6 Months

Our little superman is 6 months old.  I can't believe how fast time has gone.  I blinked and half a year flew by.  Clark is the joy of our lives. My heart literally has grown three sizes in the last half a year. I have learned so much about myself and about being a mother in the past 6 months.  Some days are really really hard.  But when you walk in to Clark's room after a nap time and in the morning and he looks at you like it's Christmas morning.. it makes all the hard so worth it.  I wouldn't trade are days together for anything and I am so thankful that I get to be a mom to my perfect little Clark.  

 

Clark is such a happy baby!  He smiles and laughs 90% of the time. He loves other little kids.  He just stares and giggles at everything they do.  He eats solids everyday.  Weirdly... he is a big fan of veggies. He rolls everywhere like a maniac.  He can sit up for short periods of time.  Occasionally he rocks back and forth on his knees.  He still loves bath time.  He also loves to swim.  He loves to make new noises.  He talks and talks all day.  He is a big fan of his jumper.  He wakes up ready to jump.  He FINALLY started sleeping through the night. (most nights anyways) He goes to bed around 7 and sleeps till about 6:30.  He isn't always the best napper... but when he has a good day... its a great day. He occasionally gets a little stranger danger and when he does his person of choice is me.  He never sits still and only cuddles when he is sleeping and doesn't know it. His eyes light up when his dad gets home from school.  He also loves to read and be sung too.  

We love our little Clark and and can't believe how fast he is growing.  He learns new things every day and it is so fun to watch!  We love to see his little personality coming out and can't wait to see who he becomes.  I wouldn't mind time to slow down just a little bit.  But luckily he just keeps getting more and more fun.  Happy half-birthday little man! We love you so so much. 

Dear Clark

Dear Clark, 

I just put you down after your first feeding for the night.  I walked into your room after hearing your cries.  Your eyes were closed.  I tired to sneak up on you so you wouldn't know I was there.  I was contemplating if I should let you cry it out or if I should feed you some milk.  You heard me and you opened your eyes just a little and flashed me your "please mom just pick me up and feed me smile".  Of course I couldn't turn you down.  It's true.  Your four and a half month self has your dad and I wrapped around your finger.  

So I pick you up.  Sit down in our chair.  I start to lean you back.  Before the bottle even hits your mouth you start your "I know the milk is coming air-suck".  I love it.  But if I am being honest I would love it a lot more in 8 hours then right now.  But I know this precious you and me time won't last forever so I am trying not to take these late night feedings for granted.  Plus, it is the only time you will nuzzle up to me and give me half a snuggle.  And we both know that I would do anything for one of your rare snuggles.

You finally finish your bottle.  So I put you down in your crib.  You would think I would run back to my bed.  But I can't help but watch you sleep.  To any other human being this would be creepy.  But you are my baby boy and watching you sweetly sleep erases all of the hard times from our previous day.  As I watch you, I can't help but think of all the hopes and dreams I have for the person that you will become.  I pray that I will have the streghth to be the mom you need.  I lean down and give you one last kiss and whisper our phrase, "Goodnight little man, I love you more than you will ever know."  

I finally peel myself away and crawl back to bed. While part of me wishes that this will be the night where you only wake up this one time, I know that you will be up again in a few hours and we will start our little routine all over again. 

But for now I wish you sweet dreams,  And it's true Clark, I love you more than you will ever know.  See you in a few hours.   

Love, 

Mom 

4 Months

Our little man is officially 4 months old!  I can't believe how fast the last 4 months have gone.  Life with Clark is simply the best.  He is so worth all of the sleepless nights, dirty diapers, spit up covered shoulders, and fussy moments.  He is pure joy.  I am so happy that he is ours forever. 

Clark is finally starting to enjoy tummy time... just a little bit.  He will stay for like 10 minutes before losing his mind.  It's a huge improvement.  

He pretty much always looks surprised.  I think it's because is eyes are so big.  He is always curious about the things around him.  He never sits still. 

Every little thing goes into his mouth.  He thinks fingers and forearms are the tastiest.  He also loves to chomp on toys. 

His sleeping habits have greatly improved.  He usually hits they hay around 6:30 or 7.  Sleeps till one or two, eats.  Sleeps till 5, eats.  Then sleeps till 6:30.  He is also finally learning the joy of nap. Let's hope those 10 minute cat naps are a thing of the past, cause this mama is really enjoying those two hour naps.

