Ob la di, ob la da....

...life goes on!! I keep searching for the pause button of life, with no luck! Our little baby is already 4 weeks old! Our sweet little princess is in a toddler bed! She'll be three in three months and will be starting pre-school!
My "baby" brother is the champ shot put and discus thrower and a senior this year!!
In this picture, he reached a new PR of 55' 3"!

Bailey and Taysum having fun on the "mountains" at the Lovell Track Meet last weekend.

Bright Eyes

Taysum will be the big #5 in a matter of WEEKS and is tearing up the neighborhood on his trike!

Bailey chillin' at Grandpa and Grandma's after a family Bar-B-Q after the track meet!

Grandma Anderson helping cousin Carissa hold Hayden

Taysum got to go on a school field trip to a farm. I sent my camera along with his teachers and they got some great shots for me!

My wonderfully talented husband made his first pie this past weekend! We had some friends whose freezer thawed and they gave us some YUMMY apple pie filling. So, Ken and Taysum made the crust and we had an awesome Sunday dessert! By the time I thought to take a picture, this was all that was left!!

Our "big" boy had his first Gymnastics Recital last night. I wasn't able to get good pictures because I was recording it for Ken who was stuck at a Town Meeting in Basin. Obviously, I can't take pictures and record at the same time!! I think I just pushed the button too quickly and it wasn't in focus yet...or something!

Grandma Anderson and Carissa came to support Taysum!

Daddy made it towards the end and the kids were really excited to see him!

One of his awesome teachers, Miss Cathy

I've mentioned before that Taysum is so caring towards his siblings. This morning we were getting ready to take Taysum to school and I heard him talking and singing to Hayden. He was saying how cute he was and singing "I Am A Child of God." When I went to get Hayden, I found Taysum had tucked in a toy for Hayden, too!

So many wonderful moments

In such a short, little while

I wish I could change the clock

And measure the time smile by smile!

We're All Together

Hayden Nicholas Cutler

Was born 8:30am Wednesday, March 31 in Powell, WY. He was 8 lbs. 4 oz. and 19 3/4 in. long. We're so happy to have him here with us! He has been such a wonderful addition to our family and makes us so complete! He has lots of medium brown hair and we think his eyes might stay blue. He has great color (now that the jaundice is gone). He has his daddy's strait nose and cleft chin. He is such a good baby!! He has just been such a joy and he is such a calm and special spirit so far! He brings a lot of peace with him.

He was scheduled to be born via C-Section a week before his due date, April 7. Since no one (but his Daddy) thought April 1 would be a good choice :), we scheduled it for March 31. It turned out that this was a difficult date for our families to help because of work, etc. Also, Taysum had a horrible rash and had had a fever and Bailey had a scary respiratory infection and was very, very ill. I also had a pretty forceful cough that I was worried about during surgery and recovery. Fortunately, Grandpa and Grandma Anderson sacrificed and worked out their schedules to help us out which was a wonderful blessing! So, 5:00am, we left for Powell. The staff at Powell has just been so wonderful to us and it was a wonderful experience! No problems, no complications, just blessings and peace and joy!

Hayden had some wonderful visitors his first day! Because his brother and sister were sick, they couldn't visit him in the hospital, but they got to peek at him through the nursery window the next day. Uncle Chad, Aunt Lindsay, CJ, Quinn, Carissa and Celeste came to visit his first night.

Grandpa and Grandma Anderson were also there to share his first day.

Proud Papa

Here's the star of the show!

We came home on Saturday afternoon. Taysum was really excited to meet his brother and very proud to hold him!

Bailey has come around to Hayden a little slower. At first, she was pretty much just indifferent to him. Every once in a while she would point to him and say, "Baby!" or "He has ears!" She's really come around lately and seems to enjoy him more and more. It still makes both of them pretty nervous when he cries and Taysum lets me know pretty quickly that I need to come take care of him.

The next day was Easter. We had some fun gifts for the kids to kind of help with the transition. Bailey has really enjoyed "Wonder Pets" lately and we got her the Beanie Baby Characters of Linny, Tuck, and Ming Ming. She was pretty impressed! Taysum has really been into Wii lately, so we got him a little educational game for that and he was pretty excited as well! It was a pretty nice first weekend home together. We had SO much help from our family and ward. We were overwhelmed and touched by all the love, support and help we've received from near and far!! We have really been blessed!

Hayden lost his cord when he was 5 days old, so we were able to give him a bath pretty early...although he's not too big a fan of the idea!

We've just been enjoying him! We just take our time and try to enjoy every moment! It's already going too fast!!

I LOVE this picture!!

Taysum has always been such a good big brother. He is so protective and tender-hearted! I saw them in this pose and it reminded me of....

....this picture from nearly three years earlier!

So a quick update on me...I'm healing really well and trying to figure out life with three kids. It's a little like music...with the two, it was kind of like a quick step march 2/4...but now I'm trying to slow down and reconfigure my mind to a 3/4 waltz. Just as beautiful...just different!

