Farewell

The time has come to do a little housekeeping...and not the kind with a mop and broom. Over the past year, my life has filled up with so much, well...LIFE! I love every moment of every day, but I need to rearrange a few things to make more time for the things that I truly enjoy.

I have enjoyed blogging, but its fun for me has run its course. Farewell blog :)

Hey Handsome!

The Kitchen...finito!

New Lens!!!

YEAH! I got my new camera lens yesterday. I was super bummed when I didn't feel well today, but I still managed to snap a few photos of Matt Man.

Play Time!!!

And, alas I am still trying to get good shots of my little 'energizer bunny.' I can only freeze his movement at high shutter speed, which isn't producing the contrast or the color that I am looking for. But, this is still a cute shot!

Hello Angel

Another goal of mine this year, learn to make a mean cupcake. And, not just fancy dancy decorating either...I mean a truly good, melt in your mouth cupcake. This project might be saved for the holidays.

This photo was taken right after a nap. Matthew was running around being his usual self, when for a brief moment he stopped, looked up at me, and held this angelic pose for...a millisecond!

Jeff loves this picture and I can see why. Matthew looks just like Jeff in this photograph. From his hair, right down to his chin...spitting image of his daddy. I wish with my whole heart that this photo quality had turned out better. I ordered a new lens that will hopefully allow me to capture my busy boy in his element and still produce a nice, sharp image.

Even more cuteness

More Three Months

Jeffrey has started to blow bubbles and can hold his head upright for long periods of time. And...he is started to inch himself forward. I have a feeling he will be crawling before long. He is such a sweet baby. I can't wait to take more pictures of my little munchkin.

3 Months

This is my first attempt at taking/editing photos of Jeffrey. Instead of hiring a photographer to take 3 month shots, I thought I would try my hand at it. I am pleased with the 'baby part' photos, but think I need a new lens in order to freeze movement and obtain 'tack sharp' photos. Let me know what you think!

Uh Oh

My baby is on the move! Jeffrey is rolling over at 3 months old. Please God, don't let him be an early walker...

My little munchkin loves to smile and talk

Almost 21 Months and 3 Months

Here are my two handsome boys! As you can tell from this picture, they truly are best friends.

Matthew is almost 21 months old.

He is very active. He loves to read, swim, build with Legos, and JUMP! He runs, jumps, climbs, and bounces around with ease. Matt also can pick out most animals, colors, shapes, some numbers, letters, and objects when asked. His memory is amazing.

Jeffrey is 3 months old.

He smiles easily and babbles all day long. One thing Matthew and Jeffrey have in common is they both wake up talking. It is so cute to sit back and listen in the morning.

Jeffrey can roll from his tummy to his back, sit in the Bumbo chair, and has quite the grip! He is very strong. I can't wait for his first all out belly laugh. He giggles from time to time, but I am waiting for a TRUE laugh :)

Kitchen Remodel

Well, ladies and gentleman, he has done it again...Jeff has transformed an outdated space into something truly beautiful.

As you can see from the before picture...our kitchen needed a makeover. We spent many months doing dishes by hand in a tiny sink and cramming all of our kitchen wares into shallow cupboards.

After a lot of hard work, weeks of doing dishes in the bathtub, and a stint of living with our appliances in the living room...it is almost complete! We just have to paint, install the new light fixture, and finish the pantry.

THANK GOD! I cannot wait to have a dishwasher, space to store things, and a refrigerator that fits a 12 pack of beer AND food!

I have had some free time to work on some personal projects. My latest endeavor is to learn more about the digital camera my sister is letting me borrow and to learn to edit my favorite shots.

This is the 'before' shot.

This is using a preset to enhance color. I like how the blues pop a little more, but it still isn't as bright as I would like.

Now, here is the color I am talking about! But...not perfect. The red is a little too fluorescent and now Matt's face looks a little overexposed.

Try, try, again, but I thought I would post my first attempts, so I can see improvement when I learn more.

Jeffrey's christening was yesterday. He was an absolute angel. We had such a great day celebrating such a happy occassion with family and friends.

