Blessing Day

What a great day!! We blessed Alivia today, and I couldn't ask for a sweeter husband to give such amazing blessings to my kids. He always does such a great job. I held my breath as he paused before "officially" naming her. I was a little scared that he might change it on me, but Alivia Rae it is :) In the blessing he said that she was named after her great grandpa Ray Squires and her Grandma Cindi Rae and how they found/find so much joy in life. Joy seemed to be the theme of her blessing as he blessed her that she too would find much joy and happiness in her friendships, through her talents, as a mother, and most importantly in her relationship with the Savior. He also blessed Alivia that she would always remember and strive to live up to her potential as a daughter of God, and to always serve and love those around her. I know this little girl has a great life ahead of her and I feel so lucky to be a part of it! She brings so much joy to our family. We love you Livi!



At 9 weeks she weighs in at 10 pounds 10 ounces. She is starting to get CHUBBY :)

here you go ashlee!

there's no place like home for the holidays

Before Livi was born, we decided that it would probably be too hard to travel with 2 kids and a newborn. So we didn't make plans to go anywhere for the holidays. Now that the season is upon us, I am feeling a little home sick. We've always gone home for the holidays, both Thanksgiving and Christmas. I'm pretty sure I can make it through Thanksgiving by ourselves, but I'm not so sure about Christmas. To me, Christmas is full of cozy traditions and fun times with the family that help us reflect on our love of life, family, and the Savior. I have so many fond memories of celebrating with my family and love the new traditions added to the mix from Andy's family. The kids love it too!! Since we are on our own this year, I want to start our own little family traditions that our kids will remember with fondness through the years and try not to be so homesick!

Some of my favorites include opening PJs on Christmas Eve and then eating grandma's orange rolls with hot chocolate and wassail. Or anxiously waiting for my turn to eat the chocolate mint candies tucked into the advent calendar pocket and hanging an ornament on the felt tree. Another tradition we started when we got a little older was that the girls would do a fun craft on Thanksgiving while the guys watched football.
I think this year on Thanksgiving I am going to make an advent calendar similar to the one my mom made and using some inspiration from this one.

So what is your favorite family Christmas tradition old or new? Please share and help us have a better Christmas this year (or you can just buy us plane tickets ;) !

A Little Closer to Home

Last week we found out that the Air Force is sending us to Omaha, Nebraska after Andy graduates. He will be doing a 1 year residency(the AEGD). I've heard good things about Nebraska, so I am excited. Even more excited that we are that much closer to the west coast! If anybody knows anything about Nebraska, let me know! We will probably be going out there in a few months to check it out. For right now, I am just doing a little research on the internet. They have a Costco, Target, and Mall nearby, so I think I am good to go :)

Happy Unbirthday to You

look who's 6 weeks old today! Little Livi Lou is a stinker, but we still love her. 

Happy Halloween!!

We had a great but COLD Halloween this year. I decided to take it really easy with costumes and told Avery she could be any princess that she wanted to be out of her dress ups. She went with Cinderella. Saturday morning she reminded me that she needed a choker, earrings, and a headband. I totally forgot and started worrying that I was going to have to drive around looking for the stuff. But, I was lucky enough to find everything we needed in my trusty old crafting stuff. I found some rhinestone and stuck them to her ears with GLUE DOTS, and then attached the headband and choker with glue dots as well. Worked like a charm! Here she is in all her glue dot glory. Sorry for the overload, I couldn't decide which pic I liked better.

I just love her eyes in this one

Drew was Buzz lightyear. I took him outside to take pictures and he wouldn't hold still for 2 seconds. He ran around saying he was flying and yelling "to infinite and beyond!"

The kids have been eating candy all day and Drew has been super hyper. I just walked into his room, and this is what I found. The big crash after the sugar rush. He NEVER falls asleep like this!

Still waiting for a real one,

...but here is a gassy one for now :)

10 days old

Livi's Anouncement

already??

I can't believe it has already been 4 weeks since sweet Alivia joined our family. Life with three kids is BUSY and there is never enough hours in the day to do all the things I need to. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed, but I guess that can be expected. Here are a few pictures from the last month.

