A bit of sickness & a Mommy date

It all started on Thursday morning when I determined that we were going to go to Target and Costco in the morning.  Just to browse through their fun sections at Target, get some free samples at Costco, and all in all get-outta-the-house-for-a-bit.

I didn't think too much of it when Jonah wouldn't eat any breakfast.  He's been teething which makes him a little bit of a picky eater but I should have seen it as a warning sign though since he normally inhales breakfast immediately after awaking.

Sure enough.....right before I pulled into the Target parking lot, I smelled it.  Yep.  Jonah had thrown up all over himself while in his carseat.  Awesome.

I cleaned him up while he screamed at me since he just wanted to be held.  Then I changed his clothes and held him until he calmed down.  Then we headed home (after I calmed Benjamin down....he was upset we weren't going into the store)

I got the boys home, Lysoled everything and we were watching a show.  Then naps for the boys.  When I got Jonah a couple hours later he had blown out of his diaper all over his crib.  Double awesome.

I stripped him down, got him a bath, then did a huge load of hot laundry.  It was gross.  I almost lost it myself.

But we survived, vegged the rest of the day and Friday the boys were a bit whiny but never threw up again and only had slight fevers in the morning.

So Saturday we went to Costco as a family and everyone seemed well.  We spent the afternoon just playing, watching basketball, and hanging out at home.

Jonah insisted on sitting on top of Peter like this.  Ha ha! 

its always amusing when the boys climb all over their Daddy on the weekend like they do to their Mommy during the week

Last night though Peter wasn't feeling well.  It might have been side effects from his shingles medicine and it might have been what Jonah had.  He's feeling a bit better this afternoon, but didn't go to church this morning since he was up all night and pretty fatigued from it all.

So I took Ben to church with me and afterward we went to the Pizza Hut buffet for a Mommy date.  It's nice to spend some individual time with my 3 year old boy who is growing up so fast.  I love him to pieces, it was a bright spot in my weekend.

I'm watching March Madness again this afternoon.  We love watching all the games.  Great basketball teams, crazy competitive players, nail-biter upsets.....good stuff.

And now the boys are awake from their naps.....that was quick.

Hopefully Peter's feeling better for our planned double date tomorrow.  If not then maybe we'll just have to reschedule.

Writing his name

A couple months ago I was practicing writing letters with Benjamin.  He was so eager to try.  For about three minutes.  Until he couldn't get it and was immediately frustrated and wanted me to do it for him.  (I have no idea where he got that personality trait btw)  :-)

It was after about 10 minutes and trying whatever I could to get him to at least attempt drawing letters, that I decided that I would probably not be homeschooling.  Ha!  Okay, that's extreme, but goodness the boy is stubborn.

Yesterday though, he was in his tunnel, the area under the stairs, where there's a beanbag, books, and a chalkboard, and he came yelling.  "Mommy!  Come look!  I have something to show you!"

Peter had been home a few minutes and was playing with him in the tunnel, so I wasn't sure what exactly he wanted to show me.

Imagine my surprise when I crawled into his tunnel, and saw this....

Ben had WROTE HIS NAME!!!!

It's moments like this that are seriously the best part of being a mama.  I loved seeing his proud smile.....and let me tell you, this mama had a matching one! 

I asked him to do it again, and with a bit of help from Daddy on the "N" he wrote his name....

Benjamin just turned 3 in February, and I'm super proud of how smart he is, and how determined he was to learn to write his name.

Being a mama is awesome.  Being a mama to this adorable, capable 3 year old son?  A blessing.

WILW

Today I'm sitting down to blog while the boys nap, not because I have so much to post about, but because I'm trying to avoid eating all the chocolate in the house.  It's.been.one.of.those.mornings.

Anyway, linking up today for What I'm Loving Wednesday!

*  I'm loving that Jonah took a 3 hour nap the past two days.  Today, yeah, not so much.  It was nice while it lasted though and I spent some quality time with this booger while Ben slept.

*  I'm loving that Peter and I got a night away together last week.  We absolutely love our life, but also agreed that we love just spending uninterrupted time, just the two of us.

*  I'm loving the new episodes of Duck Dynasty.  Who wouldn't want Uncle Si to be at their family reunion?  At least for a few hours :-)

*  I'm loving the current favorite book of Benjamin's...."How I Became a Pirate"  If you have a little boy, he'll love it.  Pirates don't tuck :-)

*  I'm loving that Peter found some new jeans at the GAP Outlet this weekend.  I'm not loving that my extra 40% coupon didn't start until the next day.  FAIL.

*  I'm loving that Peter and I are going on a double date with our best friends on Monday.  Since they give you a birthday certificate during your birthday month, Benihana, here we come!  I seriously think we ate every last morsel they served us last time we were there, delicious.

*  I'm loving when I see little snippets of my boys getting along.  I spend far too much time attempting to get them to show any affection toward each other, so I'm truly praising God's for the love I see cultivating between them.

hiding from Daddy before lunch

 

just laughing at each other the other day.  So cute.

