9 months old

^^A big thanks to Dad for helping out ;) ^^

 

^^He adore's his sister :) ^^

This handsome fella is 9 months old today.  He's just the sweetest guy. You can't resist smiling when he comes bounding around the corner and greets you with a wave. He's into everything. Knows how to open kitchen cabinets and drawers, loves destroying his sister's block towers and eating her crayons, but he's just so sweet you can't ever be mad. He's also proving to be taking after his mother in the climbing department (although he didn't beat my record of walking before nine months ;) ). We find him perched on the arms of the couches, climbing out of his high chair (the straps are too small for him! Didn't have that problem with Madeline...), scaling the rocking chair and getting himself onto Madeline's bed. He carries the block you see pictured almost everywhere he goes, even to bed. He crawls with it and it sounds like he has a peg leg/arm(?). His big blue eyes get comments everywhere we go, he's still the biggest flirt and he often out eats Madeline and I. He can eat a whole banana in about a minute. Not cut up or anything. Those six teeth of his know how to chomp! Looking forward to hearing how much he weighs at his doctor's appointment next week :) Luke bud we love you!!!!!!!!

two and a half

Recently Madeline overheard me telling another mom at the library that she's "two and a half" and since then she's been quick to inform others of her age. I'm not sure she knows exactly what it means, but she does know she's going to be three soon. We frequently sing 'happy birthday' and she's practicing holding up three fingers. What a tricky thing to do! Getting that pinky to stay down and the ring finger to stay up. Good thing she has a few more months to practice ;) 

This little girl, who really doesn't feel like much of a toddler any more, is such a joy to have around. As much as her unkempt hair drives me crazy, she loves it down and she feels beautiful. The headband she puts on herself is just so her I don't even want to fix it (except maybe on Sundays). She's 110% girl down to her very core. Fancy Nancy, Tinkerbell, Frozen, all things pink and princess. Necklaces, rings, 'makeup', gloves (daddy's socks). I love that too :)

Madeline is such a good big sister. You saw that first picture of her feeding Luke, right? She absolutely adores her baby brother. Usually she'll introduce him to strangers before introducing herself. She builds forts out of couch cushions for him and asks him questions (usually gets mad when he doesn't answer ;) ) But she really is great with him.

She's great with other people, too. Loves playing with friends and says "hello" to almost everyone we meet on the street or in the store. She can bring a smile to anyone's face. 

I'm amazed by some of the conversations we have. She's incredibly observant, asking me about the billboards and people she sees from her seat in the car. She recognizes when we're driving past places like daddy's school and informs me when the light is green. 

Lately she's been very into her emotions. If Luke knocks down her tower she'll come to me with the saddest face and say,"Mom.... I'm just so sad..." I'll ask her why and we'll talk about how she could solve her problem and be happy again. She's independent but not to proud to ask for help when she needs it. At least once a day she still needs me to hold her and I hope that never changes. 

Her yearning to learn is contagious. I'm amazed by her steady interest in learning the alphabet. She asks for help writing letters and points letters out on signs and packaging. She definitely doesn't recognize all of them but is often asking for more.  I made a dashed line-letter for her to trace and she did amazingly well and keeps asking for more. She assembled a 46 piece jigsaw puzzle with me twice, back to back. I'm convinced she would have done it a third time but I was losing interest ;) She enjoys anything creative: scissors, glue, crayons, paper, paint, stickers, you name it, she'll do it. 

While she's still VERY busy, I find that all of her "messes" are purposeful. The couch cushions all over the floor? Oh that's just her castle. The plates, cups and bowls scattered across the kitchen? She was making a rainbow. Her imagination knows no limits, and oh that makes me happy. 

I think Jeremy and I would agree that the thing we're loving most about this spunky, curious, beautiful little girl at two and a half is the things she says. I realize this is getting to be quite lengthy, but bear with me. Or stop reading. Actually I'll be impressed if you're still reading ;)

While licking a spoon covered in chocolate muffin batter,"I think I loooooove muffins.... Muffins are my favorite."

"Attention everybody!" *dramatic pause* "Tinkerbell fixes things!"

As we're getting ready to read scriptures,"So what's Lehi up to?"  to which we responded, "Actually, Lehi died a few chapters ago...."

While in the bath, "Daddy, I have a bottom and Luke has a peanut. He's a boy with a beautiful peanut."

Another night while in the bath,"Mommy, why does Luke have a 'peanut butter' ?" (Perhaps we need to work on annunciating "penis" better?)

Pulling onto north Avenue (if you're not from Baltimore, it's known for blue lights, boarded up buildings and loitering  - sketchy, sketch),"ME-OW! This is a classy neighborhood!" She'd recently watch the 'Aristocats'.

Often she'll pull us all into a bear hug and say,"Aw..... I love you guys SO MUCH!!!"

When she's forgotten to say 'please' when asking for something I'll put my hand to my ear and then I usually say 'yes'. One time while I was debating about whatever it was she wanted, she said,"Put your hand by your ear so you can say 'YES!' ". 

"IT'S THE BEST DAY EVER TO JUMP!!!!!" 

"While 'serving me food' one day I mentioned that she was a very good waitress. She thought about it, whipped her skirt off, and said,"Now I'm a waitress!!!" 

Madeline - "I want to take a bath!"
Mom - "Talk to daddy about it I bathed you last night" (leaves room)
Madeline - "Dad, can I take a bath?! Please..... Mommy said, 'YES!' and you didn't say ,'NO!' "

During her prayer one night,"And thank you we could go to the library today, and two parks, and lots of stores, and three libraries, and church, and all the parks and the library..."  (We had stayed home that entire day.... guilt trip?)

Upon hearing the toiled flush from the living room while Jeremy was in the bathroom, "*gasp* Daddy pooped!! Daddy pooped in the toilet!!!!! Yay daddy!!!!" (Can you tell we're coming out of potty training? ;) )

She was looking in the mirror and i asked her what she was doing. She replied,"Oh just looking at myself because I am BEAUTIFUL!"

Changing the preset radio stations in the car while I was nursing Luke she finally settled on one and said,"Ooooo excellent."

As I'm tucking her down for quiet time,"Thank you mister mom!" 

"Goodbye, have a good luck!"

Madeline we love you! Thanks for making this parenting journey such a joy :)

"mommy, I love you too"

Madeline and I each have a caption for this photo. I'll go first - The kids were up ALL night. At least one of them was awake every two hours, both of them a couple times. I realize people have kids who don't sleep well, but ours have always been pretty great and I didn't handle this rare occurrence very well. I was kind of a mess this morning... and decided I deserved a nap, so when Luke laid down for his morning nap, I provided Madeline with a plethora of entertainment. Of course she interrupted me every five minutes. GAH!!!!! Cue me losing it, raising my voice and immediately feeling bad about it.... Before I had a chance to apologize, her two little arms encircled my neck and the sweetest little voice whispered,"mommy, I love you too..." She wasn't trying to make me feel guilty, she just wanted to let me know she loves me. How have I been so blessed!?

Madeline's response after looking at this picture was,"Oh, I think there's a bug in my nose." Kind of looks like it ;) 

handsome is sitting

I think we can officially say we have a sitter on our hands. He's maybe still a sitter who falls from time to time, but a sitter nonetheless. He's also pushing up on his hands and knees (already!?) and his first two teeth are about to break through. Baby boy slow down! I can't smother your naked chubs in kisses fast enough. Love you forever, handsome guy.

on a rainy day in may

As much as I love cool, rainy days, they aren't really a friend to mothers of young children. By nine o'clock you start counting down the minutes to quiet time and another countdown begins for when daddy gets home. 

I might as well confess, for those of you who don't already know, I'm a bit of a chocoholic. And basically, the only thing worse than a long, rainy day stuck inside... is a long, rainy day stuck inside with no chocolate in the house.   

My thought process went something like this:

WHY IS THERE NO CHOCOLATE IN THIS HOUSE!??!

Oh wait.... don't we have a few cubes of melting chocolate left over from Christmas on a top shelf somewhere in the kitchen? WE DO!!!!!! 

*dance party*

But what would I do with it? Eat it straight? I'm not quite that desperate... Do we have any pretzels?

No... dang it. 

Graham crackers? 

*sigh* 

Wheat thins don't seem like they'd do the trick... 

Animal crackers? 

WE HAVE ANIMAL CRACKERS!!!

Believe it or not, Madeline was totally game with dipping her favorite snack in chocolate.  

We sorted the broken crackers from the whole ones, talked about the different animals and had a really great hour just being together.

Most importantly, we both made it to quiet time and neither of us threw a tantrum :)

two things I hope I never forget...

First, this beautiful little girl who spent most of spring in a Christmas dress. Black velvet bodice, big poofy skirt. The works. I don't know how because it's getting HOT. But every day without  fail she requests it and wears it even when her hair is dripping with sweat. Such a girl :)

Second, watching the relationship of this brother and sister develop. In particular I'd like to remember that right before I took these pictures Madeline asked if,"Please mommy, can you leave so we can play?"

I'd probably be offended if it wasn't the sweetest thing to watch from around the corner.

It's amazing how long the days can seem and then little things like this happen and it seems to melt mostly away. Luke will be five months old tomorrow and I can hardly believe it. The days are long but the years sure are short.  Long, exhausting days, sometimes I-think-I'll-explode-days, but I wouldn't change it for a thing.

you can't be grumpy with this guy around

Do you see that face!? It's SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO CUTE!!!!!!!!! Can you tell when Daddy started feeding him? It's when his face goes from clean to messy. Daddy seems to do more painting and less feeding... luckily Luke doesn't seem to mind :) Luke bud we LOVE YOU!!!!

this boy

Master Luke is four and a half months old already. HOW IS IT HAPPENING SO QUICKLY!? Wasn't he this squishy baby yesterday? These photos are actually from about a month ago when he was starting to get the hang of tummy time. Now he's rolling around, starting solid foods and weighs a whopping 16 pounds!

At his four month checkup this week, Luke couldn't stop grinning at our dear old doctor. This doctor of ours is pretty much a dinosaur, but Luke sure loves him.  Cold stethoscope and all, he was smiling away. Of course when the needles came out that smile left his face, but it was pretty cute up until then.

