Milestones

A lot of milestones have occurred in the Boyle household in the last few days.  Cooper reached his 5th month of life on the outside. He also popped a tooth through unbeknownst to his parents. McKenna decided to poop in her pants again for the first time in about 8 months, and in honor of that momentous occasion she also decided to spread diaper rash cream all over her room... and then Mommy decided to have two glasses of wine with dinner.

In all seriousness though, we have had a big week.  McKenna is such a great big sister, she is so helpful, and loves her little brother so much.  She makes him laugh uncontrollably when he's in his car seat, and attempts to be a constant source of entertainment for him during every waking moment of his day.  I really hope this continues throughout their lives.  It'd be really sweet to be able to look back on their lives and say with all sincerity that they've loved each other from the beginning. McKenna has the sweetest little spirit, she is a people pleaser, and genuinely cares how we view her, she seems to not want to disappoint us and really tries (as much as a three year old can) to obey and follow the rules.

 

On to Cooper.  What a mellow guy! He goes with the flow, nothing... not even teething... seems to bother him.  I've been sticking my fingers in his mouth the last few days wondering if he was teething.  He was giving us the massive amount of drool commensurate with new teeth, but none of the fussiness. So I just chalked it up to him being a boy, attributing it to the old adage, 'girls rule and boys drool.' How wrong I was!  He really was teething.  We have a tooth picture to prove it (you're going to have to use your imagination here, the picture is blurry and looks like something out of The Miracle of Life:

In honor of Cooper's new tooth, or his 5th month birthday or because we bought it at the store, we decided today was the day to feed Cooper some rice cereal. You may remember how much McKenna liked it when she first tried it... Here she is eating it for the first time. Cooper on the other hand LOVED it. Here's a video of the blessed event:

All in all, they're good kids and I think we'll probably keep them.

Whew! We've been busy!

A lot has transpired in the Boyle household in the last few weeks.  I've already been back at work for a month!  Can you believe it?!? Neither can I.  I'll just start at the beginning and you can feel free to check out as you get bored (you might be bored already, in which case, feel free to check out now). 

Cooper and McKenna had their 4 month and 3 year old checkups, respectively.  Cooper is 17 pounds and 26.5" tall.  He's in the 95th percentile for everything. I told you we were growing a monster.  McKenna has slowed down a little bit, she's 35 pounds and 37.5" tall, and now only in the 75% percentile for height and weight.  Check out the little ragamuffins (Cooper's the one rockin' the beer gut):

We got the Triple-J clan + B-Stromer together for a little barbecue at the Stromer's house in Loveland.  As you can see we've been prolific in the past three years... From zero children to 6 in 3 years and 1 month.  Nice work team!

Cooper and I headed to California for the Tomblin Family Picnic I only managed one picture of Cooper and no pictures of the rest of the family. Nice work right? I flew out there to be with the whole extended family and didn't go inside to get the camera.

McKenna and John stayed home and had a little fun Dad and McKenna time, which included a trip to the wildlife experience and IKEA.

I'm still a little bitter that they didn't wait for me to go to IKEA since I've been bragging about how I was going to eat soft-serve ice cream and wander around for hours, capped off by purchasing cinnamon rolls at the checkout. But alas, they ditched me and go with Grammie and Aunt Mary. What the junk? 

McKenna and John had a blast, and he even continued our tradition of going to Starbucks together before Church on Sunday morning.  She loves drinking 'coffee' and having a 'bagel' (code for: hot chocolate and a low fat turkey bacon and egg white english muffin... close to coffee and a bagel, but whatever)

While they were having fun at home, Mini-Cooper and I were having fun in California.  We hung out with Aunt Blair, Uncle Jared and Toast (Baby Riley).  

We actually did take some pictures of Grandma holding the kids, which is a marked improvement from our last few visits. Those visits only had pictures of Grandma next to the kids in their car seats... as we were leaving for the airport. Here's a cute one with Grandma holding Mini-Cooper and Toast. 

Here is Cooper with my Grandpa.  Grandpa may be mildly obsessed with him... merely because he is a boy.  I mean, how cute is this picture: 

Mini-Cooper also got to spend some time with his girlfriend Aubrey.  As you can see from this photo, she was super excited to see her man-champion. 

In other news, our Mini-Cooper isn't so mini anymore.  He now rolls over, and yesterday John even put him in the exersaucer for the first time.  He loves it! 

I think that's it for now.  Another marathon blog post soon I'm sure. 

