Update

A few weeks ago I decided to go back and read about when Tanzi was in the NICU. It brought back a LOT of feelings that I thought would last forever, yet many have dwindled since bringing her home. It also made me realize how much I LOVED having a daily record of our lives. I'm not good at keeping a journal...so our blog is it! Then, recently, one of our friends made their blog private so it could be more of a journal of their family's daily happenings. She inspired me to get back to that point with our blog. (Thanks, Jenn!!) So, hopefully I will be MUCH better at updating the blog....as boring as that may be for many of you.

Gary is out of town for work. He's in North Carolina. He left on the 28th and this will be a good way for him to keep up on the craziness around here. Tonight it's going to be a lot of recent pictures, but from here on out it will probably be less pictures and more words (yes, it's possible for me to be even MORE wordy :) ) But before I get into the pictures here's the excitement from our day:

Gray often cries for his daddy when he gets sad, but today it was especially sad. When he cried for his daddy I told him daddy was in North Carolina. I asked him if we should try to call daddy. Gray said, "No!! Me want my daddy!! Me want my daddy to come home now!" Oh...it broke my heart...it's gonna be a long week.

For Family Home Evening I decided to talk to the kids about a slight change in how we discipline. I recently read "1-2-3 Magic" by Thomas W Phelan and felt like we could definitely try his technique to help have a happier home. Gary took the book to read on his trip, so I decided I would get going on this before he got home so he could just jump in when he gets home. We already use some of these strategies, but there are some changes. So, I was talking to Kyri and Gray about what would change and how I would actually set a timer for their time outs (then I won't accidentally leave them in there for far too long) and we even bought some timers at the store today. They both seemed excited about it, but let's hope it doesn't cause them to TRY to be naughty so they can have a timed time out ;)

Graysen found the exhaust pipe.

I didn't have the heart to clean it off....it stayed on from about 10 am til he took a bath that night.

I'm such a good mom!

Drawing a picture for daddy...and drawing on themselves

A mess

Chalky hands? Check. Pink bike? Check. Exhaust pipe mouth? Double Check.

Okay, you're ready, dude!!

Peek?

Tanzi loves sleeping with her blanket over her face....just like her big sister!!

Sitting with Grampy on a visit to see Great Grandma Dora

On the 28th I had a FUN dinner with some of the best of friends!! These are my fabulous girlfriends from my "college" days. We used to get together quite often for dinners, but it had been over a year and half, so I set one up. Even though Gary later found out he would be out off town I decided to go ahead with the dinner. It was much needed time with my girls. I feel like I ran around a lot with my kids, but I'm used to that, since that's what I'm always doing with 3 kids. But we had a great time!!

Kyri, Gray, and Logan eating the fabulous cupcakes with neon frosting Denet brought.

And, not to be gross, but changing Gray's bum the next couple days sure was....interesting....to say the least. He had bright blue poop which actually stained his bum blue!!

Hahaha!!!

Ann Marie, Joe, Amber, and Johnny

Ann Marie and Joe are getting married next Saturday (Congrats!!) What a cute couple!

And Amber is dating Johnny, who just so happens to be the lead bass guitar player for the band Air Supply.

Yes, he was in my home.

And he is very nice and down to earth.

He is welcome to come back any time :)

Craig and Denet

Also engaged...and perfect for each other!

I LOVE seeing my friends so happy!

Jenn, drawing for my kids, who will probably now ask me to draw them elephants and snakes with chalk.

We really did have a great time!!

I love the look on Amber and Ann Marie's faces in this picture :)

Always entertained

Last week I took the kids to the pool in Pocatello, while visiting Grammy and Grampy.

We had fun with Tawn and Alyssa. The kids could have spent all day in the lazy river....maybe next summer!

Sleeping beauties!

They spent 5 nights in this big bed and the first night home Graysen fell out of his small toddler bed with rails on the side....go figure.

Tanzi wakes up SO happy in the morning.

And it's a good thing because she has not been sleeping well at night. Last night she woke up every 1 1/2 - 2 hours!! She kept acting like her tummy was hurting and just wanted to eat...all night long....but today she had 3 stinky diapers....let's hope she got enough out to sleep well tonight!

