Logan's 2 year well visit

Logan had his 2 year well visit and I just don't think it could have gone better. :) As a start here are his stats:

37.25 inches (98th percentile)

27 pounds 10 ounces (50th percentile)

Logan got right up on the counter, had no issues sitting on the scale or laying down to get his height measured. While we waited in between the nurse and doctor, we checked out the border and named all the things we saw. Carter did an excellent job keeping himself occupied standing by a bench - I was so thankful for that.



The doctor came in and Logan even spoke for him, which the doctor said that sometimes 2 year olds don't do because they are shy and apprehensive about the visit. I think because Logan was just at the doctor for Carter a couple weeks ago, he was more comfortable. Who knows.



So, his eyes, ears, nose and mouth were checked. Breathing too - he was a champ - no problems. Then the doctor left and the nurse came in for the shots....I was prepared for this to go badly as he is now more aware of what is going to happen. He laid down and I held his arms. Shot one done (thank goodness the shots go so quickly)...his looked changed, but no tears. Shot two done. Still no tears! What a brave and tough guy!!! I had talked up the doctor's visit the day before and day of...who knows if that is what worked or not, but I'll take it!

Logan is such an amazing kid. Not only is he uber-adorable, but he is such a laid-back fun kid. He plays so well by himself and well with others too. He likes to laugh, give big hugs and kisses. At night I always do his bedtime routine and he gives hugs and kisses to John then I pick him up and we both say 'I love you' to Daddy and flash him the I love you 'sign'. Since Logan can't quite master putting his 2 middle fingers down and all the others up, he just puts all 5 fingers out - stiff as a board. It is very cute.

He runs around - he sometimes even starts by pulling one knee up and cranking back his arm and makes a Vroom sound! He is talking a lot more and understands a lot!

He loves his brother and always seems concerned if Carter has left the room without him saying good-bye. "Where's Carter"? And the hands go up and he proceeds to look around. Very cute. On the other hand, poor Carter does get slugged from time to time, in which case Logan goes to time out. When he's done he never goes without telling Carter he's sorry and giving him a hug. If he steals a toy from Carter (which he can only get away with so much longer), he is very good about giving him something else....even his Lightning McQueen race car, which is quite coveted.

Logan is always excited to see both sets of Grandparents - and the feeling is definitely mutual. He will also tell his Grandmas 'Hi Grama, I wuv-u', on the phone.

The week before Logan's birthday, John and I went on vacation - alone. It was lovely. The boys stayed with John's parents and had a marvelous time. I was told that Logan asked for me once when going to bed, but didn't seem sad or cry. That is great (although, would it have hurt him to ask for us more than once??). We are truly grateful that we can leave them with trusting family and not have to worry every second if the boys are having a good time or want to come home.

Logan calls John 'Daddy' and me, 'Mama'. I sometimes would prefer Mommy, but the way he says 'Mama' is just so darn cute.

Logan still is not the best eater - sometimes he is awesome, but most of the time, just okay. He doesn't say he is hungry throughout the day either. He loves, loves, milk. His current favorite foods are: string cheese and pepperoni. Hey - whatever works! Breakfast is his best time and he love pancakes, waffles, bacon, sausage, oatmeal, yogurt, toast, french toast, those dumb powdered sugar donuts....I could go on. I need to find a way to sneak in more veggies into that meal without ruining the flavor. :)

Logan after a few month trial of waking up through the night, which is pretty foreign to us, found his groove again and sleeps from about 8:15 - 6:30. We are working on getting him to at least stay in his room until 7am.

At his 2 year birthday he was mostly in size 2T. Pants waist he could still be 18 month but needs 2T for length...and with some brands of shirts he could actually do a 3T. I like to wear his hair spiked and he gets loads of compliments on those days.

