Mother's Day

Morning kisses
Peonies
Donuts
Church
Centennial Lake
"no pit-ers mama"
Family walk
Sleeping baby
Park
Daddys and big boys play
Chipotle
Naps
Family walk
Vanilla ice cream with chocolate jimmies
Thai food
Messy, sweaty babies
Baths
Sleep

It was spent together on a beautiful day.  Big Love is recovering from surgery and felt horrible, but he still did all the things that would make me happy.  Flowers {peony bushes to be exact}, quality time and food.....he knows the way to my heart.

"no pit-ers"

"NOOOOOO, no pit-ers mama"

sweet sweaty baby

Gramp Randoms

Here are the randoms of our Gramp family this week:

1.  I love TJ's version of words these days.  Nothing makes me happier than asking him to repeat these words.  I act like I'm not sure what he said and I repeat the word.  He's always real serious and adds a head nod while he says it again :). Here are some of my personal favorites:
touch = truck
hell-topper = helicopter
farsher = parmesan
dammer = Grandma/Grandpa
*dammer is probably my favorite.  My parents where just visiting and he can say both of their names clearly, but chose 'dammer' as their interchangeable name

2.  I re-found these recently.  I haven't ordered them yet, but I imagine that they may be a motherhood life changer :)

3.  I just got this cute scarf and I love it.  I never find scarves I actually like, so I was so excited to wear it.  Problem is, it is impossible to wear a scarf as an accessory with babies.  The scarf ends up being eaten, choking me or just falling off.....then I end up looking like a hot mess which sort of defeats the purpose of wearing it.  I may be giving up on it for the foreseeable future.  I'm bummed but relieved at the same time.  Wearing these things kind of ,make me feel like I'm trying too hard anyway.

4.  Tim has been traveling for work quite a bit more in the last few months.  I think out of force of habit, I continue to make dinner every night....until last night.  Why was a making a full dinner for 1 1/2 people?  TJ would be just as happy if I handed him a cheese stick.  So last night we ate the following: garlic toast, blueberry muffin, peas and chips and guacamole.  It was delicious!  I think there may be a permanent change to our meal plans when Tim is traveling :)

5.  Diaper rash.  Horrible, horrible diaper rash.  This is new to me.  TJ has had an occasional red bum, but nothing like this.  Poor Gil.  After 2 weeks, every trick in the book, prescription strength butt paste {butt paste is in fact the name of the prescription} and airing out on towels {that are now forever changed} all day long, I think it is finally clearing up!

After a week of rain and being alone with the boys, we are so excited for Daddy to come home and play in the sunshine!  Hope you all have a great weekend too!

7 months

Gilbert 

Height: 9 month clothes just fit in length 

Weight:  Chub, chub, chubby

(agian, my very scientific measurements)

Gil's Highlights:

Completely independent sitter

3 teeth (all on the bottom, the top 2 are coming any day)

Wants desperately to crawl, but makes almost no progress

Smiles at everyone
Reaches up his little arms to get picked up (my heart melts every time)

Loves to watch/play with TJ

Still gets up 2-3 times a night :(

I am so in love with this crazy haired happy boy.  My 5 month post on Gil was filled with my laments about him growing too fast.  Well, in the last week we put away the swing, bouncy chair and bath chair....and I'm proud to say I did so without crying and shaking my fists to the heavens.  These transitions/milestones felt natural and joyous.  I guess I'm growing too :)

6 months and 2 years in Hawaii

Tim had a work trip scheduled for Hawaii and suggested that I go along.  This sounds wonderful in theory, but that is one long flight for an almost 2 yr old, a 5month old and their 2 tired parents.  After much debate I finally agreed.  We decided to extend the trip to make it more of a vacation and worth the travel.  So off to paradise we went!

The fights:  I had a ton of anxiety over the flights.  Last year when we took TJ to Hawaii, he proceeded to cry, fuss and scream the entire 9 hour flight from Atlanta to Honolulu.  We vowed never to fly with children again.  We went back and forth on different routing options to determine optimal 2 yr old compliance. We settled on flying out of Philly to Salt Lake {4:30 min flight} and Salt  Lake to Honolulu {6:30 min flight}. The Philly thing wasn't ideal {it's 1:40 min drive}, but it was either that or DC which can be even worse with traffic AND most importantly, Kim{Tim's sister} decided to join us on our adventure and this ment she could fly out with us.   We left our house at 3:30am for our 7:15am flight.  We were banking that the boys would sleep the entire drive.  TJ didn't close his eyes once.  I was anticipating the horror about to ensue.  However, the flights turned out wonderful.  Both boys did awesome on the first flight and TJ even took a decent nap.  The second flight was a bit harder for TJ.  We were super blessed and sat next to multiple "grandparents" who thought our boys were the cutest things ever and loved to help entertain them.  There was also another little girl a few rows up that TJ befriended and they spent 1-2 hours chasing a ball up and down the aisle. This sounds a bit silly, but it was honestly a faith building day of travel.  I wanted no part in flying with these two babies.  I prayed fervently in the days before, I prayed on the way to the airport, at the terminal, when I sat down and continually throughout the flights.  I had my parents praying throughout the flights and openly asked others to pray for us.  It was one of the things I felt embarrassed to complain over....my life is so hard, I have to go to Hawaii with my family in the middle of winter for almost 3 weeks and my babies might have a hard time on the flight...wha, wha.  Despite the trivial nature of my circumstance, God was reminding me he still cared.

We got to our hotel around dinner time and surprisingly both of the boys were doing great.  We felt a little too confident after our flight and decided that going out for a walk to get dinner was a good idea.  Let's just say it ended in our first ever full blown tantrum {over not getting to push an elevator button that he had refused to push in the first place}.  I'm talking bloody murder, vocal cord damaging, ear drum rupturing, kicking, arching and flailing kind of tantrum.  Yikes, my oh my the stares we got.  Tim sort of just swallowed his dinner and mine was  packed up before I got a single bite.  Lesson learned.

I could write a book trying to remember all of the details, so instead here are the highlights

My very own little Dole Whip

1.  TJ loves to chase the pigeons.  Pigeons can run faster than he can so they pretty much ignore him.  After chasing pigeons for well over an hour during a walk, one of the pigeons decided to fly away.  TJ thought that was the funniest thing, he was belly laughing at it.  Up until that point I don't think he realized they could fly because they all just scurried away.  Once he realized they could fly, he became more of a pigeon abuser than chaser.  We had to finally put the kibosh on it when it turned into gleeful attempts to kick the pigeons.  He spent most of the trip pointing out and running after all kinds of birds.

2.  Gil is (has become) such and easy baby!  He was happy no matter what we did.  He was happy sitting in the stroller, swimming, watching TJ play, sitting in the shade at the park and pretty much napped whenever and wherever I needed him to.  Everyone loved baby Gil.  This sweet baby will smile at anyone, there is no discrimination when giving out smilies.....except for the 2-3 times he had his first brush with stranger danger and decided a screaming cry would be more appropriate.

2.  TJ is basically part fish.  He loved the ocean, in a scary no fear kind of way.  We decided to walk on the beach the first day, but didn't have any intention of swimming.  TJ made a straight beeline for the ocean fully clothed.  He ran full force right into a decent wave that threw him under.  Thankfully Tim was close behind and got him right away.  He was startled at first, but went right back for more.  He wanted to be in the water (ocean or pool) at all times.  The last few days I was running really low on swim diapers so I ended up having to dry them out and reuse them.  Yes, we were that desperate.

The pool floaty that he wouldn't part with, but refused to actually wear it into the pool

3.  Aunt Kim was a blessing.  Having an extra pair of hands the first week was priceless.  Even after Kim left TJ would ask for "An Nim" every time we would come back to our room.

"An Nim" playing with the babies

5. We were able to eat at all of our favorite local joints.  I may have eaten at Teddy's Bigger Burger no less than 3 times :)  I can still taste that beautiful bacon cheeseburger.....

6. This has been such a hard winter, a person literally forgets what it feels like to walk outside and feel the sun.  Every morning we got up and went for a walk in the sun.  Our hotel was right next to a beachfront path,  I took that path everyday to a little play ground.  I would sit with Gil under the shade of the beautiful trees and TJ would run around like a freed animal.

7. Ko'Olina, Ko'Olina, Ko'Olina.  We were able to spend a few nights on this part of the island....it's truly my happy place.  Ko'Olina is where Tim and I got married so it was also fun to have a few moments to reminisce about when our fairy tale began :)

This was an accidental picture, but I love the (sort of) shadow of me and the boys

These two little honeys celebrated their monthly "birthday" while we were in Hawaii.  Gil turned 6 months and TJ turned 2!

Gilbert Michael

Height: 26 3/8 inches

Weight: 17lbs 6oz

Nice little view of his 2 new teeth

Gil's highlights:

He has 2 teeth

Loves to smile

Loves to smile

Loves to smile

Sits up, but still needs a safety pillow

Loves to watch and laugh at TJ

Great napper

Still waking up 2-3 times a night

TJ

Height: 34 inches

Weight: 27lbs 8oz

TJ's Highlights:

Talking about: "touch" trucks

Making Gil laugh

Vacuuming

Running

Finding rocks and sticks

We had such a great time enjoying the warm weather and time as a family.  Hopefully spring is right around the corner because the cold just doesn't seem natural  when I think about these pictures!

It seems impossible to get a good picture sometimes

impossible :)

This boy and his sticks

5 Months: Baby Teeth

Gil 5 Months

Weight: chubby wrists and rolls for days on his thunder thighs

Height: 6 month clothes are getting short

(I hope you like my very scientific measurements)

Gil's Favorite things:
smiling
rolling over (front to back and back to front)
being held
starting to like cereal
laughing at TJ
waking up at night
long naps

Gil is about to get his first tooth.  His little gum is red and swollen, I can see that little chiclet about to break through.  I'm sure it will make it's debut before the weekend is over.  As soon as that little pearly white shows itself, a little part of me will die.  I can't believe we are already here.  This time just feels so different.  With TJ I was excited as we met each milestone. I was never anxious to get there, but excited to see him grow.  This time I want to look up at the heavens and scream, "NO!!! MAKE IT STOP! I'm not ready".  The fleeting moments that make up what we call "childhood" are not lost on me.  I do not wish the days to pass quickly.  I may wish for the laundry to fold itself, self cleaning dishes/toilets and dinners to magically appear, but I never wish for babies to hold or comfort themselves.  As much as I really would like to sleep through the night, pretty much every night I continue to rock Gil after his little body gets still and heavy in my arms.  I still sneak into TJ's room every night and kiss his little head.  I tuck him in, watch his chest move up and down and brush the hair out of his peaceful little face.  I'm seriously that cliche.  Sometimes I think I was born for this very purpose.  Other times, I think to myself, I'm not made for this.  This whole parenting thing is crazy hard.  Loving little people this much is painful.  SIGH.  If you see me this weekend and I look like someone died, nope, Gil just got his first tooth.

4 and 22

Once again, I am behind.  It's just enough that TJ will magically jump 2 months in the post :)

Gilbert 4 months:

Weight: 15 lbs 10 oz

Height: 25 1/2 in

Gil's favorite things:

Smiling

Being held

Being held

Being held

Laughing

Snuggling into his blanket when he's tired
Watching TJ play
chewing on his hands
chewing on your shoulder or chin :)

Dear sweet baby Jesus, this little guy is turning out to be a handful.  This guy has done a full reversal in the sleep department.  Before he was even 2 months old he was sleeping 9-12 hours straight, now he is up 3-4 times a night!  Thank goodness he is as sweet as ever, because these long nights are tough.


TJ 22 Months:

Weight:
Height:

TJ's Favorite things:

Unfortunately, he finally discovered the word "mine"
Playing with Gil
Helping {aka getting into everything}
"Singing" along at church
Expressing his opinion :)

I love that they love each other.  Not that they even know what that means yet.  Gil lights up when TJ is close by.  Although TJ has been into helping with Gil, he is just now starting to take a real interest in him.  Gil HATES tummy time, so TJ gets down on his tummy and talks to him and brings him toys to make him stop fussing.  Love these two!

