Oranges.

As I've mentioned before, our little Joe has a serious obsession with fruit, or "doot" as he calls it. I can't think of a fruit the boy won't eat. It's the first thing he eats off his plate at EVERY meal & he almost always asks for more. And the speed with which he can eat it is astounding. He & his aunt had a banana-eating contest today & he almost beat her - and he didn't even know he was racing!

About a month ago, we gave him a slice of an orange, thinking he'd just suck the juice out of it like most kids do. Nope, not Joe. He put the whole thing in his mouth, eventually starting to gag on the rind. It didn't take long for him to learn how to correctly eat it, though, & now he can't get enough of them! It's a pretty messy event, but I don't care because I am so incredibly impressed that he eats every last piece of the flesh.

On a related note, I've eaten more oranges this past month than I have the rest of my entire life. So much Vitamin C up in this joint these days!

I took this video tonight while he & I were eating, just the 2 of us. He's so verbal now, so I thought it was time to capture how sweet he is on video. Also wanted to capture how quickly the boy can inhale fruit (and then subsequently request more.) Enjoy :)



A few quick comments: He doesn't usually wear a pink bib. Big Sister wasn't home so he got to eat in her booster seat instead of his high chair as a special treat. Her bib was right there and his was 3 feet away; laziness won. And I love how he will take any opportunity to include basketball in a conversation. Also, I die over the part where he licks the juice off his thumb.

Ten years.

I was so nervous that night. I thought you liked me, but my insecurities wouldn't really let me believe it. After all, no one had ever shown an interest like that, never given me that butterfly feeling I'd always dreamed about but never experienced. It seems so long ago, yet I remember it vividly.

For the next 10, 20, 70 years, I'll be supremely grateful that you made that first move & kissed me in my Founders dorm room.

It's pretty incredible, really. More than 1/3 of our lives, together. Me & you.

I love you & adore you. More than that night 10 years ago, more than the night we said "I do" almost 5 years ago, more than last night.

(This is one of my absolute favorite pictures of us. Like, ever. It's from a wedding just this past September, which says to me that we're getting even better as time goes on.)

Mini-vacation.

The husband and I decided it was time for some concentrated family fun, so we took the kiddos on a "mini-vacation", as Brooke keeps calling it. Indianapolis was the destination of choice this past weekend - short drive, plenty to do with the kiddos, & inexpensive. Plus, we have some college friends that live in town, so we got to spend lots of time visiting with them!

First stop? The Indy Zoo! While it's no Cincy Zoo, the kids loved the chance to see some animals up close. Well, not really that close, but as close as our minimally-exposed-to-animals children could handle. Joe was certainly fascinated by all the of the animals whose sounds we keep teaching him. He especially liked the very noisy "ba-ba-boons". Brooke was mostly excited about navigating the map, which meant she quickly became besties with our friend Mark who also had a zoo map. She kept telling us which way we needed to go next (which is so very typical of her - always worried about what comes next rather than soaking in the moment at hand.) Other than the dolphin show, their favorite part of the zoo was probably the playground. And, quite frankly, that was perfectly fine with us - this trip was all about them and letting them explore & have fun!

We are so fortunate to have a very incredible network of college friends, and our Indy friends are no exception. Mark & his wife Kristen invited us to their home, planned a great kid-friendly dinner, and even indulged our children in several games of Duck Duck Goose. The kids warmed up to them very quickly! They had so much fun playing at their house and having a yummy ice cream treat :)

After a pretty terrible night of sleep in the hotel (thanks to a really bad cough for Joe and nightmares for Brooke), we headed out to the Indy Children's Museum. Though their tiny attention spans didn't keep them at one activity for longer than 2 minutes at a time, we managed to fill 4.5 hours with fun at the museum. If we had let him, Joe would have spent the entire day coloring at an easel. He also really seemed to enjoy the Hot Wheels exhibit (like father, like son!) Brooke's favorite things were the giant water table and the schoolhouse where she got to pretend to be a teacher. (p.s. you'll notice in these museum pictures that our children flat-out refuse to look at the camera anymore...sigh...) We were all terribly exhausted when we left; the kids slept the entire 90 minute ride home when we left!

It was really, really good for us to get away as a family. Our kids are best behaved when they are by themselves, just the 2 of them, so they were pretty great while we were gone (with the exception of Grumpy Joe who made an appearance at dinner thanks to his cold.) I'm so glad we did it and I hope these "mini-vacations" become a much more frequent thing for us.

