The long long winter is finally coming to an end!

Its official...I have a 3 year old! I am still having a hard time coming to grips with this but it is clear everyday that Charlie is growing up. He is so articulate and has his own ideas and an ever expanding imagination. He pretty much surprises me everyday with a new phrase or by connecting the dots in a way that I didn't know he could. As if Charlie getting big wasn't hard enough I turn around and see that Sean is just a few short months away from being 2. I guess that is what happens when they are 15 months apart. They both get big!! There is no longer a big one and a little one. Even though everything I am saying is melancholy and dramatic sounding I am so excited about where we are in life right now. The boys are so much fun and have found a certain independence in play time with each other that is a bit freeing for me. They still need their mommy quite a bit but it is so awesome to watch them play and interact with one another. Sean is a little parrot and repeats everything Charlie says and does. Charlie is a bit of a bully at times but lets face it...he was here first. The guessing game is coming to an end with the expansion of their vocabulary and i find myself leaving the house with one little monkey backpack and a few diapers and wipes. I also find myself going back and forth wondering about whether or not to have another baby. I can't help but feel that one more would be wonderful, but at the same time the thought of shaking things up and having more kids than I have hands absolutely freaks me out. I know that it has been done many times before, but my anxieties persist. I also feel the clock ticking...not a biological one but a sibling one...I don't want our third and probably final child to be too far apart in age from the other two and feel like a loner. Hopefully a lot of prayer and a few months will help me settle this matter in my heart.
The thing I am most excited about right now is the break in the weather! The long Indiana winters are tough with two little boys trapped inside for most of the day. We would get out and have a few play dates here and there but in the end you watch movies and color and build blocks until you just can't do it anymore. The Lord knows this because just when you are recovering from your most recent family crippling virus you get a day that is sunny and warm and you get to play outside. You feel new life breathed into your body and blessed in every way. We have our zoo membership in hand and plan to wear it out...i have already enjoyed some great walks around the neighborhood and trips out on the river with the in-laws are just around the corner. Oh yeah and Grilling!! Grilled food taste so much better than oven baked!
Brian and I just celebrated 6 years in marriage and took an awesome little trip down to DC. I have never been there and I was in total awe of all the of the American history I was able to experience. Brian has been there a few times and was able to show me around. He also has a much better understanding of American and world history than I do so it was nice to have someone to teach me about the things I was seeing. We have been a lot of places in 6 years and made many transitions in life after having children and buying our first home and all of the side stuff that comes with it. I feel so blessed to have someone that I can enjoy life with so much. We have a loving, trusting and growing relationship that we celebrate every year!

The Holidays are Here!

Thankful does not begin to describe how I feel this year as we jump into the Holiday season. We just finished up Thanksgiving and it was an awesome time of catching up with friends and family. I feel so blessed that we have a home where people can come and relax and we can all reconnect. It is when I have people over that God reveals to me how much he has provided for us and how blessed we really are. Sharing food and encouragement with one another while we are toasty warm in our home. It is hard to imagine where we would be without the love and support of our family and I will never be able to thank them enough for the people that they are and all that they do for us. The boys are getting so big and they are very aware of the changes in the world around them. The biggest thing right now are all of the Christmas lights and Christmas trees in the houses and at the store. They want to go see them over and over again. I just put up a few of our decorations while they kids were napping and when they saw them for the first time it was truly magical. I love that I am able to appreciate the innocence of being a child again through my kids. It is a second chance to make memories and have them last for a lifetime!

Family Time

The boys are growing up so fast! They have dabbled into the rough-housing and wrestling and so far we have had no major injuries. I love watching them interact...well most of the time...they love each others company and despise it at the same time. Everyone wants the same toys at the same time and no one wants to give in. Their personalities are so different and it is a challenge each day to tailor my affection and discipline for each one. Charlie is fairly easily broken and most of the time responds to simple threats of time out. Sean is a firecracker who will look you straight in the eye and do it again.
Like all families with small kids we fight our share of illness. Lately we have battled high fevers and now we have moved on to miserable runny noses and sleepless nights. I know there is another side to it and that it is a temporary inconvenience but when you are in the moment it is hard to balance your frustrations with lack of sleep and your compassion for your pathetic little baby who is helpless against the disease. Yesterday the snotty nose hit Charlie hard and it coincided with Brian's only day off this week. We had big plans of a blueberry pancake breakfast, followed by a trip to our local zoo and a picnic lunch at the park. The heat has broken for a few days and we just wanted to take advantage of the day before it heated up again and Brian went back to work. After a little coffee and pancakes we decided to continue as scheduled. Charlie was a bit of a zombie from the medication and lack of sleep but at some point we turned a corner and everybody had a great time. It is so awesome to experience those magical times from your childhood again through your kids. I was probably more excited to go to the zoo than they were. I mean they don't even really have a great concept of what the zoo is yet. After yesterday Brian and I got to planning so many more things we would like to expose our kids to and make lasting memories.
We ended out day with an amazing dinner at my in-laws house on the river. It is so peaceful there and the kids love to fish off the piers. I love being able to share my kids with their grandparents and see the joy that brought to everyone's faces.

