Family Pictures

We got some new family pictures recently:

I made a mistake recently- I was feeling overwhelmed by life and often seemed to lose my patience with Lyla, so I started praying for patience and the ability to handle everything in my life. Sure enough, the last week has been all about teaching me that my life really isn't that hard and that I can do hard things!

Paul has been working very long days as well as Saturdays and we often go for days where Lyla only sees him for a few minutes. It's been really hard to handle everything at home alone especially since it's so cold that we're stuck inside all of the time. Then at the peak of my overwhelmed feelings Paul had to leave for two days for work. The first night he was gone I caught my toe on the couch and possibly broke it. I've been hobbling around ever since and most shoes still don't fit. That was very frustrating to me because it means not exercising everyday and not being able to run in Arizona next week which I’ve been so excited to do. Anyway, it was so disappointing on top of painful with each step I tried to take. Then on Friday Lyla got a nasty cold and shared it with Trevor and me. Colds always make Lyla extremely touchy and difficult, and then on Tuesday morning she started throwing up. I've decided that there isn't anything worse than holding your child as they gag and choke and throw up over and over. It went on every few minutes for 36 hours and was completely awful! She was often crying and begging me for food that I couldn't give her. Anyway, when I woke up this morning and she seemed to be feeling a bit better, it made me so grateful for my relatively easy life and that I don't have to deal with these things every day.

Lately I've really been trying to have a positive attitude about things- like being grateful that my kids sleep through most of the night instead of frustrated when they both wake up twice. I don't know why I've felt so weighed down by life and the little challenges that come up so often. People understand for the first month or so after a new baby, but I'm sure everyone is wondering when I'm going to toughen up and just learn to handle life since it’s going on three months since Trevor was born. I absolutely love being a mom but every day is a struggle and I've spent a lot of time trying to understand why it has to be so hard on a daily basis on top of the pregnancy, delivery, and other sacrifices we make to have a family. I have moments of perspective when I feel so grateful for this stage of life and feel determined to stop wishing this period of life away. But then during the day I get so overwhelmed and frustrated. I found this website (thank you pinterest) and have been very touched by some of the quotes.
http://ldsnana-askmormon.hubpages.com/hub/Motherhood---Inspirational-Quotes-By-LDS-Leaders-MormonWomen

I especially love this one from President Monson:

"My dear sisters, do not pray for tasks equal to your abilities, but pray for abilities equal to your tasks. Then the performance of your tasks will be no miracle, but you will be the miracle."


I know that this is exactly what I need to do in order to have the ability to handle my life. This morning I was also reading Elder Cook's conference talk and these parts really stood out to me:

"We are unaware of hosts of blessings that we receive from day to day. It is extremely important that we have a spirit of gratitude in our hearts... There are many kinds of chal­lenges. Some give us necessary expe­riences. Adverse results in this mortal life are not evidence of lack of faith or of an imperfection in our Father in Heaven’s overall plan. The refiner’s fire is real, and qualities of character and righteousness that are forged in the furnace of affliction perfect and purify us and prepare us to meet God."


I'm definitely feeling inspired and motivated to have a good attitude about my life. Now if only I can remember all of this in the months and years ahead...

Lyla's Stats

We had an exciting visit to the doctor last week for Lyla's two year old check. She screamed and flailed every time the doctor came near, and watching her freak out and struggle as she got a shot pretty much broke my heart. Here are her current stats:
Height: 33 inches - 27th percentile, Weight: 26.6 pounds - 65th percentile, Head: 49 cm - 90th percentile
She loves putting her arm around Trevor and has only scratched, bitten, pinched, hit him in the head with a toy camera, etc a few times. We're trying hard to get her to understand how to be nice before she does something to really hurt him.


Lyla suddenly stopped her paranoia of wearing bows and decided she wanted to wear every bow she owns at one time!! She has let me put her hair in pigtails a few times which I've been so excited about. She also insisted on putting lots of bows in her new best friend Belle's hair.

Lyla loves to read books and the other day she asked me to lay down on the couch and read to her. she put her arm around me and it was the perfect moment with my sweet little girl. It helped me remember that despite her many tantrums and whining and constant demands she is my little angel and I love her so much!

Other Lyla videos

Here are some funny videos of Lyla with her cousins, aunts and uncles

Lyla's birthday videos

Here are some videos of our fun celebration with Lyla.

Trevor - 2 month update

Our little man is now ten weeks old! I can't belive how fast the time has gone and how much I love holding my sweet little boy. He loves to smile and is such a good natured baby most of the time. Here are his current stats:
Height: 23" - 54th percentile, Weight: 12 lbs 2 oz - 41st percentile, Head: 40 cm - 85th percentile

Trevor seems to be slowly getting into a sleeping/eating schedule and hopefully in the next few months we'll get it down even more. We moved him into his room when we got back from Thanksgiving and he's been sleeping well there. As long as i catch him right when he gets tired, he usually goes down really easily after Lyla and I sing all verses of I Am a Child of God twice while rocking him. I haven't had any chocolate or dairy for the last two weeks which has seemed to get rid of a lot of the gas that was bugging Trevor before. It's definitely been a big sacrifice to cut out most of my favorite foods- but it's nice to feel more rested and not so desperately exhausted like I was a few weeks ago. I love my sweet boy and would gladly sacrifice even more if it would help him feel more comfortable.