Also....yes....I turned 30!! We celebrated on the 11th with a bar-b-q at my parent's house with our family here. It was really nice. Ken gave me some much needed emergency preparedness items for a gift and a really pretty necklace and some "birthday money." With that I was able to get a camera!! I'm so excited and I just LOVE it! Now we will have a little better quality than just our phone camera pictures. Also, we've been talking for a while about doing the instant streaming from Net Flix to our TV, but it was kind of expensive. Well, on my birthday, the 12th, I received an email from Net Flix announcing that we could get a FREE disc for our Wii (which we already had) that would do the instant streaming! Did I mention it was FREE!! Happy Birthday to me!! ;) We've really been enjoying it!

Here are my sillies during stories before bed time.

Ken's been torn in 20 different directions lately and has had a lot of stress put on him, but he has handled it so well!! On the 16th, he went to Casper and took his PE Exam. He feels that he did well on it and we're hoping and praying that he passed!! It has been such a relief to have that out of the way and the kids love having their Daddy back and not having to study any more! The night he was coming back, I invited my Mom and Sister over for a girl's night to watch New Moon (another b-day gift). It was so fun to have them over and have yummy snacks. I caught this shot of my mom holding Hayden's hand.

Here are just some other fun shots...

Hayden is going to be our big boy!! At his 2 week appointment he not only had gained back his birth weight, but he blew it out of the water with and extra pound and 3 oz. at 9lbs. 7oz.!! Which put him in the 75th percentile for weight. His length was 54cm which puts him in the 90th percentile!!

We've had some BIG changes come to our home, but most of all we feel so blessed! We have three of the greatest kids there are and we just love this time in our life!! We are so happy! We have been blessed with wonderful family and friends! More to come soon!!

Life is cake...

Usually I'm not too big a fan of forwards, but every once in a while I come across a really good one (usually from my mom or mom-in-law)! This one was sent to me by my mother-in-law and I just keep thinking about it. I wanted to put it on our blog so I don't forget it. (It was originally called "God's Cake" and I changed a few things to apply it more personally.)


"Sometimes we wonder, 'why are things so difficult?' or 'why/how long do I have to struggle with this particular trial?' Here is a wonderful explanation!

A daughter is telling her Mother how everything is going wrong: she feels inadequate as a mother to her young children and wife to her sweet husband; she can't seem to stretch their income; and she doesn't feel like she connects very well with her friends.

Meanwhile, her Mother is baking a cake and asks her daughter if she would like a piece. 'Absolutely, Mom! I love your cake!'
'Here, have some cooking oil,' her Mother offers.
'Yuck' says her daughter.
'How about a couple raw eggs?'
'Gross, Mom!'
'Would you like some flour then? Or maybe some baking soda?'
'Mom, those are all yucky!'

To which the Mother replies, 'Yes, all those things seem bad all by themselves, but when they are put together in the right way, and in the right time, they make a wonderful cake!'

Our Heavenly Father works the same way. Many times we wonder why He would let us go through such bad and difficult times. He know that when we go through these thing all in His order, they always work for good! We just have to trust Him and, eventually, they will make something wonderful!!"

2 minute hair dos...

Sadly, no...I haven't found some great site with extraordinary hair dos for your little girls that can be done in under 2 minutes. No, these are some hair dos that have been UNdone in under two minutes by my little girl! I've been so excited, having a girl, to play with her hair. When she was a baby, I put a head band on her every day so she'd get used to it...or so was my theory. As soon as she figured out how to pull them off, I haven't had a chance! When I'm getting ready for the day, she likes to come in and play with my make up and brushes, etc. So, I thought I'd give it a try. She sits really still and lets me put things in her hair (which is a huge improvement) but it doesn't last long at all! So, here are some pics I grabbed real quick before they came out!

Her own creation... (that's like 5 headbands around her neck)

It's hard to tell, but she has 3 clips in her hair...on top of her head.

Taysum and Bailey were both kind of sick for a while at the beginning of the month. Their favorite thing to do was "rest" on the couch. Taysum loved it when Ken would join them.

Ken has been working SO hard studying for his PE Exam coming up in April (yes...two weeks after the baby!) It drives Taysum crazy that he can't be with his Daddy. So, we let him play the computer quietly so they can at least be in the same room. :) We just thought he looked SO little sitting at this computer.

CATCH UP FROM FEBRUARY...

Going backwards...Valentine's Day was a lot of fun. Ken and my anniversary is on the 5th, so we just enjoy being together and making it fun for the kids on Valentine's Day. Ken did get some flowers for me and a movie, which was really sweet. I made him a nice dinner. It was kind of fun because we also had the missinaries over for dinner that night as well. Taysum loves having the missinaries over...he thinks they're just great! Any time we put the extra leaf in the table, he thinks the "teachers" (as he calls them) are coming for dinner. The kids got A LOT of balloons for Valentine's Day. Growing up, my Dad always got balloons and candy for us kids and my mom. I LOVE that he's kept that tradition going with the grandkids as well. It's so thoughtful! He also brought them each a book, which they love! Ken and I got a movie for them. They went absolutely NUTS over it! It's a video with different episodes from their favorite Nick Jr. cartoons. Their expressions were so funny and they couldn't hardly contain themselves!! It made our day!

