4 month update

Braxten is now 4 months old. At his appointment he was 14.5 pounds and 26.5 inches long. He is continuing to grow and develop buy it makes me miss my little baby boy. He is wearing 6 month clothing because he is so tall. He can roll from his belly to his back, when he chooses to. He is really close rolling from his back to his belly. He loves his sister a lot. He is always smiling and giggling whenever she is around. If he is crying and I can't get to him right away, I send Braelyn to him to make him happy. He sleeps from 9/10 at night until 7 or later in the mornings. It's wonderful. He is my little light and melts my heart. 

Braelyn is getting big as well. She is 31 pounds and 37 inches. She will be 3 on the sixth. I can't believe my little girl is that old. It seems like just a couple months ago she was my smiling little baby laughing at Cooper the dog doing tricks for treats in my inlaws kitchen. We are having a Tangled birthday party. We are both super excited for it. Whenever Braxten is upset Braelyn will sing to him and I love to watch and listen to her. She is my little angel most of the time but we do butt heads probably once a day. She is very independent and head strong. 

I am just tryin to deal with the stress of being a mom and working 3 days a week at a daycare. It's been tough but we are making it work. I'm cutting back hours because the stress and being away from the kids was really getting to me. I need to make a list of fun things to do with the kiddos this summer. Suggestions?

We wenton a hike on Memorial Day and had a blast. Braelyn was such a little trooper

All of us

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Getting Big

So, it's been a while since I've posted, but things have been crazy and changed a lot in the last few weeks. Braxten is getting so big. I'm not sure how much he weighs. At his two month appointment he was 12 pounds and 23 1/2 inches long. He has an appointment next Monday so we'll see how much he's grown since then. He is smiling and cooing and laughing and we are just having a ball with him. Braelyn is great with him and he loves her so much. Whenever he wakes up from a nap, she's right there ready to calm him down and tell him things will be okay.

Braelyn will be three on June 6. I can't believe how fast time is gone by. I remember it like it was yesterday her being my little baby girl just as big as Braxten. We are having a Tangled birthday party. I have been searching Pinterest and I'm getting so excited to plan this for her :) She has decided that it is fun to sing every song whether it's the radio, her movies, a tv show, or even a silly commercial. It makes me smile. She went to the dentist a few weeks ago and now asks everyday if she can go back. No cavities and 20 healthy teeth!!

I am working in the daycare at Golds Gym and enjoy it. However I do hope that I can move to the front desk at some point. 

That's a quick update for you! I will post again hopefully when Braxten hits 4 months!

Hunting for Easter eggs!!!

Braelyn and Braxten

Now that I got Braxten's birth story on the blog, I wanted to get an update done on the kiddos and our little family of four.

Braxten: He is now four weeks old! I can't believe how fast the time has gone. He has been a very good baby. He only wakes up to eat once a night, if at all. If we put him to bed around 11, he will sleep until 6 ish most nights. When he is having a growth spurt, things are a little different. He loves to stare and try to figure things out. He stretches and wiggles and is starting to grin now and then-more than just gas. I will tickle his sides or tickle his cheeks with my hair and he will give me a hint of a grin. I love it! He is also starting to "talk" and coo a bit more. He will be really quiet and then all of a sudden let out a squeal and it catches me off guard. I can't help but giggle. I don't know how much he weighs. At his 2 week check up he was 8 lbs 1 oz and 20 inches. I look forward to watching him continue to grow :)

Braelyn: She is continuing to grow and loves being a big sister. She is 29 and a half pounds and 36 inches tall. She is a big helper, too. Braelyn will grab the dirty diapers and throw them away without me even asking her too. She will also come running whenever Braxten starts to cry. Today I was washing some dishes and he started to fuss. I heard him but was finishing the dish in my hand. Braelyn came running and said, "Mom, come here! Grab my hand. I need to take you to baby brother because he is crying!" I just had to smile and comply.

She is getting so smart! Today she did a 24 piece puzzle all by herself. She can count to 14 and sing her ABCs (Minus the J. She seems to skip it every single time...) She loves to play with all things princesses and babies, but she also loves cars and trains. She can navigate my kindle better than I can which is pretty sad. She loves to climb and jump on EVERYTHING! She is a little monkey. Her favorite TV shows right now are Super Why! and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood (which is a cartoon spin-off of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood). Her favorite movie is Frozen-of course- and she keeps asking to go see it again. I have already pre-ordered it off of Disney Movie Club :) Her favorite color is pink and her favorite foods are pizza, grilled cheese and tomato soup, and PB and Js. The thing she wants to do the most is go to school. She can't wait to go and keeps telling me that she is 3 because I tell her she can't go to school until she is 3--Stinker...

