Photography by Lainey

I have an older, small camera that we recently came across.  Lainey has taken to carrying it around with her at random times and the results are just too great not to share.  She totally knows how to operate it - how to turn it on and how to review her pictures.  I am loving seeing the world through her eyes.

Wyatt is thinking, "What is that thing and how I can I take it from you?"

I let Lainey bring the camera to the zoo on Monday.  This was a riot.  I asked her if she wanted me to take her picture in the kangaroo but she turned the tables on me.  

This little macaque kept coming right up to the window in the little cave!  We waited a few minutes for him to come back up to the window and Lainey had her camera ready just in time.

Some really good shots from the car...

An abstract view of her Dad's car

Wy wasn't really up for his sister's photo shoot antics.

Apparently you don't even have to teach a kid how to take a selfie.  They just know.

We have been just laughing like crazy going through Lainey's camera each night after she's in bed.  I couldn't wait to get them loaded on the computer and document it. We love her fun loving and silly personality!

These days...

These days are so precious.  I feel like I have 2 big kids these days.  Don't get me wrong, Wyatt is still my baby (okay, so is Lainey) but they're physically bigger, they're both extremely mobile, I can communicate to some degree with both of them rather easily.  I'm not bound to nursing schedules or multiple nap schedules.  The only things that keep us home any given day are the weather or sicknesses.  I am kind of liking this big kid stuff.

These days we love to dress up like Olympic figure skater Gracie Gold and "skate" around the house.  

These days, Jed can take Lainey with him to pretty much anything, including helping out on a Friday night at the church for Upward basketball.  Lainey, Tim and Penelope were taking a break from helping to take in a game.  I'm confident in Lainey's love for me but she simply adores her dad and LOVES getting to go places with just him.

These days, we love any kind of sensory play that I'm ambitious enough to create or let them do.  The other day we had the weirdest weather.  This stuff wasn't really hail, it wasn't really snow, it wasn't really ice... but it sure was fun to play with.

These days are good for cuddling on the couch with your bestest friend.

These days we read a lot.  I mean, A LOT.  Curious George is Lainey's current go-to.  Just one story - Curious George Goes Camping.  We read it every nap time and every bed time and many times throughout the day if I'll agree.  I thought I'd see if she could recite some of it the other night and this is what happened...

I was just amazed at her memory.  It's not a rhyming book, the text isn't predictable... she just knows it.  So crazy.

These days we look forward to Lainey's Highlights magazine arrival each month.  This month there was a fun memory game in the back.  I cut out the pieces not really expecting Lainey to have the attention span or ability to play the game ... she totally blew me away.  She loves to match things in general... when things are the same color or we're both wearing leggings or something she'll declare that they match, touch them together and say, "CHEERS!"  I should have known she would do well at this game I guess.

These days, we take advantage of 50 degree weather with a trip to the zoo.  Notice Wyatt is waving to the monkeys.  Come back spring weather... come back!

These days, Wyatt loooves his blankies.  Lainey has never been particularly or consistently attached to anything like that so I think it's really sweet that Wyatt has a favorite blanket.  I think it's a special blanket too - my good friend Allison gave it to us literally hours after we found out baby #2 was a boy.  She is a sweet gift giver, that girl.  This favorite blanket has come in handy as we weaned Wyatt completely this past few weeks.  I had held off dropping his first and last feeding because he is NOT a huge fan of milk and I felt like he still needed to be getting some of those good fats and nutrients.  But it was time and we are getting a little better with the milk.  At nap time and bed time, he snuggles that blanket, lays his head on my chest for a minute then sweetly lays down and goes to sleep.  He. Is. So. Easy.

These days Lainey is getting more brave.  I use this picture as an example because Lainey has barely let our wonderful chiropractor, Dr. Ann, look at her for the past year and a half, let alone touch her.  A few weeks ago my kids were coming down with a cold so I took them to the chiropractor.  I was just planning on having Wyatt adjusted but after Dr. Ann was done with him, Lainey asked if it was her turn!  You bet, Lainey!  She did awesome.  She's getting so big!

These days... oh sweetness, this picture.  This boy is so sweet with baby dolls.  I love it.

These days Lainey falls asleep for her nap in about 2 seconds.

These days, I need to keep up with creative fun ideas for days at home.  This could not have been more simple - baking soda, vinegar, a little food coloring and a medicine dropper.  We talked about "B" is for bubbles as the chemical reaction between the baking soda and the vinegar makes little bubbles.  She stayed busy with this for a whole hour.

These days we still love bath time and still stay in there until the water is way too cold.

These days we make silly faces and take silly selfies just for fun.

I'm loving these days with my kiddos.  Just wishing the weather would turn around and spring would come!

My Loves!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Of course, Lainey was the first one up!

My little sleepy head, so confused as to all of the fuss.

A few goodies for each kiddo and some cinnamon rolls with pink frosting!  Yum!

Smooooches! I love this one!

Flashback to V Day 2013 and 2012 :)

Lainey's First Trip to the Dentist

There are so many firsts to keep track of in the lives of your children.  First smiles, steps, words, experiences, etc.  Most of those are exciting and thrilling to observe as parents.  Then there are the firsts that make you a little apprehensive.  I knew I needed to schedule Lainey's first dentist appointment but I put it off for a little while.  Now, I've never had a cavity (knock on wood) but I will admit that I do not love going to the dentist.  You would think I'd have a reason, but I really don't (except for the time I chipped my front tooth when I was in like 2nd grade and when I went in to get it fixed they had to sand it so it was smooth and that really scared me and I ran out of the room to my mom in the waiting room! ha!)  I would rather go to any other kind of doctor than go to the dentist.  

