From the Mouth of Miles

Miles feeling my leg's 5 o'clock shadow:

Miles: What's this?

Me: Prickles. Can you say prickles?

Miles: Pickles. Sharp!

Miles is obsessed with the mailman:

Miles: Maymail!

Me: Mail Man.

Miles: Maymail!

Me: Say mail...

Miles: Mail.

Me: Say man...

Miles: Man.

Me: Now say Mail Man.

Miles: Maymail!!

Close enough. 

Don't worry, he's just puddle jumping in the street.

While looking at Nemo on his swim diapers:
Miles: What's this?
Me: Nemo from Finding Nemo. Remember that movie with the fish?
Miles: Elmo Nemo!

Miles always calls his drink coffee no matter what liquid is in it.
Me: Are you thirsty? Here's your water cup.
Miles: Oh! My coffee!!
...
Me: Here's you milk to go with dinner.
Miles: Oh! My coffee!!
I must drink too much coffee?

Grant is touching something he shouldn't be touching:

Miles: Gant! Ton't touch! Ton't touch Gant!

Thanks big brother for keeping an eye on Grant, then proceeding to join him in the forbidden activity.

7 Quick Takes

1. SUN!!! This week's weather outlook gets warmer every day ending with the low 80's on Sunday. So excited for this warm sun and hopefully get a little color, other than red, going on my skin. Also, sidewalk Chalk! I totally forgot about sidewalk chalk.

Miles and I were pushing this car back and forth and he kept calling it Hockey.

Miles loves to belly flop. Why? Biggest splash of course!

2. I started Basil from seeds a couple weeks ago and they sprouted. I was skeptical that anything would happen and I guess we'll see how green my thumb is when I go to transplant them outside. I love basil and hopefully I can stop spending our mortgage on a couple leaves at the grocery store.

3. Miles was doing something stinkerish and I told him to stop. He turned around and looked in the direction of the crucifix and said "Hi, Jesus!" Wow, what a great way to change the subject when you're getting in trouble!

4. Grant has started saying Momma and Dadda. It's super cute to hear his voice using real words instead of animal grunts.

5. I've been really into reading "mom blogs" lately not only because they're usually hilarious or have good household/child rearing ideas but because it's very affirming. It's wonderful to see all the hard work, craziness, joy, and fun that goes into raising kids put into words in a clever blog post. It's so relatable and makes me feel good knowing that it's totally normal that Miles does "machine gun whining" or Grant makes grunting noises that "grates against God's ears." (thanks for coining those phrases Camp Patton!)

6. Grant is becoming more of a Daddy's boy and I love it!! He won't hold my hand, only Dad's.

7. Now that it's been sunny and warm for more than a day I've had Lake Pearrygin on my mind. I'm SO excited to go this year! It's hard not to get too excited since it's still 2 1/2 months away but I can't help but think how much easier it'll be this year now that the boys are older. I won't have to nurse Grant every 2 seconds and put him down for three naps. Miles listens so much better and will have a blast. I. Can't. Wait.

Little Gem of a Bonus: One of my favorite faces Grant makes, his Pooping Face.

<-- POOP

Ah, much better -->

Grant's 1st Birthday

Grant is one! His personality is really coming out lately. He laughs a lot, loves toy cars, climbs the stairs like a champ, sleeps super well (7-6:15), likes to play with Miles and take toys from him too. Miles is starting to enjoy playing with Grant. He'll walk over to Grant and hand him a car saying "here Grant". Grant proceeds to do what Miles does to him, rip the toy out of his hand.

Miles is patiently waiting for his cake.

Mustache cake for our little man. 

He LOVED the cake, of course.

We had everyone sign his book and will continue to sign it every year or at least on his bigger birthdays.

Grant is such a ham!

Happy Birthday little man. We're so excited to see how you grow this year. We love you so much!

Early Spring Daybook

Outside my window... Rain, go figure. Last week was gorgeous and felt like June so I'm a little annoyed with the rain because I was getting used to wearing sandals and sunglasses.

