Jan 2015: Update on the Boys

I've been feeling compelled lately to write down some thoughts about the boys as they are right now. I'm not sure how regular it's going to be or how much sense it's going to make but this is what our boys are up to right now.

Steven at 3 years 8 months

Steven is always our crazy man. He is curious, energetic, unpredictable and FUN. It always amazes me the depths of Steven's personality. He can be extremely outgoing. We went to the zoo this weekend and there was a worker there checking up on one of the animals and Steven walked right up to her and asked what she was doing, does she work here, etc. etc. I say all the time that he doesn't know a stranger, everyone is a potential friend. Also, he is a performer! He loves to sing and dance and be the center of attention. We were having dinner recently at Steve's parents with about 10 people sitting around the table and having several conversations. Out of nowhere Steven jumps up on his chair and starts singing and preforming. But there are also times where Steven can be really shy. When we get into a new situation where there's a lot of people or its an unfamiliar place he will cling to me, not want to talk to anyone, etc. It's so funny!

My little ham!

He has a lot of dichotomy to his personality these days. Another example is that he is equal parts independent and dependent, usually depending on his mood that day. We will hear all the time "I can do it on my own." There are times when he will go into his room and come out fully dressed with shirt, pants, socks, shoes, etc. often without us even prompting him. But sometimes, he will demand we dress him. Which is really frustrating because we know he can do it on his own and aren't really sure why he wants us to do it.

Another split is in his interests. Steven just loves everything! He loves to try new things, check things out, etc. He's always been rough and tumble liking to wrestle, run around, play guns/pirates/bad guys, etc. But he also really loves to pick out his outfits, have his toenails painted, talk about my outfits and try on my jewelry, etc. He likes to watch super hero shoes and barbie shows. He just loves it all!

Steven's temperament is also definitely variable depending on his mood. He can be the most cuddly, loving boy. He will randomly give kisses and hugs, say "I love you mommy" "You're my sweetie.", etc. He gets upset if I start to leave the house without a hug and kiss. Those things just melt my heart when he does them. But then also he can be stubborn, inconsiderate, opinionated and just mean when he wants to be. He will definitely tell you if you've broken a rule. He's taken to yelling at us when he doesn't get his way, which I'm really trying to work hard on extinguishing. Sometimes he digs his heals in on the strangest things, (I think to try to assert some kind of control). When we don't give in or bend to his will or whatever request he has at that moment he can get really upset.

I will say that it seems that we have turned a corner in regards to Steven's behavior. We are able to talk to him a lot more about good choices to make and better ways to behave. Timeouts and epic meltdowns have greatly decreased at our house, which is a big step in the right direction. I don't know if its just a product of his age and gaining more knowledge about controlling his emotions or if we are actually doing pretty well at parenting right now (maybe its both :).

My biggest joy lately has been seeing Steven and Logan developing a relationship. Steven has been turning into a protective big brother and I LOVE it. If anyone poses a threat to his brother, Steven is right there on the scene to tell them to back off. But at the same time, Steven will enforce his own brand of justice on Logan if he breaks a rule. Sort of a "nobody can hurt my brother but me" relationship. Steven is a great helper, though. He will go get a binky, pick up Logan's cup, put crackers on the table for him, etc. I really love it.

Logan at 1 year 4 months

In great contrast to his brother, Logan has always been a cool customer. He is a really chill personality, mostly playing it cool, going with the flow. He spends a lot of time observing his crazy brother's behavior (I like to say he watches the Steven show). Even when he falls down, Logan rarely cries unless it's a really bad injury. He usually just gets up and keeps on going (probably trying to keep up with his big brother). Even when kids take toys from him he usually just stares at them and walks away to play with something else. It's crazy! At that age, Steven would absolutely freak out if someone took a toy of his.

