Random Christmas Photos

Just a few photos from our Christmas this year in no particular order...

This is the teddy bear Brychan received from Great Grandma Taylor. As soon as he pulled the bear out of it's bag, he exclaimed "teddy!!!!" and gave him a HUGE hug. Kehlton recevied a matching bear.

And later sporting the hat his new teddy was wearing...he wore this hat ALL day Sunday.

The oh so beloved bike. This was the first thing he saw Christmas morning and his eyes were SO big when he saw it sitting there. He has been coveting other children's bikes for quite awhile now and is very excited to have his own!

Brychan was also very excited about the Christmas tree this year. Everything from going to pick it out to the decorations we put on it to the presents that go underneath; he loved it!

More Christmas photos to come...I am way behind in my blogging and am trying to get caught up. Hopefully by the end of this week!

Kehlton

Just a few shots of Kehlton. I'm already guilty of not taking as many pictures of the second child as I did of the first. I'm trying to do better, though!

Tummy time (which as of right now, he really seems to enjoy. We'll see if that sticks!)



Sleeping with Daddy

Brychan and Kehlton

I am SO glad that Brychan has finally learned to love his little brother. And he most certainly does!! Brychan loves holding, kissing and hugging his baby, and can frequently be found just sitting next to Kehlton's bouncy seat holding on to a little arm or leg while reading a story to himself. So sweet! I can't wait for them to become best little buddies!

Visit with Santa

Last weekend, Ashley came to stay with Kehlton so David and I could take Brychan to our ward's family Christmas party. Brychan had a blast! He could have cared less about the cookie decorating or any of the crafts they had...he was much more interested in running around outside with the older kids while David and I visited with the other adults.

This was Brychan's first visit with Santa Claus and it didn't seem to phase him at all. He was pretty excited to get his bag of candy, though!

After our party, we went to pick out a Christmas tree, which Brychan had just as much fun with. We enjoyed our afternoon activities with Brychan and look forward to a few activities coming up that we will be able to attend as an entire family!

Kehlton's Hospital Photos

You can click on the link below to view Kehlton's pictures taken at the hospital. I love the one of him and David!

http://www.our365.com/NewbornPortraits/BabyDetail.aspx?birthid=5da0e611-76a6-48b7-812e-28a6bf2d6c35&babyid=32999075-1f5c-4711-917c-98f996cde972

(And if you notice that my name is spelled wrong - that would be my husband's doing. Evidently pregnancy brain is slightly contagious! ;) )

My Boys

Wow. I can already tell that keeping the blog up to date is going to be much more difficult...

Brychan initially had a really hard time with the new baby in the house. Actually, I think it was a combination of a new baby, grandparents going home and us trying to get life back to normal. Now, however, he really seems to LOVE his baby and any crying Brychan does now is just out of sympathy for Kehlton. In fact, Brychan woke up sick in middle of the night last night, and instead of calling for mommy or daddy, he kept calling out "my baby!!".

*You'll notice that Brychan is only wearing one sock in the photo above. That is the independent 2 year old coming out in him. He absolutely refused to wear a sock on his right foot; instead he would only wear it on his hand.

I LOVE this kid!!!!!!!

Seriously...could he be any cuter?!?! He is having a really hard time with the new baby in our house and it is absolutely breaking my heart. I just hope and pray he knows how much his mommy loves him, because oh my gosh do I ever!!!!!

Our Christmas Angel

We're hoping that you check our blog as we wanted to sincerely thank you for the goodies and gift that were mysteriously left at our home this week - it meant the world to us. We are VERY grateful for your thoughtfulness and generosity!

Merry Christmas!!!!

And Baby Makes Four

Kehlton James Stander

December 1, 2009

3:40am

7 lbs 14oz

19 1/2"

We are already SO in love with this sweet little boy!! He is so calm and mello, and I lucked out with another snuggly baby. I love it!!

A Baby Story

A few days before Thanksgiving, I happened upon some photographer's website who specialized in what she called "birth stories". She would take maternity photos and then she would be present with the family during labor and delivery to snap all those special shots. I had always been horrified at the thought of any extra people in the delivery room with me other than David, but this woman's photos were so gorgeous that I asked my sister to do the same for me. The following are some of her photos of my labor and delivery experience. Don't worry...nothing graphic or inappropriate...just bits of my long night!

