Twenty-Eight Months

Mister Samuel-

Well, you are now twenty-eight months old. It is so hard to believe that you have only been here for twenty-eight months. I cannot remember what life was like before you. Maybe that is because you make life that much better! What I do know is that your smile can always melt my heart and your tears make we want to do anything that will make you happier.

This month your language has really started to take off. I love it in some ways and at the same time it can be one of the hardest things to work through. You are a determined little boy and often have your mind set on exactly what you want to say or do. You often are able to tell me what you want I just am often guessing about what you really mean. The other day you kept saying the same thing over and over. To me it sounded a bit like "bebar" After asking you to repeat it seven or eight times daddy and I gave up. You didn't. We understood that you were talking about a video you wanted to watch but had guessed everyone we could think of. Out of a bit of frustration you finally said "muffin!" Ohhh..you wanted to watch Baby Einsteins. The one with the zebras and the muffins! You were so excited when we finally figured it out. I would like to say we often figure out what you are telling us, but most of the time we don't. We end up sufficing you with something else or just nodding our heads to whatever you are telling us. Sorry!

This month your imagination has also been growing like crazy. So much so that you are having nightmares. It is a bit scary when you wake up at all hours of the night screaming. Sometimes you cry, sometimes you scream and other times you yell "no, no, no" or "mommy...daddy." This often sends one of us sprinting to your room. You ask to be held and rocked or walked back to sleep. Sometimes you have two or three an night and it often takes a good amount of time to get you to go back to sleep. You also have ended up in our bed on nights when you are up every 45 minutes or so. It seems that in the morning you don't remember them and you go about your day acting as it everything is fine. I love the growth of your imagination but look forward to the times when you can separate imagination from reality. Until then we will hold you.

You continue to love cars more than anything else. You play with them nonstop each day. If you are not playing cars you are asking to watch the movie or you are standing at the window talking about every car that goes by. You have my organizational and detail skills. You will line up your cars "put them in the parking lot" and count them. So far I think we are at 48. You will also know when one is missing. The other day we took your cars to daddy's school. The next morning you lined them up and came running to ask me "where's tractor?" Do you honestly know when 1 of the 48 are missing and which one it is? Impressive!

You continue to be an amazing little boy. I think I am more and more in love with you each day. Although being 2 has it's hard times, I think it is my favorite time with you so far. You love life, you love the world and you can't wait to explore more. So...let's explore.

Love,
Mommy

Sick Little Boy

Well, we have been hit by the first round of winter colds. Samuel was pretty hoarse Sunday night but we figured it was due to a busy weekend. Monday morning he was a bit worse with a runny nose and a mild cough. I stayed home from my meetings and played mommy all day. Yesterday he got even worse. By the time Mike got home his nose and cough were worse and his eye was pretty red and swollen. He had also had a fever since Monday. We headed for the doctor.


The diagnosis: left ear infection, pink eye and lots of drainage.
The treatment: amoxicillin, eye drops, sleep, lots of hand washing.

He is no longer contagious after today but we are hoping the rest of us can escape without getting any of it. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

October Fun

The Boys Being Boys

Not a lot of time to post this morning since Liam is about due to eat. Just found a couple of cute pictures I thought I would share. Here you go...

Rise and shine. Daddy and the boys watching Baby McDonald.

Most of the time we were painting the new place Samuel was watching Cars. This time I guess it was after his bedtime.


How can you not simply adore that face?

Samuel loves his cars. Here they are all parking before they race!

I love my boys!

The New Place

7119 Aurora Ave N
Seattle, WA 98103

Well I intended to unpack the rest of the boxes this weekend, get some pictures hung and be able to post great before and after pictures...didn't happen. We still live amongst boxes and there are no pictures hung yet. Oh well...unpacking and getting settled has been a bit harder with two small boys. Here are the pictures we have for now. More to come when we are settled...maybe by Christmas!

The Living Room
This room is huge. It measures 16x26! We have it sectioned off for a living room and a play room. It is good to have the space and an area for Samuel to play but it is very loud when he is playing and we are trying to talk!

Samuel helping paint the living room.

The opposite window of the living room now painted a warm brown!

The Boys Room
The boys share a bedroom. Or will once Liam sleeps in his crib. Their room is in the back of the house and is rather quiet. So far Samuel seems to like it!

This is the sun room. A small room off the kitchen. Right now it is full of boxes and will eventually be an office for us!

The kitchen...nothing exciting other than normal kitchen stuff. We didn't paint in here. I think Mike would have killed me if I asked for him to paint anymore!

The bathroom. The usual.

This is the dining room. I realized I don't have any after pictures. It is now a brown, slightly lighter than the living room.

So far we have slept here for a week. There is a pretty busy road out our front door but we don't hear the traffic much at night. We love being downtown and have already enjoyed walks around Green Lake. We wish we would have found this place two years ago! Oh well, we will enjoy the next 9 months here!

I will get some more pictures later this week and give you a walk through!

Halloween Fun

Samuel has been very excited for Halloween for awhile now. We have talked about Halloween and all about trick or treating. Yesterday morning I mentioned that it was Halloween and the madness began.

Samuel wanted Liam to also be a firefighter.

