Independence

All around we have people having new babies, and a few more people getting pregnant with baby number 2, or 3. I always have a slight twinge of baby fever when hear the news and a little sadness that there wont be more babies for us.

And then I snap out of it and realize that life is finally getting soooo good. Ah. Aside from a random meltdown and poop in the pants and a two week streak of being woken up every 2 hours because of sickness, we are have two healthy and maturing little boys. Let me tell you the wonders of independence.

Keith and I treasured our Sunday mornings. Pre-babies, that is. We'd sleep in, slowly roll out of bed and onto the couch. Then I'd make breakfast and we'd sit and read the paper. In our pajamas, naturally. And then around 11am we'd look at each other and complain about being tired. I dont even remember what we did in the afternoons. I think it involved napping and meandering carefree through stores that have narrow aisles and things that a baby would definitely try to grab/throw/break.

Pssshhhht. I scoff at pre-baby Keith & Trudi. They were fools who didn't know the luxury that is a quiet Sunday morning. We speak fondly of those days now, but after almost 3 years of Grady not-so-quietly waking us up between the hours of 5am-6:30am on weekends, we figured our time of sleeping in was gone. Until they left for college, at least.

So imagine our delight when this past Saturday, after getting our normal Grady 5-something-AM-Wake-Up Call, we stumbled to the couch, expecting the normal interaction of boys fighting for a toy, our attention, more Cheerios, etc. Instead, we sipped coffee, and looked at each other a little confused. Where were the boys? Why was the elder not picking on the yonger? Why was the younger not whining and rolling on the ground dramatically? I have to tell you, a certain sense of dread fills a person when you start thinking of what the kids could be doing.

Lucky for us our house is small, so we only had to turn our heads so see that they were quietly playing in their room. See? They went back to their room after morning cartoon & cuddle time, got their blocks and quietly played. They chatted with each other (wook at my towah, Cowey! Oooh, Gwady, das high!). No one knocked over the other's tower, nor did any blocks get thrown. A pre-Christmas miracle.

 Yep, Cole is wearing his outdoor hat.

We sat on the couch, still sipping coffee, still waiting for the other shoe to drop. But it didn't. They continued playing, and eventually started running into the living room to show us a block or cube they built before running back to play more. Huh, we thought. Our boys are growing up.

We saw more independence later the same day when we visited Camp Keller. We used to arrive here to find the boys clinging to us as we tried to visit. Not today! A mere minute or two after getting there the boys were playing. And not near us as in the past, but in other rooms. We were baby free for hours. What a strange new world this is.

Unrelated to independence, but still funny: you can tell the Keller kids are used to their mom making them line up for pictures a lot. When they were about to opened their gifts and looked up to see cameras waiting, they immediately went to sit next to each other on the couch. Our two are still working on that concept.

We so enjoyed our time with the Kellers, as we always do. Played with their stash of toys.

And then they dissapeared to go play upstairs. All we heard were shouts and laughs. I dont even know what they were doing, but they had a good time!

So, to sum, I think I'll have to just get my baby fix by visiting other new babies. Watching the boys blossom and become independent is best enjoyed when not sleep deprived, I think. 

On stage

And by on-stage, I mean on "stage".

Our boys go to a in-home pre-school/daycare just a few houses from our house. We love the location, we love the teacher, we love it all. And, we love that the teacher does little parties from time to time. This past Friday was the holiday party. We heard all week about this party, and how Momma and Dada were coming to the party. And the boys told us how they were going to sing, and more importantly, how they were going to eat cookies at this party.

Friday morning spirits were high! We dropped the boys off, and snuck away to do have breakfast at a favorite place of ours. Then did a little Christmas elf work, and returned to the school for the party. We found the boys were ready and quite festive!

 Seeing that we were the first parents to arrive, we took the chance to take some pictures of the boys, their friends and their teacher. Not all the kids were there yet, but oh well.

 A gaggle of toddlers is just so funny to me. WAit, are they still toddlers? I don't know. A gaggle of 2-3 year olds are just funny to me. The teacher would ask a question and everyone would respond, but also jump up and down and yell.  Except for the littles one, he seemed generally confused.

 Parents trickled in and we got busy with a little crafting. Dada and Grady completed two trees.

 While Cole took a slower and very precise approach to his tree. I was not allowed to place any of the snowflakes, but I was handy at peeling off the backing. He was quite particular about the placement of blue, then white. And then darker blue. And then was not happy when we ran out of light blue for the top.

 I think he was still pleased with the results.

 Since all the parents were now there and the kids were used to a bunch of adults in the room, the teacher lined them up for the "on-stage" performance. Somehow these two missed the memo and went to sit next to each other on the floor.

 We made our way to the correct spot. There were some obvious jitters, and for a minute I thought I'd have to join Ben's dad to keep the boys standing in the front of the crowd, but they relaxed and the show began.

First, a Hebrew number with some quality hand-clapping.

 Then a Russian one that involved a circle dance.

