Summer is over, is return to "normal" possible?!

Don't get me wrong, we've had a blast with all the celebrations, events, etc. of the summer, but there is comfort in having some time where there isn't as much going on per se...at least not on the calendar. Daily life continues to be busy no doubt, and with kids constantly changing, growing, and learning, there are always more challenges ahead. There are days where we can be at peace, and days of complete exhaustion and disorder. There are more moments lately where I struggle with the balance of Mom, Wife, PT, and student (yes, I wanted to make it that much harder and signed up for another post-graduate class again, fun!) and have called friends and family in tears and utter loss over how to manage it all. Days later, I will feel peace and balance again - the ups and downs of it all! So having a time frame of nothing extraneous to prepare for seems nice...oh but wait, there's always something else...oh well! The Lord will provide the strength and time we need if we follow His leading, guidance and priorities!

We have had a fun month, with the boys enjoying playing together more and more...Noah is really all over the place and interested in all that Drew does - good and bad! Drew loves it, as long as it doesn't interfere with #1 - Drew, of course! But they do love each other, no doubt!

Drew's imagination is certainly the center of almost all that goes on with him these days. Whether it's playing and acting out scenes/stories with his animals, cars, or super heros, or telling stories at bedtime with Daddy, the boy is constantly creating things in his mind and we LOVE it! Super heroes have become a new obsession lately, especially Spiderman! He has never seen a Spiderman show, movie, cartoon, book, anything before this occurred, so they only thing we can figure is the other boys at school must talk about it and he has latched on like no other! Anything Spiderman is a must have in Drew's eyes! He also loves Lightning McQueen as a close 2nd I'd say, but Transformers are making a quick move up the list too!

We have started to play "Highlight/Lowlight" at the dinner table in the evenings, trying to get Drew to recall his day and what was a favorite and something just the opposite. He's still trying to grasp the concept, as he ends up repeating the same thing most nights, even if it didn't occur that day, but he's making gains and seems to enjoy the idea at least. We are starting to hear some more of our phrases come back at us lately which at times can be hilarious, or incredibly frustrating or inappropriate. A favorite is when he asks us a question, followed with a firm: "Mommy, Yes or No!" (A phrase I use alot to try and get a quick and direct answer!) An unfortunate one however is "I don't care!" - not a fan of that!

The plight of potty training continues and getting quite fatiguing - it's become some what of a power struggle, especially at night...with Drew saying he needs to go potty 3-4 times after being put to bed, and simply dawdling through the entire routine - oh, how it grates on our nerves! As for day time, it seems completely hit or miss...I joke that we will just try again when he's 12!

He is certainly wanting to become more independent in things, daily tasks, etc., which is wonderful, but certainly can be a struggle of patience on our part to watch it take for seemingly forever to get done what we could help with in mere seconds...but he's getting dressed by himself, gets himself buckled into his car seat, wants to wear underwear, just about tries to do everything himself and his way - when he wants of course! When we want it done, well, that's another story! :)

He continues to talk obsessively about playing on a soccer team...he wears his jersey as soon as it comes out of the laundry, and loves to wear his soccer shorts and shin guards too. He talks about all the games he's going to play and that we will be there to cheer and shout for him. He loves to make a list of people that will be there to watch him - oh my! We did get to go to one of Daddy's indoor soccer games again recently, a big highlight for Drew, though we spend almost the entire time just exploring the arena, but what do I know?!

He does love to play with Noah and does love to help and teach him games and such, when it is on his terms. Favorites that both boys love to play together is chase, tickle, and they continue to love the tunnel and the new circus tent - they get the biggest kick out of playing there together! We were able to go to the zoo this month with a short break in the heat (high in the 90s, ha!) and for the first time, Noah really seemed to get into it, able to see the animals, etc., so that was fun and exciting to know they will both be able to enjoy it now for all it's glory!

Noah just LOVES to be outside! Oh my! The boy could care less about the heat - it's been over 100 degrees and he'll walk on the patio barefoot and just have the best time! He loves to carry around the golf clubs, chase after balls and is even starting to kick the balls around some! He will stand at the back door (has a full length window) and bang and cry, or reach for outside, or bring us his shoes - all signs of desperately "I want to go outside!" I am looking forward to cooler weather so we can say Yes more than No!

