sweet baby evie

i cannot get enough of sweet baby evie lately. she is always up for a snuggle, has no desire whatsoever to sit on her own, and is always smiling and laughing. (unless hungry or tired. and cover your ears if she is both. remember, brewer genes!)

still working on the slow, slow process of scanning, saving, uploading my baby photos. but i have been thinking so much about my love and obsession over miss evalyn jayne while doing this,

i feel like, this baby, she is MINE. my mini-me. she is number three, like i was. she has the dark(er) hair that i did. and she brings peace, which is all i ever want.

the above picture is me, with evie's namesake: my dad's sweet mother Evalyn Bowerman (she passed away 13 years ago when i was just 11). i keep doing a double take looking at it because evie looks so much like i did. this is normal to so many people, but i never, ever thought that i would have a child look like me after having caleb and claire. it sounds so silly, and it is, and i realize that i just shouldnt care, but i have dreamed and dreamed of having MY child. some people say claire looks like me; i can hardly see past the while blonde hair so i dont know.

oh anyways. loving little evie. i am feeling like a failure with her right now; i nursed her for the last time last night. for some reason my milk supply decided to just go away, and it is killing me. long story short, i feel it is best for her, for my sanity, and the sakes of my other children that she get formula. i have enough stored that she will get some pumped milk every day until she is 6 months old (next week!) which makes me feel a little better. i promised myself that in order to be "fair" i would nurse all my babies until at least six months. any longer is lucky for them......

anywho. the last few times she has really struggled with it, but last night i decided it would be the last time, and she was so content the whole time, and drifted off to sleep seeming so happy. (okay i am bawling now, why am i so emotional about this???? ) she seemed to be telling me that it was okay. so here we are, im done nursing. and now, hopefully i can shed a few pounds. ha!

love that girl.

Bubsaloo

Just a bubba update.

He is allllll boy. Except when Claire gets her nails painted- he loves getting in on that action.

He is finally talking lots and lots. Tons of new words everyday. My fave right now is when he tries to say chocolate. So funny.

He has recently reverted to baby mode- wants a binky, to be carried, wants to be held and rocked, wants me to feed him a bottle. I am totally aware that this is normal. My mom loves to remind me that I was potty trained completely before my brother was born, and then went backwards when he arrived. I was expecting him to, just five months ago! His binky thing is driving me crazy, he had no problems 9 months ago giving it up. Trying some things this week, hopefully it's not a problem much longer!

He always has bruises everywhere. He is so rough and tumble, but always just gets up and keeps going. Sometimes needs a quick kiss from mom, but then just keeps going. 

I think he was born with the knowledge of how to make everything a sword. Everything gets pointed like a sword. 

He wants to grow up so bad. Just to play with big sis, and ride a real bike. Long torso and short limbs does not help him reach the pedals, sadly. 

He thinks he is so funny, and is so happy most of the the time. Super ticklish, and has the most infectious laugh. The biggest open mouth grin, and bright eyes that go squinty when he smiles.

Such his father's child. Knows how to do puppy eyes better than his father even.

Boy do I love him. Crazy, silly, happy bubba. 

5 years

Can't believe it's gone this fast.

I sure do love him. Still pretty smitten. It's been an adventure from the start, and I feel so lucky and blessed he has stuck with me, as crazy and weird as I am.

Here's to an eternity of adventures!

California dreamin'

As of today, we are a military family!

Joe was finally able to swear in today, and has joined the Navy! We are all so proud of him, he has worked so hard to be able to do this, and we are excited to be moving to Monterey by the end of the year after he completes his basic training starting in October. 

Ever since then, all the beach boys songs have been playing in my head. We're happy to be moving on, sad to be leaving so much behind in Utah, but totally ready. The kids don't get it, Claire kinda knows but I doubt it will all make sense until it happens. 

And here they are in the tub. They crack me up.

More to come

Just my favorite snapshot from last Sunday, when baby Evie was blessed by her daddy. She was perfect the whole time (duh) and looked adorable (as always).

