6.24.2018

Clark's 2nd Toy Story Birthday!!


this month my baby turned TWO.  we threw him the high-ridinest', rootinest, tootinest birthday bash and celebrated Buzz Lightyear style, to infinity and beyond! ;)


when I began brainstorming ideas for Clark's party, I was originally leaning towards a Moana theme since he's been obsessed with her ever since he first heard, "How Far I'll Go".  but after we introduced him to Toy Story and that became his new thing, I thought it would be so fun to do a Toy Story party!  he absolutely LOVED it!!!  we still have all the decorations up and his favorite word these days is, "BUZZ!"


we turned our house into Toy Story headquarters, complete with Buzz's life size spaceship, the cardboard town buildings from Andy's bedroom, Pin-the-Tail on Bullseye, a race car mat, life-size posters, the actual toys from the movie (they were authentic Disney and exactly like the movie, down to Andy written on the foot!), and a Toy Story themed menu!  it was SO much fun to plan!!!  I think in another life (who knows, maybe in this one someday!) I would have been born to be a party planner because it's right up there with acting as one of my favorite things to do!  I've already got Dylan's first birthday all planned out and he just turned 4 months old! hahaha


we made Clark's birthday a weeklong event and let him open toys every night of his "birthday week".  we would sing him one of the Primary birthday songs each night before bed and he would sprint like crazy to dad's closet where we kept all the presents.  each night he would open a toy from the Toy Story movie (these would later make up the decorations for the party, which is why he got to open them early!)  talk about a lucky break when your mom plans a party with toys as the theme haha!


🌵 on the menu 🌵

🚀 Pizza Planet pizza
- Hamm's Hawaiian
- Wheezy's Cheezy
- Zurg's Supreme
🚀 Rex's Herbivore Salad
🚀 Buzz's Rocket Ships
🚀 Woody's Trail Mix
🚀 Jesse's Hay Bales
🚀 Potato Head Chips
🚀 There's a Snake in my Boot
🚀 Somebody's Poisoned the Waterhole


Clark loved when everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to him and loved seeing Buzz and Woody on his cake :)  we ordered the cake and decorated it ourselves.  vanilla with raspberry filling and french buttercream frosting.  YUM.




Clark had seven girls at his party and two boys (one of which was a baby sibling of one of the girls and the other was a boy he had just met the day before hahaha).  Clark will appreciate this when he gets older...

My good friend Mollie from CT and her son Leif

Clark was SO spoiled this year...besides all of his Toy Story toys he got lots of puzzles (educational ones too!), card games, balls, a squirt gun, a pizza innertube, the coolest HEB shopping cart with a basket full of food, a cape with his name on it, a lawn mower, a baby doll and stroller (his favorite gift by far!!!), astronaut and cowboy costumes from his Grams, a lawn chair, books about aliens and cowboys (lots of people played along with our theme!), a dinosaur inflatable swimming pool, and sooooo many clothes (his entire summer wardrobe!)  next year we are saying NO PRESENTS!

L to R: Hannah, Jonathan, Beverly, Addison, Leif, Clark, Lucy, Rachel, Melanie, Liberty
happy birthday Clark!!  we love you to infinity and beyond 🚀


♥                                        ♥                                        ♥   

5.23.2018

dylan masters : three months

t h r e e   m o n t h s
Clark at 3 months
another month has come and gone and little Dilly is 3 months old!!!  not quite a newborn anymore, although I like to pretend he is.  his little personality is really starting to shine and I just love him!  he is such a sweetheart and loves being held and sleeping in people's arms.  he can pretty much sleep through anything, just like his daddy.  his favorite spot (other than my lap) is the swing and anywhere he can get a good view of his big brother.  Dylan is fascinated with Clark and his eyes are on him the moment he runs into the room.  the feeling is mutual.  one of Clark's favorite things to do is hold the baby and give him kisses.  he squeals in delight whenever he sees him first thing in the morning and is the first one to stop what he's doing when he's crying and run over to give him his baba.  I am so excited to watch them grow up together and love each other.


currently I'm typing this with Dilly nestled cozy in my lap, one hand on my breast, fast asleep.  oh how I will miss these days!  it seems not so long ago I had another little babe sleeping the day away on my lap...