Hahahaha!!

Gray came to me today and this is what I saw (well, I saw the front side and even took a picture of the front side, but thought this was more appropriate for posting)

Oh I LOVE these kids!!

They are both wearing their "running shoes" and were running as fast as they could around the house. Then Graysen told me he was wet (I think he merely trickled in his diaper...what a waste...doesn't he know how expensive diapers are?!) Maybe it's time to start potty training!

I couldn't help myself. I had to post this. Please click to enlarge.

Hahahaha!!

Here's a really funny story:

So, my kids like to pretend to drink Coke. I'm not sure where they got it from because Gary and I don't drink Coke. Ever. In fact we rarely drink any soda at all. So, they must have heard it from someone else. And I'm sure they don't even know what Coke is. Sometimes they even pretend to drink "Spicy Coke" Well, on the way to Idaho last week Kyri and Gray were both pretending to drink Coke. They were playing together so well. Then, suddenly, Graysen started crying with real tears. When I asked him why he was crying he said, "Sister take my Coke!!" So, Kyri "pretended" to take his "pretend" Coke, yet he had very real tears. I just laughed and told him to take it back. He did. And then he was happy!

The End

Sure LOVE this family!!

This picture was taken less than a week after our other family pictures. Yes, I cut my hair. Why didn't any of you tell me my hair looked so bad long? And, yes, Kyri's hair has been cut since this picture. I also LOVE her haircut. What can I say? Short hair is totally my thing!!

Family Pictures

In July, our super talented sister-in-law took some family pictures for us that turned out amazing. Just because they are all so good, I will limit the writing and let you enjoy the shots. Thank You so much Amber! These are beautiful.

Lots of good family shots.

Graysen and his adorable eyes.

Really just loved Kyri's shots on the rocks. She had this model pose down.

Families are Forever

A few of our favorites of the kids.

Tanzi, can you be any cuter?

Teaching moment!

Tanzi in her blessing dress, so precious.

I don't think Mauri and I have had a shot of just us two since we were married. We really liked this one.

Thanks again so much Amber for these wonderful, priceless pictures of our family.

Anniversary

Gary and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary on July 22nd (yes, I am VERY behind on updating our blog) This was the most perfect day! Instead of taking time out for ourselves we decided to do something super fun with all our kids. And it was SUPER fun!

We started the day at Hogle Zoo

Right now it is "Zoorassic Park" and the kids loved all the dinosaurs. Well, Kyri liked the ones that didn't move, but the moving ones were a little frightening. They not only moved, but also made dinosaur noises. Kyri asked to not go by those ones, but we were lucky that she sat on this one with us. And we were pleasantly surprised to run into my good friend, Jenn...she's the one who took this picture for us, not Tanzi, as I'm sure some of you were wondering :)

Cute baby elephant

Probably my very favorite part of the zoo

We always go to the bird show when we're at the zoo. We LOVE it...every time.

3 sleepy tigers

What a FUN day at the zoo!!

After having a nice lunch in SLC we came home and played on the slip-n-slide

And we ended the evening with a bang. Literally. Fireworks were going off all around us. Kyri and Graysen cried. We tried to make them watch the fireworks, but they just wanted to go to bed. But FIRST we roasted marshmallows and had s'mores.

Delicious!!

It really was the most perfect day. I just love Gary SO much and am so grateful to have spent these last amazing 5 years with him!

Happy Anniversary!

Food for Thought

Back in June Mauri and I went to her brother's house in Evanston for a Saturday afternoon barbecue. After we finished eating some delicious food, we were complaining that we ate too much and needed to go on a diet. It just so happened that a couple of her brothers and sister-in-law were thinking the same thing we were. As a result, all five of us entered into a weight loss competition with each of us contributing $20 to the pot. It was just the motivation Mauri and I needed. After brainstorming how we should lose weight, we decided we needed to exercise regularly and change what we were cooking and eating. Mauri stated her friend Allison had lost a lot of weight cooking meals from http://www.skinnytaste.com/. We figured we would try it out and do Jillian Michals 30-day shred. As we started making recipe's from the blog, we realized that they were easy to make and really tasty. Soon enough, we started shredding the pounds.

