16 pounds! and Fall leaves :-)

Alvin continues to grow and change. Yesterday he weighted in at 16 lbs 1 ounce!!! His eyes have stayed blue so far and his hair seems to going towards being blond-ish.

He's become more and more curious about the world around him, wanting to hold things, be held, have people talk to him...he's much more alert but still very mild-tempered. He rarely gets upset unless he's hungry and feels he's been patient with me long enough :-) or if his diaper is dirty and he's uncomfortable...but even then he's easily distracted with a smile and a hug!

His strong stocky body is close to beign able to handle itself...as long as he has something behind him he can sit up. He used to be good at lifting his head up while being on his stomach, but recently he doesn't like laying on his stomach hardly at all.

He LOVES holding his hands together...like this! We joke that he's very reverent and is always praying :-)

This week his cousins come over to visit. Him and Kiril are very close in size now, but Kiril is taller. They had fun poking each otehr and sucking on each other's hands.

Darius decided he needed to be part of the group of cute boys having their picture taken too :-)

Also this last week Uncle Brady came over for the BYU game and we put on Alvin's onsie that Brady and Ildy made..."Cause Uncle Brady said I could!"

I finally found out the story with this saying...I thought it was just for fun but apparently at a past soccer game another niece (Brooke I think) was playing and getting pushed around so Brayd told her to push back...when she did they asked her "why did you do that?!?" She said, "Cause Uncle Brady said I could!"

Alvin 3 months!

Th other day Alvin's uncles (Brady and Justin) were over playing Halo and they needed another player...so they put Alvin in the bumbo and gave him a controller (you can see the controller if you look carefully :-)

In all seriousness Alvin has really been changing...this used to be him...Sleepy, not really doing or noticing much around him...
...now THIS is him. Looking at what's going on...touching things...smiling at everyone who talks to him!

He can't sit up by himself yet of course, but he can sit pretty good with a pillow behind him...he's holding his head up and moving his arms...no rolling over yet (for which I'm grateful...it'll be fun when he does but I definitely appreciate not having to worry about him rolling off the bed or something yet.

There are some things that he seems to really enjoy. Like his bath time. The first few baths he did NOT like...but now he seems to think they're fun.

And he's got a nice bath robe to wear after...to get nice and cozy!

While he does like to be held and cuddle...if he's laying down and doesn't have something else to hold his most typical position is right hand in mouth and left hand rubbing the back of his head.

I don't know if he actually likes this position or if it's just that this is the one he's figured out so far.

Here I was trying to pose him with our Yankee batting helmet...which didn't work so well..but his pose is cute I think :-)
Here he's doing his favorite position again...

Ready for Halloween

They'll be more for Halloween but I keep forgetting to post about these so I wanted to before I forget :-)

My friend Cheryl F.has the most AMAZING Halloween decorations ever! I love going to her house for Halloween cause its so festive and cool! This year she added to her decro by making vinyl spiderwebs on her kitchen cupboards! I loved them!

AND SHE MADE ME SOME TOO :-)

Thank you Cheryl!!!!

NEW COUCH!!

I'm soooo excited! We go a new couch yesterday! It is AMAZING! It's kinda like a futon cause it folds down into a BIG bed, it's comfy, nice looking, it comes apart and is made so I can rearrange it in a number of ways (great since I am so fickle about how I want my living room...it's also a simple design so I can make covers for it whenever I want a different color :-)

AND....it's got storage! The ottoman is a box....BUT SO IS THE COUCH! All the seats lift up and have storage under them :-)

I LOVE IT!!!!

I LOVE IT!!!!

Busy weekend for Stina!

It really was a busy weekend, and a very productive one. The Yankees beat the Angels (finally...now for the Phillies...).

Taylor and Alvin spent most of the weekend watching the usual sports (it's amazing how worried Alvin got for a while waiting for the Yankees to win :-D).
Christina worked on a number of projects. This first one is pretty cool. It's kind of a "quilt by numbers". My uncle Micheal bought it for Alvin (and me) at a quilt show we went to last year. It's a styrofoam board that has a picture cut into it. It comes with the fabric and directions on how to cut the different pieces so they fit together. They give you this blunt knife-like thing to push the fabric down into the syrofoam so it gets a "quilted" look to it when you're all done.
This one was of Noah's ark. I've changed some of the parts and how they said to put them together (I've improved it...what can I say :-D).

My next project I made was this fun baby bouquet. I saw them at Schwartz Toy store in New York last year when Taylor and I went. Then I saw them again on Martha Stewart's website where the maker gave a demonstration. This was my first try so forgive me that it's not perfect (plus for those of you that know me I'm not a perfectionist when it comes to crafts...I like them done fast and satisfactory...but not perfect).
How you do it is you roll up baby things: onsies, bibs, socks and then secure them with wire or floral tape. You add some fake flowers and leaves and TA-DA! A baby bouquet!!!! This one is for a friend of mine in our ward that just had her second baby, a girl, last week.
That reminds me, I got my own bouquet this week from Taylor. Since I went Garage Sale shopping ALL day two Saturdays ago Alvin got really fussy and stayed that way for the rest of the weekend...so by the time I went to work on Monday I was moody, tired, and unhappy...SO...Taylor showed up with htese beautiful flowers to cheer me up :-)
Also this most recent Saturday Taylor and I went Garage Sale shopping just for a bit and came home with with great baby walker and TONS of toys! This lady had a big box of little kids toys (mostly figurines and lots of happy meal toys) I picked out a couple I thought I'd get since they were just a dime and she said I could have the whole box for $3!!! So we took it :-)
It was a great weekend...I love it when I feel productive...and this weekend was nice cause I feel like with the crafts and things I have something to show for my time.

I've always been that way I think...wanting to have something to show myself that I am productive...whtether it's a "to-do list" with things crossed off it, a clean house, a finished craft. I guess it makes sense since I'm a visual person that I like being able to visually see what I've accomplished.

Dancing Baby

The three of us being goofy with Alvin

Three Week Old Alvin

A Video I found that Stina took on our old camera while I was away. He's only three weeks old. He was so little!!