Moving Adventure with 2 Kids

It has been a LONG couple of months since I last blogged...I'm not very good at this am I? :) Oh well, life gets crazy very often. Since my last post I have already given birth to another beautiful baby boy. Charles Michael. He is SUCH a joy, and I am so happy we have him in our family. (I say this while he is screaming on the floor - he hates his tummy time). We finally moved from Kansas back to Idaho last week, so Xander could finish up his last semester. (Imagine a super big happy squeal and happy dance right now). We had planned on leaving EARLY Wednesday morning, but my body decided to get earlier that week...so packing was put on standby. On top of that, Alex had thrown up Monday night as well. We ended up finally getting everything into the car and car top carrier around 2:30 that afternoon. It was really late in the day, but since it was also around nap time for both boys, we figured we could go ahead and head out, and just get as far as we could. Luckily, without pulling a trailer, we made good time. Unfortunately, since we weren't pulling a trailer, the car was SUPER packed, and we had to leave a ton of stuff behind. The boys were SO amazing for the entire car trip. I was a pretty proud momma. Charles slept almost the entire time, while Alex stayed fairly entertained and also napped on and off. It also helped that I had a toy bag ready for Alex (with at least 3-4 new toys just for the car trip), and made sure to to only give him one or two at a time. When we he was done with one, I took it back and gave him a new one. I think that helped out a lot with keeping him entertained. We also had purchased a small tray that could hook onto Alex's car seat. THAT definitely helped out with snack time and meals. We also made sure to stop about every three to four hours to do diaper changes, and move the boys around. We finally made it to Rexburg, ID, around Friday afternoon. We were able to get straight into our apartment, while Xander began to unpack our storage unit the the car. The boys were SUPER excited to out and moving around. Especially Alex! That little boy just loved running around the empty apartment, stretching his legs. We love our new apartment. It's only two bedrooms, but it has lots of windows and a nice big (well, big for an apartment) kitchen. It's been fun trying to find places for everything. The only bad thing to have happened so far is that Friday night, Alex started throwing up...and kept throwing up til Monday morning. The poor little guy felt so light and listless I was getting really worried, but he finally started keeping some crackers down, and was able to drink a lot of water. He is finally doing better - in other words, back to his usual "get into everything" self. This whole move is definitely an adjustment. And maybe I'll even have a few minutes in the morning to continue blogging. We shall see. For now, Charlie is done with tummy time, and Alex is ready for morning cartoons. While I should be unpacking and organizing some more...but instead I will most likely start baking some bread or cookies. :) Because to be honest, I have missed cooking in my own kitchen with my own things a lot!

A New Year with Lots to Look Forward to!

First off, I have to say, I am rather ashamed to admit that I wasn't able to get any of my Christmas cards or new years letters out this year. :( Things are a LOT crazier with a 1 year old, moving around, and being over 22 weeks pregnant. So, of course, things didn't go as planned. Such is life.
So! I thought I would do a quick family update on here, and what we are looking forward to the most this year.
2011:
We moved back to Rexburg, Idaho, in January so Xander could start his Junior year at BYU-Idaho. We were greatly blessed to be able to house-sit for some Kansas of ours, who were serving a full-time mission in Sand Diego, CA. It was such an amazing blessing being there up to the end of June.
Xander applied, and was accepted, into the fast track program at BYUI. Which means he could now take classes from January to December. Thankfully this is allowing him to graduate almost 6 months earlier than we originally thought possible.
During this time, our sweet Alex was learning and growing like crazy! :) He learned to crawl and walk, and by Christmas was running around Grandma and Grandpa's house. He also learned how to say Dada and Mama, and even picked up on a few others words that are in his own language. He is such a joy in our lives, and we are loving every new day with him.
One of the most exciting things that happened in 2011 for us, was finding out mid-August that we were pregnant with our second baby! And then finding out after Thanksgiving that we were having another boy. After finding this out, and after much debate/discussion, it was decided that Alex and Mo would be staying at her parents until the baby arrives in April. While Xander would head back up to Rexburg until the beginning of April for classes.
So that is just a bit of what happened in 2011 with the Xander and Mo Brown family. We are now looking forward to a few awesome things set to happen in 2012!
2012:
Xander is starting his senior year of college, and is set to graduate this December! We couldn't be more excited and READY for this. We are also happy to be having our second little boy, due April 24th! Mo is just anxious for Xander to be home before then.
So, for now, those are the two things we are looking forward to in 2012. But, as this year continues, we will see what other wonderful things are in store! :)