he's six.

Porter turned 6. 
I can't believe it. He's getting too big, too quick.

Here is my birthday interview with him.
What do you want to be when you grow up?
A doctor, because I'd love to be a doctor and I've never been a doctor
What is your favorite food? Oatmeal, cereal and sandwiches. Which kind of sandwich? Peanut butter and Jelly and when I get older I'll love red tomatoes
What's your favorite dessert? Candy. What about cookies or cake or cupcakes?
Oh! I love all of those things.
What is your favorite animal? A horse Why? I love riding horses
What is your favorite movie? Turbo. You've never seen that movie. I know but I saw the picture of that movie when I went to see Despicable Me 2. What's your favorite movie that you've seen? The Croods
What's your favorite color? Blue. Not green? Yeah, not green anymore. Why ? Because my favorite color has changed, but my favorite flavor is still chocolate. So your favorite flavor hasn't changed? Yep, not yet... my favorite flavor never ever changes.
What is your favorite toy? Turbo
Who is your best friend? Courtney. What about Bridger?... nope, cause he's my brother. He can't be my best friend. But you love to play with Bridger right? Yes, but he can't be my best friend, he's my brother.
What is your favorite number? 9 Why is 9 your favorite? Because my favorite number has changed. It used to be 100
What is your favorite game? Chutes and Ladders
What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play with my new scooter
What is your favorite song? Umm... I'll sing it for you... I'm thinking...Book of Mormon Stories that my teacher tells to me...
What is your favorite book? My new Curious George book. I love all books.
Where do you want to go on your mission? Madagascar. That didn't change? No, cause that's my mission.
What can you do now that you are six? I can still like mashed potatoes. But is there something new that you can do now that you're six? I can go to kindergarten, but I have to wait until August.
Tell me five things that you are good at.
1. Not hitting and kicking
2. I'm good at asking you if I can go around the block... but sometimes I don't listen to you.
3. I'm good at reading.
4. I'm good at helping you with all sorts of stuff and helping dad too.
5. I'm good at running. Yeah, I'm faster than Bridger. 

Things that I want to remember about Porter now that he's six.

Porter is such a sweetie. He takes good care of his brothers and of me. He helps me out with everything that he can. 

He is very detail oriented and focuses on the little details in everything.

He's a little obsessed with bugs and catching them. He's really good at catching bugs without hurting them. He gets grasshoppers, flies and the most impressive that I've seen was a big butterfly down in Moab. He caught it and it was able to fly away when he let it go. He's very gentle with them.

He  loves to read. It calms him down. If he's getting frustrated by anything all I have ti tell him is to go take some time and read. Sometimes he'll be gone for 10 minutes...most of the time he'll go read for a couple hours. He loves it when I read him chapter books and the favorites so far are Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach. We are in the middle of The BFG right now and he's loving it... big Roald Dahl fans over here...

He doesn't like teasing or "joking" around. H gets very serious about this and doesn't like it when people tease him. He especially doesn't like it when someone says that they want to keep Ford. Ford is his brother and he is coming home with us... don't even pretend that you want to take Ford home with you.

He loves to tell stories and he'll tell Bridger at least one story every night. Most of the time it's a TV show he's watched and he will tell the entire episode, verbatim, to Bridger.

Porter's memory is scary... he can remember everything (except where he put his shoes :) He will rival his mom and dad in our ability to quote movies. We've cycled through all the Scooby Doo episodes on Netflix once (we've had to watch a few shows since the baby was born). There are 26 episodes. After about the first 10 seconds, Porter can tell you what happens during the entire episode, what the following episode will be and what happens in it and what the episode after that will be. He can tell you the order of all the episodes... it boggles my mind. 

There's so much more that I want to remember about this boy. He is so sweet and kind and smart. I know that there is more that I wanted to write, but this post has been a month in the making and I need to get it up! I'll post more when I get his birthday photos posted.

I love my Porter and I'm so glad he's part of our family.
Happy Birthday buddy!
 

one month

Ford is such a sweet baby. At one month...

He sleeps really well all day long. 

He can sleep through just about anything, noise doesn't bother him in the least.

Struggles with tummy problems a little bit at night, but it seems to be getting better.

Loves to be swaddled.

Smells divine.

Will suck his thumb if he can find it.

Takes a pacifier really well, unless he's hungry and then he wants the real deal.

Is very content until 11 at night when his little tummy starts to cause trouble, again, hopefully getting better.

