Munchkin land

Nothing in the world I would rather do than be a mother to these littles. Nothing.

I fall into that stereo- typical "Molly Mormon" because I went to byu, got married, started having kids and dropped out before getting my degree. I don't regret that for even a tiny moment. I learn more from these kids than I could ever learn in a classroom. I still want to get my degree, and plan on doing so through byu's independent study program. but right now, I am enjoying (almost) every second of being in the trenches of young motherhood. And the few times I don't enjoy, I have a husband who balances things out and keeps it moving. And a sister who takes me away just long enough to make me desperate to get back to my babies.

So to Claire, Caleb, and Evalyn, you three really are my little rays of sunshine. I love you farther than the moon and back.

To my mother, I miss you. Can't wait for you to be closer! You really are the greatest example.

To my mother in law, thank you for raising such a wonderful son. He gets a lot of his awesomeness from you.

Happy mothers day to everyone!

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!

Where did it go?

Little miss is four weeks old. Where did those last weeks go? The days have escaped me. But they have been oh so happy ones.

She looks like me. A child that looks like me! I didnt know it was possible for the brewer genes to be beat. Not that I don't love those brewer genes, but being outnumbered was getting old.

Her toes though.... Linds loves to make fun of my second toe, because it shorter than the big toe. I am just fine with my feet, thankyouverymuch. But all my kids and joe have longer second toes. And Evie girl's second toe is no different. So, an outcast, non-royal, short-second-toed girl, I will remain. (I heard once that long second toes mean you are of royal descent. True or not, it used to make me feel less-than Linds, who loves her long second toe. :) so silly of me, I know)

Anyways, it's been hard to put little girl down. She loves a good snuggle, and her current state of still being absolute perfection makes her simply irresistible. She tries to get right up under your chin, like that is the safest place to be. Oh that newborn phase. I'm realizing not every baby is quite this wonderful, and some really struggle with the sleepless nights and a baby who just won't get comfortable and relax. Evie's only struggles are the awful hiccups, just like Claire and Caleb. We are so blessed.


Btw, that pretty quilt she is laying on, was 10 plus years in the making. Linds started it, I worked on it for a while a few years ago after mom pulled it out, and then last week my dad brought it with him after finally being finished by mom. way to get it done Mamacita!

Sister love

Life with three is awesome. Bubba a.d.o.r.e.s his sister. He says 'mine!' and begs to hold her. We get comments all the time about her dark hair.... She is in fact my child! I pulled out my baby photos and she really does look like me, with the hair and one dimple.

It's been a crazy, but enjoyable few weeks. My dad made a stop here in Utah for a quick 36 hours. Claire was jumping on his lap the second she saw him, Caleb warmed up after a couple hours, and Evie spit up on him when he held her on their first meeting. Claire was very upset when he left.... But Grammy and grampa will be back soon!

The weather has been amazing, and we spend as much time outside as possible. We've even had temps in the 80s, so swim suits and hoses were brought out. Weve had rides up the canyon, picnics, BBQs, lawn games, bon fires, and bike rides. Love the summer weather in Utah! We got pass of all passes (for ten bucks!) and can't wait for water parks, baseball games, and mini golf all summer. This could potentially be our last summer in Utah so we are packing in as much as possible.

So much I Should be doing inside, but it looks like another glorious day outside.... So I'm sure nothing will get done! But I would rather enjoy my kids than do laundry. So outside we go!



And there are pictures. They're coming. Everyone else, dad, mom, Lindsay..... They have them. And when I can get my hands in them.....

Evalyn Jayne

I'm sure I will be explaining this her entire life, as will she, but it's just how it is.

Evalyn. My dad's mother. She hated how her name was spelled, with an a and not 2 e's. But I love the name, and baby girl is named after her. We visited her grave over thanksgiving last year, and I knew that's what her name would be. Last week was 13 years since her passing. Maybe I'll share about that another time.

