Cottrell Water Park

The Cottrell Water park was a blast!! Again, it's no SIX FLAGS but it's always fun to have friends and their kids come over to play and have some fun in the sun!! Water time and some lunch made us some good times! We definitely will have to do it again

Justin Update

This post is mainly for family back home to see updated pictures of our little Justin Ron. Justin is such a great addition to our family. He smiles at everyone he sees and it's not just a little smirk, it's an full face, eyebrows, cheeks, and all expression! It's such a joy to go in his room in the morning when I hear little coos and grunts from him and lean over his crib and be greeted with a huge smile, his little way of saying "Good morning" I think! All babies have their needs and times when they can definitely be trying and difficult to handle, but for the most part Justin has been a "easy" baby.

(Remember how my boys love STAR WARS? Can you say "OBI-WAN KENOBI!")

That was NOT the case with my second son. I love my little Hayden boy but around 3wks old to 9wks he was a colic baby. He couldn't self sooth himself so when I would finally get him to stop crying and fall asleep I would try to lay him down and within 5 min (usually in less time than that) he would be screaming again. So the best treatment with him was standing up during the night doing a little Indian dance where you basically walk around but with a bouncing up and down motion. There were times when after over 4 hours of switching from dancing, to nursing, to singing, to rocking I needing to just give him a few minutes to wail it out and leave the room to regroup myself. After his good little crying session he was more calm to nurse and too worn out to fight not sleeping anymore. So glad that after those 6 wks he was a great sleeper and is still my best sleeper. I can tell Hayden that I need him to take a nap and he won't fight me at all, he just says "OK mom" LOVE IT!!

Justin's play saucer, he really loves it but doesn't like it when his brothers try to take over he he.

What I love about the easiness of Justin is that when he is tired and needs to go to sleep that I can put him in his crib and he can go to sleep on his own! I leave the door open a little so there is light coming in the room and he lays there looking at his cowboy stickers and cuddling with his blankets until he drifts off to la la land. We hear him talking to himself and sucking on the satin trim of his blankets. He doesn't take a pacifier at all but loves his blankets to burrow down into. With each new baby I feel very blessed to have such wonderful little boys to care for. I hope that I can show them the right paths to go on and guide them on their way to becoming young men, missionaries, husbands, and then fathers. I am thankful for the knowledge of the gospel to guide me and the great example that they have in their own father, Nathan. I love all my boys in the Cottrell family!!

Imagination of Kids

I love the things that kids come up with!! After a double take of seeing tons of shoes all around my family room I asked Clayton what he was doing.

Playing

Playing what? Why do you have toys all inside our shoes?

It's my star fleet command!!! Ya know like on star wars!! They each have to have their own ships! Mom don't you remember?

Star Wars I should have know --- Silly mom