potty training in the trenches

If there's one thing I know about Henry, it's that he's not going to do something unless it's his own idea. What's up with that??
So, when it came to potty training, we were in agreement that we would do our best to let it be his idea. Or at least trick him into thinking it was. We bought him a potty chair a year ago and let it sit in our bathroom as an experiment. He drug it around the house a little, filled it with toys, figured out how to take it apart, but had zero interest in sitting on it. Fine with me. I didn't want to try to train him right before Baby #2 anyway. I had heard from several credible sources that you shouldn't try to train a boy before age 3, so that was always in the back of my mind. Every now and then I would feel a little bad for him because he is so verbal that I think people assume he is older than he is, so to them it seemed strange that he was still in diapers. And every now and then he would suddenly be in the mood to sit on the potty chair. But that's all that he would do. Just sit. Nothing would happen. No positive reinforcement. We bought him underwear but they just sat, too. Sat in his drawer.
Then one day about three weeks ago, we had an unexpected playdate pop up. We told him his friend would be coming in about 20 minutes. The next thing we know he's silent and when we went looking for him we found him in his room trying to hurriedly put on his underwear over his diaper. Didn't want to look like a baby in front of his friend, I guess :) We jumped on the opportunity and introduced the idea of pottying and earning a treat. That was a game changer for the little guy. The treats started out big. A choice of one piece of candy from the Halloween bucket. And suddenly he was able to go a little trickle every time he sat down. Which just so happened to be every six minutes. No joke! How can he go that often? He must be holding in just a little each time so he can up the number of treats he earns. So, the treats quickly turned from a trip to the Halloween bucket to a single M&M.
But because of this need-to-go-every-six-minutes issue, potty-training takes over our entire life. We can't do anything else besides potty, clean out the potty, flush (big deal), wash hands, get M&M, and do it again. Ughhhhhh...turns out I have little patience for this routine. How will we ever leave the house??  
And potty training is messy! Our little do-it-yourselfer has decided to try dumping the potty on his own a few times and that doesn't go well. And then there was the time that I turned my back for two seconds and the dog was DRINKING the potty. Ahhh!! After that little incident, I grabbed my phone to text about it to my mommy friend, but just as I started in with the story a text popped up from her telling me that her CHILD had just drank the potty. Her exact words were: What.the.actual.heck?
Yup, I got trumped.
All this is to say, this potty training business has me secretly wishing he stays in diapers for another year. It's just so much easier.

all about me (x20)

A few weeks ago I saw these things going around on facebook where people would write a list of random facts about themselves and pass it on. I enjoyed reading some of them and learning new things about my friends. I didn't get around to doing the facebook thing, but I thought just for fun I'd do a list here on my blog.

1. I really hate to fly. Hate it. I haven't flown since my honeymoon in 2007. It's not a fear of being up in the air as much as it's the motion sickness and confined space and HEAT. Oh, the heat. It's always soooo hot on those things. And, yes, I have utilized the barf bag. Just once on a flight from Des Moines to St. Louis.

2. I enjoy a good jigsaw puzzle. Always have. And I really want my kids to be good at puzzles!

3. I say, "We don't bounce on the couch," at least 11 times a day. Been saying this for about a year.

4. I think I would have 8 or 9 kids if I could skip over the being pregnant for many months part.

5. I once got fired from a job. Well, not fired so much as asked to quit. Same thing, right? It was a job I had in college that I thought I was pretty good at. I even had a customer bring me a plant once and thank me for doing such a great job. About a week later one of the managers led me to the office and told me I need to learn how to multi-task and I should reconsider majoring in education. Oh, and I was a senior. Sheesh. That was a bad day.

6. Mischa Barton, Amy Adams, Sarah Michelle Gellar. These are the celebrities I have been told I look like at various points in my life. The Mischa Barton call-out was definitely the most random. It was the very end of one of my college semesters and I stopped in my professor's office to pick up my final project. When I opened the binder to check my grade there was a giant picture of Mischa Barton that had been ripped out a magazine. She had stuck a post-it note to it and written about how she was on a flight and was reading this magazine. When she saw the picture she stared at it for a long time wondering if it was me. So she did the next most logical thing: rip it out, stuff it in her carry-on, and bring it to work to put in my project. Random!?!

