Beckett's Fourth Birthday

B and I were looking at chapbooks of birthdays past tonight and he started talking about his circus party.... I realized I hadn't posted anything from it anywhere... And really couldnt even remember what we did for his party!

So this is slightly overdue....


A Fourth Birthday CIRCUS Party!

Prep: B loved the circus with grandma and Hattie and knew exactly what to have at a circus party after going. He planned the menu (hot dogs, sno cones, popcorn) and decorated the cake (mostly by himself with a lot of direction...). :) The prints are engineer prints from Staples (one of my fave/cheapest ways to make a big pop).

The weather was awesome and the kids got to play outside (huge thanks to Little Tikes and Oakland Avenue for the awesome jump house!). I'm not sure we got a single family picture (I need to dig a little further) and we missed the cousin pic this year.

Afterwards we loaded up and headed to the Water Park of America (and the Mall of America)- per B's birthday wish. It was a jam packed, super fun weekend. Our little guy got to do some of his favorite things- party, snuggle grandma, stay at a hotel, and go to a water park. The perfect weekend!

I still can't believe he's FOUR! (Another reason this post may have taken me so long...)

But four looks good on you, buddy!

my people

I'm so used to saying 'my boys' when talking about B and R I catch myself saying 'my…' then switch it up to people instead.

These are my people.

the ones who call me mama

Well one of them anyway (I'm sure A would too if she could talk). 

I'm so blessed. I mess up this mama gig all the time but my littles still love me the most. I pray they always know how much I love them too. 

For mother's day, R was going to take some pics of me and my littlest loves. We ended up conning some cousins into doing it for us and got some family pictures too. More of those pics (including a Dakota appearance) coming soon.

For today, me and the ones who call me mama. I'm so blessed.

boy meets girl

As much as I was looking forward to meeting Arley, I could. not. wait. for B to meet his little sister. He has been in love with her since he learned about her and they were best friends before he ever saw her face. I was beyond myself with excitement as he was finally going to get to meet his 'sweet girl.'

B had spent the night with grandma so they brought him up to meet Arley in the morning. He walked in very quietly and was so sweet and gentle as he met her. The highlights: 'That's my baby? I really like her. Hers cute. Her came out of your tummy?!' And later as she started to cry when he was holding her… 'shhh shhh shhh (not working- panicked look on his face as he looked around him).. I think she needs a toy!' And when grandma was holding her and talking to her he said, 'she can't even talk!'

Also worth noting, he had a special gift for her and was so excited to show her. Once he met her and snuggled a minute, daddy brought in a special gift for him. He opened it and screamed, 'Eggos! (how he pronounces legos) It's just what I always wanted!!!!' Sister was old news (for a little while) as he ran off to play legos with daddy for a bit.

Equally as awesome was when we got home from the hospital. We pulled up to the house as he was getting out of grandma's car. He saw us and threw his hands up in the air and shouted cause he was SO excited!! He ran to the garage and talked about a mile a minute to daddy about how he wanted to help get sister out of the car, he wanted to show his sister her new house and her new room and her new living room and her new couch and her new toys and… (you get the idea). He kept saying how excited he was that she was home. Pure joy. My mama heart could not have been happier.

Oh B, you are such an awesome big brother already. Miss Arley is so lucky to have you as a forever best friend.

(The first video I shot as B came in the room. I wanted it to just be our little family but as R went to get B I realized last second I wanted a video of it. Had I thought of that 30 seconds earlier I would have just had my mom come in and video for us but instead I'm holding up the cell phone in all the pics. I'm okay with that cause that sweet big brother voice on the video is priceless. The slideshow pictures are unedited and I took very few of them. Maybe someday I'll get around to editing everything… but I doubt it so that's why I went ahead and put them together as is.) :) 

updates (aka the post about how we nearly met our deductible in a week)

So the last 7 days have been a bit crazy here.

We started last week with an EEG for B Diddy. It's possible he is having absent seizures and the goal of the EEG was to rule out that they were from anything serious (brain tumor/brain damage). (We were able to rule those out- hallelujah! We weren't able to pinpoint the type of absent seizure it may be so he goes back for a 24 hour test in June- not so yay but something we can deal with.)

Anyway, overall there isn't much awesome about keeping your 'needs sleep like his mama' boy up most of the night then spending most of the day at the hospital but there were some sweet moments throughout the day I don't want to forget…..

While the nurse was taping the sensors to his head, he was wincing his face in pain and trying hard to be brave. I said, "You're doing great buddy. She just has to put these stickers on your head before they can start." Through a pain filled face he said, "Oh thank you. I like stickers." (Tears.)

Later, after the bandage was on, it was really hurting his head. He apparently didn't want to cause a fuss because he wouldn't tell the nurse but once she walked away he buried his head in my shoulder and whispered "It hurts mommy. It really hurts." as he and I both tried not to cry (I totally did though). 

He was super brave and rocked his test. That said, the thought of doing a 24 hour one with a newborn scares me a little. Prayers definitely appreciated.

Mid-week I had my regular OB check up. I had fallen off the growth curve so we got a surprise ultrasound peek at Miss A. She's measuring small but doing good. She looks to be at the top of the charts for height (no surprise there) so that thankfully helped her weight. Measurement wise though she's a peanut and hopefully she's grown this week so we don't have to worry about inducing or anything. (Grow baby, grow!)

