One month

It's hard to believe fiona is one month old already!  Even when you're awake every 3-4 hours at night and your days kind of blend into one another somehow a month still goes by quickly. Fiona has been what I would call easy and laid back so far. Maybe that's because all I have to compare this newborn stage with is the other crazy Maes child haha. 

She seems to like her sleep and I have no problem with that!  She's good at taking naps wherever we are and in whatever bouncer, crib, bassinet, rocker or arms are around. She likes to go right back to sleep after eating at night too so that is a major help with Dom and I getting as much sleep as possible!  She's on a 3-4 hour eating schedule during the days and at night it's pretty much the same but we have gotten a few glorious 5-6 hour stretches. She's been sleeping at night in our room either in the bassinet or the rock and play and while it's easy and convenient to have her in with us we also are privy to how many noises she makes at night. Even when you think she must be awake she's being so noisy you look at her and see that she's still asleep which is nice just something we had to get used to.   She also squirms and kicks a lot while she sleeps, combine that with her swaddled like a baby burrito and she somehow ends up moving from the middle of the bassinet to the edge and sometimes ends up sleeping on her side. I have a feeling she's going to be the type of kid to roll off the changing table!

Falling asleep wherever she feels like it ;) 1 month old

We've been seeing lots of smiles lately and just within the past week she makes more happy sounds and coos. She enjoys laying on the play mat and listening to the toys with bells or rattles that hang above. She's good at holding up her head already and she likes tummy time (both a big difference from Logan and his big noggin!). She likes to watch Logan and he likes to get in her face all the time, luckily it's mostly to give her kisses or to "see her pretty eyes". He  loves when she is awake and alert and he's been such a big helper. He had a few weeks of acting out in the beginning but he's settled into the newness now and is the usual high energy 3 year old.

Play time with sister, 10 days old

Fiona's one month appointment went well and she is growing!  She was 8lbs 2oz, 25th percentile and 20.25" long, 25th percentile. Her head is in the 75th percentile at 14.5 inches. (At her 2 week check up she was 7lbs 6oz and 19.75 inches long. With her head being 14 in). So she is on the smaller side of average but growing at a good rate. Even her hair seems to be getting longer as it sticks up on the top now.

Happy St. Patricks Day!  1 month old!

Minnie Mouse :)  1 month old

I've had a few successful trips out solo with the two of them. Luckily she usually sleeps when we are out or she's just awake and happy. We usually go to the library, target or the toy store. I haven't attempted the grocery store alone with them yet, I fear that day ;) Logan's not a fan of the grocery store most of the time and with her car seat in the big part of the cart im not sure where the groceries would go haha so I think I need to practice putting her in the baby bjorn and getting it on by myself before I dive into the grocery store with two kids world. 

All in all this first month has been easier then I expected. We had a lot of help from my mom and dad before she was born and the first 2-3 weeks we were home with her so that was a lifesaver. Not sure we would've eaten a good meal or lived in a clean house and had a happy three year old without them around!  But since it being just us it's been going well. Maybe it's because we've been through the infant stage before or because we are used to having a child's schedule run our lives but going from one child to two seems to be much easier an adjustment then going from zero to one!  Or maybe it's because in the grand scheme of things this "hard" infant stage is so short in the end. They'll never need you like this again. So I've been enjoying all the work and late nights and new smiles and holding sleeping babies and just watching her knowing she will only be this little for such a short amount of time. It's so true, it does go by so fast!

Grandpa and Fiona

 Uncle Erick, Grandpa and Fiona

 Granny Mo with Fiona and Logan

 Granny Mo and Fiona

All dressed up to see Granny Mo, 2 weeks old

Brother and sister, 2 weeks old

Tummy time, 2 weeks old

Passed out! 5 weeks old

Here are some of Logan and Fiona's pictures that I took for her announcements, it was hard trying to get them both to cooperate but some of them turned out well!

2 weeks old

3 weeks old

She likes to make an entrance! Fiona's birthday!

Sunday February 16 what a sunny and beautiful day for a birthday!  

