holden is sitting!

apparently he thought it was time to learn to sit, now that he is 8 months and all.

it's exciting to watch him experience the world from a new perspective.

such a big boy.

here are a few more things about holden emmett..

he thinks chet is super funny. [and chet loves it.]

he has a ticklish tummy.

he is a crazy jumper in his exersaucer.

he is already attracted to electronics (cell phones, remote control, etc). what the heck?!

so far, his favorite solid food is apples.

we still swaddle him when he sleeps. he is a sucker for being swaddled.
matt says that he looks like a 'block head' when he smiles. whatever that means..

EVERYONE says he looks just like chet.
and when we compare him to chet's baby pictures, they are definitely spitting images of each other!

he can wiggle/roll/pivot his way across the floor to get anywhere he desires.

and i don't think it will be long before he figures out crawling. he already gets his booty up.

his left eye has a clogged tear duct, so it always looks kinda messy.

he snores when he falls asleep in his car seat.

he enjoys baths.

i swear his first tooth will pop through at any moment.

his initial are H.E.L - hopefully that doesn't forshadow anything..

his forehead has the cutest wrinkles on it. and they are very expressive!

he is a pain in the butt when it is time to change his diaper. he never stops trying to flip over.

i like it when he is chatty.

he likes things that crinkle - paper, chip bags, packs of baby wipes.

holden definitely has his own little personality, but he's a lot like his brother in that he is happy, and mellow, and easy to comfort.
i'm not really sure how matt and i got so lucky.

chet's nursery leader told us that he was bullied today in nursery.

and matt says it's my fault because i made chet wear a bow tie..

but i think the bully was just jealous of how stinkin' cute chet looked.

because he honestly is the sweetest thing!

and here are pictures from the library this week.

we learned about pets. so chet got to make a puppy.

girl: you're in my ward, right?

me: yep!

girl: i thought you were. you have that kid with lots of hair, right?

me: haha... ya, he's mine.

chet definitely has some note-worthy hair. especially first thing in the morning.

he would win a bed head contest - hands down.

and now, here are a whole bunch of other neat things about chet:


i made these felt letters in an attempt to teach chet the letters in his name.

he is a stubborn shy boy with things like spelling his name.
i know he can do it, because i've heard him do it when he thinks i'm not listening.
but he won't do it on command.
it's the same thing with counting.
chet will count his toys and snacks when he is playing with them.
but if i ask him to count for me, i am lucky if he makes it to 4!
stinker.

we often catch him singing to himself.
the songs he likes to sing by himself are:
twinkle twinkle, happy birthday, and the 'bubble guppies' theme song.
chet has the sweetest little singing voice.

he has an opinion of what songs we play in the car.
he asks us to change the song often.
'i don't like this song. i want a different one.'
umm.. no.

every time we brush chet's teeth he says,
'mmm.. yummy toothpaste!'
every time.
haha yes, chet. it still tastes good.

if he doesn't want to eat his dinner, i pick up a bite with his fork and offer it to matt.

matt acts excited to eat chet's bite and then - all of a sudden - chet wants to eat it.

it seriously works every single time.

sucker!

chet is honestly the slowest eater on the planet.

my mom says i was the same way.. so i guess it's payback!

he eats dill pickles every day.
it's the only green thing (that isn't candy) that we can get him to eat.
so i'll take it!
even if he dips them in ranch sometimes.. haha so gross.

when i help myself to chet's food he tells me:

'that's enough, mommy'.

lately, when we do something that he doesn't like, chet will say:

'i don't like you.'
and we have absolutely no idea where he learned that from.
it's not like we tell him that we don't like him!

chet hates baths.
HATES them.
he starts crying the minute we mention that he needs a bath and doesn't stop until he is cuddled up in his towel.
there were a few months in his life where he decided to enjoy baths but, other then that, he has always been a nut-job in the tub.
and showers are no better.
thankfully holden likes baths.
and i guarantee there have never been 2 people that are more excited then us that their kid enjoys a bath.
except for maybe our neighbors..
because there is absolutely no way they don't hear our ridiculous bath time battle through the measly piece of drywall that separates us!