 

 

*  I'm loving that I will finally get a new drivers license on my birthday in June.  Since I got mine when I was 20, my license has said I'm "Under 21" for the past almost 9 years.  I'll now officially be "of age" on my license too, ha!

 

 

*  I'm loving that we have a night at home tonight.  I'm not loving that its because Peter somehow got Shingles and we can't be around the two gals in our home group that are pregnant.  We miss our friends.  Thankfully, Peter isn't hurting very much though and will hopefully clear up soon with the antibiotic.

 

 

*  I'm loving that it's a frozen pizza kind of night and that my hubby is okay with that.  He's kinda amazing like that.  I never posted pictures from his birthday last week.  It was low key on his actual birthday(it fell on a Sunday) but we celebrated with our coast getaway.

 



Now, I'm loving that it's time for a slice of pizza.  Yum!!

Our week

I always have mixed feelings when I don't blog for a week.  I feel bad because I don't want to get behind and I know grandparents like to see the kiddos, but it's usually good when I'm not blogging because I'm really busy just enjoying life.

Anyway, last week was one of those busy weeks and a good one too.  The first part of the week was busy with Peter finishing the tile project.  I'll take pictures as soon as I clean up the bath toys from drying all over the floor :-)  He did a fabulous job and I love it.

We also got ready for Peter's folks to come for a visit.  Benjamin was really looking forward to Poppy & GongGong getting here!  They arrived Wednesday night and left Monday morning.  We shopped for furniture for their new house on Thursday, then Peter and I went away for a night at the coast on Friday night.  The boys did great and we enjoyed our chance to "take a breath" and enjoy time together.  We had a blast eating yummy food, watching the waves and sleeping in.

There was already an EPIC girls event scheduled for Friday night that I had to miss in order to have our night away, but I was in charge of prepping the games so I went ahead and followed through on that.  It was "Minute to Win It" week so I planned out 12 games for the girls to do.  They worked as teams and though it took a bit of work to get them all ready, the girls said they really had fun, I wish I could have seen them do the games.

The rest of the time was spent staying up way too late playing games, attending church, playing with the boys and just enjoying each other's company.  We love having them visit and were sad to see them leave!

Benjamin & Peter mowing the yard before his parents came

 

a few of the games for EPIC

 

the view right from our balcony on the coast

(we kept our door cracked open all night and slept to the ocean breeze and sound of the waves......so wonderful)

 

before heading to our fabulous dinner in the small coastal town

 

drinking Starbucks while watching the waves......boy, we look rested!!!

 

I think Poppy sure enjoyed playing with Jonah

 

lots of fun stories with GongGong

 

bonding over shared raisins

 

 

All in all it was a great week, I can hardly believe it's already mid-March and that Easter is in less than 2 weeks?!?!? Craziness.

 



Small changes & ordinary days

Nothing too crazy going on this week.  We've done the typical "goings-on" of a normal week for us.  Went to the park, Costco run, Wal-Mart run, piano lessons, home group, soaked up the sunshine yesterday, went to the library.

My boys are at a fun age but also at an age that's pretty physically demanding during the day.  I'm always wiped at the end of the day.  And if I'm being honest, I've had far too many moments lately when I've lost my cool in frustration and not had the patience I should have with them.  So I'm trying really hard to combat that by doing a lot of little changes that hopefully will have a big impact.

First, I'm not letting myself spend more than a few minutes on the computer in the morning.  I get a lot of emails from people so I want to stay on top of that, but I'm finding that I can check it once in the morning and once before lunch and that's enough.  I was spending way too much time being there with my boys, but not "being there."

I'm also trying to make sure I have my own personal time for devotions.  This is improving and I want to keep it going.  Benjamin and I have also worked on memorizing Bible verses together.  He's really good at it and its so important.  I did this really well awhile ago and I want to get back to that.  It helps me keep focus when I'm disciplining him because I can say something like, "let's remember our verse, God tells us to be kind and compassionate to each other.  That's why it's not okay to hit our brother."  It reminds me that I'm not supposed to raise "good kids" who can follow rules really well but raise kids who want to love and obey Jesus.

On a totally different note, I'm also trying to make sure I get dressed in something other than t-shirts everyday.  And wear jewelry, comb my hair, look presentable.  It does wonders for my mood when I feel a bit more "put together" and the whole act of getting ready for the day helps me fight off the feeling to fall into the lazy "parent from the couch" routine.

Anyway, just a few things on my mind lately.  Here's a few pictures from the past couple of days.

 playing with our new toy from Wal-Mart

 swinging fun

Jonah has to get used to sitting in the grass, ha ha

on a tractor with a "lightsaber" to fight bad guys

he loved stacking the pieces into towers and knocking them over



 my sweet boy wanted a pic with mommy

getting ready to go to the library

Lots of stuff

Creative post title of the week goes to me......clearly.