Speaking of falling down though, Logan has been our accident-prone boy. He has been to the ER 3 times in his short life. Recently he was playing and just feel down and hit his face just the right way on the corner of a toy and got a bad cut. Luckily he didn't require stitches but geez man! That's a lot of ER trips for 1 year old boy! Especially one who is so low maintenance usually.

There are 3 things that get Logan going though and they are wanting his binky, being hungry and being tired. If any of these occur, Logan can get really, really fussy and whiny. We usually know its gotta be one of those 3 things otherwise he wouldn't be crying! Speaking of his binky, man he is really attached to it! That is so weird for us because Steven couldn't care less about his binky by this age. But Logan would have it 100% of the time if we let him. We have cut it down to nighttime and in the car but I am dreading cutting it out completely. It's gonna be tough.

Overall Logan is a really awesome kid. He is pretty good at putting himself to sleep at night and for naps. He is mostly low maintenance, doesn't require a whole lot of rocking, can self-soothe, etc. He loves to be silly. He will try on hats when we play and give this little grin and its just the cutest. He loves to play peek-a-boo. He loves to dance. Anytime there's any  music on a toy, radio, etc Logan is dancing. I love it! He has been climbing on everything and its nerve wracking, omg! But I think that's really normal for his age. He has the best belly laugh when you tickle him. It's the sweetest. I love to hear him laugh! He loves to get out alllll the cups in our cabinet and scatter them about. He loves to pick bottles and boxes out of the recycle bin and play with them. Silly boy!

I really am enjoying seeing Logan grow into his own personality. I am also loving watching him learn about his environment and master new skills. He's at a really fun age right now!

So those are my boys at this age! Like I said not sure how frequent these posts will be but I wanted to make sure to capture how fun life is right now with those two loons.

3 Loons if you count daddy ;)

May Tidbits

May was a super fun month for us. It's so nice that we are in Spring and Summer and can do more things outside with the boys now. May is a big month of events for our family, first was Steven's birthday party and of course our trip to Chicago and our 5 year anniversary, Memorial Day, Mother's day and my mom's birthday, whew!

We had such a great time on our Chicago trip. I hope we get to go back sometime soon!

Such a fun trip!

Some other fun stuff, Steve took Steven to an arena football game near us and they had a blast. He said he ran around like crazy but I think it was so neat that they could share that. I know Steve is eager to talk to Steven about sports and all of his other passions.



Steve also took Willow, Steven and a bunch of other kids to the Renaissance Faire. They had a great time, of course he only took one picture. A throne of swords I think this is?



I'm not sure if I mentioned in April or not but Steve started a new job. He now works at Graybar as a web developer. It's a lot closer to our house and he hopes to get the opportunity to program on new technologies. They seem to like him there and he likes it so far so that's good!

I also got a promotion recently which was awesome. I had been wanting to move up for a long time so this was great news! I'm still with Employee Education System at the VA but now I'm a Management Analyst. I actually moved to a new office on the 3rd floor of our building as well, so lots of changes for me at work this month!

Woot!

Big news for Steven this month as well. We put together the bunk bed we got for him from Ikea. He LOVES it! Days after Steve got them up, he kept saying "Thank you for getting this bed for me!" It's so cute. At first he was kind of shaky on the ladder but he was determined to get it down and after only a few days of practicing he can go up and down by himself. He is so proud of that and we are proud of him.



Happy as a clam.

I had a lot of fun with my friend Jenn this month. We went to see the Chippendale's and it was awesome. We had a blast!



You're jelly.



Me Lindsey and Jenn

Jenn and I also took a painting class. It was through Wine and Canvas that we got on Groupon. We had a really good time! It was at a nice place called the Lakehouse, which seemed like they had a good menu. We should go eat there sometime. But we had fun. I'm not the best painter but I always have a good time trying. I stole this picture from their FB page! ha!

 

 

Steven had his 3 year doctor's checkup and I decided to take him for a little mommy time. I took off work one morning and we made a little half day of it. He was really excited to get to spend time with me. I love him so much!

Cheese!

