Chris + Brooklyn

This is like a picture perfect replica of how Chris relaxes on the couch. I love my boys and all that they have in common.

28 weeks along with our baby girl. Rhett thinks she's a pretty effective pillow :)

The kids found permanent markers while I was getting ready for work and went to town. It was on the floor, cabinets, fridge, oven and this door. Sweet Rhett was so excited to come get me and show me what they had done. While it was super frustrating to have this extra huge mess to clean up (I still haven't been able to get it off this door or completely off the fridge or oven), after having some time to process my feelings ;) I looked at my kids and felt nothing but gratitude for them. While this is for sure not my favorite incident, and you can bet there was a LONG conversation about never ever EVER doing this again, and I know I didn't fully keep my temper in check like I should have, I know that I am the luckiest to be their mom. When the dust settled and I'd had a few minutes to process, I snapped this picture, because I wanted to remember what I was feeling. I was reminded about how sweet my Heavenly Father is. I was reminded of patience. I was reminded of teaching with kindness and love. I was reminded of forgiveness and second chances. All things that have been extended to me countlessly throughout my lifetime, and all things that I want my children to have fully extended to them by not only their Heavenly Parents, but also by me as their earthly parent. Before leaving for work, I looked at the pictures above I had taken of Mia just earlier that day with the crown on that she was SO excited about. I thought about who she was in the eternal sphere, and how amazing it is that I can have a part in her progression to reaching a divine potential that I know she has. I am SO grateful for my kids. I am SO grateful to be a mom. After Chris, Mia and Rhett are my biggest dreams come true! I'm so grateful for this.

I adore my little Bam Bam boy and all his cute bumps and bruises that remind me of his wild and reckless personality. He dinged up his nose pretty good while climbing in and out of the pack n play. He ended up falling right onto his face, and then doing a horrible looking somersault, face to the ground first after landing. I was so worried about his little neck, but after a quick hug and kiss, he was off to start climbing again.

He's also quite the scavenger, and is always bringing me treats he pulled out of the fridge or pantry, and forever making messes when he dumps out bags of chips or treats onto the floor. I tell him all the time, he is lucky he is so adorable, and he can't always rely on his cute face to get away with things. But I know he really can…;)

I know I shouldn't let him do this, but it's just so typical of him, I had to take a quick picture before I told him to stop :)

Mia wanted her hair like Minnie Mouse

My wild little boy was climbing around as usual, slipped, and ended up having a tooth go all the way through his lip in the landing. He was so tough and chill about it, but we were a little worried he might need stitches for it to heal properly. We were able to have a neighborhood family friend who is a doctor take a look at it and give us his opinion. The whole time the doctor was poking around Rhett's lip, pulling the sore open to confirm how deep and big it was, Rhett just calmly sat on my hip and rested his little head on his bent arm with his elbow resting on my shoulder. Chris and I and the doctor and his family laughed so hard at how tough and chill our little boy was about the whole ordeal. We love this little monster, and are so proud he is ours. All these pictures are from the following couple of days. We ended up deciding not to get stitches, and I'm so glad we didn't end up having to torture him with that traumatic experience. It's been healing so well!

I was seriously dying over this ultrasound I had at 30 weeks of our little baby girl. She kept her little hands nuzzled up to her face and clasped together the whole time, and it reminded me so much of Mia as a baby! The ultrasound tech kept trying to get her to move her hands so we could see her face, and I was just thinking, "I don't even care about that!" :) I was just so thrilled and in love to see her and a little glimpse into her personality.

And the outside view…things are really exploding out here. Just two more months to go.

Rhett

I came out to find Rhett in the midst of a huge mess and asked "Rhett, did you make this mess?" He was very nonchalant as he replied, "Ya, sink so." 

Rhett often will ask me to do something for him, and when I do it he will say "Good boy mom." It's one of my favorite things ever!

Rhett came over to tell me a secret and whispered in my ear "Yuv oo much mommy."

I walked into a room to see him twirling in a circle and singing to himself "body yuv oo mama!" over and over. 

