18 months

Brody was 18 months old on Tuesday!  It's so hard for me to believe that he's already a year and a half. His second year is going even faster than his first did.  Every day I see less baby and more boy in him.

Brody is 22lbs and 30 inches tall.  He didn't gain any weight in this 2 month stretch, but he got a little taller.  He's long and lean like his daddy.

He loves bananas!  He's very funny with the way he eats and prefers a bowl of peas to a chicken nugget and fries meal.  He also enjoys green beans, broccoli, strawberries, mac and cheese, corn, eggs, oatmeal and cheerios.  He's a fairly good eater, though, sometimes it takes putting something in front of him 3-4 times before he actually eats it.

His train set is his favorite toy set.  We have all of our toys divided into different bins and the train bin is the one that gets pulled out the most.  He could sit for hours in his room with his trains. 

He loves to stand on a stool by my window and watch the cars in the parking lot.  He stands there and points, saying, "cars, car? hi car! bye car!" over and over again.

Brody hasn't gravitated toward one book in particular, but does gravitate toward the books with little boy themes: cars, trains, dump trucks, etc.  

His favorite song is Hosanna Rock by Little Praise Party.  He'd listen to it on repeat from sun up to sun down if he could.  I've caught him on numerous occasion sitting and playing while humming or mumbling the words to himself.  

 

Brody loves to be outside and is always asking to go "ow-nide."  

He and his sister are developing a closer and friendship.  It's fun to watch them play and interact.  Today they're napping in the same room for the first time in a loooong time (she usually naps in our room) and they spent the first half hour laughing and talking to each other.  She's the first person he looks for in the morning and the last person he asks for at night.

Brody got his first haircut on the day he turned 18 months!  His new hairstyle gives him such character and makes him look so much more like a little boy.

He thinks EVERYTHING is a ball.  For a long time we wondered why he wouldn't stop throwing toys until he started saying "ball, catch!" when he threw things.  We've worked really hard to help him understand the difference and apologize to all of those who have suffered direct blows during this random phase of his.

His favorite TV show is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, though, he isn't really interested in television much.  He can watch the first couple of minutes and then catch the last song and he's happy.  We're excited that he gets to meet Mickey next month!

He enjoys wrestling with his daddy.  Don't ever crouch down in front of him unless you want to be run over in a Brody-style tackle.  All. boy.

He loves his dad.  There's not much more heartbreaking than his pleads to Mike when he has to leave for class that he take him, too.  And the sheer joy in his face when Mike gets home would brighten anyone's day.

 

He's a mama's boy, too.  At the end of the day, no matter who he has attached or associated with all day long, he wants to snuggle with me.  It's a special time for us and I'm going to enjoy it for all it's worth knowing that it doesn't last forever.

Brody cut 2 canines in the last couple of months.  They were miserable!  I finally caved and bought an amber necklace for him a little while back and it's made life so much better for him.  We see the drooling, feel the fever and watch his nose run like a faucet but don't see the tears anymore.  He's so much happier when it's on.  I feel like a witch doctor when I tell people how wonderful it is--but it really does work!

He loves the water.  I have to watch him really closely when we go to the pool because he doesn't understand his limitations.  I think we'll be getting him into some lessons in the near future.

 

Brody is talking all of the time now.  Half of what he says we don't understand, but he's got a pretty good vocabulary.  He can say about 50 words clearly.  He's putting words together to make small sentences, like, "hold me, please," "I love you," or, "I found it!"  It's fun to watch his little world grow as he finds more and more words that he's able to say and use in conversation.

We got rid of his paci when he hit 18 months.  I told him when he went to bed that night that he was a big boy and that we were done with it and have done so every time I put him down and we've had no issue.  He only asks for it once and a while when he's awake but quickly forgets when he moves on to another activity.  What a blessing to not have to fight him on this one!

 He's so fun to have around.  We love what he adds to our family and while we remember when there were only three of us, we'd never want to go back there and be without him.  

We are so thankful for 18 months with this little joy and can't wait for many more!

Haircut

We took Brody to get his first haircut this week!  I don't know if this is widely known, I probably didn't publicize it much, but when Logan was about 2 I took her for her first haircut.  I hoped to get it evened out so that it would all grow the same length.  I took her to a local kids place and they BUTCHERED her hair.  I mean, one side was significantly longer than the other, her bangs were a mess, the back was choppy--bad bad bad.  It seriously traumatized me.  I couldn't even take her to have it fixed because they would seriously have had to take her hair up so short that she would have looked like a little boy. I haven't allowed anyone to go near her hair with sharp tools since.  

Before getting B's hair done, I read about a gazillion reviews of different hair places.  The one we ended up going to was about 30 minutes away, but absolutely worth the drive.  I'll admit, I had a slight panic attack when I walked in thinking back to the botched hair job a year and a half ago, but I got over it quickly when I saw the amount of people filing in after me (we got there right when they opened and were first seated, but by the time we left there was a good 15-20 minute wait).

Brody was a little freaked out at first so I pulled out his paci (which he recently weaned from, so it was a big treat) but he didn't need that long because they had a little machine that allowed him to have an endless supply of animal crackers while he sat there.  

The lady who did his hair put me at ease and did everything I asked her to do and nothing more.  They took quite a bit of hair off and I may have shed a little tear or two when she cut his sweet little baby curls off the back of his head.  But he looks so handsome now and the cut and style fit his personality so well.  

