dating my husband

Somehow after having Desmond Ben + I have managed to have an even better social life than ever before. I never thought I would say that it's "easier" to leave my baby the second time around, but it truly is. It has nothing to do with being less attached, it's about being more comfortable. I've been around the block with Kai and learned that leaving the baby with grandparents to get a night out with my husband or some work done is a very good thing for everyone.

This past Friday night Ben + I went to a special event called The Gallery of Cupcakes, put on by our friend who runs The Sassy Cupcake (on the side of about a million other awesome things that she does). We dressed up, mingled with adults, and ate cupcakes for dinner.

{my new faves}

{the manly way to eat a fancy little cupcake}

Afterward we decided to stop and get some real food (although I could totally live off of those PBJ cupcakes, so good!) and sit down to chat about something other than work and kids, like an actual date. It was so good to have that time, just for a few short hours to recharge and feel like a couple again.

Special thanks to our wonderful parents and siblings for babysitting so we can do things like this on occasion!

jumpin' jumpin'

This boy is getting too big, too fast.

He now loves, LOVES jumping in his activity jumper. He's also been "talking" a ton and screeching like crazy. He's so happy and active.

Kai loves having Des standing up in the jumper. He's closer to his eye level and he comes over and talks to him and shows him toys. Earlier today he said "noses!" and then tried rubbing noses with Desmond. If you've seen Toy Story 3, you'll get why this is truly hilarious. 

bath boys

Last night the boys took their first bath together, twice. Within the first 10 seconds Desmond decided to pee in the water. So we drained it and started all over. Malakai loved the entire thing and wanted to help wash his brother.

Desmond seemed to enjoy it too.

as usual

Just like always we have been busy little bees around here. Still in full potty-training mode with Kai and he's decided to add furniture-climber to his resume. We did a little furniture switch-a-roo last night which helped keep him off of the low dresser/changer at nap time, but he's still tempted by it in the playroom/Desmond's nursery.

Yes, the playroom is basically Des' nursery now. The crib has been in there since we put Kai's twin mattress in his room back in December, but the changer was still in his bedroom. Now that the crib and changer are back together, it's looking like a nursery...with a LOT of toys everywhere. I think it'll work well as both for now, but I'm sure it's not the last time we transition the two rooms. I don't think we'll be able to put them to bed in the same room for a very long time, so even though our home is small, I'm so thankful that we have 3 separate bedrooms!

Desmond's teething has calmed down a bit, which means better sleep...but not necessarily less drool yet. Kai was never a drooler, so this is new territory for us. I'm not sure if I should just carry around a burp cloth or put a bib on him. Maybe both.

I just updated my Project 365 blog. I always get backed up over the weekend.

Now I need to get back to tidying things up around here in preparation for tomorrow's small group meeting. Always busy, but super blessed.

Malakai + Desmond: growing boys

It's been a while since I've done a comparison of my boys, and since I have to share Desmond's well-check stats from his 4 month in contrast to his 2 month appointment, I might as well see how he compares to Malakai at this age.

First, one small thing that I love about our pediatrician's office is that they take a photo at every well check. I take my own photos all the time, but for some reason it's just so great to have their photos to compare. Here are Desmond's photos so far...

Talk about a quick change! In 2 months his head grew an inch, he grew 3 inches in length, and gained 4lbs! Here are his 4 month stats: height 26 1/4 (85%), weight- 18lbs 15.5oz ( above 95%), head- 17 1/4 in. (85%). 

And Malakai's at this age: height- 24 3/4 inches (43%), weight- 17lbs 8oz (88%), head- 18 in. (99%).  

Kai was seeing a different doctor, so we don't have the well-check photos for him. When Kai was 4 months his pediatrician had us all worried about his growth and development. I'm glad to have switched doctors and to know that both my boys are healthy and well without jumping to conclusions and being given the worst case scenario at every visit. 

Ben + I were just realizing last night that it has been 9 months since Kai's surgery. It seems like a lifetime ago, and we are so glad to have that behind us!

Anyway here is Kai at 4 months in November of 2009 and Des at 4 months now.

We get a lot of comments about how Des looks "just like his brother!" but I really don't agree. They have some of the same features, but each has a look of their own. Well, except for the fact that Malakai is an exact replica of Ben.