All the guests are gone, for a little while. But we still have dogs! The poor things get tortured constantly by my oh-so-loving children. Working on that.

Can I just say how much I love summer? It's been blazing hot, but it's better that way.

And, I can't stop eating cookies. I'm hooked on cookies. And chocolate. I put five pounds back on in the last few weeks because I can't stop. Purging my house today. It's gotta end.

More pics when I get some time, which is probably never.

My littles are literally bouncing off the walls in anticipation. My parents are on their way here with half their house in a moving truck, and Lucy and Lizzy, the doggies. And papa is coming so soon too! It'll be a very full house for a while, and I'm stoked. We like it crazy around here :)

So if things are quiet on the blog, I'll be back soon. And if it's a really long time, it's because a couple doggies ate something they shouldn't have.

And because I'm so excited, a cute picture of my parents with bubba on his blessing day. Let the crazy begin!

memory lane

luckily, there are few things in my family that any of us siblings would fight over who gets to inherit. there are definitely a few, but some of those few are random, kinda funny things. do you have those?

one of the first "major" furniture purchases that my parents made (the first?) was a set of solid wood bunk beds, that my older siblings slept in. as years passed, we have all slept on the top and bottom, and all of us left our marks on it. from the dents and scratches, to the gum that has become like cement on the corner knobs, there is a little of each of us somewhere. 

the beds were not being used anymore, and since im the one with kids, they got passed on, and claire and bubba now sleep on them. and i always have a laugh when i lay down on the bottom bunk and look up and see the slats, because i remember being there as a child, and drawing on the underside. all of us did it at some point, writing messages, coming up with things to stir things up with another sibling. im sure it drove my mother crazy, but im so grateful for those now.

the huge wood boards were replaced, sadly, but those little 2x4s are around, and i love it. and i really, really hate that my kids are in a "color on everything i can get me hands on" phase, but i really hope they will sneak away and write things on the underside when they are older. memories of childhood friends and sibling rivalry to be saved forever on those boards. 

im going through a "memory" phase right now.... can you tell? just feeling that need to get it all down and saved. 

a silly little thing

or maybe its not silly. i feel silly sharing it, but maybe someone will enjoy?

ive been thinking about "why i blog" for a while.... what is the purpose, etc. i just post whatever i feel like, no rhyme or reason to anything i put on here. my thoughts, stories, funny pictures.... just whatever. i love being able to share snippets of what i can with whoever wants to see, (especally those far away who love their grandbabies!) and i am a terrible, horrible journal-er, so this is what ive got for now.

my mother, and mother in law were/are much better at the documenting/scrapbooking thing, and i have both of our baby books. i pulled mine out last week to compare evie to myself, and decided its high time to get all those photos digitized.

SO.

http://kandjthebabyyears.blogspot.com/

a separate little blog to share the pictures i scan in, as they are scanned. im saving them all to a hard drive, but figured it wouldnt hurt to have them online as well.

is that totally silly? honestly, i dont care if anyone ever looks at it. but maybe someone will. not much on there yet, ive been trying to figure out the scanner, and finally got a groove going for scanning, cropping, saving, and uploading.

this is going to be a long, long project for myself. hundreds of photos. so grateful for them though!

2 sleeps

When we count down around here, we count in sleeps. It just makes things easier. 2 sleeps til baby girl, 1 til Grammy comes!

I haven't put anything up for a while, not for lack of post worthiness, but laziness. We've been outside soaking up sunshine and sunburns, and enjoying the time with two kiddos before figuring out how to do three will work.

We had a relaxing weekend watching conference, cuddling, eating out and getting ice cream, and the best was being a little rebellious and getting pedicures during the first session. A 'little' guilt, but not much. It did this momma good, it was much needed. Claire joined Lindsay and me, and she was really shy about the whole thing at first, but ended up loving her gold sparkly fingers by the end.