Logan throws some pretty funny tantrums. After throwing himself on the floor a couple times, now he gets down slowly, then proceeds to kick and scream. I giggle to myself, let him get it out a bit, then go try and calm him down. Sometimes he goes to time out without a problem and acts all cool there and sometimes it is not a picnic. Carter likes to keep Logan company in timeout - what a good lil' bro, however it can sometimes be distracting for Logan...especially if Carter has now comphescated the toy Logan was playing with. hehe...stinker!

Logan has a love hate relationship with Buddy. If we are all upstairs, he wants Buddy up there too. If Buddy is in his way, he will push or hit Buddy away (we are working on that one...). He likes to feed Buddy his dogfood and treats. He will go to pet Buddy, but Buddy is still not too sure of 'little' hands and he moves. Logan also finds it fun to chase Buddy with toys and laughs histerically if Buddy pounces on a toy.

STOP! This has become Logan's word of choice. Apparently I say it way too often. Logan says 'Carter, stop!' or 'Buddy, stop!'. We are working on other words and saying things nicely...although when I say stop, I probably don't sound all too pleasant either...so John and I are working on being better role models with our words and actions.

Logan waves hi to people when we walk by, at the mall or something - he is very friendly.

Logan is a Cars-addict! Anything Mater or McQueen. He could watch the movie all dagdum day (as Mater would say). He also really likes Toy Story 1, 2 and 3. His favorite tv shows are Thomas the train, Special Agent OSO, Chuggington, Dora the Explorer and Diego. Depending on what tv we are looking at, he will shout what he watches the most there - OSO or McQueen are the two he shouts the most for!

All in all, he is an awesome dude!!!! We love him to infinity and beyond!!

Carter's 9 month well visit

Carter turned 9 months on October 29th and I took him for his well visit on the 28th. His checkup went very well. Here are his stats:

20 pounds 13 ounces (50th percentile)

29.75 inches (90th percentile)

head: 18 inches (50th percentile)

Carter is growing marvelously! He is just a few ounces less than Logan was at 9 months and 1.25 inches shorter. So while he's still tall, it looks as though he will end up a little shorter than Logan.

He is meeting all of the milestones. He crawls so incredibly fast, he stands up on any piece of furniture that he finds, he walks along the furniture and even transfers from the couch to the end table and he mimicks some sounds...oh he is just so busy! He did well while getting poked and prodded from the doctor and did well for the shot. He only cried a little...tough guy! :) We have to go back in a few weeks for the follow up flu shot.

Carter Mimicks

Not sure if I've mentioned here before, but Carter growls! Imagine if you had a scratchy throat and you were trying to scratch it through growl (I cannot be the only one who has done this). One of the first times he did this was at my Godson's confirmation. The pastor was talking...all was quiet and here came this growl - that sounds scary! It had several of us laughing...which you have to conceal in church. :)

We thought maybe it was fluke, but he keeps busting out this growl. Had I known, I really would have made him be a lion, tiger or bear for Halloween! Instead he is a duck, a hand-me-down costume from his cousin because I couldn't think of something quick enough to have my Mom make it.

Anyway, Carter will just be playing along and John will growl at him...and Carter growls back. We've tested this on more than one occassion - mainly because it is funny to hear him growl. :)

I don't remember Logan mimicking this early, so this is exciting - as it is something new earlier.

Also, I swear there have been a few times that Carter has said Mama. Once when I picked him up and another when he was looking at me from his high chair. We'll see though; it could've been fluke, so we'll wait to see if it happens again.

I wonder with the mimicking and possible first word so soon, if it means that he will talk earlier than Logan did. Logan's first word of 'moo' wasn't until 14.5 months. Typically I've heard that the 2nd child talks later than the first because the first child talks for them. However, l don't believe this to be true when they are 15 months apart. Logan is talking, but not enough to talk for Carter or even in full sentences yet.

We'll see...but for now, this phase is super cute!!

Favorite Things...

My absolute favorite thing that Carter is doing right now is - if you put your face close to his, he grabs your face with both hands, pulls your face to his and nuzzles and laughs. Oh, it is the cutest thing!

