Little Daredevil

We are entering some new territory over here. Ezra is 14 months old and has decided it's time to climb. Everything. One day I turned around and was standing on the kitchen table. I didn't even know he could get up there! Then it was the grate on the fire pit, multiple chairs, and the full size slide at the park!

It's been so interesting to see our babies grow and see their different personalities. Let me tell you, this kid...is fearless, rambunctious, and determined. He wants to keep up with his big brother. He climbs up slides and dives down head first. He is stable and confident on his feet, which is a change from our cautious boy. I know it's only a matter of time before he's climbing out of his crib, little daredevil.

This is new experience for me, so much different than his big brother. He sure knows how to give his mother a heart attack! Good thing he's so cute.

A Camping We Will Go...

Even though last year we were brave enough to go camping with a 2 month old and a 2 year old, this year I just couldn't quite pull the trigger on it. My dad wanted to have family camping trip for his birthday, so we decided to give it a go. It was stressful feeling like I was always 2 seconds from someone taking a dive into the fire, but having family around helped a ton!

We have outgrown our four man tent so we gave that to my parents and we borrowed "the mansion" tent from my brother. It has room divider making it a two room tent with a front porch. It's not easy to put up, but it worked well so we could put the boys on on side and we could sleep on the other.

Grampa brought his fishing boat and Cohen and the other kids loved going out for rides. Cohen saw the buoy in the middle of the lake and thought it was the funniest thing he'd seen all day. The whole way back (and back out on his next trip) he would say buoy, buoy, buoy repeatedly.

(And yes it was super humid and my hair was a little out of control, good thing I didn't know until I looked at the pictures!)

There was a big field right behind our campsites which worked out well. We could send the kids out to play and they had a little more room to run. Cohen brought his little bike and walked it all over the campground.

Cohen helping Daddy make foil dinners and marshmallows for dessert!

After one night of no sleep, we almost packed it up, but we stuck it out and survived another night. The boys loved it and I'm excited for next year when they are a little older!

Five Year Anniversary

Our anniversary is coming up this weekend, we've been married for five years. FIVE! What a ride it has been. We had no idea the journey that would be coming our way as we said our "I do's" to each other years ago. I'm not sure a set of marriage vows and a crash course in premarital counseling can really prepare you for what valleys and peaks you may encounter along the way.

 Danny always laughs at me when I say It's only been five years!? But really, we have lived a lot of life in 5 years. We have moved from our little apartment in Seattle. Changed jobs. Bought a house. Got pregnant and found out it was TWINS! Had our world come crashing down when we gave birth to two tiny miracles far, far too early. Spent 4 months living away from home with a critically ill baby. Seen life and seen death. We have lowered our son's casket into the ground and struggled to continue on without him. Been incredibly supported by our family, friends and community. We were given the wonderful gift of our rainbow baby. We've seen a lot of joy and a lot of pain. And we've done it all together and I couldn't ask for anyone one better to be by my side through it all.

I can truly only imagine what the next five, ten, fifty! years will bring us.

Being Present

These boys. They make me want to hug them, squish them, put in earplugs and hide in my room all at the same time. Some days I'm exhausted and all I want is peace and quiet. A break from the screaming and the seemingly constant "mom, mom, mom, mommy, mommy". I want to hide in my closet and eat chocolate.

But then a little voice inside reminds me that they aren't going to be little forever. I keeping imagining them as teenagers and then I just want to sit on them and make them stay babies. I have been feeling a little convicted lately and trying to just embrace them as the kids that they are. Trying to not get irritated about them dumping dirt in the freshly filled swimming pool or throwing their entire lunch on the floor.

I'm trying to put down my phone a little more. Engage a little more. Be a little less distracted. Trying to say "Yes! Lets!" a little more instead of "No. Stop. Don't..." Embracing the sticky hands and the dirty floors. i love these babies with all my heart. So I'll take the "nuggles" with the fits and the "Mommy get closer"s even when I'm feeling touched out. I know they are growing up so fast and I just don't want to look back and wish I had slowed down and just been more present in this time.

We aren't promised forever. We aren't promised a certain number of months, days or hours. I'm doing my best to take each moment as it comes, to let the little things go and to love my family the best that I can. Even when they poop in the bath tub. Twice. In one week.

Staycation 2014: Glen Camping

Last year we somehow weren't scared to take a 2 month old and 2 year old camping, but this year we haven't been that brave yet. We really love camping, but it's just seemed a little daunting this year. We decided to settle for pseudo camping at my parents "campsite". We went up Friday night, unloaded our stuff and took the boys down to the river. They LOVED it. They were dressed when we got there, but between the sand and the water, it was a losing battle. The dug and scooped and poured and dumped (and even ate a little). 

After the river we headed back to cook up some hotdogs, hamburgers, fresh green beans and cinnamon rolls for dessert/breakfast. There's a burn ban here in WA so we couldn't have a campfire, which is sad because it's always my favorite part.

The wonderful thing about this kind of camping is we get to be indoors. The boys slept well and so did we. In the morning we went out to the park and then convinced the boys that we should swing by the pool on the way out (I know, right!?) Cohen has been less than impressed with pools this summer so I didn't have high hopes but wanted to see what he would do. Ezra took a little convincing and then loved sitting on the shallow step and splashing around. Cohen was harder to persuade but eventually I did get him to put his feet in and splash a little.

This was perfect for this year and here's hoping for some real camping at an actual campground in a tent and making s'mores camping next year!

Staycation 2014: Railway Museum

We have a little Railway Museum nearby and I have been wanting to bring Cohen for awhile now and we finally made it happen! I never really know how he's going to do at places, if it's going to be a 10 minute wander and leave type thing, but he loved it here. It's hard to find things that keep Cohen's interest without being overwhelming, too much noise, not enough things to touch etc.

We walked in the door and he was already trying to get to the trains before we even paid admission. It is super kid friendly which is really nice. There are little stair stations set up so the kids can get up close and see the trains.

There is another little section with smaller trains and the kids can push the buttons to make the trains go. Cohen was a little too tempted and kept trying to touch the trains as they went by and knocked them off a few times, whoops.

They also have several train tables set up and boxes of train toys that the kids can play with. Cohen loved the train tables and all the trains. His favorite parts are the bridges and seeing how many trains he can connect and making the longest train ever. The only downfall is that they don't drive very well and he hates it when they fall apart or fall off the tracks! But, he did really well and I was very proud of him.

Ezra also loved watching the trains too. He would climb up on the little stairs and watch the trains go by. He would point and grunt every time they came by.

It was kind of small, but I am thrilled to have found something that keeps both boys entertained, although it probably wouldn't be as easy to watch both boys without Danny. We'd definitely go back here for sure!

Staycation 2014: Picking Blueberries

This morning we headed out with my sisters and nephews for some blueberry picking. In the past, we've done strawberry picking but we totally missed it this year. There is a blueberry patch down around the corner from our house so we rode our bikes down. Cohen has always loved riding in the bike trailer so he was thrilled. He did a good job picking berries, refused to eat any, and got distracted by the big sprinkler. We brought the blueberries home for Ezra to chow down on, boy loves blueberries. Danny even made us some blueberry muffins!