oops!

 

So apprently I hit post without actually finishing it last time.  I also didn't really finish my thought.  It seems like I finished mid story or something.  But who knows what was next in my mind at the time.  oops!  Sorry for no pictures...I'm always a little disappointed, no matter how interesting, when I read a blog with no pictures!  So this one is going to be picture overload.  :)  And for the record, I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to strategically place these pictures- which is REALLY hard to do...only to discover that it gets all messed up anyway when you add captions.  ugh.  Sorry it's jumbled!


 It's official.  Our kids look like him. 

 Blakely INSISTED she be in the carrier.  Sleepy baby.  And fun at the pumpkin patch!

 

Snuggle time with my babes. 

 

Making bread with Pawpaw.  He is so patient with her!  Also taking her to lunch....no she did not eat that chicken fried steak sandwich.  :)

Buds. 

 This boy doesn't get enough credit.  He's the happiest little guy!  He started sitting up today!

 

GiGi bought Blakely a play house- endless fun!  I am sad to say the dark blurry one is our ONLY picture from Halloween.  ooops. 

 

first fire of the season!  We love cold morning fires!





There are no words. 



 

too close...

my babies. 

  

And lastly, the two babies from whom the other babies came.  :)  circa 2004. 



 



5 months, halloween, and life

Well, sorry for being MIA!  It's crazy around here.  My kids keep getting bigger, my house keeps getting dirtier, and life keeps going.  Here are some highlights from the past month or so:

Henry turned 5 months old:
- he is talking ALL the time
- he is FAT
- he started eating cereal
- he is in size 3 diapers- same as his BIG sister
- still not napping great but a little better
- goes to bed around 6:30-7, gets up around 6 since time change
- sleeps with me most of the night.  ooops. 
- loves his jumper
- wearing 9month clothes
- nurses every 3-4 hours and still once or twice at night
- sucks his thumb
- loves to snuggle
- laughs ALL the time
- only poops every few days (tmi, I know...)


Blakely is talking SO much.  I know I said this last time, but her communication just amazes me.  I won't bore you with the details.  But a few key phrases are "I hold you", "I help you", "I do it self!" She loves to ask you if you want something and she tilts her head to the side and her voice goes really high and she'll say "coffee, mommy?"  :) She has also recently had a growth spurt.  Most pants that fit her are WAY too short, and her shoes that I bought a month ago are getting snug.  oops. 

Blakely was a princess/ballerina for Halloween.  Basically I put a pink tutu on her and called it her costume.  :)  She didn't really get the whole trick or treating thing, and I didn't bother telling her.  She also didn't catch on to the candy obsession, and I didn't enlighten her about that either.  In fact, we got quite a bit of candy and ended up giving it all away a couple days ago cause Stephen and I lost all self control. 

We've recently discovered that she loves Christmas decorations as much as her momma.  She LOVED browsing all the decor that they now have in the stores.  We watched Elf the other day- and I was impressed with how well she paid attention to a non- cartoon movie.  Her favorite part was the cameo appearance of an elmo doll...

Her bossy little personality is coming through.  I shouldn't say bossy, cause I hated it when my parents called me bossy (including last week...) She is strong willed, and concerned.  :)  She does tell people what to do, but she also takes care of them.  When someone falls she asks them if they are ok.  She loves to share (most of the time) and is very helpful with younger kids.  Oddly enough, she also has a bit of a shy bone.  Before she is comfortable with kids or adults she is super quiet and just watches what's happening. 

4months

Henry is 4 months old! He weighs 16lbs- unfortunately we know this because he has been to the doctor/ER 4 times in the last two weeks!

He went 8 days without pooping so our doc sent us to the ER to make sure there wasn't an obstruction. There wasn't and we are all good now!

Henry is in 6-9 month clothes, size 3 diapers, and he is CHUBBY!

He is such a happy baby. He smiles alllll the time.

He isn't a great napper- but I don't let it stress me out. He starts out on our bed an usually ends up in the swig. He goes to bed around 6:30 or 7, and eats usually twice at night. I haven't really tried to make him wait cause its just easier to feed him. He sleeps with us most nights after 3am, and we don't mind. :) I never would have guessed we'd let our kids sleep with us, but we love it and we wish Blakely would sleep with us! One day he won't- and I know I'll miss it. He's the snuggliest little guy ever. :)

He nurses every 3 hours and goes down for a nap an hour to two hours after. He doesn't sleep well after 3pm so he's usually a little fussy from then until he goes to bed.

He loves baths, Blakely, daddy, attention, giggling (alllll the time), tv, and sucking his thumb- the cutest thing ever. He still takes a pacifier but always sleeps better when he can find his thumb instead. Sometimes he just goes to town on it chomping away and it's hilarious.

He'd like to get up for the day around 6 or 6:30 but I try pretty hard to keep him asleep until after 7.

He's the sweetest little guy ever and we are so glad our "easy" baby came second. :)

21 month pics!

21 months and life

Blakely turned 21 months almost a month ago!  She is getting so big.  I went through a bunch of her clothes to sell in a children's consignment event, and came across the onesie we brought her home in.  Not much bigger than a 3x5 index card. 

