Our Little Girl

I love this girl (Adam and Kevin are also smitten with her). She just makes me smile. She has the most beautiful eyes, and when she smiles at you it really does melt your heart. If she were the worst baby in the world, I would still love her so much. But I am happy to report that she is NOT at all the worst baby in the world. In fact, she is one of the best babies right now. It has almost been two weeks since she started sleeping at least 7 hours at night, and now I am happy to report that we have had 4 days of at least 10 hours of solid shut eye from this girl (with one 11 hour night and one 12 hour night)!!! Can you even believe it... she is AWESOME. Of course I am expecting that our trip to St. George for the holidays will TOTALLY mess with our wonderful little schedule, but oh well that is what motherhood is and I am still very glad that I signed up for it.
...by the way this picture was taken by Alecia. Check her site out.

Together at Last

This ones for my sisters, cuz they said they would just refer people to my blog since they never update theirs.




My sisters and I had a baking day this week where we each made two yummy treats to add to our neighbor/friend goodie plates. It was wonderful. We are going to try to have a weekly "sisters day" where we get together and spend the whole day doing something together. Last week we all got some crafty projects done, but I think that we might all agree when we do that again it will be at my house since I seem to have the most "crafty supplies".
I gotta say I am liking Arizona mostly because my sisters are here.

Kevin and Transportation

So like most of you know, we have had quite the busy last couple of months. One of the things that has been on our plate is Kevin's "BIG BOY ROOM". Ever since our Denver stay in August Kevin has been OBSESSED with busses, trains, cars, and trucks. Pretty much anything that has a motor and goes. So for his room we obviously went with a transportation theme. I found this way cute bedroom set at Target, but LIKE I HAVE THAT KIND OF MONEY!!! So I settled for buying the sheet set which was on sale for $20 and a blue comforter on sale for $9 (oh ya, are you jealous ;) Of course then the walls in his room needed something so I got ambitious and painted something for him. Let me know what you think (I am actually quite proud of myself)
Now before you go singing my praises... the cars and lettering are stickers I got from the said Target bedding collection. But considering I am NOT a painter and I did NOT have the proper brushes(I used a spunge brush for the whole thing... way hard)... I think they turned out pretty good.

Our Family Pictures

Check it out!! Our Pictures turned out SO awesome. This girl is really good so for all you St. George and Cedar City peeps, book your session NOW!!!
Luv it.

Pictures of us lovin' on Katie

Katie is getting so chunky I just love it. She is constantly loved on by all of us as you can see by these pictures. I promise that Kevin really is one of the happiest boys you will ever meet, he just does NOT smile for pictures unless I trick him into it. He loves Katie so much. Some time a little too much like when he yells at her "Baby WAKE-UP!! or when he "pats" her on the head, or when he thinks that he can casually put his food on her and press down a little. Really though he has totally accepted her as a constant presence in our home and loves to kiss her and help her. He always puts her binkie in her mouth when she crys, it is really rather precious.


Daddy and his little girl. I realized the other day that I have almost no pictures of Adam and Katie. I love this one though.

Mommy and the bug. Yes we call her Katie Buggins (thanks Aunt Mandy). Yesterday Adam came up with another name for her and Kevin seemed to like it a lot. Katie Cat. It's kind of catchy don't ya think??

Mesa Temple Lights

Adam and I haven't been to see the Mesa Temple lights since we were kids so it was kinda special that we were able to take our family to see them tonight. I made Adam get a few self portraits then we asked a missionary to take a picture of us by the nostalgic camels.
Kevin, as usual was NOT very photogenic.
Katie was out like a light!!!

Katie's Blessing

We are going to bless Katie on the 29th of November. It will be at our parents ward in St. George at 1:00 p.m. We are going to have a little brunch from 10:30 to 12:00 at The Stuart Home, for all who would like to come. We are excited to see you all and hope that many of you can make it. I realize however that it is short notice and Thanksgiving weekend, but we would love to have you there if you can make it.

The Stuarts
1155 W. Bloomington Dr. S. #6
St. George Utah 84790

Manzanita Chapel
3519 Manzanita Rd.
St. George, Utah 84790

Cutie Kevin

Went to the park today, it was actually quite cool outside hence Kevin in his long sleeved shirt. I am still amazed that we live here in Arizona. Life has sure brought us a lot of surprises this year, but just look at this face and you know everything is All Right!!!

The ZOO

We went to the Zoo on Veterans Day. It was CRAZY, but we had a lot of fun. We went with the cousins Maya and Ella (Tiersa's kids).
Adam and Kevin being silly at the turtle exhibit
Tiersa had been trying to get Katie to smile and while they all went into the Monkey place, I got a lot of HUGE smiles, she is so chunky now and I love that she interacts just a little bit.

Notice that we are wearing summer clothing. I guess even though it is NOVEMBER we just have to get used to the fact that we will never ever ever cool down (although I must say I really hate snow so I am okay with not dealing with all that white stuff).

