Back in the Saddle Again???

It's ME (and Little Friend ;) )!!! I've been thinking for several months now that I NEED to get back to blogging.  I don't know that anyone has actually missed my blog. I never had very many readers. But I haven't kept a journal in years-- I've tried to keep notebooks with lists or random thoughts or cute stories of the kids but I'm not consistent at all, and my house is such a mess that I have something like 3 of them hidden around the house and can't find them when I want them.  I'm also finding that as I age my once borderline-amazing memory is becoming borderline-craptastic.  And I have these adorable, hilarious kids whose lives just beg to be documented! ;)

I mean, look at that face. Really.

Look at that little charmer.  I can't believe he's been two for over four months now.  How did that happen so fast? He has become SUCH an independent little fellow, and is developing the most wonderful vocabulary.  Several times a day I just have to chuckle at the things he says.

We had such a long winter up here in the Great White Northern Tundra that Little Friend had a hard time getting used to the idea that he no longer needs to wear a winter hat.  These pictures were taken in the beginning of MAY! It's now JUNE and he still asked me this week where his Snoopy hat is.  In all fairness, it was probably only about 60 degrees when he asked, and it does get extremely windy here.  But still...

Whenever we go to the park, it always strikes me how independent he is, and how different he and Kiddo are at this age.  Little Friend rarely asks for help and is completely undaunted by lots of steps or tall slides. 

He LOVES to be outside, and I think he would take off without me and leave the house on a regular basis if it weren't for the fact that he is very fussy about his feet.  The good news about that is that he won't ever go outside without shoes. So as long as I remember not to let him wear his shoes around the house, I think I can keep him inside until I'm ready to go out too.  I don't know what I'll do once he can get his shoes on by himself...

We have been really glad that we live close to TWO parks here.  This one is really quite nice.  The other one... well... not so much.  The equipment is great, the location is good, but the kids who play there do not pick up after themselves.  Additionally, somehow the big, heavy trash can was removed by some pranksters and I hear it "blew away." The city still hasn't replaced it.  So it's a mess these days.  I had plans to take some gloves and my own trash bag and clean it up myself on Isaac's birthday, but we got busy and I haven't done it.  I'm curious how long it would stay clean.  But I digress.  That's a whole other post in itself.

  

And I can't forget THIS handsome guy.  Doesn't he look so grown up? I can't believe he's almost SEVEN.  He is getting so tall and lanky, and acts like a teenager half the time.  He absolutely loved the long, long winter and was reluctant to give it up for the Spring.  According to him, he "hates" Spring, and only likes Summer and Winter.  However, I don't hear him complain at all when it's time to go to the park, or to play outside.  And he sure didn't mind when he didn't have to drag a bag of snow clothes with him every day to school anymore.  

He finally lost his third tooth.  Oddly, it was another bottom tooth.  His top teeth don't even seem wiggly.  When he lost the first two, the adult teeth were already growing in behind the baby teeth, so this is the first time he's experienced the sensation of having a "window" or gap where that tooth once was.

 This Spring, Kiddo has been ALL about sports.  We don't get any channels, which I mostly really like, but he'd been begging to watch some sports.  After attending a women's college basketball game, he decided that basketball is super-exciting and was always asking to watch replays on ESPN-3 online.  Imagine his shock, when halfway through the NCAA tournament, he discovered that we'd NEVER told him about this most wonderful event.  He watched as much as we'd let him of the last 2 weeks and I am amazed at how many players and teams he learned about.  Knowing how intense he is with his interests, I guess it shouldn't surprise me.  Yet somehow it always does!  Next year I imagine it will TRULY be March Madness in our home as Kiddo has plans to watch every.single.game.  And guess which old & forgetful lady who will have to learn & actually remember enough to converse with him about all of these games?

Kiddo also had his first experience with team sports in May.  We signed him up for Spring Soccer, which was to have started in the beginning of April.  Because of all the snow refusing to melt, it didn't start until the first of May! It was kind of a rough experience for Kiddo, as he isn't used to having to work hard to learn something new.  But I think overall it was valuable for him, and due to the shortened season, the Parks department is letting all the kids who signed up for Spring do Fall Soccer for free.  He & Daddy have been playing outside more now that it's warmed up, and hopefully in the fall he'll be more prepared.  But again, that's a whole other post that's just waiting to be written.  At his request, I took A LOT of pictures.  I'm supposed to make a highlights video for him, you know... He really is TOO MUCH.

