Our San Jose Experience

Our time living in San Jose ended up being a short one, the condo we rented did end up getting foreclosed on and the bank actually offered to pay us to move out!! Crazy right! So while it was a pain to have to move once AGAIN, it ended up being a pretty sweet deal. So we lived in the condo rent free, didn't have to pay utilities or anything, plus the bank paid us $3000 to move out- who doesn't like free money?!

Our sweet babies- Kell and Colter are getting more and more interactive with each other and it is so fun to watch- LOVE our kiddos!

talking to Colter

My little man getting way too big, too fast! Almost 5 months

Colter sleeps best with blankets tucked around him- he likes to feel nestled in- such a sweet boy.

And this is what I get when he wakes up- nothing but smiles and giggles!

Have to brag- he's quite the mamma's boy and I LOVE it!

(and love those baby blues)

Mckell is pretending to be Colter- laying in his bed with his binkie and blankie (love the tan line- she definitely got Courtland's gorgeous olive skin.. lucky girl).

Discovered and loves his tongue

Kell is getting better at letting me do her hair and it's pretty fun. She has yet to let me curl it but I'm happy she's just letting me get a pony or two in.

Playing at the park- Colter loved the swing, just hanging out

The drive continues west- California bound

Well we are off again, hopefully to our final destination... San Jose or as I like to call it 'the crap-o' (inside thing). Anyway, 13 more hours of driving and we made it!

Our last leg of our cross country drive wasn't horrible, wasn't great, just glad it's over!

We are so grateful to Courtland's parent's who made the trek out with us- they drove the moving truck for us and helped us get all settled in. The only problem is that we don't know if we can stay in this condo we are currently living in. The day before driving out, the person renting the condo to us called and said the condo might get foreclosed on! SERIOUSLY! We decided to move in anyway because the landlord said she wouldn't have us pay until the whole foreclosure thing was decided... so we only moved in the essentials and the rest of our stuff is in the garage.  Guess I'll be living pioneer style with no ac, car, furniture, internet, cable, etc until we find out! Wish me luck!

We finally blessed . . . Colter!

That is right! You read it correctly, Jason is now Colter!! 

So when we named our sweet baby boy I was stuck on Jason but Courtland really wanted Colter. Well it's been bugging him ever since and so during the blessing he surprised us all and named him 

Colter Courtland Astill! 

We had joked about it a bit but I didn't think he'd actually do it, well I was wrong because he most certainly did.  So from this day on our baby is now Colter!  Crazy I know, but that's us! Later Courtland told me how he had been having nightmares about what to name him and when he got up for the blessing he just knew he had to change it so I guess it was meant to be.

We had the blessing up at Courtland's parent's house and it all went perfectly, well except the name change... But I do love the new name and feel really good about it, so no I was not mad at him for doing it. My jaw did drop when I heard him say it and I had a hard time concentrating the rest of the blessing but he did give a beautiful blessing. We are so blessed to have Colter's sweet spirit in our home and thank everyone for coming and sharing this special and unforgettable day with us!

 The sweet little outfit Colter is wearing is what Courtland was blessed in as a baby so it definitely had sentimental value. I thought it was the perfect thing to bless him in and I loved it. I don't know about the bonnet- but Courtland insisted! So Colter was our little quaker baby for the day- haha.

 Love my little man!

 The men in the blessing: Papa Rabe, Gr Grandpa Rabe, Courtland & Colter, Grandpa Astill, and Uncle Andrew

Astill family

Rabe family

 This face cracks me up- guess he didn't love his quaker outfit dad!

 My good friend Mallorie stopped by to visit- Thanks Rose! We need to get together more often for sure!

So all of you who have heard those crazy stories of the dad changing the name during the blessing- it does happen... and it of course happened to me!  Now I have to find out how to change his name legally...

Building blocks

One of Kell's favorite things to do when we're at grandpa and grammy Astill's is building towers with the blocks and then knocking them down.

 The new Mr. Colter!

Mckell's 2 year old birthday party!!

We decided to celebrate Mckell's birthday while in Utah so that she could actually have a PARTY with family and friends.  Since she loves playing in the water so much, we had a water party and it was a hit!  She was so excited and was loving every minute of it.

 Blowing out the candle- she was so excited when we were singing to her- she still sings happy birthday to herself daily! ha

 New books from Gr. Grandma Critchlow

 Tessa and Kambree helping Kell open her presents

 And eating their PB&J's

Courtland's sisters- Natalie and Alison

 Mckell loved her new baby

 Cassi & Maddie and Ali & Reese

 Grandpa Astill or 'crap-pa' as Mckell says it, always playing relentlessly with Kell- she just adores him

 Tessa on the slip n' slide

 Another of Kell's favorites- Grammy

 And of course Gr. Grandpa Rabe and Jan showed up in style

Mckell had such a fun birthday party, we were so glad we could have it a few weeks early where she'd have people that could actually attend. 

Thanks everyone for coming and celebrating our baby turning 2! And thanks Mom & Dad for letting us have it at your home!

4 month old stats!

Our sweet little boy tuned 4 months old while we were in Utah, here are his stats:

height- 25 3/8 inches, 70%

weight- 14 lbs, 40%

head- 41.9 cm, 45%

 I just love his big blue eyes (probably because they come from me!) He is such a joy in our family and is such a chill little guy. He is happy and content just laying on the floor without anyone paying attention to him.  He rarely fusses and goes 4-5 hours between feedings and 12 hours at night so I pretty much only feed him 4 times a day, 5 at most.  He sleeps 8-9 hours at night, every new mommy's dream and I sure do appreciate that. Mckell is really starting to notice him now too and attends to him when he does fuss.  She's the best at getting him to giggle and his eyes follow her wherever she goes or he rolls so he can see her.  Jace is a bit of a mamma's boy and if he sees me he gets mad if I leave.  There is definitely something special about a mamma and her boy, I feel like we have a special bond and I just love my little man to pieces!

Like father like son, always passed out!

2 week visit in Utah!

After our very long drive from New Jersey to Utah, we finally made it and were so happy to be 'home'!  I will always call Utah home and hope to be living there permanently in the near future but this visit was short lived only being for 2 weeks.

We were busy doing and going somewhere everyday! But we definitely got lots of grandparent time in! Mckell especially loved our time in Utah- I think she gets sick of just playing with me all the time so she was in heaven having both sets of grandparents at her every call and request to do whatever she wanted.

Papa and Mr Jacers snuggling on the couch

 Out to dinner at Taggart with the girls- no hubbies or kids allowed! Well except Jason because I have to feed him but by the end of our stay in Utah I had him taking a bottle so he's not so 'attached'!

 Kell always getting messy- this is at the Rabe family reunion

 We went swimming one day with our vivint friends- Ava and Jason hanging out by the pool

 And of course we made a visit to the splash pad- Kell loves playing in water

STOMACHS BEWARE before looking!

My mom and I went shopping in Park City one day and Jason had a complete and massive BLOWOUT! This boy only goes #2 every 4-5 days so when he goes, he really GOES!  This was so not fun to clean up in the old navy bathroom- it was everywhere and such a mess. Luckily I packed him an extra outfit!

 Grandma Rabe made brownie cupcakes with Kell one afternoon- which as you can see by Kell's very messy face was a big hit! This girl loves her chocolate- must get that from me! ha

 And I did some baking myself- My cute friend Jodi makes the BEST caramel apples every Christmas and I decided I just couldn't wait until December so I made her tell me her secrets and gave them a try. My chocolate cracked and I'm not sure why but they were still so DELICIOUS! I think I ate half of them myself- I will definitely be making many more of these yummy goodies!

Tennesse to Utah

So the plan was to drive from Ben's to Jake's house in Peoria, IL and visit them but because of all the flooding a bunch of I-80 was under construction and would add a bunch of hours in detours so sadly we had to change our plan and drive the Kansas route instead.  We were really disappointed we couldn't see Jake's cute family but it was probably a good thing we didn't try to go that way because my Uncle David was driving that route a day ahead of us and said the traffic was horrible.

But we did finally make it to Utah and were all SOOO ready to get out of the car.  I don't think Jason likes his carseat much anymore and fusses when I now put him in it, where before he liked it- Sorry bud, we still have another 12 hour drive ahead of us in a couple weeks!

Mckell relaxing on our hotel bed- the only picture I took the whole drive home. ha

The rest of the drive wasn't too great- Kell was sick and threw up all over her carseat one night but alas we did finally make it!