My Reader & My Sleeper

Here's my little reader! :-) Logan loves to read- well, he does need prodding now and then- ok- daily- ha ha But! In this picture he had actually grabbed his books and sat down to read them on his own. I was SO proud I had to take a picture! (It takes him 5 minutes to read one, so he knows he has to read three books to cross off a section on his chart.) He's currently working toward the 15 hours of reading challenge from the library, and he'll tell you, 'that is a LOT of work'. Anyway- not to be all braggy, I was just so proud to find him 'expanding his mind' of his own accord and not because I was withholding TV privileges until he read for 15 minutes!
And THIS sweet little girl is still in the newborn-sleeps-most-of-the-time phase, and she looks so dang cute when she's sleeping I can't help picking her up just to hold her close! She is such a doll- I am definitely enjoying every single moment. I am SOOOO glad she's been here a couple of weeks rather than inside. Today is her due date and I can't tell you how grateful I am to have the whole birth thing behind me rather than happening right now!! :-)
Here's my sweetie awake- she is showing off her bow here. :-) The boys LOVE when her eyes are open- they always try to show her stuff when they see she's awake, whether it be pictures they've drawn or cool tricks they can do. :-) She must give them the response they're looking for because the show and tell never seems to get old. If only I could convince them she can't see things RIGHT next to her face (such as THEIR faces...). They sure do love their little sis!

Fruit by the Foot

Who doesn't love fruit by the foot?? This is just one of the treasures Nonna left for the boys. Tyler had never seen such a thing, but boy did he enjoy it!
Here's Logan with Nonna & "his baby."
Tyler loves Nonna- he asked her (or rather demanded) to go outside again and again- regardless of how blistering hot it was! (And the coolest part? Nonna would go.) Couldn't have done it without you, Mom!! xoxo

Fighting Bad Guys

Even with all the hustle and bustle, Batman Logan and SuperTyler ("soupman") still make time to sharpen their moves. :-) Enjoy! **Notice how Superman takes his cues from Batman...Logan's obviously a veteran-superhero and by the looks of his moves has been doing this for YEARS!

Katie Katie Katie!

Here's my sweet girl in her new outfit- it's perfect because it's a preemie so it fits her body, but it doesn't have feet in it, so her (VERY) long skinny feet have plenty of room to wiggle and the outfit doesn't drown her! :-) I love that it says, "Daddy's Little Princess"- she's wearing it because tonight James is taking his girls out to dinner. :-) The boys are going to go out with Nonna to Burger King where they can play in a contained area, and James and I get a hot date before Mom has to leave! :-) I am not quite sure what I'm going to do without her help- it has truly been a breeze with her here- and the boys have been NOTHING close to a breeze!
Katie took her first nap in her crib today. She's been sleeping in the bassinet in our room, but today I thought I'd let her give her crib a whirl. She didn't like it at first, but when I put her between her sleeping pillows, she felt much more secure. (I used these for the twins so they wouldn't roll onto each other when sharing a crib, and they LOVED them! Looks like Katie does too!)
Here's Tyler holding Katie. You'll notice he has no shirt on- he hates shirts. Whenever he can get his shirt off, he will. I'm not sure why he's so anti-shirt- it's not like James or I go around without one ever... (much to the appreciation of the neighbors! ha ha) He really enjoys holding her- and was quite soft with her- though I'd never leave him with her without supervision!

Loving My Babies!

Tyler is warming up to his baby sis- here he is "hold her Tyler". (Translated: I want to hold her.) He also likes to ask me if I can "hold her me". (That means he wants me to hold HIM!)
How cute is this big brother with his lil' sis?! :-) Logan LOVES Katie. Today he was holding her and moving her arms up so it looked like she was flexing her big muscles. :-) Another funny note about Logan: he was saying prayer before dinner, and when finished James mentioned he forgot to pray that Heavenly Father bless the food. His response was, 'I don't have any food, so I didn't need it blessed!' We didn't realize we hadn't dished him any soup yet. :-)
Katie sure loves to be outside! We love that our backyard becomes shaded around 5:30- it makes it perfect for us to all be outside in the evening!
Logan is quite a talented 'swinger'- he learned to do a flip on the bar swing, and had a blast doing it again and again!!



We sure are loving having this little baby home! I hold her so much- she's only going to be this small for a little while, and I am definitely loving every minute. I LOVE dressing her- she's such a little doll. Having her here is SO MUCH more fun than being pregnant! :-)

Brotherly Love

Here's a nice picture of our family the moment Katelyn came through our door the first time. My eyes are shut (wish I would have noticed at the time so we could have taken another...) but other than that I thought it was a nice picture. Everyone is happy to have Baby Katie here....

Upon closer reflection, I realized that only 4/5 of those in the picture were feeling those happy feelings- one of us wasn't so sure this was a good thing. Here's the same picture close up. You can see Tyler is not quite so sure he's happy this new baby has come home. It's hard to be a two year old with a Mom that before she left could pick you up and hold you, and now can only hold the new baby. I'm counting down to the 6 week mark when I can pick up my sweet Tyler again. Holding him next to me is not the same, and I think he resents it somewhat. :-) He does like to hold her, though, and today he put some of his new bug stickers on her blanket for her. I think she's growing on him, he just doesn't enjoy sharing his Mommy with her. Logan on the other hand couldn't be happier. He LOVES his sister- holding her, talking to her, etc. I love the way he looks at her- he's so proud of her. He's also a HUGE help- I can't tell you how much easier he makes things. He has learned what a 'burp cloth' is (he thinks that name is really funny), and gets me one whenever I need it, he brings me my water bottle, and even helps me sit up our recliner when I can't get out of it. :-) What a sweet boy!

