Family Trip

It has been a pretty long weekend for us over here. Valentine's weekend is always the busiest time for me at work. Lots of love shown from couples through various services. Prior to that, we were all in Chicago. Joe had work, so we all accompanied him to test it out. It was too cold to explore, so we hung around the hotel and enjoyed the view and pool. The drive filled up the time between the short trip.

Monday, was president's day, a holiday for Joe. We took advantage of the lowered fees at the Children's Museum, as did many others. It was crowded, naturally, but not overly bad. Lucian seemed to have a grand old time exploring the different areas. That place is huge, so we did not run out of activities. He never seizes to amaze me with his creativity. I must say, I enjoyed it quite a bit myself. I may have been spotted playing dinosaurs with a group of kiddos and ordering food in the Chinese influenced exhibit. I even raced Lucian down the chocolate slide. He won, of course. Even Apollo was overly stimulated by the whole affair. Unfortunately, he passed out before we found the 5 and under area that would have been most appropriate for his individual skills. Perhaps next time. We will be considering a membership so we can go whenever we would like to (it's not terribly far and has free parking!) and hopefully not be as crowded. Plus, less likely to have sick kids around. Lucian is sick today and I can't help but wonder if that was why. Hopefully on the upswing from here.

Current Lucian Likes: Mario Bros., video games, pizza rolls
Current Apollo Likes: Flying like an airplane, books, being held constantly.

Springs A Comin'!

Welcome 2016!

With new years comes new adventures. I'm happy ours will start in a new town and a new condo. We are still not finished unpacking, but we are completely moved our of the previous house. We are slowly but surely going through boxes and bins. I may even have a couch in my future (wink wink). But everyone seems pretty happy and that is what is important. 

Lately, we have been utilizing the stairs. They are creaky and loud and wonderful for dropping balls down. Of course, we have every type of ball imaginable. I can't wait to unearth our giant slinky. Hours of fun for Mama if no one else. Apollo has been hopping up the stairs (with assistance of course). He loves to be upright in the standing position. I make sure he walks a little every day. Sometimes hops. It is so stinking adorable seeing him hop around like a bunny rabbit with a big ole grin on his face. He also enjoys playing airplane, reading, and talking. 

Lucian has been inventing games that involve tossing balls down the stairs. Poor Burnie has been in the line of fire multiple times already. He does seem to enjoy chasing bouncy balls. Lucian also likes to play Mario and Luigi games. They are plush. He comes up with full on creative scenarios and games. It really is quite impressive. We even involve Koopa,Yoshi, and the red mushroom I crocheted him for the holidays. I'm sure more will be made in the near future (add to my craft queue). Lucian has recently gotten a Wii from Grammy. His dream has completely come true when he received super mario maker. He has been obsessed with this game for awhile now. He has seem many a video via youtube. It has paid off. I thought the game would be too difficult, but I was wrong. He has moments of frustration, but it very creative and imaginative. He can play better than me for sure. I can't wait to see what levels he will come up with next. 

In the meantime, we will continue unpacking, carrying around Apollo for hours, and continue building the knex big ball factory that I unveiled from my childhood. It's been fun blasting into the past with some of my found childhood toys from storage. Pink legos is a plus. But maybe not so much with Barbie. I wasn't expecting to whip knex out for a few more years, but Lucian noticed the boxes and insisted I build it for him. Poor me!

Warm Winter

The weather has been warm despite being mid-December. There has been sun amongst the wind and overcast sky. We have been trying to take advantage of this with outdoor activities, crafts, and friends. We are super busy and have yet to find a place to move into, but we have been able to enjoy each other. Though we are all still adjusting to a new type of routine/understanding, I think it has been going pretty well.

I have been trying to accommodate Lucian as much as possible and encourage him to play. We have been working on writing and pronunciation. Every single day he gets a little clearer. I know it is frustrating for everyone, but we have been doing our best. We love him dearly and can only teach and encourage him. Right now he loves angry birds, super mario maker and cartoons, imaginative play, and knock knock jokes. He also slightly obsessed with saying the word butt. His imagination is amazing, People would wish to be only half as imaginative and creative as this amazing kid. Now lets hope he will survive on his favorite meal of cheese and turkey crackers with a side of blueberries. I think it's a well rounded meal ;-)

Apollo has been mostly sleeping. When he is awake he likes to be upright. He has been strengthening those legs by walking (with assistance obviously) around the room. He is also at the point where he can smile voluntarily.  I can't wait to see what is in store for us next.

Yay for little boys!

6 weeks

Well, we have officially survived the first six weeks of our family expansion. Thanks to family and friends for all the love and support. We have been trying to adjust to all the changes. New baby, new work schedule, etc. It hasn't been easy for any of us but we are certainly surviving. I am looking forward to the holiday season. I envision baked goods in our future. It's fun and it helps me relax. Plus the results are delicious.

I will have to post an end of the year update for Lucian and Apollo to show what they are up to and what their current likes are. It takes me a bit of time to do updating and it might be little by little, but it will get done. I started Apollo's basic information page so make sure to check out his stats. I will be updating pictures sometime this week so check back often. I think I will be starting an additional page to keep the single pictures of them separated. Apollo is getting fussy, so I will update more in the near future. Thanks for continuously visiting us.

