A 3 month's old photo shoot for Charlie

Sonny's family came up to our house for Thanksgiving this year. At that time, my brother-in-law took some photos of Charlie. These were taken about a month ago, when he was 3 months old. I wish we could have taken them outdoors but it's been so super cold lately. I didn't want to freeze my little guy! But I'm glad we have a photographer in the family who does a great job. Thanks Myles!

This last one is my favorite. Such a sweet little guy- he is such a happy baby, like seriously all the time :) He is a huge smiler and wakes up every morning with a cute smile on his face. I love him so much.

Pictures from November

Charlie at 2 1/2 months old

Taylor is really into crafts lately. His favorite is cutting paper up and using lots and lots of tape to create something. He recently made these "Ninja shoes." I think they are pretty dang cool!

Update... geez, I am a slacker when it comes to blogging...

I can never think of clever titles for my posts so the best I could come up with is "Update." ha ha. Anyways, here's Charster- that's what we all call him in our house- Oh man, too bad it's so blurry.

Ha ha, he looks so cute in hats. Plus, it's getting so dang cold here!

Suddenly Tay doesn't enjoy being in pictures. Weird.
Love this one.


Grandpa Idaho came up for Charlie's blessing the beginning of this month. It was fun to visit with him again.

Charlie's blessing day.

My mom was also able to come up for the blessing. So proud of her second grandson!

Doing some crafts with Bami (that's what Tay calls my mom).

We visited Lattin's Country Cider Mill back in October. What's better than eating a carmel apple and checking out some baby ducks?


Pumpkin picking out day


My 2 fun guys, minus baby Charlie who slept through his whole first pumpkin patch experience.

Like I've said before, Charlie sleeps like an angel when we pack him up and go places. At home, it's hit and miss. But his daytime sleeping is improving, thank goodness!

So snug :)


Tay was a ninja this year for Halloween. He is REALLY into ninja's right now, especially the Ninjago legos. His buddy Jackson, Captain Rex, went trick or treating with us.

My bat and ninja boys!

This Halloween was pretty cold so we took Charlie out trick or treating for a little bit and then I took him back early to get warm. Sonny stayed out with Taylor and ended up getting tons of goodies.
This is where Charlie watches me make dinner every night. He is such a happy baby, wakes up with a huge smile on his face every morning, and is starting to laugh now. Such a little cutie! I can't believe how big he is. He's so incredibly long!

Pictures of my 2 little guys

All the wonderful details...

Charlie Alexander Porter turned 7 weeks on Monday! Every day those 7 weeks, I've been trying to finish this blog entry and just never could. Geez, am I busy! And time has already gone by so fast.

Charlie is a little doll and I am enjoying him a lot. It has been a while since I have taken care of a newborn and I am learning everything all over again. It's weird how much I forgot how to do. Taylor is really loving being a big brother! He is such an incredible help to me. I am glad that I waited 4 years to have another one. Taylor is big enough where he can do a lot of things by himself, which is totally awesome :)

Taylor took this picture :) These pictures are a couple weeks old and he already looks way different! Charlie is such a big boy, a lot bigger than Taylor was, by almost a whole pound. He's almost 2 inches longer than Taylor was too. Every morning Taylor says to me, "Mama, doesn't he look bigger this morning?" It's so cute :) But he's exactly right- he really does look a little bigger each day. He is already wearing his 3-6 mos clothes. Charlie has some of the same features that Taylor had as a baby but a lot of his looks are so much different. Charlie's complexion is a lot darker than Taylors was. I remember Taylor being so fair skinned. Charlie is a bit of a stubborn sleeper. He did really well the first 2 weeks, sleeping in his own crib in his own room the very 1st night. He is still in his own room but has grown to be real catnapper. He sleeps on average for about an hour a day, unless I go out somewhere. I find myself quite often packing him and Taylor in the car or taking the dog on a walk just to get him to sleep most days. So needless to say, my house is a total mess, you know, muddy dog prints all over the wood floor, carpet total nastiness, the works. I'm trying not to care but I like to have a neat house! Oh well, anyways, Charlie smiled at me and Taylor around 1 mos old and rolled over from his stomach to his back at 6 weeks! It's too cute. I stressed out so much with Taylor as a baby and I am really trying hard this time around to enjoy Charlie and to enjoy being a mom more.


