Picture talk

Almost every Saturday morning I make either waffles or pancakes with eggs and sausage or bacon.  This particular Saturday, I made chocolate chip pancakes, my first time, and I guess they were a hit.  Xander was licking his plate clean, his first time doing this, and we thought it was hilarious.

now that was yummy 

On Tuesday I decided to take the kids to the park to play and snap some pictures...

This little girl is loving her hands

while Mr. Big Boy is everywhere exploring...which I love

 

She was so happy and alert

while big brother hunted for a new stick 

and then it was tummy time 

and brother went in for his talk

but quickly got distracted by a cool stick with pine cones 

and she's still chilling

Now there's that cool stick

and then he starts running because he saw

his sister flipping over from her back

she's fine so now it's time to sing...

really loud...

to get sisters attention

and show mommy the really cool stick up close

while sister decides it time to spit up

and look oh so cute

while brother found a new tree with leaves sticking out

until it's time to start whining

and  play with his stacking ups

and gets oh so proud when he stacks them

Yesterday was a day of sensory play with fingerpaint

and he thought it was toe paint also

Sterling was chilling outside while

he had such a great time making new art

Have a great day!

Kids lately

I haven't spoke much on the kids lately, their fun little updates and things their doing.  So this will be a post all about them :)
Xander...wow, he's developing fast.  His personality is strong willed, determined to do everything on his own, and is a total mama's boy (which I LOVE).  He has finally begun to play with his toys independently, loves playing with balls, still my outside baby, and loves on his sister so sweetly.  He's the kid that gets his teeth in sets, so he's had some pretty miserable days.  We pretty much have all the teeth, all but 6.  Still waiting on the back 4 molars and the 2 bottom eye teeth.  He's a trooper and toughened through the pain like a champ.  He's learned to walk up and down the stairs, although I won't let him go completely on his own yet, but he's not afraid.  He hasn't learned the danger in being free-willed.  I'm so afraid one day he's going to fall and bust his head open.  He's a fast mover, usually found running, and does this with a blanket over his head.  Dangerous!  Little man scares me most days, but he's a boy and I'm supposed to let him learn.  He loves climbing on daddy and still loves cuddle time.  He's wearing 12-18 month stuff with a size 5 shoe and size 4 diaper.

At 14 months and playing ball with daddy...

Last bottle at 14 months and 5 days

Sterling...well, she's very demanding.  When she wants something, be it a bottle or diaper change, she wanted it 5 years ago!  This little girl has vocals the size of Texas!  I think she learned the demanding part from me :)  I can be very demanding...not a good thing.  She has the sweetest chuckle, laugh and voice.  She loves to talk and gets so excited when daddy comes home and goes in for kisses.  Her whole body gets excited and she squeals in excitement.  She's been loving playing in her bouncer with the toys hanging, playing on her floor mat, and most recently she's started swinging.  I'm glad she likes the swing finally.  She won't get on a schedule, but for now, I don't mind.  With going to the states next month and August, she would be thrown off anyways.  We'll try a schedule when we get back late August.  She eats a lot.  She's a child that would rather eat more often than more at once.  So, she's eating between 3 and 4 ounces every 3 hours...give or take a half hour.  She sleeps between 6-7 hours at night before needing a bottle, but then she still only takes 3 ounces.  So different than her brother.  He was already at 6 ounces every 4 hours.  She loves the warm water for baths.  Will lay there and eat her fists.  I'm glad she finally likes baths, that's my favorite time of night.  I love the smell of clean babies.  She sits up for short periods in the bumbo chair.  Loves being held facing out...it's a sure way to calm her down when she's going crazy.  She's a big little girl, almost as big as Xander.  We've been in size 3-6 months since she was 2 months, moving to size 3 diaper tomorrow, and I'm sure will be out of 3-6 months by next month.  Her pants are already short, looking like carpi's...which is nice i guess.

Sterling in her new hats from great grandma

ready for her big girl ride

 we received this outfit as a gift and i wasn't to sure it was "girly" enough...but i LOVE it on her!

Happy 3 months baby girl

story of our lives right now...now that's a lot of drool

Xander not feeling so well

playing outside

helping sissy

sibling love

 

Have a great day!

Oh so fun

For the past 2 weeks, our family has been planning a trip for this weekend.  2 weeks ago, we planned that we should go to Paris.  Last week we came to the conclusion that we should go to Belgium.  With the kids and my trip back to the states next month, we're trying to save money because we will be doing A LOT of flying/traveling in the states when we go back.  So with that, it's going to cost us A LOT of money.  So that's why Paris was out and Belgium was in.  We booked a rental car, booked hotel, booked the kennel, and bought the snacks/drinks. 
On Thursday the kids and I drop Hawkeye off at the kennel while hubby was in charge of picking up the car.  We hadn't talked all day because he was busy at work, so I wasn't sure if we were still on or not.  He came home around 8pm, saying the rental car gave us the Range Rover again.  I didn't believe him because this time I reserved a car instead of SUV.  They didn't, but they did give us an SUV, so that was nice. 
Friday morning comes, we get ready, write down all our places of interest to visit, get all the addresses...yada yada yada.  Time to head out.  We plan the trip to stop at another military base near Belgium so we wouldn't have to pay the European price for fuel.  We have a diesel vehicle...just like the Range Rover was.  The drive to Spangdahlem (military base) was beautiful, traffic not bad, the weather was decent, Sterling was sleeping, and Xander was screaming.  We only burned less than a quarter tank getting there.  We arrive at the base to fuel up, find the diesel pump, and Nick starts pumping.  As he was finishing, I was watching and noticed he had the unleaded pump nozzle...NOT the diesel!!  YIKES!  I freak out.  Nicks face was priceless...oh shit!  So I go pay and we decide that this trip was just not going to work out.  We could not chance driving into Belgium and the car breaking down because the wrong fuel was in it.  Calling our insurance company to come save us in Europe would take hours, so we just called the trip off and drove back home.  Hey, we got out for a drive...HA!
After we arrived home, Xander was feeling warm, no fever though.  He went down for a nap, when he woke, his nose was nasty.  Green mucus runny out, it was nasty.  I started him on Tylenol to get over the cold faster...still here today...but clear.  Last night around midnight Sterling started gagging and lost her breathe, scared me awake!  She has a stuffed up nose and I'm guessing the mucus was clogging her airway and made her gag.  From then on, I couldn't sleep because she kept having a hard time keeping her airway open.
In the end, maybe it was a good thing Nick put in the wrong gas??  Kids were able to get meds in their system sooner, and hopefully will be fully recovered very soon.  Both kids look so miserable today.  Sterling is still having a hard time taking naps today, only wants to sleep on us, so I'm imagining no sleep tonight for me :(.  Xander has been sleeping awesome with being sick, longer naps!
After naps yesterday, Nick took our BMW to wash and detail so we could take picture and list it for sale.  We should have the Volvo this week, I'm so excited. 
Today I finished my essay for class, ran to get more meds, made some pictures to send to grandparents and been lazy.
Tomorrow I plan to edit and submit my essay, write a conference, clean the house, drop off the rental car, and hope that Nick enjoys Father's Day as a dad to 2 kiddos.
Sometimes I think things go wrong for a reason.  You don't always know the reason, but you should maybe take it as a clue?

Have a great day!