Colin

God brought us another angel this month. Colin Joel Crossley. He was born happy and healthy on Monday April 9th, at 11:25am. When he was born he weighed 5lbs and 11oz and was 19 inches long. Because he was two days late and the doctor had though he would be somewhere around 7 pounds we were of course very surprised to see him come so small. It was such a miracle seeing him being born and coming into this world to complete our family. Sydney and I immediately felt incredible deep love for Colin and now feel like our family is 100% complete. Colin is growing bigger and stronger each day and is shaping into his own looks very rapidly. We will be sending out birth announcements soon. If anyone would like to receive one, please just contact us and we will put you on the list. Thank you to everyone who has provided support and love to our family during this pregnancy. We would not have been able to do it without you.

Abby

Abby, as well has adjusted to having a little brother very well. Of course you can imagine how she wants to be a mother to Colin and Trey and does a very good job helping us out. She has mostly overcome her fear of throwing dirty diapers away (mostly) =]. She lost another tooth this month and the tooth ferry brought her some cash and two gold coins =]. She continues to draw, color and is now writing almost all on her own. She is becoming a very good reader and can sound out most Dr. Seuss books. She LOVES to read at night both by herself and with us. She likes playing Angry birds and talking with family over Skype. We are contemplating getting her a track phone so that if any family wants to contact her directly they can call her anytime. She also likes to talk on the phone so give her a call anytime and she will be happy to chat!

Abby and Trey both had a great Easter and were able to spend it with one of their Nana's. We did a moonlight Easter egg hunt by putting glow sticks in plastic eggs and hiding them around the yard. Abby dyed eggs with Nana Kerry, and was able to eat lots of marshmallows and CANDY!

Trey

Trey has adjusted to having a little brother very. He has been very awesome and thinks that Colin is just the funniest thing in the world. He now understands just about everything you say and most of the time he can answer back with something that is somewhat close to English. We are going to attempt to potty train him starting this month and we will keep you posted as to how this goes. He has become even more active (believe it or not) and can now climb out of his crib and coincidentally thinks that he is an acrobat. (VERY SCARY). Trey has a very tender heart and loves to give his new brother kisses all the time. We have let Trey hold Colin a few times while sitting on our laps and he has done very well and loves to hold him whenever he gets the chance.

He is starting to talk and listen a little bit when on the phone so if you get a chance give us a call, he would love to chat with you =].

Sydney

Sydney has been so amazing this month. Up until the day we arrived at the hospital to have the baby, she was cooking, cleaning, and doing everything as normal business. I have to constantly nag her to just "take it easy." I have seen her in the last two months grow so much as a wife and a mother and I love her deeper with every minute that passes by.

Sydney was such a trooper in the hospital. Sometimes I think that she was made to have babies because of how well she does =]. We went into the hospital around 6:30 and after we checked in and she was all hooked up she started to have contractions some time between 8-9. We had decided before we went in that because she has had her last two naturally she wanted to have a pain free labor with an epidural...well that's what we wanted. Little did we know that Colin would be here way faster than expected. Her water broke some time around 11:15 and then she said she was ready to push right after. Colin came at 11:25. The doctor barely made it in time to catch the baby. The nurses literally told her to "Just hold him in" in fear that they would have to deliver the baby with their bare hands!

After Sydney gave birth to Colin, she was glowing with love and excitement. I love to see her after we have a baby because I think that she feels something at that moment, that she feels only after giving birth. Her smile is a little bigger, and the love in her eyes grows a little stronger. To me it feels like she has performed a miracle and brought something in to this world that we know will always carry a piece of our heart.

Please say a little prayer for Sydney, I go back to work next week and our family is leaving so she will be on her own with TWO boys. She will definitely have her hands full.

Micah

Well, we have officially lived here in Washington for a little over two months and we feel pretty at home already. Although we miss our family a lot we are so happy to have moved and to be around the endless opportunity for both Sydney and I and our kids. It has been a bit of a struggle to adjust to the weather here as it has been much colder here but we have also had a lot of sunny days and will take the good with the bad. April, although only half over has already been quite the roller coaster. We finally reached the finish line on April 9th though. Our son was born, and yet again, my life is changed forever. It seems as though ever since Sydney and I have been together I have experienced more moments of sheer miracle than I ever knew possible. This time it was my new son and words cannot describe how I felt when he was born. I think that God has given us the blessing of having children so that every once in a while when they are born we can experience the feeling of heaven on Earth, a miracle, and the ability to hold an angel all at once. Needless to say it is a bit overwhelming but the most powerful thing in the world. I love my wife more than anything in the world and the blessings that she has given me are sent straight from heaven.

