Love This Baby

First haircut

Bat baby for Halloween

Brothers

Happy baby

Tyler is 4 months old now and is the perfect baby (and I'm not biased at all, of course). He is happy nearly all of the time and even if he's crying, can be consoled very quickly. He rolls from tummy to back sometimes, is always drooling, and LOVES to play with his toes. We all love having Tyler in our family.

Playing Catch-up

(In no particular order)
Nathan turns 5 on October 6

First day of school - Aug. 30

Harrison turns 10 - double digits!

Story time with dad

Dogs

Rhino

When I was 12 years old I had an accident that caused a lot of damage to my face. Since then I've had braces, multiple root canals, oral surgery and this latest installment: a septorhinoplasty to correct the cosmetic damage of my previously broken nose and to open my airway so I can breathe properly. I won't go into details, but I will say it was extremely painful! The first picture below shows the before pic and the second one is the 3-week-after view. My nose is a little bit straighter now, but is still swollen some. Mostly people don't notice the subtle change, but it's great to be able to breathe properly now and not be so self-conscious of my crooked nose.

Cute Baby

Worth Repeating

My sister is a fabulous mother. Here is an idea she shared that I thought I'd pass along. What a fun idea! Good luck to everyone who has kids starting school this fall!

Baby Stuff

I've spent the past 5 weeks falling in love with my sweet baby boy. It's so wonderful to have a newborn in the house again. Since the time Nathan was born almost 5 years ago, manufacturers have come up with some fun new baby things. Here are my 2 favorites:

I've used this cover for privacy and modesty while nursing. I'd never pay their ridiculous price - I had a coupon code for a free one, but you seamstresses could probably make your own easily.

We believe there are many benefits to swaddling a newborn baby. We swaddled our other kids with regular baby blankets so when I found these special swaddle blankets I was excited. I love the design and how they fasten easily with Velcro (although the ripping Velcro is a little noisy at 3am). Tyler loves it too, see?

Little House on the Prairie

In April we moved from the heart of Grangeville to a house just outside the city limits. Here are a few things we like about our new place:

Top 10 Things About This House on Highway 95:

1. Lots of trees all around the house give us plenty of shade to keep cool on hot summer days.

2. These Tiger Swallowtail butterflies play in our yard every day.

3. There is so much space for our large family inside. We're not tripping over each other and there's always a place to find peace and quiet. (My room has a door... with a lock!)

4. An entire wall of built-in shelves for our books and movies

5. Trash, water, sewer bill is included in the rent.

6. The water tastes good! Not since I lived in my childhood home have I liked the water enough to drink it without some kind of filter.

7. We have great neighbors. Our landlords live next door and are so very nice. Here are Rio and Jack riding one of their horses in our front yard:

8. The dishwasher is so quiet I barely know it's running.

9. Main level laundry. I love not hauling laundry baskets up and down stairs.

10. The fabulous yard. There are fields to explore, trees to climb and a great view of the mountains.

There are a few things we aren't crazy about - like the old house smell and the fact that there's carpet in every room (even the kitchen and bathroom), but we're very happy here and blessed that we found such a nice place that's just right for our family right now.