Our Crazy September!

This morning I thought I heard something in the living room.  It was only 6:45 AM... weird... so I got up and looked out in the dark hallway and saw Trey sitting on the floor with his new puzzle.  Big smile, "Hi Mama!  I woke up, opened my door and I don't see anyone."  Of course, he woke Ethan up, whose pack 'n play is in the living room (yes, he still wakes at night so they can't share a room yet).  Sigh!  We need to figure out a way to keep him in his room until I'm ready for him;-)  Unfortunately I also discovered he knows how to take down the baby gate... also knows how to remove child proof locks (I guess they should use Trey to help them create better ones;-)).  Thankfully my friend Sarah at church told me about those little door hooks you can put high up where they can't reach.... yay!  I will be buying some of those this week;-)  Sorry Trey... no more early morning wandering for you.

It's been a crazy couple of weeks!  Most of you know we had a flooding incident two weeks ago or so.  About 4:30am on a Saturday morning (the first in a long time where we had nothing planned of course;-)) our poor neighbor from downstairs came pounding on our door and said water was pouring through her ceiling everywhere.  We ran to the bathroom and sure enough there was water on the floor coming through the fan in the ceiling.  Not bad... but obviously something was going on in the third floor condo above us.  Apparently a pipe broke and they turned off the water but the damage had been done.  The worst was on the first floor:-(  Anyways, long story short, we spent a couple of days with massive fans and de-humifiers in our hallway that we so loud and made our house hot.  They took out part of our bathroom wall and ceiling.  Also the boys room carpet was wet so they tore it up and dried out that room.  That meant the boys could not use their room so for a few days it was pretty crazy!  Fans are gone now but we're waiting on the repair work... who knows when that will be!  But I'm just thankful it wasn't worse.  I feel so bad for our neighbors downstairs.  Can't wait to move!  This has happened so much in our bldg the past few years.

In other news, Ethan is starting walk!  He took two steps this morning on his own.  He is coasting very quickly and also actually doing a real crawl and not just the army crawl thing.  We are so happy... only now we have another issue.  He loves his big brother and wants to be involved in whatever Trey is doing... which Trey does not appreciate.  It's been interesting!  In terms of talking, Ethan is still much less vocal than Trey was, but we think he says "hi" and "what's  that".  Also he says Mama, Dada, and Trey.  He probably says a bunch of other things but we just don't understand him yet.  He's slimmed down alot and lost so much of his pudgy baby looks.  And gotten alot taller too!  Favorites of Ethan: Baby Einstein videos, music of any kind, books, Goldfish, juice, cheese, stuffed animals, pulling contents out of bags or boxes and putting them back in again, and my pot lid drawer under the oven.  One cute thing that he does is he likes to scrunch of his nose and snort... to make us laugh.  He also does this eye thing when we tell him to look at us... I can't describe it but its freaky!  He knows it too.

Trey is of course learning how to open doors and figure out all those so-called child-proof stuff.  He also figured out how to un-do his carseat.  Sigh!  He's not even 3 yet... they really need to work on making this more difficult for them.  Lately Trey has been obsessed with wearing his clip-on ties.  He has three and sometimes he will wear them all at the same time.  He especially wants to wear them when we go shopping.  It's cute!  Duckie 1 and 2 are still required for sleep, although we can know go places and either have no Duckie or just Duckie 1.  Trey loves puzzles (the more difficult ones), cars, soccer, football, baseball, riding bikes or his firetruck thing.  He loves the playground, especially slides.  He loves to run... and run... and run!  We has gotten pretty shy around strangers and won't let me out of his sight when we go to places with lots of other people that he doesn't know.  He loves to draw and paint.  Loves playdough, dinosaurs, animals of any kind really.  Favorite TV/movie: Lion King (still), Dora (still), The Land Before Time series (still:-), new one is A Turtle's Tale.  He cracks us up all the time with things he says.  And now as I'm sitting here, I can't think of even one of those things!  I post them to Facebook usually:-)

Pj has been, of course, super busy at school.  Thankfully there aren't as many evening events now that we're a few weeks into it.  He's still playing soccer once a week with a group of friends in Germantown and has also gotten back into running.  He's been able to do alot of fun stuff with us and also just alone with Trey lately.... like going to the park to play soccer or taking Trey to the zoo one morning.  We love this cooler weather!