Lyla turned 2!

Monday was my sweet little girl's second birthday! I can't believe I've already had two years with my little sweetheart. We had a very fun celebration and she even let me put her hair in a clip for most of the time which is a very rare occurance. She helped me make the cake and she was so excited all day to eat it.

Trevor slept through most of the party so he missed the family shot.

Lyla got a Belle doll from her good friend Allie and she has been carrying it around since then. Lyla tucks her in to bed next to her, feeds her, holds Belle while she swings, etc. We gave Lyla a Tangled tower that turns into chairs and a table. She was so excited with her princess gifts!

Lyla was so excited to wake up to see our Christmas tree and loved putting ornaments on. Every morning the first thing she does is help me turn the lights on.

I love her big smile! Lyla and I have so much fun together every day and I love her energy.

Grandma Rumsey made Lyla a Rapunzel blanket for her birthday which has become her favorite! She positions it just right each night as she settles in her crib to sleep. Paul's mom stayed with us for a week last month and we loved the time with her. She was so helpful and I loved chatting and hanging out with her everyday.

Nana gave Lyla a Snow White costume which she loves to dance in and squeeky pink shoes which she has a blast hopping around in and making lots of noise. We get lots of funny looks when she wears them in public...

Paul and his mom put this swing up in our basement and we use it for hours every day! Lyla swings as long as I let her and seems to completely relax in the swing.

Lyla loves to play with her friends and is starting to understand the concept of playing dressups.
Lyla loves to have Trevor sit next to her on the couch. Sometimes she'll even put her arm around him and hold him close.

This is Lyla's focused face- she always looks like she's really mad when she's concentrating on something like eating or watching a movie.

Trevor's Blessing

My sweet little baby was blessed yesterday, November 13th. Grandma Rumsey gave us the outfit that Paul was blessed in so we were excited to use that. She also made the bowtie and bought some little white shoes. Our handsome little boy loved being held by all of the family members who came.
My handsome men. I'm so grateful for a husband who holds and honors the priesthood and who is able to bless our children. I know that he'll do a great job teaching Trevor all he needs to know about holding the priesthood and i can't wait to see the young man that Trevor grows into.
We were blessed to have the support of so many family members for the weekend. We really appreciated all of the sacrifices they made to join us.

Paul's mom and brother Ben. Paul's dad was planning on coming but his flight was delayed because of weather and he wasn't able to get here in time. We really missed him and can't wait to introduce him to his first grandson in the future!

My sister Jeanne came with her family along with Josh & Alisha, Jared, and Cassidy. We missed Alyssa who was in Boise for a ballet performance.

Lyla loved having so many people around to play with, especially her cousins. She was excited to have Nana paint her fingernails and toenails and she shows us several times a day.

Lyla loves hugs- she gave Kaitlyn a hug as they were leaving and didn't want to let go.

It was a great weekend and we were so grateful that all went well! The weather was freezing and windy but wasn't hard to travel in which was nice.

We took some pictures of little Trevor when he was just 1 week- now he seems so big compared to this picture!

It was a wrestling match filled with lots of tears from both mommy and daughter, but we did succeed in getting a few sweet shots of Lyla and Trevor together. Luckily my mom was there helping- she definitely saved the day! My sweet little angel girl...the only thing that's keeping her there is the fruit snack in her hand.

Lyla is usually very sweet with Trevor and she loves to kiss his head.

Lyla has quite the fascination with Tangled right now so Paul carved a Rapunzel pumpkin for her. She loved it and had to go check on it several times a day. She loves the songs from the movie and as she's going to sleep usually sings "I've got a dream" to herself. When i say "I love you" to her, she says "I love you more." The only thing I don't like about her new obsession is that she whines and cries and begs to watch the movie basically all day. I'm not a huge fan of her watching tv very often so I usually say no which results in tantrum after tantrum.

Lyla dressed up as Sleeping Beauty for Halloween and this was the very disheveled result. I had to bribe her with fruit snacks to get the costume on, and the bow and slippers only lasted for the picture. We took her trick or treating at Paul's work for their big Halloween party. She was pretty intimidated the whole time but warmed up a little when she saw all of the candy. My family came for a long weekend and we had fun making caramel apples. Lyla loved this activity!

We went to Yellowstone for a night and stayed at the old Faithful Lodge. It was an awful night with both kids getting up many times, but it was fun to spend the day there. Paul had never been there, so it was fun to show him and Lyla all of the geysers. Lyla's new favorite words are now geysers and buffalo, and she frequently begs to watch videos of them.