He is such a happy baby.  It doesn't take much more than a glance to get him to smile.  His laughs are getting more and more regular too.   Sometimes Christian studies out-loud and he thinks it is the funniest thing ever.  Who wouldn't love nuero-anatomy? (Me, I wouldn't love nuero-anatomy.)  

He has one blanket that is super soft that he loves to cuddle with.  It calms him down 90% of the time.  He still thinks cuddling with mom is the worst. But every once in awhile he forgets that cuddling is not fun and he'll give me a good snuggle.  I melt.

He also started the drooly faze of life.  He loves to have spit bubbles surrounding his lips and a good line of drool dribbling from his chin.  

He is literally the cutest, best thing in this world.  I wish we could freeze time because I blinked twice and he decided not to be a newborn anymore.  We sure love our little 4 month old Clark more than anything!!   

3 Months

Clark is officially three months old.  He is making his transition out of the newborn stage and it is kind of bittersweet.  He is so fun and such a light in our life.  I love being home with him all day and love watching him learning new things.

Clark is such a happy baby!  He loves to smile and is starting to giggle when we try really hard. I love walking into the room after nap time and he goes from crying to the cheesiest grin... nothing boosts your self esteem like a giant smile from your baby.  He is the best.  

He recently found his hands and is constantly sucking on them.  He also is never content to lay down.  He just wants to sit up and look around.  He is so curious.  Always looking around the room. He also started reaching for his toys. It takes all his concentration and he reaches for them.  I love it. (P.s. look at those rolls!!!!!!) 

  

He hates tummy time.  You'd think he'd eventually realize that it is just part of life.  But he hasn't figured that out yet.  Hopefully he starts to like it soon! He also hates to cuddle.  It is like a dream come true when he relaxes for like 5 seconds and lays on our chest or nestles in.  

I know this doesn't sound real... but we are pretty sure that he loves 80's music.  80's pop to be exact.  Put on some Salt N Pepper and he is allllllllll smiles.  He is also a big fan of the Rocky theme song! We are currently teaching him the Scottsman (Utah States fight song).  He likes that too.  

This face... although heartbreaking... is one of my favorites.  It is just so so cute!  Clark hates having stinky diapers.  But can you blame him?  He also hates being hungry. Once again... who doesn't.  He is most fussy when he is tired.  His eyes get red and he starts to freak out.  We always know its bed/nap time.  

We started sleep training this month and he is doing great!! When we got home from our 6 week vacation he was pretty confused and would seriously only sleep if he was in my arms.  I was going to be a crazy person if it came to that... so we started the training.  It took about 2 a few days but now he usually cry's for about 5 minutes... but then he is out like a light.  

We love this little guy so much!! Each month he just gets cuter and cuter and more and more fun.  Being a mom is defiantly harder than I ever thought it would be.  Some days I have no idea what I got into.. but then I just look at him and I reminded how lucky I am to be his mama.  He is such a sweet and funny little man and we just seriously can not get enough.  

Bath Time

Clark seriously loves bath time.  It is my favorite time of the day because he is always smiley and he just is content to play.  Sometimes if he is super fussy and I don't know what is wrong... I just stick him in the bath and he cheers right up.  It is the cutest thing ever.  Bonus: he smells so good afterwords.  I'm pretty sure I could eat him. 

He litterally will just splash around and play like this for as long as we let him.  It is the best. 

He does not, however, like to get dressed.  He screams bloody murder every time we try and put something over his head.  

Logan

Clark did awesome on his first road trip!  He slept both ways almost the entire time.  Christian and I listened to Unbroken on tape, mixed with a little TSwift of course.  

We got to Logan and got to spend the first few days with my family.  We didn't get to spend a ton of time with my siblings in Washington so we were happy to have few more days together.  We mostly hung out and ate chic-fil-la.  But we mixed in an a few games and made our way to the spectrum to see our Aggies play!  It was so so fun! 

While we were there Clark slept his first 8 hour stretch... so that was pretty dang exciting!  I am pretty sure everyone got sick of me saying "my baby slept 8 hours last night"  But I was pretty proud.  And extremely happy to finally have a full night of uninterrupted sleep. 

After the fun weekend with my family we moved over to Christian's parents house!  We had so much fun there as well!  We watched movies, went to Center Street Grill, played games, and hung out.  Christian has the flu while we were there.. so that was a bummer. But we had so much fun otherwise.  It is always nice to just be able to relax and spend time with family.  

We had such a great trip and were so sad to leave!  We were so lucky to be able to live in Logan for three years so close to our family, it is always hard to leave.  Logan will always hold a special place in our hearts.  It's where we met, got married, and have so many good memories from our time at Utah State!  