Possibly has allergies like his Daddy. The last few days Kyle's been congested and so has Ford.

Has a really strong grip and is making his mommy consider chopping her hair.

Smiles all the time when he's asleep and is starting to smile when awake.

He's starting to get some chubby little cheeks; he's a good eater!

He's just growing out of newborn clothes and newborn diapers.

His brothers adore him... sometimes a little too much...

 and his mommy and daddy adore him too.

This is the first smile to be caught on camera. Ford is such a sweet baby and we're so excited that he's here and a part of our family.

 I can't believe how quickly time flies, and how much this little guy has changed in the past month.
I don't remember which blog it was (or else I would reference it... I'll have to find it again) but I remember the mother took a picture every month of her little one next to the same stuffed animal to show how much he grew over the year. I love the idea and since my mom got this adorable little stuffed terrier for Ford, that's what we'll do!

tidbits of my day

-I took Charlie into the groomers today (his hair has gotten quite long and I wanted it trimmed all off). The cute girl who checked us in asked if it was okay that she spelled Charlie "Charley" instead of with an 'ie'. I told her that was just fine, didn't make a difference to me. He'll respond to Charlie no matter how it's spelled.
She responded that she now spells Charlie with an 'ey' because she got yelled at one day by some lady that she had spelled her dogs name incorrectly. So now she spells all 'Charlie's' the same way, just in case the woman comes back.
People can be so sensitive about the silliest things.

-While talking to the groomer about how I wanted Charlie's hair cut (short, all of it short) two men, with matching schnauzers and matching shirts (each of their shirts matched the shirts on their dogs) came in and wanted to talk to the groomer...apparently they were not satisfied with the style of cut that 'Snuggles' had received.

I laughed a little bit.

- My card was declined today. I had the cashier run it 4 times because that couldn't be possible. She had been overly chatty with me and doting over Ford and as soon as it was declined she was very short with me.
I have never had that happen. And I don't know if I've ever been so embarrassed.
Kyle and I use a cash system most of the time. But with the baby, things have been thrown off the past few weeks. But I always pay the card off each week, we don't carry a balance so there's no way we were maxed out.
So I called my bank, and apparently on Monday at a Best Buy in Minnesota, someone tried to use my card. Then tried to use it this morning at 1:30am at a gas station in California. The lady at the bank asked if that could have been my husband using the card... but I'm certain I know where Kyle was at 1:30 last night ;) Kyle and I both still have our cards in our wallets...how does that happen?

Oh and I care enough about what other people think of me, that I was very tempted to go back into the store and tell the cashier why my card was declined. Having to haul all 3 kids back into the store was my only deterrent, but it was a good one.

-I heard "Put your hands in the air or I will shoot!" and I turned around to see this...

 I shot back, but it was just with my camera... how is a girl supposed to defend herself when faced with a pop gun, a light-saber, a bow and arrow and those baby blues? A girl doesn't stand a chance.

-I have found that organizing your day is paramount when you have a newborn. I forgot how that worked. Porter and Bridger are big enough now that timing errands around feedings hasn't been a problem for years...
I didn't plan so well today and so we found ourselves at Walmart at the time that Ford was supposed to eat again. I had him in a wrap (don't know how I would tackle this whole thing of having 3 kids without it) so I was able to keep him content, finish my shopping and get out to the car before he started crying.
On our way home, in the midst of the crying, I hear Bridger pipe up. "Ford, there will be no whining in this car!"... I wonder where he's heard that before.
As we made it a little further, and Ford didn't stop crying, Bridger tried to troubleshoot what was going on and why he was crying so much. "Maybe he had something sour to eat. I cry when I have something sour to eat!"

-We spent our evening playing soccer. Kyle, Bridger and Ford vs Porter and myself. It was quite entertaining, I wish there could have been someone videotaping it. I like being a family of 5.

Nine

It's been 9 years since we sealed the deal.

9 fantastic years.

I really can't believe how fast it's gone by.