I just started a women's small group at my church that has been fun and a great break for me from the world of kiddos.  I really love it!  And during nap-time (on those few days where I actually get them to sleep at the same time) I've been enjoying organizing and fall-cleaning the house.  Well, not actually enjoying it... but enjoying the end-result.  Its amazing how much stuff we accumulate over the years that we don't really need.  Other than that, no much else going on over here.

That's it for us right now!  We're about to celebrate our 6th anniversary in two weeks... crazy!  And Trey turns 3 in about a month.  Where does the time go:-)

Ethan is One!

I've been meaning to post on here for a while, but the boys have been keeping me busy!  But Pj has Trey this morning (taking him to the zoo for special daddy/son time), and I've just got Ethan (who is currently in a trance while watching "Veggie Tales";-)), so yay for blogging time!

I can't believe Ethan will be one tomorrow.  This day last year I was admitted into the hospital to be induced.  It was such a crazy day.  I went to the drs for that pesty sinus infection and thank God I did because they found out my blood pressure was high.  And so they sent me to the ob/gyn who did a sonogram and found out the amniotic fluid was very low.  And so off to the hospital we went!  Looking back now, all the dizziness and feeling nauseous makes sense.  I kept thinking it was just the sinus thing.  Anyways, I don't want to talk about that... I want to talk about Ethan!

Ethan is doing great... he's really taking off now (literally!).  In fact right at this moment he is pulled himself up to standing and is holding onto my foot while I sit here.  He is cruising all over the place.  He never crawled like a normal baby much... just pulls himself around army style.  But he gets where he wants to get fast!  Strong arms I guess;-)  He can stand on his own without holding anything for atleast a minute now and does that often... he gets a kick out of being able to do that (and the cheering he gets too I think).  He's still a pretty quiet baby, but loves to laugh and wrestle with his brother.  Sometimes they have laughing contests in the car... its funny to hear Ethan copy Trey's every sound.  Ethan's favorite two things to do are to read books and to snuggle stuffed animals.  He LOVES stuffed animals... he will instantly hug them and lay his head down on them.  He loves to study their faces.  Speaking of which, if you ask him where your nose is he will point to it.  He loves to point:-) 

Trey is not so sure about sharing his toys.  At first he thought it was cool Ethan could move over to where he was but now you'll often see Trey making a wall around his toys when Ethan is on the move.  I'm sure there are some fun days of fights ahead;-)

Ethan has gotten really tall and lean now, although he still his pudgy cheeks and arms:-)  I need to measure him... he looks so tall.

There is so much I could say about my littlest boy, but now as I sit down to write about him its really hard to figure out what to write.  I am so happy we have videos because I know a year from now (just like with Trey) I will quickly forget what he was like as a little baby.  The years go by too fast!  I can hardly believe Trey will be 3 so soon.

Tomorrow we will be having a The Very Hungry Caterpillar themed birthday party for him!  Pictures to come:-)  I will write about Trey and the rest of us next time... this is for Ethan.  Happy 1st Birthday my sweet little monkey:-)

Ethan On The Move!

Ethan has been doing a great job learning how to scootch forwards this week.  He's SOOO close to crawling... I feel like any day now he'll figure it out.  I can't imagine its easy carrying all that weight around... but he'll figure it out soon.  In the meantime, to help with his frustration, we got him a walker and it was so adorable when I first put him in it today and he realized he could move around the room on his own... freedom!  He was laughing so hard... I am posting a cute video of it on Facebook if you want to see.  I sure hope he won't need it for long, but for the time during the day when I need to get stuff done I hope it helps out!

By the way, I checked and he has three teeth out on the top now (the front two and one on the side).  Still working on the other three!

The Boys Are Growing Up So Fast!

Ever since we returned last week from our vacation, I've tried to blog but never have had a moment.  It's been crazy this month!  But we had a wonderful time at the beach for two weeks.  Pj's parents have a rental beach home in Corolla, NC which is in the Outer Banks and so we went down with them and also Pj's brother, sister, sister-in-law and nephew.  We pretty much just lived by the pool or beach the entire time, read a couple of books, played mini-golf, frequent visits to Dunkin Donuts (within walking distance... yay!) and Pj and I even got to go out one night for a date and re-visited our favorite restaurant for some yummy bbq.  The boys had so much fun in the water!  Unlike last year, Trey did have some moments of fear with both the pool and the ocean, but it wasn't long before he was jumping in the water hands free.  This year we got him to wear the arm floaties and go in the pool on his own.  He kicked around on his own... I'm so proud of him.  Ethan was hilarious!  We put him in his yellow float in the pool and he just laid back and looked like he would fall asleep... didn't move an inch.  All he needed was a drink in one hand!  When we were hanging out by the water, we were eating icecream and brownies and playing cards with the family.  Great memories!  Pictures to follow:-)

