The Polar Express

Back when I was working I often had kiddos tell me they were going to the North Pole or on the Polar Express. I would talk to them about imagination and that they weren't really going to the North Pole or on the Polar Express.....and then I found out they were! That AZ has this really awesome Christmas event in Williams where you ride on a real train and read the Polar Express story, drink hot cocoa and eat cookies all the while singing Christmas carols! You end in the "North Pole" and Santa boards the train and gives each child a magic bell. Talk about a festive Christmas idea. So now I feel like such a silly speechie ruining it for all of my kiddos I used to see!
This was our 2nd year of taking our train loving toddler on this great train ride. We woke up early Sunday morning and packed up for our daytrip. Got to Flagstaff around 10:30ish and had the fun of the ground being covered in alot of snow and it was snowing out!! Yay, winter wonderland for us Phoenicians! Kyle took Kayden sledding and they made his first snowman on the NAU campus (cheer the college kiddos up during finals week:), Kayden also was taught the magical "you can eat white snow, not yellow snow" saying and loved telling me that over and over all day! We ate soup for lunch (something else you Northerners take for granted, eating soup on a bone chilling day is the best!!) then we headed to Williams for the big train ride. Kayden was so excited to meet Santa and to be on a real train ride! Brecken is a trooper! He was awesome for the whole car ride there and back and on the train. He just hung out on my chest in the Ergo for most of the train ride and only cried when Santa boarded b/c the train car was full of screaming kiddos excited to meet Santa.
My happy 2 year old sang his little heart out for the singing portion of the ride and I loved watching him. He also had his first hot cocoa....still prefers only water but took a few sips b/c they were singing the Hot cocoa song and every one else on the train was loving it. I love making him smile like he did that day!

Some Photos

My friend Christa was nice enough to come over and take some photos of Baby Brecken when he was only 11 days old! So happy I have those shots of him sooo tiny. She got some great photos and I'm so thankful to have those moments captured now that I realize how fast time is going!!! I'm soooo bad at posting lately I'm just now doing it from way back then! Trying to get the hang of this 2 kiddo thing!

How, What, Where, When, Why??????

Our world has become bombarded w/ questions. Within the last 2 weeks Kayden has had a huge language burst and along with that has come a huge curiosity. He asks questions non-stop all day long. "How this work?" "Where we go?" "What we do here?" "What happened?" "What you doing?" "Where you buy this?" "When daddy get home from work?" "Why baby crying?" And lots more! I am usually exhausted by the end of the day answering his questions. But I love how curious he is and watching him soak in all the information I give him. A few months ago his questions where simple "How?" one word statements when he needed help working a toy or figuring something out. Now they are sentences and so much more complex with the information he is trying to gather. His little wheels turning in his head are so fun to watch!

Thanksgiving 2009

Uncle Kurt and Brecken

Carrie, Kayden, Uncle Mark, Brecken and I and Uncle Kurt

Mark, Brecken & Carrie (early in the morning before flying out on Sunday!)

Kayden and Brecken on Thanksgiving (Thankful for eachother I'm sure:)

Uncle Mark and Carrie trying to torment me!

Everyone making Thanksgiving Candy

Our Chocolate lover (not sure where he gets that from:)

