Christian James -- 22 Months

Little man, I can't believe you are almost 2 years old!! You are becoming my big boy, and aren't my baby any more (but you will always be my baby! and don't you forget that).

Your favorite things lately include: 

Trains/Choo Choos (Thomas) 

Stuffies (particularly Mater or Teddy) 

"Awn ower" Aka lawn mower

All things music and musical instruments 

Cars and trucks 

And you still love your blankie and binky

You seem to love imitating more and more each day -- you love to do anything that mommy or daddy are doing -- the dishes, sweeping, vacuuming, fixing things, planting flowers, the list goes on and on. 

You are also starting to enjoy snuggling with your stuffies. This teddy bear from your Uncle Justin and Aunt Megan has been a favorite lately, along with your pillow pet, Mater. 

A year ago we couldn't get you to keep sunglasses on, but now you love them! I think you see their benefit :) And that they make you look adorable! You have quite the growing collection of sunglasses too... 

Playing at the park has also become one of your favorite things to do! You can do the slides all by yourself now and have even braved the big boy swings (and prefer them)! We are both looking forward to lots of play time at all of the local parks this summer. 

Also, notice your binky addiction... 

Not only do you love playing at the park, but you love walking there all by yourself...well with mommy chasing you of course. You think you are too big for the stroller. 

"Backer" (Baxter) has become one of your best friends. You love playing with him and will chase him around and wrestle with him giggling like crazy the whole time...until you need a break that is. Then you come running to mommy to save you! 

You are such an active boy and always so busy, but you still remember to give your mama some snuggles from time to time. But mommy and daddy have to be sure not to ask for too many hugs and kisses or you get cranky! 

You've also developed a new love for opening your mouth wide during pictures...and while you are eating. Your friend Nora taught you that fun trick :) 

While you love all of your toy instruments, you love it even more when mommy gets out the real keyboard or guitar for you to play. You have even started giving lessons to your baby. 

Play dates have become a very regular part of our day. You love getting to spend time with your friends! And mommy likes it too :) The other day when we were playing at McDonald's you actually kept calling for your friends Jack and Juddy. And often when we are playing you will ask about Cooper. 

I'm pretty sure you've only seen mommy iron once, but it seems to have stuck with you! You love to "cook" and will often get out the hand mixer and "mix" in the pots and pans, but on this day you took the mixer part off and started "ironing". Daddy was thankful because Mommy gets pretty behind in ironing his shirts! 

Recently you also had a few days of fighting your naps. 

I weighed and measured you at home last week and here are your stats: 

32 pounds 

32.5 inches

You are still wearing some 2t but are also wearing a lot of 3t! 

I think we are going to attempt some real potty training in the next few weeks as you have been asking to sit on the potty a lot...and you often go! You are currently cutting your lower canines and I can still feel your molars poking through in the back too, so depending on how that goes will determine when we try to focus on potty training. 

Your schedule usually looks something like this: 

6:30/7:30am - Wake up, watch a show while mommy makes breakfast

8am - Get dressed, clean up the house, do the dishes and make beds with mommy or just play

9:30am - We are usually heading out the door to our morning activity (play date, library time, park, etc) or we start an activity at home

11/11:30am - lunch 

12pm - Nap (usually about 2.5 hours, but sometimes less, sometimes more)

2:30pm - Snack, learning activity, free play 

4pm - Mommy makes dinner 

5pm - Dinner 

5:30/6pm - Bath, brush teeth, go potty, read stories

7pm - Bed 

You love watching "choo choos" (Thomas or Dinosaur Train) and have recently started loving the movie Planes and will ask for "awpane" or "Cars". 

I've stopped keeping track of your words, as you will repeat anything we ask you. Sometimes you have a hard time getting the right word out when you are asking for something and then you get pretty frustrated, but with a few guesses, we can usually figure out what you want. 

You have started to try out a few phrases lately too: 

-"You make this?" (when I give you a snack or meal)

-"I gonna get you!" and then you chase me, or Baxter or Daddy! 

