Smiles

Isaac is such a sweet little guy. He's been smiling for a little while, but the last few days all we have to do is make eye contact and say something to him and he breaks out in a huge grin. I love it! :)


Its nearly impossible to get a decent picture of all 3 of my kids. This is the best I have been able to get so far. One day I'll get a super cute one, I hope. Gosh, I love these kids so much. So so so much.

I think this is such a sweet picture. Aspen is a VERY very good big sister. She's had a lot of practice since Mia was born just 13 days after Aspen turned one. She's such a sweet girl and getting so big and so helpful. I don't know if you can tell, but he's talking away to her. Its so sweet watching my kids interact. (especially when there's no fighting involved!!!)

Isaac is just about as big as Mia. My guess is he's going to catch up to her by the time he's one. As it is, she only weighs about 6 pounds more than him and lengthwise, he comes up to her chin. She loves baby Isaac and wants to hold him and touch him and love on him all the time. I have to watch her closely, though, because she also wants to wrestle him! ;) Daddy's genes for sure. :)

Aspen boo

Some cute and/or funny things Aspen has said this past week or so:

"daddy, you sounds like pooping." (when he tooted - i'm sure he'd be embarrassed if he knew I put this on here, lucky for me he NEVER looks at this!!)I don't know quite why this one struck me as funny as it did, but holy cow, I thought I was going to die, I was laughing so hard!

"daddy, you wearing a beautiful dress. you so pretty." (no, malo isn't into cross-dressing or anything...don't worry!)

"daddy, yours boogers are in your nose. get them out. no not like that, like this!" and she proceeds to attempt to pick his nose.

"mia. you crazy mia. you crazy."

"mama, mia she's is crazy."

"mommy, i need popsicle to feel my better."

"mama!! come quick!!!" so i run into the living room from the bathroom and she's sitting over Isaac and I think something has happened. "what, aspen? what happened?" "oh mama! baby isaac smiled ON me! oh i love baby isaac."

"mommy? mommy, i fink....i fink i hurt my head." then she continues playing without further complaint.

"mommies don't sleep!"

When asked what her whole name is "Aspen Nu-cole Havesomebread"

Malo was tucking her into bed and she says, "daddy?" "yes, aspen?" "daddy. I love mommy." "i love mommy, too." "you do, daddy?" "yes, i do. very much." "daddy, i love you mostest." HA ha! :) Gosh, I love that little girl.

Perfection

I always compare myself to other people. I always have; I can't help it. It seems like everyone around me, wherever I am, has their life completely together and, well, perfect. Perfect wives and mommies, perfect homes and yards, perfect kids, perfect everything. And I am, by no stretch of the imagination, anywhere near perfect in any aspect of my life. I need to just stop comparing myself to everyone else; I don't know what other people have going on in their lives that they struggle with. I just know my own struggles and challenges and shortcomings. Its just that I can't help it. I look at my 2 1/2 month post-partum body and compare my challenges of getting back into shape to the woman who two weeks after having a baby looks like she's never ever EVER had one. Or I look at my house that for the life of me, I can't get spotless and compare it to the perfect home without an ounce of clutter or dust. Or I see families around with their perfect kids who look perfectly put together and are reverent all through church and wonder how it is even possible. Or how that one lady over there always looks so polished and, well perfect, and half the time I am in sweats and don't even manage a shower until after Malo gets home from work (and that doesn't even always happen). Or I see the wives who have a gourmet perfect dinner on the table when their husbands get home from work - complete with candles and romance and their families all sit perfectly and no food is thrown on the ground or spit out with the exclamation of "mommy that's yucky!"

Yes, it seems as if everyone around me has everything together all the time, and I fall short. But really, why should I care??? I am happy. I have 3 of the most wonderful children around. I am married to my favorite person in the whole world, who also happens to be super cute and very sexy. ;) So what if every single day of my life I am picking up toys and kids books in every room, it shows my children have imaginations and play and have books to read to foster learning. So what if I have to clean up the food Mia has thrown on the floor because she's "all done," it means we have food to eat and enough of it. Who cares if we have balls strewn about the yard that we have to pick up everyday and bikes and sand from the sandbox and grass that needs mowing - that means our kids are healthy and strong and active.

