Picture: Karsten kind of making what we call "kissy face"...and his gasta pose. LOL.

Karsten and grandpa Rich

Karsten and Margaret

Karsten and great=grandpa Roberts

Karsten & Zack rockin' out

Our little man

All smiles

This is me not screaming

So you think you can sleep huh?

me and mommy

maybe I will smile

gotcha of course I will

mmmmm my boppy

I love my rubber ducky!

My First playdate...Eli and Karsten

Father and son time

Karsten and aunt Crystal

Takimg a nap in the backyard at home

Here we are after the blessing at Ryan's parents' house

Baby Blessing...same outfit Ryan wore..."ages" ago

I have no belly button...wait yes I do!

Bumbo aka Baby Lazyboy

Chilling with grampy Westlake

Karsten and great-grandma Westlake...in Idaho.

Updates
So I have decided that over the past few weeks I have been bad at updating our blog. I have felt busy, I am sure because we have been busy, so here’s a review of the past few weeks with the Westlakes.

3 Year Anniversary
Ryan and I made it to the 3 year mark on August 4th! We celebrated a week later by splurging on Dairy Queen, My Big Fat Greek Restaurant, and “chatting” like teenagers while “parking.” So looking back over the past 3 years I would say our celebrations have been very different….year 1: I took Ryan to the Melting Pot for dinner ($$$), he bought me jewelry and flowers ($$$); year 2: we celebrated early and went on a 7 day cruise to Mexico then out to eat to Macaroni Grill the day of ($$$); year 3, lunch and a snack, plus parking…free baby-sitter ($). Interesting evolution.

Ryan’s Parents Visiting
Just before Karsten turned 2 weeks, Ryan’s parents as well as his younger brother and sister came to visit us. We enjoyed having everyone over, holding the baby, and digging in on some BBQ chicken. For some reason I cooked enough BBQ to feed like 30 people…I think my ability to portion must have left me along with sleep and my sanity.

Trip to Idaho & 2 Year Check up
Stats at 2 weeks: 8 pounds 8 ounces and 21.75 inches

When Karsten was exactly 2 weeks old we went in for his 2 week check up…where the doctor does the 2nd PKU blood test…well the medical assistant who did the test didn’t exactly put the band-aid on securely and Karsten bled all over my shirt, his carseat, and himself…boy was I glad I packed a second shirt in the diaper bag because we were headed to Idaho straight from the doctor’s office. The band-aid incident as I like to call it might have been payback for Karsten attempting to poop on the doctor…icky.

We took the scenic route to Ryan’s grandma’s house through Bear Lake where we dined on YUMMY fresh raspberry shakes, a delicacy I highly suggest indulging on when visiting the area. The Bear Lake area was a whole 70 degrees as a high the day we visited and to be honest it was a rather welcome cool off. I believe 70 degrees year round would be just perfect, not too hot, not too cold.

While visiting Ryan’s family in Idaho we introduced Karsten to Ryan’s grandma as well as a host of uncles, aunts, and cousins. Ryan’s parents were also visiting his grandma while we were there and Karsten took a lovely 2 hour nap on “grandpa” Westlake’s tummy (Ryan’s dad). During the evening we headed over to Ryan’s uncle Albert’s house where we got to meet his new wife, Merri, Karsten loved snuggling with her. We had a yummy Dutch oven cook out and introduced Karsten to the horses as well as lots of family.

Trip to AZ
Estimated weight at 4 weeks: 10 pounds

Right before Karsten hit the 4 week mark we embarked on a trip to Arizona to visit family and for Karsten’s blessing. We decided to bless Karsten in Ryan’s parent’s ward as opposed to our own so that we could invite friends and family to attend and help out. We drove down on Saturday….Karsten was great for about 10 and a half hours of the 11 hour trip but he lost it and decided he was done with his carseat the last half hour.

Sunday we blessed Karsten, surrounded by friends and family (thank you to the worthy priesthood holders who came and stood in the circle) as well as a BIG thank you to the friends and family who came. The blessing may have only taken a few minutes but for me I think time stopped. Karsten wore Ryan’s blessing outfit for the occasion, after 25 years it still looked cute as can be (thank you to the dry cleaner down the street)…okay I am totally biased.

Since having Karsten my back has been sore on occasion, scratch that it goes into spasms that are horribly painful for hours on end (ouch). Saturday night after driving up my back decided to spasm…ouchy. So for most of the week I tried to deal with a super sore back. No more sleeping on the couch for me (for about 2.5 weeks prior to the trip I had been sleeping on our couch with Karsten because he would not sleep very often if he was not being held and because he is/was bottle feeding so I had to pump and feed him every few hours…since the couch is next to the kitchen it just made sense to sleep downstairs). Thank you to Courtney for letting us barrow her room and bed (again), it made a huge difference for me and really helped me feel a lot better over the course of the week. But of course when we headed back home on Saturday my back started hurting again….but so far this has been the most painful and annoying part of having a baby.

We were thrilled to be able to hang out with friends and family while in AZ, thanks to all who visited with us and let us visit with you! Karsten was thrilled to meet his “baby” buddies Eli, Zack, David, and Brian as well as his older toddler friends Kaylin, Shane, and Gabby. Karsten is also looking forward to coming back to meet the babies who are on their way as well as those he didn’t get to meet….social little guy already!