We started taking pictures of our meals to document what we ate. Here is what we came up with along with a link to the recipe.

Chicken Rollatini with Spinach alla Parmigiana

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/04/chicken-rollatini-with-spinach-alla.html#more

Broiled Tilapia with Thai Coconut Curry Sauce

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2010/04/broiled-tilapia-with-thai-coconut-curry.html#more

We have made this with chicken as well and it was delicious.

Ricotta Cheese Chocolate Chip Muffins

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/06/ricotta-cheese-chocolate-chip-muffins.html

Yes, there are even some delicious dessert recipes that are pretty good for when you have a craving for sweets. These are Mauri's specialties.

Pork Chops with Dijon Herb Sauce

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2008/06/pork-chops-with-dijon-herb-sauce-525-ww.html

Thai Chicken and Pineapple Stir Fry

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/06/thai-chicken-and-pineapple-stir-fry.html

Thai Coconut Curry Shrimp

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2010/03/thai-coconut-curry-shrimp.html

Chicken and White Bean Enchiladas with Creamy Green Chile Sauce

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2010/06/chicken-and-white-bean-enchiladas-with.html

Asian Turkey Meatballs With Lime Sesame Dipping Sauce

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2010/01/asian-turkey-meatballs-with-lime-sesame.html

Chicken Rollatini

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/04/chicken-rollatini-with-prosciutto-and.html

Coconut Chicken Salad with Warm Honey Mustard Vinaigrette

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/03/coconut-chicken-salad-with-warm-honey.html

Broiled Fish with Summer Grape Tomato Sauce

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/07/broiled-fish-with-summer-grape-tomato.html#more

There are quite a few other dishes we have made, but simply didn't take pictures. We have truly liked each one we have made.

In case you were wondering how Mauri and I did, we won! We had our weigh-in at her family reunion a couple of weeks ago. I lost 20 lbs and Mauri lost 18 lbs in about 5 weeks. We were happy with the results and we came away with a little extra cash. We are still working on getting down to our goal weight, but have enjoying going through this together.

4 Months

Tanzi is just growing SO fast! We can't believe how time has been flying by this summer!

Here's the info from Tanzi's 4 month appointment:

11.4 lbs (between 5th & 10th percentile)

I don't remember her length & can't find the paper with the stats on it, but her length was about 50%-60%

Her weight for length wasn't even on the charts :( BUT she IS growing. It just means she's "long and lean" (as the Dr says about ALL our kids)

Tanzi's head circumference was also about 10% (she doesn't have a ginormous head like her brother....yet)

I will post actual numbers when I find my paper, but for now just enjoy the cute pictures of our growing babe!!

Chillin' at the park

Tanzi's face isn't really in focus, but I LOVE her huge smile. She is a very smiley baby and sticks her tongue out a lot when she smiles.

Tanzi loved all the attention she got from cousins, aunts, and grandparents last week. As long as she was being held she was happy.

Here she is with my sister, Andrea.

SISTERS!!

Let's hope they grow up to be as good of friends as these sisters :)

Tanzi is such a happy, smiley baby. And even though we say she is by far our hardest baby she still brings us just as much joy!! And, actually, we feel like she is on her way to being a REALLY good baby (but we won't keep our fingers crossed).

We think Tanzi still has reflux, but only slightly. We don't give her any medicine for it. However, we think she still has a big problem with gas. She just always seems to have a toot or a burp in her that she can't quite get out. So, every night we give her gripe water and that really seems to help.

On Saturday night we started letting Tanzi cry herself to sleep. This has ALWAYS been a hard time for me with my kids. I HATE listening to them cry. And I was really worried about it with Tanzi because she is super attached to her binky. However, so far Tanzi has been the best at this out of all the kids. Saturday night she cried for about 20 minutes (and not even that hard)....and that's the longest she's cried since then. Every night and for every nap I put Tanzi down awake and without her binky...the last few nights she has slept better than ever!! I'm sort of thinking that this is what she was wishing we would do all along, instead of rock her, snuggle her and give her a binky...after all, she was used to just going to sleep on her own in the NICU. Or maybe she finally just decided she has given me enough heartache that she'd like to give me a break for a while. :) Either way I'm pleased as punch!!

