Life Lately

Why we call him "The Professor."

Wearing Colt's cowboy boots from when he was a little guy. Jace loves to try them on, but isn't fond of the heel, so as soon as they are on his feet he wants to take them off.

Time is going by so fast lately! It's been a little bit since the last update, so I figured I'd try to capture a little of what we've been up to the last few weeks before this sweet time of life fades from my memory. The days and weeks just seem to fly.
We had some beautiful, sunny weather last week so we did the best we could to make the most of it! I kept the back door open most of the afternoon so Jace could drift in and out of the house and enjoy as much outside time as possible. I filled up the little plastic kiddie pool, and Luke and I spent a couple of mornings watching Jace splash in the water and give his tractors and cars a bath. We went out to breakfast at a delicious local bakery last weekend, and were able to go to go for a short hike as a family. Both boys did great! They're little outdoorsman. The lawn got mowed, we had a picnic dinner at the park one night, the sprinkler was ran through and popsicles consumed.  On Saturday afternoon, we were able to hit up a "fancy park," complete with a sandbox and a splash-pad. Later that evening, we attended a barbecue at the neighbors house, where it was discovered that Jace loves hotdogs! Who knew? Memorial Day morning was spent at home relaxing. After they boys' naps, we packed up a picnic and headed out to a local lake to spend some time in the water and play on the playground next to the beach. Afterwards, we stopped in town for frozen yogurt and a few groceries, then headed home to watch a movie snuggled together on our bed. We're back to cloudy days and cooler weather this week, but hopefully it warms up again soon!

Jace Snapshot

...Jace is a crack-up lately! He's acquiring new words and phrases everyday. 
...He said "wuh you, mama!"for the first time on Mother's Day Eve, the sweetest Mother's Day gift yet. He's also been really great about using his polite words: thank you, please, and excuse me (when reminded). 
...He's in a mischievous phase...or maybe he's just mischievous. Either way, I've discovered him coloring on his body, playing in the toilet, climbing on the bathroom countertops to stand in the sink, pushing the button on the thermostat and setting the temperature to a wintery 48 degrees, pulling snacks out of the pantry, squeezing his hands into the small gap in the baby-proofed drawers and pulling out the sharpest objects he can find (or our car keys), dumping out a box of toothpicks, eating blue playdough, opening our drawers and using them to try and scale the dresser, turning the lights off and on...oh, and he can officially open the garage door now, so along with the bathroom doors, I have to make sure that door is locked as well. He keeps us on our toes! I've noticed he is much busier and wants his hands in everything on the days we don't get to go outside as much. He is definitely one that needs to burn off his energy, or else he gets very antsy. 
...Jace is loving monster trucks right now. He likes to watch videos of them, read books about them, as well as play with the ones he owns...he can't get enough "monsa tucks!"
...He likes to unload a particular drawer in our kitchen that's filled with odds and ends (like the cookie dough scooper, meat thermometer, cheese grater, etc) and stack everything on the countertop...then abandon ship. Ha! I often stumble upon random, contained little messes like this during the day, like a single tall tower of blocks left stacked in the center of the room, or a couple of overturned jugs of water we keep in the food storage closet. They almost seem intentional, like he wants people to know "Jace was here."
...Jace calls all cereal "Cheerios."
...Tells us when he sees two of something: "Two cars!" "Two cookies!" etc
...He loves to drive his cars over our kneecaps. He makes us straighten out our legs, then he very carefully drives his monster truck over the "bumps." He gets upset when my pants won't roll up above my knee, or if we move; we're working on teaching him that Mommy is the boss of her body, and Jace is only the boss of his body. 
...Jace is in a Mickey Mouse phase right now. He wants to wear his Mickey clothes, and he has been loving Mickey and the Roadster Racers, which I had never even heard of before but is perfect for this automobile obsessed little man. As a byproduct of this Mickey fixation, he's started saying "Hotdog!" when something good happens, and it is the cutest. I've started to include it in my own vocabulary, because I don't want him to ever stop saying it!
...He loves taking the sacrament at church. When they start to pass the bread, he yells over and over again: "Sac-et?! Bread coming?!" It's not the most reverent behavior, but I'm glad he's excited about it!
...When I'm being silly, Jace has started calling me a "funny chicken!" That's what he calls the goofy pet chicken in the movie "Moana,"and I'm not sure how I feel about being compared to that weird little guy. But it definitely makes me laugh!

