Phoenix Zoo

This year, I spent my 27th birthday at the zoo!  Michael had the day off work and we've never been, so I thought it would be the perfect day to go since it was a weekday, (less crowded) the weather was likely to be nice, and the kids are old enough to appreciate it.

We got there as soon as it opened and stayed until nap time.  (My kids are NOT the type to sleep in the stroller.  Ever).  Matthew had slept horrifically the night before so he was a bit cranky, but he'd been looking forward to going to the zoo for weeks so he would snap out of the crankiness whenever he'd see a cool animal.

Apparently the Phoenix Zoo is not all that impressive, but I wouldn't really know because I've only ever been to two zoos in my life, and the first one was a reeeeally long time ago.  (It was the San Diego Zoo).  I remember that I had a blast and I distinctly remember the hippo and the monkeys, but that's about it. Anyway, I thought it was way fun and the best part was seeing how excited Matthew and Kate would get over seeing all the animals they've been learning about.   

 Matthew was on Could 9 when he got to see the elephant. It was what he'd been looking forward to the most.

HUGE tortoises!

This jaguar looked like it wanted to rip our heads off.

Rafiki-ish type monkeys

petting zoo

See what I mean about Matthew?  :-)  He looked like this unless he was looking at an animal.

Toucan Sam

zebras

After the kids went down for naps I went shopping for a few hours by myself, which is seriously heaven. Ha. And then we all went out to pizza for dinner. Perfect birthday!  Big shout out to Michael for being awesome and making the day so great!

February

What in the world!?  Where did February go???  I mean, I know that February really is quite literally the shortest month, but it feels more like 2 weeks long.  Well anyway, here's what we were up to in February:

My parents came to town at the very start of the month and we went to the Gilbert Temple Open House.  It is BEAUTIFUL!  Seriously.  I am absolutely thrilled to be able to call it my home temple, and beyond grateful that it's only a few miles away.

This photo was taken by my dad.  Not bad huh?  It's now hanging in our front room.

The weather has been amazing.  We go to the park at least once a day - often twice a day!  A lot of February has been spent on the swings, slide, and playing in rocks and dirt.

 Matthew mostly uses the "big boy" swing now, but this time he wanted to swing next to Kate.  It really depressed me because it was the first time that I thought he actually looked awkward in the baby swing.  Ugh, does the whole my-baby-is-growing-up thing ever get easier?  :-(

Cheese ball.

Speaking of babies growing up, Kate started WALKING!  Ahh!  She pretty much never crawls now.  I LOVE when babies first start walking.  The unstable wobble is the cutest thing.  Obviously she still falls a lot, but she got good at it really fast.  Matthew finds it quite entertaining and loves cheering for her.  "Kate is WALKING!  Kate is WALKING!"

Valentine's Day!  I took Matthew on a date to McDonald's for an ice cream cone.  (We started that tradition last year).  It's amazing how unbelievably happy and excited he was about his ice cream cone.  I love this little dude so much.  He is so fun.

When I say the weather has been beautiful, I really mean it.  We even had a couple pool days:

On this day, we were walking past the pool and Matthew wanted to go see it.  We were not dressed to swim, but I figured, "Oh hey, putting our feet in would be fun."  That was dumb.  Of course putting their feet in wouldn't be enough for them.  They were having SO much fun so I basically just let them go nuts.  Fullest diapers EVER.  It was an interesting drive home.  :-)

 Lesson learned.  Yay for proper swimwear!

I am now in the market for a hat that fits him.  Ha.

Matthew is a really good reader.  He literally could read before he could talk.  We read a lot, which means trips to the library....

....and lots of practice with his "ash cards!!!!"  (flash cards)  I have no idea why he likes flash cards.  They're pretty boring, in my opinion.  Whatever works though, right?

And of course, lots of splashy bath times.  Pretty sure my bathroom floor is going to start molding from the insane of amounts of water these two monkeys manage to splash out of the tub.

February, you were very good to us.  Bring on March!

Kate's First Birthday

A few hours after Kate was born, it was the middle of the night and the nurses and staff had finally left the room.  (Well, for a few minutes anyway).  :-)  Michael was trying to get what little sleep he could on an uncomfortable couch at the foot of my hospital bed and I was holding a sleeping Kate.  It was dark and quiet but I was totally wired.  The exhaustion would definitely come, (and oh man, does it ever come during those newborn days!) but I had some very special time with my new daughter.  I remember thinking, "I'd better enjoy this because I know that in absolutely no time, she'll be turning one."  And as clichè as it is, UGH, I was right about how dang fast it happens. 

one year later.....

