Eldest

One of these days I think I shall wake up from my dreamy stupor and will be back living with my parents and in high school again. How did I get to be so old? How did I get to be a parent? Okay, I know how that happened, but just the general idea that I have children sometimes seems very surreal.

Brooke, no matter how old she gets, will always be my baby...my first baby. I realized that there are only 2 1/2 years until Brooke is in kindergarten. She is growing up so fast and I don't want to miss a single second of it!

Although she is a the epitome of a girly girl- she still likes to get out and get dirty in the garden and ride the tractor with Pinch.

We made smoothies for Family Home Evening one night:
My beautiful girl:
Brooke has gotten over her aversion to "baby Porter" as she calls him. She no longer is scared that he will pee or poop on her :)


I left this picture in here because this is typical at our house: Brooke touching Porter's face; namely his eyes.
Little smiles: Brooke says, "Mom, Porter's tongue is dirty!"
Brooke volunteered to hold Porter for this picture, no coaxing necessary. Two seconds after I took the picture she says, "Okay, I'm done!" and just lets go of him and starts to move away. Luckily I was right there to keep Porter from falling over onto the floor.
This was my attempt at self portrait. Don't we look lovely? Heaven help us!

Brooke at 3 years 3 months:

• loves reading books, even has a few memorized so she can "read" them to herself. She especially likes "green eggs and ham" by Dr. Seuss.
• Has to say her own prayer after we say one. They range from being very sweet (blessing the spirit, blessing family members) to very funny (blessing the Christmas ornaments).
• Still loves to sing and dance and make up her own songs
• loves to wrestle and ride the 4 wheeler with daddy
• we play matching games and candyland together
• loves to paint and color
• is super talkative--during dinner she talks nonstop! We have to ask her to stop talking so she can take a bite of food.
• hates to wear pants, especially jeans. It's nothing but leggings and skirts for this girl!
• says "He's my baby!" when talking about Porter and "Porter is my friend"...oh I hope it stays that way :)

One Month Already

Wow, February flew by and before I knew it, it's March already and Porter is one month old! I think I can say that we are slowly starting to adjust to our new "normal". I am crossing my fingers that by the end of this month Porter will be sleeping through the night. He will sometimes sleep a 4 hour stretch at night, which is always nice, but usually I get up with him every 3 hours. Here are some things about Porter at one month:

• Pretty sure he weighs around 9lbs (or more) now
• loves his baths, but hates to have his hair washed and me scrub on it
• is more alert. His favorite awake times are right after we get up in the mornings and then in the evenings around dinner time.
• can lift his head and hold it up on his own
• is starting to smile and make little noises (I love this)
• and this is HUGE for me: he is sleeping in his own room. Brooke slept in her bassinet in our room until she was 5 months old. I just couldn't bear to part with her. Porter can get kind of fussy before he goes to sleep and I got to the point where I couldn't keep getting up and rocking him until he fell asleep. I got less sleep than I was already getting and it just made me cranky in the day and so that I couldn't function. I just really felt like he needed to learn to fall asleep on his own at night and that would be best for everyone. So after I feed him, change him, and burp him...I swaddle him up, give him a kiss and a snuggle and lay him down and close the door and let him cry. Usually it's no more than 5-10 minutes before he's fast asleep. I know some parents wouldn't dream of doing that with their one month old, but we all need our sleep. I definitely still have my panic-attack moments, but really feel like this is for the best.

This was as close to a smile I could get from him:

I love my bouncer chair because Porter can be where we are in the house. However, just the other day Porter was asleep and Brooke calls to me, "Look mom! Porter is waking up!" I peek my head around the corner and Brooke is touching his face and he's starting to stir. I didn't want this and had a talk with her about not touching him when he is napping. If it happens again, nap time might need to take place in his crib.

And since I get up to go to Porter's room more often now, it inspired me to make some finishing touches:

We moved the rocker in so I have a place to feed him (much to Brooke's unhappiness)

Hung some pictures on the wall

Got a little more organized..

My friend Aubrey made the cute bulletin board. It's a fun way to remember his birth. I stuck in there his birth annoucement that was printed in the paper and some momentos from the hospital

and of course the striped wall...probably my greatest painting accomplishment to date.Brooke has done really well adjusting to having a little brother around. She is so sweet with him: she will come up and talk to him, "pet" him on his face and head and just loves him. I love this video of them together.

This is a poem Blake's mom wrote for Porter. There were a few things that went into his name: 1) It's a name you don't hear too often--we'd only heard it twice before and didn't have any bad associations with it (you moms know what I mean!) 2) We love Porter Rockwell...or as Blake calls him "the Mormal Wyatt Earp" :) I am pretty sure Blake was a wild west cowboy in another life...and still wishes he was one ;)

A man named Porter was Utah's Marshall long ago.
History is written and so there is much we know.
The bodyguard to Joseph, his lifelong friend
Errands for the Prophet, Porter would defend.
He calmed the Indians as the Saints they harrassed.
Supported Emma and Joseph till the very last.
Cut his hair for a woman in need.
Seventeen children, three wives he did feed.
Porter is a name that will serve your little boy well.

But the middle name is the one that will really tell
What kind of a man he someday will be
For Blake is a good man, a great Daddy is he.
And we can't forget the Mommy that made this come true.
Courtney is a super wife, and a great Mom for number two.
So hang on to your shorts for an adventure sure to come
We certainly know where these blessings are from.

Thanks Deena for this sweet poem!

Porter's Newborn Pictures

Since Porter has officially reached his one month mark, it seems fitting to take a look back and see how tiny and cute (well, he still is cute, just not so tiny anymore) he was.

This is a tie that my friend Cami made for him to wear to church:

Love baby hands and toes

Love the squishy face:

We tried on a lot of different hats and diaper covers, but my favorite shots have been the naked ones with no props.

I loved this little hat, though. I want one for him to wear all the time, he just looks so cute in it!

So Brooke was very uncooperative during pictures. She didn't want to hold him and was giving the photographer her "I'm horrified/I'm in pain" smiles. I was just praying we could get one good shot of the two of them together that I could frame. Thankfully, she was quick on the button to catch this:

This was the best alone shot of Brooke we got

Oh my sleepy little man...

LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

The Rest of February

My mom, brother, and sister in law came to visit for a couple of days at the end of February. We haven't seen Ben and Katie since they moved to Maine last summer and it was their first time meeting Porter.Brooke loved having some new people to play with her, and they were good sports, too. Katie endured getting her hair brushed and styled by Brooke and both Ben and Katie were "horsies" for Brooke to ride around on.
We ventured out and went bowling Monday night. Brooke had a blast...sadly I only beat her score by 2 points.

And yep, Brooke and I are using the same size bowling ball.

Blake ended up beating us all.

Again, I am horrified by the shirt Brooke is wearing in this picture. It's one she decorated herself with paint and markers over the summer and it's too small now. I didn't know that is what she was wearing underneath her jacket until she took it off.
My mom was a good sport and held Porter so we could bowl and eat pizza. We went bowling around 5pm and the lanes were empty. Around 6 they started filling up with the women's league. One lady yelled at me for having my baby out in public. Oh well.

The next day we headed up to the dinosaur quarrey. It has been closed for 5 years, undergoing renovations and finally reopened. It's a pretty cool place: an enclosed side of the mountain that has tons of dinosaur bones all over it.

Can you see them?

On the bottom level, there are some that they let you touch