7. Speaking of Mischa Barton, during our first Christmas break as a married couple, Dameon and I watched the entire series of The O.C. Ah, free time. Pretty sure nothing like that will happen again until we're empty-nesters.

8. The following is a list of shows of which I have seen every episode: Full House, Felicity, The O.C., Elmo's World (unfortunately), The Hills, Teen Mom, Parenthood

9. I have never seen or read Charlie and The Chocolate Factory. And I don't want to.

10. I didn't learn to swim until I was 10 years old. I have very vivid memories of my mom bribing me with ice cream cones if I would jump off the edge and let her catch me. I'm still not much of a risk taker.

11. There are no amusement park rides that I enjoy. There are a few that I will tolerate, but I don't enjoy any.

12. I think it would be fun to go to cosmetology school. I'm not sure I would enjoy working in a salon, but I think it would be a fun thing to know how to do.

13. I was a teacher for five years. In those five years, I had four jobs in four school districts. I taught preschool for two years in Deep River-Millersburg, kindergarten for one year in Williamsburg, kindergarten for one year in Waterloo, and preschool for one year in Winterset. That was a lot of classrooms to set up and tear down. It was a good career, but I don't miss it. I'd much rather be home with my kids.

14. I saw Titanic in the theater five times.

15. When I was in sixth grade I got my first CD player for Christmas along with my first CD. Jock Jams! ("Everybody dance now...")

16. Things that I've learned to like since marrying Dameon: the hawkeyes, diy projects (okay maybe I don't like them all the way, but I like them more than I used to. I remember the first project he ever did was to replace our sink in our old house. I had never heard of such a thing and just kept insisting we do things the traditional way and CALL SOMEONE.), old houses, biscuits and gravy

17. Things I still don't like, much to Dameon's dismay: frosting by the spoonful, boating, antiques, Grimm

18. I could probably eat pasta for every meal.

19. The last movie I saw in the theater was Les Miserables. I was super pregnant and missed a decent chunk of the movie due to frequent trips to the bathroom.

20. I've never broken a bone but I have dislocated my right knee three times. Once in high school, once in college, and once in May.

eight months

HOW?? How is he eight months old already? For some reason eight months feels like a major milestone. It did with Henry, too. Maybe it's because of the feeling that we're on the cusp of some big changes: crawling, teeth, new car seat, and finger foods just to name a few. I just want to savor it. Savor every second. But then I also look forward to the next stage and feel badly for wishing time away. It's true what they say, I guess. The days are long but the years are short. Here's what's happening with baby Warren:

• TEETH. His top two teeth and bottom two teeth are all about ready to pop through. It seems like the top ones might be first. And they look to be huge and far apart, which is completely adorable, if you ask me. Up until now, he really hasn't been too difficult with the teething thing. But he's also not drooling much at all so maybe we're farther away than I think.
• EYES. It's settled. He's got Daddy's eyes. A beautiful mixture of green, brown, and flecks of gold and blue. Did I mention beautiful? Beautiful! This is probably the most frequent comment we get from strangers with both the kids. "Oh, they both have such big eyes!" (Is it ok to go on and on about how beautiful you think your own kids are? I'm going to. :) )
• FOOD. We recently realized that Warren's baby oatmeal was causing him some constipation issues so we pulled him all the way off that, increased the breast milk, and still give him fruit in the morning and vegetables in the evening. Dameon gave me a VitaMix a few months ago and it is awesome for making baby food. So much better than the Baby Bullet I used for Henry. He seems to like any kind of puree so far. He's tried banana, pear, apple, avocado, butternut squash, sweet potato, carrot, broccoli, and the Gerber puffs (which he's not quite ready for yet).
• BROTHER. Oh, how Warren loves Henry. The way he watches him is just the most precious thing. Like his wheels are just turning thinking how he can't wait to follow Henry around and copy everything he does. And the feeling is incredibly mutual. Henry checks in on Warren, wants to know what he's doing, wants to show off for him, wants to give him hugs, and has recently discovered his ability to make Warren laugh. Seeing them interact as brothers is so amazing!
• PUPPY. Warren is really noticing Rufus more lately. He likes to grab his ears or his tail, which Rufus doesn't mind at all. I guess he figures he'll take any attention he can get.
• SLEEP. I don't want to jinx it, but he has been sleeping so well for the past five nights in a row. Prior to this five-night streak, he hadn't been spending much time in his crib because he would wake up within five minutes of laying him down pretty much every time. But now he is sleeping all night in his crib and only waking up once to eat. WOO!! He goes to bed around 8:00 and gets up for the day around 7 or 8. I hesitate to brag about Warren's sleeping because I know I have some sleep-deprived friends out there whose babies don't sleep. But I paid my dues with Henry, so it's only fair that my second baby sleep, right?? And, Warren is NOT a good napper, so it all evens out I think :)
• DIAPERS. Turns out cloth diapers are far less novel the second time around. Shoot. They are stretched out, leaky and stinky, so I don't use them nearly as much as I should. Warren wears cloth about 30% of the time and paper the rest of the time. He's in size 4.
• CRAWLING AND SITTING. He is definitely a sitter now. He tips sometimes but we trust him to be left alone for a few minutes at a time. As for crawling, he tolerates being on his tummy a little better now. Once in awhile he gets his knees under him a little and he can scoot backward sort of inadvertently. 
• BINKY. This boy loves his binky. End of story.
• TALKING. So far, he's a man of few words. He doesn't babble too much, so I'm not sure if that's an indicator that he'll be less verbal than Henry or not. I guess time will tell. It's probably going to be hard for him to get a word in edgewise anyway.
• PERSONALITY. Happy and content. That pretty much sums up Warren. Oh, and super smiley. He always has been! He smiles so big that his shoulders touch his ears :)

still spinning

If you're a parent, then you've probably been asked around the time of your child's birthday or Christmas the obvious question: What's he into right now?
For Henry, that's a difficult question to answer. The answer isn't as simple as dinosaurs, trucks, or trains. The answer has to be accompanied by a rather detailed explanation. About this time last year it was all about angels. From sun up to sun down he was talking about, singing about, and playing with angels. Currently his life (and ours) revolves around flags. Yep, flags.
It all began back in August when we went to the premiere performance of the Husky Marching Band on the lawn of the courthouse. I parked the double stroller right in front of the color guard kids, thinking that would be the most entertaining part for Henry. I had no idea that colorful fabric flying about in the wind would steal my little boy's heart. Soon after, he found my Swiffer duster and started using it as a flag. That original model seems like a distant memory compared to the array of flags we have since acquired. Step 2 was to attach a piece of tissue paper to the Swiffer with scotch tape, but that turned out to be far to flimsy for Henry's choreography so we graduated to a handkerchief attached with packing tape. And outdoor performances in our front yard.
By this time, marching band season was in full swing and we attended our first half-time show of the year. It didn't take long for Henry to realize his flag was nothing compared to the real thing, so Dameon proposed he bring home a real flag from work for Henry to have as his very own. Oh happy day! Henry started spinning and still hasn't stopped. And we learned he is actually kinda good at it. Our living room was transformed into a field and we've all had to endure our share of knocks upside the head. Even poor Warren got left alone near the field for a minute and ended up with a scuff mark across his forehead.
The first weekend of October I took the two boys to the Urbandale Marching Band contest. Henry absolutely loved it and the flag obsession was here to stay. We started watching the video of the show in our living room/field and he quickly memorized the routine. Plus he started requiring an audience and every time we sat down to watch he would say, "Have you been here already today?" and "Did you find a special spot to watch the flags?" Oh, and the obligatory "Clap! Clap for me!" But the real pinnacle came the following weekend when Aunt Suey and Uncle Jim came to town. They took Henry to the football game, experienced the flag obsession first-hand, and before they left Suey promised Henry special customized flags which would be delivered the next morning and the Valleyfest competition. And you better believe she did NOT disappoint. I'm pretty sure she didn't sleep that night, as she showed up with three flags, which coordinated with the official Husky Marching Band flags. Henry was completely thrilled. For the past three weeks, he has been spinning his flags and doing his routine. In fact, his favorite flag is completely frayed from all the spinning. He sets his flags before his performance, changes color at the appropriate times, marches off the field with all flags cradled in his arms, and has started referring to himself in the third person... as THE PERFORMER.
The color guard kids were even gracious enough to invite us to their end of the year party last week and they performed just for Henry. I'm quite certain it was the highlight of his life!