Anyway, my kiddos are in bed so I have a moment to blog.  Actually Jonah's been in bed since 7 because of his teething no nap habits lately and Ben was listening to Disney stories on cd.......but now they're both sleeping!

There's just been a lot going on around here so I thought I'd recap the best way I know how.  Bullet points.

*  we've been getting little snippets of spring-like weather and it's making me ready for sunshine and warmth.  I took the boys to the park yesterday for over an hour and they had a blast.  And even though it's still work to take a 1 year old and 3 year old boy to the park, it's a wonderful perk of being a SAHM.  I remember sitting in my cubicle on a sunny day and just dying to be able to enjoy it.

*  we went for our first family walk in awhile last Saturday just to get out of the house, even though it was still pretty chilly.  We went to visit the nearby neighborhood horse, he totally remembered us as the "carrot people" and came running when we got close

*  this picture may or may not have been forced, er, encouraged, but it gives me hope that maybe someday these two will be the best of friends

(love my boys and their Floppy dogs)

*  Peter is slowly but surely updating the vinyl flooring with tile in our guest bath.  We have a deadline with the in-laws coming next week, and then he'll do the same thing in our master bath.  Hooray for talented husbands :-)

*  Why is it that every time you convince yourself that you're going to wake up at 6:30 to start exercising, your child decides to wake up at 5am for an hour??  Exercise fail.  Will probably comfort myself with ice cream.  It's a vicious cycle isn't it?

*  Friday night we had another EPIC girls group.  This time I hosted at my house and we had nachos and warm chocolate chips cookies (don't ask me how many I had)  I shared a devotional on the importance of choosing good friends and being a good friend.  It really got me thinking about how blessed I am to have some really wonderful friends.  But more on that in another post

*  After we had food and devotionals we went Cosmic bowling.  As in bowling from 10pm to 1am.  YIKES.  Did I mention I'm getting old and can't "hang" with the late night stuff anymore?  We had 15 teens though (boys were allowed at this event) and I have to say it was a blast.  I didn't get to sleep until around 2am and was up before 8 since a couple teen girls stayed overnight and needed breakfast before heading home, but it was so much fun.  Love getting to invest in these girls lives, what a blessing.

*  My days can have really frustrating moments but also the most amazing i-can't-believe-this-is-my-family-how-did-I-get-so-lucky kind of moments.  I love my boys

*  Jonah is still taking steps and getting more and more confidence with this whole walking thing.  I just need to keep working with him everyday until he prefers walking to crawling.

*  This evening we were relaxing before dinner and Jonah insisted on laying with me on the couch.  Peter would try and come near him to take him away and he would scream like a raptor at him.  It was hilarious.  Peter tried to pick him up, he screamed and cried until he was back with me.  And he stayed there for a really long time.  I pretended not to like the fact that I was clearly the preferred one of the evening.  I don't think I was very successful in hiding my enthusiasm :-)

*  Don't worry hubby......I still kinda like you.  Even if your son doesn't, ha ha!

12 Months!! - Jonah

A little over a month ago, Jonah turned 1 so wanted to capture what he was up to at 12 months for my memory!

Height - 30 1/2 inches

Weight - 19lbs (though before he was sick and not eating for a few days, he was almost 20lbs)

Likes - bathtime, playing piano, playing the guitar, climbing the stairs, reading books, playing outside, riding your fire truck, playing with Benjamin

Dislikes - you still fuss when it's time to get your diaper changed.  You don't like to wait for your food and you don't like it when something gets taken away from you.

Eating - You are still a champion eater.  You switched from breastmilk to whole milk with ease and now drink about 14 ounces a day.  You eat anything and everything most days.  Usually a banana and egg or pancakes for breakfast.  You love fruit, eat most veggies, love noodles and may or may not have had your first bit of hot dog (and loved it of course!)  You eat a lot!  You're learning to use a fork and spoon and love that independence.

Sleeping - You are still a good sleeper.  You sleep from 8pm everynight until somewhere between 7:45 and 9:00.  Most days its about 8am which is a nice break since your brother wakes up at 7.  You take one nap a day usually about 2 hours, sometimes 1 1/2, sometimes 3.  You still have your Floppy, paci, and white noise machine.

Personality - You have become quite the talker.  We love hearing you babble all the time and you have said quite a few words incredibly clear like bath, dog, water, banana, light, ball, and lots more.  You are still sooo ornery.  You are goofy and have the biggest cheeseball smile.  You are feisty and pick on your brother so much.  You are stubborn and are not deterred from doing things very easily.  You are affectionate and cuddly.

Highlights - We celebrated your first birthday!!!  You weren't quite walking at 12 months but you were just learning to stand on your own.  You went to the zoo, played with Auntie Amanda, celebrated your first Christmas.  It was a great, memory filled month for you.

Jonah Caleb you bring so much joy to our family.  We are so so grateful for you and just love watching you learn and covering you in kisses.  A year with you just flew by and though it's sad to see you slipping out of the baby stage, we are loving each new day with you.  Happy 12 months sweet boy.  You'll never know how much we love you.