I woke up maybe around 6am thinking my Braxton hicks contractions were starting to feel crampy but weren't coming frequently and still felt unpredictable.  Needless to say I couldn't fall back asleep.  Logan woke up at 7 and we ate breakfast and got ready for church.  At 8 when we were getting in the car to leave I told Dom how I was starting to feel contractions and so we timed them from the car ride and all through out mass, they were becoming about 5 mins apart so we got home about 9:30 and called the doctor about 10 after some packing. She said it sounded like it was still early so I should take a warm bath and see if that helped. (This is when that lovely video of me that's on facebook was taken, thanks Dom haha) I got in the bath at 10:30.  Not so much haha.  I spent 30-40 mins in the bathtub and the contractions were becoming more painful and were now only 3 1/2 mins apart.  I called the dr back at 11 and explained the bath only made it worse, she said that's a good thing and it was time to come to the hospital now.  Luckily my dad had come to colorado earlier then we originally arranged (which was for him to be here Sunday the 16 since my induction was set for Wednesday night the 19) so he was already at our house watching Logan for us.  Dom got his exciting "my wife's in labor drive" and we drove the 15ish minutes to the hospital.  Contractions and round a bouts are not a fun combination.  There's three on the way to the hospital ;).

When we got to the hospital my contractions were getting much more intense and closer together.  We checked in and made it up to the delivery room probably 11:30.  The nurse came in asked a few questions then left to do who knows what and in that time I was having close contractions and in a lot of pain, as in "get me the epidural now".  Dom went to find the nurse who came back to see how much I was dialated (I was 2-3cm at my appointment on Tuesday) and she said "I feel a head and there is no cervix" ... I said "so 10cm?!"  That was fast!  She said my options were to push a few times and have a baby right now or to wait for the epidural, but my body was saying it was ready.  So we decided to just go for it and start pushing.  Then there was a flurry of activity in the room setting up.  Dom got to experience a whole new side of Krystal in pain compared to Logan's birth, I was full on pregnant lady in the movies screaming while giving birth.  It was exhausting, painful and I'm not sure I was fully convinced we were really having a baby that day seeing as how fast everything was!   After maybe 7 contractions worth of pushing and yelling and squeezing my eyes shut while saying "It feels like she's ripping me in half" (doms favorite 'I'm in pain' phrase of mine) instant relief was found with that last push and out she came!  Dom got to cut the cord and they gave her right to me and I just kept saying how tiny she was!  We were both overwhelmed and exhausted.  I never want to give birth without drugs again but in this moment it was what we needed and I wouldn't have changed how crazy our Sunday turned out to be after all.  I never imagined she'd come on her own accord, I assumed she'd be stubborn like her brother but I guess our little lady likes to make an entrance ;).

Fiona Harriet Maes 2-16-14. 12:19pm.  6lbs 11oz, 18.25" long.

I got to hold her for an hour with me after birth while they stitched me up (I tore naturally this time... Still painful!). Then Dom got to help weigh and measure her and give her a bath.  It was nice they did everything with Fiona in the room so I could watch too.  After that she tried out breast feeding for the first time and proved she was a champ and knew what to do.  She's a much better eater then Logan was, at least for now!  We got transferred to our room and got our first visitors.  Uncle Erick, grandpa and big brother Logan came to see us.  Logan was adorable and so sweet, he was very interested in her and wanted to be close to her.  He's proving to be quite the loving little guy.  We didn't get much sleep either night we had to stay in the hospital, but that's to be expected! ( We had to stay 48 hours for observation since I was group b strep positive and they didn't have time to give us antibiotics before she was born, there wasn't time for much before she was born!).  The next day we had uncle Erick bring lunch and hang out and dad and Logan came by and Logan played in the room a good chunk of the day.  Jenny came by to visit also and it was nice to not feel like we were just stuck in the hospital waiting to go home.  I got a complimentary massage that day too, brilliant idea, why doesn't every hospital do that?!

