Keys

It's amazing to me how observant children are. It actually scares me. Ethnie picks up on everything and after this experience it really made me think twice before I did anything. So here's the story. 

I usually do my grocery shopping in the evening after Jakob gets home. Shopping with children is a slow process and once I get both of them in the cart there is no room for anything else, which is both good and bad. :). Anyways, upon returning home Ethnie started pulling everything out that we had put away. She's a great helper. Once she spotted the juice that was it. 

 She raced up to Jakob and started hitting his pockets. He was rather confused. Once she heard the keys jingle she started jumping up and down saying please. He handed her the keys and she started attacking the box trying to get it open. Let's be serious, how often do we cut things open with keys? Not very often, and here precious little E was hacking away. She is so smart, she never ceses to amaze me. p.s. do you like how she wears her shirts around her waist? We're working on it. ;)

It Might Be A While...

... until our next legit blog post. My life has exploded. In the last few weeks we have put on a baby shower (that I couldn't even attend because we were so sick), caught the flu, revamped for Primary in the new year & put on a P-Resse-thood Preview. In the next 5 weeks I must help with a Chinese New Year party, rock out Valentines Week, make two more Valentines Backpacks, try and make Duke's first Valentines special by making a new outfit and having a photo shoot, plan and Decorate for E's SESAME STREET PARTY (it's going to be fabulous!) and create a quiet book from scratch. Not to mention, fulfill callings, clean house, make meals, and love on my wonderful babies!! These are all things I want to do but I think blogging is going to have to be put on hold for a bit. I may surprise us all with a post here and there. (I just made a dinosaur towel for Duke and it is DARLING! I can't wait to share!) So until then.... fair well! I'm off to CRAFT!

A Sad Night

The other night I was making my way home with the kids. I had unloaded Ethnie and was returning with Duke in hand when I noticed that E was in the refrigerator. She has just recently discovered how to open the door and that is all she wants to do, stand with the door open playing with glass jars. Not okay. So I removed her from the fridge. In frustration she threw the iTouch and it shattered on the tile. As one could imagine... I was ticked. I picked it up, set it on the counter, and wiped up the glass all while little E sat there screaming because she wanted it back. I'll be honest... it took me a solid 5 minutes to calm down enough to handle the situation. Sometimes Mommies need to calm down too and Duke needed his diaper changed anyway. She refuses to have a case on it and so this is what happens. In the end everything is alright. It's just a toy and it still works and she is just fine not playing with it all of the time. She hasn't played with it since because I have yet to fix it to the point where it's safe for her to have it. It was a sad night in our house and now Mama no longer trust her almost two year old with anything precious. :) duh!

Brother & Sister

 It's hard to truly understand the joys of siblings until you are a parent with multiple children. Sure I had siblings growing up and yes, I loved them, but to see the two people you love more than your heart can fathom learn to love and play with each other brings a joy to my heart that I cannot really describe in words. 

 It was Duke's first time in the swing and Ethnie was so excited to push him. Her favorite part at the park is swinging. She raced up to him and he busted out with the biggest smile. Duke is Ethnie's biggest fan. She would push him and she would say "Uke, WEEEEE!" and wait for him to smile. 

Once he'd laugh she would grab on again and give him a push. Once he got tired of it and started to cry she'd race up, pat his head and give him a kiss saying "It o-ay" (It's okay.) It melted my heart. While the last 6 months have been crazier than ever I know that having these two so close together was perfect. They are best friends and I cannot wait to see that friendship blossom over the years.

Child's Play

 Nothing makes my heart happier than seeing Peanut and Little Man play together. Duke just adores his sister and Ethnie loves Duke too. She's starting to learn how to share and I know it's going to take awhile. If she sees Duke with something that was once hers as a baby she has to have it. It doesn't matter how lame it is. If she see's Duke playing with one of his own toys that he got for Christmas however, she couldn't care a less. So strange yet rather funny.

 We took Peanut's princess castle out of resting. This whole putting some toys "away" out of sight out of mind and then bringing them back out a few months later to keep toys exciting is BRILLIANT (resting). She has spent the past two days exploring her castle and playing with all of the princesses. It's adorable.

 Look who's sitting up?!

Duke Manfred is sitting up all on his own now! He very rarely falls over probably due to all of the junk in his trunk. It's so strange seeing my baby become a person. Everything is happening much too quickly!

A First

 On New Years we decided that Duke was ready to try big boy food in the form of rice cereal. He's had rice cereal in his bottle before but it was time to introduce the spoon. He was a bit confused. Why am I in this chair?

 Here we go!!

 Rejected!

 Let's try again.... and again... and again.

 Wait I want my own spoon.

 Yes, much better but you can keep that mush stuff, I'm good.

 I'm pretty sure this is where this goes.

 Uh, no I guess not. Nobody saw that though right?!

 I'm still not diggin this whole rice cereal thing. 

 Maybe if I stick this spoon down my throat far enough I'll puke it up. 

Yes! Do you think they got the message? Yes son, we got the message. Needless to say, he wasn't a fan. I suppose we'll try some real people food tomorrow.

5 Months

• Height: 27.5 inches 
• Weight: 19.9 lbs 
• Head Circumference: 45 cm
• Nicknames: Uke, Little Man, Mister, Monkey, Most of the time we call him "Duke Manfred"

• He is STILL growing. He is officially out of size 6-9 month outfits and is in 12 month jammies.
• This boy is a laughing machine. He is very ticklish and will usually crack a smile as soon as you look at him. Greatest sound in the world!  

• He has gotten really strong over the last month. He is sitting up almost entirely on his own and really enjoys standing.  
• We cut his hair this month! It was time. A whopping 3 inches came off and he still has quite the mop. He's so handsome. 

• Schedule? What's that?? I'm much more relaxed with this little man than I was with Ethnie. He has been getting up several time in the night though and that has got to stop. I think we will be moving him into his own room shortly. 

• He loves chewing on his toes when he has bare feet (which isn't often since it's winter.) 

• He {loves} his Sue which is fabulous. He has also gotten quite attached to a few of his new  toys that he got for Christmas. His favorites are his cube that jingles, crunches and and tags, Kiki the Elephant (like Sofie the giraffe but smaller and cheaper ;) ) and Spike the dinosaur.

• He adores Ethnie. I loves to watch her play and has started trying to play too. Ethnie isn't very fond of sharing but I'm sure once they get older they will be the best of friends.
• I know that E is busy but I think Duke will be busier. Even now he gets restless sitting with you. He wants to be moving, touching, grabbing, playing. He gets board easily. I think he's gong to be a wrecky tornado. Who knows.

• Duke is still my little man but he's taking quite the liking to Daddy this month. Whenever he gets home he wiggles and squawks until Jakob gives him some attention. I think it has a lot to do with their bonding time from 6:30 - 7:30 in the morning.

• He is one happy baby! He is usually content to lay on the floor with some toys and just do his thing. He love to play peek-a-boo, chew on your phone and watch T.V. 
•  He still squawks like a dinosaur and it's hilarious.

• Duke's favorite time of the day is still bath time. He goes crazy as soon as you put him in the water, kicking and splashing around. He's not very fond of the shower.
• Duke is MOBILE! He rolls all over the place. Yesterday I found him under Ethnie's slide. He's still getting those legs under there. I'm sure it'll be no time before he's crawling.

I am loving this stage. It seems like over night he went from a baby to a little man with personality, energy and opinions. He keeps us on our toes and is such a joy and blessing to have in our home. We sure do love this little man.

Enjoy

New Years Resolutions. Why are these always so scary? Perhaps it's because I vow to attempt change and change scares me. This year however my resolutions are fairly simple.

1. Streamline. I want to take out the fluff in my life and focus on what's important. This applies to several aspects but I would like to focus on my time and my home. I have so much "stuff" do I really need it all? The horder in me says yes and the anti-clutter lady screams no. It's an ongoing battle but with a move on the horizon, I need to let go. I also find my time cluttered with things that really don't matter. I need to focus on the important things and the rest will fall into place.

2. Gossip less. I'm not saying I won't gossip but I want to try and be better and focus on the positive. Too often in life all we see is the bad. This year I want to be more up beat, more glass-half-full. Talking negatively about people brings nothing but sadness and frustration. I was to focus on the good.

3. Be super Mom. This one is hard because right now, our home is over coming a month of sickness so Ethnie has been plugged into Elmo for a month straight. It's really hard for both of us returning to our usual routine of play and activities. I don't care what people say, playing with you kids is a lot of work. Obviously enjoyable and eternally rewarding but a lot of work. I want to make this a focus to give my children quality one on one attention without checking Facebook on my phone or folding laundry while we build towers. Yes there will be lots of that too but I feel I need to devote more time to just my kids.

4. Be super wife. So often I find that I've had a full day of cleaning, sorting, laundry,  taking care of children and working on our callings that when Jakob comes home I forget that he needs me too. I have the most understanding husband in the world and I need to show my appreciation more. I need to focus more attention on us. I have found that so often I put the kids first and that is wonderful but once in a while I need to put us first. Date nights are on!

5. Enjoy. I always find myself saying, "Oh it'll be better tomorrow." I need to learn to enjoy the here and now. To enjoy the moments where Ethnie comes asking to read and snuggle even though there are a pile of dishes to be done. To enjoy snuggling Duke at 4:00 in the morning. To laugh more, to play more, to be silly more, to make more messes. To simply ENJOY. Life will always be busy, it will always be crazy but my kids will never be the same today as they were yesterday. Time goes so fast and I don't want to waste any more of it.

There you have it. My resolutions. Bring it on!