Our growing family

First (if anyone still reads this blog), I better warn you that this update will be mostly pictures.

The first thing I better get to is introducing the newest member of our fam, Mr. Calvin Douglas. He is absolutely adorable and has been such a good baby. Calvin and Beckett have already been polar opposites so far; Calvin is so laid back and has been from birth, and Beckett, well.. is not, and never has been. Haha. It has been so fun to see the two of them together. Beckett has lots of concern for his baby brother, and is very protective of him. Sometimes he gets a little excited and rough houses too close to Calvin which freaks me out, but he means well and loves to be near him. He loves to hold him whenever he can, and tries to calm him down when he cries. It’s cute. Plus, Calvin has been fascinated with Beckett from the get go. When Beckett was born, it was so fun to see him respond to both Matt’s voice and mine right away, since he recognized us right away, but with Calvin, he recognized our voices as well as Beckett’s from the beginning, and it has been fun to watch Calvin just try to follow Beckett with his eyes as he is pingponging off the walls. We have loved watching the two of them bond already, and we’re really looking forward to watch the two of them as they continue to grow and bond. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the end of August, Beckett started attending preschool. I was really freaking out about shipping my little 3 year old baby off on a bus by himself, but he has done so amazing from the beginning, and he LOVES it. Starting school hasn't phased him at all, he has just thrived with it from the start. I am so, so proud of him. Plus, I don't have enough nice things to say about his teachers and the speech therapists that work with him. He has only been in school for less than 3 months and he's a completely different kid. About 3-4 weeks in we started noticing such a huge difference in his speech. His speech has now improved so much, it's like they just cracked him right open. Now he's a chatterbox because he can actually express what he is trying to say, and it is obvious that he is much less frustrated than he was a few months ago since he can now communicate with us. I am so glad he can finally express himself to us and tell us what has been in his head all this time.  Beckett is my best buddy. He cracks me up every single day. There are still some times that he is a little challenging, and sometimes he just plain drives me crazy, but those times are getting fewer and farther in between as we are both learning what he needs and how to achieve that every day. Most of the time he is just a happy, animated, funny, sassypants daredevil little boy. I sure love having him around. 

 

 

 

 

What can I say about this guy?

 

He's such a studmuffin. He is the best teammate I could ask for. He takes care of our family in so many ways and I am so thankful he is mine. He helps me with whatever I need; no questions asked and no judgments. He is a hard worker and I’m so glad he is finally in a field that he loves because he is so much happier. I have seen many of my friends from high school who have deadbeat dads for hubbies and it makes me so sad for them, but I know I’ll never have that problem in my marriage. I knew before we got married that he would be the best dad. I love that he gets down and plays with Beckett and Calvin too, whenever he can. He loves our family and shows us every day by giving us his time, even when I know he is so tired. I don’t know how I lucked out so much, but I really did, and I am so thankful for that. 

Matt has recently interviewed to be a patrol officer, and I'm really hoping he gets a spot soon so he can get out of corrections and be doing what he really wants to be doing. We are crossing our fingers that at the start of the year he can go out.  

It is so funny that when a new baby joins your family it feels like that little person has been there all along. It is hard to remember being a family of 3, and I mean that in the best way possible. I love that my boys have each other and I hope they are close buddies throughout their lives. I really worried that I was going to have my hands too full caring for a baby on top of my sometimes demanding little man, but I told myself everything would work out, and it has. Beckett has been an awesome helper for me, and Calvin is such a chill baby most of the time. Plus, it is good for Beckett to learn patience when he’s not getting all the attention, which he is definitely not used to. The change around our house has been good for all of us, and I can't wait to see what the future holds for us.

 

Our Summer... So Far



Our little fam has had a great summer so far. With our little man on the way and Matt and I both staying crazy busy at work, we haven't been able to do much but daydream about venturing too far from home this year, but that doesn't mean we haven't been able to squeeze in some fun times.

