September 2013

This month we were the victims of a home robbery. Our door was kicked in, and all the electronics from our living room were stolen. TV, XBox, DVD/VCR player, stereo, and both our ipads. Looking at these pictures makes me mad all over again! By now we've replaced everything but it was such a feeling of violation. 

That morning, before the robbery, I took the kids and Rocco to the capital to go for a walk. Then we went to the market and came right home. I was probably only gone for 1 1/2 hours. When I pulled into the driveway, I saw that someone had dropped a red lighter. Then I noticed that the kitchen door was wide open. I thought to myself, "Oh, no! I forgot to shut the door!" But when I looked closer, I saw that siding was busted off the door and I got right back in the car and drove away. Rocco had already jumped out, but the kids were still buckled in. I called Rich and then 911 and went to my in-laws next door. The police came and did a thorough search of the house and then let us back in while they fingerprinted. 

See that rock in the middle of the floor? I think they were going to try to break the window in the door if they couldn't kick it in.

Fingerprinting is messy! And I don't think they found any clues from it.

On to happier subjects. This little guy is 5 months old. It's hard to get any picture of him without his hands by his mouth. He puts his hands up when he gets excited or happy. He's just so much fun!

Sophia started potty training! She got the hang of it by the 3rd day, but still has lots of accidents because she just doesn't want to stop playing.

Max.

 

The pumpkins at Grandma and Grandpa Sorenson's were ready to pick! Sophia loved it!

So pretty!

Grandpa and Max. He is getting nervous around people who aren't mom. I'm always in his sights.

I love this picture of Sophia. She posed her doll to be in the picture too. So funny!

Sophia got bit by a mosquito under her eye and look what happened! This was a few days after the bite and swelling was starting to go down, but sheesh, it looks sad! Max is super happy that Sophia is laying by him in his crib. They like laying by each other.

I finished my sprint triathlon with my good friend, Kim. It was her first tri and she did great! It was fun to race with a friend.

I always hate the swim and as soon as I can touch the bottom, I'm on my feet!

Isn't Bear Lake beautiful!

Off on the bike. Yay!

Running and waving awkwardly. I was just about finished at this point. 

And here we are, all done and happy with our metals!

Sophia likes to play dress up with Max.

Making cookies. She is a good little taster! She tastes everything she can as it goes in the mixer. 

Haha! Sophia's face. Max's big smile. So cute!

We finally got Rich's kite to fly. Sophia liked holding it. It looks like a plane!

It took some convincing to get her to hold it. She just wanted to run around and was sad to have to hold still. But then she liked it.

This is how Max spends most of our outings.

Here's Rich flying it before the wind stopped and it crashed in a tree. :(  We were able to get it out though.

She's starting to dress herself. She's got great taste.

I think this was taken before she moved into her new big girl bed. 

Sweet swaddled Max. 

My two handsome boys! I love them!

I don't think she can smile any bigger! 

August 2013

This summer, Rich wanted to set up his tent in the backyard and have a campout with Sophia. I had my doubts that it would be a good idea for sleeping, but sometimes it's about the memories, right? I said good night to them around 8 and two hours later, I thought I'd go check on them and see how it was going. I didn't want to wake anyone up, so I snuck out there quietly and what I saw will forever bring a smile to my face. Rich was laying down with his back to Sophia, pretending to be asleep while Sophia was singing and jumping on her sleeping bag behind him. She was just so hyper she couldn't calm down! This had been going on for TWO HOURS! 

Rich said she was that wound up the whole time. She unzipped the tent and tried to get out, she let the air out of his sleeping mat, she squeezed herself between him and the side of the tent. It was just non-stop fun for her! I think Rich pretended to be asleep for most of it, hoping she'd just wear herself out and go to sleep, but when I went out to check on them, he was ready to call it quits. Sophia fell right to sleep once she was in her own bed.

