Mommy’s Little Helpers

Funny Noah wouldn't eat the sweet potatoes off his plate, but when Ezra fed him he ate plenty.

The boys have really been into helping lately, and while it is often more of a hinderance than a help, I don’t mind one bit because they are trying their hardest. Here’s a few of the things they’ve done lately:

Ezra cleaned up all the clothes, toys, hangers on their bedroom floor and put them in the hamper. (never mind that some of those things don’t go in the hamper, or that most of those clothes were clean clothes they removed from their closet, and part of it was the basket of clean diapers)

Noah set the table yesterday for their breakfast. He place both bowls of oatmeal on the table all by himself with no prompting from me. He also cleared the dishes and put them in the sink. (at lunch he decided to dump the remaining food in the middle of the kitchen floor for the dog)

The above picture shows Ez feeding Noah. They have both really been into offering each other bites. (doesn’t matter that the food often ends up on the floor, table, and themselves)

Ezra recently spit out some ibuprofen I gave him. I handed him a rag and told him to clean it up, both boys then proceeded to scrub the kitchen floor. All the while Noah was warning everyone the floor was slippery.

They both frequently bring each other their sippy cups, often figuring out that is what was needed before mommy.

I am sure they would do so much more if their mommy would let them!

Car Wash

Matt wanted to wash the car this weekend and I offered for the boys and I to “help.” He knew we wouldn’t be a help, but was happy to have fun with the boys while getting something done.

Running from the water


Ez wanting to touch the water, but not get too close


Always with the tongue out


Showers :)


Bubbles!


Just a little soapy


The face?


Supervising daddy.


Trying to figure out the hose.


Noah


Trying to get a drink


Airplane!


Matt doing all the work


What did I do besides take pictures? Chase down the runners!

Excuse me

We are working on the boys saying excuse me after they burp. When they burp we simply prompt them to say “excuse me.” Ezra says something that sorta sounds like excuse me. Noah on the other hand pats his chest and says what clearly sounds like “mommy.” Guess he is already blaming me? ;)

Where’s the Pause Button?

Noah is obsessed with cups.


Love how they both are staring into the cup as they drink!

My little guys are not wanting to be little anymore. They try so hard to do everything on their own. The new desire for independence is bittersweet. Hooray I don’t have to do everything for them, but oh is it so hard to wait and watch them do the little things for themselves! It can be a little bit frustrating. They don’t have the words to express what they want and the tantrums can be often and looooong. I am also struggle with finding the balance between pushing them to grow-up too fast and letting them grow-up at their speed without getting in the way. I often think they are not capable of doing something, but it turns out they are.

They currently would prefer to drink out of regular cups, no sippy cups please! I decided they can have regular cups at the table. They decided that they should start sticking their forks and then their food into the cups. Took the cups away after the appropriate warnings and full fledged tantrums erupted and no dinner was eaten. :( They do a great job of drinking out of the cups. I am hoping once the novelty has worn off it will go smoother.

As noted in a previous post Noah is starting to have opinions about what he wears. Last night he was screaming for 15 minutes. Turns out he wanted to wear a red shirt instead of the green shirt daddy put on him. How did we figure that one out? I started un-packing their suitcase and he found a red shirt and held it up to me. I think we will work on re-organizing their clothes this weekend so they can find what they want more easily.

Thinking about potty training. Yea I am shocked about that too! I was thinking I had a year until I seriously considered it, but the boys are letting me know when they have pooped. Noah flat out refuses to go sitting down. Every time on the trip when he had to go, he would arch his back, scream, and try to get out of his seat. We would stop and he would go with in 5 minutes. He KNOWS when he has to go. Ezra I am not so sure about, he will let me know after the fact that he needs a diaper change. He also didn’t go in his car seat once and waited until we stopped, not sure if it was a coincidence or he just wasn’t as vocal. Currently I am just working on the words, because if they can’t use the words to tell me it will be much more difficult. I read an article recently about potty training boot-camp style at two years, I figured I would do it in January (after all the holiday craziness), but I am trying to feel it out and if the boys are ready sooner I will be doing it sooner.

I am continually amazed at how fast they grow-up!

Photo Friday – 07.30.2010 (road trip edition)

Hitting the road!

They have no idea how long the day will be.

Noah fighting nap.

Trying out the buckle toy.

Deep in concentration.

It was more fun this way.