Uncle Kurt w/ his boys!
This year with Brecken being born so close to Thanksgiving we had our family down to AZ for the holiday. My mom was already here for her month long stint of helping after baby boy was born and my brothers and Carrie flew in late Tuesday night. Kayden LOVES my brothers and Carrie! He talked about them coming for at least 2 weeks before they were to arrive. We had a photographer come the Saturday before and the way we could get him to smile everytime was by asking him who was coming to see him on Tuesday! He would get a huge smile and tell the photographer Uncle Mart and Carrie and Uncle Kurt. I LOVE that he loves his family so much. Not sure if anything could make me happier. I love that he knows that they are special and will always be there no matter what, family is the best and I'm so glad at his little age he already realizes it! Makes me feel like Kyle and I must be doing something right:)!
We did a lot of cooking and alot of eating and shopping while they were here. On Thursday my cousin Brian, his wife Montessa and her son Gavriel came along with my Aunt Martha and my cousins Little Ray and his girl Lizzy, Sarah and Amber. Montessa's parents also came. So we had a houseful! Kayden loved having "so many people at my house" and he'd smile big. He took a special liking to Martha, maybe he just knows she's my Godmother:)
Friday morning I was up nursing Brecken around 2:45 and we left to shop at 3:30am. yes, you read right! It's a family tradition, we do it every year, I can remember doing it wayyyy back when I was a little girl b/c I thought I had to go w/ all my aunts and mom. It's only once a year, we join the crazies and stand in long lines and think we are getting great deals. Since Breck is so tiny we brought him along. He just slept the entire time in either his carseat or one of my carriers. We started at 4am and shopped until 1pm! It was a big day! And we welcomed Carrie to the family by subjecting her to our crazy shopping day.
Friday night the boys all went to the hockey game including Kayden and the girls stayed home and watched My Sister's Keeper and snuggled with Brecken. I guess Kayden LOVED the Coyote and was thrilled to get to give him a high 5 TWICE:) After he saw him I guess he kept saying over and over "want that yote, want that yote" and drove daddy and uncles crazy saying it!
Saturday I took the crew to Lone Butte Casino...I gambled a whopping $7! And I hated doing even that much, all I could think of was that I could have gotten 2 Starbucks with that meme! I'm NOT a gambler at all but they wanted to go so I decided to try...and it didn't work, I just couldn't make myself put any more than that $7 in those money eating machines. Carrie though I think only did $5 so I guess I have a gambling buddy for next time, we can just sit and drink or something:) That night we went to SanTan Flats and ate outside by the firepits and made smores. Kayden and I also got jiggy w/ it on the dance floor. He was SO happy to dance and boogied down:) I had the best night dancing with my little man and I'm so happy he likes to dance w/ his mama since his daddy doesn't!
So glad we got to spend Thanksgiving with our family! It was great having you all here! So glad we got to make so many great memories with you this Thanksgiving!

Brecken is one month old!

(I put you in your coming home outfit for your one month birthday, crazy how much more you fill it out now!! You are growing wayyy too fast baby boy!)

I remember thinking a month went by fast with Kayden, but with your second baby it's even faster. It feels like I blinked and the time disappeared. I really feel like I was just trying to decide if I was in labor or not and now he is a month old.
This past month he has changed so much. I'm not sure how much he weighs but I can tell he has gotten alot bigger. His newborn clothes are now too small:( And he is filling out his 0-3 clothes alot more. He has gotten alot longer too! This past month he has really "Stretched out". He went from that tiny newborn scrunched in a ball to a much longer infant that likes to kick and stretch his legs and wave his arms around. He still does love to be scrunched up in a wrap or on my belly but it isn't all the time like it used to be.
He also is now awake a little more than before. He still loves to sleep but his awake times are getting a little longer. If I'm wearing him or he is on a drive in the carseat though he is always asleep. And at night he still sleeps great! He goes to bed for the night around 7pm and usually wakes around midnight to nurse and then around 3am and sometimes again around 5:00am or so. He just nurses and is right back asleep. I can't even get him to nurse on both sides in the night, he just wants a quick belly filler and then is out again. I really enjoy our night time nursing sessions (when I don't fall asleep!). I like the quiet time when it's just he and I. I find that a hard thing having 2 kiddos, sharing my time w/ two is hard, especially when one is very demanding. So at night when the house is quiet and all is good and peaceful I really soak up the little sounds Brecken makes and cherish how he stares into my eyes as he takes his big gulps. You sleep in bed with us on your side snuggled right in next to me. You do like to be swaddled to sleep but you don't need to be so most nights I don't but sometimes I do for naps b/c it helps you sleep longer.
We've covered, eating and sleeping...what else do newborns do??? Poop:) Won't get into details here but he has went from the newborn size diapers to the size 1 pampers already, happened about a week or 2 ago. It was hard for me to make the switch but after one too many blowouts I decided it was time:) He still does manage to blow out alot, seems to happen way more when I take him out, I always have to have a change of clothes! After it happened twice I realized that is why your supposed to just stay home w/ a newborn, going out is too much work!
You also still love your bath, the water has to be warm but if it is you are very content in there!
This month you also got to meet alot of your family! Both sets of grandparents came to see you (grandma W was here for the whole month...thanks mom!!! you made the month be a nice, peaceful transition from 1 to 2, a great gift!), your uncles Mark and Kurt and your new Aunt Carrie came down for Thanksgiving and then on Thanksgiving day you got to meet my Aunt Martha, and my cousins, Brian (and Montessa and Gavriel), Ray and Lizzy, Sarah and Amber! What a big month of introductions! Can't wait for you to meet more of the family over Christmas!
And a BIG one for this month!! You started smiling!! You smiled from day one when sleeping or whatever but you smiled back to us around 2 and 1/2 weeks! And now you fill our days with your sweet little smile!!:)

