A Whole Year!

Well, we did it. We made it to another first birthday!

This one seemed like a long time coming. Now looking back though it wasn't as long as it felt. Bittersweet day today as we say goodbye to his first year of life. Many more to look forward too.
As I tucked him into bed last night I was more emotional than I have been with any other of my babies. I am not sure why. I am grateful (not always) that he still likes to cuddle. He is a really good snuggler.

This year has been the hardest first year yet. Juggling three really little kids. One who was a baby and one who thought he still should be a baby and one who was trying to be so independent and helpful.
I'm glad to say we all made it through. Hopefully with few traumatic memories.

Though the first three months were the absolute worst with all the crying and screaming Evan did I am glad he is over that now and is really a super happy (clingy) baby. He is defintely a momma's boy. He's gotta be in my arms if he is at all near me. He doesn't like it if I hold Max. Sean he's alright with but man oh man. If I hold Max he LOSES it. Good ole brotherly rivarly. Probably from all the times Max has sat on him or drug him around the house or whatever else Max has done to him. Though they are much better friends now. I love it.
The three of them are starting to play so well now. Makes my momma heart just melt.

Evan is walking. More so than crawling. If he falls down he gets right back up and at it. Zombie walk and all.

Still only two bottom teeth. I don't know where those other ones are hiding but I really hope they all pop through together on the next teething round. This little boy and teething SUCK! He gets mild fevers, needs snuggles 24/7, doesn't sleep well, and just cries. and then pops one tooth. So the next time he goes through all that if he could just pop 6 teeth that would be great.

Food monster. He's my little vacuum. crawls under the table and looks in his chair for any leftovers. Lets face it.. he finds them. haha.

Now that the Spring weather is here we've been able to get outside more. He loves it. The stroller not so much. Probably because it means he has to sit by Max and not be in my arms. That two strikes againest me. haha. But once we get going he Loves it. Especially now that he can wander the parks we go to. When his big brothers go out to the back yard he makes a break for it as well. haha Oh He's going to love this Summer.

I am so grateful that this spunky little boy came into our lives so quickly. Yes it has been rough and I've lost more marbles than I can count but I can't imagine life without him. He brightens my day with his toothy, gummy smile. It makes me so happy to hear him laugh and his brothers making him Life.

I love being a Mom. I would choose to do it all again exaclty how I've done it. I wouldn't want to change a thing.

Happy Birthday my Evan!

Moonlight Run 2017

GUYS! This post is a very rare one. It's not about my kids. It's about ME! and DAN! WOW!

Last summer was a fun and very hard summer. I had 3 kids under 3. I didn't fit any of my clothes. We did so much going to the parks and playing and enjoying summer but not having any fun clothes that fit and still looking and feeling 7 months pregnant just didn't have me in the greatest of moods.

In September I randomly started working out. Nothing consistent. Then in October I joined together with some friends and we started working out at the church 3x a week in the mornings. It was great. It lifted my mood and helped get me wanting to workout.  Then we started a 6 week Health challenge and $$$ was involved. I was all over that. I ended up getting second. Not to shabby.

During this Healthy Challenege I started running again. I mean I have a treadmill in my house. Had I really used it though.. no. But I did during this Challenge and I started remembering how much I liked running. after a couple weeks though I really had to push through because it wasn't so fun. haha Passed that and all was good.

The 6 week challenge ended just before Christmas and even though I got 2nd place I was still pretty dang proud of myself. I was even more proud when I realized I lost 11.5 inches on my body. The scale didn't change a whole heck but losing those inches made me feel good. And so I kept working out and running.

Somewhere in all this I remembered this Run people did once a year at night. So I did some googling and boom Moonlight Run.

I convinced Dan to do it with me because I really didn't want to do this alone. He's great and agreed even though he told me time and time again he was going to die.
So now I had another end goal to work towards. And I even convinced my sister Phoenix to run with me.

So I kept working out and running and juggling these three crazy boys.

Well the day of this Race finally arrived and I couldn't believe I was actually going to do this. 6km. Down and up a HUGE hill. oh man.