Tyler and Me: We are just adjusting to being parents of two children rather than one. It is awesome and we wouldn't change it for anything. We didn't do anything for Valentine's-just got a Papa Murphy's heart pizza and Tyler gave me an Ice Cream cake. He is getting Thor 2 and Iron Man 3 if they ever decide to show up. I got them half off on Disney Movie Club. Hopefully they will be here in the next few days. I am starting to go to the gym. I love running on the elliptical. I am thinking about signing up for a 5k-possibly the one in Morgan. We'll see how it goes :)

That's it for the Matsons! Now here are some pictures because I know that is all you wanted to see anyway. P.S. If anyone has photoshop and wants to edit some pictures for me let me know! I love the ones I took, but they do need some editing.

Braxten's Birth Story

I have been meaning to write this for the past few weeks, but with two kids I am just now getting around to it. So here I go! This is Braxten's birth story.

My due date was January 19th, but we scheduled an induction for earlier. On January 16th at 7:15 a.m. we left our house with our family of three and dropped Braelyn off at my in-laws house. Tyler and I arrived at the hospital at 8 am and since I pre-registered, we were able to go straight to our room.

My first nurse was named Carol-Ann and by 9 am she had me on the pitocin drip and everything was underway. We watched season 4 of the Big Bang Theory while we waited for things to happen. Around 11:30 my doctor came it to my room to break my water and strip my membranes. I went from an almost 2 to an almost 3 just by her doing that. I got a new nurse named Cari (from Mountain Green) and she was absolutely incredible! She was very friendly and helpful and was able to keep me relaxed a bit better. At 2:30 my nurse checked me again and I was only a 3+ so I decided to go ahead and have my epidural. Dr. Patel came in within the next 10 minutes to start it. It took about 20 minutes to fully kick in, but I kept it so light I still felt the pressure of my contractions, just not the pain. Just before 4 the nurse checked me again and I was a 9+. It took me less than an hour to dilate 6cm! The epidural allowed me to relax and let my body do what it was meant to do. My nurse just let me finish dilating and wait until I felt ready to push. By 4:35 we started a couple practice pushes. Halfway through my second contraction she told me to stop because the baby was coming and she didn't want to be the one to deliver him :) She left and called Dr. Lister who got there by 4:45. She came in and gowned up while I pushed two more times, during which Tyler asked "What more can I do to help." After asking if it was okay with me, Tyler was gowned up as well. They got ready and I pushed 3 times through one more contraction. On my next contraction I pushed twice and Braxten's head was out! I loved hearing his little cry! I pushed one more time and my little man was here. They put him on my chest while Tyler clamped and cut the cord. This was the point where I could not hold back the tears. He was such a handsome little baby! I was a proud mama!

Braxten was born at 4:56 pm weighing 7 pounds 9 ounces and was 20 inches long. He has been such a little joy to our lives and Braelyn absolutely LOVES her baby brother. I do have some pictures below. There is some leg showing so if you don't want to see, don't look!

More Christmas Baking

I was asked for the recipe for Chocolate Peppermint Muddy Buddies, so here it is! I originally got the recipe HERE from Our Best Bites, but once again, I had made a few changes.

Chocolate Peppermint Muddy Buddies
7-8 cups Chex Cereal (Normally rice chex, but I used corn chex because that is what I had on hand)
1 cup chocolate chips--semi sweet or milk chocolate
2 tsp. peppermint extract (more if you want a stronger flavor)
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter
16 Standard size candy canes
3/4-1 cup powdered sugar

Place cereal in a large (really large) bowl and set aside. In a blender or food processor, place 8 candy canes and powdered sugar and blend until candy canes are smooth like the sugar. Place the other 8 candy canes in a ziploc bag and use a heavy rolling pin to crush into small pieces (or stick them in the blender/food processor and pulse until they are crushed-not to powder!) Dump the crushed pieces (not the powder) in with the cereal and mix; set aside. In a microwave safe bowl, mix chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter. Microwave at 30 second intervals stirring in between each interval. When smooth, add peppermint extract and stir. Pour over cereal and mix until everything is evenly coated. Put the cereal mix and powdered sugar mix in a ziploc bag and shake until everything is coated. Eat and Enjoy!


