My Big Guy is 3 Years Old

Ready to open his first birthday present...a gift from the Stockton family.

His first bike ride on the new bike!

Yesterday, was Isaac's 3rd Birthday! 3 years...where does the time go? I still remember the day he was born like it was yesterday, and I am so thankful for it, it was the day I became a mom! Isaac has always been and continues to be a sweet boy with a big heart. Yes, he has his 2 year old (now 3 year old) moments, but through it all you can still see his kind heart and love for others. He is still timid around large groups of kids, but is opening up more and more in those situations. He loves social situations, especially if he's with me and Carl, he prefers to be out and about or at a party, rather than at home. He loves to play outside, he would live outside if I let him. His favorite activities outside are driving his power wheels Jeep and 4 wheeler, swinging, and riding his bike around the block. Isaac has always enjoyed driving cars, playing in toy cars, etc, and that has not subsided! He has recently started helping us drive in the neighborhood, and now anytime we go anywhere he wants to "help steer." Oh goodness, we're in trouble. ;-) He has decided that when he starts driving by himself he wants a Monster Truck...a blue one, and Luke will have a purple one. Ha! Today he told me that he also wants a Mustang; I'm not sure how Carl feels about him wanting a Mustang, not a Camaro. Isaac adores his brother, Luke. If we go anywhere without him he constantly asks me where he is and why he's not with us. When driving in the truck he holds Luke's hand if Luke gets fussy. He is very helpful when it comes to taking care of Luke, he will bring him his drink or snacks. I've had to tell him lately that he can't share snacks with him yet, but soon. He also enjoys driving Luke around in his Jeep, and is always sure to say that he has to drive in the slow speed when Luke is with him. Isaac is still a great eater; he always has been, and thankfully he is still open to trying new things and is not too picky. I love that he is a better eater than me. He really enjoys going to restaurants, I think at the moment Mexican restaurants are his favorite because he gets to eat chips before the food comes. He also loves Chick Fil A, and any place where we can sit outside. Isaac gave up naps months ago, started napping inconsistently at about 20 months and probably only took a handful of naps the past year. He is really good at staying in his bed during rest time though, he just talks and talks, sometimes for 2 hours. We kept him in his crib until just a couple of weeks ago because of his lack of napping and us still wanting him to have some quiet time. Since we've switched him to his big boy bed he has done great! He stays in his bed until we come in to get him up. Isaac loves to learn: he is always asking me how to say words in Dutch, how to spell words (in English), and any other information he wants to know. He has learned so much at school, new songs and many new things about Jesus. I love hearing him talk about those things! He gets really bothered when things are out of place. Recently, he realized someone he knows well is missing a hubcap on her vehicle...oh goodness, it was tramautizing. He has gotten over the trauma, I think, but he now points out every missing hubcap on every vehicle! He talks about hubcaps and missing hubcaps constantly! Oma and Opa's lamp fell off of the ceiling in their bedroom, and that was horrific to him. He wouldn't go in their room until it was fixed and talked about it for weeks. He still gets excited when he sees the new fan in their room.

Isaac is a sweet, fun, persistent, smart, and loving 3 year old! Watching him grow into the boy he is has been an honor, and we have loved every minute of it! We are really looking forward to what this year has in store for him and us!

Pool Progress

The pool is coming together and everytime they work on it I feel like we are so much closer to swimming! Thursday they did the tile, yesterday they did all the coping and stone work, and today they are doing the plumbing!

Isaac asks me daily, "Is there water in the pool yet? Can we swim today?" I'm thankful he's so excited about it...it's where we will spend the summer! So if you're in the area and have some free time, come on over, we'll be out back and we'd love to have your company! The more the merrier!!!

We have a 1 year old!

