Little Man, LIttle Suit

Isn't he just TOO CUTE!!!

He looks like such a little man!

Croix and Dad after church.

Do you just love how they match,

white shirts unbuttoned after church.

I don't think I can have them match too much though. There is a girl in our ward that makes bow ties for her little guy, it's adorable! She said she'd teach me. I asked Brent if he would wear a bow tie that matches Croix's if I made one. That was a no go. So I get white shirts unbuttoned after church! Still adorable!

Sleeping Through The Night

Have I mentioned what an amazing baby I have! He is such a sweet, happy, good baby! He is smiley and happy all the time. Even in the evenings, which tend to be his fussy time, he really just wants interaction. He eats like a chap, and sleeps wonderfully. He's been sleeping, well going between feedings, 7 hours at night. That means he's only waking up once at night to eat. It's amazing how rested I feel just waking up once rather then twice. He also goes right back to sleep, so 20-30 to eat, burp, change and we are both back to sleep. Well Sunday night he slept through the night. I really thought it was just a fluke since the jump from 7 hrs to 10 hrs 45 min is quite a jump! Monday evening when Brent was home Croix was asleep. He said to me aren't you going to keep him awake? I asked him why would I do that? Sunday evening Croix had been awake most of the evening. It wasn't intentional, just with being at Brent's parents for dinner and doing things he had been awake more. So Tuesday I kept Croix awake. But then when Brent was home for his pit stop between work and school, a whole 30 min, Croix was just fussy and crying. All evening I had to bounce, entertain, move, Croix and just deal with a lot of crying. Then he slept through the night. Repeat Wednesday evening and then he slept through the night last night. It was great to sleep though the night. Would have been even nicer had I not woken up at 5 in the morning because my boobs were about to explode. But here's what I'm thinking, is it worth it? I'm leaning toward no. I think I'd rather get up once in the night then deal with Croix crying all evening long. Also when he goes to bed at 830 nine hours is 530 in the morning. That's awfully early to get up. So I might be the first parent to say this but I think at this point I'd rather not sleep through the night. I am excited to know that he can go that long and hopefully he'll be sleeping through the night on his own soon!

This is his Blue Steel look.

For those of you who have seen Zoolander can you see it?
He does this look all the time, love it!

Learning, Just Not Applying

I know I've mentioned Rusty our naughty puppy more then a few times, but here we go again. He is learning, but he is not applying what he's learned. You might wonder how I know he's learning he shouldn't be doing the things he does if he still does them, well let me tell you. When he has been naughty and chewed something while we've been gone he doesn't greet us at the door when we get home. He is either standing back in the kitchen tail down looking guilty or cowering in his dog bed, depends on how naughty he was. Also the other night I was taking out the recycling. I thought the gate to the back yard had closed behind me but apparently it had not. I was standing at the bin putting in stuff and I see Rusty peak out from the side of the house and look at me in front of the garage. His tail dropped, his ears went down, his head went down, then he decided screw it and dashed. You know what I did this time instead of running after him, I went back in the house 3 more times to take out more recycling (I'm big on recycling) then I also emptied the trash and took that out. At some point during my back and forth Brent said are you going to go get the dog? I was seriously contemplating not going after him! He has a tag with our numbers on it, someone would find this cute dog and call. If not, would I really be sad?? Finally I got a leash and started pacing the neighborhood calling his name. A nice boy was walking his dog and decided to help me. We looked and looked, called and called, no Rusty. I started to get a little worried, I check outside of our neighborhood on the main street, all the while praying. I found my self praying "I'm sorry I hate him, please help me find him" Then I realized I'd just said hate...Sorry I hate my puppy (which by the way he really is no longer a puppy he's a year and a half old I just call him a puppy still because then I think his behaviour is more age related then Rusty related). I've thought many times about getting rid of him. I threaten him all the time with my friend Craig and his nice list. I also tell him if he wants to be so naughty he can do it somewhere else, I'll take off his tag open the front door and let him run! He is really cute, someone would find him and take care of him. Someone always finds him. The same thing happened that night, someone found him, called, I went to yet another neighbors house thank them for catching my puppy and go home fuming and wanting to get rid of him. I'm tired of finding things in my back yard. He drags out, dishes, nursing pad, underwear, trash (especially embarrassing), baby toys, baby clothes, and other things really just about anything that will fit out the doggie door. So we look like the trashiest people. I'd hate to know what our neighbors who can see our back yard think of us! He has chewed up his dog be in the back yard, so there is constantly batting strewn through out the back yard, it's disguising. He has literally cost us hundreds if not thousands of dollars in damage and ruined belongings. He's chewed just about everything in the house, he is much better now with the chewing then he was when we first got him. The occasions are getting fewer and father between that we come home and he's chewed up something. At this point you're probably thinking why hasn't she gotten rid of him. Well he is cute, he does fun tricks, but most importantly Rusty and Bosco are best friends. They play together all the time. They are great companions. Our poor social Bosco needs a friend. When we got rid of our old dog Bentley I thought, let's just have one dog. Well poor Bosco got so depressed, he wouldn't eat, he moped around, he would just come and lay by us so sad. Bosco needs Rusty. Also I watched Marley and Me, bawled through most of the movie and decided Rusty and Croix will be great friends someday. That's why we still have Rusty. Hopefully I have the strength and patience to keep him long enough to become great friends with Croix.

