4 Months Old

Yup, believe it, as of the 25th Grady is four months old. Two more months he'll be eating baby food. He can see clear across the room, and smiles and laughs at the smallest things. He is the happiest baby we have had yet. He gets excited easily, his eyes get wide and he kicks his legs. A joy to be around. Worth every second of discomfort and every pound gained. We are so blessed to have such healthy happy kids.

Spider-Man

Spider-Man is huge in our home. We watch new episodes probably everyday and at night role play and wrestle each other. Hayden is Spider-Man, of course, I'm Black-Cat, Coy is Green Goblin, and Daddy is Venom. All assigned by Hayden except Coy picked his own role. Hayden is always jumping around saying, "Mommy look at this new Spider-Man move." So yesterday he realized he could actually climb up a part of our wall and was so excited because now he really is like Spider-Man. I was actually quite impressed, he's pretty strong when he wants to push himself.

Handsome Boys

When I saw how adorable Grady looked in this outfit I had to get a picture of all three of them. They were exceptional last Sunday. I hardly ever have to take them out. All my hard work on Sundays is paying off. And believe it or not Coy was easier to get used to staying in Sacrament the whole hours than Hayden. I think because he already saw Hayden staying the whole time. Who knows, but I do know that I actually catch whole talks now which is so nice.
He is getting so big, this outfit is 3-6 months and not a bit baggy. Too bad he didn't wear it for long. Of course just like always whenever I put him in a super cute outfit he poops out his diaper. Which he normally never does. He did it before opening prayer. Little pooper.

Milking Cows

For those of you who don't know I'm the Young Women's president. We have a farming family in our branch and when we asked the girls for activity ideas one of them was to go to the farm and learn how to milk a cow by hand and how milk gets to the stores. I thought I knew how this process went but I have to say I learned a lot. This is me milking a cow. The teats were surprising rough and leather like. Not at all what I thought they would feel like.
Hayden petting a baby cow. The boys had a blast seeing all the cows. Hayden wouldn't touch any of the animals at the fair last year besides the pony he rode so this is a big step for him. Coy, as always, just jumped right in feeding the cows who were a couple of years old.
To my surprise Hayden wanted to do it too. For those of you who know my little Hayden this is a miracle. He is so much like his father it kills me. Grandma Sue tells me stories of how Travis didn't like to get dirty when he was little and Hayden is exactly the same way. I never have to chase him down to wash his hands.
This is the owner of the cows sitting on what I think is a genius chair.

It's strapped to his waist so it automatically falls as you sit exactly where you need it to. So you don't fall and is actually quite sturdy to my surprise. What a time saver.
Coy giving the chair a try.

Hayden also participating.
I know this is a weird picture, but if you look closely at the tail you notice it's skinnier on the bottom half. That is because they put a elastic around it, so it falls off. This way they don't fling manure around or slap you in the face with it. And it doesn't seem to bother them at all. A totally humane way to remove a tail.
So we have all seen this before, the automatic pumps getting the milk out of the utters.

Did you know that cows have four stomachs and that one of them is called the garbage stomach. So if, or I should say when, cows eat something metal or plastic it goes to their garbage stomach and just stays there forever. In fact farmers have them heat a big magnet so that when they do eat metal it will all settle in the middle attracted to the magnet and you don't have to worry so much about a piece of wire puncturing the stomach, or their heart, or lungs.
But what I haven't seen before is this piping system that the pumps hook up to that goes all through the barn. So the milk goes up into these metal pipes to...
this bulb, then it goes in a pipe that cools it so the big tank that holds the milk doesn't have to work so hard to make it really cold.
This is the big tank that hold all the milk. It cools it to the nice cold temperature we all like our milk.
The spout at the bottom, one of the Young Men getting us all a drink. Raw milk, as they call it, taste just like milk from the store. I thought it would be a little different but nope taste like whole milk. Again Hayden was a trooper and even after being in a barn full of manure and cows and seeing the whole process he still tried some. Way to go Hayden.

Happy Fathers Day

We had a pretty good fathers day. Starting it off with a new tie for Daddy with a picture of the boys printed on it. He wore it to church and the boys thought it was pretty cool. Church went well and we came home to some poor boy sandwiches. I've been trying to keep traditions Travis had in Utah so he wouldn't have to miss out. These sandwiches are made with pulled garlic beef. They didn't come out as good and Grandma Laubersheimer's but they were certainly delicious. I just want to say what a great father Travis is to our children. He takes the extra time to play with them always, has incredible patience with them, and is constantly thinking of their well being. These boys definalty got a Dad who loves them more than they will ever know.

He just gets better and better with them. Wanting to participate in everything in their lives. He is the Dad every kid wishes they could have and should have. We are surely blessed to have him in our lives. Happy Fathers Day Travis, we love you.

Irony Part II

Grady is so much fun now. I am such a huge fan in this Bumbo, it's light and easy to take with you anywhere and he loves it. Between the Bumbo, swing, bouncer, play gym, the floor, and the time I have to actually entertain him, he is happy almost always during his awake time. If I could guarantee that our next kid would be this good than I probably would have a fourth, but alas there are not guarantees so were probably done. Why is it that the one baby I have that I want to grow up slowly is growing the fastest of all? A little more irony for me. I have never had almost 4 months fly by so fast in my entire life. It's scary, where did it go? I don't even have a new born anymore. I'm going through the baby clothes bins organizing, pulling out 3-6 month cloths, finally putting away new born clothes, and some 0-3 that he just won't squeeze into anymore and memories are rushing through my mind. I can remember Hayden just learning how to walk in this outfit, and Coy playing in my cabinets with his silly red tassel hat on. My heart begins to ache and I start to really grasp what all the grandmas keep telling me "These are the best years of my life." Despite all the frustrating moments I'm trying to enjoy this time, because when I "remember when" it's only fond memories, not frustrating ones.

My Riddler

So after watching the riddling episode of Dora the other night Haydon looks at me and says, "Mommy who is faster than everyone else, has two legs, and is like Lightning McQueen?" I'm playing along thoroughly amused and answer "hmmm Hayden?" To which he burst out laughing and says "OH Mommy, I'm just kidding." These moments where he says the little kid things that crack me up are happening less and less these days. It made my night. He is getting so big which I love and hate at the same time. I love that he is riding his bike, with training wheels, all by himself now. I love that he helps me with the dish washed, can pick out his own clothes, and make his bed in the mornings. I hate that he is in that mode where kids fake laugh all the time, because his real laugh is so pleasant to listen to. Even when he was a baby I had people compliment on how cute his laugh was. I hate that he is going to be subject to the world in just one more year when he goes to school, but I also love that he is going to experience life and learn and grow. The story of every mothers life, loving and wanting there kid to grow and be strong and independent mixed with the pain of letting them go a little more with every year they grow.

Cuties

Hayden
Coy
Grady

You decide, who looks like who? Every one keeps asking, so here it is a picture of all three boys at approximately the same age. I think in this picture Grady looks more like Coy, but in others more like Hayden. All I know for sure is there all cute.

2 Down

We have been working on it for a while, but I finally feel it's safe to say that Coy is potty trained. He went a whole week without and accident and is going longer between accidents all the time. 2 trained and one to go.
I have to say that above all, the sleepless nights, them being sick, and bath time; potty training is by far one of the worst if not the all time worst part of toddler parenting. Yuk, the constant mess, the constant battle, the constant fake happy dances, the constant strain on you mind of having to watch them ever second. I despise the whole process so I am so happy it's over. He did a great job and caught on really fast he was just defiant and didn't want to for a while. So we are so proud of Coy for making the big boy plunge into the potty world.