Fourth of July

(July 2018) 

 These two were very excited to go up to Grammys and Grandpa Niels for the pre 4th of July firework show.

Every year Crestline does their show the weekend before the 4th.

SO we get two awesome shows!

The kids loved wearing their red, white and blue clothes and glasses and were 100% ready to go!!

Andie hates pig tails BUT she absolutely loved these 4th of July bows and let me put the little hair she has in pig tails!!!!
She looked darling!!!

 While we waited for it to get dark, Grammy read some new books for Miles...

and Andie talked Neils ears off...

and of course we ate yummy food!

On the actual Fourth of July the Williamsons came out to join us for swimming and fireworks.

The kids loved the glow sticks, mini flags and pop its that entertained them as the sun was setting.

(somehow Kennedy is missing in this picture of the kids)

I just loved having Romney home this year-it has been years since he was off!

It ended up being a chilly night that we were not prepared for BUT it was pretty great celebrating with my family and dear friends who we love so much.

One month old Lane

(June 2018)

This naked baby is one month old.  

He is sleeping, eating and pooping around the clock...well sorta, pooping isn't his strong suit BUT his grunting is. 

If you don't believe me, come over 4am-6am for that showing. 

He loves being held and loves to sleep on your chest.  

He's a good burper, and loves the bath. 

 He is starting to discover our faces and we kinda wonder if he will have blue eyes.  

Jury is out on that one but it is fun to speculate.  

He just graduated from newborn diapers and clothes. It is always a sad day when that happens- I tried squeezing him in my favorite jammies one more time but his poor toes looked like ballet pointers.  

In his one month of life Lane has had a darling photo shoot where every picture is MY FAVORITE.

In the first month my mom was able to come and help for 10 days!

we appreciated the dinners, the folded laundry and naps she let us take!

Somewhere in that first month we actually had a calm moment as a whole family!

 In the first month Lanes eyes were opening up more and more everyday.

It didn't take long for this little guy to become very popular.

Now that were moving on to 0-3 month clothes I have told Lane to stop growing so fast.

I think he was listening!

We love you Lane and are so happy you are here with us!

Summer Library Program

 (Summer 2018)

This summer we have hit the library every Monday for fun shows and  get new books to read.

The shows have been from magic shows, to puppet shows to animal shows.  The kids have really liked it and its been good to check out new reading material each week.  Both Miles and Andie signed up for the reading program this year.  Miles had to read 10 books a week and Andie needed 10 books read to her in order for them to get the weekly prize they had for the kids.  It was a fun incentive to keep Miles reading over the summer.  It was a good experience for all of us and I am pretty sure we will keep this up through all of grade school for each of them.

It was darling to watch the two kids walk hand in hand into the library each week.

The kids really loved the reptile show.  Especially Miles, he is our reptile loving boy. He was in heaven seeing all the snakes, turtles, lizards and frogs.

And the most memorable show for me was the puppet show.  As all the kids were sitting on the floor completely captivated I was in the back taking care of baby Lane.  He had a super soaker diaper and needed a fresh diaper.  I just decided to quietly change him on my lap.  My friend Rachel whispered in my ear "you're brave, do you ever worry he's going to poop on you?" and right at that second Lane exploded!! He pooped all over my shirt, my pants, my arm, it got the chair next to me, it splattered on my glasses...it went everywhere. My friend and I were laughing so hard and we were trying to be quiet and not cause a scene.  We were dying. There was so much to clean and we didn't                        know where to start. Rachel pulled out her phone and snapped a few pictures and we kept laughing.  We used every wipe in the diaper bag and began the mad dash clean up. It just smeared all over my jeans and shirt and it smelled gross.  The puppet show was wrapping up and the kids wanted to look for some books to check out and I just wanted to get out of there!  I ended up letting them get books really fast! They found books they wanted and I just walked around with a huge blanket that covered my whole body with a baby in my arms.  It looked so awkward and you could smell me a mile away BUT dang it we got new books for the week.

But look at that cute face.....how can anyone be mad????

