Year in Review

Here is a quick overview of our family's 2012:

January: Completed an IVF cycle that was miraculously covered 100% by our insurance (minus the deductible) in hopes of getting pregnant
February: Flew to CA to celebrate my parents' 50th wedding anniversary; Celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary starting with an ultrasound to hear our baby's heartbeat and an overnight stay at a B&B in SLC
March: Owen got his first haircut; Enjoyed the warming weather with trips to the park and duck ponds
April: Owen and I flew to Minnesota to visit my college roommate, Shara and her family, and my brother, Keven and his family; Found out we were expecting a little girl; Owen turned two
May: I went to San Diego for a girl's weekend getaway with some college friends; I was put on bedrest due to placenta previa
June: I was taken off bedrest (yay!); We had a mini Van de Wetering family reunion in SLC (minus Keven and family, who were greatly missed)
July: Went to Blanding, UT for a Wright family reunion over the 4th of July; Miles started working 80+ hours/week to accommodate his side work
August: Lots of summer fun before the baby arrived with trips to Thanksgiving Point, the park, 7 peaks, and the pool; Had a baby shower thrown by my sister; Miles and I went on a "babymoon" to the Zermatt Resort in Midway
September: Went to the zoo; Spent a lot of time with Miles' parents who were in town; Prepared for the baby and were surprised by Elsie's arrival 10 days early on the last day of the month
October: My Mom came to stay for three weeks to help out with Elsie and Owen; Elsie's baby blessing
November: Still adjusting to life with two; Spent Thanksgiving day/weekend with Kerry and family, and Kim and Austin who flew out to meet Elsie; Enjoyed some extra help around the house while Miles's sister, Megan, stayed with us for a week
December: Celebrated Christmas by decorating a gingerbread house, a visit to Santa, looking at Christmas lights, and an extended trip to AZ to be with the Wright family

It's been a busy, fun, blessed year. We can't wait to see what 2013 holds for us!

3 mo

Elsie is already 3 months old! A quarter of this year has quickly swept by. Sheesh.

Currently, she is sleeping anywhere from 5-9 hours. Yeah...it's pretty variable and I never know what to expect. We had a couple bad nights of her waking every 3 or 4 hours. I think she might have been going through a growth spurt. During the day she's also variable with sleep and will sometimes take 15 min naps up to 2 hour naps. She's in a pretty good flow of eat, play, sleep, but will sometimes inevitably fall asleep when she's eating.

She's still a marathon eater and will eat about 45 min - an hour. She also eats about every 2-3 hours. So I usually only get an hour or so break before we are at it again. Oh, and she poops All.The.Time. I can't remember how Owen was in that regard, but I swear she goes through 15 diapers a day.

We were able to get approved for the dissolvable tablets for her reflux. It's much nicer to give her that rather than do the capsules trying to get all the beads in her mouth and feed her formula to swallow them down. She still gags some, but if I stick it in the side of her mouth she does much better. The medication seems to be working well. She sleeps good and her spit up is far less than when she is off her medication. I know because there have been a couple days when I forgot to give it to her and her spit up and discomfort is noticeably worse.

Over Christmas she had a few crying (screaming) episodes that would happen in the evening for no more than about 10 min. She was completely inconsolable and didn't want to eat either. They usually came out of the blue when moments before she had been happy in someone's arms. I don't know what caused them. I wondered if it was either the chocolate and/or spicy food I ate. So I went off chocolate and I'll have to try eating it again to see if it causes any problems.

However, since then she is a much happier and docile baby. She's so sweet and is quick to give a smile or coo when someone shows interest in her.

She seems to like sleeping flat now too. (Also a sign the medication is working.) I think maybe she was waking up from squirming partially off her bouncy chair at night. So I started laying her flat on the bed (Miles slept on an air mattress in AZ for a bit so we could have more space to sleep, but mostly so he could sleep without being disturbed) and she does great. I'm really glad because I was worried she might get used to sleeping at an incline and with the chair's vibrations.

She loves to suck on her fists and fingers. She has even fallen asleep while sucking on them. I think it's so cute. Of course, if it turns to thumb sucking - that only stays cute for so long.

The many faces of Elsie.

I loved this little series of silly faces she was giving me.

Have I mentioned it's so much fun dressing a girl?!

Our little "scar-face." I can't remember now how she got this. It was almost equal parts cute and sad to see it on her face every day.

