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..."

Easter And An Honest Update

The Update

...I cried the other night after I added too many noodles to the chicken soup I was reheating for dinner, and they absorbed all of the liquid. Then I blamed everything on the (very nice) meat salesman who came to our door and asked for "two minutes of my time" while I had dinner on the stove, and Luke was crying in his swing, and Colt was upstairs with a stomach bug and a fever.

...I have very little patience with my sweet toddler. I find myself snapping at him much more often than I'd like. I need to remember that this is an adjustment for him, too. Even though he's not the one who has to take care of the baby, it's still a big change and his life looks pretty different right now. And he's still only two years old.

...When my newborn is fussing and I've done everything I can think of, I start talking to him like he's 15 years old and defying me on purpose. "Nope, there's no reason to be sad right now, Luke." "It's time to go to sleep, no more tears my friend." "You're fed, you're changed, you're just fine." So much for my grand plans to label my children's emotions and help the boys find healthy ways to process and handle those feelings, rather than telling them to suck it up.

...I  blame all of the above on lack of sleep, and possibly post-partum hormones. But still. 

...Jace and Colt caught another stomach bug last week, complete with fever and vomiting. We're going to have someone look in our crawl-space to make sure we don't have a mold issue. It's not normal to be sick this often, right? 

...Despite challenging moments, mornings, or days, there is so much GOOD! Like Luke's perpetually furrowed eyebrows, which make him look simultaneously thoughtful, worried, and skeptical. My little philosopher. And Jace is such a big helper, fetching diapers and burp cloths when I forget to grab one before sitting down to nurse his brother. Sometimes I ask him for a specific item and he's not sure what I'm requesting, so he'll pause, then go pick up something random, like one of Luke's blankets, and bring it to me with the proudest expression on his cute little face. These guys, man. They keep me laughing.

Luke Snapshot:

...Luke is a spitter like his brother. We're putting the laundry machine through it's paces! The dishwasher, too. Paper plates and towels are not something I've ever really felt the need to keep around the house, but they are my new best friends these days.

...He is squirmy and strong! He throws his body around like a 10 lb salmon, especially his head. I think he wants to see everything that's going on. 

...Luke has always been a little stubborn about falling asleep, and it can take him awhile to get there. I'm trying to just let him fall asleep when he's ready because it gets stressful spending at least half an hour trying to get him to fall asleep, but yesterday he ended up getting overtired early on in the day because he took way too short of a morning nap, and ended up catnapping the rest of the day. Catnapping, my arch-nemesis...we meet again. Luke's naps yesterday lasted no longer than 20-30 minutes, and he was pretty fussy in-between. By the end of the day, we had a sad, tired, overstimulated baby on our hands. Hopefully he gets back on track, because I miss my sweet and observant little fellow. Angry Luke isn't terrible, but he's not especially pleasant ;)

...Luke has become much more fond of the swing, but is still not especially keen on his bouncer or carseat. 

...Luke clearly prefers showers with Daddy to solo bath-time excursions.

...He is losing some of the hair on top of his head, but the sides remain long and luscious. He would look like Friar Tuck, but his hair is light enough that it's not really noticeable (unlike Jace, who decided to sport the "old baby-man" look a la Benjamin Button for many weeks).

...Luke loves to watch his big brother and generally doesn't mind his "snuggles"...but his facial expressions indicate that he also finds Jace slightly intimidating.

...He holds his head up for a few seconds at a time during tummy time or when we hold him upright. He's also in his 3 month clothes. I kept looking at those 3 month outfits last week, thinking how cute they were and how excited I was for Luke to grow into them. I decided to put one on just for fun...and it fit perfectly. I almost missed the window! He's growing so fast.

Jace Snapshot:

...Jace is simultaneously the most adorable thing on two feet, and the most exasperating. Emotions run fast and furious with this one. 

...He LOVED Easter. We were supposed to do a little Easter Egg hunt while Grammy was here visiting. She brought tons of little Easter Eggs and surprises to find while she was here. Unfortunately, JJ got sick the day we were supposed to have the hunt. So she left the treats here, and we hunted for eggs in our yard the Saturday before Easter. He had so much fun gathering his eggs and looking to see what was inside. Then, he found a large bucket filled with rainwater and promptly dumped all of his Easter Eggs in it. 

...Jace loves helping in the kitchen. If he sees me in there, he drags his little stool over saying "I help, I help?"