That day was quite a blur... but there are some specific things that I remember about our wedding day.
-I remember that the only thing that went wrong was the guys shirts with their tuxes. The shirts that they got had collars that were supposed to be for bow ties and I wanted them to have regular shirts with regular collars. But I also figured that if one thing was going to go wrong, that one was okay.
-I didn't have my bouquet for my bridals/groomals. They weren't going to have it ready until the actual day of the wedding. When we showed up at the temple for pictures, and Kyle was waiting, he had that bouquet of 2 dozen red roses ready for me, so we used them for the photos.
Such a sweet and thoughtful man.
-After the ceremony I remember rushing to get ready in the brides room. I needed to have the back of my dress completely re-laced after the ceremony and I knew it would take a while and I didn't want to keep people or Kyle waiting. I came out of the brides room and waited for Kyle to come out of his dressing room. I was waiting in the foyer of the temple for quite some time before a sweet little temple worker came up to me and patted me on the shoulder saying "It's alright dear, I'm sure he'll show up."
I looked at her and said, "I certainly hope so, cause he already married me... it's a little late to run away now!" Kyle showed up a while later... apparently cummerbunds and ties take a while to get on... longer than a laced up wedding gown. The little temple worker winked at me as Kyle and I walked out of the temple together.
-I wasn't nervous about marrying Kyle the entire time we were engaged.  It felt right that we were supposed to be getting married. I do remember, however, being a little nervous right before we were walked into the sealing room cause it hit me that I was really getting married. But, when I sat down next to Kyle and he held my hand, all my fears left.
-I was nervous that during the ceremony I would miss my part and that I wouldn't say yes when I was supposed to. So I was very intent on listening to the sealer and to the ceremony. I'm not sure which one of Kyle's aunts mentioned it to me afterward (I think it was Ellen) but while I was so focused on the sealer, Kyle apparently never took his eyes off me. I feel bad that I missed it.

There are many more great memories about that day, and so many that we've had since. I'm just grateful for my sweet husband and our family. And I'm really grateful that that day happened 9 years ago.

I love you, sweets.

Happy Anniversary.

Ford's birth day

Almost two weeks ago this little guy decided to make his appearance. He was a lucky little guy, the cord was wrapped around his neck three times and then around his body as well. He was all tangled up when he came out, but he started crying immediately. 

7 lbs. 1 oz. makes him the smallest of my babies. Neither one of my boys was able to fit into newborn clothes longer than a week... this little guy is a little small for newborn clothes, so we're having fun playing dress up.

I'm amazed by how big my kids look when they are holding a new baby. I remember thinking that Porter had gotten enormous, overnight when we had Bridger. Now they are both just ridiculously large in comparison to Ford.
I am so grateful for Kyle. He is truly an amazing husband and father and he has taken such good care of me and the boys throughout this entire pregnancy.
I'm grateful for my mom who waited up all night to see this little guy arrive at 4 am.  And grateful for the help she has given me this past week with having a new baby in the house. And to my dad for letting me borrow his wife all week. And to both of them for watching the boys while Kyle and I were at the hospital.
I'm so grateful to all my friends (ie. coworkers, nurses, Dr., techs, respiratory) who were all there to make sure that Ford had a safe arrival.
I'm so grateful for my mother-in-law for taking Porter and Bridger for a whole week while I re-learned what it means to have a newborn in the house and to have some precious time alone with Ford.
Thank you to everyone.
This little boy and our family can feel the love.

Ford

Bradford "Ford" Larry Cozzens

 July 11th, 2013

4:09 am

7 lbs. 1 oz.

19 inches long

He's perfect. 

And sweet. 

A good sound sleeper. 

A hearty eater,

and a really pleasant little baby.

Ford has only been here for a week and we are captivated by him.

up the canyon

 I love that we live next to a beautiful little canyon and we take advantage of it as often as we can.
This particular evening we decided to head up the canyon for FHE. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows and let the dog and the boys run wild.

Every Monday night since, the boys have asked if we can head back up the canyon. It's an evening we'll definitely have to repeat.

graduation

 Porter graduated from preschool this year. Here he is with his teacher Miss Jamie (I couldn't keep Bridger from jumping around behind the two of them). Miss Jamie was absolutely wonderful and I'm so grateful that he was in her class. She is fantastic with kids and so excited to help them learn.
Porter is reading so well and he loves to read. He has learned so much this year and I'm just sad that he's old enough to go to kindergarten.
I don't know how I'll do in the fall when I have to take him to a new school. We've loved the boys preschool, and I hope that the elementary school doesn't fail in comparison.

Bridger didn't technically graduate, but here he is with his teacher Miss Adrienne. She was fantastic as well and Bridger loved her.

 After Porter's graduation ceremony we headed to get the boys their favorite snack... snow cones.

So proud of my boys and all they have learned this year.

Summer, here we come!

sayings...

