DECEMBER

I think I finally figured out how to get the photos to post in the right order...so here is our December in the correct order.  We had a Egg Nog taste testing.  The kids had never had it before.  Millie was not a fan...Phin thought it was the best thing ever.  

 

Our local rec center held a Jingle Bell run.  Before the race started the kids were able to get a picture with Santa.

 

 

This was my first "run" since Louisa was born.  I am happy to report that I was able to keep up with Silas.

 

 

 

 

The kids were rewarded at the end with a candy cane.

We were also able to ice skate at the ice ribbon.  I pushed Lou in the stroller.

Silas spent some time with me and some time with Phin in the ice walker.

 

 Millie was able to push the walker all on her own and loved it.

 

She also tried to skate on her own and loved it...until she fell down hard.

 The whole thing apparently wore Silas out...

We went to the Art Center's Gingerbread Festival.  It was much smaller than when we went a few years ago.  We loved the Candy Land house.

 

Millie also loved the Frozen house.

The kids were able to decorate a Christmas ornament.

After the festival we stopped at the used book store.  We loved their Charlotte's web display.

Our Christmas stockings...

We had so much fun at our ward party.  They had a bingo game after dinner and the kids loved choosing a prize for a bingo.

Millie came home from church with a picture of our family.  I love that she drew Lou in my arms, and Seth super tall.

The kids were excited for the first snowfall of the year. 

Silas has a great memory.  We had pulled the tubes out to play in the snow.  He found the remote controlled cars that we got last year and insisted we bring a tube in to drive the car on it.  I couldn't believe he remembered doing that last Christmas.

Our nephew is home from his mission.  We went up for his homecoming talk.  We had so much fun visiting with family after.

Silas' class made a tree for their school's Festival of Trees.

 

Phin earned an ice cream for practicing the piano.

 

We had a late start one morning due to the snow.  In my sleep deprived state I miscalculated the new start time...since we were so early we decided to make the best of it and stopped at the local Dick's for a doughnut and hot cocoa.  Phin was delighted to get a glazed doughnut the size of his head.

Millie of course got a doughnut with pink frosting and sprinkles.

I was able to volunteer at Millie's Christmas party.  I took a little Christmas tree with lowercase letters. Then gave the kids red circle stickers with the uppercase letters for them to match.  Millie was so excited to show little Lou off to her classmates.

Silas missed the last couple of school days due to illness.  His sweet teacher dropped of his Christmas gift.  He wad delighted.

 

Nona and Papa held their Christmas party a little early.  We were excited they continued their 12 days of Christmas tradition.

 

They also continued their matcing PJ's tradition.  I love this picture of our little "wolf pack." 

Our cute Kindergarten cousins.

Millie loved helping me make sugar cookies one Sunday.

Our Idaho cousins were in town so we took the cookies to Nona's to decorate with them.

We also went down to the Giving Machine.  On our way we stopped and took a quick look on the Salt Lake Temple construction.

The kids were facinated by the ida of giving a chicken, a week of groceries and some hygiene items to the needy.

 

We also stopped at Macy's to see the candy window displays.

 

The lights were on at Temple Square.  It was a much smaller display than in previous years due to the construction but we loved the spirit of Temple Square.

 

My college friend Jenn was in town from South Carolina and we were able to go on a double date to The Mandarin.  I am so grateful for the lifelong friends that I made in college.  We all live in different states and it is so good to get together.

We spent more time at Nona's with our Idaho cousins.  I love this picture of Jack and Lou...I have similar one of Kate and Phin when they were babies.

We rode Trax down to the Grand America to see the Gingerbread house.  The kids loved riding on the train.

The window display outside the toy shop was pretty cool.

The Gingerbread house was HUGE.

Phin was very impressed with this sign that gave all the information about the ingredients for the Gingerbread house.

We also decorated Gingerbread houses with cousins.

Silas did a lot more eating than decorating.