Clark's Blessing Day

We had an awesome trip to Logan.  We were able to bless Clark up there in Christian's parents ward.  We also got to spend a lot of time hanging out with family.  It was a great trip!

Clark's blessing day was so so special!  We woke up early and got Clark ready.  He looked so handsome in his blessing suit.  I love this little guy so much.

We headed to the church and Christian gave Clark the sweetest blessing.  He had both his grandpa's, his great grandpa Norval, his uncles Kevin, Brad, and Steve stand in the circle.  I am so grateful for priesthood blessings. 

Clark has brought such a sweet spirit to our home.  Every time I look at him I am overwhelmed with how much my Heavenly Father loves me.  We are so lucky for him to be apart of our lives.  I can't wait to see Clark grow up in the gospel and to see what he becomes.  He is perfect. We really do love him so much! 

After the blessing we headed over to Katie and Steve's.  We had a little lunch with all our family and a few friends.  It was perfect! 

There are 5 generations in this picture.  How cool is that? 

We are so grateful for the support that we have.  Clark is lucky to have to awesome sets of grandparents, great grandparents, and aunts and uncles.  

In-between Trips

We were home from Washington and we had a few days before we were leaving for Logan.  In-between trips we had doctors appointments, we decorated Clark's nursery, and we had just a little bit of relaxing time before our next vacation. 

Clark had his two month check-up while we were home.  He weighed in at 12 pounds 12 ounces and was 24 inches long!! We love every bit of chub on that body.  He got his first round of shots and it was so sad!  I haven't heard him cry that hard since he was born. But, he is as healthy as can be and we love him so so much! 

While were home Christian hung up Clark's decorations.  I am so happy that they are finally on the walls.  I love them! 

And then it was time for our next trip... off to Logan we went! 

Christmas in Washington

Christian had a 6 week Christmas break for school.  We got to spend 2 and a half weeks up in Washington.  We ate a LOT of food, did a LOT of shopping, and a LOT of relaxing.  It was the best!! Thanks for letting us come and stay with you Mom and Dad! 

It was fun to dress up a little baby for the Sunday before Christmas!  He is so cute! 

We love these cute boy cousins! 

We went to the Grotto to see lights in Portland.  It was so beautiful! 

On Christmas Eve we kicked off our party with Santa coming to visit!  He brought all the kids books and all the adults Jimmy Johns gift cards.  Santa is so generous! 

 After Santa left we acted out the Nativity, had a delicious dinner, and opened a few presents.

We ended the night with one of my favorite Pickett family Christmas traditions, matching PJS! The kids all had onsie Pajamas with names on their bums.  It was so so cute! 

And then we send goodnight and waited for Santa to come! 

We woke up on Christmas morning and spent a few hours opening presents.  There are 18 of us.. so it took some time.  haha We had a big yummy breakfast and spent most of the day being lazy playing with our toys.  We went on a walk in the afternoon and ate our traditional clam and potato chowder.  It was a perfect day! 

While we were there Marissa Bailey went through the temple.  My sisters watched Clark so Christian and I could be there with her.  It was an amazing experience as always!  

When I got out of the temple my sister had sent me a picture of Clark and Karleigh with caption of "Clark is having so much fun going down all the slides!"  I thought it was pretty weird that they were taking my newborn down the slides... but I couldn't do anything about it.  When I came home they informed me it was a joke and that Karleigh took a doll down the slide.  They were hoping for me to freak out... but what was I going to say to them?  Well sisters, you got me! But I am pretty glad you didn't actually let Karleigh take Clark down the slides.

After the temple we had a little adult night.  We went out to dinner and desert.  I haven't lauged that hard in a long long time.  I sure do love these parents and siblings of mine!  I miss living by all of them. 

We had lots of visitors while we were there! My best friend from high school and my best friend from middle school were among those visitors! It was so fun to see them both! 

We spent new years with the Baiely's and the soon to be Parson's.  We went out to dinner and then came home and played hand and foot and watched the ball drop.   Clark was out cold when midnight came around.  I was sortive jealous. 

My parents watched Clark one night so we could go see the Hunger Games and go get ice cream.  It was our first date without Clark and it was nice to be together as just the two of us for a bit.  I sure picked the best man possible to spend eternity with! 

Overall it was a really fun trip!  I am so thankful that we were able to go and spend so much time with my parents and a few days with my siblings too.  I love Christmas!