Battles

Struggling a bit here. It's always so much harder after being gone for a while. Story goes like this:

Mama and Bub are getting along great...he's learned that she loves kisses, is good at playing trucks and is the best wrestle partner. Life is grand.

Then Mama has to leave for work. Maybe it's just all day...for 4 or 5 days... but she's home at night. Or maybe she's gone for a week or two. Either way, she's gone.

And when she returns, Nash wants nothing to do with her. I mean, aside from the initial 5 minutes where she's the hot new game in town (aka someone new to show off to). Other than that, he's constantly asking for someone else...even when I'm in the room and we're playing, he's not satisfied with just me. He doesn't listen to me...acts like there's no way in hell I'm in charge of him. Cries, throws tantrums...or, in the case of today, falls asleep on the bedroom floor because Mama said he had to get in the bed for naptime.

Maybe it's just terrible twos. Or maybe I'm slowly losing this battle. i mean, who knew I would have a kid that would constantly test me...test my patience, my innovation and my emotions. He just doesn't seem to care much about me most days...and despises me the rest because I'm trying to be strict with him. And everyone's watching. Asking themselves, well gee...he's usually not like this. Yes, I know. It's me.

It's part of a woman's role in life to be a good mother, raise great children and take care of her family. And I feel like I'm failing at that part. Or at least failing by comparison. My husband is more patient. But he's also more lenient. I'm a little hot-headed, but I stick to my guns. Sometimes feel like I'm on team all-alone-out-here-on-discipline-island...but then I'm barely home anyway so what does it matter what rules I enforce or if I slip him a piece of candy every time I see him.

I'm losing. And part of me wants to concede the battle and say, it's all yours. But I know I could never do that. So I'll continue on...failing, losing...

Nash is 2 Years Old!!

I can't believe it.  The day has come that my baby is, ahem, no longer a baby.  Like, officially, people!  There's no mistaking it now...he's a full fledged boy and has the 'tude to prove it!

Here's a rundown of Nash at 2 years old ::gulp::
Height: Just shy of 3 ft (35.75")
Weight: 29.4 lbs
Hair: It's a tad darker now, but still hovering in the dark blonde/light brown category
Eyes: Still hazel
Teeth: He finally has one of his two-year molars poking through!  That makes 17!
Clothes: All 2T
Shoes: Still size 7

Talking:  I had to put this one first because it is, by far, the most noticeable (and amazing) thing about this last month.  He is forming complete, multi-word sentences now and can carry on full conversations with us.  I would estimate that I can understand a good 90% of what he says.  And I swear, he learns so many new words every day that we can't keep up.  He's talking about things he's never seen (like snow) and recalling things that happened way earlier.  Not only recalling it, but he's able to tell us about it later.  He's expressing so much emotion these days, and I can see his little imagination really opening up.  He knows all of his body parts, some colors, can recognize images (and in many cases, name) in his favorite books (even obscure things like sandwich or table and chairs).  And he's learning now the difference between boys and girls (boys have wee wees and short hair...girls have, er, something else and long hair).  He tries to count (really only says two and six over and over again) and repeats things over and over again until everyone acknowledges what he's said.

Personality:  He's still this supercharged ball of hilarious energy.  I swear, if we didn't force him to take naps and go to bed at night, he'd probably just run in circles until he literally passed out in exhaustion.  He's go-go-go all the time, which really wears out whoever is in charge of watching him that day.  He's feisty and funny, yet shy too.  We're starting to notice he gets shy in front of people, and his teachers even pointed out that he prefers to stand in the back of the class to do things like sing or dance.  Funny since he's a total freakin ham when it's in front of people he knows.  Like, he literally shows off and acts up when there's more than one or two of us in the room paying attention to him.

We're still dealing with some anger issues, but I just have a really good feeling all of that will melt away as he continues to learn how to express himself.  He's learning that he's not supposed to hit people (with his hands or toys) and that hurting people isn't nice.  He sees us getting upset and walking away when he is too physical, so I think that's helping.  He still has his freak outs though, and we've all learned to protect our faces when he starts swinging or gets worked up.

Physical:  Oh lordy...there's so much to write on this one, it's hard to know where to start.  From day one, Nash has been this incredibly physical boy.  Even during my first ultrasound, he was flipping and tumbling all around in my belly and the tech could barely get a pic of him!  He was super active while I was pregnant and NEVER stopped moving when he was a baby.  I remember the pediatrician telling us at his 4-month well visit that he was going to be an athlete...that he was already pulling himself up with his own strength and putting weight on his legs.  He sat up at a normal age, but then only a few weeks went by before he was crawling, and then standing up!  And he took his first steps right around 10 months.  And when he went for it...it was 8 steps and he was off.  There was no contemplation...he just did it.  And even now, he continues to amaze us with his physical abilities.

