A big decision

Dear Kyle,

You've been asking a lot of questions about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the birth of Jesus, the resurrection, what it means to be a sinner, etc... the last couple months. Daddy and I suspected that you might make a decision to follow Jesus sometime this year, especially seeing as we had both made that decision around the time we were 5 years old.

We arrived at AWANA a little early tonight, so we sat in the van with the heater on and music going for a few minutes. We had been talking about the Bible verse this week and you said "Well, I am just going to ask Him right now". I asked you what it meant to ask Jesus in to your heart and you told me about the birth of Jesus, why he came to earth, how he had to die for us and be raised again. You knew, you got it! And then you prayed the sweetest, most sincere prayer and asked Jesus in to your heart. I was so excited and happy for you that I had tears in my eyes and gave you a hug.

Welcome to the family of God Kyle, I am so glad you are here!

Love, Mommy

Blessed

Brrrr...it's cold here! We've had a lovely holiday weekend, dinner with friends, the tree is up, the house is clean and I am loving on all my boys. We finally got our fireplace working correctly and it has been so much fun to enjoy together. Micah does like to try to to touch it, and the tree, and just about everything else; he is sooo curious. However, he does know what he's not supposed to be doing and will say "No" as he goes for the fireplace, ornaments, dog, etc...

We are starting our elementary school saga, as we determine where and how Kyle will be going to school next year. I did put in for the magnet school lottery for our district, not that we aren't zoned for a good school in our district, but I like to have options. The one school is "montessori" and the other has a "language arts" emphasis. We'll see if Kyle gets in either one sometime in January, after the school lottery. Other options include a half day kinder program at a private school, but it's quite a commute and they use the ABEKA curriculum, which I'm not sold on. Also, we could homeschool and Kyle could attend tutorial classes on Tuesday and Thursday. So many options, so little time! Oh! and we could try to open enroll him at another school in our district if we aren't happy with our choices and there are openings. It all just makes my head spin.

And lastly, we have decided on a church. Fellowship Bible Church is our church home here in Nashville and we will be doing the membership class after the new year. It is such a relief to know where we are going to church every weekend, and to see familiar faces!

This weekend I am so thankful, looking back on this year and all the changes we have come through, I know God is good, even when our circumstances seem not to be!

Did we really...

...go the whole month of September without a blog post? Good gracious! Well, here's what's been going on:

Kyle started preschool around Labor Day and loves it this year! I have no regrets about waiting to start kindergarten for another year. Also, Kyle has been attending a lot of birthday parties (averaging 2 per month) and started playing soccer, with Kevin as his coach! This has been so much fun for him to have daddy as his coach, and Kevin is just amazing with the kids; we've always joked how he should stay home with the boys and I should work! I'm good at keeping everyone's needs met, but he's good at playing with the boys...I guess that just makes us a good parenting pair in the end!

Micah has been active as ever, teething, eating lots of different foods when he's not teething, climbing things and falling off of them, trying to be just like his big brother, and is saying new words everyday now! He's still nursing a little, but not at night, and takes a pacifier. He can climb up stairs and slide down them on his bottom, but prefers to try and go down by himself holding on to the rail. He wants to see everything I'm doing, while I'm doing it, and then he wants to try it too! It takes me a little longer to get things done, but that's not a big deal. Today I had to look up how to tie him on my hip while I did our morning chores, because he didn't want down for anything! Micah has started throwing tantrums when we don't understand what he wants or doesn't get his way. He is a biter and a hair puller, which was not a problem we faced with Kyle, so new parenting territory with those behaviors!

Kevin is doing well at work, busy with research. I am enjoying this Fall weather here in TN. This month marks one year that we have been in our house, and can I tell you how fast it has gone? I feel like we are settled now, and am so thankful for our location and our neighbors. We have yet to decide on a permanent church home, but I am working three days a week at one of our favorite churches that we have attended here in Nashville, The Village Chapel.