SORRY THERE IS NO PICTURE! IT GOTTEN EATEN WAY TOO FAST FOR THAT :-)

Christmas Baking

So today I have been in a super Christmas baking mood. I am going to a Christmas party tomorrow, so that is one of the reasons. I made cookies and they are to die for! Here is the recipe! I got it here but made some of my own tweaks to it.

Peppermint Kiss Cookies:

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

6-8 candy canes crushed in a food processor or blender

1 1/4 cups butter (2 1/2 sticks)-I know it's a lot!

1 tsp. peppermint extract

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 large egg

3 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 Package Hershey's Candy Cane Kisses

Preheat over to 350*F

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In a mixing bowl (I used my Kitchen Aid) combine powdered sugar, butter, peppermint extract, vanilla extract, and egg. Beat at medium speed, scraping the sides of the bowl, until creamy. Add flour mixture, mixing until blended. The mixture will be crumbly. Add the candy cane pieces. Shape dough into balls and roll in granulated sugar. Bake 10 to 12 minutes. Allow to cool 3-5 minutes then press candy cane kisses in the center. (I had to press them then put the cookies directly in the fridge in order for the kiss to hold its shape better.) Enjoy!

Zoo, Thanksgiving, Letter from Nick, & Snow!

So this post covers a lot, but I hope it won't be too long. First, Braelyn and I went to the zoo with Kelsee and Caydence the day before Thanksgiving. It was Wild Wednesday, so it was a free day at the zoo. The girls had a lot of fun. Braelyn (and I) wanted to see the polar bear, but she had surgery to repair an umbilical hernia so she was in her den and holding area and wasn't allowed to swim. We hope she gets better soon! Braelyn also loved the seals and the baby elephant.

For Thanksgiving, we were at Tyler's family this year. Aaron and McKinnley were able to make it up this year so it was a lot of fun. Braelyn loved to see baby Claire and was very "helpful" with her.

The only person we were missing was Nick, but he's on his mission in Guatemala and that's a better place to be for the time being. He was able to perform a baptism in his first week in his first area. We are so happy he is doing so well. When the mail came this morning, we were happy to see that we had a letter from Nick; nothing big, but it was still good to hear from him. For family who may be reading this, the letter goes as follows:

My dearest bother, sister, niece, and nephew,
Thank you for the letter! I loved the picture B-Rose drew! It was something great to get. She's my favorite. I can't wait to see Baby Matson for the first time! I expect a lot of my favorite little niece as well!
Also, thank you for that letter you gave me in the airport ,(we each wrote him and gave it to him to read on the plane to Guatemala) I really appreciated it! You two are awesome. So you probably want some first area mission details, huh? Well it is insane! My comp is from the Dominican Republic which means my espanol is improving a ton! My area is called Trebol II Zone Central Zone 8. It's a pretty great place. The ward is huge! A lot bigger than I thought it was going to be. Anyways, just thought I would write you back!
Love you all so much! Elder Matson
PS Sorry about the cursive! I just worte Grandma June in all cursive, so my mind was used to it.
PSS Send anything else to the return address
PSSS Hi Braelyn! Love Ya!

Today was our Ward Christmas Party which was fun. We got to visit with neighbors and Braelyn loved the dancers. We didn't get to sit on Santa's lap because he was already scheduled to go to the Sunset City Building. We did get to see him drive by on the firetruck though! He drove all through Sunset City with the sirens on then ended up at the City building. The snow started about 9:30 and hasn't stopped since, so we didn't go to see Santa today. We have gotten between 7 and 8 inches at the last check and it was still coming down. Tyler left at 8 to go plow and salt parking lots with his work. To give me a break while I made dinner (homemade chicken noodle soup) Tyler took Braelyn out to play in the snow and she had a ball! It was dark, but we bundled her up and had the lights on. I think I know what we will be doing after church tomorrow...

Well there is our quick update. I will post in a day or two with a pregnancy update. I don't want to take a picture in my jammies :-) Have a great night all!