4 months!

Maelie is 4 months old today. Time is totally flying by! She had her 4-month Well Child Check this morning, and we weren't at all surprised to hear how healthy she is and to see how well she is growing. She weighs 15 lbs (71st percentile), is 25.75 inches long (95th percentile), and has a head circumference of 16.75 inches (95th percentile). I just looked up Hannah's stats at 4 months. She only weighed 12 lbs 5 oz (22nd percentile), was 24 inches long (41st percentile), and had a head circumference of 16.5 inches (76th percentile). So I am totally right in thinking that Maelie is way bigger than her sister was at this age!


Here are a few pics I took today (I wish I would have gotten some at Grandma Meservy's tonight):

 Maelie is always way too busy staring at the camera to smile for a picture.

I totally had her belly-laughing just seconds before I snapped this picture--I swear!

Maelie looks cute in her Chicago Cubs diapers that Scott's sibs gave us. She's already wearing a size 3 diaper, which Hannah didn't start wearing until she was 11 months old!

Maelie's newest obsession is her feet. So cute!

Maelie is such a sweet and fun baby! Her colic is getting better, although she had a rough day today (which I mostly blame on the shots she got). Maelie smiles so easily, but she also still cries very easily (and loudly). Maelie coos and babbles and laughs a lot. Her laugh is absolutely adorable! It has been really fun to watch Maelie's developmental progression this past month. She went from playing with and sucking on her hands non-stop to reaching for and playing with other objects/toys to sticking her legs straight in the air and staring at them to reaching for her feet but only being able to grab her pants to finally grabbing her feet to sucking on her toes many times this past week. She loves those feet! Maelie started sleeping through the night about a month ago, but these past couple of weeks she has only slept through the night about half of the time. Maelie continues to be a good eater (with some random changes here and there), so 6 weeks ago I started feeding her only every 3 hours. (I was feeding Hannah every 2 hours until she was 9 months old because I was so concerned about her weight.) Maelie is super strong and still wiggles tons. During Tummy Time she holds her head up at a 90 degree angle, and she pivots herself in circles. When she's on her back she pushes off with her feet to scoot a little, and she rolls onto her side (almost to her tummy). When Maelie is slanted on her back, her stomach muscles are strong enough that she can pull her body all the way forward. It's pretty weird for us to have such a strong baby, but we love it! Maelie still adores Hannah and watches her as much as possible. She also loves her parents but doesn't find them quite as fascinating. :)

We love Maelie so much and feel very blessed to have her in our family!

Coping & Cousins

In my line of work, I've had the opportunity to help a lot of my clients figure out what they can do to cope with trauma and loss. Well, it turns out that one of the best ways I've found to cope with a huge loss is to hang out with family as much as possible. We've been so blessed to be able to spend so much time with my family these past few weeks...


We are so glad to have family that lives nearby:

We got to attend a couple of Clay's baseball games.

And we've also been able to go to several of Cole and Clay's football games. Scott looks hilarious in this pic.

That's a little better. :)

Lucky for us, Faith prefers to watch Hannah over watching the game.

Cole may look intimidating, but he's definitely the friendliest football player you'll ever see. :)

On the other hand, Clay would surprise you with his intensity.

One last roasting over the campfire in the canyon with cousins.

The weather was perfect.

And so were the dogs and mallows.

Hannah LOVES sleepovers and snow cones with her cousins.

Karaoke was a big hit. I loved that Faith got disappointed when she realized that "Puppy Love" wasn't actually about a puppy. :)

Maelie got in on some karaoke action too.

We are SO grateful that we have been able to see Melissa and her kids a couple of times this month:

They came up to celebrate Rylan's 8th birthday at Chuck E Cheese with the whole family.

What an adorable birthday boy!

The Clayson and Nielsen families celebrated together. Notice Hannah in Scott's arms, trying to avoid the scary stuffed animals playing music at the front. :)

 Despite the scary animals, Hannah thoroughly enjoyed her first time at Chuck E Cheese.

Almost every day she asks me, "Do you remember when we went to Chuck E Cheese?"

Katelyn and Hannah are such good buddies!

Hannah was thrilled with the massive sucker she got with her tickets (plus an extra dollar from nice Aunt Jana).

Even the Reyelts fam made it out from Colorado to celebrate Rylan's birthday and to watch Conference as a family. It was great to have the whole family here.

Silly cousins!

Rylan and Katelyn had a sleepover with us one night. Fun!

 The Nielsens ended up staying a couple of extra days because their sweet little 3-year-old cousin, Dayton, died of cancer just a month and a day after his Uncle Braydon died. So, so sad. We made the most of their extra time here and went to the pumpkin patch with them and their Nielsen cousins.

