Monday, March 16, 2015

My mom

My mom is an amazing example of what it is to be genuinely selfless.  She loves our family so much and I truly know that she would do ANYTHING for us.  Recently Dave had a work trip in Dallas Texas. I called my mom and she graciously offered to use vacation time to come stay with me, Caleb and Zoe Sunday through Tuesday while Dave was gone.  Just having her there was a huge blessing as it's quite a bit of work taking care off a toddler and an infant...ok at times it's really exhausting!  My mom knows this as she was in the same situation 33 years ago, so of course she not only helped with the kids, but she also did a laundry list of tasks around the house.  From taking Caleb outside to play, to putting kids to bed, to cleaning the house, doing the laundry, ironing, cooking meals, buying things we needed around the house and going grocery shopping.  She didn't have to do any of that but I am very thankful for it all.  I am so grateful for her, she is a perfect example of the mom I strive to be.

She also surprised me with a massage on my birthday and watched the kids that weekend so Dave and I could have a night to ourselves.  The weekend was perfect because we stayed at The Lodge in Siren, WI where our wedding reception was which brought back some great memories.

Lastly, my mom came down to the cities one weekend and took me, Caleb and Zoe to the Children's Museum.  She loved on Zoe while Caleb and I discovered everything they had at the museum.  Later when we arrived home, she was able to walk Caleb to the park and play with him too.  You can tell how much she loves her grandkids...it truly warms my heart.  She will totally get down on the floor and play cars with Caleb like she's 20 years old.  I love it!!




Thank you mom for always being a blessing to our family.  Your selfless giving spirit reminds me of the scripture in 2 Corinthians 9:7 which says "...God loves a cheerful giver."  We love you!!!

Sunday, March 15, 2015

Siblings

Brotherly sisterly love...most of the time.


Showing Zoe the Zebra...


Reading to Zoe...


Mommy forcing a sibling picture...


Coo hair Zoe...


Daddy saving Zoe from a punch...



Family of Four

Holy moly it's hard to take family pics with the four of us but here is one for the books.





Calebisms

Caleb is at such a fun age right now. He keeps us laughing by saying the funniest things, along with mispronouncing certain words. Here are a few that will hopefully put a smile on your face.

Elephantant = Elephant
Motorsoaker = Motorcycle
Outer face = Outer space
In the chicken = In the kitchen
Night night crock n site = Goodnight goodnight construction site
Sliperly = Slippery
Help you = Help me
Mamote = Remote
Potato = Play-doh

Caleb is becoming very polite.  Miss Terri at daycare said she's never seen someone so polite at his age.  He asks, "Can I go potty please?"  I remember the first day when I sneezed and Caleb said bless you mommy.  Just tonight, Caleb was sitting in his chair with Dave reading a book and I came in to put Caleb's laundry away. As I'm putting his laundry in his dresser he looks up and says thank you mommy.  His kindness makes me smile.  When we are in public he smiles at everyone, waves and says hi.

Caleb had a stretch where he would say bye to everything when we were leaving the house. He would say bye jeep, bye Dusty, bye TV, bye mamote, etc.

At night we pray over all of our family members (Grandpa Harley, Grandma Patty, Uncle Bud, Grandpa Mike, Grandma Lala, Uncle Dan, Auntie Emily, Kaylin, Daddy, Mommy, Caleb and Zoe) and afterwards we ask if there is anyone else he wants to pray for.  He's prayed over Spiderman, Superman, Larry and Bob from VeggieTales, all the characters from Toy Story, friends at school, teachers, Tucker, Rocky, Bruno, the cats, grandpa's truck, the rhino, uncle bud's truck, the four-wheeler, Zeke's shoes and Michael Jordan shoes.

He loves VeggieTales and when he was going through the phase of learning to poop on the potty he asked "Bob poop? Larry poop?"

In his Bible book there was a picture of Jesus waving and Caleb said "High five Jesus!" and proceeded to give Jesus hand on the page a high five.  In that same book he would say "Noah and Noah's wife" and then smack his lips like a kiss sound.  He wanted to be clear that Noah loved his wife.

We've brought hip hop sayings from our day into Caleb's life.  He says "Boomshakalaka", "Shake it like a Polaroid picture" and "Whoomp there it is".

The other day Caleb climbed up on the couch to do "tummy time" with Zoe.  Caleb looked up at Dave and said "Look at these two kids".

One day Caleb's hair was sticking up all over the place from after a nap and I said "Cool hair Caleb".  Later that day he rubbed Zoe's head and said "Coo hair Zoe".

I'm sure he will continue to make us laugh for many years to come!

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

3 months

This little lady turned 3 months.  I just love her so much!  She is always so happy and smiley.  Miss Terri who watches her during the day absolutely adores her and says the same thing that she's super happy, smiley and chatty.  I can agree with her that Zoe is definitely little miss chatterbug.  Her sweet high pitched singing/squeals makes me wonder if she's the next Carrie Underwood?!?  She is discovering her hands which usually end up in her mouth.   She is perfecting tummy time.  She's still trying decide if she likes this brother of hers.  She smiles at him most of the time but sometimes I think he scares her because he's so loud and tends to get up in her grill.  Don't worry Zoe, you two will get along in 18 years.

I have two favorite moments from this past month.  When I came home from my first day back to work, she saw me and got the biggest smile on her face. Right then I knew how much she recognized me and loved me!  My other favorite moment I was getting ready to give her a bath, I lifted her arm, tickled her armpit and she started giggling for the first time.  Baby giggles are the best!

Love you Zoe, Zoesters, Zoa and Zoebugs!  Happy 3 months you beautiful girl.