And to finish the week with a bang… I came down with a nasty stomach bug. In an effort to avoid tmi let's just say I used stomach muscles in all directions in ways I haven't in a long time. The stomach bug cranked up the contractions and it was pain. ful. I was not brave at all and told R I was gonna need an epidural right now. I really didn't care if she was two weeks away. I just wanted an epidural. Finally we decided we should call the OB and we ended up with a room with a view at the hospital. The big things were they needed to stop the contractions (no need to kick start labor as long as baby is still growing- with her size we want to give her as much time to grow as we can) and I needed to be hydrated. After bags of fluids and some drugs, I eventually was well enough to go home. Exhausted but doing SO much better. Filled with fear about what labor might be like though (cause that was not easy) and ditching any plans I had of skipping the epidural this time. ;) 

Just for fun… baby girls heartbeat…

SO our week was eventful. Hopefully this week will be a little less crazy and filled with a little more 'getting things done before baby comes.' Cause I'd love to have that to do list complete soon. :)

Happy Monday. Hoping your week is less crazy than ours seem to be lately. :)

my favorite things about three (so far)

I was completely bummed when B outgrew the awesome two year old scene but he's hit his groove with three and it's looking pretty awesome so far too.

Some of my favorite things about him right this minute:

He asks for kisses in his hand to save for later. He stores them in his pockets and under his pillow and sometimes sneaks them onto his cheek and convinces mama to give him a spare. He likes to give us kisses in our hands to save for later too.

He tells us all about how Jesus lives in his heart (because 'Jesus told me that He does!'). He tells us about how Jesus helps him to not be scared and to be strong. And he tells us about how Jesus likes juice (mostly red hawaiian punch) and ice cream too if we could please give him more of those things. :)

His prayers these days are usually something like, "Thank you for all the food. Thank you for all my rest. Thank you for naps and all of my blessings. AAAAA!!! Men!" Tonight's bedtime prayer was, "Dear Jesus thank you for all of the animals. A! Men!" He typically requests to say mealtime prayers because he knows his are short and sweet. He's even been asking to do it in front of other people these days which has been a huge step of bravery for the little guy.

He started watching non-animated shows this week (Chalotte's Web and Beethoven) and all of a sudden I stopped hating screen time. (Daniel Tiger, Mickey Mouse, Bob The Builder, Clifford, Jake, etc etc aren't all that bad…. until you've seen them all a million times.) And he's actually been doing way less screen time this winter than last. (We're saving up on screen time binging for when the baby arrives.) ;)

His play has just been so awesome to see lately. He is loving hoops now. He cooks in his restaurant all the time. He loves his corn pool (his 'orchard' as he calls it). He pretends all sorts of crazy things. He loves a good dance party (courtesy of DJ B, of course). And we've started playing family games. He even knows (and mostly follows) the rules of memory now. He generally wins. (And we don't let him.)  We've done a lot less art projects and sitting to learning work lately but occasionally he asks to play school and we work on his 'flashcard puzzles' while he plays school.

He's becoming quite the little man at the basketball games these days. Earlier this week he even went to the concession stand and ordered and paid for his snack ALL BY HIMSELF. I stood on the other side of the lunchroom and watched him and it kinda broke my heart a little bit that he didn't look back even once. :(

He's mostly set to entertain himself for games. He has a few bleacher buddies he likes to play with and he does pretty good staying entertained with his bag of toys and occasionally the iPad. If those fail, he's super content to organize the med-kit for daddy and help the managers in the training room. He's a huge help to them, I'm sure. ;) He talks about the high school kids all the time and the other day he was looking at the pictures on the service wall and was telling me who some of them were and how much he likes them. So fun to see! He's also big into playing 'up high, down low' with them. ;)

Speaking of… that's his favorite trick these days. Anyone that will give him time gets the 'up high, on the side, on the other side, down low' pulled on them. If you happen to get the down low too fast for him, be prepared for the game to never end. It's also his favorite joke…. 'Knock knock, (who's there?) Up high…. " He thinks he's pretty hilarious.  I do too. ;)

Every morning he wakes up and needs squeezy hugs and kisses from mommy (and then the same for sister). Some mornings he wakes up and just starts listing all the people he loves. It's pretty cute.

He always asks to hide with [sister] and climbs under the blanket with her. He starts whispering secrets to her and doesn't want mommy and daddy to interrupt. (I'm not sure this is a fave thing or not… maybe I should be scared of what he's telling her!) ;)

He builds random things out of random things and tells us he's going to be an engineer (we don't' even know where he got the word engineer but we're impressed with his work).

I love how he makes up his own words… Two of my faves: He enjoys 'nakeyin' around and he likes to play in the 'picturin' room.

He's super sweet and loving and always gives back rubs, hugs, kisses and random 'I love yous.'

I really couldn't ask for a sweeter three year old. We're so blessed!

Christmas '14

We're in the 'long winter's nap' portion of Christmas '14 and there was so much goodness this year I had to get to the blog before I forgot.

Three is the most magical age for Christmas and B has been saying all day (and last night), "This was the best Christmas ever!" Seeing Christmas through his eyes really is the best Christmas ever!

Highlights from our best Christmas ever….

Visiting Santa at Bass pro. B was mesmerized by the Christmas set up there. He froze when he saw Santa but managed to ask for 'Planes Fire & Rescue' movie. Once we explored the store, he had added several other wishes to the list (an ice fishing tent and four wheeler topped the list).

Working the clothes pantry. Our local clothing pantry does the wishing tree for local families and we were blessed to get to help out with it several days. For the first year, B really got the concept of meeting the needs of others and really got it when we went shopping for our wishing tree family. It was a huge improvement from even packing shoe boxes the month before. Having him actually put in the work before the shopping gave him a lot better idea of what was going on. He will randomly talk about it and say the sweetest things. His little (huge) heart just melts me every time.