I don't know if we will ever have a family picture with us all looking the same way!

Awww....my little prince.

I love kissing those cheeks!

Almost 20 Months

Matthew is so 'busy,' it is hard to take a picture of him. He is in constant motion. Jeff and I joke that he is either going 110% or he is sleeping! So, I had to get creative with this post. I decided to take pictures of things that he enjoys right now.

Of course, Mattew LOVES his baby brother. He is always by J's side. It is so sweet to see how protective Matt is.


Matthew likes puzzles right now. I think these ones are a little to easy for him at this point. But, he loves them!




Matthew also loves to read. He especially likes flip books. He even has memorized a few of them, so when we turn to certain pages, he will "read" a few words, before I get to them.

And, Matt's favorite bedtime buddy is 'Teddy AKA Ted.' He reaches for him as soon as we put him to bed. So sweet!

Other things Matt likes to do are go to swim class, play at the park, and recite 'A,B,C,D' in the morning when he thinks no one is listening.

Matthew still 'babbles,' but he knows more words than he lets on. I hear him talking to himself in the morning and words come out....he just likes to talk to Ted and not Mom/Dad.

Play Time with M & J

Matthew has really grown attached to Jeffrey. He loves to hold his hand and kiss his forehead. It almost brings tears to my eyes to see him acting so loving towards his baby brother. Today, while Matthew was 'talking' to J and holding his hand, Jeffrey smiled at him...it was so sweet! I love seeing their bond grow each day.

And, today I saw a side of Matthew that I had never seen before. We were playing at an indoor playground. Any time one of the other kids made their way over to sneak a peek at J, Matthew stopped what he was doing, ran as fast as he could over to J's side, covered him with his own little body and yelled 'Noooo!' He was SO protective of Jeffrey. It was cute, but at the same time I wasn't sure how to react.

I absolutely love having two little boys so close in age. I just know they will become the best of friends.

J loves his baths just as much as his big brother. He has such a sweet face. I had to post this picture!

Matthew may look like Jeff, but he sure reminds me a lot of myself! Case and point - the color coordinated legos above.

Two Months!

Jeffrey is two months old! He is such a sweet baby. J loves to listen to music, spend time with his big brother Matthew, and snuggle with Mommy. He can roll from his tummy to his back and SMILES all the time. AND, he is sleeping through the night. Yay!

At his doctor appointment this week, J measured 23 3/4" long and weighed 14 lbs 3 oz.

He is a happy, healthy boy. My only wish is that he could stay this little for a little while longer...

When you become a mother, your leisure reading transitions from 'In Style' to reading about all things baby + child + health. My most recent reading has led me on a path to better eating. Of course, I have known all along that fast food + junk food are not healthy choices for my own body or for my family, but now that Jeff and I have little eyes watching our every bite, it is all the more important for us to make better choices.

Things that are IN:
Michigan grown produce - Eat healthy + support Michigan
Quinoa - subsitute for rice- loaded with antioxidants and a much healthier choice than rice
Organic Yogurt - Calcium sans the hormones
Free Range Beef - Thank you Mom + Dad for supplying us with 'happy' beef
Green Tea - antioxidant rich + little caffeine
Raw Almonds - grab a quick handful before raiding the cupboards for a 'snack'
Pure H20 - trying to convince Jeff to put a reverse osmosis purifier in our new kitchen

Things that are OUT:
Produce grown out of the country - who KNOWS what's in there
Soda + Cofffee - yes, we all know it's not so good...but it tastes so good!
Junk - cookies, candy, sugar ceraels...not found in our cupboards
The color white - bread, rice, pasta, whatever
Sugar/Artificial Sweeteners

Things we are working on:
Chicken - Want to find some 'organic' chicken, but without sacrificing taste (Tofu just isn't the same)
Milk + Eggs - gonna try the 'organic' milk this week

Progress!

This is the house that we fell in love with and bought. Burgundy shudders and all. Haha. She was a fixer upper for sure. Less than one year later, we have almost completely gutted every inch of the house and remodeled. This is our latest project...the front landscaping.