We went to breakfast. I let him choose and he picked McDonalds. Fine by me. They had spider man toys there and OMG he lost it. He is so obsessed with super heroes lately. It was pretty cute.

 

He wanted ALL the toys!

We also had my side of the family over for a Memorial Day BBQ. It was really great that they could make it, Cindy even came from Kansas. Kris and Zach brought Miss Emelia and it was so nice to be able to see her. She's only about a month older than Logan so they are so cute together. Steven was psyched for babies! ha ha

Steven wanted Emelia's headband...lol



Lots of babies!

So lots and lots of fun stuff for us this May. It was a busy month!

Steven's 3rd Birthday

Remember that time I forgot to do a birthday recap post? No? Me neither. So pretend this is early May...

We celebrated Steven's 3rd birthday this month! Kind of hard to believe that my little baby is 3 years old but at the same time, he seems so big lately! Steven was SUPER excited about his 3rd birthday party. I asked him weeks before what kind of party did he want to have and he kept saying , "Blue!" I suggested all kinds of themes but he was very consistent, "Blue party, mommy." So blue it is! He kept talking about it as it got closer to the party day which was so adorable. Kind of a huge difference from last year when I'm not even sure he knew what a party really was. So big!

We had the family over to the house for a party and BBQ. We had a great turnout. A lot of people came which was so nice for Steven.

The birthday boy with his loot

Steven really super loves his cousins. I was so glad that they could both be there. I know it means the world to him. Dan actually brought Willow in just for the party so I thought that was so sweet. Steven was so happy to see her and Eli. 

Aren't they so cute! They are all getting so big.

Steven actually enjoyed opening his presents this year. Which is such a change from years past when he has cried and hated it. He DEFINITELY knows what presents are now and definitely likes them.

The only bad part was he would open something cool and want to play with it and ignore all the other gifts. Oh well, can't really blame him too much for that!

Of course, Willow was very helpful.

Steven was really excited about this bubble gun that came with a holster. He wears it all the time still. Sorry for the bad picture quality. Our living room has great natural light which ruins pictures, unfortunately.

He also really enjoyed this SpiderMan car given to him by our friends, Carrie and Kevin. It was really sweet of them to come. Carrie also made cake pops for the party, which were delicious!

Some other family pics. Of course grandparents were there. Jordan and Kim actually took Steven to a parade during the day so that was a really fun day for him! He said he had a blast.

Grandma and Logan

It was a really great party. Steven had such a great time and it was so awesome so many members of our family could make it to celebrate with him. He's a lucky kid.

The next day was Steven's actual birthday. It is our tradition to go to the zoo and then Ted Drewes on Steven's actual birthday. We usually go just us but this year Dan and Willow were in town and spent the night at our house so they came with us. 

We actually forgot to sing to him at his party so they got donuts (his favorite) and we sang happy birthday to him over donuts. ha ha!

Then we headed out to the zoo. I was totally annoying the men (and kids) with the camera but it was his birthday! I think I was also having a bit of a sad mommy moment because he just looks and acts so big now! Sniff.

The brothers and their babies aw!

Steven and Logan at the zoo. Aren't they the cutest?!

Steven is actually getting pretty good at posing for pictures when he wants to. This is in front of the big cat country. Steven demanded to see the lions FIRST! lol

There was a peacock near the restrooms which was I think maybe the highlight of the visit? Ha ha. They were able to get pretty close to it. I was impressed no one stomped on it or anything. Whew.

It was pretty hot that day but we got to see a lot of cool animals. They were a bit crazed, Willow runs at a very high pace, even for Steven but I know he had a blast.

Cousin love

Look we got a family pic! One bonus kid but I'll take it!

Can you tell I'm literally holding Steven there? lol

In typical cousin fashion after a few hours (sometimes minutes) they were fighting over everything.This picture cracks me up, can you see the pouty face? She won't let him look at it. Boo hoo. ha ha!