My mom was able to come and help for a whole month. I came 2 weeks early with Taylor so I had her come early, just in case I came early again. My dad also came down for a week to do some projects around my house. He built me an awesome fence for my backyard! Pictures to come soon. It was fun to have both of them around for a while. I realized how much I miss being around family. I feel like I'm out of the loop up here in the Northwest.

Well, as far as the birth story goes, I have to say that this time around was a whole lot better! Everything happened so fast with Taylor, with the c-section and all, that I had no time to think about anything or enjoy the process. This time around was the complete opposite. I found it a little nerve wracking just waiting around for the signs to go in to the hospital but in general, a lot more relaxed. I was out and about doing things with my mom until the day before I came. I made sure I was a lot more prepared and it made the big day go way more smoothly and peacefully. I had had a few contractions at night for a few days and then on Sunday, the 28th, I started having them like 1 every 1/2 an hour or so. They weren't very strong at all so I just kinda decided to wait it out. As the day progressed, they became stronger and closer together that by about 10 pm, they were about 5-10 minutes apart. I was watching Masterpeice Mystery, one of my favorite shows, I found myself not able to concentrate on the show (which hardly ever happens with my Masterpeice shows, hee hee). I felt like it was time so Sonny and I headed to the hospital while my Mom stayed home with Taylor. We checked in around 10:30 and was evaluated in the triage area of labor and delivery. They determined that I was at a 3 and about 50 % effaced. They told me that I needed to be a little more dialated in order to be admitted. The nurse suggested that I walk around the hospital for about 2 hours... I was like WHAT? 2 hours? I seriously thought they were joking. But I gave it a whirl- Sonny showed me some of the departments he had worked in and stuff. I made it to about 45 minutes and then couldn't walk around anymore. I returned to the triage area and they told me I was at a 4-5. Wow! that happened quick! I told them I wanted to bet the pain meds started right away and they informed me that they would get all the paperwork/orders submitted etc. They transfered me to the delivery room soon after that. I still hadn't received anything, no epidural, nothing yet so I was dying!!! It took them another couple hours until the anesthesiologist came. Before she came, they did give me some kind of pain med, a short lived one, that didn't really help at all but was enough to tie me over until the epidural. Once the epidural was administed, I grew really dizzy and nauseated. They told me this happened to a lot of women so I spent the next 2 hours or so vomiting off and on. SO MUCH FUN. After that calmed down, I tried to get some sleep but what with all the wonderful nurses bugging me and checking me, I didn't sleep a wink. Anyways, so to finish up the story, around 7 am that morning, the 29th, they told me I was ready to push and by 8:43 am, he was out. Madigan being a practicing hospital, there were what seemed like millions of people in the room watching me give birth. But at that point, I didn't care, just wanted it to be over with. I was very proud of myself for doing the Trial of Labor after C-section and it being a success. Did I mention that it was totally awesome to be able to hold Charlie right after he came out? Didn't get to do that with Taylor. So neat :)

So that's the story. About a 12 hour labor- not too bad. I'm still not fully recovered but almost. I had a little bit of tearage and have experienced a bit of incontinence so the doc says that'll be a while to recover from all that. But I am so happy to be a mother of 2. New pictures to follow- hopefully sooner than later :)

Charlie Alexander Porter

Introducing Charlie Alexander Porter! Charlie was born August 29th @ 8:47 am, weighing in at 7 pounds 11 oz, 20 3/4 inches long. More details to come later. Here are some recent pics. ps: ignore the non-makeup me... that's just how I roll these days.

Crazy days!

It looks like it's been since April since I last blogged. Wow, how time flies. Things have been crazy busy around here!!! I guess busy is subjective really but it's been crazy for me at least. I don't like being too busy and it seems like it's been out of control the last couple months. With Sonny in his residency, being pregnant, having a dog- it has been really overwhelming at times.