Along with playing soccer, Kiddo has decided to learn about the British/English Premiere League, which is pretty much his father's favorite thing EVER.  It is fun and listen to them talk about teams and players together.  I told Daddy-O that this must be the moment he's been waiting for his whole life... to finally have a son old enough to appreciate his favorite hobby-- the son who was born right in the middle of the World Cup, no less.  I think it will be so fun to see them watching together when the season starts up again in August.

 

My Little Monster

Little Friend has quite the personality.  He is always making us laugh. Here's just one of the many reasons why!

Celebrity Lookalikes: Little Friend Edition

 

When Little Friend woke up from his nap this afternoon, I couldn't help but laugh.  One of my nicknames for him from the time he was a teeny baby is Chief Crazy Hair.  Today his crazy hair put me in mind of a certain "celebrity."  Just add glasses, a suit, and a mustache,  and you'd have Baby Don King! ;)

Sunday Best

I made Little Friend wear a clip-on tie to Church on Mother's Day.  He wasn't very thrilled about it, and tried repeatedly to pull it off.  But he looked SO darling I just wouldn't let him.  Mean Mommy.

I am a Nursery worker, so even though Little Friend isn't technically old enough to be in Nursery until the end of July, he usually spends at least half of the time in there with us.  He really enjoys himself, particularly when the treats come out.  But seeing him sit in a big-boy chair, wearing big-boy clothes, makes me realize just how fast he's growing up.  Sometimes I just stare at that perfect little face and want to freeze time.
 

Isn't he just THE CUTEST little person?  It's hard to believe sometimes that he's really MINE. Love, love, love that boy.

Mr. Independent

One thing we are definitely noticing about our Little Friend as he grows up (he's 15 months now) is that he watches just about EVERYTHING so that he can turn around and attempt to do it himself.  In nothing is this more noticeable than in finding himself some food.  Before he was a year old, he figured out which cupboard held the formula and baby food, and starting pulling them out (it's a bottom cupboard, right at his level) and handing them to me when he was hungry.
But lately, he seems to think he doesn't even need to "ask" me to serve him.  One Sunday before Church, he toddled out to the kitchen, pulled the Cheerios off the table, brought them into the Family room and dumped them right out on the floor and started eating!

For our anniversary, we ordered from the "Chinese take-away" (had to say it that way to sound like Hyacinth Bucket! ;) ).  Our Kiddo won't even TOUCH our Chinese food because it has BROCCOLI ("EWWW!"), but Little Friend proved to be quite his opposite.  Not only did he love the bites I gave him the night we brought it home, he went crazy when I was eating the leftovers the next day until I shared.  And he was not happy when I told him it was all done.

Later in the day, we were playing in the living room when Little Friend suddenly and quietly disappeared. A moment later, he reappeared with the empty boxes from our Chinese food. He had opened the lid of the garbage can, fished them out, and brought them back out-- his face and t-shirt covered with tell-tale sauce!

"Was that wrong?  I don't understand..."
And yes, we do feed him regularly!  He is a deliciously plumpy 27+ pounds.  I guess the little guy just likes to do things for himself, silly baby! :)

Kiddo & Little Friend at the Park- January 2012

I think maybe Little Friend likes to swing... just a little bit.  What do you think? ;)

A Very Different Halloween

So... most kids in the US are about to hyperventilate with excitement on Halloween, right? They can't wait to go trick-or-treating, isn't it so? Well, apparently my Kiddo forgot he was an American child this year, because just guess what he did as soon as he got home from school?

Are you ready for this?

He crawled on to the couch and TOOK A NAP!!!