You know how when they say when you are having a baby that there is the pitter patter of little feet? Well, it is funny, because obviously at first, babies don't pitter patter. But lately I am reminded of this when Logan has his gym shoes on and runs back and forth on our first floor (which is mainly hardwood and tile). He pitter, patters everywhere and it is such a fun sound.

The boys both have big milestones coming up. Carter is going to be 9 months old on Friday the 29th and Logan is going to be 2 the following Friday the 5th. They are both so little, yet so old. :)

Oh, I do love my boys!

Halloween Pictures

The boys had their Halloween Pictures taken today. While Logan whined (yet again) to get into his costume, once bribed with m&m's he was just fine. He said 'cheese' in the cutest cheesy way possible....he roared with claws out and everything....man, the kid rocked the camera and was a cutie.

Carter, my typical smiler, especially at the studios, didn't smile once. He still took cute pictures, because he is a cute kiddo, but they just weren't with his cute smile. We were in such a rush to get out the door because they both napped longer than usual that he didn't have an extremely full lunch. So between that and the costume being big and warm, he just didn't enjoy the photo shoot like normal.

Anyway, here are some of the pictures:

Carter's First Tooth

He did it!!! At a ripe 8.5 months of age, Carter has sprouted his first tooth. It is his bottom right tooth. It was a very exciting moment!! While I will miss the gummy grin, I am excited for some teeth to come in there.

As I called to tell the Grandma's the exciting news...John's mom had more excitement...my SIL Brittany's water broke (35 weeks) and she was going to have her baby...tonight!

What an exciting day! A tooth and a new niece!

The boys' excitement

Logan the last month, but especially this past week is really emphasizing his excitement for things - even things that he has seen a million times over.

He'll 'read' his car book (simply a book with pictures of real cars). He turns the page - GASP, Oh WOW!!! CARS. He then proceeds to point to each car and say OOH, A CAR!! Turns the page.....repeat.

We were driving yesterday and he was very much awake (typically he is either silent, but awake or sleeping) and he was gasping and shouting with excitement at each car, semi truck, garbage truck or motorcycle we saw. It was soo funny.

He is just so cute.

In the meantime, Carter continues to twirl his hands and feet when he is excited. I recently starting zooming food into his mouth and he laughs and closes his eyes in excitement.

Carter is also trying to make sounds 'tata' seems to be a popular one when he is somewhat quiet. Otherwise, he is a noisy kiddo.

Love them both!!!

Pictures

A random assortment of pictures, but it shows a bit of what we've been up to lately.

After several picture sessions, I've learned that as soon as one starts smiling, the other one stops. I hope to figure out a trick sooner or later, but it is still a cute picture nonetheless.


In September we had a couple 90 degree days. We got this cool truck at a garage sale and it is awesome. Carter fits in the 'trunk' of the truck. Logan would put his feet on the dashboard and I spent a while walking them back and forth along the sidewalk. A good time had by all!

Logan put John's sunglasses on the pumpkin. He was very proud of this and had no problem givin me a 'cheese' smile. :) Love it!

At library storytime we usually do a craft. Our craft this past week, was face painting. We read stories about tigers and same some tiger songs... Here Logan was practicing his ROAR! Too cute. He did very well with the face painting - he sat very still while I put it on and he didn't touch it like many other kids were doing. This could be trouble for us at carnivals. ;)

Logan doesn't like things to be messy - especially on him. I didn't see a spot, but he looked at his shoe and said 'wipe'. I gave him a wipe and this is what he proceeded to do. I guess he just wanted to make sure his tennies shined!

At the playgrounds, he is fearless. He has climbed rock walls (on a slant), he climbs tricky stair cases...but this is his latest accomplishment - the rope wall. He climbs up the 4 rungs and then walks sideways holding onto the ropes and changing hands while he wobbles a bit on the ropes. It is very cool...and scary. I am glad he is not afraid of those things, but at the same time, my heart skips a beat during some of his crazy adventures!