I can't stand how cute and sweet and precious she is when she is asleep. I love the faces she makes, and her soft lips. The one in the middle is her doing a sleepy-startle when I laid her down for a nap. There's nothing quite like a sleeping baby...

Sweet babe on Christmas morn.

I think Elsie's skin must be much more sensitive than Owen's. She has had some pretty awful diaper rash, especially this past month. I've tried everything and it has taken forever for it to go away. I can't even remember Owen getting diaper rash. Maybe once...maybe. I guess it goes along with being a girl...sometimes being beautiful is painful. :(

I'm pretty sure this little pumpkin is going to get away with almost anything she wants.... We're doomed.

Christmas Card 2012

Another year has quickly flown by and yet again, we have been immensely blessed.

Miles has been working very hard to grow his personal business by building up his clientele and putting in extra hours before and after his day job. He's hoping to one day be able to solely work for himself and is getting closer to making that dream come true. In his free time, he also works very hard to grow his beard, and shaves as little as possible throughout the year. He currently has a formidable “Christmas Beard” growing, which can be seen here: loganmolyneux.com/blog/christmas-beard

I (Kendra) spent the majority of this year growing a baby. During that time, I tried my hand at sewing a skirt for myself, and a quilt for Elsie. I can see this becoming a new love of mine. I also enjoy reading, blogging, and cooking (although I had a lot more time for all of that prior to Elsie being born). But most of all, I love being a mom and feel so blessed to spend my days and nights with both of my children. I never could have anticipated the joy I would have in raising my children.

Owen (2 1/2 yrs) has grown up so much over the past year. His language has exploded as well as his skills. He's on his way to counting to 100 and knows his ABCs. He loves to sing and knows at least 10 different songs including I Am a Child of God, Annie's Song, You Are My Sunshine, and Daddy's Homecoming. He enjoys making them his own by singing in a fast, low, growl. He also loves to read and has many of his favorite books memorized and will "read" them to Mommy and Daddy. We are constantly amazed at what a sponge he is and how much he picks up. Most enjoyably, he is a silly, goofy, fun, little boy. He loves to jump and can often be found (and heard) bouncing for hours in his crib during "nap" time, or on his trampoline. He makes us laugh daily and is a bright light in our lives.

Elsie (2 1/2 mo) most enjoys eating and sleeping. However, in the past month she has added smiling, cooing, and sucking on her hands. She is often found with a bib around her neck to catch the spit up caused by her reflux. She tolerates her brother's boisterous outbursts and loves his sweet hugs, pats and kisses. She is happiest in the morning and loves to see a smiling face. She also loves to be held and will fall fast asleep with the jostling bounces of a walking gait. She is an angel and brings a sweet spirit to our home.

We are so grateful for the wonderful year we have had. As we welcomed a miracle into our lives this year, we also recognize the miracle of our Savior's birth, whose life made it possible for us to experience such joy. We hope that this New Year will bring happiness and prosperity to you - our family, friends and loved ones. And we hope you will all feel the love of Jesus Christ in your homes and hearts this season and always.

With love,

The Wright Family 

Gingerbread Houses & Rice Crispy Trains

Grandma Wright (Margaret) sent us a Christmas package that had a gingerbread house kit and rice crispy train kit in it. This year I let Owen help out more with making it. However, that quickly turned to eating it. It was so funny to watch him swipe at the frosting after I would pipe it out, or take a moment to think about whether or not he wanted to eat the candy vs. put it on the house. Usually, eating won out. It was a bit of work to get anything accomplished with my little "helper," but it was a lot of fun too.

The next day I found him sneaking candy off the house at least 3 times, until I finally moved it to higher ground that could not be reached simply by standing on a chair.

We also made the rice crispy train set she sent. It had similar results. Although he did want to suck on the tube of frosting and eat every little candy ball, he actually did a bit better decorating his own train. He would ask me for the candy balls by color. "Can I please have a green one?" (I would hand one to him) "Thank you!" And so on through all the colors. (Except for some strange reason he kept calling the red one brown.) I love the little pile of balls he made too.

A couple days later, I also found him sneaking candy off the train. He had eaten all the little balls off of his train. Sigh. What can I say? He has a sweet tooth just like his mommy.

The Man in the Big Red Suit

Last week we went as a family to go visit Santa. We went to the Riverwoods like we have for the past two years. I love it. It's always so beautiful with all of the lights and decorations.

Warming up by the fires:

It was fun to get some family shots.

