another haircut.

So I knew Isaiah's hair was getting long, but it was so cute. In the warm humid days of summer it curled up and was adorable to me... One night a few days ago, it wasn't so humid and his hair wasn't curling...and he had his jacket on and his hair was going over the collar, and I realized...my little boy pretty much has a mullet... AHHHHH!

It was time...to cut the curls off...again. He has had his haircut a total of 3 times (4 now) and each time the curls have come back...so I'm banking on them coming back again. But anyway, Mark and I had taken the boys to the mall to exchange my new phone that I did not like for one that I did. I had a few other things I wanted to get done quickly and with Isaiah at the store, nothing gets done quickly!...and now that I'm only working a couple days a week, it's no big deal to let Mark have Isaiah for a few hours in the evening!! (I LOVE IT!) So I asked Mark if he wanted to go get Isaiah's haircut...I was a little nervous to ask, and he was a little surprised I asked. I'm so sentimental about the silly little curls, and Mark's a military man who loves a military cut... Was I really going to let him take my little boy to get his haircut?????? But we all know, I trust him, so of course! :) As they walked off, I yelled, "not too short!!!!!"

And can you believe it, they went and got it cut...and it is PERFECT. He did a great job, Mark said Isaiah did amazing...and now my little buddy doesn't have a mullet...

What do you think???

Tummy Time!

Levi is starting to get really good on his tummy. A week ago or so I got out the tummy time mat I had tucked away. I forgot I had it...he's been ready for it for a good month by now...oops :) He doesn't like it on his tummy too long...and he'll let you know when he's done...but if he's in the right mood you'll catch him checking himself out in the mirror.





Isaiah's pretty good at it too... of course he wanted to try... :)


And yes, he does have his jammies on with the pants to LAST years Halloween costume on. He found his costume tucked away in the tote of clothes I dragged up from the basement for Levi--3-6 months already!!--I'm still not sure how Isaiah's costume that he used when he was 13 months old got in that tote, but whatever... For some reason that night he refused to take the pants off... I think he wanted to be a lion again so he could rooaaarrrrr...

Crafty Pumpkins!

It's been my goal with the two little toddlers in my house to have at least one crafty project to do each day, one structured music time each day, and one story time each day; sounds easy enough, right? Well, wrong...with two 3 month old babies hanging out too, sometimes getting each of those activities in has been a big challenge. But each time I have all four of them here, it gets easier and I'm confident that very soon getting each of those activities in will be a breeze... (I've gotten at least 2 of the 3 in each day, so that's not too bad).

On Tuesday we did a fun pumpkin/jack-o-lantern craft and the kids couldn't get enough of it! Thank you Sarah!! I cut out pumpkin shapes from orange construction paper and eyes, noses, and mouths from black. I let each toddler pick out which pumpkin they wanted first. Then I let them pick out which set of eyes they wanted. Then I let them use a glue stick to put glue on them--and oh boy did they think that was COOL! Then the same for the nose and mouth. At first I was kind of steering them as to where to put the pieces, but then my husband encouraged me to let them decide...and that was such a great idea! Take a look at the fun we had!


Picking out the first pumpkins

Gluing the eyes on

Look what we did!!! They were both so proud of their creations! It was really neat to see them making something and really trying hard at it...and succeeding!


Here are Isaiah's final two pumpkins... I forgot to take a picture of all four pumpkins before I sent Jayda's home with her... (duh).

Sleep Success...

So, somehow Levi is already 11 weeks old (where does the time go?). From the start he has been a baby who loves to snuggle at night. Even in the hospital the nurse had to remind me to put him back in their crib things (she thought I was too tired at 3am to be holding the baby and watching him sleep while I doozed off :) ).

Because I like to sleep...and so does Mark...and getting up every half hour just isn't our cup of tea...we've fallen into the just let him sleep with us way of life. I said from the beginning that I didn't want him in our room or to sleep with us...but because our house is set up that we have 2 bedrooms on the main level and two bedrooms upstairs...we don't really have a good way to organize our bedrooms so Levi's cradle has been in our room.

Things started out where we were just so happy to have him in our lives that we held him until we went to bed and then I'd nurse him to sleep and fall asleep doing so and all of a sudden it was 2 or 3am and time for him to eat again...and I'd fall asleep again... and the next thing I knew it was morning and time to be up.

Now that he's older, I know he can sleep a little longer, and we are ready for our bed back. So I've been trying different things--I bought a snuggle thing that is supposed to make him feel like he's being held--it worked for 2 1/2 hours a couple nights ago! We were pleased with that, but wanted more. I tried holding a blanket for several hours and then wrapping him up in that so he'd smell me all night long--no luck with that. I've tried to swaddle him, but he likes his arms out and he's getting a little long (and strong) so he kicks out of it.

