Happy New Year & Happy 12 Months, Josh!

Happy New Year!!  These past few weeks completely flew by and here we are in 2016!  This year may have been our least exciting NYE celebration yet.  Well for Andy, Josh, and me anyway, Ben had a blast having a mini party with Nana and Papa John, complete with a cake, orange soda, sledding, and of course a sleepover!  He was in heaven.

I, on the other hand, spent my 2nd consecutive NYE getting my eyes checked.  Gotta use that vision insurance by the end of the year!  That took a good hour and a half since all the crazy procrastinators were out, and when I got home, Andy had prepared a delicious lasagna!  We put Josh to bed and enjoyed a nice, quiet dinner.  (Nope, I did not waste any time in getting my pajamas on.)  We had a thrilling evening of watching TV in bed, which is actually a treat because we don't watch much TV.  Unfortunately, Josh started crying, Andy went in his room, and by the time Andy came back, I was SLEEPING.  So that was our night!  Next year, we're going to do something FUN!  And hopefully we won't be sleep-deprived at this time next year!

On to Joshy!  My big ONE year old!  The poor guy had his 12 month check up on Christmas Eve and was found to have an ear infection!  He had had a fever the night before, hadn't been eating much, and was sleeping like garbage (not out of the ordinary!).  He is also getting his 4 top teeth, so he was in rough shape.  He looked miserable and it made me so sad. :(  Thankfully, he's doing much better now that he's been on amoxicillin for almost 10 days.  Aside from his ear infection, he got glowing reports from the pediatrician!  Taking after his big brother, it seems!  He was still a little under the weather when I took this pictures, but I don't think that he would have left the sticker on any longer than half a second regardless of how he was feeling!

SLEEP:  Sleep still STINKS!  I really don't even know what to say about it.  Last night he was up like 6-7 times and would scream right after we put him back down.  He's smart.  He knows how to get our attention.  I'm really not a fan of the whole "cry it out" method, but I'm starting to think that's the only way he will sleep.  (Even though we have let him cry for awhile and he never stops on his own.)  He was sleeping better when he started eating better, but he has slowed down with the eating and thus the sleep has suffered.  (And by better, I mean waking up 2-3 times/night.)  We are exhausted. I'm not even one who likes sleep or needs a lot of it, but after a year of never getting a good night of sleep, my body is starting to revolt!  So that's that!  Only up from here???

EATING:  His eating was better for awhile.  He is supposed to be getting at least 600 calories a day, so when he was getting that, he slept better.  The problem is that it is often really hard to get him to eat that.  Feeding him can be exhausting, just like it was for Ben.  Some days he will eat a huge piece of turkey, fruit, and more, and other days he will only eat a few crackers or something like that for a meal. He's really in to throwing food on the floor when he doesn't want it anymore.  He seems to get sick of things very quickly.  Like after one time eating it!  The good thing is that he seems to like whole milk a lot!  I am still nursing him in the morning and at night, but I stopped pumping at work.  (Woohoo!!)  It was getting really hard to pump at work plus I wasn't producing as much, so I'm happy that Josh made it to a year on breast milk, but I'm ready to share my work with the cows.  Hah!

COMMUNICATION/COGNITION:  What Joshy is lacking in the sleep and eating department, he is more than making up for it in the other departments.  He has such a sweet, silly, and funny little personality.  He has become so much more interactive over the past month.  He is making all sorts of noises, but his favorite word is still "dada."  He still uses his signs and is also starting to do things like point to his tummy on command.  His newest trick is he will "POP" on cue when we sing "Pop!  Goes The Weasel" and it is so cute!  I haven't been able to get a great video of it, but he will sign more over and over again when we sing it.  He loves to dance, wave, and give high-5s like it's his job, which is great because Ben is definitely NOT in to high-5s these days! ;)  Josh also recently started giving KISSES when asked.  Hopefully he keeps that up for awhile!  Can't get enough wet baby smooches!!  He is still SUPER attached to his mama!  I know I will miss these days some day, but there are serious crocodile tears even if I am out of sight for 5 seconds!