- "Hungee!!!" (AKA Hungry) This isn't really a phrase but its so cute when you run to the fridge and try to open the door as you are crying "hungee, hungee, hungee" I hear this about 20 times a day from you :) 

When we are driving in the car or even just out anywhere you are constantly telling me what you see -- car! Truck! Train! And you know when we are coming up near the train tracks because you start calling out train before we are even there! 

The other day when Daddy went to church, you asked where he was and I told he was gone and you came with his work badge all confused. When I told you he was at church, not at work, you got his church name tag and still looked confused. You are one smart cookie! 

You repeat the Numbers Blessing with daddy as he says it over us every morning before he goes to work. You also know all of our family values and their actions. (Honor God, Obey, Sacrifice, Love Others, Work Hard and Play Hard too!) 

Little man, you are going to be in school before I know it! Slow down time. I love that I get to be with you to see you grown and learn and change every day! Here's to 2 more months until your 2nd birthday, big boy! 

A Stay at Home Mom's Saving Grace

Play dates. 

Hands down play dates are my saving grace (besides Jesus of course) and I don't think I could live without them. 

The older Christian gets, the more important play dates have seem to become in our days, our weeks.

I haven't worked outside of the home for almost 3 years now and have been home with our little man for almost 2 years. Despite that I would consider myself more of an introvert, that is a lot of time built up without a lot of adult interaction, or social interaction for Christian too.

During the summer, play dates can be something that aren't as crucial to our week, but in the winter, we LIVE for play dates. In the upcoming weeks, we actually have a play date or some sort of activity or event almost every morning Monday - Friday.

5 Reasons I Can't Live Without Play dates

1. Sometimes this is the only way I have adult interaction in a day.
Some play dates are very mommy involved play dates (playing at the park, story times, going to the zoo, various classes, etc) but some play dates are the "moms all sit on the floor and drink coffee and try to talk over the screaming, running, making lots of noise kids". But no matter what kind of play date it is, mama gets her needs for human contact met. And has a reason to get dressed...sometimes. Because yoga pants pretty much work for all occasions...

2. Christian is learning to share and interact with others. 
Since Christian is still an only child, his only real chances to really learn to interact with kids his age and practicing sharing are when we are out with other people...enter play dates :) And play dates at other people's homes seem to be the perfect breeding ground for my little man to be the best at sharing. Watch, tomorrow he will beat another kid over the head for a toy. But seriously. The other day he played so well with his little friend and kept handing him toys and trading back and forth. My jaw kept hitting the floor! Which leads me to my next point...

3. Christian sometimes is better behaved at other people's homes.
For real. I don't know what it is, but at home he pushes the limits like crazy. When we are at other places, he generally obeys right away. Which makes my life 100 times easier and we both have happier days! Maybe its because he is fully engaged and distracted and doesn't have as much opportunity to "explore" things that he shouldn't....However, we do have a good handful  of play dates at our home too, which often leads to Christian struggling to share more than usual, but that's good for him too!

5. They help fill our days, break up the time, and wear Christian out for nap time. 
Most of the time *knock on wood* after a good long and active play date, Christian will come home and nap for 2 1/2 - 3 hours! Which, depending on the play date could mean mama was just good and productive OR mama had to use that time to rest too! But they keep us from getting bored and provides new stimulation for Christian which often leads to good sleep. Win win if you ask me!

So how about you? If you stay home do you prefer to be mostly home, or do you live for play dates? What are your favorite play date activities? 

I'm linking up with Pursuit of Pink and For Lauren and Lauren for this post!

I Couldn't Live Without...

Last week was probably one of my more challenging weeks as a stay at home mom. While I wouldn't really say that I'm an extrovert, I do still thrive on getting out of the house, doing something different, providing something new and engaging for Christian...at LEAST once a week.

Well, last week, despite having plans to get out of the house for 3 out of the 5 weekdays, we ended up being on "house arrest" for 4 out of those 5 days.

