Aspirations

Do you ever wonder what your kids are going to grow up to be?
What profession they're going to take on?

Early on Adam appeared prime for a Latin American dictatorship.

I'm not disappointed that didn't work out.

He's been on a Fireman kick for a couple years now. 

Maybe he'll save lives. That's a noble career.

Or, as another option, meteorology. The camera does love him.

Lately, though, he's been most set on following in family footsteps and becoming a teacher. 

If you know him at all, he loves to repeat rules, too.

This, I'm ok with this.

So, as for Sam.....

Latin American dictatorship??

At almost 5 months

Only time will tell.

Pottytrained!

photo from October 2013 (2 yrs, 9 mos)

We did it! We can finally say Adam is diaper free, and he did it all on his own terms. No reward system or potty chart did the trick. I've been saying for weeks that Adam is potty-trained; he just refused to use the potty. He would throw a fit if we asked him to sit, and it would get to the point that he would be asking for us to give him a Pull-Up (instead of his underwear) because he knew he had to go. Recently we tried a couple incidents of keeping him in the bathroom with us when we knew he had to go and waiting it out. He didn't like it, but when he couldn't hold it any longer we were there to move him over the toilet right away. I'm not sure if this tactic helped the overall process but a couple days later he began actively telling us when he had to go.... and then go! After Sat and Sun with no diapers, I knew we couldn't go back and we sent him to school on Monday with big boy underpants. All last week, his first week sans-diapers, he only had 1 accident on the first day.

He is now using the toilet for all his business and even wakes up dry from naps and sleep. But, oh, the urine! Let's just say we are working on AIM!! Before we were just happy he was using the toilet; now we are rewarding him for getting it all in the water!

I have to say, I look at him differently now. There's a new maturity about knowing he's out of diapers and when I stop and look him I think how big and grown up he looks.

Other updates on our favorite 3 year old...

He loves to go grocery shopping and insists on using his own cart. He's very good at it, too, and has to be the one to put whatever food you pick out into the cart himself. We are very big at doing things ourself these days!

He loves riding his bike or going on bike rides with Daddy. Many evenings we enjoy a family stroll in our neighborhood or visiting the park.

He has most of his books memorized, and if you try to skip over a sentence, he'll surely correct you.

He continues to impress us with his words. After watching a few Sight Words videos from his Aunt Megan he points out words he knows on signs, books and even the scrolling news at the bottom of the tv screen.

And every night before dinner if we try to say grace, he interrupts and says we first have to sing Oh the Lord is Good to Me, a prayer he learned from his buddy Ryan.

There's probably tons more I can say about him, how his new fascination is road signs (No Outlet, Speed Limit 25/45/etc), how he loves to play baseball and swing the bat, how he is always observing ("Worms don't have legs") or is always wanting to learn more ("What does sand start with?"). He continues to amaze us and entertain us, and lately is favorite book is Brothers are Forever (thanks, Sarah!) and that's what is the most endearing -- seeing him talk to Sam and give him toys. 

If you haven't seen him in a while, you're definitely missing out.

Sam I Am, Six Months

Have you seen Sam lately? Ohmygoodness. You will fall in love. He is such a sweetheart, and I don't think you could find anyone to argue with that. We took him to his six month appointment this week, and the doctor declared him "strong" and "perfect". Good to have a professional confirm what we already knew.

Recently family has been telling us he looks thinner. Guess it's all his activity slimming him down! He rolls and scoots, and when we put him in one spot, we often find him moments later in another. He is already pushing himself up on to his hands and knees and rocking back and forth. It won't be long before this little man is mobile. Time to baby proof, indeed.

He is nearly sitting up on his own, managing the "tripod" stance for a few seconds before succumbing to gravity. We've been working on standing, too, and while holding on to a table he can keep standing for several minutes... already at 6 months! Time, please slow down.

He has started on solid foods and has had no problem taking to cereal. He's even had some avocado, and all I can say is that he enjoyed that far better than his brother did.

We'll start something more flavorful this week.

He grabs at everything and it is fascinating to watch him reach for something specifically. He smiles and laughs and coos all the time.

Here are his stats from his 6-month appointment:

Height: 26 7/8" (65th percentile)
Weight: 17 lbs (40th percentile)
Head: 45.5" (over 90th)

We're working on peek-a-boo, it's nearly time for a haircut (he has "wings" over his ears), and his eyes are still... not brown! (I'm not sure what color they are, sometimes bluish but mostly a beautiful slate gray color.)

We look forward to finally introducing him to his Florida aunt and cousins in a few weeks when they come up, and I just know they'll be smitten.

We certainly are.

Nashville, Belated

Did I read that right? Did I last post on April 16th?? Wow, sorry, guys. I had no idea. I mean, I knew I was overdue in telling you about Nashville, our garden, the kiddos, potty training, Mother's Day, etc, but that's just disgraceful.

Lately, my workload at work has been tremendous. We are launching a new ERP system in a month which has kept me busy training, writing process manuals, and setting up product pricing for testing before "go live." That on top of my other duties, including our next new product launch two weeks from now. Oh, and we just had new product launches in March and April (and another upcoming in June). What were we thinking with such an aggressive timeline?! Good new is, though, those last two products have been our most successful product launches ever. It has been exciting but exhausting, and every day I am so glad to be with this company.

Last month my work took me to Nashville to work a booth at the Country Music Marathon Expo. We took the family, and while I had two very long days exhibiting, Michael had two very long days of his own with the boys in a hotel room. We didn't do a whole lot, but we both loved the city and vow to come back someday to spend time checking out the restaurants in midtown and enjoying the live music downtown.

Saturday was our free day, and since the weather was crummy we ended up at the Children's Science Center.

Adam was on the younger side of the activities but we all really enjoyed the planetarium (but maybe not the tornado tunnel).  Later that night my girlfriend Chasity and her husband had us over for dinner. I haven't seen Chas in, oh, 12 years or so? We'd never met each other's children, and her kids were so wonderful with the boys. I didn't see Adam most of the night as he was upstairs playing with legos with Jake, and sweet Emily just wanted to hold Sam and give him his bottle. We had a wonderful time, and it felt so easy to get back together and catch up. Thanks so much for dinner and the company! I can't believe we didn't take any photos... How I wish she lived next door to me now.

I'll try not to take such a long break before posts again and plan to catch you up on the recent activities. Honestly, when I get home from work these days, the last thing I want to do is get on the computer. Instead, I much prefer walking our beautiful neighborhood with the kiddos or putzing around the garden. But this blog serves more than just keeping family and friends informed; it's our family journal in a way, and I don't want to get behind (unlike my photo albums...). So more updates coming soon, so check back.