We got to come home finally on Wednesday around noon and when we were driving up to the house we saw Logan peeking out of his window with a look of joy at seeing our car.  When we came inside the excitement in his little face and him running to hug me made me cry a little, I missed him!  He was very excited we were home!  We know he had a fun time with grandpa watching him even if he didn't act like it!  Such an exciting time for our family and we can't wait for all our parents and siblings to be able to come out to meet our newest addition!  So glad she is here!

Logan's Answers 3.5 yrs old

I intended to ask Logan these questions when he had just turned three but as things go, we didn't get around to it until January, so he was closer to 3 1/2.  Still I think this time around he answered most of the questions how I would have answered them for him...


1.  What color is your hair?  Brown
2.  What color are your eyes?  Blue
3.  What is your favorite food?  Mac & Cheese and Pizza
4.  What song do you like to sing?  Toy Story..."I love you, I love you, let's be friends together"
5.  What are your favorite desserts?  chocolate syrup, no it's pancake syrup...and frosting and marshmallows on top of the pancake.  No it's ICE CREAM!
6.  What is your favorite color?  Orange
7.  What animals do you like?  Tiger
8.  What books do you like to read right now?  Dora and Diego.  A dragon book.
9.  What do you like to do with daddy?  Go to Black Dog (local coffee shop)
10.  What do you like to do with mommy?  Go to the Library.
11.  What is your favorite movie?  The Frozen sisters.
12.  What shows do you watch on TV?  Magic School Bus.
13.  What is your favorite store?  the toy store.
14.  Who are your friends?  Stella & Cleo, Tate, Ella & Riley.
15.  What do you like to play inside?  Legos.
16.  What do you like to play outside?  Cars.

Logan LOVES pizza, I'd definitely put that as his favorite food.  Mac and Cheese I'd say is number 2.  He still is about anything covered in cheese.  Luckily he's a fan of most fruits too but I can't get the child to eat a vegetable unless it's a shred of carrot!
Logan knows the words to a lot more songs then he ever lets on.  There's the usual kid songs that he knows all the words to, but there are a few that he will randomly sing that are just songs we listen to in the car and I never knew he knew that many words to them.  His favorite song on the radio has been Florida Georgia Line's "Cruise" for awhile now.  He does like the Toy Story theme song although he wasn't exactly singing the right words for it ;)
It's no wonder Logan had a hard time deciding on what his favorite desserts were, he has a major sweet tooth, sorry kid!  Anything chocolate is usually fair game.  He does love ice cream like his daddy does, usually his go-to combo is chocolate with sprinkles and M&Ms.
Logan has always said Orange or Blue as his favorite colors...maybe he was born to be a Bronco's fan... atleast he will be too young to remember how badly we lost the superbowl this year!
Funny that Logan always answers Tiger for his favorite animal.  While he did always like to look at them in Tucson, when we go to the zoo here it's never really Tigers he asks about.  Last time we went he was all about going to see the fish, crocodiles and hippos.
Logan loves lots of different kinds of books right now.  He's branching out from the usual characters sometimes and enjoying any kind of new book from the library.  The last ones we got were about Dora and Diego which is why I think he answered that way, while he does like them, I wouldn't say those are his favorite.  The books he has been really into lately are Berenstein Bears, The Magic School Bus, any kind of Disney cd books- especially Tinkerbell ;), Transformers- Rescue Bots, and any kind of Lego book.
Daddy and Logan have started going to Black Dog, the local coffee shop, together for a few hours every Friday morning and getting some quality time in together.  Logan looks forward to it every week (even if he has a mini freak out about me not going the morning of!).
I'm not surprised Logan said he likes to go to the library with me, we are there all the time!  He likes to play with the train table there and request a ridiculous amount of books for me to search for on the computer and put on hold, he loves when the book he's been waiting for comes in.  We also just started a "music storytime" type class there on Fridays, granted we will only get a few classes in before Fiona gets here, he still enjoys it for now.
The last movie we went to see was Frozen, so again, not surprised he said that was his favorite.  He did enjoy it and will randomly try to sing the "Let it go" song from the movie.  I'd still say his favorite movie is Toy Story though.  He does like Wreck it Ralph still, but has some kind of internal conflict with Ralph being a "bad guy".  He is to the age now also where certain parts of movies or tv shows will scare him and he will obsess over whatever the scene was and question it until something new comes along.  We are going to take him to see the long awaited Lego Movie this weekend and I have a feeling that will quickly become his new favorite.  He's obsessed with Lego's!
Logan's TV shows are whatever we find on Netflix (which is a lot!).  He does love the Magic School Bus shows but those sometimes fall into the category of shows that scare Logan, so I've been trying to get him to watch some other more age appropriate shows.  He likes Busytown, SuperWhy, Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, and Mickey Mouse among others that are less likely to have some part that scares him.
The only other thing I'd comment on is that Logan has been more into playing on the playground equipment, digging in the sand with construction trucks, riding his strider bike or scooter, and playing tee-ball outside then just playing something like "cars".  When the weather is nice at least!  When we have snowy days Logan is all about going outside to go sledding or trying to build a snow man (which we don't always have the right kind of snow for!).

