2 Months and Counting

On Monday, Xander turned 2 months old! It's hard to believe how fast time flies, especially with two little boys. Yesterday Xander went in for his well baby check-up. He now weighs 12 lbs 10 oz and is 23 3/4" long. He's growing like a weed. These days, a lot of people comment on how big he's getting, and often ask if I feed him straight butter and lard! I love it though because a chunky baby = a healthy baby. Here are some recent pictures.

Tub Time

For those of you who have spent any amount of time with the Gavinator, probably already know that he is quite the goof. He has always been a silly kid and loves finding ways to crack himself up. He is also very boy... fun sounds, specifically including those of the farty variety, are particularly funny. The last few times he's been in the tub this is what he has been doing to entertain himself...
and you can't help but laugh with him!

Gavin's Haircut

For some time now, Gavin has really been needing a haircut. So about a week ago after Ann got done cutting Ben's hair, I had her buzz off Gavin's hair. I've never buzzed it before. I just thought it would be a faster way to cut his hair. It usually takes a good hour because he refuses to hold still long enough to do much more than a little snip at a time. We usually have to bribe him to sit still with toys and food. With his hair short on top of now having glasses, he looks even more grown up. Time just flies. He's my little man now.

Backtrack: November

At the beginning of the month of November, I took Gavin to the eye doctor. Ever since he was a few months old, Gavin's right has been lazy and occasionally both would go crossed. For a while, I just thought it was something he would grow out of. Now a two year old, Gavin's eyes hadn't changed, so in to the doctor we went. The doctor was really good with Gavin, who doesn't like doctors whatsoever, and he explained things really well to me. I give Dr. Affleck two thumbs up! Come to find out, Gavin goes cross-eyed because he is really farsighted. The solution: glasses.

I just love little kids in glasses, especially little boys (and Gavin has been no exception!) I picked out a cute pair of Fisher-Price glasses. They're almost circle frames, so he kinda looks like a little Harry Potter now. I was worried about him leaving them on, but after the first week or so, the glasses almost always stay on now. I think he likes being able to really see. He now has his depth perception back. With this change in vision, I've also seen Gavin change. He looks more grown up with glasses, and he acts it, too. Amazing what good eyesight can do for a person!



Then of course November is THANKSGIVING! My sister Sarah came up from Provo to spend the holiday break with us, which was so much fun! Sarah came on Wednesday night. Thursday we spent the day at Ben's family's house in Rexburg. Dinner (and all other snacking) was delicious. The only hard part... diet restrictions. Xander started becoming really fussy at a couple of weeks old and had a ouchy, gassy tummy, so I took all dairy, chocolate, onions, and spicy foods to try to help him. It did. Fortunately for me recently I've been able to add everything back in to my diet in moderation... with the exception of dairy. It's not easy or a whole lot of fun for me, but it's been worth. And finding Rice Dream to drink has helped tons, so I have some form of milk to drink!

So enough of the tangent on my diet... back to Thanksgiving. Friday morning Ben and Sarah went to Wal-Mart hoping to get a portable DVD player for 50 bucks. No success, but Sarah did come away with really apple cider, which she'd been craving for some time. Later that day, Ann, Ben's mom, found another DVD player for $50 after mail in rebate, so it worked out in the end. When we fly to Kentucky next week to spend Christmas with my family, we're going to put that thing to good use! Friday afternoon we spent back in Rexburg playing games, reading, napping, and just hanging out. Sarah and Gavin spent the night that night with Ben's family, so Ben and I only had to take care of one little boy for a night. It was a nice treat! Saturday after picking up Sarah and Gavin, we came home, put the boys to bed, and pulled out the Christmas decorations to put up the tree. We were sad to see Sarah go after church on Sunday, but we had a great week. I loved having her around to help hold Xander and play with Gavin, so I could get something done!

Yea! I'm now caught up to December... finally!

Backtrack: October

Well, after several false alarms and being on bedrest, I was more than ready for Mr. Xander to make his arrival. Luckily for my sanity, he came early, but not too early. He ended up being only 2 1/2 weeks early, which is considered full term. Ben posted all Alexander's stats the first time, so I won't list those again, but I did think I would put a few more pictures up from his arrival.

Mom also came out to visit us and see her new grandson the last week of October. We had a great time with her around. Gavin loved having Grandma Crystal around to play with all week.

Since the week mom came was the week of Halloween, we were able to do some fun activities. We carved pumpkins, well everyone except me (and Gavin really just watched ;) !) This year Gavin decided he just LOVES pumpkins. He would point them out everywhere we went. The night before Halloween went to "Boo at the Zoo." Tautphaus Park Zoo here in Idaho Falls isn't very big, but it's great for a two year old. Gavin loved the seeing the camels, tigers, lions, zebras, and penguins plus all the Halloween decorations everywhere. On Halloween we went to Ben's parents' house. We had dinner and exposed my mom to the game "green ghost" (an in the dark blindfolded hands and knees tag) I enjoy just watching! We dressed Xander up as a little tiger and Gavin was a skeleton. I bought the shirt and mom and I made bones out of white duct tape and put them on black sweat pants. They were both so adorable.

