Fun at the Zoo!

Blair had 4 days off over the 4th of July weekend so we thought we would take advantage of the nice weather and take the kids to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. They certainly enjoyed the animals. Madison slept through most of it.

They had this little train for the younger kids to ride. Statton and Cassidy just thought that was great and even cried when we tried to leave.

They had a cute baby albino wallabee that the kids could touch. They were a little unsure of it but we eventually got them to quickly pat it on the belly.

You could buy birdseed on a stick so the birds will come up and eat. Blair was able to coax one on and bring it down so the kids could look at it. Statton and Cassidy thought that was pretty neat. There was also some tiny birds that would land on the ground. The kids thought it was fun to try and chase them.

Even baby Madison got to see some of the animals. Don't ask me why but Cassidy wanted so badly to wear her brother's hat and she insisted on having it put on backwards.

I loved this picture of Statton. We are at the Grizzly bears and they were playing with each other in the water. Blair held Statton up to the glass for a better view and he just laid his head up against the glass and just let his arms dangle.

This was also another funny picture. Statton was excited to go over and look at the gorilla but as soon as that gorilla turned and looked at Statton he got scared and started running back toward Blair and I.

This was probably the highlight of our trip. Cassidy and Statton got to feed the Giraffes crackers. We had seen them at the start of our day but there was so many people feeding them that they weren't even hungry. So when we were finishing up our day we happened to walk by the Giraffes exhibit again and saw that no one was hardly there.
So we decided to head over and buy some crackers and see if they would eat. Oh Boy! We got a hungry one and the kids loved it. They thought it was so neat to have those Giraffes stick out their long tongues and take their crackers.

I had to take my turn to feed the giraffes. I can't let Blair have all the fun. Besides I told him that I wanted some pictures with my kids so they knew that mom did exist. (I'm always the one behind the camera.) So Blair was nice enough to snap some pictures of me with the kids.

We had such a fun day. The kids enjoyed the animals and that's what it's really all about.

Colorado or Bust!

I just thought I would put a quick update on our little family's status. Sorry no pictures but I will try to get some posted. We finally made the move and after 8 long months of Blair being a Bachelor in Colorado we were finally able to join him. I got me and three little kids packed up and ready to go tuesday night. Got up early Wednesday the 23rd and picked Blair up at the SLC airport at 10:30 and hit the road. We arrived at our lovely new Fifth Wheel home at about 11:30 that night. The kids did great. Despite having never traveled very far before they did great. Thank heavens for portable DVD players! Even Baby Madison did great sleeping most of the way. This was big changes for the twins. They had to move to a new place, leave grandma and grandpa, and learn to sleep in big boy/girl beds. Well so far so good. They did great their first night in the beds (mostly because of our late arrival time they were already exhausted). The second night though Statton fell out of bed(good thing it's not a far drop) so needless to say the next day I was busy putting together the child safety bed rail for his bed. So far no more bed gymnastics. So were doing good and adjusting well to our new surroundings. Were happy to be together again and excited for our new adventure.

Madison's Blessing Day!

So even though Madison wasn't quite two weeks old we went ahead and had her baby blessing on Sunday May 23rd at church. This was the only weekend Blair was going to be here. So, thanks to my dad's suggestion we decided to get her blessed. We were lucky that most of our families were able to accomodate our last minute plans and make it for Madison's blessing. We had a small lunch afterwards with just the immediate family and it was nice to see everyone and let them have a chance to see the new baby.

Blair and I holding Madison

Statton and Cassidy holding Madison. What a proud older brother and sister. They adore her.

Grandpa & Grandma Darrington

Grandpa & Grandma Heward

Madison is wearing the same dress that I blessed Cassidy in.
I think it probably fit Madison a little better since she is almost twice the size Cassidy was. Well theres no hiding the fact that we just absolutely adore our new little addition. Blair did such a wonderful job with her blessing. I always love to see Blair exercising his Priesthood. It just makes me proud to be married to such a good man. What a precious little girl!

Just wanted to post some pics of everyone in the family taking turns holding the new baby. Heres Daddy and Mommy each holding baby Madison.

Cassidy and Statton absolutely love her! We never brought the kids to the hospital to see her so the first time they saw the baby was when I came home from the hospital. All they wanted to do was to hold the baby and they didn't stop asking all night. They even woke up at 5a.m. that next morning asking where the baby was and if they could hold her. They are pretty cute with her and always giving her kisses.

I can't believe that we have 3 kids. I hope I can handle the chaos of 3 kids under the age of 2. It's been so nice having Blair to help run interference with Cassidy and Statton so I can concentrate on Madison. It might get super interesting once he has to go back to work. Thanks to Carla and Lynn for watching the kids for us for a few days while I was in the hospital.

