Christmas in Colorado

We spent Christmas in Colorado Springs this year. Both sets of grandparents live there, and we love going home! Although, Christmas just wasn't the same without my little brother Jordan, who is serving his mission in Brazil.

We drove to Colorado-yes DROVE with 2 little boys. I'm not exactly sure what we were thinking, or if we quite knew what we were getting ourselves into....but a 15 hour drive with an almost 2 year old and a newborn was exhausting! Luckily for us, both the boys did amazing. As amazing as possible for sitting in the car for so long! Teigan slept the whole time, with the occasional break for feedings. On the way to Colorado, Ethan was awake for 10 of the 15 hours! What he did to occupy himself for that long--I don't even remember! I do know that he loves to read books and loves LOVES to sing. He started singing "a sunbeam a sunbeam, Jesus a sunbeam!" We didn't even know he knew that song! Thanks nursery! Other favorites are John Mayer's "Say", Ne-Yo's "Closer", Pink's "So What", and pretty much any other popular song! Who knew he remembered the lyrics??? Crazy I tell ya.

Teigan was blessed on December 21st, it was such a wonderful blessing and a beautiful day!

I don't have a lot of time to blog--the boys will be waking up any minute--but here are some fun pictures of our vacation!
Ethan and his new buddy Isaac Housley at Teig's blessing--thanks for coming Taylor and Val!!

Teigan in his blessing outfit

Black Family minus 1

Best friends are we, my sister and me!!

Me and Scott

Jumping off the fireplace in his new Christmas jammies

Daddy and Teigan--I LOVE Teig's expression!

Ethan's 3 favorite things: Elmo.....

...and Cookie Monster......

...and Papa!!!

Savage kids minus Steve and Jordan

Savage Family

My two darling little boys!

Aunt Kristen and Teigan


Now that the holidays are coming to an end--it means busy season is upon us. Ew. I hate busy season. HATE IT! So, we won't talk about it. For now.

Black Family's Top Ten of 2008

For those of you who didn't get our Christmas card this year--here it is!

THE BLACK FAMILY’S TOP TEN OF 2008

10. Our little baby, Ethan, isn’t a baby anymore! He turned ONE on January 29th. We sure have loved having him around! He constantly amazes us with his intelligence and abilities and is always good for a laugh.
9. After five weeks of eating mushrooms for practically every single meal (and I HATE mushrooms), we discovered that I was pregnant! What a fun surprise! I spent much of 2008 pregnant—good thing I have easy pregnancies.
8. We enjoyed our 2nd annual trip to the beach in May. We accompanied Skyler on a business trip to Santa Monica, California. We had a blast watching Ethan run and play in the ocean.
7. We purchased Rock Band this year and have become quite obsessed. You may be wondering how this could possibly make our Top 10 list, but what you should be thinking is how could it not?! We have dedicated too many hours, sacrificed too much sleep, and gained a few extra pounds for it not to be on our list!
6. I managed to go a full year without being robbed, slamming any of my fingers in doors, or being involved in any hit and run accidents. Although, Ethan managed to lock me out of the house with both ovens on and his new baby brother alone on the couch. Thank Heaven for little boys, right?
5. Papa and Grandma Savage took the entire family to Disneyland at the end of May. Ethan was so excited to be able to meet all of his favorite characters. Especially Mickey Mouse.
4. Skyler’s beloved Halo playing partner (a.k.a. my little brother) left for his mission to Curitiba, Brazil in November. I was sad to see him go because I will definitely miss him…however, a break from Halo is very welcomed! Too bad Halo is also a one-player game…
3. With the completion of all four parts of the CPA exam and all the hours necessary, Skyler is now an official CPA—which means I officially began my training in retail therapy! ☺ Way to go, Skyler!
2. Skyler and I celebrated three years of wedded bliss on December 17th. We are more in love than ever three years and two little boys later— and we look forward to many more. Years, that is. Not boys!
1. Rounding up the Top 10 is our sweet, new little addition to the family! Teigan Grant Black was born weighing in at 6 lbs. 3 oz. and 20 inches long. We love him to pieces and love to watch Ethan fulfill his role as big brother!

Feelin' a little "Shwanky"

Last night a bunch of my good friends from the ward got together for a girls' night out. It was desperately needed and much enjoyed! Aimee said she was feeling "shwanky" and wanted fondue--although, the fondue restaurant closed at 9 and it was 8:15 by the time we all met up....so Mimi's Cafe it was! We of course, being the good mormon girls that we are, requested-nay-demanded the winery room even though they had closed it for the night. Once settled, we enjoyed a few funny stories-like laughing so hard tears are coming out your eyes-stories. Laughter truly is the best medicine! :-) We also did an ornament exchange that was a lot of fun. A few of us even sat out in my driveway till 1 or so in the morning...my husband doesn't understand what us women could possibly have to talk about for so many hours--if he only knew! :-) Thanks, girlies for a fun night out!

