Liev - 4 months

Liev is 4 months old! Here are his stats from Dr. Erickson:

Length: 25.47 inches - 69%

Weight: 14 lbs. - 29%

Head: 17 inches - 76%

Our boy is such a fun little guy to have around. He is so smiley and happy and makes life enjoyable for us! Enjoy these pics of our 4 month old!

Girls Trip to St. George

I went with some friends from work to St. George for a relaxing weekend away. Kilee, Pat, Hayley and I loaded into the car and headed out for 4 days - here are the highlights of our trip.

We hit a chick-flick that we knew our husbands wouldn't want to see.

Ate delicious food at Samarai 21
Relaxed by the pool. We had to laugh at Pat with her i-pod on her head.

We saw The Little Mermaid at the Tuacahn theatre. It was fabulous!

We had a mix-up with our seats so we actually got to sit where some of the crew was supposed to be - front and center!

Some of the cast after the play. They all did an amazing job. I kept thinking that my girls would have loved to see this play!

Pat had some sweet hair in the mornings.

We watched a few movies and enjoyed the air-conditioned house while it was so hot outside!

We got pedicures one of the days - can't have a girls weekend without a pedicure!

We ate lunch at this cute little house-turned-boutique the last day we were there. Delicious food and fun atmosphere.

We stayed up late playing games, watching movies and chatting most of the nights. It was such a fun and welcome weekend for all of us! Thanks to Kilee's mom for letting us use their house there - it was perfect!

Window Washing

Josh was cleaning windows one day and Rease wanted to help. So he sent her outside with windex and a rag. I think these pics are just so cute of her working away. Plus she couldn't see inside so she didn't see Josh taking these shots of her.

Good job Rease! The windows are sparkly clean!

Our baby birds

This spring we found some birds making a nest in the eves of our front porch. A few days after the nest was made, Josh jumped up there to take a look. Sure enough, he found these 4 cute little eggs! Mommy Robin was very good at keeping these little babies warm and we were anxious to see how long it would be before the eggs hatched.

It wasn't too long, maybe about 2 weeks, and we heard some squawking coming from the nest. Our litle baby birds were born!
Josh was really good about jumping up and checking on them every day or so. He snapped these pictures with his phone to document the growth of our babies.

I think it was only about 2 weeks after the birds were born that they learned to fly and left the nest. Just like that they were gone and mommy and daddy Robin were gone too. We had a lot of fun watching our birds grow up!

Love

This is the view I see very often throughout the day. And yes, there is actually a baby in that swing. Rease and Rhen love Baby Liev.

And Baby Liev loves his adoring sisters. He never gets impatient with their constant attention. Nothing like a baby in the house to make everyone full of love!

Liev in his Bumbo

I don't know if many of you know this, but Liev is not a "bendy" baby. He doesn't like to sit or be bent over at all - he prefers being straight. He likes to stand on our laps or just lay on the floor. Even when he's eating, he's straight out. He is such a funny little boy. Anyway, I have been trying to put him in his Bumbo chair for practice. He is still trying to get the hang of it...

Sometimes he tips to the side...

Sometimes he leans backwards...

Sometimes forward...

But mostly, he is just dang cute!

Bowling

Last week for Family night we took the kids bowling. It was the first time they'd been so I was interested to see how they'd like it. Bowling these days is so nice - everything is automatic so it makes it easy: automatic scoring, automatic bumpers for those that want them (perfect for the girls) and they even have these little ramp things that make it so so easy for the kids to bowl. We had a blast!

Rease was totally into it and wanted to do everything herself. They have 6 lb balls for the kids so she really was able to do everything on her own.

Rhen had fun too and also wanted to do it herself. The ball was barely light enough for her to carry it and get it up onto the ramp (she did drop it once or twice as you can see but overall she did pretty good.) I haven't been bowling for years but I actually won the first game! Garrett lost the second game and I'm pretty sure he owes us all shakes now. Fun day bowling!

Found his thumb

This is what we were trying to avoid by giving Liev a binky from the start. Even after all this time with the binky, Mr. Man still found his thumb!

Happy Mother's Day

I had such a good Mother's Day filled with love and lots of kisses and hugs from my family. Josh let me sleep in (until 8:00 - but all mothers of young kids know that the chance to be able to sleep in until 8 is a real treat!) I woke up to kisses and hugs from my sweet girls while telling me "Happy Mother's Day" over and over. Then they made me streussel cake and gave me my gifts. What a fun morning we had together! We have church at 1:00 so we had the morning to relax and just enjoy the family!

