Christmas 2013

We had a wonderful Christmas!  Todd's family was here to celebrate with us.  This year was extra special because Cade understood a lot more and I can tell that the magic of Christmas is starting to unfold for him.  We had fun making cookies for Santa, sprinkling reindeer food outside, being with family, and of course...opening presents!  He was so excited to see what Santa brought for him and had fun tearing into his wrapped gifts.  Luke spent most of his first Christmas being showered with love and attention - every baby's two favorite things!  There are few things in life more precious than experiencing Christmas with your babies! 

 

 

3 Months Old

Little Lukey, you are 3 months old!   I'm certain that you keep getting sweeter and sweeter by the day! This isn't a check-up month for you so we don't have your official weight and height, but here are some other fun facts about you at 3 months:

• You wear size 3 diapers and size 6 months clothes.
• You eat every 3 hours (about 4-5 ounces a feeding).
• You have started to wake up more frequently at night to eat - you have been sleeping in about 4 hour stretches.
• You are a very happy baby and you smile all the time! You have started laughing and it is so sweet.
• You are a very, very easy baby to take care of. You don't cry very often - only when you get too sleepy or too hungry...and sometimes when we first put you in your car seat. You get a little fussy throughout the day, but rarely do you break out in a full blown crying fit.
• When you do put on a frown, you stick your bottom lip out sooo far. :) It's truly one of the cutest things I've ever seen.
• You are learning how to use your arms and hands. You grab onto things and bring them to your mouth. You also reach out to swat and touch things.
• You like to coo and you do so very loudly! :) You are especially smiley and talkative in the mornings.
• You love to watch Cade. No one makes you laugh like he does! :)

We love you sweet Lukey!

 

Two Years Old!

Sweet Cade,

You are two years old!  I wish I could capture the two year old you and put you into a bottle so that I could bring you out anytime I wanted to in the years to come; I know that I'm going to miss your two year old self in the worst of ways.  You have brought so much joy to our lives and I feel like the luckiest mommy in the world to call you my son.  At times, you can be quite difficult to manage, but truthfully those days are few and far between.  Most of the time you are happy, funny, playful, sweet, energetic and irresistibly adorable.  Here are your two year stats:

• You weigh 27.3 lbs (39th %tile)
• You are 35.25 inches tall (73rd %tile)
• Your head circumference is 20 cm (93rd %tile)
• You wear size 2T clothing and size 7 shoe.
• Your favorite foods are pasta, yogurt, fruit cups, pizza, and rice.  You like to drink milk and apple juice, but you drink mostly milk and water.  You aren't quite the eater that you used to be and have gotten a bit pickier.  You turn your nose up to most vegetables, unfortunately. 
• Your favorite books are Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site, Welcome to Our Town, If You Take A Mouse to School, and a Thomas the Train book.  Your favorite TV shows are Bubble Guppies and PAW Patrol.
• Your favorite things to play with are toy trucks (namely fire trucks and trash trucks) and trains.  You also like to build with blocks and you're still pretty into cooking.  You demand that you take a toy (it varies) everywhere we go - whether it's in the car or upstairs for bath or to bed...something must go with you.  I think it's your way of controlling something.  You still sleep with Snuggle Bear but you don't seem to be very attached to him. 
• You are a happy kid and you smile and laugh a lot.  You like to be silly and make others laugh also. 
• You become excited quite easily and for some reason, when you get really excited your first instinct is to run and then hit someone/something or throw things.  I'm certain you'll grow out of this...or I hope you'll grow out of this, I should say.  :)  
• You LOVE to cook with Mommy and you also like to help Mommy with chores around the house (sweeping, putting groceries away, etc.)
• You go to bed around 8 and wake up around 6:15 during the week and around 7:00 on the weekends.  You still sleep well for the most part, but sometimes you'll wake up and throw a major tantrum.  That's pretty rare, though...thank goodness! 
• You are very smart and communicate very well.  You speak in 5-6 word sentences and I can understand most of what you say, but I'm not sure everyone else does.
• Your favorite thing to do is watch TV - though it's definitely not Mommy's favorite thing to let you do (but I do appreciate the mini-break it gives me, I have to admit)! 
• You are an AMAZING big brother.  Just tonight you sat on the floor in front of Lukey to entertain him for a full hour while Mommy made a nice dinner for Daddy.  When he cries you sweetly say, "Don't cry Lukey."  You give him your most prized toys and you make silly noises to try to get him to laugh.  I can only pray that the love and acceptance you have for your brother remains the same forever and ever!

For your second birthday we went to Build-a-Bear.  You made a stuffed dog named Lennox.  Later in the day we had the Power and Burrous families over for a mini birthday party.  We ate pizza and cupcakes, opened presents, and played with friends.  You seemed to have a great time!  I am so excited to see what your 3rd year brings for you, Cade.  We LOOOOOOOOOVE YOU!

Happy Halloween!