FINE/GROSS MOTOR: He's still a busy guy! He is always climbing and getting in to trouble!  If we leave the gait to the upstairs open, he will be sure to notice and will climb his way to the top in the blink of an eye.  He loves putting caps on things and he is really good at putting shape blocks in to the correct spots.  He is also really in to turning the pages of books.  I read books with both boys on the chair in Josh's room before bed, then Ben says goodnight to Josh, tells daddy to come and do the same, and then turns the light off and closes the door.  He's such a good helper brother.  Love our little routine!

(I can't get the video to upload…I'll have to add it later!)

Joshy, I know I've been complaining about the lack of sleep a lot lately, but even despite the poor sleep, we still love you more than anything!!!  (Well, we love you the exact same as your big brother!)  You make life so much more fun and I love watching you grow!  Thanks for making this year past year the best one yet!  I can't wait to see what you learn and do this year!  Love you forever and ever!!! XOXO

Life Lately!

Life has been busy, as usual, around these parts!  Now that Josh's party is over and the baby shower I hosted last night is also over, I feel like the only thing we're waiting for is for Andy's semester at school to end and we'll be free!  This month is flying by; I feel like it was just Thanksgiving last week!  We have been trying to squeeze in as much holiday fun as possible.  I'm going to try and recap some of that right now.

A week or 2 before Thanksgiving, there were some Christmas activities going on in the downtown area of where my mom lives.  It was super cute!  The sun was shining and it was actually quite warm so it didn't feel like Christmas, but with 2 little boys, I wasn't complaining.  Andy had class, but Nana, Papa John, Uncle Joe, and Auntie Anna joined us.  First up: Christmas cookie decorating!

Next we had lunch and then watched the horses giving carriage rides!  Joshers was a fan!

Until he got up close and personal with the horses.  Don't be fooled by this picture!  He was actually terrified.

Snow would have been pretty, but the horse drawn carriage ride was much more enjoyable in the sunshine!

While the ride was a hit, meeting Santa and Mrs. Claus was not as happy of an experience.  Ben did manage to tell Santa he wants a scooter.  (As an aside, the boys have seen Santa several times this year. Ben really likes Santa, but when push comes to shove, he would rather keep his distance.)

The next day, Andy and I did the Jingle Bell Run!  It was a last minute decision, but with weather in the upper 50's, we couldn't resist!  We made Ben wear a bunch of layers, but he actually got hot.  Guess we'll have to keep dreaming of that white Christmas!  I hadn't run for months, but we somehow managed to finish in about 30 minutes.  (I was slowing Andy down, I'm sure, even though he was the one pushing the stroller.  Joshy stayed behind with Grandpa.)

I just have to include this picture of the obscene amount of leaves in our yard.  My mom knows that raking leaves (and yard work in general) is not very high on our priority list, so last Christmas, she gifted us the gift of yard clean up!  It was amazing!  This was just the front yard.  One guy did this all on his own and hauled away every last leaf! 

And he did it just in the nick of time, because a day or 2 later we got out first (and only) snowfall of the year!  Ben could not have been more excited!  We had told him that it was coming and he headed straight to the window the minute he woke up.  I love his excitement!  

We had music class at 9:00, but of course Ben had to play outside before we left.  (Whatever gets him to eat a good breakfast!)

I adore this video of the boys playing in the snow.  Josh's giggles are the best.

Finally, it was starting to feel a little more Christmasy!  We headed out for lunch at the public market.  There was a clarinet player playing Christmas music, so we grabbed front row and enjoyed lunch. 

 After lunch, we bundled back up and checked out German Christmas Market, the Cristkindlmarket.  It was so festive and fun!  Ben made a gingerbread man...

dictated a Christmas list of what everyone in the family wants (according to my favorite 3 year old), 

and of course, enjoyed a delicious pretzel!

This day was seriously the definition of happiness in my book.  My heart was (is) so full!

As with most weekends, the day ended with some fort building, Christmas book reading, and festive jammy wearing. 

Now, I know we did all of this stuff before Thanksgiving, and I'm not trying to overlook Thanksgiving, but I think it is safe to say that I am truly thankful for my family, each and every day.  I try to keep this blog happy and I want to look back at all of these happy memories some day.  So while I truly love Thanksgiving as well, it would be a shame to pass up all of this memory making with my family!