The rest of the day was spent with both Josh's family and my family together - so I was able to celebrate with both my mothers which was wonderful! Josh spoke in church and gave a really sweet tribute to his mom - who really is an amazing woman. Let me just take a minute and tell you about this wonderful lady and a few of the points that Josh brought up in his talk.

1) She is an amazing journal writer. For each of her 8 kids she has written a life history for them when they turn 18. She takes all her thoughts, memories and stories about each of the kids straight from her journals over the years. What an awesome thing to have! Josh took a few hours this weekend as he was preparing his talk and read through his life history. He found some fun stories to share and also some sweet moments that his mom had recorded and was able to remember those times they had together.

2) She loves spending time with her grandkids. Our girls have a special bond with their Grammie Beutler because she takes so much time with them and loves them to pieces. There have been many times that we have called on her to help us out with the kids as we work, travel or just need a day together and she is always willing to be with the kids. I know it's because she loves them so much and in return they adore her.

3) She is one of the kindest people I know. I often tell Josh that his mom was born to be a relief society president - she just has all those qualities that come with the job. Kind, patient, giving and most of all, filled with love for others. She is a great example to me.

I feel blessed to have such a great mother-in-law!

We had a delicious lunch together after church and crammed as many people into our small house as we could. Grammie and Papa Losee and Beutler, Caleb, Hayley, Garrett, Justin, Steph, Andy, Sarah and Greg along with us and the kids - it made for a houseful but we had a great time. We ate good food and sat around afterward and just talked and talked. Josh asked each of us to remember one of our favorite moments with our mom and share it with everyone. It was such a sweet time for all of us to reflect on our mothers and how much we love them. There were a few tears but mostly just smiles as we remembered all the good times we've had with our moms over the years. I wanted to share some of my favorite things about my mom.

1) I may have said this in the past but one of my favorite things that my mom has done over the years is to share our birth story with each of us on our birthdays. I've heard my story 29 times now but I never tire of hearing how she waited all day while in labor with me until my dad got done planting the fruit trees in the yard so they wouldn't die. She tells of how she got to the hospital and went right into the delivery room only to be taken back to another room because I was posterior and had to be turned before delivery. And how they didn't have a name picked out for me yet so they borrowed the name that the couple next to them used and that's how I ended up as Natalie. Now that I'm a mother myself, I have tried to pass this tradition along and talk to my kids about their birth on their birthdays.

2) She also loves her grandkids. We have lived down the road from them for almost 7 years now and how fun it has been for our kids to be so close to Grammie and Papa. Many times the girls have had sleepovers at their house and come home with stories about what they did and what Grammie taught them. She thinks of the kids on every holiday (or even when it isn't a holiday) and brings treats, toys and little presents just to show them how much she cares. They are moving soon and we are going to be so sad to not have them just down the road from us - it has been a special treat for us to have them so close!

3) My mom is my friend - and that is what is most special to me. I don't think there is a day that goes by that I don't at least talk to her on the phone. We call back and forth to share recipes, ask questions, plan when to get together next, ask for advice and whatever else we have on our minds. I feel lucky to not only have a great mom, but also a great friend!

This is a picture of both my moms at the hospital with me when I had Rhen. I've often been told how rare it is that our families get along so well and are such great friends. But that's how we like it and we do feel blessed that we can share special times with both our families together. Mother's Day for me was not only special because I could share it with both my moms, but because I could celebrate my love for being a mother myself. I love each of my kids so much and love being a mom to them. I got to spend a few minutes with each of them separately yesterday and I couldn't stop telling them how I love them and how special they are to our family. Rease is our oldest and I got to spend time with her first.

1) Rease is such a sweet, tender little girl. She is one that, I have learned, doesn't like to be scolded or yelled at because it hurts her feelings. If I am impatient with her at all, she usually bursts into tears and asks, "mommy why are you so mad at me?" I have to watch myself around her so that I don't make her feel bad. She is always worried about other's feelings and making sure that everyone is happy. The other night I sent her to bed crying for some reason that I don't remember. By the time morning came I had forgotten all about what happened the night before, but the first the she said to me when she woke up was "mommy, I'm so sorry about how I acted last night." She is very sweet and loving.