Finding our Christmas

I was going to give the basic Christmas play-by-play, but there was so much more for me internally.  This felt like our first real Christmas as a family and I want to remember the inner workings of the beginning.  I want our family to look back and laugh at or appreciate all of my/our 'good intentions' for our family.

Tim and I had been talking a lot about what we want Christmas to be like for our family.  And when I say 'talking' I mean, I talk and he listens to all of my ideas and thoughts on celebrating for our family. What is Christmas going to be like so far away from home?  What will our Christmas celebrations be?  What will our traditions be?   Will we travel?  Will our tree be filled to overflowing with gifts or just a few? What will we teach them about Christ's birth and Santa?  What will we teach them about giving to others?  Now that I have my own children I find myself taking parenting far more serious than I ever thought I would.  Everything Tim and I do teaches them something, EVERYTHING.  I want to be an intentional parent, not a reactive one.  Part of that intention is to create traditions and memories around holidays.  I don't want to look back and wish we would have done more/less.   I may have.... been desperately trying to create some of this because I am away from everything I hold dear when it comes to Christmas.  All of my memories and traditions are in Minnesota.  So here I am without extended family or tradition.   The one benefit to being away from everything and everyone, is that we are able to create traditions that suit our family without the input and obligation of previous traditions. I don't mean for that to sound as horrible as it does, but there is a level of freedom we have that we wouldn't if we lived closer to family.  That freedom {obviously}created a lot of questions for me about what I want Christmas to be for our family, now and years to come.

Two of the three weeks before Christmas Tim was out of town on business.  Having him gone definitely effected how and what we did this year.  Having a 1 1/2 yr old and a 3 month old may have also been a deciding factor between what you want to do and what you actually do :)  When all was said and done I think we did just enough Christmas-y things for our little family.  We got our tree {the smell,  ooooooo the smell!!}, decorated the house, baked cookies together, read Christmas books before bed, went to a few Christmas parties, visited Tim's family in Jersey and went to Christmas Eve service at church.

Baking cookies proved to be more of a form of entertainment than an actual means for cookies.  There were many quality control issues as TJ picked and licked his way to happiness.  That being the case, I would say it was extremely successful.  One of the Christmas parties we attended asked everyone to bring a bag of groceries and a gift card to a grocery store for the local food bank.  I loved this.  Obviously TJ is a bit young to understand this, but I had him help me choose the groceries for "the kids who don't have food" to which he referred to as "no foo" when I asked him to put things in the cart.  We were able to visit Tim's family the weekend before Christmas.  Being in a house bustling with family, kids running around, siblings laughing.....it was like a Christmas miracle :)  it reminded me of home.

On Christmas eve, we kept with our "tradition" from last year; we went out to dinner before church, candlelight Christmas Eve service at church, came home, read the birth of baby Jesus, put the babies to bed and watched a Christmas movie by the fire.  On Christmas morning TJ decided 5:30 was a good time to get up {bah humbug}.  We got the dough ready for some homemade caramel rolls and snuggled  into a warm fire.  Our day was quiet.  We opened presents, sat by the fire, our neighbors {that have become our family} stopped by to give the boys a mountain of gifts, ate a big ham dinner and best of all, never got out of our pjs.

Being far away from home makes it hard to 'feel' like Christmas.  This will become my new normal and in a few years I'm sure it will 'feel' like Christmas.  I am not one for rushing childhood, but I am looking forward to the next few years when the boys are a bit older to understand and experience Christmas.  I can't wait to tell them more about the beautiful story of the birth of our Savior, bake cookies, decorate gingerbread houses, anxiously await presents, experience the joy of giving to others, feel the nostalgia that Christmas music brings and most of all the love of family.  I've already started working on an advent calendar for next year.......it may be a bit more ambitious than it needs to be {but let's be serious, of course I would do that to myself}.