seven months

Baby Warren is officially closer to his first birthday than he is to his birth-day. Crazy! I can't believe how time can go even faster the second time around. He is sporting a super cute tuft of hair right on top of his head now, after months of baldness. It's funny to think about how Henry was already in desperate need of a trim at that age. I predict Warren won't need a trim until about age 3. :)  Here are some other Warren facts:

• No teeth yet but I wonder if he's getting close. He likes to gnaw on his binky and he's been a little cranky lately.
• Eats solids twice a day. Usually rice cereal or oatmeal and a fruit or vegetable. So far he has tried apples, sweet potatoes, pears, bananas, avocado, and carrots.
• Enjoys his binky more than ever. I hope I don't look back at this post someday and think, "That was the turning point! I should have taken it away then!"
• Has started to show his first signs of fear. The other day Dameon was holding him and hollered at a friend who was walking by. Warren just cried and cried over that loud noise! Then I was pushing him in the shopping cart and we hit a bump. He looked at me and his bottom lip popped out but luckily he didn't cry that time.
• Smiles all the time. And not just with his face. His whole self smiles! It's hard to describe, but it's so so cute.
• Sleeps from about 7:30 or 8 to about 6:30 or 7, waking up to eat a few times in there. His naps are pretty sporadic throughout the day but typically he naps twice.
• Sits up but still can't be trusted to not make a sudden movement and topple over.
• Loves to watch Daddy throw a ball way up high and catch it! Every time it goes up, he tracks it with his eyes, makes a big grunt, and kicks his legs like crazy.
• Has started really noticing Rufus for the first time and really wants to grab onto the curly hair!
• Has a mix of green, brown, hazelish eyes...just like Daddy
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Henry's latest mis-speak

Is it wrong to hope your child never outgrows some of the words they say incorrectly? I mean, it's just so darn cute! Henry has some long-running words that just don't come out right.
He says breaftist instead of breakfast. He says nap instead of map. He says flavrite instead of favorite. He refers to anything that happened before this very moment as happening 'last night' or even better 'lasterday'.
And, as most kids do, we find him picking up on certain phrases and using them repeatedly. These are the phrases that Dameon and I realize we must use a lot. Some popular ones are "Sound like a plan?" (Dameon)  "That's a good idea!" (Me)  And the latest, "If I spill my milk, it will make a najor mess!" (Me, again). Of course the word "najor" (aka MAJOR) is very much emphasized to be more like, "Naaaaaajor."
Oh, and don't even try to correct him because he is, in his opinion, always right. (Yep, that'd be me again.)

Cloud Dust

A recipe for Cloud Dust = A recipe for ultimate 2-year-old fun! 8 cups of flour + 1 cup of oil

a trip to the orchard

A few notable firsts happened that day. Henry's first time to an orchard. Warren's first time to an orchard. First (of many, if I get my way) matching outfits. First time Henry ever ate a whole apple...seeds, core, stem...whole apple.

six months and more

WARREN is our newly-turned six month old and he grows more adorable every day. We just can't get enough of this guy! First of all, his cheeks. Oh my. They are so kissable. I bet I kiss them 50+ times a day. I just can't stop! His hair is coming in more and more in this perfect little tuft on the top of his head. It seems a little lighter than Henry's but it is hard to say for sure. And then there's his laugh. It is so sweet and so easy to get out of him. He's just. so. happy. Gah...love this little boy! Here are some stats:

• 17 pounds, 6 ounces (44%ile)
• 27.5 inches long (80%ile)
• wears some 9 month clothing but mostly fits into 12 month
• nurses throughout the day and night and eating rice cereal at supper time. 
• tried bananas and thought they were alright
• grabs at everything
• close to sitting up
• attempts drinking out of sippy cup
• enjoys his binky
• finds henry to be absolutely fascinating
• rolls over both ways
• scoots inadvertently
• starting to babble syllable sounds (ya-ya-ya and da-da-da)
• sleeps upstairs in his crib and likes to be swaddled

HENRY, meanwhile, is busy trying to figure out the difference between real and pretend. It is so funny to hear his questions and get inside his logic. A few questions we've heard lately...

