19 Months

My intention was to post an update on Hudson and Brooklyn when they turned 18 months. That date has come and gone and here we are at 19 months already. I truly can't believe how fast time is going.

We are in the midst of some crazy times right now. This past week H and B dropped their morning naps. I tend to be a little abrupt in  my schedule changes. I usually decide one day to drop a nap or a feeding and then just do it. I've realized though with 2 schedules to change I need to be a little less drastic. So they still have a nap 2-3 mornings a week, especially if we are home. It is amazing how much I miss that 1 hour break in the morning. It has been an exhausting change for me and the kids. I suppose it doesn't help that Kevin is in the middle of golf season, which gets him home at 5:30 2 days a week and after 6:00 the other two. I am totally spoiled that he is usually home around 4:00. I just wanted to share some pictures of Hudson and Brooklyn and give a little run down about each of them. (for our memory mostly) They are both so precious and sweet and exhausting all at the same time.

Ethan really does a great job with both Hudson and Brooklyn. He loves having a little brother to run around with and I know that will improve more and more as Hudson gets older. He still gets very frustrated when they cry and scream, but that is getting better.

Morgan is an amazing big sister. She does a great job as well. However, as Hudson and Brooklyn are getting older they are getting more opinionated about what they play with and do so they don't go along with all that Morgan wants as much as they used to. That leads Morgan to get more frustrated with them.

Brooklyn is our little sweetheart with quite the independent streak. She will give you sweet smiles and lots of cuddles, but if you dare take something away from her that she wants she will arch her back and scream. She does not like to share, but when she gives you something she (and Hudson too) says "bank you". Brooklyn is a girly, girl and loves to wear people's jewelry. She was our last walker. Finally 2 weeks shy of 18 months she decided to walk more than crawl. She is still quite a bit slower than Hudson, but she is doing great. Brooklyn tends to get distracted when she is walking, so since she is pretty light I end up carrying her a lot more than Hudson. Brooklyn loves to play with her sister. They both have the same tendencies to quietly find trouble, get covered in dirt in the sand box and find boxes and bags to fill with stuff. Her taste buds are a little less picky than Hudson's. Brooklyn loves to join in the after dinner family dance parties and she does most of the motions to the songs and rhymes at the library. She is still slower to smile than Hudson, but is pretty willing to go with anyone who wants to hold her. 

Hudson is 110% boy. He loves his golf clubs, balls, being outside, food, trucks and people. He loves to say "Hi" and "Bye" to anyone he sees. Shooting noises come quite naturally for him. Hudson is inquisitive like his brother, but he lacks the caution that Ethan has. So that means I am constantly taking things away from him, moving things out of his reach and taking him off the kitchen table. Hudson gets quite frustrated when he doesn't get his way and dissolve into tears rather quickly. He is getting better about not standing on chairs, he now climbs up and says "sit, sit" and will actually sit for quite a while. Hudson runs most places and will take off down the sidewalk saying "bye" and walk right up to our neighbor's house. He loves to see their dog. Hudson's verbal skills are a little more developed than Brooklyn's at this point. Hudson loves to read books, especially ones about trucks and animals. While he exhausts me, he wins me and everyone else over with his charm. He has quite the little personality.

Both Hudson and Brooklyn have several words they can say and animal noises they can make. A few of their words are: mama, dada, Brookyn (Hudson), Eth (Brooklyn), MoMo, Papa, Nana, Opa, Oma, Auntie (Brooklyn), Rich (Hudson, Rich is our neighbor), sit (Hudson), ball, no, yes, "eese" (please), cheese (for pictures), "bank you", "ack" (Hudson for snack), sock, shoe, walk (Hudson), book, "yuv oo" (Brooklyn). Just to name the major ones.  Hudson and Brooklyn will attempt most words we ask them to repeat. While this is a tiring stage, I love to listen to their language and Independence grow. They are both great at following directions and when one of them is crying the other will go to their bed and get their binky and bear to comfort them. The other day Hudson walked into the kitchen saying "Uh Oh". He grabbed a towel and walked to the hallway so I followed him and he was trying to clean up some water that he had spilled. It is just so fun watching them mimic us. They both love to help, especially emptying the dishwasher. This independence is fun to watch, but it also makes things very challenging. Both H and B have their own idea of what they want and they have some communication skills, but not enough to always convey their desires. We still have a lot of yelling and crying that happens especially at dinner time. Hudson is quite they yeller when he doesn't get what he wants. We're working on it and already see some improvement. Overall Hudson and Brooklyn are happy, content babies and we are so thankful for that. 

Hudson and Brooklyn we love you so much. You bring so much joy and laughter to our house. Right now mama is pretty tired most days, but I can't imagine life with out you.