The next day we went to the Children's Museum with our cousins.  Millie loved the updates to the playhouse.

Silas loved the construction area.

On our way home we spotted Buddy the Elf and the Jazz Bear filming a promo for an upcoming game.

We headed down to the cabin in Escalante on December 23rd.  We let the kids open a present when we arrived.

The present was the game Micro Macro Crime City.  Phin and Millie loved solving the cases with Seth.  They decided to put little jelly beans on each spot on the map they used to solve the case.

We went down to the cabin with Nona and Papa and they got lots of cuddles from Lou.

 

The kids had a great time playing at the cabin.  The little marble maze that we donated to the cabin was Silas' favorite.

 

The kids also put together Grandma Jo's candy trains and drank her Snowman Soup (aka Hot Chocolate).

 

Silas pretty much ate his entire candy train in one sitting.

 

The kids were delighted that Christmas found it's way to the cabin.

 Silas was so excited about the jumbo marshamallows that Phin gave him.

 

Millie loved her stuffed pig from Phin and Silas.

Phin had asked for a Nerf gun and he got 3.

 

I gave Millie my old Kirsten American Girl Doll.  She loved all of the clothes that came with Kirsten.

Silas loved his Lego Duplo set...it has a Miles Morales.

I took my traditional baby picture of Lou in her Christmas stocking.

We got a Nintendo Switch as a family.  The kids have had the best time playing together.

Lou got lots of hair bows, some tights and a binky clip.  Here she is modeling several of her bows.

On Christmas Eve we had a steak dinner and on Christmas afternoon we had homemade pizza.

The kids couldn't wait for their cousins to arrive.  On Sunday night cousins Carver and Conrad finally arrived.  The kids were in heaven.

We were able to get a picture of the cousins in matching PJs.

They also shot darts at cousin Carver's electronic target.

Aunt Kim brought little dino eggs for them to excavate. 

 

Uncole Jeff took them all outside to explore the property. We had a dusting of snow but not enough to go sledding.

 

 

We were sure sad to say goodbye to our cousins and can't wait to see them again.

We went to Wild Wednesday at Hogle Zoo with three other cousin families.

We loved seeing the baby gorilla in the ape house.

The polar bear was our favorite.  He kept doing laps as he played in the water.  He would pop up at this spot and then kick off the wall and float back to another spot.  It was so fun to watch.

Here is a video of the bear's antics.

Cousin Gavin was able to come for a sleepover after the zoo.  The kids had the best time playing with him.  We went to the Centerville Lights in the evening.  We were some of the only people there and loved exploring the lights.

We also went up to Cache Valley for a few days.  The kids had a little pizza party while we went to the new Spiderman movie with Grandad.

We were also able to do Initiatories at the temple on New Years Eve.  We came back to enjoy yummy horderves, street tacos and games with cousins.

Lou enjoyed a nap with Grandad.

The kids enjoyed more Nintendo Switch with cousins.  They love playing Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games.

 

We know a lot of people are saying good riddens to 2021.. but 2021 brought us Lou and for that we will always be grateful.  Happy New Year!

1 MONTH

Louisa hit the one month mark just before Thanksgiving.  At her two week check up she was still not quite up to her birth weight. She was 7 lbs 12 oz (29th percentile) and 21 inches long (70th percentile).  She wore newborn clothes and diapers for her first month.  

We took quite a few trips to the pediatrician her first month of life.  Little Lou dropped well below her birth weight.  At four days old she was down to 7 lbs 1 oz and then just a few days later she dropped to 6 lbs 13 oz.  We worked hard over a weekend on feeding and she only gained 2 oz.  The pediatrician recommended that I exclusively bottle feed breast milk for a day and Lou gained 5 oz in just 24 hours.  I was referred to a lactation consultant.  We went and were given some different holds, positions, etc.  The consultant also recommended a specific bottle that would encourage a deep latch.  I was also given some oral exercises and massages to do with Lou.  We worked hard and a week later Lou was almost up to her birth weight. Things finally clicked and by Lou started to gain weight.  Here are Lou's weekly pictures.