I was certain I had written about Halloween...goodness gracious! We had an awesome Halloween! It was a weekday again this year, so Cade spent the day at Ms. Debbie's and Luke stayed at home with my mom. Cade was a pirate and Luke was a pumpkin. The kids dressed up at Ms. Debbie's and thankfully she snapped a few pictures as we couldn't get him to keep his full costume on for more than a few seconds. :) We spent the evening with the Burrous-Ewanowski fam. We ate pizza and trick-or-treated. Cade and Olivia were so sweet...I caught myself tearing up several times. They held hands as they raced from house to house. Olivia whispered to Cade a few times not to worry, it was all make believe. SO SWEET! Lukey spent his evening strapped to me in a baby carrier and slept through most of his first Halloween. Looking forward to next year!

Crazy, Beautiful

O.M.G. This mommy of 2 under the age of 2 while working full-time thing is NO JOKE! I've been back at work for about a month now and it's hard. I'm having a difficult time balancing home and work and while I'm doing my best to meet the needs of everyone on both ends, I'm not doing so very gracefully. I'm constantly guilt-ridden over none of my roles being fulfilled very well. But, such is life. I'll adapt. I hope. Millions of other women are doing it...and so can I (my daily mantra)! :) My mom came down for three weeks to help with my transition back to work and I couldn't have been more thankful for her presence. She cooked, cleaned, packed lunches, washed laundry and most importantly, took care of sweet Lukey so he didn't have to go to daycare quite so soon. She's been gone for a week now and we're doing our best to hold everything together on our own. We had lots of fun while she was here, too! We went to the pumpkin patch, carved pumpkins, baked, rode trains, and made way too many trips to the mall! Thanks again GJ!! We miss you tons! As crazy hectic as things are right now, I have to admit - I'm not sure I'd have it any other way (aside from going back to work so quickly). I'll get the hang of things - or I won't. Perhaps this is our new normal. It's messy, stressful, and overwhelming at times...but so, so worth it. My heart is intensely full of love for the root of all of this craziness - our two baby boys!

2 Months Old

Sweet, sweet Luke you are 2 months old! You are truly the sweetest thing we could ever ask for! I'm not sure if you seem extra sugary sweet because your brother is quite spicy at the moment (it's nearly impossible to think that you, too, will one day be shouting "NO" and throwing epic tantrums - sigh), or if you are sincerely the sweete

st baby in the whole wide world! Probably a mix of both. You are growing so, so fast and I find myself just staring at you, squeezing you, smelling you...just trying to soak all of you up because it's flying by way too fast. Here are your 2 month stats: - You weight 12lbs, 13.5 oz - You are 23 inches long - You are wearing size 3-6 months clothes and size 2 diapers - You are eating about 4-5 oz. every three hours - You are sleeping about 6.5 hours in one stretch at night (YIPPEE!) - You LOVE to stretch and it's one of the cutest things I've ever seen! You throw your arms above your head and then bring the back of one open hand down to cover one eye. You grunt and stick out your tongue and bottom lip. SO PRECIOUS! - You are smiling more and more and will usually smile when we smile and talk to you. - You're becoming more social and you love to coo back and forth with Mommy! It's one of Mommy's favorite things to do with you, too! - You're a pretty content little guy and you don't cry too often. You get a little fussy at times, but you're usually easy to calm. You are loved more than you'll ever know!

Falling for Fall

We l-o-v-e fall around here! From the weather and pumpkin carving to cider and Halloween, October is without question my favorite month of the year. We've been busy celebrating the coming of fall. Last weekend we went to the Duluth Fall Festival. It was pretty crowded and a little hot for October, but we had fun walking around and checking out the vendors. Cade even rode a couple of rides and danced to the band that was playing! This weekend we decided to head to Stone Mountain to let Cade ride the train (trains are one of his current obsessions...along with trucks and Bubble Guppies). The smile on his face when we got on the train was worth a million bucks. As an added bonus, we got to see the Pumpkin Festival while we were there! In non-fall related news, Cade and I made pizzas tonight for dinner! He loves to cook almost as much as I love fall. :)

vendors.

Time Flies

Last weekend we roadtripped it to KY to attend Todd's 20 year high school reunion.

Aside from the occassional meltdown in the hotel room...

Cade and Luke both did a great job being away from home. We left the boys with grandma and granddaddy on Friday and Saturday nights so we could hang out with Todd's high school peeps and Cade had a BLAST! He was running around the house as if it were someplace he visits every weekend and they reported that he was on his very best behavior. And Luke did what Luke does best...slept. As much as we love our babies, it was SOOO nice to have some time to ourselves. Thank you grandma and granddaddy (and Betty)! Todd had fun catching up with his old classmates and it was fun to see what Todd was all about before I knew him (one of the nicest guys in the school someone commented). Haha!

Mr. and Ms. Caverna...20 years later.  Ha!

And another year passed for Todd. We celebrated his 38th birthday when we got home. Gettin' old T.O. double! ;) Time sure does fly!