Decorating gingerbread house and cookies. We had never done a gingerbread house but B kept asking for one this year so we (finally) got one. He was very meticulous in his decorating. Only putting on candy that made sense (donut holes for 'bushes,' a gumdrop for a 'ding bell,' green candy for 'grass,' etc.) and eating the rest. He definitely did more eating than decorating. I finally asked if he wanted to decorate it some more and he said, "Let's just eat it instead!" It wasn't long before even the roof was being eaten.  When it was time for the cookies, I took the advice of my friend Angie and bought the pre made/prerolled gingerbread cookie dough from Hy-Vee. Genius. Easiest cookie making ever (we used the leftover gingerbread house frosting). B made a couple gingerbread men then asked if he could make some angels instead so we ended up with mostly angels. Perfection.

Caroling. Confession: I missed out on it this year. In the past we've taken our niece and nephew and made goodie bags to go along with the caroling but we didn't get to that this year. We were in charge of planning this month's cg social so we planned on caroling at the nursing home followed by soup/dinner at our house. When it was time to leave, R admitted he had no idea how to finish the soup so he ended up taking B caroling and I stayed home to finish the soup. I heard B was adorable though. Of course. ;)

Tree Farm. It was our first visit to the tree farm and our first real tree. B is SO proud of his little tree he picked out and decorated himself. He loves showing it to everyone. It is definitely a tradition we'll add to the to do list.

North Pole Express. Or Polar Express? I'm not sure of the name anymore.. but we watched the movie then rode the train with B's cousins. He was SO excited about it. The boys looked adorable in their matching jammies and the dinner beforehand was delicious but B was a little disappointed he didn't actually get to get out and play at the North Pole. The movie had set his expectations up pretty high so we would have been better not to watch it. :) I thought it was great though because he was bummed and tired so he sat in my lap and snuggled the whole way back to the train station. I'll take all the snuggles I can get so that was probably the highlight of the trip for me. Since then, he talks about the train ride all the time so I think he really did love it, even if he was sad he didn't get to hang with Santa more.

Brunch with Santa. Our local orchard does all kinds of fun stuff during the Christmas season. We spent one Saturday morning there eating pancakes with Santa, taking a carriage ride through the farm, and visiting with Santa. B was thrilled to get to hang with Santa for a bit since the other two times he got to see him, Santa was pretty busy. We spent another morning there making Christmas ornaments with friends and I spent an evening there with mommy friends making our own Christmas crafts and eating dinner. So much fun stuff so close by. Definitely a must do if you're in the area.

Advent countdown. We joined our friends at the library and made the cutest advent tubes to hang up (we used last year's Advent stick to hang them from). We read 'Advent for the very young' and B totally gets it. He would wake up most mornings the month of December asking to 'talk about Jesus.' It really encouraged him to pray more too (and prayers other than 'thank you for my toys'). He can (mostly) accurately retell the story of Jesus' birth and loves finding all the different nativity scenes (aka 'baby Jesus barns' at everyone's homes.

Christmas Eve Candlelight. This didn't go as great as I had pictured in my mind but one sweet moment that I don't want to forget… when the candles were handed out and the kids lined up along the wall together, it got real quiet as they were getting ready to begin and B started (not so quietly) singing, "Happy Birthday" to Jesus. I whispered to him that it was quiet time and he said, "but we gotta blow out Jesus' birthday candles first!"

Waterpark Christmas. Again, not exactly as we pictured (a cancelled flight for R's sister changed some plans and we ended up with an impromptu- but fun- middle of the night airport run) but still super fun. B LOVES the water park and is a big fan of the pirate ship. He's also a big fan of his cousins and family so he of course had an all around blast. I love seeing him hang out with his cousin B (they are just months apart in age), they act like little old men together. One of my favorite quotes from eavesdropping on them was when B said to his cousin, "It's okay [BP], I like wearing diapers too." The stuff they say cracks me up. And if you follow us on instagram, you may have seen our lovely family picture from the night. It was clearly a wear your best pajamas party. I think R succeeded at that. B was spoiled with gifts at all Christmases this year and he got a super cool set of Magformers from grandma this night. If your kids (or you for that matter) don't have them, you should definitely look into them. Pretty sure these span the ages more than legos. So fun for the littles and big kids!

Christmas Eve at grandmas. Again, B loves playing with cousins so he had a blast. My favorite moments were watching him with his baby cousin Clara. He is a big fan of hers and is so sweet and gentle with her. He talks about her all the time and talks about how she and [sister] will be such good friends. The fact that he thinks ahead to stuff like that is so awesome. I think he'll be an awesome big brother. He got a super cool Plasma car at this Christmas but his favorite gift was nutcrackers. He opened the box and screamed, "NUTCRACKERS!!!!" They were the first 'toy' he went to this morning when we woke up and he talks about them all the time. (The story behind him getting them is that every time we've been to Target this winter, he asks to stop and see the nutcrackers. He plays with every single one of them each time we visit the store and asked for one every visit but never got one. He was so excited to get some of his own.)

