Brief Kiddo Update

I wrote this earlier this week. Here are some random thoughts before I post separately on Kate's birthday (today!!)...

Kate calls Collin, "Bubby" now:) As most nicknames, they morph over time and our use of Bubba has been changed to Bubby for now in Kate's world. She also uses, "Bro" quite a bit. And likes that it rhymes with things, "Let's go, bro!"

Collin is driving me crazy with his eating again. For awhile, he was eating so well at every meal and snack, he has increased the variety of what he will eat. Now he is just being picky to drive me nuts. He is not eating very well at meals and I spend my days moving a mad toddler away from the fridge and pantry as he is constantly going there and trying (or succeeding) in opening them. He just wants to snack all day and he is now refusing some of my old standbys for the snacks. Uff da. 

I guess he liked this meal. Salad and spaghetti.
These pictures never do justice to the actual mess:)

Kate has been doing better (we have issues with her asking for food every 23 seconds as well) and is still a great "eater" and loves healthy stuff. She actually turns down brownies, cookies and chocolate most of the time! She was very interested in her birthday cupcakes and she does like suckers, but other than that she's not that into it. How lucky to have our oldest not care about her parade/Halloween/holiday candy! After about 24 hours, she completely forgets about it. I suspect Collin will not be this way...

I recently put this table in the living instead of our coffee table. We do duplos, trains, whatever on it but lately someone just climbs it and uses as a jungle gym. I think Sesame Street was on in this pic. Stupid TV up high...

I think I mentioned how awesome it is when the toddlers can communicate/understand more. Right now, this one is obeying really well if I ask him to get his shoes, throw something away, give something to Mommy, etc. If he knows he shouldn't have it, he will generally run away and giggle...but plenty of times he just does what I ask! Hurray, it saves me even a little bit of time! We'll see what happens when Baby comes...

I flattened out some packing paper to see what we could do with it.
He immediately laid down on it. Silly boy!

As many of you know, Kate lives in her own little world. She is a Momma and "it is hard work" and she has 3-4 kids depending on what day you are talking to her. She goes on endlessly about her husband (who is also a nurse anesthetist at the hospital with Daddy:) and her kids. The other day she talked to me for a half an hour about how muddy her kids get playing sports (one of her girls plays soccer, another tennis, one boy plays football and the other baseball). She also said once that her husband and his dad laughed so loud they woke the kids! Hmmm... :) 

The other day while raking the leaves, she stopped and leaned on the rake and kept telling me it was so sad her oldest girl couldn't come outside because she is allergic to flowers. I love her imagination and I just totally play along with it unless we have to do/I need to say something else, but I did have to tell her that Mommy was busy and she needed to rake quietly for a little bit. But I know that sometimes Dave's tolerance for these 30 minute stories about make-believe families wears a little thin when he gets home, so I try to listen and get it all out during the day as much as possible.  :) 

Gorgeously warm day, we probably didn't even need long sleeves!

I was sitting in a chair and all of a sudden Collin comes out of the garage with all of this in his hands:)
He teed it up and hit it like a pro!

I'm 28 weeks:) If you like those food comparisons...Baby is the size of an eggplant, weighing about 2.25 pounds and measuring around 14-15 inches! Well, I can believe that with the increase in movement I feel. It's not a lot of hard kicks (like Collin) but just general movement (more like Kate). My little app on my phone says that is is 84 days until my due date. Though seeing Quinn and now Freya (friend's brand new baby girl) is really making me want to hold this Babe, I know how fast these next months will fly and so I am determined to make them as stress-free as possible and just enjoy the holidays and my two kids. Oh and Dave:) You can't go back! We are only a family of four for a little longer, so though I know I may appear stressed/exhausted/overwhelmed at times lately, I do have a good perspective on it all, reflect daily on all the blessings in our lives and know that this stuff I stress over is really pretty insignificant (like where the heck is Kate's take-home folder and what am I going to bring for her birthday treats?!!)