Friday, February 27, 2015

Snow Days

One of the many differences between living here and living in Utah: Snow days = No work.  

We got our first real snow of the year last week.  Darin didn't have to work.  Yesterday we got another 5 inches or so, he didn't have to work again. It's a beautiful thing. Him not working means that I get to work during the day, without feeling like Shae is being neglected. It also means that I get to get together with a bunch of girls and go out to lunch sans children (at one of the few places that we can find open). It also means we get to have family time--during the week...during the day! It really is a beautiful thing.

Shae is the only one of us that has some form of snow clothing, but we didn't let that stop us from getting out and playing. Last week when we went out, he pretty much just wanted to "swim" in the snow.




Yesterday we focused more on our building skills. We made a not so great Olaf and then worked on some pretty awesome forts.




Shae be like, "Mom, you are big and unbalanced. Take my hand and I will help you." He's a pretty thoughtful two year old. 


 Spring training is so soon! 




 Shae helped with the fort for a bit...

 But then daddy brought the water bottle out to freeze the fort...Shae was done after that...

 We then decided to recruit some extra help and our Luke buddies came right over.

 "Dad, building a fort may be fun for you, but these sticks are WAY cooler."

 And it starts...








And that is what we do on a snow day round these parts.

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Two Year Birthday

Shae's birthday was really nice. We had been singing "Happy Birthday to You" all week to prepare him. I was surprised how excited I was about celebrating his birthday. I really just love an excuse to celebrate.

The night before his birthday we put out a couple presents, some streamers, and balloons. When he woke up, we walked into his room singing "Happy Birthday." He seemed very concerned that we were both coming into his room, and so cheerfully. He got a bit angry and started saying, "No. Potty. No! Potty!" He was more excited when we walked down stairs and he saw the balloons and "pe-sents" on the floor. 






Putting all his quarters from Grandma Sharon in the bank.
We then whipped up some waffles and strawberries to eat before daddy had to leave for work. The day of his actual birthday was not very exciting. (He'll never know the difference). I had a doctor's appointment up in Richmond and then a Skype call for work in the afternoon. To make up for it, we had some friends over that evening. It was a pretty hectic day for me. We invited the missionaries over for dinner, then invited some friends from our branch over to do a birthday FHE with us, along with our neighbors.

I threw the cake together in about five minutes. I had envisioned a cake with a road and grass. I wanted to put some of his little cars on it...yeah, that did NOT happen. M&Ms were the easy decorating solution. I did make homemade buttercream frosting though, so give me a little credit.





Our neighbors bought Shae this car, which he LOVES. It makes tons of loud noises and drives itself all over the floor. As soon as they left, Darin said, "I'm taking the batteries out of this." Of course I didn't let him, I mean, Shae was enjoying it so much!


A few days later we did another little birthday FHE with some of Shae's best buddies (and he just so happens to be wearing the same shirt...it really was a different day).


Darin led the lesson and taught the kids "The Wise Man and the Foolish Man" song.


Then we played a few of Shae's favorite little games (Wake Up Bunny, London Bridges, Ring Around the Rosie, Freeze Dance).


Then it was cupcake time (and ice cream! We are obsessed with Blue Bell ice cream right now...especially the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. So so so good). And check out that fashonista pregnant lady back there. Darin's jersey's and maxi skirts from here on out people. 


I went ahead and put candles in all the kids cupcakes, because they all try to blow out the birthday person's candle anyways. Just seemed easier this way (Although I did give Shae two candles and everyone else just got one. Favoritism).




He seemed to enjoy himself quite well that evening. Thankfully he has been so much happier this week (pause in the teething?), which helped us all enjoy his birthday week to the maximum. Still can't believe that he is two...

Friday, February 13, 2015

Two Years

We have a two year old in the house! Complete with oober cute smiles, laughs, and phrases.  As well as kicking and screaming tantrums and stubbornness. It amazes me how toddlers can go from totally fine to totally not fine in a matter of seconds (or vice versa). Needless to say, we are completely enamored with him.


How could we not be?


