Recent Life as a Collection of Bad Photos

My sleeping beauty! Ephraim is exactly 23 months old today. My baby will be TWO next month, it's hard to believe sometimes.

Last week we decided to visit dad in Sacramento and see our new apartment. It was week #4 without dad and I thought seeing the new apartment would be good for all of us (I could plan furniture placement and the kids could envision our new life). The kids LOVED staying there overnight (shared a room AND slept well) and exploring all the empty cupboards. Lots of room to run around and play airplanes.

Paul came home for dinner (first time in YEARS!) since his commute is only 15 minutes. We had ice cream for dessert to celebrate.

The next day the boys and I drove home and stopped in Pleasanton (about midway between Sac and San Jose). I drove by our first apartment together, the kids and I ate lunch at the Noah's Bagels Paul and I always went to, and the kids played at the park where Paul and I would often walk together (madly in love and dreaming of kids). It was an awesome trip all around!! The next day was Gabriel's last day of preschool here. So sad. We're both looking forward to him starting school again.

On Valentine's Day, Gabriel noticed lots of flower stands by the side of the road (nearly every corner). He was my sweet Valentine and picked flowers for me!!

Bubble bath!

Frozen Green Beans--Who Knew

The house is on the market as of today! The pressure is on to keep it clean.

It has been beautiful weather lately! We need the rain, but the sunshine is irresistible. A friend invited us to go to a new park in the area. We missed seeing them but we enjoyed the park anyway, with a picnic after picking up Gabriel from preschool.

Ephraim is a picky eater. He used to eat at least cooked carrots and broccoli. Now the only veggies I can get him to eat (and only when he feels like it) are snap peas and cucumbers. The other day I got out a bag of frozen small green beans to break apart and put on a frozen pizza we were going to have for dinner. Gabriel reached into the bag and snagged a green bean. Ephraim saw and tried one too. I was surprised as he fought off his brother and ate the rest of the bag of green beans!!! Maybe veggies are a texture thing for him?

Moments with kids:
I heard lots of laughter coming from our room and the music on my alarm clock got louder and louder. The boys were having their first party!! Turning up the music, jumping on our bed, and laughing like there's no tomorrow!! I love them! So cute!

Yesterday while we were eating dinner (with grandma) Gabriel had to get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of it. A few minutes later we hear "Mom, come see my poop!! It's a funny shape. It looks like a..." We cut him off trying to convince him not to talk about poop while we're eating.

Moving Update

Two cute boys! (and Kermit)

Moving update:  Paul secured an apartment in Sacramento. We are very excited about it. We need to fill out paperwork, get approved, and then Paul can move in so he doesn't have to stay at the hotel (even at the company's expense). I'm excited that he can start taking stuff up there. We don't have a solid plan yet, still playing it by ear. Our house goes on the market February 2. Gabriel has two more weeks of preschool (had to give them notice), so his last day there will be February 10. We'll see how crazy it is to still live here while trying to show the house. Maybe it will sell fast and we can join dad soon. Maybe it will be impossible to keep the house clean enough and get out of the way for potential buyers while still living here. I don't know. 

On to more fun kids stuff:

Ephraim is talking more and more, when given the chance. He has put several words together to form thoughts.

"Ah do" or "Ah doit" = I want to do it. (and you better not stop him)

“Ga do” = Gabriel did it.  (pointing at Gabriel after I asked who broke a toy)

“Ah stah sa” = I stepped on your shadow. (we were playing with our shadows last night before sleeping)

“Spa!” or “Pot!” = I took your spot! (always said with a big proud grin)

He holds his index finger up close to his mouth and says “hmmmm” when looking for something. Funny to see him pick up this mannerism.

Gabriel continues to impress his teachers with his interest in learning new things. Not as easy to get him to sit down and practice writing or do his preschool homework. Earlier this week, I told Gabriel "10 more minutes. That means when the big hand goes from the 2 to the 4." He cheerfully piped up, "I know that, mom. I learned that in preschool!" We watched the movie "Princess Bride" today and Gabriel spent all afternoon acting out the sword fighting scene, attempting to do the acrobatic moves. He is still amazingly gifted physically. His stubborn streak makes me look for and try to create the moments when he initiates something himself and finishes a task that he's proud of.

