Cruisin' in the Western Caribbean and 7 months for Jace

     Somehow I convinced my Dad to take all of the kids on a cruise this year for our Christmas present. I don't know how I actually got him to agree to it, but this year, the Blatter's took a trip to the Western Caribbean the week before Christmas.

    We left on Friday the 12th of December and all flew into Houston Texas at different times of the day. Paul, Jace, my Mom, Tallus, and I were all on the same flight and we arrived sometime around 2 ish. We had an uneventful flight and shuttle ride to our hotel for the night. Sadly we were pretty much in the ghettos of Texas half a miles walk from any sort of food place. Once we got to the hotel we were starving and walked the half mile to Burger King to get something to eat. We did have a small scare while checking in to the hotel when Jace, whom I didn't strap into his stroller because we were just walking inside, leaned too far forward and fell out face first onto the tile. Paul was terrified that he had cracked his skull, but thankfully everything was fine. He didn't hit his head at all. Jace just cried for a little bit and then calmed down. 

    Dad and the rest of my siblings, (minus Tyson and Yulia, who couldn't come because of work), arrived around 5 or 6 or so. We then braved about a mile walk through a semi scary neighborhood to get some food. We ate, got back to the hotel and just sort of hung around the rest of the night. Aunt Julie, Uncle Tim, and my cousin Brytt showed up around midnight but we didn't see them until morning. 

     Saturday the 13th we boarded the Norwegian Jewel. Boarding was a cinch and they took such good care of all of the passengers. After dropping off all of our carry on luggage, you better believe we hit up the buffet first thing. In my defense, it was a few hours past lunch and we hadn't eaten since breakfast, so food sounded great. We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the ship, hanging out, and just resting. Jace was a major hit. EVERYBODY loved him. All the waiters and waitresses just loved to talk with him and play peek-a-boo and hi- five him. He made lots of fun friends throughout the trip. 

    Sunday was a day at sea. We really didn't do much. We played lots of games together as a family. took some Sunday naps, and played more games. We kept ourselves busy with shuffleboard, cribbage, and hand and foot. 

     Sunday, Jace turned 7 months. I tried to keep up with the stats for him so I will give a little rundown. Jace still hates pureed baby food. for a month now he has been doing baby led weaning and we are having a huge success. He chews his food a lot more than he did in the beginning. He gets more food in his mouth than he did at first also. He is most likely around 20 lbs. I haven't weighed him in a while, but if I had to guess, he is probably 20 or so. He has gone mobile. He has been pushing back to his knees and rocking like crazy and can army crawl for sure. He could sort of scoot around before, but now he scoots with purpose and can basically get anywhere he wants. Jace still doesn't sleep through the night. We are certainly working on it. He still has trouble putting himself to sleep as well. He goes down for a nap and bed time just fine as long as I nurse him, but eventually he will need to put himself down, and so that is a work in progress. Lately Jace has been obsessed with pooping in the bath tub. I don't know if he does it on purpose or if it just happens, but the past few weeks almost every other day he is in the tub we have had to drain the water and start over because I find little poops floating in the water. 

     Jace has done such a good job so far on the cruise. He is trying new foods, and being introduced to so many new people and doing just so well. I am excited to see how well the rest of the cruise goes for us.

This is how Jace plays with his toys. He loves to climb inside of the toy box to get all the good ones that hide in the back. Lately though he has been trying to pull himself up onto the toy box which is a little dangerous because it is so wobbly. 

Jace hanging out with his Aunt Nena before the cruise. She loves him and he loves her!

We are all just chillin in the hotel room waiting for our taxi to the cruise port. Jace is loving all the attention he is getting from his Aunts and Uncles. 

First night on the boat we played some cards. Jace was happy for some of that. He was napping originally but didn't stay sleeping for long. Eventually he woke up but was able to entertain himself for a while before the adults had to intervene and play with him. 

Day at sea #1. Just playing some games on the balcony and trying to get a little bit of sun in the process. 

We discovered that Jace LOVES watermelon. He eats it like crazy, and tries to stuff his cheeks so full that he can't fit any more into his mouth. This is a picture after he devoured most of his watermelon. The rest he is saving for later in his little cheeks like a chipmunk!  

After dinner we played outside on the deck while everyone took turns playing shuffleboard. Jace played with his toys and practiced his army crawling. 

