Our life lately...

The blogging dilemma continues...  I love to look back on the things I've written about my children and I love to take the time to journal some of the fun events of our lives and the evolution of my children from babies to toddlers to preschoolers... it's the time thing that's an issue.  I want to blog but I struggle with finding the time to do so.  Lately, my family has been going through somewhat of a storm, and I've grown closer to the Lord than ever in my life.  In my spare time, I've been trying so hard to put away Facebook, Instagram and my iPhone in general and just spend time with Jesus.  I've learned more than ever before that if I draw near to Him, He WILL draw near to me.   He has been so real in my life, and I am thankful for the storm - as I once read somewhere, "If you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain."  Jesus is definitely revealing the rainbow.  With all that said, I have made a resolution to try to journal our lives more frequently again, without forsaking my discipline as a believer and my opportunities to be a good Mom.

Fall has come and gone, and I've been so thankful that this season (so far) has brought less sickness than last Fall/Winter.  Something I never realized before I was a mom was how often babies get sick between 6 and 18 months.  I nursed both babies until nearly one, and both were very well until around 6 months old, but the two Winters prior to this one, it seemed like someone was sick (with a cold, ear infection, stomach bug, fever in general) every month.  This Fall/Winter has been much less eventful in that area, thank goodness!  I guess we've exited the baby sickness stage and are getting geared up for the preschool sickness stage that will probably start in the Fall when we start JP to preschool.  Hopefully our immunities are good and built up:)

Christmas was wonderful; I had a week off work and I literally stayed home, in my pajamas, and played with the boys all week (other than the few family gatherings we had to get ready and go out for).  It was truly a "stay-cation" and I LOVED it.  Now, Liam is almost 18 months (Jan 20th) and John Parker will be 3 (THREE???) in a month, and I officially have two toddlers.  It's crazy, because although my life is definitely still busy, I feel like I have a little independence from all-things-baby for the first time in three years.  JP was only 17 months when Liam was born (still very much a baby) and Liam has just really left the "baby" phase.  He feeds himself, can occupy himself for short periods of time, and enjoys playing with his brother.  They are truly the best of friends.

Some lists about what's going on with the boys lately:
JOHN PARKER --

1. Knows all his capital letters and is learning the lower case ones.  I used an app on the iPad and iPhone called Endless ABC and it is WONDERFUL!  Not to take away from good old-fashioned flash cards and reading tons of books, but the app actually makes him think he's playing a game while learning his letters.  He can write many of the letters when he has something to look at, and can write O, J, L and P on his own.  He is a super smart little booger.

2.  Can count to 20 (and really higher, but he needs help with the words thirty, forty, etc... but he gets the concept of counting really well)

3.  Knows all his shapes and colors and has for a while.

4.  Dresses himself.  Kind of annoying at times when we are in a hurry, but he's so independent.  At least he still lets me pick out his clothes (HA - for now)!

5.  Got rid of the paci at bedtime/naptime in September - pretty easy transition.  He whined at naptime for a few days, but it didn't take long for him to stop being in paci-withdrawal :)  It wasn't nearly as bad as I expected it to be.

6.  Transitioned to a toddler bed in December.  I was super nervous about this for some reason, but he did AWESOME.  At first, we had a rule that mommy or daddy had to come get him up in the mornings at from naps, but as soon as he realized he could get up on his own, he has a hard time waiting on us :)  He sleeps from 930pm - 8am every morning, and naps around 130 or 2 for a couple of hours each day, so as long as he's sleeping well and not getting up in the middle of the night or naps, I'm ok with that!

7.  Eats really well - he's a fruit-a-holic and eats fruit like its candy.  He also loves broccoli, green beans, carrots, and most veggies.  He's not a big meat eater, though.  He will eat deli-turkey and chicken, but no red meat.  I'm not a big meat eater either, so I guess it's ok :)  He loves dairy - milk, yogurt, cheese are always staples in our house.

8.  Wears 4T clothes and size 10-11 shoes.  He is really tall, about 40 inches, and weighs about 38 pounds.  He doesn't have any "chub" on him anymore, just a solid boy.  He's a big almost-three-year-old!

LIAM --

1.  Starting to really talk.  Can mimic any word we say to him, and can call a lot of things by their correct name (i.e.: juice, milk, ball, snack etc).  He knows all our family members by name, all his body parts, and lots of foods he likes ;)

2.  Has started having some "tantrums" here and there.  I knew my laid back baby wouldn't be so easy going forever, but overall, he's very compliant and obeys pretty well (sometimes, haha).  We are definitely in the process of teaching him his limits.

3.  Sleeps from 9ish until 8am.  Still mostly takes two naps per day.  If we have to skip the morning nap and do a long afternoon nap, he's ok though.  He's happiest with two - a long one around 11am and another shorter one around 330 or 4pm.

4.  Loves to eat!  Seriously, don't think I've ever seen a toddler eat as well and as much as Liam.  He started feeding himself a little after he started table food, and he gets angry now if we try to help him.  So, needless to say, meal times are very messy, but he does pretty well.  Favorite foods are cereal with milk, yogurt, french fries, potatoes in general, anything you dip in ketchup, and pretty much anything we eat.

5.  Wears size 2T (or some 24 month), size 8 shoes, size 5 diapers.  He is also really big for his age... weighs around 32 pounds and is around 33-34 inches tall.

6.  Addicted to his paci :/  I thought he wouldn't be as bad as JP was, but I was wrong.  We have been trying to limit it during the day since he's learning to talk, but he asks for it all the time.  He calls it "mine".  Don't know where that came from because JP always called his "pappy", but for some reason, he says "want mine, want mine" and that's what he wants.

7.  PeePees on the potty every night before his bath.  No, I'm not anywhere close to starting potty training with him, but he wants to because JP does, so we let him.  Every single night, like clockwork, he uses the potty.  Maybe he will train easy??  I trained JP at 21 months, but that was HARD.  He was trained in 3-4 days, but he just didn't seem "ready."  I think maybe if we had waited until after 2 it wouldn't have been so difficult on both of us?  Maybe?  I think I will let Liam lead the way, but probably won't start until he's two.

God is truly blessing us each and every day.  I am resolving this year to try to enjoy the "moments."  Hopefully, I'll make time to document them here and there.