Running through the sprinklers

It's a rare occasion that we turn our sprinklers on (and you can see that from the look of our grass), but Chad has planted some new grass seed that he is trying to get started and Sunday was our day to water, so he turned on the little local sprinkler to water the grass seed. Ezra took this as an opportunity to get soaked and freezing cold. He had a blast but you can tell as he's running through the water that he was sooo cold. 

 And a random picture of Ezra and Trevyn that I took today while Trevyn was playing at our house. That boy looooves to wear those goggles.

Ezra--32 months

Ezra is creeping closer and closer to 3! I have heard that the 3's are pretty difficult, so I am savoring every moment with him as a two-year-old. Other than a couple weeks after Ivy was born, he has been so fun and so easy lately. As he gets older, he says some really funny things, and just cute things I want to remember.

"Whatcha doin', momma?"
"I'm cooking dinner."
"Yeah, you cooking dinner. That's cool."

His favorite thing to ask these days is "Wha happened?" when he is watching a show or a movie. Most of the time I'm not paying attention to whatever he is watching so I guess I need to work on that. He also asks "Where ya going?" and is ready to head out the door well before it's time to leave usually.

He asks "Want to play catch with me?" and "Want to read this with me?" on a regular basis. Of COURSE I do, sweet boy. How can I say no to that?

At bedtime, right as I'm getting up to leave, he says, "I wanna SNUGGLE!" Then, "How bout, scratch back? How bout, scratch belly? Scratch nose? Scratch head?" One stall tactic after another.

He is all about the baby talk jibberish these days. I know it's a phase and it will end soon but it's pretty annoying.

He likes to point out other people's emotions. If Ivy is crying, he'll say, "Ivy's sad. It's okay Ivy." Lately he has enjoyed watching "The Neverending Story." When the horse sinks in the mud, he said, "He's sad."

He still imitates whatever we say to Ivy. Yesterday in his little baby voice he got in her face and said, "Hiiii sweet guhl!" It was so cute. He will tell her "You're so beautiful!" I pray that they always love each other like they do now. It is so special to watch. He really is such a good big brother to her. I can already tell that she loves to watch him, and he can make her smile every time he talks to her. Another thing he imitates is telling me where he is going and what he is doing, and saying, "I'll be RIGHT back." I guess I say that a lot to him...otherwise I hear "Momma, where are you?" over and over again.

He put these on today and said "Momma, do you like my rabbit glasses?" (he got these today from his superkids teacher. A few months ago, you could NEVER have gotten Ezra to wear something on his face like this.)

You can't tell Ezra that something is going to happen in the future without him talking and asking about it constantly. When my mom was visiting a couple weeks ago, she started getting Ezra all ready for Blue Haven and talking to him about mountains, and woods, and butterflies, and hummingbirds, and bears. Ezra has since thought we are going to Blue Haven much sooner than when we are actually going, and he talks about it. A lot. I have learned to prompt him about things we are doing either the night before or the day of the event. He can usually understand when I say "after you wake up" but other than that, he doesn't have the concept of time (days, weeks, months) yet.

This month, it finally happened. Ezra told me he loved me, unprompted. My heart melted. And he always responds now with "I love you too" when we tell him we love him.

He is becoming increasingly independent. He loves his friends, he loves to do things himself, and he loves being a big boy. When he hurts himself, he might cry for a bit, but then he says, "I'm a tough boy." In fact, he just enjoys describing himself in general. "I'm Ezra. I'm silly. I'm goofy. I'm big. I'm cool." Luckily he also has quite the self-esteem.

As far as sleeping goes, we have put an alarm clock into effect. When Ivy was born we were having some issues with Ezra getting up super early (like 5:30 in the morning) and thinking it was time to be up for the day or waking up crying at midnight. So he has this alarm clock that lights green when it's time to be in bed, and turns yellow when it's time to wake up. He got the hang of it really quickly and is now back to sleeping from 8:30-7:30 every night. He still usually takes a nap during the day, but if he misses it he is fine. I just put him to bed earlier on those nights and he is always ready to go. In fact, at night now when we ask him if he is sleepy, he usually says yes.

I wish I kept better track of all the fun things Ezra says and does, but I guess this is better than nothing. I know it will be fun one day to look back and see all of this stuff, even if it's not very interesting to most of you who read this (yes, mom, I know you think it's interesting). Time goes by too fast, and we are enjoying this season in our life with our sweet kids.

Easter egg hunt at superkids

Ezra had an easter egg hunt at school today and I got to be there and watch for the 3.2 minutes it took the kids to find all the eggs. Ezra was so cute. He would pick up an egg, put it in his basket, and say "I got eggs! I got eggs!" It's so fun to watch as he grows and gets excited about stuff like this.

Fun outside

This time of year is the perfect time to spend the afternoons outside. The other day our whole family was hanging out in the backyard and I decided to get my camera out. 

 I love these three...

