Imaginiation

It's the best just to sit back and watch/listen to what Tytus is thinking and making up. It ranges all the way from mimicking familiar situations (like feeding his stuffed animals and putting blankets on them for their naps) to new funny scenarios. One day last week he brought out his bag of blocks and started building a city without saying anything or asking for help. I asked him what he was doing and he described a house, a bridge, and showed me where the train goes through. He made the sounds and everything, so I had to take a picture. :)

getting started

giving a tour of his creation

So proud!

Last weekend we spent most of Saturday running errands. One of the last stops we made was Sams to get some new tires for Ian's car. We dropped off the car and walked around while they worked on it. After we checked out they were still finishing up, so Ian held Tytus up to look through the windows to check out what was going on. We talked about how the wheels were old, how they lift the car up to work on it, and that the new wheels will be safer to drive on now. Since then it has been a part of our daily conversation to talk about daddy's new wheels. Usually he says "NEW WHEELS" with a huge smile and his hands up in the air. He's reenacted it several times with different tools and props....one day with his tricycle, another with his little green truck, even out in the sandbox with his little diggers.

4 months

Our sweet little guy

Witten is four months old now and so much fun! I remember this is when time seems to fly as they begin to learn so many new things. He's working on sitting up on his own, still loves tummy time, and LOVES to talk to people. He'll also pull up if you hold his hands. I think the most fun is when we're outside on a blanket and he gets to stand up and talk to whoever is around. He can see his brother (most likely throwing a ball or running around) and hear all the fun noises. It's getting to be really pretty most days, so we get to spend a lot of our time out of the house. Cherishing this time and loving both of our boys!

Happy Easter!

Jesus is risen and we can celebrate and truly live because of it! He has blessed us in so many ways, and we live to bring him glory in how we raise our two boys, love each other as husband and wife, and try to treat others the way He shows us in His word. Here's how our family has grown through the last three Easters:

2011

2012

2013

A Three Month Old and Fun Brother Time

3 months old - Where has the time gone?

He loves tummy time!

Witten has been sleeping 12 hours through the night for a while now, which has been a great gift! We've also gotten to where his long nap of the day falls right during Tytus' nap. I would say those are two big reasons why it's getting easier being a mom of two. It's so much fun to see Witten smiling and talking back to us when we visit with him. He loves to be a part of what's going on, but I can also see that he enjoys having some quiet time without a whole lot of commotion. I'm sure we'll see more and more of his personality as the months keep flying by.

Now that Witten can hold and grab at toys a little, Tytus will pick out a few things and try to hand them to him or prop them up for him to see. As we were playing in the living room one day Tytus was being really sweet playing with Witten, so I asked if he wanted to hold him. I sat them down next to each other and Tytus immediately put his arm around him and just loved it!

Sweet, sweet brothers

Tytus also wanted to look at some books that day. So, he went and got two books that he knew Witten would enjoy and I helped sit him up so he could look at them. Then Tytus got a book for himself. So studious :)

Happy 2nd Birthday Tytus!

The big 2 year old!

We celebrated Tytus' birthday with just the four of us last weekend. Ian and the birthday boy left early in their pj's to get some donuts. We ate them at home and started to open some presents before Witten got up. Over the last month or so I have been talking to Tytus about his birthday and what it meant to be turning two. I didn't really bring up presents at all, but I found that I didn't really need to. Every time we talked about his birthday he would say "Green truck!". Needless to say that it was really simply to pick out his gift this year.....and he loved it! He also got some little men to put in the truck and a tee ball set to play with outside this summer.

Daddy got his these cool Green Lantern and Superman Little People to go in his truck 

It didn't take long for the truck to make it into the sandbox.

The week before his birthday we had some crazy winds blow down both sides of our fence. It was tough to let Mia go out to use the bathroom because she would go right over to the neighbors' yards to explore and try to get out of any holes they may have. So, Ian and one of our neighbors spent almost the entire day on Saturday taking the old fence posts out, buying new supplies, pouring concrete for the new posts, and reinforcing the sections of fence that had fallen. It actually made for a perfect day for Tytus because he got to spend all day outside with daddy and lots of tools. Doesn't get much better than that!