We are calling her Evie though. I've had a lot of people ask why we don't just name her that? My name is Katie, not Katharine, katelyn, not short for anything. And I get asked what it's short for all the time. So it goes both ways, and I just don't care. My dad is Richard, goes by rich. My father in law is Richard, goes by Rick. My brother is Christopher, goes by Chris. It just doesn't matter what she is called. She can go by whatever she wants when she's older.

Jayne. I realize this is probably going to annoy the heck out of little miss, but I like the y with the y in Evalyn. Jane is both my mom and little sister's name, and Jayne is my cousin. I love Jane, and Jayne.

I realize I kind of make a stink about people in Utah naming their kids weird things, or spelling normal names extra long just to make it 'different'. In my head, Evalyn is normal, Jayne is normal. And I end up spelling my own name as well as my kids so much, it just doesn't matter anymore. Caleb's name is spelled and pronounced wrong often enough I've come to terms with just spelling it out every single time. (our insurance spelled it with a k and even though we tried correcting it, it never is right. and every time we get something for him in the mail from them I gag a little..... ) an e with Claire's name, spelling out b-r-e-w-e-r, it's just going to be that way.

So she is Evie. Eh-vee. Not eeee-veee. And not evy. And I love her, and the sweetness that she has brought to our home. She is still THE BEST BABY, I really doubt there has been anyone better. Claire and Caleb were both really, really good too though, and I'm not sure which has been easiest. love them all.

We have three kids?

We were cracking up when he begged to wear daddy's suit coat on Sunday. The vest and tie were not grown up enough I guess? funny, funny boy.

I'm talking to Claire right now about babies in my tummy. She has quite the imagination, that one. It seems she understands there is not a baby inside anymore, but she keeps bringing it up.... She LOVES holding Evie and helping out. As long as she's in the mood for it anyways.

dream girl Evie only eats once at night. ONCE. From the time I am asleep until the big kids get up, one time she makes a few cooing sounds, sleepily gets through a meal, and goes back off to dream land, and usually sleeps in well past nine. Couldn't ask for anything better. And I have already forgotten life without her. Heading to the doc today for the 2 week check- we'll see how it goes, my guess is she doesn't make a peep. I gave her a bath Monday night and she slept through literally the entire thing. Until I flipped out when she pooped on the clean towel. At least she waited until after the bath, right?

Transition to three kids? Not too bad. Besides breaking two glasses, dumping sun block, nearly flooding the kitchen, bathroom, and family room, and smashing crackers into the carpet, doing great. Middle man seems to know he can do stuff when Evie is being fed, and sometimes takes advantage, but we're surviving.

Stud muffin

His first 'real' tie for church today. And I must say, he looks rather dashing. That little grin gets me every time, and yes it is near impossible to resist. He is surprisingly so, so good with Evie girl, loves her and watches out for her. Love my little guy.

Sorry this picture is terrible. My phone was the only thing handy.

More coming soon!

Perfection.

I swear she lives in her own world. Nothing phases her.

Her hospital bow lasted until sunday when bubba ripped it off. I think Claire's lasted a few hours. I think this is telling about their personalities.

I don't even know where to begin with the last few days. Evie's siblings adore her. But they are now huge to me. So funny how bubba was my little bug, and now he's some kind of big kid....

I don't have a family Easter picture- I know, what is wrong with me! But, you must understand, I barely found something that fit over everything, and still made it easy to nurse. Gotta love that awkward post baby stuff.

Still recovering. Still in the 'I am a cow' phase. Still trying to figure out how to keep the big kids from fighting while nursing. But, I have been blessed with a dream boat for a baby. Last night she slept all night except for a half hour of eating and then right back asleep. Like, 10-730. who does that??? Love her.

Sleeping beauty

So in love with this one.

She sleeps. So dreamy.

You know how with your first baby you take a million pictures? I've been enjoying her so much I never even paid attention to the camera.

We made it home. I don't mind the hospital until I want to leave. And it's like they try and keep you hostage and make you read and sign and read and sign. And tell what you are doing wrong.... Anyways.

In love.

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.