Turn Those Ears On!!

We got Coleman's hearing aids yesterday. Russ wasn't feeling well, so I went into Coleman's appointment and we made sure that they fit and were working right, but we didn't turn them on so that Russ could be a part of Coleman hearing for the first time. Primary Childrens has been awesome to work with. They gave Cade a little stuffed animal with mock hearing aids so that he wouldn't feel left out. We gave the stuffed animal to Cade and explained to him that Coleman was getting some "special ears". Cade kept taking the mock hearing aids off the animal and gave them to me saying "more baby's ears! more baby's ears!".

Once we turned the hearing aids on, Coleman was very nervous. Every little sound made him jump, and he was really tense all night, but he didn't really cry or fuss. Today he seems to be doing a lot better with them. I was talking to him in a silly voice and making faces at him, and he laughed... that was really touching, he's never done that before. I'm so excited for him that he has so many more opportunities and experiences ahead of him now. I'm also so thankful for the technology that's available. It's really amazing when you stop and think about it.

Christmas 2010

We went to a Christmas Festival at Cade's school a couple of days before Christmas. Cade tolerated Santa's lap much better this year than last. Coleman was just happy to be there, like usual...

Christmas Eve was awesome. I had all of these plans.... we would see the lights on temple square, build a ginger bread house, and then read Christmas stories and act out the nativity... but Cade of course had his own plans. I didn't want to fight the kids and stress over it, so I asked Cade what he wanted to do. He said "mowee! mowee!" So we watched a movie. We watched Toy Story 3 (loved it!). Cade and Russ ordered pizza for dinner, and Russ kindly picked up a Diet Coke, fries, and fry sauce for me since I can't eat pizza. Coleman was spent by that point and ducked out of the party...


Russ picked up a buid-your-own wood car kit from Lowes, and put it together with Cade. I don't think Cade has ever had so much fun. He laughed and laughed while they built it, and then carried the car around like it was his life's work. He kept pointing to it and saying, "Dada did it! Dada did it!" It was really cute to see Cade having so much fun with his dad.

Once the car was complete, we all played cars together and built garages for them... Cade's favorite activity.

Then we all read the Christmas Story and sang "Away in a Manger". Cade went to bed with his usual truck book in place, but also with his new wooden car...

Christmas morning, Coleman had to wait for Cade to wake up before he could open his presents... I think the anticipation was almost more than he could handle :) ...

Neither of the boys knew that all of this new stuff was from Santa, but they did know that it was new, and that it was theirs!!

Christmas afternoon, we headed up to Idaho to spend some time with my family.


I got to see my grandma and grandpa while we were there too. We even got a 4-generation picture :)

What a great Christmas. Lots of good memories!!

Coleman at 4 Months

Coleman is four months old now! He weighed in at 14 lbs 8 oz (55th percentile), is 24.5 inches long (50th percentile) and his head is 42.7 cm (60th percentile). He started rice cereal, and he is a big fan! Whenever I feed it to him, he sticks his arms and legs straight out and just shakes with excitement. He was finally diagnosed with mild to moderate hearing loss bilaterally. We're glad that we're at last to the point where we're done with tests and we can start helping him. His hearing aids have been ordered, and he will be getting them this week. I can't wait to see his reaction when he has them in for the first time!

Oh yeah, this is why I rarely blog...

So I was feeling guilty that I'm so behind on my blog. I took 10 minutes to update it, walked into the living room, and found my darling 2 year old in the middle of an entire box of cereal. This is why I never get anything done people!

Coleman's Blessing

Coleman was blessed on November 28th, by his dad. It was a beautiful blessing. Coleman is a very special little spirit and he has brought our family so much joy. We were very lucky that almost all of both of our families were able to be there (we were just missing Dan and his family who are in Oklahoma, and Michelle who is on a mission). Cade doesn't EVER sit still long enough for a good picture, but we sure made a lot of attempts.

Thanksgiving with the Murphys

We were lucky to have the Murphys out to our house for a week over Thanksgiving. Coleman got to meet his Papa for the first time. Of course, we fried a turkey :) Conrad also spoiled us with some creole, and I thoroughly enjoyed having on-call babysitters! Russ and Conrad also went to the Utah/BYU game, it seems that football always has a place in Murphy get togethers!
Cade wanted no part in having his picture taken, so here's our best shot!

Our Crazy Happy Lives

Wow, 2010 has been a whirlwind. It's been my happiest and toughest year on record. I have to laugh at myself when I think of my "best laid plans" that are now pretty much out the window. It's funny to think of what I thought was important 10 years ago, vs. what's important now. This year we've learned a lot about what really matters.

So... Here's to 2010! We've had some highs, and we've had some lows, but all-in-all, we've shared a lot of laughs, we've made some new friends and had fun with lots of old ones, made happy memories with family, we were blessed with our sweet Coleman, we've been able to watch Cade grow and learn, I've spent one more happy year with my amazing husband, and we've grown closer to our Savior.

