Catching up: Summer fun!

I'm still way behind on blogging, so I'm going to post a bunch of pics of our Summer fun. Although it wasn't our most active Summer ever, we ended up doing more than I thought we would with a newborn...


"Stacey's Park" with cousins:

Sleepover & snow cones with cousins:

Swimming with extended family:

24th of July parade:

Cul-de-sac of fire, Maelie-style:

Hannah trying on her new swim vest with nowhere to go yet :

Maelie's 1st Owlz game:

Swimming:

 Owlz game with my fam:

Salem Days parade:

 Snuggling with cousins:

Fire in the canyon with Jana & Jen:

 Owlz game with Jen:

More swimming:

Hannah having her banana and peels do Tummy Time:

One last swim with cousins:

And one last Owlz game:

 

We really did have a fun Summer! Thank goodness it will be Summer again in about 8 months!


**And don't worry--we did take Maelie out of her car seat a few times this Summer. :)

Maelie's 3-month fashion show

Last night I bought a very worthwhile cord that lets me connect my screen-dead laptop to our tv to finally be able to use my laptop again. So now it's time to post some pics of my cute little 3-month-old Maelie. I finally got the 3-6-month clothes out and washed just as the weather turned much cooler, so I had to do a photo shoot of Maelie in my favorite Summer outfits. She sure is a cutie...

 

Bonus pic of Hannah with Maelie!

We absolutely love Maelie poo and Hannah too! :)

3 months

Maelie is 3 months old today! Unfortunately, I can't post pics of her amazing cuteness because my computer still isn't working and I'm still deciding what to buy to replace it. But I can tell you a few things about the cutie pie...  Maelie smiles and laughs so easily. She sometimes even laughs in her sleep. So cute!! Maelie went through a phase of not eating as well. But these past couple of weeks, I have stretched out her feedings from every 2 hours to every 3 hours. And now she is eating like a champ again, and according to our scale weighs about 14 pounds. Wow! Maelie sleeps great at night. I usually feed her at 11 or 12 at night, and then she wakes up once at about 4am to eat before waking up for the day at 7 or 8am. And on a few occasions she has even slept from like 11pm-7am! She's also sleeping a little better during the day and not just taking little catnaps. Maelie's colic seems pretty random. Some days are good, and some days are bad. We just hope she outgrows it soon! Maelie is so alert and aware of her surroundings. She is constantly moving her head and chubby little body around to take it all in. She is super wiggly and super strong and super sassy. :) And boy does she love to suck loudly on her fingers! Maelie absolutely adores Hannah, and the feeling is mutual. Hannah is such a loving big sister. Scott and I absolutely adore Maelie and feel so blessed to have her in our family!

Booyah! for Braydon, part 2

This phone version of blogging is not letting me make a long post or make new paragraphs. Sorry. Anyway, I was fortunate to be able to drive down to St. George the morning after Braydon's death with Jana and Hannah and Maelie. And Scott came down the following day after work and stayed with us until we all went home about a week later. My entire family made it to St. George to be with Melissa and her kids. It was all so surreal--watching Melissa plan her husband's funeral and then graciously greet hundreds of people who stopped by the house and/or attended Braydon's viewings, funeral, and burial. It has been so incredibly heart-breaking to watch Melissa and her 4 sweet kids (ages 13, 10, almost 8, and 5) deal with the loss of their husband and daddy. But it has also been very heart-warming to see the outpouring of love and support from their friends, their ward, and the entire community. I didn't realize until after he was gone how many people's lives Braydon had touched by his positivity, his friendliness, and his determination to never give up (not to mention his signature exclamation of Booyah!). I love Braydon and will miss him. His life and death have motivated me to not take my blessings for granted and to reach out more to those around me. Please keep my sister Melissa and her children (Mikayla, Kyler, Rylan, and Katelyn) in your prayers for a very long time!

