2 Months Old

Henry is 2 months old today.  Justin thinks that time is just flying by.  Sounds like Justin needs to get up in the night more.

He actually is a first-rate sleeper...at night. He sleeps 5-6 hours, eats, then sleeps 2-3 more. So of course his naps are suffering. He kind of naps mid-morning then he sleeps from 12-5pm if I take him for a ride then it's anyone's bet during the evening. Maybe he'll sleep between 5-9, maybe he won't.

  This smile cracks me up.

 This is his go-to expression for most of the day.

This photo also makes me smile but at the same time freaks me out.  If I told you Sarah was heading out the door for kindergarten, would you belive me? What the heck happened to my toddler?

 Last Friday we went up the canyon for a picnic. I don't know which I love more on her: my sunglasses or her neon green headband worn Jazzercize style.

 "I'm going to Macey's to get an ice cream cone."

She puts her toys in timeout for not listening. Today Justin's football fell victim to her tough parenting and has been in the closet for 3 1/2 hours for not listening. (Just to be clear, she gets sent to the corner, not put in a closet.)  This girl has crazy ideas.

Buckle up. This is a long one.

I am just now getting around to posting our eventful 4th of July due to Sarah's surprise sickness.  The night of the 4th, she woke up barfing at 1 am.  I thought it was from too much fun and junk food so we bathed her, changed her sheets and blankets and put her back in bed.  She threw up 20+ more times in the next 8 hours. After 5 changes of clothes, 3 changes of sheets/bedding, and 9 loads of laundry we figured it must be something a little more serious. 
Here's Sarah Wednesday morning.  After breakfast, she said she was cold so I told her to get a blanket behind the couch.  She didn't come back and this is how I found her. She threw up 30 minutes later but seemed to be on the mend after that.

So to back up a week, Friday the 1st was Justin's brother Nate's wedding.  Yes, 2 weddings in one summer for us.  We've also got a baby blessing coming up and a mission farewell by September.  We all decided to make the biggest life changes possible this summer, just to give Corey and Nadine the most stressful summer possible. Anyway, here are some pictures.

 Waiting patiently for the bride and groom.

 Nate was the first person after Justin and I that Sarah tolerated as an infant.  He is still one of her favorites.  And she loves Melissa so she could care less about her parents when she's got these two.

 Our little family.

 The brothers mocking Dallin that he doesn't have a wedding ring. He leaves on his mission in September so in 2 1/2 years he should have it.

After the luncheon but before the reception, Braden and Kristen went with us to the Living Planet Aquarium.  I've wanted to go for a long time and since we had some time to kill up in Sandy and Sarah is free for just a few more months, we went.  Sarah was so excited to see the penguins.  When we got her out of the car, Justin told her to leave the blanket in the car.  She said, "Yeah, or the penguins will eat it."

Sorry for the red eyes, Kristen.  Henry doesn't nap like he used to so I've got to be quick.  

 I don't remember what is in this tank.  Fish, I'd bet.

 Huge lobster.

 Seahorses [Side story: When I was 22, Justin and I were nursery leaders in our ward. One of the kids wanted me to read them a book about sea creatures. I read it to him and thought to myself, "I don't know if seahorses are real or not. How can I be an adult with a college degree and not know if seahorses are mythical animals are not?"]
Well in case anyone else has doubts, they are real.

 Yucky octopus.

 Pretty friendly stingrays.  Stingrays are the puppies of the sea.  I made that up.

 The beloved penguins. Sarah ran back twice to see them again and we had to make a special trip to say good-bye before we left.

 I think she would love to have a pet penguin.  But not an emperor penguin.  It could knock her over.

Wedding reception. After the aquarium, we were pretty tired by this point.  Sarah looks like a Sugarplum Fairy.

Saturday morning I woke up with a sugar hangover.  Dang all you can eat cupcakes and icecream at the reception. I really didn't do much that day. Sunday was Dallin's 19th birthday so we went to Justin's parents' house along with most of his mom's side of the family.  We played 9 Square and I'm sorry to say I didn't get any pictures of it.  It's 4 Square on steroids.  The king square is in the center and it is stressful to be king, just like in real life.

Monday we went on a hike up Payson Canyon.  We hiked up the Grotto Trail.  It was a short and easy hike with some bridges over water.  Perfect for me carrying Henry in a pack and for Sarah.  My mom, sister Rachel and her husband Kenny and their boys Tyler and Zack came too. 

Afterwards we found a nice shady spot higher up and ate a picnic lunch.  Sarah likes Bugles on her fingers.

Gosh I hate Bugles.

Later that day we went back to Justin's parents and ate 4 different kinds of steak, chicken and brats. We played 9 square and ate cheesecake and had an Independence Day themed FHE.  By then it was really stormy so we didn't do fireworks.  But when I put Sarah to bed, we could see fireworks going off all over the valley from her window.  I like this new fireworks law.  I think we saw more than 20 fireworks go off at nearly the same time from Provo to Payson. And then she woke up a few hours later and puked her guts out.  I will just finish where I began. Thank you for reading.

