Long overdue, but Happy 6th Anniversary to US!

 I am totally slacking in the blog department lately...my sincerest apologies (I know you're all sitting around crying that there haven't been as many updates recently).  we've been dealing with some illnesses in our house (which is a blog update in and of itself that maybe I'll get to eventually), so if I have a spare minute, I'm normally zoning out and not blogging due to sleep deprivation.

Anyway---last weekend, on September 23rd we celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary!!  My facebook status for that day was something like, 6 years, 2 houses, 2 kids, and 1 dog later...and we're still having a great time!  And I really do think that accurately sums up our life together :)  (technically, we had Gracie before getting married...but she still counts in our list of life accomplishments together)

6 years ago:

A few weekends ago, at a wedding:

My parents came up the day of our anniversary to babysit so that we could go out to lunch to celebrate (we couldn't go out to dinner because the steelers played at 4pm that day-we have our priorities, of course).  Brian got to pick our restaurant spot last year, so it was my pick this year....he gave me a hard time about driving 30 minutes to eat at a chain restaurant, but I was getting my Max & Erma's!!  I had been dreaming of a tortilla burger, and it did not disappoint! (and Brian was impressed with his meal as well, so it all worked out in the end)  Plus, I had a gift card & a coupon, you know how I feel about getting a good bargain, even on a special occasion ;)

Side note-you know you're getting old when, after your anniversary dinner, you have some free time before you need to head home for the football game, so you hit up Toys r Us to get diapers that were on sale.  Yeah, we're awesome like that.

Happy Anniversary, Brian!!!

Random Liam Updates

It's been awhile since I've done a Liam update post, and he has quite a few new words!  Right now his words consist of:

Dog-dog, Woof, Jake, GG, Mommy, Daddy, More, Uh-Oh, Yum, No, No way, book

He's obsessed with finding pictures of dogs in books, and staring at our neighbor's dog who is frequently in their front yard across the street.

The kid can still eat like nobody's business.  Favorites right now include lasagna:

And quesidillas (which he insists on eating just like the rest of us, and gets mad if you cut them up):

We have to be careful to shut the pantry doors now, because someone has a habit of sneaking in there and stealing food.  See example picture below: he took a cereal bar out of the closet, stealthily took it into the playroom and apparently was planning on consuming it while riding his zebra. 

"You don't see anything....."

He can identify his hands, feet, toes, head, hair and nose.  

You might not be able to tell in the pictures, but his hair is getting much more blonde.  The last time we had him at the doctor, he weighed in at just a little over 25 pounds and he's currently in size 12-18 month clothing. 

He's been fully transitioned into the Toddler 1 room at school, and he's doing quite well!  They do circle time in that room, and they said he loves it.  They tell the kids it's time for circle time, and Liam will literally just throw down whatever he was playing with, run over to his spot, and plop down.  He "sings" along to the songs, claps his hands, and pays attention to story time and the lesson.  Adorable, right?? 

Back in the game!

It seems like we just finished tball, but the fall season has started back up already!  The first game was supposed to be last weekend, but it was rained out; fortunately, the weather cooperated this past Saturday and we had a beautiful day for some t-ball!

Jake woke up on Saturday morning and was not acting like himself.  He was grumpy, didn't want to eat, didn't want to get dressed for tball, etc....finally, I asked him what was bothering him and he said he was nervous for the game!  He was nervous because he didn't practice the night before (it was raining) and nervous because he wouldn't know anyone.  Poor thing.  I told him that he'd know Maddie (a friend from school, and they played on the same team last year) and that he didn't know his team in the spring when they started either, but then they all became friends.  He cheered up a bit, then he was fine once we got there. 

Being silly with Maddie before the game

 I can already tell what is going to be the biggest challenge for me this year: his name starts with an "L", he's cute, weighs about 25 pounds, and is obsessed with doing everything his big brother does.

Poor thing tried to line up with the team and sit down on the bench.  Then he kept trying to break away and go onto the field and get the balls.  He even joined the team for their snack after the game....I've decided he will be the unofficial mascot of the team this year. 

Jake did a great job, despite his fears, and after the game said he had so much fun.  He had a few nice hits, too!!

Getting some instruction from Coach Daddy

Until they protest.

I will continue to dress them in matching/coordinated outfits until they beg me to stop.  I just cannot help myself. 

Funny related story, when we were on vacation, I bathed both boys after we came home from the beach one day, wrapped Jake up in his towel and got Liam dressed first.  We then moved into Jake's room, and I pulled a shirt out of his dresser and he said:

Jake: A-HA! I KNEW it!
Me: Knew what?
Jake: I just knew I was going to be wearing that shirt today!
Me: Oh yeah?  How did you know that?
Jake: Because you always like to dress me and Liam in the same clothes. 

He caught onto my ways!  You can imagine my joy when one day last week, Jake pulled out a tshirt from his dresser then said "Liam has this same shirt, can we wear them together today?"  Oh buddy, you don't have to ask me twice!!

Who needs toys when you have cups?

In a year from now....

It's hard to believe that in a year from now, I'll be sending my baby boy off to kindergarten.  Kindergarten!!  But for now, I can enjoy him having one last year in his preschool program.  While he's technically still in the same class as last year, with a lot of his same friends, he did get a new teacher for this year, and the kids in his smaller group changed.  Jake does not always deal well with change, and there were a few tears on the first official day of preschool last week. 

That first picture kills me!!  Ugh.  It was hard to put on my brave mommy face for him that morning, and try to get him excited about going....when really, all I wanted to do was scoop him up into my lap, tell him he didn't have to go (as he was begging me to stay home with him), that he could stay with me and I'd make it all better.  But of course, that wasn't feasible and he'd have to face his new class eventually anyway.

So we found a good compromise; he would take in a sheet of stickers to pass out to his friends, both old and new.  He would give them to his new friends as a way of introducing himself, and to his old friends, so that they wouldn't forget him (his exact words!).  We were proud of him that he came up with that solution and eventually went into preschool looking forward to the day.

And of course, I was worried for nothing...when I picked him up that day, he ran over with a huge smile on his face and told me he had a great day and learned a lot of new things. 

It's amazing the things you can do as a mom....I'm crying on the inside for him, but all smiles on the outside, assuring him that it's ok to feel nervous, but oh it's going to be so much fun!  (cue my voice shaking as I was telling him this, trying to not cry myself!)  Big hugs all around, walk out the door, get in my car and say a silent prayer that he doesn't spend all day being sad.  Take a deep breath, go to work, and know deep down that you'll be met at the end of the day with a smiling kid....because you know that he IS that kind of kid.  He's the kind of kid who worries about things, worries about other people, doesn't like to have everything change...but he's also the kind of kid who, despite his fears, wants to make the best of a situation.  Who wants to learn, who strives to make other people happy, to make other people proud of him.  And sure enough, when I picked up that smiling kid at the end of the day and told him how proud I was, he was absolutely BEAMING.

Visiting the Martinis!

Last weekend, we took advantage of the holiday on Monday and headed to VA to visit the Martini Family!  It was outrageously hot on Saturday (is it fall yet??) so we loaded up the kids in a wagon and headed to the pool.  The boys had a blast there, and the parents enjoy any activity that aids in wearing them out.

After going home and having them rest up for a bit, we headed back out for a neighborhood party that involved lots of running around and later on, a movie outside!  The boys didn't make it for much of the movie, it was late at that point and they had been out in the heat for most of the afternoon. 

The next day, we headed to the farm for some potato picking.

Potato picking is exhausting.

The little guys had a good time too....they are, of course, being groomed to be BFF's!

Highlight of the weekend for Liam?  Eating cupcakes from Aunt Missa, of course!

Laaaaaaid back.

"Laid back--with my mind on my binky, and my binky on my mind"

Always there for you.

"Liam-I am your big brother, and I am always going to be there for you. If you need something at school, you just come and find me. Well, except for next year...because I'll be in kindergarten, so I don't know what you're going to do then" ~Jake

Mommy, Jake & Liam-Day of Fun!!

That's what Jake called the day last week when I kept both kids home with me as a surprise for the day.  We had some business to attend to first (it was the day of Liam's 15 month check up) but after that, we had all day to ourselves!! 

There's a shopping center near downtown Pittsburgh called Southside Works, which features a fountain/splash pad area that kids can play in.  We had never taken the kids there, but I figured it was water and they'd like it.  First we went to a regular playground in that area, then enjoyed a picnic lunch outside, then made our way over to the fountain.  My guess that they would enjoy it was a bit off...I wouldn't say they hated it, but they didn't love it.  Liam was a bit hesitant, since the water would go all the way down, then come up suddenly and nearly slapped him in the face one time.  And he kept slipping and falling (the bricks surrounding the water area were super slippery, he was sliding with his shoes on and without)  Jake complained that the water was cold (truth).  But, oh well.  It was a nice day, nonetheless.