We've been trying to potty train Drew for months now, and he just wasn't getting it. I was ready to give up because I thought once the baby came he would totally regress, but something just clicked and Alivia's birthday was the day he decided to be a big boy. He was excited to teach his little sister how to use the potty, and we bribed him with a toy story bike :)

We have a bassinet for Alivia right next to the bed. When she was just a few days old, I put her in the bassinet and left Drew on the bed watching cartoons while I ran downstairs. I was gone for maybe a minute when I heard a little voice say "LOOK MOM!" from the top of the stairs. My heart sank and I ran as fast as I could (which wasn't very fast at this point) to find Drew holding Alivia at the top of the stairs. I tried not to panic so he wouldn't drop her, but I think he saw it on my face. I grabbed Alivia and he started to cry. He was so proud of himself and thought he had done such a good job and was sad to find out that it wasn't okay. I have NO IDEA how he got her out of the bassinet and onto the bed, and then some how he got off the bed with her. The Bed is as tall as he is! She was still wrapped in her blanket and sleeping peacefully, and he was holding her nicely against his chest. I guess it is better that I don't know how he did it!!! Lesson learned.

2 weeks old

Both of the kids are enamored with their little sister and can't get enough of her. Avery loves to read her princess stories and they both BEG me to hold her all day long!

This picture makes me laugh. Livi had No control over her left eye for the first couple of weeks. She was always cross-eyed

I had so many ideas for newborn pictures, but taking pictures of your own baby has turned out to be impossible, plus, the sun seriously didn't shine for the first 3 weeks of her life. Darn Cleveland! Her are a few attempts at a photoshoot with Livi.

1 month stats:

7 pounds 12 ounces

20 1/2 inches

A Baby Story-the power of positive thinking

Last Thursday after dinner Andy and I had a conversation about how I wasn't due for another 2.5 weeks. He said that I shouldn't get my hopes up because the baby probably wasn't coming for a while. I told him I was thinking positively and that the baby WAS coming early. He didn't believe me. I told him to send some positive energy my way and help me wish the baby out. He thought I was crazy. After the conversation ended, I walked upstairs and had a good strong contraction. I bent over to get something out of a drawer, and my water broke!! I couldn't help but laugh. See, positive thinking really does work! :)

We got ready and went to the hospital around 8:00pm. I wasn't in labor yet, so they started me on Pitocin. After an hour or so, I got my epidural and peacefully fell asleep. They woke me up about 1:00am because the baby's heart rate was dropping with each contraction. They decided to check me to see where I was at and to make an action plan. Luckily I was fully dilated. The doctor came in, I pushed 3 times, and our beautiful baby girl was born at 1:30am. Things couldn't have gone better. She weighed 6 pounds 7.5 ounces. 

We couldn't be more excited to have this new little angel join our family. The kids have been SO good and they love their little sister a ton. They both could sit and hold her all day long. I love watching all 3 of them together. It melts my heart! There is something so amazing about the sweet spirit that a new baby brings into a home. I couldn't be happier!

Introducing  Alivia Rae Ingersoll

Daddy's Girls!

Meeting little sis for the first time

Party of 5 leaving the hospital

Tiny feet

Big Yawn!

We haven't seen her eyes much yet, she is a sleepy head (and I'm not complaining!!!). Here is a little glimpse of Alivia saying hello to the world

Random

Avery started school last week and she loves it. But, she wouldn't let me take any pictures of her in her new outfit. She told me I could take one picture only. So here it is. Avery and her friends Talmage and Gavin standing in front of the chalkboard.

And of course Drew wanted in on the action too.

I need to take more Random every day pictures of my kids. We were playing in the front yard today and I snapped a few. Avery said she wanted to remember how cute it was when she picked berries off of the tree. so she posed with the berries ;)

Dandelion wishes

Funny boy always bites his bottom lip when he smiles

Please no more mom!!

What's in a Name???

Only a few week left until the baby arrives, and we have NO NAMES picked out. Sure, I have my list, and Andy has his list, but the two do not coincide. Drew calls her million dollar Norma or baby Norma and Avery likes Posie Melinda ;). I know most of you already know our baby naming history, but I haven't written down Drew's story yet, so I thought I would take a minute and let the rest of you see what I am talking about.