 

We got lucky this year that the 4^th of July was on a Friday, and that it happened to be the weekend Matt was scheduled to be off anyway. I was able to switch my day off for the week to Thursday, and we packed up to head to Island Park for the weekend. It was the first time we’ve been able to go up for the traditional 4^th of July trip since Beckett was about 10 weeks old, and despite my nerves about taking our hyperactive 3 year old into the wilderness with every possible scenario running through my brain (drowning in the river, being charged by a moose, you name it) we all had so much fun this year, and when it was time to go home we were all wishing we could stay longer. Yeah, even me, who is hugely pregnant right now (and let's face it, I'm kind of a whiner about the heat) and we had very little AC. It was that fun.

We (and by "we" I mean Beckett and his devoted Daddy, who spoiled him rotten and spent the whole weekend as a prune in the process) spent hours playing in the river by our camp. They even floated part of the river with Aunt Carrie, Uncle Taylor, and Uncle Enee, which surprised me. They floated for a little over an hour, and I honestly did not think Beckett had it in him to sit in the boat that long, but he LOVED it, and made me wish I had braved going along, too.

 

 

All that sun really tuckered both of my guys out, though, which meant lots of good naps, and no fighting to go down at bedtime. Which, you know, is a big problem for Matthew. :)

 

We also ventured to Big Springs a few times, which is a protected area where you're not supposed to fish. There are usually dozens and dozens of GIANT fish (Beckett kept calling them "sharkie fishes"), but I think people have been fishing there illegally since they have all but disappeared. When we couldn't see fish, there were lots of seagulls (including one lovely specimen who crapped on my head) and even a cute little muskrat to feed. The day that we were able to finally see and feed a couple fish, we also saw a momma moose and her cub. Pretty awesome.

 

 

Other than our trip to Island Park, we have kept it pretty low key around our place. We spend LOTS of time playing in the water at our house, and even recently got Beckett a "big boy pool" with a slide on it that he thinks is pretty sweet. It makes me so happy that such a little thing keeps him happy, because heading outside when we're all home for the night with a couple otter pops is about all I have energy for these days after work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have had some pretty fun times when I've been able to drag Beckett -who I swear is half-fish like his dad- away from the water activities, too. We took a trip to the Dinosaur Park, where Beckett just wanted to hug all the dinosaurs. Man, I love that kid. 

 

 

 

We have seen this pose many times since our trip to the dino park, which cracks me up every time. Especially when he says "Hey Mommmmm, I have dinosaur claws." and jumps into his pose and growls at me. Hilarious.

 

We were also able to finally redeem our bounce-back tickets to the aquarium before they expire this month. We had even more fun the second time around, and stayed at least twice as long as we did the first time.

 

I wish I had thought this through before using my flash against the glass, but the aquarium has all these little boxes set up in their exhibits and some fish tanks, where you can stand in there and see everything up close. Unfortunately, the otter (which let's face it, are usually like the best part) were all cuddled up sleeping when we went this time, but it was still fun to get to see them up close.

 

 

Other than these couple of excursions, our summer hasn't been too exciting. We mostly stick around the house whenever we are able to and try to beat the heat.

 

 

One funny thing I have to share to I remember, is that Beckett has become obsessed with putting band aids on his owies, just like my sister at his age. He burned a couple of his fingers on the stove a few weeks ago, which was not fun, but it wasn't anything some burn ointment and then some Neosporin and band aids couldn't handle. Well, when I picked him up from his babysitter the next day, he looked like this. He kills me. I mean, even the look on his face because he knew I was taking a picture of him with his owies, he just kills me. He had to have it bandaged like this for days, so every time we went anywhere people were asking what happened to him, until finally I told him he was just going to have an elmo band aid for his 2 burned fingers. He still kept holding it this way for about a week though, until the blisters had completely healed and the band aids came off completely so he forgot about it. Here's hoping we don't have many owies in the near future before we leave this owie obsessed phase, otherwise we could be single handedly keeping Band Aid in business.



 

He even insisted he put band aids on our chalk Beckett last week, see those nice blue lines? Yeah, band aids.

 

 

 

And as much as I hate to do it, I know I would regret not taking any belly pictures. I already regret taking so many less than I did the first time. (As in - this is only my second one.) This is me and the little man a few weeks ago, at 33 weeks prego. 

