Discovering more of Tytus

Playing right before bed one night

It really is a gift to get to uncover things about your kids. Discovering little parts of who they are is such fun! It was Tytus' 5th birthday last week and we had planned a perfect party for him, which in his mind includes lots of people and celebrating with food and playing! Well, the beginning of the week started out really rough with him and Prim spending most of Monday night urping up their dinner. The next day Tytus was not himself at all. Not eating anything for breakfast he had low energy and sleepy eyes from not much sleep, but he remembered that he'd picked out presents for Prim and daddy the day before:
Ian had dropped us off at Target to run in and get two things, but on our way to get them Tytus stopped to eye a cute little fox sippy cup on the end of an aisle. He picked it up (specifically that animal and not any of the others sitting there) and said "Mom, Prim would LOVE this cute little foxy cup! We should wrap it up for her birthday!" It was so thoughtful and not expensive, so I went with it. We went and got our two things and headed to check out when he stopped right before the register and said "Mommy, come here! Daddy would LOVE this for his birthday! He loves Star Wars!" So once again, I went with it and added the little bag of legos to our purchase. He wanted to hide both of them under his shirt while we walked out to the car so neither of Prim or Daddy would see, but he just couldn't contain his excitement. He gave Ian two hints on the way home and Ian finally guessed what the gift was before we were turning onto our street. Tytus reminded him that we'd have to wrap it up and wait for his birthday, though. :)

So back to breakfast the morning after he was sick....I suggested that we should just lay down and read some books or maybe watch a show so his body could rest and start feeling better. He agreed, but then said, "Well, I think I'm feeling good enough to wrap those presents. Can we please?" So we went into the wrapping closet and he picked specific wrapping paper for Prim and Ian. He helped pull off pieces of tape and put them carefully in the right places after I'd folded the wrapping paper. Then we got out my big scrapbooking box and he picked out paper and stickers and different colors of my special pens to write the cards. As we were doing all this it struck me that he truly gains pleasure to give good gifts. He would rather do this than rest or watch a show or anything else right now, even though he feels (and looks) awful. We probably worked for about an hour total on wrapping and making cards and then carried them into the dining room to place them where they could be seen as we wait for the birthdays to arrive. He wrote all the words himself in Ian's card and drew and colored two light sabers to go with the theme of the gift. He also picked out specific stickers for Prim's gift knowing she loves bananas and flowers. Even though it was the week of his birthday, he was able to pick and wrap sweet gifts for others because I think God has wired him that way. Moments like this are such a gift to me. It's like unwrapping a little part of him that I was unaware of until that day. Seeing pieces of each of our little ones come out over time is one of the greatest gifts of being a mom!

On the night of his actual birthday....candles (and a lego
gummy) in ice cream to sing happy birthday!

Oh, and his birthday party turned out to be a ton of fun celebrating him and hanging out with friends. Happy 5th Birthday, bud!

5, 6, 7, 8..... 9 months old!

Little miss Prim is growin' up!

5 months

6 months

7 months

8 months

9 months

We've had our hands full the past couple of months....but in lots of good ways. Prim has gone from sitting up to scooting, and now she mainly gets around by quickly crawling wherever she needs to go. She'll pull up on anything to cruise around as long as she has something to hold onto. She stood alone for a split second a few days ago, but once she was aware of it she quickly reached for mommy and took a step before falling into mommy's arms. She's miss chatty and loves to join in on any conversation that's happening especially when it's with her brothers. More often than not she'll add in a few "da da da da's" and a big smile or a loud squeal. Some new things she's just started doing that crack us up are: her priceless reaction to "Where's Baby?"....she looks around and gets super excited when she spots her baby doll, waving to herself in the mirror or to anyone that will wave at her, and her sweet giggles. Sometimes she belly laughs at us tickling or surprising her, but most recently she has tried to do funny things herself to initiate silly time and she'll kind of laugh at herself. Silly girl.

