Growin' Boys!

Somewhere along the way, my life turned in to a boy farm! Christopher has learned this month that Mommy is not a boy like everyone else in the house. This picture proves that I need a girl!

The boys have been doing so much growing and developing lately! Gabriel is sitting up and getting closer to crawling every day. He picks up toys, chews on them, and watches Christoher wherever he goes. It so cute to see Gabriel giggle at Christopher!

Look at those big eyes!

Christoher drew this picture a few days ago. He said it was a rainbow, Noah, and the ark. What a smart kiddo!

{and that is grape jelly on his face, not the beginning of a pre-teen wanna be stache!}

Ice cream trucks are a must for summertime! I never had this growing up, so I get just as excited as Christopher does when the ice cream man comes. I actually broke every rule I have as a mother and let him get a spiderman popcicle from the ice cream man before we ate dinner! Bad mommy!

Christopher has been to several birthday parties lately. These "jedidiah" teeth were a gift in one of the goodie bags from the Chuck-E-Cheese party he went to last week. He has never had something like this, and we were cracking up when he put them in! It was too cute to see his reaction when he saw his face in the mirror.

Gabriel is a baby food eating machine! He loves everything he has tried so far, except for the kiwi...that was a little tart! He is quickly catching up to Christopher. He is only about 6 pounds lighter...watch out buddy! And do you remember Baby Kyle? Well, he is getting SO big! We saw him over mother's day weekend and I couldn't believe how much he has grown. He is babbling, rolling all over, and still bald as a cancer patient! :) What a cutie.

Baby Food Makin' Days!

I finally took the time to get a big batch of baby food made for Gabriel. I have been getting by with just mashing up one or two meals at a time, but life gets busy and it's just easier to pull it out of the freezer when I'm in a hurry. I spent about 2 hours cooking lots of fruits and veggies.

The menu for this month includes:

* yellow squash and brown rice

* sweet pototoes

* green beans

* peas

* carrots

* blueberries

* broccoli

* mango

* pears

*kiwi

We have yet to try the kiwi and mango and I'm not sure how he will like them. So far, he likes everything he has tried. Sometimes he starts to yell at me if I give him too many bites of vegetables without a bite of fruit in between!

I love the way home-made baby food looks. The colors are so vibrant! I have the book Blender Baby Food if anyone is looking for a reference for making baby food. I use it as a reference for some things and to get ideas for yummy combinations, but you can pretty much make anything into babyfood...just use fresh ingredients and keep it simple!

Peek A Boo

Is there anything more precious to hear than a baby laughing? Especially when it's your own baby.

Mothers Day Weekend

This weekend I drove Gabriel to Edmond, Oklahoma to spend time with his Aunt Lauren and Uncle Eric. We had such a good time visiting with them and watching Gabe be his fun goofy self.

He showed them how he found his feet and tried to get them in his mouth!

He also had tons of fun playing with their weiner dog, Dexter! Dexter loved to lick all over Gabriel's face and body...which made Gabe giggle! Gabe kept trying to get Dexter to lick in his mouth...yuck!

He also tried to eat Dexter's ears! Dexter was a trooper. I think he is ready for his own baby soon ;)
Then Aunt Lauren took us Downtown to walk around a gorgeous botanical garden, called Myriad Gardens. We pushed Gabriel around in his stroller for a while and then we let him get out in the grass and play for a while. He had fun sitting up on his own (a new trick that he recently learned). He would hold on to the grass on either side of his body to help balance...so smart! :)

Inside the botanical garden is this huge "bridge" that you walk through. It like a giant greenhouse, and it is so gorgeous. You get all the beautiful plants and trees from the tropics with no deadly bugs or snakes.

Thanks Aunt Lauren and Uncle Eric for a fun weekend! We can't wait to come back and visit again!

When we got home from Oklahoma on Mother's Day, my in-laws were still in town. I had a good time visiting with them and seeing how cute baby Kyle is. Sorry...I didn't get my camera out for that! After they left to drive back home, me and the boys went to RibCrib for dinner. It was so yummy!

One of the best things about today was that Christopher told me "happy mama's day!" That was the first time I have ever heard those words from my own child and it was such a beautiful thing to hear. He is getting so big and I cherish every day that I get to spend with my little guys!

Random pictures and thoughts

Gabe is not a fan of his new homework assignment! He gets lots of tummy time with his toys out of reach until he gets mad enough to do something about it. I do eventually cave and help him out a little, but that's what Moms are for! He is getting his whole belly off the floor, but not yet getting up on his knees. I hope he is crawling by the time we go to Wisconsin in June...that would be fun!

I broke out the bubbles the other day when I was about to throw all the kids out the door! Just kidding, but it is amazing how bubbles can brighten your mood! Aren't Christopher's feet so cute!

The big boys snuggling on the kitchen floor. My boys have a sensitive side!
Christopher crawled in to Gabriel's bassinett. Instead of Chris telling him to get out, he thought it would be a good idea to take pictures. Way to encourage the kid. But they are cute pictures.
If I saw a picture like this of someone else's kid I would think "Wipe that kids mouth for crying out loud!". This is what happens when you have a two year old and a 6 month old...you stop caring if their mouth has crusty food on it from lunch...and it's after naptime already! I did eventually wipe it off. (note: I still care when we are out of the house!)

Bear is such a good dog! It is so cute to see them play together.

Chris was taking a shower and I was trying to get 5 more minutes of sleep. Christopher is so good at knowing when I don't want to get out of bed and he picks these times to try things he would never get away with. I crawled out of bed, rubbed my eyes, and walked in to the bathroom to see this...

My first thought...don't cats usually crawl into sinks?

6 Month Pictures

These are a few of my favorites. Some of them look so much like Christopher at 6 months!

We love cloth diapers!

Everyone knows I use them, but most people are a little aprehensive about them. Once I started researching cloth diapers, I decided I had to use them. I love them because I am not putting thousands of diapers in the land for our children to deal with years down the road, I never have to run to the store because I ran out of diapers, my kids have soft cotton on their bums instead of harsh chemicals and materials that will never biodegrade, and they are cute!

Well, I have been thinking about posting some information about cloth diapers, but then I ran across this post that has everything I would have to say and then some. So, if you are interested in cloth diapers this should be fun and informative for you. If you never think you would ever use cloth diapers, read it anyway...you never know! If you have any questions, I would love to answer them for you!

Gabe's 6 month update

Well, I'm so late on this that he is closer to 7 months old now, but oh well. The reason I held off posting this is because his doctor's appointment kept getting pushed back. He finally went in yesterday and now we know all of his stats. He weighs 16 lbs 2 oz and is 26 1/2" tall. That puts him between 50th and 75th percentile for height and between 25th and 50th for weight. I don't know how I have two long and thin boys...if you have ever seen a baby picture of me you would know why I'm so confused! They definately have daddy's body type when it comes to that...Chris was little until about jr high.

Gabriel is doing so much these days, it is hard to even think of all the new things to tell you about!

~He has found his toes! They are his favorite toy and it makes me laugh to see his chubby little body roll around trying to get them in his mouth. He has this funny dance that he does when he tries to get his right foot into his mouth and then his left leg starts kicking (I think he's trying to get momentum for the other foot!) and then he looses grip of the right foot and they both start kicking and he starts giggling. It's one of the cutest things I've ever seen!

~He is doing baby crunches to try and sit up when he is laying down. He's going to be a buff little baby before long! He still hasn't rolled over from his back, but both his doctor and I agree that he has the ability to, but just doesn't want to be on his belly. In an effort to give him the motivation he needs, we are giving him more time on the floor with his toys out if reach. The hard part about this is that Christopher likes to lay on his brother when he is on the floor, which is not good!

~He already has two teeth! This is great for him since he isn't a big fan of baby food. We started giving him baby rice cereal when he was about 5 months old. After about a week he liked it enough so we moved on to baby oatmeal cereal. After he mastered those, we started with green beans, then peas, brocolli, carrots, and now squash. I have also given him some applesauce and bananas. When we started with baby food, I was giving him store bought organic food because I didn't have time to make fresh baby food and the farmers market doesn't have any produce yet. That only lasted about a week. Now we are just mashing up steamed vegitables that we buy frozen. Frozen veggies aren't my favorite thing to give him, but it's all we can do right now until the farmers market gets some more stock. He likes having more texture than pureed food and is really enjoying all the flavors. He also loves to eat teathing biscuits and pieces of bread.

~He is sleeping from 6:30 or 7:00 at night until 7:00 in the morning...with zero feedings at night! Love it! We moved his basinet out of our room and he sleeps much better that way. I think we were bothering him with our noise from moving around in bed because he used to wake up once a night, but when he's not in our room he doesn't wake up at all. He also takes two naps per day; one around 9:30 and another around 12:30. He doesn't like to take evening naps, but he gets to bed early so I don't worry about it.

~He loves to play peek-a-boo and just cracks up laughing when we play games with him. He is so smiley all the time, especially when Christopher talks to him! He also talks all the time. He talks when he eats, when we are in the car, and when he plays with his toys.

~He is still nursing and we are both enjoying every day of it. I was out of town last weekend so he had to take bottles for daddy, and he did great! We were both excited when Sunday came and we could spend some mommy & baby time together.

~He has noticed Bear (our dog) lately. He loves to watch Bear and smiles when Bear looks at him. Just wait until he starts crawling...I'm sure he will chase Bear all over the house! It's a good thing Bear has learned patience in his old age.

~He is an independent littly boy who doesn't use a pacifier, bottle, or mama to go to sleep. He is so good at going to sleep on his own...just lay him down with a blanket (his favorite fuzzy white blankie) and let him do his thing.

~He grabs everything within his reach! We have to really watch what we do when we are holding him because if he is sitting in our lap while we are eating or drinking, he will try to grab it!

That is all I can think of that he is doing these days. He's tons of fun and a blessing for our family! We had his 6 month pictures taken and they turned out really cute! I will post them on here as soon as I get them from the photographer.

The Joys of Sisterhood!

I just got back from a ladies retreat at Lake of the Ozarks. The theme for the weekend was "The Joys of Sisterhood" and I was blessed by my sisters is Christ this weekend! I came back from this with an amazing sense of peace that allows me to connect with the women at my church (and in my life) better than I ever have because we all now know that we are here to build one another up instead of judge each other's shortcomings or blessings. God is so good and he has blessed me so much!

I must say, it was really hard to leave all of my boys (especially with Gabe being only 6 months old), but Chris put all of my worries at ease and took wonderful care of the boys. He paid attention to their schedules, made sure they got to bed on time, and even took them to our neighborhood garage sale and bought a Little Tykes Playhouse for the backyard! I couldn't be more proud of him!

My good friends Cassi, Kelli, and Cammi were my roomies for the weekend. They endured my scheduled breast pumping sessions and didn't even freak out when I dripped breastmilk on the table! What good friends :)
This is a picture of the beautiful chapel where we had worship service on Sunday morning. The whole front is windows that looks over the cliff over the water and resort...breathtaking!

Three's Company

We have been busy lately with having 3 boys in the house. The babies, Caden and Gabriel, are so cute and I have fun playing with them all day! Gabriel turned 6 months old last Sunday (on Easter). I will have pictures, the doctor update, and more info about Gabe at 6 months coming soon!
Christopher has turned in to my little helper. He helps me feed Caden and throws his diapers in the trash for me. Today, we were playing in the playroom and Christopher wanted me to play his harmonica. When I started playing, he walked over to me, put his hand on my shoulder and said "Sshh. Caden. Sleep" Last week was pretty hard for him...just learning how to handle this new adjustment, but this week he seems to be finding his niche. He was singing "rock a bye baby" all day today!
We are also trying to get this whole potty thing down, which keeps things interesting during the day :) I had to snap this picture for the scrapbook! I am really looking forward to getting lots of pages done at the next Scrap-a-palooza.

A New Adventure

I have been thinking of how to earn extra income for our family while still raising our boys and staying home with them. Actually, Chris and I have been doing a lot of praying and talking about the subject...and patiently waiting for God to show us how to make this difficult task work. Well, Friday we were contacted by a family who needed full time care for their little boy and we met with them that evening. We are so excited to start watching their little boy--yes, another boy!--during the week while his Mom and Dad are at work. Today was our first day with Caden and it went really well. Of course, all three boys are learning how to deal with the new transition, as am I, but I think this new adventure is going to be a lot of fun for us! Here is a cute picture of the boys playing on the floor together. Christopher thinks he has a new baby brother...it's so cute! The only sad thing about this is that Christopher can no longer to go the preschool at our church since I can't get all three kids out of the house in my car. We are really disappointed about it because he enjoyed going to school at church and he will miss his friends, but we are trying to figure out a way to get him there next school year, which starts in September. Hopefully we can make it work! In the meantime, we are staying busy with our new little buddy.

Coloring Eggs

Well, we started out with a bunch of these...

then Christopher wanted to do this by himself, and actually did so without making a mess.

And then we did some more until...

we had all of our eggs colored. How beautiful! Doesn't it just make you think "springtime"!?

We had so much fun working on this together!

Gabriel had fun watching us and playing with his toys. And Daddy had fun playing photographer.

What a handsome little guy!

We can't wait for tomorrow when we get to find them! Oh...what fun :)

Wounded Soldier

Lately Christopher thinks that any little thing needs a bandaid, or as he calls it, a "banaid". He told Daddy that he had an owee on his head, so Daddy got the ace bandage out of the closet and wrapped Christopher's head. I cracked up laughing when I saw it...he looks like he either had a face lift or is a wounded war veteran. He even has the pitiful looking face to match!

Gabe's First Day of Sunday School

So, this quarter at church I am teaching the baby class in Sunday School. It was timed perfectly because Gabriel is almost 6 months old so he can start going to the class. Last Sunday was our first time and it was so exciting...probably more for me than for him! The class is 6 months to 2 years old, but most of them are on the younger end of that.

This is what we do in class:

* We start out by giving the kids cheerios as their parents drop them off. (Gabe will have to wait a while for that!)

* The we introduce all the kids so they can become familiar with each other.

* We sing songs about Jesus and God and other fun things. While we sing, the kids get to play with a little toy that goes along with the song.

*After we sing songs, we say a little prayer and then let the kids get down and play until their parents come to pick them up.

I'm so excited to be able to experience Gabriel doing this...it worked out so great! After my 3 months is over he will be in class with the new teacher and Christopher will go to his class. That means I can just sit in adult class and learn...with no babies on my lap! That will be a new experience for me! :)

Preschool Easter Party!

Christopher's preschool at church had an Easter party for all the kids on Thursday. Even though he wasn't feeling the best, we still were able to come up just for the party. We got there just in time...they were just on their way to hunt for eggs when we got to his classroom. The weather was getting a little rainy, so instead of hunting outside on the playground, they did it in the sanctuary. It was so funny to see all the pews covered in eggs!
Here is Christopher waiting patiently with the rest of his class, the Ladybugs, to get their eggs.

And he's off! The tricky part of the whole thing was limiting their eggs. The older classes were coming in after us to hunt for eggs also, so each child had to find 10 eggs and then stop. Try explaining that to a two year old!


After the hunt, Christoher and his friend Gracie sat down to open their eggs together. He did so well...even after I told him he couldn't eat any of the candy! It was a good thing because after the hunt they went back to the class and had the party. I now know that a party for two year olds means giving them lots of sugar! Get 'em sugared up and send 'em home!

Candy!