Yep. They Continue to Grow & Change...

Wow, so clearly you can tell that I am starting (or started last fall) a venture that is taking up much of my time! I have become a Team Beachbody Coach and am helping women to reach their fitness goals. There is much more to that, and I should perhaps do a blog about it, but that is not why I'm writing today!

I need to document the children! And so let it begin....

Ayden
Mr. Ay, Ay Bay or Ay, as we often call him, is doing great!! Besides getting his share of colds and ear infections, this guy is happy. He's silly, mischevious, fast, curious, smart, tough, a hugger...so many things. 

He has a TON of words for his age. He mimics everything. He regularly says, Dada, Mama, shoe, car, cow, tractor (I mean, for real), uh-oh, ouch...what else. He will repeat something when you say it and likes making car/truck sounds and also a train "choo-choo" sound. 

I think he is the fastest of the kiddos at that age, but I guess I'm twice as distracted, so maybe not. But we are having to Ayden-proof things we never worried about with the others. He also will get into the trash and make a huge mess. It's kind of like having Abby still in the house...

He is still a good eater, but not when he is sick. He loves drinking water and milk and apparently has had juice. As Dave informed me the other day. When he is done, he will quietly throw his food on the floor, one piece at a time. He is WEANED!! Praise God, Hallelujah and thank you, Jesus. I was going to be away for a weekend (Girls weekend to Decorah for fun wedding-related adventures!) and so the week prior, I really ratcheted it down and then we had a cold break. He was loving a cup, so we just needed to take Mommy out of the equation for a bit. 

Similarly, his waking in the night has stopped!  I still can't believe it. Now, if Ay wakes, Dave will go in and soothe and normally that's all it takes, he sleeps for the rest of the night. I no longer go in! It is amazing!! And I can get more sleep now!!!  (except I stay up too late working, spending time with Dave, or am awoken by the other two kids. Oh well) 

He loves to just roll around and entertain himself. He cracks himself up. :) It is so funny to see. And he will play by himself or with the big kids for awhile, but regularly comes and finds me or wants me to pick him up/get down and play with him. So, then we read a book or wrestle around or zoom cars or run around the house:) He also loves to dance  - so he fits well into this family!!

These look so yummy to him!

He has been great lately in running around in the car. He'll sleep, he'll babble to himself, he'll play with a toy or eat a snack. I've actually gotten in the habit of doing the grocery shopping with both boys. That will end again soon when Ay doesn't stay nicely in the little seat. I'm soaking up this brief moment! Speaking of staying nicely....he does NOT do this when we are outside. He will dart around the corner of the house in 1 second flat. He is curious and fast and that combo is going to give me many more gray hairs this summer. Ahh!!!

See Mom, I'm an awesome shopper!

See? They are so helpful! :) 

He will go to some people but also will start screaming if a stranger talks to him or makes faces. He loves the nurse at our doctor's office. But in the grocery line - don't try and make friends.

He's not silly at all:)

Just now he brought me something and after trying to open the garbage...."Guck!" He will pick something up and try and throw it away while saying "yuck." I love it. 

He loves baths and gets one every night! He has a great bedtime routine and normally goes to bed easy!

Collin
This guy is one cool dude. He is loving sports and is pretty good at them all so far. His lifelong dream is to play soccer and he had his first indoor practice last week. I was so proud of him, he did great! He loves riding his bike now :) but needs to hitch a ride at times when we walk our circle. He is still in love with playing cars, trains, building things...he can really play by himself, quietly for a long period of time. It is so cute and so helpful:) We also let him play outside in the driveway (paved part) by himself. I can see him and he just rides around all happy!

He is kind of obsessed with the doctor's office, being a doctor, etc.
We packed his stuff along for one of Kate's appointments.

These are not my most relaxing moments...

