Ezra - 8 Months

I say this every month and I'll say it again. My baby is 8 months old! I can't believe it!

Ezzy boy is:

Wearing 9-12 month clothes, still cloth diapered but wears a size 3 disposable at night, and size 3 shoes.

He is into ev.ery.thing. He crawls like lightning and loves to chase his brother around.

He loves the bathtub.

Has two bottom teeth and hasn't met a food he doesn't like

Loves to smile and flash his one dimple

Let it Go

We had big plans for this weekend.

We planned a much needed weekend away, without the kids. A little cabin in the woods, snuggled in a blanket, watching the snow fall and hanging out with friends.

Instead, Danny woke up Thursday morning not feeling well. A few hours later I joined the party. We were miserable. There is a stomach bug running rampant in our city and we got it. We begged my family to come pick up the boys since we could hardly even get out of bed. By the end of the day we knew we were going to have to call it quits in the trip.

The next day we felt a little better but still not great. We decided that we would at least try to make some use of our weekend by going to look at a few cars to replace our car that was recently totaled in an accident. We found a car online that we were pretty interested in and wanted to go check out.

We woke up to snow. Real, falling down, sticking, snow. We had high hopes that we would also be back to our normal health, but that hasn't gone as planned either. We scrapped the car shopping for now. We are taking turns laying in bed and trying to decide if it's worth it to attempt the store for our empty cupboards.

The whole weekend has been disappointing. I was desperate for some quiet time away. All I can think is that I need to let it go. I'm trying to not be super irritated about the whole thing. All I can do is hope that this is God's way of helping us wait for his plans. That maybe there's something we need to wait for. That maybe there is something better coming. Let it Go.

Frustrating, yes. End of the world, no. Let it Go.

To be continued....?

Stinky - New & Improved

Life has been....life lately. Challenging, rewarding, tiring, and full of joy. Power outages, insurance, and car shopping. And our boys are growing so quickly and I find myself having much less time to write on the blog.

We had a near catastrophe when Stinky went missing earlier this week. We spent one night not sleeping and crying to "find Stinky" and then we decided we needed to a) find him or b) replace him. Pronto. We searched the house, garage, car and yard but no luck. I put out a desperate plea in a local mom's group and thankfully, someone had one! It was nothing short of a miracle. They had them for sale on ebay but we knew it would be a really long week if we had to wait for one in the mail.

We took a little family road trip after church on Sunday to go pick up the new Stinky. We told Cohen that Stinky had gone on an adventure and that we were going to find him. He is big into things hiding and then finding them so he went with this idea. When I told him we were going to pick up Stinky he got a big smile on his face. We pulled up to the house and she brought the new Stinky out and he was so happy. He knew something was a little different (Um, it was actually the color it was supposed to be and it wasn't stinky) but he loved it. He hugged it all the way hope, sniffed it, and set it in his carseat next to him.

Win.

I would do anything for that boy, even driving for an hour to a stranger's house to pick up a beloved toy. That little smile on his face when he saw Stinky was worth it.

Oh, Life.

"I prayed that God would bless us"

This is what Danny told me as we laid in bed after a long day involving a car accident. All I could do was laugh. We've been dealing with a few challenges over here, just life stuff, but we were just hoping we could catch a break. Maybe someone would drop a million dollars on our doorstep or we'd win a free vacation.

Well, that didn't happen, but I was involved in an accident on the way home. I am thanking God that the boys weren't in the car and that no one was hurt. But dealing with insurance, being sore, replacing carseats, and most likely replacing a car weren't really on my list of things I wanted to do. But, as we know well, that's just not the way life goes.

I'll admit I've been a little cranky about the whole thing. I'm trying to remind myself to find the good...the boys weren't in the car. Ezra needed a new carseat anyway. Now I can have a massage? Now I don't have to clean the goldfish crackers out of the car?

I also know that God works in mysterious ways. I know that my plans are generally not his and that he can work things like this for good. Part of me says, grumblegrumblegrumble. This is the last thing we needed. The other part says, Okay God, I'm listening, what now? I know from experience that these sorts of things can end up being a blessing in disguise. I'm not the most patient person, but I'm trying to see the purpose behind this or the positive that can hopefully come out of it.

As we also know, the little things like this don't matter. A hassle? Abso.lutely. The end of the world? No. Now maybe I can get that minivan I've always dreamed of, right?

Superbowl Champs!

Alright, by now everyone knows the Seahawks are the superbowl champs!! This little corner of the NW has been going cra-zy. "12th Man" flags everywhere. People in Seahawks gear everywhere. Flags on cars. Our town was literally sold out of Skittles. There is a big parade down in Seattle today. I'm a pretty fair weather fan, but it was really fun to have our team go all the way! (All these pictures were taken by my sister Karen)

We spent the Super Bowl over at my sister's house. I had my niece come over and sit with the boys while they napped so I could get out of the house for a little bit. We had planned on bringing the boys over for a bit when they woke up but the minute Cohen walked in the house he was done. My wonderful mom took him over to her house to play for a bit since I was actually out of the house! Ezra took a power nap at the party, although I'm not sure how he slept through all the yelling and jumping up and down. 

After he woke up I brought him home to our nice quiet house. We went to pick Cohen up and watched a little more of the Superbowl. Cohen was more interested in Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood so we watched an episode of that. When we turned the game back on I was surprised to see the score! We won!!!! There was much rejoicing in Washington that night. 

Danny is on his way to the victory parade in Seattle today. He debated going and being gone all day, but it's his regular day off and let's be honest, this may never happen again in our lifetime. So I told him just to go. He will be hitching a ride with my brother in law and nephew, they should have a blast! 

Having a Baby after a Preemie

Having a preemie and having a term baby are such different experiences. There's the obvious difference of Ezra, other than a few hours in the special care nursery for his little scare, he didn't have to have a breathing tube, be supported by multiple machines, nurses and doctors or be weighed in grams. Our boys each have their own story and their challenges and successes will never be put against each other, but there are differences that are unavoidable because of their beginnings. 

With Cohen, I found myself always being anxious for him to get to the next stage. The next weight, the next increase in feeding, waiting for him to meet the "normal" milestones. I was always looking for what was next. Things had always been progress driven in his life and that's what I was used to. 

With Ezra, I feel like it's going way too fast. Of course with Cohen we always had a little extra time since he wasn't expected to meet milestones until his adjusted age (4 months after his actual age) and Ezra is living on the early side of meeting milestones (umm...pulling up to stand and cruising along furniture at 7 months, help me!) With him, I'm able to enjoy the phase that he's in and I'm not always so anxious for him to be at the next stage. 

It really is such a different journey to not have to wonder constantly Is this "normal"? When will he sit/crawl/walk? So different. It's also a little bit eye opening to watch the way Ezra has been developing and to realize the differences in a preemie/sensory challenged baby and a "normal" baby.

I am so proud of both of my boys and how far they have come. It's been so fun to be able to relax and enjoy having a baby. While it isn't without its challenges, it has been really fun to watch Cohen become a big brother to a sibling he gets to grow up with. I'm learning to let go of a little of the When, when, when stage and just let my boys be what they are going to be, when they are going to be it in their own time. Early or late.