That's my take on our little 3 1/2 year olds answers. He has such an imagination and I love to just watch and listen to him as he plays by himself, you get a little sneak peak into how he thinks and reasons and it's a lot of fun to watch his play evolve. He's grown so much lately and I can't wait to see what he will be like as a big brother.

It's a girl!

Wow who knew pregnancy could go by so fast?!  I guess when you have a new house, lots of visitors, lots of trips and a 3 year old there's not much time to dwell on the fact that you are getting closer and closer to your due date and then bam it's almost here!  It's been nice though to not have it feel so slow and somewhat miserable like it was with Logan.  There wasn't as much distraction and there was a lot more of the unknown and preparation for him being the first.  Plus it was a million degrees in the middle of summer giantly pregnant with Logan.
A winter pregnancy in a state with an actual winter is a million times easier!!  Living in sweats is acceptable, tennis shoes are more comfortable then flip flops carrying around the extra weight, the weather doesn't exhaust you, I haven't had any crazy feet swelling, bad weather gives you a good reason to become a hermit for a day or two and not have to try and squeeze into any maternity clothes.  Yes, this timing seemed to work out nicely!  The only downsides to a winter pregnancy are... contorting your body to put on socks and tie shoes is a lot more difficult then just slipping on flip flops, melting snow leaves either ice or puddles of water to maneuver around when trying to exit the car and get a 3 year old out without both of you slipping or splashing too much, and the fact that if the baby decides to come without being induced it could be in the middle of a snow storm, which we don't have any experience driving in, so that would be a fun trip to the hospital.  (Dom likes to freak out every once in awhile that he would have to deliver the baby at home if it was a blizzard but we would definitely get to that hospital for the epidural alone even if I had to walk there ;)  Considering how different the outside elements have been with each pregnancy, the actual pregnancies have been very similar.  Which is a good thing since Logan's was pretty easy!
There are a few differences between the two pregnancies, with this one I felt nauseous more of the day and for longer.  I wanted salty foods or salads and I detested peanut butter for awhile (my favorite! so glad that is over!).  I am feeling more tired in general this time around but that is probably half attributed to the fact that I have a 3 year old to entertain and take care of.  This time around I haven't had any of the crazy heartburn I had with Logan (maybe that means this baby will have no hair?!)  and I haven't had the amount of horrid leg cramps in the middle of the night, yay.  So I have felt pretty lucky to be feeling generally well the majority of this pregnancy.  No crazy complications or symptoms to deal with is always a good thing!  I am anemic this time around as well but that was to be expected and is easily handled with my daily iron pill.  I am just hoping that delivery is way easier second time around!  I am measuring big for now (surprise surprise, I feel like a giant!)  and am hoping baby girl has a "normal" size head as opposed to Logan's!  The doctors have said he just "paved the way" for his sister to come out easier.  I'll definitely take a not sunny side up, no back labor, vacuumed out, 3rd degree episiotomy baby.  Sounds like a piece of cake ;)  Here's hoping!