The Robinsons Visit and the Subsequent Return to the Salt Mine

The Robinsons came to visit! It was awesome to get to spend some time with the 5 (yes there are FIVE of them now) of them and the Pittmans. I'm pretty sure Brook, Laura and I haven't been together since my wedding, 6 and a half years ago... how time flies! Back then, there was only Eli, and he was a baby, now between the 3 of us we have 7 kids. It was great to be together for sure; fun to reminisce and catch up.  Here are some pictures from our visit:

I've made it through almost two weeks at the office already. Hard to believe, right?  I love seeing my friends here... but I miss my kids like crazy! It's difficult seeing them for just a few hours a day and then praying the weekend would come sooner. I'm sure we'll all adjust eventually.  McKenna still is missing our Week O' Fun (see my last post) she asks me every morning, "what are we going to do today mommy?" with some expectancy in her voice. Sadly, I can't say we'll be going to the zoo or a museum any time soon.

I've been telling myself there's a greater purpose to what I do at work besides my job just taking time from my family.  I get to help patients and other people here, and I get to show people the gift that I have in God. What a privilege that is!  I can show other people all day long that there's something different about me, that I have a peace that can only be found in a relationship with Jesus. I can show people that being a Christian doesn't mean that I can't be fun to be around, or that they can't be themselves around me. I can choose to be an example, I can choose to be there for them, I can choose to listen and respond accordingly.  I am really blessed to be here.  I hope the people I work with feel blessed because of me... because that's my ultimate goal. I want them to know that I love them and that God loves them too. "By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." -John 13:35


Keep praying for me people. I sure need it. I feel a lot of guilt about not staying home with my kids, and I know that's not from God. I feel a pressure from other people to conform to some idyllic image of what a mom should be, and I know that's not from God either. Please pray that I would be discerning, that I would make an impact where I am, and that I would follow God's lead... wherever that may be.  

McKenna, Cooper and Mommy's Week O' Fun

Since this is my last week of freedom (I go back to the office on Monday), and Bev had family in town; we did all sorts of fun things, just the three of us (John was at work, poor thing).  On Monday, we went to get McKenna a hair cut:

Before:

During: 

 After: 

Then we went to the toy store to buy a birthday present and went to pizza for lunch at Orchard.  That was day one. 

Day two.  We went with our friends the Englishes to the Downtown Aquarium.  We had never been there before, and we saw all sorts of interesting fish, sharks and manta rays. Good times were had by all the little tykes and there was lunch and a beer at the end for the adults :-).  Here are some pictures from our experience: 

Cooper mesmerized by the sparkly blue water:

 "Mom, look there's a shark"

Do you see the size of the fish behind McKenna?

 McKenna & Maddie

 Chillin' on the rope bridge:

 Looking at some giant Colorado Brook Trout:

 Caden, Someone else's kid, McKenna, & Someone else's kid:

 McKenna & Maddie at the Manta Ray touch tank. I don't think either of them touched anything besides water:

And so ended day two. 

Day three. We hung around the house and then Aunt Mary came up to play.  By play I mean I bought her lunch and made her go to the grocery store with us.  Probably wasn't that fun for her, but I certainly appreciated the help!  Then we had dinner at Efrain's and I had a softball game.  We mercied the other team 15-5. I love that :-). 

Day four. Butterfly Pavilion.  McKenna is a little afraid of bugs and butterflies, but I was out of ideas for fun things to do, so off we went to the Butterfly Pavilion.  She actually wasn't extremely freaked out until a butterfly landed on my shoulder.  We stayed for 45 minutes, but still managed to take an inordinate number of pictures: 

 I was a little hungry for lunch, and this unsuspecting guy was in the wrong place at the wrong time... notice his right wing there:

 I had to threaten McKenna with leaving to get her to turn and face me for this photo (oh to be 3 and know everything):

 "Whoa"

 Hi Mom:

Day Five.  I'm blogging about my experience this week and feeling sorry for myself that I have to go back to the office on Monday.  I don't remember being this emotional/depressed this early with McKenna, but alas, I am a wreck already... and it's only Friday.  Come Monday it could get interesting. I hope the office has lots of kleenex. 

It's nearing the end...

...of my maternity leave. How depressing! I told myself going into this summer that I would view my time off with Cooper and McKenna as a summer vacation, and I really have. Unfortunately, like those vacations we had from school when we we're younger, this one has flown by. Cooper is already three months old, and I am 41 pounds lighter (not that great of an accomplishment when you consider I lost 30 pounds in the first week). I'm really going to miss being home with my kids, it's been a major blessing spending time with them. The hardest part about leaving maternity leave is getting back into the routine of work, right now I'm focused 23/7 on Cooper and his needs, and 1/7 on my race that's coming up on Saturday :-), focusing on other things sounds less attractive at this point. I'm sure I'll manage, I did when I had to go back after McKenna, but it will be painful and hard just the same. I will truly miss the time we've spent together as a family and even more the time Cooper and I've spent just mother and son, it's been really special. T minus 13 days until I head back to the ol' salt mine. If you think of it, please be praying for me... I could certainly use it!