Spring

Thank GOODNESS it's Spring! We went to the park last Saturday to enjoy some sunshine.



This picture cracks me up.

I think one of the boys in our family kept the other boy up way too late last night because this is what I walked into this morning:


Am I ever going to get tired of taking pictures of these 2 together?











Appparently the swing works wonders for getting Crew to take a really long morning nap (especially when he only slept from 2-5am last night). Thank you, swing, for letting me get a shower, several loads of laundry, photos edited, and a blog post done.

Crew loves to be bounced or rocked. Remember that episode of the office where Dwight is sitting on the bouncy ball at his desk? That is us. Because Crew loves the bouncy ball. So we bounce for hours a day. When we stop bouncing, he starts crying.

Crew's Blessing Day!

Crew was blessed this Sunday! We were so grateful to have friends and family come for Crew's blessing, and then after we had a luncheon at our house:


Dave Lemke - My sister Katie's fiance


Scott and his Brother Craig and his Cousin Matt

Scott's Dad -aka Grandpa Butler! and Brother Mike


My sisters-in-law Andrea and Jill, who are married to Scott's brothers


My sister Jennifer and her fiance Daniel - the big day is only 2 months away!!!

Crew and his Grandma Butler who has driven up to BYU lots this last week to watch Crew while I taught the rest of the semester:)

And here are our first "family photos" - we couldn't get Crew to stop crying for longer than 30 seconds, so it was an adventure:)







Thanks to Scott's longtime roommate Ryan Tucker for taking these photos.

I'll always have a soft spot for Ryan and his wife Sherri because of our parallel lives...

Sherri and I were in the same singles ward in South Provo. Over the course of about a month, I showed up at the temple several times, and each time, Sherri would coincidentally be in my session. We had a few heartfelt conversations, mostly about how much we didn't want to be single anymore.

About a month later, Scott and Ryan moved into our ward. They had been waiting for a place to open up in our ward for about a year. They moved in - and Scott and I were engaged 7 or 8 weeks later, and Ryan and Sherri were engaged about 7 or 8 weeks after that. They had baby Lizzie in December, and we had baby Crew in March. Heavenly Father works in beautiful ways.

Here's the proud Daddies:



and Momma's:




We love the Tuckers!

3 weeks

This is Crew in his Blessing outfit - the same one my brother Andrew wore years ago, and the same one that all of my nephews have worn. I love it. We decided we better bless Crew next week before he grows out of the outfit!

Last Sunday Scott and I spent 5 hilarious hours trying to do an official photoshoot with Crew. He peed on everything, spit up, pooped in my hand, cried, nursed, cried, slept when I wanted his eyes open, squirmed when I wanted him asleep...this guy is telling us who is in charge! We got a few, although I have to say that if you are contemplating taking your own child's newborn picture, my advice would be - don't! I thought it would be so easy and I could take pictures at my leisure, but nope! Trying to wear too many hats at one time. Plus, everything he does is adorable to us, so it's hard to be discerning...


Before we had Crew, Scott asked me "Are you going to take naked pictures of our babies?" I said "I don't have to, why are you opposed?" He said he thought it was just a little weird. Fast forward to Crew's newborn shoot and Scott is like "Oh, come over here, this is the cutest angle of his bum!"







I love Sock Monkey.

We're not sure if Crew likes sock monkey....


or not, hehehe. I mean, how inappropriate, Crew.

Bathtime

The first 2 weeks.

Our little Crew Bear is 2 weeks old and I don't know how that happened. It's still registering that we don't have to give him back to anyone and that we really do get to keep him! I had such grand expectations for the fabulous pictures I would take of his first 2 weeks of tiny newborn life, but the way things turned out I am just starting to manage showering and walking!

AND on top of that we are moving - and things are spread between 2 houses and it feels like there is no order anywhere! I use the term "WE'RE" moving loosely because I haven't done much of anything except sit and nurse Crew, take naps on the floor of the few rooms that have carpet, and occasionally give input on which cupboard things should go in. If you ever want to get out of moving, just get a c-section and be super dosed up on Percocet - it seems to be doing the trick!

On the other hand, sometimes these super-hectic times are the sweetest, and I think I will look back to sitting in the craft room nursing my newborn bundle and talking with my mom about where embroidery floss should go, watching Scott come in to coo at Crew sleeping in his car seat in between trips to the moving truck, listening to conference talks and singing hymns to Crew while Scott and I moved our closets in on Sunday instead of going to church (ox in the mire), and everyone being so nice about me being completely useless!

I did pull out my camera a few times, and here are a few of Crews first 2 weeks of life....

First a picture from my phone - it warms my heart.






Crew Yawning. He looks just like his Daddy expect he got my big mouth.












This is how he sucks his thumb. Makes me nervous he's going to claw his eye.












I get to take naps with this little bundle.


Yummmm.