Just Jokin'!

My latest post at What to Expect is up, and I talk about how this little man's sense of humor has gotten us into trouble recently!

You can find the article HERE!

Also. I may or may not be to blame for my kids' dumb sense of humor. 

Napping together

I actually took these pictures two days ago. And you better believe I held my breath as I took these shots. S is a pretty light sleeper, and I kept thinking, "You're crazy! Do you really have to take a picture and risk waking them?!" 

The answer is yes. I'm so glad I did, too! This was the first time they had ever slept together. After running around town the other day, S asked me if she and Pato could take their naps together. Right away, he got really excited about the idea, and I didn't have the heart to say no. 

I was sure it wouldn't work. But, ten minutes later, I peeked in and found them like this. I couldn't believe it! The one downside was that someone woke the other up (they both told me the other did it.) Overall, this gives me hope that maybe they could share a room down the road. I love the idea of them being in a room together and having their own little conversations. 

Fast forward to today. We woke up to a hefty amount of snow this morning, and S couldn't wait to play in it. We spent the morning shoveling and making a snowman. After coming in for lunch, S asked if they could nap together again. Sure, why not? I told them to be very quiet and not wake each other up. 

I adore these little sweethearts, and I love that they want to spend so much time together. And if it means better naps, you know I'll take it! 

I just can't, okay?!

Oh, monkey! 

Love is...

Love is...sharing your last bit of apple juice.

And that's saying a LOT coming from this girl. They don't get juice very often, so when I hand her some, it's like, "STOP everything right now while I drink this juice!" 

Today we took the scooters to CW, and they rode in circles, pointing out every fallen leaf. Well, that's an exaggeration. But, they DID point out every pumpkin on display. 

"Mom! Let's go this way! We're going on a 'venture!" 

"Mama! Bumkin! Bumkin! 'nother bumkin!" 

Fall is starting to show her glorious face around here, so I won't even complain that at the end of the day, the inside of my purse looks like I threw it in a forest. A stick, a rock, or a leaf collected from my kids always finds its way inside. I should probably learn to say no.

But, I can't. I'll miss those little treasures in my purse someday. 

She Says: Being Borned

People warned us. We had heard of the "terrible two's" but we also heard a lot of, "Oh, wait till three!" I have to admit, two with this girl was close to heaven. Her language exploded, and now she is just a little adult. She speaks really well and has intricate ideas and questions. SO many questions! I can hardly keep up. But, along with that has come some more sass, and some more, "But WHYYY do I have to do that?!" Some days are rougher than others, and I've had to keep my patience in check daily. She's doing a lot of growing, and I think C and I as parents are growing as well.

She has also started to come up with the absolute sweetest things, as well. S is such a passionate and caring little girl, and sometimes, she just has more feelings than her little body can hold.

Lately, in an effort to delay bedtime (now that's another hassle) she likes to hear stories about when she was in my belly. I've told her about how I would place my plates of food on my belly and watch her kick it off from inside. She likes that one. I've told her about how mama was just so so tired in the hospital when she was born because we spent a long day waiting for her. 

But, the other night, she asked me a different question. Our conversation went like this:

S: Mama, before I was borned I was in your belly?

Me: Yup. You were in there.

S: So...Pato was right next to me?

Me: No, he wasn't in my belly just yet.

S: So, I was borned first?

Me: You were! But, Pato came soon after.

S: And then it was his turn in your belly?

Me: It was.

S: (silent for a bit) I'm so glad Pato was borned.

When I told C this story, we talked about how she has no memory of what life was like without her Pato. I kind of really like that. Because he's always just been there. An integral part of not just our family as a whole, but an integral part of HER life. She doesn't treat him like a baby, and we think she thinks they're mostly the same (even though she knows they're not the same age.) I am so grateful for these two babies.

And, girl. I'm SO glad he was borned, too.

Farmer's Market

It's official. We've ruined our kids. Saturdays are now for farmers markets and cupcakes and stealing some of mama and dada's Popsicles. Oh, and sheep and horses because, boy, those never seem to get old. If you ask S, her favorite flavor is "rojo." And be aware if you're sharing with her because she translates, "Just take a little lick," as "Go ahead and take a big honkin' bite." 

So, in this picture, S is doing one of her favorite things. Every week, we go to this stand and try the different flavors of chèvre cheese and take a tub home. The man who makes and sells the cheese is a pretty quiet sorta awkward man. (Makes great cheese...but pretty sure I won't find him at a party any time soon. Then again, I don't think i'll be finding myself at many parties anytime soon, either.) Anyway, he never talks much to us, but this last week he totally smiled when S ran up, and I think mayyybbe we've started to grow on him?? Maybe?! That's us. We keep badgering ya till you like us.

And let's end on a cute note, shall we...

Dream. Boat.

What Could Have Been

This girl. She is silly. She is curious. She is constantly looking out for others. She is passionate and already loves so deeply. 

Maybe it's because her third birthday is not too far away, or maybe I blame her bangs for making her look all grown up, but everyday I notice more and more how her baby and toddler days are behind us. 

Today, as she sat across from me at lunch, insisting on drinking the tall glass of water all by herself, I suddenly found myself thinking, "What if it were just the two of us?"