he is under the impression that he 'needs' our ipad.
and he knows how to turn on my phone, swipe the screen to get it out of sleep mode, scroll through the pages to get to the kids games, and start playing a game without any help.
what is up with kids these days?!

as soon as we drive into the broulims parking lot he asks if he is going to get a cookie. smart boy.

he picks his nose constantly. drives. me. nuts.

he rides his bike around our tiny apartment at mach speeds. it's terrifying.

he makes me sincerely laugh several times a day.

he is kind, and cautious, and gentle.

he turns 3 in less then a month. and i can't stand it.
i only have 15 years until he will leave me for a mission..university..wife.
15 years has never seemed so short..


time for pictures!

he insisted he wear a party hat while decorating valentines cookies for his dad.

i guess his little brain puts party hats in the same category as sprinkles and frosting.

..makes sense!

a snowy bike ride.

some old sledding pictures that i forgot to post..

pizza pie cafe (aka. craigos).

he doesn't do this much anymore.. so i was soaking it up!

our bean now lives in dirt!

he looked so teeny in our big bed.

ice cream + nerds = one very happy little nerd-face.

chet needed a new passport, and holden needed his first passport. so they both got passport photos.
and, believe it or not, holden was the more cooperative one!

one of these things is not like the other..

handsome boys, ready for church.

ready for lots of pictures of our trip to texas??

when ever i spend time with my mom, i end up with even more pictures then usual!

she is the picture-taking queen.

and, although i complain about it sometimes, i always love looking back at all the pictures.

whenever we stay at my parents house i always get sucked in by the shelves and shelves of photo albums.

i have spent way too much time flipping through them!

it makes me wish i was better at printing pictures.

there is something special about looking through albums, rather then scrolling though them on a computer.

i got an instant camera for christmas. [it's pretty awesome!]

chet loves carrying around the pictures that i take of him.

so i bet he would love more photo albums kicking around our home.

i'll work on that... one day.

wow, i got way off track... back to our trip!

we got to my sisters house late tuesday night, after a long day of traveling.

it was exciting when we got there. chet's cousins all stayed up late to greet him. he was thrilled.

chet thinks cousins are the best. he talks about his cousins all the time.

within minutes of us arriving chet had run off to play.

he spent most of our trip following cousins around.

and they were all sooo good to him.

the older cousins read him books and played games with him.

and the little cousins were so good at sharing and inviting him to play.

they were all also really sweet with holden.

they all wanted to hold him and feed him. and i loved it!

every morning the big cousins had to go to school bright and early, so the little cousins got to spend some special time together.

they were so cute to watch.

they played with the trains a lot.

playing on the bunk beds.

chet was really good at getting up on the bunk bed, but not so good at getting down.

one time he got stranded up there for a while!

picking up the kids from school.

chet HATES baths. always has.

so i told my sister i wanted chet to have a fun bath experience with his cousins to help him.

she promised me that he would have a fun bubble bath.

but she lied!

chet screamed the entire time! and so did london.

april and i were dying laughing because it was such a gong show.

we went for walks.

and played outside.

chet got to go on harrison's school bus. it was magical!

cuuuuute boy.

we played at parks.

we watched kites.

it wasn't super hot swimming weather, but the kids were so excited to swim in their brand new pool for the very first time.

so we went swimming!

i mostly just hung out in the hot tub. chet too!

jackson about to do a belly flop!

and we swam some more.

we rode all sorts of bikes. [matt and i are dying to get bikes!]

blue steel! [at bailee's soccer game]

we went to the mall.

sunday morning we said our goodbyes.

my mom always gives the longest, tightest hugs so i tried to give april a longer, tighter hug!

i succeeded.

thanks for letting us invade your home, april & ben.

don't be surprised if we do it again!