My friend Tiffany was kind enough to take a few pictures of me and the kids in her home. Even though the kids were wild and Maverick was crying most the time, she managed to make it all look so dreamy. Being a mom of three is no joke but seeing moments captured like this makes me realize how blessed I am and how much I love my kids. I will treasure these pictures for giving me those feelings and fond memories.
(pics taken 10.18)

 The kids went upstairs to play while we started taking some of Maverick and I and then Tiff called the kids down to come take a few. She said "Come on Nolan let's take some pictures" and he stopped in his tracks on the stairs and said "oh, ok just a second!" and then came back with the Batman mask on! Gotta look good for the pics right?  That Nolan Man really will be Maverick's superhero one day.

maverick: 2 months old

Maverick is a feisty baby. It's one of the first things the nurses said about when when he was born and it's been said many a time since, both by people who know him and by total strangers. He seems to be somewhat temperamental, and vocal... making him my hardest newborn to date. But everyday we get to know each other more and Maverick is learning that we are all trying the best we can.... And it's a good thing he is so darn cute! He has sparkly blue eyes and the softest fuzziest hair that reminds me of a baby chick. He can be so sweet and wants to be good we just need to find our rhythm and make him more comfortable.

His baby acne was horrible and was in combination with cradle cap. It was crusting over his whole forehead, ears and eyebrows and just looked painful. We tried leaving it alone for a few days to let his natural oils take care of it but when that didn't seem to be working we started washing his face with Aveno baby wash and a washcloth everyday and then using Aveno lotion throughout the day and a thick coat of Noodle & Boo ointment in the morning and at night. Eventually that combination cleared things up!

Eats: He went through a few growth spurts this month which led to irregular eating and snacking and was a little hard to keep up with him. I started pumping almost exclusively to try to keep track of how much he was getting and wanting. I had to supplement a lot with formula and also started experimenting with different formulas to find one that will be easier on his stomach. He is still having tummy troubles quiet often. However, the best thing about his eating is that he will drink a cold bottle. Both of my other kids were so picky of their bottles being warmed so Mav definitely gets points for not caring about that!

Sleeps: occasionally. He sleeps well when he doesn't have a tummy ache. He will sleep in smaller chunks through the morning and then I can usually get him to take a good nap in the afternoon. At night he will do a long stretch followed by a shorter stretch. I got a baby swing from Chelsea and it has been wonderful! He sleeps in that quite a bit while he is being swung. He loves it.

Plays: Continues to surprise me buy his head/neck/shoulder strength! He also is starting to smile more often and even make some noises. He will follow things with his eyes although not super intensely.

Likes: having his head rubbed and having blankies by his face. He also really likes music and often when he is crying in the car I'll turn the music on really loud and he goes right to sleep.

Dislikes: still messy diapers and also being alone.

Also: I started taking him to a chiropractor who specializes in babies and children. Dr. Bill has helped us a lot. He said that Maverick's muscle tone is very tight for a baby and he is working on relaxing it in general and keeping everything aligned so he can be more mellow. It's really helping and I've seen improvement.
Stats from his 2 month check-up: weight: 11.16 lbs (29%) length: 23" (56%) He is fitting into size 0-3 month clothes perfectly and seems to be getting a lot longer.

Firsts this month: moved into his room to sleep (although he still sleeps in his little cradle), first time to go to church, first Halloween.

neither here nor there

October fun through instagram

joys of motherhood: october

Oh my heavens... these kids of mine are full of it. "it" being: personality, sass, spunk, defiance, attitude and a few other things I can think of. But also sweetness and cuteness and snuggles and I love these little hooligans.

Nolan

-More breast feeding blunders: while I was feeding Maverick, Nolan came running up and observed for a second then said, "Is he eating YOU mom?!"

