My Big Guy

Isaac has been talking nonstop for over a year now, but lately he has started saying funny things and really coming up with good/interesting/funny thoughts. I love the way the 2 year old mind works...

Here are some of my favorite things from lately:

• I've been really working on having Isaac ask for things by saying, "May I have...please." Recently he told me, "Mama I didn't say May I to Daddy when asking for a drink." I said, "Why not? You need to say May I." He immediately responded, "My May I is broken, Mama!"


• He told me the other day, "Mama, I love you, but I don't like you." Ha! I won't take offense to that, he is in a "I don't like..." phase.


• Whenever I ask him anything about his school friends the first person he always mentions is, Sophia....he tells me all the time, "Mama, I love Sophia." He asks me multiple times a day what she is doing, where she is, where does she live, etc.


• The other morning before his gymnastics class he was being, well, a 2 year old, and I was worn out, by 10:30 am! I told him, "Isaac you are wearing me out." A little while later he said, "I'm going to wear out Coach Sarah at gymnastics today." Uh-oh, I thought! Thankfully he was great during class! Whew!


• He has a new stuffed animal that he has grown very attached to, when he wants it, but doesn't know where it is, he says, "Where is my friend that I love?" He has named this friend, Schifsty (I don't know how he came up with that!)


• He has never had much of an opinion about what he eats for meals, he eats what we give him, but lately he has become a little more opinionated. The other day I told him I needed to pack his lunch to take with us to eat after gymnastics class. He said, "No mama, don't make a sandwhich, I want chicken." "Chicken," I asked, "what kind of chicken?" "From ChickFilA, Mama!" He has never been a big meat eater, so while I'm a little embarrased that it was fast food he asked for, it was at least chicken.


• He has been wearing underwear since November, but has yet to learn how to "make dirt" on the potty, as he says. Whenever I have him try to do it he tells me, "I can't do that until I'm BIG (emphasizing BBBIIIGGG) like y'all."


• We have talked to him a lot about getting him out of his crib and into a big boy bed. His friend, Taylor, already has a big bed, her big girl bed, so Isaac is convinced that he needs a big girl bed like her. Ha! I can't get him to understand why he can't have a big girl bed, but a big boy bed instead.


• When I ask Isaac to show me how to do something he always starts with, "Okay, okay, let me show you." (very maturely and assertively)


• He also likes to start sentences with, "Hey, ...." It's a funny hey, not a demanding hey.


• When he asks questions he often says them quietly and the pitch goes up as he says it. It's really funny.

I will admit that there are times when I just want some quiet, I want him to stop talking, but really I am so thankful for his words for they are a light into his mind. And I love hearing his thoughts! He is a sweet hearted boy, that is learning new things daily!

Our little model...

A few weeks ago Luke did a photo shoot for Haute Baby's fall clothing line. He did not cooperate as well as I had hoped he would, but he still looked precious in the outfit, and the company did choose a picture of him for the website! Check out their site, www.hautebaby.com and his picture should come up on the home page, if not click on the the boys Fall '11. He looks so cute in the little football outfit. (By the way, I did this for fun, a friend of mine was the photographer...no I'm not a crazy mom who wants to get the kids into modeling.)

10 months

My peanut is 10 months old today! I am starting to get sad, he is growing up too fast! My baby is trying so hard to keep up with his big brother, and he is pretty good at it. I love seeing them play together, hearing them laugh together, and watching the bond between them grow everyday!

I feel like Luke has changed so much in the last month, he is really developing his personality and showing us glimpses of the person he will be. One of my favorite changes from the last couple of weeks is snuggling. He has become so snuggly with me lately, he was never the baby that I could rock to sleep and snuggle with, but here lately he is really into laying his head on my shoulder and he has let me rock him to sleep at naptime, too. The last few mornings, after I picked him up from his crib, he gave me kisses and even tried to hug me! Aaawww, it is the best way to start my morning! He has always been my mama's boy, but lately he has gotten worse about it, maybe that's why there're more snuggling. He is fine with strangers or even acquaintances, as long as I am close by...if I leave his sight, we're all in trouble. ;-)

He crawls everywhere, everywhere!!! He pulls up on everything, including the stairs! He follows Isaac around, never letting him out of his sight. He has become a little fiesty lately, when he decides he wants to do something he will fight me when I tell him not to. The other day he was putting a magnet in his mouth, and I was telling him no. After the second or third time I said no, he looked at me and smiled. Uh oh! I think he's going to push the limits! He still loves his pacifier, but has started spitting it out when he finds something he wants to put in his mouth. If I put the pacifier back in, he just spits it back out. Oh goodness! Luke loves to swing in his outside swing. Obviously he can't talk yet, but if we're out there on the porch he will find a way to communicate his desire to swing. He can sit in it for an hour if we let him! He also enjoys riding in Isaac's Power Wheels Jeep, and if Isaac's driving around without him he doesn't let Isaac out of his sight. He enjoys playing with trucks, he pushes them around and checks out the tires. It's so cute to see my little peanut playing with trucks that are bigger than he is!

