Cameron's Photoshoot & Blessing

Our friend Amy is not only a med student but also a photographer in her spare time (don't ask me how she manages that...amazing). She took some newborn pics of Cam that turned out so cute!

We will be blessing Cameron at church on Sunday, March 6th at 1pm. Anyone is welcome to attend. Please email me if you would like directions to the church (laurenmstacey[at]gmail[dot]com). If you aren't familiar with our church, this is basically a special prayer that Andrew will perform. Cammy will most likely cry during the whole thing because that is his favorite pastime of late. But he has a couple weeks to put his big boy diapers on and ease up on the fussiness so we'll see how it goes :)

Also, I'm trying to put these cute pictures to use and send out some baby announcements. If I get the job done, I will need your address. I know, I know... you read our blog so you really don't need a paper announcement, but humor me. It will be so fun to think of our friends/family one by one and send you a little note from us. And who doesn't like to see pics of cute babies on their fridge (Little Gigi still holds a coveted spot right next to the door handle...and she is nearly a year old!).

So, if you have a moment, please fill out form below...

Aunt Marilyn

My Aunt Marilyn passed away last week. She had lived a full life and we had time to express our love for her so the blow wasn't as traumatic as it could have been. Everyone who knew her can say with perfect honesty that she was the sweetest woman you could ever meet. I concur and can add that she always went out of her way to show me kindness even though I have never lived close by. It is sometimes easy to forget about extended family when you don't see them often or when you are a part of an enormous Mormon family with an insane amount of cousins, second cousins, etc. But she always sent me kind notes and remembered important events in my life. I will miss her dearly.

At times like this, when death feels extremely real, I remember these verses from the Book of Mormon that reassure me about the life to come. I believe them to be absolutely true.

"Now, concerning the state of the soul between death and the resurrection—Behold, it has been made known unto me by an angel, that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life.

And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow."

Alma 40:11-12

My Valentines Confession

Happy Valentines Day!

I have to give a special valentines shout out to my favorite valentine of all. You wouldn't believe what Andrew has to put up with to be married to me:

-I am almost always the reason we are late to church. Sometimes it's just because I'm busy getting the kids ready but most often it's because (a) I decided that 2 minutes was plenty of time to blow dry and straighten my hair (b) I can't find my keys/scriptures/shoes, etc., or, (c) I keep changing my clothes until he makes me leave with what I have on.

-If I'm 10 minutes away from being home, I always tell him I'm only 5 minutes away; If I spent $20 dollars, I tell him it was around $15 (I don't know why I do this...he always knows and just adds a few more minutes or a few more dollars in his head)

- I rearrange our furniture about every month. He usually is recruited to do the heavy lifting and I know he hates it.

- I grind my teeth at night and apparently snore (I still demand proof about the latter).

- I talk too loud when we are right next to each other or on the phone and too soft when we far apart.

-I am pretty much the most whiny pregnant person you can imagine.

Okay, that's all I'm willing to admit. I'm so grateful that I'm married to someone who is willing to laugh about these things or at least endure them patiently. I don't talk much about Andrew on our blog because I could easily be accused of boasting. He is pretty amazing and has passed on that amazingness on to our two boys. Thanks miele, you rock!

Growing Up

There has been a lot of growing up going on around here lately... for all of us.

Saturday was Cameron's 1 month birthday. I can't believe that he is already a month old. I know that I am literally attached to him all the time, but I still feel like I've missed so much. With Luke I had ample time to just sit and stare at him and take a million pictures. I'm still enjoying Cameron as much as possible but our time is often interrupted with other demands. He is a sweet baby but I can already tell that he has a passionate streak in him. He can go from fussy to all-out screaming in 2 seconds flat. People always tell me he looks just like Luke. I see that too, but I think he has more Stacey in him. Especially his deep, intense eyes....we have staring contests all the time.

Here is Luke when he was about the same age:

Cameron:

What do you think?

