paco

The boys really, really love Hollyn. Really. But Griffin just needs a little practice keeping his passion for life under control. We were having a few too many moments like this:
He just really loves her or something. So we decided to get Griffin a baby of his own to practice using his gentler side. Her name is Paco. Yes, Paco. And so far she's been a great addition to the family.

Oh, and we recently found out that Griffin has an imaginary friend, Mr. Pie. I'll tell you more about him later:)

the days...

Griffin is into making messes...what's new? Loud messes. He's two and I think he is going through baby puberty. He's happy...he's mad...he's happy he's sad....blah, blah, blah!!

I'm sick and tired of looking at my blog and seeing nothing new...sooooo boring!! It isn't like nothing is going on....it is just that I don't have full thoughts these days! My brain works in 3 second cycles, which are often interrupted by the sound of needy children. But life is chugging along. It is good and crazy and frustrating and joyful and tiring and funny....and did I mention tiring?? So I'm going to be posting mostly pictures for a while because these insane days MUST BE DOCUMENTED. Because these are the days...

Happy 2nd Birthday Griffin!! (yesterday:)

Happy Birthday, Griff! You make me laugh and cry at the same time! I have no idea which planet you come from...and I think you're perfect! I love you with all of my heart! Your incessant jibber-jabber, boundless energy, and sense of humor or going to treat you well in life...just give your mama a break once in a while, okay? Love you little boy:)

the start of something new...

*Griff has decided that he loves baking with mama. But he really loves eating the batter.
*Parker loved his first SoccerTots! Look at that form! And here he his with his bud Kaden!
*It has been so fun watching Audrey and Parker develop their friendship...now we're beginning to see some real friendship sparks with Griff and Elliot! They were so excited to be in the bath together.

p.s.Elliot loved the bath so much that he decided to get back in...completely clothed!

where is his mother?

Could it be? Yes it is...Griffin wearing Brooklyn's Hannah Montana snow boots, playing with open markers, scissors, and...tinsel?! Oh, and pantless with training underwear. Nice.

Maybe I should be more attentive?

**by the way, I AM NOT potty training. He just likes to wear underwear and likes to pee on the potty. He's ready but I'm sooooo not. Geesh, I just finished with Parker...

inside their heads

I found these little signs on the outside of Brooklyn's "office". I think they are the rules she made for her space....so darling.

I'm in the process of making a thankful wreath with the four kiddos. Today, we cut out paper leaves, and then I had each child tell me what they were thankful for and I wrote each item on their leaves. They are almost done coloring the leaves and we will glue them tomorrow. It is so fun to get inside their heads and hear what makes them tick. Here are some of the things the kids are thankful for...

Brooklyn (note her very mature answers--she's five!)- "my mom, my dad, my brother, Daisy the dog, friends, My God"

Parker(3.5)-"going to the lake,riding in race cars, riding on motorcycles, God, Mama, Daddy, Griffin"

Tallan (2)- "ME!" Yes, he is thankful for himself--he is very self assured!

Griffin (1.9)- "Daddy!"

And by the way, Parker HAS NEVER ridden in a race car or on a motorcycle....I think he confused me with Santa Claus...geesh. Motorcycle? Not on your life, mister:)

Why Watch?

I am going batty. Okay, so if I had a job that paid and gave sick days and all that fun stuff, I would seriously be taking a mental health day. They are driving me insane. "They"=mylovelytwoboys :) I know it probably happened gradually, but it seems as though Parker and Griffin each learned a new word today and are using it proficiently.

Griffin's new word is "watch". Actually, it comes out "OTCH!!!", but I get the idea. Watch...as in:

"Watch me throw food!"
"Watch me eat this dirt!"
"Watch me run and trip!"
"Watch me bounce my head on the floor!"

And I have to admit, Parker's new favorite new word to use is not as cute. Really, not as cute. It was the first time, but after a few thousand repetitions, it loses the cuteness. One word...why?

Me: Parker, it is time to go home now.
P: Why?
Me: Because it is time to go home.
P: Why is it home?
Me: Because it is the house Daddy and I chose.
P: Why did you choose it.
Me: Because it is green:)
P: Why is it green?
Me: Because green is pretty...
P: What?
Me: You heard me
P: Why
Me: What?!!!
P: Why?