Lastly, did you know we were in a car accident in August? Yep, in a van we were hoping to buy. All four of us were in the van and the airbags came out, etc..., but we were all ok physically, just down to one car for awhile, waiting for the insurance companies to work everything out. Thankfully, it was a fairly painless process and is over now. We bought a "new to us" van about 2 weeks ago and I LOVE IT, way more than the van we were considering buying. For as unattractive as minivans can be, they are so convenient. We are driving a 1998 Oldsmobile Silhouette, loaded, and I have to say, I'm pretty sure they designed this minivan for the grandparents to drive the grandkids around in. It is sooo comfortable and has a lot of fancy options I've never had in a vehicle before, so I feel blessed. It's got a few quirks, but we know from experience that any $2K vehicle is going to be quirky!

We will not be traveling to AZ for the holidays this year, and actually, I'm not sure when we will be there next. We have loved and appreciated all the visitors we've had this first year in TN! That's about it in a nutshell; if you want pictures, check on Facebook!

Loving life...

...with two little boys. Kevin and I have been looking through pictures of the boys the past couple days and it's crazy how much Kyle and Micah actually look alike as infants, just different coloring (blond hair/blue eyes, brown hair/brown eyes). Even the expressions in the pictures are very similar! They are definitely brothers through and through. Kyle turns 5 in just two weeks and we have a party planned at a local bowling alley. He wanted to invite his entire preschool class from last year and our house just won't accommodate all those parents and kids!

Kyle is really starting to try to figure things out; I can see his thinking maturing, especially when he talks out loud as he works something out in his head. He's been asking a lot of really great questions about everything under the sun. He really wants to know how the world works, and why it works that way. A new development has been that he gets scared to be alone, if he needs to grab something from his room or if I'm putting Micah down for a nap. Just recently we have started having people over to the house. This is Kyle's favorite thing in the entire world, to have friends over to play. Amazingly, a new family moved in to one of the 3 bedrooms at the top of our cul de sac and they have a boy and girl right around Kyle's age. Additionally, they have been homeschooling with the same curriculum that I used for Kyle to do preschool when we were in AZ! I'm very excited about them moving in. We all played soccer in the front yard last night.

Brief post break, to go to the dentist. Kyle's 2nd time and Micah's 1st time! They both did great, no cavities, and just a little fussing from Micah when they scraped a little on his one front tooth. I love our children's dentist; we arrived early, like 9:45 for a 10:30 appt and they had us out the door by 10:30! Awesome.

On to Micah, he wants to do everything the way we do it. Sippy cup? No way, give me a glass. High chair tray? No thanks, I want a plate. And I'm going to feed myself too, with utensils, otherwise I refuse to eat. He understands EVERYTHING. We'll say, time to go upstairs (for bed, a diaper change, etc...) and to the gate he toddles, waiting for it to open so he can crawl up to his room. Or if I say it's time to go, he'll walk over to the gate, wait for it to open and head straight for the door. I love it, love this age. And now, when he wakes up at night, does he cry? Oh yes, but he cries "Mommmmyyyyy, mommmyyyyy"! Actually, last night he never made a peep, 8 pm to 6 am we didn't hear from him. That is the first time I haven't nursed him once in the middle of the night. We've been weaning, but he always woke up around 1 am for a snack. Micah's favorite toys are anything with buttons: phones, remote controls, the dishwasher, the car, doorbells, water fountains, etc...We have to press a lot of buttons. Also, he has a new found love of reading! Kyle was an avid "reader" from a very young age, but Micah just got interested in the last couple weeks and boy does he like what he likes. Kevin is always trying to have him add something new to his list of books he will ask you to read, but so far we have "Brown Bear, Brown Bear", "Goodnight, Moon", "The Very Busy Spider", and "Are you my mother?". As you can see, quite the Eric Carle fan.

Alright, time for a nap! I will update again soon!

More daily life

What a week! The boys are putting themselves to bed every night, at the same time, in their room. It's amazing, phenomenal, I feel like a new person and I really didn't think it would happen this soon! You have to understand, that having your sleep interrupted for an entire year, longer if you count the pregnancy, can be hugely detrimental; it's hard to explain if you haven't experienced it recently.

