November 14th

It's November. My favorite month of the year...  I love that the temperature drops and it's okay because Christmas is just around the corner, it's the beginning of the "holiday season" and Christmas music is suddenly acceptable, and it holds Thanksgiving which happens to be my favorite day of the year. Three years ago today it became even more special...our family was introduced to Gemma. No way I could have imagined how much of a blessing she would be.  

Before tucking her into bed last night, I reminded her that when she woke up, she would be three years old.  I'll be honest, she didn't have much of a reaction to that, but she was clearly paying more attention than I realized because she walked out of her room this morning at 6:45 (earlier than she has woken up all year) and asked me where all the people and decorations were for her party. Ha! She's got this birthday thing figured out.  She also wanted to go stand in front of her growth chart to see if she had grown :)

Happy Birthday Gemma!!

Warm beautiful day at the park...  

Pretty lucky to be their mom :)

It's been over a month...

I've become a bad picture taker.  Already! What is it about taking fewer pictures with consecutive kids? I can't figure it out.  It doesn't seem like I'm that much more busy, but clearly something has changed.  Regardless, starting now, my camera is sitting on the counter at all times so I know I can quickly get to it when needed. I'm clearly also becoming a worse blogger.  Last year I averaged about 4 posts a month, now it's about 1 a month.

Here's a summary of our lives over the past month...

We had Makael's birthday party and dedication last month, and to confirm my earlier statement... I didn't take a single picture. How pathetic is that? Although I'm not too worried since Papa took a bunch (which I would love to to see by the way). I can't say for sure since I was busy most of the time, but I believe everyone had a good time. My dad did the dedication which was very sweet.  Not only did he have good stuff to say (as usual), but it's pretty special to see him dedicate his grand kids  Thanks dad! All in all it was a great day, and I'm so thankful to those of you that came to celebrate my little guy.  I learned two important things that day...Makael doesn't like cake, and there's a nation wide helium shortage...who knew?

Little guy in a big boat.

Makael has started saying a few words! About time huh? He has a handful of words now including caco (cracker), unk (milk), eth (yes), gaga (grandpa), and et which is his go-to word apparently since he uses it for several different things. Notice "mama" is not in his vocabulary yet. He's holding out on me. Anytime I ask him to say it, he either says "dada" or just shakes his head and laughs.  Even the words he does say, he only says "when he feels like it". Little stinker! His focus is clearly still on mobility. You should see the little monkey at the park! "What's that mom? You want me to climb up all those steps and come down that HUGE slide all by myself? Sure, no problem!". This month we had our first bloody lip, and by bloody I do mean gushing. And you'll never guess who is responsibly for my first call to poison control...yep. Fun stuff.

Gemma's focus continues to be on talking. I don't know where she finds the energy to talk as much as she does.  It doesn't matter if she's all alone or in a group of people...she's talking.  She loves using big words, and it doesn't matter to her if she knows what they mean or not. Her conversations are nothing short of hysterical.  Her latest word...dermatologist. She heard my mom and I talking about it a couple days ago, and has used it about 4 times since, completely out of context of course.   She has also started referring to Makael as "our baby". This morning she came into my bedroom and said, "mom, our baby just asked for a cracker".  Ha!

Have you ever noticed how kids effortlessly make friends wherever they go? Gemma is an absolute pro at it.  I'm actually fascinated by her when I watch her make friends with the other kids at the park, or the bagger at the grocery store, or the lady sitting next to us at starbucks, etc. I wish it was that easy for me to make friends.  I've also noticed that while kids will immediately become friends and start playing, the moms seldom even talk to each other.  How weird! So I've made the resolution to at least introduce myself to the mom of any kid Gemma makes friends with.  I might be making a ton of new friends in the near future.

I have a couple of videos I've been wanting to post, but for some reason our laptop is having issues loading them.  Until I figure that out, here's a couple of pictures :)

Sporting their new hats

D

This is what happens after the grocery store.

Fall!!

Let me just say...I love Fall! I guess technically it's not Fall, but it's starting to feel like it. I think this is the time of year when I spend the most time outside. There is just something about the way the air feels and smells that makes me almost giddy. My runs are so much more enjoyable, my morning coffee seems to taste so much better, and I can now add soup to our dinner menu...Hello crock-pot! The kids and I have been going on really long walks every day, one day last week we even went on 4 (one of which was in the rain).  We sometimes go to the trail for our walks, thanks to the handy mile markers, and the fact that I have most of the trail completely memorized, I always know how far we've gone.  Gemma can walk a whole mile without even getting tired, and Makael can go a whole half a mile! Have you seen his little legs? That's a long way for him, not to mention he's basically running the whole time.

I've been told that kids are still considered toddlers when they're 3, but I don't believe that's the case with Gemma.  She has taken some major steps out of toddlerhood recently.  First off, she started coming out of her room in the mornings instead of calling for me to come get her. I'm surprised this took as long as it did considering she's been in a regular bed since she was 18 months old, but I'm also surprised by how much I miss going in to get her.  No denying it's pretty dang cute hearing her footsteps coming down the hallway, but I got no fair warning to this change in our morning routine, and it's just one more thing she no longer needs me for.   The same day she decided to come out on her own, she also asked me to take down her bed rails.  Yep, just like that! I was getting her ready for bed and she sweetly said, "mom can you take these things off my bed, I won't fall off I promise".  She kept her promise...she didn't fall off the bed that night and they have been off ever since.  The only time I had to put them back on was the night she had a sleep over with cousin Ariya. That in itself is weird! She should not be old enough to be having sleepovers! Ariya has stayed with us before, but they've always slept in separate rooms.  They got in bed together (hence the bedrails), got their flashlights,  then talked and giggled until they both passed out from exhaustion...by 9 p.m. Party animals!

