look how big i'm getting.

The ring-of-joy is my new favorite.

life: may 2010

. my house alarm went off at 1am on a night that Wes was out of town. Talk about giving me a heart attack. Luckily, it was just the wind that opened the garage door slightly.

. we replaced our A/C units in our house. One of the "joys" of buying an older home, I guess. I almost cried paying that bill but hopefully we won't have to do that again for a long time.

. i take back my "i like newborns" comment. ryan is reminding me why this is my least favorite stage. i still love him to death - just not the stage.

. looking forward to a few summer getaways, our first being a week with the griffeth's at the lake in Alabama. we leave next week and i can't wait.

. i am realizing that having a baby in august gave me 10 months to get ready to be in a swimsuit. it's not going to be pretty this year, folks with only 3 months to prepare!

. somehow Wes lost over 20 pounds this month. I know, right? Makes me sick yet proud of him at the same time. I guess I'm just a little jealous.

. We are loving the library. Nate loves checking out books and my library card finally works online and I'm loving getting books for me, too.

. I'm addicted to grilling cheeseburgers. Delish.

. We've enjoyed new parks, story time at Malcolm Library and Town Square, Children's Museum and more.

. i am tired.

a mom of ONE for 24 hours

I love Nate. But I also love a break from Nate every once in a while so when my parent's offered to take Nate to the cabin a day early - I said sure.

Wes, Ryan & I are headed to the cabin tomorrow for Memorial Day weekend. But Nate and Grandma and Grandpa left today at about 1:00pm. Nate was soooo excited to go to the cabin. It's been a while but he specifically remembered that he wanted to ride the yellow, red & green cabin cars so he's stoked.

My dad, of course, had his cowboy boots on so I had to dig Nate's out of his suitcase before they hit the road. And then he put his hat on and we played soccer while my parent's loaded the truck.



I loaded Nate in his car seat and he looked around at the jam-packed car and said, "mom, where are you going to sit?" Apparently he didn't totally grasp that I wasn't joining him until that moment. He was a little bummed but snapped right out of it and started reading the Berenstein Bears.



I just got the call that they made it and Nate and Papa are already on their first cabin car (4 wheeler) ride. Apparently Nate was a great little traveler and made it on his first road trip in underwear!

And let me just say that being a temporary mom of one is heavenly. But I'm excited to see Naters tomorrow. He loves the cabin.

Ryan is 3 months old

This little chunk of ours is growing up so fast. Here's a little about Ryan at 3 months:

- he laughs & smiles.
- loves attention.
- started holding on to things and grabbing at toys.
- loves his binky.
- he is strong. we forgot to strap him in his swing once and he scooted his way out on to the tile. we are decent parents, i promise.
- had his first cold & his still congested.
- still loves his bath and gets water everywhere.
- he decided sleeping through the night isn't very fun and now wakes up twice.
- he lost his "really easy baby" status - explanation below.
- he is a big ball of gas. he farts all day long. poor guy!
- kinda like his brother where you get extremely happy or really mad.
- enjoys his sleep. From the beginning he has enjoyed being wrapped up and laid in his bed for a nice snooze.

We still get a lot of the happy Ryan but he decided to show us another side of his cute little self this month. I can't really blame him - he has turned in to such a gassy little dude. He's constantly maneuvering himself in all kinds of positions to try to get the farts out. And sometimes he just screams - day or night - & our only guess is that he's in pain. Even nursing has turned in to a struggle. About half the time I lay him down to eat he arches his back and kicks and screams. Hopefully his medicine will help. I'd love for my happy, easy-going baby to return!

It's been fun seeing his little personality develop this month. He gives a great smile and a great laugh and is constantly kicking his legs and enjoying being able to grab things. He will smile at just about anyone but Nate. He's mesmerized by him but doesn't smile. It's like he's staring at him thinking . . . "what in the world is that kid doing?" It's pretty funny.

We love this kid & it's hard to remember life before he joined us! Here are a few more of Ryan . .

Nate at {2 and 3/4}

Since I missed Nate at two-and-a-half I figured I do Nate at two-and-three-quarters.



