19 months and other random life stuff

We stopped for his first ice cream cone
at Runza after grocery shopping.
He loved it.

I am about 2 weeks late..but James is 19 months going on 3 years old! It's so fun listening to him pick up a new word everyday and a little scary because he is also copying every word I say. I am really trying to be conscious of what I say. I tend to add the adjective "dumb" to a lot of nouns for some reason so I am trying to stop saying that. I also say "cuz" a lot and I am trying to not be as lazy and say "because". I'm sure there are other things but those are the two for now that I have noticed. 

My aunt, Renee, was in town from Colorado this weekend and she is a French teacher. She was talking to me about how important it is for James to be hearing the sounds of another language right now. If he doesn't pick up the native sound by age 8, he will never be able to have that sound. So my plan is to buy an app on my phone so she can begin hearing the native Spanish language sounds.  Then once he is 3 or 4 we can get him in a class or have a mentor or someone come over and talk to him. It just seems like it's so needed these days to know another language and it would help him to be able to acquire it rather than have to learn it. (me using the word quiche is just another word to me even though it is a french word. If he learns Spanish young then the whole language would be like that to him)

Speaking of my aunt, we had a lot of family in town this weekend. It actually started last Wednesday with my Great Aunt Lois in town (my grandpa's sister) from South Carolina.  So we were at my grandma's house for dinner on Wednesday and Thursday. Then Renee (mom's sister) came on Thursday, and Kathy (my grandma's sister) got here Sunday. So we have been eating a lot and playing a lot of pitch! My favorites! Although all the yummy dessert did not help my "no sweets" plan to get back into a swimming suit this summer. Ugh, I can't believe how I can't resist dessert anymore! Pregnancy totally changed my taste buds and now I can't resist chocolate. I was hoping once I was working out again I would be able to say no a little easier. But then in the back of my head there is a voice that says, "you are nursing, that is an extra 500 calories..you can have the treat." then one treats turns into another one later that day..so then I've surpassed the 500 calorie mark and I'm not losing my belly. I actually do really well during the day when I'm home by myself. It's at night or when I'm around my family that I want to devour anything that might have a little sugar in it...especially chocolate.

I have been really proud of my workouts lately though. I am so thankful Mike makes it work so that I can go workout. He goes at 5am so I can go when he gets back at 6:30 and he gets both boys showered and feeds James breakfast. It's such a nice break for me, plus it gets me energized for the rest of the day. I've been lifting and doing sprints on the treadmill for about 2 weeks now (I go 4 times a week).  I have been waking up sore and it feels great knowing I am gaining my strength back. I do a different group of muscles each day. Monday is leg day, Tuesday is chest/back, Wednesday I don't get to go because Mike leaves the house at 7, Thursday is bicep/triceps, and Friday is shoulders/abs. I do it this way because this is what I know from working out in college. I do 3 exercises for each body part and 3 sets of 10 reps.

I literally hate sprints, but they are the fastest way to burn fat and you burn fat longer even after you are done working out. So every time I think, "oh I'll just run today". That little voice (must be the opposite one telling me to eat the treats), tells me "but you can sprint for 10 minutes and burn a lot more calories than running for 30 minutes and it you get done some much faster!" so then I'm sprinting again. Here is the routine I've been following:

Warm up 1 minute at 4.5mph

min 2-2:30 sprint at 9.0, rest for 30 seconds

min 3-3:30 sprint at 9.1, rest for 30 seconds

minute 4-4:30 sprint at 9.2, rest for 30 seconds

minute 12-12:30 sprint at 10.0, rest for 30 seconds

cool down for 1 minute at 3.0

So I continue that same pattern all the way up to 10 mph, which equals 11 sprints.  It helps you keep track of how many sprints you've done too because you move up 0.1 each sprint, which helps because I was losing track of the number I had run and I can't stand not knowing :) I also had been doing a sprint and then slowing down to a walk in between, but it takes so much time for the treadmill to pick up speed and slow down that I wasn't getting in a long enough sprint, so now I'm just stepping off to the side and completely resting. I can tell already that I can sprint longer than when I started. On the last couple of sprints I try to do more than 30 seconds since I know I'm almost done.  I know it will all be worth it soon..I just wish it would show faster! And my hips have to move back and I can't speed that up (the most frustrating part!)

loves the hose

Besides working out in the morning, I am also chasing around James all day! He is a mover. Mostly "side" he loves to be outside and if you don't take him out he's on to asking the next person. He loves to go on walks, play at the park, learning to ride his trike, play in sand, and if there is water around he is in it.

eating an apple like a big boy

can't get enough of the zoo

so big on his bike

                       

He is talking non-stop and will tell stories and ask questions. He is finishing more and more words each day. My favorite one lately is, "toming" he wants to know if grandma or grandpa is "toming" over. He puts 3 words together to form a sentence sometimes. The other day he said, "pop.james.eat" because I was eating popcorn and he wanted it too. He loves the cinnamon pieces! :) He has made up is own way to say the L on the end of a word...pool=pooie, tool=toie. He is understanding so well too. I asked him to go get me the "rag" (a burp rag) and he got the rag and came to me and said, "see? puke" He is so funny.

loves playing in the pool

on the train at camp Sonshine

He is still sleeping so well in his bed. We started putting Eli in his crib last week and James hasn't woken up to Eli cry in the middle of the night once. It's worked out so well..praise the Lord.