Rich says he'll do it again with her when the weather gets warm and Sophia is anxiously awaiting the snow melting so she can sleep in the tent with dad again.

More toys and books for Max.

She loves getting into my closet and trying on my shoes. This time she found a helmet too!

Here she is playing with all her dolls. They all have the same name. It's "Baby Sorenson".

July 2013

Sophia turned 2 on July 1 but we had her party in June. I think her favorite part of the day was when we sang Happy Birthday to her. She was so excited and happy. I wish I had a picture of that moment, but instead here is one of her eating her cake.

 She got a bike and a helmet. She always uses the two together, even if she's just riding in the house. Whenever she is asked "How old are you?" she replies "Two. I have a bike."

Her Grandma and Grandpa Sorenson came home in July as well. All the grandkids met them at the airport with a sign, welcoming them home. Now we have wonderful neighbors again!

Laying in the airport with Max. She thought we were there FOREVER!

Sophia takes it upon herself to teach Max all the good toys. He couldn't care less.

It has been fun watching Sophia interact with Max. She likes doing things the same as him. Even if it's just laying in a blanket.

Happy Fourth of July! We watched this parade in Murray, and Sophia was very patriotic, waving her flag as the floats went by.

We also went to Wheeler Farm and saw the animals.

Thanks to my sisters-in-law, for the cute red, white, and blue, outfits for the kids!

Sophia and her matchy cousins.

Sparklers are the best, aren't they!  So much fun!  We watched the uncles light off fireworks in the Bowens front yard. Sophia got scared at one point from the loud noise and came running as fast as she could toward me. It was so funny because she was running so hard, her cheeks were jiggling with each step.

We went to Worland for a few days with the whole family. There is a new swimming pool open that is super fun for kids. Sophia got so brave, she dunked her whole head under the water.

Max was blessed in July, also. He did great! No crying during the blessing and no blowouts. I'd say it was a success!  

Cute little guy!

We also went to Little Cottonwood canyon with some friends and had a little picnic and a hike. It was fun to get out and enjoy this beautiful area!

As you can see, Sophia still loves helping Max choose some toys to play with. :)

June 2013

Looking at these pictures already make me miss summer. Rich bought Sophia a little pool to go in the backyard. It was one of her favorite activities. She cracked me up at how fearless she is of cold water. That water she's laying in is straight from the hose. BRRR! She always lies down and kicks her feet and says, "swimming!!"



My good friend, Kim and her kids came to play with Sophia and Max. These two are about a month apart.
 

I wish they lived closer. I know Sophia and Jane would be good friends. These two are 9 months apart. 

Look at this sweet sleepy head!  

Sophia had her first Lagoon day. She LOVED it and talked about it for days! Here she is on the boat with some strange kid. 

My mom met us at the park and took Sophia on the merry-go-round. Sophia still remembers that she rode on the frog that went up and down. 

Ok, lesson learned from this ride. Even though these rides are for little kids, it doesn't mean it's safe. This about gave me a heart attack! It went just a little bit too fast and she was sliding around on this elephant. Thankfully she didn't figure out how to make it go up and down. After I realized she wasn't going to fly out, I had to laugh at how she was on the verge of loving it and being terrified. She's a trooper. 

 

 

May 2013

Here is Here is Max on his first day at home. I miss the days where he would fall asleep anywhere and sleep through anything.



A few friends of mine made some cute little onsies for Max. It was so nice! It's so fun dressing a baby up in boy clothes.  

Here are my cute grandparents. They came down for Memorial Day to put flowers on my grandma's grandparents' graves. I love how in this picture, Sophia and grandma are looking at each other. I just want to say a few things about these grandparents of mine. My grandpa is one of the hardest working people I've ever known. He always is out on the farm doing something. He can build almost anything and can't hold still. He loves telling stories and making people laugh. My grandma is one of the sweetest people I know. I've never had her forget a birthday... even though she has lots (I seriously don't know how many!) of grandchildren and great grandchildren. She also gives the best presents, and I always feel like she takes time to get something she knows we'll like.  I was so happy to tag along with these two on on outing to the Park City cemetary. My grandma's mom, my Great Grandma Parson (who was alive until I was in High School), grew up in Park City, so we drove all around, trying to find her house, but weren't able to. It was still a great memory and I'm glad Sophia and Max were able to have this one on one time with them.