Are you shocked? I sure was. Now granted, he had been sick the week before and was diagnosed with asthma, so I guess it's not TOO surprising. And I thought it was probably a good idea, since trick-or-treating was from 5 to 7. I figured we'd go downtown, make the rounds at the local businesses, come home, have dinner, try to attempt FHE, read stories, do the bedtime routine. He probably wouldn't get too bed too early, so he could probably use the rest. All right. Sounds good so far. So he slept until about 5:00. After he woke up, I encourage him to go use the bathroom and then we'd put on his costume and we'd be on our way. But, NO. Guess what Kiddo wanted to do? Just GUESS!

Give up yet? He wanted to have Family Home Evening, and he INSISTED-- yes, he really did-- that we MUST do it BEFORE we went trick-or-treating. For reals.

So we sang a hymn said a prayer, and he still wanted to keep going. For the lesson, Kiddo wanted to read all THIRTY-SIX of his Bible Heroes cards in their entirety. No skipping. You can imagine that by the time we finished, it was nearly six o'clock. And neither boy were dressed in their costumes.

Little Friend happily spun the wheels on the fire engine.

Finally, we were dressed and ready to go. Never mind that it takes 15 minutes to walk downtown... Guess who *almost* missed trick- or-treating altogether?

Little Friend didn't know what to think. He was a cute little zebra, though.

Surprisingly, Kiddo still managed to get a respectable amount of candy, particularly when you figure he eats 2 or 3 pieces a day for about 3 or 4 days before he loses interests. However, in this Mommy's humble opinion, there was a shocking lack of chocolate treats. :(

Here are my cuties. Notice the sky getting darker...

Even though the festivities were supposed to last until 7, most of the store owners were packing up and going inside by 6:45. I was pretty dismayed on Kiddo's behalf.

Obviously, Little Friend wasn't worried. He was asleep for much of the excitement.

Little Friend did approve of the loot, though. ;)

He didn't get any candy, of course-- but not because he didn't try his hardest.

Trying to steal candy is pretty hard work, eh?

All in all, it was a pretty good night, but completely unexpected in many ways. I think my little Kiddo taught us all a little bit about choosing that better part. These are those moments I need to hold on to and remember when I'm ready to hand him to the gypsies.

Although, who'd give these cuties to the gypsies? ;)

Remember me?

Um, yeah, so I used to have this little thing called a blog. And then... well, I don't know exactly what happened. I've had a zillion posts in my head over the past several months, but just have NOT overcome inertia and even attempted them. Part of it is that it's just easier to post photos and little tidbits on Facebook-- especially when I consider how many more people will read/see them there. Part of it, I'm sure, is my old perfectionism rearing its ugly head. I really don't like to write anything unless I know I have ample time to review/edit/tweak what I've written. Recently my depression has worsened, and with that, feelings of inadequacy always come to the forefront. And then there's that feeling like, how in the world will I ever get caught up on blogging/where do I start/does anyone still even care?

I'm curious if blog readers prefer when blog writers just pick up where they are now, or go back and fill in the missing months? If I'm reading the blog of someone I know well, I always prefer to see what I've missed. But I know I am atypical in so many other ways, that I can't assume anyone else feels the same way.

Anyway, in brief, since I last blogged:

• Kiddo turned five. He wanted a birthday party with a dinosaur theme, and I actually pulled it off.
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• We did a few fun things this summer-- went to the Children's museum a few times, the zoo on Kiddo's birthday, had cousin O visit, visited other cousins, saw the amazingly talented BYU Vocal Point in Nauvoo (now Kiddo wants to join when he grows up), went to a minor league baseball game, participated in two summer reading programs.
• In July, we went to a grief services event to honor children who died at the same hospital as Isaac. This is our second year attending, and it is a bittersweet blessing for grieving families.
• Much to my initial dismay, Kiddo started Kindergarten. The only option here is all-day, which freaked me out. I have gotten used to it though, and for the most part Kiddo has LOVED school. Only just this week has he said he wants to stay home with me.
• Little Friend has grown chunkier, sweeter, and unbelievably cuter. After I posted about his lovey-dovey-ness, he stopped smooching us for a while. But he is back to his kissy, huggy ways, which I LOVE. Now that he is ten months, he is into everything-- and tries to eat ANYTHING small he sees on the floor. Sigh
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• I've dressed the boys in all sorts of matchy-matchy clothes. My great delight is that Kiddo LOVES being matchy-matchy with his brother-- although probably not quite as much as I love it. I'm not sure it would be possible for him to love it as much as I do.
• Little Friend had his first Halloween. That night is actually worthy of its own post altogether, thanks to my very interesting Kiddo.
• Kiddo has gotten hugged, kissed (thankfully NOT on the mouth), and been asked to be best friends by girls in his class. He is quite the hit with the Kindergarten girls. I'm not totally sure how I feel about that yet! I'm glad it all seems innocent so far; he has been instructed to tell them all he is TOO YOUNG for girlfriends!
  
