Pioneer Day

Sawyer

Sawyer's anxiety has skyrocketed. It keeps getting worse as he gets older and not better. ??? I don't know what to do to help him but it's making me claustrophobic. He constantly thinks I'm leaving him when I'm not and refuses stay with anyone (literally anyone, not even my parents anymore..who he sees all the time) except for me and Dillon without freaking out. Even if we're all in the same house, and I just have to leave to go to the bathroom or something, it causes him major stress. And because of his puke habit, I don't dare just let him work it out, ya know? I'm thinking of ordering this book for some insight because I've got nothin'.

He did have a lot of fun this week with some of his cousins though. Dillon's sister and brother-in-law came into town for a check-up with Dr. Delcore (Mike, the brother-in-law, broke his elbow and wrist over the fourth of July weekend racing bikes and Delcore ended up being the one to fix it) so the kids, Mason and Allie, came to our house to play.

Then Braden and Austin stayed with my parents for half of the week so we made sure to get in some hang time with them which included a lot of wrestling, chasing, and squealing, and left Sawyer asking for them both after they had gone back home.

We've been trying to decided if Sawyer will be a lefty pretty much since he's been mobile. I think it's a pretty safe bet to say that he will. As time passes, he favors his left side more and more to do things. Both his Grandma Paula and Grandma Ronna will be thrilled to add a member to their club I think.

Dawson

Most of the week for Dawson has been figuring out feedings since it was decided that he probably needs more than what my body has. He inconveniently went on a nursing/bottle strike during this week (which I didn't know was a thing but again..Google..) so he would only nurse for like 60 seconds or drink one ounce from a bottle and call it good. I think maybe his top teeth were bothering him? I don't know for sure but it made everything a guessing game again.

He hates being left behind in a room if he's looking for attention. He knows he can't keep up like he'd like to so he shrieks in displeasure and cries giant baby tears while he scoots himself after us (unless I've purposely trapped him in his bouncer or high chair).

Dillon

Dillon headed over to help his Dad in Delta for a few days again. Not much to say there except, as always, I'm glad he's able to help but I'm doubly glad when he comes home. We all miss him when he's gone and the boys are delighted when he's around and get all hyper to show it. His dad did suggest paying us in puppies but, thankfully, kept those animal babies at the farm. I don't think I can be an animal person again until I'm done having kids...and they're old enough to actually help. Too much stress for my tightly wound self.

DaNae

I went on a desperately needed Costco run since we had long since run out of our staples. Dillon and I had planned to go before he found out he was needed at the farm so I talked my parents into coming down with their hoard of boys staying at their house. We went down early to avoid the crowds and heat and by the time we checked out and were loading stuff in our cars, it was already face melting hot.

On the way back home Dawson decided that being fed needed to happen right that second so I had to pull off at the Toquerville exit. While I was there, a couple pulled off to ask for directions to Sand Hollow. I told them how to get there and they drove off. And then I immediately doubted what I had told them (which happens to me every time I give someone directions) but I doubled checked my directions when I get home and they were spot on so..hopefully they made it.

On Pioneer Day, I opted out of taking the boys to the parade (because they're still young enough I can get away with that) and instead did a Wal-mart run while the rest of the town was preoccupied. Then me and the boys spent some time at my parents playing and watching movies while we waited for Dillon to get back. It was a low stress kind of holiday this year, which I was all for.

Park time

Mason practicing back handsprings

A pine cone collection courtesy of Allie

Austin and Dawson

Sawyer and Braden

Water balloon fight

July Jamboree

Sawyer

Sawyer has been learning some not so stellar behaviors from older kids, usually at playgrounds. He constantly is being given an unwanted push at the top of the slide and I caught him doing it to a kid smaller than him recently. I hate it when kids do that to him (because they usually don't do it very nicely) so I've been trying to remind him that it's not nice and that we don't push people. I haven't seen him do it since so, fingers crossed.

He also squeals like a banshee when he's hyper and having fun, which he learned from the playground and from cousins. While I don't love his ear piercing screams, this behavior is in total innocence so I don't get after him too much, but I do try to keep it in check for the sake of everyone's eardrums.

I actually haven't seen this third behavior since I first caught him doing it so I think it's been eradicated but, you guys, I caught my kid...eating.his.freaking.boogers. I'm one hundred percent positive he learned this by seeing someone else do it because I just don't believe, at all, that kids think to do that on their own. This is absolutely one of the most repulsive habits and it makes me gag. So we talked about it being so, so gross and how it's bad and will make you sick (probably, I went overboard) and it seems to have worked. I'll be honest, he's still a nose picker (we're currently working on the discussion of how and why we use tissues) but at least he's not consuming them.