 

Lou is an absolute dream.  She is the best little snuggler and  I am enjoying every cuddle I can get.

Grandma Jo and Grandad came down to meet Lou on the Sunday after she was born.  I love seeing Grandma Jo with the new babies.

 Pretty in pink...

The older kids request to hold Lou every day. 

 Millie loves being a big sister.  She loves to push the stroller and is always looking out for Lou.

 Tummy time is a group event.  

Lou was breach for a long time so her little legs like to be curled up just like this.

Millie loves to comb Lou's hair.  She thought it was so funny that Lou's comb from the hospital looks like a toothbrush.

We all loved cuddling Lou while we watched Halloween movies and passed out candy.

 We are so excited to have a little October baby.

Amy brought us a yummy dinner one night.  It was so fun to introduce Louisa Amy to her.

Silas has adjusted well to Lou.  He loves to give her kisses and is very concerned when she cries. 

Lou's binky looks so big in this picture.

We have a little playmat for Lou and Millie has almost claimed it as her own.

Another tummy time party.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Phin and Lou.  He is so adorable with her.  She recognizes him and adores him.

Tubby time at home.  The kids got a kick out of the fact that Lou fits in our kitchen sink.

I put Lou in the front pack for the first time one afternoon when Silas and Millie requested we make cookies.

First nap in her crib...she looks so little.

We are enjoying every moment of this newborn phase.  Life often feels like a dream but we are so grateful this is our reality.

NOVEMBER

Here is our November in reverse.  The kids were so excited for every Christmas related activity.  We had to limit them to one activity a day...they would have been happy to do them all in one day if we let them.  Here we are decorating a gingerbread house.

 

We had some great weather in November.  I knew that our good weather days were running short...so often we would head to the park after picking Phin up from school.

 

I like to pick parks that have a walking track around the park so I can get a little exercise in while the kids play.  The view from this particular park was gorgeous.

 

Little Lou got to meet her Aunt Sarah and Cousin Jack when they were driving back to Idaho from their Thanksgiving trip.  We are so grateful they took the time to come and see us.  It is so fun to see another cute cousin pair.

We set up our Christmas train and the kids loved it.

 

They also loved decorating the Christmas tree.

 

They each loved seeing their individual ornaments.  Phin was pretty heartbroken when he broke his Baby's First Christmas ornament. 

 

One of the companies that Seth works for treated us to the movie Encanto just before Thanksgiving.  The kids loved the movie, the luxury recliners, the popcorn and soda pops.

 

Silas celebrated Thanksgiving at school.  He is the first one in the lower left of the picture.

 

Millie also celebrated at school, she is in the middle of the lower portion with her Disney Princess mask on.

 

Our kids love our Doona stroller/car seat.  It is just the right height for them to push and still be able to see over the top.  I love that it turns from a car seat to a stroller and I can just pop the wheels down as soon as we get out of the car.  We often walked over to pick Silas up from preschool.  Millie would push Lou there and Silas would push Lou home.

We spent a lot of time at home in November.  Louisa always has plenty of attention.

 

Phin is making great progress in piano.  He doesn't love practicing...but he has a mom that makes it happen.

 

My sweet friend Holly sent us Chick-Fil-A for dinner one night.  She absolutely spoiled us.  I could feel her love and support all the way from the East Coast.

 

The "See Saw" Park is always a favorite.

 

Millie loves crafts.  I love that our library branch has crafts cut out and ready to go.

 

The kids have been taking on more responsibilities around the house.  Here Millie is folding her laundry.

A huge highlight from November was Phin and Millie getting their first dose of the Covid vaccine.  We are so incredibly grateful for medical advancements and for a little more protection for our family.  We treated them to a Chick-Fil-A shake after as a reward.