Baby Chloe

It's fitting that our last post was announcing our pregnancy and this one is announcing the birth of our daughter. If only time moved so quickly between posts...

Chloe Elise Ballentine was born on December 18th. She weighed 7lbs 2oz and was 19 inches long. She is a mellow baby compared to her big brother. At this point in Preston's short life I think I had tried to send him back multiple times. He was a screamer. Chloe is a sleeper- THANK GOODNESS!! Preston loves her like crazy. Every time that she whimpers he rushes to her side, holds her hand, rubs her head, and asks if she is "okay". It is pretty cute. He loves to hold her and to play with her hands and feet. He isn't too jealous yet, granted, he has had both Mommy and Daddy home with him for the last couple of weeks. We will see how things change next week when Daddy goes back to work and Preston realizes he can't have all of Mommy's time.

Big Brother

The time has come to give Preston a permanent friend to play with. Cass is alive and well, but not enjoying the constant hunger, fatigue, and overall parisite-ness of the little one.
As you can see Preston is still as cute as ever, he really is such a fun kid. He is talking and playing just like a big boy. He is a big fan of mac and cheese, root beer, and mama. (actually mama is both mom and dad, he is having some minor gender recognition issues that we are working out.)
We are doing well in Utah. It is getting hot, they tell me it is a dry heat which supposedly makes it better?? Not only that, I have a lawn, which means I have to mow it every week. Yep owning a home is awesome. Life is good here in Utah, we have made the adjustment and are starting to fit in. It is nice to be around Cass's family, they are very supportive and fun.

Easter Weekend

We've trained Preston all weekend to be ready for Easter Morning. We took him to several (4) community Easter Egg Hunts. We couldn't help it....they were so much fun - for him or us I'm not really sure. The only real problem was getting past the fire truck horn that started each race. Preston still doesn't love loud noises. At one point he basically ended up in a vegetative state in a sea of dum dums. He did win the grand prize at one hunt. I guess it helps when Daddy runs and puts you down right in front of the gold egg...

Apparently the Easter Bunny had a hole in his pocket last night. He left a trail of jelly beans that lead to the back yard where he hid Preston's Easter eggs. After eating a few of the jelly beans, Preston ran and followed the trail to the back door where we found SNOW. Luckily, Jacob had gone out and uncovered a few of the eggs that the Easter Bunny had hidden the night before. Preston has identified them all as balls. Which, let's face it, really is more exciting than gross boiled eggs.

The rest of the morning has been filled with Preston opening each plastic egg and spilling the contents on the floor. He seems so surprised each time candy falls out. He can't stop saying "Whoa!"

The Easter Bunny brought him a Play maze. At first he was too interested in candy to play but we got smart and put the candy inside. He LOVES it. Grandpa and Grandma Ballentine also got him a sand and water table with boats and trucks. It is going to be fun but messy.