Carter's 8 month photo shoot on the front lawn...

And for his next trick....he started pulling himself to a stand about a week before turning 8 months old. Every morning when we go get him, this is what we find.

Updates

Our summer is coming to a close. Fall is my favorite season, so I am very excited. Plus, this summer, with 2 little ones under 2, it was just too hot for us to be out and really enjoy it. Next summer should be somewhat lovely...although, busy I can imagine with the two of them running around. :) I look forward to it.

Anywho, just a few updates.

Carter has been army crawling since just before he was 7 months old. When he sees something he wants, he is quite persistent. He eats like crazy! He eats puffs as if they are going out of style. Logan also enjoys the puffs...if only they weren't more expensive than a big box of cereal! Logan, while he enjoys puffs, is hit or miss on other things. Some days he likes pb&j, some days not. Same goes with pretty much any food! It is frustrating. His favorite word is 'no' and sometimes he says it with such attitude...Gr.

As Carter is army crawling...he is able to reach toys...toys which his big brother may be playing with. This is not going over extremely well. 'No, Carter, Carter, Carter!!!' is what I hear. Or if Carter crawls to a toy that is not being played with...Logan grabs it from him to put it away. So we are working on sharing toys and not taking things from Carter just because he can. The other day, Logan was drinking out of his water bottle and he left it on the floor. Carter started playing with it and it rolled across the room. Carter started on his trek....he army crawls like crazy...he is about 2 feet away and Logan sees him, walks over, picks up his water bottle, starts drinking and walks away. While he walked away, Carter watched him looking longingly at the water bottle. Poor kiddo...

Logan repeats pretty much anything you ask him to. It is so cute. We have been to so many birthday parties - all different and new experiences for him....and me. :)

Another new trick that Carter has mastered in the last week is going from his stomach to a sitting position. I love watching him learn new things...and some of them without instruction.

One of my new favorite things is part of our bedtime routine. After both boys are changed and in their pj's we let them hang out in our bed for a few minutes before they go to bed. Logan typically likes flop around and laugh, laugh, laugh. Now, Carter joins in on the fun. He flops around, then gets himself in a sitting position and re-flops. Then we tickle the boys...they laugh...then they laugh at each other laughing. It is such a cute time. Then I rock Carter for a couple minutes in his room and put him to bed. Then Logan cuddles inbetween John and I for a few minutes watching tv and then gives John kisses and I tuck him in to bed. It is nice.

Well, I just wanted to make an update. I hope to make more soon!

Carter is 6 months old

My little man Carter just turned 6 months old on July 29th.

He got his first haircut a few days prior. When the wind blew or he put his hands on his head, which is often, his bangs or sideburns would get in his eyes. It was crazy...so I took him to KidSnips. He sat on my lap (Logan sat in the cool truck and watched Thomas the Train as he was getting his haircut next) and we both wore aprons. Carter sat very still and looked soooo clean-cut afterwards. I am very glad I did it.

A few days after his half-birthday, he had his 6 month well visit checkup with Dr. M. It went very well. He showed off his sitting skills as the nurse and doctor entered the room. He also passed all the developmental questions....handing an object from one hand to the other...puts pressure on his legs...sits supported, or un-supported in his case. He had to take an oral vaccination, which he did very well with. He also received 2 shots, which ticked him off just a bit. Here are his stats:

18 pounds 7 ounces (70th percentile)

28 inches (90th percentile)

head: 17.5 (60th percentile)

For those curious, he - at this point - is a half pound *less* than where Logan was...and an inch shorter.

Carter has already started rocking back and forth on his hands and knees in his crib and when placed on the floor. I think this is a couple weeks earlier than Logan. Carter constantly is moving - if sitting in the highchair, you will likely find him twirling his wrists and/or feet. It is just too funny! When he eats, after you spoon in the food, his left hand almost immediately goes into his mouth to suck on it. I think he does it to help him swallow. Carter currently has (breast)milk 3 times and eats baby food with dinner. I did buy some baby food and I made sweet potatoes myself...and avocado. Sometimes he has just sweet potatoes, sometimes a combo-platter. It is a lot thicker than the runny baby food and he LOVES it!