Christmas day. I feel like this needs it's own blog post. The short story is he slept in late (yay) so I had time to make peppermint waffles (with whip cream and red/green gummy bears). When he woke up, I snuck into his room and said, "Merry Christmas, buddy." He said, "What?!?" He had no clue it was Christmas morning. He jumped out of bed and looked out the window and said, "It is! It snowed! It did! It is Christmas! Santa came!" (We aren't sure why he associates snow with Christmas but he does.) We headed out to the living room where he saw his new race car waiting for him and the look on his face was priceless. He was SO excited about it. He decided it was okay that Santa came to his house and was even impressed that Santa ate all his cookies (though the truth is that Dakota ate them instead). After soaking up the new car smell, we encouraged him to open his gifts. He gets one Santa gift, three gifts from mom and dad, and a stocking. He opened his three gifts and was SO excited and thankful for each one. He got 'Planes Fire & Rescue' and said, "It's just what I always wanted!!!" He got Frank the combine and a tractor for tipping (from the movie Cars) and was completely obsessed with them. He literally carried them around ALL Christmas day. He also got a Pigeon matching game. I wanted to start getting him some games or things he can do where he has to follow rules so this was a good start. (We played today and he has a little ways to go before mastering the rule following part.) ;) He dug through his stocking and LOVED everything in it. His favorites were a 'lazer gun,' a Chicago Cubs nutcracker ornament, super hero socks, a lego shirt & a flashlight (don't tell but that may have been re-gifted from one of R's students)… He's been playing with or wearing everything on that list today and keeps saying, "Oh mom thank you for…. (fill in the blank)." He was super excited for mommy and daddy to open their stockings. (He did the shopping this year and did an awesome job.) Then we had him open [sister's] stocking for her. He picked out her goodies at the store as well and 'showed' her each one as he told her about them (socks, a swaddling blanket, a toy car, booties & a teddy bear). He was very excited when I told her she loved everything he got for her. After presents, we ate breakfast (those peppermint waffles) and got ready for grandma's where we spent most of the day. On the car ride there, he was asking to see Jesus again (this started after we told him baby Avery went to live with Jesus) and closed his eyes real tight as he prayed. That will never get old to me. We had a nice laid back day at grandma's then headed home for naps before picking up from Christmas. It was almost bedtime before he had a chance to drive his race car so we pushed bedtime back and went for a late night cruise. B drove his car up and down the street while R & I walked behind (and Dakota too). It was the perfect end of Christmas day activity. At bedtime, he laid in bed and told Daddy, "This was the best Christmas ever!!" And since waking this morning, he's been saying it ever since.

We agree buddy, we agree.


I hope you and your family had a very blessed Christmas too.


We have so much to be thankful for.




(Pictures to come once I get them off the camera but you can check out some of the fun on instgram.)

stream of consciousness

B is sleeping (in a bed he says he wants to trade in for a new one because 'this one always gets wet.' yes, we let him take a cup of water to bed). Dakota is sleeping. R is at basketball (shocking I know). My work computer is backed up with downloads and uploads so editing isn't an option (though maybe I shouldn't be stealing the internet bandwidth from those uploads right now…). And while my house is a disaster and in desperate need of a deep cleaning, I'm too exhausted to move right this minute.

Not zombie state exhausted (like I've been most of the last 25 weeks) because my thyroid has finally leveled off (hallelujah!), but still pretty flippin' tired. I started sleep training our littlest this week. Yes, I'm attempting to sleep train a fetus. You can totally laugh but I think (or maybe am wishfully hoping) that it's working. From weeks 20-24 she was up 8pm-midnight and 4am-8am (solid). Since we started 'sleep training' she's been all over the place but has at least been sleeping more than four hours at night. I'll take that for now.

My sleep training consists of trying my hardest to keep her awake during the day. I've been drinking way too much juice during this process. I've also been eating way too many Christmas goodies. Did I mention my glucose test is a very short couple weeks away? Right after Christmas. Isn't that great timing?

Speaking of Christmas, the resident three year old is BEYOND excited for it. He's slightly worried if there's no snow there will be no Christmas but we're working through that. He got a letter in the mail from Santa yesterday and read it no less than 50 times. Each time paraphrasing the letter and saying, "Dear [B], You have been very good. You are on the nice list. And your mommy is too!" One time or two he added in a, "I really like that mountain you made" cause he totally made a mountain pile out of the couch cushions and possibly thought that would get him in trouble. But if Santa approves, no foul, right? Smart thinking, kid. He's counting down the days with is Advent. There's something like 12 days left (is that even possible?).

That means it's been nearly a year since I last gave birth. I'm always reminded when I get my appointment overviews and they say multiparous pregnancy. There's always lots of reminders. Currently, it's the baby bangs growing in. They took about a year with B though I thought breastfeeding may have had something to do it with. Turns out I'm just a late bloomer (uh, bang grower?). I figure once these are in it will be time to start the process over again. Maybe a shaved style is the way to go instead?

I have no transition from talking about shaving my head….

So I made a nursery inspiration board. I had all the ideas floating around in my head for awhile but I finally put them together in a nursery casserole. There's potential there. I feel like it's taking a natural/whimsical theme if that could be a theme. This pic sums it up best I think. (Source.)

I hope to have B make some of these for his sister's room. His should turn out just like that I imagine. ;)

I plan to pull the colors from my grandma's afghan. There's a blog post written on that somewhere but I may have lost it in the inter webs.

As another nod to my grandma, I have high hopes of making a bird mobile. It may be slightly out of my crafting range but we'll see… I'm also loving 'bird' middle names. Wren was the front runner for me but R is a hard sell. I THINK we have decided on another middle name though. It's a name from one of my grandma's and one of his and a nod to another one of my grandma's. I sortofkindof mentioned it in front of his grandma and she'll totally know it was R who didn't want to use it now if we don't. No pressure though, hun. ;)

The first name is set and on a stocking, which is as good as the birth certificate in this house. B will tell you if you ask though no one has been able to decipher what it is his sweet little voice is saying. (Once you know it you will totally kick yourself that you couldn't figure out that's what he was saying.)