So, last night I decided to try his car seat. Not something that I want him to sleep in all of the time...but I wanted him to sleep by himself...and it was my last idea. and guess what...I put his carseat right by my side of the bed, I talked to him for a couple minutes, turned out the light, and he fell asleep in about a half hour...and slept from 11pm-5am--that's right SIX HOURS!! I'm sure it helped that he was in the smaller space and he had his warm bundle me around him...I just hope it helps get him used to sleeping alone so that he can one day make it all night in the cradle!!

friends

Saturday morning Isaiah, Levi and I had a playdate with a few of my friends (and their friends).

It seems to work well for Isaiah to let him know what we are going to do and get him prepared. So I told him we were going to play with our friends. He got really excited. I said that we could take our cookies to share with them. So all the way to there he kept saying, "share our cookies with our friends."

One of my friends happens to be the director of a preschool so we got to go to her preschool to play. Isaiah had such a great time. They had all kinds of fun new toys to play with including musical instruments, a kitchen full of toys, fish and trikes! The trikes were a big hit and also a little bit big for our kids, but they had fun trying to ride them.

Levi had fun too, he got to hang out with his buddy Liam--who is about 5 weeks younger than him--they slept, pooped and grunted while the mommies pasted them around. :) We were having such a good time I forgot to take a picture of the babies :(

We had a great Saturday morning!

cookies!

When things are going on around our house, Isaiah really likes to be part of the action. So I've been trying to make some of the "action" be things that are meant just for him. So Friday when Isaiah, Levi and I made another trip to Wal-Mart, I bought some easy pumpkin sugar cookies for Isaiah to make.




















They were the kind that you simply peeled the extra dough from around the already cut-out shapes and put them on a pan.















It was easy enough for Isaiah, but not so easy that it was boring.















He did a really great job--towards the end he got in the Play Doh mind set and started playing with the dough. He was having so much fun and kept telling me, "I'm making scary ones mama." If you look close at this picture I bet you can guess which ones are the scary ones.


It was a perfect little activity for a Friday afternoon.

smiley face

Levi has been so happy and has really started to show it! We've seen so many smiles and even heard little giggles! He is such a wonderful addition to our family!














the video is a little dark, but its so sweet...father and son.

fun pictures I promised

Today was another great day with all four little ones...

Don't have much time to post tonight, but I wanted to show you these cute pictures I took today.

oh yeah and also share how cute Isaiah was today...

Cliff got here tonight to pick up Jayda and Jonah... They were headed out to their car and Isaiah had to say goodbye to everyone (at least 10 times each) he was yelling, "bye Jayda" then "bye Jonah" and then "bye Jayda's dada" It was so sweet.

home with the little ones

Well, I did it. I made it through 2 weeks of full time working...which means I'm officially part time! Today was my first day home and it was great! My friend and co-worker and I have the perfect set up. Back in June we were able to get our supervisor to approve us job sharing one position, but we decided not to start job share until we were both off maternity leave. This means that we are sharing one full time job. We each have to work 40 hours every pay period and they have given us the flexibility to choose how we want to do it. We've decided to try each working 2 ten hour days per week. I will work Monday and Wednesdays and then I'll have the rest of the week home. One of the amazing parts of this is, that my friend and job share partner and I have agreed to watch each other's kids so that we do not have to worry about daycare! She has two kids too...Jayda who is turning two this month and Jonah who is 3 months old. Which means we basically have 2 sets of twins on our hands. :) Although it sounds crazy, it's actually quite fun! Because Levi and Jonah are just a few weeks apart, we were on maternity leave at the exact same time and practiced having the kids all at once. So they are all comfortable at both homes, and Jayda and Isaiah are great buddies.

So I'm guessing that I'll have tons of fun little stories from each day to share since there will be four little ones around our house; today alone I have several cute stories...but I'll share just one.

Isaiah and Jayda each had a go-gert (one of Isaiah's new favorite snacks, he loves that he can do it himself and it is yummy like candy but I let him have it whenever he wants to--pretty much). They were each eating one so nicely at the little Cars card table we have set up in our living room so I went to the kitchen to work on the dishes (since our dishwasher is broken AGAIN!). Isaiah comes in swinging his go-gert and what do you know, he's holding it upside down. Yogart goes flying all over the kitchen across the refridgerator, the basement door and all over Jayda's pants. We all thought it was pretty fun that our kitchen was decorated with pink yogart, but I decided we'd better clean it up.

Check back tomorrow, maybe I'll have some fun pictures.

