Halfway to three!

Yesterday morning (Sunday), Facebook let me know that three years ago, on April 26, we announced our first pregnancy to the world. It got me all misty eyed looking at my little gummy bear ultrasound picture.... who is now this big kid:

Half wet polo shirt. Nap hair. Silly smile. This is our life.

Who would've imagined that little gummy bear would be our first boy (and that 3 years after that announcement was made, we'd already have a second little boy!). It's also crazy to think that Isaac is officially now more than halfway to three. Getting to 2 and a half seems like an accomplishment, because life in general was so much different 6 months ago. And Isaac was so much different! He has grown so much since his birthday, thankfully not in weight or height (not that I can tell...), but moreso in maturity. I can have halfway coherent conversations with him! He can tell me about his day, what he liked to do, and the times when he got upset. He can retain information and relay it back (sometimes days later). He is goofy and funny and full of life. But deep inside this always-moving, laughing, crazy boy is a sweet and tender little heart.

The "please just sit down and smile for one picture!!!" Outtakes.

So I can always remember what life is like with this funny 2.5 year old of mine, we sat down... or well, I chased him around the house and asked some fun questions. Here's what we came up with:

I'd say his favorite toy by a landslide is Gator, without which, Isaac may not survive. The second favorite would easily be Lightning McQueen. Also, I cannot remember the last time I read him The Very Hungry Caterpillar (which I just realized I misspelled ^^up there^^ Shoot.), but we read George almost every night. The kid's a little nuts for Curious George these days. Lastly, I'm pretty sure his favorite things to eat are pretzel goldfish, tomatoes, grapes, and pizza. And I'm not even going to pretend he doesn't love to eat chips and candy.

Some other things he loves: Watching movies with popcorn (which he feeds to the dog). Running in circles ALL DAY LONG. Playing in the dirt. Antagonizing the dog. Jumping on the bed.

The Look.

It hurts my momma heart to think this sweet baby will be 3 years old in a few more months. He brings so much sunshine and laughter to our lives. I am blessed every moment by this amazing boy, what an honor it is to be his mom.

Ian's 3 Month Update

And just like that, I went from being pregnant to having a 3 month old.

Ian, you're 3 months old!!!

This month with you has been pretty fantastic, but then again, they've all been pretty fantastic. You continue to be a very happy boy and give out smiles all day long. My favorite time of the day with you is just after taking a bath. It's not uncommon for you to be fussy on the way into the tub... it's the end of the day, you're tired, fussy, and usually hungry too, but I put you in the tub with Isaac and all is right in the world. But that's just the beginning: when bathtime is over, your personality shines through unlike any other time of the day! While big brother stays in the tub to play, you hang out with me on the changing table and talk away. Your coos, gurgles, and squeals are almost continuous - I can hardly get a word in! It's as if you're filling me in on the events from the entire day.  These are the moments when I wish I could freeze time and forever enjoy this sweet moment with you.

Each day you've grown more and more aware of the world around you. I love watching you track Isaac around the room -- he's obviously your favorite person, the way you pay attention to every thing he does and says. Trying to nurse you when Isaac is close is nearly impossible, because all you want to do is watch him! Don't get me wrong though, watching this sweet brother love makes my heart flutter in ways I didn't know before you came along.

You're getting better and better at holding your head and upper body upright while you're on your tummy or being held. You love "standing" in our laps. I've seen you roll tummy to back twice in the last few days. You have finally established a pretty predictable schedule, waking up around 7am, eating about every 3-3.5 hours during the day, taking regular naps after some play/awake time, then bath/story time at 7 and you're asleep by 8pm. I feed you one last time around 10:30-11pm and you're down until the next morning. I'm hoping by your next monthly update, you'll be about ready to drop that 11pm feeding. We'll just have to wait and see though. You're sleeping like a champ in your own room at night! You're sleeping unswaddled for naps and I'd like to try that at night as well... maybe.

I have often found myself thinking, "I can't believe I have a kid named Ian." Not sure why that sticks out so much to me, but at least once per day this thought bounces around in my head. Also, I would be doing the monthly updates a disservice if I didn't mention the battle we've had with thrush.  It has sucked. That is all. Random blog thoughts.