Drew decided to make his appearance into the world 2 weeks early, and needless to say, we didn't have a name picked out yet. Months of discussing had gotten us NOWHERE. Before we could leave the hospital, we had to write something down on the paperwork. Andy wanted to name him Brennan. I was tired of discussing names and just wanted to go home. So, Brennan it was. After we got home, the name just wasn't working for us so we opened up the discussion again. The poor kid went through about 5 different names in 3 weeks before Andy finally decided to give me a great birthday present and let me pick the name (Andy conveniently doesn't remember giving me this gift:) ). I decided on Jacob Isaac Ingersoll. He had this name for about 24 hours before it was changed once again.

The next day we were going to bless little "jacob" in church. Before Sacrament meeting started the bishop asked Andy what we were going to name the baby. He said Jacob. Then, about 1 minute before he goes up to bless him he leans over to me and says "I think I am going to name him Andrew." Andrew had been a top choice, I wasn't opposed to it, so whatever. Andrew it is. I just wanted the poor kid to FINALLY have a name that couldn't be changed. The only thing left to do was pay the money to have it changed on his birth certificate and stuff. Funny thing is, on the Monday after his blessing a lady at the hospital called me and said " I still have your paperwork sitting here and I thought I'd just call and make sure you still wanted the name Brennan before I send it in." What a blessing, how lucky, and random, that she called. How often does that happen?? I guess Brennan just wasn't meant to be. I told her the new name and she changed it for me. And that my friend's is how Drew got his name.

And now I plead for your help so that I don't have a nameless baby for 3 weeks again. Here are a few names on our individual lists that are being thrown around (I'm not going to say whose names are whose). Which ones do you like/hate? And, PLEASE SHARE with me other girl names that you like and maybe we can put an end to this serious struggle in my life. It is stressing me out!!!
Oh, and for the record, Avery's name was just as hard!

Kennedy
Sephora
Mia
Tessa
Sabrina
Afton
Kelsie
Callista
Callie
Elsie
Isabelle
Olivia
Chelsea
Emmie

BoYs=TROUBLE

Little Rock

Crazy Boy and a straw

Last night we almost had to take a trip to urgent care. I bought these candles that have decorative rocks around the plate, and the kids will not leave them alone. Drew had just gotten a little talking too about NOT touching them and thought it would be funny to disobey mom just to taunt her. So what would you do with a little rock to make your mom mad? Stick it WAY up your nose of course! Yes, Drew stuck a rock up his nose so far that we almost couldn't even see it any more. We had to get the flashlight to see it. We tried to get it out a few times but that thing was not going to budge. We were ready to get into the car to go to the doctor when Andy decided to try one more thing...to suck it out with a straw. He put the straw in Drew's nose and sucked as hard as he could and was able to dislodge it from the upper cavity so that we could maneuver it out. I couldn't believe it actually worked! Now that is true unconditional love :) So, if your kid ever sticks something up their nose, try to suck it out before you go to the doc! :)

Big sister mocking baby brother :)

And here is Avery Modeling her new hair cut. She got about 6 inches cut off today.

Pumpkins

Getting ready for the fall!! One of my favorite blogs to "stalk" is having a giveaway for some adorable fabric pumpkins. I hope I win, but I guess I'll give you a chance too! ;) I LOVE Holly's blog for so many reasons. She is an amazing photographer, crafty, and fun. If you don't win, there is a tutorial on how to make the pumpkins too. Go check it out!

Pumpkins

one of those conversations

Today I had "one of those conversations" with Drew. You know, the ones where you wonder HOW far you are going to have to go to explain things to satisfy a child's curiosity. Drew walked into the room with a very serious look on his face, like he had been thinking really hard. The conversation went something like this:

drew: "mom where did the baby come from?"
me: "from heaven"
d: "how did it get here?"
me: "She came from Heavenly Father"
d: "oh. How did he put it in your belly?"
m: "He plants a little seed and it grows out of Love" (don't judge!)
d: "How do they take your skin off?"
m: "what do you mean?"
d: "how do they take your skin off?"
m: "you mean to get the baby out?"
d: "yeah, how do they get the baby out? how do they take your skin off to get it out?"
m: "umm, the doctors have special tools that they use to get the baby out."
d: "oh, hey mom, can I put a seed in your belly?"
m: "I already have one in there"
d: "oh, how did heavenly father take your skin off to put the seed in there?"

:)