I was scheduled to be induced at 8:00pm. However, they had so many births that day that we ended up waiting in the waiting room for a couple of hours. I didn't get started until somewhere between 9:00 and 9:30. I was not thrilled.

And, this may be too much information, but we discovered there is a reason my belly was SO huge. I had at least twice as much amniotic fluid as the normal pregnant woman. They broke my water when I first got there (which, I also learned I NEVER want that to happen in a public setting - ugh!!), no big deal. An hour or so later, I was gushing again...worse than I had with the inital breaking of my water. The nurse came in; I was laughing hysterically, and asked her if this was normal. She laughed and told me no. My stomach was instantly half the size it had been when I first got there.

This was several hours into it, once contractions had been going for almost an hour and I finally woke David up and told him to come help. FYI, contractions that come naturally do not hurt anywhere NEAR as much as those contractions that come by being induced.
I love this photo!! It's a little blurry, but I love how supportive my husband is being as I'm digging my nails into his arms. I am in middle of a contraction, crying AND getting my epidural at this point. Too much all at the same time; I was not so happy.
Just over 6 hours after we had begun and only 2 pushes later, Kehlton made his grand debut!! He was only 7 lbs and 14 oz - a full pound smaller than Brychan had been. Kehlton seems like such a tiny little thing after Brychan!! I'm still trying to decide which I like better - natural child birth or inducement. Each has their pros and cons.


Ashley, thank you SO much for taking these photos for us!! We LOVE them (ALL of them; not just the few we put on here) and are glad you did this for us. And...I'm sorry for yelling at you in the delivery room! :)

Baby Prep

Brychan has been having a blast with all the new baby preparations. He loves looking into the bassinet to look at the elephant sheets and sorting through all the baby clothes. This last week I got the infant car seat and bouncy seat out so I could wash them and he's had so much fun with those too. Here he is having more fun with them today...

Vacuuming

I am having a baby next week, Thanksgiving is on Thursday, my family will be here Wednesday...I have a million things I need to be doing today and blogging is definitely not one of them. However, I had to hurry and get this down.

I usually always have at least one "somebody" following me around all day. Either a dog, or a little boy or both. Most of the time it's both. Like my own personal parade. The only time I don't have anybody following me is when I'm vacuuming the house, and it cracks me up!

The dog is terrified of the vacuum cleaner. Always has been, and despite my husband's best efforts, probably always will be. He runs in the opposite direction as soon as he sees me heading for the hall closet to get the vacuum out. And Brychan used to LOVE helping me vacuum and he did a good job of it, until he noticed the dog running around like crazy trying to figure out the best place to hide from the vacuum cleaner. Now, I start the vacuum cleaner, the dog takes off running and Brychan takes off running after the dog. They find a hiding spot together and hunker down until I get too close with the vacuum. Then the dog takes off, the boy follows after and they hunker down together again. Repeat this process 5 or 6 times as I go throughout the house.

Today as I got done vacuuming, I just left the vacuum sitting in middle of the room, still plugged in, while I went to check on something. Not 5 seconds later, Brychan comes sneaking out of their hiding place to turn the vacuum cleaner back on all by himself so he can start his "game" all over again.

Too funny! I so badly wanted a picture of them hiding together, but Dave took the camera to work with him today so he could take photos of a client's home this afternoon (that's right. You heard me. He got a listing this weekend. Yay!!). The one day I don't have a camera...

Christmas Dance

I've debated about whether to post this or not just because it seems that the majority of my photos lately include my son without any clothes on, but Dave keeps asking why I haven't posted it yet, so here it is.

Surprise!

So when I went to go make my bed this morning, this is what I found...


Needless to say, the bed ended up waiting. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to crawl into bed with him to read stories and sing a few songs. Actually, a lot has ended up waiting lately as I am trying to spend as much one on one time with Brychan as I can before the new baby comes. As excited as I am for this new baby, I'm still a little sad that my little bug won't be my "little" bug anymore. I just love this little boy SO much and love all the time I get to spend with him!

New Glasses

Well - here they are! So far he's doing great with them - has only tried to take them off once or twice and all it takes from us is a quick reminder to "not touch". Hopefully it stays this easy! I must admit it's a bit of an adjustment for Mom...

Daddy's Boy

This is how David and Brychan spent a nice chunk of time this morning, and it's one of my new favorite photos. Brychan usually isn't one to snuggle for too long in the mornings, but he had a hard night last night and evidently just needed some love from his daddy this morning. I've mentioned before how much Brychan love, love, LOVES his daddy and I think this photo really portrays that. I have the most wonderful boys ever!!!

Change in Perspective

While I was attending Ricks College, I had a professor in one of my child development classes who read the book Love You Forever as part of her lesson one day. I was already familiar with the book and loved it, and while I thought it was sweet when she got so choked up reading it that she asked one of the students to finish reading it for her, I didn't understand where the tears were coming from.
I literally have hundreds of children's books that I have been collecting since my early college years. Lately, I've been trying to sort through them and thin the collection out a little bit (I have yet to make much progress in getting rid of any). This afternoon, I came across Love You Forever, pulled it out and read through it. Not three pages in and I was already in tears! Granted, I am very pregnant and my emotions are a tad out of whack. However, I still think it's amazing what a few years and some new life experiences will do to change your perspective on life and understanding others. I'm sure in 10 to 15 more years I will be able to re-read this book again and have a fresh new perspective from that point of view too. Isn't it nice that you continue to learn and grow and gain more understanding and appreciation as life goes on?

Sick Bugs

My little bug has been sick for most of the week. Nothing major...just a little runny/stuffy nose and a minor cough and no energy, but this is how we've spent the majority of our week. Especially once I got the same sick bug! Luckily we are both starting to feel much better (although Brychan's bug is hanging on a little longer than mine).

Unrelated story: While waiting for Brychan's glasses to get here, we have been working on strengthening his right eye. We do this by covering the left one (which he HATES) and leaving the right one uncovered so he's forced to use it. The only way we've found to keep him happy about this exercise is to have one person cover the eye while another person blows bubbles. If we do this, he'll hang out with one eye for 30 minutes or so. And he knows if he wants to blow bubbles, he has to have his eye covered, which he is starting to do willingly all by himself. The other day I noticed his right eye was totally crossed while he was watching television, so I tried setting him in my lap while I covered his left eye. He adamently shook his head and said "bubbles mommy!". So much for sneaking anything past him! Evidently he's going to make Mommy follow the same rules I make him follow!

Charitable contribution program

Recently, I started a charitable contribution program with my business. It works like this: If you, or someone you know is wanting to buy or sell a home… ANYWHERE… let me do the legwork and find the right real estate professional that will best represent your interests … that agent will normally pay a referral fee for my assistance. When that happens, I will donate 25% of the net referral fee that I receive to the charity that you designate. Best of all, it's a free service to you … and you help make a difference for a worthwhile charity in the process.

You can really help me out, and the charities that benefit, by posting a link of my website on your blog, or just letting people you know that I would be happy to help them find a realtor to meet their needs.

DStander.yourkwagent.com

Thank you,
Dave

Seriously???

Somebody is really looking out for us...that's all I can say. For the last 8 months we have been paying for our health insurance out of pocket. No biggie. I sent a check for October's premium the first week of the month and had noticed that it still had not cleared our bank. So I sent an email asking if they needed me to send another check, and their response was, "No, actually, we noticed that you have overpaid and are completely paid through December of 2009, we are sending October's check back".

WHAT?!?! How does that happen??? I know that I never once paid a single penny over what our monthly bill was. I'm not going to push the issue (obviously) but tithing and fast offerings pay off. Repeatedly. We have seen blessings just like this every single month (sometimes more than once) for the last 8 months. It's crazy. I'm extremely grateful, my faith has been repeatedly bolstered and yet I'm a little afraid for the other shoe to drop. It seems like that for every difficult thing we have to face this year (and there have been plenty), we get 5 blessings in it's place. It doesn't seem fair that we are being SO tremendously blessed!!

And a side note: we have our 36 week baby appointment tomorrow. At my 36 week appointment with Brychan, I was dilated to at least a 1. Not much, I know, but at least it was something considering I hadn't had any contractions. With all the contractions I've been having the last few days (yes, even painful ones!) I am hoping the doctor tells me tomorrow that I am past a 1. We are scheduled to be induced on December 1st. At this point, I wouldn't be upset if this little boy decided to come early. We'll keep you posted!

