Cotopaxi

We're doing questival!!

3 months

Now that Edwin is almost 4 months, I should probably put his 3 month photos on here. I like seeing the change because this boy is growing like crazy and changing so fast. So there you have it!

I love this kid!! Just when you think your heart can't be more full...it grows and makes more room for the love you have for your family! This child is amazing. In his 3rd month he started doing a wheezy laugh that makes us laugh. He generally wakes up super happy. When he "talks" with you, he is becoming a little more boisterous. He doesn't really cry much unless he wants his milk NOW! But generally he's pretty patient with us (and his wild big brothers) As cheesy as it is to say, I can't imagine life without this boy! Speaking of cheese...he still likes all his milk pumped and bottle fed to him. I'm just so grateful that I've been able to produce enough to feed him and watch the little rolls form on his legs. He spits up quite a bit (oh yeah, that's where I was going with the cheese comment) and he have to do frequent neck roll cleanings. He loves his baths! He also likes to "stand" he straightens his body when ever he can and likes to stand while holding our hands. All my boys did this and none of them were early walkers, which is fine with me. Anyway, that is our Edwin James, which reminds me, I never wrote about how or why we chose that name...maybe next month! haha!

Edwin's Blessing Day!

Edwin's blessing day went by so fast (over a month ago) We were so happy that my parents and James and Elizabeth's family were able to join us. And it was the only time we were basically on time to our 12:30 pm church since Edwin has been born.  Before church, Max had a bunch of meetings, James and Elizabeth and family met at my house and the kids played for a bit before it was time for church. Edwin got a whole lot snuggles. Edwin wore the same blessing outfit that my little brothers and Charlie and Miles wore.

In church, my boys were in heaven sitting with Grandma, and grandpas, and uncle James and aunt Elizabeth and their cousins. New toys and new snacks make for an exciting sacrement meeting. Max invited family members and a few close friends to participate in Edwin's blessing. In the blessing, it was said that Edwin could be the voice of reason in his family as well as a peacemaker. We have already seen him display some of these traits. He is a peaceful child that we all love so much.  After the blessing, grandma snuggled Edwin while I had to go to the mother's lounge and pump. A short while later, Max came in to see me and said Edwin's diaper exploded all over his clothes and grandma. I couldn't stop laughing! haha. I'm glad he waited until after the blessing and that the explosion wasn't on me. The bummer was that I had just used the extra outfit we kept in the diaper bag a couple days earlier and forgot to replace it so Edwin ended up wearing his jacket and a large picnic blanket we keep in the car. After church, we attempted some family photos. Then made our way to our house for some dinner and cupcakes!

 And some photos of our crazies!

 I don't know what's going on here, and it's super unflattering...but I just kinda love it!

The men working in the kitchen, or snacking...I'm not sure! Also, we have cupboards on those upper shelves now.

It's been over 6 weeks since these photos were taken and Edwin has grown a ton.

And the cupcakes were to celebrate this little one's birthday!

Edwin James and Uncle James

My boys are lucky to have wonderful cousins!

The grub! Homemade sloppy joes, coleslaw, and cupcakes!

It was a special and smooth day. And thanks to Elizabeth for the pictures, even the ones taken on my camera were taken by her so she can have all the credit. But I am pretty proud this is the first baby blessing that I remembered to take a family picture!

a boy and the sea!

As per Miles request, he got his square chocolate cake, balloons, and a beach trip. He also got an OMSI date with dad and a special visit and Ice Cream date with his Grandma Sharolee and Grandpa Don. He was a happy kid. 

So on the day of his birthday, while I was taking Charlie to preschool, (with Edwin in tow) Max whisked Miles away for an one-on-one OMSI date. I don't think Miles has been to OMSI without having to go wherever his big brother ran off to so this was a treat. 

Later in the day, he got to watch his favorite show while eating lunch (and while Max had to make a conference call) He was thrilled! Shortly after I got back home with my biggest and littlest boy, Grandma and Grandpa came by with some gifts for Miles. and then they whisked him away to get ice cream and play at the play place at McDonalds. He loved it! While he was away, Charlie and I started baking his square cake, And our oven was broken so we had to use the oven of the rental next door which happened to be vacant...(random detail but whatever...)

The rest of the day was spent eating dinner and decorating Miles' cake...(And if you didn't know already, I'm pretty good at baking but my cake decorating skills are non-exsistant...) So here's what i came up with then the boys finished the decorating...

And that was it for his birthday! But as promised, a couple days later, we made our first beach trip of the year to celebrate our Miles. The weather looked like it wasn't going to be great so we researched indoor things to do. As we were parking, the sun was out and it looked warm, then huge winds and a hail storm hit. I sat in the car and fed Edwin and by the time I was done, the storm was over and we were back to sunny skies.  It was still a bit chilly but once we were out running around and digging, it wasn't so bad.

And this was also Edwin's first beach trip. He saw the beach for a good 10 minutes then slept in the Moby wrap for the rest of the time

 

We were constantly seeing storms in the distance but we didn't get much rain hitting us.

And we didn't attempt the sand dune climb this time.

My happy kite flying birthday boy!

Flying a kite and digging...pretty talented!

 And Charlie had his turn at kite flying!

I spy Max cooking hot dogs...

We decided to not build a fire and just cook some hot dogs on the camping stove...

And both boys dropped their hot dogs at one point...

And I'm never in photos so here's a selfie

More stormy skies!

 

The wind started to get really strong and it was almost time for us to go, Miles started panicking because he was ready to get in the car and go but Charlie had buried one of his flip flops and still hadn't found it. He was worried about leaving without the flip flop. 

(Sidenote: Charlie and I were digging holes a lot trying to find the flip flop that was lost the moment he got there, right as we were leaving Max went to check if he could find it and it was found within 30 seconds.) 

After the beach, we loaded up the car and made our way to the temporary cheese factory, the real one is being renovated but the temporary one was still pretty great.You just can't see the actual factory-part.

This bus is dangerous, Miles slid of the really high (and slippery) seat multiple times and Charlie was somehow injured too.

The longing for Tillamook Ice Cream.

And then the temporary factory closed so we started on our drive home!
And that is how we celebrated our pretty great 3-year-old!