We raked up 2 huge piles of leaves all around Prim while she just sat and watched them getting taller and taller

The boys have gotten more and more into helping her. They'll give her drinks of water while she's eating, come to her rescue when she's upset and mommy's busy making a meal or trying to get something else done, and they excel at entertaining her. Lately Tytus has gone into her room after her nap to put toys in her bed (and climb in himself). I'll hear talking soon turn into loud squealing and laughing as I'm waking up from my nap or finishing up a project I've been working on during their quiet time. It's nice to wrap up what I'm doing while he's in there having a blast with her. Tytus has also starting picking up Prim to carry her somewhere else in the house. Yikes! The first time he did it I was super nervous because she's a pretty heavy little girl. He attempted to set her down carefully, but it didn't end too great. A hug and snuggle made a little bump all better, though. The next time he tried it he set her down on her feet and was yelling "Prim's standing! Mom, Prim's standing!" as I ran in to see. Sure enough she was just standing there (not holding on to anything) looking out the back door at Mia and Tytus was standing right next to her watching so proudly.

Witten had a blast running full speed and jumping into the piles! And watching the "big trucks" pave our street.

Witten is a great protector and will come save/check on Prim during our walks. He'll be speeding ahead on his bike and then quickly stop and run back to us to say "Prim, are you all right?" He'll carefully bend down to look her in the eye and stroke her cheek as if she was actually upset or hurt. She usually tries to project herself out of her stroller or squeals really loudly at him in excitement. He also really enjoys being her leader and having some authority over her. He'll mimic us saying "no no" to her when she's putting rocks in her mouth outside or dropping her spoon on the floor during a meal. He'll look at her very seriously and say "Prim. Spoon down is a no no." It's great fun for him to lead her into a room and practice reading books to her by turning the pages. He really does love showing her around and being the big brother!

On a big brother note, the boys have hit a stage of playing, playing, playing together. From first thing in the morning until the door shuts for bedtime they practically do everything together. They initiate long periods of play where they pretend different scenarios, attempt to create a project together, or build something together. I remember playing with my siblings was so easy and fun because we just "got" each other. It's almost like you have unwritten rules to how you play and what things you usually pretend. It's great fun to see them run around together! Right now we have a tiny little tree in our backyard that has toys hanging all over it. They were "decorating for Christmas" one day and were using rope to hang all sorts of toys from this poor little tree. Tytus was mainly doing the hanging while Witten was going back and forth from the tree to the playhouse delivering "supplies" and making meals. He would scoop up rocks and mix them up, then serve them onto "plates" which were pieces of a broken pot. This morning they were playing trucks in their room, then rushed down stairs to do some washing. They filled up the sink downstairs and were creating soapy water to wash various toys and things until it was time to help with breakfast. Of course, their taking initiative sometimes doesn't end up so great and Ian and I have to step in and remind them of certain rules in the house. Like don't get water all over the bathroom. Then it's time for them to help each other clean it up.
Since they've both gotten great at riding their bikes, Tytus on his pedal bike and Witten on his balance bike, they'll often ask to ride around out in the front or go on a bike ride all together. Our walks are so much quicker to where I'm jogging or running most of the time and get a pretty good work out! So far we've ventured to H-E-B on our bikes to pick up some ingredients for dinner, and we took an afternoon ride to our library to check out some new books. They think it's great when I get the bike lock out to secure our bikes while we're gone. :) Another fun thing that has come about is playing games outside together. Last week they wanted to get out the baseball tee and bat. I quickly showed them how to set up the bases and shared just a few ground rules. We had a blast playing together in the backyard. They'd take turns hitting, running, getting the ball to tag others out, and all the while Prim was intently watching and cheering us on. It's become one of the regular fun things we do together now, and they even got in a quick game one morning with daddy before he took them to school. Witten's teachers said he was SO chatty that day.....and it all had to do with playing baseball with Daddy that morning.

Prim watching and playing while the boys ride bikes and Daddy works on projects.

Happy 3rd Birthday Witten!