15 months-check up and update

It's hard to believe that this time last year, my maternity leave was ending and I was heading back to work.  It's crazy how quickly the time has passed, and how much my baby has changed and grown!  I don't even know if I can use the word baby anymore: he's full-on walking as his main mode of transportation, he's attempting to climb anything that he can, he spends his days trying to keep up with his big brother, and he's getting ready to transition to the Toddler room at school.  *GULP*  I'm definitely in denial, but I think that at this point, "toddler" would be a better word to describe him.

We had his well visit last week, and he looked great.  Here are the stats:

Height: 32 inches (75th percentile)
Weight: 24 lbs, 5 oz (46th percentile)
Head circumference: 48 cm (73rd percentile)

Looking back at my notes on Jake, he was 2 pounds lighter and an inch shorter at 15 months!  I am sad to report that some of Liam's chub that I love so much is starting to vanish now that he's become a professional walker.

My only concern going into the appointment was his vocabulary.  Full disclosure: I totally commit the worst parenting crime by comparing Liam to Jake all of the time. I know that you're not supposed to do this, but really, can you even help but doing it?  I have nothing else to compare to!  So of course, when I glanced back through my notes about Jake's milestones and language skills at 15 months and saw that he had closer to a dozen words (Liam has 5 or 6), I  couldn't help but worry.  The doctor assured me that Liam is still in the normal range for language development, and I'd probably find that he would just hit an explosion at some point and really take off with the talking.  Phew!  Liam's consistent words are mama, dada, ball, bubble and yum.  I have heard him say nana (referring to a banana), GG and PopPop before, but he doesn't say those on a regular basis.

His eating skills still continue to blow our minds, there are times when he honestly eats the same size portion as I do at dinner.  I have no idea where he puts it all!  I have to laugh sometimes because with Jake, we were soooo controlling over what he could and couldn't eat (cupcakes at any time aside from his birthday??  no way!  Chips, even at a party?  Yeah right!)  Well, let me just tell you how challenging it would be to keep to those same rules with Liam.....not only is he an eating machine, but he is so observant of what Jake and any other kids are eating.  Perks of being the 2nd kid, I guess!

Move over, baby Gap models!  There's a new kid in town.

Luau 2012

It's hard to believe we have been doing the luau for SIX years!!  It's always so much fun and, not to toot our own horns, but we agreed that this was the best one yet.  We had the.perfect.weather for it.  It was sunny, a little breezy, and the temperatures were in the mid-70's.  See?  Perfect!

I wanted to try out some different food this year, so I turned to (where else?) Pinterest, of course!

Sand Pudding (recipe found here)

 Nutter Butter Flip Flops (original idea found here)

 
Some other food shots:

 A highlight of the day for Brian was seeing me wearing shoes in the house; he felt like this was such a rare, momentous occasion that he made me stop and pose for a picture. Yes, I am one of those obsessive people who can't stand shoes in the house.  This is the ONE single day out of the year that I will deal with it and not cringe.  Or at least try to not cringe.  But you know I was busting out that vacuum and mop first thing the next morning!

Another highlight for me was definitely all of the kids running around.  I realize that some people may think that would actually be a downside to the party, but I love it.  I love seeing them run around our yard, without a care in the world, eating junk food all afternoon, and playing until they crash (late at night!).  One of the reasons we fell in love with our house was because of the backyard, and we had visions of kids loving to play there...so seeing that come true makes us really happy!

They got a little wild at one point (you probably don't remember, but there was some couch-jumping last year....couch jumping with 3 or 4 smaller kids is much different than couch-jumping with 5 or 6 kids, who all went through growth spurts in the past year!)  Brian and I agreed that this was probably the last year for the couch jumping, it was fun while it lasted.

For some inexplicable reason, most of the boys felt the need to remove their shirts prior to couch jumping and milkshake consuming. 

Aside from their wild moments, I was really, really impressed by the kids overall.  I didn't count, but I'm pretty sure there were at least 25 kids there.  Of course, there was the standard bickering over toys and some sharing squabbles, but no all out battles and I really think they played quite nicely together.  And no one sustained any major injuries, which is always a mark in the "win" column when there are that many kids put together!

Another great thing about the day was that my cousin from Canada, her husband and 4 kids were able to come to the party!  We hadn't seen them since last summer...and at that time, there were only 3 kids!  Here is GG meeting the cutie Greyson:

Thanks to everyone who joined us, we hope you had as much fun as we did!!