I'll leave you with a video I took the other day when I let them have some playtime in Hudson's crib.

Fashion Show

A few weeks ago a family friend asked if Morgan would be in a bridal fashion show that was part of a fundraising tea. I was pretty sure she would love to, and of course when I asked she was all smiles. She was looking forward to the big day for a couple weeks. When she woke up last Saturday she said, "It's fashion show day!"

She got to go early and get make-up done with the big girls. She was in heaven! It helped that they were getting ready in a church nursery filled with "new" toys and her babysitter was also a part of the fashion show.

All dressed and ready to go!

Here she is with the other little flower girl and her buddy Mason who was the "escort" for the little ladies.

There were 5 other girls modeling wedding dresses from different decades. Morgan loved seeing all the pretty dresses.

The plan was for her to walk by herself, but as soon as she saw everyone out there she wouldn't budge. Thankfully her babysitter was willing to take the stroll with her! Mason met up with them half way through their "walk".

Playing Outside

With our mild, dry winter we have spent some time almost every day playing outside. All four of the kids do a great job playing together, making up games, playing "house", digging in the sand and mud and just wandering around the yard. As I write this blog Ethan and Morgan have been outside for over an hour totally entertaining themselves. We always say that our backyard is like another room in our house. Having this outside space and nice winter has literally kept my sanity some days. Here are some pictures taken just 5 days apart.

March 9~A beautiful sunny day....

warm enough to dig a big hole and fill it with water and wear your bathing suit.

March 14~Rainy and cold, daddy finally took the kids outside for the first time that day to burn off some energy. Mommy doesn't do cold, rainy outside play.

The kids of course didn't notice the cold and had a great time splashing in puddles with daddy.

Running

When I was in High school the main reason I quit basketball was because I hated running. Now, 15 years and 4 kids later I completed my first half marathon. This past summer I started running with a group of ladies I met through MOMS club. We get up crazy early (5 am most mornings) and run and chat. It's a perfect mix really, I get time with my friends and exercise and everyone else is still sleeping, so no one needs me. As I slowly began increasing my speed and mileage I decided to do something I always said I never would...run a half marathon. Kevin agreed to do it with me, so back in December we signed up.

Before the race in the parking lot by our truck. It was a chilly morning so we hung out in the truck as long as possible.

Me and some of my running girls.

Kev and I, one more pre-race picture. Kevin set a new PR of 1hr 38 min. It was my goal to run it in under 2 hours and I finished in 1 hr 56 min.

I can honestly say I had fun running and we are already making plans to run another one in November. Maybe I should give basketball another try:)

February

Here's what we've been up to the last few weeks.

Sisters. It is so fun to watch Morgan and Brooklyn together. I love watching their relationship grow and I can't wait to see them become best friends. Morgan is an awesome big sister, and she can't wait to become a mom.

Ethan had the stomach flu last week so when he went to bed early one night Morgan got some special play time with daddy. She loved it!

For better or worse Hudson and Brooklyn are getting into watching TV, especially Elmo. When they see Elmo they both start singing "la,la,la".

Brooklyn fell off Morgan's bed the other day and hit her face on their ladder that Ethan had taken down earlier. She had quite a scrape and then a little black eye for a few days. We have to take the ladder down every day as soon as they wake up, otherwise Hudson makes his way up to Ethan's bed in no time.

The kiddos cuddling with Nana.

Playtime in the garage after dinner.

Morgan loves coloring and doing crafts. I have a lot of fun doing that with her too. Most mornings she keeps busy coloring until breakfast is ready.

Hudson and Brooklyn are sick with a nasty cold again. There have been a few times over the last week that Hudson just lays on the couch with his binky and bear. The binkies and bears have been out of their cribs all week since they are feeling so yucky.

"ma, ma" is what Hudson says whenever he wants something. Lately he has been loving having us read books to him, especially his animal and and tractor books.

Today was the Almond Blossom Run. Ethan and I ran the 1 mile together and then I ran the 8k. It's a fun family tradition to participate in this run each year.

I forgot my camera at the run, but a friend of mine snapped this one when she was taking a picture of her daughter and husband. Ethan did a great job and ran the whole way.

Parade time! It was fun watching the parade this year with all our friends. The kids loved it, except for the fact that many of the horses decided to poop right in front of us. It was  a little smelly.

Kevin's parents were also here last weekend. We had a great visit with them, but I didn't take any pictures. Ethan was recovering from the flu, so he wasn't quite himself, but they enjoyed a trip to the zoo and on Monday Ethan and Opa played putt putt golf and the girls got new sandals with Oma. It was a great visit and as usual it went by way too fast. Kevin and I were able to get away for a few hours on Saturday night which is always a treat.