Then that weekend before mom left town. Melissa, Sarah, and Macey came up to join us for all of Saturday. We were glad Macey was feeling better, so they could come, but we missed Thomas and wished they could have had a longer stay. We just enjoyed the day hanging out here and visiting. Sarah even got in a nap with Alexander napping right along side her.

New babies and spending time with family... what could be better?! Now on to November...

Backtrack: September

September is when things got crazy for me. The week of Gavin's 2nd birthday to be exact. Early in the week I had a doctor's appointment, and everything was fine and dandy with both baby and mom. Then Thursday of that week, I started having lower back pain and cramping, and after a while felt like something wasn't quite right. So I went to the OB again to have things checked out. I was dilated to a 3 (not that uncommon that early in the pregnancy for a second child), but I was also thinning. So at 33 weeks I was admitted to the hospital for observation to see if Xander was coming... a little scary at 7 weeks early. Luckily, things didn't progress any further, and after 24 hours and two steroid shots (as a precaution if he did come early to help develop his lungs) I was able to go home. Though from there on out I was on bedrest.

Gavin's birthday was Sunday the 14th, and I was so grateful that I was home and not in the hospital for his birthday. I had been looking forward to making an Elmo cake all week for him because he LOVES Elmo, so my kind husband came to rescue so I could still do that for Gavin. He baked the cake and mixed up the icing for me, so I could sit and decorate it. I was quite proud of myself.

Because of the crazy week we had just had, we only had Ben's family over for cake and ice cream. That was all I could manage at the time, but we still had a good time. Gavin got Elmo gifts and trains, and a car rug to drive around on... what more could he ask for!









































Then on the 17th was Ben's birthday. With the help of my good friend and neighbor Shanti, I was able to get dinner and birthday lemon bars (since we just had cake a few days prior). So we had a nice quiet evening at home. Gavin who got the hang of ripping open presents this year wanted to open all of Ben's gifts. And his daddy let him help with one or two. We got Ben Spiderman 3 and the piano music from the new Pride and Prejudice. When Ben went to play, Gavin went too. He always has to "help" his daddy play.


















So that was September in our house... now on to a post of October!

Lots of Catching Up to Do

Two months ago Ben posted a little blurb on the birth of our second adorable son Xander, but that's been about it in quite a while. So while Gavin is watching Elmo's World on Sesame Street and Xander is happy in his bouncy seat. I'm going to try to play catch up. I'll do several smaller posts, so it's not one giant post.

Alexander Paul Barnes

Alexander Paul Barnes was born on Wednesday, October 15, 2008 at 2:58am. Boy was that a long night. He was two weeks and two days early. He was 7 lbs. 5 oz and 19 1/2 inches long. Both mom and he are doing very well. The doctor let us bring him home Thursday morning. I just wish he would sleep at night...I have forgotten how long the nights can be.

Gavin is very cute with him. He wants to hold him and give him loves for about 30 seconds. Then he is done and shoves him away. We don't think that he really knows what to think about having a brother around. He has been kind of whinny today...

I guess it is time for us to figure out how to handle two busy boys! I am sure they will keep us running. Which one will be the instigator of all their schemes...

Hopefully everything is going good for the rest of you.

Ben, Lachelle, Gavin, and "Zander" (or maybe we will spell it Xander!)

What a Weekend

Well, we had a little bit of a scare this last weekend. Lachelle ended up having some pre-term contractions. The doctors were able to get it stopped, so no child yet. At 33 weeks, we don't want him to show up yet. So, after a day in the hospital, Lachelle is on bed rest right now. It doesn't take much to get it going again.

Sunday is Gavin's B-Day. He is turning 2! It is hard to believe that he is that old already. We are not doing anything big to celebrate. We have also been "celebrating" colds the last couple of weeks. He already acts two (his tantrums have gotten worse in the last month). We haven't gotten to the fist pounding on the floor yet...though maybe we should keep it that way.

Ben's B-Day is on Wednesday. He will most likely spend the day at work...not too exciting. It is the start of the year-end for the government, so work will be very busy these next couple of weeks. For some reason the government decides the year 2008 is over on September 30. So, Ben will officially start 2009 before the rest of you do!

"Cabining" in Island Park

We haven't done a whole lot in the way of vacationing this summer, but we did sneak away for a long weekend. A few weeks ago Ben, Gavin, and I spent a few days in Island Park camping (if you can call it that) in a pretty nice cabin with all of Ben's family. We went up Wednesday night and stayed until Saturday.