Our anniversary was very nice as well. Ken got off work really early, which was really nice and I was able to attend my great Uncle Ed's funeral. We went up to Powell and had dinner at The Lamplighter. Then we went to "Sherlock Holmes" which was pretty intense! I realized that Ken and I had never both been away from the kids overnight. It's going to be a while before we're able to do that again, so we gave it a try. The kids stayed at my parent and we just did fun things we used to to before we had kids. We had grown-up conversations without interruption! We played board games and just enjoyed being together. It was sure weird without the kids!! We had a great time, though! I am SO blessed to be married to such a wonderful man! He is my best friend and the love of my life! Everything is just so much better with him in my life! He is a wonderful husband, dad, worker, friend, brother, son, you name it and he's just wonderful!!

Other:

I don't even really remember what happened here, but we were all laughing at his pouting. He started laughing, too, so he's trying to look grumpy for the picture.

Taysum's best friend, Kyle, moved away. It's been pretty hard on Taysum, but I'm proud of how well he has done with it. His teachers at school were so good to him and really helped him with the transition as well. He asks about him every now and then.

Family Home Evening has never been the highlight of the week at our house, so I've been trying to make it a little more fun for the kids. A while ago, my sister did a "Creation Cake," so we tried that again since we've started the Old Testament in Sunday School. The kids LOVED it! It was really fun! The next week we talked about Noah and the Arc and played animal charades and that was a big hit as well. Now the kids are starting to get more excited for FHE and it's exciting for me, too! Last week we planted grass and it was so fun to watch them get so involved!! Last night we learned about working together as a family and had a good time cleaning out our van together. It has really strengthened my testimony of FHE and of being consistent in teaching our children!! SO FUN!!

Just to be clear

Lately I've had a lot of people tell me things such as, "You've sure got your hands full!" "She's going to give you a run for your money!" And other various looks, expressions, etc. to the same effect. I'm just as guilty and I feel sorry for myself plenty of times when my kids are a little more than I feel I'm able to handle at the time. However, more than anything, I feel sorry for those people who don't know how my kids really are! Especially my little girl. Taysum is much better able to express himself now and he is VERY social and just loves adults. However, Bailey is still working through some social anxieties. More often than not, we'll be in some social setting and she'll be upset. Some well meaning soul will approach us to "help" and Bailey (literally) throws herself into being twice as upset as she was before. I try to keep moving, but they insist their idea will calm her down. 10 for 10 they cower away wondering why they tried in the first place. I appreciate their intent, but she has some social anxieties that just make some things difficult for her to deal with. So, she starts out feeling upset and insecure that Ken and I can't fulfill what she feels MUST be fulfilled at that time; then someone she doesn't know approaches and for all she knows, is about to take her away from what little security she is feeling from us at that time. Can anyone really blame her? It's been this way for about the past two years and it breaks my heart that I caused it (long story but true...not playing the blaming game or anything). So, I wish they understood it's me...not her. Precious few lucky people get to see her sweet, loving, incredible personality!! She speaks SO well and says the sweetest things! She is so forgiving and generous. She is also independant and confident and knows what and when she wants things; I really admire that in her. She is such a joy! Her smile and her big brown eyes melt my heart! She loves her brother so much and would follow him anywhere! She really is just amazing! She gives such wonderful hugs and kisses. She loves animals and to be a part of whatever is going on at the time. She is so aware of what the rest of us are doing and where we are. She is very tender-hearted as well. She loves to dance and sing. She is so aware of her surroundings; she'll always point out the local landmarks as we drive through town: church, the street lights, the store, Taysum's school, our house. She amazes me on a daily basis!! Same thing with my little boy! He is so smart! He is so tender and loving! He often includes Hayden in what is going on, even though he is still inside me! He takes such good care of his sister and tries to include her in everything he does. His Daddy is his hero and he's is also such a good little helper to me! He has a great memory and he is always so positive and uplifting to those around him. He has so much energy and love for everyone and everything around him. I admire him SO much! The other night a little boy wasn't being very nice to him and he came over not understanding why he didn't want to play with him...he was very hurt and it broke my heart. I tried to comfort him as much as I could and he went off to play again. The next time I saw him, he was trying again to connect with that same little boy and the boy was responding. I was so proud of him! He tries so hard to please us as his parents. Even though he has some difficulties and frustrations, I have to say how much I admire how well he really handles things! He's come so far! Heaven, knows I'm far from being a great Mom...but I do love my kids with all my heart and I wouldn't trade them for ANYTHING different! They amaze me everyday and give me hope that I can be worth something to someone someday. I am so blessed to have them in my life! They are so incredible and I hope others will be blessed with the same priveledge to get to know them the way I have!!