Happy Birthday Will!

Dear Will,

You are now two years old and such a big boy. You are so full of life and have the cutest little personality. You bring so much joy to your parents lives as well as everyone around you. You love to learn and pick up new things every day. You love to play, read books, and anything and everything outside. You are such a copycat and have to be just like mom and dad. You do some pretty goofy things that constantly keep us laughing. We love you so much and are so grateful for you.

Happy Birthday, Will!

Will turned two on April 26th. I was originally planning on having a little play date at the park and inviting all the neighbor kids over for cupcakes or something, but that didn't happen. Hopefully next year I'll get more ambitious for him and actually throw him a decent party or something. This year, it was just too expensive and time consuming to plan something, especially when he's so young and probably wont really remember. Next year it is!

The day before his birthday, we took Will to the store and let him pick out a toy that he would want. I thought that once we got out to the car and I hid it in the trunk he would forget about it. But he remembered and begged me to get his truck out of the car for a while.

After he went to bed, we blew up balloons, hung some streamers, and set out his presents.

As usual, he was up around 6am. We took him out to see his toys and sang him "Happy Birthday". He really likes that song and loves when you sing it to him. And he was pretty excited about his toys. 

 

 

 He was pretty interested in the streamers and had fun ripping them all off of the wall later that day.

 For some reason, he likes to throw that small colorful ball over our back fence into our neighbor's yard. Then he says "lost". They have given it back once, but it was over in their yard again within the same hour. He has also tried throwing our basketball over, but luckily it is too big and heavy and he can't throw it that high.

 

 This is one of the trucks that he chose. I probably would've picked something completely different, but he was pretty adamant about this one. The yellow lever on the side pushes the yellow part out on the front or pulls it back in.

 

 I got this cheap black truck from the family dollar. Will likes it, but he gets upset that the doors don't open and that the tailgate doesn't drop down. When I was buying it, I didn't even think about those kinds of things.

 

 

 Looking studly in his Hulk jammies.

 I am currently working on his "2 Year" post, but it is taking quite a bit of time. Hopefully I'll have it posted within a few days, so stay tuned for that one. It's going to be a long one.

2 Months

Weight: 9 lbs 10 oz - 17%
Head Circumference: 39.5 cm - 66%
Length: 22.5" - 51%
Blake had her two month appointment today, and she is doing great. Will gained weight pretty quickly the first few months, so I expected something similar with her. He was already over 13 pounds at this point! So it'll be interesting to see how she compares in the coming months.



 For a while, I felt like Blake wasn't really changing or progressing that much. Then suddenly she started smiling, eating more, spitting up less, and all sorts of good stuff.

Blake was pretty sick for about a week. During that time, I took her to the doctor twice because I was concerned she wasn't getting enough to eat. She had a really bad cough, and it caused her to spit her food up all day long. She would projective vomit what seemed like gallons of milk. Even if we only feed her a teaspoon of milk, she would spit of massive amounts. Every single time. This lasted about 2-3 days. She lost around half a pound during that time. Yet she continued to have wet diapers and never seemed dehydrated, so we were told to simply wait it out and hope she got better. Fortunately it wasn't reflux or something more permanent or longer lasting. She caught some virus from Will and now that it is gone, she hardly spits up, and when she does it is in very small amounts.




Tired after a week of sick kids.




While she is more alert and awake more throughout the day, she still sleeps a lot. I've been surprised with how much she is still sleeping, but I am not complaining.

 

 I finally feel like we are getting into a routine at night. I try to keep her awake between about 7-9 pm. Then top her off with food and put her in bed. Lately she has been sleeping until around 4am. Then its a quick feeding and back to sleep until about 8am. (Now if only we could get Will to sleep in past 6am!) Occasionally she will wake up around 1am, but I've learned either she'll fall back asleep on her own, or she likes a binky.

Blake likes to be swaddled while she sleeps. If she manages to get a hand/arm free, I have to re-wrap her or she'll never get back to sleep.

She is still currently sleeping in a pack n play in our room. I desperately want to get her either into our office or finally into her crib in Will's room. I worry I wont be able to hear her so far away and I worry about disturbing Will. Guess he's going to have to get used to it.

Her hair is starting to come in more and it is getting lighter. I really hope her hair ends up as thick as Will's. He has beautiful hair that any girl would be jealous of.



She has pretty crazy eyebrows and does all sorts of things with them, especially when she gets excited.



