good news reveal

Do you remember this post...and that lingering great news I had but couldn't share yet? Well, since the announcement has been made, I can now...

I AM GOING TO BE THE AUNT OF TWINS!!

Babies #3 and 4 are on their way for Whitney and Evan. I've never been as excited about baby news as I was about their announcement. They've been through SO much and we're so so happy. And to be honest, given what happened with my first two nephews, we're also very nervous. Please pray for their family. Pray that Whit can get over the nausea, that these babies can be healthy and strong and that all will go well until their happy entrance into the world this November!

Happy Birthmother's Day!

Today we went to the annual celebrating adoption walk. We love it because it honors birthmothers and we sure love ours! I am so thankful for them, especially this time of year as we celebrate mothers. Without them I wouldn't be one!
 It was beautiful weather and even though daddy couldn't come (he's working, pooh) me and my little men had a blast!

 

What else have we been up to lately? Well, besides barfing episodes from the boys this week (no fun!) we've also played outside a LOT! Me and Z decided to try and color an ENTIRE square of the driveway. It took a really long time and we didn't color any specific pictures except for the world and our names, but it looks really cool, and Z stuck with me the whole time. P.S. glitter chalk is the best invention ever, we love our sparkly cement! :)

 We celebrated our success with popsicles...which was Ty's favorite part. You can see him here guarding Z's potato bug collection...which lived in a box in his closet for a whole day until I decided I didn't want to risk them escaping in my house (yuck) and made him take them back outside! These little dudes are 100% boy...the messier the better for them!

We had a personal progress celebration for our young women. They have been working so hard and they won our contest (YW vs. leaders) and got a pizza party. I was tasked with making dessert pizzas. I'm really sad I forgot to take a picture of my s'mores pizza because it looked awesome and tasted so yummy. They were fun to make and they were a huge hit, completely gone by the end of the night! They were all experiments but they turned out really well. I especially loved the peanut butter and M&M one. Yum!

 Z is obsessed with taking pictures. Occasionally he gets a really cute one! :)

 These two are becoming best buds. I frequently here Z say things like, "Here you go little buddy." Or, "It's okay, you're just a baby, I can build it again" (when Ty knocks his tower over). They have so much fun playing cars, and Z loves to hold Ty's hands and walk around with him.

Speaking of walking, Ty has started taking steps this week! So far he has done three. It won't be too much longer before he gets it down, he is really good and standing up on his own and his balance is getting way better. We call him Mogli because he walks with his bum in the air just like the little boy on Jungle Book...plus he kind of looks like him. Oh gosh he's so cute! And just watch him throw the ball!

 They are also both goofy...and love smoothies!

Aunt Lindi came to play! Her mission is fast approaching and we're going to miss her!

 We're busy and so happy. Life is great!

the BIG question

In case you missed the onslaught of birthday posts I'll just go ahead and state the obvious...Tyson is one! Exciting yes? And a little sad. It means my baby is, well, less baby-ish. It also means that we can start our adoption paperwork. And if you live in Utah (like us) it means that as soon as people ask you how old your baby is, the next question that automatically follows is, "When are you having another one?"

The big question.

Innocent enough. Even I wonder sometimes when people seem to have a large gap after their baby. In Mormon culture it's sort of normal for people to space their kids every two years (or less!).

And I won't say that it hasn't been on my mind. Right after Tyson was born and as I was holding my perfect little baby, I had the distinct impression, "This is not your last baby." It was weird, but I couldn't brush it off. Ever since we started the adoption process the first time I had a little feeling that there were three babies coming to our family. Honestly, I think these impressions were to keep me from giving up, because the process to Ty joining our family was really hard for me. Yes, it was only a little over a year and compared to some families our wait was miniscule but it felt like forever. It was riddled with stress, depression, guilt...any negative emotion you can think of. It was agonizingly HARD!