-Driving in the car and Nolan suddenly exclaims, "I see lion king!" I look over and there was a beautiful sunset between the mountains that looked like the opening scene to lion king (cue Swahili music... I know you can picture it right now)

-I was getting ready and nolan was by me and said "Mom, You look handsome" I said thank you and then I explained that actually boys look handsome but if you're a girl you look pretty. Boys are handsome and girls are pretty. He stopped for a second, looked at me and said "Mom... You look cool"

-each of my kids seem to go through a Lion king phase where that's all they want to watch and they are obsessed. Nolan is actually pretty obsessed with Lightning McQueen from Cars but sometimes when he says it is sounds like "lion king" so I think when he has babysitters, etc they put in the Lion King movie for him and it has turned into another obsession. He wants to watch it all day everyday!
-Nolan has started incorporating "actually" and "of course" into conversation. 

Caitlin
-Caitlin is jealous of Aria in her preschool class because she can snap her fingers and also of Sam because she has her ears pierced... both really big deals. 

-when Caitlin and I went to the homecoming spectacular show we saw the ballroom team perform and Caitlin LOVED it. She loved their sparkly dresses. At the beginning of the number one girl came out to center stage and was dancing solo then the eat of the team came out and started dancing in couples. Caitlin exclaimed, "but, She doesn't have her prince!"

-we drove home the other night in separate cars from Paul and Caitlin's Competitive driver side really came out. She was absolutely determined to win and get home before dad and was telling me the whole time to "driver faster" "go speedy! We gotta win!!" It was cracking me up... Talk about peer pressure! At one point she told me to hurry up and go fast and I said "Caitlin I'm trying in but there's cars in the way!" She said, "just go OVER them!!" Haha what?! For the record, we did win.

A High Seas Halloween

Halloween was a non-stop day this year and it was a blast:

-pumpkin pancakes for breakfast

-Preschool Halloween party for Caitlin, the grocery store for me and the boys (I always think we are going to run out if candy then I bought way to much this year) then the kids helped me make gingersnaps.

-Trick or Treat at Vivint. There were a ton of people there and the kids had fun running around with their friends and talking to everyone. One of Paul's co workers (Tessa) dressed up as Paul and it was pretty funny.

-Trick or Treating in our neighborhood. We stuck to our 3 closest streets and the kids were running from house to house. Chelsea and Tyler and Zoey came up too and my Grandparents came up and passed out candy back at our house. We took the RZR to the farthest houses. The kids were good at saying "Trick or Treat" and "thank you" and any other comments they felt like. Nolan started asking everyone if he could come into their house. And Caitlin went up to one of our friends houses who said "hi Caitlin!" And she said "what? You know my name?!" As if she was so un-recognizable in her costume. Maverick slept in the stroller for most of it. The weather was PERFECT. Not even a chill in the air it felt amazing and made it so pleasant to be out!

-Finally: the costumes. Our theme this year was "the high seas" Caitlin was a mermaid, Nolan was a pirate and Maverick was a fish. I loved how all their costumes turned out and they loved them too! Caitlin was ALL ABOUT the makeup, so she got to have eyeshadow and lipstick and sparkles and she totally loved it. I bought her costume, made her headband and added the necklaces.

Nolan has been into pirates lately and he will say "ahoy mateys" and sing "yo ho a pirates life for me" so I picked up his costume and added the socks and bandana. He wasn't sure about wearing his costume at first but then once I gave him his sword he found his true pirate character and was all about it!

I made Maverick's costume from a baby nightgown, added the felt tail and fins. When we put him on the ottoman to take his picture he was wriggling around on his tummy and he really did kind of look like a fish. Just keep swimming...

Paul and our friends had our annual couples Halloween party on November 1st. We had the hardest time picking costumes so I finally asked Caitlin what she thought we should be and she said "you should be ninions!" with a giggle. So we were "ninions from spica me" ...AKA minions from despicable me. The party was so much fun, lots of food and funny games and funny people. I found my secret talent of sliding an oreo down my face into my mouth with no hands in record time. 