Our cute family. Jace was pulling faces most of the time so this was the best picture we got. 

I just love the little towel animals that they leave for us every night. Our first night we got a puppy. Jace was more interested in eating the eyes than anything else about it, but it was fun to take pictures of him with the animals each night. 

The First-ish Snow!!

     The day after I finished typing up the last blog post about Jace and I just waiting for it to snow, it snowed! We didn't get a whole lot of snow. Maybe an inch, maybe even less. But there was enough for us to take Jace on his first sledding experience and see what he thought about snow.
     I think Jace wasn't sure what to think about the snow at first. He liked it, but he tipped over and white washed himself first thing. He was a little hesitant with the snow after that for a little bit. He liked being pulled around on the inner tube, and even giggled a little bit when we pulled him fast through the snow. He also loved eating it. Jace isn't a huge fan of cold food, but he gobbled up the snow we gave him. His facial expressions were so silly. But he ate all the snow that we gave him.

Jace's very first run in with the snow. My apologies for the bad video skills

Jace was a little bit upset because I let him face plant right into the snow. 

He seemed to like being on the tube as long as it was moving.

Jace eating snow for the first time. Don't you even worry, I made sure it wasn't yellow! 

Tasting the snow. Yum

He didn't like just holding still in the snow. We always had to be doing something. 

Has it Really Been 6 Months?

       I honestly can't believe that Jace is 6 months. I feel like it was just yesterday that I was writing up the blog for him being 5 months old. Jace has grown so much this past month! He rolls all over the place without any hesitations. He can pretty easily get from sitting to his tummy. We still have a few mishaps, but most of the time its a success. He has been pushing himself up on his tummy and just a few days ago started planking and working on pushing himself to his knees. He is working on crawling already and I am just not ready! I have a feeling that he could be crawling by Christmas. I hope not, but it is looking like possibility.  Jace is trying to scoot forward. He can sometimes, but he is much much better at scooting backwards. That usually upsets him though, because he gets further and further away from his toys. Jace love his binkey. Sometimes he even has two or three in his mouth. He also loves to play with his toys on the floor. He likes to eat squash, sometimes, and carrots, sometimes, and banana sometimes. He is so silly. Off and on he likes his foods but other times the same food he gobbles up, he acts like he is choking on it and gags it down. Silly kid. We are starting to try baby lead weaning because Jace really wants to eat like a big kid. We will see how that goes over the course of the next month.
      For the past few months Paul has been helping our landlord, (his aunt), build a patio. We decided the easy pavers were just not challenging enough. Instead we have taken upon ourselves to lay a flagstone patio. It has been a rough few months with lot of manual labor, but I am excited to say that we are almost done! I am sad that we didn't take a good before and after picture. We had already started clearing the grass and such out of the way before we thought about taking pictures. We do have some good progress pictures. I can't wait until it is done because then I will kind of somewhat have a husband again. He still has to study for his last CPA test, so I won't truly have my husband back, but I am pretty sure he won't be as busy when he just has to study.
      Jace and I are just waiting patiently for it to snow a good snow. I am surprised we haven't had more because we live right at the foot of big cottonwood canyon. But we really have only had a few sprinkles. I really want to see how Jace responds to the snow, and I really want to have a lazy stay at home because its snowing and cuddle day. Now that I am home with Jace instead of working I can actually do that.
   

Jace loves to do the whole big boy thing. Dad decided it was time he learned how to drive. Start 'em young I suppose!

Aint nothin' better than lounging around in a diaper and no shirt!

And again, the big boy thing. He loves to attempt to drink out of our cups. He does great at getting the water in his mouth, but he is still figuring out the whole swallowing thing. 

I got to babysit for my friend Meagan the other day. Jace had a blast playing with Lyla. He only tried to eat her headband a few times. But after that they played pretty nicely together. 

I can't get enough of those cute cheesy grins. He makes my heart melt every time he smiles. 

Sunday naps are the best! I think its so cute when those two snuggle. I am slightly jealous. But I get twice as many snuggles with Jace as Paul does, so I really shouldn't complain. 

I love how they play together. It is so much fun to see how Jace learns to interact with the world around him. 