This boy is a true delight to be around. It's never hard to get a grin from his soft chubby cheeks and his happy personality often makes others smile, too. I never tire of looking into his round, blue eyes. It's easy to see he already has a love for life and I look forward to seeing the great things he does in his time.

This boy loves his sister. You'll often find him scanning the room trying to figure out what where she is and what she's up to.  It'll be fun to see them play more and more, especially when he has a little more choice in what they do. For example I walked into the room today to find Madeline riding on his back exclaiming,"Go Luke, go!"

This boy loves his daddy, too. He's got a nervous smile reserved just for him. I'm pretty sure he can't decide if he should be excited or scared whenever he see's daddy's face coming in close... probably depends on how recently his daddy shaved. (Confession: we all brace for daddy's scruffy kisses, it's not just Luke :) )

But I think if I'm being perfectly honest, I'd have to let you know that this boy has an extra special spot for his mama. Probably has something to do with the fact that I'm the one who feeds him all the time, but I like to think he's becoming a little bit of a mama's boy because of it. Just a little, ya know ;)  I love the stare-offs we have while he's nursing. And how sometimes he can be a little flirt, and then gets bashful. Oh this boy has my heart.

Luke we sure love you. Thanks for being in our family :)

happy mothers day

It's fitting, I think, that I'm writing this at 4:30am the morning after mother's day, hoping a certain baby in this house will soon go back to sleep, but I did want to quickly jot down what a great mother's day it's been. 

Jeremy went above and beyond this Mother's day making sure I felt loved and appreciated, and I sure did. He gave me a beautiful framed picture of our family in addition to a wonderful meal and giving me a lot of extra help with the kids. I think mostly, though, I just feel loved that on a daily basis he is such a wonderful partner. He makes being a wife and mother easy and enjoyable and I truly am grateful for that. And grateful for the sacrifices he makes allowing me to be home with the kids all day every day like we both have felt is best.

I'm grateful for the chance to be a mom. Madeline and Luke are the best kids I could ever ask for and I love being their mom. In fact is a privilege to be their mother.

I know there are those, including one of my closest friends, who haven't yet been able to bear children. I've glimpsed the ache she feels and am overwhelmed with happiness when I think about the day she becomes a mom. By whatever means it happens, whether in this life or the next, that is one of the days I'm anticipating most in my existence. I'm grateful for what she has taught me about motherhood.

I'm really grateful for my mom and all she's done. She is one amazing woman. I could go on and on, but I'll just say that I didn't realize how much she really is super woman until I was on the phone with her this week. She had kids home from school for all manner of illness this week. One sister had a stomach bug and was starting to throw up while we were on the phone. Obviously I was fine hanging up and finishing our conversation later, but she just tucked the phone between her shoulder and her ear and said,"Oh it's alright. She's almost done." Hello multi-tasker! Maybe I'll be that good when I have eleven kids too ;) 

Grateful for my mother-in-law for helping make my husband who he is today. Grateful for the future mothers my sisters will be and for my sisters-in-law and all they've taught my about motherhood.

I've been so overwhelmed today by the kind words people have shared about their mothers in church and on social media. Isn't it amazing that a holiday can unite so many people from so many different walks of life? And such a worthy holiday, too. 

Finally, I'll add that we got to Skype with my brother Christian who is on a mission in Argentina and it was such a treat. It's amazing to me to see how much he's grown and changed and what a remarkable man he has become. Hearing he and three other missionaries sing "Called to Serve" in Spanish was a special thing to witness.

So to your mom and my mom, to every mom around the world, whether they have borne a child or not, Happy Mother's Day. What a privilege it is to be a woman.

my heart sings

...and I love them...

bedtime

Evening... Bedtime... It can be stressful, am I right? We're all tired, sometimes hungry, depending on how on top of it I was that day with dinner. It's usually not a family's shining moment in the day. Or maybe that's just us...? But I have a sneaking suspicion we're not alone here ;)

Lately we've been trying to make an extra effort to enjoy the bedtime routine with the kids. Rather than stressing and dragging our feet about one more thing before peace and quiet, we're looking at it as forty-five minutes we get to spend together as a family. Forty-five minutes where we have a chance to reset and go to bed good again. It doesn't matter how much tension filled the house during the dinner hour, or how many tears were shed (by kids or parents...), life can go back to happy again. 

We recently started bathing both kids together and it has been really fun. It's a special thing to watch the relationship between your kids grow. I love that they're becoming fast friends. Luke is quite the little fish, kicking and splashing to no end. And he manages to throw a lot of water around! Poor miss Madeline is a little more of a wuss when it comes to splashing. When Luke calms down she gets right in his face and says,"Stop. Stop it Luke." I'd show you a video, because it's the cutest thing you ever did see, but Luke hasn't learned about keeping it modest yet... so anyways....

Also, I'd highly recommend this Book of Mormon reader put out by the church. We wondered if it'd be too advanced for M, but she's loving it. Makes family scriptures less of a chore when she's excited about it! 

Grateful for this little family of mine and for the realization that bedtime doesn't have to be stress-time.