Evelyn is getting a more routined napping schedule, which is starting to help her sleep better at night...thankfully! At her worst, she was still not as bad as Henry when he was younger, so I'm always great full for that. Before I went up to rock Evelyn to sleep today, I put Henry in the pack-n-play to keep him out of trouble. I asked him what toys he wanted in the pack-n-play with him. He said he wanted all his stuffed animals. I rocked Evelyn for about 10 minutes and found the below picture when I came down!

I've never walked quieter to try and get a picture in my whole life!

You have energy...I'll build you an obstacle course!

The afternoon started off with a bang. Henry fell down an entire flight of stairs! Thankfully, they were carpeted. He cried a little, I checked him over for any injuries or pains, but he was fine and off playing in no time. I feel like having your kids fall down stairs is a right of passage as a parent. It's right up there with having some time pass after changing a diaper and realizing you have poop on you...in an area that is way to close to the part of your hand that was touching the food you just put in your mouth!

Anyway, I digress. After the fall, Evelyn and Henry were playing nicely together with blocks. This lasted for a little while and eventually turned into Henry smacking the blocks all over the place and then bashing a block on top of Evelyn's head, which led to me giving him a stern talking to. Lately, whenever he gets in trouble and I start talking to him about it, he closes his eyes. I have to try not to laugh, because it makes me think of THIS scene from The Simpsons every time.

After playing with blocks it turned into wrestling and Henry saying, "I tackle you" every time he fell on Evelyn. Shortly after this video Evelyn pulled Henry's hair - that was the end of wrestling. I'm beginning to wonder if this is the beginning of Henry being able to dish it out, but not take it. Evelyn seems sufficient at both! 

From that point on Henry seemed to become super energized. I needed to do a number of things inside of the house, so we couldn't go outside or anywhere for him to get his energy out. The solution...a makeshift obstacle course for him to climb on! He loved it! And, Evelyn loved having her own personal ball pit!

The creation kept evolving, eventually turning into this. Not only was this fun for Henry and Evelyn, but it was for me too. I'm already thinking of more ideas to make it even bigger and better!!

Evelyn had a go at the ball pit at the bottom of the slide...she was not a fan. As soon as she got in it, she froze and wouldn't move. Then she started crying, which oddly enough, made me laugh do to another Simpsons episode when Maggie gets stuck in a ball pit...maybe I've seen too many Simpsons episodes?

For lunch today I gave Evelyn some oatmeal, then Henry needed help with his food. I helped him for about 2 minutes, then turned around to see this!

After putting Evelyn down in her bed, Henry and I got to test out the new vacuum! I really don't know who was more excited. Henry kept saying "my vacuum. Nice vacuum." We also got to "fix" a chair which Henry loved and didn't stop saying "I helping. I fix it."

You're not pooping

Henry did not take a very long nap today, actually, I don't think he fell asleep at all.  He was up in his room for about 30 or 40 minutes and then became in great distress. I could hear him saying "I pooping" over and over again. I went into his room and this is how the next few minutes went:

Me: "Hey bud. Did you poop?"
Henry: "Yeah. I pooping. I pooping"
I smelled his diaper and looked inside.
Me: "You didn't poop bud. You just tooted."
Henry: "I pooping! I pooping!" Tears starting to fall.
Me: "No bud. It's ok, you just tooted."
Henry: Full on crying. "No. I pooping! I pooping! I pooping! I pooping!"
Me: "It's ok. You didn't poop. You just tooted. Here, hold my hand."
Henry: "I pooping. I sleep without chupete."
Me: "Yeah. You sleep without your chupete because you gave them to Evelyn because your a big boy and a good big brother. I'm so proud of you."
Henry: Crying starting to settle down but still whimpering. "Agua."
Me: "Ok. Aqui. Agua."
Henry: Takes a drink. "Done."
Me: "Ok. Now go to sleep bud."
Henry: "Thomas. Thomas."
Henry had taken off his Thomas the Train socks and thrown them out of his crib.
Me: "Do you need your Thomas socks to go to sleep?"
Henry: "Yeah."
I put his socks back on and lay him back down.
Henry: "Rock silla. Rock silla."
I carry him over to the rocking chair, sit down, and start to rock.
Henry: Still whimpering. "Pray. Pray."
Me: "You want me to pray?"
Henry: "Yeah."
Me: "Ok. God thank you for today and the beautiful weather. Please help Henry to have a good nap and great rest of the day. We pray all of this in your name. Amen."
Henry: "Rocket. Rocket."
Me: "Ok. I'll sing the rocket song."

I sing him a song I made up called the Rocket Song. During which I can hear Evelyn starting to cry from downstairs so I rush it a little and put him down in his crib. He never ended up falling asleep. We are now eating animal crackers and laughing at Evelyn shake her toys.

A good afternoon!

It has been a busy and eventful couple of days. Evelyn has cut two teeth and is sleeping much better!! She is starting to eat more solid foods. To my disappointment, she hasn't really made too many funny faces, which is half the fun of starting your kids on solid foods!

This is the funniest face we've gotten so far. Henry liked it, then he tried to take over the camera work.

