Huge Air!

My kids really aren't allowed to climb on the coffee table, but it was impossible to not make an exception when there was this much fun to be had!









These are McKenna's attempts at huge air!

Our Cozy Little House...

Is about to get cozier!



Despite Austin's indifferent expression, he is definitely very excited! It's just nearly impossible to get two kids to look and smile at the same time! I can't imagine how I'll get 3 to do it!

A Fountain of Fun

I got waaaay lazy on my posting and didn't realize I still have Summer Fun posts to do! So for the sake of getting caught up, not to mention that the cuteness in the pictures really speaks for itself, I'm just gonna post the pics from our day at the PV Mall Fountain...

Sollow Me!

About half of the time, I forget to get video of some of my favorite things Austin says and does before he stops doing them! But I did happen to remember to capture a "sollow me!", complete with arm movements. It's not nearly as enthusiastic as it often is but it's a good example anyway.

I'm Three, I'm Big, I Ride A Horse!

(I'm behind! Story of my life. I swear I have good reasons!!)

My little man is 3! So crazy to believe. He's definitely growing into a little boy and no longer my little toddler! He keeps me super busy and while I'm not happy with him every moment of the day, I sure do enjoy him!

He was so excited when he realized his birthday was coming up. If you asked him how old he was going to be, he'd answer "Three! I'm big! I ride a horse!" I don't know if he really remembered riding a horse for his 2nd birthday or if he was remembering it from Easter and just really wanted to do it again. Apparently riding a horse was something he equated with being big! Although sometimes he also added "I ride an elephant!" and I have no idea where that came from! He must have realized his birthday was coming up about 3 weeks before the date, because if you asked him when he'd be turning 3, he always answered in 3 weeks, even a few days before!

He thoroughly enjoyed his birthday - all three days of it! I have lots of posts coming, hopefully sometime soon, so I'll be posting about all 3 of his celebrations! a full weekend seemed fitting though, considering how much we love this kid!






New this quarter...

I've had several people comment that they felt the Terrible Twos were nothing compared to the 3s! And as we approached his birthday, I'm starting to believe them! While still generally a happy kid, he has become the incredibly disagreeable at times! Not grumpy necessarily, just disagreeable. He has to contradict every.single.thing.we.say! It is starting to wear. Me - "Oh look, what a pretty tree!" Austin - "No! It's NOT a pretty tree!" Doesn't matter what it is, he has to disagree! Me - "The sky is blue. Water is wet." Austin - "NO! The sky is NOT blue! Water is NOT wet!!" I'm hoping this doesn't last for the whole year. Please, please, someone tell me this doesn't last for the whole year!!

Right along with the disagreeing has come ignoring. He will flat out ignore what you say if he doesn't want to hear it. Not sure if that's a 3 year old thing or a guy thing!? The other day Brian asked him to do something and Austin didn't acknowledge him at all. Brian asked him if he was ignoring him and he responded "Yup!" :|

On the other hand, some of my favorite moments have been when he wraps his arms around my legs and says "Mommy, you're my best friend!" Absolutely can't beat that! That melts away all the crummy moments of toddlerhood!

Man, can this kid do puzzles! I think I mention it every update, cuz it amazes me everytime. He can now zip through 50+ piece ones in a few minutes. He got a 100 piece one for his birthday that he finished fairly quickly with minimal coaching on the 1st try. I love that the box says "Ages 6+"!

Potty training is in about the same spot as last time. We've been doing training in sporatic bursts - doing a few underpants days and then take a break...usually for my sanity after the underpants days don't go well! He does great staying dry a few days and other days, not so well. We even tried a pantless day and that did not go well, to say the least. (It's also know as the "Huge Pile of Poo in the Kitchen" Day. Yeah, it went that well!) In general, I feel like he's making progress though.

He definitely got his daddy's funny bone. His comedic timing is just perfect sometimes! I don't even know where he comes up with some of the stuff he says. My favorite was one day I was tucking him in for a nap and he couldn't find his blankies, that happened to be in his hand. When I pointed that out to him, he replied "Oh you're right, mom! My bad!" I couldn't keep from giggling profusely. I guess he picked that up from me, but I didn't know it. Now he knows that that line is funny and he tries to use frequently. He also has a bit of a Gaffigan-esque style of questioning something you say. Kills me! He definitely goes out of his way for a laugh.

His love of songs is exploding! He's developing such a good memory too. He's got all 3 verses of "I am Jesus Little Lamb" down and will correct you if you sing it wrong. I started him on some Christmas hymns so that by December he'll have them all down. He loves being sung to while getting his back scratched (kid after my own heart right there!) at naptime & bedtime.

He's developed a handful of odd habits. Austin-isms if you will...

He's started saying is that Daddy loves him and that I love McKenna. And he loves Dad & McKenna loves me. We usually group up that way, but he can't quite comprehend that it's possible for us to love them both! He doesn't say it as though he's sad though. Just a matter of fact. I hope that passes quick cuz it kills me to think there's even a sliver of that in his little head!