At the playground, he's able to climb every. single. one. of the obstacles.  We were there one day and he could climb up these tricky bars that this little 4-year old boy was AFRAID to climb!  Not my kid...he's completely fearless.  Which scares the everloving shit out of me.

He can throw a ball (any kind of ball, any size) literally RIGHT AT YOU.  I'm telling you, we've stood 5-10 feet apart and played catch (except he can't really catch yet).  He throws a football with a spiral.  And he just got a tee ball set for his birthday and he crushes that ball nearly every time.  We have to quick put the ball on the tee, turn and run so we don't get smacked with the bat.  He kicks...deliberate, timed kicks.  I was sad to learn they don't offer soccer for kids until age 3 because I'm telling you, I think he could do it.  Not to mention, my husband went out and bought Nash a few cheap left-handed golf clubs and cut them down so they're short enough for him to actually use.  And he's able to hit the little golf balls right off the ground.  There doesn't appear to be a sport he (a) doesn't love or (b) isn't good at.

 

Other notes:  He's become quite attached to his snugglies these days.  Every night and during naptime, his bed is so crowded with friends and pillows that it's nearly impossible for us to lie down with him.  And sleeping is still kind of a struggle...at least here.  When we had our own place and he had his bed, he did really well all on his own.  But once we came here and he has this huge bed, he wants someone to stay with him until he falls asleep.  Which can take FOREVER some times.  He loves trucks of all kinds, legos and anything that plays music.  He's finally over his Yo Gabba obsession and has taken a ravenous fancy to Team Umi Zoomi.  He literally asks for it every second that it's not on.  Thank god for DVR.

His eating is off and on, although he's generally very receptive to new foods.  He regularly eats fish (even salmon and blackened), spicy foods and healthy stuff.  But, just like any kid, he loves crackers, toast, candy, cookies, juice, etc...  We've struggled a bit these last few months because he's having trouble going to the bathroom.  Sometimes he'll go days without pooping and we can tell he's starting to not feel well.  He won't eat, he's irritable...and he tries and tries, but nothing comes out.  We've completely eliminated bananas and cheese and have cut out all but a splash of juice in his water.   We try to make sure he gets a lot of whole grains and fiber, but nothing really seems to be working.  Next stop:  doctor.  But when he does eat, he uses a spoon and fork nearly perfectly (left or right handed).  He can drink from a cup, but tends to spill it while walking around, so we still give him sippies.  The high chair is completely gone...it just sits in this old red, wooden chair Joe's mom has and eats at the table just like the rest of us. 

  

The other funny thing is how much he has taken control over his outfits.  He's begun requesting certain jammies (loves baseball ones and the ones with rockets or puppies) and won't wear anything else if he happens to see them in the drawer.  Also, he picks out his own shoes every morning and then Joe or my mother in law will form an outfit around the shoes.  Sounds awesome, right?  Well it would be if he didn't pick the same orange and brown pumas all the time.  He loves those shoes, but we are running out of brown and orange outfits to go with them!  He's can just about undress himself, although pulling shirts over his head is still tricky.  He's learning how to put his clothes on, but that's taking a bit longer that the undressing part.  He can pull his pants up, but he usually ends up only pulling up the front.  And we're teaching him to find the big hole for his head and the small holes for his arms, so he's getting it.  Still hates it when we make him get dressed though...he'd run around naked all the time if he could.

No improvements in potty training.  He's only slightly interested in the idea and doesn't sit on the potty for more than 30 seconds at any given time.  He knows when he's going to pee though, so we're gently informing him about peeing on the potty...and tonight I even threw a few cheerios in the toilet and told him to squirt them with his pee.  He giggled and seemed to like it, but no action occurred.  Oh well...it will come.

There's so many more things to share, but it's late, this post is long and I still need to find our Elf, Choo, a resting place for the night.

Love you, big man!

23 Months

So much new stuff has happened this month, it's going to be hard to remember everything. Nash is talking up a storm...full blown sentences, carrying on conversations, recognizing and naming pictures in his favorite books. He's becoming such a little man, it's killing me on the daily.

Height:
Weight:
Teeth:
All 2T clothes (but sometimes the waist is too big)
Size 7 shoes still

Talking:
Like I mentioned, he's talking so much now. Hard to believe just 6 months ago, I was worried that he wasn't talking enough. He will literally repeat just about anything we say to him (today he met a little baby named Carter and easily repeated his name). He knows all these animals (zebra, penguin, and snake...not just puppy and kitty). He knows all the different kinds of vehicles (cars, trucks, trains, planes, helicopters, buses, fire trucks, scooters, etc.) and can identify tunnels, shovels, buckets, ladders and all kinds of other things when asked. He is making whole sentences of 4-5 words and can tell us what he wants (most of the time). The one thing he hasn't done (and his teacher even pointed it out) was sing a simple song. Not a singer, this kid.

Physical:
This has to be a category because my kid's a frickin prodigy. No joke here, people. He throws better than almost any kid I've ever seen. Like hard and straight. And all lefty. And he can kick, run down stairs, jump. He's got great balance too, so it's crazy. Joe is teaching him how to play golf (look out Tiger Woods, my kid's coming for you) and we're looking to get him into some kind of sport here soon. We saw a 3+ year old at the playground who couldn't climb the obstacle my kid could climb...it's insane. He masters the puzzles we have, throws legos together like it's his job and loves to help us do things like throw trash away or wipe his own face. He loves to "drive" the car and tries to help us carry bags. When he really tries, we can barely hold him...his strength is cray cray nowadays. He loves to be thrown, held upside down or swung around. He'll literally repeat Again, Again over and over until we thrown him upside down again.

Social and Emotional:
We're definitely struggling a little bit here. He's in full blown terrible 2's and is always testing his boundaries with us. He generally plays pretty well with others, but we got a report a few weeks ago that he clocked a kid in the head with a toy guitar. No bueno. We must have had three timeouts today alone...and while that doesn't seem like much, we generally reserve timeouts for the most serious offenses. We try really hard to make sure he eats and sleeps enough so there's no chance that's what's bothering him.

We're really trying to let him experience things and do things on his own, so he feels like he's in control as much as possible. We let him dress and undress himself, tell us what he wants to eat (to some extent) and give him options. And he's definitely an independent, let-me-do-it-muhself kind of way.

Likes and Dislikes:
Loves Nemo, Toy Story and any other high action animated movie (TeeTee, he says, when he first wakes up or we get in the car, where we have a DVD player). Loves anything to do with water, animals or sports. Loves going outside. Loves toast and french fries and bananas and corn on the cob. Loves his gummy vitamins and brushing his teeth. Loves his kitty and climbing, trucks and trains. Wants a tricycle like no ones business.

Hates bedtime, pasta, vegetables and diapers. Hates being told what to do and whenever he hears the word "no." Turns up his nose at juice and despises being strapped into his carseat. Doesn't like it when you try to help him do things.

As we rapidly approach the big TWO, I can hardly believe what a little man he has become. He's so strong and funny and smart, it's almost like he doesn't need me anymore. It's crazy to look at him and think that we made that just two short years ago. And they weren't lying when they said this is when it starts to get really fun. He's so much fun to be around, and I can't wait to show him new things and give him new experiences, since he's really at the age to notice and remember and appreciate all these new holiday and family traditions.

Mindy and Ben are Getting Married!

Can you say smokin hot?!?
 
When I got the text that my best friend from college was just proposed to, I was super excited!  She is the last of a group of us girls to take the plunge and he's an all-around awesome dude, so there was lots to celebrate.

THEN she asked ME to take their engagement photos.  Uh, FOR SURE!  She found this incredible location in Jacksonville, and even with a few hiccups, we managed to pull out a few keepers.

I love this next one because it shows the silly side of Ben...who was more than eager to poke fun at the gooey mush factor that often dominates these kinds of shoots.  Quick, look like you're in love! Ready....go!

Ben has this super beautiful little girl who LOVED having her picture taken...but sit around and wait?  No thank you...
 

That's one cute family, if you ask me!  They've picked a date (July 6th, 2013) and you wanna know what's even better?  I'm a bridesmaid!  Woot woot!

Congrats, Mindy and Ben...and little Morgan too!

Hunter's 2nd Birthday Shoot

My in-laws neighbor has the cutest little boy ever.  Hunter has been super strong fighting off some pretty serious illnesses since he was born and is still a positive, sweet boy who toddles around with the most handsome smile on his face (see above pic and proceed to melt).

The other day his Mama asked me if I would take some photos of him all dressed up in his halloween costume.  She's planning a farm-themed 2nd birthday party down the road and thought some of them might make good invites.  I was like, hay bales and moo cows - HECK YES!

