Heart Breaker

Seriously, this boy is such a little stud muffin...a total heart breaker!

One of the BIG Projects...

THE PLAYROOM!!!

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I have LOVED having a separate space for all the kids' toys. Being able to put it all away at the end of the day and relax in a family room with NO toys is one of my favorite things. However, from day one of living in this house, there has been no real organization to the playroom. We just put everything in there and hoped it would stay there. Here is the playroom shortly after we moved in, back in May of 2010. Since then, more things have just been crammed in there!!

Then I got my new bookcase (I love IKEA!!!) for Christmas! Here is the playroom right after getting it set up but before any real organization took place. I needed my kid-free weekend to accomplish all the de-junking that needed to take place!!

And here is the finished product!

Everything has a spot! I love the bins and that the kids now know where everything goes. I made wonderful little picture labels and laminated them! I still have aspirations of getting some fun vinyl lettering to go on the wall above the bookcase, and perhaps a cork board on the wall above the table and chairs so they can have a spot to hang their artwork...but we'll get there. Let's just hope the kiddos can help me keep it nice and tidy....hahahahaha, yeah right. Well, a girl can dream, can't she??!! :-)

My Catch-Up Weekend

Back at Christmas, I told Kevin that a WONDERFUL gift he could give me would be a weekend to catch up on all the little and big projects that have been falling by the wayside since being pregnant and having Barrett, all the deep-cleaning that needed done and basically to just catch up on life. And he could do this by taking the kids to visit his parents for the weekend. And since I pretty much have the most amazing husband in the world, he agreed! So we planned it for a weekend that I wouldn't have to teach my lesson at church so I could 100% devote my time to all that needed done. And this weekend was it! It.Was.Fabulous! It really is amazing how much you can get done when you don't have 50 million (no exaggeration at all) interruptions!!

And the kids had a great time at Grandma and Grandpa's! Barrett even got to ride a horse for the first time!! Yay Bubba!!!

The girls didn't even need to call me the entire time they were gone...they were having too much fun! And I got everything done that I wanted to, and then some. I still have a lot of things to do, don't we all...really is a mother/homemaker's work ever really done??!!! But I just feel sooooo much better about life. I feel like I can actually keep my head above water now! Thank you Kevin for supporting me and loving me and helping me be a better me! I love you and our precious babies so much!

Resemblance???

It's a tongue thing!

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Apparently, Barrett had the same aversion to keeping his tongue in his mouth as an infant as I did! :-)

Off to the Dentist...

A couple weeks ago (Jan 10th), we made our bi-annual trip to Kevin's office for our dental check-ups and cleanings. Up to this point, Payton has adamantly refused to even get anywhere near the chair (even with our dentist being her daddy!!!!)...so for the week or so before our appointments, I talked talked TALKED it up about how much of a big girl she is now and how fun it is to let daddy and Monique (the fabulous hygienist) count our teeth and make sure they are healthy. And it worked!! Here is Payton at her very first official dental check up!!! She looks a bit apprehensive in the picture but she really actually did very well and wasn't nervous at all. She didn't really open her mouth very wide but we'll count it a success!!!

Alexa is an old hat at it now so she just jumped right into the chair!

And Barrett....well, even though he DOES already have a couple teeth AND his daddy is a dentist, he hasn't had his first real check-up yet. We do keep a pretty close eye on him at home though...perks of having a dentist in the house!! :-) He looked pretty cute helping Andrea at the front desk though!!

Why Can't I Go Too?

LET ME OUT ALREADY!!!!

This boy wants to be doing anything and everything his big sisters are doing. Too bad for him that he has a fetish with putting things his mouth...like all. the. time. no matter what it is!! So IF I were to let him out that screen door, it would literally be only seconds before a handful of rocks when straight into his mouth. Sorry buddy...you'll have to wait a few more months until I can trust you not to put those tempting rocks in your mouth!! :-)

Helping Mommy

We were having some friends over today, so I decided to make brownies. The girls were more than eager to help....or rather, lick the spoons!!! :-)

A little more of Christmas...

While all of Kevin's side of the family were together the day after Christmas, Kevin's sister, Georganna took some pictures and we even got one of all of us together! Quite the clan we've got going now...when we got family pictures taken about year after we got married, there were only 16 people in that picture...now there are 28!!! That's quite the increase in almost 8 years!! Anyways, Georganna forwarded some pictures from that day, so now I'm sharing them with you.

