Sunday, February 8, 2009

I Like Her!

This has got to be one of the sweetest photos I've gotten so far! Yesterday we packed up the kids and headed to Portland to visit with Joe's brother and sister-in-law (and their five kids) since they were in town from South Carolina (where they moved about 5 months ago.) But Thursday night Joe informed be that we'd be making a detour trip to Salem first since he had some Army business to take care of. Little did I know that would mean the kids and I would be sitting in the truck outside the Salem armory waiting for Joe for over 45 minutes! Yes, the truck has a back seat, but NO it does not have much room! So I sat in the front trying to keep Aubrey calm while Brendan sat behind me in his carseat repeating "mommy, I need to go potty... mommy can I get out?... mommy, where's daddy?..." and finally "mommy, can I hold Aubrey?" I nearly stopped in my tracks, turned around and said "sure buddy... do you want her to sit in your seat with you?" He was more than excited and when I sat her there on his lap he said "it's OK baby Aubrey, I got you... you won't fall" and he gave her a sweet kiss. This lasted about 10 minutes or so and each time I asked "do you want mommy to take her now?" he would smile and say "no... I like her!" And so what if he doesn't like her all the time? At least it's enough for me to capture the moment right? :)

Friday, February 6, 2009

Two Months

Although late in posting this picture, our sweet baby girl is now two months old (as of last Wednesday the 28th!) And where has the time gone? I keep looking at her thinking that before I know it, she'll be walking and talking. She's changing so much already. That deep dark hair that she was born with has lightened to a shade much like my own and her sweet little facial expressions are priceless. She smiles when she hears mommy and daddy and has come so close to giggling that we're just waiting, on edge. There's nothing like the first time you hear that sweet baby laugh. But times have also been challenging. Her fussiness has been testing my patience and I pray daily for the strength to do the best I can for her. The pediatrician recommended the possibility of cutting dairy out of my diet in order to treat what could be a "milk protein sensitivity" and while I gasped and denied that that could ever be the case, we may just have to take a trial run and see... In any case, we're trying to enjoy this time as it flashes before our eyes...

Destined to be Friends

These two are seriously like peas in a pod. Tracey and I knew when we moved to Bend that it would take awhile to make new friends and we would be everything to each other for at least a little while. And so is the truth for our sweet little boys too. "They'll grow up like brothers" we kept saying and waited so long for the day when they would play together instead of along side each other. So the moment has come when these two sweet boys look so forward to spending time together, make sure to include each other in their nightly prayers, and are deviously teaching each other their own bad habits (Kian has learned the art of testing his mommy's limits and Brendan has learned how to pull up a chair to reach the light switches!) So after a much needed break from public humiliation (Brendan displayed his public tantrum ability to the fullest last week and I nearly had a breakdown!) we decided that another "play in public" day would be a little more than we could handle (we had been invited to a weekly "indoor playground" that is held at a local church.) Tracey and I both let out a huge sigh of relief when each of us confirmed that we would rather just get the two boys together at our house than to attempt another group event. So as soon as he heard the knock at the door, Brendan ran down the stairs yelling "Kian and Tracey!!" and Kian could barely get his shoes off before they were headed up the stairs to play. A few moments later this is where we found them... curled up on Brendan's bed underneath a blanket, each with his own teddy bear, Brendan reading Kian a bedtime story (at 11:00 in the morning but who cares when you're playing make believe?) And who could blame us, we couldn't help but smile (and grab the camera of course!)