He is saying more and more and creating longer and more complex sentences. But he can be REALLY hard to understand if he is upset. Coupled with some of his interesting uses of words or versions of words and we have said to him lately, "We can't understand you." But this is usually when he is throwing a fit. Which he does. Loudly and too often :) I don't think he is any worse than any other 3 year old, but whew. His tantrums are no fun. Anything you do will just escalate it. And now Ayden will come over and either start crying or start laughing - that is pretty funny.

He adores Kate. It is such an amazing relationship. They certainly fight over things and sometimes he won't want to do whatever she has dreamed up, but mostly he does. When she is gone and he sees her again, he will yell, "Kate!! I LOVE you!!" Like when she gets off the bus. Or gets out of the van. :) She is the master conspirator and he is a willing participant, along with caring for him like a 2nd mother...

True buddies

The dynamic between Collin and Ayden is also sweet. And brutal. But sweet. Collin plays really rough with Ay but it doesn't seem to upset him:) I keep saying that Ayden is saving it all up and will give Collin some payback! But they are starting to really, really like playing together. Collin gets a good mix of following Kate but leading Ayden:) Today they were running around and chasing each other and having a blast. 

LOTS of pillow piles and forts!

We had been pretty much nowhere in the potty-training regard, but lately, we are doing alright. If I can give him my full attention, I feel like we could do this quickly, but I can't. So, we have days that are amazing. He had at least a half day keeping real underwear dry. We are doing mostly pull-ups now, but he wants to wear his Spiderman underwear. He can tell when he needs to go but doesn't always. He always goes "I put my waters in the toilet!" He calls "potty" or "urine" as Dave is trying to teach him.."waters."

Update: He is REALLY good about keeping a pull up dry and going potty!! Pooping is a whole other thing, but he goes to into the bathroom immediately after he poops and will go potty, so I think we are making small steps at least. I'm so glad warm weather is coming!! Shorts and sandals, will make it easier!

He LOVES his digger

Other words in Collin repertoire..."Dangerous" - Things can be dangerous. Putting his blanket on his bed a certain way. Changing his diaper. "Chompers" = scissors. "Peanuts" - well, this is how he says penis. He will also say pee-pee. But one time I was changing his diaper and he said, "Mom, no! Watch out, that's dangerous for my peanuts." So...yeah:) He calls his potty chart a "charp." Kate called it "chark." I'm not sure why our kids can't say that word during the potty training stage! 

He is loving to be a "big boy." Ayden is a baby!! Collin is a big boy!! :) He is starting to undress/dress himself, get shoes on, wash, etc. more and more. It is a good thing!! but I definitely need to plan ahead for more time when we are going somewhere - but I'm all for it!

His food requests: salad with rocks (croutons) on it, hot dog and cottage cheese, bloccoli (though he won't eat it), crunchy carrots, airse (?) cream - he says this funny. Spots every ice cream place around us while driving, "hot" chlocolate = chocolate milk, pretzel sticks, and all things dairy. 

When I ask him what he wants to do when he grows up - "Go to outerpace." He wants to be on rocket ship. Likes to go on "aventures" and wants to hike all the hills he sees while driving. If there is an empty...anything around, he puts it on his head and says he is in outerspace:) I remember wanting to be an astronaut too - so cute!

Kate
Miss Kate. She still our mother hen. She is still a hoarder:) Or rearranger. I'm not sure how to describe it. We will painstakingly go through all the toys, sort, clear out, reorganize and put things away with all their parts and in appropriate bins. The next day, she goes through it all, pieces out different things, comes up some imaginary adventure and we find elaborate piles of things that she can't bear for us to touch. Her bed and nightstand are becoming a place to find all kinds of craziness. She HATES cleaning up after play. And I think it is because she is never done. She sets things up and can't bear to tear them back apart just a couple hours later. For this reason, I think she will transition (at some point) to her own room well. I told her she can have her own space and won't have to take things all apart each night. (and we do let somethings slide overnight, but then the boys are here all day and don't exactly respect her wishes).

We have had SOME days to open windows and let them play outside!

