Blake is 3 months!

My sweet boy is 3 months old! I never know if it's better to follow by weeks old or by the date they were born each month- but he's now 13 weeks and officially 3 months by the calendar too. Anyway, here's a long update on what things are like with him lately:

*Blake's newest thing is that he is now laughing! His first laugh was this past Friday the 16th and I was just playing with him while he was on the floor and then I realized he was giggling and he's done it several times since then. I love first laughs!

*Blake smiles all the time and I love it-they are just pure sunshine! I love how he opens his mouth real wide to smile and gets a chubby double chin. He often gives us big smiles just for nothing, and he seems to be a pretty happy baby these days.

*Blake is also cooing and making lots of razzes and spitty sounds, which is also so cute! Also drooling a ton, making spit bubbles, and loves to suck his fist.

*Doing well holding up his head during tummy-time and I love the look of concentration on his face while he does this.


*Has recently started playing in his exersaucer, and also likes being held in my front carrier, often falling asleep in it.

*Loves his swing, he still spends a lot of the day in it, we've already had to change the batteries.

*He seems to still sleep better in his swing than his crib. He'll take some naps in his crib but they usually don't last too long. So sometimes he sleeps in his swing for the first part of the night too.

*Blake still wakes up several times in the night and I have a hard time getting him to stay asleep when I need to move him to his crib since he'd rather just sleep cradled in my arms. And since he'll sleep longer if I just hold him, that's ultimately what ends up happening, but this is something that's going to need to start changing soon...

*Still likes to be swaddled to sleep or else he'll wiggle and fuss all night.

*Blake had his first formula bottle on 9/7, right before bedtime. He drank about 3 oz and then slept for 7 hours- so that was really good! This was a big deal for us because I have never used formula, even with Jacob. I planned on switching to formula just at night to help him sleep better but we've only tried a few random times since, but it usually seems to help him sleep longer so I'd like to do it as often as I can, but I know he doesn't like his bottle as much.

*Blake has a hard time falling asleep in his carseat and isn't a big fan of staying in his carseat while we're running errands but he is getting better. The last several times we went to the grocery store there was no crying- from Blake at least!

*Loves to take baths, always very calm and happy.

*Seems to enjoy walks in the stroller, and being outside.

*Has a good grip on his toys now and likes laying on his floor mat where he can reach up and grab the toys too.

*Always seems to be kicking and flapping his arms like crazy!

*Is very patient with his brother who still likes to poke him, climb on him when he's in his swing, lay on him when he's on the floor, and jumps in his crib to turn on his mobile when he wakes up. Blake usually is smiling when Jacob is around and likes to watch Jacob talk and play.

*Loves being held by anyone, but especially me.

*Blake is filling out quickly and getting big fast!

*At 2 months Blake weighed 10 lbs 10 oz and now he's roughly 13.6 lbs at 3 months!
We love our little Blake!

Football Season is Here

I'm not particularly excited for football starting again, but they sure are!

We broke in the first game of the season by going to our friends- the Kims. We had a good time visiting while watching the game. And although Jacob does love the Redskins like his dad, he likes playing "Angry Birds" on his dad's phone more.

Labor Day Weekend

For Labor Day weekend we did a little trip to the mountains. On Saturday, we left, got stuck in traffic and finally made it to Rifle, CO late afternoon. We first went to Rifle Falls which were actually really neat!



We could walk up behind the falls to see the view and the whole place was covered in really neat caves too.








Everything there was so pretty, someone was even holding a wedding there off to the side!
We hiked along a small trail behind the falls too and when we got to the top of the hill we had these beautiful views!



A few miles from Rifle Falls is the Rifle Gap which is this really pretty manmade lake in the middle of the hills there. You can't quite tell from the pictures, but the water was such a pretty blue!
Everything was so pretty up there, I really loved the scenery and the weather was just perfect. Things finally started to cool a bit just in time for Labor Day weekend, so it was a really nice afternoon. That night we found a restaurant in Rifle and then we headed to our hotel back in New Castle and took Jacob swimming for the rest of the evening.

Sunday we headed back to Rifle and went to one hour of church. Luke had served in that ward as a missionary so that was a little neat to go back, but he only recognized one person. Afterwards, we checked out of our hotel and headed to a park across the street that sat along the Colorado River.
Afterwards, we headed to Glenwood Springs which is where we intended to spend most of the weekend. But we just drove through town, got a quick lunch, then decided that since both the boys were ready for a nap it would be easiest to just drive on home, which was about a 2.5 hour drive from there. So even though it made for a quick weeknd trip, the boys slept all the way home and Luke and I enjoyed the beautiful drive as the trees were just barely starting to change colors.
Monday was Labor Day and so I got to dress my boys as twins again. It's funny how much bigger Blake has gotten since the last time I put them in these shirts on the 4th of July.



Jacob helped me make brownies, and Luke smoked some ribs and made homemade fries for dinner. We ended up eating a lot earlier than expected so we headed to Sloan's Lake just west of downtown and walked around. Again, it was such a perfect weather day!






We had a fun relaxing weekend together as a family!

5 Years Later

Luke and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary on August 26. Well, actually we celebrated early on our trip to Vegas, and so we kept it fairly simple on our actual anniversary. But Luke did get me these beautiful roses and a sweet card.

We went out to dinner that night without the kids- for the first time! It was nice to get away real quick from both kids, but that's all it was- real quick. I didn't want to leave Blake for very long yet. So we decided that since we got philly cheesesteaks at the beach on our honeymoon, we would go for some quick philly cheesesteaks again that night. So that was fun :)

And the boys celebrated that day by Blake wearing his "I love mommy" shirt and Jacob was wearing his daddy shirt. They're our biggest fans :)

And I've caught a lot of smiles from our little Blake lately so I had to share. His smiles just make my day! :)
And Jacob has been so sweet with Blake lately too. He likes spending time next to him, and tries to help and always laughs like crazy every time Blake burps. He even tries to pick him up now and will say "I'll feed him"- haha, it's sweet and I love seeing the two of them smile and have fun together, even already.


Here Jacob was trying to show Blake how to ride a horse, haha.

I was also excited to have my friend Shandra practice her photography skills and take some pictures of us. Jacob and Blake didn't quite cooperate and smile as much as I would have liked, but we did get a couple cute ones and here are just a few of my favorites:







And I still like this last one even though Jacob is making his "mean" face and Blake is crying- I guess it's just a "reality" picture. As I think back on the last 5 years that Luke and I have been married, not everything has been smooth and perfect but I do feel like things keep getting better every year. And at times I do get stressed and annoyed and overwhelmed with my boys, but I still wouldn't trade it for anything. I adore my sons (and my husband!) to pieces and I am quite happy with the life I live now. When Luke and I were married, if we projected what our life would be like in 5 years, I'm pretty sure I'm living it now- it's just what I want and where I want to be. And although we have our non-picture perfect moments, I'm so grateful for my sweet little family!