Isn't he the sweetest?!?!  And his Mama is super fun and V.E.R.Y. photogenic.  Of course we had our moments where he was like, you want me to do WHAT?  Sit WHERE?  Uh, no.   But overall, it was an awesome sesh.

The one below is a keeper, if you ask me!

This last one just kills me! I love how his little personality is showing. Ah, toddlers. So much fun!



For more photos from Hunter's 2nd Birthday shoot, head on over to our Facebook page and leave some love!

Welcome Baby Dominic!

Ok, ok...maybe I should have welcomed him a month ago when he was ACTUALLY born. What can I say...things have been crazy around here. Better late than never, yes?

Isn't he seriously the sweetest baby you've ever seen (aside from, ahem, mine of course)?! He's such a good baby...I mean, the kid barely made a peep the whole 24 hours I was there.   He was a little bit jaundiced though, so he spent a lot of time on his special little blanket.

He was VERY awake during our shoot.  Like, he didn't want to sleep.  We had to keep having Mama snuggle him so he'd fall back asleep.  And that meant we were losing light.  And their house is legit one stalactite short of a full-blown cave, so I had to do some serious post-edits.

That pretty red pin belongs to his Daddy, Dean.  Apparently Dean's grandmother pinned it on him when he was born, and so they wanted to continue the tradition.  I think it had something to do with the pin representing an angel who will protect him.  If I'd written this post a month ago, I'd probably have remembered the details.

I love this one!  That hat was a last second prop purchase, and I think it makes him look so cozy!

I couldn't get enough of this little man.  And I can't believe he's already more than a month old!  Stay little, baby man!!

Nash is 22 Months Old!

Better late than never, eh?  Truth be told, I was waiting to post this until I could download his monthly photos from my camera, which I left in Orlando.  But then I checked it when I got home and realized I never actually took photos this month.  It was LAST month I was thinking of.  Talk about time whirling by.  First time I failed to take his pics.  ::sigh::  And we're so close to 23 months, I figured I'd just throw in a few randoms from right around October 11th and call it done.

Height:  35 inches
Weight:  28.5 lbs
Teeth:  No change
Hair:  No change
Eyes:  No change
Clothes:  All 2T
Shoes:  Still 7's

And for all the crazy details (and a bunch of Nash cameos), watch this.  Fair warning:  It's a bit long thanks to a few interruptions and my rambling, but cute nonetheless.

Things I'm Loving...and a Printable!

This week I'm doing a two for one:  a list of all the things I'm currently loving AND a free printable of my Fall Bucket List!! 

When I was pregnant with Nash, I realized there was a wealth of information on the internet about things to do with your baby to help them grow, learn, etc...  All these ideas from Mama's around the world about giving your kids all these experiences...all right there in Google.  Pinterest now makes it even easier, and with September finally here, I feel like I'm ready to tackle some of those. 

Printables and Bucket Lists are cool because it forces you to sit down and say, "this is what I want to experience" and then gives you an outlet to share it with others.  I had found a few good Fall Bucket Lists on Pinterest (like this one and this one), but nothing that was just quite right (after all, my List must be different than someone from Michigan, right?).  So I took some ideas from a bunch of places, added my own, and voila!  Here's my list:

Click Here for the Printable PDF

Here's the good stuff.  The things that keep me coming back to the web with unbounded excitement.  Does that sound cheesy or weird?  No, ok good.  

• Saw this Coolness Graph on MSN the other day.  Some of this is clever shit! 
• I'm reading this book on my Kindle for iPhone right now...I can't put it down.  If you're married or not, it's a good read about why things do/don't work out in relationships.  Next up:  get the Hubs to read it too...it's like free therapy, eh?
• I'm such an Apple snob...I so want this.  Now if only I can con Verizon into upgrading me early.
• I'm shooting my new nephew's newborn photos this weekend, so I bought a bunch of new fabric.  I'm so loving these brights!  Thanks to Dana for giving the 411 in her blog...might be my new supplier! 

That's all for this week, but I've got a lot more cool stuff pinned on Pinterest.  If you haven't checked it out, you should.  Just sayin'.

21 Months

Yep, it's that time again, folks. Time for a holy-crap-my-baby's-even-less-of-a-baby update. Each month that I do these, it gets crazier and crazier because I realize how close we are to the big "2".   So close that Joe and I are already talking about his birthday party...which is a bit of a cluster already since we are living in Jacksonville, but visiting Melbourne as often as we can.

We know we want to do it in Melbourne, but were working out the location still. Before we even get there, we've got to tackle our first Disney trip, both Mama and Daddy's birthdays, Halloween, AND Thanksgiving.  Lots of living left to do before December 11th.  But back to the task at hand. Bubs is 21 months old now and things are starting to get crazy!!

