you think you know what you're doing with your second

Lennon has always been small--petite, but she had chub rolls too.  When she was a newborn, she was chubby.  So I didn't worry about her.  My milk seemed to fit her needs.  Then a couple of months ago, my milk dried up out of the blue.  I tried everything to get it back--blessed thistle, bread and butter, root beer, Gatorade, oatmeal, mother's milk tea, etc.  and it finally came back after a day or two.  This happened every month for the next 3 months.  I would do the same routine again and again-- bread and butter with root beer topped off with a swig of Gatorade to swallow the blessed thistle to get my milk back.  I had to stop working out so hard because I noticed my supply dipped lower each time.  She also started eating solid foods and it was even harder to keep my milk.  I was getting kinda tired of the taste of butter mixed with root beer.  And I began to worry, was my milk still nutritious?  Was it enough?  Was this healthy for her?

On Tuesday we went to her 9 month check up.  She is in the 18th percentile in weight.  Yikes.  So my milk wasn't enough for her.  The doctor encouraged me to supplement with formula.  So I went home and gave her some.  She downed 6 oz right away.  Then at each feeding she downed 6 oz each time.  That night she slept through the night.  The next day her naps were longer.  And she felt heavier.

Lennon was hungry.

With Myer I nursed him until he was 1.  I was determined, for some reason, to get that far with Lennon.  I should have seen that my milk was not enough for her.  I mean it dried up 4 times.  I was just too stubborn and thinking of my own motherly/selfish desires to give it up.  I feel terrible.  I thought I had it all figured out because I'm a mom.  Myer was supposed to be my test drive and Lennon was supposed to be my home run.  She is now thriving on formula.  My milk is definitely all gone now and you know what?  My worrying is gone.  I now know she is getting enough fat, iron, nutrients, etc and etc of what my erratic supply was not giving her.

So just when I thought all along with Myer, "I'll know with my second." really shows that I don't.  I'm always learning. Always.

swimming lessons

We've been busy with swimming lessons the past week.  Myer took lessons with his cousin Navy while his other cousin Maddix had swim lessons with another instructor at the same time.  So all 3 were together, learning how to float and blow bubbles in the water.  I remember when I was little, and my sister Jamie and I took lessons together.  It's kind of fun to see our kids together making their own memories.

Myer learned to float on his back, to jump off the diving board, blow bubbles in the water, slide down the slide, "monkey, airplane, soldier", and reach in for diving toys.  He mostly loved his teacher, Natalie.  He couldn't wait to see her each morning and tell her what he ate for breakfast or where his face got more freckles.  So we're glad his teacher let him chat away while he swam because he learned so much.  We'll see how we do without his floatie this summer!

the temple for the elder

Last week was big for this future Elder.  He received his Endowments in the Draper temple and Jake and I were lucky to support him in such a great milestone.  In just 52 days he leaves for his mission in the Philippines.  We only have a few months left with this guy!  I think an epic family movie needs to to be made before he goes....and then we can watch it when we miss him too much.  Love ya Coop.  So proud of you for working hard to make it to the temple.

summa summa summa time

 ^^^swimming our friend Emerson and Anna^^^

 ^^^snow cones with our cousins^^^

 ^^^all tuckered out^^^

As you can tell, all we've done this summer is swim, swim, swim.  We can't help it, it's our favorite thing to do.  So if we you need us, we'll be soaking in the pool.  Peace.

hey daddy!

We love you because:

*you make the best waffles

*you take us for bike rides

*you have killer dance moves

*your beard tickles our skin

*you sing the best version of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."

*you bring home the bacon

*your "steam roller" wrestling move gets us every time

*you surprise us for lunch

*you let us help you with chores around the house, even if it takes twice as long

*YOU'RE OURS!

Love you Jake.

You make one mighty fine dad.

love, us

a letter {to Lennon}

Lennon-

9 months!  And we took a big leap from last month.  Here is a list of all that you're doing now:

-speed crawling everywhere
-pulling yourself up to standing
-sitting down from standing
-walking while holding our fingers
-two naps: morning and then afternoon
-sleeping through the night
-saying "Hi!" in a really high pitched voice
-waving hello and bye bye
-using the same sign (which looks like a wave) for MORE, FOOD, WATER, and MILK
-finding anything electric: outlets, plugs, computers, phones, and cable box
-feeding yourself a bottle
-understanding the word "no" and totally disregarding it
-gobbling full fisted your favorite food: tomato puffs
-sipping from my cup of water
-standing in the bath

Look at that list!  You can do so much.  You watch your brother and want to do all he's doing.  It's cute, but really just stay little.  I need at least one of you to stay little.  Please.

-love mommy

great grandpa and great grandma go to the zoo

My grandma, so Myer's great grandma, asked me and my sister Jamie if we would go to the zoo with her and grandpa, and I said heck yes!  Whose grandma is game for the zoo???  So we showed her around.  We were mostly excited to see the Lions that returned to Hogle as well as the Grizzly Bears.  After that, we just kinda roamed around.  Took some food breaks, potty breaks, diaper change breaks, and of course a carousel break.  I think we did more sitting than looking, but I don't think anyone in our group of peeps minded the slower pace.  We saw lots of busy animals, took our time, and slept so good that night. (Score!)

I'm so lucky to have my grandparents interested in my children that they want to spend the day with them, let alone even to have both of them healthy and strong to do just that.  I'm glad Myer knows his great grandparents and gets just as excited to see them as he would his grandparents.  It was a fun surprise and definitely a great day at the zoo with the greats. 

Myer's 1st campout

 Jake and Myer went with my dad and brother in law to their Father and Son's camp out over the weekend.  This was Myer's first time even camping so I was little nervous.  I didn't even know what to pack.  But Myer came home dirty and dead tired (which is hard to make that guy tired) so it was a win.  Now all he wants to do is sleep in a tent and and pee standing up.  So check off first camping experience with a big happy check.

grads (yes plural)

The twinsies graduated. 

So proud of both of them.

Sierra is on her way to AMDA, a fine arts college in LA to pursue dance.

Cooper will head on his mission in August to the Philippines and then BYU when he returns.

They are both leaving home.

My twinsies are all grown up.

Congrats bro and sis.

I can't wait to see how LA and Philippines handles such incredible people.

The future is exciting for you both!