Oh, Christmas Tree!

Tonight we went to The Festival of Trees with some friends. This was my first time going and I was very impressed with the creativity, time and money people had put into these trees to donate for charity. All the money goes to Primary Children's Hospital. My nephew, Kaden spend almost two months at that hospital so I have a special place for it in my heart. Hopefully, I never have to go back there to visit anyone I love, but it is nice to know there is a place like that if our little ones need it.

This year I have already received a wonderful Christmas gift from my mom. A brand new TREE! We picked out some of the ornaments together and then I found the rest here and there. I really enjoyed decorating this tree and I am proud of it! I still am not completely finished, but here it is so far. MY FAVORITE TREE OF THE NIGHT!

Here are some of my favorites at the Festival of Trees...

On this first tree I loved the polar bear and penguin theme. The second tree is so creative with the giraffe coming out of the tree itself!

This third tree is a Polar Express theme and I LOVE the train going up the tree! SO CUTE! Then the fourth of course is an upside down tree!

I love this skinny blue one as well as the look of the last tree all decorated in white with positive words like Joy all over it.
Then this one below had a whole set to go with the trees.

Here is one for all of you Star Wars fans! There are only a couple figurines on there...

We were told the most expensive tree was a BYU/UTES tree that went for 10,000 dollars! I hope they could write that off on their taxes!

I LOVE the Christmas season and for some reason this year it seems extra exciting. Probably because we have our baby celebrating it with us! Or it could simply be because I am not working retail... :)

Cousins and Grandparents!

These are the Green Family Cousins!

Left to Right- Zoe, James, Nate, Mia, Andrew, Cohen, William, and Kya (and one more on the way for Michelle! Yeah!).
Cohen has really enjoyed watching all of his cousins these last couple days. The boys have come into town from California for Thanksgiving and the girls just live down the street from us! Yeah for family!

We were really excited for Cohen to see his Grandma and Grandpa Green. They live in California as well and we don't make it out there too often so it is nice when they come here!

Fun with Grandma!

While they were here we also celebrated her birthday! Happy Birthday Mom/Grandma! We hope this is a great year for you!

Yeah for Grandpa!
Cohen thought they were both pretty entertaining and had lots of fun with them!

Granny Dolls Banana Bread

My family has a tradition of going to Moab for a huge family gathering and feast every year for Thanksgiving Day. My great grandma Genivieve Miller was the center of our gathering with her children, grand children, great-grand children and great-great-grand children all there among other friends and relatives. I looked forward to this week of eating until you couldn't eat anymore and fun with my cousins every year growing up. I also looked forward to seeing my great grandma whom everyone called Granny Doll. My Granny didn't own a TV and instead filled her time with her love for books, crocheting, playing cards and she had a huge collection of dolls. She was surrounded by family that adored her and she loved to visit with everyone who would come to town. She taught me a lot about what is important in life. It has been a few years since she passed away and Thanksgiving hasn't felt quite the same since.

Last night I thought about my Granny as I used her recipe to make banana bread. I couldn't remember the last time I baked banana bread and I really enjoyed it! It is so YUMMY!
This year I am so thankful to be celebrating Thanksgiving in Moab once again. Scott and I get to stay at my Grandma and Grandpa's house because we have the youngest baby! I am excited because I think it has been six years since I stayed there instead of a hotel. Too bad Cohen is too young to experience the 20 foot long table filled with Thanksgiving choices! I guess I will just have to do that for him!

I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!

5 Months Old!

Dear Cohen,
Today you turned five months old! This month you have started discovering the world with your mouth. You love to suck on blankets, your toys, your fingers and just about anything else you can get your hands on. Ever since you started reaching for things, I have noticed you use your left hand a lot more than your right. I am betting you are going to be a lefty like your daddy! A couple of times you have surprised me with how fast you can grab objects and you have thrown your hand right into the middle of whatever I am eating. Which brings me to the next thing, FOOD! You have experienced eating rice cereal (with water, milk or apple juice), sweet potatoes and carrots now. I say experienced because you don't like it all that much yet and most of the time you seem to barely put up with it, but you do eat the carrots a little better than the other food I have offered you. People say that once they started their babies on solids it was magic and their babies then slept through the night. Well, you aren't one of those babies, but last night you did do pretty well. Actually, probably one of the best nights yet! You went down at 7:30 and woke up at about 9:30 and then slept until 2 am and then until 6 am and again until 8 am! That is two 2 hour and two 4 hour increments! YEAH! Good job! You now take all of your naps and sleep all night in your crib. This has been nice for your daddy and I because we don't have to worry about breathing too loud and waking you. I tried putting you in your own room when you were 3 months, but I was so nervous about it that I didn't sleep well. There is only a wall separating us, but it seemed like a thousand feet away. I don't know what changed, but now I am fine with you growing up and having your own room. I even get a chance to miss you when you go down so early in the evening, but your daddy always reminds me that I will see you in a couple of hours so enjoy the "me time".

You LOVE to play with your daddy. You both laugh and laugh together while he makes funny faces and sounds and tickles you. You still love to bounce and I love your jumper! It is the only toy we have for you that you seem to enjoy for longer than 5-10 minutes. It is hilarious to watch you push your little legs off the ground and jump around spinning in the door frame.