During a visit to the hospital (for chart audits, I'm sure), I weighed you just for kicks & grins. I wasn't surprised to see you weighing in at 14 pounds & 11 oz. This was a week ago, so you're probably hovering around the 15 pound mark by now. It's crazy to think that at 11 weeks, you'd already doubled your birth weight.... a milestone typically reserved for 4-5 month olds. You're wearing 3-6 month or 6 month clothes depending on the brand and wearing size 2 diapers.

Slow down child!! This isn't a race!! Ha!

Little brother, you are so very loved. You live up to your name day after day, because God has certainly been gracious to us. I love being your momma with every ounce of my body. You are my treasure.

Five on Friday: update style

Wow, y'all.

Life happens.

Like when you're intending to send an encouraging text to a friend before breakfast and suddenly it's bedtime and still no text.

Or like when you intend to write a blog one day, then two weeks later there's still no blog posted.

Life happens. Thanks for hanging around with me while I sort out this life with 2 babies thing.

Since it's Friday, I thought I'd share a quick "Five on Friday" things that are happening with our family.

1. Potty Training!!! Two weeks ago today, we "threw away" all of Isaac's diapers and started wearing big kid underwear. I learned really quickly that potty training is a process... learning how to pee on the potty, learning how to poop on the potty, and learning how to stay dry during sleep times. So far he's really getting the hang of the peepeeing part. Despite a few frustrating accidents, and lots of gross moments, I'm really proud of my big boy and how well he's doing. It was my goal to potty train prior to going back to work, so I'm really happy that things are moving in the right direction.

Someone wanted to hold his big boy underwear while we were walking one afternoon.

2. Speaking of going back to work, I've got less than a week left of maternity leave!!! *sob* Now, I have been spending some of my free time up on the unit doing chart audits, but those days are just a few hours long and I can take Ian with me to nurse and cuddle while I work. It's a great set up.... but next Thursday will be my first REAL shift since having Ian. I have some seriously mixed feelings about returning to 12 hour shifts. While I know it will hurt my heart to leave my boys for such long days (and I dread pumping at work. ughhhhhhhh.), I also know how desperately I need some time with other adults. So next week will be a bittersweet ending to this short season of life.

Chart audits and baby naps.

3. THRUSH. Oh how I hate you. Ian and I have been battling thrush for a long time now. It creeps up, we treat it and sterilize everything, it goes away.... then it creeps back again. I feel like I do everything I'm "supposed" to do and yet here we are dealing with it again. So frustrating. And annoying. And gross. I am thankful that it's a minor --despite persistent-- problem and neither of us are as symptomatic as we could be.

4. eMeals! We signed up for eMeals a few weeks ago and have appreciated the service a ton. If you aren't familiar with eMeals, it's a meal planning service. You get 7 days of meals and a grocery list. It has expanded our dinnertime choices beyond tacos and poppyseed chicken. Some of the recipes have been really delicious, some have been forgettable, and all have been easy and relatively quick to prepare.

5. Honestly I can't think of a fifth thing. Lame-tastic. So I'll leave you with some sweet brother love:

Easter 2015

The Mims pray you all had a blessed and joyous Easter! For me personally, my Easter has felt substantially different and more meaningful/significant. Although we don't typically observe the season of Lent, this year I walked through the devotional Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross with SheReadsTruth. There were plenty of days that were hard to swallow, but my heart was really softened by this study and made Resurrection Sunday a great day of rejoicing!

Christ paid the ultimate sacrifice and then defeated sin and death for eternity!

We sing Hallelujah! The Lamb has overcome!!!

I was really excited to celebrate Easter this year with Isaac, because he finally feels old enough to "get it." Last year he was just a year and a half, so all the little Easter traditions were a wash. He really got into things this year though and we had a lot of fun. One of my favorite moments from our Easter week was introducing Isaac to cascarones!!! He was hilarious smashing eggs on his own head!

Here are some pictures from his Easter egg hunt with his class. Despite having an Easter basket for him, we walked out of the house that morning with no basket. Mom brain fail. Luckily, we were able to borrow an extra bucket to catch all the awesome eggs he found.

Oh, the anticipation!!!!

Checking out the treats inside the eggs

Making his way around the playground with Dad and Ian

My handsome boy.

Happy Easter!!!!