A Very Hunky First Birthday

One thing that is fun about having friends that have all had babies over the last few years is that we get to get together pretty regularly to celebrate the Kiddos' Birthdays. Last weekend Henry turned One and Beth and Casey threw an adorable "lumberjack" themed party for the little guy they affectionately call "Hunky." There were so many kids it was a little crazy to think how close in age they all are and scary to think of what the scene might look like when they are all teenagers - eeeekkk!!!

They had the most adorable lumberjack decorations, lots of toys for the kids to play with, and a delicious chili bar for lunch. All of the kids did amazingly well even with a few missed and delayed naps (Kieran took a nap two hours later than normal, slept for a few hours, and was so exhausted he fell asleep on me a bit later). Beth was great about letting me know ahead of time what food Reed would and wouldn't be able to have and made sure where she could, she had Reed friendly dishes. I really do feel lucky that so many of our friends are so considerate of our situation and do so much to make Reed never feel left out. The highlights of the party for Reed and Kieran were being pulled around in the wagon with Lyla by Nonna and Pepe, the slide, the bubble machine, and watching Henry eat his smash cake. Luckily Lindsay took a gazillion pictures so I was able to steal a few - any of the cute ones below should be credited to her!!! 

 

Cousins!!!

Bubbles

Boss Lady - Eden

Clara

Casey, Beth, and Henry

Sleepy Boy

Dala Horse Trottin'

Since moving to Kingsburg in 2004 I've participated in the Dala Horse Trot 10k each year, including years I was pregnant or needed to push Kiddos in the stroller. It is a race during the town's annual Swedish festival and to be honest, the best part of the event is the Swedish pancakes afterwards. Several of our friends usually participate and so does Grandma. This year I pushed both boys in the jogging stroller (I'm estimating this to be about 100 pounds of kids and equipment) and Grandma was a sweetheart and ran with us the whole time. It was so nice getting to chat with her for 6.2 miles and the boys loved having her along. We set the goal of running the race in under an hour and did just that with a time of 57:05. Reed even got really into the race telling us to pass different groups of people, the first time he yelled something like "we passed you" at two ladies so I had to have a bit of a conversation about race etiquette with him and from then on he would just shout "good job" if we went passed someone.

Some of our other friends participated in the 2 mile race and it was awesome to see the herd of strollers and kids we created after the fact - Me with Reed (3.5) and Kieran (1.5), Shannon (almost 7 months pregnant) with Clara (2), C with Lyla (almost 1), Laurie with Bailey (6 months), and Ashley with Elli (6 months). Luckily Grandma, Russell, and Clara's Aba (Grandma) all stuck around to help the herd feed on pancakes. As I've done in the past I packed Reed pancakes, his butter, and some jam so he could be part of the feed too. Unfortunately this year he decided he really wanted the sausage they were serving with the meal and luckily was appeased when I told him he could have the orange juice instead, since I didn't know if the sausage was safe. I will definitely be bringing sausage along next year! I had a small hope that we would make it to the parade this year but after being out and about for over three hours we made a quick trip to the packed playground with Shannon, Clara, and Aba and called it a day.

Stroller Parking - we are even missing Ashley's stroller in this picture!

Reed Says Spring 2015 Edition

Reed has learned that words are power and can cut you down by saying something mean in the blink of an eye. You also know when he is going to ask for something because he'll first say "Mom I love you so much." Other times he can be so sweet and sincere and he really does wear his heart on his sleeve. He's started to make up stories about himself and will narrate what he's doing in the third person. The Monkey starts a Summer preschool program next month and I'm excited for him to have some social interaction with kids his own age. He continues to be a good big brother. Sometimes he has no tolerance for Kieran when it comes to sharing or playing with toys, but if you can get them doing something physical they get along great and will make each other belly laugh, which is the best!

One day Reed woke up from his nap literally screaming. When I ran into his room he was saying "stop sparkling, stop sparkling" over and over again. To be honest I assumed he had a bad dream about one of his princess friends, but after a few questions I figured out that his hands had fallen asleep and were tingling.

Reedster was watching Kieran attempt to feed himself, leaned over to me laughing, and said "Kieran is trying to feed himself yogurt with a spoon, he wants to eat like us fools."

During lunch I asked the boys if they needed anything (meaning more milk, a spoon, etc.). Reed replied "I need a new heart. I used up all the love in my heart and I have more people I want to love."

I don't even remember what Jon and Reed were in a disagreement over but they were bickering back and forth when the Reedster shouted "Dad I'm going to give you a knuckle orchard!!!"

He's actually done this to me a few times - he'll flash a huge grin and then ask "Are you nervous Mom? I have a smile, so you should be."

One night at dinner Jon started waving his hand in front of his eye and making a weird sound. My back had been turned so I asked what had happened, before Jon could explain, Reed interjected with "is that why kids don't have Siracha?" Apparently some hot sauce had squirted into his eye.

The whole family was hanging out in the Living Room and there was suddenly a horrible smell. I asked if someone had tooted and Reed said it couldn't have been me because "Mom's toots don't smell because they are purple."

Reed was watching Jon shave and Jon asked the Kiddo if he thought he'd be hairy like Dad when he got older. Reed said a very definitive "yes" but then asked "will all that other hair be the same color as my top hair?" - he was patting the top of his head.

I told Reed I needed to trim his nails and he got a little upset and told me "well the pointy one works good to get boogers out of my nose, so I think they're okay without a trim."

One night Reed was having an allergy attack and Jon had gone in to calm him down. He was still crying a bit later so I went into his room. He requested a long sleeve pajama shirt (so his itchy skin would be covered up) and I said okay, not knowing Jon had turned down the request earlier. When I finished changing him he leaned in, hugged me, and whispered "thank you Mom, you just get me."

Mother's Day with small children

My Mother's Day started off amazingly when both boys slept until 6:30 am. I say this in all seriousness because while one kid might sleep until then from time to time, it's pretty rare that both do it on the same day. I was quickly snapped back to reality when Reed had a fit that I had made rice pudding in the crock pot overnight, then he was mad that he had to go potty, then he was mad about breakfast again. Jon made me a yummy latte, I received a nice gift from the boys, we took a family walk with Dodger, and then played outside. There were tantrums, there were hugs, there were pants peed in, there were books read, there were diapers pooped in, there were snuggles, there was food spilled. On a day to honor Mothers I got to be a Mom which I find a great privilege but I also can't wait until a few years from now when the boys might be better capable of recognizing all that I do for them.

After their naps we went to Nonna and Pepe's for a wonderful dinner and time spent with family and friends. In addition to our normal Sunday crowd, Gran, Papa, Aunt Di Di, TJ, Chris, and Allie (who is expecting a little girl in September) all joined us.  Reed latched on to Allie immediately and wouldn't stop talking to her. He also gave little mini speeches and cheers to all of the women at the table which was pretty sweet. The boys finished dinner pretty quickly and were back to their usual crazy antics but we managed to herd them to the pool house, open some gifts, have a delicious grilled peach dessert, run around outside, and get a few group pictures in. Kieran was so obsessed with the dessert every time someone put their bowl down he would swoop in grab the spoon and gobble up as much as he could.

 

It was a nice evening and even though it was well passed bedtime when we got home I still got to get some snuggles and read the boys their bedtime stories which is one of my favorite parts of the day. I had Jon attempt a few pictures, none of which were perfect but because of that were absolutely perfect - isn't Motherhood really what happens between the perfect pictures anyway? These goofballs are my everything and I love them more than I ever imagined was possible!!!