Update

I've been waiting for some time to make a little update on here, but time isn't something I've got a surplus of. Vivian sleeps great at night but during the day she naps about like Oliver did at this age which is not at all :) She just likes to be held, that's all. She is the happiest baby I have ever seen! She is always smiling and chattering away. I love it. And right now I am crazy obsessed with her little pop belly. Weird, I know. But I just love her tummy! It's adorable. She really is the greatest baby I could ask for. She has been sleeping through the night since the day she was born and she nurses like a champ. Oliver gets a little frustrated during her feeding time and is always thrusting nursing pads or clothes at me as if to tell me to cover it up and be done already.

I'm struggling with knowing how to discipline an 18 mo old. I hate telling him no-no all day and I know it's ineffective because he hates hearing it all day! I've been experimenting with time outs but I can't really tell if he understands or if they are helping. He is hitting like crazy and I can't get him to stop. Advice appreciated. Oh and he bites too if you have any tips there. Other than that, I am still constantly admiring his beautiful little face and smothering him with hugs and kisses because he is the cutest, sweetest, little guy! I had a Mommy Payday at Walmart yesterday. We went to get something fun to do, like a sprinkler or a pool or some new toy to entertain us because we were getting a little bored and lazy at home. He found a car that he really liked and was so excited that we got to take it home. (We never buy toys..like EVER) When we were done checking out he turned to the cashier and said "Thank you! Bye-bye!" My heart melted and hers did too. Looks like some things are sinking in. I was pretty dang proud of him for remembering to say thank you. He is learning more and more words every day and saying them more and more clearly, too. He loves bugs and is not afraid of them--eek! He is nuts about big trucks and RV's and whenever he sees something with a motor he walks around doing the sound effects. He is such a boy, through and through.

When Vivian was born she failed the infant hearing screening on her left ear. We went back to re-test 2 weeks later and she failed again. We were referred to a specialist and failed again. So this month we are taking her to the Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock to confirm that she cannot hear out of the left ear and figure out why not. We will also be making a trip to the Children's Hospital this month for Oliver's long awaited circumcision. Long story short, there were some misunderstandings when he was born and we were advised to wait, then when he went to have it done they said he had to be 1 years old because he would have to be sedated. When he turned 1 we did not have insurance and now we finally do and it is time! Woo hoo! I think it is going to be extremely rough on the poor little guy and even harder on me but I am so ready to put it behind us. Pray for him and the doctors so everything will turn out well. It's funny that at my old job I would sedate up to 15 people on any given day and didn't think twice about it but now that it is my little baby I am worried sick. I know the doctors are great and he will be just fine but thinking about my 1 year old being put under for a surgery kind of makes me sick to my stomach.

I just took Vivian to her 2 month check up even though she is 3 months old. We were traveling and missed the 2 month mark. She is doing great, weighs 12 lbs, is 24 inches long. We have already taken 2 trips by airplane back to Utah since she has been born. We are a little home sick but definitely adjusting.

In other news, we put an offer on a house this week and are really hoping we get it. I think part of my struggles with this move are because we have such a crummy rental and there aren't a lot of housing options. I was really wanting to move back home immediately but have decided to stick it out for 5 years (give or take, things never go as planned) and Austin will get some good experience, and his job will pay for his MBA. Then we can reevaluate. Our offer was a little low but everyone here asks ridiculous prices for their homes! It's crazy. So we have some back ups in mind but I would be thrilled if this worked out. It's strange to be talking about buying homes, I'm not grown up enough for that!

I got a calling as one of the Young Women's leaders in the branch and I really love it. Granted, we only have 2-3 YW on any given Sunday. I feel like I am still supposed to be in Young Women's myself. It's weird. But I feel like I can relate well to the girls and their struggles and I can be a good friend to them and hopefully teach them something along the way. Right now we are saving up money for girls camp so I've been hiring them to baby sit and we are having a cake auction at the end of this month. It's all so exciting :)

I miss my family and I can't wait for each of them to come and visit me in this little corner of the world. It is so beautiful and I really am learning to love it in spite of the depressing humidity. I learned that I have been officially "Southernized". My last trip to Idaho my hands were cracking and my lips were dry and I got bloody noses and stuffed up sinuses. It was gross. It was a relief to come home where I didn't have to put on chapstick and lotion every half hour.

