Christmas has come and gone

I have a lot of catching up to do since Christmas was last week, and now Cameron is one month old. I can't believe how fast this month has flown by. We spent Christmas Eve night and Christmas day with Logan's family this year and got to open presents with Leah at home on Christmas Eve. It was fun to see Leah get excited about opening presents and sing songs about Santa. She thought every present was another princess toy for her. She was rather spoiled this year with princess items.


Leah has finally started talking in almost sentence form and even said Pocahontas. She also gave Logan's parents a wonderful present this year - finally saying "Grandma and Grandpa". She loves to say their names over and over to get their attention so they will come and play with her. And I was happy to have a break from playing princesses all day.















We got to take Leah to see the lights on Temple Square this past Saturday, and she thoroughly enjoyed them. She kept pointing out the pink lights - her favorite color. My sister Angie flew up from Texas the day after Christmas to spend a few days with us and see baby Cameron. She is bonding with Leah and snuggling with Cameron while helping me around the house. She even went skiing today up at Sundance and came back pretty tired. All the snow on the ground has made her remember our college days and what it was like to have a white Christmas.



















Cameron is starting to focus on our faces more, and every once in a while it seems like we can get him to smile. But it probably means he just got rid of some gas. He is also starting to grow out of his 0-3 month clothes. I just put him in a 3-6 month outfit, and it totally fits him. He will be such a long skinny boy. And a friend got me some newborn shoes that barely fit his feet. I guess he's going to take after his dad and his uncles with big feet too.

He has been sleeping pretty well at night too. We will usually put him to bed around 10 or 11 p.m. and he will sleep four or five hours and go right back to sleep after I feed him. He is also extra calm and only cries if he's hungry or has to burp.

It's been really fun to watch Leah with him too. She has listened to us talk to him so she'll come up and say "Hi Cameron" over and over in a high pitched voice. And if he cries, she will say "Boy, mommy. Binkie!" or she will say "Okay, Cameron" like it's okay. She is very concerned about her little brother, loves to give him kisses and get right next to his face. I think she is excited for when he gets old enough to play with her.

Some funny Cameron faces

I was snapping some pictures of Cameron the other day and here's a few that turned out pretty funny. Newborns are always grunting and making funny faces, and they are trying to get control of their bodies.














And I also caught him sleeping with his little hand right up by his face, and it was so cute.

Leah's two houses

One morning before work Logan and Leah built a cute little house using our kitchen table. She started with her blanket and some living room pillows, and then she ran back to her room to retrieve all her stuffed animals off her bed. She didn't mind that our floor hasn't been slept or mopped in a while, she just thought it was really cool to build a house in the kitchen.

But then guess who ended up cleaning it all up-- not the ones that built it.















Her other house was built last night while we were making graham cracker houses. She loved decorating her house almost as much as she loved eating the candy. She kept stealing a piece of candy off the table and saying "Uh-oh". It was pretty funny. I think we caught her house building on video so we'll try and get that posted.

Happy 4th Anniversary!

Finally, both of my kids are taking naps in their own beds. Now maybe I can get this post done fast and still have some time for a little Zzzz's of my own before they wake up.

Today Logan and I are celebrating our four-year anniversary. He said that it was nice of me to pray for snow as a gift for our anniversary. I didn't exactly pray for snow, but it was a nice touch to wake up with a beautiful layer of snow outside. We kind of already celebrated our anniversary in November before Cameron was born and our lives got a little more complicated. Logan's mom took Leah to her house that weekend, and we were able to have two nights and mornings uninterrupted. And we ate out at some delicious restaurants we had been wanting to try.

So since today has been a lot busier and Logan is working the night shift at the paper, I decided to make a yummy breakfast for him. It included egg, cheese and sausage biscuits (like an Egg McMuffin), a hash brown pattie, and a strawberry, pineapple and peach smoothie. Why am I telling you everything we ate, you might ask, because it was so delicious. We had a great morning, and then Logan had to take his sister Jenna back to Salt Lake and help his mom around her house. I'm just glad he made it safely in the snow.

I'm so glad that I'm married to a wonderful man and my best friend. We've had four wonderful years together, and I hope we'll get to share many more to come. Thank you, Logan, for being my partner in life. Happy Anniversary!

Oh, and I would also like to send a Happy Anniversary shout out to Logan's brother Braden and his wife Haley who were also married on this day as well as our friends from Chicago, the Seversons.