Fire Station Fathers Day

(June 2018)

Romney worked on Fathers Day this year. We are always bummed when he has to work on any holiday BUT it is ALWAYS so fun to go to the Fire Station and visit. I just love to visit with all the other families that come to see their daddys, and its always so fun to watch the kids play.  They just love climbing on all of the equipment and exploring all of the fire trucks.

The kids and I made cookies to take down to share with the crew and Andie was so excited to pass them out. She looked adorable walking around the massive table sharing with everyone one by one. Its always my personal favorite to watch the big guys gush over the littles.

 

I thought I saw this cute moment of Lane and Daddy looking at eachother...

but really the darling part is the very background...

(I spy two kids on the kitchen table eating chips the rest of the cookies!!!)

sneaky sneaky.

Happy Fathers Day Romney!

We love you and appreciate all you do for us.

No, really you do it all!

Even when you've been up all night at work you still manage to walk in the door at home ready to be a husband and daddy!

Kindergarten Graduate

 (June 2018)

Oh sweet boy!

I cannot believe kindergarten is over.

He has grown so much this year.

He is quite the reader and enjoys math.

Miles received the "Beyond the Limits" award.

He and four others in his class were given this award.

It was given to those who showed huge strides and worked really hard.

It was so fun to have grandma in town who was able to see Miles on his last day of school too.

After the awards assembly we went home to let Miles nap for a couple of hours.

 (He wasnt feeling good- he was barfing all day the day before and had a fever. Poor buddy! 

But you CANT miss the last day of kindergarten!!!)

After his nap and some toast we back to his school for his individual class performance and awards.

OH.MY.WORD. 

It was darling.

 

They sang the sweetest songs,

with the sweetest hand gestures !

 

They read their poems about why they are important...

...nd recieved a classroom award.

Miles was voted and awarded

First Class Friend by his class.

Well take that over class clown any day.

We hugged his teacher Mrs Marion goodbye.

We loved her so.

She pushed Miles out of his comfort zone constantly and we really appreciated that about her.

He leaves Kindergarten at a mid first grade reading level.

We are so proud of Miles.

After his class program we came home where he fell asleep again for HOURS

(well all of us crashed...have I mentioned how tired we are with a new baby!??!?!)

but woke up the next day feeling so much better and ready for summer to start!

Lots and Lots of cuddles

(May 2018)

We are so tired, and are trying to stay afloat.

Why are babies exhausting yet they sleep almost thee entire day?

School is almost over and were just trying to get through the end of the year.

We are paper plating, mircowaving and trying to make life as simple as possible.

We may ALL be tired but there is one thing we still have energy to do...

and that is cuddle and love on our baby brother!!

Miles is obsessed with Lane.

He wants to hold him all the time.

He is fast to get his pacifier for him.

He sings to him.

He calls him "little buddy"

 

I have been surprised how well Andie has been doing with the shift from little sister to big sister.

She asked to hold him a hand full of times and has been a good little helper.

She is quick to get diapers, and burp clothes for us and we appreciate how fast her legs go!

These two kids have welcomed their baby brother into their tribe with open arms!

 

We are all very excited to have Lane in our family.

I really do cherish these little moments.

I know they go by fast.

We are all so in love around here

(have I mentioned how tired we all are?)

Delivery Day Part III

The lawyer came to our room the night of the birth and needed a name for all the legal paperwork.

We still weren't ready to decide.

We had him go see Christy to do all her paperwork first while we hashed it out.

We kept going back and forth between two names and 

just blurted out LANE when the lawyer came back.

So....

Lane Benson he shall be.

 

 We finally had a name!

AND we finally texted our family and friends a picture and introduced our caboose.

The hospital was awesome!

They were very aware of the surrogacy situation and already had a room for Romney and I that the hospital comps for all intended parents.

It was so nice.

We got to experience sleeping in an uncomfortable bed, have endless food service and have the nurses who come in every hour to check vitals in the middle of the night.

We even had the pleasant opportunity of having a nurse who turned on the lights at 3:00am and wanted to chat about her upbringing in Southern California.

 Oui, that was rough.

BUT, honestly it was such a treat to be in the hospital and experience all these firsts with our baby.

We were so tired...physically and emotionally.

It had been a LONG 24 hours.

But we were oh so grateful.