Last summer, I ripped out all of the plants in the front flower beds. This year I helped woodchip and trucked all of the landscaping supplies home, but the rest of the credit goes to my incredibly talented husband.

He put a new roof on the house, painted the front door, painted custom shudders, built custom flower boxes, ripped out the old walkway, put in a brick paver walkway (one hell of a task), built a rock wall that lines part of the front landscape beds, and planted all of the new plants. He EVEN planted our new 7' tree you see on the right - all by himself.

We aren't done yet...but I wanted to post while I had some free time. I still need to plant flowers in the flower boxes and find some lighting for our walkway. But, all in all I am very pleased with our progress.

I can't believe I actually caught one of J's smiles on camera!

Brothers

Having two boys so close in age will no doubt present its challenges, but overall, I am happy that they are only 17 months apart. I love seeing how they interact with one another already.

When Jeffrey cries, Matthew comes to find me and pushes me towards him. He also tries to give Baby J his pacy, which is adorable. When Matthew shouts or laughs, J looks in his direction. It is so amazing to see their bond grow stronger each day.

One Month

Baby J is one month old! I can't believe it!

Jeffrey is so strong. He holds his head up very well. His legs are very strong too...he pushes off when I hold him like he wants to jump right out of my arms!

His sleep schedule is very good to mommy. J wakes up once in the night for a quick snack.

He loves taking walks, listening to lullabys, his baby swing, and doesn't mind tummy time.

The first month went by so fast...I hope the second comes a little slower.

Play Time!

Jeff and I love bringing the boys to the park. It is really nice that we have one right around the corner! J loves to take walks in the stroller and to hear his brother playing on the playground. Matthew LOVES to climb up high and go down the 'Big Boy' slide...with help of course!

Matthew's First Swim Class

Matthew had his first swim class last night. Jeff went in the pool with him, while Baby J and I watched from the bleachers. Matthew was a little upset at first, but then really started to love it! Unfortunately, when he started to have fun I got busted by the lifeguard for taking video. Apparrently, they don't allow video taping at the pool! Boo!

This video was taken a while ago when Matthew first learned to build towers with his blocks. Too cute not to share!

Jeffrey had his first bath. Overall, I think he had mixed feelings. At first, he seemed to enjoy it...but about 5 minutes in, he got a little upset. I forgot how tiny newborns are in the infant tubs!

Right before shedding a few tears. He has the 'pout' down!

Jeffrey's First Bath

18 Months!

Matthew is almost 18 months old! Don't let the angelic face fool you...he has been testing his boundaries, true to his age.

Matthew is learning so much right now. We have been going over colors, animals, shapes, and much more each day. He only has a handful of words that he uses, but every now and again a word slips out...he just uses words when HE wants to.

As far as adjusting to life with his baby brother...Matthew is still a little too young to take it all in. He peeks in at Jeffrey from time-to-time, but other than that...it is life as usual for Matt!

Two Weeks!

Jeffrey is two weeks old!

He is such a sweet baby. He really only cries when he needs to be fed, changed or burped. Every time he fusses and I begin to think that he is fussing for no reason...out comes a burp or I check his diaper, and it needs to be refreshed.

Jeffrey is settling into a sleep routine at night...waking only at 1AM and 5Am, not too bad. We have the same bedtime lineup that we had with Matthew as a newborn...bottle, bath, swaddle, bed. It seems to be working for Baby J!

I can already tell that he is very bright. He is very attentive and turns his head towards my voice or the sound of music. He is very strong too! He is holding his head up quite well and pushes off with his little legs during tummy time.

My only wish is that this magical, newborn stage could last a little longer. Jeffrey is already over 9 lbs! He loves to eat and is growing so fast!

When I look at this picture (taken last Sunday), I realize how much has changed over the past few years...and how fast the past few years have gone by.

Jeff and I got married, started new jobs, had our first baby, bought our first home, and had our second baby all in less than three years. Wow. What a whirlwind. However, I wouldn't change anything about the last four years. Every decision that we have made (or not made in some instances) has led us to where we are now, and we have never been happier!

What will the next three years bring...only God knows. I am very excited to find out.