My Strawberry Girl and Redhead Boy

I'm cheating a little with this post because I haven't taken any new pictures - these are from a few weekends ago.

 Mara and I had a date to go strawberry picking! I don't know which one of us was more excited.

 The farm had a sandbox and seesaws, so naturally, she had to try them out.

 Empty bucket, ready for picking!

 And this was her showing me a bug or a rotten berry or something to that nature. I wonder where she gets her wild face expressions from???

 And I had to explain to her that we get to taste a few of the berries as we pick - that's part of the fun!

 

 She did have a good time, even though she looks so serious. I had to juggle the bucket (it got too heavy), my camera, my phone, and my keys. So she was pretty patient, considering I was snapping with two cameras!

 We finally called it quits when our bucket got to this level. And I think it was only $7 total?

 

 And then back to the sand!

 

 Did you know that the ridged potato chips are "striped chips!" ? Yep, according to our daughter, they have stripes.

 First time on a see saw, I think! I got my squats in for the year since she barely weighs anything!

 Strawberry heads.

I don't remember what the boys were doing when we drove out to the strawberry patch.

 Probably getting dirty, making messes, checking out the motorcycles in the shed, and pooping.

 Isaac is ALMOST walking. He's taken 1 step at home by himself and one at school by himself.

He knows how to put toys onto a ramp/slide thing and watch them go down (to be honest, he chucks the toy penguin with the roller butt onto the slide and miraculously it sticks and slides. I'm not sure how he does it). He can put a toy frog in a tube and push the button to get it out... although most the time he grunts in our direction and points at it so Mom, Dad, or Mara stab the button to eject the frog. I think it's a game he plays to see who will do his bidding.

He loves loves loves to point at things. He's quite the effective communicator when it comes to pointing. We are trying to put words to objects, and signs if I remember/know them. He can sign "fish," "please," "binky," "dog" and uhhh that's probably about it for now. He speaks all kinds of babble, and occasionally you can make out mama or dada or Mara.

His favorite song is "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" and he'll do the rain and wash the spider out signs with me. He loves throwing balls and chasing them and throwing them. He gets a kick out of standing on his own and grins and giggles about it while flailing his arms around. He climbs up the slides at daycare and slides back down on his belly.

He will point and shift his weight in my arms and turn and point when we're outside until I take him to the shed. Once he's in there, he will point and shift and roll and point until I either 1) put him into the toy race car, or 2) put him on one of the motorcycles within reach of the handlebars so he can yell like a boy and bounce up and down.

What.on.earth.am.i.in.for.

He typically plays copilot, or navigator, or co-driver, when his sister is behind the wheel. He usually is privileged enough to be taken for a 2 lap spin around the yard (Mom/Dad bribing big sister with "if you want Daddy to take you on a motorcycle ride you need to take your brother for a race car ride...") before she tires of being on the slow speed setting and asks for him to be removed. It breaks my heart how excited he is about riding with her and he only can have quick rides... but I know it's only a matter of a few months before he will be capable of driving on his own and then there will be no looking back. We had allowed them to be on the fast speed setting for awhile, and then we had a stop-too-quickly, while Isaac wasn't holding on and was leaning forward and head-planted into the front end of the car. Soooo, slow mode it is.

 That's okay, though, because Mara got a new pedal bike this past weekend! (I'll take regular pictures at some point)

 Mara loves her climbing tree and made sure I got pictures of her.

 Left the car running with the passenger off in la la land.

 Not like he's gonna go anywhere, haha, his legs are too short.

 Um yeah, but did you see him take a dive for the accelerator? 

 Ooooo.... yeah.

 Besides, Isaac is getting in lots of practice on Retro Rocket - he can actually mount/dismount, and move the thing on his own!

That's strawberry popsicle evidence on my little girl's chin, btw.

 I love her to the core.

She loves going to the library.

And eating spaghetti.

And sleeping in 3T footie jammies, falling asleep listening to music and watching her new princess nightlight shine a display on the ceiling.

She likes her toenails painted and her hair wild.

 She likes to make up songs and she laughs at my jokes (yay!)

 He needs to learn which way is forward. We're still working on it, okay?

 

 

 

 

 Funny face.

 And red hair. Yep.

 He's got an appetite for speed. So watch out world!

Isaac turns one!

It's hard to believe that it's been a whole year since Isaac joined our family.

  He was so tiny, pink, and squishy.

Now, he's still tiny... but white and lean.

 I guess his sister wasn't much different at this age.

 Isaac for sure has more teeth (8 and counting).

He loves pointing at anything and everything to get us to look or carry him where he wants to go.