Speaking of things he's saying… he is cracking us up these days. Two is awesome but three isn't so bad. He's pretty much the funniest person I know (even more funny than his dad) (no offense, R). Today, R came home quick at lunch time and B said hold on… he pretended his hand was a phone and 'dialed' to make a call. He proceeded to have a conversation with the tickle monster whom he claims told him to tickle his daddy. Every since we called Santa he's been asking to call the tickle monster. I guess he found the number.

Okay, time to go check on the uploads and figure out something to feed the boys. These days we pretty much fend for ourselves. Basketball sack lunches for R, PB sandwiches (or whatever his current obsession is) for B, and whatever I can stomach. Nothing has been sounding good but usually once I start eating it's okay. It's just the figuring out what to try to eat that's rough.

Probably more salted caramel chocolates and juice in the name of sleep training. Wish me luck on that… and the glucose test. ;)

'twas twenty five nights before Christmas…

….and we started our official countdown. Which doesn't really mean much except every once in awhile I will realize the date and that there aren't very many days left till Christmas and will say, 'wow this year is going by fast!' That said… Here's our list of advent ideas from two years ago. We still pull a few from it now and then and will add to it too. Like the addition of pictures in Christmas jammies this year….

Christmas Fun (aka not losing my sanity as basketball season gets in full swing) : 

X 1. Visit Santa at Bass Pro

X 2. Pick out a new Christmas book (he actually got a new one from his cousin and a new one from his grandma already so they covered us there this year!) :)

X 3. Find Elf

4. Make paper snowflakes and snowballs (wadded up paper balls) and have a 'snowball fight')

X 5. Choose a friend from the local angel tree to shop for

6. Wrap presents 

7. Christmas movie night (with popcorn and green & red M&Ms)

8. Christmas with the OK family (make peppermint play doh)

9. Make Christmas craft (reindeer feet?)

X 10. Choose something from the 'serving friends' list to complete

11. Decorate cookies/make Christmas treats

12. Caroling (with cookies but maybe not so much singing)

13. Take a meal to someone

14. Sock snowball fight

15. Make Christmas ornaments

16. Christmas brunch with Santa

17. Craft time at Center Grove

18. Hot cocoa by the fire (straight from the 'north pole hot cocoa bar' of course)

X 19. Take Christmas pictures at the tree farm (bonus: get first real tree) 

20. Visit the library to read Christmas books

21. Take a treat to neighbors

22. Christmas at the cabins (updated to the water park)

23. Read the Christmas story

24. Christmas Eve church

25. 'camp out' under the Christmas tree (sleep in the living room)

BONUS:

X 26. Pictures in Christmas jammies

27. North Pole train ride 

Likely to get cut this year: 

Jolly Holiday Lights (B loved it last year and I think he would love it again but I'm not sure our schedules are going to work for it this year)

Things I'd love to add some year:

Festival of trees

Downtown walking 

Disney on Ice

Christmas Play at the Playhouse

Do a tree lighting

Sleigh ride at Jingle in the Junction

Living History Farms Family Christmas

What fun things do you do to celebrate the Christmas season?!?

One last word on TWOs

Only slightly overdue at 10 days past his birthday…. and I still haven't put a post together in my mind. I have no idea how to sum up two, my most favorite age, into a little blog post -and how to fully embrace three. I might get around to writing more on that later… but for now… TWO.

I've spent a lot of time working the two year old scene. It was always my favorite at the daycare and I've never met a two year old that isn't pure awesome. It's a pretty great year.

And for B, that was no exception. I can count on my fingers the number of days B experienced the 'terrible twos' and mostly, every other day of two was pretty flippin' fantastic. Seriously.

TWO brought…..

Crazy development in the language area. He's pretty much a jabber box. (We have no idea where he gets it….) ;) He carries on full conversations with complete strangers and most people can understand him pretty easily (even over the phone which has been a great thing for him).

More growth. He's over 40" tall (do you know I left his three year check and didn't even ask how tall he was when they measured him? They forgot to give me his sheet so when R asked his current stats… I had no idea) and around 37lbs (I don't actually remember that number either… bad mom).

Potty training. He pretty much started the process on his own right before he even turned two. He had a setback in there but was completely out of diapers by the beginning of this year (except for bedtime), then stopped making messes in those diapers this summer (I wasn't sure that part would ever come… ugh). Currently, he will go into a public restroom, lock the door, use the restroom, pull his pants back up, come out, and wash his hands… all without his mama's help. It wasn't a big deal when he was doing this at home in sweat pants but he started doing it in public in jeans (those are hard to get up, right?) and it about did me in. He should not be that big.

Social growth. He loves spending time with his friends and he talks about them all the time. He has favorite buddies, favorite neighbors, favorite babysitters, favorite babies at Ms Kelli's, etc. He talks about all these people and his cousins and other family all the time. He often asks to FaceTime and/or text different people. He has gotten so much better at sharing- he's totally becoming empathetic and I love seeing that trait in him. He already loves his sister fiercely and it warms my heart so much. He is a total little lover. He randomly will say, 'Hey mommy. (Pause for me to say, yes.) I love you.' It pretty much melts my heart ever time. He's started saying it to other people too and it's so fun to hear him tell people he loves them (out of the blue, without prompting). Even if I wasn't super biased, I would tell you he's the sweetest/loviest little boy I've ever met.

