Christmas Eve

Claire, Dayton, and I have had a pretty quiet day. We did make some cookies, and we ventured out to purchase one last item. - Thankfully we were able to stay in the car the whole time for that outing. Jordan has been working all day, since he’s on call. We hoped that he would be home sooner, but that’s the life of being on call.

Claire has asked about Santa some today. - How does he get back up the chimney? When is he coming? What is he going to bring us?!! And now she’s tucked into bed, and she's ready to go to sleep so he can come! 

I really, really love our four stockings. It’s not so much that I love the stockings, although I am very happy with them. I love that we have four of them. I’m happy that I was able to get Dayton’s stocking before Christmas, and I’m so grateful that he’s here with us to enjoy Christmas this year. (Okay, so it’ll be just another day of sleeping and eating to him, but I’m still glad he’s here with us!)

Merry Christmas Eve, everyone! 

Dayton - One Month

Today Dayton is one month old! As always, it’s hard to believe one month has already flown by! He is a good, sweet boy who likes to eat and sleep. (No surprise there!) I don’t want to jinx anything, but he started out sleeping 4 or 5 hours at night when he first got home from the hospital. And now he’s sleeping between 6-7 hours. He happened to smile in his sleep while I was taking some pictures today. (Score!)

Claire wanted in on the fun. She does love her little brother so much!

And we love both of them so much! It’s fun having a little guy around!

Making a Christmas Tree

Here’s another pretty simple craft. Just trace some hands, cut them out, glue them down, glue a trunk and a star, and decorate with ornaments.

I love her happy face, even with her eyes closed!

Big Sister - Little Brother

Claire and Dayton got these clothes from my parents while we were still at the hospital. I’m so glad Claire loves being a big sister. She is still telling people that she has a little baby brother now -- and that his name is Dayton Cooper.

She asks every day if she can hold him. And she is always interested in seeing him when he’s awake. If he starts crying and she thinks he might need his pacifier, she will go help him (if she’s not too engrossed with her own playing). She had just put his pacifier back in when I took this picture.

If he’s awake and happy, she’ll just lie next to him and talk to him. She gives him a hug and a kiss before she leaves the house, before her quiet time, and before bed.

Christmas Party

We went to our ward Christmas party on Saturday night, and Claire got to see Santa! His favorite color is red, and anytime he saw someone wearing red, he yelled, “Favorite color alert! She’s wearing my favorite color! My favorite color is red! Ho! Ho! Ho! Favorite color alert!!!” (…Or something along those lines). Well, Claire smiled and smiled and laughed and laughed during that, and I captured some great moments!

We enjoyed dinner, friends, and family.

And Dayton was such a good boy and slept through the entire thing.

Reindeer Sandwiches

Another easy snack/craft: Reindeer Sandwiches

Candy Cane

We made another (very simple) craft/snack. Again, Claire was excited about using a knife by herself. Then we both made a candy cane out of strawberries and bananas.

I love that Claire is so easily and happily thrilled by simple things like this! 

Nativity Fun

I bought this nativity set a couple of years ago after Christmas, and it is the hit toy at our house right now! Claire plays and plays with this toy every day. At least it’s about the real reason for the season!

Candy Tree Forest

Have I mentioned that Claire asks if we can do a craft or go to the park -- just about every day? She has done this for a while, and when I was big and pregnant, (and in the summer when I was so hot), the answer was frequently no. Now that I have a newborn, it’s not always easier, but I do want to let Claire have some Christmas fun. So I’m up for very simple crafts these days. A few days ago, it was simply letting her cut some Christmas paper and glue the pieces onto another piece of paper. She loved it!

And yesterday we made a candy tree forest. Thankfully, this craft was simple. (The alternative was a gingerbread house; that seemed like way too much work for me!) We just put icing on ice cream cones and decorated them with sprinkles and candy. Simple? Yes! Fun? Yes! Exciting? Definitely!!! (And this was way easier than the original Pinterest idea, which included baking cookie dough into the ice cream cones, putting a lollipop stick inside the cookie, and decorating the cones. No thanks! Simple is great!)

Claire loved everything about it - from getting to use a knife to spread the icing to decorating with SPRINKLES and candy to eating one of her trees. She also had fun showing Jordan the forest of candy trees we made when he got home.

Parents of Two

It’s kind of weird when I think that we have two kids, but it’s true!

--One for each hand!

Sibling Love

Mom’s Help!

My mom has been here this week to help me, and I’m so glad and thankful! She has cooked, cleaned, washed dishes, washed clothes, rocked Dayton to sleep, played with Claire, gone grocery shopping with Claire, let me take naps, taken Claire to and from school, and so much more! Thank you, Mom!

She also did some fun crafts with Claire. Here, they are make Christmas ornaments.

Claire wanted to show Dayton the blue one.

Mohawk!

Dayton with a mohawk!

Dayton and Grandma

It’s Bath Time

Dayton’s First Bath

He might look a little unsure in this picture, but he didn’t cry.

Happy Birthday, Julia!

After our Thanksgiving feast, we rested (and digested) for a while. Then it was birthday time! That’s right - my birthday was on Thanksgiving this year! I love it when that happens! And Dayton’s birthday will sometimes be on Thanksgiving, too! Hopefully he’ll like it, as well!

We ate the yummy chocolate sour cream pound cake that Jordan made for me. Claire asked why there was a hole in the cake. (My Big Fat Greek Wedding……) Jordan and Claire sang Happy Birthday, and then Claire asked about candles.

So Jordan got some candles out, and they sang again.

I tried to blow out my candles. I really did. There were only four. But I guess my abdomen couldn’t handle that less than a week after my c-section.

I finally got one candle, but then the laughter came.

And it didn’t stop! I had to rotate the cake and blow out one candle at a time.

And even that took lots of effort!

Finally, Claire helped me by blowing out the last candle. And see the tears on my face? That’s what a good laugh can do!

I had a great birthday and Thanksgiving. Thank you!

Happy Thanksgiving

The best part of Thanksgiving this year was the fact that Dayton had improved enough to be able to come home from the hospital and spend the day with our family!!! I am thankful for many, many things; this year I’m especially thankful for Claire, Dayton, and Jordan. It’s fun and exciting to have our family grow. (It’s also fun and exciting not to be pregnant anymore!) :-)

We celebrated with our own little family. I contributed to the meal by making a fruit salad.

Jordan did everything else! - I love that guy!!!

I wanted some pictures of Jordan and me with our kids. I had to include this one because of Claire’s silly face.

I haven’t been up for many crafts lately, but Claire frequently asks to do one. I decided we could easily make a little turkey and write things that she’s thankful for on the feathers. (And it’s not too late to make a turkey when it’s still Thanksgiving, right?!)

My own little turkey

Here’s what she said she’s thankful for:
my baby brother
me
Mom
Dad
Marcus
Lillian
Aunt Jennifer
Uncle Marshall
I love that we’re making a turkey out of feathers
the flowers from Chelsea
the cake we made
pictures and paint at school

Here are a few Thanksgiving decorations and the flowers from Chelsea.

Claire thought it was hilarious that she was lying on lots of pillows and blankets on the ottoman.

And here’s my other little turkey! He was stuffed!

Happy Thanksgiving!