Friday, April 24, 2015

New Sandbox

Wahoo!  We're looking forward to many hours of entertainment from this corner of our yard



The many faces of Ben

Love this one!


This is also one of my favorites! :)













Ben at 2 months and Caroline at 22 months

Ben's 2 month stats:

Weight: 11 lb 1 oz (24%)
Height: 21 1/4 in (1%)
Head: 15 1/2 in (63%)

He's still a little small but is growing wonderfully.  
He often sounds a bit congested after he eats and is sort of gasps a bit while he's eating so the pediatrician ordered a swallow study.  It was really interesting to see how they do it- give a baby a bottle of this chalky white drink (Barium) and then they can watch it go down on a digital x-ray.  Everything looks okay from that but if the congested-ness doesn't go away then we'll probably have to go see the ENT.  
All in all though he's doing really well.  He is gaining weight and sleeps well most nights.  He usually is only waking up once to eat from 10pm-8am. He eats super fast so as long as he goes right back to sleep (which he usually does) then it really is only about a 20-30 minute pause in my sleeping.
He is doing pretty well with his head control and loves tummy time. 
He will fall asleep almost immediately if the car is moving and is also great when I wear him in the ergo or other carrier- as long as I'm moving :)
Is a light boy- he loves looking at lights and is pretty sensitive to changes in lighting.
Knows when mom is nearby and often perks up when he hears my voice.
When he is awake he's often pretty happy just to lay under some toys and kick and squirm around. 
He will sometimes take really great naps in his bed- and sometimes it's even when Caroline is napping.  It's awesome!








Caroline has at least 3 molars. She loves loves loves playing in sand and water- I really want to take her to the beach! She knows how to be naughty to get attention.  Says "um... yeah" quite a bit and has also started saying "pam-pa" for grandma and grandpa.  Every once in a while something intelligible will come out.  She definitely understands most things even if she doesn't say so.  She most often will just nod or shake her head and still signs a bit. She loves swinging and going down slides.  She still likes to look at books and I need to be better about reading to her.  Is learning and growing everyday!




Goblin Valley

The view from the motor home at 7 am.  It looks like another planet!
The day after Emily left I went with Jared's family to Goblin Valley (Apr 8-11th).  It was almost perfect- and would have been only been made better if Jared had been able to come- but he was still working in St George.
Caroline loved the constant access to sand and I don't think there was a single day that she wasn't absolutely covered.  Even the ridiculously windy day didn't deter her from playing in the sand.
Caroline's muddy tears from playing outside in the sand while it was SO SO windy.
Caroline and Spencer in the Sand

Caroline in the sand... again... near the Fremont river.

Crazy girls! Anna and Caroline in the freezing water of the Fremont river.

Aunt Mary Jean trying to warm Caroline up in our make-shift towel.

Anna looking like one of the rocks in Goblin Valley State Park.

Caroline with Grandpa Ridges

Mary Jean helped me a ton by carrying Caroline on our hike to the Goblin's Lair- a super cool cave that I didn't get a picture of :/

Hiking to Little Wildhorse Canyon

Caroline and Scott enjoying the hike while the others went through the narrow slot canyons.



Sisters in law! Mary Jean, Me, and Jamie when we got to go see the narrow slot canyons.



Visit from Aunt Emily

While Jared was in St George Emily came to visit!  It was so great to have her here- and not only because Jared was gone.  We had a good time chatting, eating too much food, mission reunion hopping, sitting in traffic, visiting BYU, watching conference, seeing the Payson temple, dying Easter eggs, and just hanging out...





Caroline was very interested in how Emily did her make-up.




She also got to share our Easter morning festivities- which was really just Caroline eating the fruit snacks and rolo from her Easter basket. :)



Caroline's Easter Dress

Since conference was on Easter I decided to let her wear her Easter dress the Sunday before.  It was such a pretty pretty day!