Carter currently sleeps about 12 hours at night (awesome!) and naps twice daily. He wakes up around 8am, is up for 2 hours, then goes down around 10am, sleeps for about 3-4 hours (woo-hoo!), up again for 2 hours, naps for 2 hours, up till 8 when he goes to bed. It is a pretty awesome schedule and I love that I have another great sleeper. At this point, I can tell when he is sleepy - he is fussy or he starts sucking his thumb or lays his head down for longer than 3 seconds. I go upstairs and put him in his bed. He starts sucking his thumb, turns to his side or rolls completely onto his tummy and goes to sleep. Sometimes he cries a bit, but it lasts up to 2 minutes tops! If it is longer than that he most likely just needs to burp, then goes right back down.

Carter smiles ALL the time. He has a great, big smile and it makes others smile when you look at him. His hair has filled in nicely around the sides and back...but is still thick upfront as he never lost any. The super funny thing about the front is his hair goes straight-forward then turns to the right (or left if you are looking at him) AND it is fluffy. He has been compared to (hair-wise ONLY) to Conan O'Brien or Donald Trump. Nice, I know...but it is true.

So I took Carter to get his 6month pictures taken and he did so well. He sat up straight and smiled at the right times and there was a picture that he did not smile, but he looks like a doll (so I got the picture). :) After the picture was printed I realized that his hair has reddish tones - like mine did when I was a kid...my hair was always brown, with natural blonde and red tones throughout. But I also noticed just how poofy Carter's hair is on top. {So for the Madorma-cousins photo shoot a week later, I put gel in Carter's hair to tame the top and it worked.}

Let's see...what else. Carter enjoys swings at the park. He likes to watch his big brother play. He sometimes likes to roll into his big brother or touch his face, to which Logan says 'Carter....'.

Unfortunately, Carter rolls WAY, WAY more than Logan ever probably even thought of...which has led to falling off some pieces of furniture. He is just soooo quick. So, Carter if you are reading this in the future....when people ask you if you were dropped on your head as a baby, you can unfortunately say yes. And now, I would like to apologize for letting that happen.

Carter is just such a cutie pie and when people see him then always compliment his big eyes and cheeks. They also typically say that he looks so big for being only 6 months. Well, yes, based on his stats, he is in the bigger range. However, especially after picking Logan up, when I get Carter from his crib or carry him around downstairs or see him in his carseat or high chair, he is just small to me and I love that.

My 2nd little man is growing up and I love every second of it!

Muddy Buddy

In an attempt to lose weight, get fit and do something fun for myself, my friend Kathy & I did the Muddy Buddy; my friend Sam and her hubby Mike also joined in the fun. It is a 6 mile bike/run race with obstacles. We alternate biking and running and perform an obstacle inbetween (climb a small rock wall, crawl under a cargo net, walk across balance beams, climb up a cargo net and slide down, crawl through a mudpit - the most fun!!!). We had a blast. We trained minimally, so perhaps next year we will train in plenty of time and improve our time. This picture is of us 'after' we cleaned up a bit. :)

Beginnings of a Crawler...

Come here you little puppy dog...hmpf, he can touch it, but can't quite grab it.

He gets up on his hands and knees and rocks back & forth, then collapses.

He has now moved at least an inch closer and can fully grab the puppy. Which he then proceeded to roll all over the carpet while chewing on the puppy.


GO CARTER GO!!!

Randomness

The other night Logan fell out of his bed (I think this is the 3rd time ever). I had just checked the baby monitor about one minute beforehand and all was well. Then thump. He kept yelping 'Fall Down, Fall Down, Fall Down' until I got up there. He was in a squatting position (kind of on all fours, like a cat), with his pacifier in his mouth and still yelping. I picked him up as he stayed in the squatting position, put him back in bed and he fell asleep with no problem. His little voice yelping fall down was just so cute...

