8 is great!

 Last Wednesday my boy turned 8!  Michael has been in Miles City for his 3rd rotation so he couldn't be here for Stetson's birthday.  Made me sad but we tried our best to make it a special day.  Stetson requested sweedish pancakes for breakfast and then Jill Chlemow came over at noon so I could take peanut butter cookies and punch to his class (his request) for his birthday treat.  I love spending time in his classroom and seeing him with his classmates and talking to his teacher.  The first pic is when he handed out treats and the 2nd is when they sang to him.

 After school I picked up the kids, we went to Costco to get a chocolate cake (also Stetson's request) and drove to Cowley to meet with our family for cake, ice cram and presents.  Stahle was not in love with the car ride over and cried most of the time.  I stopped in Bridger to feed her but she was so worked up she didn't even eat that much.  Somewhere between Bridge and Frannie (aka middle of nowhere) Kandace had to go to the bathroom. bad.  That wasn't fun.  We made it and I'm so glad we made the drive because Stetson seemed super happy and he got some awesome presents.  Lots of legos, money, a cool encyclopedia book from gma & gpa Asay, farmopoly, scriptures and other fun stuff.

Fun things about Stetson
*is the best breakfast eater I know.  Its the first thing he does when he wakes up most mornings.  He will eat 3 or 4 pancakes or 1 whole bowl of cream of wheat or multiple bowls of cereal
*loves to play games, especially monopoly and farmopoly
*has taken a recent interest in legos and will spend hours downstairs in his room building things.  he built a baptismal font out of legos and we took his pic and sent it to the friend magazine
*loves to read diary of a wimpy kid and lunch lady
*is a good helper, always fetching me a diaper for Stahle or whatever
*loves to tell jokes

Christmas program

 Last Friday was Kandace & Stetson's Christmas program.  It was at 8:30 am, funny time but gpa Simmons and gpa & gma Asay came and I was so grateful for so much support.  Luckily we were seated right in front of where Kandace was standing so we got super good seats.  I already knew all of Kandace's songs because she was singing them at home nonstop.

Unfortunately I could't see Stetson very well.  He was so funny when he came onto stage.  He was trying hard not to smile when he saw us all sitting there but I knew he wanted to.  I asked him later why he didn't and he said it was because his smile is crooked.

Thanksgiving 2014

 For Thanksgiving this year we went to Asay's Wednesday, stayed the night and had dinner with them Thursday.  Kandace got to help grandpa Asay get the pomegranates ready for the fruit salad which was probably the highlight of the day of this fruit lover.

 We got a ton of snow Wednesday night so later in the morning we took the kids out to build a snowman and check out all the animals.  After dinner we headed to dad's for dessert

 The best part of Thanksgiving is the leftovers!!  We had another Delicious feast on Friday.  This time we got to spend it with Jared & his fiance, Renee.  It was a really nice break from Billings and good to spend time with family.  Grandma taught Stetson how to play farmopoly and he is hooked.  Between gma Asay, me and Renee, he got like 3 hours of farmopoly in that day.  When we got home he found our game of regular monopoly and talked Michael and I into playing it with him a few times.

Baby Stahle got lots of snuggle time.  She was a DREAM when we were at Asays. It was like a Thanksgiving miracle.  She slept straight through all her naps, slept 10 hrs every night and was happy during her wake time.  It was so nice.  I was stressed about it the days leading up to our visit because I didn't know how she'd do, but she was amazing.  We sure love her.

2 months!!

Our sweet Stahle turned 2 months on November 22nd.  Stahle weighed in at 12.1 which puts her at the 73rd percentile.  Her height is 59.69 cm which puts her in the 90th percentile and her head was 39 cm which puts her in the 83rd percentile.  Whenever anyone asks if she's a good baby I of course tell them yes and they act shocked when I tell them she sleeps 10 hours at night and I usually just smile and go on my way unless they tell me I'm lucky, then I explain babywise and how we schedule and that it is no coincidence that all 4 of mine have slept through the night from 2 months on.  Since Michael's been on rotations its been hard having 4 kids by myself but our Stahle is by far the easiest one!  Scheduling is always hard though because there's crying involved, and she usually doesn't sleep straight through her naps, she usually sleeps for about a 1/2 hr, cries then goes back down for the rest so she can get at least a 1 1/2 hr nap.  I've loved having structure and expert advice to help guide my parenting.  I'm a rule follower I guess and I'd rather have a doctor tell me how to do it than "wing it" and its worked for our family.

  Stahle started to smile a couple weeks ago and it is our favorite.  The kids love her, Janelle can't stay off of her which is frustrating but its good to know she loves her sister.  At 2 months, Stahle's first feeding is around 7, and then from then on she eats every 3 hrs, with her last one being at about 9pm.  She sleeps all night and I go get her around 6:45 or 7.  She gets 6 feedings a day and is gaining well and hitting all her milestones and her pediatrician said she looks good so we are all happy!  She loves her bouncer which is nice.  We put her in there for her "awake" Time which follows her feeding.  We put her on the kitchen table if that's where we're at so she can join in on the fun.  She likes to be where we're at, and we love to have her close by.  She loves to be talked to and held.  She had her first experience at child watch this Monday when I took her at 9 so I could go spinning.  I left a piece of my heart there when I dropped her off but she's been happy and one of the happiest babies from what I can tell when I've picked her up the 2 times I've gone spinning this week. 

Our little special moments with Stahle are so precious when I think this is probably our last baby.  Some times and especially when its just the 2 of us, I stop and "soak in" her sweetness realizing how incredibly fast this goes.  Its been day and night compared to Stetson where I was more like trying to hurry and get to the next mile stone thinking the baby phase would never end. 

Baby Stahle your mom loves you more than words!

 This is one of our first nights without Michael home while he was in Miles City.  Stahle gets lot of comments on her cheeks.  She is our butterball!

 One of my favorites.  A lot of times after Stahle's feeding I'll put her in the corner of the couch and talk to her.  Janelle always comes over and gets her Stahle fix so I have lots of pics of them like this.