I've found him multiple times recently in Mia's room playing with her dolls. He always calls the dolls "My baby sister" and he'll say things to them like "good boy Joo La La"  

Rhett and I were sitting next to Chris who was lying down, and Chris suddenly pulled me down to snuggle with him. I kind of reacted to the unexpectedness of it with a little moan, and Rhett thought I was being mistreated :). He yelled "Dad, Yeave mom alone!". Chris asked him, "Why can't dad snuggle mommy?" and Rhett grabbed his Scooby-Doo stuffed animal and handed it to Chris and said "Dad snuggle Scooby-Doo."

Recently, because of all the messes from Rhett getting into the pantry without us around, we decided to move the lock from Mia's bedroom door to the pantry. While we were in the process of doing this, Rhett and Mia went into her room to play and closed the door that now didn't have a handle. Chris and I came and found them and Chris was teasing them about not being able to come out of their room ever again because they were stuck. Mia acted concerned, but Rhett just said "Rhett det out!" so confidently, and then we started hearing a weird noise kind of scraping against the door. Chris opened the door and we found Rhett with his little toy saw going to town on the door, fully convinced that he was going to get them out.

Rhett has started opening doors by himself and also knows how to work most locks, so that's been a little wild adjustment. :)

So often when Rhett falls or something I'll ask, "Rhett are you ok bud?", and almost always he'll say "Rhett fine." It's so cute when Mia will run in to tell us that Rhett fell or got hurt and Rhett will come in behind her and just say "Rhett fine!", almost like he's annoyed at the whole situation.

Recently I was telling Rhett he could't do something and after a few minutes of back and forth with him, he walked up to me, grabbed my hand, and led me into the bathroom. He said "You go bathroom mom. You go potty, k? Thank you." and then ran out and closed the door behind him. There is now no doubt in my mind that he waits for me to go to the bathroom to get away with things.

I recently told Rhett he was a good boy, and he asked me "Good boy like Wreck It Ralph?". I thought about it for a minute and told him, "Ya, you are a good boy like Wreck It Ralph, buddy."

He calls my mom "Yamma Nita" or "Yamma Noddy"

He was trying to go in a room where Chris was on a business call, so I was having to keep him out. Once Chris got off the phone, he unlocked the door and let Rhett in, and Rhett said "Mom's dit yus (ridiculous)!" He later slammed a door in my face while saying "Mom, you dit yus!"

This sweet boy is usually so affectionate and lets me mall him with kisses all the live long day, but once or twice recently I've asked him if I can have a kiss and he's said "Not again!"

Chris was getting ready to get into the shower or something and didn't have a shirt on when he had to take a business call. Rhett came into the room and when he saw him without a shirt on yelled, "Daddy, you NAKED?!"

He recently has started disappearing to another room for a while when he needs to go number 2, but the other day I was hearing him pushing and looked over to see what was going on and he said "No yook at me!" So I guess he's into privacy these days…:)

Mia

I was recently hugging and smothering Rhett and telling him and I didn't want him to grow up when Mia chimed in matter-of-factly, "Then stop feeding him food."

While watching Frozen I heard her say "AWE, that's what true love is."

Recently she's been very expressive and vocal about meals she likes and will say things like, "Awe I LOVE this! I could eat this all day! I been dreaming about this!"

I was pretty shocked when a few weeks ago Mia said "That boy in church was so handsome, I even want to marry him!" It's the first time I've heard such a thing from her, and I've spent a lot of time trying to figure out who this boy is since then. No luck yet…

When I was snuggling with her recently she said "I just love you so much! You're so soft and so warm! Ugh! I could snuggle you all day!" She's just so sweet! I love her so much!

I overheard her talking to Rhett saying, "Rhett, wanna go play? I'm gonna be with you. Every step of the year." Isn't she just the sweetest!?

Dylan was holding her and while I'm sure trying to compliment him she told him "You're like a ripe old cheese!" Not sure where she came up with that, but we were all DYING laughing!

She's recently started telling me to do things "STAT!"

While talking about me having to go to work she said "I don't like it when you leave. I like it when you stay here with daddy and we're all together. That's my favorite days!" I told her I feel the same way.