Easter

We had a wonderful Easter this year! With the new baby, I wasn't up to doing a lot of activities like we have in the past. We didn't do any art projects or service activities or any of that stuff. But we did still have some fun Easter celebrating and made the holiday fun and memorable.

Friday afternoon we dyed Easter eggs! The boys really got into it this year- using multiple dyes to make rainbow eggs. Chase was even trying to come up with ways to make them even fancier next year (he wants to paint them- heaven help me!)

I didn't take any pictures to document it, but Friday night we had our friends, the Jacobs over for pizza and movie night! They are a super fun family to hang out with, their kids get along so well with our kids, and they played all night long while the grown ups actually got to visit! It was so fun! The kids were playing outside towards the end of the night when Hudson came in COVERED in dirt- I mean the kid was BROWN. I asked what happened and he said "oh, we were just playing dirt rainbows!" (Meaning throwing dirt, so it makes an arc, at each other). It was a wonderful night!

Saturday morning we met over at my parents house for our annual Easter egg hunt! Nana hides tons of eggs and toys and the kids were all spoiled! These kids are so lucky to have such a fun Nana and Papa! Afterwards we had a delicious brunch all together- I love this tradition!

 Our day was so busy- from there we went on to Chase's soccer game. We are all so happy that soccer season is up and going! Chase loves it and plays really hard.

 Easter morning we told our kids they had to stay in bed until we got them up (which didn't exactly work out). With being up so much at night with Davis we wanted to get any extra sleep that we could! The boys excitedly ran downstairs (once we gave them the okay) and found their Easter baskets! They each got a new spring outfit, some sidewalk chalk and watercolors. Davis got some onesies and wipes. Then we started making breakfast. We had Brandon and Angel's family over for breakfast. The kids had a great time running around together!

 We have 1:00 church, so we had the whole morning to do breakfast and get ready for church. We tried 100000 times to get a good photo of the boys in their darling Easter clothes. This is pretty much the best we could do. They looked so cute all together though!

 Church was wonderful! Our boys went up to sing "I wonder when He comes again" with the primary kids. Despite practicing all week, Chase mostly didn't sing. And Hudson ran right to the microphone (which is usually Chase's signature move) and then proceeded to fight with another little girl throughout the whole song about who got to hold the mic- which was thankfully OFF. Then after they were done and all the kids headed back down, Hudson went the wrong way. Which made it so Chase was yelling "HUDSON!" at him and then Hudson loudly responded "I knew what I was doing!" Someday my boys might be some of the kids who just reverently sing and then reverently return to their seats, just not today!

We ended the day having a lovely Easter dinner back at my parents house. We tried to get a picture of the fab five, in all their cute new Easter clothes. The outtakes were seriously hilarious! Hudson and Nora had this cute little hugging thing going on- which we were wary of since this type of thing tends to end with Hudson getting a little too into it and Nora crying. This is the cutest little group of cousins I've ever seen!

And the babies! I'm sure these two will be best buddies. I'm so glad they came close together.

All of these celebrations are fun, but obviously the most important part of celebrating Easter is remembering our Savior. Hudson got a little baggie from his primary teachers that was filled with little items from the Easter story (sticks, a nail, some white cloth, a rock) and Hudson kept acting out the story for us with them (although I think he took some creative liberties- he had Ben lash the sticks together to make a cross, then said that the nail was Jesus, and the remaining stick was the soldier who guarded the tomb). It was sweet and funny and maybe a little sacrilegious, but also innocent. It might be my favorite memory from Easter this year!

Spring Break

Spring Break this year was the first week of April. I felt kind of bad for Chase, because it definitely had the makings of a boring spring break for him: dad out of town, mom got strep, and we have a newborn at home. Nana to the rescue! For the first few days of that week she had the boys out and about doing lots of fun activities! In fact, by the end of the night they looked like this:

 They also got these cute matching jammies from Nana- which they were thrilled about. They've started a new thing where whenever we eat dinner at my parents house, they always want to take a bath in her big jetted tub. So we do that a lot and just bring them home in their jammies all ready for bed!

 One day Nana took the boys to the SeaQuest aquarium- an interactive new aquarium that just opened in the mall. They loved it! They got to pet and feed the animals- I guess feeding worms to trout was their favorite! They made an art project and had a great time. They even convinced Nana to take them to Chick Fil-A for lunch after, and convinced her that they each needed a milkshake (I always make them share one).

