The Christiansen Family: February 2011

{one month}

I can't believe what a whirlwind the last month has been! It's hard to believe that Kashton has already been a part of our family for an entire month. But at the same time, it's hard to imagine he's ONLY been part of our family for a month. I can't imagine our lives without him!

He's already been such a good baby. Seriously the only time he cries is when he's hungry. (and this boy likes to EAT! he's a little tank!!)) He weighs 11 1/2 pounds & is 23 inches long already! He has outgrown most of his newborn clothes & is in his 3 month outfits ((some a little baggy, but for the most part fit!))

Kashton has been awake a lot more the past couple of weeks & loves to look around & "talk" to us. He's thrown us little grins from pretty early on, but now smiles at us LOTS and loves interaction when he's awake. He absolutly loves Jackobi. Her voice, her snuggles & especially when she sings to him. It's been so fun to watch the two together. The instant bond. She loves him & I love seeing Jackobi embrace her sister role. I'm sure it will be even more fun as they grow together!

He loves his baths and is instantly relaxed, but isn't a fan of getting out (the picture says it all!). He has such good control over his head & is gaining more & more strength each day. He's a pretty good sleeper, but we're still working on getting him to sleep for longer periods at night. ((please soon!!)) Juggling two has been challanging at times, but mostly fun. It's amazing how much the dynamics of things have changed in our house, but I wouldn't have it any other way!

s.i.c.k.

we've had a rough week. I think there should really be some rule that a new mom can NOT get sick alongside her 3 year old for an entire week. luckily kashton is a trooper and hasn't caught any of our illness.

we've spent the week having some highs and lows. surrounded by vicks, kleenex & chicken noodle soup, but are thankfully on the mend ((please ...))

Jackobi is the most plesant sicky of us all. she's cheerful even when she feels awful. I wish I could have her attitude. I guess endless ♫ disney pandora ♪ and popsicles to numb a sore throat would be fun for any three year old. Yep, I'm that cool of a mom. ((they were real berry popsicles ... healthy, right??))

my house is a disaster. and I mean a "stop by at your own risk" kind of disaster. mounds of laundry, dishes and 1/2 finished crafty projects by Jackobi. I guess at least with any energy we were able to muster up,at least we didn't waste it on housework. :) we still made attempts & having a little fun.

here's hoping for a healthy week next week. hopefully the fluffy white stuff stays for a few days so we can play in it one last time before Spring {hopefully} makes it's debut.

champs

they're the best in the district

no doubt about it

... and did I mention they [throttled]
Twin Falls in the district championship?
53-28 they made it obvious who deserved it.

Congrats Spartans.

:: wins ::

the wait is over ... Minico is going to State!

we've had so much fun watching Casey play basketball this year. last night was the icing on the cake for the season so far. after 22 years of waiting, he & his teammates are [finally] taking the Spartans back to the State tourney.

doesn't get much better than this.

keep it up Spartans.

[four] more wins.

happy [love] day ...

or if you live in the Christiansen household...

I really should say week!!!

We have had so much fun celebrating love day this year! We're a little bombarded by 3 of our families 4 birthdays happening the 2 weeks prior to Valentines day, but I still wanted to make an effort to enjoy spreading some love day cheer.

we enjoyed painting fingers & toes...

well ... maybe kashton didn't "enjoy" it ...

and made some sweet valentines...

and some yummy treats ...

luckily, cake pops & cake balls were a hit for j's birthday && love day
thank goodness! they sure took more effort than I anticipated!!

and made some more treats...

then frosted them with yummy goodness ...
this holiday is literally "sweet" in our house!

here's my [two] favorite valentine treats ...
add my amazing husband && life is good.

best valentines to date.
hope your day [or week] was full of love

three years young ♥

Jackobi adores the book Pinkalicious. So when we talked about what "kind" of party she wanted for her birthday she eagerly squealed: "PINK, pink, pink!" So Pinkilicious it was.

My sweet Jackobi, I can hardly believe she's already three years old!! She absolutly radiates happiness & sweetness. Her laugh is contagious and her silly personality has us continually smiling. What a joyful girl she is!! I couldn't have asked for a better big sister for Kashton. In the short two weeks he's been part of our family she has absolutly embraced and loved him. Some days she'll look at me and say "Mom ... I just lobe him" Such a sweet little soul! She gives the best hugs & kisses and is still a little snuggler ((which I LOVE)).