He is eating more, I have tried to increase the amount of solid foods he is getting, as well as increasing his milk. He looks like he is gaining some weight, I hope we're right! Thankfully, he is a good eater, he's not too picky and enjoys most of the things we give him!

My little peanut is such a blessing! I am trying to savor every day with him because I want to remember these moments forever! I am so thankful for the sweet gift of my boys, God has truly blessed me!

Rodeo 2011

My cowboys ready for a day at the rodeo!

Luke was not in the mood for pictures.


We finally made it to the rodeo!

Petting Zoo!

Pure Joy!

Pony Ride!

Taylor was a natural!

Naptime for peanut.

"Fun on the Farm"

planting a seed, which grew into a pepper

Milking the cow...Isaac was very interested in that. Silly guy!

Driving the tractor! This was his favorite thing from the whole day!

Me and my cowboys.

What a fun day! Today my friend Kristin and I took the kids (Taylor, Isaac, and Luke) to the Livestock Show and Rodeo. I must admit I was a little nervous about juggling the needs of both of my boys while there, but it went so well! I could not have asked for anything better; the boys did awesome and both had so much fun! I was expecting Luke to sleep on the way there, for his morning nap, but of course kids never do what you expect...he was wide awake the entire drive. Thankfully, there was so much action around him, so he was very content. We started out in the petting zoo, it was an exciting way to start the day. Isaac had the biggest smile on his face from the second we walked in there and it never left his face! He loved petting, feeding, and learning about the animals - all of them! There were sheep, llamas, a baby pig (which he was really into), deer, and donkeys. Luke was very interested in the animals, too, he was ready to get down and crawl around, but of course I didn't let him do that. Next, we headed out to eat some lunch, hoping to beat some of the lunch rush. After lunch, we went back in to check out more animals and see what else we could find. By this point, Isaac was insisting that we find a tractor for him to "drive." Okay, we're on it. First though we found pony rides! I didn't know if he would do it, but he said he wanted to and Taylor was all about it, so we got in line. After much waiting, and watching others ride the ponies, it was our turn. Isaac didn't hesitate a bit, the cowboy picked him, put him on and Isaac was ready to go! He was very focused, and had so much fun! I was so proud of him! It was after 12:00 and Luke was getting really tired, so I had to hold him because he was not having any more of the stroller. After the ponies we walked around to look at the other animals and baby animals, and thankfully my sweet baby crashed during this time. In my arms/carrier he finally gave in the sleep. It was a short nap, 15 minutes, but it made a huge difference. We went back outside after checking out the animals, and found the "Fun on the Farm" exhibit. We took the kids through this last year and they loved it! This year was just as fun! It is a great learning experience for the kids, they learn the process of the farm to market and get a dollar in the end. They got to feed chickens, get an egg, plant a seed, then get the pepper that grew, pick a peach from the peach tree, get an ear of corn, get some wool from the sheep, and milk a cow. Isaac's favorite of those was milking the cow, he thought that was very cool! Just before the market there were tractors, finally! Isaac was thrilled, he had the best time "driving!" Once we pulled him off of the tractor we walked over to see a butterfly exhibit, which was beautiful! The kids were worn out after that, so we decided to call it a day. Everything went so smoothly and was so much fun! I am incredibly thankful to be able to do these fun activities with my boys and so thankful to share the experience with our great friends!

Rental Car

Isaac has quite an obsession with cars, as well all know, but recently he has discovered a love of Daddy's rental cars. When Carl goes to Dallas for work he rents a car, and Isaac always gets to drive the car around the block (in daddy's lap). He is actually pretty good at steering it, too. He also likes to sit in the car and pretend drive. We only let him pretend drive in the rental cars because as you can imagine it is a fight to get him out, so we don't want to battle that all the time in our vehicles. Today he told him he wants Daddy to get a rental car today...because he wants to drive it.