Princess Party

My friend Shannon invited us to her little girl's birthday party on Saturday. I was so excited to tell Kandace that she was going to get to go to a princess party and she talked about it quite a bit up until the party. She told some people that she was going to a princess PARADE..I had to correct her and tell her it was a princess party. She is such a girl--she intuitively does girl stuff and loves girl stuff without me prompting her. Dressing up as a princess was no exception, but it did my heart good to see her having so much fun and looking so pretty. I sure love her!

bumbo

Michael's boss has a couple girls and so she gave us a TON of girl clothes and this bumbo which is nice becaue they are way expensive to buy brandnew. Janelle seems to like it because she can sit up and see whats going on. I think she looks so cute when she sits on it. This was taken right before we took off for Billings to go to the temple. It was nice because it was just Michael and I. Jan watched S & K and Joel & Kambrie watched Janelle during our session.

fishing with gpa Simmons

On Tuesday 9.23.11 we got to go fishing with gpa Simmons!! Stetson and Kandace were thrilled, and loved playing and running in the wide open spaces, but Steston's favorite part was being the official worm holder and distributer. He had a special green bag with a strap that he carried so he could put his worm container back in it when he was done "distrubuting." Fishing in the Big Horns is a Simmons' tradition. Dad said that his family used to go fishing and then they would put their fish in a plastic bag with flour, salt and pepper, fry it and eat it with canned beans and have pineapple/macedanian cookies for dessert. Dad took us fishing in the Big Horns when we were little and took summer trips to Cowley from California. I remember being devoured by mosquito bites and my bros would count all my bites when we got home there were so many. I never actually caught any on my own, dad was always helping me hold the pole, but on Tue I caught 2 all by mysefl. :) After fishing we ate at Bear Lodge and came home. Thanks gpa for a great time.

8 weeks

Our girl turned 8 weeks yesterday so we had to have a photo shoot in out back yard with lots of help from Stetson & Kandace. :) Some stuff about our baby:
*About a week ago I got worried because when she was spitting up (which was typically only once every other day) it was a HUGE amount (I know, it always looks like more than it really is, but really it was a lot) and it was projectile, so I looked it up in a book and it said to call doc if its projectile, so I first called my friend whose little boy had a similar issue and ended up having pyloric stenosis, a sort of intestinal obstruction where the milk can't get down and comes back up. I called doc next morning, but he was out of town for a few days but the nurse just said to weigh her to make sure she's gaining, so I had the public health nurse come and fortunately, and to my GREAT relief, she was already 10lb 2 oz and 22 inches long. She was 8 lbs 3 oz and 20 in at birth. The nurse said she looked good and to just watch her. She's been doing good and spitting up a lot less so we're happy.

*In other news, she is starting to smile, which is a little peice of heaven. She is on a 3 hr schedule and sleeing great. Getting her to fall asleep at bedtime is a little tricky, but once she drops the late night feeding at 3 mos her bedtime will be more consistent and it will be easier.


She is such a good, sweet baby and we love her.

Stetson man

My boy Stetson. What can I say, we love you like crazy. Stetson has been asking me every day this summer if its August yet, becasue thats when I told him preschool started. We just found out it doesn't start 'til Sep actually, so now he asks if its September yet. He truly loved his days at the CRC and will love the new adventures waiting for him this year. I've heard the greatest things about his teachers.

Stetson has taken up an interest in painting. I bought the kids some paints at Hobby Lobby and he loves it. He's very deliberate in his color choices and schemes, and always holds up his pictures when he's done and says, "Look mom, do you love it?!" And yes, I do. The picture was taken last Wed when we had a little horrah with the Asay bunch. We've been wanting to bbq more but got busy with new baby and all. We finally did and it was nice. We filled up the little pool not knowing for sure if anyone would be too excited with it, but the boys (and Kandace) had a BLAST. Travis was a crazy man with the hose and was fun to watch.

Stetson and Kandace are starting to play pretty well together on a more consistent basis, and its been heaven. It makes me glad we had them so close together.

Stetson had has loved having friends/cousins over to play but still has some room to grow as far as his interactions with others. I'm excited to see how he does with the kids at CRC this year.

Tomatoes!

Kandace is making sure we all get our 3-5 servings of veggies every day by brining us cherry tomatoes from the garden. Whenever we go outisde, either to swim or do sidewalk chalk, she eventually disappears to the garden to pick tomaotes. We're out of rasberries so her produce of choice has switched to tomatoes. I'll go out there in the morning and pick what I thought was all the cherry tomatoes, and she'll come running back with about 10 more. LOVE this girl and her love of fruits/veggies.

beautiful girl

Dear Kandace,

I love your kisses, your sassy attitude, your crazy "interpretive" dances, your soft hair that I love to run my fingers through, I love that you were born to me 2 years ago and that I got the chance to be a mother to a daughter and have a mother/daugther relationship I've always longed for. I loved capturing moments of you tonight, because they go too fast and in the blink of an eye you change.

I love you and think you are beautiful.