I'm such a mean mommy. :P

Me and my boys. This is a great pick of them mostly. Steven was doing this thing near the end of the day putting his hand in his mouth. I think he was getting tired. Poor guy that was a big weekend.

We were on our way to leave but we had to stop by the new sea lion exhibit. It is my favorite! I love how you can walk through underwater and they swim above you. It's so neat.

So then we headed off to Ted Drewes. Of course Willow (who is a bit older) was trying to work us for other things to eat. "I don't want ice cream, I want cotton candy/popcorn/etc/etc" So we said, "Ok! No ice cream for you then!" LOL Maybe we are both mean parents.

The knuckleheads at Ted Drewes

There's nothing like Ted Drewes on a hot day! We all enjoyed some! (Yes, we bought her some ice cream lol We aren't cruel!)

So that was a great day together. They were both zonked out in the car pretty much after a few rounds of "Let it go". Lol

This just cracks me up. Later in the day I had my camera out on the kitchen counter and Steven decided to steal it and take some pictures. He took like 50 pictures! But they all pretty much looked like this one.

Lol

Except he did take his first selfie!

That's my boy!

So it was a really great 3rd birthday for our big boy! Filled with lots of fun, craziness and family. Happy 3rd birthday Steven! Can't believe you are growing up so quickly!

Quotable Kiddos - Steven at 3 Years

Daddy Steve, "Steven, don't climb on that!"
Steven, "But I'm Captain Hook!"

Daddy Steven,  "Steven don't drink the bathwater!"
Steven, "But I'm a cow!"

When I asked him who his favorite super hero is he said, "Super Mario!"
(Definitely his father's son).

When trying to wear his spider man costume to school,
Daddy "No, you can't wear that to school."
Steven "But my friends will be happy."

Every night before bed we talk about what we will dream about and I always say him.
In the morning he says, "Mommy, did you dream about me?" (Melt my heart).

Whenever he's mad:
"You are NOT my best friend!"

Driving by any body of water lately:
"Daddy, There's sharks in the water!"

When we are saying goodnight:
"Don't let the bugs bed to bite."

Anniversary Trip to Chicago

It's kind of crazy to think that Steve and I have already been married for 5 years! Isn't that nuts? It seems like the time has flown by but at the same time it seems like we've always been married. Kinda crazy how life is like that.

Anyway, we haven't celebrated our anniversary really at all for the past few years due to not having any extra money. But this year, we decided we really should celebrate. Steve and I have been through SO much over the past 5 years and it's been really stressful lately with moving and everything so it was really great to reconnect.

We decided to take a weekend trip to Chicago. Neither of us have really explored the downtown Chicago area and done the touristy things around there. I know I've been there when I was a kid, but not lately. We also decided to take a trip to Ikea to see if they had any furniture for our new house. Steve's parents watched the boys and we are SO grateful.

So we set off on a Friday morning and drove through. My fabulous sister in law found us a Groupon for the ACME Hotel. Which was so perfect for this trip. They were super nice and it was in a great location for everything we wanted to do. We would definitely go back to that hotel.

Coming into downtown.

On the first night when we got there we checked into the hotel and changed clothes and went to a really nice dinner. My friend Jenn has a sister that lives in Chicago not too far from where we stayed so she asked her for some recommendations. This restaurant was one of them, Coppervine. It turned out she had great recommendations because this place was awesome!! It had a really neat concept of tapas with different pairings. So each plate had a suggested wine, beer and cocktail to go along with it. We went with it and tried a bunch of different drinks. It was super yummy!

Steve is eating a baby octopus. Gross

After dinner we went to see the Blue Man Group at the Briar Street Theater. Neither of us had ever seen them before and we both heard it was really neat. They did not disappoint. We didn't get any real good pictures while we were there but this is us after the show.

Selfie!

After that we went out to a couple bars near our hotel. We were out pretty late, go us!

The next morning we went to the Shedd Aquarium. It was only 2.5 miles from our hotel so we took a cab there. It was like a 7 minute cab ride ha ha.

