my squishy

I shall call him Squishy and he shall be mine. And he shall be my squishy. Come here Squishy! Come here little Squishy deeebeeedooodeeeb.......

The name Squishy just suits Beckham. He is so cute and squishy!! He is still my floppy baby. His muscle tone is still so lax, but it's made even worse by his ability to collapse into a pile of goo when I hold him, wrestle with him, tickle him, ask him to stand when he doesn't want to, etc.


I thought these pictures of Becks and Callie were cute. She is so patient with his overzealous love. He loves "tallie tat" so much. He follows her around talking in a sweet high voice, ready to lay on her at any moment. Good thing she is young and resilient.

Beckham and I have a nice few mornings a week when Kaden is at school. Beckham missed Kaden the first few times he was gone, asking where he was and wandering around looking for him. It was a little sad and a lot cute. Now, I think he realizes what this means, having brother gone. He gets free reign of toys, nothing gets taken away, he has my attention, and soon his playmate will come home. Plus, going to pick Kaden up is one of his favorite things. He loves the new school and the playground is exciting. I usually tear him away crying. We need to work on this boy's temper somehow. He knows how to cause a scene.

One morning a week he has physical therapy. He's been doing this for over a year. He sort of loves Diane, sort of resents why she comes. He loves to play with her, but the moment he realizes he is being tricked into working he becomes aloof and wanders off to the other side of the room to play. He has quite a personality. I am so excited that he is graduating from pt. He will only be doing 2 days a month now, and I see him being able to completely stop soon. He is doing so well. Since he learned to walk his independence has taken off. He is motivated to try new things, which he never cared about doing before. He is well aware of what he wants and will work hard to figure out how to get it. He tries to keep up with other kids. He's become quite active and even a bit troublesome. He makes me proud.

next time won't you sing with me?

Have I mentioned before how fun it is to have Matt home on his days off? Yeah, I have, a bunch of times. He is so cute with the kids. They love him so much. The other day Matt and Kaden were working on an alphabet puzzle. Kaden loves to do puzzles with his daddy. Sometimes he just jumps and dances around while Matt does all the work. Sometimes he helps a little. It was cute watching Matt teach him. Beckham was just a spectator while he sat on the floor and ate his snack. He is so funny about his snacks. He raids the pantry every chance he gets. He is always bringing me things, "open this? pwees, pwees?! I want some, want some!"

I am so proud of Matt and the way he is with the boys. It has only been in the last year that I feel confident in leaving him to watch over the boys for short periods of time. He is so attentive and good with them when I am gone. He calls me if he has any questions. One day I was gone for hours, yard-saleing all around the town with friends. I expected to come home to a disaster and the tv on. I came home and they had read stories, eaten snacks, worked on puzzles, and build train tracks, and everyone was happy. I felt so proud of him. Sometimes I will leave for a night out with friends. He puts the kids to bed and listens for them. We have great friends close by who can be called in a pinch if needed. It's so nice to have a little freedom, and Matt thrives in the situation. The boys love their time with Dad, behave for him, and don't seem to miss me a bit.

Beckham has learned the abc's. He actually has known them for a few months. He will sing them over and over and over again. It's just too cute for words. I love his little voice. The other day we had to roam the halls in church because he was so excited in singing. He was happy and loud. These videos were taken a few weeks ago and are awful quality but so adorable, to me at least. The camera throws him off a little. He usually won't miss a beat or a letter.

Can I say that my baby is a smartie? I am pretty sure he is...

a cloudy nature walk...and i'm a picture hoarder

Today was cold, dark, overcast, and dreary. We stayed in the house building forts, coloring pictures, wrestling and cuddling, making smoothies, and reading stories. By 4:00 I was tired of being inside. We decided to bundle up and head out to the hill behind our house. There is a fun little trail back there and the kids love our little "nature walks".

I have a problem, though. I cannot stop snapping pictures when I have my camera with me. It's just too hard to put down when I see so many things to capture. Those boys are always doing something, that of course I, as their mother, cannot resist. They are just too adorable. I love all of the thousands of photos I have of them playing, jumping, climbing, giggling, crying, etc. They make me so happy. I am a happy hoarder. I only had my camera out about 1/4 of the time today...can you imagine what would have happened if I hadn't put it away?!

Callie, our new little kitty, even came part way with us. She is so funny. We acquired her when my brother and his wife couldn't keep her. She is still so young. She plays and climbs, chases and hunts. Beckham is in love with her. He calls her "tallie tat". She sleeps with him and allows him to tackle her and smother her. She never gets mad.

Beckham didn't walk as far today. He wanted to be carried. He's wanted to be held and cuddled most of the day which makes me happy. When he did walk, he picked his own way. He was wandering around paying no attention to the way Kaden and I were trying to lead him. Kaden was so patient in waiting for his brother.

Kaden was running around a million miles a minute like always. He was in this tree and that, running ahead, climbing the hill. He reminds me of a dog. He probably went 4 times as far as we did.

There is a little hidden fort we went to and played in for a while. The boys had so much fun exploring it.

They are so cute together!!!

At one point Kaden was calling to me that he was stuck. I came over and he was up in the little tree fort, climbing down. He said, "Mama, I thought I was going to be stuck here forever, but then I remembered I'm awesome!". He is so funny. I told Matt about that little comment tonight when he got home and he laughed so hard, "Kaden is so rad!".

Another simple day down for the memory books. The simple, unplanned days are always the best ones.

partying with the big kids

Last weekend we got to party it up with a bunch of friends-sans kids. It was a costume party. I had been sick and had a hard time finding a babysitter, so thought we wouldn't go. A few hours before the party my brother said he could watch the boys and I decided to just buck up. I had no idea what we would wear. After a bit I thought of the perfect thing. Matt was totally on board(and he even let me curl his hair with my flat iron) and we both thought we were so hilarious. We think we're cool like that. Plus, it was free. I knew that track suit would come in handy someday.

The food was amazing, we carved pumpkins, and had such a fun time. I love the magic of holidays that comes with having kids, but the adults can have fun too, and we did.