Samuel's Dinosaur Party, Part 1

We had a great time celebrating our Samuel's second birthday. I always look forward to planning birthday parties. I tell people that I'm making the most of it during these little years, when I have the most control over their parties. Someday they'll want Spiderman or Laser tag parties, and while that will be special for them, I don't think they'll let me do all the cutesy stuff that is so fun right now.

Samuel has been interested in dinosaurs for a few months. He really had a great time seeing them at the zoo last summer and always points out anything dinosaur when he sees it. I thought it would be a fun theme for his party, and I found lots of cute dinosaur party ideas.

I found these cute invitations at Walgreens and knew they would be perfect for his party.

For decorations, we cut out dinosaur footprints and taped them around the floor. 

My friend Erica made this adorable banner for Samuel's party. She did a way better job than I would have done on a banner.  It's still hanging up a week later. It's too cute to take down.

We set up a couple of kids' tables and decorated them with some dinosaurs Samuel had and some of his favorite dinosaur books.

My mom made the birthday boy and his big brother some adorable dinosaur shirts. I love her new embroidery machine!

She also found this huge wall hanging for really cheap on Amazon. Samuel loves it. He points out all the dinosaurs anytime he sees it.

For cake, I made a cupcake cake in the shape of a dinosaur. I thought it turned out really cute, especially for as easy as it was to assemble.

We also served fossil cookies. The boys had too much fun helping me stamp the cookie dough with the dinosaur footprint.

I saw an idea online for a dinosaur head carved out of watermelon. I thought it was adorable. We recruited Barry's brother Scott to carve it for us, and he did amazing. Samuel and Nathan thought it was the coolest thing. They were careful reaching in for the fruit that the dinosaur didn't bite them.

I made dinosaur dirt with gummy dinosaurs. It was a hit.

We also served chex mix and sausage balls at the party.

And lime green punch

I found some egg shaped sidewalk chalk for favors, so each Little One got some dinosaur eggs to take home with them.

Second birthdays are really fun, because Samuel was old enough to "get" it and he loved all the dinosaurs at his party. He is still talking about his dinosaur party.

Two Years Old

My sweet Samuel Jacob, you are officially two years old. The last two years with you have been incredible. You add such joy and a wonderful chaos to our family.

 I'm still processing how you can be two already. I feel like age two is the time when all the baby left in you fades away, and I get misty eyed thinking about saying goodbye to my sweet, chubby cheeked red-headed baby boy. You had to grow up quickly and lost the baby status in our family so young, that although your sister is such a blessing to you and our entire family, I still feel like you were robbed a little of your babyhood. You quickly turned into a big boy, but you've always been such an independent little guy that none of it seemed to phase you at all.

Independent is certainly a word I'd use to describe your personality. You started refusing help when you were eating shortly after you've turned one (by the way, messy is another word I'd use to describe you). You insist on doing so many things yourself and struggle sometimes accepting help when you need it. You try to dress and undress yourself, put your shoes on, climb into your car seat, carry your toys around, brush your teeth and wash your hands and face all by yourself.

Your need for independence helps with your problem solving skills. You don't give up easily, but work through problems and try new things to figure things out. Frustration certainly occurs, but you rarely give up when you're working toward something, and you would usually try and figure it out on your own than have someone help you.

You have such a happy, joyful personality. Joy is always the first word that comes to mind when I think of you. You are always smiling and your laugh is one of the best sounds in the world. You find joy in the smallest things, and I've always admired that about you.

You are a big time talker, and I love hearing your sweet voice and knowing what you're thinking about. You are talking in 4-5 word sentences now and figuring out sentence structure. You say things like, "Mommy, read my book." The other night at bedtime, Nathan had to go to bed early from misbehaving. When you realized, he wasn't reading books with you, you said, "Oh no, what happened, Nathan?" You continue to love music and sing along to songs. You can count to 10 and know all of your colors and shapes.

Seeing your relationship with Nathan is one of my favorite things about being a mom. He is your best friend. There are times when you want him to leave you alone, but you almost always want to be with him. There are lots of fights over toys, but you simply adore him. I was a little unsure what it would be like raising two boys, but I'm so thankful God gave me you and Nathan. I love watching your relationship and am so grateful that you have each other. You mimic so many things that Nathan does and look up to him. But you also aren't afraid to be independent and do your own thing, and there are lots of times I catch him following you around as you lead. Your favorite things to do with him are playing Ring around the rosies, hide and seek and playing outside.