Isn't this so cool?

The Shedd Aquarium was SO neat. We both loved it. It was pricey to get in but I think it was well worth it. They had several different areas with different exhibits. My favorite was the underwater tank with all the big sharks and fish that you can see swimming above you.

Big Shark!

Sorry for the bad picture but isn't this a huge tank of gigantic sharks!!?!

A close second favorite would be the jellyfish exhibit. That was so cool to see all the different kinds of jellyfish and learn about them.

They had a lot of neat exhibits and we spent a long time exploring and watching the shows.

Touching the starfish.

It turned out to be such a beautiful day and we were in a really pretty part of Chicago so we decided to walk to a pizza place for lunch. We ended up at Lou Malnati's and OMG it was delicious.

We had brushetta for an appetizer, which was excellent.

Yum

Then we got the classic deep dish pizza. I think it had sausage or something in it. I think this was a quarter of a small? lol

so good

After lunch, we decided to just walk the rest of the way back to the hotel. It was really cool walking though Chicago like that on such a pretty day. We went by a HUGE Target in downtown Chicago. It was 3 stories! Glorious. ha ha! When we got back to the hotel we were pretty tired so we took a nap.

We woke up and decided to go walk Michigan Ave and look around. Our hotel was literally 2 blocks from the Magnificent Mile so that was really fun. We walked through a lot of stores but the only thing we bought was some Disney stuff for the boys. Go figure. Oh and I got a skirt!

After that we went back to the hotel and changed. We had made late dinner reservations(9pm!) at another of Jenn's sister's recommendations, Hub 51. This place was within walking distance from our hotel so we just booked it. We walked a LOT that day. I have blisters still.

Don't we look good?

Hub 51 was awesome. They had a lot of different wines and beers. They have a Hub punch on draft which was delicious. They had such an interesting menu, there was tacos, burgers, pasta, fish really you name it and they pretty much had it. I had read on Yelp that their pulled pork nachos were really good so we ordered those first. OMG so delicious. They were huge though!

Best guacamole I've ever had for sure.

We were pretty stuffed after that so we decided to split an entree and I let Steve choose. I think he picked pork shoulder with apricots or something? All I heard was garlic mashed potatoes and I was in. I dunno but it was excellent.

I really enjoy that about Steve. He usually picks the weirdest thing on the menu and almost never picks things he's already had. I used to be the order the same thing every time kinda gal, but because of him I'm branching out a lot and really liking a lot of new things!

We tried to walk to a few clubs that we had recommended to us, but there was a long line to get in. We were both stuffed and pretty tired from our busy day so we just went back to the hotel.

The next day we checked out of the hotel and headed to the motherland, I mean IKEA. I had never been to Ikea before, which is crazy. I have heard great things about their furniture and we need quite a few things for our new house so we went to check it out.

Well Ikea did not disappoint. There were so many neat things there, we wanted to buy everything. The store is HUGE too. Like ridiculously huge. We spent 3 hours shopping there and I could have stayed way longer. We had to stop for lunch and refuel in the middle.

Tried their famous meatballs.

We ended up getting quite a few things. We got so much that our car was FULL. I mean this is a lot of stuff!

So many boxes.

A lot of people have asked me what we got so I'll link it for ya. We ended up getting ourselves a bed, a bunk bed for the boys (Steve has been talking about wanting to have bunk beds for them forever, he was so excited), a dresser for Steven, some shelving for the toys/playroom, and I got quite a few picture frames, some toys for the boys, spice racks I'm going to use as book shelves, a magnetic knife rack and I'm sure a few other things I forgot! I can't wait for the Ikea to open in St. Louis next year!!

After that we headed home. We had a GREAT trip. We did a lot of fun things together and it was so nice to reconnect as a couple. We got to talk about a million things which we never get to do usually because there area always little ears around and when they go to bed we are usually both beat too! It was really a super great trip and we both really liked the city and want to go back soon!