22 weeks- boy on the left, girl on the right

28 weeks- boy on left, girl on right

We found out we were having a girl in the beginning of October, Logan was excited to help push the buttons to take the pictures on the ultra sound and he was happy to hear he was having a baby sister (he was convinced it could only be a girl, so good thing it is!).  I was pleasantly surprised as I thought it was a boy but my only dream about our baby was that it was a girl and the same thing happened with Logan, so maybe I subconsciously knew better ;).

We had somewhat discussed baby names before finding out the sex, but nothing was set in stone.  If it was a boy we liked Malcolm or Jude.  If it was a girl we talked about Zoe (which was the name we liked with Logan if he was a girl) or Audrey but hadn't really agreed on anything.  We both liked different girls names and the ones he liked (Eliza, Abigail, Florence) I did not and the ones I liked (Lucy, Vera, Alice) he didn't like.  We went from one long list to another then finally got a short list of names we both liked-  Amelia, Audrey, Juliette, Nora, Scarlett, Olive, Penelope...I think that was it.  We narrowed that down to Nora and Scarlett.  I liked Nora best, he liked Scarlett best.  We sat on those two without budging for awhile and didn't get anywhere.  So beginning of November we moved on, erased our list and started over.  I went crazy wanting to name this baby since we hadn't done ANYTHING else for her yet haha, poor second child!  Nancy was in visiting and decided to help us go through girl names and be a mediator and help us figure one out.  We settled on Fiona which I liked but wasn't sure it was "the one".  After thinking on it awhile (and also realizing we weren't going to agree on anything else haha)  it became her name and we are happy with it.  Now the middle name is a whole other story and still being decided haha.  It's hard naming girls, yikes!


Once we decided on her name we went to a paint your own pottery store to paint her a cross with her name on it just like with did with Logan (not sure where the picture of it is though...).  Logan had fun painting a car too ;)  yay we finally did something for her!

While we were in Phoenix for Thanksgiving, we did a baby clothing swap with one of Dom's old coworkers from Raytheon who had a girl first and found out they're having a boy in February, so we gave them Logan's old clothes and they gave us their old girl clothes.  We came back with 7 trash bags full of girl clothes.  Holy Pink!  I spent two days sorting them into different sizes and washing them and putting them away.  It was fun to go through them all and so nice we could work something like this out, that's a lot of money in clothing we both saved!  And it fed my need to nest ;)

some of the clothing piles!

We didn't do much to prepare for baby #2 at home until Erick moved out of the baby's room and into his own apartment in Boulder.  So we started working on the nursery in December.  The hardest part was picking out a paint color, we went back and forth and round and round with all different colors until at home depot Logan brought over a sample card and Dom and I both said, hmmm that's actually a good choice, so in the end Logan ended up picking out the wall color haha.  Dom painted the room quickly, we already had all the furniture and I had fun crafting various things to decorate with.  We put new knobs on the dresser and Dom photoshopped some of our balloon fiesta photos to go with the look of the nursery and voila, it was ready!  We are both happy with the way it turned out and with how quickly we did it all.

 I had fun making the name banner and these little frames

 Dom's balloon art

 Balloon mobile from our trip to the balloon fiesta this year

put new knobs and fabric ties on the dresser and made some poofs for the corner

We had a little celebration for baby Fiona January 12 while my mom was in town.  She made lots of pink food and we had fun eating, drinking, watching the Broncos beat the Chargers  and we decorated a few onesies and wrote some messages on diapers for Dom and I during future diaper changes.  It was a good time to spend with all our Colorado friends and family.

Getting ready for the game!

 broncos baby

 we had to alter mom's cowboys shirt ;)

 Ella and Riley making some stylish onesies

 Logan went the polka dot route ;)

 Jenny and Dom writing some notes on our diapers

Can't believe it's almost February!  I'm ready to not be pregnant but I'm not sure I will ever feel ready for the infant stage again and the lack of sleep, but ready or not she will be here soon!  Bring it on baby number 2 ;)

Our busy year!- Updated!