Happy Halloween! +1

It's Halloween, another birthday for Lucian. He is officially five years old and has grown so much. His birthday was a little rough on him this year. He didn't get enough sleep the night before and that took a toll on him throughout the day. Even with a family nap. The day was filled with cartoons, playing, cake and presents. We didn't go all out this year like in previous years. We didn't have a party. But we did have a balloon scavenger hunt that he really enjoyed. Plus, he got to pop the balloons to find some little toys inside. Mostly bouncy balls. It's hard to fit things in balloons.  I think it would have been a busier day if I wasn't so exhausted. Baby brother decided he was going to arrive very early in the morning on his big brother's birthday. That's right, the baby has arrived and it's a boy! And they are exactly 5 years apart to the day. I was hoping to avoid it, but the universe decided that they should share a birthday. We will have to figure that one out in the future, but for now we will just enjoy our time together.  The best thing is, Lucian has been getting lots of attention from his grandparents. His imagination is vast.  He can come up with long stories and play on it for hours. I didn't realize how big Lucian was getting until baby brother has come. Walking around with a newborn really put the size of Lucian in prospective. He is huge. Almost as big as myself. I can hardly believe it.

But tonight is Halloween. We have trick or treating to do. Lucian has decided to dress up as the red bird from angry birds. I finished his costume right before going into labor. That is another story altogether. Tonight is about family and festive holidays. I hope everyone gets to enjoy this time of year. It is certainly my favorite time. Right now I'm feeling blessed to be around family. Now mine has been expanded by one. I can't wait to see what is to come. I'm especially grateful for my boys: Lucian and Apollo.  For more Halloweens and adventures to come.

Happy Birthday Lucian!
Welcome and Happy Birthday Apollo!

Happy Fall Everyone

I find myself at, yet, another Fall. It has already been colder than the previous year. The sun is shining, the wind is blowing, and the leaves are falling. It certainly is beautiful. I am officially on maternity leave for the year, and I'm not sure how I feel about it so far. Joseph starts his new job tomorrow in which he will be commuting to the city center. Lucian will figure out these new changes this week. Hopefully he can handle having me around all day long. Otherwise, it is going to be a long week for both of us. I might have to plan out some fun artsy activities to do to keep him entertained and to keep myself from playing hours of Bad Piggies meets Jake and the Neverland Pirates. As fun as that game happens to be (for him) it can last what seems to be hours. I'm looking forward to the week and how we all adapt to the new changes.

Now to talk about what we have been up to.  Well, we did our annual tradition of visiting the pumpkin patch and picking out our own pumpkins. We've actually gone several times and our house is filled with fall pumpkin-y goodness. Today we were able to go with Lucian's friend, Luke, and his family. Everyone seemed to have a good time searching through the patch, finding pumpkins, riding the wagon, and feeding the animals. Lucian was just happy to have a friend around. We only got three pumpkins to add to the collection today. Overall, we have all sizes and shapes (we like the weird looking ones). We have been painting them in the driveway, and were able to paint a few more today. I can't wait to see how they all turn out when they are finished. We are planning on carving out one of the bigger pumpkins. Tomorrow, I might even pull out the Halloween decorations to go along with them. Lucian might like going through all the decorations and placing them around. Hopefully, the cats won't be too destructive.

Lucian had a new experience this past week, he played his first game of golf! We call it "big mini golf" because he loves mini golf so much. He had a great time playing. To make it easier we let him use his field hockey stick since it was more his size. I was the official golf cart driver. Lucian wouldn't let me convince him to drive. I did get him to push the "go" pedal a few times. It was a beautiful, warm evening for it, and it wore him out. Okay, it wore us all out. We all had so much fun that we attempted to play again. We still had fun the second time around, but maybe we will wait a little bit longer between game sessions next time. Or enjoy some more mini golf.

A lot is coming up for us all to worry about. Lucian is turning 5 soon, this baby could be coming any time now, and our work/home dynamics are changing. Above all, we have been living in this house since August and have been loving it, but we now have to find a new place closer to the city. We were hoping to stay here until the new year to find a place, but this house might sell before then. So on top of everything else, we have been busily looking for a new place to rent/live. I just hope everything comes together smoothly. With the new baby almost here, I'm afraid time is dwindling. All we can do is our best and make the most of what we have. Thank you everyone who has been helping us and sending us well wishes.

Thinking of Soup

The other day, I was really able to get a glimpse of Lucian's thought processes. We went to the grocery store, just the two of us, and decided to have some "soup bar" soup for dinner before picking out groceries. I usually show him each one that he is allowed to have and tell him what it is. Naturally, he picked chicken noodle soup. I asked him if he wanted some crackers, since they actually had it filled. He did. We paid for our meal and he picked out which table he wanted to sit at. He always gets to pick out where we sit. I opened up his soup and utensils for him and then my own. He wanted the crackers opened as well, so I obliged. He took a cracker and did what he always does; he uses his spoon to scoop broth onto his cracker and then eats it. He offered me the other cracker so I could do the same in my soup, but I dunked mine in the broth instead, as I usually do. As usual, he decides to try it as well. He doesn't dip the whole cracker though, he breaks the cracker into a smaller chunk and dunks the piece. With success the first time, he decides to give it another go. This time, the cracker piece falls into his soup, and he is forced to scoop it out with his spoon to eat it. This whole scenario usually happens every time we have soup with crackers. It is fun, silly, and we laugh about it. But this time was different. He took it one step further. He added multiple cracker pieces to his soup and stirred it around so he could use his spoon to eat all of it (he has a thing for utensils). That's right family and friends, my son is officially a smashed cracker in the soup eater.

Anyways, the point of my story is he has always been interested in how things work and why, which he has been asking a lot more lately. But for a small period of time, in the midst of the grocery store eatery, my four year old deducted the process of eating soup with crackers all by himself. he decided what he wanted to try discovered a new way of eating in the process. I did not guide or prompt him. He figured it out on his own. I explained afterwards that many people eat crackers in their soup that way. He seemed proud of himself. And I was proud of him. A small moment of progression to self understanding and discovery.