I've said it before, but Kate is such a little sweetheart.  In the last couple months she has developed a bit of spunk and sass, ;-) but it is probably a good thing... especially when you have an older brother that likes to pick on you sometimes.  Ha!

She was born an average-ish height and weight, but is now small for her age.  For a brief time I worried that she maybe wasn't eating enough, but I don't worry anymore.  She's got the cutest baby rolls and definitely doesn't look unhealthy!  :-)  She doesn't walk on her own yet but walks along furniture really well and is getting sturdier and braver.  She still only has two bottom teeth.  Her hair is coming in and growing but it is kinda hard to tell because it is super thin and light.  So thin, in fact, that I still have to use headbands instead of just clipping it back with a bow.  Her hair won't stay in a clip.

Her very favorite word to say is, "Dada!"  It's one of the only things she will say on command, along with a couple animal sounds.  That's okay- it's pretty fitting actually.  Though she loves her mama, she gets completely giddy when Michael is around.  And Michael is already fiercely protective of her.  I worry about her dating life when she's older.  :-)

She has been a nightmarish napper pretty much from the beginning.  However, just a little after she turned 6 months old, she went from waking up twice every single night to waking up ZERO times in the night.  It was glorious.... and ever since the first time she slept through the night, I think I can count on one hand the amount of times she has woken up in the night.  (Though sometimes she struggles to fall asleep).  She has absolutely refused to take more than one (short) nap during the day since she was about 10 months old, so she has a very early bedtime.  And then she usually ends up sleeping about 13 hours straight.  It's a beautiful thing, and it totally makes up for her stinker pants nap habits.  :-)

Kate loves being tickled, playing Peek-a-boo, and reading books.  She has very little, if any, interest in any sort of TV.  She went straight from nursing to the sippy cup.  If she doesn't like her food, she'll immediately start throwing it on the floor.  She enjoys bath time and crawling around at the park.  She thinks Matthew is hilarious and loves following him around and playing with him.  She also loves sugar.  (Duh -what kid doesn't?)

Kate and Matthew are only 17 months apart, and while there are plenty of people who have kids even closer together, there were a lot of people who were surprised by our decision to have kids so close in age.  But let me tell you - both me and Michael knew when it was time to have a second baby.  I was so completely certain that this was what Heavenly Father wanted for our family that I never once doubted our decision.  I am so, so grateful that we were blessed with this girl.  She has brought us so much joy.

There are a million more things I could say about Kate, but for now, I will just say that I love her.  I am so thankful for her patience... especially during her early months when I basically had two babies.  She is sweet and fun and smart and I adore her.

For her birthday, we kept things relatively simple.  She was getting over a cold but still managed to be happy and have a pretty good day.  Michael took the day off work and we visited Butterfly Wonderland.  We all had a blast and loved seeing so many gorgeous butterflies.

After naps we made a quick trip to the park and then had dinner and CAKE!  She was hesitant about her cake at first but after I stuck some in her mouth she caught on.  :-)

 It was a great day.  So excited for her second year of life!

Kate's First Year

My baby girl is one!  So exciting, and also, so sad.  :-(  :-)  Here's a little video of her first year of life.  So grateful for this girl and the huge ray of sunshine she has been in our lives. Love you Kate!  Happy Birthday!

Christmas!

I love Christmas!  And it doesn't get any less magical when you get older.  I love that.  :-)  This whole month has been wonderful and packed of fun Christmas activities.  Is Christmas night depressing to anyone else?  Another whole year until we can do it again!  Boo!  Anyway, I won't harp on depressing things.  Instead, I'll just say that we had a fabulous Christmas and made many good memories.  As a matter of fact, all of 2013 was pretty great.  I'm hoping 2014 is just as good!

Instead of posting 100 pictures, I just threw several of our Christmas pictures into a quick slideshow.  (I'm horrible at them, but hey, they're easy and fun!  And I'm kind of on a slideshow kick.  Next up - Kate's first birthday slideshow!  Whoa!)  The song for this slideshow was chosen because it has pretty much been stuck in my head all month.  Ha!  There are pictures of decorating the tree, looking at lights, wearing festive clothes, visiting Santa, Christmas Eve, and, of course, Christmas.

Byram Family Christmas: