currently #6

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THIS WEEK'S THEMES: trying, wearing, choosing, laughing, tasting

Elliot and Emmett are currently...

Trying Elliot has been trying to evade naps any way possible lately, despite being exhausted every day by 1 or 2pm. My solution? I've been letting him fall asleep on the couch after I put Emmett down for his afternoon nap. While the couch might not be the most conventional or practical place for a toddler to nap, he falls asleep there easily and our afternoons are now much more stress free.

Wearing some of the same size shorts (12-18 months) & "ship shops" as Elliot calls them (flip flops)

Choosing to drag mama outside no matter how hot it is outside. I mean, really... 106 degrees? According to Elliot, that's the perfect weather to "go play playground!" You'd think they'd change their minds once they were out in the heat for awhile, but nope... I think if I let them, they'd stay outside all day even if it were like 130 degrees outside. Provided that I bring lots and lots of water to refill their straw cups.

Laughing at eachother. It is SO cute! Elliot and Emmett have been forming a really close bond over the last month or so. They spend much of the day following each other around, playing together, trying to make each other laugh, etc. And Elliot's new favorite thing to do? Feed Emmett. Emmett prefers to use his own fork or spoon now, but when Elliot comes over? Elliot gets to feed his baby brother- either with a utensil or even just  putting bites right into his mouth- and Emmett seems to love being fed this way by his big brother. They are melting my heart lately, guys. And really affirming my decision to have them so close together. I can't even imagine my life with one and not the other anymore.

I am currently...

Trying to make further plans for our future... but the Army and the VA are making that really hard right now. I'm not going to lie, it was a pretty stressful week. Right now, we have theoretically talked about all of our options, all the places we may end up, and when... now we really just have to wait for the VA to give Aaron his ratings! It's driving me crazy. I've said this before and I'll say it again- I am a serial  planner and having a soldier as a husband makes it impossible to plan anything very far in advance.

Wearing sundresses and lots of new jeans shorts. Despite finally being back to my pre-baby weight (can I get a woot woot?), I'm still not fitting into my pre-baby jeans comfortably. My butt and hips have definitely changed. While my husband sees this as a good thing, I'm on the fence and would love to tone up some more- the trouble is finding the time when you have one & two year old little boys.

Choosing my battles, when it comes to Elliot. He's a sensitive little boy and his feelings get hurt very easily. Luckily a hug or kiss and "Mama/Daddy's sorry" usually makes it all better. But really! He gets upset so easily sometimes. Like if he asks politely for me to play with him or get him a snack and (god forbid) I need to do something for Emmett first- Oh no- Elliot's little heart will be crushed into a million tiny pieces. That's the nature of being two though, right?

Laughing at the hilarious things that my boys do. Emmett insists on giving you three, four, or five enthusiastic high-fives in a row, Elliot thinks it's hilarious to sneak up and lick people, Emmett growls like Elliot while Elliot can almost perfectly mimic Emmett's babbling sometimes, Emmett likes to raid my cupboards and walk away with pots and pans, Elliot is obsessed with drawing "cupcake choo choo trains" and "BIIIG sailboats"... I could go on and on. They're too funny!

Tasting a lot of restaurant food. Somehow we managed to fall almost completely off the diet bandwagon and ate out a LOT last paycheck. I blame it mostly on the long holiday weekend but... wow. Next paycheck? I'll be making a lot cheaper and healthier meals at home again.

why we have no family pictures hanging on our walls

We desperately need family photos taken. Our boys have grown and changed so much in the last year- it makes me really sad to think that we don't have any family pictures at all when Emmett was a tiny baby. There are a lot of reasons for this- for one, I'm normally the one with the camera, which means I rarely make it into a photo. The fact that I was basically a nursing slave to Emmett for the first several months of his life, and wore nothing but stretchy clothes that provided easy access for nursing, is also to blame. Not to mention the fact that I hated  my post-baby body so much that I pretty much avoided the camera lens like the plague. Sure, I have plenty of pictures of Elliot and Emmett, or of Daddy and the boys, and (thanks to my cooperative husband) a few recent ones taken with me in them, too. However... we have taken, sadly, exactly ONE family photo since Emmett was born.

Let's be honest, that one photo is pretty horrible. I'm embarrassed that it ended up on our Christmas cards last year. It was a spur of the moment idea, so our outfits were nothing special- for pete's sake, I'm wearing yoga pants.... and let's not even talk about my hair. Also, I took it with my tripod- do you have any idea how hard it is to run back and forth from the camera to the photo spot and manage to compose yourself (and two babies) in 20 seconds flat? Yeah. It wasn't easy. I know they make these nifty things called remotes that make working with a tripod a lot easier- but I wasn't about to buy one for my old Canon camera when I was planning on upgrading so soon. This was the best shot we got- and it's awful. Just awful.

So, my new mission in life is to schedule a family photo session- and soon. Hopefully, I'll report back within the next month or two with some great photos to share, okay? If not, feel free to harass me on here, twitter, facebook- wherever. ;)

Now, I haven't been failing totally at the whole capturing memories via photos with my kids, at least. Lately, I've been handing my camera over to Aaron and forcing bribing him to take some pictures of me with with the boys. Surprisingly, he got some really cute shots! Here are a few of my favorite recent pictures with the kids- all taken by my husband, who knows pretty much nothing about my camera. :)

How often do you guys get family photos taken? Do you ever use a tripod to take your own? Do you just ask your friends to do it, or do you make sure to get professional pictures taken regularly, too? 

Happy 4th of July from my little firecrackers (a little late)

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. Aaron had the long weekend off, so I've been trying to simply enjoy our time as a family and I've been to busy during the day (and too tired at night) to blog. I really need to learn the fine art of blogging while still spending time with my family, or better yet... blogging about all the great things we've been doing together! I've been a bad blogger :(

Well, we had a FANTASTIC fourth of July! It was, probably, the last time we will be celebrating America's birthday IN the United States. So we made sure to have the best day possible! First, we all dressed in red, white, and blue- like any good 'Merica family, right?? We drove out to Round Rock, which is only supposed to be a little over an hour away... but somehow we ended up driving all the way to Austin. It was worth the drive. The festival/fair in Round Rock was really fun- Elliot got to ride a "choo choo train" and he got to follow goats and chickens around in the petting zoo (he couldn't understand why they weren't more interested in the feed!). It was hot- even by Texas standards- so we ended up leaving the festival for awhile and checking out a huge mall in Cedarville (more driving). We returned to the festival just in time to watch the sky divers! My boys were totally fascinated watching them twirl and twist in the sky. Emmett couldn't stop pointing and clapping and I don't think Elliot quite knew what to think about "flying" people- I mean, only "airpwanes" and "hewacoppers" can fly, right?

The fireworks were delayed by over an hour, and didn't start until about 10:15, but they were well worth the wait. The firework show was far more impressive than the one we saw last year at Freedom Fest at Fort Hood. Elliot and Emmett were both totally entranced and Emmett clapped and said "ooooh!" after every. single. firework. :) I was a little nervous how Emmett would handle all the noise and staying up so late, but he was a little champ. In fact, both of my boys were absolute angels the whole day. I sure am glad they loved the fireworks and festival so much, and that they spent most of the day running around. They were so tired that they both fell asleep and slept through what was probably the slowest moving traffic jam I've ever been in (and I've been in some horrible rush hour Chicago and NYC traffic before) along with the rest of the ride home. I'm not kidding guys, our car didn't even move for over an hour, and we didn't make it out of Old Settlers Park until after midnight. During our drive, we nearly hit (but missed) a kitten and a raccoon, and we saw over 25 deer on the side of the road. Someone was looking out for us! My babies didn't end up back in their own beds until after 2AM.

Aaron and I realized, at about 1AM, that this was our very first time keeping the boys out so late- and after talking about our sweet boys and the day's events for a bit, we both agreed that God blessed us with such well behaved children. We can always take them out in public without worrying about meltdowns, tantrums, or really any trouble at all, and that makes our lives so much easier. I sure do love those little men!

totally enthralled

one of the sky divers

 

Elliot trying to coax the chickens into eating some of his feed- and Emmett feeding them grass through the bars! ha.

Elliot walking with his best friend, Trenton- and no, we didn't prompt them to hold hands. :) So sweet.

Our day could have definitely ended up less-than-thrilling, what with all the extra driving, the extreme heat, etc- but with toddlers, you just have to roll with the punches, right? Thankfully my boys didn't feel like throwing many punches that day ;)

I hope you all had great 4th of July's too! What did you do?