October 3 - The tu tu I made for myself to wear at the Color Run next month. It's another 5k, so hopefully it will be a smooth run!

October 4 - Eden and Hunter cuddling on the couch for morning cartoons. Eden watches a show each morning while I let my coffee kick in!

October 4 - Melt down, ready for bed!

October 4 - Both kids at the same time! Mommy needs a break!

October 5 - A much better start to the day after the melt downs the night before!

October 5 - Love seeing smiles after the night before. Hunter loves swings.

October 5 - This is Eden's favorite swing. She can just lounge in it and not worry about flipping out of it - which she does on the others most times she's in them!

October 5 - Loves of my life! 

Motherhood Is...{40}

Being Rejuvenated!

Though I wish I could say I spent the weekend at a spa retreat {ah...how amazing would that be?!} I simply had a weekend away from home. The air show is coming to Miramar this weekend and the Blue Angels flew in and need the air space to practice, so Lane's squadrons {and many of the other ones too} flew their aircraft out of the area, but stayed close in order to accomplish missions they accomplish on a day-to-day basis. Lane got to Burbank Friday evening and will be home tonight around a normal work-day time. So where's the rejuvenation, you might be asking! It's in the fact that Burbank is only about 2 hours from home so we got to go stay with Lane while he was working and we didn't have to miss out on his travel weekend! As of Saturday afternoon I probably would have told you that we had made a huge mistake because both kids were tired and not napping in the hotel, but in the end, the trip was just what I needed! Just to be out of the house and away from our "normal" every day of doing the same thing was a breath of fresh air! We went to Hollywood on Lane's day off on Sunday and we enjoyed having nothing to do and nowhere to be. Monday Lane had to work, but was home in time for dinner and we got up today and checked out of the hotel to come home and get back to our normal. Now I can't wait for the Marine Corps Ball next month because I know how great it is to do something out of the ordinary every now and again.

31 Weeks Old

Where do I even begin?! Hunter is becoming more verbal, and though he's not putting sounds together to make words he's definitely talking to us! He screams, squawks, and squeals to tell us what's up. He makes these sounds when he's happy, excited, mad, or frustrated. Just imagine trying to figure out which one is correct for each moment in time! Lucky for us he's got a great smile, so it isn't too bad or too hard to figure out some of the time. When he's mad, he usually wants food - we call him our fat kid! When he's frustrated he's usually not moving fast enough to get to where/what he wants. When he's happy he's all smiles, and when he's excited he flaps his arms up and down! Man I love this kid!!!!

 And this week {since Hunter is into his second half of his first year} I wanted to post some "detail" pictures similar to the ones from his week 1 pictures. Can you believe that was 30 weeks ago?! How is it possible?! He's our chunky baby and it brings a smile to my face!

E-D-E-N

I've started working on teaching Eden how to spell her name. The only letter she will say when you ask her to spell her name is d. When she spells her name, she spells it, "Deeeeee. Deeeeeee. En!" Well, not really, but at least we're getting somewhere! She knows there's an n at the end of her name! I'll take what I can get and keep working on the rest of it.

This week when we were working on the letters in her name I used dry erase markers, play dough, and flash cards. We had lots of fun with it and I tried to make sure we were talking about the letters as we "worked" through her name. It was fun and she asked to do it again. Maybe next week we'll do it again and see if we can make any more progress with her spelling her name.

The names that Eden wrote. She got better with time, but still didn't quite get it. On the second one down she actually did put forth some effort to draw lines and not just scribble, but it didn't last beyond the first "E" of her name.

 Her concentration as she colored on the letters was amazing to me.

 After she colored her name we played a game with flash cards and play dough. I pulled out the letters of her name and shuffled them together. She got to pick a letter and then match it to the play dough letters that were on the table. After we did the individual letters we put them back in order to spell her name.

 When all was said and done Eden got to play with the play dough. She used cookie cutters and her rolling pin from her kitchen stuff.

7 Months Old

Wow, another month down, more milestones met! Hunter is an amazing baby. He sleeps well, he eats well, he's easy going, and we can't help but be head over heels for him. Eden is learning to love him and learning to  have "sibling love" for him! She pushes his buttons, and she knows that she can be a little more rough with him now that he's not such a baby anymore {which makes me sad!} When Hunter sees her walk into a room his face lights up and he gives her a big smile! We have to constantly remind Eden that she's got to be on her best behavior all the time because Hunter is learning from us and we have to show him how we want him to act.

One of Hunter's favorite "games" right now {in addition to peek-a-boo} is what I call the kissing game. He likes to stand on my lap and hold on to my hands. He'll pull forward to get close to my face and "give me a kiss" with a wide open mouth. When he does this he laughs if I make the *muah* kiss sound. Oh man, his laughs are so full of pure joy! He's such a sweet little guy.

Another one of his new and fun things to do is to respond when we clap. If we clap and say "yay!" he will throw his arms up and down. It's kind of like his own way of clapping. He's too cute when he does this. He gets a huge, goofy, gummy {nope, still no teeth} smile and does it over and over again. As many times as you'll clap for him, he'll flap and smile!

He's crawling all over the place at the speed of light these days. He can get across the room in no time at all. We've had to put the dogs' water outside because Hunter wouldn't stay out of it. He liked to splash in it, so we had to put it where he can't get to it. No matter where it was, where he was, he was going to get the water! We couldn't stand it and we couldn't stop him, so it's outside now.

Buzz

Eden is smarter than I know what to do with. She's sassy too! Add the 2 things together and I've got my hands full. Smart and sassy...just too much for me to deal with every day. I'm trying to channel Eden's brains into something productive, so when Hunter takes his morning nap we've been doing something for just the 2 of us. I try to throw in a little bit of learning when I can so I can take advantage of her brains! On Mondays we go to story time at the library and if we get lucky Hunter naps while Eden is enjoying time with Mrs. Cox. This week we've done a few different things to get Eden to enjoy "Mommy and Me" time that I've created.

The first fun activity we did was to play with vinegar {with food coloring} and baking soda! 

 I put the baking soda on a cookie sheet and in a muffin pan. I added the food coloring to the vinegar and put them in individual plastic containers. 

 And then we headed outside because I knew this had the potential of getting pretty messy!

I let Eden have a spoon and pour the colors onto the baking soda. To make this a learning experience we talked about colors as she made "buzz" {or fizz!} I decided on letting her use a spoon because she couldn't transport much of the vinegar at a time, so it helped to make the activity last longer. 

 At one point the "buzz" was up over the edge of the muffin tin and she wanted to touch it. Of course I couldn't say no! She put her hand on top of the buzz and felt it as it fizzed away. I loved the curious nature that she showed me this day.

 Eventually she figured out that she could dump the vinegar...so she did!

 And then she also figured out that she could make buzz by putting baking soda in the vinegar, not just by spooning vinegar onto the baking soda. Very smart I tell ya!

 And Hunter slept through it all!