Since Tanzi was about 2 months old she has been trying to sit up. She LOVES sitting up and seeing what's going on. A true girl....needing to be up into everybody's business :)

So, the bumbo is perfect!! She also loves her swing now that it's not lying down and she has an exersaucer she loves to be in too. None of them are quite as good as being held, though. :)

We love our little growing family and can't wait to see what the next few months will bring us!

These 2 pictures are to show the difference in Tanzi's scar.

(This is mostly for McKell...sorry I forgot to show you her scar at her blessing!!)

This was the day we left the hospital

(click on picture to enlarge)

And this was just a few days ago

Gotta love the deer in the headlights look and the double chin!!

stay tuned for many more blog updates...hopefully

Oh Blessed Day!!

I have a LOT to catch up on (as always) but for now I'm just going to post about Tanzi's special day.

On Sunday Tanzi was blessed by her Daddy.

It was the most perfect blessing and the most perfect day!

We loved having so much of our family here for the occasion. And our favorite nurse from PCMC, McKell, and her husband even came.

We feel so blessed to be surrounded by so many people who love Tanzi AND us :)

Thank you to ALL of you for making her day so absolutely PERFECT!!

This is the best picture I got of Tanzi.

But our sister-in-law, Amber, who is a photographer, got some much better photos which I will post at a later date.

My World

Kyri and Graysen had a conversation the other day that brought a big smile to my face.

And this is why I love my 2 & 3 year olds!!

Kyri was a little under the weather and Graysen was outside playing. Kyri went outside and this is what took place:

Kyri: "Graysen, I'm not going to come outside (yes, she IS outside saying this) because I don't feel too good."

Graysen: "You sick sister?"

Kyri: "No, I'm not sick I'm just not feeling too good."

Graysen: "Oh.....WHY?"

Kyri: "Oh....I don't know."

Graysen: "OK sister."

THE END

Maybe not everyone gets it like me, but every time I think about this (and other conversations) I can't help but be in love with these two!!

Some of you may not know this, but Tanzi has not been a perfect little baby since she's been home. In fact, she is by FAR my hardest baby. The pediatrician thinks she has reflux. She doesn't spit up, so it wasn't something I caught right away. We put Tanzi on some medicine and tried it out for over a week...without much change.

Tanzi doesn't sleep well....at all...which mean I don't sleep well.

I called the Dr and we got a new prescription. We tried that for a while....still not much of a change.

I'm not used to having a baby wake up in the night for any other reason than to just eat. This week has been particularly rough because Kyri and Graysen have both taken their turns being sick. And have taken their turns being up in the night.

Last night I was feeling quite sleep deprived and, to be quite honest, feeling quite sorry for myself. Gary was gone enjoying some time playing basketball. And here I was. Stuck at my house. My messy, disastrous house. My house I'm stuck at all day every day since Gary takes our one car that fits all 3 of our kids in it. The house I've been cleaning puke up from all week. Here I was. Holding a baby who would cry every time I tried to put her down. Wishing I could finish folding laundry. Or at least put away the laundry that had already been folded. Instead I was just sitting.

And then something happened. This baby who had been squirmy and fussy in my arms was suddenly still. I looked down at the sleeping babe just in time to see the BIGGEST smile cross her face. Then she gave me a long giggle. Well, it was more like a full on laugh. And suddenly I didn't feel so sorry for myself anymore. Suddenly the messy house didn't seem to weigh so much on my guilty conscience and the fact that I was "stuck" here didn't seem to be such a drag.

I finally realized that I would not want to be anywhere but here.

Holding the sweetest angel....

ever!

Look Alikes?

Do you think Tanzi and Kyri look alike?

Babies in the bubble bath

Who's who?