Happy Easter!

I had such good intentions of taking pictures on Easter... but... well... as usual it didn't happen. Since a picture is worth a thousand words and I slacked on the pictures, you get a bunch of words. Sorry. :) This year Easter was on General Conference weekend, so we got to stay home in our PJ's (yeah, like every other day for us, but at least Daddy got to be home with us :). We had Amanda and Ben and Brittany, Ian, and Lily over for a big greasy conference breakfast, Easter egg hunt, and to watch the first session of Conference on Sunday. Then Grandma and Grandpa Brown brought a fabulous Easter dinner and stayed to hang out with us and play with the kids - the highlight of their week, they LOVE to play with Grandma and Grandpa! Grandpa wore his awesome cowboy boots, and Mason was SO proud that he owns cowboy boots like Grandpa :) - this boy just idolizes Grandpa Brown. Anyhow, here are the few pictures I managed to take, it was a fun family-filled day! Happy Easter to all!
McKinley checking our her Easter goodies from Grandma BrownMason in his new Easter jammies (if you know Mason, you know he LOVES jammies, and his footie jam's from the winter had holes through all the feet, so it was time for new ones :). He honestly strips his clothes off as we walk in the door from going anywhere and heads straight to his room to put pj's on! :)Grandpa Brown with sweet baby MayleeCan you see why we love Ben? The kids just think he is the greatest, what's not to love? :)My cute neice Amanda took some pictures of my kids for a school assignment, I love this one (McKinley wanted a picture with just 'the girls,' which worked out for the best since Mason refused to cooperate :)

Our Special Time

Some of you know that we waited and tried for several months to get pregnant with Maylee – which for us was a very long time, our other two were ‘surprises.’ When I got pregnant I swore I wouldn’t wish away one single minute of it. I didn’t quite make good on my promise. I don’t love being pregnant, and towards the end I was just miserable and couldn’t wait for it to be over. Then Maylee came, and I wanted to make sure I ate up every minute of her newborn sweetness. But, there were dishes and laundry and two other kids to take care of as well. It has all flown by so quickly, and Maylee is often in the background observing the commotion around her. This time around I have learned to appreciate those few quiet moments when I can just stare at her sweet face, cuddle her, and enjoy just her. Now, don’t get me wrong, I value my sleep, but there is something special and magical about our special time in the middle of the night. I know it won’t last forever, and so I can actually say that I enjoy it. It’s the only time that it’s just me and her, it’s dark and quiet, and there is nothing else that I have to do but cuddle my little Maylee and take in her sweet little face. I wish there was a way to record it, or photograph it, or somehow capture those rare moments before they are gone. I hope I always remember our special time, because those wee morning hours are moments that I will always treasure.

Seriously, who wouldn't want to stay up all night staring at that sweet little face? LOVE this baby!

Us Lately...

I know, we practically dropped off the face of the planet after Maylee was born, but we are still here, and alive, I promise! We haven't been up to much, but here is a little update on our so-called life lately :).


We don't get dressed unless absolutely necessary. If you stop by unannounced, you will find McKinley dressed in something like this: and Mason will inevitably be wearing something like this: but hey, they are happy and it makes for less laundry for me to do :). We do bathe regularly at least. The kids take about an hour bubble bath every day around 2 o'clock just for something to do. I manage a shower every morning, although some days it may not still be considered 'morning' by the time I actually shower. Maylee gets a bath at night because it wears her out and makes her really sleepy. She {obviously} LOVES her baths :)
Mason loves to help with his little sister. They are quite jealous that Mom gets to feed the baby all of the time, so sometimes I pump and let them give her a bottle. They think that is SO great! McKinley is a proud big sister - again :). She used to feed Mason his bottles, now she is much older and so helpful!
This one is just cute because I LOVE sleeping baby faces :). She looks a lot like McKinley in this picture, actually. We have holed ourselves up in our house only emerging for the rare walk on an occasional warm day. We use sanitizer to the extreme, and avoid anyone who has been sick. McKinley and Mason finally went back to preschool last week, and of course somehow ended up sick. Mason started to get a cold Saturday (we thought it was allergies), Maylee started to get stuffy on Sunday night, and now McKinley and I have colds too. So far nothing terrible, but annoying. I hate hearing poor little Maylee trying to sleep with her little nose all stuffed up. This is the face of a very annoyed stuffy almost-5-week-old baby:
However, she still manages to be happy even though she can't breathe through her little nose :)
And this is what two bored cooped-up stuffy-nosed kids do to entertain themselves while mommy tries to take care of a grumpy congested baby:
As you can tell, it's a party over here :). We miss you all and hope to re-join the 'real world' again once the weather warms up, which is hopefully very soon! Summer can't come soon enough!

It's in the Job Description

It’s my job to know which stuffed animal ‘Custard’ is, and where he was last seen (behind the couch in the basement).

It’s my job to know how far away the sun is – using some random form of non-standard measurement (I wish I had paid more attention in 8th grade science class).

It’s my job to bite my tongue while I clean up pee on the bathroom floor – it was after-all a good attempt, we just need to work on his aim.

It’s my job to accept that I will never ever get a good night’s sleep. Again. Ever. When my kids do all sleep through the night I will always lay awake worrying about them. Worrying that they will wake up. Or that they won’t.

It’s my job to know how to explain for the one-millionth time at bedtime that there are no bad guys in our house, and they can’t get into our house. And if they actually DO manage to magically shrink themselves to the size of ants and get down the chimney and then re-grown-up to normal size (a plausible option to an imaginative 5-year-old) that I will protect them no matter what and never let anything bad happen to them. And to silently wish that I really could keep anything bad from ever happening to them.