I know some women have their babies sleeping through the night by 12 weeks old, or their babies are just sleepers, and that's great. I just wasn't comfortable forcing our boys to sleep through the night until they were ready (Kyle started doing this at 10 months old, Micah is 13 months old). When we moved to Nashville, Kyle regressed some and required one of us to lay down with him while he fell asleep; only since Micah has started going to bed with him in their room, has this request completely vanished! Don't get me wrong, I love snuggling with my boys while they fall asleep, but some nights it would last a LOOONNNGGG time and by the time I stumbled downstairs, it would be 10 o'clock already, so I'd head straight back up and go to bed until Micah's midnight feeding or just stay up and do stuff around the house until Micah's midnight feeding. Anyways, it's all very exhausting the first year of an infant's life and having the boys' sleep life falling in to place is an ENORMOUS piece of the puzzle to me feeling like a human being.

Kyle is really starting to get excited about his 5th birthday coming up next month! Kevin and I have been exploring birthday party options. It's all quite amazing what you can do for a kid's birthday party these days; My 5th birthday is the first party I have clear memories of, including the purple, frilly party dress I wore. It was at McDonalds on Arizona Ave. in Chandler (no longer there). I don't think McDonalds even does birthday parties anymore. Do you remember your 5th birthday party? Let me know in the comments.

Well, we went back to the church we tried last week. Sunday school was good all around; Micah hung out with us because he has a runny nose, but no one gave us a hard time about it and the sermon was fine. This church has great community outreach and activities for the kids. We'll see, there are a few red flags, but these are known to us and are more personal issues, then true make or break issues with the church itself (it has to with the denomination). And that is all I have to say about that! Here's to starting year #2 of church searching.

The boys both continue to grow up. Kyle has just recently been able to really verbalize what he wants/needs/is feeling. It's been quite the developmental leap that I've noticed in him from concrete to more abstract. Micah is starting to develop a love for reading, something he had not been interested in up till now. Both boys still love to play with sticks, throw rocks, and wrestle; it's non stop action around here! Micah has gone back to two naps a day since we arrived home from vacation. This means Kyle and I play games/read during nap #1 and Kyle does his own quiet time during nap #2.

Hey! We got new furniture, new to us, but our current furniture isn't yet sold, so the family room is full of couches and chairs. It's a cushy wonderland for the boys. Micah can now climb up and down all of our furniture himself, and then often rolls off.

Oh man, and did I tell you about the ants. Ever since we got home, there have been ants in the kitchen. We have regular pest control, but they forgot to schedule us for July, so they hadn't come while we were on vacation, ugh. So I called and scheduled them as soon as we got home, they sprayed and we saw more ants, so I got ant traps and wow did they love those! It's been since Wed. and I only saw one ant today, thank goodness. I'm crossing my fingers that they are gone for good.

Well, Kevin has now beat me up to bed, which rarely happens, so goodnight! And I'll update again soon.

Home...

...if you could call it that.  We've been in Nashville for just shy of a year and it's still not exactly home for me.  We even tried out a different church this morning, *sigh*.  

Our summer vacation was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!  Lots of time with family, lots of time on the beach, and plenty of new experiences for everyone.  We drove to Charleston, SC first, then to Washington, DC, and lastly to Bridgeville, DE.  We have family in all of those places.  Kyle is finally old enough to enjoy some touristy attractions, so it was a lot of fun to take him around to museums, aquariums, and other notable places.  Also, he got to see my uncle's real, working farm and shot a BB gun for the first time (even hitting the can a few times!).  It was great!

Micah has come in to his own even more since we initially left for vacation.  He is talking and walking more than ever!  Just tonight we started our "learn to put yourself to sleep" phase of Micah's world, and both our boys fell asleep in their room, in their own beds, of their own accord!  Truly a milestone and one we have been looking forward to for many, many months.  

I am starting the search for a part time job, evenings and weekends when Kevin  is home to watch the boys.  As much as I love and appreciate being able to stay home with them, I am excited to get out a little bit in the "working world".  Also, I am beginning to plan Kyle's 5th Birthday Party, which is very exciting, as my 5th Birthday Party is the first one I have clear, concrete memories of!  