Liam was not all excited about the whole costume thing so he stuck with the ghost shirt!

Bailey even joined in the fun!

After daddy got home from class we headed over to U-Village for some trick or treating. We met up with Trish, Paul and Roxy and took the kids around. This was Samuel and Roxy's third Halloween together!

Here we go!

Liam was a trooper. He loved watching all the activity around him!

The first piece of candy!

There was even a real firetruck and real firefighters. Samuel was very excited to climb aboard. He even asked to drive. The fireman gave him a sticker instead!

Mike and Samuel then headed over to meet up with Brian, Sarah and Koen for dinner. Here are the three kiddos enjoying some run around time.

That is a priceless face! Soooo excited!

The goods! Samuel even loves to share!

We had a great night. Samuel woke up this morning asking for more! 364 days and counting!

Presents from Nana and Papa

Nana and Papa sent a few packages to the boys last week. Samuel was so excited to open his. Here are a few pictures!

A new puzzle. Much harder than his other, but he has it figured out already!

A new pumpkin cup with a straw! Exciting stuff!

"FIREMAN HAT...A BLACK ONE!"

Fitting...most mornings!

Samuel was also eager to help Liam open his!

Thanks Nana and Papa!

Three Months

Liam-

This past weekend you turned three months old. That's 13 weeks....or 91 days...or 2184 hours...wow you're getting old! You are growing like a weed. You are currently 26.5 inches tall and weigh 14lbs 15oz. At this rate you should outgrown your big brother sooner rather than later. Look at how big you are!

This month you have become a social butterfly. You love smiling and giggling. Even though you smiled at Samuel first, you defiantly smile at mommy most. I think you know how much mommy needs those smiles most days. Your smile can turn my tears into laughter and my frustration into relaxation. Your little smile is all I need on days when I wonder if I am measuring up as your mom. The sparkle in your eye is amazing.


You have taken a new liking to the car lately which I have to say is a huge relief. We are now able to go out and you remain calm and relaxed. You often talk to the bug that hangs from your car seat while we are driving. You also are learning that falling asleep in the car is an ok thing to do. This makes traveling amazingly better. Which is a good thing because we are in the car a lot.

We have really settled into a routine this month. You sleep in each day much later than your older brother. When you wake up you are instantly happy and eager to eat. You spend most of your day playing, talking and watching Samuel do all the "big boy" things. I wonder what you will want to play with when you are two. Will you be into trains, firetrucks and cars like your brother or will you find new toys to occupy your time?

I am amazed at how quickly this time is going and how big you are getting. I often wish that you would just stay little but I am also so excited to see who you grow up to be. You daddy and I are trying the best that we know how to raise you to be the man you are meant to be. I have to say...I think we are doing pretty well.

Love,
Mommy

Our Future Residence

Many of you know that over the past month we have been looking for a new place to live. We love our current apartment but they are raising the rent to ungodly amounts that we are not willing to pay. I have spent many hours each day on craigslist looking for a place for us. I thought raising two boys was hard.

After endless hours of internet searching, dozens of emails and phone calls made, viewing a few places, frantically filling out application just to get them in right after others, yelling at one another because someone had to pay for all the stress, and wondering if our new home would be the back our our car...we found a place!

Last Monday after a horrible (and I really mean horrible) weekend of endless searching I found a place too good to be true. I called only an hour after it was posted and was invited to come and see it right away. Mike got home from work, we packed up the boys and headed downtown. It was a bit scary from the outside and we debated about even going in. But we did and are so glad we did. We gave the man our info and received a call Wednesday offering it to us. I am heading down in about an hour to get the keys and we will sign the lease the beginning of next week! Yeah!

Positives
--located in one of the most desirable neighborhoods (Green Lake)
--LOTS closer to the majority of our friends
--walking distance to Green Lake, a huge playground, a wading pool, coffee shops, and a grocery store.
--two blocks from a bus route that will get us to MHGS in 10 minutes
--very spacious two bedroom old home (we get to keep most of our stuff)
--lots of windows
--they are honoring a 9 month lease
--they will allow us to paint whatever we want and not have to paint it back
--cheap and the landlord pays water, sewer and garbage
--fenced in yard for Bailey

Negatives
--located on one of the busiest roads in Seattle
--no dishwasher
--outside is pink (yes...pink)

We are so excited to start moving and being closer to school. Yesterday it took 6 minutes to get from MHGS to the house. Right now we are driving at least 30 (on a good day) but generally more like 45. I am also thrilled to be walking distance to the lake. Maybe I will start to exercise more!

Click here to see it on Google Maps!

My Boys

This is what makes getting up at 6am each morning, working non-stop all day and hitting the pillow well after 11pm each night worth it...

Legos

Let's just say...Samuel has lots of Mike's blood in him.
He LOVES Legos.


We hadn't really gotten him any yet mainly because he has so many other toys we figured he was pretty content. A couple of weeks ago while at MHGS, Samuel discovered a bag of Legos. Welcome to the newest addiction. Since, Samuel loved building with them so much and Mike loves them also we got a small set for him to have at home. Now life revolves around towers, tunnels, and firehouses. I don't know who it is more enjoyable for!