Such good buddies

They are so cute when the sleep

Bosco continues to be the worlds best dog!

Rusty is good for entertainment

Yes he is as much of a Tasmanian devil as he looks in the pic.

And YES the mess is from Rusty.

They love it when I open our bedroom window,

which is on the second story. They just stair outside.

Brothers

Jammin'

One of the things I love about Brent is that he plays the guitar. When I was pregnant Brent would play his guitar and Croix would start kicking like crazy! I LOVED IT! Well Croix seems to enjoy it just as much now as he did then. Last night Brent pulled out the guitar and started playing. Little Croix was just so excited! He would smile, and coo, and kick, kick kick! It was so fun to watch! I sure do love my boys!

He was just looking at Brent playing and loving it!

Look at his little arms and legs flying around. I'll do believe he is dancing! :D

H&M......My Old Friend, Reunited

H&M is one of the greatest stores ever! It's a European store that is mostly on the east coast. That is where I fell in love with H&M!! They have great, cute, stylish, affordable, good, quality clothes. They FINALLY opened on in AZ! The new H&M is in Scottsdale, still about a 40 min. drive without traffic. So I wont be there all the time, but it's nice to know it's there! I fell in love with H & M when I lived in CT. Hit it up when I was in NY and since they opened on in LA I've gone there every time we've been to CA. I love this store! I'm so glad it's finally here! There's been rumors that it's been coming for a couple years now! So any way. I went to the VIP grand opening. It was awesome! I felt like a celebrity! There was a red carpet, a DJ, catering. There was media there covering the even (which I saw on the news later) It was super fun! I also felt a little like a 500 lbs woman! Brent had school so I just took Croix with me. That's how much I wanted to be there! Well with a ton of people there, me caring around a car seat and a giant diaper bag I kept bumping into everyone! It was ridiculous! The kids and maternity section is upstairs. When I was up there I got compliments on being so good to get out even with a baby. All the Moms seemed to admire my determination to be there. Down stairs with the model looking people I got dirty looks! So needless to say, I spent most of my time upstairs! It was so fun and I can't wait to go back when there are not 500 people so I can actually shop! (not that I really have money to shop with! :-P)

Oooh I almost for got the most random part. There was an elevator Nazi! He was a big black guy, looked like a bouncer at a club. He would not let you go up the elevator unless you were in a wheelchair or had a stroller (there was no one there with either). He didn't catch me and my friend trying to use it until we were already in the elevator, he came and gave us this mean look and told us we weren't allowed to use the elevator. My friend just so happens to be 8 mo. pregnant so I said not even with a baby, pointing to Croix, and a baby, pointing to her belly. He stood there a sec. and let us go up. When I tried to use it again a while later, just me, no pregnant friend, he gave me the boot! I had to drudge through the sea of people and fight my way up the escalator! Stinking elevator Nazi!