wow....its been a while

It is hard for me to comprehend that my youngest son is about to turn one this month. They say that it takes about a year to really recover from your pregnancy and childbirth...well I never experienced that with Charlie because by the time he was 6 months old I was pregnant with Sean. I would not go back and change that now because I cannot imagine our lives without Sean. However, there is something to be said for giving yourself a break between children. The first year is filled with so much joy and lets be honest...so much work. It is hard to do it with one child let alone with a toddler hanging on your leg wondering when you will stop breastfeeding long enough to take him outside to play. It is a whirlwind of feedings, diapers, crying, comforting, laughing, playing, cooking, cleaning, reconnecting with your hubby, trying to find your social life and spontaneity...while wondering why you are back to your pre-baby weight but you look different in the mirror. Then you reach that one year milestone and you really do feel better. You feel as if you are on the other side of whatever I just said. You are done with bottles, the poop is down to once or twice a day, they are crawling or walking and starting to express themselves in words and you think I might just find my way back to sanity after all. Today was one of those glorious days when everybody is happy...there is just the right amount of sunshine and humidity...things were accomplished without the sacrifice of attention to my family and at the end of the day I get that overwhelming feeling that I am undeservedly blessed. I know this sounds crazy but I watch a Baby Story on TLC and find myself crying at the delivery and thinking how amazing human existence is and it makes me want to dive into the craziness all over again...thankfully my brain can reason with my heart and I know it is best to wait a while longer. I have to remind myself not to take for granted that I have two healthy children and that I am able to stay home full time and invest my all into them. I can get caught up in the hard stuff and forget that God chose me to be their mother and allowed me to have them as a blessing in my life.

where to start...?

It has been such a long time since I got on this thing and wrote about our lives. In my defense we are pretty busy with everyday life. The kids are doing great! Sean is getting so big so fast and Charlie is smarter and smarter every day. I am amazed at the things he can learn to do at 20 months old and how quickly he is able to learn them. Charlie is still very much the "strong/silent" type. He is more of a performer...you ask and he speaks.. but it is a special occasion when he says something at random or repeats what you say and it is awesome when that happens! He is starting to invite Sean to play with him even though Sean isn't quite ready yet. I can hardly wait for the times when they are playing together and even when they are getting into trouble together. Sean is probably going to be talking before Charlie...he is a much more active and alert baby than Charlie was. He is constantly cooing and jabbering...he wants to be involved in whatever you are doing and is always grabbing for things. He doesn't sleep very well at night...so we have that to work on and I hope we master it soon.
The weather is getting much cooler and I am already dreading the winter. It isn't the snow that i hate or the cold weather...it is the fact that Charlie adores playing outside...kicking balls...throwing rocks and finding pine cones. Our days outside are limited and I am very sad about it. I am on the hunt for some great indoor activities and making an effort to plan more play dates so he can learn to share and socialize. Other than that we have been battling the average runny nose...cough and fever season with the best of them.
I am really looking forward to the Holidays this year and spending some time with our family and starting traditions.

Catching up

I know it has been a long time since I have posted anything...but honestly...sitting down on the computer for any extended period of time is just not a priority. Charlie and Sean take up every moment of the day and in between there...yes I know there is NO in between when every moment is taken up...I try to catch up on dinner, laundry and other general cleaning essentials. I appreciate my husband more and more, because he comes home and entertains Charlie or holds Sean so I can do any number of things I haven't gotten to. He is also an amazing cheerleader for me and is so understanding when I am tired and frustrated and he needs to make himself a sandwich. Before we were married we heard a lot of "make sure and date your mate even when the dating season is over". All that means is set aside time at least once a week to reconnect over dinner, a walk or a dollar movie. In he beginning of our marriage we spent all of our time together when we weren't working. Then Charlie came along and still when he was in bed we had all the time to our selves. Now with two kids it is much more difficult to spend quality time together. We are trying to apply that little piece of advice and use our family members as babysitters so we can get away during the week. It makes a huge difference for our relationship. I guess those other married people know what they are talking about.
I can't believe Sean is already 9 weeks old! With the second one you don't really have time to get on the Internet and see what the next developmental milestone is coming up...so when they come it is such a great surprise. When he started smiling and cooing I almost cried. It was awesome! He is incredibly expressive and I can't wait to see how his personality develops.

Charlie is doing great with his new little brother. He went through a little bit of a rough patch when Sean was about a month old. It started to set in that this little guy wasn't going anywhere and mommy doesn't have quite the same time for me. But after a couple of weeks he settled down and is back to being my little doll baby again! He is getting so tall these days...he can finally make a basket on his Little Tike's hoop by himself. It is crazy how much he loves balls and especially basketball. It will be interesting to see if the interest sticks for the long hall.

I am currently looking for an outlet for myself. Something that takes me out of the house and away from the kids a couple times a week. I am not a scrapbooker and I don't want to spend a lot of money that we don't have. Hopefully I can find something and start doing it. I think it will make me a better mommy and help me to keep my sanity.

Finally here!

That's right...baby 2 has arrived! I couldn't be more thrilled to have him in the outside world. It was pretty fast and furious...I went to an appointment with my doc and he performed a procedure to get labor going...I had been 3 cm's for 2 weeks and was willing to do just about anything to go into labor. I actually started having contractions on the way home but ignored them...I didn't want to get my hopes up. Throughout the afternoon they became steadier and steadier until at about 11:30 at night I decided we should make our way to the hospital. We had already sent Charlie to be with Nana and Papa Moore for the night and our bags had been in the car for 2 weeks! We were ready! Unfortunately when I arrived at the hospital I was told to walk around for an hour and then they would check me again. Uhg! Really?! Anyways...that hour was very productive and they admitted me. YAYAYY! Sooo from 12:30 to 2 I went from 4 to 8 cm's and was ready for the pain meds. My epi kicked in and I was holding my baby an hour later! Phew! It was so amazing yet again. He has some resemblance to Charlie but mostly has his very own look about him. I have been blessed with another son and he is amazingly content. He was a great nurser from moment one and is content to sleep, eat and poop. I couldn't have asked for a better situation. It allows me to put him down and play with Charlie or do something around the house. God is so Good! With family moments from my front door I know that I have nothing to worry about. I find my self a bit tired but mostly excited for what is ahead and treasuring the moments right now.