2016....New Year New Fun!

breakfast after New Years Sleepover

Our gift to MaryPat for New Years.....

The fact that its already the second full week of 2016 blows my mind. The holidays always seem to rush by due to being busy 24/7; but usually I feel like January is a SLOW and COLD month. So far January has only lived up to being brutally cold (for my taste) but I do not in any way feel like its dragging by. New Years was a ton of fun. Brian's parents bravely asked if they could keep the boys overnight for a sleepover along with my niece Baylor. We thought they were nuts but obviously we jumped at the idea of a date night and (fingers crossed) sleeping in. Brian and I went to see the movie "JOY" (loved it); had dinner at HIRO; had a couple cocktails in the hot tub; and then lamely crashed around 10:30 or 11pm. We didn't even pretend to want to stay up for the mid-night countdown. Early that day we took the boys to our zoo for their Noon-Years events so we did a countdown and felt like that counted :) Not sure if you all make resolutions for the new year? I never have. For me its more about working on either adding things to my/our life in a positive manner or just getting better at things I continue to struggle with. I have never cold turkey giving up anything in particular. Brian and I went over how grateful we are for all that we have and all that 2015 brought into our lives. We spent a lot of our date evening discussing what we'd like to happen in 2016 and reminiscing about the amazing 2015 we had. Our 2016 goals included small house projects; he'd like to work out more; Id like to work on being more patient and allowing "me" moments more even when I don't think I really need them. Regardless of how you all want to begin 2016 I hope you are all doing it and feeling grateful for the opportunity to start anew!

watching the Penguins get fed

Measuring to see which penguin is Easton

Benny being Benny....swimming on the water floor display

Balloon drop at Noon on New Years Eve at the zoo

beginning of date night 

Baylor and Easton ready to ring in the New Year with Grammie and Papa K

thumbs up...sparkling grape juice cheers!

Ready to hit the hay! 

Easton- He is back to pre-school after a two week holiday break. He has also started Church School (Sunday School). He LOVES it! The only thing he doesn't excited about on Sunday mornings is having to put on "fancy" clothes...which basically means jeans, khakis, or really anything other than sweat pants/athletic pants. He cant wait to tell us about the songs they sang or the stories they learned. I LOVE this. Sunday School was a part of my weekly routine growing up and we were a little slow going getting Easton involved in our Church. The other night as he was dramatically trying to get me to sleep with him he said "you don't love me that's why you wont sleep with me"....of course I had to choke back laughter and stated "yes Easton your daddy and I love you VERY much...we wanted you so badly...we made you".....His response "No Mommy God made me...he made all of us" WELL PLAYED SON! He is seriously too smart for his own good. He continues to push his brothers buttons when needed, but for the most part he continues to take good care of little Benny. I relish in the moments its just me and E. He is so smart, thoughtful, and wants to know everything. I love just sitting with him in his bed and talking about his friends, letting him tell me stories, and just staring at the beautiful boy he is. There are moments when he catches me and I get the "mom why are you staring at me?" comment....immediately I am reminded of my dad. To this day if he has his kids and grand kids in a room you can catch him just watching everyone with the biggest smile on his face. :)

post hair cut face.....

Ready to celebrate Nana's Bday at Dantes last week.....

Benny- He is now talking in complete sentences and makes us laugh daily with some of his responses. If he doesn't want to do something and we ask him why he replies with "CUUUUZZZZ" I didn't realize those types of responses showed up so early :). He is still obsessed with his blanky and carries it around with him 24/7. If he sees me he needs to be attached to me somehow. Even if I walk into the kitchen which is very visible from the living room he runs to me whining like he may never see me again. Randomly this switches to his NEED for his dad.....One thing about Benny is that you know where you stand. He is not a quiet child and if he's mad...he's mad and tells you. If he's happy his giggles fill the entire house. If he is being ornery or had his mind set on something good luck trying to get him not to do it. He loves calling Easton "brother"...so theres a lot of "wheres brother?" "Eat-on....look at this" (Easton always comes out _Eat-on). He still sucks at sleeping lol. He came down with an ear infection and nasty cold right after the holidays so his sleeping regressed even worse!!!!! He is a cuddler so he wants to fall asleep touching you or laying on you. I never really understood sleep deprivation until Ben came into our lives. The fact that he is almost 2 and that he still has phases where he refuses to sleep through the night is rough...lol. Ive received ENDLESS advice, read things, etc etc. Honestly with Easton he had his bad sleeping moments (teething and sickness etc) but for the most part he was perfect as long as he could be left alone in his crib or bed. He took 3 hour naps until he was 3!  Ben is the opposite. If I could sleep with him in his crib he'd be happy as a clam. I'm sure other moms think I should be trying something different, or its because we don't have a strict enough routine etc etc. With Easton I'm sure I probably looked at other parents whose kids weren't doing some of the things Easton was easily and thought it was something they could control.....I look back on me as a first time mom and realize as much as I tried not to compare or judge myself against other moms I did. With Ben I 100% realize that its not all the parents "fault" if you want to even call it that. We raised both our boys the same for the most part. Obviously they are very different kids with VERY different personalities, but for the basics food, sleep, routines we did the same things. Easton enjoyed sleeping and Ben clearly does not. It doesn't matter if we read to him, give a warm bath before, spray his room with lavender.....He just doesn't want or need that much sleep. He gets up at least once a night screaming and the second you come and get him he falls immediately back to sleep in your arms. (then we try to use ninja-like skills to place him back in his crib and exit without making a noise). Its not that we are up with him for hours on end, but after so many nights of incremental sleeping it can wear on you. Hes so darn cute and so happy each morning so you just excuse it and go on with your day. I'm hoping that the ratio to not sleeping through the night vs sleeping through the night continues to head in the right direction.....I do relish the nights where I fall asleep with him on my chest or in the rocking chair....his sweet angel face is so peaceful and so happy to be in my arms. His stinky binky breathe in my face is pure love! I know someday he will be too big to cuddle with or rock so I do take these moments and try to breathe them in....but I'm also not going to pretend that I enjoy getting up to "MAMA MAMA MAMA" being screamed at the top of his lungs at 2am some nights. Another fun fact about Ben....hes not subtle. He doesn't grunt and wimper and lead up to this wakeful state at these god awful hours....Obviously I'm sleeping while he is getting ready to wake the dead but I can imagine him standing up in his crib...taking a deep breath...and then just letting his voice go at its maximum volume! He's a shit......but man oh man we love him so much.

Naughty cute face

Lovely 6am Saturday morning....hes trying to look innocent even though he's had me up since 5 :) 

celebrate Grammie's bday at Spezia's last weekend

Benny and Grammie

2015 gave us a new home, furthered Brian in his career, and allowed us some pretty fun trips: KC, Disney, Aruba, and Salt Lake City just to name a few...........we are honestly so excited and hopeful for what 2016 may bring, but feel blessed for what we have already!

My whole world in one little tub :)