Cognitive. Two is obviously a sponge age and was no different for B. He soaks up seriously every thing around him. He spends more than 90% of his time with me and he still randomly tells me about things I have no idea where he learned them. Awhile back we were throwing our stuff away at the BBQ place and B saw the recycling logo. He told us that bin was just for recyclables and explained that whole thing to us. One of my favorite things is asking him to recount his days or to tell me about what he learned at Sunday School or what he did while he was with someone else (babysitter, grandma, cousins, etc). He tells the best stories and doesn't leave out many details. I would guess about 90% of his stories are pretty accurate. Sometimes… the 10% that's not? When he gets caught or wants to do something naughty and tries to get away with it. Not long ago he put his hands/arm into a gun shape and was pretending to 'shoot up' everybody in the house. His dad said we don't point guns or pretend guns at people. He said, 'Uh huh aunt Kerry said I can do it.' When we texted her for the rest of the story and told him her response he totally knew he had been caught. The look on his face when he said, 'whoops..' was priceless. He 'reads' several books from memorization right now. And can 'read' several baby board books (he reads them to his sister… awwww…). He knows all of his colors and numbers and usually all of his letters (if we don't keep working on those often, he forgets them pretty quick). He can count as high as he wants (ha)… Typically that number is 0. But if you give him an incentive to count for something he can count to the teens. (I'm also told he counts for other people when his mama isn't around. Of course.) You can tell his mama is a teacher as he gets his teacher voice out with his toys, dog, friends and even me. I'll ask him a question which he'll follow up with a question for me (cause I totally do that to him all the time).

More chores. We added to his chore list and it now includes more cleaning, putting dishes away out of the dish washer, taking Dakota out and feeding Dakota. He can do SO much around the house now, it's almost sad because he's so big to be doing all of that. He LOVES to help out and is always asking for things to do. He worked in the local clothing pantry all last week and was quite the little worker guy. He had a couple jobs down really well. He also loves to cook in the kitchen. He has his favorite smoothie recipes memorized and will gather all the ingredients up and get everything ready.


Highlights of the year….

13-14 Basketball season… this is fresh on my mind as we start a new year of it. Last year he sat through entire games and did awesome! This year (so far) hasn't proved to be as great. Hopefully he gets back into the grove of that soon.

Kansas City Christmas. Not long after his birthday last year, we met up with family in Kansas City for a super fun weekend. Not long after that, we stayed at a water park with the other side of the family and this might be where his hotel obsession began (he got to stay at several throughout the year).

Lots of weddings. Aunt Mal, Uncle Trav, Papa Kevin, Zach C. He even got to be a ring bearer for a couple of them! At Zach's wedding, he partied all night long. He would have made it to midnight but his mama tapped out about a quarter till. The following week he told us he was a 'party animal.' He has another wedding to go to next spring and he's already asking about it.

Too many visits to the hospital. B himself only had two Dr visits his entire year of two (and he requested both of them). He somehow managed to stay super healthy that year (praying for more of the same this year!). Lots of people he loves though spent too much time in the hospital and he became pretty familiar with a couple of the area hospitals. He can spot them a mile away now and if you pull into a parking ramp he assumes you're at a hospital.

Another flight to Aunt Mal's in Arizona (for the wedding). He loves flying and every time he sees a plane or sees people flying on tv he asks if he can go to Aunt Mal's.

A summer vacation. We road tripped with grandma to Chicago, Indiana Dunes, and Michigan. He became OBSESSED with hotels on this trip (we did stay in some pretty nice ones!). That was in July and there literally hasn't been a full week since that he hasn't asked to go to a hotel.

100 Parks! He became a playground legend. It was pretty much the best idea ever. (Thanks, Molly!) Story times at the library (his fave), lots of free music classes (we try to hit up every demo class that's offered in the area), and super fun play dates (he has the best friends). We didn't make it to the zoo as many times as the previous year (we won't likely buy a pass this coming year). We tried to get to the orchard as often but got a little and only made it a handful of times (still super fun though). He rode Thomas the Train. He visited a Children's Museum. He went to some baseball games (Chicago Cubs, I Cubs, and whichever spring training game it was we went to in Phoenix…). He did his first NBA game (much to his daddy's delight), a pre-season Golden State Warriors game here at Wells. Completed his first official Easter egg hunt. Competed in his first official race (the turkey trot), Rode his first tractor (with grandpa). Ate his first dutch letter while on his first Pella visit. Dressed up like Buzz a hundred times. A super hero about as many times. Finally started (kind of) posing for pictures for me. Got upset watching mommy and daddy zipline (I don't blame him!). Loved every trip he took to Ledges state park. Started memorizing and making up dances to all his favorite songs. Attended his first Slater 4th of July festivities (our little family at the fireworks was one of my most favorite memories of the year). Explored down town Des Moines. Loved visiting the sculpture park (a few times). Had his first Snookies ice cream cone (mine too). Started praying without prompt. Gained an amazing Jesus story. Discovered Jester Park. Had a blast at the Iowa State Fair. Discovered amusement park rides. Went to not enough (in his eyes) ISU football games. Rode another pony. Started sleeping in a big boy bed! Dressed up as Tic Toc Croc for Halloween. Then Max the following day (because he was tired of being mistaken for a dragon…).

Whew. I'm sure I'm forgetting a whole lot in there… but two- you sure were awesome.