I should mention that I was only able to get one picture with my nice DSLR before it died on me. I had even checked to make sure the battery was charged. I think it's a faulty battery. :( So all of our pictures were taken with our iPhones. Miles said it was our "experiment" to see how they did. I think for the most part they turned out pretty good - except when someone didn't quite know how to use it and focus properly...but at least we have them. :)

Waiting in line to see Santa:

I loved having this little one all snuggled up to me. It was good too because it was so cold and I was able to wrap her up and keep her nice and warm. 

Earlier in the day I tried to prepare Owen for meeting Santa and sitting on his lap. When I first told him we were going to see Santa, he said, "Yay!" I told him Santa would ask what he wanted and had him practice what he would say. He said, "Presents!" I asked, "What kind of presents?" He said, "A blue present." After more encouragement, he finally said, "A car." We had this exact conversation about three times (presents, blue present, car). I also had the great idea of showing him pictures from when he saw Santa the previous two years (both can be seen here). After looking at those, I again asked if he wanted to go see Santa and sit on his lap. He looking slightly frightened and shook his head no. Oops! So much for "preparing" him.

So once we got there, it took him a second to warm up to Santa.

But as soon as the jolly old man gave him a high five and knuckles, he was sold. 

Elsie was a little upset at first. I'm sure it really had to do with being yanked from her warm, snuggly, spot on Mama's chest more than sitting with Santa.

But then she got over it and was just apathetic to the whole thing. 

After visiting Santa, we walked around and enjoyed the lights. 

Then we decided to grab some dinner. I had never been to this "newer" Chinese restaurant. It was pretty good. 

While we waited for our food, Miles and Owen had fun sticking their tongues out at each other. 

This was my view - a sweet, sleeping baby all snuggled up to me in my carrier. She did great and slept the entire time. 

Owen dined on ice cubes (typical): 

But ended up doing an amazing job of chowing on his chow mein noodles. I think it's because they were so fun to play with. You can make mustaches, snakes, jump ropes...the options are endless. 

Here's a video of Owen enjoying his meal. In it he grabs a piece of chicken and says, "Another one!" and tosses it to Daddy. It makes me laugh because he had just taken it out a minute before and Miles put it back on his plate for him to eat. I guess he wasn't convinced to eat it. :)

And here were our fortunes. Can you guess which belongs to each of us?

It was actually pretty funny. I opened the one that says, "You will soon embark on a business venture," handed it to Miles and said, "I think this belongs to you." He then handed me his, "Soon someone new coming into your life will become a very good friend," and said, "Then this must be yours." I then told him to open Owen's and see what it said..."You deserve respect and will eventually get it." We both cracked up! Perfect.

And one last family photo to end the night. 

It was a lot of fun and a great way to spend the evening together. I sure do love my little family of four!

Adjusting

I guess we're all still adjusting to my switch to the dark side. When I saw myself in the mirror this morning, I felt like I was wearing a wig. Miles said he looked over at me in the middle of the night and thought, "Who is that?" and then remembered. And when I went in to get Owen this morning, he kind of stared at me funny. I picked him up and he said, "Mommy!" Then he grabbed my hair with both hands, looked at it, let it run through his fingers and said, "Your hair is cold." I guess that's the only way his 2 year old little brain could make sense of it. Ha ha! And I'm sure just when we're all used to it, I'll go back to being blonde. ;)

The Dark Side

I had my hair appointment today. After getting so many comments from people about liking my hair dark, I decided to go for it. Actually, I was originally planning on keeping some of my highlights in and just making it have a darker feel, but my hair stylist talked me through adding some golden-toned browns and having a mix of darker colors. Basically, she darkened the part underneath my top layers, filled in my highlights with a light brown similar to my natural color, and weaved in another medium brown. Oh, and she cut some swoop bangs. At first I wasn't sure how I felt about it. But it's definitely growing on me and I like that there is a golden hue to it. Hopefully it won't go brassy like last time, and I'll make sure to stay on top of filling in my color again if it goes too ashy.

BEFORE:

AFTER:
The first picture doesn't have a very good color to it (self-portrait), but I included it because the next one makes it look like the bottom of my hair is really dark...which it's not.

Oh and I should mention that when I walked in the house after getting it done, Owen saw me briefly and while I had my back to him he said, "Who's that?" I turned around and said, "Who is it?!" He paused, stared at me kind of funny, then finally said in a shy voice, "It's Mama." Good thing my kid still knows who I am.
What do you think?

Precious Moments...

It doesn't get much better than this...