Reality

Parenthood is really humbling.  The last 48 hours have been pretty trying for my patience and sanity.  We ventured out to Target on Friday to grab a few presents for a baby shower and cousin's birthday party the next day.  I usually don't take my children Beckett along on trips where I have to buy toys for someone else, or just have to pass or enter the toy aisles in general.  Cue panic attack and the most epic tantrum of all time.  My generally sweet and level-headed child, who can usually be reasoned with and talked out of selfish toy-wanting moments was not having it.  He put the toys back that he was demanding moments before, but as soon as we started to leave he got worked up again.  Then he started with the body thrashing and ear-splitting screams of "no" and "put me down".   After he starts double-fist-punching Jeremy in the head, he has to be carried under the arm football style to the car so I can buy the gifts as quick as possible.  On the way to the car he starts viciously scratching and biting Jeremy.

We get home and put both children down for a nap because we desperately need to recoup from the episode that just happened in public.  Lincoln's usual routine for naps now that he's in a toddler bed consists of playing for five minutes and then falling asleep on the floor.  Well that day he decided to mix it up by removing his diaper, pooping on the floor, and then painting a mural on the wall with his new art medium.  Then he gets into bed while leaving traces of poo on the wood of the bed as he climbs in.  He then sleeps and awakens with now crusted-on crud on his hands.  Not the scene I was hoping to find after I came out of my shower.  I was emotionally spent after cleaning him and his room.

But Saturday was a new day right?  Nah, my kids decided to keep things interesting.  After playing an amazing soccer game in the morning, Beckett sits at the table for the post-game snack.  A few minutes later he decides he's ready to leave, and stands near the exit gate.  I tell him not to leave the gated area, turn for two seconds to help Lincoln, and Beckett's out of sight.  He ran all the way around the building towards the parking lot...cue mommy panic attack.  We leave after having ANOTHER conversation about obedience.

The rest of the day was actually quite pleasant being spent at parties and with friends.  Just as Jeremy and I are getting into bed that night, we hear Lincoln start screaming.  He then proceeds to have his worst yet bout of 'night terrors' lasting over 30 minutes.  If you aren't familiar, it is when a child is stuck in a dream-like terrified state where they can't stop crying/screaming, and they won't open their eyes and can't hear you trying to calm them.  You basically have to stay with them until they cry themselves awake, because nothing you do will stir them out of this state.  I've noticed with him that he tends to have them on days where he ate a lot of sugar (thanks a lot birthday cake).

Sometimes you just have to laugh.
"Is this real life?"

Party Time

When throwing out ideas for Beckett to choose from for party themes for his 4th birthday party, he ended up choosing two.  Luckily there is a line of plates, cups, etc. for...Lego Star Wars!  I knew the theme enough in advance, and Pinterest had an infinite amount of examples and ideas, so we went all out for this party.  Thanks to everyone for making it such a special day and enduring the intense heat wave that hit us that weekend!

(favors)

(Star Wars food)

(pool noodle Light Sabers)

(Death Star - Piñata Cake)

(little bro eats some cake)

(plate-lickin' good)

(best friends at the photo booth)

stop growing up

This little man is turning (hold your breath) 4 tomorrow.  Holy cow.  I still feel like just yesterday he came into this world.  Thinking about memories from before he was here seems like a whole other lifetime ago.  Rather than drone on and on about him, I think I'll just list a few things that describe him at this age...

The boss, sweet, loving, sassy, know-it-all, lego maniac, "wipe my face!"-neat-freak, big brother, newly acquired Star Wars fan, bike rider, sneak-thief of treats from the kitchen, daddy's boy.

Theme Parks Galore

Maybe I should change my header to "Bi-Monthly update" because that's what seems to keep happening.  Life happens.  Becoming disenchanted with the blog world happens.  Occasionally naps don't happen.  And then I'm still obsessed with working on things for my shop during the naps that do happen, so that takes my free time.  But just to stay caught up...

Last weekend (well we'll start with Thursday) I ventured to Legoland...alone.  Me + 2 kids.  That's it.  This is a big deal for me.  When friends are there, we can take turns watching each other's babies to take the toddlers on rides or to the bathroom, etc.  No such assistance this time.  I even dropped Beckett off on the 3-5 year old driving ride and hoped for the best because I had to feed a tired/hungry/poopy Lincoln.  But we survived!  Lincoln fell asleep towards the end, so we went through the aquarium while he snoozed.  Both boys were really well behaved.  (I only had to remind Beckett one time that he was not allowed to sprint away from me or we would leave).  There are days when that is not the case, and that is what scared me of doing the whole thing alone in the first place.  I mean, I won't even take them both to the grocery store now because Lincoln sits in the cart, and Beckett must walk alongside me.  This usually ends in him bolting off constantly, and me losing my mind and not getting everything on my list because I just want to get the heck out of there.  But this trip showed me that I can handle them at a theme park alone, so I plan to get out and about more no matter whether we have company or not.

The weekend was General Conference, so not much went on.  Monday Jeremy had Columbus Day off,  but his Disneyland pass wasn't blocked out (mine is expired...boo hoo :( ) so he took Beckett to see Cars Land for the first time!  Beckett was in heaven.  I was so bummed I couldn't be there to see his face at all the wonderfulness, but Jeremy took great pictures and videos, so that helped.

Balls, wheels, and cell phones

In an effort to live up to the title on my header and blog (at least) weekly I'll let you in on what we were up to last weekend.  We didn't do very much, but it was actually kind of nice.  Beckett had his final soccer game for his team.  Despite it being over 100 degrees that day, he played longer than he had in any of his previous games.  He likes to play goalie (because of the lack of running involved, and because it makes his goalie aunt proud) and he's not bad at it!  He blocked a handful of goals from a kid a head taller than everyone else on the two teams (definitely not 3 or 4 years old like they're supposed to be in that league) by squatting down a little and stretching his arms out wide.  He took a shot to the hand, and one big one to the chest, but the crowd cheered for him, and it was amazing!  He was so excited to get his medal for the season after the game.

Jeremy promptly left the game to go buy his new mountainbike.  He got it for a steal thanks to old friends being super nice, and he is so excited!  Since he got that little beauty, I decided I would splurge on the device I've been waiting so long for!  At midnight on Thursday night/Friday morning I ordered my very first iPhone!  I never wanted to have a data plan until Jeremy was out of school and had a job.  I watched and waited as Verizon finally got the iPhone.  I watched and waited until my upgrade came in June.  I watched and waited until my husband graduated and got his job in July.  I figured after waiting so long...why not wait another few months until they released a new iPhone.  The announcement came, and today mine will be coming in the mail!  Merry early Christmas (for the most part) to both of us!

What??

Remember that one time that I had my sweet little Beckett boy three years ago?  I cannot even believe it.  We are even more in love with him than the day that he came into our lives, and it really is true...what they say about not being able to remember a time in your (married) life when your child was not with you.  Our little man makes me laugh every day.  He constantly amazes me with how funny, sweet, and smart he is.  He is the life of the party, and coincidentally loves parties of all kinds.  He is the most wonderful big brother, and I feel a special bond with him as we are both the oldest siblings.  I wouldn't take back all the pressure I felt as the oldest with my sisters watching my example, and I hope he's ready to carry that burden too because I think it will make him a better person.  While he occasionally chooses to rebel, he is generally very obedient, and I am grateful.  He is so much fun.  We love you so much Beckett!  Happy 3rd Birthday on Friday!

Changes

We are preparing for A LOT of family to come in a month from now for Jeremy's Graduation/Lincoln's blessing.  It is exciting and stressful, but I think it will be a really fun weekend for Jeremy.

Lincoln has become quite the talker (little coos and mumbles of course, but very verbal and interactive nonetheless).  He only wants to be sitting up when he's awake, but definitely can't sit up on his own yet.  He has started to shove his fists in his mouth constantly and prefers chewing on them to a pacifier (a concept that I can't quite wrap my head around since Beckett loved his paci from day one).  He has also started blowing a lot of spit bubbles, resulting in drool soaked onesies (a trend I am used to from Beckett who was super drooly for a long time as a baby).  As long as we are home, he will go to bed around 8 or 9pm, and will sleep till between 3 and 4am (making for one much more rested mama).  He HATES his carseat, and will typically wail for most of the car rides wherever we go...on rare occasions he will fall asleep, but wakes up as soon as we take him out of the car.

