Ethan's Birthday

What's fun to do on a day off of school, go to a birthday party that is!

Due to no school on President's Day we were able to go to Ethan's birthday party. Despite the weather being a bit on the chilly side, we were able to enjoy pizza, cake, games and running around on the playground.

Two Months Old

What's new with the 2 month old?!

• He's sleeping seven hours straight at night. We usually lay him down to sleep around 8:30 and he wakes up for a bottle around 3:30, drinks it and goes right back to sleep until around 7:00. This makes for one happy momma!
• He loves to be held, I don't blame him!
• He started sleeping in his crib in his room on 2/18. He loves watching his turtle night light shine the stars and moon on the ceiling.
• At his two month check-up he weighed 12 pounds 11 ounces, and 24.05 inches long! He received six shots and took them like a champ! Doctor says he's very alert for his age and is very strong.
• He has just started smiling. When I go and get him out of his crib and look down at him and he notices me and he smiles, it automatically puts a huge smile on my face and it melts my heart!

Pictures from week 5-8

My Valentine's

Valentine's Day couldn't have been any better than being able to spend the whole day with my two little valentine's. We started the day off with breakfast, opening of our valentine's gifts and a play date with Darla and Noah and some valentine sweets! Here are my cute little Valentine's enjoying the day.

It Won't Be Like This For Long

He didn't have to wake up
He'd been up all night
Layin’ there in bed listenin’
To his new born baby cry
He makes a pot of coffee
He splashes water on his face
His wife gives him a kiss and says
It gonna be OK

It won’t be like this for long
One day we'll look back laughin’
At the week we brought her home
This phase is gonna fly by
So baby just hold on
‘Cause it won't be like this for long

-Darius Rucker

Life as a mother of two boys sure keeps me busy, on my toes and drinking lots of coffee! There is a never a dull moment in this house. Something funny, interesting, new, frustrating or loving is going on every second of every day.

As rough as some days may be, I try to wake up every morning with the mindset that "today is going to be a great day" and for the most part they are as long as Brayden isn't trying me every chance he gets! He's very much lately in the "NO' stage and of course it comes with attitude and when he doesn't want to listen to me he usually covers his ears like he can't hear what I am saying. But the good out weighs the bad on most days and our days are filled with much laughter, hugs and kisses and those moments make the bad moments seem not so bad.

And Bransen seems to be fitting right into all this chaos. He's just sitting back and taking it all in, waiting until the moment when he's on the move with his big brother.

That just made me realize, that soon I'll have two on the go!

Dress Me

This is what I hear every morning within fifteen minutes of being awake! Brayden goes into his room, picks out a shirt he wants to wear, takes his pants off (never wants to put another pair on) and wants me to dress him! So out of the pajamas we go and into a shirt. He's at the age where he wants to pick out what he wears and wear it even if it looks totally ridiculous. Right now he loves wearing his rubber boots at all times and no pants so you can only imagine what this little guy looks like! Below is a picture taken of him in his boots, pajamas bottoms and superhero sweatshirt. He's got style huh?!

Pedaling

Brayden has just mastered the art of pedaling a bike! Since we live on a dirt road it's hard to ride a bike around our house so he's been lucky to be able to ride one (or several!) at my parents house. He started out with a big wheel trike, which we have now taken home to take him to the park to ride.  It took him a little bit to get the concept of pedaling and to stop pushing himself with his feet but once he got the hang of it, he has now become unstoppable. He also has a Spider man bike at my parents house but hasn't quite mastered that bike yet due to the brake. My parents just bought him a Hot Wheels big wheel trike. It's fully loaded with lots of noise buttons and a horn!

The boy is unstoppable though! Every time were over at my parents or he's on one of  his Saturday night  sleepovers we are bound to have to go around the block several times. He's even gotten good at riding down my parents driveway. He knows exactly which direction he wants to turn and stops to look for cars. Most of the time he will pedal the entire way, stopping sometimes to take a quick break and then continues on.

Trying to get him inside the house and to give the bike up is never an easy task though!

My Two Boys

...“A mother's body remembers her babies--the folds of soft flesh, the softly furred scalp against her nose. Each child has its own entreaties to body and soul. It's the last one, though, that overtakes you. I can't dare say I loved the others less, but my first three were all babies at once, and motherhood dismayed me entirely. . . . That's how it is with the firstborn, no matter what kind of mother you are--rich, poor, frazzled half to death or sweetly content. A first child is your own best foot forward, and how you do cheer those little feet as they strike out. You examine every turn of flesh for precocity, and crow it to the world.

But the last one: the baby who trails her scent like a flag of surrender through your life when there will be no more coming after--oh, that's love by a different name. She is the babe you hold in your arms for an hour after she's gone to sleep. If you put her down in the crib, she might wake up changed and fly away. So instead you rock by the window, drinking the light from her skin, breathing her exhaled dreams. Your heart bays to the double crescent moons of closed lashes on her cheeks. She's the one you can't put down.”

- passage from the poisonwood bible

Tree Art

Since I'm now an Pinterest addict, I have been finding many fun crafts to do with Brayden. I plan to fill the walls of our playroom with all of his masterpieces! The first one we did, I actually got from a friend off mine who did it with a little girl she watches.

We got a 10X12 canvas, finger paints and masking tape. I put masking tape on the canvas where I wanted a tree and all it's branches to be. Once I was done masking the tree out, I let Brayden go at it with the paint. He dipped his whole hand right in and started rubbing it all over the canvas. I think he's a natural, either a natural painter or just a natural mess maker, right to the bath tub we went! We let the painting dry outside and took the masking paint off.

Here's our tree creation of green, blue, red and yellow finger paints. More canvas's will be done soon, Brayden is already asking to paint again!