And, since our family never does things the easy way, Trey decided he wanted to start using the potty two days before we were to leave.  So I packed his potty and big-boy training underwear and held my breath:-)  He's done an amazing job!  Most days he stays dry the whole day.  He even remembers to go to the potty most times without us asking him.  With this, he has also learned to undress and dress himself... which has been really helpful to me (except for when we're in a rush;-)).  I still pick out his outfits though... he doesn't have the matching thing down yet;-)

While we were on vacation, I decided I couldn't stand Trey's crazy hair any longer and had his Uncle Mike buzz the back a bit.  It looks so much better and while he looks older, part of me wants to let him buzz the rest off;-)  But maybe next year!

Ethan is really changing alot right now.  He's mostly eating table-food now... although he has to figure out that he needs to swallow before taking the next bite.  He has a bottomless pit for a stomach I think!  He's still a Gerber baby which all his chub rolls, but he's starting to really stretch out.  The doctor told us the other day he was 22 lbs and when I measured him last week he was over 29 inches long.  He's got alot of teeth on their way in.  All these months he's only had the bottom two and now 6 (top front four and two on either side of the bottom front) are coming in.  I am pretty sure all top four have popped through now (which may account for two nights of better sleep we've had).  At times like this I wish babies were born with all their teeth... although that would look really scary!

Ethan is starting to figure out how to move on his own.  He's a very laid-back kid generally, but now he is starting to get frustrated about not being mobile and is trying hard.  Over vacation he pulled himself up to standing on his own a few times.  Now he does that pretty easily.  He can coast a bit holding on to furniture, but mostly just likes to stay in one place and bounce.  The other night he finally figured out how to inch forwards a little bit on his belly rather than backwards.  I'm proud of my little man!

Pj is enjoying a calmer time at work now that school is out.  It's been nice having him come earlier in the evenings.  I am glad we have a few more weeks left before school is back in session.  He joined our church's recreational soccer team and they are playing in Germantown on Mondays nights against other local teams (just for fun kind of thing).  He's been enjoying that!  Part of me wants to play with them but I think they would like to win games rather than lose.  I'm more of a tennis girl anyways;-)

There isn't much to report for me... I've been keeping busy with the boys and with my business (have had pretty steady work coming in with breaks here and there which has been nice).  The past few days I've been spending alot of my spare time researching travel deals to Italy.  Pj mentioned that next year we should try if we can to go away for a week just the two of us for a real vacation (the kind without kids were we can actually relax;-)).  The last time we had more than 48 hrs kid-free time on our own was BEFORE Trey was born.  We would really like to make it to Italy or somewhere else in Europe, but if we end up staying in the US that is fine too.  But we are looking to see if we can find one of those packages with a tour guide where we can see Rome and a few other spots.  We'll see!  If you have experience in this or have been there... email or call me;-)

That's if for now!  The kids just woke up from nap.  Here are some pics from vacation to share!

Ethan is 9 Months Old!

What a whirlwind few weeks it has been!  I feel like I live at the doctors offices... and yes I meant to say offices and not office!  At the beginning of the month it was for hand-foot-mouth virus that the boys had.  Then is was for a rash that Ethan had.  Then it was for Trey who we thought had broken his leg but thankfully hadn't (apparently growth marks in the bone look alot like fractures on x-rays).  Lastly Ethan's 9-month checkup and today Trey's 2-second checkup to make sure his bone wasn't broken for sure (yeah I know... waste of time but we had no choice).  I will be happy if we can stay away from drs offices for a month... just a month please!:-)  On the other hand... we are VERY thankful for medical insurance right about now;-)

