Tanner is 4 months!

Tanner turned 4 months old on the 12th. It is hard to believe it has been 4 whole months since Tanner was born! We love and adore him SO much! He is very sweet, mild mannered, and CUTE! He gets a lot of attention when we go places for how extra cute he is. 😊 He has a big smile, likes to give kisses already, makes lots of happy squeal noises, and while Andrew was playing with him on Sunday, the 10th, he laughed for the first time! He has laughed a few times since then too. He really likes when we make Donald Duck type noises, He is so cute!!! He can roll from his tummy to his back. He likes to sleep in my arms, in the swing, he sleeps in the carseat without a problem, and is sleeping at in the pack n play for most of the night. He takes short, 25 min. naps and usually one long one during the day and still wakes up a lot at night. He and I get our best sleep at the beginning of bedtime, and then after Andrew goes to work and Tanner and I sleep snuggling before the girls need me to get them breakfast. Tanner is our smallest baby. He is 7th percentile for weight and 13th for height. But the doctor said he is staying consistent with his own growth pattern so he's doing great! Ivy talks to him in high pitched voices. Jenna plays with him every morning while I get Ivy out of bed and change her diaper. Tanner is very smiley in the mornings when he wakes up and Jenna loves it and calls it his smiley mood. Andrew is enjoying that Tanner is starting to be more and more playful. Last week Tanner would put his face towards the crook of my arm then face me again and I would say "peek a boo". He did it over and over, it was so cute!
I feel like I have been able to hold, snuggle, and really soak him in for which I am so grateful! I would LOVE to do it even more but with taking care of two other kids, a husband, the house, bills, etc. I am pleasantly surprised at how much I am able to snuggle him. I am SOOO grateful. You never regret holding your babies too much, only not holding them enough. I am happy I get to hold him and enjoy him so much. We love our little guy and are SO grateful for the TREMENDOUS joy he brings into our hearts, our home, and our family. Our sweet little Tan-man.
These pics are from the night of Jan. 11th.

Sucking his fingersGiving Mommy kisses!

Squealing/smilingJust chillin'

 The common faces of Tanner!

Snow and Winter Happiness

It snowed quite a bit in December!  We have introduced Ivy to playing in the snow (last year it hardly snowed at all).  The girls and I made a small snowman from the first snowfall and then one day when Andrew got him early, they made a big snowman!  The day after Christmas we all went sledding.  It was a little rough at moments, because we had an unsure 2 year old, but she got the hang of it and we all had fun!
I have been able to be in more pictures lately.  I asked Andrew and my sister to snap random pics of me with my kids lately because I am usually behind the camera.  But I want them to have proof that I was there playing with them too!

Wendy started snapping pics one day while I was playing with Tanner, I'm grateful she captured these. They are pretty common interactions. :)

Selfie! Snuggling my oldest and my youngestI put in some candid shots of Andrew with the kids too. It's fun to capture natural interactions for memory's sake,

Ivy was a little unsure of the snow

Our tiny snowman

 Much larger snowman!

Sledding!

Girls playing with Tanner and their baby dolls

Ivy and Tanner timeJenna and Tanner                                                                                                                                  time

One of my favorite pictures ever

He's just so fun and cute!

She plays with these puzzle pieces so much! She likes to build things with them. This is a train!

Andrew took a pic during one of our snuggly naps. My favorite thing!

Thanksgiving, 'Black' Friday and Tanner's Baby Blessing (All in One Weekend)

We had a bust Thanksgiving weekend! We had Thanksgiving at the Hughes house, which was a lot of fun, then 'Black Friday' was at the Black's house.  Rachel's family was in town, and the Bedells had recently moved here so it was quite the party!  We had a yummy brunch at the Black's house, then went to a church gym to play, and then back to the Blacks for dinner.  Saturday, we went to Orem to get a new phone (mine was wigging out) then stayed and watched football and made Christmas ornaments.  Sunday, Andrew gave Tanner a very sweet blessing in Sacrament meeting, and our immediate families came over for brunch.  I had been feeling very anxious lately due to post partum stuff, and was especially nervous about this busy weekend.  But everything went very smoothly, and everyone was understanding and helpful. It was fun to spend so much time with so much family!

Tanner ore these little red booties from Bolivia that he got from G&G Hansen 

 Hughes clan that came to represent

Happy family pic

Father and son     Sisters and Sisters

Hansen girls and Lyla

Measuring the 2 babies, only 6 days apart

Me & Ivy at Thanksgiving

Brand new babies, we are holding each other's babies of course

Girl cousins! They are all missing their 

2 front teeth!

Ivy fell asleep watching football with Daddy

Christmas

Christmas was a lot of fun this year! We spent Christmas Eve with Andrew's siblings that live in Utah for the first time. It was at the Bedell's house. We had a delicious dinner, a fun talent show and a nativity reinactment. We spent Christmas morning with just our little family at our own house. We loved it.  Around noon we went to the Hughes house to exchange gifts with everyone there.  That afternoon, Ivy went down for a nap, Andrew watched a movie with my Dad, my Mom and Jenna hung up the new pictures we gave my parents for Christmas, and Tanner and I took  a 2 hour, cuddly nap. He slept in my arms the whole time. He has been taking really short, 25 minute naps lately, so this was extra special. It was a wonderful Christmas present to take such a long, snuggly nap with him. Tanner, while still very sweet and pleasant, has become a little more high maintenance in his current phase of babyhood. He wants to be held pretty much constantly, so we didn't get presents wrapped until like 2 nights before Christmas. Ha ha. I was a little nervous they wouldn't get wrapped on time. But they did. And I enjoyed snuggling my baby and watching Christmas movies throughout the season. I felt like we were kind of homebodies this season because of all the snow but we did go see the trees at Draper park, a ward Christmas party, an annual neighborhood get together by fire pits, Andrew went to temple square with the young men, I went to a sweater party, we went to a stake music fireside, and we did some fun festive stuff at home.  So I guess we did do a lot.  It was a fun, cozy, happy Christmas.
It was extra special for me to have such a young baby boy at Christmas time.  I felt extra strong feelings of love and admiration for Mary, Joseph, and little baby Jesus.  Andrew did a great job repeating the story of the nativity to the girls throughout the season using our large nativity set given to us by his parents. Well before the end of the season, the girls could name each key character. It was sweet and special.

Baby's 1st Christmas!     

December Sundays in past and present Christmas dressesChristmas morning family pic selfie!                          Ivy wearing her giftsReinacting the nativity with cousins.                  He just looked so cute on the way to Orem I had to take a pic  Decorating the tree, pic with Santa at ward party, our tree, Draper park lights with Daddy