walking man

Last night Finny walked.  First he took two steps, then about four, the back to two.  I kept trying to take his picture, but he kept making a game of trying to get my camera.  This was the best one I got.  

(Thanks Aunt Michelle for the awesome Star Wars shirt for my first birthday!)

Eli got a hold of my camera and took this picture of Finn.  I don't know how he got the coloring like this, but it's pretty neat.  Not bad for a three year old.

Eli after building a tower.

Always wanting to be cozy while playing a game on one of our phones. 

Celebrations

Tomorrow is July 4, which means that one week ago Finn turned 1.  We celebrated by going to the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, SC and dinner at Lupie's!

 Finn LOVES ranch dressing!  Country boy.

Finn riding his pirate ship birthday present.

Eli is a fish!  He loves to swim.  See what he can do...

Yup, that's him, jumping off a BIG diving board.

This is what happens after swimming...

We have celebrated a lot in the past few weeks, not only because of Finn's birthday, but because of Kevin's new job!

Kevin started his new job yesterday...look at how handsome he has to be everyday now.  

This is from this morning, his first day at his new office.

Happy Independence Day! 

Transitions

We are in a season of transitions.  Lots going on in our home and family right now.  Here are the transitions that the kiddos are making...all good progress!

Finn is pulling up on everything.  We know he's going to walk soon.  Ready or not, it's coming.

 

 Eli loves to sit and watch movies.  He'll watch the same movie everyday for a week if we let him.  It gives us peace, much needed peace.

 The weather is hot and sunny - summer is here.  Our pool even opens tomorrow.  We've been playing a lot in our backyard with the hose.  Eli and Finn both love it. 

 *Disclaimer: this is not a Speedo.  He's wearing his undies.  :) 

Finn's 10 month birthday!

In honor of Finn turning 10 months old today, here are two quick videos that we recently recorded. 

last night in the tub...

and today at lunch...

happy 10 months, finn!

today and yesterday

After church on Sunday, we can home and some neighbors had put up Easter decorations.  Eli wanted his own decorations, so I hopped online, found a simple (at least I thought at the time) craft, and off to Michael's we went.   This is Eli with the finished product: 

our Easter Egg Wreath.

 Finn ate black beans, corn, cheerios and some spinach/apple baby food for dinner.  

Who is this baby that loves southwestern cuisine???

 This morning our boys were color-coordinated.  Finn's a little unsure right here. 

 He looks a little better here, maybe, kind of...

Eli took this picture of Finn and me tonight all by himself.  It's not the best of me, but look to the right - that baby's awfully cute. 

Spring Has Sprung

It's hot here in Charlotte.  So hot that we finally caved and turned our air on last night.  I couldn't take it anymore - our thermostat downstairs was at 81 degrees at 7 last night and we could probably add 10 degrees to the temperature upstairs.  It's been in the 80's for the past few weeks - all the trees are out, daffodils are already past their prime and evenings are getting late since it's so warm and light and we play outside until well past a reasonable hour.

Part of our new spring routine is soccer.  Eli is in a preschool soccer clinic at the Y and had his first "practice" last Saturday.  It was really cute and he did a good job (although by the end he was very tired - mission accomplished).  Here he is sporting his soccer stance:

Along with being SO active, Eli is showing interest in reading and likes to read books by himself.  His favorite new phrase is "I can do it!"  It's nice that he wants to be so independent, but it's also a pain sometimes, like when he tries to pour himself milk or empty the dishwasher...

Finn still is not crawling, but he's getting there.  He's got the arms down, now he just needs to get the legs going at the same time.  He's gotten picky with food - all he wants to eat is our food - no baby food.  He sometimes refuses to eat with a spoon, so he's getting bits of what we have for lunch or dinner. Yesterday it was cheese, chicken and broccoli.

"Hi.  I'm so cute!"

"I mean, seriously, look at me."

This last picture is from two nights ago.  The boys are sitting in the "jammy spot".  It's our hallway upstairs, but we designated this space as the jammy spot because it's the place where they put their pajamas on every night after a bath.  It's really just a ploy to get Eli to cooperate at bedtime.  He's always eager to run to the jammy spot because it turns into the goofy spot and he climbs all over Kevin, but it's cute and they play and Eli makes Finn laugh.  A nice ending to our hectic days.

what's new....

Eli's been helping Kevin with guy stuff, like fixing the oven element

Eli got a special lunch at Chick-Fil-A after his first dentist appointment

Finn is desperate to crawl.  He can move backwards, but not forwards...yet.

Eli likes to go to Target just to play with their toys.  We're signing him up for spring soccer today.

Both boys take a bath together every night.  They love it.

Eli is silly...always, always, always. 

More from Finn...

Today Kevin, Finn and I went to lunch at Jason's Deli.  It's nothing spectacular - just a deli with a salad bar that's loud to drown out the sound of a screaming kid or crying baby.  That's really why we went there, we knew that if Finn fussed no one would hear him. 

On the contrary, Finn had a lovely lunch that was a bit of a surprise to us.  He ate the strawberry yogurt that I brought for him, then I decided to try giving him some roasted red pepper humus and he loved it!  The salad bar includes ice cream or frozen yogurt - whatever it is, Finn loved it, too.  Here he is enjoying his treat:

happy boy on a happy friday ~ enjoy!

Pizza Party

In an effort to expand Eli's palate beyond processed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, we've been requiring (codeword for forcing) him to try new foods.  Here's what he's tried the past few weeks:

• Spaghetti - Likes it!
• Rice - Hates it! [He spit it out and said, "get these bugs out of my mouth"!]  :)
• Penne - Likes it!
• Chicken - Only likes it if it's a chicken nugget from Chick-fil-a or (gulp) McDonald's (which we never go to)
• Mushrooms - Hates it!
• Yogurt - Likes it!
• Pizza - Loves it!

We've gotten pizza at a restaurant before with him, but the other night we made it at home and let Eli make his own little pizza for dinner.  Here's the final product...

And yes, he ate it. 

PS - please ignore our messy counters. 

Just because it's Friday

Just because it's Friday

And it's sunny and 70 outside

And it's 4:49 and I can't go get Eli from school because Finn's sleeping

And I could be doing something productive, but I'm choosing not to

And I'm patiently waiting for Kevin to get home so I can have a cocktail :)

I thought I'd share some of this week's best scenes with you...

Finn loves his baby food...

and Piper

Bros playing "birthday party".  Eli was using the pillows as birthday cakes.  Who knows!  

Happy Weekend!!!

Big Things Happening in 2012

There's a lot going on here at Traditions Park Drive these days.  It seems like every member of our family (with the exception of our dog, Piper) has something exciting going on.  Here they are not in any particular order of importance (although I think this first one is the most important):

1.  Kevin's bloodwork numbers are FANTASTIC compared to where they were in November when he was first diagnosed with diabetes.  And how, you ask, have they dropped so much?  We have made a 100% effort to change the way we eat.  We didn't eat unhealthy before (i.e. we're not fast food junkies, we don't drink soda, we don't snack on chips all day long), we just didn't really read labels or pay attention to the amount of carbs and fat and calories in food.  Now we do pay attention to them and seeing the results of Kevin's bloodwork proves that what you eat does matter.  Now don't get me wrong, we're not eating veggies and tofu at every meal, but we're eating leaner protein, more veggies and healthier carbs (and plenty of vino to wash it all down). 

2.  Big Boy can sit up.  All by himself.  And he doesn't fall over.  What an accomplishment!  He had his six-month check-up this week and he's a growing kid (plus he has an ear infection).  He's in the 75th percentile for weight and the 98th percentile for height.  He loves to eat baby food and he prefers veggies (SO different from his big brother).

LOVE THIS ONE:

3.  Eli...well, the latest with Eli is that we are only allowing him to have one circle PB sandwich per day.  (A circle PB sandwich is a frozen, pre-made Smuckers peanut butter and jelly sandwich that he would eat for every meal to sustain his life.)  He now is eating hot dogs, pizza and chicken nuggets.  Healthy food for our boy!  We try and are doing the best we can to introduce him to new foods without starving him at the same time.  And, just so you know, Eli loves to be nude - no matter the temperature or time of day, he always finds an excuse to take all of his clothes off.  :)

4.  My column is on the front page of the South Charlotte News section today. 
You can read it online here: Couple goes the distance to have children 
This is exciting for me and I'm hoping to be able to increase my writing opportunities this year. 

That's it.  Those are our biggies right now.  Stay tuned.

SILENT NIGHT....not in this house!

I keep hearing of these families with kids that go to bed at 7:30 and sleep all night, and even better, if the kids haven't had a nap, they get tucked in at 6:30 and are in dreamland for twelve hours.  These are not out kids.  Sure, we've never had major sleep issues with either one thus far, but the idea that we might put both boys down early and enjoy a movie or conversation is a foreign concept to us.  We're lucky if one of the boys is in bed asleep before 8:30.  And naps...well, Eli doesn't really need or want a nap anymore (who am I kidding, he's never wanted a nap).  This does not affect his bedtime at all.  Totally unfortunate for us.  Finn is getting on a nap schedule - moving him to a crib has helped his sleep during the day, but he's wide awake until at least 8:30 every night.  Again, parents with kids that go to bed before 9 are strange species to us.

