Mr. D

Danny's been sporting this hair - itude around the last few weeks:

So his current nickname is "Mr D"

Which means he needed THIS tattoo:

Yep, not much going on over here...

My baby is turning 1 tomorrow!!

As I'm getting ready for Daniel to be a whole 1 years old tomorrow, I have been spending a lot of time looking at baby pictures. Not just of him but of Jonathan as well! They change so much in a year and it just goes by too fast!!!!!!! At this point in their lives everything is about what new thing they have learned. How many words do they know? Are they walking, running, jumping? How much childproofing do you have to do now? There is so much to teach them in their first few years! Letters, animals, sounds, how to use a spoon, how to do a puzzle, how to walk, put on a shoe.... Everyday is full of learning. When I was looking at their pictures though, I was also remembering how beautiful their hearts are and how sweet their spirits are. There is so much that I have learned from them! These are just 5 amazing things that have been great reminders to me from watching them!

1. You won’t learn to walk unless you learn to fall: Watching both of my kids learning to walk has been amazing. Not only is it the most adorable thing in the world, (with their tummies sticking out, their legs spread so wide they could straddle a pony, and their arms held up for balance) but their joy and excitement every time they successfully take a step and fall into my arms has been some of my happiest memories of mine from the last 2.5 years. If they had given up the first time they fell down though they never would have learned to walk. Heck, if they had given up the first 200 times they fell down they never would have learned! I constantly think when I see them bonk their heads or fall down or run into walls, “I don’t know how you stand it!” I mean when was the last time you fell backwards off of a swing at a park that was as high as your chest? If I had done that not only would my friends and family would be hearing me complain about it indefinitely, I probably wouldn’t be getting back on the stupid swing any time soon! I wish I always had the courage and strength to get past the times when I “fall” or “fail” or “don’t succeed” and keep trying until I get it right!

2. Share your love with every part of you: My kids adore me. It’s not even a boast (except for the fact that I love it!) it’s just true. You know how I know? Jonathan always comes looking for me first thing in the morning to give me a good morning kiss. He is sad when I say good bye, he’ll stop whatever he’s doing and will give me random hugs (or “Love” as hugs are called here) throughout the day. He shows me what’s going on whenever he gets excited and also looks to me for comfort whenever he is sad/sick/hurt. Daniel comes over and lays on me. Full on, pushes me down to the ground then crawls on top of me and lays down. Not because he’s tired, but just cuz. He’ll share toys with me that he normally would hoard and he has the world’s biggest smile every time I pick him up or kiss on his cheeks. There are many people in this world that I love but I’m learning how valuable it is to let them know with every part of me from my conversations to acts of kindness to my time.

3. Forgive completely: If I go out and don’t take the kids with me they get ANGRY. Their feelings are hurt and they are crazy upset. Now obviously as an adult this really isn’t that big of a deal. People have hurt me way more than not taking me with them when they leave the house. In fact if Brian wanted to go out and run errands without me I’d be thrilled! However as babies, my kids don’t have that kind of big picture perspective yet so when I go out, they are upset. With me. One of the best things about babies though is that five minutes later they don’t care. They are off playing games with Brian totally fine with the fact that I’m gone. When I come home they are happy to see me, and the fact that I had upset them earlier is totally gone from their minds. AND the next time they are mad at me (like let’s say I say no to cookies before breakfast) they don’t bring it up again. They don’t say, “Well not only am I mad about this, but that one time you also left me when you went out!!” Total forgiveness and no grudge holding is a beautiful, beautiful thing!

4. See the beauty in the mundane: I had no idea how cool rocks were. I’m not talking about gemstones, cuz I’m definitely all over their coolness factor, but I’m talking about your average, plain ol “found in the garden” rock. My boys could definitely tell you how cool rocks are though. For example they look completely different when wet, they make great splashes when dropped into water, they sound cool when they are being shook in a cup, even just counting your rocks is a great time. They only thing that is uncool about rocks is that mom won’t let you eat them. I have loved re-exploring the world around me through my boys’ eyes, because almost everything has something cool about it!

5. Crankiness and Laughter are equally contagious: (but only one of them is a happy infection!)

I have been a mom for 2.5 years and I am so thankful for these two boys that teach me every day about Love!

EXTRA EXTRA READ ALL ABOUT IT!