He is so goofy about our pet turtle. He asks me constantly to get him out of his tank. He'll pet the turtle and talk to him as long as I'm holding him but as soon as I put him on the ground and he starts to creep around, Sawyer flips. He runs around the corner or climbs up on the furniture and yells, "Catch him! Catch him!" but as soon as I put the turtle back in the water, he wants me to get him out again.

Dawson

Dawson got his own post since he hit the nine month mark.

Dillon

Dillon made sure our family hit up the July Jamboree in Cedar. I love that he loves some of Cedar's traditions. He likes to look at the cars that are lined up on Main Street for the car show and I like to check out the booths so, there's something for everyone. A lot of the booths had free stuff/activities for the kids which is always a plus. Sawyer got to visit a fish pond, do an apple toss, and spin some wheels for prizes. He chose the funniest things. At the Grifols booth, I thought for sure that he would want the sunglasses but he was adamant about having the squishy toy that looked like a drop of plasma. And at another booth, he wanted the plastic bead necklace instead of candy. Sometimes I wish I could see inside his mind and connect the dots behind stuff he does. So funny.

Dillon also finished fixing our sprinkler system and it is the best thing in the whole wide world. It's taken him two summers, some Google searches and YouTube videos, and some favors from neighbors with know-how but we finally have consistently working sprinklers. Our backyard is pretty big and it's hard to keep up with when you just have the one hose. It made our grass super prickly and not much fun to be on but it's quickly turning around.

DaNae

When I took Dawson to his check-up, the doctor wasn't too concerned with his tiny-ness (if you didn't see any of the posts, he's rolling in at the 1st percentile) because he's thriving and healthy with plenty of squish. We did talk a little bit about his nursing and how much milk he might be getting. It's all such a guessing game but I told the doctor that for most of the feedings, Dawson was happy after and not fussy so I assumed he was getting enough. I did mention that he was still waking up at night and I honestly couldn't tell if it was out of hunger or habit. So we decided that it would be a good idea for me to play around with Dawson's milk intake and figure out how he was doing, maybe consider supplementing.

I had been wondering if maybe my supply was waning because when Dawson slept through the night a few times, I didn't wake up uncomfortable, like at all, which I thought was weird. With Sawyer, after sleeping all night, my body was more than ready for him to eat in the morning. After some trial and error it seems like Dawson is ready to eat significantly less often but consume more at each feeding and my body isn't quite getting the message. Not drying up, but also not keeping up. So Dawson is now getting a mix of formula and breastmilk. It's kind of nice to have a break, actually, and I think it has helped with him sleeping at night.

From Instagram: Cuddle party on my lap 💙 #thatchbros

Dawson's finally stable enough I can bathe them both in the big tub, at the same time. It is a game changer.

I usually keep this gate up to contain Dawson but he was down for a nap. I needed to shower, and I wanted to keep Sawyer in one spot so that he wouldn't wake Dawson up with his loudness. I got out of the shower and could hear Sawyer crying and I walked out to this. He had managed to climb on top of the gate, but couldn't figure out how to get down and was stuck. So sad. So funny.

Grandma and Grandpa Loveland got the boys this water table and they love it!

I'm always trying to capture Sawyer talking because I know soon enough it's going to change as he grows and learns things. These are some of my favorites that he does, especially his, "I love you" which he's only started to say in the past couple of months.

All of the water things combined. 

Dawson isn't quite as big a fan of water as his brother so he spent most of our play time wrapped in towel on my lap.

Multigram from Instagram: Trying to capture a picture with the boys 🤦 On the upside, Dawson's Blue Steel is on point 👌#thatchbros
1/3

2/3

3/3

Braden had All-Stars so we got to watch him play. The weather was off and on with rain and heat. This is what Sawyer did for most of the game after it rained hard that day.

Dawson and Grandpa Dale

This kid slept hard after playing hard at the ball fields for a couple of days. He woke up from his nap still really ornery and whiny so I had him sit by me and this happened. Love this boy.

Back to watch Braden in another game

Getting a picture with multiples kids is just...