He also really likes what, who, where, when and uses them in the wrong way sometimes. Ugh.

pictures from life

Since my blog has been sparse in the way of words...a few pictures from life these days:)


Parker going in for a kiss with Oma during Kelsey's birthday celebration:)


My dad trying to control Griffins craziness at dinner. Totally impossible! Maybe it was the two plates of pasta?

Yes, the sweet, defenseless little brother is bullying the older one...naughty, but funny!

griffinized

I came back upstairs after putting a load of laundry in and found Griffin on top of the dining room table looking quite proud of himself. And then I also found this:

As if my fruit bowl needed any more help looking pathetic!

febrile seizure

We had a terrifying moment on Monday...one that seemed to make time stand still. Everyone is okay now...but it has taken us a few days to recover from the experience. This picture was taken on Tuesday. He was still so tired!

Griffin had a febrile seizure while we were at my parent's house. This may sound slightly dramatic, but I really don't want to recount the whole experience at this point! Long story short, he spiked a fever, went into convulsions, turned blue, was unresponsive for a bit and took his first trip in an ambulance to the ER. It was scary. Have I said that already? Seeing Griffin's little face all blue and his body shaking uncontrollably are images I've been trying to forget. It took a couple of days for Joel and I to start feeling more normal and now I feel like we're over the hump...thankfully! Griffin is fine now and back to his feisty ways! I have to admit that I've been a little more protective of him over the past few days--and he may have gotten away with a few more naughty deeds:)

We're so thankful for our sweet Griffin.

time well spent....

I've had some people ask me when I'll start blogging more frequently again. Well, I'm not sure. You see, I used to blog partly to help me manage stress and anxiety...which was great. But now, I'm feeling so good and blogging is just fun now. I don't NEED it anymore. Sorta sad that I needed it for a while! What have I been doing instead? Taking care of myself in different ways...napping, reading books, exercising, eating better. It feels good to take care of myself. It is definitely time well spent.

And speaking of time well spent...took the boys to the dentist today. I took them to a great pediatric dentist here to try and avoid the major anxiety their mama has about going to the dentist. I hope it works. This place was awesome...pretty much like a kid's dream! However, since I took the boys at 11:30 (right before naps and lunch) and Griff had a poopy diaper, the experience still was par for the course:) I'm not sure why I didn't plan this appointment for a day when Joel and I could have tag-teamed it. Perhaps I thought I could hold two nervous children... and two balloons... all while capturing the exams on camera? Nope, not Super Woman!

But Parker is totally Superman! I was so proud of Parker. He was very nervous, but trying to be brave!

love it

And you should too.

I promise....Bath & Body Works isn't paying me to say this! I've been using this lip gloss for quite a few months now--and I'm hooked. It is the perfect combination of good shine and color, great therapeutic qualities, and it even tastes good. My sister introduced me to this stuff but I chose a different color. Tint no. 1137 is the best. I promise. And I'm an expert in lip care products. Try it, you'll never go back to your old stuff.

Oh, and apparently Griffin loves this stuff as much as I do. Whenever he sees the tube, he begs to carry it around and use it for his teether. I'm just hoping he doesn't puncture it, because then we could have quite a mess!

maybe if we had talked...

This is what happens when couples don't communicate well enough...

I came home from grocery shopping last night to find out that Joel had given both boys buzz-cuts--the day before their scheduled portraits! Joel didn't know. The picture on the right is a clump of hair I found on Griffin's highchair! Oh well, it is only hair and only a picture. So funny!

Oh, but Griffin totally looks like a super-duper old man in his pictures. No hair and his goofy smile!

cuteness

There are some serious perks to parenthood/auntiehood...

Like witnessing the cutest things ever!

Parker and Audrey were mesmerized by the big kids coming out of school. They waved and talked to them for a good 15 minutes. Then they had fun feeling the cold air with their tongues. And Griffin had to get in on the action. Aaaahhhhh, cuteness.

if only we spoke the same language...

Okay, so technically, Parker does speak English but he has selective comprehension and has this inability to pick up on my sarcasm. And Griffin thinks he speaks English but his native tongue resembles a Japanese/Gurgle type of thing. Very interesting. But you know what I mean...we totally don't speak the same language, because if we did, this is what I would say....