The only way to play with your toys, is to get down and dirty and in the toy box itself! Jace likes it best when I let him pick his toys out of the box. 

He was having a bit of an emotional day today. I tried to get some smiles, but it took quite a while. The little mummy that he is eating is one of his favorite toys. He got it while we were trick or treating with Paul's parents, and he has been attached to it almost ever since. 

After some snuggles, and help from Paul, we actually got some smiles out of this guy for his 6 month pictures. 

It is so so fun to watch him figure out how to play with his toys, and see what he does with them.

He is starting to plank and pull himself up onto his knees. While he is on his knees, Jace is also trying to rock back and forth. I am excited for him to crawl, but gosh, I am not looking forward to having a mobile baby! We will just have to see how long it takes. 

Halloween 2014

     Because Jace was so little, Paul said I couldn't take him trick or treating. My parents and I thought it would be fun to do a Halloween party for us older kids that have babies too young to go trick or treating. We decided on a theme, Wreck it Ralph, and planned our costumes around the movie. I decided that Paul would be Fix it Felix, Jace would be Wreck it Ralph, and I would be Candlehead, one of the racers from the Sugar Rush game.
     The best part about was making hair for Jace. Ralph has lots of hair, and Jace has hardly any. So I managed to put something together to make him look a little closer to what we wanted.
    Monday before Halloween Paul and I went to my parents to carve pumpkins. It is somewhat of a Blatter family tradition to carve pumpkins and and make delicious caramel apples. So this being the first Halloween in the SLC Valley in a long time, I thought it would be fun to continue with the tradition. My mom makes the best cinnamon white chocolate caramel apples. So you better believe that is what I pigged out on!  
 A few days before Halloween, Paul's mom, had a trick or treating activity at her work. Which was good for us because we wanted to see his parents, but we didn't want to drive all the way out to their place then have to drive to my parents all in one day. This made it so much easier. We were able to celebrate a Halloween with them and not have to worry about splitting the time. We had fun going around to all of Julie's clients trick or treating. Some of them were dressed up and it was really cute.
     Halloween with my family was really fun, but low key. We all dressed up as something from Wreck it Ralph. My mom was Venelope. Dad was Gene from the Fix it Felix game. Tyson was a little bummed because originally we had planned to do pirates of the Caribbean, so he had grown out his beard to be Mr. Gibbs. But he pulled of a Wreck it Ralph character by being one of the Cow boys from the game Tappers. Tallus and his girlfriend were the game pong.
    We kept everything pretty low key because the younger two sibs had plans to trick or treat. We had dinner together. The younger children left, and the adults played a few games. After that we watched the oh so classic Halloween movie "Hocus Pocus." I know it doesn't sound like a crazy amazing party, but it was just what we needed. We hope to turn this into a tradition. And as the years pass it should get a little more lively because the grand kids will be old enough to enjoy a few games.

Jace trying on his hair hat to show me how much bigger I needed to make it

Jace and Lyla playing at her house. She is so smiley its cute. Jace just does his own thing and takes over all her toys. 

Paul got PRK Lasik and was seriously out for a few days. He is still trying to heal, but he enjoys the fact that his vision is clearer than it was before. (without his glasses). 

Because Paul had just had eye surgery, he didn't trust himself to carve a pumpkin so my dad carved Jace's pumpkin. Jace was so silly. He loved the guts, but of course, he tried to eat them!

Just showing off his pumpkin guts

In Cottonwood Heights there are tons of trees. Jace decided he loves the fall just as much as I do. He likes to eat the leaves more than play in them, but I think it will get better. For now, I guess I will just have to be ok with the leaf eating. 

Sometimes, when I can't get his food made fast enough, I have to keep him happy with the breakfast of champions, nerds and fruit snacks. Neither of them really worked but it made for a good picture. 

Jace all dressed up on the way to go trick or treating at Grandmas work

I was a bad mom and let Jace eat a sucker. He did a great job eating it. Only tried to choke himself once, and that was only because he tried to eat the wrong end of the sucker. There were lots of tears when I told him he had had enough, and took the sucker away. But I think he has forgiven me.

Jace with no hair, but really big eyebrows. He is just so cute. 

The three of us dressed up for the family Halloween party. 

