Christmas in Utah

Christmas Day Was spent with the McLaughlan Family. We woke up and opened presents...



Jan got the family boogie boards and snorkeling gear for Hawaii. Aaron's favorite gift from his mom was the TV series: Everybody Loves Raymond & King of Queens. My favorite gift was a sewing machine (thanks a million Jan) what I have wanted for a long time - now I just have to learn how to use it! Austin and Mylee got some cute clothes. But the present we all look forward to it the McLaughlan annual Christmas trip!!! This year it was Hawaii! :)

Mylee and Grandma Dodie

I hope no one is offended by this picture but I had to post it...

Let me explain first before you think it's a nude shot -

Jan bought Aaron and Brent Spedoes for the trip as a joke

But the joke was on her when they decided to actually model them

I censored them out because I don't think they would appreciate me

posting it on the web!

The early the next morning we drove to Las Vegas to catch our plane to Hawaii!

Christmas Eve & Brendle Bowl-off

Christmas Eve was when we let the kids open their presents from us since we would be in Utah for Christmas...

Austin got a tool bench and cars - he loves his cars

There wasn't much to get Mylee besides clothes since she was 3-months-old on Christmas. She did get a little play center for when she is 6-months and a book.

The first Annual Christmas Eve Brendle Family Bowl-off

Aaron helping Austin bowl

Bowen really got into it

Danielle helping Kyler bowl

Steve helping Khloee bowl

After we let the little kids take a few turns it was down to business for the adults. Each couple was their own team...Besides my mom and brother James (I think it's was an unfair matchup since the are the ones that bowl the most and are the best). It wasn't much of a surprise that they won but since they weren't technically a couple team it's only fair to say that Aaron and I won the bowl-off :) I am so glad we started this tradition it was a lot of fun!

After the Bowl-off we went to my parents house and did our gift exchange.

Here is Austin and Mylee in their new PJs

It was funny because Austin was only 22 months old and I had to buy him 4T

and Mylee was 3-months (so I bought 3-6 months) and her PJs drowned her.

I had to throw in this picture of Mylee and my dad - it was so cute she fell asleep in his arms.

After we left my parents house we finished packing and headed to Utah.

2-month Collage

Well since Mylee is going to be 3-months-old on Christmas I thought I'l post her 2-month collage. :) I know I was lucky I even got the pictures taken in time!



I wanted to do her 2-month collage with her in her blessing dress which my mom made and the blessing blanket she is laying on was made by my mother-in-law. Oh and her cute bow I made myself and same with our matching braclets - I know I am loving having a little girl to make things for.

I even think I might start selling baby braclets and bows (what do you guys think? good or bad idea?)

Cute Pictures

I just wanted to share some cute pictures of the kiddos!

I love my kiddos!

Sweet little Mylee dressed as a present

She sure does LOVE to smile

I always told myself I would never be one of those mothers who put those huge bows on their baby girl...well I guess I didn't know how cute mine would look! :)

And it looks like a bow on a present - she has totally been the best Christmas present EVER!

I pulled out Austin's old baby toy and Mylee was really into it. It was so cute. Made me happy because she actually layed there for a little while. When Austin was this age he was already rolling over and wasn't interested in the toy at all!

A little update on Austin...he seems to be feeling better, still has the runny nose and his ear is still leaking (it's getting pretty bad). We are taking him into the clinic today to see if something is wrong since it has been leaking for over 5 days now. I hope it's nothing to bad because we have that LONG plane ride on Sunday. Guess we will see.

Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday time!

p.s. as of December 17th Mylee has found her laugh and she almost weighs 9 lbs!

$50 gift card

Hey I just wanted to do a little post about the $50 gift card from Mystic Memories I am giving away.

I have only had 7 people enter so far (so the chances are good).

Go to my photography page and enter to win!

Mystic Memories

I will be doing the drawing on Tuesday

Tis' the Season....to be sick!

