Some Days You Just Get it Right

This winter is getting to me.  I mean, really getting to me.  I don't think there's been a week since Christmas that one of us hasn't been sick with something.  Normally, I don't hate winter, but if March 20th doesn't get here soon I'm moving to Florida.  We have been stuck inside for far too long without seeing our friends or doing fun activities.  We have watched way too much TV.  And I don't know how many more times I can push the train around the track before I lose it.  Like send me to the nuthouse lose it.

Lately I have just felt like I am missing the mark so much.  I lose my patience quickly.  Give in too easily.  Neglect the activities I have planned (all that time spent on Pinterest!) in lieu of another episode of Thomas.  I didn't make those sensory bottles for Judah yet.  We're only on letter B with Micah.  I didn't make that dinner or bake those cookies.  I've been focusing on all the things I haven't done, frustrated because I know I can do so much better.  And every morning I pledge to do just that, but then Judah is cranky and takes a long time to go down for his nap.  Or Micah is so happy just watching Thomas.  And I go to bed feeling like I failed yet again. 

Then, there's nights like tonight.  Brad was at work so it was just me and the boys at dinner.  We are sitting at the table and I tell Micah we have to pray before we can eat.  He folds his hands and says, "Dear Lord, thank you for today." 

And I just said "Amen."

Amen.  Let it be.  Not only did my son just pray for the first time ever, but it was so perfect.  Thank you for today.  For the blessing of this day.  For waking us all up this morning.  Thank you for the time I had to play with both of my little boys.  Thank you for lunch that we all enjoyed together as a family.  Thank you for this day, with all of its successes and failures. 

Suddenly, I'm not so focused on how I failed, but on what I've done right.  Micah prayed for the first time.  What a proud moment.  Some days you just get it right.

Home Sick

I've mentioned before that we try to do a little homeschooling with Micah each day.  I keep the activities fun and try to cater them to what he is interested in.  Last week both of the boys were sick so our schedule was a little off, but we still got some things in!

Uncle Kevin got Micah a trampoline for Christmas.  We decided this was the perfect time to bring it out.  He enjoyed jumping on it for a little while.

Daddy brought out the fingerpaints one morning.  We were supposed to take Micah on his first train ride that day, but because he was sick we didn't get to.  So, Daddy said if he doesn't get to ride a train he would get to do fun train things.  So, he painted him a train that was almost as wide as our living room.  Micah thought it was more fun to paint Daddy, though!

In preparation for Valentine's Day, we made this heart rainbow sticky wall to help Micah practice sorting colors.  Brad cut out a bunch of different color hearts.  Then, we drew a rainbow on a piece of contact paper and taped the paper to the wall in the playroom.  Micah had a lot of fun matching the color hearts to the colors of the rainbow.  This was a great sorting activity for him--something we haven't done much of, but he seems to instinctively know how to do.

However, Micah had more fun throwing the hearts up in the air and yelling, "Yo Gabba Gabba!"  This is something he learned to do when we took him to "Yo Gabba Gabba! Live"  He kept filling the bowl up and asking Brad to dump it on him--he loved it!

Of course, he doesn't want his little brother to miss out so as soon as he heard Judah wake up we had to go upstairs and get him.  Micah climbed into the crib with him and wanted to play.

Later that day, Micah wanted to "dot dot dot" his letter "B."  So, we got out the dot paints.  He loves to "dot dot dot" with everything, except the dot paints!  He always uses them like markers.  Oh well.

That was our week last week.  A little lax, but still lots of fun.  I'm hoping to do more posts like this on a regular basis just to keep track of the progress that Micah is making and to share all of the great ideas that I've been collecting!  I'm also linking up with 1+1+1=1 for their Tot School Link. 

9 Months

I know I say this all the time, but is my baby really nine months old already?  It's so hard to believe that nine months ago he was just an itty bitty baby.  He's come a long way!  This has been a HUGE month for him, he's learned so much.  I can't put him down and expect him to be in the same spot anymore.  He's always chasing after his brother and wants whatever he has (especially his cars and trains!).  People always tell me he's such a content baby.  I love when they tell me that because, honestly, I don't usually see it.  I know he's a good baby and he's pretty easy going, but he cries way more than Micah did (which really isn't saying a lot).  Judah knows what he wants and he wants it NOW.  And if he's not happy he will let you know.  But he's also very happy just people watching.  He really likes to be around other people.  He's much more of a cuddler than Micah ever was.  Often I can pick him up and he'll just put his head on my shoulder or he crawls up to us and wants us to just hold him.  That never happened with Micah!  I love seeing how the boys' different personalities develop as they get older.  Here are some of Judah's milestones from his ninth month:

  *He learned to wave "bye-bye."  He does it all the time.  It's the cutest thing ever.  You just tell him
    to wave bye-bye and he does it.  I love it!

  *His first tooth finally popped through!  It was a rough couple of nights before it came, but it's here
    and now we're working on the second one.

  *He full on crawls now.  He is getting all over the place!

  *He pulls himself up on everything.  He loves to stand and play with things, he thinks the world is
    so much more fun higher up. ;)

  *He went to his first story time at the library.  He went to Micah's story time, but he still had a lot of
    fun.  I can't wait to take him to his own story time, I love doing this with Micah and look forward
    to it with Judah.

  *We saw the Huskie dogs at the Arboretum.  Just like his big brother, Judah loves being outside so
    he really enjoyed this outing.  I'm very excited for warmer weather and watching them both play
    outside.

  *He has been fighting something for a little while now and was finally put on amoxicillin as a
   preventative.  After a couple days we figured out he's allergic to it.  That was a rough couple of
   nights, let me tell you!  But he's back to his normal self now.

  *We brought the baby pool inside the house one day so the boys could play and Judah loved it!
    I'm not surprised because he's enjoying his baths more and more. 

That's my little boy.  He's seriously changing so much!