MOM

wrapping up summer

I don't spend near enough time with my nephews and it makes me sad. In addition to that, I think Stetson needs more "playtime" with kids his age so he can work on his social skills a little. He's too used to being large and in charge at our house and bossing his little sister around, so I invited my nephew Adam to come and play. It was probably a pretty boring day compared to the craziness at his house with 3 older brothers to party with, but we had fun anyway!! We cleaned out and then filled up our little pool to swim in, baked cookies and then when we found out we'd get to have him a little longer than planned, we headed to the whale pool. My kids are regulars at the whale pool. I packed in a trip to the whale pool multiple times every week before Janelle was born, knowing that once baby came, getting out of the house would be seldom. Lucky for them, their dad takes them and even a friend of mine took them the other day so I could have a break. This is the first day I actually got pics of it, though. I have to say I was proud of myself for taking ALL 4 kids out of the house by myself, and I was pleasantly surprised at how well it went. Even Janelle seemed to like her first trip to the whale pool. Stetson had a melt down right before we went home because he hates it when good things have to come to an end, and I think he was hoping Adam was coming back to our house, but instead his mom had to come get him. :(
The weather was PERFECT for pics, and I think I got some good ones. Here's our diva (doesn't anyone do her HAIR?? LOL:) In other news, our Janelley baby is 6 1/2 weeks and has been sleeping 8 hrs at night for a few days now. I still am having to wake her up to feed her at about 6am. I know she'd sleep longer but I need to for the sake of my milk supply. She is a dream. (Thank you baby wise). Her ducts aren't so clogged anymore I don't think because the gunk is clearing up. She's very alert between naps, which is fun. We like to talk to her and try to make her smile. Can't wait 'til she's even more interactive and vocal. We sure are lucky to have such great kids. I feel so blessed.

Lucky boy

Our stake had a father/son outing last Fri. night and Michael was a great dad and took Stetson. Michael got a 6 man tent for father's day, so my dad, Michael & Stetson slept in it. Michael said that halfway thru the night Stestson asked to sleep in Michael's sleeing bag with him, so needless to say Michael had a bad back for a couple days. They had dinner and a fireside Fri night, then Sat morning they had breakfast, went fishing and came home early afternoon. I could tell taht Stetson had a BALL and I was happy they got to go.

The one where we bless our baby

The picture on bottom is for your comic relief. Stetson's face cracks me up. This is sort of how we were feeling as we rushed out the door that morning. Sunday mornings at 7:50 ish are always a crazy time for the Asay's. Michael blessed Janelle Auguest 7, 2011. She was exactly 6 weeks old. She slept during the blessing and all through Sacrament and Michael gave a beautiful blessing. I don't thank Heavenly Father often enough for a worthy priesthood holder husband who can bless our babies, but I remembered to thank him yesterday. We had quite a crew for the blessing--I wish I'd taken pictures. Uncle Michael, Todd, Joel, Christian, Matthew & Daniel, and of course gpa Simmons & Asay and great Gpa Charlie Monk. We are blessed with great family and examples.

Our little princess pooped through her onezie and blessing dress before I had a chance to take more pictures of her. Luckily someone had given us a 3-6mos outftit at church that day so we could put her in that.

french braid

I'm going to have to figure out how to do girl hair now that I have 2 girls! Here is my first attempt at a french braid. Good thing I have lots of time to practice. :) In my defense, it is VERY hard to do hair on a wiggily 2 year old. K, now I feel better.

1 month

Our girl turned 1 month yesterday. She is an angel and we are lucky to have her. Last night she slept from 10ish 'til 5 when I got her up to feed her. She's on a 3 hr schedule, so her first feeding of the day is at 7 or 7:30, then she's awake for about 45 minutes then she naps for about 2 hrs, then at 10 we start the same thing over again. The sequence of eat, awake, sleep is what gets them sleeping throug the night--I don't know why, but having their sleep organized like this dose the trick. We're pretty good about sticking to our routine in the morning and early afternoon, but by the time evening rolls around, we've usually gotten off track, depending on what we did that day, but I've been trying hard to be consistent because I think its only fair to her. She has about 8 feedings in a 24 hr period. I usually throw an extra feeding in there some time in the evening since she doesn't get up to eat at night. This is my first baby to sleep so good at night during the newborn stage. Stetson and Kandace were up to eat all the time 'til they were 2 months, when they both started sleeping through the night, becuase of Baby Wise. I always stress SO much about scheduling and having to listen to her cry, and I second guess myself during all this, but I know deep down its the best thing for our family. I think doing the best thing for your kids isn't always easy, but the payoff is good.

Janelle has smiled at me a couple times, which was wonderful. Michael is always after me trying to get her to smile for him but no such luck. :) She has a little baby acne and clogged ducts, but we're hoping it will clear up soon. We're excited to have her blessed this Sunday.

Independence and rasberry picking

For the longest time, Stetson didn't really like doing things by himself. I'd encourage him to play/color/create on his own, but he always wanted me by his side helping him (which means doing most of it). This was especially true with coloring. I used to love to color by myself as a kid, and I wanted Stetson to be the same, but he wasn't having it. He has always been very particular about things and he always wanted me to do things so they could be "Just right." Well since Janelle was born, Stetson has become more independent which is great, and one of the many blessings of having multiple kids, I suppose. He's been coloring, painting and building legos by himself and its been a breath of fresh air for mom.

And of course there's the rasberry picking. This is Kandace's favorite past time. EVERY time we go outside to load up in the van, she magically disappears to the back yard to pick rasberries.

Our baby turns 1 month old tomorrow! Post to come about that.