April 2016

April was a wonderful month.  We celebrated Joey turning two, and continued to get to know our sweet new addition.  Here's about April:

Neal was hired to design three shows over the summer.  He loves summertime because his full-time job slows down enough for him to be able to pick up side jobs doing what he really loves.  We're also super excited because these three jobs (baring any unforeseen emergencies) will pay enough to pay off ALL OUR DEBT EXCEPT OUR HOUSE.  We are SUPER excited about this!!!

I continued to adjust to life with two kids.  I finally started enjoying breastfeeding again (I've hated the first month with both boys), and gave up on having a solid bedtime for Joey over the summer (which is a big deal for me).  I'm still eternally grateful for the opportunity to stay home with these boys every day and to get to be their mommy.  I'm also eternally grateful for the knowledge I have of my Savior and of His Atonement.  It's been a rough couple months in other areas of my life (things that aren't my story to tell, but have affected me), and Neal and my Savior are what have been getting me through it.  I never cease to be amazed at the strength He will send when I need it and when I ask.

Joey has developed into the sweetest older brother I could have asked for.  He loves being around his brother, helping him (sometimes his "helping" causes terror for Hunter and mommy has to step in), and watching him.  We're grateful that the sun started coming out so Joey could play outside and get some fresh air.  His vocabulary grew by leaps and bounds, and each day we were amazed when he would say new words we didn't know that he knew.

Hunter is adjusting to life.  He was diagnosed with reflux at the end of the month, so we got some "Baby Zantac" for him.  Three hours after we gave him the first dose, he smiled at us for the first time.  He also has a Milk-Soy Protein Intolerance (aka Cow's Milk Protein Intolerance).  His only symptom has been that he gets REALLY fussy the day after I eat milk, so hopefully he'll grow out of it quickly.

We did some really fun things as a family in April:

- We celebrated Joey's birthday by eating a yummy cake and giving him garden tools and play food.  I still can't believe he's two (in case you hadn't noticed).

- We went to "Baby Animal Days" at Centennial Museum.  They have all sorts of baby animals that the kids can look at and pet if they'd like (and if the animals cooperate).  Joey loved the pigs - he kept asking to go back and see them.  The day we were there they also had horse rides.  After Joey's first ride he kept asking to go back because he loved it so much.  I think we got a taste of how much he's going to love Idaho when we go up this summer!

- We had Hunter's baby blessing and Joey's second birthday party on the same day. (I'll do another post with the pictures of this later...there's A LOT).

- Murdoch's has an anniversary sale every year, and this year they had a 25 cent BBQ.  The proceeds all go to a local non-profit, so we went there for lunch one day.

Other fun pictures:

March 2016

Now that we have two kiddos, I'm going to start doing monthly updates for our whole family.  I'm sure Hunter will give me a hard time about the fact that Joey got special posts each month for his first two years and he didn't, but he'll have to deal with it ;)

March was a really crazy, fun month - mostly because we added a new member to our family!  Hunter was born on March 6th.  To read about that click here.

Neal: Neal has been working incredibly hard.  He started serving at the Candlelight again so that we can eliminate our debt as fast as possible.  He's been a rockstar when he's been home, though.  I've been having a hard time keeping up with housework, and Neal has picked up the slack on that.  

Amanda: I'm doing a lot better postpartum-wise this time around.  Looking back, I realize that after Joey was born I had postpartum anxiety, and that I was borderline postpartum depression.  I was worried about the same thing this time. But I'm doing much better this time - physically, mentally, and emotionally.  Adjusting to two has been rough, but we've had lots of wonderful support.

Joey: Read about Joey here.

Hunter: You can read about Hunter's birth story here. Hunter had a rough start.  Between the bruising on his face from birth and his size, his bilirubin levels were very high, so he ended up on a Bilibed for a few days.  We had to supplement with formula until my milk came in (my milk comes in late, which doesn't help). We called him the "Neon Ninja."  Other than that he's just been eating, sleeping, and peeing!

As a family, we celebrated the Resurrection of our Savior on Easter.  We went to dinner at Neal's aunt's house.  Other than that, we pretty much just spent our entire month adjusting to the new little boy in our family :-)