Sweet Anders at 19 Months

Anders sure is growing! He's not my little baby anymore.

He loves the park. He'll go and go and go and won't stop until we (basically) drag him away. He'll walk to the top of the slide, and keep walking until he falls and slides down the slide. No sitting at the top and taking it easy for Anders! 

I had to snap a picture of him here. He's such a big boy! 

Silly silly Anders. When he sees me pull my phone out to take a picture, this is what he does... Such a great grin! :)

A rare picture of Anders and Momma. 

I was looking for sunglasses at Target, and Anders insisted on trying on every single pair I tried on. 

I got my boys each a Mickey Mouse balloon from Meijer for Valentine's Day. I think it was the happiest day of Anders's life. (Aiden was pumped, too, but dutiful about holding on tight. He didn't want it to fly away.) 

Another great smile courtesy of Anders. :) 

Like I said, he's in a super silly stage right now. We were walking around Hobby Lobby and he found himself a hat. Haha! 

So fun climbing at the mall park! 

Last but not least, I think Anders's favorite character is Minnie Mouse. It's so cute! We went to Party City, looking for water bottles ($2 each, can't go wrong!) and Anders loved all things Minnie! 

Love Language

Today I'm doing a Show and Tell linkup with Andrea from Momfessionals.com. Every other Tuesday she has something fun planned, and today's is all about love! How do you feel love, what kind of gifts you like to receive, and how your partner won your heart. 

This is a subject my sisters and I have been talking about for the last year and a half. We've learned so much about love languages and how we all feel love in different ways. This isn't just romantic love either. It's love and appreciation from family and friends also. So, let's dive in!  The number one way to get to my heart is through words. Letters, cards, texts, emails, Facebook messages (all of the above!). I'm not sure if it has always been this way, or if I feel this way as a result of circumstances. Dave and I started out long distance. Even before we started dating, we were sending messages to each other. That's how we really started getting to know each other before our first date. Then once we started dating, I was in Michigan and he was working in Mexico City, so we relied on emails, online chatting, and the occasional phone call. The first three years we were together (dating, engaged, and marriage), we had periods of long distance. We had to rely on all the different ways you can communicate. 

Now, six and a half years since we first started sending those messages, the best way to make me feel the love is a hand-written card, text, or email. Dave sends me an email every morning, even when we will see each other at lunch time and all evening long. We are pretty busy with our two boys in the evening and we don't have the best bedtime routine, so sometimes we don't have a chance to talk. Those morning emails help me feel like we are connected and get me through when I might want to pull my hair out. 

Every month or two, I will usually go home for an extended period of time, so even now we do some long distance stuff. Going back and reading those old emails (documenting our entire relationship from the very very beginning!)  is like GOLD for me. :) 

Dave is also really good at picking out the perfect card for birthdays and holidays. I love opening that envelope to see what he has written for me. 

And for fun, here are a few pictures from when it all began! 

Here we are at our first Tigers game together. (This was a month after our first dates.) We've been to a lot since that first one! 

And here we are, a month later. It was the night before school started and Dave was home from Mexico City for awhile. We went to the lake to watch the sunset. 

The next few years, we kept up that fun tradition. We watched the last sunset of the summer before it was back to reality for me. 

Here's one more, taken in the middle of a day exploring some trails and waterfalls around our area. This was two months after we started dating. 

And one short year later, our wedding day! 

Have a great Tuesday! 

Life Lately

Aiden & Anders give us a run for our money most of the time but then these quiet evening snuggles make us (mostly) forget the trials of the day. 

They both wanted momma snuggles this morning. 

Then this guy conked out for a rare morning nap. 

When we go to Target, the boys are alway on the lookout for anything Mickey, Lightning, or Dusty. 

Trying on summer clothes in anticipation of our trip next month! 

We had a fun weekend at Katz and Ty's! 

We went for a drive the other day and found this cute little bridge..to nowhere. It's over a dam & some locks so mostly its for service. I think it's a little more park-like in the summertime. 

And last one. Last week we had a warm day. Like 50 degrees or warmer, so we took advantage and went for a walk. We loved it! 

Momfessional Moments

I'm doing a link-up with Andrea today. We are sharing our "Momfessionals" aka Mom Confessionals - things we do as moms to get through the day.

Aiden can be challenging to get to sleep. He wants Dave or me to lay down with him until he falls asleep. Well, after hanging out with him for the last twelve+ hours, I really want some non-kid time. Dave usually lays down with him & gets him to sleep. If Aiden asks for mom, I'll go in there for five or ten minutes, then say I have to go and check on Anders. I don't go back in there. Every once in awhile it'll work and he'll actually go to sleep.