Joe took work off and actually went to the priesthood session, so Linds and I took the kids out, and after eating ended up spending the next 1 1/2 hours laughing and giggling our way up the canyon. We rolled windows down, they all ran around and rolled in the grass, wore themselves out chasing each other.

Sunday, completely uneventful, but wonderful. Again, I feel a little guilt for missing a few talks while I napped, but it was obviously much needed since I didn't wake up with a headache like usual.

Sigh. A great weekend, leading up to a great week, I'm sure. :) I've been dreaming about meeting this little one coming soon for a long time. I have quite the list to accomplish in the next two days, we'll see how much gets done while the sunshine outside calls to us.

He liiiiiikes it

That boy. So big right now. Mom keeps telling me "interesting" when I tell he about how he likes it (the bunk beds), and stays in it during naps and night time. That's because he's awesome. He did fall out last night I believe..... But went right back in and stayed asleep, until the kids came into our room at 7:22. I must say that I much prefer that to his endless screaming in the crib in the morning. I should probably look into putting the rails up. I luf him.

In other news, it's finally dumping snow. Which is great, but it's a bummer we didn't get to all stay in this morning and snuggle and watch the snow fall.

Success

Im not saying transition has happened just yet, but little man slept in his bed last night! Aaaaand both kids slept til almost 8. The mattress was just on the floor because we didn't get to finish setting up the bed, but he only cried for 10 minutes before going to sleep.

Did I mention that the night before he climbed out of his crib in the middle of the night? So, pretty much I know how my kids work and what they're all about.

And ikea is my definition of a love/hate relationship. Ugh, that place is awesome, but really the worst. Trying to buy a lamp is a nightmare. And buying two is like pouring shards of glass in my eyes.

Happy Saturday!

big head

this is katelyn, one of my kids i babysit. shes a cutie for sure. we bonded great at first, went through a rough patch for a while, and now are on great terms again. we have an understanding now. shes close to bubba's height, but very petite, and extremely girly. 

her parents think she has a big head.... and one day they dropped her off wearing this. i didnt think it was that big until that day. 

elephant man

do other kids play with hose attachments as much as my kids? 

Hungry boy

Loooove the very hungry caterpillar. Bubba-love does too. And the doggies outside playing in two inches of snow.

that's right. Haters complained enough, and got some stinking snow. I was rather enjoying my balmy fifty degrees, no coats, windows down and sunshine,thankyouverymuch. I was starting to think it was April. I'll just keep de-junking anyways I guess. Not that anyone can tell....

Only child

I think bubba monster likes all the attention, with not having his sister around. And getting to play with whatever toy he wants. He's been going from toy to toy, thrilled that mama lets him play and doesn't try and take anything away. And he slept in, waaaaay past his normal wake up. But I think he misses his sister. Sorry for all the one-photo posts. Promise lots of good ones are forth coming. Mi madre has my memory card. I'll snatch it next week! Someone has to pick up Claire....

Missing

this little blondie. I heard she was in texas, with an aunt, grandparents, and two puppies. Anybody seen her?

meet the asian

susan is a roomie from my freshman year in the dorms.

susan is a rock star for so many reasons. 

she is asian. 

she is the only member of our church in her family, and is such a good example.

she finished her nursing degree, after having a baby.

she has the fattest asian baby ever. (it takes everything i have not to eat her)

she has some sweet dance skills.

she likes HP more than i do.

she is kind, sweet, smart, funny, and lets me watch her fat baby.

i love staying connected with this girl. we see each other regularly. i watched her kid while she went to school. but we got the husbands to watch kids, went out to lunch and lost track of time talking. i love having a friend that i can do that with. in fact, i saw her three times that day, and we still had things to talk about. how? and how did we end up living just on other sides of the freeway, and we dont manage to see each other more?

and she is an incredibly good cook. legit asian food- i still drool thinking about her chow mein feasts she cooked up for us. and anything she bakes. i couldnt resist saying yes to some of her cookies last night, after we already went out and had ice cream.

