If you didn't gather from my last post, life has been pretty challenging as of late! The honeymoon period between Colter and Madison didn't last long and we have been dealing with quite a few lovely behaviors :) Fortunately I only had two days by myself before the amazing Nana rolled into town. As always, she served her little heart out from sun up until after sun down.. cleaning, playing endless hours of mud pizza shop in the kitchen under the deck with Colter, going on adventures, putting her magic sleeping spell on Madison time and time again, and continuously encouraging. Now we just have to find her a job up here!! We love you Nana. I missed the smell of coffee wafting through the house when I woke up this morning.
the couch is gettin pretty full!
Happy St. Patty's Day!
Can't pinch me! I've got my green on!
lunch after church in Edmonds
Smiles at 3 weeks old
Nana is the best at getting this little lady to sleep!
I'm going shopping!
Handsome dude
Costco pizza after church
A beautiful day downtown at the beach
This guy is all about railroad crossings
They spent a lot of time cooking in the kitchen under the deck
Pizza making is serious business
You know you're in Seattle when you have a picnic outside even when it's still 45 degrees just because it's sunny.
I am always wiping his face after he's done drawing.
Baby wants to be fed for the 5th time in 5 hours and hasn't slept but 10 minutes during that time.
Toddler throws markers and toys for the 15th time in one day and you have to yet again remain calm and explain that we can't be unsafe with our toys.
Days are comin young mama where you'll be planning weddings and graduations, not brainstorming toddler crafts.
Baby seems to want to be held all day long and gets fussy at the most challenging parts of day.. right during nap/lunch and bedtime.
Even with Nana in town it sometimes feels like too much.
Days are comin young mama when you'll come home from work to an empty house and instead of finding a Thomas the train tent set up in your living room, you'll find it to be way too clean.
You want dinner time to be all together, but lately the toddler eats at the counter, the husband runs to and fro getting milk, a burp rag, helping to clean up thrown food, and you sit on the couch feeding the baby.
Toddler hits baby again and your mind struggles to understand his behavior.
Days are comin young mama when you'll be the one encouraging your kids as they embark on this crazy journey called parenting.
You want to love your husband well and put him first, but with young kids it feels like all you can do is smile across the room at him admist the chaos.
Your days consists of playing cars, singing songs, drawing a crossing for the 100th time, and making mud pies in the kitchen out back.
Days are comin young mama when you'll look back at this time and will barely remember the tantrums, the late nights, and the long days.
We had a small party for Colter to celebrate turning the big 2 years old. It was so fun to see his face light up when he saw the transportation decorations including a track made out of tape on the ground, and lots of different traffic signs. We had our neighbors, the McIntires, the Heavialnds, the Wornicks, and Colter's friend Rowan over to celebrate with lots of yummy breakfast food, coloring, music, pin the smoke stack on the train, and a visit from our neighborhood sheriff. It was perfect.
In some ways it's hard to believe you're two because time has gone so quick since you've been born, but on the other hand, I look at you throughout the day and see a little boy right before my own eyes. Parenting you has by far been the biggest blessing and challenge I have ever faced in my life. You teach me about patience, grace, letting go of control, and trusting in God in a daily basis. You are my sweet boy and I can't thank God enough for entrusting us to raise such a unique little man.
One of the best things about this past year has been watching your natural gifts, talents, and interests emerge. If you would have asked me last year what type of boy you would be, I imagine i would have responded that you'd be some sort of mountain man/risk taker type of boy. You still absolutely love the outdoors, but I've seen a whole new creative side of you come out this past year. Some of your absolute favorite things in the world are coloring, reading books, and listening/playing music.
We have spent hours at your craft table in your "awesome" room coloring away. You ask to draw on a daily basis, and have actually gotten really good at coloring inside of the lines. You almost always ask me to draw a crossing and then proceed to narrate that "the crossing goes down, red lights flash, ding ding ding, trains comin trains comin, watch out!" I will pick up brochures from different Seattle sites, like the space needle, and we'll cut out different pictures and glue them onto a paper to color. You love to open up the space needle brochure and say "SO BIG" in a really deep voice. You also love to talk about the elevators that go up.
You are absolutely passionate about books- both in pulling them off the shelf, but also thumbing through pages and asking me to read different ones to you. You can recognize the titles of probably over 50 books and can recite parts of many of them, especially if they rhyme. You are very particular about which books you read. Our normal routine is pulling a book out of your basket, saying the title, and you'll either quickly say "what baby needs, no" or "what baby needs" and then settle back into my lap. It's not uncommon for you to come and find me when i'm getting ready or folding the laundry, and look up at me with a sheepish grin, holding a book and say "read it?" One of your favorite books right now is curious George There's a part that talks about Curious George getting covered in syrup like a panacke, and you think it's about the funniest thing ever. You start shaking your body and will say over and over "covered in syrup like a pancake!!" You will randomly recite books out of the blue. One day you yelled "OH NO! Bumblebees! Buzzing close! Get out the bumblebees shout!" Yesterday you asked for a snack, and dad said "the only snack we have right now is almonds." You replied "almonds. Eggs, milk, paper napkins, bread." We were so confused until we realized you were quoting the grocery list from the book "Don't Forget the Oatmeal." You love to go to the library, and can recognize when we're getting close. You love to look at the fish, push the buttons on the handicap door, and pull book after book off the shelf while I scramble to put them back in the right spot.