Beckett is a very proud and doting big brother.  He helps me a lot by getting things for me while I am feeding the baby.  He has learned to do a lot of things on his own now since I can't always do them for him (like putting in/taking out movies, getting water bottles from the cabinet, feeding himself etc.).  He loves to give his brother hugs and kisses.  He's always asking where the baby is if he can't see him.  When we're in the car and the baby is crying he does one of two things: either sings the baby a song he made up that goes "Don't cry brooootherrr, I looooove yoouuu", or says to him "It's okay brother, we'll be there in a few minutes".  It is seriously the cutest thing ever, and I am so happy at how much he loves the baby even though he can't really play with him yet.

I love my boys!

Big Boy Undies

Of course saying this might cause him to have a total relapse and force me to take it back, but I'm going to go ahead and say that Beckett is potty trained!  Yes, the occasional accident still occurs...usually after naps (which are rare occurrences in the first place for him) when he's a little cranky and stubborn.  However, he is doing a lot better at letting me know as soon as he feels he has to go.  Also, he's had two days in a row of successfully going #2 on the potty!  I still put him in diapers for church, and also at night because he likes milk before bed.  But the nights he hasn't had milk, he's woken up with a dry diaper.  I can't even tell you how thrilled I am that I will only be changing one set of diapers once this baby comes.  I didn't know if Beckett would make the transition (or if I'd have the energy to follow through with it) before then.  And best of all, GG found a much coveted peter potty for extremely cheap on craigslist!  To refresh your memories, that is the toddler-sized urinal I saw at BabiesRus when pregnant with Beckett, but held off buying because I figured it would be a few years before he'd need it, but it is now no longer made or sold.  He loves using it!  Hooray for big boy undies!

engineer

Beckett visited the fire station near our house last saturday.  He loved it!

Bates

We headed up to Bates Nut Farm this year with our good friends the Nielsens again.

Beckett and Emmy's favorite part?...trying to navigate as far into the center of the pumpkin groups as possible, and then trying to make it back out.

Jeremy captured some sweet sun flare with his iPhone.  He was proud.

Beckett's other favorite part...carrying pumpkins out of the middle area, and attempting to drop kick them.  This one is in mid-drop.

Yes, I love technology...

My sis Alex posted this picture on pinterest (you can follow me on pinterest here)...

...and Beckett walked up as I was looking at all the new pins I hadn't seen yet this morning.  He saw me scroll past this one and made me go back up.  He then tried to touch the "R" and "Y" to move them up on the board, and then gave up when he realized it didn't work.  He can turn on my ipod touch and get into games no problem.  He loves angry birds, cut the rope, words with friends (just for dropping the tiles on the board at random), his thomas the train puzzle game, and a memory match game I got for him.  He is a crack up.

Sentimental

Some things about Beckett that he does/used to do that I don't want to forget:


-His knee dance.  He would move his knees in an out anytime we told him to "do the dance."

-Two hands.  He noticed in Tarzan how the mom and Tarzan put their hands up to each other as she points out to him how they are alike.  About a year ago while watching it, Beckett turned to me with his hands up and said "Two hands."  He would randomly come up to me (or Jeremy, my parents, or sisters) every once in a while and request "two hands."

-Lanterns.  Also movie related.  When he was about 18 months we took him to see Tangled in theaters.  He was entranced by the floating lantern part, and raised both his arms in the air and moved them in a kind of egg-beater, swirling motion.  He does it most times he's paying attention to the movie still, or anytime we say "lanterns."

-The tangled dance.  With the credits on Tangled there is a great song that we love to get up and dance to when it comes on.  I have the song on my ipod too, and he'll semi-dance to it in his carseat.  Once while driving he was asleep and the song came on.  No joke, he started bobbing his head and wiggling for about ten seconds, completely asleep!  It was one of the funniest things I have ever seen.

-Smile, frown, crazy face.  I don't know who taught him this, but people seem to love that he will give these faces in order on command.


And then there's this random tidbit...my favorite eyelash comment about him thus far from the lady at Sally's who rang up my nail polish yesterday:
"Look at those eyelashes!  Do you use Latisse on him??

summer

 A little bit of summer that I never posted about...

The boy turned 2...and loved his cake this year!

(hammin' it up as usual)

Brayden's Baptism

Good times with the whole fam playing badminton.

USA vs. Costa Rica at the Home Depot Center

I love this little man!