Good night! 

Whirlwind

Well, about the time I stopped posting last week (or was it the week before?), Kevin drove off to a mini work retreat in Huntsville, Alabama and my mom arrived to spend a week with all of us in Nashville, before driving with me and the boys to South Carolina.

We are in Charleston right now, having a wonderful time with family and hanging out at the beach. Kyle was a little nervous the first night we went for a walk on the beach, but by the next morning that water was calling his name and he has been jumping waves and boogie boarding ever since. Micah loves to walk on the wet sand, chasing seagulls and dogs, while collecting seashells. If he does end up in water, he waves "bye bye" to it until I come get him and move him to higher ground, LOL! All of us have had a great time building sand castles and knocking them down too.

Micah has been teething pretty much since the day we arrived here, which has meant a lot less sleep for me, and a much more clingy baby in general during the day. Kyle has been amazing with Micah, and his little cousin B (10 months), whose house we are staying at right now.

We will be in SC for a couple more days, then start to make our way up to Washington, DC to see more family on Tuesday! This is so much fun and the boys have been fantastic in the car thus far. I don't miss Nashville, but I do miss my husband; he will be joining us in DC next week!

Micah is walking more and more, which means he is also falling more and more. Little guy busted up his chin on the sidewalk at the mall today. The thing about Micah is, you go to comfort him and he starts whining more because your picking him up and all he wants to do is try, try again! He is talking a lot and I can't believe how grown up he is. He is able to play more and more with Kyle everyday! They play chase, wrestle, tickle, peek a boo, hide n seek, etc...

All right, I'll update when I can/have uninterrupted access to a computer. Happy 4th of July!

Two days in one post

Well, last night I was banned from the downstairs while Kevin steamed the carpets, so I apologize for the late post!  We'll just get yesterday and today all settled right now.

The boys were quite whiny yesterday, so we determined that we should leave the house before all four of us got whiny, lol.  We headed out to a car and arts festival that fell a little short of expectations (organizers blamed the early morning rain storm).  After a quick stroller ride through the booths, it was lunch time!, so off to Chick fil a we went not even knowing that they were handing out free shakes to dad's yesterday; bonus.  After some play time and a ride home where the van we've been driving, but that isn't really ours, almost ran out of gas, we put Micah down for his one nap per day and relaxed.

After Micah woke up, it was time to rearrange some furniture because we are expecting company tomorrow!  Then an early dinner and off to the thrift store for their 5 year birthday celebration where I won $10 in gift cards!  

Kevin spent the evening (or should I say night since he didn't come to bed until midnight), cleaning our carpets and we all desperately wanted to sleep in, but woke up to make it to early church service.  Micah once again didn't stay in the nursery, which makes me want to LOOK FOR A NEW CHURCH AGAIN, because man that's annoying.  However, Kyle does really well in his class and actually learns something about God, which doesn't happen everywhere, let me tell ya.  After church we had a few options for Father's Day lunch, but ended up with more chicken.

The rest of today will be spent together, cleaning and packing, as Kevin takes off for a work retreat in Huntsville, Alabama and the boys and I pick up Nana at the airport tomorrow!  Additionally, Kyle will be starting another week of VBS at a different church in the morning.  

Fun filled Friday

I wasn't real sure what we would do today, but the boys are always up for being outside, so off to Radnor Lake we went for the 2nd time this week to go on a nature walk.  This time I put Micah in the pack and Kyle walked, with his binoculars around his neck.  We saw lots of birds, cardinals and wood peckers to name a few, some incredible spiders that I had never seen before in my entire life, squirrels, and a deer eating THIS CLOSE to us on the side of the trail.  Kyle made a funny face as we walked by the deer and I asked him what he was doing and he said he was making sure the deer couldn't see him, LOL.  

