Soaking it up

The weather continues to deliver around here so we spent much of the weekend outside soaking it up. 

 We have a new bike park participant, and he loves it!

 Ambrose is no longer content to just ride around the bike park, he now tries the ramps.

 Bram also uses the ramps, but "drops in" on his bum rather than on a bike.

 The word is getting out about the bike/skate park and each time we go there's at least a couple of people there. On the outside, the others are very accommodating of our little bike riders, but on the inside, I'm sure they groan a little each time we drive up.

We also took another hike, which was planned and therefore we were a little more prepared. Bram has been feeling under the weather today, so we decided to stay in for the most part, but thought that sitting in the backpack in the fresh air might do him a little good (not sure if that was the case however because he was extra coughy on the way home...poor guy!)

 The hike is well cleared, which is great because otherwise, we'd be walking through these guys...

 Gotta love the silhouette family photo. You can't tell that Ambrose is mid whine in the pic, Bram has snot all over his face, my hair is all sorts of messy and John is wearing a work shirt.

Ambrose would rather sit and play with rocks than hike, so he spends most of his "hike" quickly picking up rocks and then trying to catch up ( or whining at us to wait for him)

Here's my poor sick little guy. He has the junkiest cough and a nose that doesn't stop running. I hope that it clears up soon. It's hard to see him like this. 

75 and sunny

NM tries to make up for the unbearably hot summers, with its' rockin fall, winter and spring. Today the high was 75 and we made the best of it with morning coffee on the patio, sand table fun, picnic lunches, open windows, bike play dates with friends and capped it off with with drinks on the patio. Ahhhh.....

Hike

It was great having John home for three days this weekend! Yesterday, we decided to have a picnic, which then turned into an impromptu hike (hence the unstructured carrier for Bram, but it all worked out). 

My standards for a family picture get lower by the day. Here, I've cut Ambrose's head off, and the only indication that Bram is even there is his wild Donal Trump hair, and yet, after I turned the phone around to see the pic, I said..."hey, this isn't too bad".....

 Bram became irritated at facing inward about 5 minutes into the hike, so I turned him around, which was dangerous. Once facing forward, the kid kicked his legs like a wild man, and although there was a path,in some parts it was really overgrown, and in New Mexico, it's overgrown with cactus. So, I was constantly pinning his legs down so that his little calves wouldn't be skewered by a cactus tine.

Cautious

Bram is much more cautious than Ambrose was at this age. It's taken him a while to really become comfortable with cruising, and he's just recently started to walk with a walker. Today while we were grilling I caught him on camera.

Here's a quick video. I love that his personality comes through!

30 while I'm 30

I turned 30 last month, and I've never been one of those people who's been afraid of birthdays or turning a year older. I think that comes from the fact that I'm exactly where I want to be in life, I am incredibly content . I love my husband, love my family and love staying at home enjoying all of them to the fullest. 30 did make me stop and think, and I can't believe how quick the pace of life is right now. The days pass quickly, almost too quickly and without planning and goals, the days get away from me. I decided to make a list of things I'd like to accomplish while I'm thirty. Most are all easily attainable, but without the list, I know that each of the items would be lost in the shuffle of life. 

1.train for a race

2.go on a vacation with my husband sans kids

3.take a family vacation

4.sleep 8 glorious hours (believe it or not, when I wrote this post, this is the one that I saw most impossible, but in the last month or so, Bram has been sleeping....not every night and not through the night.....but he's sleeping hours at a time.....this folks is huge for us over here)

5.keep my car clean for an entire week (which would hopefully lead to some clean car inertia, and it would last longer than a week)

6.find a pair of jeans I absolutely love, and pay no attention to the price tag

7.Get family pictures taken

8.Be fully unplugged at least 1 day per month

9. sell our house

10. crochet something I'll actually use/wear

11. sew something I'll actually use/wear

12. grow and eat my own vegetables

13. drink wine on the patio with my husband at least 3 times a month ( john and I did this almost nightly during the summer, and it was a wonderful end to our days)

14. buy as much local and organic

15. wear earrings daily (silly...yes, but for some reason, if I'm wearing earrings, it makes me feel/look a little more put together, even if the earrings are accompanied by jeans and a sweatshirt)

16. find something that will fade the age spot on my temple

17. buy a bike to go on bike rides with my boys

18. take a college class

19. vote

20. play in the rain with my boys

21. volunteer ( either with my boys, or  without)

22. try and live by: use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without

23. make our upcoming move the most organized yet

24. swim in the ocean

25.cook fish for my family (with asparagus) *these two items are hated foods by either john or I, and I don't want to pass on these biases to the boys)

26. buy coffee for the person behind me in line in my local drive through (a simple lesson in pay it forward)

27. learn to fold a fitted sheet. It can be done, my mom does it quite well, I on the other hand take the roll- it- in- a- ball- and- flatten- with- my- hands method... no more! I'm going to learn

28 see zac brown band in concert:  (or any show really)This one is a silly, far off dream (since we live in Alamogordo...) but I thought I'd throw it out there anyway.

29. reach for my Kindle at night instead of my iphone

30. Lasik, eeek, this has been on my "to do" list for a while, but just recently my vision has stabilized and I'm now a candidate. My eye doc is really encouraging me to do it, he thinks I'm an excellent candidate and I'd get at least 15  or so years out of it. Sounds great, but...yikes!