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I absolutely love Fall in Utah. Every season here is so beautiful but fall seems like such a special time because before you know it snow is falling. Fall seems so fleeting so it makes you feel like you need to enjoy it and soak it all up. The leaves changing colors are beautiful and we have had the most amazing weather. It's been a great month. 

the 10th: Caitlin had her first field trip. They went to "Hee Haw Farms" and got to see baby pigs, pumpkins, other animals and go down a big slide. She was so excited about her field trip and when I told her maybe Mommy and her brothers would come too she told be she rather go with her preschool friends (yup, slap in the face). Then when she heard some other mommies were coming she said she would like for me to come. But, I ended up giving her some space and keeping the pesky brothers home. She didn't see to mind too much and had a great time with her class and had lots of stories to tell when she got home.

That evening we went to Thanksgiving Point Farm with the Meads and had a picnic dinner and rode ponies. It is decorated with a Wizard of Oz theme for the month. 

That night Paul wanted to have a sleepover on the tramp with the older kids. I love how Paul gets these fun ideas and wants to do special things with our kids. They got all their warm things and went out to the tramp and watch a movie on the ipad and had snacks and treats. Nolan was done after that when he realized he would have to settle down and sleep, so he came inside to his bed. Caitlin fell asleep but then it got really cold so around midnight Paul came in with her and they slept in the extra bed downstairs. Caitlin woke up in the morning and thought they were still out on the tramp! Although when we looked outside there were frozen dew drops on the lawn so it's definitely a good thing they weren't!

 -the 11th: We spent a fun Saturday with the Meads and went to a pumpkin patch in Sandy where they had blow up slides and bumper boats and then we went to Gardner Village for more activities for the kids and walking through the village. Caitlin's favorite thing was getting her face painted and the little witches hat really brought out her serious poses. 

-the12th: Our first Sunday back to church as a family with Maverick and also our ward Primary Program. It was Caitlin's first Primary Program and she was a little nervous so we had been building it up a lot the previous week, and also called it her "Primary Performance." When the time came, she did great! Sang the songs, said her part all by herself and looked cute as could be up there. And yes, I totally cried. Maverick did great too! Up until the last 30 minutes when I was giving my lesson.

-the 14th: We saw the "Meet the Mormons" movie at the movie theater with our Young Women as our midweek activity. It was SO good. I thought I would come away thinking "oh non-members should really see that" but I came away feeling so inspired and feeling like I needed to be a better person. It was very uplifting and thought provoking and I thought it was incredibly well done. 

-the 16th: We went back to Hee Haw Farms as a family and Caitlin showed us all the fun things she had done on her field trip. Mostly the kids liked going down the huge slide. And it really was huge. We went a few times with them but then they just kept hiking back up the hill to go down again. We had several people comment on how amazed they were that Nolan wanted to and was able to go down all by himself. Funny thing is I hadn't even thought twice about it.. that's our Nolan Man. Two year old on the move. Even when a bunch of teenagers came up our kids kept making their way and taking their turns! 

 -I've been able to do a lot of canning the last couple months, mostly thanks to help from my mom and also our amazing garden. I tried a few new recipes this year and I'm excited to use them over the winter and Spring. We did: blackberry jam, salsa, spaghetti sauce and sliced peaches. 

-the 16-25th: Stewart and Lorraine came in town. Stewart was hunting most the time and Lorraine was here visiting and helping me. She watched the kids, ran errands, and even took Maverick at nights so I could sleep. It was awesome. Fun for all of us to have them here.

-the 17th: Caitlin and I went to the BYU Homecoming Spectacular at the Marriott Center with some of my family. We got to see Cassie perform with the Young Ambassadors and also many of the other performance groups. It was a great show, Caitlin was noticing the cutest things and of course making comments and asking questions about absolutely everything. 

-The boys went hunting over the long Fall Break weekend to Wyoming for Antelope and Kamas for deer. Paul filled both his antelope tags, as well as a porcupine and a jackrabbit but no deer yet. It's always fun to hear their stories, Paul always comes home with all kids of scrapes and bruises from hiking around so much, plus this time they rolled the RZR (thankfully everyone was ok). I still think hunting sounds miserable but I'm glad they have fun! 

-the 20th: We went to the Museum of Natural Curiosity with Merrilee and her kids and Grandma Gottfredson. The museum was fairly crowded but we had a good time. My kids love playing with the Gottfredson kids! That night we had dinner with Christine and her kids and made a "craft" for Family Home Evening-- pumpkin luminaries. The kids colored pumpkin faces onto paper sacks and then put candles in. They turned out so cute!

