Easter weekend

They're amazing actually

I used to attend MOPS. I loved it, Eden however, did not so much. I'll never forget one thing that I learned there though, "your kids are always listening". The speaker, I can't remember her name or even the topic she was speaking on, but she told a story about how she had her young kids at the grocery store with her and the cashier or bagger or someone commented on her having "trouble" on her hands. She knew her kids were watching and quickly replied that they were no trouble, but rather her little helpers.

 I don't know why hearing that stuck with me, but I'm so glad it has. There's been so many instances where people refer to my little gems as trouble (it's usually at the grocery store) and I happily reply that they're my little helpers. 

Eden's taken quite a shine to the title and does in fact live up to it. She helps me with the laundry, cleaning up toys (well, sort of, we're working on it at least), helps in the kitchen, unloads the silverware out of the dishwasher. Anyway, all just little things that I've been thinking about how she does help. Then I got to thinking, my kids are amazing:

Eden knows her address

Micah has a new record of 5 and a half jars of baby food in a day

Eden knows almost every letter of the alphabet

Micah can make an awesome Chewbaca  noise

Eden has this incredible sense of empathy; She's 2, and I feel like she surpasses me in this area

Micah says "nigh-nigh", for real, at about 3am every morning

Eden knows how to tease and I never taught her; I had no idea teasing was instinctual

Micah claps every time I pick him up, it's adorable

Eden finds little "treasures" (rocks, micromachine mini loaders, strawberry shortcake doll, love notes I've written Mike) and will keep them in her little fist all day

Micah can rock his high chair on 2 legs; he rocks himself, and because he's so heavy it goes back and forth on 2 legs

But most importantly, or I should say amazingly in keeping with my title, is this guy:

He provides for us

He is an amazing dad. I can't get over the things he does to get a smile out of the kids (you're wishing I'd tell you, but I won't for his sake)

He never complains. You should see the traffic he drives though to and from work, it makes me insane, and it feels like I'm off-roading in my Trooper, but I'm not, it's just the freeway

I honestly believe he's the kindest person I will ever meet. Always. It makes me look kinda mean

He's so inspiring. Not only does he do this through living his own life, but he's so encouraging. I recently told him that I wanted to be a lactation consultant, which I thought wouldn't be that hard to become. I was totally wrong, it would be like getting another bachelor's, and yet he was still encouraging.

I know I'm bragging, but it is my blog, and I love my family. They're amazing. We all have our melt-downs, most often mommy and Eden, but man, I've really got it good.

It's tight

As you may think by the title, this post is not about our new cash only budget. Which by the way, it's so crazy to me to see how much I used to spend using a credit card versus using only cash. Just today, at Wal-Mart (not a fan, but their prices are better on some things I needed) I needed dryer sheets. Normally I'd buy Bounce brand and be done with it, but today, I was shocked at how expensive that brand is. It was probably three times more than Great Value. Maybe they made their brand name to be an intended pun. Anyway, this post is not about budgets, but rather this little guy.

He loves to suck his tongue, and it's so adorable. But he lives life where everything is a tight squeeze. When I put him in little jeans or pants, I usually have to stand him up to shimmy the pants around him. I'd say it's a pretty tight squeeze when he never has the button or zipper done on his pants either.

But what he really loves most of all, is crawling, scooting, or backing under things. It's such a tight squeeze for him. Under the rocker, under the love seat (we don't own a couch), even once under the pack and play. It's kind of crazy how this little guys likes to find the little nooks and cranny's and stuff himself in there.

But he loves it, and I love letting my kids doing things they love, even if it means hiding behind the curtains.

This is how we roll

Kiss it

It happened while I was feeding this little guy, 

that I realized Eden is growing up. 

To be honest, it kind of hit me hard.

Only days ago, we were looking at pictures of her cousins,

who only years ago, were so small, and now they're grown.

And I felt it.

I knew right then and there that my little girl is growing up too.

She came to me to show me a bug bite on her elbow,

naturally asking me to kiss it.

But that kiss,

it didn't make it any better.

It's small,

the bite and the whole incident I write about.

But it makes me know, she's definitely growing up.

This one's for you mom

My mom and I had a brief talk a week ago about Eden and her new desire to pick out her own clothes. I told my mom it's fine with me, it goes against my grain to let my daughter run around looking like a clown at times, but she's proud of herself and I love how she doesn't care what others think. 

Case in point:

Wow! I kept trying to tell her that she didn't need a hat, that it wasn't that cold, but no, she insisted that she needed to wear this hat and of course put on her lip balm before we left. 

We walked into town with Eden and Micah sitting side by side in the stroller and it was a beautiful day with so many people out. We always get a lot of smiles when we're out, but on this particular day, not only did we get smiles, we got chuckles and laughs.

Allow me...

...to introduce you to Eden's pet dogs:

the one on the left is "Soggy Wing" and the one on the right is "Leaf Dog".

And because I know you're dying to know how old they are, they're 2 months and 4 months.

But don't worry, "their birthday is comin'." 

 For real though, this face, uggghh, she gets me. I feel like we've been having a conversation over, and over, and over lately that's like ten years premature. She tilts her head down a little and says in a little quiet voice, "Wish I had a pet dog."