Things to note about our two year old muchacho:

~He no longer refers to his blankie as "gee-kee." It is now blankie. A little bittersweet for us because hearing him say "gee-kee" was pretty cute. He is completely obsessed with that ratty, holey blankie. 

~He pretty much potty trained himself a few weeks ago. We weren't planning to push anything with him until after the baby was born, but a few weeks ago he started telling us he needed to go pee-pee and he's been in undies ever since (except nap time and bed time). And when I say "potty trained," I really mean "pee-pee trained." Pooping seems to really cause him anxiety, as he never goes in the potty. He always saves it for nap time or bed time when he has a diaper on...which has made sleeping a bit interesting...we'll figure that one out someday. For now, we are so happy/proud of how well he's done peeing in the potty. Can I just say, his little bum in undies...!! Cutest thing ever.


Trying to convince him to sit on the potty long enough to go poop... has yet to work.


~He has become a clean freak. If he gets something on his hands while eating, he won't continue eating until we wipe off his hands. Or if he spills water...or anything on himself, he immediately starts yelling "towel!" and gets really cranky when he realizes he is still wet. 

~He has stopped saying "up" when he wants to be picked up and now says, "hug?" in the sweetest most innocent voice.

~Loves "tuck tuck" (being tucked in to a blanket). At night, he always asks for "tuck tuck?" before going to bed.  Also when watching a movie.


~After coming home from our Christmas vacation, he showed 0 interest in sitting in his high chair again. He now sits at the table with us (on top of a few handy dandy dictionaries). 

~He loves going to "church!" He thinks nursery is called church so as soon as sacrament meeting is done he starts smiling, hopping, and yelling "church! church!"

~He still loves piling up blankets, pillows, and stuffed animals. Lately his favorite place to do this is at the bottom of the stairs. He finds all the pillows he can upstairs and throws them down. All the while chugging milk like there's no tomorrow (the kid still LOVES milk, he would drink it all day if we'd let him).


~Fire trucks/ambulances/police cars are all called "Wee-ers," like the sound they make. He sometimes says things like, "Oh no, where wee-er?" Which makes us laugh...because we sometimes act like immature 14 year olds. 

~His best friend is definitely Flavia. He loves this girl.



~Everything is either a car, or a train, or a bus, or an airplane, or a little boy, or a baby, or some kind of animal. We don't usually make it very far into a meal without some type of personification occurring. 



~Just in the last month he has really become interested in "projects." He loves coloring, drawing, stickers, play dough...etc. More than coloring with crayons, he loves pens and blank paper. I can't blame him, a pen just feels so smooth. Who doesn't love using a pen?

~A lot of his vocabulary consists of the second half of words.  For example: Cleese (Hercules), corn (popcorn), mae-toe (tomatoe), King (Lion King), cake (pancake), cumber (cucumber)...apparently I can only think of food and movies right now, but you get the idea.

~Still sleeps for about 12-13 hours a night. Goes to bed at 7 and usually wakes up somewhere between 7:15-7:45 a.m. Naps have been sporadic as of late (as I currently listen to him jump up and down in his bed while yelling something about spiders). He's been getting his two year molars...and pooping... so naps have been a bit more unpredictable. At least I'm hoping that his lack of napping can be attributed to those things and that once they pass he will start napping again... one can hope. He has yet to climb out of the crib (I honestly can't imagine him trying. He's not much of a climber), so at least he can be contained for "quiet time" (I need to think of a better name for it since it is the opposite of quiet...) and I can have some sort of "peace." 


Basically, we love this little boy to death and can't imagine life without him tugging on us, pulling us down to play with him, asking us to read the same book again and again and again. He is loud and tiring and sensitive and sweet. He's friendly and concerned and overall just a happy happy boy.



His 2 year check up was great. The doctor confirmed that he is in fact getting those 2 year molars on the bottom. 

He was so good while the doctor checked him out. He looked like such a big boy! 

Height: 34" (49%ile)
Weight: 28 lb 8 oz (57%ile)


 


Happy Birthday little Shaeby who is no longer much of a baby.