Buddies

Isaiah and Levi are so cute together! Isaiah loves Levi. He loves to kiss him and hug him. One of his favorite things is to go up to him and tickle him. He is so sweet when he says, "Tickle, Tickle." I'm pretty sure they will be buddies for life.

Our big boy had a big Saturday night!!

After dinner on Saturday night, Mark and I started cleaning up the kitchen and we asked Isaiah if he wanted to help. He's usually pretty agreeable to doing things that mommy and daddy are doing, so he said sure. We started unloading the dishwasher... He has helped me unload it many times before. He likes to take one thing out and hand it to me, "here you go mama" and go get another one "here you go mama" and I put them away. This time, he went to the dishwasher and got out the lid to a pan and took it to the cupboard and put it away--in the right spot! Mark and I looked at each other very impressed and a little shocked! Isaiah went back to the dishwasher and got out a pan, and went and put that away--again in the right spot. Then I grabbed a bigger tupperware bowl and said, "here Isaiah, can you put this away?" and what do you know, he put it away in the right spot! What a big helper!

Soon after dinner I was feeding Levi on the couch and Isaiah was playing near me. He looked up and said, "poopy Mama."

"You went poopy?" I asked.

"Nope."

"You have to go poopy?"

"yeah."

"Okay."

"Sit on mommy's potty," Isaiah said. (not sure why he calls it my potty, but that works)

So Mark took him in and sat him down on the big toilet. They tried to go, but of course nothing happened. Mark brought out Isaiah's potty to sit in the living room by me. Isaiah sat there for a few minutes and then stood up and said, "poopy!" and what do you know--he pooped in his potty!!! This is the first time Isaiah has gone in his potty EVER! We cleaned it up, and then Isaiah and I went into the bathroom and he sat on his potty again and went a little more! We were all so excited and tried to make a big deal out of it for Isaiah. We called grandpa and grandma to tell them the big news and then a little while later grandma called back to talk to Isaiah to tell her how proud she was of him!

He's getting so big!

Who lays in there?

Earlier today we went over to my parents to visit (after we got Isaiah all excited to go to the petting zoo...just to get there to find out that it is closed for the season :( ). Isaiah, my mom and I were playing outside. Isaiah really wanted to go in the big dog kennel my dad has for his dog so my mom and I said, "why not." Attached to this kennel is his shed with a small space for the dog to lay down in when it's too hot, cold, raining or snowing. Isaiah kept crawling in and out of this kennel having a good time. My mom got down to his level and asked him, "who lays down in this kennel?" and Isaiah's answer, "Levi." My mom said, "Levi lays down in there?" and Isaiah said, "Yeah." hmmmm

Kammy

When I found out I was pregnant with Isaiah Mark was gone and it was just me... I felt like I had a million things to do and buy to be prepared for our little boy. One of my biggest concerns was daycare...who would watch my baby while I went off to work... Well, my good friend Kammy made that decision easy on me. Kammy was a good friend from work. She took me under her wing when I started at the credit union. She was a senior loan officer and I was just a new teller. Our friendship grew as we worked together...and one day I said to her, "you should quit your job and watch my baby" and she said "okay." We were both half joking...but what do you know, she did it! Her youngest son was turning 4 shortly after Isaiah was born and she knew it was her last year to spend with him before he would head off to kindergarden, she wanted a reason to be home with him. So it worked perfectly for both of us. Isaiah spent hours at her house... I worked full time and it was just me for the first 10 months of his life...He was at her house close to 50 hours a week. She got to teach him to drink his bottles, eat his first foods, she was there to help sooth him as his teeth grew in. She watched him learn to roll over and crawl, she watched him take his first steps and say his first words. She has had a very strong influence on him. Kammy stopped watching Isaiah in May so that she could spend the summer care free with her family before her little guy headed off to school... but Isaiah has not forgotten her, in fact he asks for her on a regular basis.

This week I get to work 5 full days in a row while my job share partner (and daycare provider) is on her vacation. What does this mean? Isaiah (and Levi) gets to go spend a week with Kammy and I don't think too much could make him happier! On Sunday night I was explaining to Isaiah what was going to happen the following day. I told him that mommy had to go to work again and he was going to see Kammy. He immediately said, "shoes, where are my shoes mama?" I said, "Isaiah, we don't need your shoes, you have your jammies on, we are getting ready to go nigh night," he started crying and said, "Kammy, mama, go see Kammy." He was so excited he wanted to see her NOW! I fibbed to him (yeah I'm naughty), "Kammy's sleeping, we can't go see Kammy now, you get to see her tomorrow." Isaiah, still crying, says, "I want to go see Kammy now--wake her up!!!!!." Trying to distract him, I said, "it's dark outside, you won't get to jump on Kammy's trampoline if we go see her now." He looked right at me and said, "Austin's trampline." I said, "That's right it is Austin's trampoline, but if we go to Kammy's house now we can't jump on Austin's trampoline." He says, "Flashlight" and continues to cry. I just held him and said, "I'm so glad you like Kammy. She's going to be so happy to play with you tomorrow." Isaiah finally gave in with one last mumble, "Kammy" and sat on my lap to read our stories.

We have been so blessed to have Kammy watch Isaiah for the first 19 months of his life. I truly feel that he is so advanced and smart because of all of the work she did with him. It makes me so happy that he gets to spend this week with her...even if it means I have to be at work.

pumpkin farm...or should I say big jumping toy place

Our little family had a beautiful afternoon together celebrating the autumn season at the Heartland Farms Pumpkin Farm. We all had a great time! The weather was great--warm and a little breezy--and there was lots to see and do! We got to the farm and were pleasantly surprised that children 2 and under were free so that was a good sign to a good time! :) We walked in and Isaiah's eyes went wide and he saw this was his idea of a GREAT time! The first thing he noticed was the HUGE spiderman jumping toy...but it was so crowded and full that we were able to direct his attention to the animals. Isaiah LOVES animals. He looked that the chickens, ducks, goats, ponies, and turkeys and thought they were really neat, but wanted to go back to the big jumpy thing. So we did, and this time it wasn't full and he was able to get in. He jumped and jumped and jumped and jumped in there until he finally came out. So we tried to divert his attention again...this time we went through the scary corn maze. He loved running from scary area to scary area. He had no idea what the things inside meant (which was good)! And then it was time to go back to the big jumpy thing...this time he took off his own shoes and ran to the big jumpy thing and cut a whole line of kids and jumped right in...so we let him jump and jump and jump some more... finally we were able to get him to come out and pay attention to the pumpkins long enough to find the slides. He went down the slide a few more times and then tried to take his shoes off to go back to the jumpy thing... but we caught him to go watch the punkinator (or something like that) shoot pumpkins at an old school bus. He thought that was okay...but was ready for the jumpy thing again. Finally we picked out 2 pumpkins and headed home...with a very tired Isaiah wanting to go back to the big jumpy thing! Levi, on the other hand, was quite content just hanging out people watching. Needless to say, the pumpkin farm was a big hit!

Children of God

Way back when I was pregnant with Isaiah, both Mark and I knew that we wanted our babies to be baptized. When Isaiah was born, Mark got to come home from Iraq for 2 weeks to visit. We planned to have Isaiah baptized then, but things got crazy and it never happened. Then he got home from the deployment (10 months later) and we meant to have Isaiah baptized then. Well, that didn't happen either. Then I got pregnant with Levi and we decided it would be nice to have them baptized together... and that happened this morning! The service began with a few songs to sing and opening comments and then our baptism! Both Isaiah and Levi were in good spirits as we (Mark with Isaiah and me with Levi) walked up (stood out of our chairs and took one step forward :) ) and the pastor said a few words and then baptized Levi first. Then it was Isaiah's turn. He did great! I was a little nervous that he might not like the pastor putting water on his head, but thankfully he just got his hands wet and put it on Isaiah's forehead while he was upright in Mark's arms. Then he lit the baptism candles...and Isaiah kept blowing at it like a birthday candle... (so cute!) and then Isaiah got restless...and I took him and Mark took Levi and a few more words were said and it was over... and our two little boys are now baptized. It couldn't have worked out more beautifully!

smores...yummy!

It's been quite the week at our house! I went back to work on Wednesday...I got to work full time Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday! Things went really well, as good as could be expected, but I have to say, I think we were all relieved when it was Friday night! We just have to get through next week and then my part time hours start! The biggest struggle was Levi having to have so many bottles. Levi has been a great nurser (is that the word for it?) from the first feeding and he loves to eat! He had taken 4 or 5 bottles really well prior to my going back to work and then all of a sudden he decided he hated it and didn't want to eat from them, so having 3 days in a row where mommy was gone for 9 hours was rough on him. But he survived and did eventually drink at least a couple bottles each day.

Friday night we celebrated the weekend by grilling out and a fire in our back yard. Isaiah got to watch us roast marshmallows and eat his very first smore! He loved it! (who doesn't??) and of course he kept asking for more!

quiet means...

