Taysom's Blessing

Today we blessed our sweet little baby, Taysom.

We were so honored to have so many family and friends come to support us. It was a fun week-end which started with my mom coming up Thursday night to watch our kids Friday morning. We were able to attend the sealing of our awesome babysitter of six years! She looked so beautiful and we were excited that we could be there with her to share in her special day!!

Later that night we (the kids and I) ran into Tiffany's wedding reception, then dashed off to a hotel here in Jerome to go swimming with my brothers girlfriend and my nephew, Weston. The kids had a blast and it thoroughly wore them out!! 

Saturday, we ran errands and welcomed more family and friends into town! Dinner was spent at Golden Corral and we enjoyed some one on one time with our friends, Sarah, Stu and their beautiful daughter, Hannah! 

Sunday morning we attended our ward and Vaughn gave such a beautiful blessing to Taysom. It was a special experience and Drew was old enough to understand what was going on and asked lots of questions about the whys and hows. It was awesome!

Our first family picture as a family of SIX. Oh my! 

My sister, Connie with Taysom 

Heaven and Ron, my brother. 

Sarah has made each of my kids a baby sampler! They are all so amazing and has put so much time and effort into all of them!! 

Along the wall is FIL Richard, Vaughn's brothers, Scott & Aaron and his wife, Jana.

I'm not sure why, but this blessing dinner was the most relaxed one yet. I didn't feel any pressure to make sure everyone was happy and had what they needed. Thanks to all those that bore that pressure for me!  

Mickey (the best midwife, ever!) MIL Luan, Vaughn's sister Brenda and her daughter, Magen. 

Vaughn, Daniel & Kim 

My mom, my sister, Connie & my dad. 

My cousin, Malita 

Grandpa & Grandma Hixson with baby Taysom 

Big cousin, Madeline with Taysom

After the company all went home we were able to just sit back and relax for a bit. Taysom has been starting to stay awake for longer periods of time, so it was a good time to take some pictures of him in his blessing outfit.  

Thank you to all the came and gave us support on Taysom's special day! It means so much to us and we appreciate it so much! Especially, those who traveled from afar!!

It's all a blur!

It seems like time has gone by both so fast and so slow. How is that possible? And it has felt like the days are long and yet are short. I think looking back it seems like it has gone by rather quickly, but at the time it seemed to drag on and on. I am still trying to figure out how to get all that I need to get done, done in a day, but I am getting better at it. Little by little. 

Taysom is changing so much and along with that is sleeping better at night! He is such a great baby and a fantastic sleeper. I've lucked out that my kids pick up on the sleep schedule I put them on rather quickly and life gets so much better when this momma gets enough sleep! Here are just a few pictures of the last couple of weeks.

One morning I laid Taysom down for a nap and then I crashed on the couch. When I woke up, Mason and Sam had pulled out their pillows and blankets and made little beds next to me! It was so sweet of them, even if they didn't actually sleep! 

Sam was in the tub and the boys were spending time with Taysom! Drew loves reading books to him and Mason loves talking to him. They are all so awesome. Love them!! 

Sam has been acting out. I think it is because of Taysom, but who knows.... Ever since having Taysom she has become more mischievous! If that is possible. It seems like when she knows I am nursing that is when she makes messes!! This morning I found her in the powered sugar. Mason is in the picture, but he didn't cause the mess. He was with me when all this happened. This was all Sam. 

Imagine a very evil laugh to go along with this face.

This is how she reacts when she gets caught doing something that she knows she isn't supposed to be doing. Oh boy. I think we are in for it with her! 

When these two kids gang up, they are pretty unstoppable! Poor Drew better watch out! 

I just have to share this story about Drew and Mason, because it was just too funny and I want to remember it always!!

Drew had done something to get himself into trouble and so I sent him to his room. He was so upset about it and really blew it out of proportion! Anyway, so I hear Drew in his room saying that he is going to run away. Mason was very concerned about him and started crying while begging Drew not to go. Drew told Mason that he had to go, because he was just so unhappy. It was so sad to hear how upset Mason was. Drew went into the kitchen to look for batteries for his flashlight and that is when Drew and Mason started saying their goodbyes! It was so sweet! Mason told Drew that he would miss him so much and Drew said that he would miss him too, all through sobs! I was laughing so hard!! 