So the past few nights have been, well, torture to us.  I know there are other parents out there with far worse sleeping situations, but for us, this is bad.  Let me give you a rundown of the past two nights...you will be thankful for the bad night of sleep you have been complaining about.  :)

Wednesday Night
Put Eli to bed around 8:30...
Eli gets up out of bed numerous times until 10, when I finally give in a lay down with him.
At some point I wake up and go to bed.
Midnight - Finn wakes up (he has a little cold that's making it hard for him to breathe through his nose).  Feed Finn and go back to bed.
2 a.m. - Finn wakes up again.  Feed Finn.
4 a.m. - Finn wakes up again.  Try to feed Finn, but he's not interested.
5 a.m. - Finn wakes up again.  Tell Kevin that it's his turn to take care of Finn because he's not hungry (which Kevin can't do anything about).  Kevin tries to rock him, but the little guy is so congested that he can't settle).
We realize that we need to suction out his nose.  I can't find my glasses.  Where are they?!?  Finally Kevin finds them in Eli's room where I took them off to lay down with him.
5:15 a.m. - Suction out Finn.  He's wide awake.  I am wide awake.  Kevin is wide awake.  Good Morning.

Thursday Night 
Things are already out of whack because it was Eli's Christmas program at school.
8:45ish - Put Eli to bed.  Eli doesn't wan to go to bed.  Kevin lays down with him (I know, bad parenting, but we're desperate).
9:30 - Finn FINALLY falls asleep.
9:45 - I lay down in bed, exhausted.
12:30 - I wake up alone in bed.  Lights still on downstairs.  Never took the dog out.  Kevin still asleep in Eli's bed.  Wake Kevin up so he can turn off the lights and do his insulin.  The dog is not moving, so he can wait until morning.
2 a.m. - Finn wakes up.  I feed Finn.
4 a.m. - Finn wakes up.  He doesn't want to eat.  Too congested.
4:15 -  Eli comes into our room yelling "peek-a-boo" thinking it's time to wake up.  Kevin puts him back to bed.
5 a.m. - Finn wakes up.  Need to suction his nose out.  We are up again.  Good Morning.

You'd think we'd be exhausted, but we're not.  Coffee has a lot to do with that, especially the 12 cups that we make each morning for just the two of us and the regular trips I make to the Starbucks drive-thru many afternoons.  We're amazed at how our bodies just go and do what they need to do to make it through the day.  The exhaustion usually hits us by dinner time, but then we have a glass (or two) of wine or a beer and that seems to mask the weariness that we feel. 

The point of all this:  1)  Maybe Santa will bring us sleeping children for Christmas, 2) Maybe if you read this you will not complain about the lack of sleep you've been getting (especially if you don't have any kids at home anymore, and 3)  Maybe it will make me feel just a tiny bit better to have sympathy about our sleepless nights.  Anyway, we won't hold all this against Eli and Finn, although it will be fun to wake them up bright and early when they're older to cut the grass or rake leaves.  Ha ha ha....their time will come.  :)

Here are a few pics from last night's concert:

Eli with his class

All the kids from his school.  And of course, Eli is the only one to somehow get a bell!

Eli and Finn after the program

Christmas Cheer

Here are our boys, spreading some Christmas cheer.

Merry Christmas!

halloween

yesterday was halloween and it was the first halloween that eli was so excited about.  he had been asking for days prior if the big day we here yet and he waited and waited and waited as patiently as a three-year-old can wait for a day in which he knows he will be given massive amounts of candy. 

when i got him from school yesterday we came home and i fed him a quick dinner of pancakes with syrup because who doesn't want their kids to have sugary sweet carbs before heading out to collect more sweets (i was thinking about convenience last night, not health).  we got finn ready first - eli kept saying, "i'm so excited to see finny in his costume!"  sweet big brother.  then came the pirate costume complete with a mustache and beard (just like daddy) courtesy of my brown eyeliner. 

we met our neighbors outside - a traditions in pineville tradition - and off we went!  these kids were so cute!

our annual sitting on the hay picture, but now with two kids

left to right - brody (cheerleader), kaylen (supergirl) and eli (a pirate)

harrison twins as ladybugs  :)

eli was completely unphased by the crazy spooky decorations this year.  in fact, he was giving the zombie a high five.

trick-or-treat!

peyton

finn was worn out

the end result

 

 

 

 

and yes, after eli went to bed, kevin and i raided his pumpkin bucket and took out some treats for ourselves.