You are thoughtful and kind. You look out for your little sister and always make sure she has plenty of toys. It distresses you when she is crying or upset, and always yell, "Oh no Ba-beth crying!" She sits next to you in the car, and you two have started playing with each other in the car. I hear you two laughing at each other and it warms my heart to see your relationship.

You love to eat and are a grazer. You eat slowly and all day long. You've refused to sit in a high chair for several months, and with the independence of getting down by yourself, you like to take breaks while you're eating. You'll hop down and play or wash your hands and then get back in your chair and eat some more. Macaroni and cheese is your favorite meal. You also love pizza. Your other favorite foods are grapes, apples, goldfish, blueberries, bananas, ice cream and fruit snacks.

You are  impulsive. Unlike your brother (and your mommy) who always like to have a plan, you just go with the flow and are do whatever you like best at the time. Your brother will spend half of his playtime "setting up" and getting ready to play, while you immediately start playing with whatever draws your attention at the time. You enjoy every moment and don't stress about the details. You'd rather run around the pumpkin patch than spend ten minutes looking for the perfect pumpkin or grab a handful of candy, instead of taking the time to search for that special piece.

You weigh 30 lbs 11oz (75%) and are 34.5inches tall (50%). Your head is still in the 90%. You're wearing 2T clothing and a size 8 shoe.

You like to watch TV, but usually aren't interested enough to sit still for long periods of time. You prefer to have it on in the background while you play. Your favorite shows right now are Paw Patrol, Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, Ni Hao Kai Lan, and Jake and the Neverland Pirates.

You love to color and draw and to read books. Your bed is covered in layers of books and you refuse to let me take any of them out. You insist on reading them at night while you're in bed. You also like to build with blocks, play dress up and play with your kitchen.

Playing outside is one of your very favorite things to do. You usually cry when we make you come inside, you love it so much. You are fearless and will climb up as high as you can and slide down the biggest slides at the park. You have endless energy. I've noticed that you're really now scared of anything. The only time I've seen fear from you, was when there was a witch on an episode of Bubble Guppies. You ran to find me crying. But there's really not much else that you're frightened of.

You are finally consistently sleeping wonderfully at night. You sleep from about 8:30pm-7:00 or 7:30 am and take a two hour afternoon nap. You like your bedtime routine: Night, night show (and snack), brush teeth, read books, prayers and hugs and bedtime. We usually let you and your brother each pick out a book to read, and you always try and sneak an extra book (and I usually give in and read it to you). It's hard to say no to you.

You do have a stubborn streak and a bit of a strong will. You can throw a good fit when you don't get your way, and we've caught you purposely disobeying us to test us.

You love your Papa Joe and have always had a special bond with him.

You will always be my baby boy no matter how big or independent you are. I know two is going to be a great year for you. We have so many fun things planned this year with you. It may be sad to part with the baby Samuel and watch you transform into a big boy, but I'm certain you are going to be an incredible big boy, and I'm thrilled to experience you growing up.

I'm so very proud of the sweet, happy boy you are and love you more than you'll ever know. It's a joy to be your mommy.

Seven Months Old!

Baby girl, you are seven months old! You are growing up and changing a little every single day!

You got your two bottom teeth right after you turned six months old (2/12), and are chewing and biting on everything. I'm guessing you'll have more popping through soon.

The weather has been crazy this month, but we did have one warm, dry day where we played outside. You got to swing for the first time, and you thought it was one of the best things in the world. You smiled and laughed the whole time. We're so ready for Spring and more outside fun!

You take a morning, afternoon, and evening cat nap everyday. You go down in the morning around 8:30-9:00 and sleep for about an hour. You usually sleep from 1:00ish to 3:00ish in the afternoon and take a quick 20-30minute nap sometime in the evening around dinner time. You are napping in your crib, but you are still sleeping downstairs at night. I don't think we're too far from moving you upstairs. You've been sleeping well at night. You routinely wake up around 12:30am and again between 4:00 and 5:00am, but you just have been fussing for a couple of minutes and falling back to sleep on your own. You go down around 8:00 at night and wake up around 7:00 each morning.

You're not interested in being rocked to sleep these days. You'll cry and fight us if we try and rock you most of the time, but you're great at falling asleep once we put you in your crib. I'm glad that you are able to fall asleep on your own, but I miss rocking you and the sweet snuggles. In our crazy family, a lot of times it's the only real one on one time I get with you during the day, so I savor the times when you'll give in and let me rock you.

 

You are still a Mommy's girl, but your Daddy is certainly growing on you. You're happy with him unless it's nap time. You've been babbling all the time, and saying "Da da" all the time. The other night I was telling you to say "momma." You looked at me, then turned and looked at Matt and said, "da da."