Potty training..I had to take a step back from the underwear. I was taking him potty every 30 minutes and he'd still have wet pants. So I decided he didn't know how to hold it yet. So we've been wearing a diaper, but still going at specific times (before/after nap, before we go outside, before/after bath). He'll go potty every time I put him on, but his diaper is still wet most of the time. So we're still working at it. He is doing great pooping in the toilet though. He will come up to me and give a little "ugh.ugh" grunting sound and that means he has to go. It's cute.

When he's on the toilet we have 2 books he can choose between for me to read to him. So he chooses the book and I read, but he finishes the page. He knows the last word on each page! And in one of the books we count different objects and he counted to seven on his own the other day. I start him and say, "one" and point to the objects and he went up to seven..it was shocking, but so fun to hear :)

James is so funny because he knows whose car belongs to who. He knows Lyndi's, mom's, Ali's, both of Grant's, dad's, grandma and grandpa's. So then when we are driving down the street he will see a car that is the same color or even the same car and say, "ma?" It's hilarious that he has such a good memory. He does the same thing with people's houses. We'll be driving down the street by Mike's work and he says, "daddy..matt" He knows that's daddy's work and he works with Matt. Or he'll see the street we turn to go to Zach's house and he'll say, "yack, yack. talk. julie." He wants me to call Julie, Zach's mom, so that he can play with Zach. It makes me die laughing..you never know what he's going to say.

He loves little Eli. He loves to give him kisses and shake his hand. He wants to share the blanket with him when Eli is on the floor. But he also gets a little excited sometimes and wants to hit his belly, or be ornery and put his feet on him. So he's testing the limits a bit with him sometimes and trying to get some attention, but he does pretty well if I redirect and then give him positive attention for something else.

I wanted to take a picture of Eli and he wanted
in on it and laid down so nicely..such a fun
picture!

So busy and so much learning..both for the boys and mommy! It's a lot of fun, but a lot of work! Again, I am so thankful for my family always willing to "take the baton" as we say. So excited for summer and all it involves!

Mother's Day!

Everyone always says you don't know love until you have your own child (does everyone say that?  I really do feel that way so we'll say that 'everyone says it.'). I mean  I love my family and would do anything for them. I love Mike and love him more everyday. But to love your child is love like no other. I think it's because of the sacrifice it takes. They do nothing for me and I'm working all day to make sure their needs are met physically, mentally and emotionally. It's a lot of work. It's all worth it though when he smiles. when he says a new word. when he is so proud of something he did. when he laughs. when he gets hurt and asks me to kiss it. when he cuddles and asks me to 'sing'. It melts my heart. It gives me a picture of how Jesus must feel towards us. He gave the ultimate sacrifice, his life, to show us he loves us. He has to melt his heart when we come to him and worship him. When we take time to sit and talk to him. It's just such a good reminder to me and how much I want to please him.

But back on the topic...yesterday was wonderful. It started with James coming in the room and giving me my present...my iphone! Oh my gosh, I have wanted one so bad and never imagined I would get one! So that was a really fun surprise. I have been enjoying figuring it all out.

Then we went to church and lunch at my grandma's house. It was my parents, sister and brother, my aunt Melody and Uncle Bryan and grandparents. It was such a small group compared to normal! We missed everyone that wasn't there!! But we had some really good tacos!

Later we went over to Mike's parents house for dinner. We had pulled pork sandwiches and it was really good. James loves to play with wear out Grandpa Russ outside. It's so fun to watch them play together. Linda got me 3 rose bushes for Mother's Day so she came over before we put James to bed and planted them! She has done all the landscaping in our front and backyard and it's beautiful. I am so thankful she loves to do it and wants to help us! I love looking out my kitchen window to such a pretty view.


Playing in the water from the hose. It was so funny because he loved it even when
it took his breath away because it was so cold!