It has not happened a ton, but from time to time I wonder what life would be life if Pato hadn't come along as quickly as he did. Would I have decided to work part-time? Would S and I go out for lunch more often? Would I be more patient with her? Would I actually be able to keep up with the laundry? (Oh, wait, I can answer that...no.)

I used to have a lot of guilt. I worried that she wasn't getting enough one-on-one time with me. I worried that the one year we did have together wouldn't be enough for me. I worried that she was missing out on things simply because I didn't have it in me to take them both out by myself to new places.

And then...this happens. I am so fortunate that this is really a daily occurrence.  Multiple times a day, they find each other, and in their own way, show their love. Oh, yes. They fight. I can't figure out why they always want to play with the same exact thing. They scream, and there's sometimes even hair pulling.

When they're not fighting, they play and and laugh and dance together. I can't make this stuff up. Here they are playing horse-y in the middle of the post office. 

I love to listen to them talk to one another. J has been picking up on so many words lately, and I think it's because he just wants to keep up with his sister. S will often tell me what he wants, and I've found myself asking her, "What did he just say?" 

So, yes. Maybe I'd get more done, and maybe I would have lots of amazing memories with just my little girl, but I'm glad that a different plan was in store for us. I'm glad that Pato surprised us because he was the best surprise of our lives. 

Grammy and Poppy are in Town...

...which means I can go to the bathroom without this little guy watching me. (Sidenote: I'm trying to teach S that it's not polite to just stand there in front of me when I'm trying to have a moment in the bathroom. "But mama. I just wanna watch!") I even took a shower during the day today. It was fantastic. And. AND! I went to the grocery store alone! I carried a little shopping basket...because I could. I didn't have to maneuver a huge shopping cart with a race car attached to it. It was niiice. 

Today we took them to the beach. There's only so much you can do when it's a billion degrees outside with a trillion percent humidity. The water felt perfect and we had a great morning together. Last year, S didn't even like getting into the water until her Poppy was able to convince her to. Now, she loves to splash and play in it, and J enjoys it as well. Poppy and Grammy can get my kids to do (almost) anything. We're really milking it while they're here. "S, Poppy really wants you to eat your dinner!" "Grammy wants you to go to the bathroom before we leave!"

No fun. They are having zero fun.

Grandparents are the best. 

We might try to grandnap them.

Much ado about Mickey

Once upon a time, as in yesterday, we went to Barnes and Noble because it was pouring outside and it's one of our rainy day hangouts. As soon as we got there, we went to the bathroom because little man had pooped. (We returned to the same bathroom an hour later because it wouldn't be a regular day for him without pooping at least three times before lunchtime.) Five minutes before we left, he became extremely attached to a flimsy Mickey Mouse book that I knew wouldn't make it a day at our house. Now, J is very adamant about letting you know what he wants, and he yelled "Mi-mou! Mi-mou!" in the store, and flung himself to the ground. I had at least three or four parents look at me like, "Soo...are you going to do anything?" I was perfectly fine letting him scream on the floor, but I figured it was time to get going anyway. So, yes, he screamed for the next forty minutes. He has never had a tantrum like that.

When we got home, he immediately found a good place to continue his tantrum, and set up base by the garage door. Nice form, don't you think?

Then he realized the the kicking and screaming wasn't enough, so he thought he'd eat his shoe.

As it turns out, tantrum-ing really takes it out of ya.

And he napped happily ever after.

p.s: In completely unrelated (but extremely important) news, I've received word that Mindy Kaling will be coming out with a second book. I'm very excited about this. Mindy! I'm here! Have you found me yet?

Picnic in the park

So...how 'bout that blogging every day in May thing? Bam. Nailed it. Not.

I blame it on weekend trips, a bug that went through every member of our family, very few full nights of sleep, and a two-year-old who decided to unleash her inner demon. I have a camera roll full of pictures on my phone, however, so I'll break things down in smaller posts. 

These are from a couple of weeks ago. We are soaking up all our CW time before it gets too hot. Lunch, a blanket and friends make for a perfect afternoon. That, and making my kids play "Run Really Far" to wear them out before naps.

It's a normal parent thing, I think, to often have the feeling that there are way better parents out there than you, and you hope that your kids don't end up scarred. I'm not the craftiest (or even close to second-from-the-craftiest) I'm not the most patient, and I don't know how many times I've let my kids watch Frozen. I'm not hating on Frozen! I do like Frozen. And watching S run around the house singing, "Let it goooo..." with Pato trailing behind yelling, "go goooo!" Gets me every time. Anyway. Then there are times my kids let out big belly laughs and just look so happy that I think, "Okay. I'm not the worst."

And a couple shots of Williamsburg. I never tire of taking pictures of the same buildings. They look different every day.

Mini Yogi

Well...not really. Pretty sure half the stuff she does isn't considered real yoga, but we're just going to overlook that. On the day that these were taken, she randomly decided to go all downward dog all of a sudden. And I'll tell you this...she's never seen ME do these things. Anything that resembles working out makes me nervous. 