This week Desmond has been teething like crazy and Malakai is learning to use the potty. It's been challenging and I surely wouldn't have planned to start potty-training with Kai while sleep deprived because of Desmond's teething and my having a cold...but he was ready so I went with it. The kid totally gets it, but doesn't really care to go unless I remind him that he gets a sticker, then he's all about it, but would rather put a diaper back on than a pull-up or underwear...I have a feeling it's going to take a while!

Thankful on a Thursday

Here we go again, another sickness making its way through our house. Thankfully Kai has stopped coughing and my sore throat isn't getting worse, just lingering. Little Des is teething like crazy which means nobody is getting a full night's sleep around here. I'm really hoping for some relief for him and rest for all.

Yes, once again I'm blogging about sleep...or the lack of. Yet this week I'm thankful for...

991. Malakai beginning to sleep better, although he did skip nap today.

992. a fairly short lived cold (hopefully).

993. an actual date with my husband to look forward to.

994. a productive work week and seeing the fruits of my labor.

995. Des' check up going well today.

996. Finishing our tax returns.

997. being able to tag-team bed time + night wakings.

998. the help of my patient husband, he takes the best care of us.

999. quiet times with Ben in the evenings when the littles are finally asleep.

1000. grace amazing.

apple salsa + a culinary tip

When Ben had to avoid just about every food on the planet, one of those was tomatoes. Normally that wouldn't be a big deal because he doesn't like them, however, the man loves salsa. Coincidentally, I came across a recipe via facebook post from Our Best Bites (who I won my Cuisinart Ice Cream maker from). Their recipe actually focuses on the main dish, but I was really only interested in the apple salsa.

Before I had never heard of apple salsa, just mango or pineapple, which are both too sweet for us. I've made this apple salsa several times now and have been working on perfecting it to what we want. I also referenced Rachael Ray's version for quantities since the other was more of a garnish. I made one batch where I used the food processor to chop all the ingredients, another time I  tried adding some fuji apples for a little more sweetness. After all the experiments I think I've finally come up with the best version.

Granny Smith Apple Salsa

4 Granny Smith Apples
1/2 small red onion
1/4 cup cilantro
1 small lime
1/4 teaspoon salt

Wash, peel, and coarsely chop the apples. I found that cutting with a santoku knife and then chopping with a mezzaluna worked well for this. Add to medium bowl.

Finely chop the onion or run it through your food processor real quick. Same can be done with the cilantro, but I just chopped it up with the mezzaluna as well. (When you have little ones you can't always rely on loud appliances). Add onion and cilantro to your bowl of chopped apples.

{these had me weeping uncontrollably}

Cut your lime and squeeze the juice into the mix. Salt to taste... I only measure salt when baking. Then stir it all up and enjoy with your favorite tortilla chips or over a spicy dish to give it a little salty sweet kick. Easy and so yummy!

Now here's my little "culinary tip". I actually read this in a magazine but I don't recall which one. Perhaps this is well-known and I'm just discovering it, but you can freeze fresh herbs! Exciting stuff, I know.

Cilantro comes in bundles of much more than I could ever use before it wilts. So this time around I washed it, plucked off all the little leaves from the whole bunch, and coarsely chopped it all. Then I chopped what I was going to use in the salsa a bit finer.

I added a little water to an ice cub tray, put the leftover cilantro in and added a bit more water. The water is really just to make it so you can actually remove the cubes. Then when you're ready to use it, just thaw and drain a few cubes! 

I'm always throwing out fresh herbs when they are no longer "fresh" so it'll be nice to have this trick up my sleeve to save the extras!

why today is awesome...

Parenthood has a lot of ups and downs, not even just within each month or week but literally within a 5 minute span you can have some of the most amazing moments with your children quickly followed by some insanely challenging ones. Can I get an amen mama's + daddy's?

Anyway, today has had just as many joys as challenges, just like any other day. However, there have been enough significant happy moments to make today a pretty good one so far.

Early this morning I threw some beef stew together in the crock pot and cleaned the kitchen, dining room and living room.

