some family pictures (finally)

Some of you may remember me complaining a few months back about how we had no decent family pictures of the 4 of us. Feel free to read the post here. Well, I'm happy to say that one cloudy day in November, when I was doing a family shoot for a close friend of mine, I set up my camera, handed it to her, and told her to snap away. And you know what? We ended up with some cute pictures! Doing it this way actually worked out pretty well, because I could be picky and delete all the pictures I didn't like. ;)

I of course took a bunch of Daddy and the photogenic one, Emmett, as well. Don't mind Elliot's painful-looking cheese face or scowls. Pictures are just no fun for three year olds! And his shirt is really big... which we didn't realize until we got him dressed that morning. Tiny boy fits in 24 month or 2t and drowns in 3t.

fall festivities (catching up on October)

I'm going to apologize ahead of time for the extreme photobomb I'm about to unleash on the bloggy universe. I realized today, while redesigning a friend's blog, that I haven't blogged since September, and I miss it. The main thing holding me back was the fact that painted all over my blog was the fact that we were supposed to be moving overseas. I guess Michigan just pales in comparison to Costa Rica or Panama... but our decision has been made for awhile now, so it's about time that I moved on, huh?

We enjoyed our last October in Texas by visiting a local pumpkin farm- and don't let our outfits fool you- it was 80 degrees that day. We all had a blast, though. It was so much fun this year, because Emmett was old enough to play and explore right alongside Elliot. It's hard to believe that last year, he was only five months old, not even sitting up on his own yet, and this year a walking, talking toddler. Emmett was more content to ride in the stroller and climb all over the pumpkins while Elliot rode a barrel train, fed/pet the goats, picked mama flowers, and carefully chose his very own "wittle kunkin!".

The boys had just as much (if not more) fun on Halloween. Elliot picked out his own costume this year. He was a "bigggg MONSTER!" in his words. Emmett wore the same lion costume that Elliot wore last year. Elliot walked almost the entire time, and he said "trick or treat!" and "thank you" at every single door. Emmett sat in the stroller holding onto his pumpkin bucket full of candy.

Okay- that's about enough pictures for one post, right? I hope you all had a fantastic Halloween and fall!!

things I don't want to forget #2

Elliot, 33 months:

• Elliot's favorite new sayings include "I'm too shy", "one last time!", "just right", "I did it!" and "watch this!" His vocabulary has absolutely exploded in the last few months, and although he still has a bad habit of mispronouncing a lot of sounds/words, he likely won't qualify for speech therapy anymore after his evaluation next month.
• he will repeat something over and over until you either acknowledge him or repeat what he said back to him. He got into this habit back when people had a hard time understanding him- he would wait to hear you repeat what he said so he knew that you knew what he was saying. 
• he is REALLY artistic and absolutely loves to color, draw, paint, and play with play dough. 
• he is obsessed with dinosaurs and (still) trains
• he is fond of collecting things- currently, he has rather large collections of rubber duckies, bouncy balls, and dinosaurs.
• I'm proud to say that he seems to have grown out of his camera-hating stage. In fact, he will even say "cheese" for pictures without me asking, sometimes
• he loves to do flashcards- particularly the ABC and animal ones.
• he hasn't been eating very much at mealtimes lately, instead preferring to have small snacks throughout the day. He really loves broccoli (still), pizza, popcorn, Chinese food, cheese, and chocolate milk.
• he always has to have a bedtime snack- I think that's because he inherited my super fast metabolism. (I always have a bedtime snack, too).
• his favorite animals are parrots, and he loves visiting them at pet stores and the zoo. 
• his favorite shows include Super Why, Dragon Tales, Godzilla (the 1970's version), and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. 
• he fights his naps tooth & nail ("I'm not tired! I don't want it!") but the minute he gets comfy in his carseat he's fast asleep. His bedtime is 9pm but if he skips his nap he will fall asleep before that on the couch. He usually wakes up between 8:30-9:00 in the morning which is perfect because it gives me a chance to shower before his brother wakes up.
• he wears mostly 24 month & 2t shirts and can wear anything from 12m-24m shorts because of his tiny waist.
• he weighs 27 lbs and is 37.5", and was at the 5th percentile for his age until he recently lost weight and fell off the growth scale altogether. 

Emmett, 16 months:

• Emmett is what we call an "aggressive snuggler." He LOVES to cuddle and he will make that known by randomly and enthusiastically diving onto unsuspecting people (which sometimes results in painful headbutting/etc)
• He LOVES chocolate milk and will usually gulp his cup down and then proceed to try to steal Elliot's 
• he has recently grown attached to his green polka dotted blanket and often brings it along when I lift him out of his crib 
• he says a wide variety of words, but the ones we hear most frequently are "mama, dada, please, more, up, all done, uh oh, water, love you, bye bye, choo choo, and thank you". He often surprises me by saying a new word out of the blue, like "brother." 
• he LOVES his big brother and follows him around pretty much everywhere. He also loves destroying block towers that Elliot is working on.
• Emmett loves to give kisses :)
• he also loves to make toy dinosaurs and lions go "RAWWWRRRR!"
• he will stop whatever he's doing and say "choo choo! all aboard!" whenever the train goes by.
• he is always hungry, always eating, and will nearly never turn down food that is offered to him. Also, if you made yourself something to eat, you'd better be prepared to share! 
• he could care less what is on TV but gets mad whenever a show on Netflix ends. He'll point at the TV and say "uh oh!" with increasing urgency until I put something else on. I think he mostly just likes the background noise. 
• he usually takes one long nap in the afternoon, and occasionally a second. His bedtime is 8pm and he sleeps in until 9:30-10:30 almost every morning. 
• he nurses only once a day now (before bed). He dropped his nighttime nursing a month or two ago.
• he wears 12-18 month shirts and 9 & 12 month shorts. We are about to move up to 24 month pj's for the length, though. 
• He weighs 24 lbs and is 31" and is at the 68th percentile. He's definitely thicker than his brother and has a little belly. We always joke around that he got my husband's genes and Elliot got mine. 

It's hard to believe how quickly my little boys are growing up :( but at the same time, it's fascinating to watch them grow and develop into individuals- and to watch their relationship grow, too. 

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?

not the ocean, but it'll have to do... for now

Aaron finally sat down with his case manager last week, and got more things accomplished for his medical retirement. It looks like we won't be able to leave Texas until probably the end of September or beginning of October. At first, I was really disappointed to hear this, but at the same time, it gives us more time to save and prepare, so I guess I can't complain too much. Apparently Costa Rica is practically underwater for nearly all of October, anyways, so it could be a blessing in disguise. During much of the rainy season, it is sunny in the morning but rainy in the afternoons- that I can handle (I think). Nearly constant rain for a month straight? Not so much.

To be honest, I'm really loving Texas lately, so this summer, we will just make the best of it! I keep saying that I really need to start going through and downsizing some of our belongings- particularly the boys' things. People, these kids of mine have a LOT of stuff. They're a little spoiled. Oh well. We have time. I'll have to try to squeeze it in sometime between keeping my two little men happy in the mornings (aka preparing them 23 snacks, constantly refilling their water cups, trying to keep them from accidentally injuring eachother, and walking behind them trying to pick up the tornado of toys they leave behind them) and our time spent outside. Seriously, when it's 99 degrees and sunny outside, my boys simply DO NOT want to spend one minute inside. They are definitely my kids. When everyone else is holed up inside with their air conditioners, we're out there running around having a blast. And chugging bottles of water.

My poor husband has hand foot and mouth disease, which is going around like crazy around here. I guess it's a good thing that he didn't find out sooner, or else I probably wouldn't have been able to drag him out to the lake on Saturday ;) I'm hoping and praying that hand-foot-mouth was what Emmett and I were sick with last week and the week before, because otherwise we will likely catch it- and I definitely don't want it!!

A few pictures from our weekend-

It was our second time to this particular lake- which is called Stillhouse Hollow Park, and we enjoyed ourselves even more this time than last! Except Aaron of course, who pretty much laid pathetically in the water most of the time, other than one exploration into the bushes while wearing Emmett in the Boba so he could take a much-needed nap. Our only complaint from our last trip was the sloppy clay sand, but we picked a different spot on the beach this time and the clay was buried beneath regular sand- yay! It also helped that we finally found swim trunks to fit Elliot- size 12-18 months from Crazy 8. He's such a skinny mini!

Emmett could NOT get enough of splashing in this water.

It's definitely not the ocean, but it'll have to do for now. Oh, how I miss the ocean. What I wouldn't give to dive into the cold, salty sea right about now. I grew up going to the ocean often, but we haven't been to the coast since we moved to Texas! In fact, the last time I swam in the ocean, I was pregnant with Elliot. That was when Aaron was in Korea and before we knew for sure which birth defect he had, and I found a lot of peace and solace in the sea. You can read about that here, if you want. 

Hopefully, the next time I set foot in salty water, it will be on a beach in Costa Rica! I want my children to grow up knowing the wonder and healing powers of the ocean... just like I did. Especially if they are unlucky enough to inherit my acne-prone skin. Lake beaches can be fun, but they just don't compare to the real thing!

enjoying our last Texas summer... our summer bucket list

Although the first day of summer isn't technically until Friday, somebody must have forgotten to tell our weatherman because we have been sizzling here in Texas!

Thinking about this beautiful weather made me realize that we've been focusing so much on our move to Costa Rica that I've almost been wishing our last few months here in Texas away! That's a shame, because we have truly enjoyed living here. The weather is great, and the people are almost as warm and inviting... which isn't the case in midwest. If we were to settle down in the US, we'd probably buy a house somewhere right here in the Lonestar State. It's bright and sunny here nearly every day- that's something I'll miss once we move to Costa Rica- particularly during the rainy season! 

There are so many neat places to explore and things to do right here in Texas. I've been wanting to get out and see more of the state- well, no better time than now! We will probably be moving away in September, so I figured we had better make the most out of our last summer here. And that led me to create... our summer bucket list!

I really hope we manage to do everything on the list above. There were even more interesting things we've been wanting to check out, but I wanted to keep the bucket list small so we could realistically complete it. I'll be sure to take plenty of pictures and blog about it :) If you're ever in Texas, email me! I have bookmarked all kinds of fun ideas, especially for families with small children.

things I don't want to forget

Elliot, 29 months:

• Elliot likes to refer to himself in the third person ("Elliot carry it, Elliot have banana? Elliot walk! Elliot yikes this!")
• he is also fond of adding "too" to the end of everything he says, even if it doesn't make sense. ("Elliot snacky, too? Elliot carry it, too. No bye bye, too")
• he is obsessed with cupcakes, sailboats, and trains. Whenever we're building or drawing, that's waht he wants- a cupcake, a sailboat, or a choo-train. I'm not sure where he picked these up (especially the cupcakes?) but it's pretty cute. A couple days ago, at the sandbox, he sculpted a whole bunch of little round "cupcakes" and was so proud of himself. :)
• he hates the camera. HATES it. Hence the lack of photos of him lately.
• Whenever he needs something, he says (in a very pathetic voice) "Help, Mama! Help!"
• if we're outside, he insists on holding my hand. If I forget, he will say, "Hand, Mama! Hand!" until I grab his adorable little hand in mine. It's absolutely endearing and I know it won't last, so I'll treasure it while I can.
• he says please like: "cheeeeeese!" and usually without us asking
• Elliot is very into organizing and sorting his toys. He likes to gather up all of his rubber duckies into a bucket and carry it around, or line up his blocks along the wall, etc. It's silly. I wonder if he's going to like organizing like I do when he gets older?
• Whenever little brother even so much as touches Elliot, he says "ow! ow! OW!" Yeah, the big brother is commonly "beat up" by the little brother. Except luckily for Elliot, Emmett is the nicest baby there is so, really, nothing ever happens. Unless Elliot gets in the way of Emmett's food... then there may be a problem.
• His favorite animals are cows 
• favorite foods: broccoli (bwok-wee), rice (ice), graham crackers (big cwacker), & apples
• He's wearing mostly 12-18m shorts and 18-24m shirts. Occasionally, depending on the brand, he wears 2t shirts, for the length. He wears size 3 disposables and Flips snapped to the smallest rise setting. We recently started selling off our cloth diaper stash in preparation for our move to Costa Rica (because they would take up way too much valuable suitcase space)... hence why they are sometimes in disposables now, too, whereas they were exclusively in cloth for over 8 months. Once we get to Costa Rica, and get settled into a place with a washer, we plan to cloth diaper again. 
• He weighs around 24 lbs and is 35.5".

Emmett, 12 months: 

• Emmett has 9 teeth (he just got his first molar!)
• he likes to randomly squeal and dive onto unsuspecting pillows and blankets
• he is all about the random snuggles. Oh my Emme, I don't think his life would go on if he couldn't get his snuggles in every day.
• when I go in to get him in the morning or after his nap, as soon as he hears the door open, he jumps up, throws his arms out, and either laughs or squeals. Then the first thing he does once picked up is give me a good long hug. ♥ 
• words he says: "more", "mama", "dada", "uh-oh", and I swear he says banana, but I might just be imagining that one? He says something that sounds just like it every time he sees a banana, though. 
• favorite food: bananas, but really he loves and will devour ANYTHING. And then he proceeds to eat about an adult-sized serving, far more than his big brother ever eats, until his little round tummy sticks out and is hard as a rock. What can I say? He's a piglet. 
• he takes two naps a day (3 hours in the morning + 1-2 hours in the afternoon), is in bed by 8pm, and usually wakes up between 8-9am. He is waking up for one night feeding still, most nights.
• whenever I'm doing laundry, he loves to help. His favorite thing to do is stand in front of the dryer and hand me each piece of freshly-dried clothing, one by one. Time consuming? Yes... but oh so adorable.
• every evening, before his bath, I start filling up the tub and take his diaper off while he stands and waits. EVERY time I take his diaper off, he looks down and checks out his "boy parts". I don't know if he's making sure they're still there, or just amazed that he's naked and free, or what, but it totally cracks me up.
• he is still nursing- but I'm not sure how much longer I'll get to treasure this last part of babyhood. He only nurses before bed and usually once during the night now. Although a few months ago I was somewhat eager to wean, I'm in no rush at all anymore- I love nursing him to sleep. It's our special bonding time.
• he's wearing 9 & 12 month shirts, sometimes 18 month onesies, for the length. Mostly 9 month shorts, and size 3 disposables and Flips snapped to the smallest rise setting. 
• he weighs around 21 lbs and is 30".

Lately I've just been thinking about how quickly time passes- it seems like just yesterday that Emmett was born, and we became a family of four. Suddenly, he's already one year old. They are each their own person,  developing their own distinct personality. They each have their own little quirks that I don't want to forget. Sometimes I wish I could just freeze time. I stopped doing monthly updates on the boys awhile ago, but I wanted a way to record and remember the little things forever. This is just my way of doing that. This "things I don't want to forget" post is probably the first in a series. I'll  post a new one every month or two. 

"Life is short, and it's up to you to make it sweet." 
-Sarah Louise Delany

memorial day

Wishing a very happy Memorial Day to all soldiers- past, present, and fallen, but especially my very own soldier, Aaron Patrick. Elliot, Emmett, and I love you so much and are so glad God decided to keep you here on earth with us ♥ 

... so God made a soldier.