Grandma and Grandpa with all the grandkids!!

..::Barrett: 9 Month Stats::..

Barrett had his 9 month check up with Dr. Swanson this morning. Here are his stats:

23.5 lbs (95th percentile)

30" tall (98th percentile)

46.5 cm head circumference (95th percentile)

Healthy and Happy!!

..::Barrett: 9 Months::..

NINE months!!! You know what that means?????.....only three months left of buying formula!!!

Wooooooooooooooohooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm not excited, so don't think I am!!! :-)

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What's been goin' on this past month??

*started waving - December 20th

*got 2nd tooth (bottom right central) - December 24th

(he got his two front teeth just in time for Christmas!!)

*experienced his FIRST Christmas

*stands up in crib (which is now how we find him each time we go in to get him) - Dec 29th

*starts clapping his hands - January 6th (does this ALL the time now)

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We have his 9 month checkup on Friday so I'll have to update his stats at that time. I'm guessing though that he's weighing in around 26 lbs!! I just cannot get enough of our little man. I seriously love. having. a. boy! LOVE it! I love my girls too, don't get me wrong....but there's just something different about having a boy, despite the obvious. :-) Maybe because after two girls it IS just that, different! Whatever it is, I just want to squeeze and smooch him all day long. He has a special hold on my heart and seriously can do no wrong in my eyes. I know I'm in trouble...he's going to be that crazy, tantrum-throwing 2 year old and I'll just say, it's okay, have whatever you want! Hahaha...okay, not REALLY, but that's how I feel at this point. He could ask me for a car for his 1st birthday and I'd buy him a real one. Lol...needless to say, I adore him! And what's even better, he absolutely, 100% adores his mama! I am sooooo the favorite. Even though, when daddy comes home from work, if he doesn't pick Barrett up within seconds, he's crying like we chopped his arm off...he still prefers mommy 99.9% of the time. :-) Oh goodness...I could go on and on (and on) about all the cute, adorable things about Bubba...but I'll spare you all!

Sufficeth to say, we all love him so much! He pretty much has each one of us (his sisters included) wrapped around his chubby little fingers!

Childhood Reminder

Do you remember Fun Dips? I sure do! I remember riding my brown, banana-seat bike from my house, down the road, to the little convenience store to spend my hard earned (or hard found) money on this sugary confection! There was something about dipping a stick of hard candy into colored sugary powder. And having my tongue and lips turn crazy colors...so much fun!

So fast forward almost 30 years and my kids happened to come across some of these Fun Dips! It sure took me back...especially seeing the absolute delight on their faces!

Today is Barrett's 9 month and since I always take his picture to document this milestone, the girls have gotten into the routine of wanting to get their picture taken too. I thought today's pictures were too cute not to share. I sure love these girls! (*said through clenched teeth as I sit listening to one said girl throw a complete fit as I write this!!)

Get yer Motor Runnin'...

...Head out on the Highway!!!

I think he's ready to hit the open road, don't you??!!!

Mr. Barrett is L.O.V.I.N.G. his new found freedom. Crawling, pulling up on things, cruising around furniture....life is goooooood for him these days!! He can quite often be found hangin' out under the table, like so:

And he loves it! He gets that big smile on his face and you know he thinks he's such a big kid!

Oh how we love this boy!!

Snow in Arizona

There are many fabulous reasons to live in Tucson...but one benefit for Kevin and the kids is that Tucson is located at the base of Mt. Lemmon and during the winter, Mt. Lemmon receives a fair bit of snow. I would be completely fine to never see snow again in my lifetime...heaven knows I've experienced my fair share of the fluffy white stuff. But Kevin and the kids think it's great to check it out once in awhile. Where they get these crazy ideas, I'll never know!! :-)

Anywho, so we headed up to Mt. Lemmon since we could still see white at the top of the mountain from our house and Alexa has been asking and asking (and asking) to go play in the snow. And then they played in it for all of about 10 minutes! Oh well, at least they got to experience it, and we did have a fun day as a family!

A Whole New World...

Now that standing has been achieved...a whole new world has opened up to Bubba Man!

{Mortenson Family Christmas}

Today was our Mortenson Family Christmas Party. We all met at Duane & Emily's house this morning. The kids had a great time playing spies and finding all the Reindeer. We had a yummy lunch, played at the park, opened presents, played some basketball, visited, had a yummy dinner, played some games and just had a great time spending the day with family!