...difficult

Dawson Nine Months

Nine Month Stats:

Weight: 15 lb 9 oz (1st percentile)

Height: 26 in (1st percentile)

Head: 17 in (5th percentile)

About three days into his ninth month (so..closer to eight months), after I had posted about his serious lack of sitting skills, Dawson just woke up a sitter. From nothing to sitting. Just like that. I shouldn't really be surprised. There's a stubborn component in this baby that works my nerves. He will do things when HE chooses to do them.

He army crawls super fast anywhere and everywhere he wants to go. He'll rock on his hands and knees but then plops down onto his belly to actually move around.

He has totally boycotted nursing under a cover. He'll arch his back and scream until the cover is removed. It makes my life harder than it should be and there have in fact been a couple of bathroom feedings, which is disgusting.

I decided to crack down on the night feeding business because I felt like he wasn't actually hungry most of the time. He didn't appreciate it very much at first but it only took about a week (and some fine tuning with his eating that I'll write about in another post) and now he'll fuss a little but then soothes himself back to sleep.

He loves sippy cups and water bottles but isn't very good at drinking out of them yet. He constantly steals his brother's any chance he gets.

Some early morning love for his dad.

Thinking he's big or something

Celebrations

Oh man, we've been playing hard these last few weeks and I fell a little bit behind. So there are a TON of pictures and try as I might, I just can't whittle them down very well when that happens. But since this is a semi-journal anyway, I can include all the pictures and memories I want, right? On to the updates:

Sawyer

I'm happy to report that since my last post, the self-induced vomiting has calmed down. I'm not happy to report that it still occurred a handful of times around bedtime...one of those times being a straight shot down my cleavage. I've surprised myself with how well I've handled cleaning up someone else's puke without gagging but I'm not usually the one that ends up covered in it (it's typically the floor/bed) so I just yelled to Dillon that he was going to have to take care of everything while I held in the heaves and ran to wash myself off.

Sawyer has been SUPER cuddly lately and wants to be on my lap any spare second he can. He also asks me about every five minutes if I'm leaving with a note of panic in his voice. I have no idea why he's so anxious about being separated, poor dude. I mean, there's separation anxiety and then there's Sawyer. It's sad and frustrating all at the same time.

We decided to try taking him to the movies for the first time. Cars 3. He did pretty good but it was still a little long for him. He was all about the snacks and the show until about the last half hour, then he just wanted to wiggle and talk. But we picked a time that we knew would bring a lot of families with kids so he really didn't distract anymore than other kids. We'll probably wait a little longer before going back though.

He also had his first trip to the dentist. He thought the waiting room was great with the toys and movie. He got a little nervous when we walked back and he needed to sit in the chair but he calmed down after a few minutes (with the exception of when I tried to get him to lay down and he climbed up me like I was a tree). He listened to Moana through the headphones and let them clean and check his teeth with no problems. He got to pick a prize after, which he ended up eating part of after playing with it for a good half hour. Face palm. When do kids stop putting EVERYTHING in their mouth? WHEN? I didn't really know if I should be overly concerned but didn't want to end up being that parent who the hospital questions their judgement because they didn't bring their kid in right away so, I did what I typically do. I called my mom. She suggested I call poison control. Which I did. And it was embarrassing, but the guy let me know the toy wasn't toxic and should just pass on through. He did take both mine and Sawyer's information so...that's on record. Super.

Dawson

Dawson got his first haircut, which was really more of a "let's just fix these weird spots". He had about a dozen hairs that almost hung down to his eyebrows and were starting to look like a comb-over when I swept them to the side. And he had some wings going on on the sides that desperately needed some attention.

He now refuses to nurse under a cover because he just likes to complicate my life, I think. I don't really nurse in public because I don't like to, but he won't even eat under a cover while I'm at my parents or sitting in the car. He arches his back and shrieks until it's removed. Three more months guys. Three more months.

We somehow lost his turtle wubbanub. I still have no idea how. And he's made a full transition from binky hater to binky lover so this was definitely a problem. I had a few soothie pacifiers that are literally the exact.same.thing. minus the stuffed animal and he wouldn't take them (at least not well). He should get all of the awards for stubbornness. So we ordered a new frog wubbanub and all is right with the world again.

Dillon

Dillon and I celebrated our seventh anniversary in June. It was our most low-key anniversary to date but still wonderful. We decided to keep it simple and just do dinner with the kids in tow. Neither of us had really mentioned anything about gifts so I just figured we were skipping them this year and saving some dollars, which was totally fine. And then Dillon came home and announced that we were gift shopping before dinner which was fun (as fun as it can be with two wiggly, bored children in a double stroller). We were going to try a new place for dinner (a sit down..with the kids, because we like to live on the edge). We walked in and there was no one there to greet us, or anyone around at all actually, so we started looking at the menu. We saw the prices and turned right around before any of the restaurant workers decided to make an appearance. We ended up with Costa Vida which never makes me sad.