Just Life

I recently read an article in which the author talked about how we are very good at remembering and documenting the BIG things in life. Fun vacations, first steps, first day of school, birthdays etc are all 'blog worthy' or 'scrapbook worthy' events. But we aren't too good about recording the daily stuff. The stuff that really makes up most of our lives. So this post is dedicated to the ordinary, daily life stuff. I'm recording some things mostly for my sake to remember what we were doing daily at this stage of life.

We are still battling colds in our house. Hudson and Brooklyn have not been healthy for more than 3 days since the beginning of December. It's been a long haul, but I am thankful that aside from one ear infection it has just been runny noses and yucky coughs. Because of that we've only been to church as a family 2 times in the last 2 months. That has been a bummer. I am thankful that I can still go to Bible Study because I already had childcare lined up for H and B.

Ethan is LOVING school. He goes 5 mornings a week. He is now learning how to read and write words on his own. He brings home little readers that he reads to us each night. It is so fun to watch this world unfold for him. Unfortunately that also means spelling things in front of him is almost over..bummer!

This picture was taken on January 14. The kids came home from Costco with Daddy and thought it was so warm that they needed to wear their swim suits. Crazy kids. It really has been unbelievable how warm our winter has been. We play outside in the sun almost everyday. It has also been extremely dry. We've only had a couple days of rain.

Hudson and Brooklyn now like to sit at our little table for snack time. They are still taking 2 naps, one around 9am and one around 1:30. Brooklyn will often stay awake during the morning nap time and just play with her binkies and bear. She is still content to hang out there for an hour so I'm hanging on to it as long as I can. Hudson still needs his sleep. They are both ready for bed around 6:45 and sleep until 6:15 or so. We leave them in their cribs until 7:00 though and they are content to chat with each other.

Brooklyn's hair is curly at the end, but not nearly as curly as Morgan's was at that age. I love to put little piggies in her hair, it's so cute.

Snack time! Most days we skip the morning snack and eat lunch around 11:15 before we go pick up Ethan. It took me about 3 months before I figured out that it is easier to come home with only one hungry kiddo from pick up than 4. Our lunch times are much calmer, although Ethan has to eat by himself. With how nice the weather has been he has eaten outside a couple days while the rest of the kiddos play outside.

Oh my little girl. Morgan keeps busy most days talking and singing to herself and playing great by herself. She really craves that alone time (when we come home from something social she usually goes into her room to play by herself for a while) and does so great making up her own imaginary games. Her newest thing lately is to set up "parties" like the one you see above. She gathers random things and puts them on display around the house. She has a particular way of doing it and knows just where to put everything. She loves to play in our room and leaves me little surprises on my bedside table. We go to Bible Study on Tuesday mornings which she loves and we usually go to story time at the library on Wednesdays. She loves to dance with the songs and Hudson and Brooklyn love getting out and seeing other kids. It's a lot of work to get there with all of them, but it feels good to get out and watch H and B soak up all the songs and stories. Morgan has also recently gotten into doing crafts, she loves to spend that time cutting, gluing, coloring and painting. So different than Ethan at this age. Ethan is just now getting into painting and coloring. He can be kept quite busy now working in his work books and coloring books.

Hudson was wearing Ethan's vampire teeth this morning. It was kinda cute. Ethan gets smiley stickers at school each day if his behavior is good. When he has 5 stickers he can pick something out of the prize box. His choice is usually "sticky hands", most of his prizes find their way to the garbage a week or two later. But they are sure are cool when he first comes home with them!

And here is Morgan sporting the same teeth right after Hudson was wearing them, and I wonder why my kids are always sick:) Lots of germ spreading between each other. What can you do?

Hudson and Brooklyn Show Off

I thought it was maybe time for another video update for those of you interested. Hudson and Brooklyn are growing up so much. They both have about 10 words that they can say, Huds is walking about 90% of the time and Brooklyn is still only taking about 5 or 6 steps. She's so content to do her own thing that I don't think she really cares about walking around with everyone else. Hudson on the other hand was so crabby about a month and a half ago as he so badly wanted to walk around with the big kids. Now he's all but running to do everything that big brother and sister do, and so much happier for it. He really thinks he's a big boy. Have I mentioned that he is going to be our little stinker? But he has a smile that will melt you and probably have him getting his way more than I care to say. I'm thinking I'll do a more detailed update when H and B turn 18 months. For now enjoy them showing you their new skills and think of me often as I prevent climbing on furniture, unraveling toilet paper, and emptying drawers as best as I can.