Speaking of beds...typically when we put Logan to bed, he stays in his bed and falls asleep - I am truly amazed at this. Every so often though, he'll get up and come out to the hallway. (For the most part, we have stopped locking his door since he isn't abusing the freedom as much as he once was.) What is cool though is that as soon as I say "Back to Bed"...he hussles his little legs right back in his bed and falls asleep! It is great. Sometimes I'll see him starting to get out of bed via the video monitor and I will tell him to get back to bed and he crawls right back in. I appreciate his listening skills....right now. I fear that we will go through a series of tests soon...and for the rest of his life where these skills may diminish.

Speaking of diminishing skills...when we go for a walk back to our park, I sometimes let Logan walk next to the stroller on the extra-wide sidewalk....to burn some energy. He goes longer than I imagine and we inevitably have to cross a street, to which point I tell him he has to hold my hand. On these walks, he mostly flat out refuses (although other times in parking lots, seems to do okay). I will grab his hand and we'll start crossing and then 9 times out of 10 he will melt and turn into jelly-boy in the middle of the street. Fantastic. So since I cannot stop in the middle of the street to disuss with him how he needs to hold my hand while crossing because of dangerous cars, I end up carrying him - either a normal way or by his hand. Ugh. While pushing the double stroller. And sometimes holding Buddy's leash (if I was crazy enough to think that taking the dog to the park was a good idea....while I watch Logan on the playground, make sure Carter is content in the stroller and make sure Buddy behaves while little kids are either super excited or scared to see him there). So we discuss it when we arrive on the sidewalk and again before we start out on the next one. Inevitably, these discussions don't work as he wants to be so independent...and he ends up in the stroller because at this point, Carter has gotten mad from starting and stopping so much and he is tired or hungry and who wants to push a screaming baby in the stroller when you are still a half mile from home?

Speaking of being away from home....It is not often that I leave the house without the kids. This morning I had the pleasure of going to the grocery store by myself. Ah... My kids are not bad while shopping, but with a toddler and baby, it is just not logisticly possible for me to get more than a couple items...Logan is in the seat and Carter is in his carseat in the main basket.....where oh where would the groceries go? If I got desperate, I could just put Carter in the Bjorn...but so far I haven't had to do so. Anyway I digress (I never do that...haha). Before I left Logan had been awake...since 6am (oy!). I got him milk and a little breakfast and we came upstairs. He had a meltdown about something, so I offered him his pacifiers if he took a nap...at 8:30. Much to my surprise, he did just that. So I fed Carter, got ready and then went on my trip. While I was loading my groceries into the car, John called me. He said Logan just wanted to hear my voice. Apparently he had just woken from his nap and was going around the house yelling 'MAMA, MAMA'. How cute!!! I love it! He said 'Hi Mama' into the phone...oh so adorable. Had I not been 5 minutes away, I may have just cried knowing that he knew I was gone and he missed me. I love that guy.

Speaking of mom-attachments...Carter can play just great by himself and also enjoys watching Logan play. If I leave the room and he doesn't see me, all is well...however if I leave and he does see me leave he gets all bent out of shape. As I was leaving the living room today, he actually bent all the way backwards/upside-down in his in his Bumbo just to see me, while crying. I know it is a phase...I don't want it to last long, but it is nice to feel loved when screaming and crying occur as I walk away... :)

Speaking of walking....Logan has lately found a new hobby of sucking on his toe...sometimes his whole foot. Random!

Speaking of....hm. Not sure if I can find a segway for this one. Ooh, speaking of one.....Logan can count to ten (although 4 and 8 prove to be tricky sometimes, although seven is just fine) when repeating after me. He also recently put together a couple wooden puzzles (matching the picture) with his cousins Ashley and Alex. I had put the puzzles in a bin a while back and they hadn't come out until recently. I was so proud to see that he knew where to put the pieces. What a smart cookie!