gotta love a good friend. 

real pictures. what?

doing what i can to embrace fall. definitely some slacking, but i'm trying. the last monthish.  

 claire looking cute with her headband. headband lasted 2.9 seconds. we try. 

take that back. i try. she doesn't.

 model man. and screeching katelyn in the background. but cute bubbers.

 i live like 2.9 seconds from here. GORGEOUS this time of year. and this isn't even super pretty yet. (this was a couple weeks ago.)

 stink bug changed her mind about pictures.and headband.

shifting gears.

family time. thats all five sibs together. missed mom and dad! and happy bday sarah bear. FINALLY 18. that took forever. 

 shifting again.

hee haw farms. i gotta know- are all pumpkin patch/hay ride/corn mazes this ghetto? i was expecting a little more..... either way. both kids had a BLAST. like, giggling most of the time.

 as soon as claire saw this dumb animal train she wanted to skip the pony ride (which was LAME.) and hop into the pig asap. silly girl. joe got in on the action though, so that was kinda fun.

 probably her fave thing after the corn box.

 pig touching. can you spot my little blondie? that was fun for her too.

 corn box. i decided this should be what playgrounds have instead of sand or wood chips. i'm sure it was dirty, but way less dirty than sand and no splinters. no sand in the eyes. awesome.

 sweet hair dude. he was unsure at first, but got into it when he saw claire going to town.

we even did this twice the kids loved it so much.

good times for everyone! we even ran into some friends and picked out pumpkins with them. the kids were kinda done by then, and claire kept getting frustrated she couldn't carry any, but so fun anyways. yay for family time! 

and yay for non-phone or ipod pics! thats a miracle, huh?

back to the byu game. i should probably not watch those. they make me physically ill, i get that into them. probably send me into labor. 

i realize i talk about the girl a LOT here. 

bubba monster is pretty great too, though. he's a semi-snuggle bug, super ticklish, and a total sweetie.

he LOVES his stuffed animals, and his three blue bears are his fave. he is really smart, like knows where things are, and what they are, but doesn't use words at all. he has a giggle that is better than anyone's, and it makes me so happy. when he does "talk" he moves his head like a muppet- its not just the jaw, but his whole head moves and it makes me laugh. 

he is tough. he is now just as strong as his sister, and usually wins their tug-of-war fights over a toy. but he is also so sensitive. and has some sweet dance moves to rival his sister. i love him.

thinking about these two makes me so happy, especially when i think there is another crazy monkey coming to join them. oh what a party that will be! bubba loves, loves, loves little babies. he can't get enough. loves to rock them, give hugs and kisses, and "tickle" them. just can't wait.

love little bubba monster. (that is a hint for his halloween costume. excited for this year!)

something new

for the last, four months or so, the camera has been at my parents house. with my parents moving, the camera did not reappear in my hands until a couple weeks ago. i thought, sweet! i will have all these great new pictures to post! eh, not so much. i had four. and these are all of them.

coincidentally, they are all from the time we went strawberry picking when we were visiting my parents in st. louis. coincidentally, because claire recently started talking about that adventure and riding on the school bus that took us to the fields. at least a couple times every day. and every time we see a school bus. that was one HOT day. 

now that we have a camera back in action, i hope there will be more picture taking. because the whole one picture posts from the phone/ipod is reeeeeally getting old. 

and hopefully i will start feeling better so that i will want to take those pictures. because i have been feeling yucky, pretty much since the day we stepped off the plane back in utah. because, yep, 

BABY #3 is making an appearance in 6 1/2 months! 

quite honestly, it was a bit of a surprise, but one we are totally THRILLED about. can't wait to meet her!

yes i think its a girl. i already know her name. BUT we are not finding out gender, until she is born! we did it twice, we got one of each, and since i've always wanted to, i am doing it this time. my choice, so thats how it is. i can wait that long, right?????