The last half of our year has been crazy busy!  We have been lucky enough to have a lot of friends and family come out to Colorado to come visit us.  We've celebrated Logan's 3rd birthday with all our family coming out for the weekend (except Ashley, we missed you!) we went to ride Thomas the Train and Logan had a blast.

Logan's birthday just happened to fall on the one day of sunshine and no rain we had seen all week, we've experienced a lot of weather in Colorado already that everyone says "this never happens" about.... the 3 day blizzard in April 2 days after we moved here, a tornado that touched down in Erie while we were out of town in Albuquerque, and a "1000 year flood" which happened to be the week of Logan's birthday which led to fun times wondering if our basement was going to flood when the electricity went out (we also had no candles since we got rid of them all when we moved haha)...which powers our sump pump down there, luckily we made it out ok and are now more prepared for these things called "weather" that Colorado throws at us ;)  

The day after all our Family left we had the Kelsey's come stay with us for a week and Logan was in heaven.  He loves playing with Stella and we were happy to be able to spend some time with our bffs.

waiting for Stella in the airport

 the first hug

 they wouldn't let go of each others hands in the airport and wouldn't stop talking, so adorable!

 enjoying the orangutans together at the Denver zoo

 embarrassing bath time pics for their futures ;)

 hiking was fun...until we asked Logan to take a picture haha

October brought our usual busy month!  This year we started it off on the 2nd with finding out Logan was going to have a baby SISTER.  I was surprised!  Dom and Logan both thought it was a girl, I thought it was a boy but the only dream I had about our baby was that it was a girl (same thing happened with Logan, I thought he was going to be a girl but the only dream I had about the baby was that it was a boy...my dreams know better then I do!).  Logan only talked about wanting a sister, I tried to prepare him that it could still be a brother, that we don't get to choose so luckily when the ultrasound tech said Logan was right he was happy with a sister...I wonder if he fully understands what a sister is haha.  Everyone was very happy for us and we were thrilled as well.  

Logan got to push the button on the ultrasound machine to take a picture of his sister, here he is showing it off :)

The next weekend we drove to Albuquerque to visit Auntie Dre and go to the balloon fiesta.  We got to see our friends again (yay!) since they all came to the balloon fiesta from Tucson that weekend too.  We had a fun and busy weekend seeing everyone, the balloon fiesta was nice but Logan cried almost the entire time once the balloons started going up because he said he was cold, we had him in the stroller and covered up with many things but nothing was working, finally after maybe an hour he got more specific and said his toes were cold.  We took off his shoes, sat him on daddys shoulders and put his mittens on his feet and all of a sudden he was a happy kid again.  Lesson learned, Logan will wear his snow boots next year haha.  

the bee family and our family

 watching the balloons with Melanie and Nancy

 group shot with all the balloons

Logan's mitten shark feet fighting with Nancy's Wilbur mittens

 Finally a happy camper for the balloons!

Checking out the balloons on daddy's shoulders is the best view!

 Logan was all about buying this balloon souvenir that he had fun flying around the rest of the park

Chasing balloons, we didn't have a great spot to help many land, but we got this cute shot of Logan ;)

 Always our favorite vacation of the year!

 The following weekend after the balloon fiesta we went to the pumpkin patch with the Valania's to pick out our pumpkins.  Logan had fun with all the activities going on and finding the perfect pumpkin.  Logan also learned a lesson (and we did too) about getting lost in a crowd!  After we made it through the food line, we thought we saw Logan following the Valania's outside to eat and when we made it through the crowd to where they went, Logan wasn't there.  We went on a search of the food area inside and couldn't find him, he had wandered off out the wrong door towards the opposite side we were at and Dom found him outside meandering.  We have talked to Logan before about what to do if he gets lost, but I guess we forgot the crucial part of "if you don't see us, don't move, don't try to come find us".  I know that won't be the last time with him but hopefully some of the things we try to teach him about getting lost will stick next time around!

my little pumpkin!

 Logan, Riley and Ella stuck in jail

 showing off our pumpkins ;)

 I think we picked a good one!

 yee haw!

