Waterworld

To celebrate Carson's birthday the family headed to Waterworld for the day! Debbie rented a cabana for all of us and it was wonderful - highly recommended! It came complete with chairs, tables, a refrigerator and a wait staff. I was a little hesitant to bring Ashtyn since I thought she might still be too little - but I was wrong! She enjoyed Wally World the most - it's just as I remember it as a little kid. We went up and down the slides over and over again - my butt definitely hurts and I got some rug burns to show for it as well!

We even got Ashtyn to go down some of the big people rides. We went on the green tubes in River Country - she looked like she had fun, but when we got done she said "Scary!" Although she did think it was funny when Nana got all wet! The day was tons of fun and we had perfect weather - although very exhausting, carrying a 2 year old up and down those hills is quite a workout...

By the end of the day Ashtyn was DONE! So she snuggled up on the chair with her towel and some milk and watched the world go by...

Happy Birthday Carson and Thank you for sharing your special day with us - we SO enjoyed it!

Morning Smiles

At about 4 weeks Eli was starting to wear some big smiles on his face - but I was still convinced that is was probably just gas! Well, now at 7 weeks, there is no mistaking his BIG smiles are for real! It never fails - every morning after he finishes his bottle he gives me big smiles and coos - it melts my heart! He is just SO happy in the morning... and he also will give a big smile when he hears a familiar voice. I never feel more loved then when my sweet little baby smiles at me when he hears my voice - it's just amazing to me! I love how his little personality is starting to shine through...

Shh! Bunnies Sleeping...

So Ashtyn is completely infatuated with bunnies, real bunnies, stuffed animal bunnies, any bunny - not sure why - maybe because she is a spring baby, but none the less she completely adores them. She is always asking questions about them - like "where do bunnies sleep?", "what do bunnies eat?" and so on... Well, with this love for bunnies Matt and I have found a way to use it to our advantage when we need her to do something. So for instance, when we need her to eat her dinner she will look at us and ask "Does bunnies like em'?" and of course our response is "Yes, bunnies like them" - therefore she will eat whatever we gave her. Same with going to bed, picking up toys and whatever else we need some persuasion with...Well the other day I was singing to the radio in the kitchen and apparently Ashtyn didn't approve of my lovely voice and she walked up to me, got in my face and said very seriously "Shh! Bunnies Sleeping!" - when she said this I just looked at her and replied - "Do you not like my singing" and she replied again "Shh! Bunnies Sleeping!" - Well at first I laughed, but then I realized she was telling me to basically "Shut Up!" but in a way she would not get in trouble! What a little stinker! So now when we do something that bothers her or she does not approve of she will use her famous phrase - "Shh! Bunnies Sleeping!" What are we going to do with her - it really amazes me sometimes how smart she is and how she already knows all about the concept of manipulation!

Old Man Birthdays!

Last weekend we celebrated both Papa's and Grandpa Butch's birthdays! They share the same birthday and were born the same year - weird huh? For Grandpa Butch's birthday we went to dinner at Outback with the family - my favorite! It was a great dinner and then we went to their house for dessert - brownies as usual! For Papa's birthday we went to the lake - his favorite place ever...

Ashtyn FINALLY got back in the water with Papa - the last time she was in the water was back on Memorial Weekend, but the water was still very cold and she was freezing cold for hours after she got out, so I think she's been very hesitant to get back in the water fearing she would freeze again! But of course Papa got her in the water on this HOT day and once she was in she played like a little fishy...

Eli is growing so FAST! He was laying on his blanket just smiling and relaxing at the Lake - I am sure he will love this place as much as we do...

My dad may be an Old Man, but he can still water ski with the best of them! What a nice life we have...

Happy Birthday Papa and Grandpa Butch - We love you both so much!

Keystone Trip

We spent another beautiful weekend up in Keystone with the Harms Family. It was so nice to get away for the weekend and enjoy what I love so much about Colorado - the gorgeous mountains! It was also so nice not to have an agenda and just lay around with our kids and enjoy each others company. We headed up Friday afternoon and once we all got settled in at the condo we headed to Breckenridge to walk through the town and enjoy dinner. Breckenridge is such a cute little town and it was a perfect way to spend the summer evening. While we were walking Shannon noticed this cute cupcake shop so after dinner we stopped there for dessert. Ashtyn loved her cupcake, although she basically just ate the frosting off the top and left the cake for Matt to eat...

Payton and Eli hanging out together - so CUTE! Payton got a little upset though with Eli moving into her territory - It should be fun to watch the two of them grow up together. Look at Eli already trying to hold her hand...

