favorite Foods:

• Hot Dogs (Nicholas ate more hot dogs with ketchup then I can count while his grandparents were here.)
• Applesauce
• Chocolate Pudding
• Ice Cream

Favorite Activities:

• Fuzzy Balls (A colors game where he has to sort the fuzzy balls by color.)
• Visiting Ozzie (Ozzie is the next door neighbors dog. The dog has a doggy door and can go in and out as he pleases. Nicholas will yell VERY loud and Ozzie will come out to the fence and lick Nicholas' hands. Nicholas will have long conversations with Ozzie about all sorts of things from telling him about his new baby sister to discussing what Ozzie likes to eat.)
• Dumping out things.
• Playing with Grandmother's and Grandfather's ipads
• Running "SUPER FAST" with airplane arms
• Playing in his sandbox
• Swinging
• Playing hide-and-seek
• Building forts
• Building tall towers, stairs, and airplanes with his blocks
• Coloring and drawing letters.

Skills:

• Nicholas can count to 10; however, he often says, "1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10. Yeah!!"
• He knows his letters and most of their sounds.
• He is still working on learning his colors. He knows blue, yellow, and orange pretty well.
• He is quite the talker!! He is putting together surprising long sentences now.

Nicholas getting his hair cut by Papa. It requires A LOT of M&Ms to get him to sit still and cooperate.

Nicholas frosted his first cookie at playgroup. He loved it almost as much as finger painting. He enjoyed covering the turkey in red frosting and dumping on sprinkles. He kept on saying, "I make messes. I make messes." He was also one of the few kids that actually ate their cookie and not just the frosting.

We bought some glow sticks and put one in a balloon. After the balloon popped, we played hide-and-seek with the glow stick. Nicholas loved waving it around and took it on the swing. After playing outside, he took it in the bath and had a bath with the lights off. He finished off the day by taking the glow stick to bed with him. Oh to be a two year old again and be happy with the simple things in life.

This is Nicholas' fuzzy ball game that Grandma made for the him.

This is Nicholas talking to Ozzie, the next door neighbor's dog.

Nicholas in his puppy bed on the first night. You can see his stuffed puppies, three blankets, and two binkies that he insists on sleeping with every night.