Braydenism

This cracked me up yesterday morning. Brayden gets SO excited when Paytin is awake and always yells "Mommy, EYES!" to me when her eyes are open. Sometimes he will tell me they are open, but most of the time he just yells eyes because he is too excited to get everything out. Haha. Well, I asked him yesterday morning if Paytin's eyes were open while they were laying on a blanket together on the carpet and she was facing him, and he looked at them, made a surprised expression and said, "She's Argh Matey!". I got up and looked and sure enough, Paytin had one eye open and one eye closed. Hahaha. Love my little pirate!

Family Day

Mike has been working his bootie off lately with tons of overtime and his days off have been few and far between. We've been trying to make the most of the time he has had off and finally needed to really get out of the house with Paytin yesterday. We're both super protective of germs and stuff with her (like we were with Brayden) but also realize more this time than with Brayden that life doesnt just go on hold when you have a new little one (especially with an almost 3 year old!). So yesterday, we made the trek to Chico to run some errands and take Brayden to see Cars 2 in theatres. I remember my friend Elissa telling me when we had Brayden to go out to eat, or go to the movies when they are so small, because they sleep through everything and I remember thinking that I wish we had done that more with Brayden. We got to the theatre and the next showing of Cars was in 3D so we decided to "splurge" and take Brayden to that one. He LOVED the movie, and not in the, looked at us and talked to us and got excited kind of way, I mean, in the stared straight at the screen and zoned in on the movie in all seriousness way. It was pretty darn hilarious to see him so into it. I thought he might get kind of freaked out by the 3D part, but it didnt seem to  phase him at all!
It was a very very cute movie, and even though Mike and I always love the "first" movies the best, we really really enjoyed this one.  Paytin did great during it, woke up at one point to be snuggled and fed a bottle and then just hung out in my arms for the rest of it.
Mike also surprised me (having been hearing me complain about my hair for MONTHS now) and took me to go get my hair done and watched both kids while I did. Talk about a blessing! It meant so much to me that he made it important to know how yucky my hair made me feel and to do something about it. Especially when watching a newborn and a 3 year old at the mall isn't easy! The kids were angels for him the whole time and I just really cant say enough how much I appreciated getting it done. It may seem like a little thing, but to me it was HUGE!  We were able to grab dinner all together and run some other errands that needed to be done, all with me parking and hopping in the backseat to feed Paytin in between errands. She slept pretty much the whole day except during dinner and at one of the stores where Mike held her and she just stared at him the whole time (she loves her Daddy!). It was a fun day for all and went super smoothly for being our first "big" outing!

Sweet little face

I am SO glad this shot shows off her adorable little "freckles" that she had in the first days following her birth. They were just from her being born and cleared up a few days after we brought her home. They were so adorable and so precious and Mike and I will never forget them :)

My wonderful three :)

Daddy's first time getting to hold his girl!

Loving on her and telling her all about life ;)

Brayden looks sad in this picture, but its because we kept taking pictures because he wouldn't pose! He really was happy and was singing her twinkle twinkle little star right before we snapped this shot.

My lilypie

A fresh little flower :)

Little itty bitty feeties :)

Getting to hold her right away (another experience I didn't get to have with Brayden)

Paytin Lily Birth 6/11/11

First shot right after birth :)

I love this picture because she's screaming in it. For those of you who don't know our scare with Brayden not breahting when he was born, having to be suctioned and monitored by the NICU, to have Paytin come out pink as can be and screaming her lungs out was such a joy to us!

First family shot (note Brayden's pirate expression)

A shot of me with my kiddos (note Paytin's pirate expression, haha!)

Braydenisms

• Learning to warm up to water again this summer. We got him a pool last week and he had a major meltdown when Mike and I had him get in it for the first time. Then the next day, we had a friend of his over, and together, they both warmed up to it in a couple hours.
• He loves his water guns, and loves the hose, but does NOT want to be sprayed by either. I think it's a control thing for him ;)
• Is still really struggling to potty train. He has the control over the functions, he will pee when we sit him on the potty, (still fighting pooping), but he can pretty much "go on command" so I know the knowledge/control is there he just FIGHTS it like no other. He doesn't like to go on the potty (though he likes the candy he gets for going). I am also to blame because I know I need to be more consistent with my efforts. I am thinking of trying a sticker chart and bigger prize incentives for the first few days until he starts telling us he needs to go again. That's my biggest desire right now, is for him to come and tell us he needs to go (he was doing this months ago). Any suggestions from anyone?
• He is super into pirates still and is going to have a pirate party next month.
• Loves letters right now, and is slowly learning them one by one. He has a bunch of magnetic letters that he plays with and has started bringing them to me one by one and telling me what they are. He's doing REALLY well at it, probably because it was his idea!
• Really enjoys reading books with Mommy, and singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Itsy Bitsy Spider before bedtime. It's our little routine together and it's so much fun! I'll miss it a LOT when he gets older. I'm wanting to set our video camera up to tape it one night so I can have it for the future.
• Has been acting out more for attention now that Paytin is here. He never acts out towards her, but has been testing our rules and our discipline a LOT more lately.
• We're going to be taking him to see Cars 2 sometime this week and I think Mike and I are more excited about it than he is!

