Valentine's Day Pictures

We had a low key Valentine's Day. It was nice to relax and have fun with my boys.

I started the day taking lots of pictures, but then slacked off. I really need to be better about photos. So enjoy the ones that I did manage to take.

Oakley was surprised to see what was waiting for him at the breakfast table. I love his excited face and hope to be able to catch it on film one of these days.

Oakley couldn't wait until after breakfast to use his new markers. He insisted on coloring right then while I made us some pancakes.

I made Pink Pancakes with strawberries and (supposedly) heart shaped bacon. Yum!

After breakfast Oakley was finally able to open his valentine that Grandma and Grandpa Staheli sent. He had been looking forward to it all week.

We also made Valentines to give to grandparents. Oakley did such a great job with stamping and coloring. He loves to do anything with art.

Oakley also made a special card for Daddy. He loved being able to use the glue stick.

For Dinner I planned on making my mom's homemade spaghetti sauce to go with our spaghetti and breadsticks and jello and lemonade pie.  But...pregnancy got the better of me and the recipe I was going to use for the jello salad was no longer on the internet.  I ran out of time and only was able to make the sauce. I was happy that I had finished the pie early in the day while I still had energy and all of my brain power! It was the highlight of dinner (after the delicious spaghetti sauce).  But it all turned out delicious anyway. The best part of the day was being able to be with my boys and let them know how much I love them.

18 months!

My little baby is now a little boy. I can't believe how much he has grown. I keep thinking about all the growth and learning he has down in the past year. What a smart little peanut he is.
Here are his 18 month stats:
Weight 27.2 lbs  55%
Length 33.5 in    80 %
Head Circ. 19.1 in   69%

I have one tall little boy! He has been wearing 24 month clothing for about 2 months now. Oakley still enjoys sign language and is beginning to say actual words. So far we understand Dada, Mom, Nana (banana), Ball, More, Cheese (which is really just a cute buzzing type of sound), Yes, Yeah, and of course NO.
He loves to play with his kitchen and dishes. Oakley is a big helper in the kitchen. He enjoys helping with the loading and unloading of the dishwasher.

If I am cooking, he has to but up on the chair helping me measure everything out. Oakley has recently discovered the drawer under the oven and loves to pull out the pans and make them into drums.

We have also been experimenting with different mediums of art. So far we have tried colored pencils, crayons, watercolors, and slick sticks.

We also made play dough this week and he enjoys using the cookie cutters to cut out shapes. I have to laugh when he sneaks a piece of the dough to eat just like when we are making cookies or biscuits.

Books are still a favorite pastime. He especially loves looking at our family yearbook and Mom and Dad's wedding book.

Oakley also loves songs. We often turn music on to dance to and Oakley will spin around. He regularly asks for "Twinkle, Twinkle" by make a diamond with his fingers. I love that he is starting to "sing" along with me. He also enjoys rocking his baby and Zobbs.

Transitioning to one nap was a lot easier than I thought it would be. He took right to it. We moved his mattress to the floor from his toddler bed because he kept falling out, but will now sleep a good 12 1/2-13 hours at night.

He loves getting his picture taken, but don't expect a smile from him! He is such a goof and loves to play on his bed.

30 Weeks

I am so excited to be able to count down the weeks on my fingers now! I can't believe that there are only 10 weeks left of this pregnancy. It has gone by incredibly fast. I guess it helps having an energetic little boy around to pass my time.
This pregnancy has been fairly easy again. I do still have SI joint pain, but even that is not as bad as it was a month ago. I absolutely love feeling this little boy dance, especially all night long. Oakley loves to feel his baby brother. He is always putting his hands on my belly and pushing. I guess the teasing had to begin sometime. Oakley will even give "baby brother" a hug and kiss.
I fell huge. Daniel is good to remind me that it is only because I have nowhere else for the baby to go but out.
Last week I was asked if I was having twins or triplets because I still had so long until April. It gave me a good laugh. What do you think? Does it look like I'm having multiples?

Christmas Crafts

After four years of being married, I was excited to finally get around to making our family stockings. I got some awesome deals at Joann and Hobby Lobby on Black Friday! As mentioned before, I have been really into burlap. These are the stockings that I designed.

Oakley and I also brainstormed on what he could give his grandparents that would be from him and not just from Mom and Dad. This is what we came up with. Oakley thought that the feel of paint on his feet was really weird, but then had fun with it. We kinda like how they turned out.

Photo Book

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25 Weeks!

Yay! I'm getting closer! This little boy is going crazy inside of me. Oakley doesn't quite know what to think when he feels the baby kick him. Here is my awesome belly shot.

 I now have to put a plug in for pregnancy belts. I LOVE mine! I have been trying to deal with SI joint pain. Oh it's horrible. I don't wish it on anyone. I have been doing exercises and stretches to help, but I still would go to bed and not be able to move.
After my doctor appointment we headed over to the maternity store and tried some belts. With more support for my lower back, this belt is awesome. That first day I was only hurting a little (which is awesome!)
The next coupld of days I continued to wear it and I am now pretty much pain free!! whoohoo! It's not the most attractive thing (and thankfully I can wear it under my clothes) but for this pregnancy, this belt has been a life saver!

Christmas

Merry Christmas!! What a wonderful time of the year. Our Christmas was great and I hope everyone else had just as good a holiday.
We were able to stay in Oak City for a week or so. We love that our families live close to each other so that we can enjoy the holidays with everyone.

I live my little man! He looked so handsome in his suit in front of the Christmas Tree.

Oakley loved having his cousins to play with. Liam and he actually had the same pajamas!

Jordan was so good with Oakley. She was great to help Oakley play the ipod and other games!

Oakley this singing snowman his Grandma Kunz has. He would keep giving it hugs and clapping for the end of the song.

Oakley loved Grandma's village too! He was a little Godzilla sometimes, but overall loved examining all of the pieces and the train.

Christmas Eve we went to the Oak City Town Christmas Party. They had the primary children do the nativity then had lots of Christmas songs following. Of course we had to see Santa and get our treat bag!

We returned to Grandma Staheli's and played "Pin the Nose on Rudolph." We learned not to trust Liam. He wouldn't guide your hand to the nose at all!

Grandpa Staheli read a story to all of us and then we sang some Christmas songs.

Oakley opened our Christmas Eve gift. We got burlap stockings I made and a picture book about the legend of Christmas stockings.

Oakley woke up early on Christmas. He went straight to his new Legos and had to start playing with them while we waited for the other kids to wake up.

I crochet Daniel this awesome hat for shooting. HAHA

Our family of 3.5.  I love Christmas and family togetherness.

In the afternoon we went down to Delta to open gifts with the Kunzs'

Oakley, Daniel, and I were so spoiled with all of the fun things we got.

Oakley loved building with his legos. He had to have help to keep making his tower taller.

Oakley and I went over to Great-Grandma Christensen's house to visit while Daniel went back to Logan for work. It is always good to visit grandma. I also had a few other aunts, uncle, and cousin there. (Oakley somehow got stuck in the folding chair.)

Because of all the snow we had to play in it. Oakley took Daniel his boots and coat and begged to go outside. He loved it and didn't want to come back into the house. This little guy is really enjoying all of the snow we have!

When we got home to Logan, Oakley immediately began playing with the kitchen he got for Christmas. He loves it! We are constantly making cupcakes and good soups to eat.

He also loves sitting in his new beanbag while listen to music with Daddy's headphones.

Every year I get so excited for Christmas. I love planning what gifts to give. One of my favorite parts of Christmas is seeing people open up their gifts.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!