Friends!

One of the many highlights of this summer was the quick return of our friends, the Taylors.  They were only here for about a day, but it was so nice to see them!  

This was Logan and Noah then:

 

And this is Logan and Noah now:



Lindsay and I were pregnant with Brody and Luke at the same time, but this was their first actual meeting outside of the womb because they moved just before little Luke was born.  It was so fun to see and love him!

And here was the best picture we got of all of our babies.  I don't think we had a fighting chance to get a picture with all of them looking at the camera!

Ballet Year 2

Last week, Logan started her second year of dance with Destiny Dance Institute.  We love our little studio.  She was so thrilled to get back to dancing.  You could feel her anticipation when we went to the dance store to pick up new ballet shoes, leotards and tights.  She's been asking for weeks to go to the studio so imagine how thrilled she was when she woke up to a ballerina breakfast the day she was set to go back.  

Ballerina "coffee" (chocolate milk), ballerina cereal (strawberry shredded wheat) which made ballerina milk!

Here are some then and now pictures.  Then pictures are Logan's very first day of ballet, and the now pictures are from her first day of year 2.  Quite a difference!

Then:

Now:

She's back in the three year old class this year.  Last year they had her in it because they couldn't open up a 2 year old class due to lack of interest.  She seemed like such a baby in last year's class compared to the other little girls, and this year, she gets to be the class veteran!  

Then:

Now:

                                       Then:                                              Now:

She knew just what to do when she went in.  She's such a big girl, now!  (she's the little one in between the teachers)

Faux Apple Pie

So, we've been getting a lot of zucchini lately and I've been looking for new ways to use the excess.  When I found this recipe on pinterest, I thought there was no way that one could really use zucchini and have it taste like apple pie.  But I was so, so wrong.  This recipe was so good and had even picky eaters satisfied.

Ingredients:

2-3 large zucchini
1 1/4 cup sugar (I almost halved this and it was still good)
1 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon of nutmeg
3 tablespoons of flour (I used WW flour)
2 pie crusts
1/3 cup butter

Step 1: Core the zucchini and cut it up into slices.

Step 2:  Put zucchini slices in a bowl and fill to the top with water.  Put in the microwave for 12 minutes.  When done, pull slices out and have them dry for about 5 minutes on paper towels.

Step 3: Mix sugar, cinnamon, cream of tartar, nutmeg and flour together.

Step 4: Toss zucchini into mixture.

Step 5: Pour mixture into 1 pie crust.  Cut butter into slices and distribute over the pie.  Place second pie crust on top.

Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes, cool and then dig in!  

(it's even better a-la-mode)

Photo Dump

I do actually notice how absent I've been from blogging lately.  In the throws of having two busy kids and a ton of travel this summer and this has suffered.  I apologize!  I'm trying to set aside a little time each week to update everyone on our happenings so that I get at least a post a week up.  I know in a year when I look back on this absence I'll probably be annoyed that I didn't document much this summer.

Here's a little photo dump to start!

I'm not sure if I've posted this picture before, or not, but it's one of my favorites of Logan.  It may not look like anything special, but, oh boy, does it capture her personality in one shot.  She constantly walks around calling herself a "movie rock star."  Singing, dancing, talking, whatever she's doing she wants to an audience.

Back when CFA had their dress like a cow, get a free meal day, we quickly scrambled to get costumes together so we could go eat free.  Never turn down a free meal, that's one of the staples they teach you in seminary.  haha

Logan will probably be showcased in more of these pictures because she has started asking to have her picture taken.  And she actually smiles instead of making faces, so I've captured a few really nice ones of her lately!

I cannot begin to express the joy being a mom of two has brought me.  Nothing tugs at my heart strings more than when the two of them work together to get things done.  Here they are blasting daddy at the splash park.  Neither one could move the hose on their own, but together, they were able to aim and get him.

I'm not sure we even need to buy Logan a regular wardrobe, anymore.  It seems like no sooner have I put her clothes on for the day and she's asking to dress up.  This particular day, she wanted to be a princess, but we regularly see appearances from a ballerina, a singer, and "movie rock star."

And a couple more sweet snap shots of the kiddos.  These were taken at a pizza place on our way to Ohio a couple of weeks ago.  Both kids had been in the car 6+ hours but you'd never know it with the way they were smiling and enjoying themselves.  We are so blessed to have kids who travel well, especially being 10+ hours away from both sets of family.

Random Videos

I've got a whole compilation of random videos on my phone.  Instead of doing several posts with them, I figure I'll just throw the whole hodge podge together!  Here ya go!

Here's the newest installment of Logan's learning of the Shepherd's Prayer.  

Brody loves to read to himself.  Unfortunately, no one else knows what he's saying, but he seems to!

Our favorite CD to listen to in the car is VeggieTales Hosanna.  It's a great compilation of songs that adults enjoy with voices kids enjoy!  We really love it because it's fun to hear the kiddos singing songs we usually hear in church.

Brody is a major helper.  Laundry is his favorite, though.  He likes to put the clothes, clean (or dirty as the case may be) into the dryer for me.

And here's a pretty recent video of the kids dancing.  This is a song they hear in their classes at church. Brody has started asking to hear "a-na-na" (hosanna) so he can dance.  We're happy to oblige.