A Shout Out

I have to give a shout to this cute boy. For the last couple weeks, our bed/naptime routines have been working. Taft has been much a much happier, funnier, easy going boy because of it and that has made it loads easier to be a happier, more energetic, easier going mom. He's been so funny lately and he's just so pleasant to be around (most of the time). I mean, it's not easy being two. You can talk, but still not communicate exactly what you want all the time. Sometimes your mom makes you leave the children's museum before you're ready, won't give you "canny" every time you want it, and won't let you have your binky except for sleeping times even though your baby brother gets it whenever he wants.

He's in his room right now having quiet time which will eventually lead to a nap. Our rule is as long as he stays on his bed I'll leave the door open. He can look at books or sleep. I just checked in on him and he was looking at The Hungry Caterpillar pretending to eat the food off the page. Lately he's been wearing his sailor cap everywhere. He gets a lot of comments on it (which I think he loves) and a lot of adoring smiles. He's started wanting to say the prayer at mealtimes and bed but so far he just has "Hedeny Fawder" and "Amen" down. Sometimes that's all the prayer is, "Hedeny Fawder, Amen." Also, I've learned this boy is easily bribed by chocolate or as he calls it "choc-it". Like mother, like son.

I complain a lot on this blog but there really is nothing I'd rather be doing than staying home with these boys, watching them grow, and trying to not screw up too badly.

What about us?

In case you're interested in the adults of this family here's what's new.

We're currently obsessed with SDLookup.com looking for housing for this coming June. I have two condos I'm reeeeally interested in and I check multiple times a day to see if any offers have been made on the place. It's driving me crazy. Lukie and I are headed to San Diego next week to meet with a realtor and look at places in person. My mom is meeting us there to help out and to get her grandbaby fix. Seth and Taft are going to have a Man's Weekend together.

Since we'll be living in San Diego for at least the next 4 years, we want to make sure we find exactly what we want, or as close to exactly as we can get.

Seth's requirements are: as few shared walls as possible, definitely nobody above us, and cycling distance to at least one of the hospitals he'll be working in. My requirements are: washer and dryer in-unit or potential for washer and dryer. I am SO tired of hauling my laundry elsewhere and timing it around naps or bedtime so I don't have to take the kiddos with me. I'd really love a three bedroom so we can have an extra bedroom for all you wonderful people to come stay in, but it's not looking likely. If you ned a place to crash, an air mattress in the living room will have to do. Or the top bunk in Busski's room. We also do not want a fixer-upper. We are not fixer-upper kind of people. Home projects test our marriage and I just don't want to do that to us. I wish we were handy, but we're not and it stresses us out and makes us have short tempers. Paint, we can do. Installing flooring, electrical work, plumbing work, anything with a drill or lever, we cannot do.

I found out I got into my MSW program which I was embarrassingly proud of myself for (Seth's sister also got in to her MSW program too! Woot woot!) . I'm deferring a year so I'll start Fall 2012. Seth is almost done with this transitional year here in Spokane and we only have like 5 or so weeks left here. We're headed to Utah at the end of this month for an away rotation and my brother will be getting hitched while we're there.

3 Months Old of Cuteness

I looooooooooooove this boy. He is just so sweet and cute and sweet and cute. Sometimes I have to remind myself that he's a little baby still because I just want to squeeze him all the time! He's starting to laugh a little and I keep trying to get it on camera but I've yet to be successful. 

At three months Luke:

-eats every 3-4 hours

-poops once a week! (it's kinda normal for breastfed babies)

-goes to bed for the night around 8, wakes up sometime in the early morning hours (like 4ish? I rarely look at the clock when he wakes up) to eat, and is up for good around 7. Takes 3ish naps during the day.  I used "ish" a lot because I'm not a crazy structured schedule lady like I was with Taft, but he is on a schedule...just not nap at such and such on the dot schedule.

-likes Taft alright, but I think he braces himself when Taft is around because he never knows if Taft is going to give him a gentle kiss or a brotherly bonk on the head. 

-is a very happy baby as long as he is full, well rested, and getting an adequate amount of attention.

-doesn't love Tummy Time but doesn't completely hate it.

-likes Patty Cake and Itsy Bitsy Spider 

-loves bath time and any other time is totally naked.

-likes to talk and be talked to

2 year olds are cute and sweet and kinda naughty

Cute

Sweet. Taft asked me to lay Luke by him when he was watching a movie.

Naughty. Taft asked for some yogurt one afternoon, which was obviously a decoy so he could draw on our chair with permanent marker. Ironically, just the night before I was looking for more kid-friendly wipe-able fabric to redo the chairs in. 

Naughty (kinda but not really). We've started Operation No Mercy at the Herway household. Taft needs to learn to sleep on his own without us laying by him. We've had two successful nights of getting him to fall asleep on his own and go back to sleep on his own when he gets up after his regular 3 night time wake ups. Today I put him in his bed for nap/quiet time. He played, or made a giant mess, for about an hour and fell asleep on his own once all of his possession were sprawled about his floor. Hey, if that's what he needs to do to fall asleep on his own, I'm cool with it.