Here's the rundown: 
Height: 34.5 inches (I think)
Weight: 27 lbs (ish)
Hair: still dirty blonde
Eyes: still hazel-ish
Teeth: still rocking all but the last 4 molars
Clothes size: entirely 2T now
Shoe size: 7 and holding steady

He has to pick out his own shoes...and he loves these red ones.

Eating: 
We've definitely entered the picky phase as he rarely wants to eat what we want him to eat when we want him to eat it. He loves shunning foods we assume are his favorites and will not touch anything that looks remotely weird or complicated. Often times he'll put something in his mouth, let it barely touch his tongue and then spit it out with extreme distaste. It's maddening. And he wavers between periods of ravenous eating and nibbling like an anorexic bird, so we never know what to expect.

He still loves bananas (which we can't really give him) and toast and fruit in general, although he's been rejecting grapes lately. He refuses to eat grilled cheese, which is so weird to me, and definitely loves crackers, cookies and chips (of course). He drinks a fair mix of milk and watered down juice, but doesn't really like water (although we give it to him every night when he goes to bed).  Still wolfs down broccoli and seems to prefer wheat toast to white, which is awesome.

Sleeping:
This deserves a post all to itself. We transitioned Nash to a toddler bed a few weeks ago when he began crawling out of his crib on the regular. He seems to love his bed so much, and is always running into his room and pulling all of his stuffies on top of himself in the bed. But when it comes to bedtime, he's still a challenge. He does ok if we're in the room, but as soon as we try to leave, he jumps out of bed, runs over to the door and screams bloody murder until we return.

 I think this is just a phase and we just have to wait it out, but it's definitely been trying on both of us. Add in his recent love of smacking people in the face when he's upset and you've got a recipe for ugly.

Who me?  No, I don't smack Mama in the face at least three times a week.  Nope, not me.

Talking:
He's talking up an absolute storm now and it's literally the highlight of the month. Joe and I are always talking about how he repeats just about anything and understands just about everything. He's able to say most of the body parts we've been teaching him (even though he doesn't always finish the last consonant...like he's say "mow" instead of "mouth." He even says, "Na" when we ask him what his name is and every time we ask, he's closer and closer to an actual "Nash." He says "Pop Pop" for Grandpop and "Gumma" for Grandmom. He recognizes both our cars (especially Daddy's) and walks around the house saying, "Kitty?  Kitty?"

He loves saying "uh, yeah" or "uh, no" to just about any question we ask him (this is particularly hilarious) and recognizes a lot of animals and their sounds. Whenever the doorbell rings or a phone goes off, he grabs his ear and say, "oh!"  If we hand him something he really wants (like a yummy snack), he says, "Awww, man!" It's freaking funny, people.   He also does this thing where he smiles, says "chee" and put his fingers to his cheeks whenever we tell him we're taking a picture.  Must have learned that a daycare.  Can't wait to see his first "school" pics!

Other Developments:
The best part is that we feel like we can finally REALLY reason with him.  The other night we were having a particularly hard time getting him to go to bed, so I told him,"You're a big boy now, and Mama knows you can do this on your own."  And he laid down in bed like he totally understood and WANTED to be a big boy.  He literally glows whenever he accomplishes something, like taking off his own clothes and diaper for bath time or throwing away his own trash or coloring.  He loves being a smarty for sure, and we're always telling him how smart he is. 

We only did a few swimming lessons, but we learned the basics and continue to encourage him to "swim."  He's able to sit on the steps of the pool and walk around without plunging into the water or needing either of us to be right on top of him watching him.  He kicks his legs and has even gone underwater a handful of times...all in the name of "swimming like Nemo!"

He jumps like a champ (with both feet) and goes up and down stairs.  He has mastered all but one of his puzzles and loves to sort his toys (Joe always tells me how he'll go into his room and come out with all of one certain kind of toy).  He's coloring now and even drew on the walls for the first time this month (that's like a mandatory toddler milestone, right?).  I try to come up with new things for him all the time, like water balloons or finger painting or helping me clean so that he's always learning.  He's really into movies now, so it's tough not to let him just sit in front of the tv after a long day of working. 

Overall, he's super sweet, but also super emotional and impatient so we're lucky to make it out alive some days.  Now that he's able to do a lot of things on his own though, we're starting to crawl out of the messy house, no time to relax, where has our marriage gone hole that inevitably accompanies the first few years with a baby.  Now it gets REALLY fun.  Right? Anyone?  Bueller?