A Boy and His Dogs

Biggs, Brychan and Brutus - a frequent sight at our house.

Brutus isn't actually our dog, he's my sister's. However, he spends a fair amount of time over here and Brychan loves him. I'm not sure if Brychan realizes that Brutus really isn't his dog or not.

Our Latest

Being a Mom is hard. There's no question about that. However, I had no idea just how hard it was until this last week when we realized Brychan had a problem with his eyes. Long story short, he has the begining stages of lazy eye due to extreme farsightedness. Because we caught it so early, it only happens occasionally. Most of the time you'd never notice, and sometimes he goes for days without the eye drifting.

We've seen the pediatrician and the pediatric opthamologist. His opthamologist said it was great that we caught it so soon and that with glasses, the eye drifting should completely stop. If need be we will also do some patching therapy down the road. He also said that Brychan's vision will start to improve over time. He'll probably always need glasses, but it should get better. We ordered his first pair of glasses on Monday and are waiting rather impatiently to get them. As hard as it is for me to know my little boy has to wear glasses already, I can see now how he's struggling and I want the glasses to make things easier for him. And, as much as it breaks my heart to see his little eye crossing, I'm glad we noticed it. Otherwise we would have NEVER realized he had a problem. Watching him you'd think he has perfect vision. And not noticing until it was too late could have led to blindness in his right eye.

I can't figure out why this is so hard. David and I both knew that our children would eventually end up with glasses. All family members on both sides (with the exception of Grandma Davis) wear glasses. We just never imagined it would start so early. And after all, it's just glasses...not anything life threatening or altering. It could be 500 times worse. People wear glasses all the time! So this shouldn't be so hard, right? It is getting easier, but it is still hard. I'm sure this is just one of many bumps in the road that we will get to face as parents. We're just getting more experience early on!

Halloween 2009

We had SO much fun this year! We spent all Halloween afternoon and evening at our ward's carnival/chili cook-off/trunk or treat. It's a HUGE deal here with a ton of people and even more fun! Brychan picked his costume out all by himself this year. We happened to walk by some costumes at Costco; he snatched this little elephant and held on for dear life. We tried to talk him out of it or into something else, but he wouldn't hear of it! In fact, once we got home, he slept with his costume for several days before he was willing to let go of it long enough for me to hide it away until Halloween. He was pretty dang cute!

Auntie Ashley decided at the last minute to be me. For a few minutes, David decided to join her...
Comparing bellies
The only thing of the day that Brychan did NOT like...
Fishing for prizes with Daddy
Taking a break with Ashley. Being "pregnant" was quite the learning experience for Ashley...she kept asking me how I did things (keep my belly covered, carry Brychan around, run, get up and down off of the ground, fit at the dinner table, etc.) while being so preggo. I found it quite entertaining! Maybe they should make all teenage girls wear pregnancy bellies for a week and then have their flour sack "babies" afterwords!

More Halloween

After winning a prize from Jack Sparrow's sister
Amazingly enough, he sat perfectly still to get his face painted. He LOVED his pumpkin!

Most adorable little bum ever. Mommy forgot to make a tail for this little elephant!
Checking things out...

The fun of "the day after". He knows exactly what is in his pumpkin...he will tell us candy every time and doesn't hesitate to ask for it. However, he isn't in the least bit interested in eating it; just wants to sort through it. He will spend hours taking all of the loot out, sorting into different piles (suckers here, bagged candies, there, etc...) and then putting it all back into his pumpkin.

Our ward really knows how to celebrate Halloween - we all really did have so much fun and can't wait for more fun next year!!

Swinging

We quite obviously had another fun morning at the park!

The 1st Jack-O-Lantern

Last night for Family Home Evening, we decided to turn one of Brychan's pumpkins into a Jack-O-Lantern. Brychan had a blast! I apologize the photos aren't very good and are mostly blurry - but he was too excited to just stand still. As soon as David carved the face into the pumpkin, Brychan just kept saying "Pumpkin, teeth!" over and over. He rolled his little pumpkin all over the kitchen and it was the first thing he asked about this morning. Maybe today I'll manage to get a good photo of him with his first Jack-O-Lantern!

*Oh, and please disregard the messy kitchen! :)