 

And one last final silly picture - Beckett has been asking to have his hair "spiky like a hedgehog" the last little while, and every time I see this picture it cracks me up, so I had to share it.

 

 

I think that about wraps up our goings-on. A few years ago, I probably would have thought this sounded like a boring summer, but as we try to prepare everything for the new bebe, we are trying to enjoy the little things and spend as much time as we can having fun as a family of 3 before our lives are turned upside down in the best way possible. It has been a perfect summer for us so far, and we are excited for the rest of summer and beginning of fall, which means Peach Days, and finally meeting baby brother - only 4-5 weeks to go!

 

 

 

It's a.... BOY!

My doctor had told me he was pretty confident that we were having a girl, and even kept referring to the baby as "her" and "she" throughout my last appointment, but then told me not to "paint the walls pink just yet", just to be safe, 'until we could see her'. So... we had a bit of a surprise this week when we found out we are having another BOY! But as soon as the ultrasound tech put the wand to my belly, it was pretty clear! We are very excited for Beckett to have a little brother, and  I'm sure these two will be good buddies growing up.

 

We picked up Beckett after my appointment with a car full of balloons (so we could surprise both Grammies), and a blue slushie to celebrate. He was a little excited about the balloons.

 

 

 

Here is a snapshot of the little guy, who looks just like his big brother. Bambino is on the left, and Beckett is on the right. 

 

A few weeks ago we went out to see my Grandma and Grandpa in Honeyville, because they had new kitties and 2 new horses. Beckett got some baby practice in with the kitties, who he just wanted to hold and rock in the rocking chair, trying to get them to go to sleep. It was pretty cute, but they weren't as interested in sitting still as he was (which is a first for us!).

 

 

 

And this is our little fam on Mother's Day. I have tried to make it a point to get a picture of our fam (or at least me with Beckett) every year on Mother's Day, and it's been kind of fun to watch our family grow and change with those yearly pictures. I'm so thankful for all THREE boys in my life, and we can't wait to meet Beckett's little brother.

 

 

Playing catch up

Well, so much for my goal of updating the blog once a month! But hey, you can't say you're surprised given my recent track record, right? Since it's been so long, this post is likely going to be HUGE, and probably full of pictures. Sorry if that's disappointing :)

 

The past few months have been great ones for us. BUSY to say the least, but awesome.

 

We got to spend Christmas with some of our favorite peeps; almost all of Beckett's cousins! It was such a blast. It was also the first year that Beckett was really old enough to start to grasp what was going on, so it was really fun to open presents Christmas morning and see him so excited.  

 

We also got Beckett's help announcing that he is going to be a big brother this September! We are still trying to teach him what that means, but given his age and the fact he's been a spoiled only child for so long, I'm sure we're going to be in for a bit of a shock this fall. That being said, I think he's going to be a great big brother. He loves babies and is always trying to be my helper, so I'm crossing my fingers the transition goes as smoothly as possible. We are all very excited about this change in our future.



 

 

 Beckett holding an ultrasound photo to tell everyone our news



 

Last Sunday, at 19 weeks

 

In the meantime, we are really trying to enjoy our time as a family of three before our world gets shaken up a bit. We have been trying to enjoy as much time with Daddy as we can since he's had such a busy work schedule since Christmastime, but lots of times, it's just me and my silly best buddy and that's okay for now. Even though Matt's work schedule is crazy, he works 12 hours shifts, so  thankfully it can't be crazy every day of the week. This way, even though a lot of the time his days off are during the day when I am working, he gets to spend at least 1 or 2 whole days during the week with Beckett, and he's home when I get there from work. Even though work has been crazy for Matt, it has been a little bit by choice, since he has had an opportunity to work some shifts doing things he enjoys, like once with the patrol department out on DUI checkpoint for St. Patrick's day weekend where he had WAY too much fun, and working in the Courts transporting people to hearings. He has also recently finished his EMT certification course, and we're just waiting on him to complete his written test next week to be certified. It has taken up a lot of his time since January (4 hour classes twice a week), but we are really glad he will have the certification, which we think will make him a more marketable candidate to be considered for a patrol position, and he is hoping that happens sometime soon. He also continues to kick butt every time he has to qualify with his firearm. We are really proud of him.