She is so much fun these days, and also SO ornery.  She is definitely testing the limits of obedience and consequences.  She now has basically full understanding of what we ask her to and not to do, so she gets pretty frequent time outs.  ;)

She is talking an insane amount.  Saying full sentences that just blow me away.  We walked outside to get the mail a while ago and she said, "Wow, it's warm out here."  HA!  Who is this girl?!  Her ability to communicate with us is impressive to me.  She has a few phrases that are JUST my favorite.  I need to record them and let everyone experience them.  But for my memories sake, my favorite are, "MOOOOOMMY!  Come....HERE!", " "Bless you, Hankie!" (when Henry sneezes or makes any sound resembling a sneeze...), "Hankie is awake!", "MOOOVE PEASE!", "uphereuphereuphereuphere"-- I kid you not, when she wants up here she says it as fast as she can over and over.  It's hilarious and incredibly irritating all at the same time.  "I wubu." (I love you)

Anyway, those are just a few of my favs that I can think of at the moment. 

She is still all about going outside.  Her favorite thing right now is to go to the park down the street and swing.  She is obsessed.  She cracks up the whole time.  She also is obsessed with bugs.  I think that's my fault.  I have made it a little too big of a deal when I have seen a bug or spider, so she is become fascinated with them.  And she can spot them like nobody's business.  She'll say "BUG!  Fly around!"  And if she then can't find the bug or spider, she will say, "He eatin..." or "He walkin..." or "He sleepin..."  She saw a butterfly outside today and it flew up over the house.  She kept saying "Bug on top house!  Come HERE!"  Needless to say, he never came. 

Another current obsession is forts.  We make a fort a couple of times a day in her room.  She is also obsessed with Mickey and Elmo.  She would literally sit in front of the tv all day and watch them if she could.  She asks for each of them a minimum of 2-3 times an hour.  She loves to play with her kitchen in her room and cook us things, and get us "coffees."  We take one sip or bite and she says, "More?"  She loves to feed all her babies and animals.  She loves to read but she has to be in the mood for it, she loves to draw and will scribble and say, "circle!...triangle!...square!...star!...heart!.."

She is hit or miss with eating.  Some days she will eat so much that we are genuinely worried she'll throw up... and some days it seems like she doesn't eat a thing.  I think it really affects her sleeping too.  She is ALL over the place.  She goes to bed around 7:30 every night, and usually goes to sleep pretty quickly.  She is in an incredible mood all day if she sleeps past 6:30.  Like- totally noticeable- she's an angel all day.  She goes down for her nap at noon.  She is still in size 3 diapers and is all over the place with clothing sizes.  yesterday she had on a 3t long sleeve shirt and 6-12mo shorts.  Unless it is leggings, anything bigger than 12 months is too big in pants.

She is generally very obedient, but her big problem now is that we have to tell her 5 times before she obeys.  (not everything, but a LOT of things...) We really want her to learn to be obedient immediately.  An example of her attitude right now is she will be banging something on the coffee table.  I will ask her to stop, and she will, but then she will lightly tap the coffee table.  Should I discipline her?  She does this with lots of situations, and I know she is testing me- but I don't know if it's better to ignore her, or to send her to timeout.  Sometimes she puts herself in timeout- which leads me to wonder if it even does any good.  I'm not quite ready to spank though.  Maybe I am just being a softie.  She's not the best listener (as I'm sure most toddlers aren't...) and she has a bit of a temper.  The other day she was trying to get Stephen's shoe on her foot and she couldn't, and the next thing I knew, she was screaming and stomping on the shoe saying, "NO! NO! NO!"  It was kinda funny and freaky all at the same time. 

She still LOVES "Hankie."  She loves to kiss him and cuddle him, and she is so good at playing with him.  She will sit by him and talk to him.  She will try to calm him down when he is crying.  She will hold his hands and play with him- all of this unprompted by me.  She just genuinely loves him.  It is pretty sweet to watch.  A week or so ago some girls in the neighborhood gave her a disney princess sticker.  Tonight she was running around with it (yes, we still have it...) saying, "MINE! MINE! MINE!"  (another popular word in her vocab these days..." And Stephen casually reminded her that those girls gave it to her, and wasn't that so sweet, blah blah blah, it's good to give things to people to show them we love them...  Anyway, a little while later she was yelling for me and Henry: "MOOOOMMYYYYY!  HANKIEEEEEE!" :)  And when she found us, she brought her sticker and handed it to Henry and said, "Hankie have it."  And walked away.  Melt my heart.  She truly is such a sweet girl. 

We took our first "solo" trip without Stephen last weekend to my parents house.  My grandpa came with us- but definitely not the same as Stephen.  We had SO much fun.  The kids were angels on the way there, we had a blast on the farm with Pawpaw and Gigi while we were there, and Blakely missed her dad TERRIBLY.  BUT it was a huge milestone for us, and now that I know I can do it, we will be making the trip more!  Blakely got to play with chickens, watch the cows, collect the eggs, and go see the firetruck Pawpaw rides in. 

I'll upload pictures from my phone, and hopefully post 22 month update in a few days.  (yeah right!)