One summer day, we met some friends at Liberty Park to play in the water. Sophia was not at all interested in the water that time, so we played with the instuments. 

And on the swings.

Remember how sweet my baby looked in those first few pictures? Well about a month later, this happened...

and it broke my heart! I really hope this isn't an indicator of what he'll look like as a teenager! I think this is the only picture I took of him during this time because it made me so sad.  

Max spend the first one or two months sleeping in his pack and play in our room. Once I realized that I woke up to EVERY little sound he made, I moved him out. Now he's in the living room in his pack and play. I'm nervous to move him into Sophia's room. I just have images in my mind of them waking each other up and no one will ever get any sleep. Any advice on putting two kids in a room together??

Max's birth

Max is here!

He was born April 29 at around 6pm. I was induced a few days early (his due date was May 4) because I had gestational diabetes and those babies tend to be bigger.



Jeannette was nice enough to babysit Sophia for a few days so we checked into the hospital early Monday morning.  

It was pretty slow going mostly. I was having contractions that I couldn't even feel for hours. When they finally broke my water, I could feel them pretty strongly and asked for my epidural soon after. The epidural made me sick and I threw up a few times. That happened when I had Sophia too. Yuck! I was pretty numb after that and couldn't lift my legs... it's the weirdest feeling! There was one spot on my lower abdomen  about the size of a quarter that wasn't numb, so with every contraction I had seriously intense pain in one tiny little spot. It was annoying. Eventually that went numb too.  When it was finally time to push, it all went really quickly. I only had to push for 12 minutes and he was here, healthy and big! The only scare we had, was after his head was delivered, his shoulder got stuck. Suddenly there were 2 more nurses helping, and Rich and my mom were pushed aside. They pushed on my stomach a lot to get him to turn. I could tell it was serious by the way my Dr was acting and how my mom looked. I guess he was stuck for 90 seconds and his arm was kinda cutting off his air supply. When he was fully delivered, I remember his face looked almost black and I'm not sure if it was from lack of air, or from bruising. My Dr. said that if he was delivered too fast when he was stuck like that, the tendons in his neck could have been severed and he could have had some paralysis in his arm. Luckily everything turned out fine, and I was able to watch Dancing with the Stars while I held my new baby.

8 lbs 13 oz and 21 inches long.

Happy and calm now 

We loved having visitors in the hospital. Thanks to everyone who visited. Here is Mike and Max. 

He was a sweet boy from the beginning. The only time I heard him cry was when he was circumcised. Poor guy!

 

My two favorite guys!

Sophia did great meeting him. She loved on him and kept saying his name. She is so sweet!  

She's happy to be a sister... most days. It was so fun seeing her after two days of not being with her. She suddenly looked so BIG!  When we got home from the hospital, she was pretty indifferent toward him, which was good. Then when he was 6 weeks old, she felt like he was out staying his welcome and she got pretty jealous. Now she's back to being indifferent.

Max just had his 2 month appointment and his stats are:

47% weight and 87% height. I hope he can keep these stats his whole life! They sound pretty perfect to me! 

He is a good eater. He only cries if he is tired, hungry, or dirty, so he's pretty easy to keep happy. He is so snuggley and sweet. He is smiling now and has a pretty cute little dimple on his right cheek when he does. I think he looks a lot like Rich, but with my eye shape. It it so cool to see eyes that look like mine looking up at me. I am so thankful for this little guy and I hope he grows up to be the kind of guy who calls his mom everyday!