We got there though and it was kinda exciting to see how many people were there. I had no illusions I was going to win or anything. I was just doing this for me. And honestly my goal was to finish it in 45 or less. But no longer than 45. At home I only ever really ran 3 miles and this was all on a treadmill. So I knew i wasn't as prepared as I could have been but I was more prepared than Dan. (Love you babe!)

The air horn went off and it took us just over 2 mins to finally cross the start line  and then maybe another 2 before I could actually pick up the pace and get moving. Phoenix kicked off and left us in the dark and well... Yup I took off and left Dan. (had to try my best right?)

Gotta say it was pretty exhilarating. Especially because I was constantly passing people. haha boosted my mood. Once I got to the downhill part a lot of people were pulling back and slowly down not me. I sped up a bit and let gravity help me out. Zoom zoom.

Once we got into Indian battle park the crowd had thinned some and I had some space to run. All along this run they had drummers and bagpipes and people cheering everyone on. It was really a positive thing. I felt so good! Before I knew it people on the sidelines were shouting you're half way! you're half way! (I found out later they had KM markers, lol I only saw the 5 KM marker on my way up the hill.) It was'nt even as dark as I thought it would be. Everyone had headlamps (so did I) and that helped a lot. Before I really knew it I was at the base of the hill ready to go up.

That hill does ya in though man. It is WAYY bigger than it seems to be. and brutal!

There were two people who would pass me and get up just far enough pass me and they would stop and walk.. and so then I'd start running until i was just enough passed them and I would walk. and back and forth until I was finally at the top of the hill. My friend even passed me at the top (she's amazing and did the 10K) and my goal was to just keep pace with her. but the dang cramp in my side wouldn't let me. but I still kept moving. and then at the end I mustered up the last bit of strength I had and just let it fly! :) Yet again another mood boost when I passed 8-10 people before crossing the finish line!

Seriously. What a High! It felt so good. I found my sister. and Then we found Dan who also did amazing and crossed 4ish minutes after me. Not to shabby considering he did not practice or prep for this in anyway.

It was so fun. Such a positive thing. I amazed myself and finished this 6K in 39 mins and 29 seconds! (thats my chiptime. the actual time from the air horn was 41:27. But I count it for me from when I crossed the startline. :)

So fun! I can't wait to do this again next year(Dan even said he would do it again!) and even some others throughout the spring and summer! Ladies Fest anyone?

11 months

I can't believe I almost missed posting this post. I mean he's closer to being 1 now... gulp. and I know as soon as I post this He will be one. That just seems to be how times flies.

My baby...

He is crawling obviously. and super fast. Like lightening. He has also surprised me by taking his first steps and loving it. He hasn't fully caught on yet. Which has surprised me. I thought for sure he'd be fully walking by his birthday. Just goes to show he does things how he likes them.

 Fully weened from me. bittersweet. Though I do love the freedom I get and I don't feel so overwhelemed now.

 Food Monster. Anything and Everything anyone else is eating he must have.

 LOVES LOVES LOVES his brothers. Especially Sean. He loves when Sean gives him attention and the two of them just laugh and laugh. He has good times With Max too but they are shorter periods normally resulting in Max hitting him or sitting on him or even biting him.

 Is a total momma's boy. Can't leave my side. He just got to spend the weekend with his dad and brothers when I went away for a few days. When i walked back into the house the smile and joy on his face was crazy! Made my heart happy though too. :)

Sleeping way better! only gets up once now between 3-5. and then easily goes back to sleep till 7;30-8;00.

 Only has his two bottom teeth but I did think I saw a top one trying to come through the other day.

 He is the best little boy. I love him so much and am so grateful he snuck into our family so quickly. I couldn't imagine life any other way now.

 And I can't believe that next month he is going to be 1.
The first birthday. Another toddler. No more baby. wow.

Max is 2

Wow. I have a 2 year old. Again. haha. (still have one more coming too. oh boy)

If you ask Max how old he is he will hold up 2 fingers and proudly say "free".

He was so Happy to have pancakes and be able to blow out the two candles on top.