It’s my job to know how to spell every word in the dictionary, and to spell them out loud upon request. one. letter. at. a. time.

It’s my job to explain on a 3-year-old level the difference between girls and boys and why the new baby is not a boy, then let it go when my attempt to teach him the proper names of the parts of the female anatomy ends up with him declaring to his sister that her ‘pee comes out of China.’

It’s my job to balance dishes, laundry, sleep, preparing of meals, wiping bums, paying bills, and nurturing minds all while suffering from short-term memory loss and sleep deprivation.

It’s my job to figure out what makes my infant cry until midnight every night even though I have tried everything to soothe her. And to hold her and soothe her knowing that nothing I do will make her feel better, but at least she knows I am there.

It’s my job to know the cure for hiccups, where to find Japan on a map, and how many more days until Christmas upon request.

It is my job to be a nurse, although I have no medical training. To be a referee even though I don't know the rules (and I REALLY could use instant replay to figure out who actually had that toy first!). To be a taxi driver, even though I still can't parallel park. To sing lullabies although I can't carry a tune to save my life.

It is my privilege to hear “Mom, you make the bestest lemonade ever!” even though it is only Crystal Light.

It is my privilege to hold my baby and watch her sweet little face, and occasionally catch a contented precious smile (I don't care that they say it's just gas, it melts my heart).

It is my privilege to be needed, wanted, and loved unconditionally. No matte­­r what. I am not always good at my job. I don’t always have the answers. Sometimes the sleep deprivation robs me of my patience. But they love me anyways. That’s in my job description too. And there is no bigger paycheck than to sit at the table coloring with my kids and hear a contented sigh and a sweet little voice say “Mom, I love you” just out of the blue. Yep, that’s part of my job too. And it makes it all worth it.

Maylee is 1 month old!

I know I say this a lot, and I will keep saying it, but time flies by so quickly! Maylee is 1 month old already! There isn't much to report, she is sleeping better at night, but still up a couple of times to eat. She is healthy, eating well, and growing quickly. She pretty much just likes to eat, that is her very favorite thing to do :). We just love her and cuddle her and kiss her to pieces, we are so glad to have her in our family.Check out those chunky legs, and of course that sweet little smile :)

Another smiley Maylee picture, she is such a happy little baby! I took these a couple of days late, but I plan to do them every month until she is a year old with the same flower on to give it perspective. Such a spoiled little baby :)
She wasn't too sure about the 'photo session', but she was a pretty good sport about it.

Maylee Elizabeth Brown

Prepare for photo overload, this was Maylee's first torture photo session with Jeni Boston Photography taken when she was about a week old - there are many more years of photo fun to come, sorry Maylee :) LOVE all of these fabulous photos, thanks to Jeni!

Maylee 2 week stats

Maylee is 2 weeks old! She had her check-up with Dr. Holmes today and she is growing like a little weed :). McKinley and Mason didn't gain anything by their first visit, and constantly had me worried about their weight, so any weight gain makes me happy :).

Weight: 7lbs 15 oz

Height: 19 3/4 inches

Head: forgot that one already :) She has such a tiny little head, I just love to kiss it!

Two's company, Three is... hard!

I know, I am a big whiner, plenty of people have more than 3 kids, but 3 is a LOT more than 2. Exponentially more that 2. That is my only explanation for my lack of blogging and pictures. I had intentions of keeping up every day, but that didn't happen. Life happened. I did write for the first couple of days, but I just barely published the posts because I didn't have time to upload pictures until today, now that she is 11 days old. With RSV season at it's peak and EVERYONE around us sick, we are stuck in our house for 6 weeks - which for a 3 1/2 and 5-year-old and a usually-busy mommy is TORTURE, but worth-it to keep Maylee healthy. I just want to hug and cuddle Maylee's little newborn sweetness all day long, I know it doesn't last very long, but with 2 other kiddos and a household to keep up on, I can't get enough of it. At least we have our middle-of-the-night time together when everything is quiet and I can just stare at her (while trying not to fall asleep). I will TRY to be better about documenting her life, but I make no promises! Here are photos from our last week and a half:

I made a few girly things while I was pregnant, I figured if she wasn't a girl they would be gifts :) This was one outfit that I made, although it was a little small, she probably won't get to wear it again. McKinley LOVES to hold Maylee, it makes her feel so grown-up!

Things to do while we are housebound: tea parties, roll out cookie dough like playdough, frost cookies, make bread, play with SLIME. Thanks to Julie for the idea, we got bored and made slime with borax and elmer's glue, it has provided HOURS of entertainment for 2 bored cooped-up kids! Who knew, you can stretch it, blow it up like a balloon, stuff it in cups to make fart noises, and all sorts of cool things :) Sleeping Maylee - ignore the spit-up, I LOVE sleeping babies! It's a good think I have Jeni Boston to take the good photos, my newborn photography skills need some work! :) Jeni took photos when Maylee was just a few days old, can't wait to see how they turned out! One of the few photos with her eyes opened :) More sweet sleeping baby faces :) Playing dress-up - poor girl, welcome to the rest of your life :). McKinley has had to endure plenty of torture being dressed in stinkin' cute outfits, it's only beginning for Maylee! Grandma Brown, McKinley, and Maylee Daddy loves to cuddle miss Maylee - she still sleeps a lot (during the day), so we fight over her a little when she is actually awake :)Yes, I caught a half-smile! :) I know, so mean, but I LOVE her pouty little faces. She gets really annoyed when I try to take pictures of her. Sorry, you'll thank me some day!

And THIS is what she is doing right now so that I can catch up on blogging :), such a sweet little girl! We are adjusting pretty well to our busy life at home, and we all love little Maylee so much!