Getting out of the house is often just as much for me to have contact with other grown humans and make me feel normal as it is about keeping Christian entertained and out of trouble. Let's be honest, stimulating a toddler and keeping him busy outside of the house is just easier some days than it is at home. Don't get me wrong, I love being a SAHM, but getting out of the house is somewhat a necessity...especially in the winter. We love our lazy days at home, too, but not every day. It often takes a lot more planning and prep on my part if we are home. {Check out my pinterest boards!}

During the summer we get out and do things, but it isn't as much of a necessity. We can just be outside which makes us feel less couped up -- going for a walk, playing at the park, doing chalk, blowing bubbles, playing in the pool and the water table, the list of outside fun goes on and on and hello {fresh air}.

You might be thinking well, hello, go outside now. Well, when its below zero outside in Minnesota and you have a toddler to get dressed, it's going to take you longer to both get dressed than the amount of time you can safely spend outside. Not to mention the tantrum that usually results from both getting dressed {mittens are the death of my toddler I swear} and then coming back inside. Not necessarily worth it...at least we hadn't reached that point yet!

Anyway, the whole reason we couldn't get out of the house, was because our car had something wrong with it. Luckily my hubby can usually be fairly handy when it comes to fixing our cars. However, he does still work a day job after all so it isn't exactly the speediest process.  After plenty of long days and extra time spent in the garage, it was determined that the car had something bigger going on...likely involving tearing apart the engine. So on Friday morning, Christian and I drove Jim to work and dropped our SUV off at the shop. But because we drove him to work, we got to have the car for the day! We had tons of fun after being stuck inside!!

Mommy Christian Breakfast date at Panera.

Watching airplanes. 

Visiting the zoo. 

Conked out from an active and busy morning. 

Afternoon snuggles! 

And now this week, we have a car again and I am realizing just how much I rely on that car, even though I'm not working outside of the home.

I so can't live without my car. 

#firstworldproblems... 

What couldn't you have lived without this week?

Christian James -- 21 Months!

Little man!! I can't believe you are only 3 months away from being TWO!! Life with you has been such an adventure...in fact, I recently started a hashtag on instagram -- #adventureswithchristian so one day you can look back at all your fun! 

While you are becoming more and more independent and talking like crazy and really starting to be able to communicate, there aren't as much huge changes month to month, but I still wanted to do an update in pictures of what you've been up to! 

You have started to really enjoy dressing up -- mainly wearing hats -- cowboy hats, construction hard hats, and most recently your army hat! One night after you went to bed, we saw this on the video camera...

You wearing your army hat in your sleep!!! 

(excuse the slightly blurry screen shot from the camera -- the dark spot on his head is the helmet)

While you love to sit and look at books, you have started to not be the biggest fan of mommy reading to you and with that has come a lack of interest in story time at the library. You don't like being told what to do, so when its time to sit and listen to a story that you didn't pick out, you aren't the biggest fan. You also prefer to check out all the cupboards in the story time room and see what all  the other kids brought for snack. You  do LOVE getting to play games on the computer before story time starts, though. 

Grandpa Ron came to visit this month, and when grandpa comes, we always put him to work on projects with daddy.  You were excited to get our your tools and help the guys too! You were actually pretty inseparable with your hammer for awhile and even slept with it for nap. 

You are also starting to learn that wearing sunglasses keeps the bright sun from bugging your eyes and will actually keep them on...and boy are you a little stud in your shades! 

During Christmas, we did a daily scripture reading from our Countdown to Christmas Scripture Chain.  This started a daily routine for us of reading the Bible. I have continued with that and have been reading from my own devotional. Every morning, while you eat breakfast, mommy reads her Bible and prays. Then, as soon as you are done eating, you run to get your Bible too and sit at the table with me and have time with Jesus too! The other day you even saw me highlighting in my Bible and then wanted to highlight in yours -- you were taking special note of the "sheep" you said :) I pray that this remains a part of your morning routine throughout your life. 