Rain! (it came just in time, the boys were cranky and this cheered them right up)

Happy it’s raining! from Stephanie Adams on Vimeo.

Happy Matt.

Ez has had enough. :(

Smiling at daddy.

Kissing his guns.

Trying some sweet and sour sauce.

Trying on Lynnette's sunglasses.

McDonald's is now featuring Noah as an attraction (seriously that boy is a ham!)

All ready for bed.

Nothing but glow worm.

Grandpa’s Birthday

Fathers’ day was also my dad’s birthday. We celebrated with cake and presents! Happy Birthday Dad!

The birthday boy and Abby opening gifts.

We're going to have cake happy dance.

I can't wait another second for cake!

The cake, sorry this was the best pic I had.

The ice cream cake had little cones on top, perfect for toddlers.

Some on my arm, now to lick that off!

Abby getting a little assistance.

Fathers’ Day Pictures

I finally have removed the Fathers’ Day pictures from Matt’s camera. Yes I am aware that was almost a month ago, but I don’t like to touch his camera.

On Fathers’ Day we made waffles, went to my parents’ for lunch, and then napped! Here’s some pictures from our day.

Yummy Waffles!

Noah liked them too!

Matt's stack (okay only slightly kidding, he did eat a ton though!)

Do not take this kid's cell phone!

Sorry Jason this is the only picture we have of you. Happy Father's day little bro!

Me and my little piano man. :)

Michelle giggling uncontrollably.

Now it's Ezra's turn!

Happy Father's Day Matt!

Grandpa and Noah.

Grandpa and the boys.

They love this top.

Throwing Noah around.

Ez's turn.

Happy Abby.

Daddy playing in the water with Ez

Matt's present from the boys. He loved them. :)

Calm ending to an eventful day, reading. Love my guys.

Graduation

Can you believe it? My babies graduated from the baby room at church. They are now in the toddler room. Which means they are starting to do crafts, sit at a table and have snack, and listen (hopefully) to a story. Here are some pics of their first crafts at church, crowns.


Do you know how hard it is to get a picture of two toddlers wearing crowns on their heads? Anyway after I stopped taking pictures they started taking the foam stickers off and trying to eat them. Sigh, the crowns are now safely in the trash.

Photo Friday – 06.25.2010

9:40 am and out cold!


Noah getting surprised.


Can you now guess why Noah was surprised?


Noah getting squirted.


Now getting squirted by himself.


They made themselves a mud-hole.


I'm all wet and muddy, can I please get in your lap?


Again?!? I can't tell if he loves or hates it, because he gets mad, but then he keeps doing it.


Ezra seeing if mommy is telling through truth when she said that was ouchie.


Carter's new spot, underneath the play structure.


Grandpa and a laptop, what could be better?


Ganging up on him of course!


A boy and his (neighbor's) laptop!


Ez knows what he wants.


Helping clean up the oil slick he caused.


Mom do we really have to wait for them to cook?

Health Scare

The boys recently had a little health scare. Basically they had super high alkaline phosphatase levels (and some other numbers but that was the main one worrying the doctor) and have had on every test we’ve run since we have been home. The doctor wanted to run a few test to rule out things like leukemia (momma never wants to hear that one again!), heavy metal contamination, and some bone diseases. He made us do blood draws, urine testing, and x-rays. (It was a ton of fun!) Two toddlers getting tortured really. Luckily SuperDad was available to do all of the holding. It was a long couple of weeks, but in the end everything turned out normal. The doctor said he was happy with all of the results and in his opinion the high levels could be do to the fact that they could be making up for lost nutrition in Ethiopia and are growing like crazy now. He also told us that Africans have stronger bones than caucasians and that could also contribute to some of the numbers we’ve seen. It was not fun going through all the testing, but I am glad we did it and now know everything is okay. Had they not had previously high numbers I might have waited on all the test to see what a future test said.

I just wanted to put this out there for any parents who have seen high levels in their kids. Don’t worry it could be totally normal!

Happy Father’s Day

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Happy Father’s Day to my amazing husband. You are one awesome daddy. Always willing to change a disgusting diaper or clean-up a little spit-up. You get up in the middle of the night to tend to your babies never complaining. You are teaching our boys to be wonderful men of God, respectful of women, and kind to all. You play, you read, you laugh with our boys and they love it. Their faces light up every day when you come home. I think it is the best part of their day. (it is mine :D ) We all love you and so glad you are in our lives. Happy Father’s Day!