I am thankful for... Grant's molars as weird as that sounds. He's been teething for the past month and the last three days have been painful for all of us, but mainly him because his gums are bleeding. This morning he's happily playing in the Little Tikes car and I'm happily typing away, something I couldn't have done yesterday seeing as Grant was literally attached to my hip screaming.

I am thinking about... Natural Family Planning. I keep coming across articles and other media that frustrates me and always leads me back to NFP and how happy I am that we practice it. No worrying about birth control side effects, I know more about my body and how/why it works the way it does, heightened communication between Patrick and I, and an openness to God's plan. Why would anyone want to use anything else!?

From the kitchen... QUINOA! I know, I'm totally late jumping on the bandwagon but seriously, QUINOA! I was hesitant to incorporate it into our meals for a few reasons. I wasn't interested it just using it to replace rice. I don't know why. It just didn't sound good. It wasn't until my friend Kimmy brought Cheese and Vegetable Quinoa Bites over as an appetizer that I realized how quinoa can be used! I've made many things with it now including that recipe in a casserole dish. SO good, so healthy, and Patrick likes it too! Win-win-win.


Extra time is spent... cleaning, tidying, and relaxing. The usual. Oh, and weeding since the weather was since last week. It's also spent acting like a fly on the wall and quietly watching the boys play. I love seeing them in their own world experimenting with new things or interacting with one another. I love how their developing their brother relationship.

I'm loving... how much older Grant acts now that he's one. He's such a little man with vivid personality. I also love how much he loves toy cars. He'll sit for 15 minutes slowly driving a car in circles on the table memorizing every detail of the car. I'm really loving how much Miles talks! It's so fun to have conversations with him and teach him different things that he can finally understand.

Around the house... still getting those pictures up on our walls. I'm going to tackle the guest bedroom with some paint, window coverings, and bedding next. Pinterest, beware. I've been a pinning machine for guest bedroom ideas/colors. Any suggestions? I need to narrow my choices!

5 Minutes from now... Grant will be screaming for Orajel and attention, Miles will still be sleeping (he's been sleeping well past 8 and even until 9 most mornings!!)

5 hours from now... We'll be celebrating our friend's daughter's 2nd birthday! My how time flies! Happy birthday Olivia!

5 days from now... Just another weekday. Maybe it'll be sunny and we'll get to use Grant's new sandbox!? But probably having a play date with some friends.

5 years from now... wow, I can't even imagine. We'll probably have another little one by then, family of 5! Hopefully the house will be fully decorate by then ;)

And now a truck load of pictures!! Bonus: Easter Pics!! (stay tuned for Grant's birthday pictures. I just realized that I never posted any).

Mr. One

If you mustache, I'm turning one!

Grant is ONE today! He's such a little man now. We're having a small birthday party for Grant on Sunday with just the Grandparents like we did with Miles and the theme is Mustache Bash. I can't wait to see him devour a chocolate cake!

Here's a few quick takes of what Grant has been up to lately:

Grant has been walking since early January and since he's mastered that he's moved onto running. It's funny because sometimes his body can't keep up with his legs.

Grant is getting his one year molars and has been a bit clingy. I can't wait until he's done getting teeth!

His personality is really starting to show now. He's a super big momma's boy. I think he has my humor because he laughs at the same things I do. He gets frustrated easily and will let you know by screaming at an ultrasonic pitch.

I'm so excited to see him grow and to learn more about his personality. He and Miles get along really well and I even catch Miles trying to give him hugs. Grant pushes him away though because he thinks Miles is trying to push him down.

Here's a little progression of Grant's growth:

3 Months

5 Months

6 Months

8 Months

(I'm still looking for more of these changing table photos so stay tuned for more!)

Happy birthday my little growing man! You are so bright and such a ray of sunshine to our day. I can't wait to see what new things you learn this year and to see you and Miles become even better friends. We love you so very much!