We had fun getting ready for Halloween the next few weeks.  And Nancy was able to come visit us for the week too.  Mark was able to come over the weekend as well so we had fun hanging out with them and spending a night at our favorite cabin in Estes Park.

Logan drew the face for his pumpkin to be carved and decorated baby sister's pumpkin 

 Showing off his pumpkin face

 Captain Hook on Halloween

 Peter Pan, Captain Hook and Mr. Smee

 Mr. Smee and his belly 

 Peter Pan ready for the cold and wind outside!

 Nancy came into town during Halloween so she got to go trick or treating with us!

 Ella, Riley, Logan and Tate trick or treating, Logan loved trick or treating until one house that had a scary guy jump out, after that he didn't want to go to any doors alone 

 We got to experience a true "Fall" season this October!  Logan was put to work raking leaves ;)

 He enjoyed jumping in them, being burried and...

 throwing the leaves!

Nancy and Mark helped us ring in November.  

And Uncle Erick was nice enough to babysit Logan for us so we could go out for a date night with Nancy, Mark and Jenny at a wine and cheese bar.

 enjoying a child free few hours!

 The wine and cheese professionals!

 Our sampling of delicious cheesy food

The beginning of November also brought an early visitor to our mall.  We went with the Valania's to see Santa come in a fire truck to the mall to start the Christmas season.  I think Logan was more enamored with the fire truck then seeing Santa haha.

They gave out free Santa headbands and free cocoa and cookies

 waiting for Santa to arrive

 Logan decided at the last minute he would be brave enough to shake Santa's hand

 Riley and Logan checking out Santa's truck

 Smiling for the camera for once ;)

 Making siren noises as he sat in the passenger seat.

We had a few quiet weeks in November, We got a nice snow storm for which Logan was probably the only one prepared for that cold of weather ;)  He likes playing in the snow and wants to build a snowman everytime but we just haven't had the right kind of snow or enough to make one yet.  He enjoys sledding with daddy at the park next to our house and throwing snowballs.  I showed him how to make a snow angel but he wasn't one for laying in the snow haha.  

Before Thanksgiving, Erick got his new job in Boulder and found an apartment (right across from Dom's work in Boulder).  He moved out and we will miss him but luckily he's not far away and we have seen him often.  Plus that meant we could finally start getting somewhere on baby's room. 

For Thanksgiving we drove to Phoenix to spend time with Dom's family.  It was a long 14 hour drive, on the way there we broke it up and spent the night in Holbrook so we only had 3 hours to go the next day.  Logan did really good on the car trip, we came prepared with a lot of books and dvds from the library and that helps.  We had fun spending time with Dom's family, doing Thanksgiving with them and the Kelsey's, black "friday" shopping (I hate that it started so early on Thursday this year!), and seeing our friends from Tucson to celebrate our secret santa gift exchange, go see Catching Fire (loved it! and Ashley came too so it was nice to see her there!) and celebrate Will's 30th birthday with dinner at a Mediterranean place, complete with belly dancer who got Will up to teach him some moves, then walking around old town Scottsdale.  The drive back to Colorado was especially long as we didn't want to stop and spend the night anywhere since that would mean we would hit CO springs and Denver traffic so Dom powered through driving us the whole way home in one shot, Logan was not such a fan of doing things that way, and neither were my swollen feet but in the end I'm glad we did it. And we have already decided we are never driving back again, flying from now on!

 (Logan was bribed with M&Ms to smile for a picture haha)

 Will enjoying the entertainment

 ...and becoming the entertainment!

 Back in Arizona!

After Thanksgiving, it was already December when we got back to Colorado which meant I went into a mini panic mode about not being prepared at all for Christmas!  So Logan and I did a lot of shopping and shipping and wrapping and decorating and some baking too.  

After reading "If you give a cat a cupcake" Logan wanted to make cupcakes...

 showing off his creation

 my sprinkle helper!