In our house it seems as if there is always some kind of noise going on all of the time...maybe it's Isaiah talking, singing, playing or whining, Levi cooing or fussing, Mark talking, singing or listening to music or Krypto (our dog) barking. So when things get quiet, I can't help but wonder what is going on!! Well, today it was awfully quiet and I caught on camera what the quiet meant! Check it out:

sweet little sounds

My sweet little Levi James is growing up so fast...he will be 8 weeks old tomorrow! He is starting to really focus his little eyes on things and likes to kick and talk. Here is a video of him talking to me this afternoon.




Phrase of the day, "Check this out!" by Isaiah at least 20 times while we were outside playing. He now repeats just about everything he hears...and incredibly enough it is usually in the right context too...

Quote of the day, "This show is awesome! I'd totally record and watch this show even if Isaiah didn't like it." My husband in reference to Lazy Town on the preschool channel Noggin... HA ha :)

weekend fun

We had lots of fun this weekend! Mark ran his very first 5K in the Pink Ribbon Run downtown Cedar Falls. Isaiah, Levi and I watched and were so proud at how fast he ran it! He was done in like 23 minutes and placed 2nd in his age group and 7th place overall! WAY TO GO!

Then Saturday night was Girls Night Out...and girls I had a blast!! I can't wait to do it again!

Sunday we got to go visit my sister and her husband to celebrate her birthday! The boys both did a great job in the car and at her house...We made it through the day with just a little poop on her carpet and one pop spilled all over the table...Sorry Nichole--we hope you had a great birthday!!

So it's true...my last weekend before I go back to work is over, but I couldn't have hoped for a better one...thanks to you, my wonderful family and friends!

don't stress, don't stress

It seems as though stress has been present in my life more than usual the last couple weeks. Lots and lots going on: getting ready to go back to work (now Wednesday...instead of a week from
Monday, long story), Mark's classes are hitting mid-term time so he has lots of tests, meetings and other fun stuff to go along with his already crazy schedule, trying to figure out what discipline tactics we want to use on our two year old--who is now obviously two, etc.

When stress levels get high at our house, sometimes things can get tense...but not today... Isaiah and I were sitting in his room playing Mr. Potato Head listening to the radio. The song "Leavin" by Jesse McCartney comes on and right away before the singing even starts Isaiah looks up at me with a HUGE smile and says, "don't stress, don't stress." If you aren't familiar with the song, it's a pretty popular hit pop song and the chorus starts out, "don't stress, don't stress, don't stress." He was so adorable it made me laugh... so I made him do it again on camera... It was a good reminder that there is no need to stress...but sit back and enjoy...

Here he is:

m.a.i.l. time...the first post

Our first post... so I've been the one who just about daily reads a few of my friends' blogs and realize just how fun they are and a great way to keep track of all of life's wonderful memories...but never take the time to do it myself. Well, something happened today that made me realize that I need to blog to remember the every day events that makes my life so great.

You may be wondering why I decided to title our blog m.a.i.l. time... well... M-Mark, A-Alisha, I-Isaiah, L-Levi. Creative, huh? :)

So... Here is today's fun story...

12:00 noon came again...which means it is time to start thinking about nap time...for me this is a great time of the day...a chance to get a few things done, check my email, and have a few minutes to just be...Isaiah, on the other hand, doesn't like nap time, but absolutely needs a daily nap or we'll be in for a wild, cranky and whiny night... so today, just like every day, I ask Isaiah, "do you want to watch Mickey or Diego?" (because our nap time routine starts with about 15-20 minutes of TV time to quiet down and forget that there are lots of toys outside, or that there is play doh in the cupboard). We watched our little bit of TV, read our stories, and then Isaiah got into my arms to shut off the light and listen to me sing my few songs before he lays down. I lay Isaiah in his bed and he immediately stands up and starts crying (this is not unusual) so I left the room hoping he'd fall asleep in a couple minutes like most days...well not today. He decides to jump out of his crib (which he just started doing a few days ago!! YIKES, toddler bed here we come) so I go in and hold him and start singing which usually calms him down, but, again, not today. So after singing every quiet song I could think of, I start singing Christmas Carols. He just wouldn't fall asleep. So I asked him, "if I bring you into mommy and daddy's bed will you lay down by me" of course he answers yes...anything to get him out of his crib. I pick him up out of his crib and now have Isaiah in one arm and Levi in the other and the three of us lay down together as I continue singing "O Holy Night" and "Silent Night" about 30 times each (literally) and he is just now finally sound asleep...It's 2:38.

As ready as I was for nap time, my time...It's the precious memory of holding my sweet little 2 year old boy and singing Christmas Carols on the first of October that I will hold with me for a long, long time.

I did it...my first blog post...ever! Check back...maybe I'll do it again tomorrow?!