what cj's been up to...

I can't believe my little man is TWO! My mom just pointed out that is half-way to four, and that made me even sadder about how BIG he is getting. I confess, I was dreading the "terrible twos," but they really haven't been that bad so far.

Yes, he constantly challenges boundaries. But, that is his way of asking if we are going to keep him safe.

Yes, he never stops talking. But, after years of wondering what he is thinking it is fun to hear it (until it gets incessant and I want to bang my head into a wall!). No really, it is usually great. I love his exclamations. "Wow" when my mom gave him a ice cream sandwich. "Oh gosh, CJ fall" when he fell today. I love his questions (usually). "Daddy is?" and when you ask him he will tell you, "Daddy at work." I love when he can really tell you what he wants. "No go old gym. Go A Dace (Anna Grace) gym" when we recently changed gyms and I had to stop by the old one to pick up my metro pass. Or, "Will Baby ride on CJ" when he wanted Will to ride on his back while he crawled. It is funny to hear his commentary. Yesterday he was playing on the playground and said, "Chase Lilly!" ""Run Fast, Run Fast" as he tried to catch her."Mommy chase CJ please." "No ride that car...hot. Move car over there" as he moved a toy car into the shade to cool it off. It never stops, and every day he says things that just make me laugh... there is a really funny one at the end (a teaser to keep you reading!).

And with being two come a strong will. But like I have said before, I look at that as his future ability to stand for good and not fall victim to things that can easily distract him. I'm not saying it is all roses when we are working at shaping that will, but parenting is work. It is hard to do the day in, day out work that evolves into shaping character and helping a little person find his or her voice in the world. But, there is no vacation, big house, or car that would be worth me letting anyone else have that role in CJ and Will's life while I worked. But I digress.

Having a two year old is actually fun... most of the time! I love how he is growing, learning and becoming a real person. So here are some of the things CJ has been up to lately...

CJ's bestie is still Anna Grace (more on their super fun party in a later post). They really are a great example of what friends should be. They love each other, are always excited to see one another, but fight, get over it, fight some more and then get over it and keep right on playing and loving on one another. It is such a blessing to have her, and her whole family in our lives. The other day AG came over for a play date because they were both about to drive their mommies crazy begging to play with each other. When she got there, all the toys were put away. This literally took two minutes...

While I was fixing their lunch it suddenly got quiet. And any mama with little one's will tell you, it's not noisy play that makes you worry, it's the silence that send up alarm bells. I looked into the living room and didn't see them. I looked in the office and didn't see them. They weren't in the kitchen with me and the door to the back of the house was closed. So I panic. I check all the doors and they are still locked. I really panic. And then I see this... LOVE IT!

Earlier I mentioned CJ has developed quite a strong will. One of the things we are currently fighting is CJ wanting to sleep in our bed. We aren't giving in, but one night, he snuck out of his bed and this is what we found...

Two has also brought lots more boo-boos at our house. CJ is a go-getter and while he is really coordinated for his age, he's gotten some doosies! This was a double bandaid day!

CJ is also really good at sharing (for a two year old that is!). When we play with friends I try to make an effort to work with him on taking turns, but many times, he is just a good sharer (is that really a word?) If you notice in this picture, he is splitting his play dough into three parts... CJ's, some for mommy and some for Will baby. So sweet.

This is our new fun game. Don't judge my pants or the fact that we are all in pjs. Some days there is just too much fun to be had to change clothes. :) This game basically consists of CJ grabbing onto my legs and me shaking him around until he falls off. It's a great workout, and distracts him sometimes while I am feeding Will and he needs a little attention. And in case that didn't resonate, yes, we play this game while I am feeding Will. It's amazing what you can learn to do at the same time. :)

And look who is SO BIG that they can use a big boy cup. He calls cups without lids, "big cups."

And CJ's favorite place to eat is 100% Waffle House. Don't hate on the awful waffle... it's awesome. If you ask CJ what he eats there he will tell you, "sup" or translated, syrup. We just got family pictures taken, and when CJ told our photographer he liked the Waffle House, her eyes lit up with an idea. Yes, we did take part of our family pictures at the Waffle House, but like Jessica said, "black and white makes everything more classy." We haven't gotten them back yet, but I promise to share. Here is CJ enjoying his syrup and waffles.

And here is a big brag on my big boy and another funny CJism. Notice his two pacifiers or nooks as we call them? He's a mess.

But he totally understands the concept of one, and then one and one more is two. This is the first time he told us, "one nook (holding out the blue one), one nook (holding out the yellow one), two nooks (holding them both out)." If you can read this then you obviously understand one-to-one correspondence so the fact that this is amazing for a two year old probably passes you by unless you are a math teacher. Usually kids don't get this until they are three or older. I see genuis in his future!