Here is a bunch of pictures of my adorable kids. I had a vision of getting these adorable pictures of Oliver holding and snuggling his baby sister for Father's day but that didn't happen. He has no interest in taking pictures and it was tough to get him to even look at the camera. We did what we could, but there are definitely more of Vivian (alone) than of Ollie. Enjoy.

Vivian Beau

Introducing Vivian Beau LeBaron, born April 2, 2013 at 6:18 am. 8 lbs 10 oz, and 21" long

Shark's Day

Today was all about our little boy. It's (hopefully) our last Saturday as a threesome and we just wanted to focus on how awesome he is. We should be doing that every day, I know, but it's hard to just let go and stop cleaning up his messes and telling him "no!" sometimes. So today we just said yes. It stinks that it has been raining for the last 48 hours because really what our kid likes most is to be outside. We still went out, but it wasn't very much fun for me and he may wake up with pneumonia.

We started the morning on the living room floor inside a giant couch cushion/blanket fort that we built. It was kind of a tunnel shape and we would thrown tennis balls inside and he would run and get them and bring them back and put them through a tube. Basically, we played fetch. But he liked it and he was happy and busy for a while. Then, of course, we destroyed the fort and played king of the hill and dog piled into the fallen cushions.

Side note: Today was a sad day when I realized he is dropping one of his naps and moving on to just one a day. After several days of me putting him down at the normal time and him just playing in his crib for sometimes an hour I decided it's time to give it up.

After some quiet time/alone time in his crib (supposed to have been napping) we set up the high chair as a sensory station. I tried showing him how to color but he didn't care for it much. So I dumped a bunch of uncooked rice onto the tray and he had a blast running his fingers through it, stirring it with a colored pencil, and throwing it all over the place. I tried to show him the corn starch and water goo but he didn't care about that either...what?! So we stuck with the rice and colored pencils. 

A lot of the rice and all of the colored pencils ended up on the floor so we got out some "drums" for a jam sesh and the pencils were our drum sticks. It was glorious. Shark loves my camera and lunges for it when I try to get pictures of him so his drum solo is not documented very well. 

Another side not: Baby boy has refused almost ALL food for going on two weeks now. It has been extremely frustrating for mom and son and meal times are not pretty around here. On the bright side, much fewer poopy diapers. 

We made chicken quesadillas for lunch with a cucumber salad on the side and *gasp* Shark ate it! And he ate a lot of it. Including the cucumber part. So I was beaming and feeling like today was the greatest day ever. Then he went down for his nap (and I, mine.) 

After his real nap, the one where he slept, we went out to Sonic to share a milk shake. He loves being at Sonic because he gets to get out of his car seat and sit in front with Mom and Dad. He pretends to drive and rolls down the window and yells out his jibberish order. It's reeeeeeaaalllllyyy cute. And the girls on skates think he is absolutely adorable when they get to our window with the food and he is sitting at the wheel like a boss. 

Once home, Sharkie was immediately at the front door begging to go outside. And he is so smart about it. He brings us our shoes and jackets and then he even gets his OWN shoes and jacket, and I'm telling you that is special because this one does not wear shoes. He hates them (he gets that from momma). We protested and told him it was way to cold and rainy but then I just thought.."oh well. Let's just go out." Sometimes I do that. I just decide "Oh well." Maybe not the best parenting technique? So out we went. The thunder was loud--Another, other side note: We can do T-storms here in the south like you've never seen (or heard) in Idaho or Utah. This is what Garth Brooks was singing about. The thunder is angry and the lightning is fierce! And the rain pours for hours on end, or days.--Shark doesn't even notice the thunder. What a weirdo. It was also pretty cold. At first he just stood on the porch watching the rain then he decided to head out and enjoy himself regardless of the conditions. 

He tried pulling us out into the rain with him but he fought it and stayed on the porch for the most part.

Yeah those socks are about shot. 

Dad got sick of watching him just stand there and decided he needed some direction on how to play in the rain. So he went out and showed him how to splash and dance.

Stomp, stomp!

We wrapped the day up with a nice, warm soak in the tub. Complete with a bubble beard and toupee. I was really jealous and wanted to climb in the hot water with him after being outside. Can't wait to comfortably fit in the tub again :) I loved playing with my boys today, I couldn't have asked for a better day. Or a better Sonic Blast, it was fantastic. We've got some BBQ pulled pork in the crock pot for our post church feast tomorrow and I can't wait to wake up to another day with the my loves. So blessed. 

Blowing kisses to you!

Keep following, next post: Introducing Baby girl! (Already?! I know.)