hasta luego grandma and grandpa!

Back in January, my parents got called to be the mission president and wife of the newly created Puebal Mexico North mission.  We have been so excited for them and anticipating the time that they would leave.  They both spent a lot of time preparing; my mom went down to the MTC every week to begin her spanish training while my dad brushed up on his language from home and reading more about what it means to be a mission president.  They planned to come and visit each other their children's families in their homes before they left, too.  6 weeks and 9 homes later, they had seen all of us.  They started out in California at Brian's house and then made their way up here to Portland!  They arrived on Monday night, April 30 and then left on Thursday night, May 3.  We had a lot of fun just hanging out with not much planned.  We have FHE with them on Monday night, which is always a treat, went on long walks every morning, played at the park, went to library story time, played lots of games, ate lots of food (!), watched a movie, and got to go out to eat, too!  I really just soaked up every single minute having them in my home.  Knowing that it will be 3 years before they're back made me realize how precious this time with them was.  I'm so grateful for these last few days with them!

lunch one day with the boys!  grandpa thought their corn dogs looked really good!

grandma and the boys

my mom is always on the floor playing with the kids.  one thing i love about her.

calvin was supposed to have a t-ball game while they were here but it got cancelled because of rain.  didn't stop us though!

my boys' favorite thing with grandma.  she tickles backs and sings nursery rhymes every night right before bed.

On Easter Sunday Travis gave our baby girl a name and a blessing. We were surrounded by family and it was such a beautiful day! We are so grateful for everyone who was there to spend this day with us.

Grandpa C., Kendall, Gordon, Troy, Travis with Alexa, Papa Rick, Rich, Kyle

Alexa's Newborns

Thank You Kristen!  It's been a while since these were taken and I am still so in love with them.

one month...and then some.

my baby girl is already one month old! it's hard to believe. it's amazing how quickly a baby's life goes by when you have two other kids to take care of, too. we are still so smitten with this little girl and so happy to have her in our family! here are two pictures of her on her one month birthday. she's getting so big!

this picture was taken when she was about 3 weeks old. kristen came and did a whole photo shoot for me (yes, i'm spoiled!) and this is one i just took with my camera. i can't wait to see her more professional ones! (hint, hint kri)

all of these pictures are out of order and i'm not switching them tonight. sorry! i had so much help the first two weeks after alexa was born. travis' mom helped a ton that first week and then my mom came out for week #2. it's always so nice to have my mom here in my home to take care of me and my family! we all loved it. calvin and miles were lucky to get grandma to play lots and lots of games with them. calvin and my mom played stratego at least twice a day!

and candyland was played just as much!

my mom with all three!

both boys love their little sister. i caught miles here reading his choo-choo book to alexa one day and i think she was really into it!

back with grandma with lots of helpers during bath-time one night.

my 3 kids! this is the photo where it really hit me that i have 3 children! wow. love them all.

yep, these are definitely out of order. i was so lucky to have amber come to visit portland on the day alexa was born. she got to meet her as a very fresh newborn. we love you auntie amber!

this about sums it up. we all just adore this little girl. yup. she's spoiled already!

and here's my big boy. calvin has grown up a lot since alexa was born. he's taken on his oldest brother responsibility very seriously.

welcome alexa jean!

i know. it's been almost a week. i guess i've just been busy loving on this little girl and trying to rest and take care of our little family as much as possible. i've had a lot of people ask about why i decided to get induced, especially one day after miles' birthday. really, there's not much of a reason except that i was ready to have this baby! i also needed to be on antibiotics for 4 hours before she was born so it was easier to control it this way. also, travis doesn't work on mondays so it seemed best to have it done on a friday so that we could have the whole weekend with him home. i've heard of a lot of horror stories with being induced but mine was far from that. i had my water broken just before 8 am, started feeling strong contractions around 9:30, got my epidural around 10:45, had a small dose of pitocin around 11:30, and on friday, january 13th at 2:23 PM our baby girl was born! there were no problems, travis was right there and alexa is healthy and such a good baby! i hate to actually write it down in fear that i will jinx it, but she is an angel baby. she hardly cries unless she's hungry or after her bath. she is just so chill. i love having pink in the house and feeling a little more girly around here! the boys love having her around and often ask to hold her. we are, basically, all in love!

her stats: 7 lbs, 12 oz, 19 1/2 inches long. full head of light brown hair with a lot of blonde mixed in. looks like a girl version of her brothers when they were babies. see? calvin and miles(pics not working, sorry!)

i guess we're all a little tired around here! this was our first night home from the hospital. miles is also, apparently, exhausted from this little newborn!