Last month you were starting to really enjoy helping mommy cook, but this month you have started playing "took" all day. You go pick out a pot and start mixing and telling me you are "tooking". 

Pants are also not your favorite. If you do have to wear pants, you usually prefer to wear sweatpants and will sometimes cry if I tell you you need to wear jeans for church. 

Sensory play is probably one of your favorite activities. We recently had some car trouble and were stuck home all week...but playing with water kept you entertained for a good half hour or more! 

And because you love sensory play, I think that has contributed to your worsening spoon skills. I swear you used to be better at using a spoon, but you seem to purposely drip it down your chin and onto your tummy and rub it around the table. Using a spoon remains as a pre-bathtime meal choice. 

Like I mentioned at the start of this post, you love adventures. In fact, you will often create your own! I turned my back for one second only to find you in the kitchen sink a few days ago! 

Similar to your growing independence with reading books, you have taken on the preference of picking out your own snack. You used to be happy if I just gave you 2 choices for a snack and then you would pick one, but  now you want to get in the cupboard and pick your own snack. Sooo mommy did some rearranging of the cupboards so you could have your own cupboard with all of your snacks {aka the cookies are kept somewhere else}. Now you can walk right up and pick out what you want...no more meltdowns over the "wrong" snack! 

I think you are officially in a toddler bed now and sleeping like a big boy! Since we got a video camera with 2 way sound for your room, we can watch you fall asleep and make sure you stay in bed. You usually try to climb out a few minutes after we leave you, but we just say "head on your pillow, stay in bed" and you book it up to lay down! Such a good listener! 

That means next up is potty training! You have been telling us when you go potty in your diaper now too....so I think we are going to attempt the 3 day method next month after you are 22 months (the recommended age for this method). We will see! 

As another "stuck in the house" activity, we broke out the tent, tunnel and balls to make a ball pit. You kept thinking you should go in the tent between the tent and the tunnel and would get stuck. Silly boy. But oh what fun you had with this! 

In order to put away the tent without you getting upset, I had to trade you your slide for the tent. You love to slide! And you also love to "claim" your slide so others can't use it....you decided that sitting on your slide for dinner would make a good chair.

This past week, since we didn't have a car and we had a big zoo day planned with friends, you and mommy drove daddy to work so we could get to the zoo with daddy's car. This meant we had a few hours between dropping daddy off at work and getting to the zoo, so we had an impromptu Mommy Christian date! We started with breakfast at Panera. We shared a yummy blueberry bagel and talked about your favorite things. We have play dates a lot and do fun things with friends to get out of the house, but we haven't done a ton of one on one stuff, but I think this was really fun! You are getting so fun to talk to! 

After breakfast on our Mommy Christian date, we went to the airport and watched the airplanes...and you got to "drive" the car. You love love love doing this! So fun to watch you squeal with delight as the planes land and take off...and as you drive the car! 

 

After watching airplanes, we headed to the zoo! I think the fish at Discovery Bay is your favorite! Can't wait for the seals to get here Labor Day weekend! This was your excited face as the water washed over the starfish

We ended the day with some snuggle time after we picked daddy up from work -- and had a pizza movie night! 

Like I said, your language has really been taking off! Daddy says the Numbers blessing over us every morning before he goes to work. You've started saying it with him and its so cute! 

It's also been super cute seeing you "call" for "Backer" when he goes out potty! 

Love you little man! You sure give me a run for my money and keep me busier every day as a mom than I ever thought possible, but I love getting to spend all of my time with you! Only 3 more months until you won't be my little "baby" any more but will officially be a big boy! 

Enjoying 2015 -- An Update!

Enjoy.

What do you think of when you hear the word enjoy?

I think of blue skies, sunshine warming my skin, Christian's giggle and laughter filling my ears and Jim's hand holding mine as we all play together at the park.

Isn't enjoying life about building in lots of fun and happy moments? When you are enjoying life you are happy.

When I chose the word enjoy for my One Word 2015 I think this was what I envisioned. I wanted to enjoy the little moments. But only 2 months in, God is already showing me that that is not what he has for me in enjoying 2015.