Mason came and asked if he could borrow my phone and I said he could. I was surprised to see that he was calling Vaughn. He called him to tell him that Drew was leaving. Vaughn tried to reassure Mason that Drew wasn't running away and Mason responded, "He really is Dad. He has his flip flops on!" I was trying so hard not to let them see me laughing!! Vaughn told Drew that he would miss him and Drew in the sweetest, most precious voice told Vaughn he would miss him too! My mom was here and asked Drew where he was going to go and Drew said New Mexico. She then asked if he knew how to get there and he said no, but he would just start walking and walk until he got there!! Hahahaha! Why New Mexico?! It was such a random place!! 

Of course, pretty soon Drew was distracted and never stepped one foot outside! 

Happy Birthday, Mason!

My little guy turned 5 on September 11th! 

I cannot believe how fast he has grown up! He truly is a blessing to our family and such a good brother to his brothers and sister! 

He is one crazy, energetic and off the wall busy little boy! 

He had school on his birthday and he was so excited to tell his teacher that he is now FIVE!! He wanted to have his picture taken with Taysom. He sure loves his little brother!

His birthday was sure a crazy one. I was busy trying to figure out how to make a special cake for a birthday, manage two busy kids and a newborn. It was probably the most overwhelming day I had had since having Taysom. Of course Tays was just 10 days old. His birthday dinner request was Sloppy Joes, which was easy enough, but his cake request, a stegosaurus, really threw me off. I did the best that I could with the time and energy I had. Oh well. He loved it!!

Since having Taysom, everything has taken me so much longer than usual. We didn't have dinner until almost 8 pm and cake until after 9 pm. It was an exhausting day and I paid for it the next day with absolutely no energy!   

Mason is my most polite child. He always says 'thank you' for everything. Dinner, gifts, opening a door for him, getting him drinks. Really everything. 

He also says 'I love you'. A lot. It is so sweet! His sweet little voice saying, "I love you, Mommy" just makes me smile every time he says it!  

Oh man. This cake. I had spent all day baking, cutting, molding, crumb coating and piping stars on to it. Finally, as we are eating dinner and I'm still working on it and only half way done, Vaughn convinced me to just wipe it all off. I knew I needed to give up on it, but I had worked so hard on it!!! So with great sadness I wiped all the stars off of it. I was pretty depressed, so I didn't try to even it out at all. Poor Mason. He got such a sad, ugly looking cake. Also the more I tried to salvage the face, the more it fell apart. Sam also helped with that. Oh well. 

A few days later we took Mason in to his 5 year well child check. He was 41.5 inches tall and he weighed in at 41.5 lbs!!  He is in the 50th percentile. He is in his second year of preschool and is doing so well with it! He is usually a happy kid, who loves to rough house with his sister and hold his baby brother. 

Taysom's Newborn Pictures

My bff came over and took some way adorable pictures of Taysom for me! I love her pictures! She is so amazing and I love love love how they turned out! She is the best!

Thanks Alayna.

Adjusting....

So far life with four has been crazy. It has been by far the hardest and biggest adjustment for me. I think the hard part is being up so many hours during the night and then having to be up to get Drew and Mason out the door to school. I definitely wish I could have had a couple weeks before school started to get adjusted, but oh well. 

Another thing that has made it hard to adjust is Sam. She isn't necessarily acting out with tantrums, but she has become even more busy, if that is even possible. When I try to lay down to rest she gets into things. Like the knives, powered sugar, the bathroom. I have to keep an eye on her and haven't been able to relax like I did with the others. 

This time around my mom was able to stay through the Labor Day weekend and help me get the boys to school on the first day. Vaughn's mom and dad came up on Wednesday and that was really helpful as well. I am grateful for such a great mom and in-laws that helped my family so much. I didn't really do anything the first week besides take care of Taysom. It was nice and much appreciated!!

Here are just a few pictures from the first few days.