What do those Dye kids do all day??

Sarah helped Justin adjust the sprinklers (or sprinkles, as she calls them). It turned into a waterfight as any good activity with dad does.

Henry is growing so fast.  It must be because he sleeps and eats so much. Once in a while he'll sleep 6 hours straight at night.  I love him so much when he does that and I tell him so to encourage him to keep it up.

 We hiked up Maple Canyon.  That was a rough hike, especially since I couldn't see my feet over the Snugli carrier I was wearing with Henry in it.  Justin and Sarah are good looking.  Those two did much better and went on ahead without me.

 I sometimes wonder if Sarah thinks Henry is just another one of her dolls.  He just happens to move and cry. She picked out his outfit and insisted that these shoes that are ginormous on him were just what he needed.

Justin and I left Sarah and Henry in the next room alone.  When we came back in, this is what we found. He's so lucky to have a big sister.

 We went to the park for a little while but left because it got too hot. Sarah is all about the climbing.

 Henry finally smiled last week!  I was so excited. I think I want my kids to smile more than any other milestone. I can't get a good picture of it yet because he's too unpredictable and quick for me.  But here's some good expressions. 

 I bought a big stack of puzzles at a garage sale.  Sarah is obsessed with puzzles. Ask her what she wants to do today.  "Do puzzles."

 See how happy she is?  She's doing a puzzle.

 

One Month Old

You know the feeling. You go back and forth between "I can't believe he's already a month old," versus "He's only a month old? Feels like I've had him forever."

 Henry slept a 4 hour stretch last night! Crazy the things you're grateful for when you have a newborn.

I love these kids.  Especially right now when they are napping at the same time.

Braden and Kristen's Wedding (plus pics of kids of course)

Last Saturday Justin's brother Braden got married in SLC. Here are Braden and Kristen newly hitched. 

 Sarah said, "She has a pretty dress." about a thousand times. 

Here are my kids before leaving for the reception that night.  This is the best smile Sarah would give me.  She was watching Land Before Time and wouldn't give me her full attention.

 Pretty flower girl. 

Any time anyone would compliment Sarah, she'd reply "I have a pretty dress."

 This is Sarah's second cousin, Dustin.  He's a way cute kid.

No one took the initiative to decorate the car.  Justin and his brothers thought Braden's friends would do it.  They were wrong.  So we did it last minute with the fruit dip left over.  It turned out pretty good.

 Henry seems to be changing so much.  Every day he looks a little different to me.  He's also growing so fast, I swear you can see it happening.  There are outfits that were big on him 3 weeks ago that fit snugly now.  It's kind of sad that he will only wear things 2 or 3 times before I have to put them away.

Handling 2 kids isn't as bad as I thought.  It  helps that Henry is a pretty good baby.  Well, he may just be normal but after the nightmare that was Sarah's infancy, he seems like a walk in the park. He is a really good eater and still sleeps a lot.  During the day, he stays awake for only an hour at a time and then naps for 2 or 3 hours. He gets pretty fussy in the evening and is awake for 3 hours or so straight but once I get him calmed down and asleep, he's good for the night and only wakes up to eat and goes right back to sleep. I hope as his little tummy gets bigger, he'll wake up less often at night. When Sarah was this age, she wouldn't sleep more than 15 minutes at a time unless I was holding her, day or night, so she was nuzzled right up to me all night long.  And at least once a night, we'd have to blast music, turn on the bathroom fan or do some bouncing to get her to stop crying and back to sleep. Henry doesn't mind one bit being alone or being put to bed drowsy but awake.  I can't believe how different babies can be.  It makes me less worried about every little thing I do.  Most of what I do doesn't make a bit of difference at this age. I felt like I must be doing everything wrong with Sarah because she was such a pill. But she was just a pill because she was a pill.

 She's an angel now so I wish I wouldn't have stressed so much and wished her infancy away.

She's the best big sister.  She's so stinking cute with Henry. (Well sometimes she drives me crazy because she won't back off when I want her to.)  Even if he's screaming his guts out, she'll kiss him and talk so sweetly to him.  "It's okay Henry. You can stop crying.  Just go to sleep."  She's a really good example to me not to lose my cool when he is really fussy.

Things Sarah says all the time, mostly at random times: "Mom, you have two kids?" "Punqwa's your dad?" (that's how she says grandpa) "Hi handsome" (to Henry) "Rachel is your sister." "Grandma is stuck at the cemetary?" (On Memorial Day, my brother's car broke down at the cemetary.  Sarah heard about it and still talks about it like they are all still stuck there, even though she saw them come home.)