 Right now our garden is a big dirt square (let's be honest, so is most of our backyard) so Ezra likes to go back there and move the dirt around and dig with the spade. He's a boy, what can I say.

Happy Saturday

Barbara (Chad's mom) called this morning and requested an updated picture of Ezra so she could print it and update the one in her office. I didn't have any on hand, so we went outside and did a little impromptu photo shoot. I sure do love my little boy...especially when he says "Cheese!" and looks at the camera. :)

Recent videos

For some reason I am not able to give little explanations in between the videos. Most of them don't need them. These are just little glimpses into our everyday life for those who are interested. Some of the videos are a little long, but it is my way of keeping a record of the kids and remembering what they were like.

March/April menu

I'm back from my menu-posting hiatus. I've been cooking again for about a month, but just no time to post menus. After Ivy was born, my dear, sweet, wonderful friends from church brought us meals every other day for four weeks. What a blessing. But alas, after those four precious weeks of not having to think about what we were going to eat, I once again had to take responsibility. So here is our latest menu...enjoy!

Baked creamy chicken taquitos
Chicken cordon bleu
Chicken pot pie
Black bean & rice stuffed peppers
BBQ meatballs (I use frozen homestyle meatballs and the sauce from pioneer woman's meatball recipe) & mashed cheesy cauliflower
(I have been wanting to find a cauliflower recipe that our whole family will enjoy for a while. This one's a keeper. Keep in mind that it calls for 2 tablespoons of roasted garlic so you will want to make sure and roast your garlic bulb earlier in the day when you make this recipe). 
Pizza spaghetti
Chicken taco soup (like regular taco soup but with chicken)
Creamy chicken & artichoke pasta
Brisket
Chopped BBQ baked potatoes (made with leftover brisket)
Lasagna
Braided sandwich loaves
Fajitas
Steak bites
Sour cream enchiladas
Chili
Taco salad (using leftover chili)
Smoky pork tacos
Sriracha burgers
Chicken gyros with tzatziki sauce (I plan to check our favorite greek restaurant to see if they have their gyro bread for sale in the little market; otherwise, I will try the bread recipe)
Grilled chicken bruschetta

What's happening

Well, it's only 7:30 and both kids are in bed so I thought I'd get caught up on posting pictures to the blog. I am going to try and post some videos too but that will depend on how long til Ivy wakes up to eat again.

The biggest news around here is that Chad finished everything for his master's degree! We are so excited and relieved that he is finished. Chad went through the same school that he got his RN from, Excelsior College, and it's a distance program based in Albany, NY. So he had to go there for 4 days to present his final project, and my mom came and stayed with us. We had a great time and she was a huge help, as usual. Ezra LOVES his granny.  

 We had a little problem with Ivy while mom was here. One night she woke up around 11, and usually during the night I just feed her and she goes right back to sleep. Well, this didn't happen that night. She cried like she was in a lot of pain all night and would only sleep if I was holding her. It was so out of character for her that I took her in to the doctor the next morning and he agreed that that amount of fussiness was unusual for a baby her age (she was still crying as we were in the doctor the next day). So he ordered urine and bloodwork (traumatic for me) and an x-ray of her abdomen. I saw the x-ray before we got the results of the labs back, and it showed that her entire abdomen was filled with gas. I was so relieved. She wasn't completely herself for another day or so, and she slept the entire next day except when she was eating. Poor thing was so exhausted. Thankfully, she is back to her normal self now. She is seriously the sweetest, smiliest baby and she really doesn't cry much at all. Once she sleeps 12 hours in a row at night she will be the perfect baby! :)

 And finally, daddy came home, and we were so happy to have him back.

 I have also started keeping Ezra's little buddy Trevyn again. Ezra saw that Trevyn was wearing a baseball hat one day and just had to find his too.

 Here is Ivy having some tummy time and big brother keeping her company.

 Giving me his best "cheese face."

So that's the last few weeks in pictures! I am in the process of uploading videos so look for another post soon.

Friends

I just had to share this picture of Ezra and his friend Aiden. Ezra has two BFFs, Aiden and Trevyn, and he talks about them constantly. When he has to leave them, he gets very upset. He always asks to go see them. I just love the little moment these two are sharing. I hope Ezra stays friends with these boys for the rest of his life.

Two months!

Lots of family came into town last weekend...dad, Ginny, Mackenzie, Erin & family, Shawn & family. Ivy is in that swing and everyone is gathered around her. Lots of attention for such a small person who doesn't do much! 

 Bathtime tonight...she smiles when I pour the warm water on her. So sweet.

 Took these yesterday when she was "officially" two months old.

 Who doesn't love baby toes and squishy baby thigh rolls?

Well, here we are, another month of Ivy's babyhood in the books. I say that in the figurative sense, since I haven't actually written anything in Ivy's baby book. At least I have the blog to refer to when I do get around to doing that. I am so enjoying this sweet little girl. So far, she is a pretty easy baby. She has her times of fussiness, especially in the evenings, but I find that she is fussy mostly if I have not paid attention to getting her down for naps in a timely manner when she starts showing signs of tiredness. Overly tired=short naps=fussy evenings. She will have her two month check-up next week and then we'll know how much she weighs and all that.