B- I had such a great year with you little buddy. I LOVE watching you grow and learn and I love seeing more of your little personality shine through all of the time. You have such a tender heart and you are so sweet and loving. You're a little wild man too though. Your silly antics keep me laughing all day, every day. You kind of think you're funny too… You have the BEST giggle that turns into the best deep belly laugh. You smile with your whole self (you have since you were a tiny baby). You give the best bear hugs and you're definitely my best boy. (You always like to remind me daddy is my best boy too.) :) I love that your favorite color is green 'because mommy's favorite color is green' but I know you'll start developing your own ideas about how mommy is not all that cool all too soon. It might be a little hard on mama but I'm mostly okay with that. I love watching you become the little man you are becoming. I am so blessed I get to be your mama on this journey. You are so very loved sweet boy!

'tis the season…. for basketball

Top two signs that basketball season is in full swing (and that B is already missing daddy)…..

1. As we're walking into the high school B says, "My daddy lives here!" 

2. B managed to sneak into the huddle tonight. (At least he was nodding in agreement to everything Coach Daddy was saying and not protesting his play ideas..)

An Airplane Party Fit For An (Almost) Three Year Old

As of today, I still have a two year old (thank goodness!) but Mr. B had a big celebration today cause he's getting super excited to turn THREE soon… (tear… ). 

He chose an airplane theme- which I was super excited for since it was his original choice last year before switching to trucks and also because his room is filled with great plan decor. It made party prep super easy. Other than food, we spent $1 on paper straws and $2 on scrapbook paper. His own airplane garb made up the rest of the party scene. We asked him what he wanted for food… cake, cookies and alligator (gatorade). He couldn't decide on food so we went with pizza again cause we're super lazy resourceful. He called Uncle Doyle this week and asked for ice cream and Uncle Doyle obliged. Once again making it super easy party prep for this little guy. He picked out his cake mix (blue suede… it was supposed to taste like blueberries?) and did nearly all the work on the cake- He gathered ingredients, ran the mixer (with help) and poured batter into pans. He mixed up the frosting (with help) and taste tested it as it was going on the cake.* He helped cut clouds out of fondant and stuck everything together (full disclosure, his clouds actually ended up looking better than mine but I had already stuck mine to the front.. bummer). 

As I looked at our wonky, leaning creation, I wondered if he would ever look back at party pictures and wonder why all his friends had store bought wedding birthday cakes for their parties while he didn't. But I kinda love the memories we make working in the kitchen together too so I'm hoping he'll be cool with that instead. He will. Right? (Right?!) (For the record… no judgement from me on the fancy cakes. I think they're awesome. I'm just too cheap to pay someone to make a cake for me!) ;)

*Funny story…. I told him no more licks cause he would get a tummy ache. He stole two more licks before grinning at me and said, "As it turns out, I DIDN'T get a tummy ache." I was laughing too hard to care about the stolen frosting. I love this age!

Other party prep included B calling everyone he knows and making sure they were coming to his party. He called one grandma several times to check and even asked if we could call the tickle monster to make sure he could make it. He helped me make the birthday banner (anyone having a plane party and want it?) and helped gather plane garb. He then was the official greeter and hugger of the day and had a blast playing with everyone. ….And he also enjoyed eating cake and ice cream and opening presents too…  ;) 

Big thanks to everyone that loves on our little guy. He is super spoiled by all of you and we are thankful for each and every one of you guys! I think all the toys he got today should keep him busy for the next 16 years. :)

P.S. Be sure to check out one of my fave pics below… the cousins on the couch pic. It's a tradition so we're probably gonna have to keep the couch forever. Just kidding. Kind of.

 

Wednesdays

I'm not sure there's a perfect balance of work/life once you become a mom. There's no special formula and definitely not just one answer. I LOVE staying home with B but hate working till midnight once he goes to sleep. I am so thankful for the flexible work schedule I have and know I have it pretty good, but I'm not sure it will ever feel 'perfect.' It's kind of like a baby's (and toddler's for that matter!) schedule... as soon as you get them figured out, they've moved on to something else to switch things up on you. I have a feeling my work schedule will continue to evolve as B grows and our needs change.

That said- we have a pretty great set up right now. As he started napping less and less through the summer, it became apparent I was going to need a chunk of time other than bedtime that I could get some work done. After a lot of consideration, we decided to put B in daycare one morning a week. He goes Wednesday mornings till 1pm and it's a great time for him. He plays with other kids, follows someone else's schedule, has to obey another adult, eats lunch with his peers, and just has a great time. He gives me a play by play of what goes on and he's always excited to go back.

I wasn't sure how it would go over..... the first week I asked him if he had fun. He wouldn't answer me in front of his teacher but as we got home and I asked him again he said, 'yeah.... but I just really missed you mommy!!' He gave me a hug I thought would last forever as the tears welled up in his eyes. My mama heart was pretty sad for him. His daddy told us we were both softies and to suck it up. ;) The next week after we got home I asked him again if he had fun. This time he said, 'Oh yeah!!!!' I asked if he missed me, his response- 'NOOOPE!' Oh how quickly they grow up. :)

Overall it's been a great addition to his schedule and he's doing well there.

Things are going great here on Wednesday mornings as well. ;)

I'm able to get caught up on some editing and am hoping that this winter as work slows down I'll be able to actually stay caught up on emails and keeping our house clean. (Emphasis on the 'hoping.') I typically play a sermon from Elevation Church in the background (which I'm not able to otherwise when I'm editing because there's always someone around vying for my attention) or (if we're being real here) the previous night's episode of 'Dance Mom's.' My sessions this week were rescheduled due to the rain (darn rain) and I even had time to sneak in a non-interrupted shower (and this blog post) today.