To Parker: Just so you know, Parker David, I am the Mom and I am the one who gets to decide who sleeps when. And I am the one who gets to decide when you stop napping. Yes, you will nap until you start school. You don't get to decide to stop napping forever. I AM MOM!!! And then I would stomp my foot and fold my arms for emphasis. :)

To Griffin: Son, I love your loud shrieks and demands for milk in the morning, but when you require a nap before 7 am, you must know that you've gotten up too early. Really, Griffin, make sure we're in the sixes before we start the day. Pleeeease. Thankyouverymuch.

Love, Mama ;)

walking, talking, growing

In all of my excitement to post about Griffin's birthday, I forgot some important things....

He started walking a few weeks ago
Well....three or four steps at a time and then he tries to jump--which doesn't really work out.

He is healthy
21 lbs 4 oz--25%
Just about 30"--55%
and his head circumference is only in the 85% this time:)

And he talks
Seriously. I don't think anyone else believes me, but mama knows best...and I'm the mama!
No suprise here, but his first word (other than names) was "eat".

This is the day

{pictures from the party last weekend}

I've got that song in my head going round and round. It is such a great day because this is the day one year ago that God gave us Griffin. Thank God for Griffin...and I do not mean thank god for griffin. I really mean THANK YOU LORD for letting us have Griffin. I feel as though there really is a difference:)

Some birthday reflections to come...

living with boys...

Photo: Attempting to capture a decent photo for our Christmas card. As you can see, it was very successful!

I must admit that I secretly love being the only female in the house. I'm Princess Mama and I prefer to keep it that way:) As much as I love it, the males in this house never cease to make me crinkle up my nose in confusion. They're so strange. I try so hard, but their boy games are very hard to understand for this girly girl. How can they entertain themselves for hours with crashing cars ...or playing games with no rules...or scaring and wrestling each other? They just do things that girls would never do! Some examples...

~My husband rose early a while back and dressed in the dark to go work out at the gym. At the gym, he realized that he had two different shoes on. And these are not just two sort of similar shoes...this is one brown hiker and one white running shoe! Now at this point, any normal person (a female) would have hopped back into the car and ditched the workout for a Starbucks fly-by or something. But no, my husband didn't care and went through his entire workout with mismatched shoes. I think he enjoyed the stares!

~Now Griffin is sort of another story. He's a bit disgusting as everything is edible to him. I'm choosing to believe that it is because he's just a boy, so don't comment here and tell me what your little girl eats. It MUST be the male factor! We also have a term for the type of mess made when Griffin is let loose...we say something has been "Griffinized"!

~I walked in on Parker one day as he was playing in his room in just his underwear. This is probably never a good way to start a story! He was sitting on the edge of his bed with his leg crossed over the other--he probably sees me doing this. But he had his body all contorted and I realized that he was leaning over to be able to see his muscles flexing back and forth. Oh, my....how I wish I had my camera. I'm sure I could have found some use for a shot like that:)

our latest food project...

Well, it was sort of sticky. In the orange juice sort of way:)

Parker playing with his orange wedgie boats. This was one of the more successful projects. I actually got him to put it into his mouth and suck the juice out. Score!

Oh, and looky here....Griffin eating ummmm...my phone charger. Of course. I love the taste of those. Don't you?!

Who needs a dog?

We always talked about getting a dog before having kids. I'm a nurturer at heart and I just wanted to take care of a little, needy creature! I was basically just impatient for motherhood and I didn't like God's timing at all! Well, now I'm thinking it was probably a good thing that our plans never worked out...because we sure don't need one now! I clean up enough poop and pee as it is and sure feel needed! Our house isn't suited for an animal and I'm not a big fan of dog hair. One of the things I thought would be nice about having a dog is that they clean up after meals under the table. Now we found another reason why we don't need a dog--we have Griffin! After we clean him up from meals, Griffin goes directly under the table and eats the scraps. It is a convenient situation for all of us ;)


I promise you, I didn't plan this. While I was writing the above paragraph, Parker peed on the floor, took off his clothes and then proceeded to tell me that there was a poop too. Before I could get there, Griffin picked up the turd. Nice. Definitely no dog. But maybe a dog would be easier to train? Oh, my...