Booyah! for Braydon

I haven't blogged in three weeks for a couple of reasons. One reason is because my laptop is having serious issues, and the screen hasn't worked for over a week-and-a-half. Super frustrating. And since my phone won't let me use our wi-fi for some reason, I'm finally using Scott's phone to attempt to blog. (Yes, I am feeling very disconnected from the world.) The other reason I haven't blogged is because I was waiting to be ready to blog about something terribly sad before getting back to blogging about all the happy. "Braydon is gone. He died." That is the five-worded text I got from my sister Melissa about her husband 3 weeks ago, just as I was receiving the news via a call from my sister Jana (I had missed my dad's call). I was absolutely shocked, and I'm sure I'll never forget that sick feeling I had in the pit of my stomach. How in the world was it possible that someone so full of life was suddenly dead, leaving behind an amazing wife (my sister) and 4 adorable children?! For those of you who haven't heard about the accident (it was on the news here in Utah), my brother-in-law Braydon Nielsen was hit by a van while riding his bicycle with a group of triathletes in St. George. He was hit from behind, and they believe he died on impact due to massive head trauma. Braydon was a nurse, and the friends he worked with on Life Flight flew his broken body to the hospital where he had worked for a decade.f

quick updates

Maelie had her 2-month well child check on Friday. She weighs 12 lbs 6 oz (78th percentile), is 23.25 inches long (85th percentile), and her head circumference is 15.75 inches (94th percentile). She's a big, healthy baby. And we love her tons!

In other news, Hannah had her 3rd dental checkup last week, and she did awesome! During her first two visits this past year, she wouldn't let the dentist look in her mouth (let alone clean her teeth). This time, she was super brave and let the dentist (and his assistants) examine her teeth, do x-rays, clean her teeth, and give her fluoride. It turns out that the only thing Hannah was super afraid of was the purple balloon they gave her for being brave. Hilarious! I'm actually quite afraid of balloons myself (due to childhood trauma), but Hannah had never before been afraid of them. She and Scott had to actually let the balloon go up in the sky when they got home. Way too funny. :)

And here are a couple of pics...

 What a snuggly little sweetheart!

Hannah loves trying out all of Maelie's things. I love that she included the elephant/monkey ears. :)

Tomorrow we are headed to the doctor to have a consultation about when to do the surgery on Hannah's umbilical hernia  Wish us luck!

2-month-old Maelie!

Maelie is two months old today! We had a great day! Maelie had her worst ever colicky day yesterday (ALL DAY), but today she was happy almost ALL DAY! It was awesome!!

We absolutely love Maelie!!! In the midst of her colic, she gives all of us her adorable smile quite often. And she coos at us too and sometimes lets out a squeaky, gaspy little laugh (which is a little too reminiscent of Hannah's sad newborn breathing). Maelie really is a happy little baby when she is feeling well (thank goodness for the bouncer from Christina and the borrowed swing from Di which are lifesavers when Maelie's really sad).

Maelie loves to observe everything and everyone, and she especially loves to watch her silly big sister. Maelie rarely gets upset when Hannah is in her face and smothering her with kisses (which is a lot). It's pretty adorable how much they love each other already.

Maelie loves looking at her jungle gym, especially the lights. And she is much more tolerant of Tummy Time than Hannah was.

Maelie totally loves her hands. She has recently discovered them and loves to put her fist in her mouth. It's pretty funny because she often punches herself in the nose, eye, and cheek in the search for her mouth.

Maelie is still a pretty good eater, although she hasn't eaten as much these past couple of weeks--not sure if it's due to a slowing growth pattern or not feeling well. She's on meds for acid reflux, and it seems to be helping. We're really hoping her colic will taper off soon. We're just really glad that Hannah got over her initial response of crying whenever Maelie cried (during Maelie's first week of life). :)

Maelie has always been a pretty good sleeper.  At night she currently sleeps for a stretch of  5 or 6 hours. It's really nice!

Maelie is super strong. She has been lifting her head off my shoulder since she was in the hospital (so unlike Hannah). She really hates to be held against our shoulders. The funniest thing she does, which she has been doing since she was a week or two old, is that she throws her head down and weasels her body down our arms until she is off our shoulder and being cradled in our arms. So cute and funny and sassy! Love her!


Here are a bunch of pics I took today...

 Hannah always has to get in on the picture-taking action.

Not sure why this is sideways.

This too.

I LOVE her hair!

This is a pic of our exciting outing for the day--playing on our playground. Maelie wasn't thrilled.

And she really hated this Boston Red Sox hat, even though she was a super adorable homey in it. :)

All that crying zonked her out.

Hannah really enjoyed pretending to push her dolls in the swings.

A close-up of Maelie's growing lashes. They were non-existent at birth, but at this rate they will easily catch up with Hannah's gorgeous lashes.

Bonus pic of Hannah smiling after I gave her her first (tiny) piece of gum. She LOVED it! That's my girl! :)

Maelie is an absolute sweetheart, and we are so incredibly grateful to have her in our family!!!