While there we celebrated Daron's 25th birthday, and ate cake (with almost as much icing as cake) and had homemade ice cream (always one of my favorites). On Thursday we hung around the cabin and relaxed until the afternoon when most of us (Josh and Ben decided to stay at the cabin and nap) went over to Henry's Lake. I know it's windy in Idaho, but it was sooo windy that we felt like we were on the coast. Daron read while Jacob, Jonathon, and Kiana climbed rocks and got wet. Gavin enjoyed all the rocks and spending time with Grandma Ann. Kevin got out and inflated a raft, eventually convincing Jacob he wanted to come along for the ride. By the end of the afternoon both were quite soaked.

On Friday we spent our day in Yellowstone. We went to see Old Faithful, stopped at a few hot pots, had a fun pinic lunch by the river, and went swimming at Firehole. We then came out into West Yellowstone and went to the Playmill. It's pretty much tradition that we go once a year. Two years ago, we saw Joseph and the Amazing Techinicolor Dreamcoat. Last year, we saw Footloose. And this year, we saw Hello, Dolly! Even Gavin really enjoyed the show. Only the last half hour or so was a little hard because he was tired of being confined, but he loved the singing and dancing.

Saturday, we packed up and bailed out. All three of us were tired. Gavin slept in the same room as us, and needless to say we didn't always get as much sleep as we would have liked. We drove and all crashed for a nap! What a great weekend we had spending with family.

Sew Easy.... Well, sort of.

Well it's been way to long since I've written a post. The month of August ended up being quite busy. I'll have to write several posts to get things updated again, but for now, we'll start with a short post about the sewing project I took on last week.

Last week Gavin had double ear infections and a nasty cold to go with it. (Of course, this week I've got the nasty cold...) Anyway, he took some nice 2 hour long naps in the afternoons, so I decided to work on making a dress that I didn't have to squeeze into. I have two maternity skirts, but all my dresses are just barely fitting these days.

I found a pattern I liked in a box of patterns I got for free from a friend in my ward. It's not technically a maternity dress, but with a bigger size the style lent itself the option of being one. I worked on it all last week and was able to have it done to wear on Saturday to a sealing for one of Ben's cousins. I was happy with how it turned out, and it wasn't too difficult of a pattern... (though there were a few bumps in the road ;) ) So now here are a couple of pictures of me with my pregnant belly sporting my new dress!

Our latest project

We received a dresser for free from Freecycle.org. I love this site. It's through Yahoo! Groups, and you can sign up for your local chapter, I guess you could call it. Then people in your area post things they are giving away, and occasionally, you can request a need too. So anyway, that's what I did. I asked for a sturdy dresser, and I got one! I sanded the dresser down to the wood... I had to take off three layers of paint, and then Ben and I (mostly Ben) stained and sealed it with polyurethane. We now have a really nice dresser for the baby's room. Here's some pics of progress of the dresser from before to the final look.

What do you do in the summer time?

Around here in Idaho, they just don't really do pools. It just doesn't stay warm long enough. When it's hot, it's hot, but then the rest of the year it's pretty much down right cold. So to give Gavin a little water time, we bought a sprinkler. (We spoil him too much I know ;)! ) Ben and I have enjoyed watching him play and becoming a little more brave about getting water in his face. I just thought I'd share a video and a few pictures of the Idaho version of a swimming pool!

Art Show

On Saturday, Idaho Falls had their Art Show at the Greenbelt. The Greenbelt is a walking/biking path that follows the Snake River in downtown Idaho Falls. They have several community activities there through out the year. This past weekend was the art show. Ben and I took Gavin and walked around for about an hour. I love looking for a couple of reasons: 1) it makes the artsy side of me want to do something, and maybe someday sell it 2) I enjoy seeing what local artists are doing 3) there is just a lot to see. We saw a glass maker making a unicorn in front of the crowd, there were some really cool metal sculptures, lots of paintings and photographs, and just all kinds of things. Even Gavin was entertained the whole time!

Our favorite little booth was a pottery one. It is a husband and wife team that creates the pottery, and it's absolutely gorgeous. And the part we liked best was that they do personalized pottery: weddings, baby births, etc. It is a little pricey, but Ben and I are thinking we might save up for a wedding one. Interested or not, here is the sight that this couple can be checked out at: www.masakpottery.com It's worth a look!

A piece of Family History

Yesterday I oiled and put together the baby's crib. This wood crib was made by my Grandpa Shoaf for my mom when she was pregnant with me. I slept in it, all my siblings slept in, Gavin and Macey slept in it, and now this baby will too! It's a fun piece of our family history,and an absolutely gorgeous piece of workmanship by grandpa.

Feeding the Ducks

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