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• Kiddo has been diagnosed with asthma, Samuel had his first ear infection, and Daddy-O had a painful leg infection. :( Miraculously, I stayed healthy!
• As for me, well, I guess I haven't been that interesting these days. I've read some good books, of course, and discovered the joys of Spotify, Hulu and The Sing-Off. I may be addicted to playing Words with Friends on Facebook. Sigh. Last week, I donated 13 inches of hair to Pantene's Beautiful Lengths. I still have plenty of hair, but boy, do I feel bald!
  

Anyway, that's just a wee glimpse into what we've done. The previously mentioned topics are all things I've wanted to blog about in depth, and may yet. I was hoping to at least post a lot of photos to go with this, but I'm having problems with Blogger. It doesn't seem to want to post most of my pictures. :( So we'll see if I get any up this week or not... it's always something, eh?

My Little Snuggle Puppy

I think that Little Friend is truly the cuddliest baby I've ever met-- and that's saying a lot, because all of my boys have been cuddle bugs. From the beginning, he has loved to be held as much as possible. I often think that it is perfect that he came third, because after losing Isaac, I really want to hold on to this baby even more tightly!

(with Isaac, Christmas 2009)
Sometimes I think I'm cuddling Little Friend not just for him, but also for his angel brother who I continue to miss deeply and profoundly.

For several months, Little Friend honestly HAD TO nap at least once a day either in my arms, or laying on my chest or his day was just OFF. In the past, I probably would have let my baby cry it out a little more or just let him learn to cope, but this time around nothing seems more important than holding my precious boy.

Thankfully, Kiddo has been a very cooperative older brother. He has a tender heart when it comes to babies, and he hates to see his little brother upset. So he doesn't complain much when the baby's needs have to come first. He was mostly that way with Isaac, too, despite how young he was.

(Kiddo and Isaac)
It really seems like Kiddo never blames his baby brothers; he just wants his Mommy to be more capable of balancing everyone's needs at once!

Also, even though we haven't been nursing for several months, I still let Little Friend co-sleep a lot of the time and he is, thankfully, a great sleeper-- although he's becoming much more of a mover these days. He likes to be read to and sung to, and lately he likes to hold on to my necklace with Isaac's picture while he is falling asleep.

I know this wouldn't work for a lot of moms, and I totally get that. I certainly am doing this first year very differently than I did with Kiddo, who I let fall asleep on his own, in his crib, in his OWN ROOM at this age. Kiddo has also been an excellent sleeper- for the most part- too. I think that pretty soon I'll have to transition to doing things more like I did with Kiddo, but for right now, it just feels like it's what works for our little family, and what brings comfort immediately to my baby.

Like his brother, Isaac, Little Friend also LOVES kisses. He loves getting them and now, giving them. He grabs my face between his two hands and presses his slobbery little mouth against my cheek many times a day. If Daddy-O or I say, "Kiss-Kiss" to him, he'll usually oblige us. Sometimes he even says, "Mmmmm" when he's giving a kiss. I think that's his attempt to imitate how we say "mwah" when we kiss him sometimes.

He also will kiss Kiddo sometimes, but mainly he likes to reach out and rub the top of Kiddo's head. It's so funny. If Kiddo falls asleep in the car while Little Friend is awake, he will reach for Kiddo's head/hair for sure.

Given their age difference, I wonder how they will get along with, and relate to, each other as they grow up. But for now, they seem to be each other's biggest fan.

And I couldn't be more grateful to be mother to all of them.