Later in the morning one of my best friends, Jamie, came over with her son Justice (who is almost one!) and we had breakfast. We hadn't seen each other in way too long because of sickness bouncing back and forth between our families over the last few months. Malakai had a few challenging moments, but really enjoyed seeing Justice.

After they left Kai needed a diaper change and on a whim I asked if he wanted to use the toilet (I know, here I go blogging about potty training). He asked to use the "white one", as opposed to his Elmo potty chair. He sat, but nothing. So we washed hands, but instead of a diaper I put underpants on. I decided to see if he'd sit on the Elmo chair in the living room for a bit. I got him some snacks, a cup of water and turned on the tv. He was content to sit and I just waited.

{yes, even Batman needs to learn to use the potty}

I walked in the other room to put the camera away and when I came back he had gone in the potty chair for the first time ever. I had not anticipated just how proud and excited I'd feel. I pulled a progress chart out of a Elmo training book Aunt Kristi got him forever ago and we put a sticker on. He got lots of hugs and high fives and was so excited! He even wanted to sit on it some more and try again, but that didn't last long.

Later he ended up wetting in his underwear and not telling me, but I just cleaned him up and went back to diapers for the rest of the morning. I didn't even care because I was so excited for his first success.

Then we peeled paper off broken crayons and he sorted the colors so we could melt them and make big flat crayons in a muffin tin. He colored a bit and we just had some quiet playtime.

Just after 1pm He ate a late lunch and started to get sleepy. For the past month I have been dreading nap time every afternoon. Kai hasn't been napping and for the past two weeks he'll fall asleep just before dinner in random places or doing random things.

I usually try nap right after lunch which ends up being between noon and 1pm. Today we started a bit later even though he woke up just before 7am, so he was pretty tired. At 2pm I picked him up, sang a silly song and laid him down while continuing to sing and he was fast asleep in less than a minute. Our second success of the day! I am so thrilled!

Both boys are sleeping, my house is clean, dinner is cooking itself and I've got a smile on my face. Today is a great day!

Desmond: 4 months

At 4 months Desmond is a very social baby. It's so easy to make him smile and laugh, I spend most of my day being a goof ball just to hear him giggle. He wakes up in the morning talking and cooing away, just completely happy.

He loves to watch other people, especially big brother Malakai. Kai has also just noticed that he's being watched and takes to entertaining Desmond. He's also been much more gentle, affectionate, and helpful with Des. He'll grab a burp cloth, or the boppy when I need it. The other night he grabbed Desmond's bottle from the counter after Ben finished feeding him, and said "I feed him!" and put it in Des' mouth. It was too sweet, and of course Des thought it was hilarious.

Desmond is growing faster than I can keep track of. We already have two full storage bags of his newborn, 0-3, and 3 month clothes. He is quickly getting too big (long) for his 3-6 and some 6 month clothes and fits really well in most 6-9 month things already! I find myself sorting clothes out of his regular rotation every time I do laundry.

He has been an amazing sleeper. Besides the colic he experienced early on, he goes down fairly easy at night and doesn't cry when he wakes to nurse. There are occasions when he keeps waking up just after we put him down, usually it's because he wants to keep eating. Once he's down for the night, he really only wakes up once or twice.

The bottle has been an interesting challenge for Des. He took to a binky really well, which is why we were so shocked he wouldn't eat from a bottle. My mom discovered a technique that works (holding him facing out while bouncing) and between her, Ben, and his mom we're getting him to eat from a bottle in more comfortable positions week by week. For now, he still refuses to take a bottle being cradled like when I nurse him.

He started reaching for and grabbing toys a couple weeks ago. Now he's a pro and is also grabbing at my hands while he nurses, my hair and for faces of whomever is holding him. He still loves to "stand up" on his legs and doesn't mind tummy time for 5 minutes here and there. He can roll over from tummy to back, so if he gets tired of it he just rolls to his back.

{visiting with Aunt Kristi}

Sweet Desmond is growing up much too fast, but it seems that's how all of the babies are doing it these days. It kills me that I hardly remember Kai as a baby anymore. Thank goodness for home videos!