Music is also one of your favorite things. You call it "mix." You love listening to the band at church and will always start telling the childcare workers at church "all done, mix" when it's getting close for me to come and get you. You want to have a concert (said in the same low, deep voice) many times a day, and again you're very particular about which songs we sing/play. You frequently say "different song" shortly into singing. We can't pull out of the driveway without you requesting me to turn on the radio. When I tell you we're going to James & Saisha's house, you immediately start talking about the drums and the guitars they have at their house. You perform best with your train hat on. I love this part of your personality, because in social settings, no one would ever guess how animated and free spirited you become when playing music. You don't sing a lot, but definitely love baa baa black sheep, and wheels on the bus. You always think it's funny when I sing down by the bay and talk about a moose kissing a goose. You will repeat that line over and over again.
It's amazing how much you start to mimic things that I tell you throughout the day. Sometimes i'll be thinking something and without saying anything, you'll say it out loud. The other day you were eating a snack on the couch and you started saying "that's ok, that's ok, don't worry." I looked over and you had spilt your snack and were putting it back in your cup. This made me proud because you normally get very upset when things tip over. You will also repeat a lot of play scenarios that I act out days later, especially with your train set. You will always ask your ducks if they want to go for a ride and then you'll load them onto different train cars, and then will eventually say "everybody off!" The ducks and boy also like to stand on the tracks and you'll say "lookin for trains? Be careful!"
You're working on your letters, numbers and colors and will typically skip about 60% of the alphabet. You're also convinced that counting to 10 goes "1, 2, 6"
If you could pick your top three favorite places it would be Edmonds, anywhere with big diggers and cranes, and downtown- as long as it involves elevator rides, tunnels/parking garages, and at least driving by the space needle. You ask to ride the monorail every single time by saying "get on it?" Edmonds is by far your favorite place in the world. When I tell you we're going to Edmonds, you say in an excited voice, "go to Edmonds, look at trains!!" There's so much you love- throwing rocks in the water, watching the ferry come and go (which you always say "get on it? Another day", going inside the station, watching the crossing go up and down, and looking at the birds, whale, and scuba divers. The noise of the trains scares you a little, so you always snuggle up to me and say "loud, cover your ears."
One thing I don't want to forget is about how you request to snuggle on a daily basis. You make a noise like you're cold and will say "snuggle blankie." We get all wrapped up in a cozy blanket, and usually about 3 seconds later you say, "all done!" You also love to build forts with our couch "pushions", and hide from dad when he gets home from work. You always give our hiding spot away because dad will say "Colter, where are you?" and you will respond back "Colter?" You still love to drive our cars. You love to run from the door and knock down blocks, or race to the couch.
You still love the outdoors, though it's hard to know how much because of the colder weather. You like to sit on your tricycle, and you always make sure your duck helmet is on. You like to walk to the mailboxes and talk about the mailman bringing packages. "No packages today." I wish I would remember all your little sayings forever. You like to walk over the storm drains, throw rocks, pull pinecones off the tree and "feed" the bushes, and dance around in the bark pit.
It will be interesting to see how your personality shapes and develops over the years. Right now, you prefer to be by yourself, or in small groups of kids- especially your cousins. You absolutely adore your cousins and light up whenever you know we're going to their house, or they're coming over. I am so thankful that we are blessed to have them in our life- they are such special kids for you to learn from. You tend to get anxious and overwhelmed in large groups, parties, or at large play activities where there is a lot of busy activity. You aren't the "life of the party," but I also know God changes and molds people over the years. You are very inquisitive and curious, and you love to learn. You hang on to everything I tell you and seem to remember most of it.
I got sick early on in the week, so we did a lot more laying around which was still really enjoyable! Ben took Colter to the trampoline park and they had a blast bouncing around, jumping into the foam pit, and throwing balls. I can't believe how much their bond has grown over these past two weeks. Colter used to cry any time anyone took him away from me, and now he willingly goes anywhere with Ben, and asks where dada is going anytime he gets up to go upstairs or run an errand, etc. Boy is he in for a surprise this next week when he goes back to work :( We're going to miss having dad around.
We took Colter to the mall to buy his first pair of shoes. He looks pretty stylin in his new boots.
Here's a random mix up of pics from this past week.
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