I think that this talk by Elder Wirthlin "Come What May and Love It", has really been sort of a theme of my life this year. It has helped me so much; I want to share it so that maybe it can help someone else who might need it also.

Kiddo Update

Cade is now 2 1/2! Cade started preschool this month. He hates it. He does love his Miss Lisa though, so I think that after he gets the swing of things he will have fun. His favorite expressions are "Ooooohhhh Booooooo!!!" (Oh no) and "Hi Beebee, Hi!" (Hi Baby, Hi). He is learning new words every day, and I am so proud of the progress that he's made. He loves Coleman so much, and tries to hug and kiss him all of the time. He loves loves loves everything about cars and trucks. He has also started to love buiding "ouff"s (houses) out of his lincoln logs and legos.

Coleman is three months old! I can't believe how fast he is growing. I love this picture with his belly hanging over his belt. He's becoming quite the little chub. He started laughing this month, but it sounds more like an excited grunt than a laugh. He is a very smiley and happy baby. He hates being by himself, but loves to sit and watch Cade play.

Coleman gave us quite the scare the other day. He woke up with his soft spot bulging out. We went in to the pediatrician, who told us that it could be a sign of hydrocephalus or a brain tumor (which would explain his hearing loss as well), so we ran to the hospital for a CT scan. Thank Heaven that his scan was perfectly normal. This little guy is giving me gray hairs already. Good thing he's so darn cute. Coleman is such a sweet baby. We feel so lucky that he is ours.

Outsmarting the Picky Eater

Cade is terrible about being a picky eater. He is incredibly over-sensitive to the sight of food, so even looking at something that someone else is eating will make him throw up... he got to the point where he was literally only eating frozen waffles, grilled cheese, and milk. We started him in a toddler class for kids who have eating issues, and things have gotten SO much better. They saved my sanity. I thought that I should pay it forward and pass on some of the tricks I've learned...

1. Shake it. Make milk shakes out of everything. No really, everything. Cade loves the raspberry/avacado/sweet potato blend. Mix it with half and half for extra calories. Instant Breakfast mix will add some vitamins and nutrients too.
2. Dip it. Mix pureed vegetables into ketschup or ranch dressing. Let them dip pretzels, chips, or crackers into it. Nutella is an awesome dip too.
3. Glam it up. I top everything with cool whip, sprinkles, or mini m&m's. You can also use fun cookie cutters to cut out sandwiches.
4. Name it. Don't say "eat your fruits and veggies"... say "eat your CARROT SWORDS or BANANA WHEELS." Be creative.
5. Play with it. I'm not a mom who cares about playing with your food. I think it's a great opportunity for pretend play, and it helps take Cade's mind off of the stress of it.
6. Let peer pressure work for you. Cade does 1000% better if he sees other kids eating it too. We love lunch play-dates.

We still aren't to the point where I can make one meal for the whole family (wouldn't that be something?!), but at least I'm not having to wash pukey clothes after every meal!

Tiny Tubes for C-Man

We went up to Primary's on the 4th for Coleman to get tubes in his ears. Little buddy hasn't passed his hearing test yet, so his doc wanted to put tubes in to rule out any chance of fluid causing the hearing loss. I felt like I was playing house, with the little-bitty hospital gown, blood pressure cuff, and oxygen mask! Coleman was very brave through the surgery, and so was I :) Thank goodness it was only 15 minutes long. They hardly gave me enough time to worry. Coleman did look cute though in his tiny gown...

But holy cow, if you ever are feeling sorry for yourself, spend a day at Primary Children's! I promise your problems will not seem so bad after all. We will go back in one month to have more hearing tests for Coleman, but come what may, we're very very blessed. We know Heavenly Father loves us, He loves Coleman, and that everything is in His hands.

Happy Halloween/October 2010

We kicked off October with a visit to the pumpkin patch... a very muddy pumkin patch.


Cade was ticked that his hands were muddy, but he did like the wagon ride! He was more excited about the cars passing by than the pumpkins...


Still mad about his hands being dirty...

We also had the first snow this October. Cade sat at the window signing "snow" (that's what he's doing in the picture below) and just watching the snow fall for most of the morning...

Then it snowed again a few days later. Cade laid in the window this time to watch it...

We carved a pumpkin with Cade this year. He was fascinated that the top came off. He kept pointing to it and signing "hat".

We were an LSU superfan family for Halloween (I know... we went way out of our comfort zones!). The boys had matching outfits, complete with capes, masks, and foam swords.

Family Pics 2010 and Coleman Newborns

Ho. Lee. ****. This day was the craziest day of my life. I remembered why we haven't done this in 18 months. Cade did everything he could to sabotage Coleman's newborn session, then during the family session, he tried to run away, take his shoes off, tackle Coleman, or chase the ducks every time the photographer has us in a pose. Literally, every time. I would have been overjoyed to have just one of the shots turn out... but we actually got a couple. Seriously a miracle. I can't sing enough praises to our photographer... Jeni Boston. But despite the craziness of it all, I am so glad that we did it. I have to say I have two pretty darn cute kids.