And yes, Ethan is 9-months old!  I can't believe it... where has the time gone?  He did great at his appointment... passed the waiting time by ripping paper to shreds (which is his favorite activity).  Let's review a bit what's happened with Ethan this past month.  The biggest announcement is that he is self-feeding now and saying a few words!!  He's been saying Dada and Mama for a while now.  But the other day he pointed to a bip covered with pictures of dogs the other day and said it pretty clearly!  Then a few days later he say, "Tay" when he saw Trey.  We think he says hi too... but its hard to tell.  Most of the time he just likes to grunt (typical male), but so far he is saying more words than Trey did at that age (remember Trey's first word was clock at this age).  He loves to feed himself now!  His favorite are cheerios and yogurt melts.  If we aren't careful, he will grab food of our plates.  He will eat ANYTHING on the floor... so now more stickers Trey I'm sorry.  I have to vacuum alot!  The only downside is that he is refusing to be spoon fed and since he still is learning to chew well its been an interesting week!  He still isn't moving much yet... just scooting backwards, in big circles, and will roll from back to tummy to get closer to something.  He mostly just like to sit... or if you hold him he wants to jump up and down constantly or try to walk.  We've learned just how different siblings can be.  Ethan loves to just sit and take everything in.  He doesn't miss much.  But, unlike his big brother, he is content to watch.  He loves books and to be read to.  He loves toys with lights, sounds, textures and buttons.  He loves stuffed animals... will hug them and rub them on his face.  He loves people most of all!  He has the biggest happiest smile when he has someone's attention.  He waves hi and claps his hands.  He loves to be sung too!  He is a great kid:-)  The only downside right now is that he's not crawling or walking yet... so he can sometime get really frustrated.  Also he cries ALOT if he sees me but I'm sitting with him or holding him... so when I am working around the house and passing by him alot he will scream like he is dying.  But I just try to ignore it and tell he's fine.  Hopefully this phase will pass by soon!

Almost forgot... Ethan is now 21 lbs and 28 1/4" long:-)

And thinking about Ethan's age just made me think about how Trey will be 3 in just 5 months.  That's crazy!  My little ball of energy... I don't think he stops talking or running unless he's asleep!  We just got home from a long day out (his foot dr checkup) and he was so excited his Aunt Rachel was in the car that he was talking the whole way, asking her questions and telling her things he knows that he is proud of.  I love him... but I am so thankful for naptime.  Sometimes your ears need a break!:-)  But I am really enjoying him.  We've been really strict about discipine lately and the results are showing... he's definitely listening better and not having as many trantrums (thank you Ted Tripp "Shepherding a Child's Heart").  He loves playing imaginary games.  He will get on his firetruck car to "got to the grocery store" to buy me lunch or go to the library all the time.  He "feeds" his dinosaurs and gives them baths.  He loves play cars and lines then up and they take turns rolling across the floor.  He loves playing with Ethan now too... although all Ethan does is just sit there and laugh the whole time at Trey.  Its fun to watch!

I always think of all the things I want to blog about but when I get on here I forget everything... so sorry!  But life has been good apart from drs visits.  Pj is coming home earlier now that school is out (yay!).  We spend alot of time taking walks and going to the playground.  In a few weeks we're headed to OBX for our two week beach vacation with Pj's family as usual (can't wait!).  Trey never got to play on the beach a few weeks ago when we went because he was sick, so I know he'll enjoy this trip.  Pj and I made a deal that when the kids are napping he will stay at the house with them since he doesn't like the actual beach and I will go and enjoy mommy time reading and laying out in the sun by the waves.... I can't wait!!!  We are hoping to maybe rent beach bikes and take the kids on a ride on those trailer things (yes, I know they aren't trailers... I don't know what to call them) in the back.  Should be a fun trip!  I'm just happy that I'm not pregnant this time... because the heat and humidity is NOT fun when you are pregnant!

That's about it!  Here are some new pics:-)

May Flew By Fast!

Each day is crazy in its own way, but on the whole May was not a really busy month for us... which was nice.  With the weather warming up, we've spent alot of mornings at the playground, walking up to Jimmie Cone for ice cream, or on the porch blowing bubbles and playing with Trey's water toy (for lack of a better word).  It's been fun! 

And over Memorial holiday weekend we spent a couple of days with Pj's parents at their beach home.  Pj had been working crazy hours (that's what happens at the beginning and end of the school year I suppose) so it was nice to see him for a bit;-)  It ended up being a little crazy because the morning after we had arrived Trey came down with a virus.  We had gotten the boys all ready for the beach which is a HUGE task with kids now and once we stepped foot on the beach, Trey threw up everywhere.  Poor little guy!  He had been so excited to go to the beach and see crabs (he has been reading a library book about crabs).  Next month I suppose!  But he got better fast and we had a fun rest of the weekend swimming in the pool, taking walks to get doughnuts in the morning, and enjoying being away from home.  And Pj gave me the best mother's day gift every... he watched the boys for 3 hrs so I could go to the beach myself.  It was awesome!  If I weren't still nursing... I would have stayed even longer:-)  And then the night we were leaving, Pj's parents watched the boys while we went out for dinner... we found the BEST bbq/seafood place ever.  I'm still dreaming about that beef brisket!!