Luke Snapshot

...Luke loves music, especially country music. It's almost as effective as white noise at putting him to sleep. He also loves when we sing to him.
...He's found his hands, and is constantly kicking and waving his arms and legs with a serious, focused expression on his face. He's all business.
...There are three little "Stages of Use" illustrations on the inside of his swing, and he could stare and coo at those pictures all day long if I let him! 
...He's becoming so interactive and vocal.  He lights up when I look at him and tell him something, and he coos right back, mimicking the shape of my mouth. I love those little baby conversations
...He greatly prefers being held or carried facing out towards the world. The Moby excursions are much more successful when he's forward facing. 
...Luke is a little Houdini and can squirm out of almost all of my swaddles, and even out of the Miracle Blanket sometimes! I've had to start double-swaddling him for naps.
...Luke loves Jace. His serious, contemplative expressions quickly give way to smiles when Jace comes over to give "baby wuvs?" And then, sometimes those smiles become tears when Jace's "wuvs" get a little too smother-y. Haha! I love these little brother friends.

Save Me A Dance

I stumbled across this a couple of weeks ago while I was going through some old pictures on my computer. May 12th marked 2 years since Grandpa Dee passed away. 

I miss you every single day, Grandpa. Save me a dance, ok?

Luke's Blessing Day

More pictures to come! Luke is in his blessing outfit underneath his fluffy blue blanket, but it was a little breezy and he's not too fond of being cold ;)

We blessed Luke Stanford Plessman at our church on May 7th, 2015. It was such a special weekend filled with family, sunshine, and Jace's non-stop giggles. 

Colt's parents (Grammy and Grampy)flew into Seattle on Friday. They met up with Colt at work, and he took them on a tour of the Boeing campus. I went a couple of years ago when I was pregnant with Jace, and it was really interesting; The Boeing site is huge, with lots to see, and I think they really enjoyed it. Afterwards, they came home and we ate chicken lime tacos in honor of Cinco de Mayo (this was totally accidental, and I was rather pleased with myself when I remembered it was Cinco de Mayo after I'd already put the chicken in the crockpot). After a family walk and a low-key evening spent catching up, we woke the next morning to a gorgeous, sunny Saturday. My parents arrived that afternoon with my dad's mom, Grandma Carol. They checked into a hotel in town, we ordered Red Robin to go, and then we all met up at the park for a picnic dinner. Jace was able to run and play to his heart's content, and the adults basked in the beautiful weather (does Vitamin D prevent the flu? We're desperate).

On Sunday morning, we got ready and headed off to church. I'm so lucky that Colt is a pro at getting the boys prepared to leave the house-I was able to shower, blow dry my hair, put on makeup, and get dressed without interruption for the first time in quite awhile. Haha! He's amazing. We waited until we got to church to put Luke in his blessing outfit, the same one that Colt wore as a baby and that Jace wore at his blessing. 

Colt gave Luke such a sweet blessing. I tried to record it on my phone so that I could write it down later, but unfortunately, the microphone was very quiet, and the chapel was a little noisy due to lots of little ones chattering around us. However, once we got home, I was able to crank up the volume to an unhealthy level, listen over and over again and, with the exception of a couple of words, C and I were able to transcribe the blessing in it's entirety. I'm so grateful, because it truly was a beautiful blessing and I could tell Colt was sad when I told him the recording might not have been successful. 

Afterwards, everyone came back to our house, and my mom, Terri, and I went to work prepping a lunch of croissant turkey sandwiches with all the fixins', chips and salsa, veggies and hummus, and plump, fresh strawberries with fruit dip (the leftovers of which I may or may not have polished off by myself later that night). We spent the afternoon visiting, passing a sleepy Luke around for lots of snuggles and loves, and laughing at the antics of my funny little Jace. He was so cute all weekend; he radiated pure joy. He loved being surrounded by his "fan-club," and ran around yelling "A Mimi! Hi Papa! Hammy! Gampy?!" This weekend really reinforced my already strong desire to live close to family, whether it's my side or Colt's, grandparents or aunties and cousins. Not only to I enjoy the support and the peace of mind having people I know and love just a few short hours away, but I really want my kids to know their relatives, like Colt and I did as children. Cousin birthday parties, Sunday dinners at Grandma's house, yearly reunions, grandparents cheering me on at sporting events...these are treasured memories that Colt and I have of growing up with family members close by, and I want that for my boys. Especially after seeing how happy it made Jace to be surrounded by his clan this weekend. 

My parents and Grandma C left Sunday afternoon, and Colt's Mom and Dad said goodbye the next morning. We are so happy they were able to make the trip to celebrate Luke's blessing day with us. Of course, we missed everyone who couldn't be there, but we are so thankful for the kind and supportive messages we received. My boys are very loved. Family, a strong, loving family, is a gift from heaven. Jace and Luke don't understand yet how lucky they are, but they will one day. 

