Charlie Turns Three!

Holy cow! We have a three year old! It was really fun this year because Charlie was starting to understand a little bit more what a birthday was. He understood cake, singing Happy Birthday, and opening presents...all things that he loves.

We started the day off right, with donuts! That afternoon we hit up the park...with Charlie Brown, of course.

lookin good for the party

It was especially fun being able to host his birthday party at our own place this year, rather than renting a pavilion at a park or borrowing someone’s back yard. His birthday was on a Friday, so that night we had immediate family over. Those who were able to make it were Grandma and Grandpa Arbon, Grandma and Grandpa Gruber, Uncle Karl, and Uncle Max and Aunt April and their family.

Here is the fun Pixingo invitation I made for his party:

front

back

The Alphabet and numbers theme went right along with the things Charlie loves! He is obsessed with letters and numbers!

We had a great time eating lots of pizza...one of Charlie’s favorite foods. We opened presents and then had chocolate sheet cake. To finish it off, Dad whipped up some “Koa Shave Ice” with ice cream for everyone. (Koa Shave Ice being the name of their potential shave ice business.)

Charlie LOVES pizza!

the master shaver

playing with his new toys, including a swimming pool and 100 small balls

  

Happy Birthday to our little Munz! We love you!

Colson’s Seventh Month

(May 6 - June 5)

We took Colson to his six month appointment and the PA saw him. I showed her that Colson has two spots on his cheeks, one under each outer eye. They are small and pink. One spot seemed to swell whenever pressure was applied to it, but it hasn’t since then. The doctor said it looked like capilary moles under the skin (or something like that). She said they usually go away on their own, but are the worst in the first year. If they don’t go away on their own, you have to do laser treatment to get rid of them. We will see.

This pictures shows them pretty well

Here were his measurements:

Weight: 16 lbs 5 oz - 23%

Length: 25 inches - 2%

Head Circumference: 44.5 cm - 83%

He is sitting up very well. He only tips over when he is leaning too far to reach for something. He is rolling around like crazy and grabbing everything he can find. He has pretty good coordination. I will put his toys in his little basket and then he empties it, pulling everything out. He seems to enjoy that.

He loves being outside. He does great in the stroller and in the Baby K’Tan wrap when walking around.

He got a cold early in the month so I felt like I had to start nursing him to sleep for naps again. I wanted to make him as comfortable as possible and assist him sleeping so he could get better. It was really hard to sleep train him again after that. That, mixed with my changing schedule of going to the gym, has made it hard to be consistent. That certainly doesn’t help. He is still waking up once at night, usually around four or five. I had two nights where he slept through the entire night until about seven, but other than that he was usually waking up once.

I have tried giving him pureed peas and bananas. He seems like he is not really loving eating real food. I tried giving him some squash and he did like that, but the green beans gave him the shivers. He is very inconsistent with his interest in rice cereal. He seems to eat better for Daddy.

Colson totally rejected formula. I started trying to train him on formula because I was out of milk at eight months with Charlie. I was starting to stress because eight months for Colson was around the corner. Through the end of the month, he wouldn’t take formula from me, but he would take it most of the time when Daddy gave it to him. I should say, he would take it, but reluctantly and with resistance. He still did not love it.

We have decided that Colson looks a lot like my mom did as a baby!

June - Parade of Homes and Lagoon

Jason was very busy with work in June. He was working long days. It’s a blessing and a curse. We are glad that business has been going well.

The boys and I visited our first splash pad of the season. We went to the one in Highland with Kylie and her girls. Charlie was very apprehensive about getting in the water. I guess we are back to square one.

Remember that crazy waxing experience from a couple months ago? Well, I was crazy enough to try again. This time I went to a girl who owns her own shop and specializes in those kinds of waxes. She came highly recommended by my friend, Amy. Boy, I am so glad I did! She is amazing! She works in Pleasant Grove, she is greatly priced, and she is so fast! You would be crazy not to go to her if you live in the area. I love her!

We really enjoyed doing the Utah Valley Parade of Homes this year. Jason had two homes that he did shower doors for, one in Lehi and one in Spanish Fork. Any evening we got, we were off touring the homes. Sadly, that was only like three nights worth, but we really made good use of our time and visited as many as we could. (Charlie shocked us and did great with the little booties we had to wear, unlike the Payson Temple experience.) There were some gorgeous homes with lots of fun and unique things. Some day we will have a house like one of those, right? Jason’s showers looked amazing! It was so fun to see some of his work in person.

The Lehi House for the Erskins

The house in Spanish Fork

The two houses we absolutely loved this year were in Mapleton and Highland. This picture of me at the Mapleton house pretty much sums up my wonder, awe, and appreciation:

June is the month of birthdays for our families. For Kim’s birthday, everyone surprised her and showed up in Draper for dinner. It was also the exact day that Kyle (Kim’s high school boyfriend) got home from his mission. It was cool to be able to see him for a minute. For Mom’s birthday, the plan was to have a picnic up the canyon. We picked up Subway on our way up, but just moments after sitting on the park bench, it started raining...and hard. We sat it out for a bit and finished our sandwiches, but we could tell it wasn’t going to let up anytime soon. We were also getting pretty cold. We decided to take the party to our place. We had cookies and played Catch Phrase. For Elsa’s birthday, we had dinner at the Riverton Grubers. Charlie was climbing up the ladder on their playset and sliding down the slide all on his own. That was a first! We were all shocked, impressed, and slightly nervous! But he kept doing it again and again. He loved it!

Charlie and Alex looking like twinners with their buzzed hair

The Wingers moved back to California. We are so sad! It all happened so fast, so we didn’t even get to have a farewell date night, but I did take their kids for a few hours so they could pack or do whatever they needed to get done (it actually ended up being Kaari’s birthday, so I was glad I could help). That proved to be so much more difficult than I anticipated. With four small kids ages two and under, I went to the park. Ten minutes or so after arriving, it started to rain! It was madness trying to huddle them in under a pavilion and keep them there. Once I realized it wasn’t going to let up, we marched through the rain back to the car. I looked like a camel: Colson in the body wrap, Boston on my hip, Georgia holding my hand, and Charlie holding her hand. It was stressful. Since we were up in Draper, we took the party over to my parents house. Thankfully, my mom and Bryan were there to help and entertain the kids. Four small kids is definitely hard work!

Boston

Charlie and Georgia

Jason’s cousin, Spencer, came into town. He works for Disney as an Imagineer (what a dream job, right?) and so he gets paid to visit other parks to research and get ideas on new rides. Lagoon was opening a new ride called the Cannibal that he wanted to check out, so he flew in from California and invited us to come along. Jason and I were really excited to go. We love amusement parks. Spencer arrived Friday evening, and that night we celebrated Karl’s birthday with a BBQ. The next day was our Lagoon Day. My parents watched the boys, and Spencer, Karl, Jason and I spent the whole day at Lagoon. We had a blast! It was great weather and not too overly crowded. We were able to ride every ride we wanted (even the Samurai was open...which is a miracle. That ride hasn’t been open when I have been there for ten years or so), EXCEPT for the Cannibal! You would think with all their advertising for it, it would be open! We were quite disappointed, but we still made the best of it and enjoyed the day. Spencer was a good sport and found ways to compliment Lagoon, even though he is used to much bigger and better rides and parks.

They had a personalized Coke stand...pretty cool...and free!

Why is it so hard for strangers to take a clear picture!?!

Such a fun and exhausting day!

Pics from Elsa's birthday:

Twinner buzz cuts

Another fun day at Grandma and Grandpa Grubers: