Mazie at 5 months

These pics were taken a little before she was 5 months (about a week earlier) but I am running out of time and soon she will be 6 months, so I just decided to go with it.

Mazie is all smiles these days. If you are close to her face and smiling she always answers back with a big smile and wriggles her little body in excitement.

The most exciting thing is that she now rolls over. She rolls all the time from her back to her stomach, but I have only seen her roll from her stomach to her back like once. So she often gets stuck on her stomach and then starts to cry. She also spits up all over because she is pushing on her full little tummy. It is a little frustrating but I remember Liberty doing the same thing. This is my favorite stage though because they are so responsive but not too mobile that they are getting into everything. I will enjoy it while it lasts.

She is also drooling a lot. She has found her hands and loves to suck on them. She now will take a binky, but only try to give it to her to fall asleep. And I am even hesitant about that since Eliza never took one and Libby did and she now sucks her thumb. Hmm what to do?

This is another of my favorite things she does. She will suck on her tongue. It always looks like she had something in her mouth and in fact made Rob and my mom nervous on two seperate occasions.
She sure brings me happiness. I am so glad that I have to take time out to feed her. During a busy day it makes me sit down and enjoy her. It seems so busy right now that otherwise I'm not sure I would make time just to sit and hold her and rock her. Her smile always makes me happy and when the other two are testing my patience, she always makes me feel better. I'm sure her turn will come too but I am enjoying this stage quite a bit right now. What a blessing you are in our family Mazie.

Mazie at 4 months

Mazie is now 4 months (pics taken at 4 months). Her smile just melts your heart and can turn any bad day into a good one. I love going to get her in the morning and she is just so excited. When you pick her up she just flexes and squirms her body with excitement. She is rolling over onto her tummy, but can't quite get her arm out from under her and stays stuck on her tummy laying on her arm, so I'm not sure if it is official yet. It's pretty funny because when she does it we all get close to her on the ground and cheer her one and (if you can imagine) Liberty like to get really close and yell really loud that it often starts scaring Mazie. Often Liberty just can't take it any longer and helps her roll over. We try to explain that we want her to do it herself but it just doesn't make sense to a 2 year old.

Love that smile

She is starting to lose her hair but still so beautiful.

It was just killing Liberty to have all the pictures taken of Mazie and not her. She even had to bring her baby to the photo shoot.


Mazie is growing more and more and already the 3-6 month clothes are getting too small. However it doesn't seem to be in chubbyness just in heighth. Yes, we too are confused how this could possibly be happening with us as parents. I can't find my papers but she was like 98% in heighth and about 60% in weight. I don't think she will be living up the Liberty's legacy of rolls.I love you Mazie!

Liberty Chipmunk

Does anyone else think that the artists of Alvin and the Chipmunks 2 might have had Liberty in mind when they created the Chippette in green? We think they look exactly alike.
I am happy to report that Liberty is doing better these days. Still testing my patience and continuing to lock me out, but I learned an important lesson that Liberty might always act like she doesn't care when getting punished but deep down she does. After only one day of having diapers she decided she wanted her panties back. I told her she had to go a whole day without wetting her diaper. She conquered the goal and was back in panties the next day. I love you Liberty.

