Christmas Part 1

We had plans to head down to Prineville, Oregon for Christmas with Brad's family. With the weather conditions we changed our plans and decided to stay closer to home. We still left home for Christmas and traveled to Bainbridge Island to stay a few days with Fafa & Grammy Barquist. We went over on Christmas Eve and stayed for two days after Christmas. It was a great time for everyone! Abi & Brody played all day long and Colt just watched all the action unfold. We had games of poker, wonderful food, and great company. We were able to celebrate Jesus' birthday with our wonderful family and only wish every single person in our family could be with us.

Brody's favorite gift was without a doubt his new vacuum. I wish I had the camera rolling when he opened it. He was so excited he could hardly speak and then let out a big "yeah!". I never knew a vacuum could cause so much excitement in a little boy.

We still are looking forward to celebrating Christmas with Papa Bob & Grandma Shari. Rumors are that Brody and Colt have a few more presents waiting for them.

Colt's 4 month checkup

It's always hard to believe how quickly these first months of life go by. Colt was 4 months on the 20th. We had his check up on Friday and it was a little discouraging for this mom who was trying not to cry and feel guilty for the little things this poor guy has. I took him and knew he had some type of diaper rash. I was expecting something and sure enough he has a yeast infection and we have put some cream on it and it is already going away. The first thing that was unexpected was his 2 ounce weight gain since his last check up. It was only the day before that I was admiring his chunky legs that are starting to get rolls. Plus, it really feels like he is eating a lot because I'm always so worn out after feeding him. Well the doctor started talking about different ideas to get his weight up including supplementing his feedings with formula. Ok, I guess I can do that. So our next surprise came when the doctor checked his ears and discovered that he has an ear infection ---IN BOTH EARS! Oh I'm a great mother! The poor kid. He really needs to tell me these things...how can I help him? I think we are back on track to getting him healthy, but really I would have never known because he seems like a pretty happy guy to me.

Still loving the Snow!

This has truly been a lot of fun having so much snow around. It does make for a little bit of "cabin fever", but we are trying to get out in the white stuff as much as possible. Usually we get out when Brad gets home from work which is right before it gets dark. Brody doesn't mind he just likes to explore all this new stuff. Every day I have played in the snow it brings back my childhood memories. Most of my snow memories revolve around the rices, especially Brian Rice. We went sledding, built snowmen, snowforts, igloos, drank hot chocolate, made snow angels and even made a snow slide. This is one of the reasons I decided to build a little slide for Brody. After my snowman got knocked over and became a snow mound I used it to start my slide. Last night around 10:00 I spent an hour or so working on this slide. Today Brad went outside with Brody to test it out. We had to modify it a little and used a garbage bag so Brody could slip a little faster. He loved it at first but for some reason soon wanted to be "all done." You can't really see him in this video but if you listen you can hear all the adults trying to coax him into sliding again. The crazy things we do to have a little fun.

Snow Day!

It was a day late...but the snow finally came and we got a lot of it. It was such a beautiful day watching the white stuff slowly fall to the ground. I was anxious to get Brody out in the snow but had to wait until Colt was taking a nap. In our first adventure Brody did a little exploring and then wanted to be carried. I think he was having trouble walking since there was so much snow stuck to the bottom of his boots. After lunch I decided I would try to take both of the boys outside, mostly because all of our neighbor kids were playing out in the cul-de-sac. As hectic as it was getting both the boys and myself dressed we managed to get out ok. Brody had a fun time watching the older kids play. He even was pulled around in a sled. Then Brody and I went for a sled ride down the hill, but he quickly said "All done".

We were lucky because Brad did not have a long day at work and was home in time to take Brody out in the snow again. He looked so cute all bundled up. The best part is that the snow is supposed to stay around for a few days. I'm sure I will be a little housebound soon, but it's all worth it.

Thank you Aunt Jessie!

We had a fun time hanging out with cousin Gunner and Aunt Jessie. We are sad they had to leave but they are coming back in January and staying with Papa Bob & Grandma Shari for a few months, so we will get a chance to see them more. We were really happy to get fun Christmas gifts from Aunt Jessie..... Seahawks Jerseys for the boys! Brody is none other than Hasselbeck and Colt is Tatupu. Brad absolutely loves the jerseys so we had to take a photo shoot with our boys. Some of the pictures turned out better than others.

Tree Hunting

Last Saturday morning was dedicated to finding our Christmas tree. When I say finding I mean finding. We had the best of intentions to go back to the friendly tree farm we visited last year in North Bend. As we were getting the boys packed up Brad asked "Hey, do you think there are any trees on your parent's property?" I don't know but we could always ask. A brief phone call to my parents and brother revealed that there were in fact trees, but it was unknown how good of Christmas trees they would be. We decided we had nothing to lose and ventured on up to North Bend. Uncle Jason was kind enough to lead us around the property looking for trees. I had Colt in the front pack carrier and Brody was carried most of the time by daddy or Uncle Jason. We searched hard for our perfect Christmas tree. The ones we did find were looking like Charlie Brown's tree. We weren't sure if the lights or ornaments would break the branches. After 2 hours of searching we decided to move on and went 1/4 mile down the road to an actual tree farm. It was there that Brody and daddy found our Christmas tree. Colt was having his lunch in the car. On Sunday we put the lights and ornaments on the tree and are excited to have decorations up for the Christmas season. What a fun time of year!

No More Tummy Time!

I have to admit that I have been very bad at giving Colt plenty of tummy time. It has been a combination of worrying about his belly button (it's actually a herniated umbilical) fearing that Brody will step on him and just plain being lazy about it. With Colt's cousin Gunner in town I have been feeling a little more guilty about Colt's "lack" of progress. It's really not a lack of anything, Gunner is just a strong little baby and he is one month older than Colt. Well this evening I decided to put him on his tummy and within 4 seconds he had rolled onto his back. I thought it might be a fluke thing so I put him on his tummy again and he rolled over again. He rolled over 5 times tonight before he started getting annoyed with the whole thing. The next time Gunner and Colt are together they will be rolling on top of each other.