Reeder Gothic.

His face makes me laugh out loud so hard every time I see it.

Joe's, not the farmer's.

(click on the photo to englarge it)

Easter 2013.

(At some point, I may blog about December & Christmas & Brooke's birthday & snow days, etc. But for now? You get current things, like Easter, before I forget all of the little details that I love so much.)

You guessed it. We celebrated the crap out of Easter this year.

My obsession with holiday celebrations (which, lately, has been fueled further by Pinterest) was somewhat muted for St. Patrick's Day thanks to Pneumoniapalooza '13, so I made up for it with Easter celebrations. (Much more important holiday anyway, amirite?) We really downplayed the Easter bunny part of the holiday - maybe too much, as she didn't realize on Sunday morning that the bunny would be bringing her a basket of goodies. Instead, we really talked up the Jesus part. We spent the weeks leading up to Easter reading books and talking to Brooke about the real meaning behind the holiday...and she totally got it. Well, as much as a 3 year old can get it (::parenting high five::).

All that being said, we did a lot of egg hunting. Like a LOT. We missed the big egg hunt at the Rec when Brooke was sick, so we introduced the concept here at home instead. It became their favorite game of the week. Brooke hid them for Joe & us, we hid 'em for them. Joe is actually a pretty incredible hunter; I totally underestimated his hunting abilities. I tried to make it even more fun by having them hunt for meals! We had an Easter egg lunch hunt at my sister's house with my nieces during a playdate last week. The kids had to find all the components of their lunch (e.g. turkey, cheese, grapes, carrots, snacks) before eating them in their very own egg cartons, which the big girls really seemed to love (the little ones just wanted to eat.) It was such a hit that I did it again for breakfast on Saturday with donut holes, dry cereal, & fruit. So much fun...for me as much as (if not more than) them.

Easter morning was a fun little family moment. The kids were super pumped to find the eggs they knew the Easter Bunny (cough cough the husband & his Best Man, several drinks in cough cough) had hidden for them overnight. Once we explained to them that the Bunny had left them surprises in their Easter baskets, the anticipation to come downstairs was so great! They could hardly sit still for my obligatory stairs shot.

Lots of really fun surprises in their baskets! Joe's favorites: a Cincinnati Reds board book &  the "basketball candy" (little chocolate balls wrapped in basketball foils - he's obsessed, asks for them daily). Brooke's favorites: literally every single thing in her basket, with one exception: the Peeps. She has an insane memory, so she can tell you every single thing that was in that basket and why she's excited about each of them. Not gonna lie, that makes all the hard work of putting it together so worth it! (And, yes, my kids are spoiled. I'm fully aware. And I also don't care. This is how I remember my Easter baskets, so this way they shall remain!) The egg hunt was fun, definitely more challenging than our practice hunts all week, but they rocked it out. Opening the eggs and collecting their loot was so exciting for them & very precious to watch (nickels & dimes and chocolates are thrilling to toddlers!)

The rest of the day was filled with Mass and meals with family. There were several more egg hunts (including a pretty intense adult egg hunt at my parents' house in which the husband fought through the ankle pain to find the bonus egg - boom!) and lots of ham. It was a pretty picturesque Easter and I loved it.

We hope you had a very blessed and relaxed Easter!

When it rains...

Know the phrase "when it rains, it pours"? Yeah, well it was a flippin' monsoon around here last week.

A 3 yr old with pneumonia. A husband with a sprained ankle. A teething toddler. 1 trip to the ER. 3 doctor's visits. Countless doses of Children's Advil, Naproxen, & a strong antibiotic. New bags of ice every 20 minutes. 143 kids' shows (at least).

The most exhausting week ever, mentally & physically & emotionally. Our family was a hot mess last week; we just fell apart. We are finally on the road to recovery, but it took a really long time for us to get here.

If you've never seen a preschooler with a bad case of pneumonia, consider yourself lucky. It's one of the most heart-breaking things ever. My poor girl was completely miserable! Upon diagnosis, it was written in her chart that Brooke was "very sick" & "will take longer than average to recover." Her fever, that was over 101 degrees for 4 days straight (as high as 104.2 at one point), is now finally gone. But her terrible cough will last for a couple more weeks as her body tries to get rid of what is left of the pneumonia. She finally has some of her energy back - and all the sass & attitude is back, too. (In fact, I think she's making up for lost time b/c she seems extra feisty & mean!)

