Merry Christmas

We are staying here this year. My brother and his family will be here tonight. I am so excited. Below is the Christmas card we sent out to only family this year. I loved the Christmas cards I got this year and am planning to send the card and a newsletter to alot more friends next year. Thanks to those who sent us their Christmas cards.

I've been trying to really think of the true meaning of Christmas this year. I've always thought the reason why we give gifts is because the wise men gave gifts to Jesus but a friend shared with us a better reason and one that I should have already thought about. God gave the world it's most precious gift, his Son, Jesus. We are very thankful for our Savior and his birth, Atonement, and Resurection. We hope that everyone has a MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Thanksgiving

Okay, so here are the pictures from Denver's Museum of Natural Science.

The Kids's Zone. Douglas pursed lips of satisfaction as he plays with the bubbles

Douglas says "Cheese!"

Don't worry, he didn't really touch the bear.

Harrison remained oblivious to it all in the Moby wrap.

The Museum was closing so Douglas got a sweet ride in the

last exhibit w/ Papa, & Great Grandma Harrison

On our way out we saw this man in this dino costume. He's in black in the "legs". He moved the dino around and acted like it was going to bite your head. Kids just LOVED it.

This is what Douglas thought. :-)

Van and Cooing (Here's to you Becky)

(This post is mainly for my friend Becky.) In May we got the Dave Ramsey c.d.'s and book from my in-laws. We took his course. Some things he suggests are saving up for items that you know you'll need so that you can pay cash and have no payments. Two items that we knew we needed to save for were a car and new fence. We had looked at vans for the last year and the Honda Odyssey and Toyota Sienna always switch between being ranked 1st and 2nd so we wanted one of those. Dave Ramsey also says not to buy a new car but a 3-4 year old car because in the first 3-4 years a car depreciates extremely. Well, we looked to see how much a 3-4 year old van would cost and since May have been putting money aside in a separate account so that around August 2009 we could pay cash for a van. Well, my in-laws came to visit the first of November and told us about a man in their church and personal friend who's used car dealership was having trouble due to these hard economic times. Any-e-way, long story short is that his cars where taken back by the bank and sent to auction. He didn't want to lose any money so he offered us the van for the loan amount. So, we purchased a 2005 Toyota Sienna with 22,000 miles for $11,000. WHAT A DEAL!! That's why we couldn't wait until our original plan of August 2009 to purchase a van. We had debated getting a 2008 Sienna but we would have had to dip $7,000 into our savings for that and it violates one of Ramsey's rule (3-4 year old car). Now we are still saving for the fence but will have to continue saving for a car b/c Travis will need one fairly soon. Hopefully, his car will last until we have saved enough to pay cash so we can continue to have no car payments. Here is the van. A plus to it is that it has air bags all down the sides. We were told that was an extra safety feature but that seems like it would be a given.

Also, Becky wanted to see Harrison cooing so we made this video just for you Becky.

Thanksgiving and Misc

I have mixed emotions right now. I had to stop nursing Douglas at 6 months because he dropped percentiles so drastically. I think the major drop was partly my fault b/c I was watching the clock. Anyway, I vowed not to do that with Harrison. I just knew that Harrison would be successful. Well, I was wrong. Immediately, he didn't show huge weight gain and dropped percentiles from whatever a 9lb baby would be to 50something to 36%. I was devastated b/c I wanted to nurse him to at least 6 months, probably 8. Well, I stressed and stressed and decided at the beginning of November that it was NOT worth all the tears and stress. I gave in and went to formula. He's been on formula for 1 month. Today I took him to the doctor for his 3 month checkup and he's even lower, 27%. WHAT????? So it's not me? He didn't do any better with formula??? SO I should have kept nursing? The doctor said yes. One emotion is ANGER!!! My babies just get big in the womb but that's just not their tendency to stay that way at all. Douglas and esp. Harrison have been my proof. The second emotion is relief. I've been beating myself up about not being able to nurse. Well, I can nurse. The slow weight gain is no fault of my own. It's just my kids. I told the doctor that I would not switch to formula with #3 unless, I wanted to, not b/c of weight. I'm sad that it took 2 kids to figure it out. So we go back in 1 month to check his weight again. But what are they going to do? He's on formula, what else can they say?

Anyway, for Thanksgiving we went to Denver. The purpose was three fold, a baby blessing, seeing his newly returned home brother from mission, and seeing his parents and grandma again. We had fun. We went to the Museum of Science. Travis also got up early on black Friday for my Christmas presents. What a sweetheart!!

Travis as more pictures on his computer that I will get from him.

Family Pictures

We had our family pictures taken at JC Penny last week. We were super lucky to get as great of pictures as we did. I wasn't sure Harrison was going to cooperate at all. Anyway, look at Douglas!! He's the most photogenic of the bunch.

Mr. Chubby Cheeks, being deprived of his nap. What more can you ask from a 3month old? But don't you just want to squeeze and kiss those cheeks???

Mr. Photogenic himself!!!

Sweet Harrison- 3 months

When I found out I was having another boy, I'll admit I was disappointed. Don't get me wrong, I've loved this child the moment I knew about him, but I had hoped to have a girl. However, he is so wonderful and brings so much joy to our lives. From my first moments at the hospital with him I noticed his little sounds. Douglas was a silent baby and didn't make those typical newborn sounds. When the nurse brought Harrison to my room at night for me to feed him she told me they called him the singer b/c he made so much noise. It's the sweetest thing. Anyway, I've really enjoyed the past month b/c he's a smile and cooing fool. This is so different from when Douglas was a baby. The best time to get coos and smiles out of him is feeding time, as long as he's not overtired or hungry. I lay him down and put the bottle in his mouth and he just looks up and smiles this goofy grin. I have to postpone the feeding b/c he won't stop smiling and cooing. He smiles so big sometimes and almost laughs. I LOVE it. Douglas loves to mimic Harrison's sounds. It's cute. Anyways, he's 3 months today. He's slightly harder than Douglas was, only because he's not as transportable and doesn't go to sleep as easily. However, he's still a very easy, mild manner baby. Also, we think he looks a ton like Douglas did. We'll see Douglas' baby pictures pop up on the computer and we're baffled at how much they look alike. These aren't very good pictures but here are some pictures of my sweet baby boy. He really is a blessing to our family. Heavenly Father knew exactly what he was doing when he blessed us with Harrison.

Harrison and his new cousin Breanna (1 month old)

Here's my boys!