Home again for lunch, playtime, and a much too short nap for Micah.  After Micah woke up, we headed out to Centennial Park for the arts festival, even though it was close to 100 degrees outside.  I piled the boys in to the stroller and away we went.  Kyle was interested in several pieces of art, and if we hadn't been pouring down sweat, I think he would have enjoyed me going a little slower so we could look and talk about the pieces more.  We tried a sample of Amish fudge, and the icing on the cake for the boys was balloons, fans and a stuffed animal dog named Sparkle, courtesy of Gilda's Club Nashville.  Those items kept us entertained until Kevin arrived home this evening!  We were only there an hour, but it was still fun and Kyle asked if we could come back again this weekend, so we'll see how the weather goes.  

Micah climbed out of his high chair harness and on to the table this afternoon during our snack; can't keep that boy down!  He tries to climb in to and out of his playpen, just the way he sees Kyle do it.  He also wants to walk around and jump on our bed just like he sees Kyle do it.  We gave him a little milk in his sippy cup tonight and he would take a big gulp, then dribble it out on his mouth and down his shirt while we laughed.  I have no idea when he'll be weaned.  

Yawn

Kevin scanned from 8 to 8 today and didn't walk through our front door until 10 pm tonight!  The boys and I ran some errands this morning, only to get caught in a rain storm on the way home.  After lunch and some playtime, Micah took a two hour nap in our king size bed (I recently bought side rails for it), and Kyle had some quiet time of his own.  We actually had to wake Micah up to head to Kyle's last swim class this afternoon.  I took some video of the class so Kevin could get an idea of what Kyle had learned over the past two weeks.  Micah loved watching the kids splash around.  I'm hopeful we can continue swim lessons on a once a week, year round, basis once the school year starts up again.  We'll see with everything else I'd love to sign Kyle up for this year (gymnastics, AWANA, soccer, basketball, music, theater, etc...).  

Micah was a little more clingy than usual today, but I think maybe he is just interested in everything I'm doing.  By the end of the day, I would ask him if he wanted to come with me to do laundry, make dinner, clean up, etc... and he would nod yes or no.  During bathtime tonight, Micah would stand up in the tub, look at me until I asked him to sit down, then splash down with great laughter.  He also loves to have the water running.  He would stand up, touch the faucet knob, and make a high pitched lilting sound as if he was asking if we could turn it on again.  It's so much fun to decipher his "language" right now.  Another cool thing happened today; for the first time ever, Micah fell asleep next to me in bed for his nap!  Usually, I walk him in our soft structured carrier.  And talking about sleep, I am playing with the idea of selling the boys bunkbeds and putting a full or queen size bed in their room for them to share.  They both love sleeping next to someone; they sleep better and longer when they sleep with someone else.  

And on that note, I should get some sleep myself.  Kevin will be headed in early for some more scanning!

In the family news today...

Playdate with fomer neighbor Jonas (19 months old), went great.  Lots of splashing, snack time, and trains.  Kyle and I talked about how much TV mommy was allowed to watch when she was a little girl and defined the word: homework.  Kevin and I realized tonight that we should get a discount at Kyle's current preschool for all the people we've referred recently!  Kyle's swim lesson went well again and I'm sad that tomorrow afternoon is his last lesson :(.  Micah received a racquetball from a retiree waiting to play in the hallway where we walk during Kyle's swim lessons.  It was like a little piece of blue heaven that required a full on body meltdown when I slipped it in to my pocket so we could leave the recreation center.  Tonight we all went to an adult birthday party and Kyle almost got eaten by Dash, a hybrid wolf dog.  Note to self, the boys may not play outside with Dash alone.  The boys both fell asleep in the "fancy van that we actually don't like very much thank goodness it's not ours" on our way home from the party.  

I should go to bed; 7:30 a.m. dentist appts. just make me that much more tired.  Even after an accidental afternoon nap with Micah!

Another day

I'm renewing my efforts to start blogging on a regular basis again, even if it is just our daily stuff we're doing.  Today we had Micah's 1 year old appt. and he is 22lbs and 31 1/2 inches tall!  About average in the weight department and above average in height.  