He is certainly a Momma's boy - seems to have increased some this month, with more separation anxiety becoming apparent. There are Sundays where he starts to cry as soon as he even SEES the nursery door - he just does not want to be away from us! Gratefully, that has not been the case at his preschool - yeah! A true blessing to not start the day that way! But oh, how Mommy can get fatigued with always having to be the one...to feed him, carry him, comfort him, put him to bed, change him, bathe him...the list goes on, you get my point! But there are moments that Drew wants nothing to do with me, and only Daddy will do, so I take comfort in my Noah for now, for that soon will change...

We have started to lead the weaning process this month with Noah, going from 4 feedings to 1! He's not been super happy about it at all times, but he's done well with it overall, and LOVES his whole milk. We needed it to be done as a family, but as a Mommy, I certainly dragged my feet on it, and I'm sure I'm more sad about it than Noah...but he is eating so well with all the table foods and drinks great from a sippy cup, so he's thriving and doing just great! It will be nice when Mommy doesn't HAVE to be the one for all of that! We've had lots of good snuggle time though to make up for it - he'll just hold on tight, or lie down with me on the floor and just sigh in content - so incredibly sweet! He gives great big wide open mouth kisses on cue and hugs too! Love that he can express love back!

He is more and more expressive and gets the biggest kick out of us repeating back his sounds with him - he just giggles! Drew loves to play along too! He loves "Uh-uh", and certainly does that one on purpose more than we'd care for. But he's also learned to give High Fives and blow kisses! He loves to copy/imitate us as well - a great one recently was trying to jump - Daddy jumped up and down a few times and so Noah tried too - bending knees, getting real low to ground and coming up, and marching his feet real high - adorable! He makes some of the funniest faces and expressions and he knows it! He'll stick out his tongue or suck in his cheeks - he's just too cute! He's also understanding so many things now - we are both shocked at how much he 'gets'! Truly an amazing creation of God!

Both boys are growing great! Drew is in 3T clothes, but only those that run long. He wears size 9 shoes and measures at 42 inches (>97%) and 32 lbs (50%). Noah is in size 12 month clothes and size 3 shoes, measuring 32 1/2 inches (97%) and weighs 21 lb 10 oz (25%).

Family Photos

I believe this will be a yearly tradition...more family photos! Couldn't help but share!

A Birthday Party worth ROARing about...

I just can't help myself - I love birthdays - always have...part of it I think is that's it's a great excuse to have a party with the people I love to be with. It doesn't hurt of course that there is games, fun, food and cake involved either! So despite the warnings of some to not go too overboard for a little boys' birthday party, I couldn't resist planning and pulling off what some will say an "over the top" birthday party for Drew and Noah this year!...

We (meaning Nana and Mommy) had a blast decorating the house to get everyone in the right mindset and the boys (meaning Daddy, Grandpa and Uncle Kevin) were willing helpers, as long as they were able to make comments and roll their eyes...they should know better than to think that would slow me down from barking orders! HA!

 

We had an excellent showing of family and close friends - funny how keeping it to the "minimum" adds up to 21 adults and 10 kids! The day will come I know when the kids will actually out-number the adults and then maybe it will seem more "appropriate", but we had a blast with everyone!

With the crazy heat, we tried to plan some fun activities for the kids inside...simply playing with animal toys, blown up animals, animal masks and a lion bean bag toss were all fun, but topped with a Lion Pinata! What fun! The kids did GREAT taking turns, and no one was injured!

Then, time for food and cake! Making 2 very different cakes for the 2 boys took its toll the night prior, but I was happy with the outcome to say the least! And the boys certainly seemed to enjoy it as well!

Drew was just absolutely tickled to the core with everyone singing Happy Birthday to he and Noah!

And Noah obviously enjoyed the cake! Nana had to take it away before he devoured the entire thing!

We had a blast, the boys were showered with gifts (our house looked like the aftermath of Christmas), and we had a wonderful time with everyone. We are so blessed to have such amazing, healthy, wonderful boys, and count our blessings with the support and love and care we ALL receive from the family and friends God has placed in our lives, and the lives of Drew and Noah, as we grow together! Thank you Lord for another blessed year, with many more to come, we pray!