I can't believe that Nate is already so old. What a fun little boy he has turned out to be. Here's a little about Nate right now:



he loves: to help around the house, help with Ryan, BOOKS, the library, to clean, do yardwork, cook, watch movies, being outside, playing any sport, his friends & family, to take a shower with his squirt guns, Lightning McQueen bike, Buzz & Woody scooter, to mow the lawn, parks, playing in water, his blanky, his binky (not for long!), his "friends" (george, puppy, piggy iggy, pluto), toys and more.



he loves to eat: salad (it's his favorite), fruit, cucumbers, mac & cheese (roni), turkey sandwiches (preferably from Port of Subs), apple juice, daddy juice (root beer), pickles.



more about nate:

- He can throw quite a tantrum. He's either really happy or he's not. There's rarely an in-between.
- He's always saying "i don't like that guy" when we're out and about. I'm teaching him that we do like people.
- Asks regularly if it's Saturday. He knows daddy is home on Saturdays.
- He's detail oriented and very aware of his surroundings.
- Very picky about his clothes. It's a daily battle. I didn't think I'd have to worry about this with boys!
- Potty trained! He is doing fabulous.
- It doesn't take much for him to be excited. This is one of my favorite things about him. He finds fun and joy in just about anything.

words I'd use to describe Nate: non-stop, energetic, opinionated, quirky, happy, not-so-happy, moody, genuine, loving, excited, sensitive, physical, naughty.



Some things Nate has said lately:

- As we were driving the other day, Nate out of the blue says to me - "mom, my dad's a good guy."

- He is very proud of his pooping. When he flushes the toilet he yells - "bye bye poopies! See you later!"

- Ryan was crying the other day and I asked Nate if he'd get him his binky for me. Nate says . . . "MOM, he doesn't need his binky. He needs YOU!"

- When Ryan is upset, Nate runs from the other room yelling . . . "it's okay Ryan, I'm coming!"

And best of all, he loves being a big brother.



Nate and his good buddy, Seth. Seth just moved to Utah & we're a little sad about it!


Nate and Hadley at the park.


I'm so glad I get to be this kids mama. He teaches me a lot and is overall a joy to be around. He sure can make me laugh!

dad's home - hip hip hooray!

It's a happy day when Wes returns home from a business trip. Life is just better all around.

Nate was anxiously awaiting for the front door to open tonight. He was finishing up dinner so he could play tennis with his dad the second he got home. He's a huge fan of tennis.

Ryan & I watched them play while laying on a blanket on the grass and then we all went on a walk / scooter ride.

Hooray for fabulous weather & dad coming home. We missed ya babe.

Mimi, Dan, Claire & Sam came to visit

[ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF MIMI'S CAMERA]

Mimi {my good friend from BYU} and her family came from Phoenix to visit us over the weekend. I always enjoy catching up with Mimi in person!





Mimi has two very fun little girls. Nate & Claire played about as well as you can expect two 2-year-olds to play. They had their moments but overall had fun together. The adults got a lot of practice being a referee teaching them to share or figuring out why one was crying. But there was lots of laughter in there, too!



Nate LOVES babies that are around 6-8 months old. He loves getting them to laugh so he especially loved having Samantha around. He got quite a belly laugh out of her a few times!

We kept it pretty low key with 4 kids two-and-a-half and younger. You know you're in for a wild weekend when Nate's the oldest of the four kids!



- on Friday we went to a park and had a picnic in the shade on the grass while the kids played. Samantha was ready for a snack and Ryan's hand was the closest thing in sight.



- on Friday night, I got a sitter for Nate & Claire while we went to dinner at Famous Daves. Wes took us on a wild goose chase to get there but we made it. It was nice to have adults and babies only!





- on Saturday we went to a park with a splash pad and fun playground and then came back to the house to grill hamburgers for dinner. A little Settlers was played after the kiddos went to bed.








It was a nice weekend with good friends we don't see nearly enough. Thanks for coming, Skeehan family. We'll see ya in Phoenix in May 2011. {we've seen them every May for the last 3 years so we might as well keep the tradition going!}