Our "new to us" van headed to our auto broker's mechanic today to have a check engine light taken care of that showed up after he bought the van for us, so we are cruising in a super nice Nissan Quest for a few days.  I love all the room and happily drive a minivan around; I'm not ashamed of my mom mobile, because, well, that's what I am, a mom, and it seems to be one of the most efficient vehicles to do the job of toting kids, car seats, and any other additional baby, sports, or  activity gear!

I'm preferring TN in the summer, as opposed to the winter.  It still doesn't feel like home to me, but when asked where he'd like to move next or if he'd just like to stay in TN, Kyle replied that he wants to stay here!  Crazy after this year to hear him say that.  

Kyle is finishing up a session of swim lessons and wow! has he made some great progress!  I know he's been a little nervous and/or scared at times, but he has done everything his swim coach has asked of him and she has been great, not giving an inch when he balks.  He is so proud of himself every night after lessons!

Today we swung by Costco after Micah's appt., then came home for lunch, naps/quiet time, and headed out again for swim lessons.  Tuesday nights we meet a couple other families for dinner at Chik fil a, so that was our next stop after swim.  

Micah talked and walked the day away!  I have been keeping him up until 1:00 p.m. to take just one long nap a day the past week or so.  He can still do two naps, but they are sooo short and sometimes it takes forever to put him down when he does two naps a day.  I'm sure those of you who have little ones remember the change over from one to two naps.  

Well, the boys are asleep, Kevin has been playing his guitar this evening and I am about to dive in to some leftover birthday cake!  

Happy 1st Birthday Micah!

Dear Micah,

I can't believe you are 1 year old today; the time has gone so fast.  A year ago I was cuddling, swaddling, and nursing an  8lb 10oz, 20 1/4 inch little baby boy and tomorrow we will find out how big and tall you are now!  You are incredibly happy, all the time; smiling, squealing, talking, laughing.  

You love to sleep with daddy at night, and in the morning you crawl in to "your" room that you share with Kyle, looking for me and your brother.  You nod your head yes and no when we ask questions, walk, crawl, and climb to get whatever you need or want if it's not immediately in reach.  You love animals and the zoo has become very interesting to you in the past month or so.  You eat everything, you always have, and I don't know that there is anything we've offered you that you haven't tried.  Water is another favorite thing of yours; you are truly offended if one of us doesn't pull you in to the shower in the mornings and lately you ask to wash your hands at the downstairs bathroom sink whenever you notice someone else is about to wash up.  You've pretty much refused to use sign language, even though we started signing to you the week you were born!  You insist on "talking" and "making your own signs" or gesturing/pointing to get your ideas across to us.  You love to wrestle with your dad and brother in the evenings after dinner and "play" Super Mario Bros. on the WII with your "controller", aka the VCR remote control.

A few of your other favorite things include music (on the stereo or if daddy sings, but never mommy singing!), talking on the phone (and unlocking my phone to play with it), and driving our cars. 

This house here in TN is effectively the only home you've ever known, even though you were born in Tucson, and we lived in an apartment in Nashville for three months.  A lot happened when we moved in to this house; you stopped sleeping and started getting ear infection upon ear infection.  It was awful.  We were finally able to get tubes put in your ears at 6 months old, and wow! what a difference.  Not only were you no longer sick all the time, but you were vocal, like we'd never heard you before (probably because you could hear now, whereas before they said it was like you were hearing everything underwater).  

Your birthday party was amazing.  We had it yesterday and I was so worried because it was the first big event we have had since moving to TN, and the first time your father and I had anyone over to our place since moving in (besides family).  I was so blessed by the friends that attended the party and I enjoyed watching you, watch the big kids play and the way you ate your smash cake was picture perfect!  You collapsed for a nap after everyone left and I could smell the frosting in your hair as I kissed the top of your head before laying you down in bed.  

Today, I took you and your brother on a hike at Radnor Lake.  You received lots of birthday calls today and birthday wishes via video chat tonight. 

I'm sorry I haven't written about your first year the way I did your brother's, but I can assure you, that we have taken many, many pictures and your photo book is on it's way!  You adore looking at pictures of all of us, so your father and I are giving you a photo book for your present this year.

I love you Mister!

Love, Mama