He insists on putting his socks under his pillow when he sleeps! He goes as far as to pick up dirty ones off the bedroom floor and use them if he's not currently wearing any! He insists they're lucky! I have NO idea where he got that!

If he's ever walking around outside without shoes on, he only walks on his "tippy toes!" And that's usually accompanied by a sing song voice "Tippy Toes! Tippy Toes! Tippy Toes!"

And my absolute favorite one - He greats every day with such joy! Love it! Every time he opens the door, he proclaims "It's a beautiful day, Mom!" Even a gloomy dark day does nothing to quench his joy! Love his heart!

Gosh, I feel like I'm forgetting a bunch. He certainly keeps us on our toes and keeps us smiling! Love this boy! Best 3 years of my life!!

Half Past One

I have a good excuse for being a week late on this update! I've been party planning like a crazy woman this week, getting Austin's party all ready to go! It was an awesome day! But now that I don't have 19 box cars to construct and paint anymore (wait for the pictures to come! They were so cool!) I can get back to getting caught up on my blog! I'm a full 2 months behind already and that is just not okay!

Once again, amazing month with my little girl. Love her to death! It absolutely floors me that she is the same age that Austin was when she was born! Partly because I still feel like she's my baby baby, (even though she's at the exact same milestones he was, similar size and talks way more) and partly because I feel like her first 18 months zipped by in a blur compared to his and I wish I could rewind it and watch it all again and just savor it a touch more!






New this month...

She's officially a big girl cuz she has a big girl bed! I'll post more on that at a later time with pictures. (I promise, I'm gonna get caught up soon!) But just to say, she's doing great and LOVES her bed! She loves to show people who come over her new "night night". She's only gotten out once or twice and usually just lays right down and goes to sleep. She's a girl after my own heart - she loves her sleep!


Since I happened to go to the dr's already, some stats - 32.25" tall (70%) & 21 lbs (8%). Dropped a few % on height and is holding steady on weight. She is generally in 18m tops but will still fit in the occasional 12m. Now that we're entering pants weather it will be interesting. She's too tall for most 12m but too skinny for 18m. The summer was great for shorts and capris! I found a few that fit okay. Hopefully I can find a few more!

Her first two molars came in finally! I'm actually not sure about her other ones, she hardly lets me get a look in there or put in a finger to check. I think they are fairly close if not through in tiny spots.

And with teeth came better eating. Finally! It was more like 6 weeks bad and 2 weeks good this last time. Just in the last couple weeks, she's really picked up how much she eats and a bit more variety, which is great! Just in time for a dr's appt Tuesday, so I was able to report she's eating good.

She had her first night away from Mommy two weekends ago. I was at a Women's retreat for two days and one night. She did pretty good. Daddy reported she cried a bit when I wasn't there to feed her in the morning but promptly got over it and chose to go back to sleep rather than drink a sippy cup. That gives me tons of comfort since Brian and I are taking our first weekend away from the kids this weekend.

Man, is she a defiant little girl! She will do exactly what you just asked her not to, especially if it involves putting things in her mouth! She also thinks "McKenna, come here" is the starting words for racing in the opposit direction. She always stops, gives you the coyest smile, and then bolts! Sometimes she's defiant cuz she thinks it's funny, but if you make her mad then she really gets defiant! Tantrums were somewhat better this month but she definitely has a temper!

She loves "jumping" - Bouncing while taking one foot off the floor. She watches Austin closely and is determined to figure it out. While I was out of town, Daddy took the kids to Kids Concepts and she discovered a love for the bouncer. Now she bounces on the couch & her bed even more than before.

Oh my goodness, so many words! She just floors me! She will attempt to repeat just about anything you tell her and can do a fairly good job. One day I got a really clear "alligator" out of her! One word she NEVER says, though, is "Yes". She answers "please" if you ask her if she wants something. If "please" isn't an appropriate answer (ex Do you like...) she doesn't answer usually. If you ask her if she can say "yes", she simply answers "no". Just the last couple days she's started saying "yeah" occasionally if you ask her to say yes. This is just so funny to me!

My favorite "word" of the month has been "oosh". That's what she calls dogs. Apparently in our house, dogs go "oosh". Anytime she sees anything that even remotely resembles a dog, she calls it this. When she enters my parents' house, she will often immediately start asking for the "oosh" which means she wants to carry around the picture of Boomer. She LOVES animals and gets so excited whenever she sees a dog or cat, to the point of tantrum if she can't go pet them.

She knows "herself" now. If you ask who McKenna is, she sweetly points to herself.

One of my favorite new things this month is her love of waking Austin up. She generally gets up before he does and when it's time to get him up, she gets so excited! At first she gently pokes him and gets down in his face and says "hi!", over and over. Then if he needs more prodding, she gets a little firmer. It cracks me up! She so loves her brother!