Easton's 7th Birthday

Easton turned 7 on August 9th. SEVEN! I think the only thing that prevented me from having a breakdown over that number is that he is no longer the baby anymore. Easton has informed us that he hates being a summer baby simply because he doesn't have the option to ditch school on his Birthday like his brothers do. He's such a funny kid. It was his year for a friend party and lucky for him, I was feeling a little more like myself when his birthday rolled around so I actually planned a party (I'll have to make-up for Tay's lame party next year). On his actual Birthday we just did presents and a family breakfast and then that evening we went to dinner at "Chuck-a-gramma" with my parents and went back to their house afterward for cake and ice cream.

A week later we had his Birthday party. We chose to do it then because he wanted to go see Pete's Dragon with his friends. Our good friends, the Espinoza's, gave the boys their VHS copy of the original Pete's Dragon and we finally watched it a few weeks ago. Easton loved it because he loves all things lizard and dragon related so it seemed like a fitting movie for him. The kids met at our house beforehand and we put together some treat bags for the movie. After the movie we grabbed some pizzas and came back home for some pizza and presents. Now as much as I adore my children and want them to have happy and wonderful childhoods filled with fun memories of birthday traditions-I am over friend Birthday parties. I don't know if it's the postpartum anxiety talking or if I'm just turning into a grump in my old age but I am just not a fan of throwing kid parties. Especially for boys. There are so many naughty, entitled and disrespectful kids in this world. Parents-teach your kids manners! Teach them to respect their elders and other people's property! Teach them how to be humble and help them understand that not everything revolves around them and their happiness! We used Easton's party as a teaching tool for our kids on how NEVER to act. Even though it was my least favorite party I've ever thrown, I think Easton had a wonderful time and felt special and I guess that's all that matters in the end. We LOVE our Easton Lee!!

2 mo old

Miss Layla turned 2 months old on July 30th

This stinks! She is getting so big so fast. I am trying hard to just enjoy every single second with her because I know I will never have another baby again. And I'm okay with that-I just now how heart broken I will be the day she turns 1, and then 2, 3, 4, and eventually leaves me for Kindergarten. I'm already dreading it. At 2 months old Layla weighs just under 12 pounds (11 lbs 11 oz) and is 23.5 inches tall. She is a DREAM sleeper. I almost hesitate to put that in writing because I don't want to jinx anything. But she does 8+ hours each night and then after she eats between 6:00 and 7:00 am, she falls back to sleep for another 3 hours and then wakes up all smiley and sweet. We all look forward to being the one that gets to get her our of her crib in the morning because we know we'll be greeted with huge smiles and coos. She is starting to find her hands and likes to suck on them, she is growing more weary of the binkie with each passing day, baths are her favorite thing ever, she laughs at Kendrick's silly voices and made up songs, we can put Elmo on TV and she will lay mesmerized by it for an entire episode while I get things done, she hates being in the car unless the car is moving, she laughs like a little crazy person when she finally gets to eat (which makes it hard for her latch on and sometimes results in her choking), she holds her head up really well, she takes like 30 min to stretch after each nap and while she does she makes little old man grunts. She is just the best and we all love her so much!

Blessing Day

I started stressing about Layla's blessing day before she was even born. Not kidding. As much as I love being a member of the church and certain milestones, like blessings and baptisms are important to me, I hate the pressure I feel to host and feed people after those events. Since Miss Scottie was in the NI CU for so long and would need to be blessed during the summer too, I asked Richard and Tiana if they would want to bless Scottie and Layla on the same day. Luckily they said yes and let us join in on Miss Scottie's special day. And I am so grateful they did! Tiana had a lot of good ideas. And because her baby was almost 4 month old and she was more level headed than I was, she set up everything and just told me what to buy. It worked out perfect for me because I don't think I could have handled anything more at 5 weeks post partum. Both Kendrick and Richard gave the girls beautiful blessings. And because we blessed them on July 3rd, we had a small turnout-which was actually a huge relief to both Tiana and myself since we didn't want to pass around our small babies. Everything was perfect-the location, the weather, the food, the turnout, I will always look back on Scottie and Layla's blessing day fondly...

Layla Campbell
(my mom made her dress. I requested an ivory dress because I love ivory dresses and Tay's dress was so old that by the time she wore it, it also had an ivory look to it. I just wanted both my girls to have something similar about their blessing dresses.)

Scottie Jade
(she wore her mama's blessing dress and looked beautiful)

Layla Campbell newborn photos

Our sister in law, Tiana was sweet enough to offer to take some newborn photos of Miss Layla when she was 2 weeks old. My house was a mess, nothing fit me yet, both my hair and my nails needed to be touched up and I wasn't entirely sure what I wanted Layla to wear, but I think these pictures turned out darling. I'm so grateful for a talented sister in law who can see past my crazy hormones and OCD and create such a beautiful memory for us. Thank you T!!