Yes, I totally love being home with B and I am SO thankful for my work schedule that allows me to do so, but this is a nice change for our family too. B is thriving and growing and his mama is trying to grow along side him.


Please don't talk to me about kindergarten.

beach life

In case you missed my over gramming all week.... we spent the week at Lake Michigan. First in Chicago, followed by a pit stop at Indiana Dunes and ending in Michigan at the ocean (I mean lake).

If you ask B his favorite part of vacation he will tell you 'driving the firetruck' (thanks Chicago FD) and 'the racer car drive' (thanks fast taxi cab dude). R will just tell you 'Chicago' (he totally feeds off the energy of the city) and I'd tell you the beach (because, duh).

First off- how have I lived 5 1/2 hours from this place and never known about it?! It seriously feels like being at the ocean. The sand is amazing, the dunes are gorgeous and the waves are so peaceful. I'd love to spend all of my summers there. :)

Second- I have a ton of work to catch up on but I'm letting myself edit one vacation picture for every 25 work pictures.... clearly I haven't gotten very far yet. ;)

Hopefully I'll be back with a proper vacation update soon. It was a great week!

hello, des moines!

I had to head downtown for some shots for a little project and I drug my boys along. Since I was taking my camera anyway, I finally took some shots of my boys. Unfortunately, B prefers my cell phone camera. To see him really ham it up, check him out on instagram. :) 

Don't mind the shorts change on B (we thought he peed his pants in the car; as it turns out he actually just poured all his water bottle into his lap and whined about being thirsty until we made it to our next stop). (Also, somewhat unrelated but completely mortifying..... we stopped for a sandwich while on our little adventure. When I was walking in I noticed a lady sitting outside on the curb with several (not shopping) bags of 'stuff.' I said, 'are you hungry ma'am? would you like to grab a sandwich with us?' to which HE responded, 'I'm waiting for my wife.' I'm not sure what was more mortifying.... thinking he was homeless or thinking he was a she. You can officially be embarrassed to be seen in public with me now. I was (am) completely mortified over the deal and probably wont ever offer to help another stranger again. Rusty on the other hand got a great laugh out of the deal.) (In my defense... who sits outside to wait when it's 100+ degrees out?!?) Oy. 

Beck's Big Boy Room

Once upon a time there was a little boy. He decided he wasn't real crazy about his crib anymore and that boycotting naps was awesome. His mommy and daddy, deliriously tired from the no sleep, decided it'd be a great time to transition him to the big boy bed. The original plan* was to use the crib conversion kit to switch his crib into a toddler bed and to leave mostly everything else in his not so babyish nursery the same.

If you know me in real life, feel free to start laughing now.


Because you know that's not how it went down.


I took these pictures of B and knew I wanted to hang them in his room somehow. Then I had this faux brick walling sitting around that's supposed to go in the studio and craft room... it hasn't made it that far yet so I stole a smidge and we (I mean, R), hung it up in B's room. Once those two elements were in the trim totally had to go so we went with a dark grey (hopefully to last him till he moves out?) and took down all the existing artwork. (It worked out great cause I used it all in other areas of our house. Hello cute mantel.) We hung up a huge wall map (though I really want a 'physical style' one instead... anyone have one laying around?!). And he got his globe back in his room. It was then we realized we kind of had a travel(ish) meets history classroom theme going on. We ditched the idea of hanging the flag above his bed. R spent an entire day building a pallet bed before I realized there was not enough sanding on the world that would make a pallet bed smooth enough for a toddler and I made an impulse purchase of a twin on amazon. (I don't feel too bad about it, it's the first piece of furniture we've bought for B and only the 4th piece of furniture we've purchased ourselves. Ever.) The bed made me realize how much floor space his dresser takes up. We would love to reuse the dresser in a nursery again someday so we went ahead and purchased a new chest of drawers instead (5th piece of furniture now) and that freed up some floor space. Without the navy of the dresser, we needed to tie in the navy in the pouf so we spray painted the bench daddy made and the 'book shelves' (ikea spice racks) on the walls. I still wasn't satisfied so we swapped out the old ikea curtains for new ikea curtains and called it good. Until I realized the space above his bed was still a blank canvas. I'm super weird about hanging anything heavy or glass above the bed (because what if there's an earthquake?!) (just kidding), so we stuck vintage postcards of all the places he's visited there instead. Full disclosure: he only visited Jamaica in utero and Detroit and Denver were both just airport stops. But he's two and needed a little help filling up wall space so we are totally counting them. (We're also hoping to add a few new postcards to the wall later this summer!) With that, B picked out some finishing accessories. He added in some favorite toys (the van was his first 'souvenir' purchase picked out by himself- he bought it at the Denver airport). He even picked out the Pepsi crate for his nightstand (oh yeah- another impulse furniture buy... that's 6). The lamp was a 1st birthday gift from his Uncle Doyle (I think the box said 'as seen on tv'), the quilt made my some of his great grandparents before he was born, and all the other details are just random finds from around the house. Including my big white comforter he likes to drag in to his room for nap time that I was trying to shoot around to get these shots. :)

I'm contemplating putting another one of his 'book shelves' near the pouf to make a mini reading nook? And adding a rug like this to the space. And switching out the maps. And hanging the airplane from the mobile hook. And of course adding more postcards. But otherwise, we're doneso. Finally. Also, I realize it seems like we did a ton more than just switch out the bed but at least we didn't paint. You're welcome, hunny. ;)