While I was dealing with her (&, let me tell ya, it was a full-time job taking care of such a miserable munchkin), the husband was on crutches, nursing a high-level sprain. He spent all non-working hours on the couch with his foot propped up and covered in ice. He, too, is doing much better, completely mobile again & able to help out.

My little Joe managed to escape the pneumonia (so far) but has been dealing with his own bad cold & some new teeth that are ready to break through. He was shuffled around between grandparents all week in an attempt to keep him away from Brooke. (Have I mentioned lately how incredibly blessed we are to have such helpful parents living so close? Joe got lots of playtime with all of them this past week, and we are so incredibly grateful for their help!!) He seems to be extra feisty now, too, likely a result of a very weird schedule last week.

Me? Well, I escaped all of the health issues. But I'm not going to pretend that I'm not still exhausted. I'm not sure how I managed to come out of that week still sane, but here I am. I'm actually going to give myself mad credit here (something I rarely do) because I managed to handle everything that was going on with an incredible amount of patience. I barely sat down for a full week (except when Brooke just needed to be held) and yet was able to keep trucking right along. Even more impressive? I did it while staying within my calorie limits! (This is my Lenten promise this year, to eat better & watch my portions. This was a hard one last week, as I'm usually a stress eater.) Most impressive of all? I did it without complaining once. Well, except to my sister, who was kind enough to listen when I needed to vent about my horrible luck all week. And who was also kind enough to bring me 2 killer brownies to help ease some of that stress. (See, even she knows I crave sugar while stressed. But I only ate 1/2 at a time; I'm a good little Catholic.) I'm pretty proud of myself for surviving, not gonna lie.

Now accepting prayers for a full recovery for everyone!

Half birthday man!

Happy half birthday to our favorite little buddy!

Time seems to be racing on by with our clan, & Joe is just growing like a weed! He's getting heavier & taller right before our eyes (which is slightly problematic considering his winter clothes are getting tight/short but spring just doesn't seem to be on the way quite yet.) We have his 18 month check-up on Friday so we'll get the official stats then, but I think he's just shy of 30 lbs right now.

Here's the lowdown on our new one-&-a-half-year-old:

- He loves to sing! Some of his favorites are "Ginkle Ginkle", "Row Row", "Bumblebee", & the ABCs. Oh, and anything by Taylor Swift. (Kidding! Well, kind of... He can sing along to Never Ever Getting Back Together. "Evuh evuh evuh back gether".) He recently became a fan of Gangnam Style as well, singing "whoop whoop whoop Gang-um Sty!" anytime he hears it. He's like a little musical sponge these days, soaking in any tunes he hears!
- He blew me away one day about a month ago by saying "six, seven, eight, nine" completely out of nowhere (Brooke did the exact same thing with the exact same numbers at this age.) We've been working hard on #'s 1-3 to go along with it.
- He is addicted to his pacifier. All day long I hear "I pappy? I pappy?", to which my response is usually no. I'm trying desperately to restrict the pacifier to naptime/bedtime only, but I seem to be failing. There's been so much whining lately that I often give in just to give my ears a break from all the noise! Why so much whining? Because...

- We've dropped the morning nap. And I'm in deep mourning about it, let me tell ya. And, quite frankly, so is Joe. He is soooooo tired allllll the time. The pediatrician recommended it several weeks ago when we were getting his ears checked. She made it sound like we were well past the time when he should have dropped it. So we're currently 2.5 weeks in and his little body has still not adjusted. He's exhausted by lunchtime, often laying his head down on his high chair tray while he eats or falling asleep on the couch just after. You'd think his afternoon naps would be so much better b/c of all this, but no dice. He only sleeps about 1.5-2 hours (unless I'm holding him, in which case he could probably sleep through dinner.) The time between his too-short afternoon nap & dinner is my least favorite time of the day!! He is a super crab, often found crying at my feet while I cook b/c I won't give him another snack. You might also think that because he's so tired all day he'd sleep longer at night, right? No sir. He still gets up every morning between 5:00-6:30 & refuses to go back to sleep unless we bring him to our bed. (This is changing SOON, my friends. Mean Mom over here is on Day 2 of making him cry it out in the mornings. He cried from 6:15-6:50 this morning, then slept another hour.) To sum up, we're all VERY VERY TIRED.
- On a much lighter, less woe-is-me note, Joe is still 184% obsessed with "bat-ket-ball!" He loves loves loves it. It's the first thing he does after breakfast in the morning & often the last thing he does before story time at night. He's really good, you guys. He can sink it from 3-4 ft away and has a "perfect chest pass", according to his godfather. He will happily play by himself forever, especially now that Daddy taught him to play catch with himself by throwing the ball up against the wall so it bounces back to him. Mom is thrilled about this little trick. (That was sarcasm.) He loves when we play with him & always wants us to shoot so he can chase after the ball. He also loves to watch basketball, which is absolutely fantastic b/c now he can be his Daddy's basketball wingman so I don't have to. This very boyish thing is, hands-down, his most favorite thing in the world at this moment, which is a great thing because....