Me, Brandy, Stephanie, Aimee, Taylor, and Molly

In the middle of the night Thursday, I was awake feeding Teigan when I heard a loud noise coming from our loft area (Ethan's playroom). It sounded like toys being knocked over or stepped on...my initial thought would have been that Ethan let himself out of his room--except we put him to bed in his pack and play that night because he wouldn't stay in his own bed. Cue scary music......

I was a little nervous at first, only because I've seen one too many Lifetime for Women movies. So I laid in bed for a minute contemplating whether or not I should go check it out. I kept thinking what could have made that noise?

A giant rodent of some sort?

A Christmas Elf perhaps??

I cautiously walked out to the toy room to see what was going on and what do I find?? Ethan standing in the middle of the room. How in the world did he manage to climb out of his pack and play? He had knocked his blocks over and his Tickle Me Cookie Monster was laughing and rolling around on the ground. I was a little relieved that my night didn't turn into a Lifetime movie with an intruder in my house. I was more relieved that it wasn't a Christmas Elf.

As I'm not quite sure how I would explain a Christmas Elf playing in my toy room. Unless, of course, he was fixing all the toys that have met Ethan's wrath.

I'd probably spend the rest of my life updating my blog from inside a psych ward...

In other news, Christmas is up and running at the Black Household. I pulled down my giant tupperware(s) a couple of weeks ago and the decking of the halls began. We have so many lights up I don't quite know what to do with myself. I think Skyler was quite shocked to come home from work one day to see our house looking like an airplane landing pad all lit up. He doesn't quite get into the decorations of holidays like I do. He would be fine with just the tree. Actually, he could probably go without the tree too. Anyway, I told him if he thinks this year is overboard, he has no idea what's coming his way in coming years. I already have great ideas for next year. I may very well blow a fuse.

And if Sky thinks the holiday decorations are over kill--just wait until my post for next year--when I can blog about forcing Skyler aboard the Polar Express in matching family flannel pajamas that we don't own just yet. Can you believe there is actually a Polar Express? It's in Williams, AZ. You board the train (in your pj's) and ride to the North Pole eating chocolate chip cookies and drinking hot cocoa. Once at the North Pole, Santa comes on board to pass out little silver bells to everybody. Ethan and Teigan will love it. And Skyler will secretly, too.

This is long overdue....

Pictures of Teigan's nursery! When I found out I was pregnant with another boy, I knew that I didn't want to do tons of blue because Ethan was my blue boy. So Skyler and I agreed to go with the green with browns and blue--and it turned out so cute!!!

Pretty Sure....

...I just ate my body weight in pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. Let the holiday feasting begin! Good thing I've already lost the weight from my pregnancy--although, I don't think you could tell that from looking at me right this minute.

I don't know if it's my Christmas decorations, my minty new candles, my oversized Christmas pj's, or the very low budget Christmas movies on the lifetime network---but lately I don't even want to leave my house! Enough of this funny business messing around on the computer though.

It's time for Grinch and more cookies.

Open the door Ethan!

Yesterday was quite the day for me. Skyler has pretty much started his "busy season" (which I HATE), and because of this, he was at the office yesterday. Leaving me alone with 2 little boys....which, is really no big deal--all week I took care of both boys by myself without incident. Yesterday I wasn't so lucky!

I had baked ziti and crescent rolls cooking in the oven last night at 7:30. Both were to be done at 8:00. That's what time Skyler was SUPPOSED to come home. Teigan woke up from his nap around 7:35 and ate for about 15 minutes. I knew he wasn't done eating, but I looked at the clock and it was 7:54--Ethan had a dirty diaper that needed to be changed and dinner needed to come out of the oven. I put Teigan down on the couch and chased down Ethan. So the plan was to change E, get the dinner out, finish feeding Teigan, then eat dinner as a family ( I know that sounds late to everyone, but Ethan had a late lunch and looong afternoon nap...otherwise Ethan would be in bed at 8!).