Well as you have noticed I haven't blogged anymore of my little boy...that's because he has been sick. He has been fighting a bug for the last 2 weeks and they don't really know what. It gets really frustrating because I feel so helpless and I can't really give him anything to make him feel better. I think he is also fighting an ear infection because his left ear is draining really bad. Poor kid has snot coming out of his nose like a running faucet and his ear looks the same! I guess I could continue his daily pictures but it hasn't been pretty lately. His wonderful diarrhea has been back for a while now...that's always fun. In two days I have cleaned crap out of the tub, a carseat, high chair, and a million outfits (but so far we haven't had to throw away any shoes). He doesn't want to eat.....not even FRIES (the kid loves fries). He threw up some fries last week and hasn't touched any since. I am just praying that he starts to feel better soon and Mylee doesn't catch the bug- I thought he was feeling a little better Sunday afternoon but I was wrong. Aaron is also sick = AGAIN!....but we have a z-pack for him so I pray it works this time. So much for the flu shot, huh! We all got the flu shot and everyone has been sick once or twice since! But I guess we haven't gotten the swine flu so it has served it's purpose! And hopefully everyone feels better before we leave for Hawaii...if not I guess what better place to feel crappy then on a warm beach! :)

Hope everyone else is happy and healthy!

Picture overload!!!

Here is just a warning that this post will be full of pictures!!

First off I knew I'd fall behind on Austin's days....but I did take the pictures everyday...just got to busy to post them!!! So here are the past days of Austin:

Day 5: Austin loves to put on shoes,

he has done this since we could walk

but this picture is funny to me because

he has my platform flipflops on and

they are in between the wrong toes...

Day 6: Loves to play in my desk

I have a desk that has a place for the tower

I can't put my tower in it because it

overheats all the time. So Austin likes

to play in it.

Day 7: Likes to play with stickers

He likes it when I put stickers all over him.

Day 8: Loves his binkie

Yeap he still has his binkie! And he LOVES IT!

No worries he has to say goodbye to it next year!

Day 9: Likes his fruits

This kid LOVES fruits, his favorites are

apples & bananas

we have to watch him with the apples

because he's eat it whole (core and all)

Now that I am caught up with Austin's Days....

Here is a peak at our 5 minute attempt to take family pictures!

Not bad for 5 minutes! Thanks to Aaron's little sister Danee! We did these last night. I figured I'd better just bite the bullet and just get them done before it was to late! It was so cold and we didn't even try to make the kids smile! But atleast we have a family picture with Mylee in it! :)

I hope I can get a card designed tonight so I can send to friends and family (if you want one, I need your address!)

Of course I have to throw in this sweet picture of Aaron and Mylee...so cute!

Also while I am on a roll I am just going to throw in the 2 pictures I have from Mylee's blessing day (this past Sunday). I know I am once again a horrible mom...I forgot to take pictures! It was a very busy day! I have to dress Mylee up again so I can take pictures of her in her dress (my mother made her dress, I made the hairbow & braclet).

Mylee and Aaron before her blessing

Keagan & KarLee loving on Mylee

As you can see we have been pretty busy around here. But we are having fun!! I love being home with my two kids (while I stay busy with my photography of course) Austin keeps things interesting and fun! Hopefully I will remember to contiune his days...so stay tuned!

:)

Day 4

Day 4:

AUSTIN LOVES BATHTIME

Day 3

Day 3:

AUSTIN LIKES TO PLAY IN MYLEE'S CARSEAT

Austin - Sweet & Funny

So today I was feeding Mylee and I heard Austin wimper in his room for a second than it went silent (I couldn't check on him right away because I was nursing Mylee) so a minute or so later he comes into my room dragging about 5 blankets with a big grin on his face - so cute! I noticed the one blanket was in his crib...so I am guessing he was wimpering because it wasn't easy to get. He brought all of his blankets by me and laid down. He just looked up at me with a smiled...so sweet!

He is such a little kid now and is picking up on new things everyday. He is very silly and I love that I am able to spend my days at home with him. He really does entertain me! I figured since I am a terrible scrapbooker and journaler (is that a word) that I would use this blog this month as my scrapbook/journal of the Sweet and funny things Austin is doing! This will force me to actually write down the sweet and funny things about him until I have time to sit down and put all of this in his baby book!

Yesterday I will count as day 1:

Day 1 - Loves to help with his sister

Day 2 - Loves his blankets

(Seriously this kid has to take a blanket everywhere he goes)

lets see if I actually follow through with it everyday (until Christmas).