Two Big Boys

Well, we made it! One year as a family of four! At the beginning I wasn't sure how we were going to make it, but reminded myself that we were far from being alone in having 2 young ones to raise, but still overwhelmed. Now that a year has passed, while we rae by no means pros, we are certainly in a more "comfortable" spot. Thanks to a ton of amazing family members and friends, we've found a little bit of balance, and continue to thank and praise God for such a wonderful, happy, healthy crew!

So Noah is officially a toddler, as mentioned earlier - walking all over the place, starting the day before his birthday! He's worked hard at it this last month, always finding a hand to help him get around on his feet, walking between Mommy and Daddy practicing his steps, and pulling up to stand on just about anything. He is also able to go from sitting to standing without pulling up on anything any more.



An unfortunate, but inevitable, issue with this initially was Noah FINALLY learned he could pull to stand in his crib! While this isn't the end of the world, it certainly leads to issues with sleep, at least for a bit (thanks to Drew, we know this should be a short phase). However, we've noticed that part of the issue is Noah doesn't know how to lie back down after standing up! He easily sits back down, but doesn't get how to get back onto his tummy or back! We've tried going back in to lie him back down, but he then just stands right back up and starts all over again, defeating the purpose of us "helping". So he's just had to figure it out...leading to some pretty ridiculous, and seemingly quite uncomfortable sleeping positions! (Video monitors are the best! Essentially, he gets tired enough is sitting that he starts to fall asleep and just like we would do a "head-bob" while falling asleep sitting up in the car, etc., he does a full body-bob until he finally bobs too far and falls over! I may sound awful saying this, but it's quite amusing!) There have been several nights he falls asleep with his legs out in a V-shape and folded in half at the hips with his head near his feet! Can you imagine sleeping like that?! Thankfully, he doesn't stay that way all night, usually curled up in some ridiculous position in the corner of his crib...but pretty funny! Looking forward to his figuring out that transition soon!

The separation anxiety is affecting us a little more these days...he's almost never cried to be dropped off at school, but lately he's been a little bit more fussy. We've also had to start using the nursery at church now that he simply can't sit still, and he does NOT like that! Of course, he calms down quickly at both places, but that drop-off is not fun - one of my least favorite things as a Mommy really...I wish schedules worked better so Daddy could take more of those!

He is eating just about everything these days, though for some reason, I've dragged my feet on table food with him more than with Drew - I don't know what I was thinking! His tolerance for being spoon fed is rapidly diminishing and he wants what the rest of us are eating so badly, but he will just stuff his face if given too much at once! So, hopefully I can sneak in the rest of the baby food that I bought before he absolutely refuses anything from us! But he is getting much better at feeding himself - something that will be sweet relief at meal times!

Noah is getting more and more expressive and receptive too. He loves to play and jabber and do things to get our reaction. One he sometimes finds quite amusing is he tries to feed us his food, ie: Cheerios or the like, he gets a big kick out of it. There is also of course the infamous drop it on the floor and see how many times I can get these suckers to pick it back up, as well as the smiling and laughing when we say "No" (as he's throwing his food on the floor or climbing onto something he shouldn't inevitably) - our pediatrician says it's the fact that he can get a reaction from us, not that hes' being defiant - at least not at this point! He is babbling and talking a lot more now, even Drew notices a difference. He can say Ba-Ba (bye-bye), Da-da, Ma-Ma, Uh-uh (uh-oh) and is ABLE to sign "More" - but prefers to just holler and wave his hands around - which means either More or Finished - leaving it to us to guess and decipher! He does a good job waving Bye now and is starting to figure out waving Hello. He's also blown kisses just a few times - usually to Daddy at bedtime! And loves to clap along with others and music! It's also amazing what he can understand without being very verbal yet - Daddy has been especially good about reading the "100 First Words" book with him, and Noah will now pull it off the shelf and start tapping and pointing to the objects for us to tell him what they are - and just giggles! Drew loves to chime in with the animal sounds and help out with the words too! We can ask him to come to us, go upstairs or downstairs, time to eat, time for a bath, etc. - all those things we've said over and over and he has learned the meaning of, it awesome! We love it! We are still so amazed at all he knows - baby's brains are just amazing! And we love that he knows how to give kisses when we ask for them, or when we don't!