2) She is an amazing big sister. I see her constantly kissing, hugging or helping the other 2 kids. Of course there is plenty of arguing that goes on, but she is usually the first to give up what she has so the Rhen will stop fighting her. She always wants to hold Baby Liev and help change his diaper, feed him or just be with him. I caught her reading him a book the other day:
Isn't that the sweetest thing? That's Rease. I love Rease because she is my oldest and got me started being a mom. I know I will count on her for a lot as she gets older and I feel like she will rise to that. She is very special.

Rhen is my second and oh how I love her for who she is. When I was pregnant with her I always wondered how a mom could love a second child as much as the first. Somehow a mom's heart grows with each child to fit them all in and love them as much as the others. This is why I love Rhen.

1) She is a crazy girl but also the sweetest thing you've ever seen. She can be wild running around, jumping on things, tearing the house apart but will always stop and give a kiss and a hug whenever I ask for it. It's the cutest thing - when she puckers up for a kiss it looks like she's giving a fishy kiss. But she hands them out left and right and doesn't usually let anyone leave without at least one kiss and hug. She'll say "kiss and hug, kiss and hug" a hundred times until you give into her wishes! And if she wants to cuddle she'll ask, "mommy can you hold me?" I can't ever resist a moment to "hold" my sweet Rhen (and believe me, it usually only lasts a moment before she's off to something else.)

2) Rhen is smart as can be. She throws you off a little bit with her high pitched voice but she can whip out the words to a song or the letters of the alphabet just like that. I was helping Rease memorize an Article of Faith for church and we practiced it over and over and over until she had it down. One day I asked her to recite it for me and Rhen piped in and said the whole thing to me. I had no idea she was even paying attention to me when I was helping Rease, let alone memorizing it herself. But that's Rhen. She's the one in the background taking everything in when you think she's not paying attention. Her favorite songs to sing are Sunshine, Chicken Lips and the Moon song - and she can sing every word. And oh is it the cutest thing to hear because she has the highest voice. I love this girl!

Liev is my only boy so far and that in itself makes him special to me. At 3 months old, he is such an important addition to our family!

1) Liev has a calmness about him that makes it easy for me as a mom of 3. He joined right into our crazy life and hasn't made it a single bit harder for me. He is very patient with the girls as they are always climbing all over me and him and wanting to be a part of whatever we are doing. He smiles a lot these days and it makes my day just a little brigther to see his sweet face smiling up at me!

2) Liev is my boy. I have to think that since the girls are such daddy's girls then this boy of mine is going to be a mamma's boy. I sure hope so!

I feel very blessed as a mom to have 3 amazing kids. I also feel blessed as a daughter to have 2 wonderful moms. Thanks to everyone for a great mother's day!

Oranges

Rhen loves oranges...Can you tell?

Big Foot

Rhen loves putting other peoples' shoes on and wandering around the house. Josh got new running shoes this week and that was all Rhen needed - as soon as he pulled them out of the box, she stuck her feet in them and stood up to show us. What a character!

(And yes Josh's shoes are neon yellow!)

Easter egg hunt 2011

One of my favorite days of the year is the day of our Easter Egg Hunt. Yes, it's crazy that us adults get so excited for an egg hunt, but what can I say? There's a $20 egg up for grabs plus some $10, $5 and $1 bills and a whole lot of change to find and we love it! Josh and I have been the champs for the past 3 years - we were very confident that this year we would continue our reign.

This is us - Team Beutler ready for action.
Garrett and his buddy Colby thought they had a chance...

And Hayley and Caleb looked the part, but we weren't scared. And Justin and Steph had a slight disadvantage since Steph is 8 months prego.

Grammie hid the kids eggs so we let them go first and we watched as they hunted the eggs. Some of them were not hard to find as they were as big as the girls are! The girls scored bigtime though with stuffed animals, candy and makeup! Grammie sure knows the way to their hearts!

Then the adults were off! It was a tough fight and there were lots of good hiding places. We all got our fair share.

But in the end...

The champion was...

Justin!

Yes, Josh and I lost this year (we actually lost bigtime!) and Justin and Steph stole the championship from us. They barely beat Hayley and Caleb by about a dollar, but we were dead last. We figured we had to give someone else a chance to win once in a while!

We had fun even though we did lose!