baby Clark at 3 months
we’ve had quite the month...tackling thrush, reflux, introducing a bottle and my first day away from Dyl!  I missed him soooo much!!


three month stats:
weight: 13 lbs. 9 oz (38th percentile)
length: 26 in. (98th percentile)
head circ: 16 in. (54th percentile)

♥                ♥                ♥

f i r s t s

♥ shower - Dyl wasn't sure what to make of the shower...he didn't cry but I think he was a little scared / anxious about it.  I forgot how hard it is to hold a baby in the shower!  I was afraid I'd drop him and he really loves his baths by daddy so I think we'll stick with the bath for now.

♥ trip to the pet shop


♥ giggle - I heard him laughing while Mark was holding him after work one day.  Mark was dancing with him while Grandad played the piano and he started giggling!


♥ restaurant - we went out to eat as a family of 4 for the first time at Jason's Deli by our house.  it was so fun and went really well!  Clark was so good and actually ate something from the restaurant - cheese pizza.  Dyl slept the entire time :)


♥ walk to the park - I was so nervous to take both of them to the park!  what if Dylan had a blowout or started screaming while Clark was playing up high where he could fall down??  I ended up wearing Dylan and kept him close to me at all times but really, it was so easy!  no one was there and Dylan loves being outside so he was happy and content to just look at the trees.


♥ bottle - we introduced Dyl to the bottle this month out of sheer force...he stopped nursing (just for a day)!  turns out he had a mild case of thrush and it must have been painful for him to nurse.  he had started refusing my right side a few weeks before and I just chalked it up to a side preference but then suddenly he was refusing both sides and went all day long without eating!  I finally dug out my breast pump and bottles (ugh) and he still wouldn't take the bottle so we had to feed him with a syringe!  he started taking the bottle shortly after and once we gave him medicine, he started nursing again but only at night for a few days.  after three days he was back to nursing full time!  but since I had brought out the pump, I've since gone out and left him with my mom for longer than just a few hours.  I'll admit, it's been really nice!  I think I had convinced myself he wouldn't take a bottle since Clark never liked it and frankly, nursing's just easier so I figured, why bother.  but spending half a day at the zoo this month with just my first babe was one of the best days I've had in a long time (post to come!) so it was definitely worth it.

don't worry Dyl...nursing's still my favorite too ♥
♥ teether - I canNOT believe he's already teething!!  following in his brother's footsteps...why do my babies get teeth so early?!


f a v o r i t e s

♥ being outside


♥ being with everyone - Dylan is happiest being with the whole family, like when we're giving Clark a bath, and will happily sit in his bouncer and survey the scene


♥ holding blankies to his face (especially this floral milk snob cover) and sucking on them


♥ sucking on the shirt / arm of whoever's holding him


♥ sucking his hands / fingers (okay sucking pretty much everything!)


♥ story books

just reading to himself
e a t

as I mentioned above, this month we dealt with thrush and as a result, introduced Dilly to the bottle.  he still does not love the bottle and we don't give him one unless it's absolutely necessary.  but it's nice to know if I need to leave for more than a few hours, he won't starve!


Dylan's nursing habits are pretty much identical to Clark's.  I'm not sure if that's because I do things the same or they are just both very similar or if all babies nurse the same!  he nurses every 2-3 hours (I offer after it's been two hours and he's fussing but not wet) and after nursing he usually takes a little nap.  if I leave him on my lap he will sleep for hours!  sometimes he naps pretty good off my lap, as long as Clark isn't around to wake him up.  this boy loves his beauty sleep!

s l e e p


Dylan is an amazing sleeper!!  he goes down around 8 pm and sleeps about 8 hours before waking to nurse and then sleeps another 3-4 hours.  then sometimes he's up for the day (if Clark is in the room being loud) or other times he will go back to sleep and sleep in until 9 or 10!  so he gets about 12 hours total at night.

one thing we are still in awe of is that he NEVER cries at night!  when he gets hungry or if he needs to be changed, he just starts grunting and tossing and turning, which wakes us up (we are still rooming in with him) and then we change / feed him and he goes right back to sleep.