2 Months Old

So my little baby girl is already 2 months old! It has gone by to fast!
Mylee had her 2-month checkup yesterday and here are her stats:

Weight: 8 lbs. 5 oz.
Length: 21 inches
(don't remember head measurements)

Yeah she is still tiny! I looked it up and she is in the 5th percentile for weight and height! It's so crazy because Austin has always been in the 90th or above percentile! It looks like my kids are complete opposites! Mylee is pretty much at the same weight and height as Austin was when he was born. I guess my milk isn't as good as it used to be! :)

As for milestones the doctor says she is right where she should be.
She is sleeping pretty well (about 5-6 hours at night). Still naps decent during the days...but there are always those sleepless nights and days once and a while!

She loves: smiling, baths, being naked, Austin, her swing, Christmas music, being swaddled and having her butt patted.
She doesn't like: being on her belly, yelling, her car seat (when awake), cold milk, and binkies (I can't get her to take one anyways),

And Austin is starting to really adore his little sister...I already know he is going to be protective. He likes to help out by bringing me her bottle, binkie, and blanket. He even talks to her in a sweet baby talk voice and tries to cuddle and give kisses (like mom does). It's so cute! She smiles at him all the time.

Here are some pictures from today:

I love this first one...she is smiling at Austin - so precious!

I think these two are going to be great buddies!

Sweet Baby Smiles & Crazy Chipmunk Dancing

I have been meaning to post this since last week but I have been working frantically on getting my photography caught up...and I have done it all - except one session! :) Yay! (that is until Wednesday. when I photograph another session) Anyways I thought I'd post these fun pictures to let you know how the kiddos are doing!

Austin is as busy as always. He loves to dance! Every time an upbeat song comes on he busts-a-move! I've been told that his Aunt Mindee taught him to bow, but I have only seen him do it once, it's pretty cute! And I have finally found a movie he will somewhat watch! He LOVES the Chipmunk Movie. I had him in his highchair eating and watching the movie while I was in the other room editing and a song came on and I thought I better go check if he is dancing and low and behold:

I totally love this kid! It was so cute! If no one is around he really concentrates and pulls some funny faces like the one above.

Austin also has a bad night time habit~ anytime we put him in bed he cries bloody murder. And believe me we have tried to let him cry it out. It can last for hours. Aaron now has to lay on his floor until he falls asleep. And that's not the worst of his nightly habits. He seems to wake up every morning between 3 and 5 a.m. and screams until you get him. So we bring him into our bed when he wakes up like this (which has been for the past 3-4 months). I know it's a terrible habit to let him sleep in our bed in the morning....but I’m not going to lie - I love the morning snuggles I get in with him once daddy goes to work! :)
As for Baby Mylee she doesn't go to sleep at night until 1 in the morning usually. But now she is sleeping until about 5 a.m. so we get a little sleep in.

But she is a happy girl (when she's not sleepy). She is a smiler, I've decided her nickname will be "Smiley Mylee". Every time she wakes up from a nap or gets done with a bottle she is all smiles and coos for about 10-15 minutes - I LOVE IT! She is to cute for words! And I am guessing she will be a big fan of Christmas just like her daddy because every time I sing the song off of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas (the one that's like..."yaw hoo dores, yaw hoo dores, welcome Christmas, Christmas time"...something like that) She gets big smiles and starts to coo a lot. So adorable! I am horrible at the picture taking and capturing her smiles because I just want to sit there and play with her and not run to get the camera. But here was my attempt of capturing her smile a few days ago:

And yes she still has her blue eyes. I'll be shocked if they stay...but for now they are still a pretty blue! I totally love Austin's eyes (which are like mine) but truthfully I hope Mylee gets her dads eyes - which she won't because they aren't light. But Aaron has the most beautiful eyes! That's why I married him....I was secretly hoping he'd give me blue-green eyed babies! :) j/k

Here is a picture of Mylee's first time going to church

(well not counting Stake Conference last Sunday)

Yeap all of her 0-3 clothes still drowned her!

She is still in Newborns!

So that's what the kiddos have been up to. As for Aaron and I we are just pluggin' away at work!

I do have to say this (hopefully Aaron will read this) Aaron has been such a wonderful help with the kids this past weekend and I really appreciate it. He is the reason I am almost caught up with my work, and I love him to death! I also have to thank his mother because I am sure she helped him out a lot since he spent all of the weekend at her house! So Thanks Jan! I have a very wonderful family and I am very lucky!

Hope all is well with everyone else! :)