Dillon also made plans for us to visit everyone in Delta for more than just a day or two over the 4th of July weekend. He made plans for us each day that took us somewhere fun in between playing with his family. It was so fun and just some good quality down time.

DaNae

I noticed some advertisements for a new children's boutique that was opening in Cedar and, since I'm always looking for ways to get out of the house for a minute, decided to take the boys over and check it out. It did not disappoint. It definitely had a lot more options for girls (so if that ever happens, I'll probably own one of everything in the store because it was all so cute) but still had some fun things for little boys. The owners of the boutique also own a few stores plus a pharmacy that are all connected so you can walk from one of them to all the others without going outside. And it just so happened that they were selling 15 cent popcorn and 25 cent ice cream cones and sodas that weekend. So the boys and I all grabbed treats for under a dollar. I loved it all so much, I took Dillon back with us the next day to do a repeat trip.

Besides for playing hard with my people, the most exciting thing I've done over the last couple of weeks was deep clean my vacuum. Which was disgusting and really, really satisfying. And I now know how to completely disassemble and reassemble our vacuum on my own should the occasion arise again before it's next deep cleaning.

We went to visit my parents after my dad's knee surgery and Sawyer was quite impressed with this particular piece of equipment my dad had.

Some of my cute finds from The Stork on Main

Treats at Bulloch Drug

Dawson with my cousin Kordell who is now in the MTC. I'm on the older end of the cousins on my mom's side and it gets crazier and crazier to me as they all grow up- going on missions, to college, getting married, having babies! I still feel like I should be babysitting them.

His favorite part of his movie theater experience.

Watching Trolls in the waiting room at the dentist.

Listening to Moana. He stayed in this position while the dentist laid on the chair to check his teeth. Thank goodness for pediatric dentist offices and the people who work in them.

Cousin G came to visit while his dad was in a work meeting.

Dawson so badly wants to hang with the big boys

Our Fourth of July trip to Delta..

This is what Dawson did the majority of the time we played at the Delta reservoir, both of our visits.

Sawyer loved it. He would flop around in the dirt, throw rocks in the water, ask to "fly", and purposely walk out by himself so far that he couldn't reach so that he could float.

Flying!

Dawson isn't quite as big of a fan of water as his brother and always takes a little while to warm up to the idea of playing in it.

Jaidyn and Dawson

Papa Steve and Sawyer

Sawyer has been terrified of the trampoline but Kristin got him to jump after some persuasion and assurance that he wouldn't fall through. After that, he was sold and wanted to jump the whole time we were there.

Seriousness

Sawyer likes to "play games" and always thinks he's the one controlling the characters on the screen when someone else is playing.

Racing the car with dad

And hosing down the track. Such a constant helper.

We went out to see the puppies at the farm. Sawyer doesn't love dogs, of any size. He was fine looking at the puppies while they were in their cage but as soon as they got let out, he ran straight to my legs while yelling, "Catch 'em! Catch 'em!"

Dawson and Allie

One of Sawyer's many rounds of jumping

This thing only cost a dime and the ride lasted forever!

We all slept in the same room at Kristin's house and we had blown up a mattress for Sawyer. The first couple of nights he woke up pretty constantly in a bit of a panic. Then the last night, we all slept peacefully (for the most part) and I was wondering why. Then I saw this. I asked Dillon when Sawyer had climbed in by him but Dillon had no idea so I guess they both slept hard snuggled up to each other.

At the parade

Jumping on the ridiculous trend bandwagon

Dawson was so tired and ready for a nap but he doesn't fall asleep easily unless he's in his crib or driving in the car. Andee put him on her shoulders to keep him entertained and he instantly molded himself to her head and started to drift off.

Successfully napping

Waiting for the parade and, more importantly, the candy. Poor Sawyer is definitely my kid because after standing in the sun for half the parade he turned and told me he was "too hoooot!" and didn't even care to get candy. So we sat in the shade the rest of the time while he hydrated.

Sitting in the water at the park which soaked his shorts, which led to the next picture..

From Instagram: Capturing this "Risky Business"-esque moment of my toddler on the trampoline was definitely one of my favorite moments from our long weekend. #SawyerD