- ...he's kinda girly otherwise. I think the husband is getting a little nervous. Evidence: he thinks everything is "pink" (we're working hard on green & blue, but not happening), he loves to get "dancy" in Brooke's dress-ups, he can identify several of the Disney princesses (in his defense, he can also ID many of them male characters - Mickey, Donald, etc.), the movie Tangled holds his attention much longer than any other movie we've tried (outside of Elmo). It all adds up to one pretty girly guy.
- Joe wants to eat all day long. Like, every 12 minutes. As soon as he finishes one snack, I hear "empty" or "all gone" and then "more pease?" We have so many fights about this each day; he's big enough - I refuse to let him snack all day! He's a great eater at mealtime. He loves all fruits - they are the first thing to disappear from his plate & often with unsettling quickness. "Mananas" are his faves, with apples a close second. Other food favorites: hot dogs, raisins, peas, "pretbulls" (pretzels), cereal, "mellows" (marshmallows), and frosting. The only things I can think of that he won't eat are asparagus & cake.
- He blows kisses, which is such a warm & fuzzy thing to see. He kisses his hand, complete with the smooch sound, and then sends it your way!
- When he doesn't have a basketball in his hand, he can often be found holding a crayon & notebook. He loves to scribble! Unfortunately, the kitchen floor, playroom wall, table, and even his plastic basketball hoop have all become his canvases. Don't get me wrong, this is a great motor skill to have & we're so glad he has an interest in the arts (how sophisticated!) But I spend a quarter of my day searching the playroom for rogue crayons so I don't have to wipe Joe's masterpieces off of any more surfaces.
- His vocabulary is growing rapidly. He pulls out a new word we haven't heard every day. And he's starting to string words and phrases together. For example, when I brush his teeth, this very independent little boy constantly grabs for his Elmo toothbrush saying "No, I try." When he can't find me, he will walk around the house yelling "Mommy, are you? Arrrrre you?" (Brooke did this, too. One of my most favorite things ever.) After my Grandma treated us to lunch today, I said to him "Joe, what do you say to Grandma Faye?" In his sweet little voice, he said "Thank you...for dinna." Who cares that he got the meal wrong, I can't even handle how awesome that is.
- I know I've said it before, but this child is a major Mama's Boy! It seems to be getting even worse when we're at home, preferring to be in my arms/on my lap/at my feet most of the day. He has finally gotten to the point where he realizes that I've left him; it's not always right away, but after a while he figures it out and gets upset. I bet I hear the word "Mommy" 1000 times a day from this little guy. When he cries out in his crib, it's "Mommy!" When I won't give him a snack, it's an angry "Mommy!" When he's tired, it's a much whinier "Mommy!" It's all. day. long. Though, I must say,  when I get home from running errands or being out of his sight for a minute, the very sweet and excited "Mommy!" I get makes my heart melt a little. Ok, a lot.

With the exception of the past few rough weeks, Joe really is such a happy guy! He greets everyone with a giant smile. He shows so much compassion & empathy for a boy his age. He's pretty good at sharing (he's had a lot of practice...) & playing with others. He seems to be more of a follower at the moment, preferring to mimic others over playing solo. He's finally old enough to go to the Mother Goose class at the Rec in a few weeks, & I know he's just going to adore it! I can't wait to see him thrive outside of his sister's shadow!

As has become our family tradition, we had a little 1/2 bday celebration for him to honor the big day!

He loved being sung to, even sang along at one point. (p.s. I'm so bummed this is blurry!)

 He was admiring his new Magna Doodle for a minute. He is obsessed with his sister's & we're sick of the fights, so this was an easy choice for his 1 little gift! (And now they're fighting over this one....sigh.)

 

6 months until 2! Time to start planning his party! (I kid, I kid.)