He LOVES to be outside - he'll still stand at the back door (has a full length window) and just bang on it and cry sometimes when he wants to go out - it's just too HOT! Sorry! He has a blast chasing and running around with Drew - they both get such a kick out of it...they love to play around our little climber/slide too! (Which Noah is able to climb up the slide as long as he is bare- foot!) He's surprisingly good at kicking balls while he's walking around, and loves to pick them up and throw them as well...another all-boy on our hands! He fits right in! He also loves to move toys around - either picking them up and throwing them behind him, or in and out of the tubs/containers/etc. - just keeping busy!

So Drew is really into imaginative play these days - a true sign that he's 3! I remember Nana telling me quite some time ago that 3s love to play dress up and such - and that is so true for Drew these days! He is making up stories with his toys so much of the time. If we aren't playing chase, he's almost always playing with toys that can have conversations with each other - usually his animals, or action figures! (Which we aren't sure how exactly he learned about so much, except at school - first it was Spiderman (his favorite!), then Batman, and then the Joker! When we asked where he learned about the Joker, he frankly said "I ALWAYS know about the Joker!" OK then!) Daddy came up with a wonderful way to expand it even more, with telling stories from our "Magic book" at night - our hands are the book we can open and turn pages as we make up a story - Drew absolutely loves it! The stories usually start with "There once was a boy named Drew..." - can't get much better than that - Drew's face just lights up! Dragons and caves, castles and knights, and animals galore - the sky's the limit (unless Mommy tells the story, those are a bit on the lame side usually)!

The extremes of emotions are also a clear sign that Drew is now 3! He can be the best boy, helping, listening, signing, have a grand ol time, and then something flips and the world is ending, tears are flowing, screaming at the top of our lungs, body goes limp - it's unbelievable! Thankfully (knock on wood) this hasn't occurred any where too embarrassing yet, but I'm sure it will...

And potty-training...UGH! I feel like we are behind the curve on this, partly our fault as well since we haven't been too motivated either...don't get me wrong, the end result will be great, but the learning part doesn't seem fun at all! And juggling it with keeping Noah safe and happy is just another factor making all that much more 'cumbersome'. Drew is finally showing some true motivation lately, wanting to wear underwear, so on days we are home, we are working on that, but cleaning up the mess (though there aren't TOO many) and going to the bathroom almost a countless number of times during the day, all the while trying to keep Noah from licking the toilet and pulling all the toilet paper off the roll is just not our idea of fun! We've used as many bribes and external motivators we can think of (including being able to play on a sports team!), and he seems like he WANTS to, but can't quite put it all together just yet. We will get there I know, but there have been days where keeping him in pull ups until he's 8 sounds so much better! HA!

On a happier note, he talks about sports almost every day too - "When I get oldur, I gonna play soccer like Daddy!...I wanna wear my jersey...I gonna play five sports - soccer, baseball, basketball, baseball, and tricky soccer! - M or D: "What's tricky soccer?" - Drew: "It's tricky!" He loves playing soccer with Daddy, working on kicking and punting the ball, we've even started working on our soccer throws! He can't WAIT to play on a team! He misses the cut off for soccer this fall by 1 day, but that will be just fine, we'll start in March of next year and then never see the end of it probably! We enjoyed being able to expose him to the Olympics this year, and he liked it to - "Can I watch the Lymnics?!" - and the answer was almost always Yes - we all loved it!

He's started to enjoy playing board games, which both Daddy and Mommy are also excited about - a new phase and way to teach, learn and interact, and fun for us too - though initially there will be a large learning curve for sure! But we are excited, and Drew loves it too! So let the games begin! :)

A true blessing of a year - our boys bring so many smiles to our lives daily, even in the middle of being frustrated, the right expression or word can turn it all around! The Lord is so good to us, in so many ways, but our children are by far the biggest gift we've ever received!