Although business has been slow lately for Stephen, life has been busy for us as a family, and for me personally. On top of babysitting 3 kids twice a week I decided to try my hand at being a Pampered Chef Demonstrator. It has been way more work than I anticipated, but I just had my first show last night and it went great! I look forward to doing a few more before Christmas, and hopefully it will carry into the new year. I also have been designing a new organizational product, but it's still in its baby stage so mum's word. I also started teaching the 2-5yr olds at church. Even though some days my plate is too full, I have been enjoying having a few things to truly call my own, and look forward to a little bit of extra income!
The boys are incredible. Truly. We are so blessed to have 2 obedient, adorable, intelligent boys! In the last few months they have really become friends and even better for me, play mates! Just today I observed Jackson as he carefully pushed his train around the train track. I don't know when he started being able to do that, but it is amazing to watch. They fight, a lot, but nothing outside the normal brotherly spats. I'm not sure how many times a day I yell from a different room "Boys, stop fighting!"
I recently had Jackson at his 18 month immunizations, and to my dismay he had only gained 1 lb in 6months (weighing in at 18lbs). He is our little Jack-Jack, coming in below the 3 percentile. We are going to take him into the Dr to get further testing done, but the Health nurse didn't seem overly concerned. I pray for him every night, that he would start to grow. He weighs as much as his 6month old cousin, Elias! It is a kick having them together.
Lincoln is growing quite a bit lately, I was surprised to put on his size 3 clothing the other day and to find it is getting too small in the arms and the legs! I thought I would get a bit more time out of this size, but hey, that's ok would rather he be growing too much!
Jackson's vocabulary has slowly started to bloom this last month. He likes to say "thank you" which sounds like "day doo". He can say "ko-ko" which is one of the trains on his favorite cartoon, Chuggington. And his Uncle Chris just taught him to say, "Arruga". Another useful word! :) Jackson has no problems saying "mom", in fact he literally yells at me when he wants something, usually in the kitchen. He always starts at a regular volume but quickly escalates into full on yelling, no matter if I am right beside him or not! "Mom. Mom! MOM! MOM!MOM!MOM!" "Jackson! Stop yelling at me!" We have this back and forth several times a day. Probably about 6 weeks ago Jack said his first sentence! We were lying in bed, having morning snuggles, when Stephen came to say goodbye. Jackson took out his soother and said, "Dada go work." Our jaws literally dropped and we didn't say anything because we were so shocked! Then we started laughing, and I said "Yes, Jack! Dada go to work!" And he started smiling so big, so proud that we understood him!
Lincoln is really surprising me lately with how much he is retaining when we read books. Just for kicks one night I started reading part of a sentence but then would pause to see if he could fill it in - and I was shocked when he could, over and over and over again through out the book! Definitely time to start getting some memory versus going!
Jackson loves it when we pray at dinner time, it is so precious. If I am busy dishing up the boy's plates, Jack will sit to the left of me and hold his right hand out on the table until I hold it and we say grace. He always loves to say 'amen!" at the end (even though he can only say 'men' so far). Such a smart little cookie.
We took the boys Trick or Treating this year. I have decided that I love Halloween. I know its a controversial subject within the Christian Community, but you try taking your 3 1/2 year old Optimus Prime and your 1 1/2 year old Turtle from door to door in your community and see if you don't start to love it as well! Lincoln loved it so much, after several houses he would say "Mom, I love trick or treats!" or "Mom, I love you.", as he would snuggle in beside me. He also would say randomly "Mom, I love Nana! (my mom) Nana is so cool and nice!" We had a little incident when we were out. After one house, Lincoln was really excited and said "Oh god! Oh crap!" This had been the first time we have heard Lincoln say oh god. So we both just stopped, and I knelt down and explained to him that we don't ever say that because it makes God and Jesus sad, and it hurts their feelings. But not wanting to come down too hard on him, as Lincoln is a pretty sensitive kid, I said it was ok to say "oh crap" Well after some thought Lincoln turns to me and says "I say oh Crap! That make God happy?"
Jackson lately has taken a real liking to this one cartoon, Chuggington. Its a English train cartoon, and all the trains have these adorable British accents. Thankful it is one of the few cartoons that I can stand! Plus its only 10 minutes long, so I don't mind him watching a few episodes through out the day. He is so precious, when he wants to watch it (which is quite often) he will go find the remote, bring it to me (usually yelling MOM!). And I say, "Jack would like to watch Chuggington?" which is usually met with a grunt - which means yes in Jack Jack. So I say "Say Ko-ko!" And he replies "Ko-KO". So I put it on, and he gets so excited and bounces to the music. It's the only cartoon he will watch, but he sure loves it!
Well, I said I would only blog for 20 minutes, and then I would go to bed, and I am 5 minutes over! So, could life get any sweeter? Even though life is really beautiful right now, I know that yes, it will get sweeter! And that is what is so amazing about life with kids :) (Well, my kids anyways!)