She eats a 4 oz. bottle every couple of hours.

Within the past few days, I have noticed her trying to talk with cooing noises.



She still fits into newborn clothes, though some of them are starting to get a little snug. They fit fine around, its mostly lengthwise that is tight.

She is smiling a lot more and loves when people talk to her. It has been difficult to get a picture of her smiling, because the second the camera comes out, she can't take her eyes off of it. And typically its just a blank, hard stare at the camera. Usually my phone works best because it isn't as large or noticeable.



Sometimes when she smiles, I see an exact replica of Lance. They both do this goofy little half smile some of the time.


She has really long hands and feet. I wonder if she is going to be tall.

She is starting to get a double chin and has some small rolls in her legs.



She is wearing size 1 diapers, though they are a bit big on her. I was afraid to buy more newborn because I expected her to grow faster.


We have been very blessed to have such a good little baby. I am excited to watch her continue to grow and see what changes occur.

She's so beautiful and we just love her!

Blake's Blessing

Blake Nicole Hinton was blessed by her father, Lance, on April 14, 2013 in Logan, UT. It was a great weekend filled with family and friends.

My mom, Cindy, and Kim came up to Logan early on Saturday to hang out. We had been planning on spending most of the day outside at the park, but because the weather was a bit crummy we were forced to stay inside.

My mom is awesome and spent most of the day baking cookies and other goodies for our lunch the following day. We made cookies, rice crispies, cupcakes, cake balls, etc.

After being cooped up in my tiny house most of the day with 6+ kids, we were anxious to get out for a bit. We went over to the fun park and played on the playground for a while. Will absolutely loves it and would probably stay for hours if I let him.

I usually absolutely hate having one o'clock church, but for once it was kind of nice. We were able to finish a few last minute preparations as well as take our time getting ready. In the end, we were still rushed and almost late to church. Lance's family had arrived on time and were sitting on the benches while me and the rest of my family were back in the overflow on chairs. I felt bad that we hadn't arrived early enough to allow everyone to sit together.

All of the grandkids on the Hinton side. Good looking bunch, don't you think?

Lance did an amazing job on the blessing. I was a little worried that he would rush it and maybe not say everything he wanted, but he did so well.

Blake was told how much her Father in Heaven loves her, as well as her earthly parents. She was blessed with a desire to learn and seek for knowledge. She was also blessed with confidence. She was blessed that one day she would find a worthy young man who would take her to the temple. She was blessed with the ability to overcome trials and reminded to look to her Father in Heaven in her efforts to do so.

After church, everyone was invited over to Lance's parents house to mingle and eat. We had sandwiches, several different salads, and of course all the treats my mom had made. I hadn't seen most of my family since Christmas, so it was really nice to catch up a bit and see everyone. Unfortunately several of our siblings weren't able to make it. We missed them and are anxious for the next time we will see them.

 Blake was blessed in the same dress that I was blessed in. I'm so grateful that my mom held onto the dress for all of these years. Once I knew we were having a girl, I knew that I wanted her to be blessed in the same dress. The dress was made by my aunt Jill over 24 years ago. It meant a lot to me to see her in my dress and she looked absolutely beautiful. And no, your eyes are not deceiving you, the dress isn't white and never was. It was originally off white, but has yellowed a little more throughout the years.

Because it is almost Will's birthday, we decided to also do a little something for Will at the lunch gathering. I knew that we weren't likely to get family back up to Logan for his actual birthday, so we just celebrated while everyone was already in town.

Last minute, I decided to make him this lego cake. I have never decorated a cake before, so it was a little daunting and I was scared it was going to turn out terribly. But I think it turned out quite well and I was pretty proud of it.

 Will was all smiles while everyone was singing "Happy Birthday" to him. I think he rather enjoyed being the center of attention.

 He tried to blow out the candles, but he would hardly blow any air out. So Lance had to help him.

 He wasn't quite sure what the bright blob was on his plate, and he wasn't the biggest fan of the cake. I think he would have been much more excited about it if it had been chocolate. (He is my son, after all.)

Blake didn't make a sound during the blessing and she was so good all day long. She looked so beautiful and we are so grateful to have her in our lives. 

 

 

 

Special thanks to:

Scott and Sharon for letting us use their house as a gathering place. as well as providing most of the food.

My mom for spending all day Saturday baking.

And everyone who showed up to support us.

It meant a lot of have so many family and friends there and we really appreciate everyone that took the time to come. We love you all.