Three Months Old

Caleb is 3 months old! Although he looks like a 6 month-old baby. We are loving every bit of this chubby little baby. His fat cheeks are so kissable! Here are some fun pictures:

Blogger keeps downloading this sideways, sorry. I've tried to fix it three times.

Another sideways one, sorry.

Caleb is so smiley. If you catch his eye for one second he is just delighted to have someone interacting with him. He's a great baby. We still have to wrestle him occasionally to get him to bed at night but he's much less fussy than he was a month ago. And most nights he sleeps until 5:00ish AM, eats, and goes right back down until 8:00ish. He likes to talk and is working on his giggle too. (I tried to upload a video and it was having a hard time, I'll try again later.)

As far as the Momma, I feel pretty good. Between feedings, sickness, and summer storms, I'm still not getting the uninterrupted sleep I desperately need, but we're surviving. I'm having a harder time getting the baby weight off. I'm working out 3-5 times a week and don't feel like it's helping much. My belly flab is bad, so I've really been trying to do ab exercises. I haven't seen much improvement yet though. Maybe it would help to cut out my evening helping of ice cream :) My back gets pretty tired carrying this heavy baby and my large chest around, but the occasional chiropractic/massage therapist visit keeps me going. I've also started to lose my hair again -- man, these babies do a number on us!

I love having a little person to snuggle. There is just nothing like rocking a sleeping baby. I want to enjoy it more, but I'm usually in a hurry to get back to the other kids. So you first time moms out there, ENJOY IT! Savor every moment. I'm trying to. On the flip side, having other children around with a new baby can be great. Dillon is an awesome helper with Caleb. He puts his binkie in when we're in the car and will hold him and talk to him when I need a couple minutes before I can get him. He's great! This mother of three boys is surviving. I'm so grateful for my children. Most days I love being a mom and am thankful I get to do it.

Pirates Cove

We made a trip to Pirates Cove again. It is such a perfect place for children. Our boys love it. We met up with some new friends and Dillon and Mason really hit it off. Mason is over a year younger, but he's got Dillon beat in the height department. Maybe because his parents have got us beat. Guess that's not hard to do!

Dillon always loves the trains

Wesley loved the slides

...and the merry-go-round

He got really attached to this horse. I think he even named him. I don't remember the exact name, but it can't be as good as his horse at home he named Scrappy Ho! Isn't that the best horse name? Wesley is totally into horses these days.

Caleb had fun too

One of the best parts of the day for me was when an employee let me sit in a private air-conditioned dressing room to nurse Caleb. It was so nice of him. And I got to sit and look at pirate costumes for 20 minutes! Who doesn't want that?!?

All in all it was a great day. We had dinner at All Aboard Diner and made homemade cookies at home for dessert. Grateful we had new friends who gave us the excuse to play. Thanks for coming Brady family!

Trip to the Temple

Our primary (church children's organization) visited the Chicago temple a couple weeks ago. Afterward we had a picnic at a nearby forest preserve. It was a beautiful day. We tried to take some family pics, but as you know we don't usually have much luck with that -- thanks to our sweet Wesley.

Somehow our friends have trained their children to be so much better in pictures.

Just compare the next two pics, it's pretty sad.

I mean, who is that picture perfect every time?

Well, good pics or not, we had a nice day at the temple and I was grateful for the opportunity to teach my children about the house of the Lord. I'm so grateful for the blessings of the temple that allow us to be united as a family forever.

Taste of Westmont 2011

Our friends joined us again for Taste of Westmont this year. It's just fun that we are able to walk to an event like this -- even if it IS a little trashy!

The kids LOVED the rides

These kids are all so cute together.

We tried some fun food and the weather was absolutely delightful! As the sun went down it was the perfect temperature. Go Westmont!

Visit with Grandma and Grandpa: Part 4

The 4th of July!

We started the day at a local parade.

The kids found some good climbing trees while they waited for the parade to start.

Once it started, they became expert candy collectors. Rachel held her backpack open and Dillon ran around like crazy grabbing as much candy as he could. Sweet Rachel then went home and divided the candy evenly, making sure everyone got the same number of suckers, gumballs, tootsie rolls, etc. So cute!

The rest of us tried to find a shady spot -- it was HOT and HUMID!

The mommies and babies!

We got some Chicago classics (hot dogs, Italian beef) at Portillos for lunch and then, while the boys napped, Lori and I went to Hobby Lobby. We gave my mantle a little makeover. We also got a really cute Tuscan picture for the wall I'll have to take a pic of sometime. Lori is so talented. She walks through those stores and can put it all together whereas I just feel overwhelmed. She kind of gave me the decorating bug though. This week I went back to Hobby Lobby to get another item we'd looked at. I've also been painting frames and moving stuff around. I'll post pics when it looks just right. Stay tuned.That evening we went to the park for the fireworks.

Another attempt at a family picture.

It'll be a miracle if we EVER get something worth framing.Don and Lori make every picture look good!

Our little Chub!

Friends at the fireworks

During the show, Dillon and a neighbor hopped up on the Frisbee golf cages for a better view. I love these pics I got.

It was a fabulous Independence Day. Don and Lori flew out early the next morning. We LOVED having them here, on our turf, where they couldn't be distracted by work or anything else, they were just stuck with US. Thanks for making the sacrifice to come, you two. Let's do it again soon!

Visit with Grandma and Grandpa: Part 3

Blessing Day

My sweet neighbor came over to take a few pictures of the crew before church. Unfortunately Wesley did not want to cooperate at all -- but at least it's documented, right?!

Our priesthood boys:

An attempt at a family picture The "man" of the hour

Dillon always has a smile for us!

Wesley is a different story -- good thing he's so dang cute.

The most photogenic grandparents in the world! I LOVE this picture.

It was soooo wonderful to have some family here for this important day. And I've had several people comment what a wonderful blessing Aaron gave. I'm so grateful he's my "priesthood man." It was nice to have the help at church, too. Lori came and asked me for a diaper (and new outfit!) half way through the 3-hour block -- I loved having her around! Don helped dress the boys that morning. And Luke decided to join the party last minute. He's in Tennessee for the summer. I'm so glad he came. What a stud. I have the greatest in laws in the world!