...He is still all about cars, trucks, trains, planes, and "sheens" (machines). 

...Jace helped Colton put together a small shelf a couple of weeks ago, and since then has been super interested in tools, especially hammers.

...Jace is such a good big brother. He says "Morning Yoot!" when he comes downstairs and sees the baby. He loves to touch Luke's head and give him little snugs. It's really sweet, although I need to get better at reigning in my mild anxiety every time he clambers up next to the Luke's head, or his gentle touch suddenly shifts into a vice-like grip. 

...Jace still loves "shanny walks." Hopefully as the weather continues to warm up and we get into more of a rhythm, we can go for more together.

...He has developed a little bit of a shy streak around strangers and when there are lots of other kids around. He clings to Colton or myself and won't venture off to play without one of us holding his hand. 

...When Jace is very excited about something he gets to do, he will repeat what we say and add "Otay!" For example: I might say, "When we get to Costco, we can get a piece of pizza for dinner!" And JJ will answer "Pizza, cheese, otay!" Makes me laugh everytime.

...Jace has decided to forgo sleeping in favor of laying in his bed and crying for over an hour at nap time.  Is it terrible that I have zero problems letting him cry that long? I know he needs a rest, because when he skips his nap he gets cranky in the afternoons or falls asleep at an odd hour for 15-20 minutes and wakes up angry at everyone. So I don't mind "giving him the opportunity" for an hour or so, if that's how he wants to play. 

...Jace has been sick a lot this winter. He gets some sort of stomach virus every couple of weeks. We've put him on a multi-vitamin and are trying to be better about making sure he washes his hands. He's been such a trooper. Hopefully the spring and summer sunshine will bring good health, too!

Luke's Newborn Photos

We had originally planned to have Luke’s newborn pictures taken when he was 6 days old, to capitalize on that sleepy newborn phase. Unfortunately, our whole family, along with our photographer’s family, became sick with a stomach bug that week. Obviously,  pictures had to be postponed until everyone was healthy and well, and no longer contagious. So, we had them taken this last Friday instead, one day before Luke turned 3 weeks old. Colt had to work and wasn’t able to be there, which I’m a little sad about, but that’s life, right? Thank goodness, my mother-in-law got into town on Wednesday, so she came with us. I’m so glad she was able to be there, because I’m realizing I tend to get a bit stressed out about family pictures, haha! Terri has now been able to be at the newborn photo-shoots of all 7 of her gran’babies, so she knew exactly what to do. She kept JJ entertained and happy, held a few props, reminded me to take off the hairbands on my wrist, and was great company. Thank you Grammy! You rock. 

 I was hoping Luke would still sleep through the whole affair even though he’s more wakeful these days, and things were looking good; I fed him before we left and he fell asleep on the way over. However, when we arrived, he woke up as soon as I took him out of the car seat…and then he pooped. I fed him to get him back to sleep…then he spit up on me. Haha! No way was he going back to sleep after a diaper change in a brand new place. The first half of the session was spent trying to get him to go back to sleep, which happened eventually, but it took quite awhile! I’m 2 for 2 on birthing very alert little boys.

I really wanted at least one picture of Jace and Luke together, but Jace was feeling very shy and didn’t want to come near the photographer or any of her props. I sort of gave up on the idea and told Tasha that it was ok if we weren’t able to get any brother pictures. However, towards the end of the shoot, Jace randomly got up, came over next to Luke and laid down with his head right next to baby’s face, grabbed his tiny hand, and started cooing over his little brother. It was so sweet! But fleeting-Tasha quickly switched lenses and was able to snap a couple of pictures before JJ decided he was done and ran off to play again. I’m so happy we were able to get at least one picture of my boys together.

And how sweet are those tiny baby toes?!

Warming Up

Within the last week, Jace has started showing more interest in his baby brother. He often comes up and places his hand softly on Luke's velvety hair, says "Hi baby!" when he sees him, and likes to sit beside Luke and I (and climb all over us) as I nurse. This morning, I said "Hi Luke!" and JJ repeated me: "Hi Yoot!" It was so sweet hearing my first baby call my second baby by name. My favorite is when Jace lays his cheek on the baby's head and says "Awww!" I love that JJ is starting to warm up to our sweet babe. The video above captured one of their first real interactions. It makes me so happy; I've watched it over and over again, and it makes me smile every time.