School is going well. She is acing everything and really enjoys art class, math and ELT (Extended Learning Time). There already are interesting dynamics between the kids in her class. She gets along with everyone, but is somewhat competitive with some of the boys and has a girl or two that "won't leave her alone." She likes riding the bus, but slowly I am hearing of some teasing and issues while she rides, normal stuff about who sits with who, etc. She actually has a rough bus. There are some trouble kiddos on there. Her bus driver is a saint:) I've asked her about riding next year and she said she was going to switch each year (mom drive for 1st grade, ride the bus 2nd grade, etc:) I think I may drive her next year or one of the trips. When Collin goes, I will drive as well.  Anyway, she is enjoying not wearing snow pants and wearing her big puffy jacket every day:)

Enough sass in there for the whole family!

She had a presentation in school where she had to describe how to do something (a How-To speech!!) and she picked "having cereal." :) So she had to bring in some stuff and present! She was excited. She also did a play in ELT and they performed them for their classes. She was mad because in one of the plays, she had to play a boy dog. In the other play, she was the narrator. She was fine with doing that "performance," but if there is something where she has to go up in front of people, she will shy away. However, she has no problem at her dance recitals, which are up on the giant stage in the high school auditorium.

She has another "in front of the class" type thing coming up. She said, "It kind of makes me scared to stand up there," I told her it is kind of like she is the teacher, etc and she was LOVING that:) She loves to be in charge and be the teacher, so that may help her with that fear! Isn't it crazy they are doing this already? Kindergarten!

She wants to grow flowers this summer and wants to have a lemonade stand as well. She has talked about this A LOT. We've talked about it for awhile now and we really need to come through on it this summer!! She wants to give the money to the hospital:) So sweet. Yesterday, she said she wants to be a nurse anesthetist, ballerina and teacher. She said she will have dance on Tuesdays or her time off and have helpers if she gets called into the hospital:) 

We had a girls weekend away! We thoroughly enjoyed it:)

The other night she really wanted to get her and Collin upstairs and ready for bed all by themselves. I was sick and laying on the floor :) they covered me up with a blanket, rubbed my feet and told me to go to sleep. Kate was SO sweet - listening to the two of them try and get ready for bed was adorable. And they did great. But she lost Collin's attention at the end and so I went upstairs. She was mad that I came up! She wanted to complete it all alone.

These two will be beach bums even more this summer

She never wants to wear a jacket, ALWAYS picks the most inappropriate footwear for the activity, always asks for dessert, sometimes speaks with an English accent, LOVES Mary Poppins (related?:), is in tea party mode right now and cries - no sobs - at any remotely sad part of any movie or show. It is to the point where I don't think I will even put on a regular Disney movie. We watched The Good Dinosaur the other night while Dave was working and she basically ugly-cried through it all. Good grief! I love how sensitive and empathetic she is, but I can't hold and comfort her while also dealing with the boys and getting supper ready:) The next night we watched the Minions ("Millions" - Collin) ....much better:)

She has always loved school and looked forward to it. Up until now, she won't wake on her own very often, but when I whisper it is time for school - she would hop out of bed! But lately, things have changed a bit :(  She is always telling me she is tired and wants to keep sleeping. She wants to cuddle up and stay warm. She has also had some incredibly awful attitudes in that 30 minutes before the bus comes, like crying and flipping out when I tell her the bus will be here soon, issues with getting her hair done...it has been super tough lately. So, I've tried to talk to her more and dig a little deeper. In other moments (not in the moment!!) talk to her about the situation. Anyway, it is tough knowing how to parent! I need to read a book or something:) But the recent mornings have been MUCH better. So, that is encouraging.

Seeing Kylie in her wedding dress! A special day for Kate!

I'm sure I've missed or forgotten the majority of the things I actually wanted to put down, I'm working on a better way to keep my thoughts organized throughout the day. They are adorable, trying, loving, smart, surprising, best friends and worst enemies:) Everything they should be!

I'm behind and catching up...so more posts coming soon...