One more naughty. The other night we were eating at Le Cafe (the hospital cafeteria) and when we were finished we were walking back to the elevators. Taft was being a slow poke behind us and when we looked back to tell him to come along HE WAS GONE!! This was the first time we had lost him anywhere. I immediately started imagining that someone would take him.  Luckily it was the weekend and evening so there weren't very many people there. Seth hurried and called security but by the time he called them, they said a nurse had just called from another level and said when the elevator doors opened, out walked a little 2 year old boy, wearing a Thomas shirt and green frog boots and a great big smile. We get in an elevator everyday at our apartment and we're at the hospital quite a bit so I guess Taft just thought he knew what to do, got on an elevator and went to check out what was happening a couple floors up. Stinker.


Three month olds on the other hand are just too cute and haven't learned to be naughty. Soon enough Luke, soon enough.

He doesn't live in his car seat even though both of the pictures are in his car seat.

Taft is Two

March 16th marked the two year anniversary of Taft being born..a.k.a. his birthday. We had a full day of music class with friends, the park, Mickey D's for lunch (I know, it's really unhealthy but at least I got him apples instead of fries?), the park again, picked up Aunt Tates from the airport, had a pizza party with Dad, Luke, Tates, and Mom, Thomas Cake and ice cream, then finally presents while Skype-ing with Nana, Grandad, Lanx and Facetiming with Pete. (Whew.)

pizza and cupcakes with playgroup friends

party people

Birthday Boy with one of his firetrucks

Me and my two year old cutie pie

I can't believe how much Taft has changed in just one year. This is by far the most fun stage (also most challenging) and he keeps us laughing, makes us want to pull our hair out, and melts our heart all at the same time.

At two years old Taft:
-is talking A LOT.
-is a pretty good eater. He'll eat some vegetables, most any fruit, but looooves toast and jam, pb&j, yogurt,  and any sweets.
-is in no way, shape, or form a good sleeper. We're talking up SEVERAL times in the night and up EXTREMELY early in the morning. (This is when we want to pull our hair out)
-is a super, super sweet big brother to Baby Wukie. (This is when he melts our heart)
-likes to play with other kids but takes a while to warm up to them. He'll usually want to watch them from a distance for a while before he decides to join in. He's probably just deciding if they're cool enough for him.
-Thinks his dad is the bomb dot com. Some of his most common phrases are "Daddy at work" and "Daddy is funny". It is absolutely the highlight of Taft's day when Seth comes home from work.
-Loves all vehicles but especially buses, firetrucks, and ambience trucks (ambulances)
-Loves to wear his frog boots and really likes all the comments he gets on them.
-Is getting more mischievous and likes to test boundaries about what he can get away with.
-Is good at playing by himself and his imagination is growing all the time.
-Likes to watch shows on his Cars couch. Favorites are: Thomas, Barney, and Sesame Street
-Likes to help me clean. Give him a cloth and he'll keep himself busy for a good 20 minutes wiping different surfaces. He's also great at picking up his toys if you sing the "Clean Up" song from Barney.

taking it easy

I just can't resist the bum shots

We love, love, love this boy. We're so glad he came into our lives 2 years ago and feel very grateful that he came to our family. He's already a good big brother and I'm sure his younger siblings will look up to him one day.

L Dub* is 2 Months Old

Luke is over 2 months old now. We had his two month appointment today and he's doing great. He weighs 11 lbs. 11 oz. and is in the 50th percentile. Height is in the 50th and head is in between the 50 and 75th percentiles. Luke is waking up about once a night to eat and sleeps well during the night otherwise. He's not really on much of a napping schedule which is totally something I need to get working on. He's smiling so much and it's absolutely the cutest thing you've ever seen. Oh and the cooing! I love the cooing. Taft is still into his younger brother and calls him Baby Wookie or the newest has been Buddy. I don't really know where he picked it up but he says "Oh hi Buddy!" several times a day. Now that everyone has recovered from the plagues that have struck our family we finally ventured outside our house and got back into our routine, it's been soooooo nice.

Now that I watched the video I realized I say "Hi Buddy" I never realized I said that. So that's where Taft gets it from. The video is long, I would have shortened it if I knew how.

*Short for L.W. which is short for Lukas Wilson. Interesting (or maybe not that interesting) Seth's grandfather's name is Loren Worrell and people sometimes would call him L Dub.

How WT are you?

Seth and I are a little more white trash than we care to admit...but tonight I feel like admitting:

You feel a little white trash-ish when:
1. You're in McDonalds for breakfast, nursing a baby who is wearing a camo shirt, while your 2 year old runs around with no shoes on and has puffy eyes from a virus but looks like he's been punched in the eyes by abusive parents.
2. You're pregnant and all you crave are nachos and Doritos.
3. You eat at the cafeteria in your husband's place of employment A LOT because he gets an allowance there each month, so you use it up. You also have your husband bring home things from the cafeteria to complete dinner...like lettuce, tomatoes, maybe an orange. He also stocks up on gum, granola bars, soda, and candy so you don't have to buy that stuff at the store.