Sonny is now in his 2nd year of residency. He changes rotations every couple months and the hours vary depending on what department he's in. He is doing ENT right now and the schedule has been pretty nice. Starting Friday he will be doing Opthomology, which he says will be an even easier schedule. In about a month, around the time the baby is due, he will be in Plastic Surgery. I'm hoping that will be a lighter schedule too but who knows. His favorite rotation so far has been Anesthesia, mostly because he got to work by himself at his own pace. Lately he has found time to return to doing stocks again and work out at the gym. I'm glad he has time to have a hobby, besides just working.

Taylor is getting to be such a big boy. He seems to grow older every day. I love this age because they say the funniest things too. His personality has really come out. He is a crack up and I really enjoy being his mom and playing with him. With the baby on the way, he has been such a great help to me. He helps so much with the dog as well. I am excited that he will be such a good big brother. He still likes legos but has now started an obsession with camping. We've been on a few trips lately and he is really into RV's- he calls them camping trucks. He is saving up money to buy one. ha ha! He is really interested in insects and loves to read books about them. His favorite are Cinnabar moth caterpillars, which we found in a field near by. The weather has gotten nice, finally, so he spends a lot of time outside with his best friend Jackson. He is crazy about otter pops and any type of "dessert."

Jane is now 7 months old and is still a handful. I have officially concluded that puppies are way harder to take care of than a baby. She needs constant supervision and stimulation or she gets into trouble. I've only gained about 16 pds so far and I attribute that to her totally. Because of her, I have been on walks daily the last 6 months. Even though I don't feel like going most of the time, I know it's good for me and for her. She is so much fun to take on hikes because I can take her off the leash, and she especially enjoys herself around water (as you can tell with all the pictures I posted :) ) Golden Retrievers are truly water dogs. We have come pretty close to getting rid of her a couple times, because of her bad behavior, but we are trying to stick it out and enjoy the positive things she brings to our family. I know that in about 2 years or so, she will be the perfect family dog.

As for me, I have 4 1/2 weeks left until I pop. I'm finding myself a lot more anxious and nervous this time around. I think I'm mostly concerned about taking care of Taylor, the dog, and the newborn. It's also because everything happened so quick before with Taylor, having a c-section and all, and I'm trying for a vbac this time around. It's a fear of the unknown I guess. I'm so glad my mom will be coming down soon to help me. But it has been fun getting the nursery ready and I am also loving the summer!

With all the busyness, we've been on a few trips the last couple months. Taylor, Jane and I drove down to Utah in April for my brothers BYU graduation. We spent Easter down there with a bunch of family and had an awesome time. Sonny gets 2 weeks of vacation a year and decided to use one of his weeks in Idaho in June. It was a family reunion for his family and spent mostly in Rigby, Idaho. Taylor had a fun time with all of his cousins and Jane loved running around Sonny's brothers huge backyard. Sonny was able to take a few day trips with the guys in his family. They went fishing, motorbiking, and rafting. He truly needed and deserved the vacation. The girls went out one night to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Playmill Theater in West Yellowstone. It was a small production, very family friendly environment. Taylor even came along and loved it. We had listened to the soundtrack for a couple months before so we both knew all the songs! This last weekend we drove out to Seaside, Oregon to spend some time with Sonny's dad. We hung out at the beach a lot and visited with Sonny's aunt and uncle too. It was perfect beach weather! It was fun to get a couple trips in recently because I probably won't be getting out much when the baby comes.

The water at Seaside was the perfect temperature. It was super shallow too with small waves.

Sonny had a good time with Jane in the water. When Sonny threw the ball, Jane would swim out and get it and bring it back to him. It was so cool! Dogs are so cute to watch when they swim :)

Look at Jane doggy paddle!


She was in heaven!

You can't tell but Sonny is flying a kite here. I forgot how much fun it is to fly a kite at the beach.

It was so nice being at a sandy beach again. I miss that warm sand under my feet! Sure beats Washington's rocky beaches.

Taylor with all of his gear. He is truly a beach bum, like his mom. We concluded on this little getaway that we have to live near the ocean. It's an absolute must.

Janers found some crab... yum!