10 pounds 4 ounces and counting... (only a mother could think that these are clearly 3 very different photos)

Luke has been growing up too. He LOVES Cameron and is very attentive to his needs. As much as he loves his baby brother, I can tell that this is an adjustment for him too. For the past 9 months I have been in survival mode and, because of that, Luke has pretty much had his way. However, now it's time to put order back into our lives. We've started instituting some rules and have tried to be very consistent even when it is SO HARD and I just want to give in and take the easy way out.

This is the face that Luke makes when you tell him to smile :)

We did have a major breakthrough this week. One of our new rules is that Luke has to eat at least one bite of his meal (my friend had this rule growing up and they called it the "gratitude bite"... I like that). You must know that Luke is a TERRIBLE eater and almost never eats what we are eating. We are hoping that this is a baby step towards getting him to eat only what we are eating. The first few meals were an all out battle. There were repeated time-outs and many tears (from Luke) as I kept repeating to him that he needed to take at least one bite before he could play or eat something else. Ultimately he took a bite but they were always foods that he usually eats anyway.

The real test was on Thursday night when we had chicken pot pie...something he had never tried before. I was dreading the enforcement of our rule. Surprisingly after only about 5 minutes of protest, he broke off the tiniest piece of the crust and put it in his mouth. VICTORY! I actually was a little embarrassed at how happy I was. I mean, seriously?! He chose the most nutrient-empty part of the meal and the piece was practically microscopic.

Here is an example of how big it was with a cheerio as a reference point. You may think I'm pathetic but I have never felt so victorious. I won! Oh yes, we're definitely growing up around here.

Luke's favorite book of the moment. We read it several times a day.

I'm also doing some growing up too. The Friday after Cameron was born, we came home from the hospital and by dinner time I was completely overwhelmed with our family of four. My mother-in-law had cooked a great dinner and we all sat down at the table. Luke started crying because he wanted to eat suckers for dinner instead. I looked over at Luke and realized that I had no clue what he had been doing for the past several days while I was in the hospital. Something triggered in me (probably hormones) and I realized that my life (and specifically my life with Luke) would never be the same. His whole childhood flashed before my eyes and for a moment I missed it all so much. So I started crying. I don't mean "teary-eyed"... I mean "trying desperately to keep breathing" type of crying. Andrew sat between us, looking at Luke on one side crying about his suckers and me on the other, crying about who knows what...I'm pretty sure he wanted to throw himself out a window at that very moment :).

Needless to say... Luke got his sucker. I don't think I'll ever forget that moment. I had to let go of the old and move on to our new family of four. Hormones always makes that a little more dramatic than it needs to be. However, the fear of what the future would hold only lasted a moment. Everything has turned out great. Everyone grew up a little and is adjusting to new responsibilities. I have felt so grateful to my Heavenly Father because I know that He gives us the extra strength and abilities we need to rise to new occasions in our lives. He always knows how to calm me down and give me, bit by bit, the new game plan I need to tackle the challenge of the moment.

This whole growing up thing is better than I thought it would be.

Still Pregnant

I thought I had the baby, but apparently he wants to pretend he is still in my belly. This is the only way I can do anything during the day and at night he sleeps next to me in the crook of my elbow. I never thought I would be a "co-sleeper" but after two nights of NOT A SINGLE WINK OF SLEEP, I quickly converted. Now I'm a believer. I love snuggling up to this big lug! I try to keep a good 3-5 inches between us when we sleep but he always body rolls his way over to me like a little inch worm.

I'm not looking forward to the day when I have to break it to Cam that he needs to sleep in his own bed. But if Andrew thought a queen bed was too small for the two of us, he surely isn't going to think it's big enough for the three of us. Our snuggling days are numbered...

Remind me when we move...

...to look for a place with a garage or at least covered parking.

If I laugh and say that it's "no big deal," make me watch this video.

Thanks.

My entire car was covered in about 1/4 inch of thick ice. Took 1/2 hour to get the windows clear.

I stole these pictures from my friend's blog so you can get a better idea of the ice world we're living in here in Ohio (hope you don't mind Heather :)).