5 years of wedded bliss

On Saturday, Stephen and I celebrated 5 years of marriage! We are old! :) On our first anniversary, my grandpa unexpectedly came in town- we were definitely disappointed that we had company on our anniversary. Four years later, my parents unexpectedly decided to come in town on our anniversary, and we couldn't have been more excited! My, how things change. :) With kids, weekends don't mean sleeping in, and company doesn't mean more work- it means less! Grandparents to entertain both kids, take them (and us!) shopping, and the joy of seeing our kids play with their beloved "Paw Paw and Gigi."

Blakely hasn't stopped talking about either of them. At least a few times a day she asks to play with one of them, or asks for one of them to sit by her at the dinner table. It's sweet and sad at the same time. I wish both Stephen's and my parents lived closer. Blakely LOVES her grandparents.

So anyway, my parents, grandpa, brother and his girlfriend, and Robby- a guy who works with Stephen, all came over and we grilled brats. It was a lot of fun having a bunch of people over- and of course Blakely loved it.

Saturday morning we went to the farmers market- enjoyed biscuits and gravy and tamales (delish!), dog watched, and my mom bought us some yummy peaches and a canteloupe that ended up not being so great. Then my mom and I went garage sale-ing. My parents bought Blakely a little red tricycle that she loves for about 2 minutes then she's done. I think she will love it for longer periods when she gets the hang of riding it.

Then my parents headed over to my grandpas and Stephen and I began our anniversary date. After we put the kids to bed we had appetizers of olives, pickled mushrooms, and other random things I can't remember. We made a t-bone and a tuna steak, salad, and yummy bread with balsamic and oil. I made myself sick on candy corn for dessert. A babysitter came over and we enjoyed our meal on the back patio and didn't even have to watch baby monitors! :) Then we took a long walk- our favorite thing to do pre-kids. Then we just sat on the couch and talked until way too late! It really was so fun....except for the belly ache I gave myself.  I totally forgot to take pictures- so here is what was left of our appetizer.  :)



lovebirds

It was fun to reflect on the last 5 years, and we looked forward and made goals for the year ahead. Alone time is rare these days since we usually fill it with errands or sleep- two precious things to do without children...so even though it may seem like an anticlimactic anniversary celebration- it was super special to us.

highlight of the year.  duh. 

Stephen forbade me to get any sort of gift for him, and the stinker still got me one. On our honeymoon, we stayed at an amazing resort in Montana, and we would come downstairs for breakfast and they had an assortment of cool mugs for coffee that you picked out and served yourself. There was one in particular that I always picked. We asked if we could buy one, and it was a one of a kind, and they were sweet enough to just sell us that one- which made it even more special. When we moved out of our house a couple months ago, it somehow got lost, and I CANNOT find it anywhere. It seriously kills me. I know it sounds so dramatic- but not a morning goes by that I don't think about it.

my other lovebird

Our honeymoon spot has since shut down, but Stephen searched through old emails, found some correspondence with someone that worked there, mannaged to hunt down the company that manufactured the mug, and had one custom made for me! It's not exactly like the one I had, which is good because it can't be replaced- but it is BY FAR the most thoughtful and special gift he has EVER gotten me. I love it so much. And it was a surprise! Which is hard to do with me, since I am on the nosey side and have a weakness for prying things and gifts out of him early- not to mention I am not ashamed to go hunting for a gift if I know it's in the building.

And just because it's funny...Blakely did this the other day:

She is a mess. 



 

 

Also, on the same day, she turned 21 months old.  More on that later....

 

 

 

 

4am

So what's with my gigantic pictures when I use blogger on my phone? Sorry if you didn't want to see Henry's face in actual size.

Just thought I'd give a little update. Poor Stephen. His kid (kidding) has been getting up in the 4am hour. We don't know what the deal is. We have read a little on the wonderful world wide web and apparently we aren't alone. I wouldn't say it is normal, but more people than you think are suffering from their almost two year old waking up loooong before the sun comes up.

Here's the thing. Henry has really helped us accept the fact that our daughter is an early riser- no changing that. And as my dad always says, there are a lot better things to do than sleep- though I would beg to differ- the ONLY thing to do at 4am is sleep...
But anyway we are ok with early wake up calls. Like 6am. We can even get over ourselves and accept one somewhere in the 5am hour. Especially considering she goes to bed at 7:30. Thats pretty early. And if we can get our butts in bed by 9:30, 5am isn't nearly as painful. (I'll be honest- I am not getting up with her at 4- Stephen is, bless his heart) But here's the deal. She isn't getting enough sleep. A 21 month old should not be taking a morning nap at 7am. That means she didn't sleep enough. But it is such a viscous cycle. We say she can't take a morning nap because it is only contributing to the problem. Well by the time you have spent 3 hours with her and it is only 7am and she is begging for a nap you sort-of lose your willpower. Not to mention you need that morning nap just as much as she does.

So that's what we are dealing with right now. We have a list of things to try out but one thing we read was that we are probably in a phase that will take more than a week for her to snap out of. Bummer.

Here are some pictures for your enjoyment- sorry if they are huge! Anyone know how to change that??