Right after the fence fell....and there were more sections down on the other side of our yard.

The guys working!

We had some pizza out on the deck for lunch and then after naps we sang happy birthday and ate some cake. I found a cool recipe for a truck cake and thought it would be fun to give it a shot. It turned out pretty good, and he loved eating it! Now he thinks every birthday cake is a "truck cake".

To end the birthday celebration we went to check out the kite festival in Austin on Sunday. We met Aunt Lindsay, Oliver, and Aiden there and had so much fun watching all the kites and enjoyed spending some more time outside. It made for a really fun weekend to celebrate our two year old. We can't believe it's already been two years!

Eating some peas for a snack...yum!

The kites filled the sky

Witten was also there, but I think he was napping on his blanket at this point.

Chugga Chugga Choo Choo!!

We are finally chugging along around our house as far as how to operate as a group of three when it's just the boys and me on most weekdays, and a fun group of four the rest of the time! We've gotten out of the house more often and invited friends to come play as well. On Valentines we got to go to Zilker Park in Austin to ride the train with Aunt Lindsay, Oliver, and Aiden. Tytus was pretty quiet during the train ride, so I wasn't sure if it was as exciting as I thought it would be. Now I see he was just taking it all in. We've had so many conversations about it since. He'll name all four of the boys that rode on the green train (even though the little ones were just sleeping during the ride). :) And he'll talk about the tunnel, bridges, train tracks, and the park we played on afterwards. He loves to look at the picture I've taken on my phone, and the train pictures have become some of his new favorites.

Taking it all in

The two big guys!

Ready to go!

Witten was enjoying himself, too!

Witten is now 2 months old and is growing so much! He's more than doubled in size, started smiling, holding his head up really well, and will have a little conversation with you. :) He's such a gentle little guy, and I'm sure he's taking in so much from watching his older brother all the time. They are so much fun together!

2 months old

Both of our guys around the same age again. I have so many moments that I think "Wow, I've been here before!", but although they're very similar I love each of their unique qualities!

                                         

Most weekends Tytus especially loves hanging out with daddy. They have so much fun together and, of course, daddy can do things with him that mommy doesn't. Last weekend Ian went to hang out with one of the guys from church, so it gave us a Saturday morning that was different than usual. It was a beautiful day and we spent a lot of time outside. I was trying to decide how to get Witten back to sleep when he woke up in the middle of his nap while also keeping my word to Tytus that we could go back outside...and we also needed to eat lunch as it was almost 1:00 by this point and he needed to take a nap as well. To make all of it work we ended up just having a picnic on the deck. I quickly made some tuna and crackers (one of Tytus' favorites) and we finished the rest of some green beans we had made earlier in the week. He ate quicker than I've seen him eat in a long time and thought it was great getting to share a plate with mommy and eat outside! 

6 weeks

Our 6 week old!

Witten is a happy little guy and a great sleeper at night, but we've got to work on those naps during the day. Each day I think I'll catch a quick nap if I can get both sleeping at the same time, but more often than not I end up spending time with one of them while the other sleeps. Here's what Witten and I ended up doing the other day while Tytus was sound asleep. It was so fun to hear him "talking" while kicking his feet so happily! And even though I didn't get a nap, it's really special to have alone time with Witten. It was fun to just enjoy him without going back and forth between the two of them. 

This was also the first day that all 3 of us went to MOPS. So fun to get out and spend time with friends!

Tytus, of course, is taking notes on all the ways we help take care of Witten and how it's different than him. He'll take the initiative to help out and is such a fun brother. While I was making lunch one day this week I looked over to see him doing this. 

Just for fun, I found these picture of our two boys around the same age. It's fun to see how similar they are, but we can definitely already see differences as well. I think Tytus is actually a little older in these two, but it's still pretty close. :)