 Evidence of a fun morning- Hudson refused to nap (which happens sometimes) but I was sick (from strep) and exhausted (from being up multiple times at night with the baby) so I just gave in and said he could watch TV with Chase. I came down to find this- him totally asleep on the couch.

 The next day Nana proposed a different adventure- but they had their own ideas- the train museum! So of course they went to the train museum and absolutely loved it! Papa met them there too and they were all fascinated and loved learning from Papa. They spent a lot of time in the play room, Hudson conducted the train for quite awhile (which makes sense, since he regularly plays "train" and refers to Davis as "our new little passenger").

Meanwhile, I stayed home with this little guy! I generally don't mind just snuggling a baby all day- I think it's really the best! But starting this week I was beginning to wish for warmer weather and wanting to get out of the house more! Ben's flight home on Friday was delayed, so he didn't get home until the early hours of Saturday morning. I was exhausted- and so was he! So we laid pretty low the rest of the weekend. I guess all around the boys had some fun adventures on their spring break- and a lot of "relaxing" and "watching TV" time. 

Davis at 1 Month

My mom made this darling quilt for Davis, and I absolutely love it! I think Davis will too- his big brothers already do! 

 Grandma came to visit! She came the last week of March and got to meet the little guy and help me out while Ben was out of town for a few days. She took the boys to the Hill Air Force Base Museum and spent a lot of time entertaining them. It was great to have her here!

I took these pictures the day after Davis hit 1 month. At 1 month old he is on a pretty consistent schedule. He eats at 1:00, 4:00, 7:00, 10:00, and then has a short alert period (sometimes it's 20 minutes, sometimes it's 90 minutes). Then he sleeps until his next feeding. During the night he wakes up on his own like clockwork- and during the day I usually wake him up for feedings. He's nursing really well now- right around the four week mark our nursing difficulties resolved. He makes great eye contact and I feel like he shares so much love through his eyes. He loves to be held, but is slowly getting better at sleeping in the bassinet. He's still such a little grunter- he's so noisy! He was like that immediately after he was born and it hasn't gone away! He spits up a lot (these two pictures are taken like 5 minutes apart, and he's in different outfits...story of my life right now). He loves being swaddled and having his back patted. Davis is continually reminding me how much I love having a newborn. It's hard- and so exhausting- and overall just one of my favorite parts of my life. We love our little Davis!

The First Month With Davis

Little Davis has been in our home for a whole month now! It's crazy how it seems like he's been part of us forever, and at the same time that one month flew by! It's really been an amazing month. I don't know if I've ever felt so loved and supported and been the recipient of so much service, and I am so grateful! Our friends and family have really come through and just showered us in love and food and gifts! For the first three weeks of Davis's life I hardly cooked- we had so many wonderful people bring us dinner! Davis has a whole slew of darling new outfits that were gifts from our wonderful family and friends. Many neighbors have taken the boys to play at their homes. Davis has a few new soft, sweet, darling handmade baby quilts from my mom and aunt. In this past month, we have really been showered with love and it has helped me be able to relax and just enjoy this sweet babe. 

Davis also has the best, sweetest big brothers! The novelty of having a new baby in the house has not worn off in the slightest. One night I was frantically trying to clean up the kitchen, so I stuck Davis in the swing and the boys were watching a movie in the same room. Davis was a little fussy, but I needed to get stuff done so I was just hurrying through it. Then I noticed the fussing had stopped- I went to check on them and noticed Chase and Hudson sitting on either side of the swing, and they had given Davis a binky and wrapped a warm blanket around him. It was so sweet! They've both really embraced their roles as big brothers, been super helpful to mommy, and just adore this little one. 

Ben and I are enjoying baby #3 even more than we did with our other two! We both love babies and the newborn stage- but this time we are much more relaxed about everything and feel more confident as parents. We also know how fleeting this stage is, so we are just soaking it up! Which means that Davis rarely gets set down and we don't even mind. Snuggling this baby is the #1 priority around this house! Also, because we are his parents, we think he's the cutest little baby on earth. 

My friend Carly took these newborn pictures for us and I love them. She took them in our room and I think they totally show our life right now. All of us are just enamored with Davis- and we do spend a lot of time lounging in bed just loving on him!