4 Months

My sweet and Darling Chet boy is 4 months old...and once again, because I am lazy and lacking in creativity, I'm going to make a list:

• My beautiful boy is a talker. He loves to babble as loud as he possibly can. Mariah has now started to try to imitate his sounds. It's pretty entertaining.
• He laughs! Not very loud, but it is definitely a laugh.  
• Still an awful sleeper, but I seem to have adjusted somewhat to my lack of sleep. 
• He's a big fan of his swing, or maybe I'm a big fan. Regardless, it helps him stay asleep so I love it very much. 
• Still an awfully big big boy. He now weighs over 17 pounds. You would think I would have sculpted amazing arms after hefting him around for four months. Sadly, that has yet to happen. But he is the most squeezable baby ever. 
• Not a big fan of tummy time, but can tolerate it for a while if someone is right there for him to see and talk to. 
• Hasn't rolled over or even rolled onto his side...but I'm not too worried. My children are what my mother likes to call "bumps on a log", and I kind of like it. I never lose him :) 
• He had horrible eczema with the change in seasons but we have gotten it under control. He gets slathered in Vaseline after all of his baths and before bedtime. It's a miracle cure I tell ya. 
• He had a double ear infection, went on antibiotics, and I just took him in again today and he is now taking different antibiotics. 
• Because of the nasty infections, he has screaming fits and won't eat for hours at a time. He cries out in pain anytime his ear is touched. Poor baby boy. I'm pretty sure this is also why he can't sleep for more than a couple hours at a time. Hopefully this new antibiotic will do the trick. 
• He's a binkie baby and I am so happy about that. 
• Even with his health issues, his smile will melt your heart. He makes me feel like the most special person in the whole wide world. He even puts a big smile on for his sister. He's her biggest fan. I just know that once he starts feeling better he will be such a happy boy. 

I know he isn't looking at the camera, but this is one of the few pics of us together

Bonding time with his cousin Miri

Like I said, melts your heart...

And to end this post here's a pep talk from Master Chet: 

He has gotten much louder, I just haven't gotten it on video yet. We sure love this sweet boy and are praying he starts feeling better! 

Chet's Blessing

We decided to hold off on Chet's baby blessing until we got to Pittsburgh and I'm so happy we did. He was able to have his Grandpa and Uncle Baydon in the circle. The Bishop was nice enough to come to Tanner's parents' house so we could do it there. It made it way more relaxed. I wouldn't mind doing all of them that way.

Tanner bore his Testimony before the blessing and it set such a sweet Spirit in the room. The blessing was beautiful. One of Tanner's sisters recorded it on her phone (I guess thats allowed now, at least she got the ok from the Bishop). I'm excited to have it and wish we could have Mariah's as well.

I took a few pictures with our rinky-dink camera but most of the pictures were taken on Grandpa Crossley's camera, which I forgot to get. If I only had a brain...

But this will have to do for now:

My Handsome Boys

I'm so grateful for my sweet, straight from Heaven "little" boy and my worthy Priesthood holder. I am so so blessed.

Christmas in Pittsburgh

We got to spend another wonderful Christmas in Pittsburgh. Tanner took his last test the Thursday morning before Christmas so we woke up bright and early on Friday and headed out.

I was nervous about the 12 hour drive with our two babes but it went surprisingly well. Tanner's parents got us a hotel room in Columbus, OH. That made the first day only 9 hours.

So happy to be out of the car! This is the best photo I could get of the two of them

We were able to see our good friends the Hiltons and go to the temple the next morning. Tanner's parents work in the Columbus temple so they watched Mariah and Chet while we were in there.

The three hours to Pittsburgh on Saturday were marvelous because Mariah and Chet slept the whole time. That was their Christmas present to mom and dad.

We were able to celebrate Christmas with all of Tanner's younger siblings. Mariah and Chet were in heaven with all of the attention they got from their aunts.

On Christmas Eve we had Shepherds' night. We ate way too much Israeli type food and then did the nativity. Mariah and her cousin Annalie were the focus of the whole evening and it was so fun!