Daddy all dressed up as Gene

Mom dressed up as Venelope 

Paul and I made ghost brownies

Witch finger cookies

They were supposed to look more like eyeballs, but these deviled eggs were the hit of the party. 

Wreck it Ralph enjoying his sippy cup on top of Mimi and Papa's table

5 months and Life in General

Sadly, our life hasn't been exciting enough to have a post all to itself. The most exciting news in our life lately is the fact that Paul and I have kept a human alive for 5 months!! It is so hard to believe that Jace is 5 months old! He is a happy, energetic, curious, baby. He loves to play in his exersaucer, (thanks so much Jake and Jackie Smith for it!!), sit in the Bumbo and help me with stuff in the kitchen, and play peek-a-boo with Paul and me.
     Jace is growing up so fast! I love it, but I am sad about it too! I haven't weighed him recently, but a few weeks ago he was about 17.5 lbs! He is one chunky monkey! Instead of a six pack of muscles, he has the cutest six pack of fat rolls! I just love them! He is getting so strong too! He can't sit himself up, but if I sit him up he can sit there for at least 20 minutes. He can also get from sitting up to his tummy without crying! Its so nice to be able to get something done while he entertains himself. When he was a newborn, I couldn't wait until the day he could entertain himself so I could have a few moments to myself. Now that its here, I truly do love it, but I also miss my sweet sweet tiny baby.
    Paul's older brother, and his wife just had their third baby. Finally the Burnett side has a girl in the family! We had a small family get together for her blessing. It was great to have most of the family there to celebrate her birth and be together as a family!
     Paul took his last CPA exam on the 16th. He says he feels really good about it. But hopefully he does as good as he feels he did. We have to wait until the beginning of November to find out, but if he passes it will be a joyful celebration for the both of us!
    We took family pictures with Paul's family. Let the joys begin with trying to get all the little kids to cooperate for a family picture. We actually ended up with a few good ones despite the early morning pictures, cold weather, and cranky little kids. When I say early I mean EARLY. We had to be there at 7:30 in the morning! Some how everyone managed to be on time. It was a miracle!
    I wish that I had a bunch of fun and exciting adventures to blog about, but we are just doing the normal day to day stuff. Hopefully there will be a fun little post about our upcoming Halloween festivities. But for now, here are some pictures of the day to day things.

Jace loves to play with his girlfriend who lives just around the corner from us. Its crazy to think that she is 6 weeks older than him. Jace just seems HUGE compared to Lyla. 

I guess some crazy news is that I chopped my hair. I did not want to be a statistic. Everyone knows that a mom with long hair always cuts it soon after having a baby. I wanted to make it, but I always had my hair up because I had no time to do it, and I needed a change. So I cut it. Donated 11 inches, then lost a few more in the styling process. But it has been a little easier to maintain. Plus I use a whole lot less shampoo and conditioner each time I was my hair!

We have been working on building a patio for Paul's Aunt, (our landlord), and more often than not, this is how Jace spends the evenings with us. Bundled up outside just chillin' while we work. 

Jace has started giving me the cutest, cheesiest of grins. I love it! He has really cute smiles, but he has this grin and I just die it's so cute!

We love to frolf! Lucky for us, we live less than 10 minutes from one of the bigger frolf courses in Utah. Jace likes frolfing too, but mostly so he can eat the frisbees.

We went for a hike in between sessions of general conference. Jace enjoyed himself for the most part. We have to train this little guy to like hiking so when we go on the big long hikes he can handle it. 

All of us at the top. The waterfall behind us is usually pretty big but in the fall, and with the dry season it wasn't as big as it usually is during the spring. But since our hike took us a total of 15 minutes round trip, I would say it wasn't bad. 

Jace has discovered his feet! He loves to play with them now. Quite frequently I find him sucking on his toes. If only I still had that kind of flexibility! I love the little milestones that he hits. Crawling is going to be soon! He is sure trying to push himself up and he army crawls around a little. Yikes!

We took family pictures with the Burnett side. Out of the hundreds of pictures Connie Estes took, I was able to find a few that everyone actually looks good, and they are looking at the camera. We took newborn pictures with Jace, and now 5 months later, he is so different, and so much bigger. I can't believe how fast they grow.

The Burnett side. Almost all the boys are married off. Jonathan is engaged and will be soon. I am so excited to see how our family grows in the next 5-10 years!