A New Tradition: Fun Fort Fridays

We have a new tradition in the LeBaron Family since we have a active, fun and very excited "ALL BOY" little Mavrick. This week we had our FIRST of many Fun Fort Friday!

On these nights, Ryan and I decided that we are going to dedicate the WHOLE entire night to our little man once a week. We are so busy with work and school and callings during the week so serious quality time with our little man is limited. 

We rigged up a tent with some sheets and Ryan tied them to different things in the room. Hopefully our fort making will improve as we go. We didn't eat any this time but we are going to buy or make our own pizza and eat ice cream and popcorn while we play games and watch a movie in our "Fort". As we were putting up the fort Mavrick was running around like crazy and jumping off everything in excitment. He loved it. Below are a few pictures of our fun little night.

He kept pulling on it and braking the strings so we had  to have a few time out sessions. =)

This is one of them...he is so pitiful. 

Chowing down on some popcorn...he didn't want to give us ANY! Haha. =)

Family Photo Attempt #1

Family Photo Attempt #2: Mavrick is still stuffing his face!

We ended the night by making a pallet of blankets and pillows and watching "Wallace and Grommit" while we drank milk. =) Little moments like this our the best even though we had to give him a couple time out sessions for not listening. 

Here's to many more Family Fun Fort Nights. =)

Sincerely,

Ryan, Kayla and Mavrick LeBaron

The month of January...

So...life keeps moving on. The Month of January we thought would kinda slow down but to our dismay it didn't skip a beat with school starting, Mavrick being Mavrick, work and church callings. Ryan is just doing school this semester so that has been a big change. It is weird to have him home just as much as me now. Haha. =)

I came home after work one night and found them doing this! Benching Mav on the table leaf. I have a video but I am not sure how to upload it so if any of you have any suggestions let me know. Mavrick was loving it. 

This month we have spent a lot of time getting our garden ready. We had a horrible experience last year with our garden so this year we are doing raised bed square foot gardening. Everyone we have talked to who has done it swears by it so we were kinda excited to try it out. 

Here are a few cute pictures of Mavrick helping out in the yard.

Ryan dressed him in these shorts. I laughed so hard. They look like tight little old man shorts from the 80's! Haha! I have no idea where they came from. =)

Like father like son. He will probably know how to use that tape measure by the age of  3.

We even got him his own shovel. =) Haha. =) So cute.

Next month we are going to start potty training Mavrick (fingers crossed) Our goal is to have him there by the age of 2. So we hope we can do it. My mom had all of us potty trained by 2 so she was the master at it. Hopefully it is a genetic trait and I can be as successful cause so far...nothing has been very successful with Mavrick. Haha. =) But in the mean time this is what he does with his big boy potty seat!

This month I have also been trying to do more ACTIVITIES with Mavrick that involve letters and such. Try is the key word...we are having little success bout hopefully it will pay off in the end. 

On this day we learned about Apples, and the letter A. So we did some apple art with paint...UGH! People on the internet make it look so easy for kids to do it! UGH! I feel like everything is an ordeal sometimes but I love him anyway...it started out nicely and then quickly turned after he tried to eat the paint, eat the apple with the paint and when I wouldn't let him throw the apple with the paint. 

And this is how it ended. Lol. =) Typical.

This was the finished product. Haha. You can kinda see where the apples were suppose to go...until he smeared them.