He is still cruising - pulling up, standing, surfing within the comfort zone of a baby/toddler height surface. He will stand up and balance (holding nothing) for a few good moments before he (and we) get too excited that he falls back on his booty.

 He weighed 16 pounds 6 ounces at his 12 month visit - still very very small. We try to get him eat, but there seems to be some confusion as to what food is.

 And that's why this happens... okay?

Don't judge.

Or if you choose to judge anyway, I challenge you to a day with the child who won't sit still and we'll see where YOU end up feeding him. The carpet, wood floor, under the dogs' noses, and the high chair are his frequent dining locations.

He is completely finished nursing (I AM FREEEEEEE!!!) and enjoys slugging down his whole milk like a champ.

I see this picture resurrected at his wedding, with one right next to it from 20 years later slugging an ice cold one.

Ending nursing again is definitely a bittersweet finale. The gift you give your child is undoubtedly and scientifically the best nutrition for him and I love being able to provide that for him. But I will not miss lugging the pump and accessories to work 5 days a week, pumping 3 times a day, packing/labeling/cleaning bottles/nipples/valves/caps/shields/etc. That pump and I have now been practically inseparable for 2 years of my life. That's longer than most of my houseplants live.

He has started in the next classroom at daycare and seems to be doing well. He was out with a fever last week for 2 days, and since it was Memorial Day on Monday, he only got 2 days out of the class... but he now sits at the tiny kid table to eat and sleeps on a cot. My little boy is growing up!

He is making new sounds every day and crawls so fast that you really have to keep an eye on him.

At any point in time, you have to watch where you're going to avoid stepping on some random toy or piece of furniture, as we've relocated 3 ottomans to block the stairs (if Isaac realizes they are fair game, he is GONE before you can say "NO ISAAC!"). I think he's practicing for the baby stair racing that happened at his birthday party.

 Although, it wasn't a contest - Elam won, hands down, every single time. Ian even gave Isaac a 10-stair-handicap at one point and Elam still took the gold.

So Isaac's been in intensive training every since.

Speaking of birthday party, it went very well and we were so grateful for all the family and friends that turned up or sent their well wishes.

Most of the family did this:

 While I cleaned and cleaned and shopped and wrapped and decorated and baked and cooked.

 I'm getting smarter, though, since this time I avoided having hard to prep foods or kinds that need me to keep an eye on the oven.

 Here's the photo display I put together of Isaac's first 11 months. I threw some of him and his sister in there, too.

 The efforts of cleaning (even though it's hard to look past all the toys).

 It never, ever looks this good. And only did for about 10 minutes before everyone showed up. So that is why there is photographic evidence.

 Mara got into her little party dress and party mode.

 She was full throttle the whole party.

I guess that could have been because of the cupcakes and pound cake she kept scarfing.

But I purposefully left the icing as a side item, since she and her Daddy prefer plain cakes/cupcakes.

 You can see I made Liz's Redneck Caviar with chips, double batch of rice crispy treats, strawberry pretzel salad, cupcakes, pound cake, vege trays with ranch, and then had some of Isaac's favorite snacks out (animal crackers and gold fish).

 Max is now over 2 and is taller and weighs more than Mara.

(That's Max's grandfather holding Isaac)

 A shot of all 4 kiddos!

 Boys and their toys.

 I didn't make a big cake for him to smash like I did with Mara... just gave him a cupcake and loaded it with icing for him to make a mess.

(And note the cupcake vulture lurking nearby in fancy princess shoes).

 Suuuure... when I WANT him to make a mess... he's the daintiest eater.

 Come on, get messy!

 Seriously? That's the best you got?

 Anyway, so we pulled the pound cake out, which Zack repaired for me after the top/side fell off.

 We had Mara and Max blow out candles, so that's why there are two.

 

 

 

 

 I think Mara is always eating at birthday parties, isn't she?

 Isaac, eat the cupcake, not the candle.

 THERE YA GO!

 Um, yeah, not a fan, Mom.

 Happy 1st birthday!

 

  And here's our happy little family.

 

 Gotta wash all that cupcake down with something (no he didn't eat all that icing, I scooped it and tossed it)

 Aunt Claire and her nephew!

 The stash - ignore my leg.

 Boys!

 Family.

 Look, no hands! One day I'm gonna be a big boy like Max!

 Isaac wasn't the best present opener, so big sister was graciously willing to help

 Thank you, Mara, for your sacrifice!

 Isaac loved all his gifts!

 

 We did let him rip a lot of the paper, or remove the tissue paper.

 

 See his standing skills? He was so proud to show off!

 

 It was a great day and I'm so blessed to have these children.

They are my happiness.