Just Ephraim

Spotlight on Ephraim, 22 months old today! Ephraim loves the Muppets and interacting with my Kermit. We sing the Manamana song all the time. I caught Ephraim singing it the other day:

He has many TWO moments--rarely losing patience but often frustrated and insisting on doing things himself (closing the door, walking somewhere, etc.). He tries to climb back into my lap FEET first from the floor and is frustrated when it doesn't work. He often has a strong opinion about what he wears. Many tears are shed if we need to change his shirt from too much spilled water (happens at least once daily) or spilled food. I try to give him a choice about the clean shirt so we rotate between a few favorites. For three days straight he insisted on wearing only ONE shoe around the house! He can say "one" and "two" and hold up the right number of fingers and identify that many objects. Two is by far his favorite number. He has to have two crackers/cookies/pieces of something. He loves using toys to role play. We played for about 30 minutes with our pretend animals and dinosaurs, drinking from water and eating trees and making noises. Cars and trucks fall and get hurt just like people do. So adorable!

Fun Vacation

Paul had the last two weeks off work and we enjoyed doing things together as a family. On Tuesday, we went to the drive-in movies to watch the new Muppet movie. Being in the back of the van wasn't as fun as I had hoped (with kids jumping all over us), but it was a great experience and a fabulous movie.

On Wednesday, we went to the Children's Discovery Museum. Little Ephraim fell asleep in the van on the way there and only woke up about 45 minutes before the museum closed, so he missed out on a lot of the fun. Paul sat on a couch and held him while I walked around with Gabriel. The water section is always our favorite. Here Gabriel pulls the cord and makes a big splash with the balls and water!

On Thursday, we went to Happy Hollow Park and Zoo. We skipped the zoo part and rode all the rides and roller coasters built just for kids. Ephraim liked ringing the fire truck bell on this ride.

Gabriel was big enough to ride the roller coaster by himself (which made mom happy since he went on it about 3 times in a row). He loved every ride. Here he is on the spinning swings.

We also used this time to sort through boxes in the garage and office since we might be moving soon. Paul has a large Construx collection that were in several odd-sized boxes. I bought 4 HUGE tubs at Target and we filled them all. At least they will be easier to move now.

We have been enjoying lots of sunny weather (no rain this season, it's weird to water the plants in the middle of winter). After all our fun last week, the boys came down with colds. So we enjoyed the sunshine in our backyard today. Ephraim likes playing in the dirt and mud and got plenty on his face! (He looks so grown up here!)

Happy New Year!

First, our big news: Paul is taking a job transfer to Sacramento. So that means we'll be putting our house on the market and moving to the Sacramento area (maybe Rancho Cordova) sometime early this year. We're not sure when the new position will start, maybe as soon as the end of January. We're hoping to get more details when Paul starts work again. Meanwhile, we've tackled the garage! Boxes that have been tossed together for several moves are finally getting organized. Lots of stuff donated and thrown away. I am so happy! Now that the garage is almost managed, we can start packing the rest of the house.

Paul found these (He-Man?) monsters in one of his boxes. The arms and legs can be rearranged (one or two heads, two to four arms, multiple legs, etc.). Paul and Gabriel had a great time playing together with them on Sunday. With the help of a friend watching the boys for a few hours, we worked out in the garage and consolidated Paul's enormous Contrux collection into four huge bins. Whew!

In all the excitement of the holidays and dad being home, poor Ephraim hasn't been taking his usual nap. This means he sometimes gets really tired early (7pm instead of his usual 8:30pm). Last night it was so sweet and sad: I was making dinner around 5:45pm and he kept asking for "noonooles" noodles and "rah!" dinosaur-shaped chicken. I was busy making it and turned around to see this: 

Poor thing fell asleep with his elbow and head on the table! I carried him to his crib and he slept the rest of the night!

I also want to note that our little almost-two-year old has an opinion about what he wears. I had a big battle with him on Sunday morning before church. He really wanted to wear his black vest (fine with me) but he burst into tears when I tried to put a shirt on first to go under it. After two tries with two different shirts, I was sneaky and put a shirt inside the vest before I put it on him. He barely noticed and was satisfied. He has also insisted on wearing his "Very Hungry Caterpillar" shirt and cries when I try to take it off. I think it's just a Two Thing. He has opinions.

Talking Video

Gabriel and Ephraim play this game every once in a while. Gabriel prides himself on teaching little brother, and little brother humors him by repeating what he hears.

I wanted to record a cute conversation I had with Ephraim last night. I was putting him to sleep and we were talking about what's going to happen this weekend as I was rocking him in the rocking chair. I was telling him we were going to see Grandma and Grandpa McMillan and Mike and his dog Ambi. And that Ambi might lick his face again but it was okay to say no or stop. Ephraim recently learned how to say "stop" and put his palm out. So at the end of the conversation, Ephraim was saying "dah" (tongue out for lick) "cheek" (pointing to his cheek and then holding up his toes) "stop" (palm out). He said that several times before he fell asleep. And he even sat up once before he was completely asleep and we went over it together a few more times. So cute that he can communicate!