We also came back to a really really cold week in Colorado!  It was snowy and in the teens during the day and in the negatives at night, brrr!  And of course that's when the Denver parade of lights was going on in downtown Denver so we braved the freezing 0 degree weather to meet up with Jenny, who was nice enough to make us some yummy chili before heading out, and walk to the parade to see the lights.  It was really cold and we had every layer of clothing on possible, Logan was in full snow suit gear.  It was a wreck of an evening though and although we saw some lights, Logan was cold and tired and not in the mood.  And on a side note I dropped my camera on the ground which exploded into pieces, I said a few choice words, and Dom tried to put it all back together.  It looks like everything was ok but I'm still keeping my fingers crossed it works!

 maybe some hot cocoa will help!

 that's a lot of layers!

A few weeks before Christmas we took Logan ice skating in Louisville and he loved it!  They have special ice skates for kids that are double bladed so it's easier for them and this rink had a lot of different sleds that Dom could pull Logan around the ice on.  They had a lot of fun!  Once Dom's official vacation started the week of Christmas we took Logan to see the movie Frozen at the movie theater, I loved it, Logan and I came out singing the "Let it go" song, he still randomly sings it any given day, so cute.  We also went bowling and played arcade games a few days before Christmas.  Logan beat us haha but he did have the bumpers, I blame it on the bumpers!  

 who's teaching who ;)

 Logan liked riding the sled and making daddy to all the work haha

 our little eskimo

Christmas eve we spent at home, going to church then going over to Logan's friend Tate's house with the Valania's for some appetizers, cookie decorating and reindeer food making for the kids.  Logan had a lot of fun running around and playing and wore himself out!  Christmas morning we were once again waiting on him to wake up haha.  Logan had asked Santa for "a little orange thingy" which meant he wanted a spaceship with the orange fuel tank and side boosters, just like the real ones.  So he was happy to come down and see that Santa got him just what he wanted!  Logan had about a million presents to open!  And he is a total Maes when opening presents, rip the paper, look at the present, put it off to the side and on to the next, all in about 30 seconds.  He got a lot of fun stuff and has enjoyed playing with all his new toys the past few days.  I got Dom an espresso maker and some coffee accessories so he can perfect his perhaps newly founded caffeine addiction, the cold will do that to you ;) Dom made me a picture complete with scans of my Nana's old love letters to my Papa.  It is perfect and very meaningful, I cried when I opened it, I won't blame the hormones for this one haha.  Erick came over and spent Christmas with us and we did our usual making appetizers throughout the day and staying in our pajamas.  We went over to the Valania's and spent some time over there and ate dinner.  We had a good Christmas and are still enjoying our Christmas vacation together!

Christmas Eve

 Showing off his rocket ship and "little orange thingy" from Santa

 ready for daddy's overnight french toast, mmm sugary!

 His favorite toys ended up being the Transformer Rescue Bots

 The aftermath!

The rest of Dominic's break we spent shopping to spend our Christmas money on decorating our house.  It's finally feeling lived in and more personal, although we still have a few big blank walls to fill!  Logan was a champ coming along for the all day shopping event.  We also took him to Build A Bear at the mall which he has always asked to do, he got money for Christmas from Dom's Nana so he got to go pick out an animal to make and dress him up.  He was a little cautious at first about the whole thing but once he found a sound he liked to put inside the dog he chose he was happy.  He randomly chose the Star Wars theme song (we don't know much about Star Wars in this family ;)  I assume Logan knows Darth Vader from the Darth balloon at the balloon fiesta that he likes)  and dressed his dog up like Darth Vader.  He was very excited about the dog once he was all done and he carried him everywhere that day.

 Vader dog

To end our Christmas time together, Dom decided to have a "sleep out" as Logan calls it, in our tent in the living room.  Logan was so excited and he did really well sleeping in the tent without any problems.  (Our camping trips haven't always worked out that way haha).  They got their sleeping bags and watched some Turbo cartoon on Netflix in the tent before going to bed.  Logan was thrilled and I'm sure he would do this every night if he could!  Just one of the many fun things Dom does with Logan that mean so much to him!

 Ready for some indoor camping!