We had a little minion party for this boy who just loves minions! And by minion party I mean minion decorations, pinata and cake. haha

I feel like this sums up my boys right now.haha

We invited friends to come swimming with us in the early afternoon. Crazy day for swimming at the Nicholas Sheran, It was a weekend I guess. It was fun. Good turn out of friends. Lets be real though. It was still mostly for us adults because Max doesn't play too well with friends yet. haha

After swimming we had a BBQ at our house where Max's Grandparents showed up. Plus all the friends that came swimming. It was fun. We had a good excuse to use our new table with the leaf extensions in it. That was exciting. Dang... I should have taken a picture of that.. lame.

We opened some presents. Max got books, a punching bag and candy. what more does a kid need? A pinata.. haha I figured this kid needed a pinata this birthday because he loves hitting things. It was perfect. He loved it! So did all the other kids. except Evalyn. She wasn't a fan till the candy came out.

This was cute. Evan was so happy to be playing with Reggie. 

                                      

Then of course we had some Cake. and I forgot we had icecream just didn't pull it out,

Max blew out his cake candles a few times. Always a kids favorite part I think. Though he did love his cake too. Lucky boy.

It was a fun day. I can't BELIEVE  i have a 3 year old soon to be 4, a 2 year old, and an almost one year old. time is flying.

 

2 more months till the 1st birthday people!

My baby is almost a year old! oh my goodness! That makes my heart so happy and so sad.

At 10 months he is

crawling at lightning speed.
Trying to walk. He probably will be walking before his first birthday.
stands without holding anything for a few seconds now.

has one tooth on the bottom. no more gummy smile. :( the second one is on its way right now...
this is my first kid not to teeth and pop 2-4 teeth at once. He's popping one at a time and its BRUTAL!

very very very very very clingy/ momma's boy. (partly due to teething) He just loves me. He does go to other people for a second or two until he realizes I'm not holding him.

we are weening. down to just night feed and first thing in the morning. This is all due to me. haha Evan would probably still be nursing till he was 2 if he could. But I am done. He's made the transition to a bottle really well. Which is nice to let other people put him to sleep.

He is a food monster! There was a time that his preference was the squeeze pouches. but now he just loves food! He wants it all. Still gets a little eager and chokes. Now that teeth are coming he'll do better.

I still am wishing for him to sleep through the night. but 1-2 times isn't horrid.

Has the best smile. It just lights up his face. and oh his little belly laugh. melts my heart. I love it when I hear him laughing and it's Sean and Max making him laugh.

Oh my baby....

Sorry.. yet again I didn't take a "photo shoot" of photos. just Candids on my phone. At least there are pictures.

blanket monster like all my boys!

9 Months

He's been out as long as he's been in!!! (actually I guess hes been out a bit longer since he came a bit early. Whatever)

9 whole months. I can't believe it. The time is just flying with this little guy!

He's crawling and starting to pull himself up to stand on things. He has mastered one stair. Then he gets stuck and cries for help. The speed at which this guy is crawling though is faster and faster every day.

 He slept through the night the other night. I was so excited that things were changing! But nope last night he got up once. Which is still better than before. I'll take it.

Food. He loves to feed himself! Hallelujiah! I just have to put it on his tray and he'll stuff his face! My first kid I actually get to eat warm food! haha He eats just about anything. He pretty much has no choice in that factor. He's learned if he doesn't eat his brothers will take it from him.

 Still referred to as baby sweet cheeks or baby fat pants by Sean. I think those nicknames might stick for life. Sorry Evan.

He is slimming down a lot though. He still has the fatest thighs (those might be for life.. sorry dude) but his little baby cheeks are just melting away. :( bye bye baby pudge...

He brothers still adore him and are playing with him better now especially since he's been on the move. Max still tries to ride him....

I don't know what else to say. He's such a happy baby now! I'm glad we made it through those first 2 months that were super rough. He is so happy and easy going now. Smiles all day long and that baby laugh. GAH! its the best. It turns heads in stores. Man I love him. He came so much sooner than we planned but I can't picture what life would be like without him. He's just perfect.

Its so much harder now to take good pictures of him with his brothers running wildly around and wanting to be in them and with him being on the move! JEN I NEED YOU! :)