I only made it to step 1 of that plan! I changed Ethan's diaper and walked outside to the garage to dispose of his diaper in our large trash can. Just as I was walking back to door, I hear the dead bolt lock. AHHH!!! Then I hear Ethan laugh his adorable laugh which wasn't so adorable at the time. I'm trying to tell Ethan to unlock the door--to which he starts jiggling the doorknob. He clearly had no idea as to what he had just done. So, I'm in the garage thinking: I don't have my cell phone (to call Skyler), no keys, no key hidden anywhere...what the heck am I going to do??? At this point I hear the oven beeping and all I can envision is my house up in flames! Enter panic mode. Then I remember that a couple from our ward lives across the street and I am just crossing my fingers that they are home on a Saturday night. Sure enough, they were and I was able to call Skyler. Remember now, that he was SUPPOSED to be home at 8 and it is now a little after 8. Our conversation goes a little like this:
Me: Hey, where are you--you almost home? (thinking he should be, because it's after 8 and he was SUPPOSED to be home-in which case wouldn't have been a big deal, because then the kids would have only been left unattended for a few minutes).
Skyler: Uh, no.
Me: Where are you then?
Skyler: I'm still at the office......
Me: STILL. AT. THE. OFFICE?!?!? (about 30 minutes away--without traffic!!!) Let's just say that it was a very good thing that Matt and Amanda were in the room with me because I had a few other words I could have said....
Skyler: Yeah, I just had to finish up one last thing.
Me: Well you need to leave NOW and come home NOW because Ethan has locked me out of the house and both ovens are on and Teigan is alone on the couch with Ethan!!!!!!!!

After that, Matt and Amanda came over to my house with me and again, we tried to coax Ethan into opening the door again. No such luck and by this point Teigan is SCREAMING! Which of course, made me start crying because I just felt so helpless. It didn't help that I could smell food burning from outside my front door. Enter picture of house on fire in my head again! So we decided to call the new fire department up the road to see if they could get in my house. They tell me that they can only come help if my house is on fire. IF MY HOUSE IS ON FIRE??! Really, we're gonna let it get that far?! So it's not a big enough emergency that my two small children, one of which is a newborn, is alone in a house with the ovens on??? Let me understand--firefighters rescue CATS out of trees--CATS--but not children locked inside a home that could possibly catch fire!!? Makes all the sense in the world to me. They tell me to find an object and break a window to let myself in. REALLY?! Like I hadn't thought of that already and decided that wasn't a very good idea. So much for the fire station.......

Ethan was a very good brother throughout all of this and put Teigan's paci in his mouth when I asked him to. Luckily, Ethan has no parent-child separation anxiety....he was totally chillin inside the house. I was peeking in through glass on my front door and saw him giving Teigan kisses, "It's ok Teenden!" and reading books to himself. Oh that little stinker!

30 minutes later we see a car fishtail around the corner--YES! Skyler was home! My rolls were like bricks and the ziti was as dry as the desert. Bless Skyler's heart for still eating it!! He even told me it was good. So moral of the story? Hide keys in my garage, back yard, at Amanda's house, in the sole of my shoe--because with a son like Ethan, who knows when or where I will need it!!!! Another moral of the story? Come home when your wife asks you to! All you men out there: GO HOME WHEN YOUR WIFE ASKS YOU TO! :-)

I'm grateful for the comfort that Amanda was able to give me, reassuring me that I'm not in fact a horrible mother. And the comedic relief that her husband, Matt brought. Because it was quite humorous (and quite evident that he doesn't have children) when he told my almost 2 year old to "turn the dead bolt to the left." HAHAHAHAHAHA!

I'm glad I can laugh about this now.................

Teigan is 1 month old!

Ok, I'm already off to a bad start with this! I want to document each month of Teigan's life with updates and pictures (a good friend of mine did this--and I'm stealing her idea :-) ) however, I'm already a week late! Anyway, Teigan now weighs 8 lbs. 4 oz. and is 22 1/2 inches long! As a reminder, he started off at 6 lbs. 3 oz. and 20 inches. So two pounds in one month! Way to go Teigan!!! The dr. was really surprised that he did that with just breastfeeding alone--he is a milk monster!!

He is starting to be "awake" a lot more, although, he still doesn't do much. Aside from the occasional "gas" grin that he gives us (which is adorable by the way!!!). He still is constantly being mauled by his big brother Ethan, and I have found random pieces of food around his neck, chest and face that Ethan tries to share with him. The other day was kind of scary too, because I went into the kitchen to throw something away and came back into the living room and Ethan had picked Teigan up out of his bouncer! Imagine my panic as I ran over saying as calmly as I can, "Ethan doesn't pick up Teigan without mommy--no, Ethan you can't hold Teigan right now!" Such is life. Also, (and yes I'm bragging) my 5 week old is sleeping 7 hours through the night!!! I didn't think it would come this soon, and since he is gaining weight well--I'm not worried about not waking him. I'm one refreshed new momma! Although, it's a blessing that he does sleep so well, because I have to get up with Ethan at 7:30 in the morning. I had the luxury of sleeping when Ethan slept as a newborn--no such luck this time around....someone has to keep up with child number 1! So remember that before you add a 2nd child to the mix! We love Teigan to bits and are so grateful to have his sweet spirit in our home. We also love hearing Ethan comfort Teigan by saying, "It's ok Teenden, it's ok Teenden--here's a paci." Ha ha--how cute is that?!?!

Now for his pictures:




Teigan sleeps like this all the time--with his hands in the air! Even when I tried to lay his hands flat on his chest--he would lift them back up! How funny, huh?!