My Peeps

Kelly is smiling now - not every time we try to get her to, but she is smiling in reaction to us every now and again! It takes a lot of work and patience sometimes, but the result is totally worth it! You can see the end of a smile here...

Ty has been a basketball ref for over a year now. Max thinks it's really cool. One day Ty was dressed and ready to head out to a game and he showed Max one of the calls - "hold", I think. This was about 6 months ago. Anyway, a week or so later Max did the call on his own. We were really surprised he remembered it with such precision and thought it was really cute, so of course Ty taught him more of the calls. Here he is performing them for us. We FINALLY got it on video. He loves to blow his little whistle we gave him and run around like he's reffing a game.


These two pictures are for Grammy! :)

"I'm trying to be like______"

Yesterday at Church we're about 15 minutes into sacrament meeting when Max says, "Mom, look!" I look to where he is pointing (at the sacrament table) and then Max says, "Jesus!" Indeed, Toby Redd with his long, curly dark hair and a bit of a scruff resembles the Man that Maxwell, along with the rest of us, loves so much. I couldn't help but laugh really long and really hard. Ty was helping to pass the sacrament and so I had to turn around and tell the lady sitting behind us, a friend of mine, what Max had said. Gotta share the good laughs! Toby and his family all got a good kick out of it as well. Way to spot 'em, Maxwell!

My, my...where does the time go?

Our little Kelly Anne is one month (and a day) old! What?! Every parent knows the feeling, though, of not being able to believe their child has already been with them for a certain length of time, but at the same time feeling like that child has always been there and can't remember what it was like to not know them. Ummm...that sentence makes sense to me - I hope it does to you too. I don't feel like rewriting it. :)

Kelly Loves:
Baths
Making lots of noises while she sleeps
Lifting her head up for as long as she can
Blowing out of her diaper - that must be the reason that she does it at least once per day!
Her brother, Max. She always turns her face toward him when he comes to talk to her and give her kisses. She is very patient with him and he loves her so very much!Cuddling
Having her bottom patted to put her to sleep
Being super cute and getting kissed all day long by each member of the family - we're big on kisses!
Her binky for just a few minutes after she's been up for a while and is ready to sleep
Eating! She's a super eater
Sleeping! She usually gives me about 5 hours of continuous sleep at night

Kelly Doesn't Love:
Having clothes put back on after her bath
Burping - it's a real struggle sometimes and takes a lot of effort for both mom and baby
When Mom tries to kiss her mouth when she's hungry (It's a mean trick, I know, but I think it's so funny and cute how she tries to attack my lips)Such a great babe! We feel so blessed to have her sweet little spirit in our home. She's getting closer to smiling, but no real reactionary smile yet. She does do a lot of smiling in general and we are excited to see more and more of it. We've loved this one month, Kelly Anne, and are looking forward to watching you grow!(We went for a walk yesterday - it had been such a nice day. Halfway through our walk it started to hail. Good thing we'd taken umbrellas and have the nice cover for the Baby Bjorn! Kelly stayed nice and cozy)

A Blessed Life

I have such a blessed life! Not a perfect life, or a trial-free life, but a really blessed and happy life. Over three years ago I was sealed to my perfect match. Almost two years ago I gave birth to a very cute and healthy little man. And now we've added Kelly to the mix! I am one very grateful lady for each of these huge, incredible blessings! Today in sacrament meeting Kelly Anne Foster received a name and a blessing. She's on the records of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Her dad gave her a really beautiful blessing, filled with many promises and great counsel. I am so thankful for the priesthood and feel so blessed that it is in our home. My parents made some sacrifices to come and be here for her blessing - thank you, Mom and Dad! We had such a great weekend with them! Yesterday we were treated to my dad's very yummy pizza and then today we got to eat his amazing ribs. My mom crocheted Kelly a beautiful blanket (I need to take a picture) and a slip for her blessing dress. Max got tons of attention from both. Man, I loved having them here! More pictures of our latest goings-on are below....

Mad-faced Max...he wanted to be the one to take the picture. He's still cute with this made face.

Max helps every night with Kelly's bath - super big bro

I love how wet babies look, and I love this look on her face

And this is how her hair looks after her baths! Isn't it awesome?!

Special Grammy-Kelly moment

Sorry, I can't get enough of her hair

Special Papa Dan-Kelly moment

Max's first time painting. I should have done this with him a lot sooner! He loved it. My mom had him paint this bunny rabbit that they made an Easter basket out of. Then she sent him on an easter egg hunt today. Such a fun Grammy!

Mom and Daughter on her blessing day

The Foster Fam

With Papa and Grammy

Kelly wore the same dress that my mom and I were both blessed in. We had to do a little work on it, but she looked so beautiful and it felt extra special to have her wearing it today. I thought about how my mom and grandma must have felt on this same occasion when I was blessed and when my mom was blessed. I love the saying "My cup runneth o'er" because that's exactly how I felt today....

On my own...