Witten has grown up so much over the last year! He has such a caring and reserved yet silly personality. It's been so fun to see him as a big brother and how he takes care of Prim, but also does the silliest things with her that make her laugh so hard. One day he said "Mom, you know what? I think I really like Prim!" I can see parts of him come out that are eunique to him being a BIG brother instead of always being the littlest. We're so thankful for the awesome boy God made him to be!

Hanging lights before the party!

Playing with friends while the hot dogs are grilling.

For Witten's birthday I asked him how he'd like to celebrate...either with lots of family and friends at home or just a few specific people while we choose some fun activity or place to go to. He didn't waiver in choosing a small group :) and then he decided it would be the most fun to have a camp out! So we invited two cousins and his neighbor friend over to cook out hotdogs and play in the fort in the backyard. It was a blast! He helped choose all the plates, napkins, goodies for his guests (a lollipop and superhero tattoo), and the cake as well. I'd have to say it was one of the most enjoyable birthday celebrations we've had because we got to really be with him and enjoy him playing and doing things he loves without being bombarded with a crowd or lots of activity. Once dinner, cake eating, and present opening was over, we set up the tent and teepee and got our pjs on. Daddy told all the boys a loooonng story about a boy and his dad on an adventure until they got pretty sleepy. All slept well and made for a super fun memorable celebration for our 3 year old!

Summer Recap

This is what summer should look like, right? Everyone sleeping in!

Man, we've had such a blast this summer. It's been a surprisingly cool summer, so we've spent a good amount of our time outside exploring, playing, taking walks, going to the pool, playing in our new fort, having picnics in our front yard, and trying to soak it all in.

racing on the loud bridge by the pond of one of our favorite parks

painting with mommy and daddy on our on-going summer remodel

The boys love pretending, so I feel like no matter where they are there's some kind of explanation for who they're rescuing or where we need to hurry to be safe or protect somebody. So fun! When we started talking about Daddy being home more in the summer (after Prim was born) Tytus had two things he was looking forward to: building a fort with Daddy, going on vacation. We had talked about getting to do those things in the summer once his preschool was out to get the boys excited about what was to come. Well, most of the summer went by and we realized that the fort idea might not happen this summer. We threw around some ideas, but weren't too sure on what to do since our time had been taken up by some home projects already. Little did we know, a neighbor was getting rid of their fort/swing set in the backyard and would freely give it to anyone who would help remove it for them. Yay for us! Ian got some guys to help haul it, and Uncle Mark and Ian spent some time digging out holes one night to place it securely in the ground the next day. So far, it's been a hit! It's the first thing they want to do almost every day after breakfast.

They've been watching Octonauts and were mimicking one of the characters that is a rabbit.
Tytus chose these carrots specifically at the store and we ate through all of them right when we got
home because they would climb up and down the fort saying "Got it Cap'n!"and take a bite.

We also got to go on a trip to Sea World that we had been planning on doing this summer with the boys. They've been really into learning about animals, specifically sea creatures, and we thought it would be a fun experience since we live fairly close to San Antonio.  On our way to a hotel that night we stopped in down town Austin to watch the bats fly from the bridge. We got dinner and ate it on the bridge while the sun went down. Once it was about to set, the bats all started to fly out. It was a lot quieter than I imagined, but it was amazing to see that number of bats. The boys have a book about different places in Texas, so it was fun for them to see what the book was illustrating.

Sea World was an adventure! We enjoyed getting to see the different animals, ride a few rides, the boys splashed around in the splash pad/climbing area, and we drank lots of water! Man, it was hot! All in all I would say it was a fun trip and interesting to see some of the animals in real life, but it was a little too fast-paced for our ideal vacation. Great memories were made, with the highlight for the boys being the last show we saw with acrobatic divers, dolphins, and belugas. They have both been trying out different ways to be divers or flip around like those guys were doing in the show. Yikes!

Some good exploring has been going on around our backyard, neighborhood, and just around Austin in general. We've been going to the library more frequently again, walking down to our creek to see if it's filled up with water yet (they've been praying for God to fill it up with rain), and building tons of legos. One Saturday we headed out to our favorite breakfast spot and then went to Zilker to walk around and climb the giant rocks in the center of the park. Ian had run in a race at the park the night before and Tytus thought it'd be fun to come back to climb around in the day time. It was such beautiful weather and good time to spend together!

