One-On-One Time

Something that has become pretty important to me lately is one-on-one time with each of my kids.  Don't get me wrong - I absolutely love the time we all spend together, and it makes my heart jump for joy when I watch Matthew and Kate play together (which is happening more frequently now -yay!) but some of my very favorite moments with the kids have come when I am one-on-one with them.  You'd think that with our relatively simple lives and the fact that I only have two kids it would be super easy to have quality one-on-one time, but it's not as easy as you'd think.  So, with the help of my wonderful husband, I have started putting more effort into getting out for mommy/son and mommy/daughter dates.  (And Michael has been getting more one-on-one time with each kid too).   I have also been putting more effort into making sure that my one-on-one time with each kid really is quality time.  Obviously I am far from perfect from this, but when I am mindful of what I am trying to do, I usually end up making much better use of that time.

This one-on-one time is so important, especially for Matthew.  He needs as much of it as he can get.  Without it, he starts to look like this:

Upset.  Overly clingy.  No bueno.

Luckily, Kate is pretty good about taking a nap for an hour every morning and I always spend this time super focused on Matthew and his needs.  We read stores, sing songs, and have "learning time." (Which is when we work on words, colors, shapes, etc)  We both love this time.  He is a total sponge right now and he impresses me every single day with how much he picks up in such a short amount of time.  

My alone time with Kate during the day isn't quite as predictable, but it's a blast as well.  We read books, practice crawling, and/or play with as many toys as possible.  She is just the sweetest little thing.  

While this alone time during the week is great, it's usually still not quite enough since the activities we can do are limited to what we can do in the house.  This is where the weekend comes in handy.  ;-)  Yesterday (Saturday) I took Kate shopping and we had a blast.  She's at the age where she wants to see and touch everything, and it was nice to be able to take our time and look around since there wasn't a bored and impatient toddler whining at us.  Ha!

And then I took Matthew on a mommy/son date to the pool.  We both had an amazing time.  There was so much laughing and playing and it was oh so good.

Love these kids of mine.  I know that as life gets crazier and busier it'll be harder to get that quality one-on-one time, (and it probably won't happen as often) but I hope to always make it a priority.  

Matthew Turns 2!

Well, we're counting years now, not months.  Can't believe my little boy is 2!

Here are a few pictures from the day:

A few things about Matthew:

- Sometimes he can have a fiery personality, ;-) but he is such a good kid and has a heart of gold.  He is very kind and never a bully.  He is protective of his sister.

-He loves attention and applause.

-He knows most colors and most letters.  He was a very late talker, but that is coming along too.

-He is busy and likes to always be playing and doing something active.

-He loves to swim, wrestle, run around, and read.  He enjoys learning new things.

-Most of the time it seems like he's going to be left-handed, but other times we're not so sure.

-For how active he is, we are very impressed with his reverence during prayers and scripture study.  Once we tell him we're going to pray, he immediately stops what he's doing and folds his arms.

-His favorite song changes every couple weeks, and he only ever wants me to sing whatever his favorite song is at the moment.  If I try to mix it up and sing something else, he gets mad.  :-)  Right now, his favorite song is, "Whenever I Hear The Song of A Bird."  We sing it before every nap and at bedtime.

-He is obsessed with buses.  Whenever he sees one, he points and screams, "BUS! BUS! BUS!...." at the top of his lungs.

-He loves any and all animals and bugs.  Except for flies.

-He is so good with technology.  He loves the iPhone.  His favorite thing to do on the iPhone is watch videos of him and Kate.

-He only likes/watches one TV show - Super Why! 

-He loves to come with me to get Kate when she wakes up from naps.  He loves his sister.

-He gives the best hugs and kisses.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATTHEW!  These last two years have been the BEST!

TWO!

My little man is 2 years old!!!  I put together a short slideshow of his first two years of life.  It's my first slideshow ever so don't judge me for its poor quality. ;-)  

Love you buddy!

Home

Whew!  Moving sure is hard work!  Especially with little kids!  However, the dust is settling and while we still have some work to do to make this place look nice, the boxes are unpacked and life has calmed down a bit.  Well, other than us all getting sick over the weekend.  Yuck.

Anyway, I've been thinking a lot about the word "home."  I have always tried to make my house a home, even before I had an actual house.  However, I think that deep down I didn't really believe that I could give my home everything I wanted it to have until I had a comfortable house. (Instead of a small apartment).  From this moving experience, I've learned that that isn't true.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE our new house and hope to never ever not live in a house ever again, but I have really come to appreciate that what makes a home is so much more than the walls and the space.

For example, I was absolutely certain that I would have NO problem leaving our apartment.  However, as I walked out the door for the last time I was surprised to feel kind of emotional and sad.  When we walked in the door of that apartment for the first time almost two years ago, I was carrying my newborn Matthew and was so excited about- funny enough- all the space.  ;-)  (It was more than our previous apartment).  In that apartment, I could show you exactly where Matthew crawled for the first time and where he took his first steps.  I could show you where Matthew, Michael, and I spent countless hours playing on the floor and where I danced around the apartment with Matthew when I found out that our family of 3 was going to become a family of 4.  I could also show you my preferred spot in the living room where I spent countless sleepless hours of the night with both Matthew and Kate as tiny babies, feeding them and trying oh so hard to get them back to sleep.  It definitely wasn't all roses and butterflies in that apartment, (I will never forget the endless noise at all hours of the day and night from the apartment above us!) but it was our home because it was full of love and memories. I was sad to leave.

I heard that it usually takes several months for a new place to feel like home.  However, I am very pleasantly surprised that this place already totally feels like home.  And I can't wait for all the new memories we're going to make here.  So grateful to have a beautiful new house and that I get to share it with my family that makes it a home.

Now I am totally looking forward to Fall, so that I can walk outside without wanting to kill myself and be reminded that hey, I DO have some pride in my home city.  (I forget all that pride from May to September).  And!  We have someone's big second birthday coming up next week!  Excited for that too.  ;-)

Pictures of life since the move:

boxes make great toys

 don't ask

New House!

We bought a house!!!  Woohoo!  I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I am to get away from apartment living.  Some apartments aren't that bad, but ours is pretty terrible.... not to mention we have completely outgrown this place.  I have been beyond antsy to get somewhere where we have a bit more room.  :-)  And I'm so excited to finally have that place!

On our porch.  I'll have to get another pic of the whole house.

Anyway, we closed on Tuesday and then on Wednesday my dad drove up here to help us transform the loft into a fourth bedroom.  Lofts can be great, but at this stage in our lives, another bedroom is WAY more useful.  In just a couple of days, the room went from this -

to this!

So glad my dad is so handy, because he saved us a TON of money.  Plus, Michael loved learning so much.

We are now working on a couple of other small(er) projects before move-in, which should be next weekend.  These projects are mostly painting.  Then, after we finally move in and get settled, someone come help me decorate!  :-)