Well, folks, I am officially on my own as a mom of two! Yesterday morning my wonderful mother-in-law, Margaret (Maggie to the grand kids), headed back to Denver. It was so great to have her here and I am so thankful for all of her help! But now it's back to waking up when Max does and doing my own laundry and making my own meals and cleaning my own house. (Actually, Ty made dinner last night.) Now I know why people have nannies. :) Just kidding - today has been fun and it's nice to get into our own little routine and see that I can totally handle this. I can't believe that I had two full weeks of help. I am one lucky lady. And it's not over - my parents are BOTH coming this weekend and we'll be blessing Kelly on Sunday. My dad is super anxious to come and hold our new babe and we are so excited that we get both him and Grammy so soon!Today I took Max and Kelly to look for a blessing slip at a kids consignment shop and then we headed to the mall so that Max could play on the toys. I felt like such a mom driving my minivan with my two little people in the back! I loved it! I talked to my good friend, Janet, who said that she felt this great after her third but at about 6 weeks she felt really tired. So maybe I should settle down a bit. I already want to go and exercise and have been on some good walks. I feel like I could start training for the triathlon I'm doing in June! But I was often reminded by both my mom and mother-in-law that I need to keep taking it easy so that I can continue to feel great. I will try to remember and heed their advice.

Kelly is adjusting to the world very well. She is a really great baby and only fusses when it's time to be fed. She sleeps well and smiles a lot (we know it's not in reaction to anything yet; it's just super fun to see what she'll look like when her face does light up on purpose!). Man, she is just so cute! I'm trying not to get too attached to her hair in case it falls out like Max's did. But I'm sure lovin' it for now. I love her eyes and her tiny mouth and tongue. She's got really long fingers and toes and feet and a long torso...gotta be from her dad! Ty told Max that Kelly may be taller than him someday which could possibly be true since the Maxster seems to be taking after his mom in that department. Let's hope not, though! Anyway, she's so much fun and we LOVE having a newborn in the home again!I keep trying to get a really good picture of her hair, but none of them seem to turn out. The pictures don't do it justice. My mom and MIL said the same thing when they tried. But here's an okay picture of her curls.Max continues to be a great big brother. He gives Kelly lots of kisses and hugs. One problem has been that he really wants to play ball with her. :) He's tried to throw her a football and a basketball. Today he kept bringing her toys and laying them by her head saying, "Here, Kelly!" I feel lucky to have him be so good to her and not having to worry about any meanness. Max is such a sponge! We are so amazed by what he learns and remembers. We've had these foam alphabet letters in his bathtub for a long time and occasionally we'll spell words with him during his bath. Well, we started to realize that there were letters he was remembering. When he saw an O or an R anywhere he would point them out and say the letter. Well, we've been kind of teaching him a little more the past week or so and the other night Tyler went through all of the letters to see how many he would get - he got 22! What in the world?! Ty would just hold up the letter and Max would say what it was. He must have a mind like his daddy because that sure doesn't come from me! The other day Ty was looking for something he needed but wasn't finding it and he said, "Doggone it!" Ty left the room and a few minutes later I hear Max across the room saying "Doggone it!" in his cute little voice. He has so much energy and changes and seems so much older all of the time. I love being his mom more than I can express!

Master tower builderThis is what you get when you tell Max to smile - as of a week and a half ago. Love it.

Bliss!

That's what life has been for the past week and a half. First I had my wonderful husband home taking care of us and then my mom came last Friday morning and was able to be here until last night (Thursday). I have been able to sleep in with Kelly most mornings while my mom played with Max and fed him and got him dressed. She's a preschool teacher and is like a walking musical; she has a song for everything! I'm sure Max is going to find me very boring after playing with Grammy for 6 days. I've also had time to play with Max and give him one-on-one while my mom took care of Kelly. It was so, so, so amazing to have my mom here. I shed many tears las night after she left. She cooked every meal, did our laundry twice, really cleaned the house today (mopped, dusted, did bathrooms, vacuumed...) and made Max's life super exciting all week long! We ran errands, went to two different parks, made a trip to the library, made cookies, got Kelly's blessing dress ready, made bows (rather, mom made them while I fed and held my babe), and just generally had a really great time together. She watched Kelly while Tyler and I took Max on a walk to play at a school nearby. It was just the perfect week with more help than I could have hoped for. I am extremely grateful that she took the time to be here. I love her so very much! Thanks again, Mom...

So my sister Bethany has been very disappointed with the lack of pictures of our newest addition, so this post is mostly for family since we are far from everyone. I hope the rest of you enjoy the pictures too!

The world's greatest Grammy!

One of my young women raises lambs - we were dropping off a birthday present and got to check out the newest lambs that were born just after Kelly.

My mom was so cute to let Max help her make every meal. Here they are making yummy cookies that we are still enjoying!

This is how Kelly's legs are most of the time. Now I know how that body fit inside! :)

First Sunday dress; she was great in sacrament meeting!

Very cute and loving big brother...this is how he feels about her most of the time

...and this is how he feels the other part of the time! :)

All adjustments are going rather well! Kelly only wakes up once at night, usually around 3:00 a.m. I'm trying not to get my hopes up that this could be how it goes all of the time, but I am LOVING it for now! She's super cute and easy to care for. Max gets more and more interested in her every day and gives her tons of hugs and kisses. My mom bought him a little stool so that he could be up to help with her diaper changes and baths since he wants so much to be a part of everything that goes on. I love that I have two kids! Now I want to hurry and end so that I can get downstairs to my mother-in-law. Tyler picked Margaret up from the airport when he dropped my mom off last night! I know, I am super spoiled. She'll be here until Monday. I'm sure I'll post some more pictures after she leaves....