September Phone Favorites

 Ah, beautiful baby snuggles! I {love} snuggling with our little ones. It doesn't get much better than baby sniffs. 

 Ethnie rather enjoys reading scriptures. One morning she was turning the pages and found "Esus" (Jesus). She melts my heart. 

 Duke is already a chick magnet.

 Duke was sad after E's naps so she decided to climb up in the chair to help cheer him up. Those two just love eachother and it made me smile. Not to mention I got a few cute shots of them together. 

 Key to my heart right there!!!

 This month I also went back to work. It was bitter sweet. It was hard leaving Duke and Ethnie but it's very rewarding working, even if it is only one day a week. I have the most wonderful job in the world! I am beyond blessed!

 Ethnie may be Grampa's girl but Duke is totally a Gramma's boy. There is no shortage of snuggles when we go visit! 

 Words cannot do my love for the outfit justice. I mean how cute is that?! It's a good ting a snapped a photo of him all dressed up because he had a massive blowout later on which permanently stained the back. Major bummer.

 Hello gorgeous!

While at the park with our FABULOUS Mom's Group the other day E discovered the swing. She usually isn't a fan of swinning but now you can't get her out of it. Poor girl was so tired she just about fell asleep. 

September ZOOMED by! Before I know it we'll be looking at Christmas!! Seriously, life needs to slow down. There are so many things I want to do and enjoy! Here's to OcTobler sticking around a little bit longer!

Mud Monster

One afternoon while little Duke was sleeping I decided it would be a wonderful idea to take Peanut outside and enjoy our last adventure in the kiddy pool. Ethnie had a better idea, lets play in the mud. 

 

Mud in Vegas really isn't mud at all, just rocky slop, but E didn't seem to mind one bit.

She was just loving squishing the mud between her fingers.

Time to rinse off and get a quick drink. 

That's my best friend in the whole world! It was so nice having some girl on girl bonding time while the little man slept. I can hardly believe that summer is over. It really just disappeared before my eyes. I am so thankful for this sweet girl and the joy that she brings into my life.

G-ma Jam

 My G-ma, in Canada, has the most delicious raspberry patch. It is one of the things that I truly miss from the great white north, which is why G-ma's jam is really special to me. Scratch that, it's almost sacred.

 This year G-ma was kind enough to give us 7 jars of home made raspberry jam. I can hear the choir of angels now. Since this jam is so dear to my heart I usually do not waste it on Ethnie since she can hardly tell the difference. But one day she spotted me spreading that sweet jam on my toast and asked for some. I told her she had her own toast but she insisted on trying Mama's. 

And she was hooked. It's hard not to be, I mean this is after all some of the best jam ever, and Ethnie could not get enough of it. Once she finished her toast, she held up her spoon shouting "MOA! MOA!" (more, more) and rubbed her little tummy (please) as fast as she could. I'm very grateful for this little moments that bring generations together. Something as simple and delicious as jam. Thank you G-ma. We really appreciate it!

Muffin Top

 I think we're going to start calling Duke Muffin. He has the Tobler appetite usually eating every 20 minutes or so.He doesn't really look as though he's missed a meal. I just love all of his chunky rolls, he is just perfect for snuggling.

Tippy Toes

One of E's favorite activities is standing on her stool in the kitchen and "helping." I just love seeing her reach up onto her tippy toes. (She usually walk around like that.) She is getting so big so fast! What happened to my baby girl??

Shhh Uke

She's such a good big sister. Whenever Duke starts crying Ethnie will run up to him with his sue and say "Shhh Uke, Shhh Uke" while trying to give him the sue. Most of the time he'll spit it out a few seconds later and she'll try again. She sure does love her little brother and he loves her.

Relaxed

This is what I call relaxed. The other night during bath time our little man fell sound asleep. He really enjoys his baths, he's always cooing and smiling while he splashes in the water. He's so cute. Good golly we love this little man!

18 Months

• Height: 32 inches (50th-75th percentile) 
• Weight: 22 lbs 3oz  (10th- 25th percentile)
• Head Circumference:  47 1/2 cm (75th percentile)
• Nicknames: Peanut, E, Boo Bear, Muffin, Little Person

• Ethnie now has 10 teeth. The final two are breaking through on her front four (way behind schedule!) It is so nice for her to have a full set of teeth. It makes dinner time much easier.  
•  Some of E's favorite foods include: grapes, avocado, blueberries, (any fruit really), pasta, JELLO, fruit snacks and jellybeans.
•  Her favorite toys include: Baby Doll, Elmo, Duke's Blue Stuffed Elephant, her flash cards, her little step stool and silky blanket.

• If her eyes are open she is going! Ethnie is one busy girl. She just has to be moving. The only time she stops is to watch Elmo & Blu (Rio).
• Some of her favorite activities include, organizing (she loves to stack books into piles and move them from place to place), playing outside in the water (it's never too long before she's naked splashing around), visiting Gramma and Grampa, moving her little chairs around (I really think that she's going to be a professional organizer when she grows up), and dancing.
•  Ethnie has the brightest bluest eyes and the most adorable strawberry blonde hair. I have no idea where the blonde came from but I {love} it!

• She really likes Skyping with far away family. She loves the laptop! 
• She can operate our cell phones and her iTouch all of which unlock differently. She is a master at phoning people. Her favorite apps are Peek-a-boo Barn and Peek-a-Boo Wild. 
• She loves to explore. Weather it be the pantry or a purse. If you give her a bag with a zipper she will open it up and search for things to play with.

• She likes to sing. She's really into the Itsy Bitsy Spider. 
• She has started walking on her tippy toes, which is just cute.
• She really enjoys playing with her wooden puzzle toy. She's really good at putting it together.
• Ethnie is a really good climber and likes to stand on top of things like the coffee table, her doll cradle and her step stool. She really wants to see what's going on and be a big girl!

•  Ethnie is a wonderful big sister. She is really good at handing Mama diapers, burp cloths and Duke's Sue when he's crying. She's very gentle with him and loves to give him kisses on the head or stroke his hair. On occasion she'll try to show you where his eyes are... we have to watch out for that.He just loves her and starts cooing whenever she's around him. Sometimes she'll run up to his cradle and shout "HIIII" at him. She really wants him to giver her high fives and will stick her little hand out and wait for me to hit her hand with his.
• Her vocabulary is growing every day. Here are some of the words she says; Jesus, HIIII, Bye, Please, Mine, Let's Go (Le Oh), Ready, CHEESE!, that, more (mo), Mama (Ma), Daddy (Da-ee), Duck, Shoes, Straw (Saww), Duke (Uke), Boob (Ooob), Eyes, Ear (Eaa), Uh oh, Elmo (MO!), Grampa (Pa), Gramma (Ma, yes same as Mama), All Done (Ah, with sign), No (Nuh Uh), YA!, Juice (ooss, sometimes there's a J), Chocolate Milk (no joke she says it pretty perfectly), Balloon (OooN), Sue (her soother), Blue.

• She signs quite a bit as well. Some of the signs she knows are; Please, thank you, more, all done. If something is hot she blows, it's super cute.
• Ethnie LOVES to dance. She's partial to the Latin Pop radio station.Thank you Chad Tobler family. :)
• She loves clothes and putting on several layers at a time.

• She really enjoys taking pictures with the DSLR or my cell phone.
• She is still on a pretty strict schedule. Up at 7:00 sometimes 7:30. Breakfast at 9:15. Nap at 10:00. Up by 12:30 (she usually wakes up by 12). Lunch at 1:30. Nap at 3:00. Up by 5:00 sometimes 5:30. Dinner at 6:00. Bath at 7:40 and bed by 8:15. It's routine now and she is really doing well. She does need to do wind down time before her naps and bed time. We go into her room and rock while we read books.
• On that note.... Ethnie LOVES to read! She could sit and look at books forever if you'd let her. She really likes piling them up or moving them from her bedroom back to the bookcase in our room.

•  She now knows how to work the T.V. she can turn it on and start a show all by herself which is good and bad. She watches way too much T.V. but it's nice when Duke is so needy.  
• She also LOVES being outside. She likes to play in her little pool and dig in the rocks. I think she would live out there if I'd let her. She doesn't even mind the heat. :)
• She has her own mind that's for sure. She is usually very obedient though. If she doesn't listen we usually do the "take the toy away" thing but for the most part she very, very well behaved. 

In summation we have the best one year old ever. She is super happy, loves to play and is beyond adorable! This past year has ZOOMED by. It feels like just last month I was writing her 1 month update. I have been so blessed over this past year. Ethnie is my sunshine and I am so grateful to be her Mama!

"POO!"

The worst 15 minutes ever. Yesterday afternoon I went to go and get Peanut up from her nap. I hadn't heard her playing at all and assumed that she was still sleeping. I wanted to get her quickly because Duke was ready to eat and when he's hungry, he's hungry NOW. 

I came into her room and the smell hit me. I then looked at my beautiful blue eyed girl and she shouted "POO!" and that's when I took in the full scene. She had attempted to take her diaper off without much success but she had managed to get her little hand in there and smear things around. There was Poo everywhere! All over her hands, the sheets, her blankets, her stomach, the crib, and her diaper was covered inside and out. I quickly scooped her up and placed her on the changing table to try and get what I could off before throwing her in the tub. She was about to rub her eye with a poo covered hand and that's when I just about snapped. Poor girl, I shouted no so loud it scared her good and proper and she began to cry. A few minutes later little Duke was wailing, ready to eat.

I did what damage control I could with the wipes and carried E the the tub and turned on the shower. (I love removable shower heads.) Unfortunately E is TERRIFIED of the shower but we didn't have time for a bath, what with her brother screaming downstairs. Poor girl was just sobbing and trying to escape the tub ad I rinsed her off. It broke my heart. Back to her room to put a fresh diaper on and strip the bed/ sanitize. Once E saw her precious blanket being toted downstairs she really lost it. By this time Duke was losing it and all I wanted was to have my happy babies back. It's amazing how much chaos can happen in a matter of fifteen minutes. Once we got E downstairs plugged into Elmo and Duke fed all was well in the world again. Hopefully this experience has traumatized her enough to stay away from poopy diapers. I know it worked for me.

It's Raining, It's Pouring...

The weather here in Vegas has been rather moist. Usually we only get one or two "good" rain storms a year and on average 5-10 other days of showers that last just long enough to make the roads dangerously slippery. For the past two weeks however, we have had legit storms almost every night. Instead of staying all couped up inside of the house, Peanut and I went outside to play.

 At first Daddy took her to out with the umbrella, she wasn't really a fan of having something so large over her head. So instead we jumped in puddles together. It totally made me wish she had some adorable rubber boots and a rain coat.

The next day we were on our way to Mom and Dad's for dinner and it was POURING. It was raining so hard Mom and Dad had to bail so their house didn't flood.  We were soaked within seconds. I'm not going to lie, it was rather humorous.

Although we've enjoyed the moisture I think we're all ready for the humidity to go and for the cooler fall weather to set it. Come on FALL! We miss you!!!

Just Because...

 The other day Duke was just overflowing with personality and I couldn't resist snapping a few shots of him in such a happy state. Not to mention how mesmerizing his eyes were. He is so enchanting. 

 He's starting to share a few more smiles now. I'm looking forward to the next couple of weeks and seeing those ADORABLE dimples!

 Golly I love this boy.

 Ethnie woke up from her nap and asked to be in a few pictures. She couldn't stop laughing at Duke and I couldn't stop smiling. I'm just saying... I have the cutest kids in the world.

 About to show me where his eyes are. Thankfully she is very gentle and Duke is just happy to be around her. They are really rather fond of one another. He's started watching her run around the living room. It's rather precious. 

 After a quick outfit change (this boy can really puke.) He was back at it, just chirping away on the floor.)

 The winner. I love this picture. I think it may have to be put on the wall!

I am so in love with my little ones. They make me a better person and I am so blessed to be their Mom!