You are sitting up like a pro. I put away the boppy and the bumbo because you don't need them anymore. You'll sometimes tolerate lying on your tummy or your back, but only if someone is right next to you playing. Otherwise you scream and scream like it's the end of the world. When you're on your tummy, you'll push up on your arms and we've caught you trying to move your legs at the same time to scoot, but no real movement. I have seen you scoot on your bottom while you're sitting up though. It's so funny how important it is to you to be able to sit and see everything instead of lying down.

You are mainly wearing 6 month and a few 6-9 month clothes. Your 3-6 month things are getting a little too snug (and short) to wear. You're wearing a size 2 diaper, but you're probably ready to move up to a size 3. You've definitely filled out since starting solids.Your cute little legs have some adorable rolls and dimples.

You absolutely love attention! You always light up and grin and laugh if anyone looks at you and talks to you. You are such a social little thing. It's the worst thing for you to be left alone for any amount of time. You turn into a little Drama Queen when you don't get your way.

You nurse/take a bottle 4-5 times a day and get solids at breakfast and dinner. Your typical feeding schedule looks like this:
7:00- nurse
7:45- breakfast (oatmeal and fruit)
11:00- nurse/bottle
1:00 nurse/bottle- then down for a nap
4:30 nurse
5:30- dinner (rice cereal and vegetable)
8:00- nurse/bottle and bedtime

You are doing fine on solids, but you're not super crazy about food, and you are definitely hungrier in the evenings than at breakfast. You're not really interested in solids at breakfast and eat much better in the evening. You like your food thick. I make your cereal and oatmeal really thick and it's your favorite food right now. You also really like peas which I think is because they have a thicker texture. You'll eat other fruits and vegetables but don't seem to particularly like anything else. You just tolerate it.

We started giving you puffs and you like them (so do your brothers). You're working on your motor skills to be able to feed yourself. You'll grab a handful and then open your hand to make sure you got some, and then they fall out, and you have to try again. It's a funny process watching you try and feed yourself. You much prefer if we help you out :).

You love to play peek a boo, look at books and chew on your toys (and your brother's toys), and you love to jump in your jumper and to jump on my lap when I'm holding you. You also crack up when your brothers sing songs and dance around. They love you and you adore them.



 Your jumper is in our office, so a lot of times we let you play in it, while one of us is working on the computer. You will fuss unless we are watching you though. You always have to have an audience.

You are such a happy girl. You smile and laugh all the time. It's such a joy to watch you grow and see your sweet (and feisty) personality develop.

Turning Thirty

This birthday was a big one for me, so we got to do more celebrating than usual, which was really fun!

 My birthday was last Thursday, and my mom took the day off work, so she could spend it with me and the kids. I was so looking forward to spending the whole day with her, and I kept thinking how I hope when Elisabeth turns thirty, she'll want to spend the whole day with me :). We just hung out at my mom's house for most of the day. We did a little shopping, but mostly just stayed home and relaxed. My mom helped with the kids, so I could catch up on some TV that I can only watch at her house. It was a fun day. That night when Matt and Barry got off work, we had dinner. I requested chicken enchiladas and Los Cabos queso. Yum!

My mom also spoiled me with a delicious cake. It was such a great day.

We came home that night, and I watched this moment and realized that my thirties will be fantastic with these loves in my life.

Friday night, Matt planned a date night to celebrate my birthday. We ate dinner at Bonefish, and then went to the new Warren theater that recently opened. I had been hinting (a lot) about wanting to go. It was a fun experience. The heated and reclining seats were awesome!

We saw American Sniper. It's not really my kind of movie, but I had heard good things about it. It was a great movie. I'm glad we saw it.

Matt had gotten an incentive at work for some extra work he had done recently, so he received a free night's stay at the Mayo hotel in Tulsa, and he save it to use for my birthday. It was such a treat to spend the night in a fancy hotel. It was the nicest hotel either of us had stayed in.

It was huge, more like an apartment, than a hotel room.

I got the best night's sleep I've had in a very long time. I woke up so rested and refreshed, and I felt so spoiled.

We had a lazy morning, and then Matt took me out to breakfast for the last part of our date.

Saturday night we invited some friends (and my parents) over for Hideaway pizza and cake to celebrate. The boys helped Matt make a birthday cake for me.

We ate and visited and played board games. It was a fun night to end the weekend of celebrating. I'm looking forward to all the fun this next decade will bring!