What a cute bunch of kids!

Introducing Madison Heward

Well we finally had our little baby girl! She was born monday 4 seconds after midnight which puts her birthday on tuesday, May 11th. I went into the hospital monday night at 8:00 and had her 4 hours later. She weighed 7 lbs 15 ounces and was 20 inches long. After a day and half of deliberation we finally decided to name her Madison.

Wow look at those cute cheekers!

Adenoidectomy and Ear Tubes

Well we had finally had our fill of chronic runny noses and ear infections that take forever to clear up. Statton was also so congested all the time and I hated hearing him struggling to breathe at night. So we decided it was time to take him to the ear nose throat doctor in Twin Falls. We decided to go ahead and have surgery done. The doctor was going to put in ear tubes and remove his adenoids. They tested his hearing at the doctors office and found that he's hearing fine but his membranes in his ears don't move much when sound is bounced off of them. Which means he hears fine but not clearly. Kind of like being underwater. So Statton and I got up at 5 am on March 4th and headed to the hospital in Twin Falls for his early morning surgery. They do the little kids early since they don't want them to have anything to eat or drink before surgery.

Here Statton is in the recovery room after surgery. What a trooper. He didn't cry when they took him away from me and was completely passed out when they gave him back. We sat in recovery for over an hour until he finally woke up and drank a little juice. He looked so cute in his little hospital gown top and bottoms.

These are pictures of us getting ready to leave the hospital. Poor kid and his bloody nose. He had a watery bloody nose for the rest of the day and part of the next. Which is normal after removal of the adenoids. The doctor said we should see a dramatic difference in our little boy and his breathing and shouldn't see much for runny noses either. The doctor said he removed a massive amount of adenoid tissue.

Statton was finally waking up a little bit come evening time and actually playing a little bit. He was doing pretty good until Cassidy whacked him in the face with a toy truck. What a nice sister. So we spent the rest of the evening laying in bed and watching movies and just taking it easy. Statton is feeling so much better and he breathes so much better at night that I sleep a little easier also knowing he's doing ok. Thanks a bunch to Andrea for keeping Cassidy for me overnight and part of the next day. It really was a big help. It was nice just being able to take the time with Statton and give him the love and attention he needed.

Happy Birthday Cassidy and Statton!

Well the twins officially turned 2 years old on the 17th. I can't believe they are that old but yet they still seem so little to me. Blair was able to fly home for the weekend of valentines so we celebrated the kids birthday sunday night with some family and had cake and ice cream. Blair and I had gone to twin on saturday and picked up some inexpensive trikes for the kids to push around outside. They woke up from naps that afternoon and had found them hiding downstairs so they were trying to ride them around in the basement which wasn't working so well. So we bundled them up and took the kids outside to try out their trikes. They had so much fun. Statton is a little more coordinated pushing his around more than Cassidy was. It was still fun to watch them try so hard.

So here are the kids opening their gifts and trying on all the fun things they got.

Heres Statton trying on the dress-up shoes that Cassidy got. He's just not as coordinated walking in high heels as his sister.

We got some fun sing along cd's from Grandpa and Grandma Heward. We've had a fun time listening to them and dancing to the music.

Cassidy and Statton had a lot of help opening their gifts from their cousins. They were a big help opening gifts for the kids and it was cute to watch them together. Here is Elllie and Sophie helping Cassidy.

Statton was getting help with his gifts from his cousin Kensie.

We had a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse them for the twins birthday. It's the one show they both love to watch that I don't find completely annoying.


They both thought it was fun to have everyone singing happy birthday to them .Statton even clapped for us when we were all done singing.






Imagine that they love their cake.

It's been such an adventure raising two kids the same age. They are such cute kids and have been so much fun. I thought I should list some of the cute things that they do and like.

Cassidy

- Loves to walk around in high heeled shoes

- Refused to go to bed at night without her black dress shoes

- Loves to watch the Wizard of Oz

-Loves to say "no" to everything (bath-no bed-no get dressed-no you get the idea)

-Wants to dress herself which is usually some type of skirt

- loves to play with baby dolls and her stroller

Statton

-Loves to throw balls and play catch (actually he likes to throw anything he can find)

- Runs to greet my with a hug when I come home from work

-loves to wrestle with his dad and mimick his wrestling moves

-loves to play outside in the snow, dirt, whatever he can find

-thows a fit when you get after him for doing something bad

-loves to splash around in the bath and play in the bubbles


Happy 2nd Birthday to my two beautiful children!