our new bedtime routine is to give both boys a bath at 7 pm (I bathe Clark, Mark bathes Dylan), then I nurse Dylan and Mark gets Clark ready for bed.  then we switch and Mark puts Dylan down and I read stories to Clark and put him down.  ideally, both boys are down by 8 pm but sometimes, if we eat dinner at my mom's, they go down later.  then Mark and I come downstairs and shower, sometimes eat if we didn't have time before, fold laundry and watch something, then back upstairs to the nursery to sleep.  we're both still sleeping up there because I hate the idea of having to go up by myself when it's time to feed Dylan and I'm not sure I'd be able to fall back asleep as quickly.  Mark sleeps up there with me because he loves me :)


p l a y / d e v e l o p m e n t


it's so weird that Dylan is actually interacting with us now!  I keep forgetting he's going to grow up!  hahaha.  with Clark, I was always reading about all the milestones coming up that month and watching and waiting for them.  when he wasn't rolling or over or smiling on schedule, I would worry that he was behind.  with Dylan, I don't even remember when the milestones are supposed to happen.  I hardly ever remember to do tummy time but we actually hold and wear him a lot and I heard that counts as tummy time.  so I'm always surprised when he starts doing something new and am amazed he did it all by himself without any prompting or worrying on my part, haha.


this month Dyl has started giggling and cooing, sucking EVERYTHING, and being generally a happy, smiley baby now that we have his reflux under control.  he loves being sung to ("the itsy, bitsy spider" is his favorite), read to, tickled, going outside, and lounging on the boppy, staring at his playmat.


I get caught up a lot in the hustle and bustle of mom life.  it feels like I never stop moving and thinking and worrying and planning and scheduling and singing and cleaning and diaper changing!!  at the end of the day I'm so beat and all I want to do is sleep.  it feels like Mark and I barely have time for each other these days.  I can't believe I ever thought I had no time when it was just Clark!  I guess, I'll be saying that in 5 years when I have two more kids (that's the plan) and remember what it was like to just have two!


I sure do complain a lot but I'm starting to realize these days will be the best days of my life!  young and fully alive, raising my babies and creating our family.  can I really ask for anything more?

5.01.2018

Dylan's baby blessing

our first family picture
on Sunday April 15th, our sweet Dylan was blessed in church.  I wasn't as worried about it this time around and Dylan didn't make a peep...Clark was the one wailing!!  haha, he's going through a phase right now where he's super attached to his dada and anytime he leaves, Clark loses it.  well, when Mark, my dad and Mark's dad all left the pew at church to head up front for the blessing, Clark wanted to follow them and when we held him back he had a meltdown!  he was screaming for about 10 seconds before I finally calmed him down.  I told him Dylan was going to be held in a circle and daddy and Grandad and all of those men were going to say a special prayer for him.  but I told him he had to be quiet so he could hear the prayer.  that quieted him down pretty quickly.  Clark doesn't like to miss out on anything!


Dylan's blessing was so special and Remi wrote the whole thing down.  I put it in his baby journal so he can read it someday.  during the blessing, I could envision Dylan as a little boy and knew everything Mark was saying about him was true.  he was blessed with the gift of discernment to understand those around him.  he will be a leader who will help others come unto Christ.  he will have patience and be an example to his parents (he sure could teach me some patience!) and when he walks into a room, everyone will feel his love.


Mark told him he's been blessed with a family who loves him and will raise him in the gospel.  as he listens to the promptings of the spirit and reads the scriptures, his mind will be blessed with knowledge and wisdom.  I could feel the Lord's love for Dylan during his blessing and I am so proud to have him as my son.

after church we had a luncheon at our house.  Remi made the most delicious chocolate-chip cookies I've ever tasted and homemade hot fudge for our sundaes!  we also had my mother's famous chicken salad on croissants, her yummy broccoli salad, hummus and pita chips, assorted cheeses, sausage, crackers, fruit and Remi's scrumptious fruit dip, veggies, potato salad, and lemonade.  everyone took turns holding Dilly and Clark had a blast playing with his cousins outside.  what a wonderful day we'll always remember!

my beautiful flowers from Chip!