Happy Halloween

Croix was a pumpkin

and not too happy about it!

Brent and I were tired parents! Not very creative I know but it was as good as it was going to get this year!

I Miss Fall!!!

Fall has always been my favorite season. I love the crispness of the air. I love the colors of the trees. I love wearing sweaters and jackets. I love the crunch of leaves under my feet. Fall smells different. Fall feels different. Well fall doesn't exist so much for me right now. Wednesday's high....99!!!! I HATE IT!!! We were in the 90's all week. I'm so ready for it to be cool. I just might buy into global warming if it keeps going like this (not really)! It makes me a little sad to think about how I live somewhere that really only has two seasons.....extreme summer and summer! Makes me wonder if I really want to live here the rest of forever, but that is another post all in it own. I do miss winter too but not as much as fall. There are more bad aspects to winter then fall....scraping snow off your windshield, freezing, the bottom of your pants getting wet and then freezing. But fall, oh fall it's so perfect! Prescott where I grew up has a great fall season. When I lived in Utah fall was beautiful in the Rockies. Then I lived in Connecticut. I think that sentence speaks for it's self. This was my fall in CT.



This one is worth scrolling over for! It's beautiful!! I said that but once I posted it it wont show the whole pic. Can't figure it out :(








I'd drive down the road and see this!!

And those were not taken in the peak of fall, the colors were just starting to change!

Since I was missing fall, and feeling a little cabin fever, Brent took a random Thursday off and we went for a drive to try and find fall. I wore my warm shoes that are too warm for Phoenix! Seriously I can't even wear them here, my feet get too hot! We headed north. First we went to Flagstaff, this is where we found winter! There was snow and it was literally freezing! Then we went and got some Macho Nachos at

They were so good! If you're ever in Flagstaff go to Charlies in the Hotel Weatherford and order some Macho Nachos!

My boys!! TOO CUTE!

Then we drove through Oak Creek Canyon. This is where I was expecting to find fall. This is what we found.





We even saw a touch of snow!








Then we drove to Sedona and saw the beautiful Red Rocks


And this cute little gem.

Then we headed home through Payson. It was a great trip. So fun to spend the day with my boys! So fun to wear a sweater! So fun to be chilly. But I still miss fall!

Trip Up North

A couple weekends ago we headed up north to Chino Valley to visit my family. It was so fun to visit, since we don't make it up there too often. It was even more fun to show off little Croix and see everyone ooh and aah over him! I was so happy to find out Croix travels well. He pretty much slept the whole way up and when he was awake he was happy and looking out the back window. I was a little worried about the elevation change and his ears, but he did great! Every now and then we'd hear a little "ahh" as he opened up and yawned a little. I've also really enjoyed observing my family members in new rolls. Grandma, Aunt, Uncle, etc. They've all been these rolls for two years now, since my nephew is now 2 but it's interesting how it seems different watching them with little Croix. I love to see my Mom as Grandma! She's a good little Grandma! Well anyway a big thanks to my Aunt and Uncle for hosting our little BBQ get together. Here are a few pics from the day that I stole from my sister Crystal since I was too busy visiting and didn't get hardly any pictures of my own taken.

Croix absolutely loved being out side laying under the tree on the grass!!

My brother Trenton and his son Seth on the sea saw

My sisters Crystal and Chelsea. Aren't they pretty!

My Grandpa, doesn't he just look so happy? He's a funny guy, I said to him, Grandpa I think Croix might have you're eyes and he says, no he doesn't they're still in my head!

Seth and Croix.....Grandma's little boys

My Mom, Me, Croix, and My Grandma.


Mom, Me, Croix, Grandma, Grandpa

Ethan...chillin

My Uncle Doug grilling up the burgers.

My Aunt and Cousins

Seth scooting around!

My Aunt and Cousins have some animals on their property.

Like this giant pig! They were growing it to eat, but Courtney my cousin got attached to it, so now it's a pet. Did I mention Chino Valley is a small town ;-)