Henry and Evelyn are starting to interact more and more, which is amazing and so much fun to see. This is the tail end of a conversation they were having.

It is amazing how efficient Henry is at getting into things. This is the result of him getting a bottle of Annie's finger nail polish...it could have been a lot worse!

Henry's engineering and OCD personality continue. He came running up to me holding what is in the top picture saying "gate" over and over again. In the video, I heard him talking a lot in the other room and found that he lined all his Llama Llama books up and was saying "bye bye" to them.

Henry was hit by the spring cleaning bug yesterday. He first took the hose off the vacuum and vacuumed for  20 minutes. Then, he got out the spray mop and cleaned the entire floor...and table...

He also had to bring his little dog around the house so she could supervise his work.

I need a laptop

Conversation that just happened:

Henry was saying something we couldn't understand. After a number of attempts, we got it.

Henry: "I need a laptop."
Annie: "You need a laptop?"
Henry: "Yeah. To work."
Annie: "You need a laptop to work?"
Henry: "Yeah. I need daddy's laptop to work."

I can't say that I'm happy he has already started saying he needs technology, but at least he's saying he needs to do work and not play games on it...

Two years old and ninety

Henry is pretty stylish. He picked this outfit out all by himself. If you could see the bottom of his socks you would see pink flowers. And yes, we did go out in public like this. Two years old and ninety - the only ages you get compliments when you dress like this!

Perfect timing

After a rough night Henry and Evelyn know just what to do. Pose absolutely adorably!

A tooth and an egg

Evelyn has officially cut her first tooth! She is still not sleeping the best - waking up every 2-3 hours. However, it's a lot better than before her tooth cut - she was waking up every 30 minutes to an hour! When it comes to sleep, it's amazing how 3 hours can feel after days of sleeping a max of an hour. A friend of mine, who went through sleep deprivation training in the Army, said he thought going through that taught him was tired was, but he had no idea until he became a parent! Wondering if anyone else can verify that?!

This morning Henry wanted to help make breakfast (scrambled eggs). He pushed a chair over to the counter, which has become a pretty normal routine whenever I'm doing anything on the counter. I handed him an egg and watched curiously to see what he would do. He quickly squeezed the egg as hard as he could sending egg and shell squirting and flying everywhere. He started to give the look that he was going to cry until he saw me laughing, then he gave a very uneasy laugh as if he was in high school and I told a "funny" joke in front of all his friends - which will no doubt happen on a regular basis so I'll just get used to seeing that face!

Florida

This week we returned home from a week long vacation in Florida and both kids seemed to grow and develop more every day. Evelyn is rolling over easily now. She is babbling and playing with Henry more and more every day. The best interactions between the two of them are when she is laying down and Henry lays next to her smiling, laughing, and saying, "hi baby." Evelyn thinks it's the funniest thing in the world. Henry does need to be careful though. He leaned in real close and got a little to physical so she grabbed onto his hair with both hands and wouldn't let go!

We went on a lot of walks in Florida. Henry loved to push the umbrella stroller everywhere we went. And, every time we went outside he said over and over again "owl" "black owl" and was obsessed with looking around and finding a fake owl that was in someone's yard. When I say 'every time' I really do mean Every Time! There was not one time we went outside when he didn't say it over and over and over again.

Henry is putting more and more words together to make sentences. The best over the week was when he got a boo boo and turned to me and said, "daddy, pepe (pacifier). I need it." All of us smiled and laughed when he said it so it turned into a very common saying!

Henry also started randomly walking around saying "todaaaaaaayyyy." Who knows where that came from. :/

The flight back had the potential to become a complete disaster! Henry and I flew back just the two of us because Annie and Evelyn drove back with Annie's mom. This alone would not have been a big deal, however, due to weather we sat on the plane for 3 hours before finally taking off! Thank God Henry was an angel and didn't whine, cry, or scream the entire time. Plenty of snacks that doubled as toys and a fully charged iPad didn't hurt at all!! The fact that we were stuck with other planes on the runway also helped. Henry loved looking out the window and describing what he saw: "big airplane" "big black airplane" big blue airplane" "big airplane fly" "big airplane down." Over the three hours of waiting he probably said big airplane mixed in with various descriptive colors, 100 times. I'll take listening to that for a week straight before 3 hours of screaming on an airplane!

On our way to Florida. Both kids did amazing on the flight!

Henry very quickly fell in love with his Great Grandpa. Anytime we saw him during the day, before we left, Henry had to give him a big hug! Same thing with his Grandma Marge!

The morning routine.

Henry freaking out when he saw Mickey and Minnie Mouse at Disney World.

When Henry saw this huge Minnie Mouse he ran over and gave it a huge hug.

It didn't take long for Henry to fall asleep on the drive home from Disney. 

Henry petting a King Snake at the Brevard Zoo.

It's a little hard to see, but Henry is pointing at a bird that he was following around desperately trying to touch...until he got about this close to it...then he got a little scared and didn't want to touch it anymore.

Henry very impressively ran right up to compare his wing span to these birds. He then, of course, didn't want to leave and kept running back to this area.