Eliza's 5th birthday

Eliza turned 5 this last thursday. We had a birthday party for her a few weeks ago while we were still in SLC so she could invite all of her friends and cousins there. It was a fun water party. Nate and Desiree let us borrow their blow up water slide, thank goodness, and it was a hit. Also each child got their own squirt bottle. We had pizza, cake, a pinata, and at the end opened presents which Eliza got way too many. It was a fun day.
Then on her actual birthday she woke up and opened her one and only present from us. It was a pillow pet. She has been wanting this for like the past 5 months, so she was very excited! Libby was a also excited until she found out that she didn't get one and then tried to still it from Eliza. Eliza was very nice about it and did let her hold it for a little while but apparantly not long enough for Libby. Eliza and the pillow pet have pretty much been inseperable. She has to bring it in the car to school and it has to be there on the way home from school. Although she does let Libby play with it when she is gone at school. She got a birthday crown and a new book at school from her teacher. Then that evening we went out to eat at Mimi's Cafe and they sang happy birthday to her. Then we went to the Jungle. It is a place here that has a huge indoor playground and video games. It reminds me of a smaller version of Boondocks back home. She loved it and I think had a great day. Thanks to all those who called and sent cards. It made it a special day for her.
I love you Eliza. You are such a caring person. Almost always willing to share with Libby and help her out with what she needs. You are a great helper to me with the baby. I love lately watching you act out little plays that you put together. You definitely have a natural talent for theater and sometime remind me of your cousin Hannah because of this. You are fun to be around and I defintely consider you one of my best friends. Happy Birthday. You are so old!

Terrible Twos

Does anyone else ever feel like their 2 year old is punishing them. Oh wow. Well Libby has been experiencing terrible twos like no other this last week. I think it might be due to the move but whatever it is I hope it gets back to normal soon.
She has now returned to diapers. The first weekend we got here she got what seemed to be a UTI. But then it got better. But since then she has been having all kinds of accidents. I thought at first due to the UTI but then this week. She had an accident and just laughed about it. When I asked her why she went on the floor she says, "because she wanted to." Oh my. She is so defient. After peeing on the floor every day for the last week I decided she had to return to diapers. I took away all her panties thinking this would make her want to go on the potty but instead she started helping me pack them up with delight. Don't you just hate it when your genius plan backfires. I feel like that always happens with her. I felt like I just gave her what she wanted it, but I had already said that was what I was going to do.
She has also figured out how to lock the door (the car door, the bedroom door, and the house door). How fortunite for me that all the bedrooms and bathrooms in this house have locks ;) She will run in the room/car and lock the door and start giggling with delight. In the car as soon as I power unlock it she hurries and slams down the lock. (As I am writing this down it does sound a little funny, but at the time it sure doesn't.) The thing that is so different from Eliza is that no punishment phases her. She just laughs as she is being punished as if she is saying, "Yeah right mom, like I care."
Phew. Now that I am done ranting and raving, I must admit I do love that little rascal and she can also be so loving. She always wants to snuggle and always has a smile to brighten the day...even when she's in trouble. I love you Libs.

The Beach

We prioritized and decided it was more important to go to the beach then unpack. Ha Ha. So off we went last Saturday. The girls had the time of their lives. They played for hours in the sand. Libby loved running toward the water and then running away all scared screaming. Eliza loved digging in the dirt and building castles (unfortunately Liberty liked destroying them). Rob spent some of his time (it felt like forever to me) finding a "sweet deal" on a surfboard and wet suit. We are official owners now. When he finally got back, him and the girls went looking for seashells. They found some amazing ones. They found a whole sand dollar. It is awesome! Mazie, however, was not enjoying her stay at the beach quite as much. She cried almost the entire time. I'm not sure if it was the wind or her cold that was bothering her but it was quite exhausting for me and I hope the next beach experience to be a little more relaxing. If not, the surfboard/wet suit "sweet deal" might have been a bad investment. ;)

California. We have arrived!

Ok I need to do some catching up of the summer and I will do a post of that later. But I wanted to do the latest news before it gets too late. We moved to Campbell, CA last Saturday. This is in the bay area near San Jose and for those who don't know anything about CA that is about an hour from San Francisco. We are sad to leave family and friends but are trying to focus on the good things about coming here. #1Rob gets to go to work and work in the same office with co-workers. #2 The fresh fruit in the back yard. We have 4 mature fruit trees in our back yard and it has been awesome. There's a orange tree (Funny story, we thought it was a lime tree and picked one and split it open and the fruit inside did not taste like limes. We were confused. So we went back out and up at the top there was orange fruit. A ha.), lime tree, grapefruit tree, pear tree (boy do they make a mess on the patio, it is Eliza's job to clean up the fruit every day, she is a little scared of the bees and I am scared of the cockroaches), and parsiman tree (I know nothing about this fruit, including the spelling). It has been delicious eating the pears and making juice with the citruses. #3 The nice weather (but I must admit it has been a little warm this week without a/c) #4 The beach. Can't wait to go.
We hope all who can will visit. Mom came out to visit this week and wow am I glad, especially with Eliza starting Kindergarten. She was a life saver with getting unpacked too.