On Being Sentimental

Lately I've been taking inventory of life: the things I spend my time on, where my money goes, emotions I have, and what makes me happy, etc. When I'm really honest with myself, I really want to clean up certain areas of my life.
I spend too much time on the internet, spend money I shouldn't on clothes, am irrational, and my list goes on. But I always get stuck on the happy part, it overwhelms me.
I have a husband who is simply put, incredible. There was even a random lady at the airport once who commented on how nice he is and she wished her husband were like him. Well, I have that. I have two kids who rock my world, always. Despite the constant tiredness and meeting demands, I get to be with them and never miss a thing. I get to hear Eden belly laugh at the most simple things, and see Micah light up when I just talk to him. It's crazy to think of all I have.
I remember telling Mike all the time that I feel emotional when I just look at the kids. Granted, that may have been leftover pregnancy hormones, because I don't feel like that now. But in my heart, and in my tenderness, I love what God has given me. It's so much and it's so beautiful.

Seven Months

Dear Micah, 

I could write you an entire letter about how fast your first seven months of life have gone. It's so crazy to me that you're close to a year now. You're so much fun to have around and you make our family life so enjoyable. 

You fill the role of little brother perfectly. I can see it whenever Eden is near you that you adore her, and I know she feels the same about you. You've started getting a little selfish with toys lately, but Eden understands that you don't know how to share yet so she'll reluctantly but happily share her toys with you when you cry for them.

Lately, you've just begun to show signs that you're starting separation anxiety. Secretly I adore this, but know that it makes it hard for your mommy when she wants to leave the room and not tote you on my hip. It won't be long though, and I know you'll come find me all on your own. You can get anywhere you want to go though you aren't crawling. You scoot, roll, and do some of the strangest acrobatics I've ever seen, but you get to where you want to go.

You're a pretty determined little guy. Somehow you know you've got weight on your side and can bend and squirm to reach what you want when someone is holding you; you're 25 pounds after all. 

I think besides nursing, eating baby food is your favorite daily activity. You only started eating less than a month ago and now you eat two times a day. I love how you're not picky, but gobble up anything on the spoon that goes in your mouth. I know you can't tell me, but I think anything with mangos in is your favorite.

Speaking of favorites, you love unconventional toys. I know all babies do this to a degree, but you love boxes, or bottles, plates, or paper. It's so sweet to watch you rip paper to shreds and squeal with delight at your accomplishment.

Sleeping is not on your list of priorities these days, but I have a hunch it's due to teething. We've tried a lot of things to help you sleep: putting my breast pads on your chest, swaddling you, a white noise machine, and using a nuk, but you just want to sleep in mommy's arms. It makes me pretty tired, but every night I think about how in just a few short years you'll never want me to do it, so I cuddle you and smile because you want me now.

The dress-up drawer

Last week, I felt the urge to do a little spring cleaning. Looking back, I wish I'd have taken advantage of that fleeting urge, but oh well. So of all the tasks that needed to be done, you might think I would have chosen to fold the mounds of laundry thrown on the couch, or cleaned the crumbs out of the corners of the kitchen floor, or perhaps something easy like clean off the table. No, not this time. I chose to clean out Eden's dresser and make space for an entire empty drawer. I filled the empty drawer to over-flowing with dress-up clothes, hats, and shoes that I've accumulated over the years. Some are silly, some are cute, and some are my very own from when I was a little girl. My logic told me not to do this task, it'd only be one more thing to pick up at the end of the day, but my heart told me that this is the thing little girls (and their little brother's) are made of.

My heart won.

And Eden loves it. It's actually the first drawer she goes to in the morning to get herself dressed. 

But I never thought of the consequences it would have for Micah.

I'm pretty sure this is baby language 101 for "hmmmm...

"...I'm appalled."

Wednesday

This is a picture of Mary Magdalene in Eden's favorite Bible. It's her most requested Bible story right now, I have to admit, I'm a little glad we're over the "sick man".

And this is Eden pretending she's Mary Magdalene. Now, every time she has a shirt with a hood, she has to have it up, so she can be like Mary Magdalene.

And this is Micah. Happy-go-lucky Micah. He doesn't have a favorite Bible story yet, but he likes to listen and watch Eden pretend she's Mary Magdalene.

This is the duo in action, Micah's first time on a slide and Eden's first time this spring.

These are a few of their favorite things

Micah:

ta-tas

breast milk

his security blanket

sophie the giraffe

dinnertime

wrestling with daddy

Eden

dry diapers

tummy time

head banging

his feet

***

Eden:

alphabet soup

green blanky

striped pants

rubber bands

Micah

lobsters at the grocery store

tapirs

"drivin' carts"

dried mangos

reading books

making her bed a "nest"

secrets

It's her small world

I love Eden's innocence and her perception of the world. When we were at the Milwaukee Public Museum last Wednesday there were so many instances that this played out.
We got out of the elevator onto the third floor and there was a life size display of Native Americans. They were spinning around in their native garb to demonstrate a pow-wow. When we first got off the elevator, Eden got a view of this and quickly pointed to the one she "wanted to ride".
A few yards away there was a Guatemalan marketplace setting. It was all roped off and there was a manequin with a baby in a sling on her sling. Eden quickly pointed out the "baby Jesus" and was already on her way to see the "manger" which was displayed as house made out of corn husks.
Then just the other day, we were reading a first words type book. Eden's had these mastered since 18 months, but she gets creative giving things more detailed names. There was a picture of a book on the floor  of a bedroom and I pointed to it and Eden's response was "Bible".

A day at the museum

Eden loved exploring and looking on pretend European streets.

Micah sat chillin in the best seat in museum.

Eden's just waiting for a butterfly to come into her little cupped hands.

She is so beautiful and beaming because a butterfly landed on her knee.

Aunt Lindsay rockin' Micah's world.

Cousins!