She's HERE!!!

James and I fell in love with her from the moment we saw her! :-)
Katelyn Faith Shields was born at 8:46am on July 8, 2008.
She weighed in at 5 lbs 15 oz, and was 19 inches long.
She has lots of dark hair!! :-)
Here she is right after her entrance into the world greeting Mommy.

Here's the sweet little bundle of joy waiting to go home.
Daddy with Daddy's Little Girl!
Logan was absolutely in LOVE with her! Here's the proud big brother. Tyler is not so sure- when asked if he wanted to see his sister, he said 'no, baby gross.' :-) He just learned that word, so I don't think he understood what he was saying... :-) He's been so happy to have Mommy home though- not sure why I can't pick him up, but he's been cuddly just the same. It sure is good to be back!
We couldn't have done this without Nonna and Papa! My mom took care of the boys, James took care of me, and my Dad took care of Katie while she was away from us in the NICU. (She was transferred to be "on the safe side" because she had a little trouble breathing at first, though before she was transferred she was already on room air and had absolutely no trouble breathing. The stay in the NICU was short, and I thankfully got the doctors to release me early so we were only apart for the first day and a half. (Too long to be apart, if you ask me!)

And here's Katie being her cute self! :-) I'll put more info on later, but I wanted to share the cute pics!! :-) We're happy to be home!

Fireworks

Here are the boys watching fireworks out their bedroom window. We had a great 4th of July! (And for once the many renditions of "Grand Ol' Flag" didn't bug me as much as we drove.) I'm not kidding- Logan sings that song ALL the time. Thank you preschool. We love to celebrate the 'home of the pree and the pray'. (or free and the brave as we keep reminding him...)

Jedi Dogs

As you know, Logan has many "real dogs." He takes really good care of them, actually- makes them clothes, pillows, and everything imaginable out of paper. I walked in the kitchen the other day to find this right in the middle of the floor. Evidently, the dogs are getting water after a hard fight- you'll notice the pipe cleaners around their middles to hold their light sabers. Left to Right they are ShoeE, Flash, (I'm blanking on the next one), and Splash. One of these animals is in tow about everywhere we go- except Church. They ride in the car, but have to stay there because the one week that ShoeE was allowed in, he didn't behave very well, and Logan was having a hard time keeping him quiet (or so he tells me...). Such a creative kid! :-)

Funny Video

How cute is this video?! Here are the words in case you can't understand it:

Hi, my name is Logan. Five years old. This guy- 2 years old. Love you! Bye.

I thought it was so funny- Logan is Mr. Personality introducing the two of them. Tyler just stood there letting big bro take over. :-) Also- Tyler got his first haircut in a really long time last night. I miss his curls, but they're definitely still there when it's humid- just not as long. :-)

The boys were getting ready for bed last night and talking to the baby- Logan was introducing himself and also Tyler. They're pretty excited that she's coming so soon- speaking of- I'm at a T minus 35 hours in my countdown. 35 hours!!! Can you believe I'll be looking at my beautiful girl in less than 35 hours?! I am THRILLED! We went to church today and I just kept thinking- I am SO glad this baby is coming this week. My body is SO tired of being pregnant. As we were leaving, we laughed about the fact that in less than 2 days I wouldn't feel BETTER, more like different...and LIGHTER! :-) I've gained 25 lbs with this pregnancy (at least according to my appointment a week ago), so I'm anxious to see where I end up after Baby is out! Anyway- I know this countdown probably is more important to me than anyone else, but I appreciate you all humoring me just the same! :-)

God Bless the USA!

I'm proud to be an American where at least I know I'm free.....and I won't forget the men who died who gave that right to me and I'll gladly stand UP! Next to you and defend her still today, cause there ain't no doubt I love this land!!! God Bless the USA!!!

I was thinking today of the time I spent the 4th of July at Cougar stadium at BYU- part of the evening was when the new citizens were sworn in. They then marched around the field waving little flags, tears streaming. I wonder if we are as grateful for our citizenship as those who studied and worked so hard to become citizens. I hope so- but it never hurts to take a moment to really think about how blessed we are.

It's the 4th of July! I am SO grateful to live in a country where I can worship as I please, marry who I choose, have as many children as I'd like, live where I'd like, buy food I want, travel where I'd want to when I want to, etc. etc. I love that I feel safe because of the many people who are willing to serve to protect us. I hope we all take at least a few minutes to be grateful for the major blessing it is for us to live here in America. Happy 4th!!

One More Week!

Today was my LAST appointment with Baby Girl prior to meeting her! I am SO excited! I asked the doc to give me a guess on weight since we were doing the ultrasound for the biophysical profile anyway- he did, and she came up 6 lb 4 oz (give or take a pound). I can't believe she's really going to be here so soon!!! I am THRILLED! It was so fun to walk out of the appointment room only to tell the scheduling ladies I wouldn't be back until my 6 week appointment! ha ha It's funny how slowly things went in the middle, and how quickly things pick up at the end.

On another awesome note, my brother Alex is leaving for his two year mission for our church today. He enters the Missionary Training Center tomorrow around lunchtime. I am so excited for him! I know he's going to do such a great job. We'll miss him, of course, but look forward to the email updates and letters of course! Logan already insisted on making Uncle Alex some Star Wars posters for his wall (drawn by Logan, of course), so those are in the mail and will almost welcome him to the MTC! ha ha Logan LOVES packages and mail- sending, receiving, pretending to send, etc. He's going to give Alex plenty to read, I'm sure. Good luck Alex! We love you!!