(Eliza at first day of Kindergarten)

We will keep you all posted on the CA living. Like Rob likes to tell the girls "They wish they all could be California girls!" Who sings that song? I think the Beach boys.

Mazie at 3 months

She continues to grow bigger and bigger. It started in her face and then to her tummy and now the legs are getting the cottage cheese rolls. We'll see if she surpasses her sister Liberty Michilen Man.She is now on the move. We had set her on the floor asleep. Then later when I came back she had scooted herself all the way over by the baby car seat. Also one time I laid her on a blanket on the floor in the living room and she would wake up a little and fuss and move and kept doing this until she had done a 360. Her head in the same place with those little feet just a pushin.

Mazie at 2 months

Mazie is now smiling at us and acts like she can actually see us and doesn't just have gas. It just makes your heart melt.

She is so funny though because sometimes she will start screaming bloody murder and I'll think Liberty is hurting her or something. But when I run in it is that she is pulling her own hair. The more it hurts the harder she pulls because she is tensing up her muscles. Then when I try to pull her hand away it just makes it worst because she clenches tighter. It is pretty silly. I now find it best to just let her work it out. Crazy Mazie.

Mazie's Blessing Day

It was a really great day. I started out feeling a little anxious because I felt there was so much to get done with having family come after church to eat. But after about an hour of this I prayed that I could feel calm and focus on the most important part--Mazie's blessing. After that I felt very calm and was able to really enjoy such a special day.

Aunt Peggy made Mazie's beautiful blessing dress. I wanted her to be able to have this from Aunt Peggy because I think it is a special dress for a girl to have and wanted it to be from someone special. Sewing is such a great talent that Aunt Peggy has.

Rob blessed Mazie and the spirit was very strong. I am so grateful to have the gospel in our lives to help guide us, especially on how to raise our children.
After the blessing we had great food. (Thanks to all of you who helped!) My mom joked that it is kind of cruel to have dinner at the new mothers house. I lauged and thought that was pretty funny. Luckily everyone was so willing to help out that it was easy! A special thanks to my mom who saved me a few days before when i was feeling so stressed. My land-lord had called early in the morning and said that I needed to show the house and cleaning is hard to keep up with a new-born. So to have it super-duper clean seemed a little daunting. She saved the day and helped me deep clean the house. Thanks so much mom! I'm lucky to have you. (Sorry for the tangent, back to the blessing day!)




Dear friends from Provo, Patti and Pablo Hernandez came to the blessing. They sadly missed an exit and arrived just a few minutes too late for the blessing. I felt bad that they had missed it but thought it was super sweet they would drive to far to come to the blessing.

Liberty loved the new drinking pitcher. Later in the evening she, Taiton, and Drew would be found mixing root beer and lemon water and making a big mess by the back door. :) Those rascals. They were having the time of their lives.

These 3 girls were playing hard in the back room and soon Kate would join them for some dress up (Kate would be Snow White of course).
After the stomachs had settled, Rob and Miller started an intense tournament of Bad mitten (or "good" mitten as Rob liked to call it). It was fun because most everyone got involved. The Stevenson girls lived up to their reputation. Thank goodness we have recruited Chelsea who held her own.

Happy by standers waiting their turn.

The winners of the tournament were Rob and Miller. Hmm...fishy.

It was a great day and I am so grateful to have such supportive family and a husband with the priesthood.