Really, I'm just rambling. I have a good life, a happy life. Even if I don't look like I have anything in life pulled together or polished, I have kids who love me and make me smile and laugh on a daily basis, a husband who thinks i'm great even if we have nachos for dinner 3 times in one week or I am still in yesterday's clothes and will dance around the kitchen with me and play with our kids like only a dad can. I have a home to live in, I have food to eat. I have a testimony that my Heavenly Father and my Savior know me and love me. I have the best mom on earth, amazing extended family. I have awesome friends, new and old. So maybe I'm not perfect, maybe no one will ever look at me and be like "wow, she has it all together. wish i could be like her." but that's ok! Because I am trying my hardest and the best thing is I have SO much room for improvement that I'll always feel like I'm moving up! hee hee! That's all. Bye!

2 months

I can't believe little Isaac is already 2 months old! Its crazy how fast time flies. He is already 13lbs and just a big chunk. I love it! :) Anyway, one of these days I'll really get some more pictures up here of the kids. I just need a few more hours in each day!

The 3 most important people on earth...

AN END TO SNORING?!?!?

So Isaac is a month old (and almost 10 lbs already!!!) and we're all on the losing end of the sleep battle. Except Malo. After more than 5 years of begging, begging, BEGGING him to go get tested for sleep apnea, he finally did last month...2 days before Isaac was born. They found he has SEVERE sleep apnea, which I could have told them, and he now has a CPAP machine and for the first time in many many years, is really getting rest. And not snoring. In his sleep study they also found that he never once (at least during that study) went into REM sleep. No wonder he's always so tired. But anyway, its good for all of us that he's getting some sleep...cuz when I am up half the night with Isaac, its so nice to not have to try to listen to his incessant snoring while I'm trying to go back to sleep...now I can just go back to sleep. YAY! Did I mention the CPAP machine stops his snoring?!?!?!?

What else is new? I mentioned Isaac is a month old. I adore that little boy. He is a sweet, chubby little munchkin. I know I need to get some pictures up of him and I will...soon..but for now, I am just taking a few minutes to update. But really so far he's pretty mellow and just a sweetie. The girls are adjusting fairly well with him. They both are a little more whiny and needy than usual, but that was to be expected. But overall, they're doing well.

Three kids is a little more of an adjustment than I had anticipated, and I'm not sure if its really the number 3 or the fact that my oldest is only 2. ;-) But we're chugging along figuring things out as we go. We are very blessed to have the sweet kids we have.

Oh yeah...the Friday after Isaac was born, I woke up and half my face didn't work. I thought I'd had a stroke or something and was totally freaked out. Malo took me to the emergency room and turns out I just have Bell's Palsy. Half my face was completely paralyzed. They said it could take anywhere from 6 weeks to 3 months to go away. Its getting a little better everyday but its been so awful. I couldn't even smile at my new baby or laugh with my girls because my face didn't work. I'm feeling better about life now because its so much better...not all the way, but enough I can leave the house without feeling like a freak show.

What else? Aspen and Mia just continue to be awesome little girls. Aspen's imagination is really starting to blossom and she says the funniest things. She is super into princesses and dresses right now. Everyday she wants to put a dress on and then she'll twirl around and say "its a wonderful dream come true." She loves twirling in her dresses and dancing. She's awesome.

Mia's language is exploding! She is using 4 word sentences on a regular basis and she copies everything Aspen says and does. She's a fun little girl. Fearless. She climbs and jumps and is afraid of nothing.

Well, I can't think of much else. So i'm off! :)

Baby Isaac

Isaac Malo was born Sunday, March 7 at 11:49am. He was 7 lbs, 9 oz and 20.5 inches long. He has SO much hair and the cutest fat chipmunk cheeks. i'll put some pics up later, but wanted to at least get it out there that he's finally here!!! ;-) He spent the first 9 hours or so of life in the NICU but then was able to come snuggle with mommy and daddy after that. I was discharged on Tuesday but he was a bit too jaundiced at that point for us to bring him home so they admitted him to the pediatric unit to be under the lights and such. But he's such a trooper he got to come home yesterday night (Wednesday). He's a tough little guy. He is a good eater and sleeper and pooper...so that helped get his bili levels to where he could come home sooner than they expected.

He's our sweet little snuggle bugs and the girls think he's pretty neat, although I'm fairly certain they don't quite understand that he's here to stay. :)

Anyway, i'll put up some pictures another day. :)