Evelyn and Annie enjoying the zoo. She slept for most of the trip to Disney and the zoo - Evelyn, not Annie.

Mamma and Henry on another walk to find the Black Owl. Henry is sporting his new favorite Mickey Mouse hat which he grabbed right of the shelf at Disney and put on.

Evelyn loving the warm weather with Skippyjon Jones.

This was one of the "Hi baby" moments.

Henry loved running on the beach and chasing the birds. He loved to splash in the ocean too, until a larger wave came and almost knocked him over. Then he just wanted to look at them.

Evelyn had her first taste of an apple. She has now had apples, sweet potatoes and peas. She loved them all - heres hoping the love of all foods continues. 

Henry wanted to feed the giraffes at the zoo. It took him a couples times before he realized he had to just hold onto the carrot in order for the giraffe to eat it, not throw it at its face!

Towards the end of our zoo trip Henry started to imitate the monkeys. Or, at least that's what we think he's doing here...

After a long day at the zoo Henry relaxed with a cool smoothie (or as Henry calls it "meemoo"). Apart from drinking it, Henry loved to watch it go down the straw and say "bye bye."

One of the last nights we were there Henry found his new favorite toy at Great Grandpa and Grandma Marge's. Oh, to be as easily entertained as a kids!

Henry's birthday and the following weeks

Henry's 2nd birthday party was a few weeks ago. These 2 years have gone by faster than any 2 years of my life! The highlights of the party would have to be Henry's cheesy camera smile; which looks identical to mine when I was younger! Also, the drum set he got from uncle Travis! 

Henry has become obsessed with Thomas the Train. His cake and a lot of his gifts were Thomas. He even shared his new Thomas sleeping bag with Evelyn.

Henry ended up getting sick a couple days after his birthday party. On his actual birthday we took him in to the doctor to get checked out. It was nothing serious, just needed to run its course. While at the doctors we had an embarrassing parent moment when we told the nurse we use a rectal thermometer. She very politely said, "OK. Um, we try to not use rectal thermometers after 6 months of age." I'm sure everyone that works there got a good laugh after we left!

Henry then passed what he had onto me and then onto Evelyn. Annie got a little of it, but thankfully not much. We were also very thankful to have grandparents that live close which provided Henry with a sleepover at grandma and grandpas so we didn' t continue to pass it back and forth!

Here's to everyone bring healthy again and getting back to our normal routine!

Reading to Evelyn

When Evelyn is playing on the ground I will usually put some toys and books around her so she has some things to play with and look at. I'm constantly thinking of helping her develop, grow, and learn. 

It appears Henry is of the same mind. He noticed Evelyn on the floor and brought over his current favorite book, Dora Duck, and read it to her. 

Strangers

I'm not sure if other toddlers are like this, but I am beginning to realize teaching Henry the dangers of strangers will be pretty challenging. While at the store yesterday he walked right up to an elderly woman and grabbed her hand. I'm fairly confident that this old lady wasn't going to run off with him, but you can never really be sure. She did say to Henry, "you want to come home with me? I'll take you home." I was about ready to pounce on that old lady. That's why I wear my sneakers. If there's any trouble, zip! I spring into action!

A busy week

It has been a pretty eventful week. The kids have been growing and developing a lot.

Potty training is under way with Henry which has been fun! He wasn't too interested until I gave him the reward of playing the Bible app, endless alphabet, animal sounds, or watching Daniel Tiger on my phone. The funniest thing about him potty training this week is that when he goes he says, "bubble out hole." I thing you can figure out what exactly that means...

One of Henry's favorite things to do now is push his little cart around the house, run into things with it, and say beep beep and then whatever he runs into. A few of his favorites: "beep beep ottoman" "beep beep house" "beep beep daddy"

Henry has started to call many things baby or mommy, depending on their size. A few of his favorites are mommy and baby zebra, mommy and baby rock, and mommy and baby tree. Annie and my favorite occurred today when he saw a patch of ice on the grounds and said over and over again, "ice ice baby!"

Evelyn continues to develop. She is rolling over very easily now. She also sat up by herself for a few minutes! Growing up too fast!

Henry has discovered the word tada! He likes to hide things, then reveal them with a big tada!! The other day he discovered a new hiding spot in the bathroom!

Henry and Evelyn are getting along better and better. Whenever Evelyn starts to cry, Henry rushes over with a pacifier. Sometimes he tries to help a little too much and cram the entire thing in her mouth, but at least he helping!

 Henry loves to dress himself now too. For the most part he does a halfway descent job. The best part of this outfit was him choosing the puma jacket, which he kept calling goat, of course!

Henry's imagination and pretending has really taken off. His absolute favorite thing is to pretend to feed mommy, daddy, Evelyn, and all of his stuffed animals. His favorite animal to feed is his bow wow!

Evelyn has moved into a big crib! Henry and I assembled it a few days ago. He was a big help! He screwed in some screws and cleaned it with his brush! Kind of nostalgic as it is the same crib I slept in as a baby!

Our week ended with a trip up to Frankfort to visit Gramma, Grandpa Rob, Tia Betsy and Fritz. Two highlights: the amazing sunset, and when we left Henry said buy gramma house.