I am finally adjusting to my 4:00am work schedule and it has been VERY nice to come home and have the entire afternoon to spend time with my kids and family. I am incredibly happy with the company that I work for. They are very family oriented and really just want their employees to be happy. It is nice to work in a place that truly appreciates their employees and rewards them accordingly.

 It is funny how moving away from everything can really bring a family together, we have all grown so strong as a family being here alone and having only each other to rely on. We cannot wait for everyone to come visit us and are open to whoever whenever!

Introduction

After a lot of thought and discussion Sydney and I decided that this would be the best way to keep all of our missed and loved family up to date on our every day lives. We plan to keep this as up to date as possible with everything that is going on in our lives right now. We plan to upload all kinds of photos and different things to this blog to keep everyone informed and aware as to what is going on in our lives. We miss everyone so much and every day we think about all of our family back in California and spread out everywhere else. We hope that this will pull us all just a little closer together.

On another note anyone who wants to set up a video call with either Micah, Sydney, the kids or all of us we are more than happy to do so. There are more than enough ways to reach out and see each other using this method and it is often way underused. Please just let us know by either texting, calling, or emailing us. Any of these forms of communication can be retrieved easily by reaching out to us on Facebook or Google +.

I hope that you all will utilize this blog and check back for info and picture updates when you can. Thanks for checking in and taking a look!!


~The Crossley's

Trey

Trey is sprouting up VERY fast and is increasing his vocabulary more and more every day. We are constantly amazed as to what he can understand and say. Sydney and I both think that Abby stays up at night to teach him new things. Some of his favorite words and phrases include "What happened?", "NO!", "YA!" "LOVE YOU" and "BYE BYE!" He still loves to watch his favorite shows but even those are changing with time. He is starting to watch shows geared towards slightly older children. We just recently took him and Abby to see The Lorax in 3D and they both enjoyed it very much. Some of his new favorite things to do up here are; The simming pool, Chuckee Cheese, Voodoo Donuts, riding his quad out back, and tearing up the house. He certainly keeps mom VERY busy cleaning up the trails after him.

Its a very bittersweet transition for us to see him move from infant to toddler and now to a little boy. It's hard to watch but we love every stage of life and cannot wait to see what he learns next! Along with the rest of us he is also VERY excited for the new baby and keeps mentioning "Baby Col" =] it is pretty cute. He loves to video chat so anytime you want to see him just let us know and we are happy to get it set up.

Abby

Abby is adjusting to her new school very well. She has made a lot of friends as well as learned to count all the way to 100. We just got her first report card and it looked very good! she is performing very well and adapting to the newer style of learning. In addition to counting they are teaching Abby basic math skills such as addition and subtraction. She is constantly chasing Trey around and keeping him on his toes. Abby is learning fast to play with cars, trucks, and some other boy toys so that she is ready for TWO brothers. Some of her favorite new things in Portland include; Chuckee Cheese, backyard soccer games, the Zoo, and of course artwork. She is also anxiously waiting to be a big sister for the second time and cannot wait to hold baby Colin. Below are some pictures of her. She LOVES to talk on the phone so please feel free to call her anytime. Sydney and I are thinking about getting her a line of her own so that she can talk to her family whenever she wants.

Micah

Well, it has definitely been an interesting transition for me as I was so used to working in such a small town and now work in the very heart of a relatively large city. It is very fun though, everyday getting to be in the city and have everything so close. It's great having the opportunity to work for such a great and appreciative company here in Portland. For those of you who don't know we moved up to the Portland-Vancouver area back in February and aside from missing all of our family absolutely love it here. I took a job with a company called Smarsh Inc. who is a leading technology company here in Portland and deals mainly with regulatory compliance of email and social media. I just celebrated my 21st birthday and couldn't have been happier to spend it with my wife and two (soon to be 3) kids. I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my second son "Colin Joel Crossley" who should be here just about any day now.

Sydney

As most of you know Sydney is getting VERY close to having our newest addition to the family. With the official due date of April 7th, 2012 she thinks that our little angel will be here much sooner than expected. Although she is carrying another entire human being inside her it has not slowed her down at all. She is still being very crafty with different projects around the house and Pinterest keeps her mind flowing with new ideas every day, some times I have to force her just to sit down and relax at almost full term! Below are some of the things that she has been working on. It blesses my heart every night when she sits with the kids and does Abby's nightly reading and tucks them in with a prayer. She is very excited and you can see the glow in her face already from having a new baby and cannot wait to see our new baby "Colin Joel Crossley."