Turning one is definitely a turning point in a kid's life. I've taken care of many kids, and it always amazes me how much of a change there is from one day to the next the second they turn a year old.  They suddenly understand more, communicate better, and overall seem more "mature" for lack of a better word.  Makael is no exception. Although he doesn't say any words, he now thinks his gibberish makes sense to me.  He'll stand there, look me right in the eye and "converse" with me, hand motions and all! Thankfully, when there's something he really wants, I'm usually able to decipher what it is. He had his one year check up last week. He weighs 17 lbs 8 oz, and is 29 inches tall. Still between the 5th and 10th percentile for weight, but definitely getting taller.  I have to admit,  I'm loving his tininess!

We've been busy getting some projects done around the house.  Just today I finished painting our basement floors so the kids can play down there while it's still unfinished.  It looks great but my shoulders are seriously killing me now. I think I've done more than my fair share of painting...it's David's turn next time. Unfortunately, the drama involved in the selling of our old house is still not over, which has been stressful for us, but we are really enjoying making our new house into our new home!

This is where he is most of the time we are outside. 

Going through her collection of postcards from Grandpa...she LOVES getting mail.

See what I mean?

Her current favorite activity...washing everything in the bird bath.

Best walking partners I've ever had!

9-9-11

Nine- nine- one- one...Makael's birthday! Has a nice ring to it huh?  I've never given much thought to the actual date my babies could possibly be born on, after all, the day is special regardless, but I have to admit Makael's date is pretty cool (and easy to remember). Today marks one year from his birth! It's baffling how this past year has flown by.  As cliche as it might sound, it feels like it was just yesterday that they handed me the most perfect 5lb 7oz baby boy in the world. Oh my word! There was a lot going on in the room after he was born, and I know I was partaking in several simultaneous conversations about who he looked liked, how small he was, what his name was, etc, but the only vivid memory I have is holding him for the first time, and thinking to myself how crazy it was to have THAT much love, so instantly. 

Fast forward a year, and he still has me pretty smitten :) 

3 days

3 months

6 months

9 months

1 year!!

Vacation

A little bit of Destin...

Love this picture of them!  Gemma's first time on the beach. 

Makael's first time...his opinion of the beach didn't really change the whole time we were there. 

Waving to mommy...I wish I had cropped this before posting it. Her facial expression was so cute!

MUCH happier inside!

Pretty sure they were the cutest boys on the beach

Working on balancing in the waves

Forget balancing...laying in the waves is much more fun!!

Couldn't resist posting this one :)

She LOVED it!!

I had to get a picture of the cute swim suit.

Taking a snooze on the beach..I should have realized it was a sign he was getting sick. He never fall asleep on me anymore.

And we're home!

Wow, what a crazy few weeks we have had.  Things seem to feel like they are in overdrive.  I'll try and give a quick rundown:

We started off the craziness by going to Destin for the Boyd family vacation.  What a great week that was. I'll admit I was pretty nervous about our first 14 hour road trip with two kids, but it went incredibly well (both ways). One of my favorite things as a mom thus far has been watching Gemma play on the beach and swim in the waves. She couldn't have loved it more.  Makael on the other hand, not so much.  He seemed the most content inside, or sitting on a towel where there was minimal contact with any sand or water.    We got to eat lots of good food, go shopping, go scuba diving (sans kids of course),  and even have an all family dance party on the balcony thanks to Gemma...she can get a party started for sure! You know it's a good family vacation when you're sad to go home :)  We are definitely blessed.

Since getting back we finished packing up the house, and have moved into our new house.  Gosh it's been crazy! Moving day was especially crazy. I can honestly say that without the help of our friends and family, I don't know how we would have made it.  Again, we are very blessed. I promise we won't be moving again any time soon :) It feels really good to be in our new home though.  Every day I seem to love it more, and I'm actually really enjoying the whole process of unloading boxes and putting things away. I have all sorts of decorating plans flying around in my head, but for the sake of David (and our bank account), I'm trying to pace myself :)  Gemma still asks us if we are going to our pretend home or our real home any time we are are driving around. The "real" one being our new house... Apparently we were just pretending before. Makael doesn't have much of an opinion, he's just glad his new room has a ceiling fan.

There have been a few changes with the kids lately.  Just today, Gemma sat with us through the entire sermon at church, without making a peep. That made her seem so much older to me.  There's no way she would have sat quietly before.
Makael seems to be realizing that in just four weeks he'll officially be a toddler.  Sometime between Monday night and Tuesday morning he figured out the true meaning of temper tantrums. Yeah that's been fun. Along with that, he has also figured out how to run, walk in circles until he falls down, and do a somersault.  Okay, that last one is more of a work in progress but he'll have it soon enough.

I apologize for not posting pictures or videos today, I promise there are plenty coming soon!

Right now I'm off to shop for fabric swatches :)