Saturday night was really special too. My sister, Ali, couldn't be here on Sunday for Mother's Day so we celebrated my mom on Saturday. We spent the day together and had such a good time. I went over to their house in the morning and made blueberry pancakes (it really wasn't as magical as I wanted because we got over there later than I had wanted and by the time we got there my blood sugar was a little low and I got a little snappy. Hate it when that happens. But I got some pancakes in me and we were good to go!) So then we just hung around the kitchen table, reading the paper and talking/laughing. Had some GUP for lunch..yum! And then my sisters and I made dinner for my mom. She is always cooking for us and I wanted to let her have a day off. She wasn't allowed to cook or even bring anything. I have to say, the meal was quite tasty! We made a recipe from my favorite blog. It was a mango chipotle bbq chicken salad with dressing made from the marinade.



With it we had tricolor quinoa with mushrooms, strawberries, and a yummy twix brownie bar

 
Of course I was too busy to remember to take my own pictures. But everything actually turned out like it was suppose to!

I didn't get any family pictures yesterday or Saturday..but I will do better now that I have my iphone, right? So hopefully I'll get some recent pictures of the boys and me up here soon! I hope you all had a blessed Mother's Day as well.

1 month old!

Its hard to believe it's been a month already! It's gone by super fast and I can't imagine life without him already. We are getting along great. James loves him and is a big helper. Eli is such a laid back baby and has made the transition pretty easy also. I will say, it takes a lot longer to get out the door these days, but that doesn't stop us! I am not a person that can just sit at home so me and the two boys have been going to the grocery store alone since week 2! You gotta do what you gotta do! We have been to the park once and on a couple walks. We play outside in the backyard about everyday and have also been trying out some more fun "toddler activities" from pinterest. I really feel like I am doing what God made me to do and I love it. I don't want anyone to think that we have sunshine and roses everyday..there are definitely difficult and boring days! I love my weekends when Mike is home to help out and I love the evenings when we go to grandma and grandpas house! We are so blessed to have such great parents that live so close and want to be part of the boys' lives!

Eli's stats this month:

-Weighing in at 9.8 lbs. He's grown 2 lbs since birth! He is so long and so little it's still hard to believe he's a month old. I don't know if I forgot how little James was or if Eli is just so long he is such a string bean...sorry buddy, welcome to the rest of your life (at least you have a daddy that went through the same thing and can help you out!)

-Eli measured 20 3/4 inches at birth and then 22 1/4 inches at his 2 week appointment. Obviously he didn't grow that much in 2 weeks, so they didn't quite measure him correctly at the hospital. It made more sense when they said the longer measurement because he seriously is so long! We knew he had to be longer than James was because the newborn outfits are too short on his legs and they weren't on James. Eli's fingers and feet are so long and skinny..it looks like big paws on a puppy.

-Wearing newborn clothes still. He is too long for a lot of outfits but he still doesn't fill out most of them either. Like I said...he's begun the fun part of being tall and going to have fun finding clothes!

-Isn't a big fan of the binky. I've tried a couple different kinds and he just gags on them. There are certain times of the day (mike says he takes it for him pretty well in the morning) but most of the time he just wails if you try to give it to him...he wants the real thing!

-Sleeping 20 hours of the day. Eli sleeps a lot more than James ever did. He is starting to have longer and longer wake times during the day, but he is out a lot. At night it's a little different though. He's gotten on to a better schedule. He goes to bed around 10:30 and gets up at 1:30/2 and then at 5:30/6. Which is really pretty good, but I have to be up for an hour with him each time. He has acid reflux I think because I lay him down and he's choking unless I burp him for half hour. I remember I had to burp James for 10 minutes or he would do the same thing. But 10 and 30 minutes are quite a difference!

-He has gotten to be a lot better of an eater. For the first two weeks he would fall asleep right when he got on me! I was always trying to wake him up. I'd put him on and he'd drink for a couple minutes and fall asleep so I'd take him off and he'd cry so I'd put him on. He was also very impatient with the milk. He wouldn't just suck and wait for my letdown. He would like play around and back his head away and whine until I had a let down and then I was spraying him in the face. So I was trying to get him on while my shirt is getting all wet! Let me tell you..I am glad that is over :)

-Eli does really well with tummy time. He lifts his head and turns it from side to side and will stay on his tummy for a good half hour. I even let him nap on his tummy when I am right there watching him because it seems like he almost prefers it to his back.

-Just in the last couple days he's starting to look at our faces and just stare into our eyes. It's so cute. I've checked to see if he's tracking yet and he hasn't done it, so probably within the next couple days he'll start doing that. I love all the milestones!

I took this picture later in the day and I thought he looked so much older with his stripes on. So cute!

Here is our adventure yesterday with bath paint. James helped me make it..it was super easy. He didn't really paint on the tub walls like "you're suppose to". He just dumped it in the water and played in it with the spoons. The muffin tin and spoons ended up being more of a hit than the paint! :)

James loves the mower..he wanted to help Uncle Grant mow

We are busy around here! But I love every almost every minute of it! :)