At two months, Ivy is...
-eating 7-8 times in a 24 hour period. Usually around 8, 11, 2, 5, 8, 10, and 4.
-still not a huge fan of her pacifier, but getting better.
-will nurse or take a bottle.
-taking about 4 naps a day, ranging from 1 to 2 hours. She usually does great if I just put her in her sleep sack, sing to her a bit, and put her down awake. That is, unless she is overly tired...then I rock her to sleep.
-sleeping a 6-7 hour stretch at night, waking up around 3 or 4 to eat, and then I usually wake her up in the morning to start our day. I love this...it's waaay different than our experience with Ezra.
-smiling whenever you talk or sing to her. She is so sweet.
-starting to use her hands to touch objects.

To summarize, she is the sweetest, most precious baby girl ever! We love you Ivy Noelle!

Sweet baby

I just love this little girl...she is the perfect addition to our family. Ivy is becoming more and more expressive every day. As an added bonus, she is starting to eat less often and take good naps. Last night I actually got a 6 hour stretch of sleep...she only woke up once. Bless you my child. (Yes, I realize it's probably a fluke). 

Ezra Paul at 31 months

This month has shown lots of change in our little Ezra. He is a mess. He cracks us up, makes us smile, and every once in a while causes us to want to pull our hair out. This month he has really started talking in complete sentences with pronouns and articles more and more. He is a daredevil. Last week I had to chase him down in the front yard as he got out and ran toward the street. Also last week he fell out of a chair in the kitchen and hit his head on the floor which gave him a huge knot on his forehead. He continues to enjoy school but has gotten "mischievous" marks a couple of times and also a note that he had a hard time following directions. We can really tell that he is taking some time to adjust to having a new sibling and the loss of some attention that comes with that. He is still a really sweet boy who gives us so much joy every day. We continue to work on different methods of discipline to see what is effective for him. We have been working on learning bible verses and so far Ezra has memorized Proverbs 17:17 ("A friend loves at all times") and Psalm 119:11 ("I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you," paraphrased for a 2-year-old). It is amazing what a little sponge he is. Just like last month, he loves dinosaurs, Little Einsteins, and we pulled out a Thomas the Train lego set that used to belong to my nephew Kellen and he has really enjoyed playing with that. He continues to enjoy doing puzzles and playing games on the iphone. Here is a picture that they sent home at superkids. Ezra has enjoyed learning about different children's stories. The video is of Ezra being the big bad wolf telling Ivy he is going to blow her house down. She is very impressed. 

Over the river and through the woods

Last week marked the end of grandparents coming to visit us to meet Ivy. So sad. I took the opportunity during one of Chad's long stretches of working to go visit my mom with the kids. I was a little nervous about how the road trip would go, because we had not taken Ivy for a long trip in the car yet. Well, the kids could not have done any better! It took us about 5 hours to get there and 5 hours back, stopping to feed her. But Ivy literally slept the entire way both there and back, and Ezra did great too. It was so fun to get to be at mom's for a few days. I love hanging out with my mom and hope that Ivy and I have the same kind of relationship someday that my mom and I have. I also got to spend time with my sister and her kids which is always fun. 

Ivy loved sitting with granny and fell asleep soon after this. She is such a sweet baby. 

Ezra loved looking at the cows in mom's backyard and also loved getting peeks at her two guinea hens.

Cousin Kellen holding Ivy. He was concentrating very hard on holding her the right way. Her hair looks so dark and thick here!

Off I go to clear out all of Ivy's newborn clothes in the closet. Yes, it is already that time...she weighs over 10 pounds and fits into most 0-3 month clothes just fine. And even some of those are too small.

Ezra lately

This month has been a challenging one for Ezra. Lots of changes going on in his little life. He has started to test his boundaries more, and I'm sure it's a combination of being 2 and a half and adjusting to not being the center of attention all the time. Plus, he is used to having his friend Trevyn over a couple times a week, going to playgroup, etc., and we haven't been able to get out as much so I think he gets bored. Anyway, we are surviving and I know that things will get easier in a couple months. 

One night we took Chad supper and I stopped to get a milkshake at sonic. By the time we got home he had taken over for me with the shake and my kindle.

 We went to see "Flying Monsters" at the omni theatre in the science spectrum. Ezra enjoyed it and wouldn't leave when the credits were running at the end. He kept saying "No! Want to finish it!"

 Paul and Carolyn are visiting right now and brought moon dough. Ezra is having a blast!

 Looks messy, but this is one of my favorite activities for Ezra right now. He is contained, he has fun, and it is really a pretty easy cleanup.

 My dad came to visit last week too. Ezra loved having granddad here!

 We got a lot of good snow at the beginning of this week and Chad and Ezra built a snowman and had a snowball fight.