I kept telling myself as soon as I was done nursing Pato I would maybe start working out. Well, it's been a couple weeks now. Yes, I no longer nurse him, and no, I'm not ready to talk about it yet. We are fine. December 2010- December 2013. For three years my body has not really been completely my own. You better believe I popped some Advils after my last headache after not being able to take them for so long.

Anyway. While we're in Summit I have far too many taylor ham, egg, and cheese bagels calling my name to think about exerting too much effort.

So...Christmas. It was wonderful! S LOVES Christmas so much. We took her out for a drive around town to look at Christmas lights, and I promise she did not stop talking the whole time. Like...an hour. I will do some catch up posts for more details.

The kids are changing every single day and I've realized I really need to write these things down so I don't forget them.

S is just a funny little thing. We sang a new song to her at bedtime about animals. Each verse talks about another animal, and at first, we helped her pick the animals. After a bit of coaxing, she picked the animals on her own. She had us sing once about a frog and twice about a chicken. She tries to delay bedtime as much as she can, and sometimes it's so hard to put her down when she is being so sweet and fun.

Oh, and she can say her name perfectly now! It's great. Today I was changing Pato's diaper. When he was done I said, "Okay, Pato! You're all clean!" Then S said, "I don't want turn. Not S turn." 

Pato continues to be the cutest thing ever and I just want to squeeze him all day but he has zero time for that. Today he ran around the house with his pants down to his ankles (his pants are always too baggy) and he just kept going and going

We'd buy him a belt, but then his pants wouldn't fall to his ankles and then what would we do?

first update from new jersey

Hello, from New Jersey!

I feel like our Christmas holiday season has officially begun, and we're are thrilled to be at Ita and Ito's house! We've only been here a few days, and already we've been greeted by not one, but two waves of snow.

We are absolutely thrilled about it. (That's what happens when you live in a non-snowy area like Williamsburg long enough. Snow gets super exciting.)

We've been crafting up a storm (thanks, Ita!) and had a blast playing with a whole new set of toys. And ask me how many glass ornaments my kids have broken?

Zero.

Christmas miracles ARE real.

S has decided to take her imagination up a notch these days and absolutely cracks us up. She will sit alone for periods at a time just talking to herself as she plays. She has a little school bus with little wooden people in it, and she has named every one of them. Most are named after family members, but a couple are named after her friends.

"Oh! Hewwo, Cana! Go in bus. Go to school. Bye bye, Cana!"

She also likes to be her own narrator.

"How are you, stickers? All stickers in bus. Okay. I do it. Oh, sticky. Sticky. Another sticky. Bye bye, bus."

And every night before bed, she likes to say goodnight to stuff.

"I coming! Night night, Cri-cris tree. Night night, weath. Night night Cri-cris mights (lights.) Night night stairs. Ee you layer." 

Pato has really surprised us by starting to talk as well. Aside from Mama and Dada, he says nana for banana. Awa (agua) stop, shoes, bye bye, night night, okay and "I did it!" He hears S say, "I did it" so often, that I'm really not surprised he has picked up on it as well.

And now, I think some hot chocolate with big fat marshmallows are in order.

checking in

Eyes shut and everything. He was clearly committed to this shot.

We are alive and more than well in Texas with our Jones family. We've been filling our days with lots of food and time with family. When we get together...wow. We're a sight. My kids have the best aunts and uncles around. And their cousins. Oh, their cousins. They are simply amazing. I can already see friendships being formed and it makes all the missed naps and messed up routines totally worth it. We've pretty much broken every rule in our book in just these last few days.

J has developed a huge crush on his Grammy and reaches for her whenever she's around. It's truly the sweetest thing and I LOVE how much my kids love their grandparents. But, tonight at dinner, he had so many wet kisses for his mama and it reminded me that I'm still his #1 girlfriend :)

A walk around campus.

I took the kids back to the William and Mary campus today to run around. I love the old brick buildings and my kids love roaming free and getting dirty. It's a win win.

S and her Pato. These two have really grown closer this past month. When S wakes up from her naps, the first thing she asks for is her Pato. They normally wake up from their afternoon naps around the same time, and she loves walking into his room and yelling, "Hi, Gago!" They finally play together, and today they shared a snack from the same bowl. I looked over and found S feeding Pato crackers one by one. He follows her around and she is his biggest cheerleader. When he walks around the house, she always gets super excited and yells,"Go! Go! Go!"

Took me forever to get this shot. I LOVE the walking stage. C likes to joke that Pato walks around like a little drunk man.

Classic "hands-in-his-mouth" shot.

As I look at this last picture I feel really lucky that I have two happy babies. Isn't that what it's all about?

Another story from the day: I asked S to please take her dirty shirt back to her room as we did our normal tidying up before picking C up from work. She went back to her room and came out soon later. A few minutes passed, and I went to her room to take a toy back. I looked around the room to see where she had put her shirt. I had assumed she would have just thrown it on the ground. But, I couldn't find the shirt anywhere. I even looked in our bedroom to see if she had put it there. No luck. I went back to her room again, and found a tiny bit of the sleeve peeking out of her dresser drawer. She had put it away all by herself in the right place. I was very impressed, and now I'm looking forward to putting that girl to work!