• Why does Rufus not talk? (after watching Clifford)
• Do monkeys wear shirts? (No, Buddy, they don't.) Oh, but they just wear snow clothes. (after watching Curious George)
• Mommy, our saw doesn't hop along like that. (after watching Handy Manny)

side note: I swear Henry doesn't watch that much t.v. But more than he did when he was an only child. It's hard having two kids!!

In other Henry news, I continue to be amazed at what a sweetheart he is. In general and especially as a big brother. The more Warren is starting to interact, the more fun it is to see Henry's reaction to him. Let's see if I can recall a few of the cute/sweet/adorable/hilarious things Henry has said lately:

• Yesterday I told him I had bought him a new package of socks. He gasped with delight and said, "What a wonderful surprise! Thanks for thinking of me!"
• This morning after we got done paying for our groceries, he says to the checkout girl, "Have a great day!"
• Last night as I was drying him off from his bath and putting on his lotion he told me I'm the best Mommy in the whole world.
• He often will tell someone as he's saying goodbye "Thanks for the fun we had!" (That one really brings the house down.)
• The other day he found a little toy phone I had bought for Warren and wanted to play with it, he took it behind the couch to "make some calls." A few minutes later he comes to find me in the kitchen and says, "Mommy, this phone doesn't even have PacMan!"
• We have been getting t.p.'d all week. The first morning when Henry stepped outside and saw it, he got a very concerned look on his face and said, "Oh no! How will we ever ever get to our van?"

miley on my mind

It's fair to say this post is a leap from the type I normally publish. Nothing about what my kiddos are saying or doing today. Instead I just have to share a few of the thoughts that have been swirling around in my head lately. It's quite possible that this post will be more for me, personally, than anything else. So, here goes...

I didn't watch the VMA's. Didn't even know they were happening. But it was hard to miss all the buzz when I logged onto facebook yesterday morning. So I clicked on the article, read it, and watched the clip. And of course I saw the same thing and had the same reaction as most other people on the planet. It was bad. Super bad. Totally inappropriate. No doubt about that. And then I read the comments, which seemed to have a common theme. Words like pathetic, disgusting, disturbing ... those were the most mild descriptors and of course there were some much more strongly-worded sentiments. But I've been thinking a lot about the words "seeking" and "sinner" the past few weeks. Nothing super specific or profound. Just random thoughts. And I've had some good discussions with people, too. It got me to thinking, What if my life - my quiet thoughts, my silent criticisms, my past regrets, my secret sins - were set to music and displayed on screen for the world to see? I can imagine the comments that would come flooding in from the viewers. I imagine they would have a similar theme to Miley's. Pathetic? Yep. Disgusting? For sure. Disturbing? You bet. Oh, and another common one "Her parents should be so ashamed." Guess what? MINE TOO! Now I'm not saying that those comments aren't accurate. I'm just saying that my sins are the same. So, all I can feel is compassion for her. And that's got nothing to do with me. It's all because of Christ.

They will know we are Christians by our love. Right? It's only by God's unending love and mercy that I have His truth in my heart. And that's because God placed and used people in my life to guide me and speak truth to me. Praise Him for that! So, I wonder who Miley has in her life to speak truth to her. I highly doubt I will ever meet her, but I think that as Christians we need to unite with a message of love! Afterall, Christ didn't call me to be His child after I got my act together. I'll never have my act together. I'll always be a sinner. No better than Miley. He met me right where I was at and revealed his grace.