 And then back in a line for the candy cane dance. At this point Cole decided that he was done performing. Or he realized that people were still watching. And slowly, ever so slowly, he started shifting back behind Grady, out of sight. Grady would notice this, and would step aside so that Cole was visible. Then Cole glared at his brother, and started his shift back into privacy.

 The performance ended maybe two minutes before my little dude was in tears. Poor little guy. So shy when it comes to crowds. His brother, on the other hand, loved the attention. Which is interesting because when it comes to one on one play, they are the complete opposite. For now. To keep it interesting they take turns every 3-4 months.

Then it was free play as parents snuck out when clingly kids weren't paying attention. You can't tell here, but Anna and Ben's parents just succesfully escaped. We enjoyed drumming, some more playing, and maybe another cookie before we, too, had to sneak away to work.

There may be a little video action coming your way soon.

How to waste 10 minutes, and two diapers.

That sound you just heard is me breathing through both nostrils. Heaven, pure heaven is when you regain your normal bodily functions, like breathing through both nostrils and being able to hear. Expect several blog posts this week, because with more breathing comes more oxygen to the brain and Momma's got some newfound energy! Whoot.

Here we go.

Have I mentioned how funny the boys are? Just hysterical sometimes. We're still struggling with going #2 in the potty. Sometimes we're good at it, sometimes we're good at pooping in our pants. Whatevs. I'm just rolling with it at this point. I do offer a diaper from time to time when I can tell *you learn quickly what the pre-poop signs are* that something is coming.

So one afternoon as the boys were playing in their jackets after school, *told you they don't like taking their jackets off* Grady told me that Beah needed a diaper. He's done this before and I play along. This day Grady told Cole that his bear also needed a diaper. Cole played along.

So we sat, and the boys thoroughly enjoyed themselves figuring out the diapers.  

HAHA. Look how excited about this activity Elvis is. He's probably looking around for a toy he can chew.

So there you go. Beahs need diapers sometimes, too.

Nyquil induced bits

Greetings from the infirmary! The kids and husband are shipped off to school and work, and I am home, sick. As I wait for the miracle of nyquil to pulse through my veins and make me sleep so I can stop coughing (or at least not be aware of it), I thought I'd share a little with you.


I'll share a little bit of everything, I am missing my normal Jedi laser-like mental focus. 


Every year since the boys have been around we've gotten professional pictures done around Novembertime. We use this for the annual Christmas cards, but also to frame for the kitchen wall. This year we had a wonderful session with Jen from At First Sight Photography. She was super patient with our two, which was great because we had one non-cooperative model. And the pictures turned out great! Here are three of my favorites.

And then a friend from high school, another Jen,  announced that she was starting her photography business , Sugar Photography, and she offered mini session at a steal of a price. So I thought....what the hell. Let's do another. And I'm glad I did. A few of my favorites from session #2. 

The two sessions had a very different style, but I loved both. If you're in need of a photographer, check these two ladies out. 


Other things going on here. The camp Keller folks gave us their double wagon. Love this thing. We bundle up, load up, and go walking and looking at Christmas lights in the neighborhood. So fun. Naturally Beah goes along.

Here is a small sampling of the lights found in our own yard.

 Another set of ormaments made its way home from preschool. 

 No one looked at the camera. Again.

We had a party, and the only picture taken the entire night was of the back of my head. I guess this is Keith's way of saying he liked my new haircut? 

I leave you with one of my all-time favorite Christmas pics from 2008. Lights!

Ormaments

So let me tell you how I'm spending my afternoons. I get home, change into clothes that can be peed on, get dinner prepped, then go get these two. And I'm learning fast in pre-schoolland Christmastime=loads of handmade ornaments. Bring it, I say. I love a little handmade vibe on the tree.

Now naturally I would want to document these ornaments, so I get the camera out. And here is what happens for the next 45 minutes.

We inspect the camera. Up close. And then we insist a picture be taken so we can see it on the display screen. 

And then we get distracted and play with things for a while. And have a snack and some milk. But we do not, for any reason, ANY reason want to take off our jackets. We love our new jackets. So then I get ambitious and try to take a picture of the boys in front of their ornament. Remember how I told you before how they will stand next to each other for a picture when asked? They still do, but now they stand where they want to stand. And neither of these two are much in the mood for compromise lately, so one stands here, the other way over there. And if you ask Grady to  move, he says NO, Cole move. Ask Cole, he says NO, Gwady move.

We end up with a picture of them standing a few feet apart. Fine.

Then one looks at the camera and smiles.

And then the other does. Sort of. Notice the pile of lunchboxes and sippy cups on the cabinet behind G. Nice how I style the house for our photos, huh?

Seriously though. I love the ornaments. Or, ormaments, as I'm told they. Pretty sure there's some heavy assistance with the creation of these, but I LOVE them. In 5 years you won't be able to see any green on our tree there will be so many ormaments.

So that was our first ornament. The next one came the next day. It's Rusty the Snowman, Grady said.

We stood closer to each other this day. But still...not quite right.

Since starting this post the tree has gotten a few more ornaments and I think we are well on our way to covering that bad boy in all handmade stuff. Looking good, no?