A funny story about outings with a newborn...One day mom and I went to paradise for lunch. Brecken and I were waiting for them to bring our food, he blew out, I went to the car to change him and while I was changing him he preceeded to poop all over the front seat in the tahoe and then started peeing all over me! Fun times:) I wasn't used to going out w/ a newborn yet so I didn't have enough wipes or diapers for the incident. I also wasn't used to my boobies leaking so while this is all going on I have spots on my shirt showing that my milk was ready for my little munchkin! When I finally got back to eat my sandwhich my bread was dry (we were sitting outside)and mom and Kayden were finished eating. So we tried to distract Kayden so I could eat and then Kayden preceeded to try and pull his pants down in front of everyone to "potty in the rocks like Didi". At that point I realized I should just stay home! It was a circus and I even had my mom there to help me, not sure what I would have done by myself.

And baby makes 4!

Life with 2 is hectic. I love it, but I am a busy girl! Brecken is just over 3 weeks old and I already can't imagine life before he was here. He is such a wonderful addition to our family, I can't believe how blessed we are to have him as ours. He still sleeps alot, nurses like a pro and loves to watch his big brother monkey around. Of course like most babies he is most content when snuggled up next to someone and we all love snuggling with him so much that he gets held alot. But he is very content when laying on the ground, in his bouncy chair or on a car ride. He also loves nightime snuggles and mommy loves them right back:) He'd sleep in his bassinet if I wanted him to but I like having him right next to me so that is where he goes. Sometimes grandma gives him a paci if I'm not around to feed him but he doesn't really need it and doesn't seem to have any preference for it, we'll see if that changes as time goes on. I'm not against him having one for awhile but if he doesn't need it/want it I figure why bother? Just like his big brother he likes to be worn when we are out, in the moby wrap (thanks Sara!) or in his peanutshell. I just got the infant insert for the Ergo so I'm excited to take him on a nice long walk in it.
And big Brother Kayden....He has done really well with his transition to big brother. But he still has some hard times, nursing is still something he'd rather the baby doesn't have to do. And if I'm talking or snuggling with Brecken sometimes I'll catch him just watching me and I know in those moments he feels left out and hurt and I hate that. At times he'll tell me "put my baby back in mommy's belly" (but most of the time he says happily, "Mama my baby came out of your belly":). And I know that he's having a hard day with sharing the attention with his baby brother. He also doesn't really like that baby brother sleeps with mommy and daddy. He will tell me to put him in the bassinet or that he wants to sleep with us. Sleeping has been a little hard for him, he likes to come to our bed alot which hadn't been happening before Brecken arrived. And he was fully potty trained and now sometimes he will pee on the floor on purpose and then seems proud of it! Not a fun little set back at all! Sometimes if someone is bringing the baby to me to nurse he will lay in the baby's spot and say "my lay right there mommy, you hold me not the baby", poor little man:( I hope he soon feels like me and can't imagine life without Brecken but for now I can tell he still remembers his "good ole days" when he was the only one getting all of the attention from everyone. But for every moment when he wishes Brecken wouldn't be getting snuggled, there are 10 kisses that he gives his baby brother. And everytime we leave without the baby he can't wait to get home to "his baby", and if we go somewhere he often says "my baby come w/ mama?" in a hopeful voice. So I know soon he will be used to baby and all that it involves and I hope I'm helping him transition to that time in a gentle way.

Brecken's First Bath

Brecken had his first bath on Saturday, November 7th. He loved it! He liked the warm water and had a content little face the whole time he was in it. He didn't love getting out of it and being cold until we got his pajamas on but he did love the bath. Big Brother Kayden loved helping during the bath and had to stand on a chair right next to us to make sure we did it right!