Our Pumpkin Family

I hope you all don't mind that I am just now posting pictures of our pumpkin night. I find that blogging is about 99th on the list of 100 things to do.

Katie

I have lots of pictures to post, but for now this is for those of you who have been asking for pictures of Katie. I love how alert she is in this picture.

Overwhelmed and Grateful

I almost don't know what to write but I know that I need to get the thoughts out of my head before getting back into bed. I just read here about a friend of mine whose little 5 year old boy passed away. He was and always has been severely handicapped and completely dependent upon his parents and those around him. I used to always think that it would be so hard to have a child like that where you took care of him/her 24/7, but I am telling you, this little boy, Tyson, was amazing. He had curly curly hair and when you would talk to him his eyes would light up. You could see him smile even if his mouth didn't move. His parents loved and adored him. Honestly how could you not. No one knows what trials they will face on this earth or what we will have to overcome, but with the Lord's help we can endure them well and hopefully become like Christ and like little Tyson... humble, meek and full of love. Who can ever complain again about getting up in the middle of the night to feed their baby or console a child... I am so grateful for what I have and will work hard at not begrudging the task at hand. Hopefully I can continue to learn and take whatever I am handed with a grateful heart and an open mind. Tyson is in a better place now free from his mortal body, one day to be resurrected and reunited with his eternal family. Thank goodness for the gospel and the knowledge of God's plan. Life is beautiful.

Miss Katie's First Bath

A few pictures

Kevin got this cement truck from Grandma and Grandpa Endsley for his birthday, he absolutely loves it.

Kevin thanking Grandma Endsley for his gift.

Baby Katie and Mommy just chillin' while Kevin naps on his birthday

Grandma Stuart made Kevin's Birthday cake for him and let him lick the spatula... I love how he kinda lookes like a puppy dog
Kevin had a big Balloon Birthday Chair for his little birthday party, he really loved it, he even got chocolate all over some of them.

The plan was to put a big #2 on it with frosting, but I forgot to have my Mom save out some frosting to color it yellow or something and in the end it was all chocolate frosting, so we did a little creative thinking and this is what we came up with.

Kevin hates to have his hands dirty, so he is showing me his dirty hand so I will wipe it off for him.

Two Years Old

I am so happy today!!! It is Kevin's 2nd birthday and he is such a happy little two year old. I can't believe that he is as big as he is. He is constantly talking and he is always crackin' us up. I love him so much. Happy Birthday Kevin. May your day be full of these kind of smiles.

Updates

Aunt Andi holding baby Katie. Andi was in the room when Katie was born, and we realized today that she never got a picture taken with her. SAD!! So here it is (Andi is pregnant with twins so she is VERY much in BABY mode)
Katie sprawled out after her late afternoon feeding. By the way this child is a POOP machine. She goes every time I feed her. Crazy girl.

This was the day that we brought Katie home. We had not really forced Katie on Kevin, rather we let him show interest as he was ready. He was sitting next to our sister in law Vicki while she held the baby and very naturally he showed interest in holding her. It was priceless. He was so timid and in awe of the whole thing. Now he gets mad when he can't hold her, he LOVES his baby sister.


Are you kidding me... he used to fit in this car seat!!! Everyone told me that I would be shocked at how big Kevin would seem after I had Katie, and it is so true. In fact the day before I had Katie, I held Kevin in my arms and cuddled him like he was my tiny baby. But I really was taken back by how blown up he looks compared to Katie. HE'S HUGE. But I still love holding him.

Prior to this picture Kevin tried to sit in Katie's car seat with the handle up. He sat down on the front of the car seat and his weight threw the car seat forward and the handle smacked him in the head. It was funny and sad all at the same time.

Feelings

It is Sunday morning around 11 which believe it or not is EARLY for me because of the night I had last night. Katie had gas last night and cried and cried. I could not console her but so desperately wanted to. It is so hard to see your child in pain and not be able to fix the problem. I found some positions that worked for her but they were all standing up and rocking/bouncing her which my body just can't handle yet. Finally at 4 in the morning I went and woke up my mother in order NOT to have a total breakdown. Mom turned out to be a life saver. She took Katie from me sent me to bed and let me sleep. She brought her to me to feed at 6:30 then I went back to bed and so did they. They are actually still sleeping. Yeah for Mothers. Especially mine.
Other than last night, being a mother of two and having beautiful little Katie around is wonderful.

Happy Birthday Katie

Here she is, our little baby girl, Katie Arlene Endsley. She came out crying and didn't stop till I fed her. She came easy with 3-4 pushes, so easy in fact the doctor almost missed it. 7 lbs 10 oz. 20" long. Kevin is still a little unsure and misses his parents, but we just have to make sure we give him lots of attention. We are so happy to have Katie in our lives, we think we are so very blessed.

Family of Four... Almost

The last picture of our family of 3 before little Katie comes. I still can't believe it is happening tomorrow. I am so excited to meet her and hold her. She is going to be so little compared to our Kevin. He is going to seem GINORMOUS. I will keep ya'll posted. Don't forget to vote on how big she is going to be. Bye Bye