That's it for now :)

Paytin paytin...

little girl, you really only like to sleep in our arms. Last night was a "rough" one for Mommy, because first we fell asleep on the couch together, then I got you up and fed you and we tried to go to bed. Once again, you weren't having it laying on your back in between Mommy and Daddy, so we cuddled for awhile. I lost track of how many times we got up together to eat and change diapers, but each time we layed down together, you decided you wanted to eat more.  Now, you've been asleep a couple hours in between Mommy's arms and your butterfly swing. Oh how I love you more than life little girl, but oh how I wish you would let me get more sleep ;)!

Brayden

A typical Brayden pose

Mastering the art of putting his shoes on (which he can now do by himself)

Getting the bad guys

Love that little smirk!

No sweeter flower...

than our Paytin Lily!

Auntie Sarah Shots

Yes, a picture of me and my girl. No woman really wants to be photographed in the days following childbirth, especially on the ones where we havent had a shower and slept minutes instead of hours, but as my friend Casey has set out to encourage us Moms to get in more photos, I thought I would post this (hope to be back in doing Momma in Focus soon Casey!)

Just a super sweet, in the moment shot of my Brayden who I cant believe is going to be THREE next month!

Showing Paytin's birthmark on her neck, just like Brayden's!

Daddy

There's nothing quite like the love of a Daddy for his kids. I've seen that ten fold with Brayden and now with Paytin. Mike is such an awesome Daddy to these two and I have to say, I am really enjoying the "girl Dad" side of Mike that I get to see with Paytin. It's like flipping a switch between wrestling and nerf guns and forehead kisses and cuddles. The day we brought Paytin home, Mike sweetly nicknamed her "Peach" because he says kissing her fuzzy little forehead feels like you were kissing a peach :). Just watching him with both of these kiddos makes my heart smile everytime. He is so awesome in involving Brayden with Paytin, letting him hold her (supervised) and touch and kiss her, and talking with him about her. I know he is going to help the two of them grow an awesome sibling relationship and I'm just so grateful for his guidance, support, and love in this journey of parenting!

Paytin's Protector

Bear's baby. Our dog Bear just loves babies. He adored Brayden to pieces (and still does) and we knew it would be the same with Paytin. Here's Paytin and her Protector :)

For the love of Brayden

I had a lot of forewarning before we had Paytin about the possibility of jealousy in Brayden, him being too rough on her, trying to hurt her, etc. And I appreciated every single piece of advice or story from my family and friends. I had somewhat expected Brayden to be super jealous and very clingy about Paytin, just because of his "Mommy's boy" nature and things couldnt have gone more different from the get-go. He was happy to meet her in the hospital, but even happier when we got home. He loves "petting" her, kissing her, and holding her, and loves it when her eyes are open. He gets upset when she is crying and wants us to go to her right away, and is always concerned about where she is (upstairs in the bassinet sleeping, in her swing, etc.). He talks about her a lot, really likes to play on her playmat with her, and is just overall doing really well with the transition so far. The onyl thing I have noticed, is him acting out in new and different ways, not listening, disrespecting, "testing" Mike and I to see if we will follow through on discipline, etc. Not that he didnt do things like that before, but I have seen an increase in him doing those things in the last few days and am making a focused effort on trying to get a good session of quality Brayden time in each day to try and thwart him seeking negative attention! It helped having Grammy, Auntie Sarah, and Uncle Brian here to play with him non-stop and now we adjust to real life and everyone's new roles! I look forward to the lifelong friendship these two will share. I look forward to the sibling squabbles, the banding together to try and outsmart Mom and Dad, Brayden being protective of Paytin, and Paytin rebelling against his protection ;), etc. So grateful to have these two sweeties entrusted to us by God!

My little boy

My sissy snapped this shot real quick and I love it :)

This one too :) It's the little moments!

Paytin Lily 1 week old

Some Paytin Firsts

First time meeting Grammy

First Bottle

First time meeting Auntie Sarah and Uncle Brian!