Just Like His Brother

Why are my boys determined to have scars on their foreheads? We were at Chili's eating dinner tonight and Nate was goofing around with Grandma. He threw his head forward in a fit of laughter and slammed his forehead right on the metal edge of the table. He started crying immediately and Chris jumped up and whisked him away. I wasn't very concerned because it didn't seem like he hit his head that hard. I figured he just needed to be calmed down a little. Then Chris came around the corner with him and I saw his forehead! Poor guy, he had the hugest blue goose egg and had even broken the skin. We quickly paid and headed home so we could assess the damage and decide if we needed to go the the ER for stitches. After getting him all cleaned up we decided that the cut didn't warrant stitches. Nate had calmed down by the time we got home and seemed no worse for the wear. Except...monkey was no where to be found. We called Chili's and sure enough, monkey had been left behind in our hurry to get out of there. Chris went back to Chili's to pick up monkey and they told him they were sorry but it looked like monkey had gotten dirty and got a little rip in his back. No...that's just monkey.

Water Fun

Happy 2nd Birthday Jack!

I was Jack's for reals 2nd birthday, so we met Lizzy, Jack, Lucy, Lily, Ryan and Connor at Chick-fil-a for lunch.

We ate chicken nuggets and enjoyed Lizzy's practice attempt at Jack's baseball cake.

We let the boys play, play, play in the play area, then headed home for a nap.

Nate didn't quite make it home before starting his nap. All the boys got balloons and Nate wasn't going to let his go for nothing.

My Rock Star

This morning I was woken up to Wes saying, "Mommy, do I look fashionable?". Huh? I gotta see this. He had picked out this outfit from head to toe. Complete with black socks pulled up to his knees and black dress shoes. I let him wear it of course, I don't want to stifle his creativity. I just better hold on tight for what the teenage years are going to bring.

Big Boy Shoes

Now that Nate is a full time walking boy, it was time to try out the new big boy shoes that Grandma found on clearance. Up until now, he has only had soft sole, Robeez type shoes. These are cute blue velcro shoes with real soles and he is walking great in them.

I was trying to get pictures of his new shoes and instead got the cutest pictures of my sweet ham of a boy. I dare you to try and only look at the shoes. It's impossible...just look at that face! It really doesn't get any sweeter than that. I feel like these pictures totally capture Nate's sweet and silly personality. Oh my gosh, I love this boy! Don't you just want to squeeze him?

Full Time Walker

I was starting to wonder if Nate would ever walk. He just showed no interest at all. He could get everywhere he needed to go quickly by crawling. He didn't even like to walk holding on to someone's finger, it just frustrated him and he would drop and crawl. Wes was a late walker and started walking at 14 months. The day he turned 14 months, Wes stood up and never crawled again. So, I didn't really expect Nate to walk before then, but 14 months came and went, and then 15 months came and went. Then today, the day he turns 16 months, Nate decided that walking is now worth it. Just like his brother, he stood up, started walking and will never crawl again. What a sweet big boy!

Wes's Toy Story Movie Party

We celebrated Wes's 4th birthday with a Toy Story movie party. This is the cake that took me a whole day to make. It turned out really cute and I'm glad that I did it...I'm also glad I only do it a few times a year.

All of Wes's friends and family came over in the evening for pizza, games, and a backyard movie.

I made a "crane game" with a baby pool, a bunch of Toy Story prizes and the grabber thing that Chris got for the Christmas gift exchange game with my family (it's all about putting things to use). Pretty much all of the kids were able to play this game...and everybody won.

Then, of course, the kids lined up for a chance at the Buzz Lightyear pull-string pinata. There HAD to be a pinata, because Wesley told me a few months earlier, "It just isn't a fun party unless there's a pinata".

Unfortunately, Buzz's pull-strings didn't pull and I literally had to rip him limb from limb to get the candy out. I hope I didn't traumatize any children. They seemed too interested in the candy though, to notice the fate of poor Buzz.

We sang Happy Birthday and enjoyed some cake.

Then, Wes's favorite part, opening presents. He got so many nice things, we're going to let him open one new toy a day so he doesn't go into toy overload. The present he absolutely freaked over though, was the Beatles t-shirt that Grandma gave him. He jumped up and ran around screaming, "Look, its a Beatles shirt!".

Daddy fired up the popcorn machine that we rented and it was time to sit down for a backyard showing of Toy Story.

We borrowed Sean's projector, hung a sheet over the wall, laid some blankets on the grass and we had ourselves a backyard theater.

I was pretty surprised at how quickly the kids settled down and started watching the movie. Sometimes I come up with these harebrained ideas and I'm not sure if they are actually going to work out.

Chocolate on the face, glazed look in the eye...I'd call that a successful party!

Superman

He can help his Mommy make fondant for his birthday cake and take a good long nap in a single bound!

Little Tiny Baby Kicks

I felt those first fluttering little baby kicks in my tummy today. I love those kicks. It makes the pregnancy so much more "real". I know that soon, these "little tiny flutter" kicks will turn into "great big, get off my bladder" kicks, but I will enjoy every minute.

What?!?

You've never seen a man with a purse and softy bunny before?

Mommy's 2nd Triathlon (Baby's 1st)

I started training for the Tri for the Cure before I found out I was pregnant. After talking with my doctor, I decided to still give it a go at 14 weeks pregnant. She said that as long as I listened to my body and didn't overdo it and there were no complications, I would be fine.

Unfortunately, I spent most of my 1st trimester with a really bad sinus infection and stomach virus and was not able to train as much as I wanted to. I started the training back up a few weeks before the event and was feeling good, so I went for it. I knew I could always just take it really easy if I needed to.

The triathlon went great! I felt really good throughout the whole thing and finished with decent results. The baby came along for the ride (and run, and swim) and I even got a little teary in the middle of the race thinking about the little passenger I had with me. What can I say...pregnancy hormones.

My overall time was 1:09:36, which was similar to the first triathlon I completed (though it's hard to compare because of slightly different distances and a different terrain). In my division out of 52 I finished 21st overall (3rd in the swim, 30th in the bike, and 21st in the run). If only I could bike and run as fast as I can swim.

I was lucky to have my biggest fans Chris, Wes, Nate, Mom and Linde cheering for me. When I came into the track to finish my run I saw them all cheering and waving. My mom was holding Nate and I waved and yelled out, "Hi Punkin!". His bottom lip got all quivery and he almost started to cry. Poor baby. He was probably wondering where I was all morning (I had to leave the house at 5am, before anyone woke up), then when he finally saw me I was running away.

Wes was SO excited that I got a medal for this triathlon (all finishers got a finishers medal). He was kind of disappointed that I only got a ribbon in the first triathlon and he doesn't really grasp the concept that I don't do the triathlons to win. To a 4 year old, winning is everything. He immediately took off with my medal and wore it for several days after. It makes me feel good that he is proud of his Mommy. I hope one day he will want to do triathlons with me.

After the race, I deserved to stuff myself. So, Chris and I headed over to one of our favorites, Chino Bandito, to get take out for everyone.

Happy Easter

Both boys had lots of fun in the children's room at church. Wes made some Easter crafts and even helped Nate make one, they listened to stories about Easter and played.

When we came home, it was time for the egg hunt, breakfast and Easter baskets!

Wes was the king of the egg hunt and Nate did a good job walking around the grass hunting for eggs with the help of a finger. Later that day, he even took about 10 steps all by himself. Maybe, just maybe, he will decide to start walking soon.

Both boys got tons of goodies in their many Easter baskets. Here Nate is checking out his loot (especially the softies) before conking out for his morning nap.

Even Adam and Jaime got some sweet Easter basket fun with their wax lips and mustache. Wes had to give it a try of course.

We all had a nice middle of the day nap and reconvened later that evening for dinner. Unfortunately, Lou Lou had gotten sick the night before with a stomach virus and couldn't join in on any Easter fun. Liz, Chris, Jack and Lucy decided to stay away also because they were afraid Nate may have given the virus to Lou Lou (I discovered that Nate had actually gotten sick earlier in the week from drinking a little bit of dish soap and not a virus...but that's a whole other story). So, we were very sad to not spend the holiday with our whole family but we made the best of it and had a great day. A nice leisurely dinner and playing in the cool air of the backyard was a perfect way to end the day.

Happy Easter!

Easter Egg Dying

This was Nate's first year really getting his hands dirty, literally, with Easter egg dying. Last Easter he was still a cute little lump in the infant seat. We gave him a paint brush and with a little help from Linde, he went to town painting his first egg.

Wes helped Grandma with his favorite job...filling plastic eggs with M&Ms and putting wrappers on them for Daddy to shrink wrap in boiling water. Why is this Wes's favorite job? More M&Ms end up in his belly than in the eggs, of course.

Wes made sure to leave a carrot for the Easter Bunny before heading off to bed.