So, what do we do about Miley? I guess I'm not really sure. I just hope and pray that through all the negative press that is sure to head her way in the weeks to come, a message of Christ's love could somehow be conveyed. And that message has to come from his people.

five months and end of summer

I'm just going to lump this whole post together because if I try to come back and post more tomorrow or the next day...it probably won't happen until the six month update :) Baby Warren is growing so fast and constantly coming up with new tricks. Here are a few stats on him:

• Rolls over often (back to tummy) but only likes to hang out on his tummy for about a minute before he starts yelling for help
• Sits in his Bumbo sit with pretty good control
• Has very busy hands. They are always either in his mouth or holding onto each other. His latest trick is to use his left hand to hold onto his right thumb. I need to get a picture of that one!
• Wears size 9 and 12 month clothes
• Has lots of wispy hair on the top of his head that sticks straight up. (thanks, daddy!)
• Takes all his baths in the bath tub now. He LOVES to kick like crazy and make big splashes!
• Wears size 3 diapers
• Sleeps pretty well! 
• Loves to watch Henry and is completely entertained by him. Storing up all sorts of good ideas, I'm sure.
• Smiles and laughs so easily. Henry was a happy and content baby, too, but with Warren you don't even have to work to get a smile out of him :)
• Has tried rice cereal twice but spit it out both times
• Doesn't like his swing quite as much as he used to
• Seems to like to snuggle and be held a little more lately. He is strong enough to be carried on my hip now.
• Might not be blue-eyed. We still can't tell for sure.

And now for the end of summer fun. Just a selection of photos with captions, really. On this particular day, I asked Dameon to deal with the branch that was in the way of Henry's swing. I believe my exact words were, "Could you trim back that branch that's in the way of Henry's swing? It's thorny and kinda dangerous." A good chunk of time went by while I was in the house with the boys. It occurred to me that Dameon had been outside for quite awhile. I looked out the window and saw this:

 He must not have heard me right.

We made a bit of an impromptu trip to the Indianola Balloon Festival. The weather was beautiful and it was a really enjoyable time. We ate our Subway picnic in the parking lot and watched the balloons fly over before going through the gate and enjoying some bounce house chaos. Wouldn't be a complete experience if Dameon didn't have a small heart attack and use his teacher voice as some too-big-for-the-bounce-house kid is threatening to steam roll our son. The highlight was when Dameon bought Henry his own hot air balloon. Total thrill.

Another Warren trick: Tries to get toys to mouth and toys end up on his shoulder. Cute!

This is how Henry plays hide-and-seek. After awhile it's hard to know how to keep acting like we can't find him. But we roll with it.

And, finally, potty-training. He is starting to show just a little bit of interest and has went potty once, so we'll see.

 Turns out this whole thing requires more patience than I seem to have, so sometimes we move the potty chair into other areas of the house and get on with our day. Ice cream, anyone?

a late-night realization

Tonight after successfully navigating and tag-teaming bedtime with the two munchkins, Dameon and I were talking about how I had seen a home video of Henry from last summer in which he was using two and three word phrases compared to how much he was talking by his second birthday. I was curious, so I logged into my blog to read some old posts and see if I could find out more about what he was doing back then. And then I saw them. And they were many. The posts about the dog. Now I mean no offense to those out there who love their dogs like children. I totally get it. I just don't feel that way any more and it seems like another lifetime ago that my life revolved around him. I remember telling Dameon the night before Rufus' first birthday that maybe we should skip our meeting the next night because he would already be in his kennel all day while we were at work and it was his birthday afterall. Whaaaat????? And when we used to travel with him we would bring along two plastic tubs filled with his gear. And that was probably for a day trip. Now I'm lucky if I remember his leash. And food? Forget it! I have to keep a stash permanently in the van just so he doesn't starve. Yep, it's a different season of life right now. No doubt about it. But Ruf is a good sport about it. As I type, he's sprawled out underneath a sleeping Warren in the baby swing. He's go-with-the-flow like that :)

who needs a t.v. when you live with henry?

It's true. He is 24-7 entertainment...even though that includes the daily tantrums and other such two-year-old behavior. It's funny because in many ways he seems older than two. His language, his ideas, his ability to make-believe, his memory, and some of his school-readiness skills are comparable to my former preschool students. But the ways he seems the most "two" are in his sense of humor (he still thinks peek-a-boo is funny and he thinks that if he can't see us then we can't see him) and in his tantrums. Anyway, I've had a mental list going of the funny things he's been saying lately, so I've gotta get it written down before they are gone from my memory!