So it was a fun trip!  Can't wait to go back in July for our two week vacation there:-)

I'll update more some other time... but here are some pics from this past month!

Happy 8 Months, Ethan!

Ethan turned 8 months old today!  Here is a picture to celebrate:-)

Potty Time!

The past two days I cannot even begin to count the time I've said, "Do you have to go use the potty, Trey?" Yes, it's that time... the potty training has begun.  I've already wanted to give up so many times.  This process is harder on the parent than it is on the child I think.  Trey is fairly good about running to the potty when he has to go.  We're still working on taking his underwear off though.... however as long as everything gets in the potty that's okay I guess.  Baby steps!  The hardest part for me is the chaos and ickiness of it all!  I like clean floors and furniture... who doesn't.  I'm thankful for Clorox wipes... that's all I have to say!  I had read a mom's blog the day before starting and she was going over the steps of potty were much older... who knows.  She also suggested getting rid of all the other kids for a day or two so you could fully focus on the one.  Wish I could do that but that's not going to work out yet!  Ethan is definitely making the process much more difficult... he's going through an awful horrible clingy separation anxiety stage.  When I say separation anxiety...I mean I take ONE step in the opposite direction who cries... or if someone is holding him and he sees me he cries.  I love being loved... but come on buddy! 

If anyone has tips... pass them to me!

New Niece, Scootching, & Babbling

It has been a big week!

First of all, my sister Sarah and her husband Jeff had their first baby, my first niece, yesterday.  Her name is Elizabeth Anne and she is beautiful.  I can't wait to hold her!

Secondly, Ethan has really started to move... he is not fully crawling yet, just on his belly, and so far its only circles or backwards.  However, it is still movement and we are proud of him!

Lastly, Ethan is babbling.  If you are on Facebook, I posted a video of him doing this and it is the cutest thing!  I wish I could post videos on here but they never seem to upload.

That's it for now!

Snapshot of April!

I feel like my boys are growing up way to fast this month!  I just looked at Trey this morning and noticed how tall and skinny he looks.  And Ethan is losing his baby chub and feels so much thinner and is also much longer!  I guess you can't keep them babies forever...

Trey is 2 1/2 in a few days.  He keeps me on my toes constantly with endless movement and endless chatter.  He asks questions about everything.  He also likes to give me a play-by-play.  His favorite thing to do in the car is tell me everything he sees!  Favorite things to do: being lazy in his bed in the morning after he wakes up, putting together his train tracks and then creating obstacles so that the train will crash (I don't like that game to much!), making cards for people, playing with his cars (he lines them  up on the window sill), playing pretend games with all his stuffed animals, watching "Dora the Explorer" or "Land Before Time".  Ducky I and Ducky II still always have to be within sight... although we convinced him that when we go somewhere he can only take one of them.  He is starting to play with his brother more which is really cute.  His absolute favorite thing to do is to play outside with the soccer ball or on the playground.  Thankfully he is old enough now to run around on the playground without needing me constantly by his side... so I can just sit with Ethan and watch!

Ethan will be 8 months old in a few days!  He is over 20 lbs and over 27 inches long.  He can sit up for a while and also is scooting a little bit on his tummy.  But for the most part he would rather just be held or lay on his back.  He is happiest when he has someone's attention.  And oh boy oh boy is he a mama's boy!  I can't even leave the room without him screaming within 3 seconds.  Even when someone he loves alot is holding him but he sees me he starts crying.  It's nice to be loved... but I will mostly be happy when this separation anxiety stage or whatever it is is over.  But he is the sweetest thing!  He has a few other new skills now too.  He will wave when you tell him too and also clap his hand.  So cute!  I think he's in the middle of a big growth spurt because this past week he's been grouchy, sleeping ALOT, and eating ALOT.  So I've increased the solid food.  He loves yogurt, anything fruit and sweet potatoes or squash.  He doesn't like carrots, or anything green (aka. peas or green beans;-)).

That's all I have energy for today... a little update on the boys.  More later hopefully!  Here are some photos: