8 Months Old

I can't believe my baby is already 8 months old! We had some good friends over tonight and were remembering the Fall... Crazy how time can go so fast. Siblings are interesting things. Today I had a light bulb turn on Gru style: it is normally the older sibling, aka Tate, getting into trouble for mischief. When Ian does something wrong I think, man that little guy is smart and patiently distract him. When Tate does something wrong my patience meter starts shaking and I wonder what in the world could he be thinking. It's interesting how our expectations are different for each child and something I need to be more cognizant of in my parenting...
Anyway for the good stuff, here are the highlights of today.

 A long time ago in an apartment 8 blocks away, I bought Tate a pair of Thomas the train pajamas. Now they are far to small for him to wear, but he calls them his snuggles; a must have for a successful bedtime. Last night Tate did not want to go to sleep and this is what Josh and I woke up to this morning. We have been working on the independent task of dressing oneself, and it looks like he has mastered it in the late hours of the night. Notice below how the shirt arms are dangling off his hips to add to his exotic dancing skills.

 Yesterday during Ian's nap Tate and I got out his Micky Mouse puzzle. He did the whole thing by himself and then started sorting his cars around the edges. I'm constantly amazed by this smart little man.

T

 8 months old looks good on him. The hair is all natural and occurs each time I brush it. Josh has a natural mohawk too, but doesn't embrace it like this little monkey.

 Walking in style. I know how to wear my kids out so I can sleep at night. Sometimes I think I should get Tate an exercise band just to see exactly how much he does in one day.

 I finally got my Gerber daisies planted outside and this beautiful flower opened today!!! Thank you to my amazing husband.

Goodnight!!!

Memories from the Month of May

Recently I decided the reason I love to blog is that it helps me focus of the positive moments I want to remember in my life, not the other times when I am usually praying for patience and sleep for myself or one of my little ones. This is to make up for my slacking last month.

 My patriotic little man on Memorial Day. If you look closely the shirt says in green underneath, "Just kidding. I take naps." The shirt should say "Being my mom is a WORK OUT." Story of any mother with mobile munchkins.

 This was Ian's first time riding in a grocery cart without his car seat. He loved it. I decided I love the binky so much because it is the perfect plug. Not only does it keep sound in, it also keeps everything else out, including grocery cart handles. True discovery from our second grocery cart experience.

Tate's first unshared ice cream cone. As you can tell he went for the wrong end first and ended up wearing as much as he ate. But he did love it. I need to find where they sell those little taster cones. That's about as much ice cream as he can handle.

 We said farewell for now to our good friends the Hagermans. They were the missionary couple we adopted as our children's grandparents in our short time in the Geneseo Branch. They will definitely be missed, but so excited for them to get to return to family!

 Yes he is all boy. He watches his brother's every move already, which is kinda scary, and tries to emulate. Something about my boys and cars. They are in love.

 Ian's rendition of American Gothic.

 I just have to say I am so grateful for our amazing neighbors. We inherited this sandbox from one, complete with new sand and everything. We really are blessed. The sandbox is getting put to good use daily by Tate and all his friends!

 Ian prefers to be on his feet than his knees. His crawl is turbo speed, but occasionally he likes to slow down and walk like a bear. When it comes to playing he will rarely be found on his rear.

 We bid farewell to our bestest buddies Ashley and Josie. Miss them so much already. Watching Cars (the only movie Tate has every watched or wants to watch start to finish) we were talking about good friends and how they help each other. He thought about it and said, "just like me and Josie." Melts my heart and we will miss them!

Me attempting to teach Tate to swing a bat... much room for improvement... I see a t-ball set in his future!

My Little Look-A-Likes

So the past couple of days I have realized just how similar me little boys are. Both of them are crazy busy bodies, like their mother used to be when she actually slept, and handsome like their father.

Doing what they love together!

Where does the time go?

The older I get the faster time flies, but the longer days are... It is hard to believe Josh only has 8 more weeks in this trimester. He is doing so well and loving his increase in energy as time goes on. Last week we had a real taste of Spring. The sun was shining, the air was warm, and Tate embraced his dream habitat - outside. He spent every allowed minute out there and his first plea each morning at 7 was "Daddy go to the park?" He even laid down on the cement when exhaustion set in around nap time, sadly his mother thinks naps are only allowed inside. Anyway here are a couple of our favorite moments in the last two weeks.

How Tate eats Pizza

Adorable bothers

Enjoying the backyard!

Watching a show together.

My strong little monkey.

Learning to drive the big wheels.

FHE fun

Gotta love cardboard

Tate playing cars

Blissful Boards

Two weekends ago Palmer had boards, which means a wonderfully long weekend when Josh doesn't have to take them. On one of his days off we ventured to the John Deere Museum as a family, something we hadn't done since moving out here. Tate was in heaven exploring all the tractors and was ready to go see tractors every morning for the following 5 days. Ian even sported a John Deere hat to catch the spirit!

A Half B-day Bash and Hunting for Leperchauns

Since Josh has maybe 27% recollection of his 27th birthday, and the September get together we had seemed to be more enjoyable for me than him, we had a half birthday celebration - complete with half plates, pizza, and an amazing cake - thank you Stacy! It was fun to eat pizza, play Mario Kart, and just enjoy an evening with good friends!

Check out the genuine smile..

The classic blow. Note the candles...

 Monday was St. Patrick's day and of course a green fellow had to visit the house. He played in the basement leaving little green feet in his wake. I think next year Tate will catch the vision of how fun following the feet is and the coolness of green milk. He didn't quite appreciate it this year. We even had green enchiladas and green smoothies for dinner. As a mom holidays hold more work but I think it is definitely worth the magic in my kiddos eyes.

My little green hunters. Tate's green shirt was sadly requiring some attention from a large water basin that I had yet to start.

 Following our hunt we did some grocery shopping. Tate dropped his hat by the car and I didn't realize it was missing until we had finished our examine everything in reach excursion. Upon returning the food to the car I opted to go look around the store one more time in search of my favorite apparel for Tate's head. As we were about to enter the store a man in a black SUV - only a little creepy - drove over and had the hat for me. Prayers are answered. I was so grateful for his kindness. I guess he'd found it by the car and when he saw us getting ready to go he thought Tate's head looked about the right size. I'm amazed every day by the little tender mercies in life. Our finale of the day was FHE where we marched around the house singing Follow the Prophet. Those boys sure are adorable and very serious being Adam. 

My non mobile drooling master.

The Top 10

These last couple days Josh and I have been experiencing some blah moments... But here are 10 smiles we have also enjoyed. And they mostly revolve around our kids of course. :)

 Number 10 - Tate will not nap... I think this actually brings me more tears than smiles, but never fail after an afternoon of him weeping, wailing, and gnashing his teeth in the pack and play, he will always fall asleep on the 15 minute car ride to go get daddy. His latest discovery during "nap" time is the removal of his diaper... Words can not describe my terror. The problem is he simply slides it off his nonexistent hips. I am contemplating nap time overalls...

 Number 9 - Ian is now a sitter, 75% of the time completely stable. He will be mobile within the month I think. He already rolls forward onto his hands and does a backwards body scoot on his tummy. This kid's got talent and a love for cars already.

 Number 8 - The weather is tolerable! It's sad when 23 degrees without the wind blowing feels warm. But in the last 5 days we have seen the 40's and 50's. We walked both times and Tate loves to be outside again. I've learned the surest way to get Tate in the stroller is to head up a hill on our walk. He hops right in, content to let me do all the hard work of course.

 Number 7 - Ian has a polar bear costume. How could this not make you smile?

 Number 6 - We got to go to breakfast at Harlan's with our good friends the DeVores on Saturday. The kids were so good too. It was fun to see them. We are going to miss them as they have embarked on their next adventure after Palmer but so grateful for such good friends. So back story on Harlan's; it is located on the way out to the church and is the place to eat breakfast on Sunday mornings. I have had not so kind feelings for many drivers stopping there because it requires drastically slowing traffic on the one lane 50 mile an hour road to turn into the parking lot. But Josh's therapist who is one of the Sunday culprits was right, it is delicious. 

 Number 5 - Ian is now 5 months old! It flies so much faster the second time. We love our little man!

 Number 4 - "Mommy where is the monkey? I know, he's in my pocket." Oh Tate. He gets funnier, more lovable, and increasingly smarter daily.

 Number 3 - Ian had rice cereal for the first time! He ate it like a champion and emptied the bowl. He's a natural eater. A child after my own eating habits.

Number 2 - Tate and his monkey have become best buds. We bought the Monkey in DisneyWorld just after his first birthday and I love that it's the animal he wants to snuggle every night. Today we dressed it in Ian's shoes and sweatshirt (so Tate could wear his shoes) and took it to the chiropractor with us. The monkey got his temperature taken and adjusted and Tate followed suit, just like the monkey. It was really adorable.

Number 1 - For all the moments I feel like a mommy failure, like I've done something wrong, or that I'm just not thriving, Tate's singing really melts my heart and helps me remember what is really important. Every night after I sing to him in his bed time routine he congratulates me with a "good job mommy!" I love my little guy and I'm so glad he loves singing.