I've got piles of pictures to edit and not enough time to do them. But I have to post some of these cute and funny things that my boys have said before I completely forget them. I'm sure that there are several more and I will just post them as I remember them, but here are a few from the past several weeks.

*About a month ago I had another kidney stone and Kyle and the boys took me to the hospital to get the pain under control. Both boys were a little frightened to see me writhing in pain and wanted to know what was happening.
The following Sunday at church Bridger was brought to me by his teacher. He curled up in my lap and I could tell he had a little bit of a temperature. He didn't move for a little while and I asked him "Bridger, are you okay?" He shook his head, but wouldn't answer me. I asked him what hurt and he started to mumble something. So I asked him to tell me what hurt and he slowly lifted his head and said, "I have a kidney stone".

He tucked his head back down into my arm and tried to go to sleep in my arms. Needless to say, it wasn't a kidney stone and it actually turned out to be fifths disease... which we were all thrilled about.

Just this morning he announced that his foot was hurting because he has a kidney stone in his foot. In fact, he's starting to claim a kidney stone for almost any ailment. We may have a hypochondriac in our family.

*Porter received a stack of Bible flash cards for his birthday last year from his primary teachers. He loves looking through them and since he has been getting so good at reading he's been trying to figure out all the names on his own.
I didn't know that he was looking through the cards in his room the other day but all I heard was Porter shouting, "I found Jesus!! I found Jesus!!"
Can I get a hallelujah?

*I took the boys up to Kangaroo Zoo one day and let them go crazy for as long as they wanted. It was nice cause I could chase them around for a bit and then crash on one of the couches for a while. At one point while I was sitting on the couch a little girl who was probably only one year old came over to me and climbed into my lap. Her mom came up and apologized, but I told her she was fine if her mom was okay with it.
She had been sitting in my lap for quite a while before the boys rounded a corner and saw her sitting in my lap. Both boys got so excited and started shouting, "The baby is here! The baby came! It's here!" They were a little disappointed when they realized that the baby wasn't ours, but they sat down and played with her for about an hour.  These boys are obsessed with babies and are so excited for their baby brother to join us.

*We have a boy in our neighborhood who comes over to play with the boys frequently. We'll call him "J" J is 4 years old, but he can't speak very well. I wasn't sure how old he was for a while because I simply couldn't understand him and I assumed he must have been around 2, but I was wrong.
Porter has a difficult time understanding what J says and Porter frequently asks J to repeat himself. The other day we were all playing out front and J started saying something that none of us could quite understand. We all started trying to guess what he was saying when Porter finally turned to me and said, "It's okay, mom, he's just speaking Spanish."

*Bridger continues to be a hypochondriac.
Porter has terrible allergies and frequently needs some Claritin to make it through the day. We were out watering our garden the other morning when I noticed Porter rubbing his beet-red eyes like crazy. I asked him if he needed some Claritin and he said yes.
Bridger then piped up and said that he needed medicine for his allergies too.
Bridger doesn't have allergies.
When we started talking about how he doesn't have allergies and Porter does, Bridger started to argue. And the arguing led to crying. He was so sad because he wants allergies so he can get medicine for them... and nothing changes his mind. He doesn't care if he has to have itchy, watery eyes or a runny nose. He thinks those all sound great as long as he can have medicine.
I'm really not sure what to do with those arguments. I'm at a loss of how to make him okay with being healthy.... any suggestions would be helpful.

all of my boys

It's a rare occasion that we all get to be together during daylight hours. Most families have the weekends to hang out. But we run on a slightly different schedule than most families. I work Friday and Saturday nights... which means I am home on Saturday, but if I don't sleep then I'm basically awake from the time I get up with my boys on Friday morning and stay awake until Sunday night which is about 36 hours with no sleep. So I sleep on Saturdays and Kyle is so sweet to let me catch a good cat nap on Sunday mornings too, but I'm normally so wiped out that I have to crash after church as well.

This particular Sunday I decided that I had had enough. I wanted time with my boys.

All of them.

At the same time.

So we had Charlie jump in the back of the car and we headed up our favorite little canyon. It was a beautiful day and we had so much fun throwing rocks in the river and playing fetch with Charlie.

I realized as I took this picture that I'm slightly outnumbered.

One girl, four boys.

Wait, make that five, there were five boys on this outing... I'm getting more outnumbered as we speak and I love it.

It was a perfect Sunday afternoon.