What if enjoyment were something bigger than just smiles and happiness, blue skies, rainbows, sunny days, and the laughter of your little child?

What if enjoyment were about choosing joy even in the hard times. Not just finding joy in the hard times, the silver linings.

What if enjoyment were about knowing God's grace is enough and that should bring us joy no matter what the circumstance. Not just something as trivial as sticky hand prints all over your house truly being a blessing.

The year started off for us seeming to be filled with much enjoyment to come! We were pregnant! However, I was thinking that God must have a sense of humor because I so did not enjoy pregnancy with Christian! But as the days passed, I was actually enjoying pregnancy!! And then, on the exact day that I stated that I was "enjoying pregnancy", I started to miscarry.

And then I started to think -- "But my word is Enjoy! How am I supposed to "enjoy" this!??!" I definitely had the silver lining moments through out the process -- it was fast and physically pain free.

But through it all, I was able to find joy, because I was enjoying God's presence. 

And even though I found joy and hope, I was still a little mad about it all and thoughts about when we would get pregnant again consumed my mind daily.  And then of course my adorable little toddler became this independent melt down machine and motherhood in general was just starting to really not feel like my cup of tea.

And then this morning, as I was reading John 15:1-11 I was reminded to abide in Christ.

Our true and complete JOY and enjoyment of life comes from remaining in the Father. 

It doesn't come from the silver linings that I was ultimately looking for when I chose to focus on enjoyment in 2015. It comes from continually choosing to remain unchanged in our relationship with God.

It's easy to rejoice in motherhood and enjoy the experience when Christian is being the perfect child -- when he isn't whiney when he's obeying, when we're playing well together, and ever more so on days that I get to shower and get dressed like a real person. But our days are rarely like that. And if that's what I'm striving for in enjoying motherhood then I'm missing a big piece of the puzzle.

"The gift of motherhood points mothers to treasure Jesus Christ as he transforms our hearts from the inside out"
 ~Gloria Furman

So that's the thing -- even when their isn't a "silver lining" we can always, always, always enjoy Jesus. And when we enjoy him and find joy with him, he transforms us and shows us the enjoyment he has for us in this life, and gives us all that we need for this messy experience of motherhood.

Christian James -- 20 Months

Little man you are almost 2 years old!!! Only 4 months to go (well less than that because you were 20 months old on January 29th). I must say that I am looking forward to you being 2 years old for at least 1 reason -- I can stop counting months and just say you are 2! Its starting to get hard to keep track! 

These updates aren't monthly any more, but I figured I would try to update at least one more time before you turn 2 (and then I will just update yearly!).  You are sure changing a lot these days, though. So mommy is trying to soak up all the little details even if she is rocking you for a nap because you are cranky some times.

You have always had quite the little personality but boy, is it shining through more and more. 

We recently got a video camera monitor for your room because we are trying to transition you to your toddler bed (but don't always like to stay in bed so the camera helps us know when you break out). "Hi" was one of your first words you started saying around 1 year old but then you stopped. It has again returned as you love to say hi to the camera. As we were walking out of the mall the other day, you were holding daddy's hand and saw some teenage girls walking into the mall and you just kept saying "hi, hi, hi" to them. Such a ladies man you are! 

You are definitely quite a social little guy. You love making friends and warm up to people quite quickly! It's so fun to see you with your small group friends. Jackson particularly has become your buddy. He always wants to sit by you and have you play with him and you happily oblige :) 

You were looking quite stylin' in this picture as well...can you say "laundry day"? :)

Right around Christmas sleep started to become a struggle for you again. I think it was partly due to traveling for Christmas and partly due to getting teeth. Those little buggers still haven't popped through! You have been grabbing at your mouth a lot lately, though, so hopefully soon! 