We should totally start a family singing group...

Taft may be one of the only children in the United States who does not have a DVD player in the car. (Although a little birdie told me that he is probably getting one for his bday) This is what we do to keep him entertained. It doesn't look like it's working until the end...you will catch a glimpse of a smile.




Taft actually does really well on long car rides thankfully. He has a few moments of insanity but as long as we have snacks and treats (like mother like son) and possibly some soda, toy cars, blankets, his beloved monkey, and of course a binky we are good to go. Right now Luke just needs a blanket and a binky and will sleep for three hours at a time until he needs to eat again. We can handle that.

p.s. Early in our marriage Seth wanted to know what the difference between snacks and treats were. If you're wondering snacks=salty/crunchy/munchy treats=sweet and yes I need both on car rides.

p.p.s. Seth thinks the song says "someone's in the kitchen with DinO" because it rhymes with banjo. Isn't it DinA? I say Dina.

Over the river and through the woods a snowmobiling we will go...

Before deciding he HATED snowclothes and snowmobiles

Cutie Pie Scarlet

Gorgeous Daphne

Tough Guy Brauer

We were the beneficiaries of a week in Driggs, ID at a cozy cabin owned by my SIL's dad. We were there with the Dan/Lara Herways, a.k.a. Draper Herways(the ones with the hook up) and the Jake/Mel Herway a.k.a Manhattan Herways.

We had such a great time and there was talk of making it a tradition every Presidents Day week (I'm going to remind the Draper Herways of this next year). Seth was able to snowmobile a lot and I even made it out of couple of times and LOVED it. I didn't even get so-cold-I-could-cry like I usually do. We've learned that we have a 2 year old chicken for a child who's newest phrase came after us trying to get him to ride the snowmobile, "I don't wike it". We couldn't even get his snowclothes on without him saying repeatedly and with a lot of enthusiasm (read: freaking out) "I don't WIKE it! I don't WIKE it!" Ugh. Seth blames me for Taft's unadventurous personality. I don't blame him for blaming me, I really avoid anything that could possibly hurt me in any way. I do say though, Taft not even two yet and hopefully once this trip becomes a tradition (ahem, Draper Herways) we'll have to pry him off the snowmobile.

I didn't take many pictures, so few that I didn't get a single shot of the Manhattan Herways. I'll take some next year.

We really loved our week with Seth's brothers and their families. I loved our grown-up time when the kids went to bed, seeing the cousins play together, eating yummy food (Lara's meals kick the pants off my twice weekly spaghetti dinners) all in a cozy cabin.

What We Did in Utah in Pictures

Ate at Jo Mo's (Joe Morley's BBQ)

Blessed Luke. My cousin's little girl, Claire, holding Luke.

Went Frog Surfing at the Aquarium

Nana and Lanx came too.

Had some Tummy Time

Played at Discovery Gateway

Taft got a job.

And picked up some groceries for us.

Luke met his competition for Cutest Baby of the Year, Cashus Miller.

Hung out with the Herway cousins.

Seth was with us for the first week and he enjoyed lots of skiing and a BYU b-ball game. The little boys and I had lots of plans with friends but EVERYONE got sick while we were there. Friends got sick, I got sick, my dad and sister got sick, then finally the boys got sick and that's when we went home. Bummer. I was able to catch up with some of my most favorite DCFS co-workers, an old friend I went to Russia with, and two of my best friends from elementary/middle/highschool, and of course lots of family time with my parents and sister.

Lukie Pookie and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

 About a week a half ago while in Utah, Taft started getting sick. He had a cough, a fever, and an ear infection. After two days and about ten coughs right in Luke's face (he can't help it, he just loves his little brother), Taft had passed along his sickness to is teeny tiny brother. Seth was already back in Spokane by this point and was nervous about Luke and flew the three of us home earlier than planned. It was a good thing too because Little Lukie got progressively worse over the past few days and last night we found ourselves in the ER with an RSV positive baby.

Earlier yesterday we took Luke in to the pediatrician and he sent us home with a nebulizer and some medicine. About an hour after the treatment Luke was still sounded bad, maybe even worse so we took him in.

He tested positive for RSV and was admitted to be monitored overnight. He got his very own hospital room with his own teeny tiny hospital bed. Luckily, he responded well to all the treatments he received and we were given the go-ahead to take him home this morning.

He's doing lots, lots better. It's absolutely awful to have sick babies, especially when they are still so brand new and tiny. We haven't gotten much sleep these past few days but we are so so so glad that our little Lukie Pookie is doing well.

Can I just say that the Children's Hospital is one of the saddest places on earth? It was so sad to hear little kids crying all through the night, asking for their moms, and just feeling awful. I feel so lucky that my boys have been relatively healthy and we've only had to go to the hospital once. I can't imagine how emotionally and physically draining it would be to have a chronically sick child.