I promised myself I wouldn't worry what people said this time around. And for the record, I'll come right out and say it. We are NOT planning on starting our adoption paperwork anytime soon. (That good news I have that I can't talk about yet has nothing to do with our little family growing in case you were wondering). And it's not that we don't want more children. We totally do. I just feel completely unready for the process of getting children here. This picture floating around facebook sums it up perfectly:

  

And, while I'm being frank. My one-year-old makes me want to have more kids right away, but my three-year-old nearly gives me a heart attack every day and makes me think I can never have more kids. I love him to pieces, but he is hard. I'm struggling with how to parent him in an effective way. The thought of having three little munchkins and only two hands terrifies me since Z is incredibly smart, extremely inquisitive, very agile, fearless, and can run at the speed of light (I literally have to wear my running shoes anytime we go anywhere or I cannot catch him). 

So...the answer to the big question? Yes we want more kids. We're not putting it off to buy nice things or go on expensive vacations (people seriously ask things like that, I want to punch them). Someday we'll hopefully have more...Z is convinced there is another brother out there. We just aren't ready to start the adoption process quite yet. I promise will let you know as soon as we decide, because we'll undoubtedly need help spreading the word once again! :)

1, 2, 3 STAND UP!

It's fascinating to me how differently each child develops! Ty has been much less interested in walking than Z, who walked at nine months. However, for the first month he walked Z  would crawl to furniture to pull himself up and walk. It took a few weeks to stand on his own. 

Interestingly, Ty decided out of the blue today to start standing on  his own...in the middle of the floor. It's so cute how proud he is and I love his chunky little thighs wobbling around. Now his new favorite game is 1, 2, 3 stand up! I think we might have a walker sooner than I thought...I was convinced he wouldn't walk until 18 months because he's just had zero interest. I'm excited for him but a little sad too. I want to him to stay a baby for a while longer, it just goes too quickly! :(

 

We've gone back to the time of a required bath EVERY day. These boys love to get dirty...this week we've played lots of chalk, bubbles, park time, and the boys have lived in the dirt while mommy weeded. I'm loving Ty's growing independence and that they play together a little bit better every day. Hooray for Spring finally deciding to warm up, we love the sunshine!!

;)

 

 

 

one year stats

  Just one more birthday post after this! Probably not for a few days though. We have a special tradition we decided to start for Tyson each birthday, but I'll post about it later! :)

 

 We took Ty to the doctor yesterday. It was a bummer having to get shots on his birthday, but it was a pretty low-key day because of the party Saturday anyway. Here are the stats:
Weight: 23 pounds 14 ounces-85%
Height: 30 inches-57%
Head Size-18.75 inches-88%

I feel like Ty looks the most different this month. I can really tell he has thinned out and gotten taller. I still suspect he will thin out even more once he starts walking...which may not be any time soon, he's very stubborn and a very fast crawler! Ty just gets funnier every day and he is really imitating sounds and words. So far he can say, "Mom, dad, ball, baby, peek-a-boo, yeah, and hi." He signs all done and whines if we don't notice right away. He also jabbers all the time, It's adorable and I love when he jabbers and looks at us like we should understand what he's saying! :)

 

 

 Ty has really gotten good at throwing balls, it's so funny! He loves balls and cars. He loves to be outside crawling around or being pushed in the stroller. At the park he likes to sit and eat the wood chips! Ty loves his mom and dad and has developed mild stranger anxiety. He does not like anyone to try and take him from us, and he rarely likes to be held by anyone but me or Lance unless we're right there. Ty got a new car seat and is now front-facing which he LOVES! He keeps a running stream of jibberish the whole time we drive anywhere and loves being able to see mom and dad while we're driving.

Ty is transition to sippy cups and regular milk, hooray for not having to buy formula! He loves being a "big kid" and will only eat things if he can feed himself...otherwise I have to use the choo choo train antic to try and spoon feed him. Ty is such a happy sweet boy and we love him to pieces! There is nothing better than his big slobbery kisses and tight hugs.