Jackobi loves to sing and dance. It's one of her favorite things to do. One of the first things that calms Kashton down is her singing "Twinkle, Twinkle" to him. She sang it almost daily when I was pregnant, so he must recognize it!! Some of her other favorite things to do are draw, color, read books and puzzles. She is such a good helper and loves to help with anything we're doing. She's a fan of cooking, loading laundry into the washer/dryer and mopping. Hopefully one day soon I can put these good habits to some use!! We're eagerly awaiting Spring, being outside is probably her most favorite thing of all!

Jackobi is about as girly as they come. She loves twirly dresses and it's hard to convince her to wear anything BUT a dress! The fluffier the better! She loves to paint her nails and dress up like Princesses on a daily basis. She also really LOVES going to watch Casey play basketball. She'll yell GO MINICO or GO CASEY and twirl her little pom pom. Secretly, I think she goes mostly for the popcorn, but the game is a nice perk. :)

Jackobi is so silly and sweet.
I can't imagine life without her.
What an amazing gift we were blessed with.

We love you so much Jackobi!!
Happy, happy birthday, we hope your day was wonderful!!

PaRtY TiMe!!

I've come to the realization that blogging has become MUCH harder with two kiddos! So in my best attempt to keep somewhat caught up, I'm breaking Jackobi's birthday into a couple different posts. So here goes! Hopefully there's more to come soon!!

Our sweet girl turned THREE last Thursday. She has been so amazing with Kashton & loves him so much. But I decided that she needed to feel EXTRA special on her day so we left him with Grandma for a couple of hours and had a little party with her friends at Party Hardy.

What a fun morning we had!!! Aparently Thursday's aren't very busy, so we had the whole place to ourselves! It was so much fun!! The kids bounced, climbed, crawled & slid to the hearts content. They had an absolute ball!

Evie & Jackobi

These two are quite comical together! They can pull some pretty silly faces for the camera too!

Maybree, Evie, Jackobi & Alli
I'm still not sure how we got them to sit there STILL long enough for a picture!

Thanks everyone for coming & making Jackobi's day so fun and special!!
What a great little group of friends we've got!

Baby [K]

Here's our little man ... we're pretty smitten with him!

Kashton's Story

Kashton Tate Christiansen

Born January 26that 2:02 PM

8 pounds 4 ounces

21 inches long

I'll spare you all some of the details, but wanted to write down a little about Kashton's birth so I don't forget!

We arrived at the hospital at 7:30 AM on the 26th all nerves and excited jitters. I had been progressing for weeks and been scheduled to be induced. 8:15 they started my pitocin & 9:00 AM broke my water. Once my water broke my contractions started coming more regurlary. About every 3 minutes (and they felt hard!!) It felt like a long morning and my progression was slow. About 12:30 to my sweet relief, the anestheologist was finally out of surgery & I got my epidural. At this point I was at a 7 & VERY thankful for modern pain meds! Once I received my epidural, my contractions came fast. With both of my deliveries, once my body relaxes from the epidural I "go fast" as the nurses would say. And it's a good thing. Shortly after, with each contraction Kashton's heartrate would drop. Low enough that the nurses were worried. It would pick right back up after the contraction was over, but drop instantly when the next would come. They put me on oxgyn & had me alternate laying on my sides to try and help this, but it didn't much. It was still dropping. My Dr. came in and decided it was time to push. Mid pushing, we found the problem. Kashton had his umbilical cord wrapped not once, but twice around his little neck. Dr. J quickly unwrapped the cord and a few pushes later (with the help of some suction, we were trying to get him out & the sooner the better!) ... he came. He came and didn't cry. It was silent long enough for Nate to ask why he wasn't crying. Those were the scariest moments of my life. I remember looking at a worried Nate and then it happened, the sound of a perfect screaming infant. Sweet relief. Sweet, sweet relief. A respitory specialist & our nurses checked him out & about 10 minutes later he was placed snugly in our arms. Perfect. Those first moments are always so precious. We're so thrilled to have our sweet little boy here. He has dark hair (which has already lightened up a lot) and is a great baby. We're loving this little adventure & our family of four.