 

 

Beckett is becoming more and more like his dad every day. I had to take this picture because of how he's standing. Just like his pops.

 

Beckett has mastered his silly face thanks to the Mercer Meyer book "New Baby", where big brother tries to cheer up his crying baby sister by making his "silliest face ever". He loves that, and I'm sure we'll be seeing it more as the new baby comes.

 

Beckett is my breakfast buddy. Matt's not usually a huge fan of a big breakfast, but me and Beckett totally are. And with Moore's so close and so tasty, we love to go split a breakfast once in a while when Matt is working the weekend anyway. He usually sits pretty well while we wait (it helps that they're so speedy), but if we sit in a corner and they forget about us for a while, I *might* be that mom that lets her kid eat strawberry jelly packets to keep quiet.

 

 

Since it's finally starting to warm up around these parts, we've been enjoying some time outside. After carefully drawing this, Beckett was ecstatic and said to me "Look, my chicken!" Every time I look at it, I crack up.

 

 

 

We went through a phase a few weeks ago where Beckett wanted to pick what he wore. And these are the two best outfits he chose. I thought it was hilarious, but I also admit that I tried to avoid going anywhere these days, haha. And I am glad it's over.

 

 

Beckett and Daddy giving me a heart attack during bath time before bed. Beckett loves to take . I popped my head in there to see if they were about done, and this is what I saw.

 

"Painting" Daddy a picture during conference. He is loving the felt posters that you can paint with water

 

I loved watching conference with Beckett this spring. It was a weekend Matt had to work unfortunately, and I was afraid we'd have a hard time sticking to conference since he'd much rather watch "da minions" or something, but we did pretty well and I was impressed at how much we were able to not only watch but that I was able to really absorb, even while watching with my crazy 3 year old. We would tune in a little while before conference was set to be starting so we could listen to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, which he absolutely loved, and really set the tone. During the speakers' talks, he would play quietly (for him) and every time the Choir would sing again, he'd ask me "The people singin again?" and reverently plant himself just like this until they were done. It just reminded me how grateful I am for music and the way it touches your soul and can communicate things to even my hyper little boy that he wouldn't understand otherwise.

 

 



We have also had a fun time celebrating Easter, and of course.... Beckett's third birthday!

 

 This year we made an event out of Beckett's birthday weekend since Matt would be off, and to celebrate the end of Matt's EMT class. It was such a long weekend full of Beckett-ness I’ve been calling it our “Beckettpalooza”. Maybe we are trying a bit too hard to give him extra love before the baby comes, but hey, what can ya do. Friday at Beckett's daycare, the day was all about Beckett. He was sung to multiple times, and they made blue cookies in his honor; Rachael really is the best. We love her. That night, Matt was scheduled to take his EMT practical down in Salt Lake, which we thought would only take an hour. (What we didn't know was that his name was literally next to last on the list to be tested, so he wasn't finished until almost 10 pm) So, we decided to stay the night in Salt Lake since we hadn't done that in a while (and here soon won't be able to do it again for a bit), then go to the aquarium on Saturday. It was really fun.

 

 

Even though Matt ended up being much later than we planned for, Beckett and I occupied ourselves by swimming at the hotel and then we were just about ready to pass out when he was back. Plus, after holding our over-excited kiddo and swimming with him for almost an hour and a half, I was fully prepared to eat a tasty philly cheese steak sandwich during our travels Saturday and not feel the least bit sorry for it.

 

 

 

Beckett loved the otters, penguins, and the tank with all the Dorys and Nemos swimming together. He also had fun being a daredevil and climbing the jungle net in the amazon section, which they had NO chance of getting me on.

Since we have a wee bit of a Ninja Turtle obsession right now, we decided to have a Ninja Turtles birthday party. Beckett was in heaven. He was so incredibly spoiled by his Grandmas and Grandpas, and Aunts and Uncles this year. Thanks again to everyone who helped make our little man's special day (weekend) awesome.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We hope you are all doing great! And I promise to post again soon, since we should know for sure if we are having a girl or boy in the next two weeks.