Coen's Baby Blessing

Dear Coen,

On Sunday, December 27, 2015 you were blessed by your dad in your grandparent's home. We decided kind of last minute to do it at the house instead of in a ward, and we decided for it to be a pretty low key deal. Kind of like how you are just a low key little dude!

Grandma Jo bought you this beautiful white tux for your blessing day. You were so tiny and petite that we were worried it was going to drown you! It was pretty big on you, but it worked and you looked adorable.

 I got you ready and you were so calm as I dressed you. After a bit Ava came in, and she is not so calm :)

I just think you are the cutest little boy I've ever laid eyes on.

Here is my cousin Lindsey holding you before the blessing. You weighed about 10 lbs and you were about 6 weeks old. I asked her to take notes so that we could remember what dad blessed you with.

 We had lots of family members gathered around for your blessing- lots of people who already love you. Dad started out the blessing saying what a great spirit you've brought into our home. I won't detail out your whole blessing here, but what I felt the most from your blessing was what a good boy you are. As dad talked about the life ahead of you and the good influence you will have on people around you, I caught a glimpse of what a valiant spirit you are.

Before you or Ava were born, dad and I were discussing what it would be like to have all girls or all boys. I told dad that I would rather never get a boy than never get a girl. Since you came along, I think about that often, and oh how my heart did not know what a little boy was going to do to it! There is something so special about a mother and son bond. 

Since day one, you have been a mama's boy. You smile at me all day long. If I can catch your eye, or if you can catch mine, you will give me a great big smile, always. When I was pregnant with you I could feel that you were a calm boy. You are so easy going and you have such a calming presence in our home. If I am stressed out or having a hard moment, I look at you and your contentedness makes me feel better. I know that I am so blessed to be your mom. I think the phrases you hear the most from dad and me are "you are soooooo cute!" and "you are such a good baby!"

Here is our family of four. You fit right in and are so adored by all of us. 

I love you my angel baby.

Christmas in Utah

Since Brent had so much time off of school (6 weeks!) we went to Utah for 5 of them. It was so much fun! It was so nice to get extra help with the kids since we were still adjusting to life with two kids. Plus all the Christmas parties, traditions, etc just made it such a wonderful break!

It's getting hard for me to find the time to blog, so this will not be as detailed. Probably good, since it's 5 week's worth :)

On our way to Utah, our flight was delayed and we had gotten there extra early. So we had about 4 hours to kill. It was not the funnest with this crazy toddler and a brand new baby.

On the airplane Coen gave Brent his first smiles ever for him.

OK, a lot of the time in Utah I was home with Coen, staying in from the cold. So there will be lots of super cute pictures of Coen!

 Grandma Dot meeting Coen.

Ava introducing Boston to Coen.

A date with Dad to ride the ferris wheel at Scheels

 Since we hadn't celebrated Brent's birthday in Texas, I surprised him and made scotcheroos and invited his family over.

Video of Ava loving Coen:

 One night my mom and I saw all these deer on our way to Target!

 Learning how to smile and melting my heart at the same time.

The good part about having a baby at Christmas time is they can just sit and stare at the Christmas lights for a long time! Also, he was a great baby Jesus in the nativity.

 Hansen Party:

 Meeting Grandpa Hansen:

My parent's neighbor, who basically is the REAL Santa, showed up to the party! Look at Ava in this picture, jumping in the air. This picture makes me laugh so hard! She was pretty excited to see him, but then got a little shy when we went to take a picture with him. 

Cuddles

 The view never gets old. I miss the mountains a lot in Texas.

The first time Brent and I took both kids out to eat. It went well!

My hands are full!

 Ava loved the attention from the grandparents so much!

 We went to the Christmas concert downtown with Laura and Jordan (and Jordan G, Cher & her MOL too!). Getting there was a nightmare but the concert was lovely.

 The girls went to a performance of the Nutcracker.

 Cute cousins

  Lucy slept over at grandma's house, and Ava was obsessed with her. She LOVES Lucy. They had matching jimmies!

And Lucy read Ava bed time stories...

 And they watched movies together. Holding hands even.

 My mom watched the kids and Brent and I got a REAL date to see Star Wars. I was so sleepy, but still enjoyed it a lot!

 Taking off her shirt one night, she looked like a nun or something.

 Ms. cool watching movies

 Even though Tammy was in an apartment, we still got to do our tradition of making sugar cookies! Thanks to Natalie for making it happen!

Dahn cousins Christmas party

 Ava was an angel for the nativity at the Dahn party, and Coen was baby Jesus.

 Christmas morning, we woke up to snow!

 We had the Cowley Christmas morning in my parent's basement so we would all fit. We had fun!

 We played this funny dart game for our gift card exchange. Here's Brent trying to shoot his Barnes & Noble gift card

Coen so sad that we did not get him one thing for his first Christmas. Just kidding. But not about the no presents part. Sorry buddy, you just didn't need anything after the baby shower in Texas!

 Here he is feeling better. Ava got quite spoiled though!

 Playing Clue with Jordan and Laura that night

 The day after Christmas we saw the Olivers and partied some more.

 Coen was just smiling at my dad and also up in the air behind my dad being so cute.

 Coen was pretty sad about his bath.

 Then he warmed up and looked so dang adorable.

 Coen got so spoiled, always being held by someone!

 Haha... each of their faces!

 Coen went through a growth spurt and I think his cheeks felt it the most. Mmmm, the better to kiss.

 Dinosaur bum.

 A party with the Braithwaites! Lots of us live out of town so this was really fun to get together.

One day at Carters, Ava decided she needed almost every single thing she saw.

 Ava put her baby in there with Coen and they are about the same size.

 Cute smile! Sorry, turn your head to see it!

 Mr. big eyes.

 Saying goodbye to Brent's movie room, since the house was about to be cleared out -for anyone who doesn't know, their house caught fire in early December :( . Like the whole house, so many memories in this room! Some of my earliest memories of Brent are in this room- being totally astonished at this crazy person that had this many movies :)

 It was sad.

Brent took Ava by the house one day. Here she is saying goodbye to the house as we know it. Ava has been totally traumatized by the whole fire. About 4 times a day (even still, almost 2 months later) Ava asks me, "Mom? Grandma Tam's house burn-fire?" 

Playing in the snow! When I asked her if it was fun, she looked me in the eye and said "No." She didn't like how cold it was.

 While I worked downtown one day Brent took Ava on a little outing. Here she is enjoying the new Family History library.

 We went to Cher's to say Happy Birthday to Sam. Ava was pretty mad she couldn't eat the fancy cake behind her.

 And then, just like that, our trip was over! The kids were good on the flight home, except for when Ava cried and cried when we were landing because she had to sit in her own seat and not on Dad's lap.

Next post coming up: Coen's blessing!