Usually on Monday's I strap Emery on and Miller and I go walking around the Target plaza. I like to window shop which doesn't work with Marshall because he wants to buy everything, or only look at toys:) So while Em naps, we walk through Target, Ross, Michaels, Pier One, and usually finish up at PetCo. Miller loves checking out the animals.
Morning smiles:
Marshall wakes up about an hour before the rest of us and comes in our room. He snuggles in bed and watches a show or two on Netflix, or YouTube. On YouTube he likes watching videos of steam trains driving, or lately he's been looking up wooden train set layouts then having Jerad help him duplicate them after breakfast:
Playing dinosaurs under the playsilk:
Dot Painting:
They set up a ramp on their pirate ship and love "walking the plank" or driving their trucks and tractors up and down it:
As soon as its nap time she starts getting all cute. I think she knows it means she gets to stay up longer:)
One morning when I was organizing the kitchen cupboards (my idea of fun), I noticed that a lot of our spices were expired. So I gave them to the boys with a few cooking utensils. They had a BLAST.
I gave them each a bowl of baking soda then some diluted vinegar so that when they mixed up their concoctions they would fizzle.
They worked on this for almost an hour.
They ask for these stories from Aunt Kanda EVERY day before nap time.
This crazy little bead head goof kills me!
I thought this was probably the last year I'd get away with choosing all the kid's costumes. I'm sure Marshall will want to pick his own next year. I got these cute little fox on clearance PLUS I found a coupon and free shipping code. The cuteness is too much... I can't wait for the Munchkin March this year!
One of our friends had a birthday bbq and outdoor movie night. I figured we'd have to leave early but both boys sat through the whole movie:
I took the kids to get haircuts. There was another little boy getting his hair cut when we got there with his mom and grandma. He was screaming bloody murder so I was nervous the boys were going to follow suit, but they were great. Marshall was a riot. He would Not Stop Talking the entire time he was in the chair. He told the stylist that after he goes poop he lets Miller flush the toilet, that he can't see his own face and that makes him sad because it's "such a beautiful face," and he sung the Little Big Town "Pontoon" song then invited everyone home with his to play trains. Sometime I wonder what it would be like to have a shy child:) Probably less embarrassing...
10 weeks!
Telling secrets:
Both boys have been playing with calculators. Jesus called Marshall on his and Marshall had to hang up on him because he "didn't know him." Awkward.
Sorting bears by color with tweezers. Miller was really into this and actually sorts by colors.
Sleeping in my arms in the rocker:
The kids are all on the same nap schedule which is AWESOME. Emery obviously naps other times during the day, but she also naps during the 12:30-2:30 or 3:00 that the boys do. Sometimes (mostly) she'll only stay asleep if I'm rocking her, but it gives me time to play on the phone (usually looking for kid activities and recipes on Pinterest) or watch something on Netflix and mentally recharge. Sometimes I nap with her, and sometimes she lets me put her down and I do some cleaning.
The nights started getting chilly enough to put an extra blanket on the bed. I think that means its officially fall!
I put together a castle fort for the boys in the living room. I picked up a few of them on sale from kids.woot.com last year. This was the last one:
I tried putting Emery in her crib for the first time (she sleeps in bed with us at night and on me or the rocking chair or occasionally swing for naps). She loved looking at the mobile. She's spent about 5-10 min a day in there since:
I need to get out my "real" camera and take pictures of her adorable little closet nursery. I love it:
I snapped this picture of Marshall napping one day. That's a blanket his grandma Sherry crochet'd for him before he was born:
One warm afternoon we painted with water on the sidewalk. I LOVE this because of the no clean-up factor.
Emery laid on the bench kicking her legs in the sun. She's starting to enjoy being put down occasionally:
The boys each picked a toy to paint. After about 30 minutes of painting, I sent them to the shower and gave them each a bucket of soapy water and a scrub brush and had them clean the paint off. They had a blast and stayed occupied for over an hour:
One night they were all looking so cutesy in their jams so I tried to take a picture. Emery burped really loud which distracted both boys:
Finally I got them to turn back around and asked them to smile. This is what I got:
Emery started liking laying under her activity gym and I started to get a few 10 minute breaks from holding her each day:
Miller hanging out playing toys one day while Marshall was at school:
Those eyes!
The same afternoon we went to the Children's Museum. I thought he'd enjoy going without Marshall, who usually dictates what they do while they're there.
He only played for about 10 minutes then wanted to leave. He did however fall in love with the bear bench outside:
Jerad and Marshall made bouncy balls from the borax recipe floating around on Pinterest:
They weren't super bouncy, but for some reason the boys LOVED them:
A bath in the dark with glow sticks:
We went to the San Luis Children's Museum because Marshall remembered they have a train there. Our Paso membership used to get us in free, but now I have to pay half price for my ticket so it costs $4. That's not a ton, but by the time you add in gas and parking for a few hours its like a $20 trip now. I like our little Paso one better because its not as busy and is geared more towards young kids (and is less than 3 miles from our house):
The boys were rediculously well behaved that day, and Emery slept the entire time in the Ergo without making a peep. When it was time to leave Marshall and Miller held hands and left without one complaint. I got compliments and someone asked me how I taught them to leave so nicely. It's not always like that so it was a nice treat:)
Napping on me:
11 weeks and wearing a bonnet my best friend's grandma-in-law knit for Marshall:
I have so much fun dressing a girl. Every day I get her dressed then usually add a little more flair:
Marshall and Miller started playing this ridiculous game where they put their forehead's on the ground then crawl really fast. Marshall got a rug burn, that turned into a scab, that kept reopening.
When I got him a bandaid, Miller had to have one too:
During the last toy rotation I put out clothes pins. Marshall has been having a blast clipping them onto boxes or making chains. Someday when I have time to write a real blog post again I want to talk about toy rotation.
Playing with the dogs in the back yard:
Jerad and all three kiddos in Miller's toddler bed:
Miller has been waking up early from naptime. I think he knows it guarantees us one on one time. He likes to cook me some pretend food before we go downstairs for a real snack:
Playing with magnifying glasses:
Jerad has been remodeling a church here in town and they begged us to come one Sunday. This was Emery's outfit. Have I mentioned how much fun I have dressing her up?
I turned the boys indoor water table into a sensory playscape from the book 'Little Dog Lost.'
They had fun acting out the story.
One day Marshall was pretending he was a pirate, and Buddy was his pirate dog. He made Buddy "dog food" out of mud to put on the ship and was getting SO ANGRY that Buddy wouldn't even pretend to eat it. He ended up having a huge meltdown, threatened to hit Buddy, and we had to come inside. I was cracking up inside.
Loving her play gym more and more. She is usually happy under it for 20 minutes twice a day at this point:
Sunday September 29th I had a huge meltdown about going back to work. I've never been excited to go back after a maternity leave, but this was the first time I just 100% couldn't do it. Because of Jerad's schedule lately I would likely be the one doing ALL of the drop off's and pickups for the kids. On top of working two 10 hour and two eight hour shifts. Plus trying to fit in all the grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, and errands. Our nanny doesn't drive and Marshall goes to preschool the opposite direction two days a week. We started trying to figure out the logistics and realized how much it was going to suck, on top of the fact that I wanted to be home with the kids, on top of the fact that I wouldn't really be bringing home any money after paying for childcare for three, on top of the fact that Jerad LOVES me being home. So, cue meltdown and the next day I went and
quit.
Then I took Miller (and Emery) to the park and we had the whole thing to ourselves. Which was god because I was FREAKING out that I was officially jobless since it hadn't mentally set in yet. Heck, it still doesn't seem real:)
And that wraps up September!