• "Mommy, can we go to Grandma Joyce's house so she can make us more meat tongue to eat?" (I have no idea what he is referring to but it sure was funny.)
• Henry: Mommy, say 'vomit'.  Me: Why would I say 'vomit'?  Henry: No, VOLMIT!  Me: What's volmit?  Henry: It's Grandma's store!  Me: (thinking...thinking) Oh! Wal-Mart?  Henry: Yeah! Volmit! Oh! I can't say it! (pauses and thinks with finger on chin) Mal-Wart. Oh! I said it!
• "Mommy, George (as in Curious George) rode in an am-blee-ance but he couldn't enjoy it."
• After fireworks, we had to cross a busy street and move quickly to get across. Afterward Henry told my mom that it scared him to see her run.
• Me: Henry, who's your best friend?  Henry: Daddy.
• He has a habit of adding extra syllables to certain words. A few examples...Ben Franklin = Ben Frankalankin; Ankeny = Ankanankey; Weed Eater = Weed-E-Deeter
• "Can I play with the swatter fly?"
• The other day he was pretty upset when it was time to leave the library. We were coming home in the stroller and he had been whining for about 2 blocks. I finally told him it was time to quit fussing. He got really quiet for the next block and then this... H: Mommy?  Me: What Henry?  H: This is the day that the Lord has made. So...I should rejoice and be glad in it.

(I took this photo to memorialize two things. 1.) The way he is working on his "Smile for the camera!" right now. I see school picture re-takes in our future :)  2.) The HORRIBLE haircut that I paid $16 for. Man, it's bad. Looks like a weed-e-deeter did it. Twice yesterday he was told, "Henry, I like your haircut. Did your Mommy do it?" Oh well, it's fixable. And, anyways, he's cute no matter what.

D.I.Y didn't I do this years ago??

Does anyone else feel like the digital age of photography that we are now in poses a bit of a problem? I have taken soooo many pictures over the past few years but all they ever do is sit on my computer and get not-viewed by anyone. What to do? My ideal plan is to make family "yearbooks" (an idea I got from Pinterest. You know...Pinterest. The place where all my ideas sit. Much like shutterfly.) that can serve as coffee table books in the future. But I also wanted a way to display pictures on our walls. Enter repurposed/shabby chic barn window. I bought this barn window from Katie and Richard. Major score! It was painted black and in great shape. Dameon did the old Elmer's glue trick and used some leftover paint we had from the summer our house got painted (cue horrible memories!) and it turned out GREAT! I deliberated for awhile over which Uppercase expression I wanted and I'm so happy with how this compliments the whole thing. Then Dameon attached a wire to the back of each row and I ordered some basic 8x10 prints from shutterfly and hung them on the wires with tiny clothes pins. They will be super easy and super cheap to switch out whenever we want. Ahhhhh...finally some favorite photos displayed in our home!

4

I just couldn't choose! Somehow...the pictures of Warren's little four month photo shoot were all just so good that I couldn't choose. So you get to see them all.

We just can't get enough of this little guy. All three of us are just completely enamored by him. And for good reason, right? ;) As it always goes with a second (or third or fourth) child, Warren does a whole lot of tagging along. He goes to the park, the pool, the doctor's office...wherever the rest of us are going...and just does his laid-back baby thing. Although he has recently decided that he's going to cry in the car. Hopefully it's just a brief phase! Unlike with Henry at this age, the world does not revolve around him, so it's been more challenging to get him into a definite routine. Especially with it being summertime. But, oh well. We roll with it. He continues to be the smiliest and most personable baby in the world. LOVE HIM!
Here are some current Warren stats:

• wears size 3 diapers (just graduated) about half of the time and cloth diapers the other half of the time
• exclusively breastfed
• wears size 6-12 month clothes...but not for much longer
• weighs somewhere around 15 pounds. (will find out for sure on wednesday at his well-check)
• still likes to be swaddled when he sleeps but wants access to his fists so he can work on finding a finger or two
• has gotten through the cradle cap phase and has lots of new hair coming in which seems to be light brown
• has recently started grabbing onto his toes and has rolled over (back to tummy) a few times
• laughs often and smiles constantly
• loves to watch henry and is very entertained by him
• is a daddy's boy. he will grin and babble at dameon from across the room and notices his voice right away. also loves to rock-a-bye with daddy.

Henry wanted to get in some photos too...

Studying big brother:

KISS!