The girls were dressed up like shepherds and then they were brought down to the basement where shepherds were waiting to tell them all about that special night. An angel even appeared!

My favorite thing about the last picture is the texting angel :) 

After the angel left the shepherds traveled through the house looking for the baby Jesus. At the end we gathered around the the glass doors looking out at the figurines of Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. We sang some songs and then Grandma bore her Testimony and gave Mariah and Annalie their very own sheep. They were in love.

Christmas morning we went and did a Christmas program at one of the retirement homes in the community. Grandma made these little hats for the children to wear during some of the songs. I didn't get one the day of but I did get pictures earlier that week: 

Such a sweet little sheep

At one point in the program I had to leave to feed Chet. When I came back I couldn't find Mariah. She was standing in the middle of all of the people with a bell in her mouth staring at the audience. That girl loves being the center of attention. 

When we got home the girls played a little game looking for the Wisemen. After a little while they were able to meet their very own Wisman! He showed them the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. He then brought us all in to the Christmas tree and handed out the presents. 

 

As you can see in the second picture Mariah kind of missed the whole point of going into the next room...she did figure it out

After Mariah opened that book she read it for the rest of the time. Thats my girl! And Chet had a fabulous time as well. 

We had a wonderful Christmas and are so so grateful for the Crossley family for all of the food, fun and love. 

The Christmas Season

I was really excited for Mariah to get to experience the Christmas season this year. I figured if she could say "Jesus" then she was going to be able to absorb the true meaning of Christmas. When I unpacked our Christmas box I remembered the little magnetic nativity set that my mom had sent us the year before. Mariah loved it. She was constantly taking the pieces off the fridge and then putting them back up. She always wanted me to sing the different parts of "Picture a Christmas", "We Three Kings", and "Angels We Have Heard on High" for each character. She also loved watching the Nativity video from lds.org.

At the beginning of the season we took Mariah to meet Santa. When we got to the front of the line, Santa held his arms out to Mariah and she made a beeline for him. We were totally shocked, until at the last second she made a slight course correction and headed right for the candy canes at his feet. That made more sense. She wouldn't stand by Santa without me being there. But then gutsy Santa just reached down and picked her up. I was expecting serious tears but luckily some of our friends were there and they started to clap and cheer for Mariah. Mariah is a born performer so the applause took away any thought of crying.

I'm pretty sure this was the real Santa, he was awesome!

The first morning we woke up to snow I was so excited. I bundled Mariah all up and kept telling her all about the snow and how fun it would be. When I opened up the door she immediately began sobbing. She wouldn't step in the snow, she wouldn't touch the snow, she was even nervous to be carried in the snow. Not exactly the reaction I was expecting. But later in the day she decided it wasn't that bad.

She is obsessed with her gloves now. Anytime her coat is put on she asks for her gloves.

My mom sent us some presents for Mariah and Chet and because she is such a wonderful grandma she wrapped them all separately. I put them under the tree but after three of the presents were opened in a matter of 10 minutes I decided we better hide them in our closet. I ended up rationing them out to Mariah each day kind of like a countdown before we left for Pittsburgh. She didn't care whether they were presents for her or Chet. Chet got some outfits and Mariah would drape them over her shoulders and prance around the house. Her favorite present from Grandma and Grandpa Young was a beautiful dress. Right after she opened the present she asked her daddy to put it on her. She twirled all around and it took a lot of persuading to get her to take it off. Sadly every time we try to take a picture of her in it she has a major meltdown. We'll work on it. But here's a pic of my handsome boy in one of his new outfits...

That is one hunk of love right there. Surprisingly, the outfit's a little big on him.

The night before we left for Pittsburgh our good friends the Hills stopped by to visit. Mariah was in the bath and her best friend Max was splashing from the outside. All of a sudden we heard a big splash...

Mariah was delighted to have a bath partner. And just fyi, Max's battle wounds aren't from the slip in the tub. Mariah and Max have to get married now, because won't this picture be so perfect for their wedding video?