I have a problem...

I have a confession.  I am addicted to giving my youngest smooches.  Not only that, I take pictures of it.  A lot.  I can't help it!

Case in point:

Another confession - I don't plan on stopping.  As long as he allows it, the smooches will continue.  I know it won't be long until he won't sit still long enough for me to plant one on him.  There's a reason I don't have any photos like this of my three year old!

Week 1 Photos

As I mentioned previously, this month I'm doing a Photography Challenge.  To be honest, some days I don't get around to it & I end up taking several pictures on other days.  But hey - I'm still going to end up with 30 pictures, so it's all good.  Here's what I've taken so far. 

Day 2 - what you wore

 

Day 3 - clouds

I took a bunch of pictures with my fancy camera the day before but thought the clouds looked awesome in the car the next day.  Snapped this with my phone while at a stop sign.  Annoyed that I got a better picture with my phone than my expensive camera but oh well!

 

Day 4 - something green

I told Alex I needed to take a picture of something green.  He insisted on this block.

 

 

Day 5 - from a high angle

Ignore the mess - this is what our house looks like pretty much 24/7, though!

 

Day 6 - from a low angle

Love!

 

Day 7 - in my bag

Can you tell I like purple?  Purple purse, purple Kindle case, purple phone.  I actually didn't mean to have all purple things but it just kind of happened.  It's a little much but I like each one so much, I'm not changing any of it.

 

Day 8 - after dark

 

Stay tuned for the next update!

Tales of My Three Year Old

It's been awhile since I've posted about my oldest child & what he's up to these days.  Many people have told me it's no longer the terrible two's that are the toughest but the terrible three's.  It's true he definitely has a will of his own & there are challenges but for the most part, he's a pretty amazing kid that manages to surprise us often with new phrases & how his little brain works.

• He has become obsessed with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  I don't know exactly how this happened but there's no going back.  He uses anything as a pretend sword or nun chucks & he wants to wear his Ninja Turtles PJs, underwear & t-shirt pretty much every day.  It's funny that he's so into something both Michael & I liked when we were younger. 
• Speaking of underwear, he's potty trained!  We did it in January & we couldn't believe how well it went.  I'm hoping to do another post about it soon.
• We took him to his very first movie the Friday before we potty trained.  It was our way of getting him not to be upset that Ethan got to go to my parents' house that weekend since I didn't want distractions while potty training.  We saw Frozen.  I thought it was a movie about a snowman.  It was not.  The snowman was a small part.  Michael will never forgive me for taking him to a princess movie with what he said was a million songs that all sounded exactly the same.  Alex did well, though.  He got a little twitchy in the middle but after a walk around the lobby with Daddy, he watched the rest.  He loved the popcorn.
• He is talking so much these days.  His latest phrase is - "check this out!"  Don't know where he got it but it's so cute.  He also says - "yes way" when someone says "no way" first, "easy peasy", "easy as pie", "much more better" as in "my tummy was hurting but now it feels much more better".  It's so much fun to see him develop.
• His favorite song is the ABC's.  When he gets to the "l, m, n, o, p" part, he sings "dah dah dah dah, p".  Cracks me up.  He especially loves to rap the ABC's - something Daddy taught him!  You should ask Michael to do his rendition next time you see him.
• One day my parents were coming to our house to be there while we got a storm shelter installed (Michael & I weren't able to take off work).  They decided to keep the boys home to spend time with them.  Alex talked to my dad the night before & my dad said maybe they'd walk through some of the houses being built in our neighborhood.  Alex talked about it all night.  I told him to be careful to watch out for holes or things on the ground like nails.  He said, "I will watch out.  And I'll keep an eye on Grandpa, too."  I couldn't stop laughing.  Sometimes you definitely have to keep an eye on Grandpa!
• One day we were almost home & Alex said he had to go potty.  I told him we were almost at the house & to hold it a little longer.  He told me he would just go outside when we got home.  I told him no & that we don't go peepee outside.  He replied that Daddy goes peepee outside & he ALWAYS does that.  Again, I couldn't stop laughing.  I told Michael about it & we're not sure where Alex got that since I can assure you Michael doesn't go outside at our house.  He might if he's camping or something but we couldn't think of a time when Alex has been around for that.  Alex also said something once about Daddy going on the floor.  We think that stemmed from Michael using a urinal at the movie theater with Alex.  But maybe Michael has been doing some crazy things I'm not aware of.  Ha!
• In the car one day, Alex said out of the blue that he wanted a sister.  I told him he'd have to convince Daddy.  I told him if I got pregnant again, it could be a boy.  He was very adamant that he wanted a GIRL.  He did not understand that we don't get to pick.  I said - what if it was a boy?  He paused & said - "well, we could just get rid of Ethan."  When I asked where Ethan would go, he told me - "to that house over there" while pointing at a random house we drove by.  Hilarious!!  He usually loves his brother, so I think he thought you couldn't have two boy babies & we'd have to choose.  When I told him Ethan would miss us so much, he said - "maybe we can just keep him."  I thought that was a good idea.
• The pregnancy topic came up again recently & I asked if he wanted a baby to be in my belly.  He said - "how you do that?"  I wasn't ready to go into detail but he came up with his own idea.  He said - "I think you say aaahhh & then gulp & then it's in your belly."  While saying this, he opened his mouth big & pretended to swallow something.  I told him that sounded right. 

We just love this little guy so much.  He wears us out sometimes with his never ending energy but he is such a blessing.

I'm hoping to do an update on Ethan soon, too!

April Challenge

I decided that for my April 30 Day Challenge, I am giving up soda & doing a photography challenge.  The goal of the photography challenge is to take a picture every day.  Not just any picture but one of something in particular.  I searched "30 day photography challenge" on Google & Pinterest to get ideas.  I made a tentative list but am giving myself permission to adjust the days as needed.  I won't make a post for each picture but am hoping to post about once a week with the most recent pictures.

 

Day 1 was Self Portrait, commonly known these days as a selfie.  I'm hoping to use my SLR camera for most of these but I kind of forgot about the day's challenge until I was driving home from work yesterday.  So I used my phone in my driveway.  Could have been worse for the end of the day! 

 

 

Hopefully I can keep up with this challenge & I get some good pics!