But enough bragging, here is a funny. The day before CJ's birthday party we were driving to the gym talking about what we were going to do that day. I told him, we were going to the gym, going to the store, eating lunch with daddy, and then taking a nap. But after the nap Gran would be there and then after that Nannie and Papa would be there. Without missing a beat he held up two little fingers and did a happy little wiggle in his car seat while chanting "two nannies, two nannies." I laughed so hard I woke Will up.

If you made it this far, know that now party planning, buying a new car (more on that later), and traveling (more on that later too!) are all almost done, I promise to be a better blogger. That way you can read a few short posts insead of a novel like this one!

everybody eats at nanny's house...

We are visiting my mom and nanny. The first time Scott's mom came to visit, she was sick from eating so much that she couldn't go to church Sunday morning. The summers we lived here while my mom was in school, ice cream and cake were a typical snack. There are always at least two desserts to choose from and every meal has a meat, bread and two or three veggies.

For those of you who don't know, Nanny broke her hip and is in rehab (she's doing great by the way). But don't worry, even though she isn't at the house to feed us, we are ALL still eating well!

Most importantly Will got to eat his first "real" food. He dined on some applesauce. I was going to wait until we got back home, but this little guy was hungry! The applesauce was a little tart for now, and he is enjoying his rice cereal more now. Can you tell he likes eating?

And there are always goodies to eat at Nanny's house. CJ and Nanny share a common passion for honey buns or "hun buns" as CJ calls them. We had pot pie for dinner the other night, and CJ wasn't a huge fan at first. But, when Gran got out the "hun buns" to take one to Nanny, CJ suddenly had incentive to eat. He was all ready for a bath with the exception of taking off his diaper, but when he was willing to sit back down and eat some pot pie to get a "hun bun."

what will's been up to...

It's been a little crazy around our house lately. Sorry I haven't been great about updating the blog. This post will be all about Will, but stay tuned for a catch up post about CJ, a post about CJ's fun birthday party and Will's 6 month pictures I will take next week.

First off, Will is now a bottle baby. :( Turns out, he is way too concerned with what CJ is doing to face me while he eats. For awhile, I pumped. I was a pain. But we made it work. Long story short, after my pumped milk sat for more that two hours, it started to taste soapy. So, one sad night, here is what I put down the drain... 50+ bags full... He is doing well with the bottle. He is still on the little side, but growing consistently on that curve, so we aren't worried.

We all play "look" a lot. We have an big window in our office and can see down the street. CJ will go in there and look, but he likes to have us with him. He will say, "Mommy look. Will baby look. Connor baby girl look." And we spend lots of time talking about what we see. Will really likes it because he can get a good look at Connor and he can stand up and lean against the glass and look around. Pretty much, if CJ is doing it, Will is ok doing it too.

Will is also really starting to play. He has ideas about what he wants to play with too. He really likes CJ's green truck! While CJ is awake, Will has to take turns with it, but while CJ is napping, Will gets to play with the truck as long as he wants. When I push the truck against one of the chairs Will can even lean against it and play without me holding him up.

And the biggest development for Will is that he has outgrown his cradle in our room. The night we found him like this, we decided the next day he was moving out of our room and into the crib in the boys room. I thought them sharing a room was going to be hard, but so far it hasn't been too bad. The only glitch is during CJ's nap. We are still figuring that one out, but it will work out in time.

Like I always say about him though, the one thing that remains consistent is that he is soooo happy. CJ kept trying to give Will his pacifier when Will was fine, and I would tell him, Will didn't need it, he was happy. Now when Will is smiling and playing, CJ says, "Will happ." He kicks his feet and talks while he plays on the floor and when you talk to him me smiles so big I can't imagine how his mouth could open any further.

Oh how I love this little guy. I just look at him and melt.

sweetness...

I am so thankful CJ has good friends. When you ask him who his friends are, he will even name them. When he was about 6 months old, we met our friends the Hollifields. While he was in the nursery at church, he played with a little girl that was almost the same age as him, and ever since then, they have been besties. One of the great things about it is that we love her mommy and daddy as much as we love her.

Since their birthdays are only three weeks apart, we are going to do their parties together this year. We took pictures to make their invitations, and a few weeks ago, I shared some of CJ that I took of him as we were waiting on Anna Grace to arrive. Here are the rest...

They are going to have a candy party. Here are the pictures that didn't make the invitation. They were a little timid at first because they both rarely get candy, but you'll see they adjusted quickly! :)

love at first sight...

There is a peace that comes when you hold your baby in your arms. There is a sense of something larger than yourself taking hold. There is a longing to do this one thing right.

There is so much I understand about the love of our heavenly Father now that I never understood before I had kids. There are a lot of people I truly love in my life... but none of them so much I would sacrifice CJ for them. There are problems and heartache in the world that I would love to change... but none so much I would sacrifice CJ for them. How truly great is our Father's love for us that He did, willingly, knowingly, purposefully give up his Son for us. My small human mind can't begin to comprehend the depths and heights of that love...

But what I do know, is that two years ago today when I met Christian Josiah Hetzel for the first time, life changed. We are changed for the better because of him. Happy Birthday my big boy!