On to Thanksgiving!  I decided to take off the day before Thanksgiving this year.  Mainly because the boys had no school, but also because the days before holidays at work tend to be crazy!  I got to spend the whole days with my boys and it was heavenly!  Target and Culver's?  Smiles all around!

Thanksgiving!  A day to really reflect on all the blessings in our lives.  What's not to love about these silly turkeys?!  

We went to my cousin's house for lunch and then headed to Andy's parents for dinner.  By the time we got to our second stop, both of the boys were beat!  Ben was so tired I was afraid he was getting sick.  I wasn't complaining about the snuggles, but this is definitely not his baseline activity level!  We all look like we could use a nap good night's sleep!

Gobble, gobble Joshy!  The little ones didn't eat any turkey or anything Thanksgiving related for that matter, but fun was still had by all!

I was thankful to have the day after Thanksgiving off as well!  Grandpa watched the boys while Andy and I had a double date with Anna and Chad.  It was super fun!  We went to our favorite restaurant for dinner before we went to see Home Alone played with the Symphony! 

Not that we were lacking any Christmas spirit up to this point, but it was a perfect way to kick off what many consider to be the official start of the Christmas season.  Heck, I would have gone in April if asked.  :)

We had such a good dinner on Friday night that we decided to hit up the same restaurant on Saturday night as well.  We know what we like in this household, especially when it comes to food!  While I love going out to dinner, Josh isn't at a great eat-at-a-restaurant stage.  However, this night both boys truly blew us away!  I was almost crying happy tears!  Josh was loving the fries and Ben ate his first butter sandwich!  The things we get excited about!

We decided to have one of Santa's elves make an appearance at our house this year.  I think Ben likes him.  It was a rough start though!  The first day was great.  Elfie/Ralphie/Elf the elf (he has several names, thanks to Ben) appeared on our mini tree.  Ben was psyched!  Aside from when he fell off the tree as we were moving it upstairs and Ben started crying, it was a happy day.

The next night, Elfie was in the blinds on the window on the stairs.  For whatever reason, Ben woke up  at around 2:00AM and was TERRIFIED!  I heard screaming and so I went upstairs to find Ben in his bed.  I thought he had had a bad dream, but then he said that he saw the elf in the window.  OOPS.  Elfie is no longer allowed upstairs, and every night as we tuck him in, Ben reminds us to tell Elfie not to go upstairs.  He's listened!

Aside from this incident, things have been going well.  The boys had a blast decorating the mini tree in Ben's room. 

To end our fabulous family weekend, we cut down our own Christmas tree on Sunday evening.  This might be one of my favorite family activities ever.   Unfortunately, we got there about 15 minutes before they were closing, but we still managed to find the perfect tree!

Can't forget the video!

To date, our tree is up, but it only has lights on thus far.  It is also barricaded by a baby play yard!  I think it just might stay this way this year!

Speaking of holiday modifications, our stockings are also hung a wee bit higher than the mantle this year thanks to the newest walker in the house!  That St. Nick did make sure to put them on the mantle when he visited this year though!  Ben asked why I didn't get anything in my stocking since I was a good momma this year.  Good question, buddy! ;)  Though what is better than this in a stocking?? (NOTHING!)

And last but not least, the boys got to see Santa again because both he and Scoopie were at Culver's the other night after basketball.  Ben was high-5ing Scoopie, but he did manage to tell Santa that he wants a scooter and a SKATEBOARD.  He said he saw the elves working on a scooter but he wasn't sure about the skateboard.  Luckily, Ben knows that Santa only brings toys that are safe for kids.  (Thus he added a helmet to his list.  Hah!)

Phew!  That's a lot of stuff!  This weekend is jam-packed full of Christmas cheer as well, including a trip to breakfast with Jesus.  I've really been trying to explain to Ben the real meaning of Christmas.  He seems to understand it, as well as a 3 year old can, though I suppose it's confusing that both daddy and Jesus were born on the same day!  Joshers got sick for the first time last night and it was so terribly sad!  I am hoping and praying that he is all better in the morning and that I have 2 healthy little boys this weekend!