May 2011

May 2010

Our Sweet Luke turned one this week, and I think I'm still in denial. ;-) The first year is tough, but it's also so special and sweet. I am in awe of my little one and the toddler he is becoming. He is full of energy and spunk, but also full of love and kisses. He goes nonstop, chasing his brother all day, and exploring all the new things he can find. He is a curious boy, he wants to know what everything is and how it tastes. Yes, how it tastes, everything goes in his mouth...pineneedles, pollen, toys, food, everything! Ha! He also loves to crawl quickly over to give kisses and hugs, but they are brief and he's off again to explore and play. He is still crawling, I think he's decided there's no reason to walk, he can crawl fast and get everywhere he wants. He walks really well when holding someone's hand or pushing a walking toy, but as soon as he's free he sits down and crawls. He is a climber, major climber! Thankfully he's really good, he rarely falls when climbing, but he sure scares me often. He climbs on toys that are meant for climbing, he climbs on kid size furniture, he climbs on the fireplace hearth (argh!), he climbs the stairs (perfectly!), and he climbs anywhere else we will let him. He wants to be independent, he will let us feed him for a little bit, but then he gets mad and wants to do it alone...so I'm trying to find a variety of tasty fingerfoods for him. He has 5 teeth (3 on top, 2 on the bottom), but two more are trying to break through. We are currently weaning him from the bottle, he only gets one before bedtime these days. He is doing great with his sippy cup, he will drink milk and water from it. The pacifier is also being phased out, only at naptime now, which he has gotten used to and is handling well. Luke is definitely a Griffin boy, he loves anything with wheels...he is almost always pushing around a toy car, sometimes small and sometimes 5 times as big as him. He also likes to take things out of containers and then put them back in, so we do a lot of that these days. He still thoroughly enjoys swinging, we spend a good amount of time outside on the swing every day. He has graduated from his infant carseat, not due to size, he still fits in it, but due to the fact that he wants to face the front. He was starting to throw a fit anytime I'd put him in the car, and then I realized it was probably because he's bored and lonely. So we bought him a big boy carseat, installed it next to Isaac's, and now he's a happy traveler again! If he does get even a little bit upset Isaac holds his hand to make him happy...and it works everytime. It is the most precious thing to look back and see them back there holding hands and smiling. Luke adores Isaac, he wants to be with him at all times. He often crawls to hug and kiss him, which looks more like he's tackling him, but it's all in love. Isaac doesn't mind, he's a cuddler, too, so they share a moment before they're off to play. His stranger anxiety is lessening, he does well now with friends and family, which is a huge improvement. But if we see someone new he is sure to give them his serious look and check them out for a while before smiling or waving.

My Luke is still a peanut, but I don't mind a bit. He wears 6-9 month clothes, and is just too cute. Strangers are always suprised by his age, I love to see the look on their faces when I say he's a year old.

Luke's 1st Birthday!

Today is Peanut's first birthday! I can't believe it, where did the year go!?! He is such a joy...we love him so much! I don't have time to write much now, so I will write a full update on him later!

Mother's Day Tea

All lined up and ready to sing.

Showing me the cookie he made (I don't know why this picture is the wrong way, sorry).

Me and my boy!

Today was a special day for me and Isaac, our first Mother's Day Tea at his school. I didn't really know what to expect, but it was much better than I imagined! They started the event with a small program in the sanctuary, during which all of the preschool kids got on stage and sang 4 songs to us, all about Mommy. After that we headed to the classroom for tea, water, and cookies! Isaac made me a cookie with red sprinkles, and made one for himself with multicolored sprinkles. He also made me a beautiful card with flowers (his fingerprints were the petals), and the front of the card read "I love you bunches!" The inside read, "Happy Mother's Day! Love, Isaac" They died carnations pink and blue, the teacher let them choose what color they wanted to give their mamas, Isaac picked a blue one and oh so sweetly said to me, "I love you." Later, he told me he gave me a blue flower because it matched the blue shirt I was wearing.
I know it doesn't sound like much, but this was a special day, one that I will always remember!

Day Three

Yesterday's work was the pipes (plumbing).

Isaac in front of the pool as they were shooting the gunite. (Day 3)

Day 3's finished product.

I still can't believe this is all happening in my backyard...

Yesterday, was not an exciting day, they did the stub out plumbing. It's not exciting, but I included a picture.

Today, however, was a fun day! Today they did the gunite, which makes it look more like a real pool! They drove three big trucks over, which were the gunite trucks, I guess you'd call them. Isaac couldn't decide if they were concrete trucks or tanker trucks. They were loud, so he was scared of them at first. Eventually he came around and was brave enough to go out. Those trucks stayed in the street and they ran a big hose to the backyard and into the pool. It looked like such an exhausting job! It took them about 4.5 hours to do today's work, they worked diligently. Isaac is ready to fill it with water and start swimming, but sadly he will have to wait a little longer.
Carl has been gone for the first three days of the pool process, so he has missed all of the fun stuff. I'm so bummed for him, I know he would have loved to see all of this. I tried to do my best to help him feel involved, I took lots of pictures which I e-mailed and texted to him.

Day One

This is what it looked like at the end of the day!

It was a big day over here today, and they were all very curious about all the activity going on in the backyard. It was funny to watch them look out the window and keep an eye on what the workers were doing. I can't believe how fast they worked and how much they got done today! The hole was dug in 3 hours! And the steel was laid in about 3 hours! It's so exciting to see it all coming together...I am still in disbelief that it is happening in my backyard...I am so thankful!