Ryan is doing pretty well in school and still adjusting to not working. He is not use to not having manual labor job on the side so being inside kinda makes him go crazy a little. But he has been working out his frustrations in his jogging class and at the gym. I joke with him about his impeccable timing. "As soon as we find out that I am pregnant, you start to get skinny while I get fat." Haha. =) Oh well...just the price we pay as mothers. (And yes I know its a baby and not fat but right now I just feel fat cause I don't have full belly yet.) I knew with working and having a toddler and a church calling and being a wife and being pregnant and trying to keep up with everything I was going to go crazy with stress and overload. So I joined a gym this month! Seriously, I love it. They have an amazing daycare which Mavrick LOVES going to which is why I decided to go there. It has a movie theatre, indoor play place type thing, coloring, toys and is super clean. Ryan works out at the gym at school so I needed to find somewhere.  It has been such a great stress reliever for me and I actually don't feel as much fatigue with this pregnancy. So I usually go after or before work while I am in Beaumont. The best part is they have a WOMENS ONLY LOUNGE! So when I am huge and pregnant I won't feel like such a dork working out in front of everyone. =) I know I am talking a lot about it but it has been really good for me, my stress level, and my body (which will be good for baby #2 and delivery). 

Here are just a few typical day to day pictures of Mavrick that I love.

Acting like Mommy and Daddy.

Homemade chicken nuggets! YUM!

Today we cut Mavrick's hair! =( I teared up. I blame it on the hormonal inconsistancies but seriously he looks like such a little boy now. He is growing up and as much as I welcome it I hate it at the same time. He did very well though and Ryan cut it pretty good. =)

This is a before and a typical idea of what his hair looks like. Crazy in the back and gangly. It was time. Lol.=)

And the AFTER! He is so handsome!

That is all for now. Updates to follow in the month ahead. 

Sincerely,

Me, Ryan & Mavrick

Here we go again...Baby #2 @ 8 weeks

So a ton of people already know but I thought I would do an official blog post about it. We are expecting Baby #2! And are super excited. =) We had been trying to about 5 months and were getting frustrated. And we know thats not a long time but compared to getting pregnant with Mavrick it was. It only took us a month with him. Mavrick and this baby will be about 28 months apart.

Anyway...so as much as I hate taking pictures of myself when I am pregnant I vowed that I would do it on my next kid cause I didn't with Mav.

How I am feeling @ 8 weeks?

I am feeling ok. I have been alot more nauseous with this pregnancy than I was with my last one. I never throw up either, just gag. Its a curse. But the last few days I have been feeling alot better. So maybe the worst is over. I have been pretty tired but having a toddler and working doesn't allow me to take two naps a day like I did with Mav. So I am lucky when I get to get one in while Mavrick is taking his. 

How my body has changed @ 8 weeks?

Um...I am ALREADY starting to show!!!!! What the HECK! I mean I know I am short but seriously? A baby bump already?! I just popped out of no where this week. Its like my body just remembered from last time and is all geared up and ready for this one. I didn't even show till about 20 weeks when I was pregnant with Mavrick! So that is kinda frustrating. But I guess I don't have to go through that stage of just feeling fat for 3 months and people can actually see the bump sooner. Ryan keeps scaring me and saying its twins...please no. Heavenly Father wouldn't do that to me, Would he?! Lol. =). Breasts, of course, are super tender and filling out which is also an annoying part of pregnancy. Weight gain is about 2 LBS I think...not sure though. Stopped keeping track of that a while back. 

What I am thinking @ 8 weeks?

I am thinking...how the heck am I going to do this?! I mean...we wanted another baby but we don't even have Mavrick completely figured out yet. He is not an EASY baby, as people would say. We love him to death and would not change a thing about him but worried about how I will be able to care for 2 of them if this next baby has the same strong personality as Mavrick. I think we might stop at two if that is the case. Haha. =) Mavrick has really given us a run for our money and we have learned a lot and definitely gained more patience. Funny how the Lord works. =) People keep asking us what gender we want and we say "We don't care...as long as the baby puts itself to sleep without us and eats well." Haha. =) But we love him. I know things will get better and Heavenly Father will be there to help us out so I should probably just quit worrying but its hard. On a happier note, having another baby is getting us motivated to get some things done around the house, spend more quality time with Mav, take him on a few trips to fun places, and get him potty trained. Lol. =)

Anyway...here are a few quick pictures we took this morning. Excuse the pre-makeup and fake smile. =)

These pictures make me laugh with Mavrick.