This is all I can recall at the moment...

9 Fabulous Years!

On Wednesday, June 30th, John and I celebrated our 9 year wedding anniversary. Sometimes it is hard to believe that it has been that long!

The morning of our anniversary, John brought me up a gift from downstairs!! Imagine my surprise! In past years I have discussed gifts ahead of time, he's complained slightly about getting gifts and finding time to do so and usually I purchased something days beforehand and have at least a card waiting for him in the morning. This year, I didn't think much about gifts at all and I didn't even (gasp) get him a card!! So boy did I feel bad when he not only presented me with a card, but a present as well!! It was so nice that he did think of it and it was honestly such a wonderful surprise. Now the gifts. It is important to note that we have always followed both the traditional and modern gifts when we exchange. So our gifts are not expensive jewlery or anything uber amazing, but more fun to figure out what to get each other that fits into the category.

9 years it is: Pottery or Willow (traditional), Leather (modern)

John got me a red oval serving platter (pottery) - which I had previously seen at Target and really liked, a notepad (leatherbound) and the movie Willow. He also gave me Reese Cups (as they are my absolute favorite) and a gift certificate for a nail salon. So sweet!!

Now, what threw me was the movie Willow. I didn't put it together at the time, but I thought he just really wanted that movie so he was giving it to me as a gift...you know, trying to be sneaky. Not so much. Later I found out that he was just sticking with the theme - he said it was either the movie or a stick, which he didn't happen to find. He didn't care about the actual movie.

So, later that day the boys and I went to the library for storytime and they fell asleep on the way home (shocker...). I thought it would be a cute idea to find John's car at the train station and put a note on his car that I couldn't wait to see him for a date later that night. I drove up and down in all 3 parking lots at the train station and thought....where on earth does he park? He gets there fairly early... It was at this time I was telling my sister on the phone what I was doing and it hit me....he takes the train to work on Tuesday. Today was Wednesday. DUH! No kidding I couldn't find his car....man alive! So I later went and got him some gifts. I got him a new leather belt (skipped the Willow idea) and got him some iTunes giftcards and some candy. Since earlier I thought he'd given me Willow the movie because he wanted the movie and was being sneaky, I got him the other red piece of pottery (as a joke since I wanted it) to match my other dish. Haha, John, I'll get you! Yeah....so when I gave it to him later he laughed that I gave him pottery. Then it all clicked to me - he could care less about the movie Willow, he was just doing it to tie in with the traditional gift. So who looks silly now?!?! Ah, Paige..

Anywho, that is just a silly story that I wanted to remember...

For our anniversary night our original plan was to go out to dinner with the kids. However, as time got closer we realized that going to dinner with 2 small children is not going to be even a little bit relaxing and will likely stress us out. So, we placed a call to my parents and they came on up to watch the boys. So the plan to go to a family friendly restaurant that was noisy to help masque any screams from our table quickly turned into a place where jeans were not worn and silence was the norm...yay! We went to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse - oh YUM!

We enjoyed a lovely dinner...delicious steak, yummy sides, a martini for me and wine for him and dessert where they wrote 'Happy Anniversary' on our plate. It was super good.

We came home to Logan fast asleep and Carter - smiling and squirming in excitement to see us. It was nice as I rarely am away from the boys, so I don't get to see their pure excitement when I enter a room. :)

That weekend, on Saturday we went to one of my college friends' wedding. As we forgot to take a picture on our actual anniversary, we snapped this picture in the parking lot of the banquet hall. It was another nice evening without children. John's parents came down and had a great time with the boys.
John and I are very thankful for a healthy, happy marriage that has been blessed with 2 adorable boys that bring joy to us every day!

Carter's cuteness

Carter loves blowing bubbles / giving raspberries / spitting - whatever you want to call it. He thinks he is pretty tough stuff after he does it. It is super cute! Here is a picture of him doing it, although he also looks like he could be puckering up as well. I love this little man!