Thankful on a Thursday: sleep

Sleep has been a big issue in our house recently. Malakai is having a hard time taking naps. At 2 1/2 I'd question whether it was time to stop taking naps and just transition into quiet time in the afternoon BUT kiddo can't keep his eyes open after about 5:30. Last week he fell asleep reading books just before dinner and then again at the table.

Last night really took the cake. Kai refused to nap again and was really drowsy at 5pm. He got really cranky and was hurdling towards a total melt down. I whipped him up a grilled cheese sandwich because he said he was hungry. While I was cooking he sat at the table and zoned out, I put his food in front of him as quick as I could to get him to wake up, but instead this happened....

{If we're friends on facebook I'm sure you've seen this already}

I've never seen something so strange in my whole life. I didn't know it was possible to continue eating while asleep. My husband is a sleep walker and has some crazy stories, but none of them are this odd. I've seen kids fall asleep into their food or while eating, Kai did this just last week, but continuing to eat while asleep astounds me.

Anyway, all that to say that little mister is really keeping himself from getting the sleep he needs. Thankfully he passed out in the car on the way home from Grandma's after lunch today.

This week I'm thankful for...

981. my two boys, currently fast asleep, getting the rest they need.

982. Desmond sleeping through the night twice!

983. small group- I'm really enjoying getting to know people better.

984. a clean house (hosting small group is a great motivator to keep the house uncluttered!)

985. my tech guru- aka Ben.

986. a very productive week at work/home.

987. new shelves in my office.

988. crossing some projects off of my long to-do list.

989. getting to indulge my creative side here and there.

990. a happy and healthy family.

What are you thankful for this week?

Kai's Quotes + Anecdotes

I've been keeping track of the things Malakai says and does on a piece of paper on the fridge, we've compiled nearly two pages over the past few months. We obviously don't get it all on there, but when we remember we jot them down so we can look back on them.

Just this past week he's had a couple sweet and funny moments that I wanted to share.

Over the weekend we were riding to Grandma + Grandpa Pottorf's house when Kai saw the moon.

Kai (shouting): "The MOON!"
Ben: "Good job, that's the moon."
Kai: "I blow on it!" proceeds to blow at the window.
        "I missed it!"
Ben + I: "try again"
Kai: more blowing. "I got it!"

Last night before bed I prayed with him. I finished with "In Jesus name, Amen." and he repeated it. Then he said "Jesus is a baby... God is a dad." I don't know where he got that, maybe Sunday school, but I was pleasantly surprised and so proud!

Today he was playing with some play-doh. He always wants us to take it out of the container. It's not my favorite thing to do because it gets under my fingernails and is a pain to get out so to help him do it himself I got out a measuring spoon. He proceeded to scoop out little pieces and put them into another bowl I gave him to play with. He started to stir and I asked him if he was cooking.

Kai: "Yeah, I'm cooking!"
Me: "What are you making?"
Kai: "play-doh!"

That one made me laugh because he has such a creative imagination, but he can also be so literal. This is such a fun age for silly quotes and funny behaviors. I'm so thankful for these moments, especially when they break the tension of some not-so-fun moments that are also prevalent at this age.

hanging clouds

This morning at work I spent my time cutting out hearts, sticking checkered bunting to a table, and hanging clouds from the ceiling. These are the fun things I get to do during the week as part of my job directing part of the children's ministries at my church.

 I am so blessed to have a job that a look forward to going to each week, even though it means working on the weekends and being utterly exhausted every Sunday afternoon. It is so worth it!

The very best part is imparting the love of Jesus to babies, toddlers and preschoolers. I obviously have a personal investment with Malakai being in two's class. It's also a good partnership in that I'm able to serve from the prospective of a parent, anticipating their needs and concerns.

If you're in the Eugene area and looking for a church, contact me. I'd love to share mine with you!

two blogs

I have such a hard time keeping up with just one, but now that I'm also attempting the 365 photo project, it's even more challenging. I also struggle to not update with details on my photo blog and on the other hand, I don't want to stop using pictures on my posts here.

I've finished a few other projects and Ben's birthday is behind us, so hopefully this space will get a bit more attention in the coming weeks. Visit Project 365 for the latest photos for now.

happy birthday Ben!

Today is my amazing husband's birthday. We had a nice lunch out, just the two of us! It was short, but sweet.