-the 24th: We went to Cornbelly's, as per our yearly tradition. The kids rode the cow train, went in the bounce houses, jumped on the jumping pillow, played games and went on the big slide. They had a lot of fun, and the weather was hot that day! We didn't even get to do everything they had there before everyone was ready for naps.

That night the adults went on a date night to dinner at a Mexican place in Midway and then to Sundance for the "Haunted chair lift" where you get to ride the lift to the top and back and there are costumed people working and scary scenes set up below. It was a beautiful night, not too cold, and fun to ride the lift and try something new! Paul and I practiced our scariest noises on the way and we were pretty good at them. I liked that it wasn't too scary, although our neighbor was there dressed as a gorilla scaring people and definitely got me a couple times!

-the 25-27th: the Taylor's came in town! Morgan had a recruiting thing for E&Y so Whitney and Brox came with. We hung out with them Saturday afternoon and evening and then they spent the night then we got to see them once more on Monday before they left. Whitney just found out they are having a girl for their second and it was so much fun chatting and having the kids play together. We miss them!

-the 28th: for the week of Halloween Caitlin got to wear a costume to dance class. She chose to be a Spanish Flamenco Dancer, although she called it a "flamingo" dancer. And what she really cared about more than the costume was getting to wear bright red lipstick. She also specifically requested her hair be in a bun with the flower AND the crown. She was very proud of her costume and said "I think all the girls at dance class will really like it and they will want one just like it."


-The World Series ended on the 29th. The SF Giants played the KC Royals and I'm usually not super into baseball or the World Series but this series was fun to watch because our good friend Jeremy Guthrie pitches for the Royals! It was so much fun to see him pitch in game 3 and game 7 and to see all the hype and fun experiences for their family. Unfortunately Giants won game 7 but it was a fun series and exciting to see Jeremy do so well.

-the 30th: I told the kids we could go back to Cornbelly's and got them all excited and in their cute festive Halloween outfits... then we got there and I remembered Cornbelly's didn't open until 4... it was 11:30. Oops. Luckily the farm is right there so it was a quick fix. We went to the farm and saw all the animals and rode the wagon ride and the kids got to ride the ponies three times in a row. Nolan has been a little unpredictable when it comes to the pony rides but he was all about it. He kept saying "Yeehaw I'm a cowboy I'm a cowboy. I'm so brave!" I was really proud of him and also really relieved since I didn't know how I was going to juggle the two kids on horses and the baby! A girl was there with her little boy and she approached me and asked how old my kids were and what the spacing was. She said "I just feel like this spacing looks really fun and they are so cute with each other." I told her the two year spacing is quick and it's not easy when they are little.. but yes it's fun. I was glad that she had caught my kids in a good mood and behaving well and it was a good reminder to me that yah its hard sometimes but it is fun!  

We carved pumpkins the night before Halloween and let me just say: carving pumpkins with a 2 year old and a 4 year old is an adrenaline rush. Children with knives...  but they turned out cute and the kids had fun. Although they don't really love all the slimy stuff. PS don't you always carve your pumpkin in a princess dress?

Maverick's Blessing Day

Maverick was blessed at home with family and close friends on Sunday, October 19th. He was an angel all day long! We went to church in the morning, lunch at Christine's, then back to our house to get things ready. We had probably about 75+ come to the blessing. Luckily the weather was still nice to go outside! We had a short program and then the beautiful blessing. Afterward we visited and ate desserts.

Paul gave Maverick a wonderful blessing. He blessed him with many things, including: to develop a strong testimony of the Savior, the restored gospel and modern day revelation. He blessed him to be able to identify the talents he has been given and use them to bless the lives of others. He blessed him to be able to uplift others and be a peacemaker to those around him, and to one day marry and find joy in raising a family.

I am so thankful that Paul has the priesthood and he is able to bless our children and that we have an eternal family. I am thankful that Maverick is a part of our family and we really enjoyed this special day for him.