Do you know how I know

he loves me...
* he tells me every chance he gets.
* He tells me I look beautiful. It doesn't matter if I'm dressed for a formal or in my pj's, he lets me know he thinks I look pretty.
* I use no less than 10 cups a day. I drink half, forget where I've put it, and get another cup. It drives him nuts, but at the end of the day, he silently puts all 10 cups into the sink, and doesn't say a thing.
* he puts all 6 of the decorative pillows back onto the bed every morning, even though I know he hates them.
* Even though he LOVES sleep, he goes into work at a ridiculous hour so that he has a chance of making it back home to me(us) at a decent hour.
* He knows that although I use my Tassimo, I like a half a cup top off, so he makes his pot of coffee + a half a cup and leaves the extra half a cup for me every morning.
* When Bram would scream and scream in the middle of the night, and I'd hold him for ages, John would come in and squeeze my hand, rub my back, or wrap his arms around both Bram and I and let me know that I wasn't in this parenting gig alone.
* He is my constant team mate. In all things, day in and day out, he supports, contributes and leads our family.
* He encourages me to go have some "me time."
* He works his tail off providing for me and the boys.
* He emails me or texts me to tell me he loves me.

he loves me....
* he tells me. Just recently he's started to say "I love you with all my heart mom." It warms me for two reasons 1) I know I'm telling him that frequently because he's repeating it 2) He knows it's an extra special way to say I love you, and I love that he knows that.
* he is sad when I'm sad. I told him yesterday that I was sad ( at one of his choices....can't remember what). After I told him that he sat down by me and asked if I was still sad, I said yes, he asks me again, and I tell him yes, I'm still sad....and that time, he began to cry. He told me he didn't want me to be sad anymore.
* He wants to spend time with me.
* At random times during the day, he asks me if I will sit with him.
* He always wants me to sit down and play trains, race cars, tools......with him ***his Love language is quality time, no doubt!*****
* He shares his food with me.
* He tells me he like my hair, my teeth and my finger nails....that's kid speak for " I think you're pretty mom.'

he loves me....
* he wants to spend every waking (or should be asleep) moment with me.
* when I walk in from being away from him he smiles and makes a bee line right for me.
* when he's been crying, me holding him relaxes and calms him.
* he smiles when I sing to him.
* he laughs when I make funny sounds with my lips.
* when go to get him out of his crib in the morning,  he begins to do this bounce/shake his little but thing when he sees me.
* When I hold him, he leans into me and holds on.

I could go on and on how these boys show me they love me. They are the loves of my life, and in their own ways, they let me know that I am the love of their life too. Life is good.

A day in the life

For PETES SAKE! You know how  I know it's been ages since I posted last (other than the date on the last post)? I forgot the password to be able to publish a new post! Yeesh. 

So, I'd love to have a grand excuse on why posts have been few and far between, but really, it's just because we've been busy with the everyday minutia of life. Nothing out of the ordinary, but busy none the less. 

In case you're wondering what a typical day looks like around here, here ya go, in crappy and slightly annoying Instagram pics

John's work schedule has been particularly heinous lately, and unfortunately, more often than not his alarm clock reads ridiculous-o-clock when his alarm starts squawking. Case in point, 

Back when I was getting a decent night sleep, I'd get up and see him off to work. Since Bram's arrival, I can't even crack my eyes at the hour, mostly due to the fact that, like this morning, I had just crawled back into bed from fighting Sir Screams a lot for an hour. So, I roll over, go back to sleep for another couple of hours and wait for one of the two boys, usually Bram, because who needs sleep....not THIS kid, to wake me. 

I make my coffee and sit down to the computer for a minute or two before the chaos of the day begins.

  

After a minute to myself, Bram let's me know that he's done self entertaining, and he'd like to get up. With coffee cup in hand I shuffle down to his room. This morning, I set my coffee cup down on Bram's nightstand, and when I went to go back and pick it up, I saw a sight that sums up life right about now....If I were an artist, I'd name this picture "Life with two small children." No explanation necessary. 

*just to clarify, the wine glass was from the night before. I had put it down after I had gotten Bram dressed in his jammies....I don't follow up my cup of coffee with a moscoto chaser. 

 In some mystery of the this world, despite being up more times than any 9month old should be, he wakes chipper and ready to start his day. 

I am always looking to buy myself a little more peace and quiet, and so I begin my day by nursing Bram in my bed. It is one of the highlights of my day. There really is no better way to start my morning than with a great cup of coffee and snuggling my sweet boy. 

From the moment both boys are awake I feel like I need to constantly have my running shoes (and earplugs) on. We spend our time playing, laughing, fussing, running errands, whining, eating, cleaning....you get the idea... 

Space museum

Zoo

some days we stop in and see John

Zoo

After a day of playing, it's dinner time, and this folks is where the fun begins (insert eye roll). Every mom knows what the witching hour is, and it's in full force come 430. Bram is absolutely glued to my side.....see......GLUED! 

No pics of dinner because I'm usually still holding down the fort on my own, and sitting down to dinner with these boys is crazy, and taking my eyes off them for a second results in all sorts of messy situations.

We quickly move to bath time, where it used to be a semi-relaxing time for me, but since Bram has figured out how to escape his bath seat, I'm busy saving his life.

We have the standard pj shenanigans (which, often end with someone crying and someone else being put in time out).  John usually comes home during this time, and he makes every second with the boys "count" and the boys eat it up!

We wrestle both boys to bed, which if you've been on the sleep journey with me and Bram, you know that wrestling is no exaggeration.

John and I both fall into a puddle on the couch, where we sit for an hour or so, and then head bed, preparing to do it all again tomorrow :)