The End Of The Beginning

I'm glad this month is over.It's been a pretty crappy start to a new year. Maybe February can be our real start of a new year? There are so many things that need to be done in our household right now. Like what you ask? Well....

-We've been working on potty training and I hope that we can be less busy and distracted and focus on that more. Savannah is doing pretty good so far.
-Cooper is still not consistently sleeping in his bed. This is a real struggle for us. He'll sleep in there for a few hours at night, while we're still awake it seems, and then he wakes between 1 and 2 a.m. Well, at that time of the morning neither of us really want to deal with his crying or trying to get him to go back to sleep, so he ends up in our bed. He loves our bed and sleeps great in it. But, this has got to stop.
-We have eaten like crap lately. Crap. So much eating out and on the run. Horrible for the waistline and not healthy whatsoever. So, we'll be eating at home more.
-We have had no kind of workout regime for awhile now and we are both suffering from this. I am never motivated and wonder when exactly I have time to work out. But, considering the fact that my favorite jeans don't really fit me too well right now, I need to get back in shape. Right now I think my plan is that I'm going to have to go to bed earlier and get up at 6:30 before the kids. That doesn't sound fun at all to me, but I'm hoping that the exercise will give me more energy and motivation. And get me back into those favorite jeans.
-There is one thing we are totally excited about come Tuesday. LOST!!! Tuesdays will be our special day where we have yummy food and dessert and were the kids will be in bed, whether asleep or not, when it comes on.
-I thrive on lists. And I can't live without my planner. I mean, I can remember most things going on, but I like to plan. I can't go to the grocery store and just buy stuff. I have to make a list and know what meals I'm planning on what day and how much I need. So, back to the "planning" we will go. It's so much easier for me, and I think Carter too, to plan what we need to do each day and check it off as we go. Otherwise, we'd just sit down and watch movies every night and get nothing accomplished. And sometimes that is what happens. But considering we didn't get everything done on our last list at Christmas time, it's time to get back to the grind. I just hate feeling so behind all the time.

So, wish us luck. Change is always hard, but I feel like we really need it.

11:39 PM

ya know, just when i thought i could sit down and write something, cooper starts crying in his bed. he's gonna have to cry. yesterday we took him to his 9 month appointment, a little after the fact, but we've been busy. he's doing great and forgive me, but i can't remember all his stats. i know he weighs 17 lbs. 11 oz. which is down to about the 10% now which is likely because he is moving all the time, and he is in the 75% for height. the doctor said he looked great and was doing all the things he should be and then he said, after seeing him walk, "well, maybe he's a little ahead in a few things." haha. all things physical for this one. he's been climbing the stairs all week. to the top. no worries, we're right behind him. he's also taken many more steps and is balancing himself a lot better. his hair is growing like a weed and needs to be cut....again. he doesn't like it when savannah takes things away from him and will scream when she does. he's still a big cuddle bug and wants to sleep with us. hence the "he's crying in his bed". is he really almost 10 months old?


on another note, savannah said the cutest thing today. she was playing with my "edward" bookmark and my mom asked her who that was and she said "edward". then she says, "he loves bella." awwwww. heart.


on another not so happy note, my sister lesli was admitted to the hospital today with extreme pain. turns out she had to have surgery to take her gallbladder out today. come on! seriously? i think she needs a break. like, a huge break. everything went well, but still, give that girl a break!


come on cooper, give up and go back to sleep.

She Will Be Missed

Friday was Aislinn's service up near Park City. She had a beautiful casket and was dressed so cute. What a beautiful baby. It was a small graveside service and the little girls put a little something in her casket for her and some put flowers on her casket. After, we went back to Lesli and Casey's new home, which we hadn't been to yet. It's the kind of home I'd love to have some day. We all visited and the church brought in some delicious food. The little girls wore these cute matching outfits, the sisters wore hot pink sweaters and the guys wore nice brown shirts to honor Aislinn. It really started to snow while we were there and thank goodness we drove with Taylor in his SUV cause our car wouldn't have done well. We decided to stay with Taylor another night because we weren't sure how the roads would be. We left by 10 am on Saturday and the roads weren't too bad. We came home and cleaned pretty much all Saturday because we were so behind.



Acacia (2), Savannah (3), Cooper (9M), Austin (15), Meredith (6), Catherine (9), Aislinn. All the Grandbabies.

Savannah likes to talk on the phone right now. When our phones ring she runs to get them before us.

Kangaroo Zoo

We went to Kangaroo Zoo last Wednesday with Catherine, Meredith and Caren. We let the girls just go and run run run. Savannah had such a blast, I could tell. She loved having someone to play with and being able to run around everywhere.


This was the first thing they went on and it was really high. Savannah was a little apprehensive at first but when the girls helped her just did really well.

We were there for about 5-6 hours. Endless fun! Savannah was crying on the way home saying she was so hungry, probably because she burned off her lunch, times 10. She ate 2 pieces of pizza that night! We'll definitely be going back there some time.

Somebody is getting better at this walking thing.

I Need My Sleep, So I Will Sleep

This little guy has been so sick for the past few days. Fever, cough, funky poo, lethargic, sleeping none stop. And those are only the symptoms we know about. I hate to think that he has a sore throat or a headache and he can't tell us. I mean, I guess a baby could have a headache? Finally yesterday he seemed to be almost back to his normal self and actually was playful and active. He's still not 100% yet, and I'm sure his cough will linger for awhile because it always does, but at least his fever seems to be gone, after having it for like 4 days. I really love that when I took him to the doctor on Monday that they didn't tell me what he had, but things to watch for if he got RSV. Ok, so he doesn't have RSV, but he's had a fever all weekend and nothing seems to be making it break, so what should I do? Uh...if it's not gone by Thursday then come back. That seems like quite a long time to have a fever. I'm just glad it broke and hope it doesn't come back. It kind of sucks to not know what he's got though. It sure has been fun though to hold him and cuddle with him. He's normally only like that at night or when he wants to go to sleep but he was literally wanting to be held all day, so there has been lots of cuddling. What I don't like is the fact that now I have a scratchy throat and a runny nose, and I never get sick. "She's a tank.", according to Carter.

Too Beautiful For Earth

Aislinn Siobhan Hinshaw ( Ashlynn Shevon is how you say it ) came into this world on the early morning of Saturday, January 9th, 2010, weighing 7 lbs. 1 oz. and 19 inches long. She was taken to Primary Childrens Hospital after birth. She brought our whole family together; to pray, to hope, to support each other. She is absolutely beautiful. We decided that the other babies in the NICU probably had hair envy because she had lots of beautiful brown hair with red undertones. The brown from her Mom, the red from her Dad. I wouldn't be surprised if they were jealous of her perfect button nose either. I mean, seriously, I've never seen a baby nose more perfect. These pictures don't even do it justice. Not even my kids noses were that cute. She had everyone in this family wrapped around her finger from day one, and we all would have done anything for her. She passed on the evening of Wednesday, January 13th, 2010, with all of her family near her. Carter and I felt so honored to have been there and to be able to hold and love her after she passed. There was understandably lots of tears and sadness, but also so much love. I was so glad that I could be there for my sister, with my other sisters, to help in such a sad time. That was very special to me and I want all of my sisters to know that I love them all very much. I feel very blessed to have married into such a wonderful family. I can't express the sadness that I feel for Lesli and Casey. They love their baby girl so much. And we do too. She will be so missed. Forever.

Holding Uncle Carter's finger.

She got her Mommy's long little toes.

"An Angel opened the book of life and wrote down my baby's birth. Then she whispered as she closed the book, "Too beautiful for Earth."- Unknown