"Gingerbread" Houses & Santa

Here's Colby at 3 weeks old. He still has his dark hair, so we're hopeful he might keep it, though his eyes are blue. He loves to lounge in his swing and vibrating chair pretty much all the time.

We decided to make graham-cracker houses this year for the first time. It was a HUGE mess, but the kids had a lot of fun. Andy and Skyler made one together, Kylee made hers all by herself (including building the actual structure, and she even added a chimney with smoke!), I made my own, and I built Ally's and then let her decorate it herself.

I feel like they actually turned out really cute. That evening we went to our ward Christmas party, and when we got home the candies were melting and the graham crackers were getting soggy because it is too humid. We were worried that by morning they would collapse (Ally's roof was already starting to bow), but the humidity decreased a bit and they ended up staying together.

The next day after church our neighborhood had their annual kids Christmas get together at the clubhouse. They had crafts, a treat exchange, and Santa. Andy had clinicals that day, so I braved taking all four kids to church by myself, and then when we got home it was time for the gathering, so we walked down there. It was pretty fun. Quite a few of our friends and neighbors were there, so it was fun to visit.

Skyler wasn't excited to see Santa. I don't know why he is such a chicken, but he wouldn't talk to Santa at all.

Finally when they gave him his candy cane and his bell necklace he managed to crack a tiny smile.

Ally of course jumped right up and started talking non-stop. I don't think Santa really knew what she was saying, but she had a lot to say. She told me she asked Santa to bring her a Barbie.

Even Colby got to have a turn seeing Santa. He was 4 weeks old that day.

This is Colby at one month old. He went for his one month checkup on that day, and he weighed 11.82 pounds. He's big, but he's really not that chubby. His stomach is huge and his cheeks are big, but his arms and legs are actually pretty scrawny! The blanket that he's sitting on in this picture was made by Tiff. She's super good at quilt making. All my kids still have the quilts she's made them.

He does NOT love tummy time. If I lay him on his tummy he bobs his head around for awhile and then lays down. Eventually he'll get bored and just roll back over onto his back.

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving we got together with a couple of our friends to have a feast, and it was so yummy! We also were gifted a smoked turkey, some stuffing and some sweet potato casserole from our other friends who are pretty much the best cooks we know, so we had lots of delicious food to eat in the few days after Thanksgiving as well.

The day after Thanksgiving we went to the sand sculpture championships at Ft. Myers beach (about 30 minutes away from our house). The sand sculptures were really cool. These are some of our favorites.

The kids loved that Buzz Lightyear was on the Welcome sculpture.

Colby turned two weeks old, and though he is still a big baby, he definitely thinned out from when he was born. He lost over a pound in the first few days of life (he was apparently retaining a lot of water).

We sold or gave away almost all our baby stuff before we left Utah, but I found this super awesome baby play mat at a yard sale in a neighborhood by ours. It cost me $6, and it has lights, sounds, toys, and it was pretty much brand new (tags still attached). It has a thing on one end where when he kicks it the vibrations make the toy on top above his face light up and play sounds. He still just does spastic kicks right now, but Ally loves to lay on here when he is not, because she thinks it's super fun.

Colby is 1 Week Old!

When Colby was 6 days old, we decided to head down to the pool for some afternoon swimming. Colby and I just watched, of course, and Andy sat in the hot tub talking to some of his friends that were there while the kids swam around. I was actually surprised for once Skyler actually climbed in and swam around by himself without thinking he needed one of us to help him!

When Colby was exactly a week old, he and I stayed home from church while Andy and the kids went. When they got home they wanted to try holding him. Ally always thinks the first thing she needs to do when she gets home is remove her dress...so that's why she's mostly naked here.

In his first week of life Colby struggled with his bilirubin (similar to Skyler as a baby), but they won't give the home tanning beds here, so we spent quite a few hours at the hospital while they figured everything out. After he got out he was supposed to be in the sun as much as possible, so he spent some time on Sunday lounging out on the patio listening to the soothing sounds of the water fountain.