What an odd child I have. Not that this is any new realization, but whatever. So he loves when we go over to our friends' house because they have an awesome backyard and a giant yellow lab named Honey - or as Tyler calls her, Honey Doggie. It doesn't matter what temperature either. Monday he played outside with her for 3 hours! And the awesome mother that I am, didn't even think to bring a hat or gloves or more than just a hoodie even. It's finally time to go. It's dark, it's cold, his hands are on the verge of frostbite. Does Tyler cry about it? No, but I would. Does he cry when I have to remove like 12 splinters he got from climbing on their snowmobile trailer? No. He doesn't even cry when I pour hydrogen peroxide on his first decent cut on his hand. He cried because I tried to put a bandaid on it. What a wierdo. What kid doesn't like bandaids? Especially spongebob ones.

Baby Blessing

All of Aaron's family happened to be in town for his Grandpa's 90th birthday party so we decided to bless Benson a week earlier than planned. I've never seen a bigger circle; it was a little ridiculous but it was all family except for 2 of Aaron's closest friends. We were glad to have them all there.

So I've had a few people intersted and/or confused about how I've had my kids. For both Tyler and Benson I went to a free-standing (no hospital attachments) birthing center called The Baby Place in Meridian, ID. I go to all my prenatal appointments there just like everyone else. They draw blood, do ultrasounds, etc. The difference is I get to do whatever I want while in labor. They don't offer any type of anestheic or hook you up to 12 IV's and a fetal monitor - but still check baby's heartbeat frequently. It's a quiet, dim-lit, serene atmosphere. If you really want to birth in the tub you can, otherwise they recommend a birthing stool. This position allows your pelvis to be more open by 30% and gravity helps a ton! This means no episiotomy and much less tearing, if any.

if you want more info you can check it out at www.thebabyplacehome.com - sorry, it wouldn't let me post it as a link


*Not saying it's the best for everybody, but that it should still be an option. It sucks doctors and politicians are trying to shut places like these down.

Our New Addition

I guess better late than never, right?
I had convinced my mom to come a whole week before my due date because I had been having so many contractions throughout my pregnancy. AND since Tyler came a few days early she didn't make it for his birth. So of course she gets here and no baby. My sister was also here for an entire week and running out of time before she had to go back home to her family.
So Jan. 23rd, 3 days late - 1 week before my mom had to go home and 1 day before my sister had to leave - my water broke at 7:00am. And just like with Tyler, nothing happened for quite a while. By 3:00 I was having regular contractions about 5 mins apart. At 4ish I posted something on facebook that didnt even make sense. 5:00 we called my midwife, made it to the birthing center about 6:30, painfully pushed about 10 mins and our chubby boy came at 7:19pm. I couldn't have been happier it was over so fast!
He was a whopping 8lbs 8oz - way bigger than we expected, and 22 inches long. He looks nothing like Tyler did when he was born so I'm anxious to see what he'll look like soon
Tyler - 6lbs 8oz Benson Matthew

..the most wonderful time of the year!

This is the first year in a long time that we just hung out at home by ourselves - and we LOVED it. Christmas Eve we had dinner with Aaron's family and came home and watched a movie together. Our friends came over after and the boys lost another 4 painful games of Sequence. I think Aaron is ready to retire! Tyler woke up during the night and ended up sleeping in our bed - which I normally hate - but it was fun for Christmas morning -- And by morning, I mean 10:30ish.
Tyler had a blast opening presents and we just really enjoyed watching him. Almost all of the presents were for him but the biggest hit was the remote control car he got from my mom. The "cool car" as he calls it, is much faster than he is, so he spent the whole day jumping from couch to couch so he wouldn't run over his little toes. again. :) It was pretty entertaining for us too!
We spent all day in our pajamas until about 8 when we decided to drive around and look at all the Christmas lights. We found a few light shows sychronized to music. For almost 20 minutes straight he would say "cool yights" and "pwetty chwismus yights." I might be sad when he actually pronounces things correctly!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas as well. Can't wait until next year!

Fun in the snow!

I just want to start with a pat on the back for me. Can you believe I've posted so many things in December?? And there's still Christmas, crazy!
Anyway, after celebrating our anniversary we got up the next day and decided to go to McCall (well, Donnelly) to our friends' townhouse with them for the rest of the weekend. We've only gone once and it was a good chance for us to go before the baby comes. We had a blast. We got up there a little later than we planned, but what else is new? We unloaded the truck and got dressed to go snowmobiling. I was so excited for Tyler to go - he would have loooooved it. But of course, since he didn't take his nap on the way there, he fell asleep in the 4 minutes it took us to meet our friends.

Rachael was awesome and stayed in the truck with Tyler while Aaron and I went on a short ride.

After a laaate night of kicking the boys' trash at Sequence, we all got up about noon. We may have conveniently left our church clothes at home so we played outside instead. It was the first time Tyler had really played in the snow before. He walked around a ton with Aaron and "helped" me make a snowman. I seriously cant remember the last snowman I made - I forgot how hard they can be.
We're planning on another trip the end of January while my mom is here for McCall's winter carnival - I can't wait!

5 Years!

I can't believe we've been married for 5 years! It's kinda the first little milestone to get to in a marriage and it definitely would have been fun to do something extra special, but lets be honest. How much fun can you realllly have trying to celebrate when you're 8 months pregnant? I'm hoping next year Aaron and I can go on a little vacation somewhere using my parents' time share points. (surprise, mom!) I guess we'll see.
We had a great time at dinner though. We rarely go out to eat without other people so it was nice to be alone. So thankful to have such a great husband! I really am lucky.