Eight Months Old!

Dear Ethan,

You turned eight months old this past Sunday.  You are getting so big!  You seem to me to be getting rounder.  I affectionately call you my tootsie roll because you are such a rotund little thing you are you are always rolling all over the place.  We definitely cannot just sit you in a chair and expect to find you there when we get back.  You are always moving one way or another!

This past month you have started eating more finger foods and have the pincher grasp down.  You love puffs, yogurt melts, mum mums and baby cheese curls.  If someone is eating something you generally want in on the action.  The other day James got a little too close to you while eating a pretzel rod and the next thing he knew you had grabbed it and were gnawing away.  You have quite a healthy appetite... no surprise there!  You drink four bottles a day and eat three meals and prefer only orange vegetables.  Your nose is quite orange these days!

You are wearing 6-12 month clothes and size 3 diapers.  I put you in size 4's at night to keep you dry.  You nap morning and afternoons anywhere from 1-2 hours at a time and sleep all night as long as nothing is bothering you like teething or colds.  I put you to bed around 7 and you sleep until 6:30 or 7 the next morning.  You are cutting your top two teeth right now so that has been periodically interrupting your sleep.  You are going to look so cute with those little chompers!  We can't wait to see them!

You are very busy.  You love the walker and zip all over the first floor frequently stopping to open drawers and pull things out.  You are not content to just sit unless you have something or someone quite entertaining in front of you.  You are trying to figure out crawling and get quite frustrated as you try so hard to move forward and just end up rolling back and forth.

You experienced your first virus this past month and you were so sick with a fever and chills for four days.  It was awful!  We were so worried about you and spent several sleepless nights just holding you or taking you for rides in the car to get you to rest.  We were so happy when you were feeling well again!

Ethan, you are a ray of sunshine in our lives.  You truly light up a room when you enter it and everyone just falls in love with you and your charming little personality.  We are loving you more each day and feel so blessed that God chose you for our family.  We love you little guy!

But be sure to fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you.                                                                                                                            ~1 Samuel 12:24

James - 30 Months

Dear James,

You are 2 1/2 years old!  Hard to believe, but the days just keep going faster and faster.  You are doing and learning so much right now that it's hard to keep up with you!  I wanted to post this just so that I can try to remember some of my favorite things about you right now.  Honestly, you make me laugh on a daily basis.  You are talking so much right now and have such a funny way of expressing yourself.  It's funny because you are so earnest and yet just can't quite get the words right.  Here are some of my favorite words and phrases that you are using right now:

Have some more mrk please = Can I have some milk?
Nope.  Not today.  This is used constantly and sometimes vehemently as you throw yourself on the floor letting us know you will not being doing what we asked of you.
Close the door.  You say this not only when you want to close a door, but also when we put your jammies on and you want them zipped up or you want your sleeves pulled down.
Daddy's strawberries = Daddy's luminaries that we set up in front of the house at Christmas
Mommy carry you = Mommy carry me
cwatapiwar = caterpillar
tar = guitar (You love tar's!)

You sing all day long and we listen to a lot of music throughout the day.  Some of your favorites right now include Old MacDonald, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Humpty Dumpty, Where is Thumbkin and If You're Happy and You Know It.  You sing everything you hear though.

I would say your favorite past time is eating!  You absolutely love to snack on everything from Cheerios to Goldfish to pretzels to cookies and lollipops.  You have never met a snack you didn't like and you seem to be a bottomless pit.  You eat yogurt every single day for lunch along with peanut butter and jelly and you lick the bowl when you're done.  You also love waffles for breakfast, which you affectionately call "apples".  You are content to just sit and munch.  We never leave the house without several snacks on hand and we always come home with empty bags!

You still love to play trucks and cars and we usually have to get your car rug out at least once a day.  I always have to play and you love to tell me which car I get to be and where I am going.  If I don't follow your commands you get very upset.  You also love to play in the basement on your awesome swing set and playhouse that daddy got for you!  You love chasing the dog and riding on her back.  When she isn't around you make Ethan chase you in his walker or ride on the back of it and make him pull you around.  You love to play instruments especially guitars and drums.  You make everything into a drum!  Recently you discovered that the umbrella holder by the door makes a wonderful drum when turned upside down.  We frequently have to sing "The Ants Go Marching" and march around the first floor while banging on drums.

You are starting to like art projects and baking with mommy.  The past few times I have made cookies you have helped, which is fun and always an adventure!  You like playing with play dough and we just started doing water colors.  You also like to practice tracing your letters and are getting pretty good and recognizing different letters and making their sounds.

You love to read books and we always read several before naps and bedtime.  I have been having fun reading you some of my favorites from childhood including The Snowy Day and Corduroy.  We just started reading adapted versions of The Wind in the Willows and you are loving them!  You are still a fantastic sleeper napping most days for 3-4 hours and sleeping about ten hours a night.  Your brother could stand to take some notes from you in this department.  I put you to bed around eight and you frequently stay up singing and chatting until nine or later.  You love your bed!

You are pretty reserved and shy.  You always need a little bit of time to observe and warm up to a situation before you join in, but then you really burst out of your shell with the energy and excitement we know so well.

James, you are such a sweet little boy and you are so full of life!

We can't imagine what our family would be like without you.  We know that God has big plans for your life and we are just excited to be a part of them!

You are my sunshine,

My only sunshine.

You make me happy 

When skies are gray.

You'll never know dear

How much I love you.

Please don't take my sunshine away.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all our friends and family!

We celebrated with my sister and her family and a few other friends.  It was supposed to be a game night, but we never quite got around to playing the games.  We were having way too much fun just chatting and eating:)  The kids raised bedlam whipping around the house in various dress up outfits while the boys pretended to capture the girls.  James loved watching all the action and Ethan hung in there like a champ... even after being tackled several times by "small and mighty" Charlie!  We each shared our highs of the year and a hope for the New Year and then we did a countdown and sang "Old Lang Syne" even though it wasn't yet midnight.  We wanted the kids to be part of the celebration.  It was a wonderful evening!

Here are the kids before we did our countdown.  James only agreed to be in picture after I promised him he could have a bite of cake.  Gotta love bribery!

Me and my sweetie:)

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne!

For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne.
We'll take a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.  

Welcome 2013!