Two week check up

I took Cameron for his two-week check up today, and he did so great. It was easier than taking Leah to the doctor's office. They had to prick his heel and draw blood for the testing for over 30 different diseases. He squirmed for the most part and cried a little towards the end. But he was a real tough guy through it all. He's already different than his sister (she always tries to get our sympathy when hurt). He has already grown an inch and gained a pound (from his birth weight). Here are his stats:

9.88 pounds (83 percentile)
22.5 inches ( 96 percentile)

So I guess we'll see if he grows at the same fast rate that Leah did.

My neighbor from upstairs let me borrow several newborn outfits that her son wore. She gave me four or five Christmas outfits that are so cute. I have already dressed him in two of them. We went to a Christmas party last night for the BYU Communications Department so I dressed him in something festive.

Mommy and Leah time

Logan's sister Jenna has been staying with us this week and has allowed me to have some free time with Leah while she stays home with Cameron. I have enjoyed getting out of the house too, and it has helped me not feel so trapped inside. Today we even took Cameron out on his first outing to Babies-R-Us and Toys-R-Us. He was a perfect little angel and slept through the whole thing. And it gave me confidence that I could go out with two kids in the future.














Earlier this week I took Leah to the mall to see Santa. She loves Christmas lights, trees and presents but I don't think she has grasped the idea of Santa. While we were waiting in line, I explained that I wanted her to sit on his lap, and I would take her picture. And she kept saying "No, mommy." Then I told her that I would give her some snacks, and she calmly agreed to sit on his lap. But she was still unsure of the whole situation especially when he tried to talk to her.

These other pictures of Leah were taken when Cameron was sleeping one evening, like most evenings, and we had a mini photo session. She was sitting on my bed posing so cute that I had to run and grab my camera. You can't really tell in the picture too much but I had braided her hair, and she looked so grown up with it that way.

Little fingers and toes

I wanted to show everyone Cameron's long fingers and toes, and these pictures probably don't do him justice. I love taking pictures of him at this stage because he's so very small, and I want to try and remember what he was like as a newborn. Leah wasn't small for very long because she loved to eat and got pretty chubby. I don't know if Cameron will be the same way, but I want to remember his tiny newborn stage.

He also has really cute lips (just like Logan's too) especially when he smacks his lips before and after eating. Sometimes I even think he looks like his uncle Braden. He continues to be a great baby (and I know this is the honeymoon stage of infancy since he sleeps all the time). I just hope he will still be easy going and sleep well as he gets older. We have had such a hard time with Leah sleeping that it would be nice to get him sleeping through the night a lot sooner.

Logan's days off

Logan decided to take the last few days off from work so he could catch up on grading papers, preparing a final exam and answering students' questions for his communications class at BYU (he has been teaching a Principles of Journalism class this fall semester).

He also wanted to help me around the house now that we have two little ones. And he also wanted to spend some quality time with Leah who missed us a lot while we were at the hospital for a few days.

He enjoyed his quality time with Cameron while I took Leah to Walmart one night and to Mervyn's the next day to find some clothes for Leah. It was nice for me to get out of the house a little after being cooped up the last week.

Leah has been a great helper at home and hasn't been too jealous of the baby yet. She does want more of our attention with the baby around. She has been very sweet giving Cameron kisses, bringing his binkie to him, helping with diaper changes and putting a blanket on him while he's in the swing. She also finally decided it was fun to hold him in her princess chair, but we have to have a hand there just in case.

























Here's how long and skinny our little guy is. I love to hold his little fingers and toes because they remind me of Logan's. He has been staying alert and awake a little more lately, but for the most part he eats, sleeps and poops just like every other newborn. Sometimes we catch glimpses of his smile in his sleep, and I can't wait until he starts smiling for us. I just can't get enough of this little guy.

More pics

I promised to add more pictures to our blog but things have been a little crazy around here (and I wonder why that is). I came home from the hospital Monday just before lunch, and Leah was so excited to have me home. I was glad to be home but the reality of taking care of Leah and our home has set in, and I'm pretty tired. I'm just glad my mom has been here a few days after his birth to help me get settled. She flies home tomorrow home, and it will be sad to see her go. She has helped so much from playing with and feeding Leah to stocking our kitchen and cleaning our house.

Cameron continues to be a great baby, but his appetite does not let me get too much sleep at night. Leah loves to give kisses to "the baby boy" as she calls him and always brings us his binkie when he cries.