Jace and Luke 6 Weeks Later

I wouldn't say that we've gotten into a rhythm yet, persay. Getting out of the house with both the boys still feels overwhelming some days, although when I actually go through the effort of getting everything together, it isn't that bad. It's more that someone is always still asleep, or I have to nurse, burp, change, finish nursing, change the spit-uppy outfit, change Jace's diaper, get the bag, buckle into carseats, etc...the thought of it makes me tired! So we are still working on it. But I would say that we are all acclimating nicely to our new family of four, making adjustments as we go, and taking every day as it comes. I think that's pretty reasonable, for six weeks. I think in my head I had an unspoken expectation that by six weeks, I'd have it all figured out by now. They say it takes the body about six weeks to recover from childbirth, and so I think I had this subconscious deadline that my life should have "recovered," or have a semblance of routine by now, too. And it does, to some extent. But not to the extent that we are out and about everyday (or even most days), or that I sometimes have to bag our plans for the day because I'm too tired or the boys are too cranky, or that I can say we don't watch way, way, way too much T.V. To be honest, most mornings pass in a haze of Winnie the Pooh, goldfish crackers, and hoping the boys decide to nap at the same time so we can go for a walk together in the afternoons. But we will get there. For now, I'm trying to remind myself to dial it back, relax, and enjoy these slow-yet-hectic days and nights...and be ok with a messy house (I'm not very good at that). One of these days it will click into place, a routine will get established, I'll hopefully get a better handle on being a mama to two crying, hungry boys in the morning, and we will be up and about, ready to go play! Hopefully in time to enjoy the late spring sunshine that I am SURE is on it's way.  

Jace Snapshot
...Some current favorite Jace phrases include: "dirt dog," (a quote from Homeward Bound, when Chance the dog tells Sassy: "Well look who's down in the dirt with the dogs."),  "Pooh sammich," (a Pooh Bear Sandwich, which is what we call peanut butter and honey sandwiches), asking for "Hugs?" when he gets tired on our walks and wants to be carried, saying "Otay!" when he falls down and wants us to know he isn't hurt, and calling his brother by his name: "Morning, Wook!" "Hi, Wook!" and "Baby Wook!" 
...Thinks it's a fun game to steal Luke's binkie. Call me a fun-sucker, but I really am not a fan of this game. Usually he takes it when it's sitting around while Luke is eating or whatnot, but I've caught him taking it out of Luke's mouth and then trying to stuff it back in. 
...He loves to talk to Mimi on the phone ("A talk a Mimi?"). He hasn't quite grasped that she can't see him unless they're on FaceTime, though, and he ends up running around trying to show her things, forgetting to talk to her. 
...He has a great memory.
...Knows what sound owls make
...Loves to color with his "tannies," (crayons). He can consistently identify and label the yellow crayon, and sometimes the blue and green crayons. He also insists on using a grown-up pen or pencil to scribble on our yellow legal pad every time he sees Colt or I writing something down.  
...Becomes very concerned when the internet connection is disrupted and his show takes a minute to load-"A show working?!"
...Likes to hold Luke's hand in the car when we're driving into town. I've looked back to check on them a few times now, and Jace will just be quietly holding the baby's hand in his own while he uses the other to play with his cars or eat his snack. Best friends. It makes me want to tear up a little. Whatever happens in life, they will always have each other, and I hope they never forget it.
...If Jace were a song, he would be "The Wanderer" by Dion.  "They call me the Wanderer, I roam around, around. around..."

Luke Snapshot
...He's smiling real smiles. They're beautiful. 
...Just spent the night in his own room for the first time, and took his first bottle tonight from Dad while Jace and I went out for a milkshake and ran to the grocery store. 
...This guy is always up for a game of Patty Cake or This Little Piggy. Don't let his serious, suspicious expressions fool you. It might seem like he's not having much fun, then his little face will break out into a gummy grin. It's the happiest thing.
...Is a true Washingtonian. He cries whenever the sun shines on his face. 
...When he's fussy, a diaper change or a burp usually calms him down for at least a while.
...Goes through multiple outfit changes a day. I don't mind too much, it gives me an excuse to get him in as many of his cute clothes as possible before he outgrows them.
...He's so fun to have around. Sometimes I glance over and he's staring at me, just waiting for me to look at him so he can give me a little smile. 
...He's starting to talk to us. He coos, we coo back, he coos, and on it goes. I love his little baby voice. 
...If Luke were a song, he would be "Lovely Day" by Bill Withers. "When I wake up in the morning love, and the sunlight hurts my eyes...then I look at you, and I know it's gonna be a lovely day..."