We bring you the exclusive tale of "Octo-Oreo"

editor's note: We realize that Octo-Oreo is nonuple stuffed, however for the sake of a more sensational story, she will now be referred to as Octo-Oreo

"Octo-Oreo" says that she doesn't regret her decision to be nonuple stuffed, even if the decision sets her apart from other Oreos that choose to be stuffed in a more traditional fashion.

In her first daytime television interview, Octo-Oreo opens up about the struggles she faces being nonuple-fied. However she refuses to say whether or not another Oreo will share part in the care of her stuffing.

A source close to Octo-Oreo reveals that Octo-Oreo is concerned about making ends meet. Right now, she is looking for a mode of transportation for carrying her and her lil stuffings around.

UPDATE: OCTO-OREO IS NO LONGER STUFFED! THE WORLD MARVELS AT HER POST-STUFFING FIGURE!

Friends and family deny rumors that she will be showing all in Playcookie

EXCLUSIVE: STUFFER RESPONSIBLE FOR OCTO-OREO'S STUFFING SAYS, "Maybe it wasn't the best choice"

*note, unfortunately, we can not say that no cookies were harmed in the making of this story

Apple Orchard 2010

Went to the same apple orchard that we took Jonathan too last year right before he turned 1. Although most of the pictures are HERE, these are a couple of comparison pics between last year and now.

Then: (left) Jonathan was thrilled he found an apple.

Now: (right) Jonathan walks along collecting as many apples as he can hold.

Then: (left) Jonathan is just learning to walk around, he uses the large pumpkins for support.

Now: (right) Jonathan is picking out a pumpkin and tries to lift up two to carry.

With all the apples he picked, he helped me make a tasty apple crisp, and in a few weeks, we'll go back out to bring home our Halloween pumpkin!

Nickname Update

It's been over a year since we've updated the list of nicknames for Jonathan and we haven't written any of the ones down for Daniel yet, so this is a catchup post!

Previous updates are HERE

There is no way I can remember all of the nicknames that J has had in the last year+, some of them he gets and they only last for a week or so. So this is a list of the ones that are used most regularly

Jonathan:

• Mini-Mini
• Bernocoles
• Squish
• DumbleDork
• J
• Jawa
• Slick
• Jo Nathan
• J-Bird
• Little Man
• Chunk-a-munk or Munk-a-Munk
• Chimichanga

Daniel:

• Probie
• Captain Tough & Fluff
• Most Mini-est
• Woogles, or Snoogles
• Nonny Nonny
• Bug-of-Love
• Thing 2
• Chunk-a-Chunk

and they both get called "Sugar Bear" without discrimination :)!!

Bye Bye Crib!

Tonight Jonathan graduated to a big boy bed!! Tis very exciting indeed!! Although he never climbed out of his crib, he climbed IN several times so we thought it was time. Thankfully his crib converts to a toddler bed (and then later on to a twin bed) so the actual conversion only took Brian about 30 minutes.

Jonathan was very excited about the whole process. Not only because his bed was getting infinitely more awesome, but also because he got to help Papa with the construction and had some of his own little tools to work with.

Papa evaluating the situation:

Jonathan also making a survey (note his own little drill!)

"Ooooo Papa, you should probably let me handle that drill, let's trade"

"Well, this has to go"

Jonathan being Papa's "Man on the Inside:"

"I got it, Papa!"

He immediately started bringing in his toys:

The Production Crew:

Ta Da!

The whole thing was really so much fun, Jonathan's joy is so contagious and we were all pretty excited by the end!

So how did bedtime go? A M A Z I N G !!! I am so incredibly proud of my little man. We did his bedtime routine like we always do, laid him down in his crib and he never once got up and in fact he seemed to fall asleep even faster than normal!

Things like this keep reminding me of how fast he is growing up, he such an amazing little boy it's easy to get all mushy every time he starts doing more and more "Big boy" things! I love you little man!!

Jonathan's first time hanging out in his crib (20 months ag0):

Took this picture at the park yesterday

Which reminded Brian of this expression:

Which led to this

:)

A Brotherly Raucous

If you're hangin' out with brother and he's ignoring you, you should...

Command his attention!

Side effects may include: chaos, confusion, and the satisfaction of a job well done.

Oh Brother :)