Aiden still isn't potty-trained. He goes great on his potty but whenever we try to go diaper-free, he has accidents. He just doesn't tell me when he has to go. So I get lazy and put a diaper on him.

Our laundry room is right off of the kitchen and that's where I sneak food. It has a door so I can slip in there, close the door, and eat some chocolate or chips. With the light off. I haven't been caught yet! (Fingers crossed)

If I need to get out, we'll pack up and go to Target. First stop is Starbucks, then the onespot section up at the front. I let the boys pick out a $1 toy to play with as we are walking around the store. Sometimes we "lose" that toy before we get to the checkout and it doesn't come home with us.

The only meat Aiden likes is chicken and hot dogs, so everything I make is "chicken" or "hot dogs." Sometimes we'll say "ham hotdogs" or "sausage hot dogs."

I breastfed Aiden for 15 months. Going into it, I committed to doing it until he got teeth. Once we got the swing of things (it took a good 8 weeks to actually feel comfortable doing it), it was fine. As he got older, I was just too lazy to switch him over to a bottle. I knew what my bottle-feeding friends went through and that sounded like way too much work! So I breastfed way longer than I ever planned to.

I guess we do what we have to do to make it through the day with our kids!

Quick Christmas Recap

What a fun fun fun Christmas vacation at home! We loved it!

Here's a few pictures... 

Santa came to one of the parties! Never knew he can play guitar. 

We had friends over. 

We hosted a Christmas Party. 

Crazy times when you have boys! Anders was so proud of himself. 

We went visiting. 

Hung out at home. 

I found out what happens when you text your family at 10:30pm about homemade ice cream... They come and you stay up all night playing games! Seriously perfect. 

(Jim, Lynne, and their kids surprised us on Christmas night. They didn't tell anyone they were coming and sent a video from the local airport, asking for a ride! So fun having them stay over!) 

These two worked really hard perfecting this little cabin. :)

Aaaaaand we went to a NewYears Party, got in the sauna, and jumped into THE LAKE! I had no intentions of walking over that snow and taking a dip in the ice. Peer pressure. 

Happy New Year! Stay tuned for more fun this month. 

Look alike?

I never thought our two boys looked much alike. In fact, when Anders was born I was very surprised because he looked nothing like Aiden. So many people say Aiden looks like Dave and Anders looks like me. I agree. I see Dave in Aiden so much. He's looking more and more like Dave as he gets older, especially when I see photos of Dave when he was young. 

It's surprising because most people say they have a hard time recognizing themselves in their kids, but I totally see myself in Anders. It might be his coloring, eyes, and cheeks, but that's enough. 

I snapped some photos of the boys today while we were at a public pool/park. They had a blast there and I'm thinking we'll have to go back if we have the chance. It's been in the 90s lately so I haven't wanted to go outside, but who cares if you're in the pool! 

This evening as I was going through the photos, I saw one that looked super familiar to me. I looked back about 18 months and found a photo that looked just like the one I had taken this evening. 

Check it out for yourself :) 

Chicago Trip

At the beginning of June, Anders and I went on a trip to Chicago with these girls. They spent many days helping me move into the new house. We moved, cleaned, organized, set stuff up, etc for hours and hours.... Then we went to Chicago for a few nights :) 

First stop was Six Flags. 

Anders had so much fun discovering all the new places. 

We walked around Chicago, checking it out. Our hotel was close to the River, so we crossed it many times and took lots of pictures :) 

Of cooooooourse we got Chicago-style stuffed pizza from Giordano's. YUM!! 

And we found ourselves in the Bean. 

And did a little photo shoot to get some fun pictures. This is probably my favorite photo from the whole day. 

 

Like I said, we walked around a lot. We crossed the bridges a lot. :)

We went up to Navy Pier and got on the Ferris Wheel. 

Even Anders loved the sights! 

Then we had a teenager take this picture with a big storm coming in the background. I think the background looks fake. All five of us! 

More walking around, checking out sights during the night this time. 

The girls brought dresses so we could do a photo shoot. Unfortunately we ran out of time during the day, so we did some night time pictures. I just used my iPhone so the photos aren't the best. I still like them. 

Anders loved it! 

So did I. It was a fun few days getting quality time with Anders and these girls. They're about to go to high school and get busy with school, jobs, and everything that comes with being in high school.