I want these newsletters to be not only about your development and what I love about you, but I want to hopefully teach you about what is important to me. You have two uncles that you haven't met yet. One of my brothers lives a few states away and I haven't seen him in over eight years. The other brother, my oldest, lives here, but has been in jail most of my pregnancy with you and since you were born. A couple weeks ago he almost died when he left the treatment center he had been court ordered into and over dose on heroin. He was extremely lucky to live since they were breathing for him for quite some time. Unfortunately this wasn't the first time he had come so close to death. He is consumed by a serious drug problem that he can't seem to overcome. He has lost both of his children and has no material possessions to his name. He has repeatedly hurt everyone around him to support his habit. The devastation that his choices has brought to our family has been endlessly wearing on my mom. I tell you this because he isn't the only one with addictions in our immediate family and I have learned first hand by watching my loved ones that drugs and alcohol, among other things, can destroy your life. I love you so much and I want you to know about the dangers it can bring. Even at this early age when I see so much potential for you I think about what I don't want for you as well. I want for you to have an extremely happy and healthy life and I hope I can lovingly guide you through hard decisions so you can look back on the choices you eventually make and know they were the right ones for you.

Love,

Mama

Size difference

What 4 and a half months can do...

Our 4th Anniversary!

Yesterday, Scott and I celebrated four years together. We spent the day doing simple things we love. We relaxed all morning and then went to lunch at Bajio and walked around and shopped at the Riverwoods. We spent the evening playing, bathing and feeding the baby and once he went to bed we spent time just the two of us enjoying the love that we share. We have been through and experienced so much together since November 8th, 2003 and we have grown in ways we never could have imagined.
We laid in bed the other night reminiscing about our wedding day and our honeymoon in Cancun. Since then our life has been very busy with different jobs, different apartments, different cars, buying our first home, three miscarriages, one dog, two fish and one frog, death of the fish and frog, fun vacations to Florida, Northern and Southern California, Colorado, Las Vegas and all over Utah, an exciting pregnancy, an amazing experience delivering our first baby, becoming parents and loving the joy it brings, Scott starting his career and building his new business and now we are looking forward to the future, whatever it may bring!


Happy Anniversary, Sweetheart! Thank you for everything you do for me each and every day! I am so incredibly lucky to have you as my husband, eternal companion, best friend, lover, partner in crime and father of my baby. You are the person I laugh with, cry with, have endless hopes and dreams with! Thank you for asking me to marry you and for actually going through with it! :)

In the words of Cohen...

I had my four month check up last week where I found out I weigh 17 pounds and 9 ounces and am 27 1/2 inches long! My nurse there loved how chubby I am and showed me to all the other nurses when I was in my diaper. It was kind of embarrassing, but I gave them a grin anyway. My mom keeps trying to introduce cereal to me and I think it is pretty disgusting! She has tried mixing it with water, apple juice and her milk and I just spit it out as quickly as she spoons it in! She calls me a breast snob because I am not interested in anything else!

The "Fearless" BEE KILLER

Izzy decided to try and kill a bee that was in our house, but instead it stung her on the lip and for some reason she then threw up on the stairs, one of the only areas with carpet in our house instead of wood. Her lip then became swollen and she moped around the house acting traumatized, I think her dignity was gone. She was back to normal a few hours later looking for more insects to dominate!

Grandparents!

My dad came by to play with Cohen a week or two ago (Yeah! We love to play with Grandpa!) and brought by a welcome gift for Cohen from his Great Grandma and Grandpa Haile who live in Colorado!

It included a cute animal outfit, two books and a beautiful handmade crocheted blanket my grandma made. We really loved it and appreciate their thoughtfulness!

This is the note that was attached, I thought it was cute...

Halloween Costumes!

Cohen was a TIGER for Halloween night.
(Thanks Ashlyn for letting us borrow it!)

He didn't know what to think of us dressing him up and trying to draw whiskers on his face, but this picture below of him throwing a tantrum should show how long he actually put up with it...



The weekend before Halloween we went to a party at Scott's sister Michelle's house! This is me as Rainbow Brite with Scott's cousin and one of my good friends Ashley! Cohen slept most of the time so he didn't dress up for this one, but Scott was Dr. Evil again without his Mini Me.

Lost in thought...

I got on to the computer to post Halloween pictures and before I came to my blog I stopped by all of my friends and family blogs to see if there were any new posts...
Right now I am consumed in sadness for my sweet friend Kayci and her family. They lost their baby boy to still-birth last Thursday on the 25th. She was induced and had him later that night. He weighed 6 and a half pounds and was 21.5 inches long. They wrote about how beautiful he was and how they look forward to seeing him again... Here is a comment they posted...
"We're excited to see what his personality and spirit will be like in the next life though. The resurrection will be so much sweeter now..."
They had a service for him on Monday afternoon.
Please pray for strength and comfort for Kayci, her husband Jeff and their little girl Grace. It breaks my heart to think of the loss they just suffered and I am aware of the extreme pain multiple miscarriage can bring, let alone still-birth.
Immediately after reading their blog I went in and placed my hand on my sleeping babies chest to check on our little miracle. I am shaken up and the tears keep coming because sometimes our losses seem so distant from where we are now that they seem like they never happened. But when people we care about experience it, it brings back the realization that nothing is guaranteed, especially tomorrow... It reminds me that I was once in a deep dark place full of grief from what we had lost. No one should have to experience the loss of a baby during pregnancy or after...
Hug your loved ones extra close and kiss them a few more times today...