On Saturday we all went swimming and hot tubbing - Ashtyn of course had fun as well as us big kids. After swimming the kids took a nap and we enjoyed cocktails and snacks on the porch - so NICE! We also celebrated Kole's birthday on Saturday too - although we were all in bed by 10pm - we are such party poopers, but I guess when you have to be up at 3am to feed babies you can't party all night! Next year maybe we can have a bit more fun...

On Sunday morning we woke up and then walked along the river to have breakfast in Keystone Village. Where we had breakfast you could sit at this pond and feed the fish and ducks - which Ashtyn very much enjoyed - especially when the fish would splash her when they would eat the food. We definitely enjoy our time up in Keystone with our good friends. It will have to be an annual trip we make together every summer and create tons of fun memories with our kids. Thanks Shannon and Kole for the invite - We love you!

Eli's 1st month

A month has already past and Eli is 4 weeks old! Why does time go by so fast? It felt like it took forever for him arrive and now he has already been here an entire month - Unbelievable! Well, I couldn't imagine life without him at this point. I was very scared about how I could possibly love another child as much as I love Ashtyn - but it is possible! I have completely fallen in love with him - he has definitely completed our family! We have been blessed with yet another easy going baby - how could I be so lucky (knock on wood)! I can't complain about much - he sleeps, eats, poops and sleeps. That's about it! He has the sweetest cry, so when he does cry it just sounds like a little kitty purring - I am telling you I lucked out again! Hopefully, it will not wear off and a little monster will appear!


He is great sleeper and prefers to be snuggled which I am just loving! He is already sleeping in his crib at night - which Matt made me do since Ashtyn didn't make it out of our bed till 6 months or so - poor 2nd babies. I love to have him sleep on my chest which he typically does after his 3:00 am feeding till our next morning feeding. He has been sleeping a 5 hour stretch followed by a 4 hour stretch at night - so we can't complain about that. His feeding schedule during the day is every 3 hours and he is eating about 2 1/2 ounces of breast milk which I freshly pump for him - yep, I reverted to pumping again, the whole breastfeeding thing is just not my thing, but I still want him to have the good stuff. So until I go back to work I will make milk for him - and boy do I make the milk!

At his 2 week appointment he had gained his birth weight back and more now weighing 8lbs 2 ounces and grew to 21 inches long - so it looks like he is doing good! His umbilical cord and circumcision fell off a week later which I was very impressed with how fast that happened, so we gave him his first bath earlier then expected. He didn't enjoy it too much the first time...

Probably because he was cold - He's just like Matt and hates to be cold...

By the end of the bath though he was enjoying it a little bit. His skin was very wrinkly and dry - they say that's common with late babies - so he hasn't had to many baths to avoid over drying his skin! He has only peed on me 1 time, which I am quite proud of - I thought this would be a daily occurance, but so far I have been lucky. He loves to be swaddled all the time, so he is constantly wrapped up like a little burrito! It is so fun having a summer baby since we can be outside all the time - we took him on his 1st walk around the neighborhood around 2 weeks to enjoy the nice Colorado summer evening we are so lucky to have...

Eli is doing great so far and we are enjoying every minute of him. Ashtyn has been getting better with me and I think is finally coming around to the idea of having a sibling around. She still will not call him by his name he is still just "Baby" - but she is always making sure he is around and involved with whatever we are doing! I love having a baby boy and can't wait to watch him grow - the next month should be more exciting as he comes out of his newborn coma!

Aquarium Outting

Another summer outing we took while Matt was home was a trip to the Denver Aquarium. We thought Ashtyn would love this since her favorite movie is Nemo and she would get to see REAL fish and sharks up close! We went along with Ariana, Robbie, Sandy and Emily!

Ashtyn was very interested in all the fish, but after the first few exhibits she wanted to know where the hippo and tigers were! I think she thought it was going to be like the Zoo - thankfully they had tigers there - but she wasn't as impressed with them as she was at the Zoo!

Robbie seemed to have fun riding around - Not sure if he understood where he was, but he seemed entertained - Next year might be a different story!

BRUCE! Ashtyn was most fascinated by the sharks! She kept calling them Bruce - since that is the name of the shark on Nemo!

Again, we had to enjoy some Dip-N-Dot ice cream!

The Aquarium was a little disappointing in how short the exhibit is - and somewhat boring after the first couple tanks - once you've seen one fish you've seen them all! I would say the Zoo's exhibit is just as good and not nearly as expensive! But we enjoyed our day hanging out with family as always!