You are now back to sleeping from about 7pm to 7:30/8am. Some nights you stay awake a little later. You have been going to sleep on your own in your crib but you like some down time to read on your own in your bed first. You are your mama's boy :) 

Nap time is slowly moving later too. You used to nap around 11/11:30am but now its closer to 12/12:30 or even 1pm. You usually will sleep for about 2-3 hours. 

What our days usually look like now: 

7:30/8am Wake up, eat a banana and watch a show while mommy makes breakfast

8:30am Eat Breakfast and do devotions 

9am Clean up and do dishes, get dressed

9:30am Head out for our morning activity or play at home 

10am Snack Time 

11:30am Lunch

12pm  Read stories and nap 

2/2:30pm Snack Time 

3pm Afternoon learning activity -- practice colors, sing songs, sensory activity, art project

4pm Free Play while mommy starts dinner

5pm Dinner Time 

6pm Bath Time with Daddy 

Play or watch a show if there is time 

6:30pm Brush teeth and read stories and get ready for bed 

7pm Bed time 

You are also officially weaned! After 20 months of nursing, we cut out the last session before bed time when mommy started bleeding during pregnancy in case it was that which was causing the bleeding. 

You became a big brother to a baby in heaven this month. Someday you will get to run and play together with Jesus.

You are talking up a storm now too! You can repeat almost anything we ask you to now (or will at least try). 

Your Words: 

Hot

Pease = Please

Back = Bax

Mama

Mommy

Dada 

Daddy

Moo

Baa

Oooo ooo aaahh ahhh 

Tow = Cow 

Doggie

Grrr

Neigh

Help Pease = Help Please

Up Pease = Up Please

Bath 

More

Done

Na na = Banana

Dis = This

Dat = That

Yes

No 

Up

Apple

On

Sitch = Switch 

Knock 

Big 

Ouch

Uh oh

Ow

Daw = Down 

Teeth

Baby

Bubble

Show

Nose = snow

Eyes

Wa wa = Water

Hi 

Turch = Church

Bye

Book 

Amen

Cool

Choo Choo = Train

We have really been working with you to use your words because sometimes you get so frustrated and just whine because we don't know what you want (or mommy can usually guess and give it to you...) but now you are starting to talk instead which is helpful. 

When you don't use your words or don't get what you want...this usually results...

We haven't had much more success with the potty. You don't seem as interested in sitting on it any more, which makes for a challenge. However, when big kids are over and use the potty, then you will go! We may try the 3 day method soon.

Not much as changed in terms of your 'likes': 

"Reading" books, especially your Bible

Brushing your teeth

"Talking" on the phone...especially the real phone!

Washing the dishes

Painting and coloring-- you will often ask to color now and know where your color stuff is

Your lovey and your binky

Music!! You will play the piano and dance, dance, dance! 

Singing songs -- you've started singing "Row, Row, Row your boat" and "The ABCs"

Bath time 

Your broom/sweeping

Vacuuming

Climbing

Playing outside

Playing with the squirt bottle

Tackling and wrestling

Giving hugs and kisses {most of the time}

Fruit! You could eat fruit all day long

Dogs!

Watching Shows 

Trains aka "Choo Choos" 

Dislikes: 

Not getting your way and being told "no" 

Going to bed 

Vegetables

Your eating preferences change by the day. Something you love for dinner one night you will refuse for lunch the next day. Maybe you are just like your daddy and don't like leftovers? I always have to pack lots of snacks for you when we go out because I never know what you will actually like to eat. 

You are starting to drink a few sips of cow's milk here and there but you still aren't a fan. 

You are still in size 5 diapers. 

For clothes, you are mainly in 18 month pants {although some are getting too short, but are also in some 2T and even 1 pair of 3T}. Shirts are mostly 2T but 3T is seeming to fit better {longer sleeves}. Pajamas are also 2T and 3T. You are still our big boy! 

I weighed you the other day and you are still hovering at 29 pounds.

Not sure where you are height wise these days....

We love you so much baby boy and are loving watching you turn into a little man!!! 

Everyday is so fun with you....even when you are a little monster :) 

Love you to the moon and back!!