Well, summer is coming to a close and I can't believe it! Is it really time for preschool to start again?!

All ready with their backpacks

First day of school!

Prim - 3 and 4 Months

3 months

Prim is a pretty happy camper. She's also been a great sleeper, giving me a full nights sleep of 12+ hours since she turned 2 months. She got sick right after she turned 3 months and went through some interesting sleep habits (waking up more often at night). Now that we're on month 4 we've gotten back on our normal sleeping through the night and we're both loving it. :) Other than her sleep changing, most everything else has either stayed the same or gotten better with her. I guess she just has so much to watch and listen to that she's content most of the time. I just don't remember the boys playing on their own as well as she does.....usually as long as she is near the action and can see where we are she's happy to continue playing on her back, belly, or in her bouncer. Probably her favorite time of day is bath time. Usually no matter how tired she is, she still gets really happy and talkative at bath time! She also loves going on walks and swinging in her swing outside. She's gotten good at scooting herself in a circle when she's on her belly but hasn't rolled over yet. Tytus and Witten weren't much for rolling so I guess I just expected her to be the same as them and kind of just skip that milestone. I think her favorite position is sitting up. She can sit and stand with someone holding her hands or supporting her, but she's not quite strong enough to hold herself all the way up for too long.

Bath Time!

The boys are great at helping push her (gently) in the swing

This is where she spends part of her morning while I'm making breakfast

practicing standing (and putting everything in her mouth!)

practicing sittin'

One of Tytus' favorite things is to dress her up in all her frilly outfits!

She's also a giggler! A few days ago Tytus heard her get up from her nap and raced in to see what we were doing (since he's usually looking  for a reason to cut his quiet time short) and he made her laugh SO much. They kept giggling back and forth and I couldn't help but laugh myself. I finally decided to try to catch some of it on camera because it was too good to pass up.

The months seem to be flying by! I can't wait to see what we get to learn about her next :)

4 months

2 months old (in pictures)

Our happy two month old

A lot has happened from Prim's first to second month. She's been all over the place and has been a happy little camper through all of it! Here's a little recap of what we've been up to and what she's been doing along with us!

Schlitterbaun!

 We planned to take a mini-vacation for just the five of us and it was so much fun! We kept postponing the trip because of all the rain, but finally we just picked one of the less rainy days and went for it. It was a blast, and Prim enjoyed sleeping about as much as the boys enjoyed splashing around.

sleeping away

the submarine the boys played in for the first half of the day

woo hoo! lots of sliding!

Sleeping all around the house:

Prim has been known to be found asleep in just about any room in our house. It's definitely been a change being in a two-story house with a little one, so it's not the most convenient to always put her upstairs for naps. She'll usually just naps wherever we are.

On daddy's side of the bed downstairs while we were playing outside

In our chair in the living room while we eat lunch

Outside while the boys swim

Visiting both grandparents:

We got to get in lots of swimming and also visited the zoo in our two trips to Dallas. It was a fun way to have Ian's time off come to a close. The boys had a blast splashing around and spending time with family. It was fun for Prim to go along and do things that we enjoy doing with our families!

Watching penguins at the zoo

swimming!

napping :)

lots of smiles and "talking"

bedtime snuggles

and, of course, more swimming

Time with brothers:

Prim goes right along with what Tytus and Witten are doing and really loves to know they're around. If it suddenly goes quiet (like everyone has left the room) she usually gets pretty sad. It's been a nice break every now and then to have the boys go with Ian and run errands and whatnot while Prim and I have some time alone at home, but I'd say she's become really accustomed to having a bustle around the house and definitely seems to the miss their activity when they're gone. 

Sitting while they watch the Octonauts and mommy folds some laundry

Lounging under an awesome fort while they "protect" her

playing with Witten while we make breakfast in the morning