Later in the month we got to see these cute twins perform in their school's dance festival.

And then last weekend we got to spend more quality time with the Nielsens when they came to visit for their Fall Break. We shopped, went to Trafalga, visited Jana's class, went out to eat, had a girls night out (just me, Melissa, and Jana), and visited with extended family. Fun!

I could NOT believe that Hannah dared go on this dropping ride, and she LOVED it!

One last bonus pic of the cutie sisters.

Wow, I sure am grateful to have such a wonderful family!

sisters

Just thought I'd post a few pics of the cutest sisters ever!

Sisters, sisters, there were never ever better sisters! :)

Hannah's 3rd surgery

A few weeks ago Hannah had surgery for the 3rd time in her life. The first two times were over 2 1/2 years ago, when she was 4 weeks old and later 3 months old (for her breathing issues--laryngomalacia).  This surgery was to repair an umbilical hernia she had had for at least two years. And fortunately, Hannah was a champ throughout the whole process


Pre-surgery:

Hannah requested pink hospital jammies but was happy even when they only had purple.

 She had fun playing with the toy and the doll they gave her.

And she was so good about letting them take her vitals.

Sweet Maelie slept through most of the surgery, which lasted less than an hour.

Post-surgery:

Hannah was pretty out of it for awhile, due to the anesthesia. She held that popsicle for a good 20 minutes before she decided she wanted to eat it. Eventually, she was thrilled with her purple popsicle and new purple sippy cup. :)

In less than a week, Hannah was back to normal, although it took her a couple more weeks to be convinced that it wouldn't hurt if we just looked at her belly button. Silly cutie. We're hoping Hannah can avoid having any more surgeries for a very long time.

week of the funeral

Here are the pictures I took of Braydon's funeral/viewings and of that entire week we spent in St. George. Such a bittersweet week...

 I love this pic of my mom taking the time to help calm my colicky baby to sleep.

The night before the viewing, the Clayson grand kids did what they do best--they put on a show for all of us (fashion show this time). I think it was a fun distraction for everyone.

Hannah loved showing off her pretty dress.

We took the kids swimming the afternoon of the viewing.

Lounging boys.

Cute girls.

Silly Rylan.

Beautiful Mikayla.

We adults had plenty to chat about while we watched the kids.

Display of family photos at the viewing.

 

 Mikayla and my mom with Braydon's body.

Melissa, Rylan, and Braydon's best friend from his childhood standing by Braydon's restored bike.

Two of Braydon's tri-club friends who restored the bike joined the picture.

 And then Katelyn had to get in on the action with Rylan.

The boys had a sleepover that night.

 And so did these cute girls.

And Melissa slipped away into the piano room for a little alone time. I was so impressed by her poise and graciousness throughout the week.

Part of the display Braydon's friends made for his viewings.

More of the amazing display.

Braydon's bike, which is currently on display at a bike shop in St. George.

The funeral was both heart-breaking and heart-warming. I'm sure Braydon was there enjoying the program and also giggling at my two grumpy girls giving me and Scott a hard time. :)

Several emergency vehicles led the procession.

They were followed by about 150 cyclists.

 A Life Flight helicopter led the entire procession.

It was pretty amazing.

The church was packed, and then everyone came out to observe the procession.

 The love and support we all felt was overwhelming.

 Braydon's Life Flight buddies.

We all drove up to Spanish Fork after the funeral for a brief graveside service for Braydon. It was so surreal to see Melissa and her kids on the front row both there and at the funeral.

I still don't want to believe that Braydon's really gone.

There was an absolutely crazy downpour just as the service began, and so dozens of us huddled under this awning (while the rain seeped through). And dozens of others huddled under umbrellas.

The Clayson and Nielsen families went to dinner together after the service, and Maelie provided some entertainment.

We drove down to St. George with Melissa and her kids the next day so that we could be with them and spend Melissa's birthday with her. Here's cutie Katelyn on Melissa's birthday.

We celebrated Melissa's birthday by going out to lunch.

After lunch, we all went to a movie.

That evening Braydon's tri-club friends brought a potluck dinner to Melissa's house. They also brought this amazing cake that one of them made.

 It was a cool representation of Braydon and his family.

Melissa blew out candles on another cake. If only all birthday wishes could come true...

Hannah really enjoyed all the time she got to spend with her cousins.

Everyone was coping with the loss in their own way. Cute Kyler played a lot of video games.

 And Melissa played with her kids, which is just the kind of mom she has always been.

My mom helped Melissa make phone calls and write thank you notes, and my dad fixed stuff. And I successfully avoided being in any pictures.

It all still feels so unreal. We sure love and miss you, Braydon!