First words...

The other night Jake cried out in the middle of the night. "MAMA." It was clear as a bell. It hasn't been that clear during his waking hours yet, but when he was scared or hurting or whatever he was, he knew exactly what he wanted. :)

Today, when we heard Jake wake up from his nap, Ethan and I ran into his room to play and he was sitting up in the crib, smiling. When we got into the room he looked at us and said, "I."

He has said hi a few other times today and it just makes me giggle inside from head to toe.

Ethan's first word was at about 22 months, (Jake is 11 months right now) and it was TRACTOR. seriously. "DACKDO." Ethan loves tractors, Jake loves his mama.

Yep, that pretty much sums it up.

Oh, and random picture. Here is Ethan in front of our pretty flowers. Our apartment complex gave out free flowers if we promised to plant and water and weed. It's been fun to get my thumb just a little bit green.

Jake-a-roo at the Children's Museum

Hello everybody! I just wanted to show you how much fun I had at the children's museum last Friday. Usually I'm just kind of along for the ride, but now that I'm moving around I got to really play. It was awesome.

Mom had to do a double take to see if I was Ethan since I looked like such a big boy standing in this little kitchen.

I'm learning all about my fruits and veggies (and I LOVE to eat. While I'm chewing one bite, if I can't see the next bite and know that it's on it's way I get distressed. Just as a sidenote.)

Then they had this incredible crawl land that I played in for a long long time. This is what I dream about in my baby dreams--a place where I can crawl and crawl and go up and down and all around. I have been climbing and climbing on the stairs at home (and dressers and other things that are way too big and dangerous for little kids my age) and the landings have not been so soft. So this place was really great.

Whee!

Climbing up again and again...

And down again for a soft landing!

I got to play in the water, too! Am I a big boy or what?

Ethan got to go with his friend Paige and they had lots of fun too.

Man, this whole crawling thing is great. Freedom to move wherever I want to go.... I think I'll start working on the walking thing in a few more weeks but there is so much to explore and do that I'm content to wait on that for a bit. Well, aside from the migrating bruise that I have and will have for the next year of my life, I'm pretty glad to be here. I like to wrestle with Ethan and climb up onto his bed and play. I laugh like crazy when he chases me up the stairs and cry when he pushes me and won't share, but mom always has my back so it's okay. I eat more than Ethan does and I am now a pro at a sippy cup with regular old cow's milk. So if you think I'm a baby, you are out of touch. :)

Have a good day!

Hey, when's lunch?!

Love Jake

Preschool!

Well, we're at it again. Last year I did preschool with just Ethan here at home and this year we are doing a fun trade with two other families where we take turns hosting the three kids at our house and being the teacher.

Here you can see part of our "classroom," which is actually the landing of our stairs. We start in the living room for circle time and show and tell and songs and stuff and then we sing the alphabet as it lines the stairs up to the first landing. After ABC's, Shapes, and Colors, we follow the months up the rest of the stairs to the calendar and the weather. Someday maybe I'll have a "school room" but for now I'll settle for a stairway. :) And it's kind of fun to keep them moving as we go.
Today for the letter B and the number 2 we glued Black Beans on the letter B, traced our 2 feet and talked about what else we have two of, played Go Fish to match up 2 fish at a time, and sang a million songs. It was a little bit more chaotic than I had anticipated, but with a baby and 3 3 year-olds what can you expect? I think they had fun, anyway. Hooray for learning!



E is for Ethan!

We're excited for a great year!

Letters to Heaven #2

Dear God,
I'm sorry for all the times I've tried to boss around your other children or get mad at them for messing with my stuff. I know I've learned a lot since I was 3, but I still manage to find my own adult ways of being selfish, don't I?

Thank you for giving me 2 very cute and very crazy little boys so I can learn how to do better at saying kind words, sharing, and making good choices.

I told Ethan today: "Even if Jake does something he's not supposed to, you still need to use kind words and be gentle. I will take care of Jake--you take care of YOU and how you respond to him. I will help you fix your train that Jake messed up, so you don't need to get mad at Jake. He didn't mean to." And then I thought about you and all the times you've tried to teach your children that same thing. I think I'm still learning it, but it's all becoming a lot more clear to me as I see the world through parent eyes. Thanks for being patient with me and for loving me whether I get what you're trying to teach me or not. :)

I don't know how you handle having billions of children. I am overwhelmed with my two. If you've got any more great ideas or suggestions, I'm always open to them...
Love Em

Letters to Heaven #1

Dear God,
If running a world is anything like running a household, I just want to say thanks for all your hard work. I bet it's frustrating to design the world and take incredible care as you place things on it and in it--and then watch your children break your rules and make so many horrible messes and destroy things that you've given to them. Do you ever feel unappreciated--or like you want to stop working so hard because no matter how much effort you put in there will still be messes and crying children all around?
Well, you're perfect, so you probably don't get frustrated.
I do, sometimes. Sorry about that.
The point is, though, that I would like to say, "Thank you for creating this beautiful world. Thank you for keeping it running and providing food for all of us, whether we're grateful or not, and for doing everything possible to teach us how to get along and be happy. Thanks for not giving me everything I want (even if I whine and cry), and thanks for holding me when I'm hurt and telling me everything will be okay. And sorry for all the messes I make. I really am trying. :)

Love Em

Updates.

I've played ultimate frisbee twice in the last 2 weeks. My body was a little mad but it was really fun.

I invented strogagna (prounounced stroh gahn ya, not stro gag na), which is mushrooms over noodles but with ground beef, cottage chesse, tomato soup and green beans added in. I was out of cream of mushroom soup so I did what I had to do.

We had too many toys.
We gave some away.
We rotated some out of use.
Ethan never thought we had too many toys.
I still think we do.
I'm tired of cleaning up toys. :)

Jake can crawl up the stairs all by himself.
Jake can fall down the stairs all by himself.
Jake is adorable.
Jake can make an incredible mess with even foods that aren't really that messy.
The floor under Jake's chair stays clean for about 10 minutes a day.
I love my cute little guy more than I care about my floor.

Ethan is learning some amazing grammar from the boy across the street.
(That jeep don't work, mom. Them is going to be right back.)
Ethan is learning some other colorful language from the boy across the street.
I am trying to keep breathing. My 3 year-old?!?!?!
Ethan started preschool this week.
By preschool I mean school with two other kids where we rotate each week which mom is the teacher.
I am loving it.
Ethan is loving it.
Ethan loves his lightning McQueen backpack.

Today I nursed Jake for the last time ever.
I have probably nursed him more than 2,000 times in his life.
My body has really started to perk up this week and I am not ridiculously hungry all day long.
Pregnancy and nursing are akin to having a parasite.
I like the nursing parasite better because it's cute and snuggly and huggable and wears footy pajams.

Kyle is doing fillings and partial dentures and bridges and all kinds of other real procedures up in the school clinic.
We celebrated our 5 year anniversary. Wow, I love that guy.
He wrote on the card, "Thanks for 5 wonderful years. May the next 5 bring an equal amount of joy and a whole lot more money."
Amen to that.

I got an over the door pocket organizer for our downstairs closet and filled with gloves and sunglasses and sunscreen and hats and bags.
I smile everytime I open the door.

My insulin comes in a new box and has a new label now. I said, "Hey, humalog, that's a good look for you."

For short updates this post is getting long.

I love my boys.
I love teaching piano lessons.
I love teaching voice lessons.
I love getting to work on so much music stuff in my calling.
I don't love that mortality is a grueling obstacle course through the fiery furnace but I get more blessings along the way than I deserve.
If you're reading this, I love you. :)

The end.