Christmas in Boise

This year we went to my parents house in Boise for Christmas. My sister Amy was in town with her kids and Mandi and Craig were also in town spending time with us and his parents! My brother Michael was there as well to complete the crew :] It was so fun to get together with the whole family and see how much all the little kids have grown! Amy had her baby, Presley, on July 19, Mandi had her baby Scarlette on September 14 and I had Brady November 17 so they are all about 2 months apart! I am excited for them to grow up and be so close in age! They were already bonding during Christmas Eve dinner at Grandmas house :]

Presley and Scarlette are both smiling lots! Brady smiled for real for the first time this week :] He has had the sleepy smiles and gas smiles, but yesterday he actually smiled back at me and it was the cutest thing ever! Here are all three of the babies together to see the size difference! Presley is so long compared to both of them for now, but I feel like Brady is going to pass up both of the girls eventually :]

This summer when all three of us sisters were pregnant, we took pictures together! It was so fun to be pregnant together and go through everything with them. And now we all have our babies here and we get to enjoy them :]

Christmas Eve was so fun with everyone there! We enjoyed our big dinner and had pie. We used to play games and do puzzles together, but it gets a little harder to do things like that with so many kids running around! Now we just play with the kids and laugh at all the cute things they do :] 

It was just Jordan, Brady, Michael and I at my parents house for Christmas morning. I remember when we were growing up we used to wake up at like 7 or 8 to open presents and my brother would get so mad that we got him up so early haha! This year we woke up around 9:30 or 10 and loved sleeping in :] 

Brady loved his first Christmas and was so happy while we were opening presents! I love when he lays on my lap and just looks up at me and smiles. I was the lucky one and got to hold him while we were opening presents. He got a few fun things from us, his grandparents, and great grandparents :]

My favorite gifts when I was growing up were games or toys that I could play with or work on all day long. This year I didn't really get anything like that, but I got plenty of things I needed! Since I didn't have any games to keep me busy, I started putting together a foam bead string that the grandchildren got from my aunt this year! 

We relaxed all day long on Christmas and enjoyed each others company. One of my favorite things about Christmas is the leftover turkey sandwiches! Mandi, Amy and their families came back over that evening for some food and to spend some time together. We were able to take some great pictures with all the families and grandchildren together :] well they were pretty good considering the patience levels of the kids!

 I am obsessed with Deagan's hair and the smirk on his face in this picture! Such cute kids :]

When we told Max he was going to hold Brady we explained that he had to be really careful with his head. Max held Brady's head like this the whole time :] What a good cousin!

After Mandi and Amy left, we played some games with my parents and ate some left over pie. I would say that it was a very successful first Christmas for our little man!

First REAL bath

We arrived to Boise yesterday around 1:00 and have been loving spending time with my family :] On the drive here, the only pillow we brought was my nursing pillow and it was not the most comfortable pillow to nap with in the car...

Tonight we gave Brady his very first REAL bath! We have been giving him sponge baths for the past few weeks because at first we had to wait for his umbilical cord to fall off. Then pretty much as soon as that was gone, he got circumcised and we had to wait for that to heal before we could submerge him fully in water. I was a little nervous for him to take a real bath and I wasn't sure if he was going to like it, but these pictures say it all...

Look how cute that face is!

He loved the bath so much he even fell asleep :] 

I would say that it was definitely a success!

Finals week is over!

We have been loving having Brady home for 4 weeks now! He is such an amazing baby :] For the birth story, see the "Welcome Home Brady" page above. 

I meant to make a blog post last Sunday, but you know how things go with a new baby... So six days later here we are :] This past week was finals week and we are so happy that it is over. Jordan took his last final yesterday so we relaxed last night and are just hanging out today. He has been at the school studying until 11 or 12 every night and I have been missing him terribly! So it's nice to have him home today :] 

Last Sunday was a fun day! It was our first time bringing Brady to church. He did so great, and he looked adorable :] I was nervous pretty much through all sacrament meeting that he was going to wake up and cry, but we lucked out this week. When we got home from church he was still sleeping and Jordan enjoyed snuggling with him on the couch :]

Brady was doing some tummy time later that day and rolled over from his stomach to his back! He was only 3 weeks old! We got it on video but I couldn't figure out how to upload it to the blog :/

We also had a fun little experience that night. I learned that it is not a good idea to have the changing station right next to my side of the bed with a little boy...

Yes, that is pee all over the bed... and yes that is a pile of diapers on the changing station. I was in the process of putting a new one on and I guess I just wasn't quick enough because he got pee all over the new diaper! He peed like 3 times all over and after the second I thought he was emptied out for sure... But he surprised us with the waterfall on the bed! We have definitely gotten better this past week at speedy changes with our sharp shooter :]

I probably take like 20 pictures of Brady every day and I am obsessed with him. He has the cutest cheeks in the world and I kiss them all day. Sometimes he scrunches up his face all cute after I kiss him and it makes me laugh :] He has been more alert lately and I love when he just sits contently and hangs out with me on the couch!

His eyes are looking more blue now! I am so excited he finally has something from me haha. Everyone tells us how much he looks like Jordan, and I totally agree! He has Jordan's lips, brow line, eye shape, and probably a lot more! So I was happy when he got my blue eyes :] He will be a cute little blonde haired blue eyed boy. 

We are leaving Tuesday to spend the holidays with our families. Since we aren't going to be here during the break we didn't really do much decorating for Christmas. Jordan also hasn't been feeling to great the past few days, so we are just relaxing all weekend! This is about as festive as we are going to get around here this year...

I keep telling myself every year that we will buy more Christmas decorations after Christmas when they all go on sale, but when it comes time to buy I don't ever get any! I just am lazy and don't want to store them all year long I guess. Maybe when we have a real house or a bigger apartment, but for now our mini tree will do :]