Not only was I nervous because of my own fear, but anyone who knows Lainey knows she is a bit, what we like to call, particular.  I need to start a list of all of her (ridiculous) preferences but I'll just say that she can be a little difficult to coerce or convince sometimes.  

Luckily, I knew that I would be putting Lainey in great hands when I chose to make an appointment at Des Moines Children's Dentistry.  Thanks to Facebook, I knew about this practice which was started by a friend of mine from college and her husband.  I called and made Lainey's appointment and I had about a week to prep her and get her excited!

If you check out their website, you will see what a great space they have created there.  It did not take Lainey very long to warm up to her surroundings.  We got an office tour and went back to a private exam room (since she's still pretty young and it was our first visit).

I had specifically prayed that Lainey would be calm and collected during her appointment and that she wouldn't be scared (IE hysterical or clinging to me or...etc.).  She did AWESOME.  We practiced opening her mouth nice and wide a lot before in the past week which you can see above.

Dr. Rachael looked over her teeth, counted and cleaned them all while keeping Lainey in the loop about what she was doing and holding a conversation with me about some do's and don't's for caring for my kid's teeth.  All of that literally took less than 10 minutes!

They had a plethora of prize boxes to choose from and Lainey made a bee line for these cool shades.  This is her cheesy, I'm so excited smile.  I wish you could see her eyes because when she pulls this smile out, her eyes drift off away from the camera and it's so funny to me.  This picture says a lot about how wonderful Dr. Rachael is because Lainey does NOT warm up to strangers very quickly, especially if we aren't in our own home.  We are excited for Lainey's next appointment in July,

She was beyond thrilled with her new toothbrush, toothpaste and floss picks.  We have been doing A LOT of brushing!

My big girl chose Chik-Fil-A for our lunch date, which I happily agreed to.  I was so stinking proud of her I would have taken her for steak and seafood if she had asked (she wouldn't, I'm just saying... she did so well, I was so proud!).  I will say that I'm not quite as confident that Wyatt will be as wonderful of a patient as Lainey was and I know that inevitably, there may or may not be some traumatic dental or orthodontic visits in my future with our kids but for now, this really excited me!  Hooray for clean, healthy teeth!

Terrific typical Tuesday

I have a running list in my head of things I want to remember about these days when our kids were little.  Things like birthday parties, holidays, etc. are easy to remember because they're annual and there are usually pictures to accompany them.  I want to remember trips to the grocery store, kids in my lap reading stacks of books, the smell of baby lotion after a bath... the every day things.  Today has been a totally normal stay-at-home morning.  Our play date fell through and it's just too cold to go out any way.

Lainey's imagination has been on a roll this morning.  An empty laundry basket has been a rocket ship, a huge bath tub for all kinds of plastic and stuffed animals and a bed of hay for baby Jesus (played by a Minnie Mouse doll).  The dialogue to go along with each scenario is a riot.  None of this was encouraged or suggested by me, it's all her.  My living room is a mess of toys and books and the sink is full of dishes, which normally drives me a little bonkers, but I'm trying to be more present, less distracted and enjoy these moments more.

Moments like this.  Wyatt, such a sleepy head.  I always have to wake him up if he takes a morning nap at home otherwise he'd sleep the day away.

And moments like this.  She took control of this all on her own too.  They both loved it.  They are becoming so much more independent each day.

And this.  She beat me, fair and square, twice at Candy Land.  Then proudly declared she was done.  I like to quit while I'm ahead too!

Thankful for these kids and that I get to be a part of their every day moments.

Insta(gram) Winter thus far

Can we all agree there is something beautiful about winter?  Yes; snow can be beautiful and there is something so cozy and sweet about staying warm inside our house, drinking hot chocolate and eating soup.  Can we all agree there is something challenging about having small children in the winter?  Double yes.  I'm having to get more and more creative as the weeks pass and the temperatures plunge even further.  And I'm not even going to get in to the fun of chasing down my toddlers so I can bundle them up in coats, hats, mittens, etc. every time we leave the house. (Don't they know it's for their own good?!?  Sheesh!)

If you follow me on Instagram you've seen most of these but I can only elaborate on them so much on there so that's why I'm reposting them.

Daytime bath times used to just be for extreme diaper blow outs.  Now, they're a great opportunity to pass the time, practice letters and numbers, draw all over the tub and splish and splash.  My kids play in that tub until the water is WAY too cold and their hands and feet are totally wrinkled.

This picture says a lot about what we've been up to.  We don't always have that blue table upstairs but when we do, I need to pay extra close attention to my sweet little Wyatt.  He's such a monkey.  Lainey has been SO in to watercolors lately.  She asks to paint multiple times a day.  In fact, we had to go out and buy new paint this week because she had literally used up that palatte.  It's so fun to watch her paint and paint with her.  I know it's great for her fine motor skills and it's just fun.  I've been drawing outlines of things in sharpie marker and then letting her paint them in.  I need to get better at drawing though because I'm running out of ideas of what to draw for her!  I have a huge stack of Lainey originals if anyone is interested! :)

I'm so thankful we have a play area set up in our basement.  This allows us to play with different toys on each of the three floors of the house, which helps when we're stuck inside so much!  That teddy bear Lainey is serving tea to was mine when I was a baby.  She loves when I tell her things like that ("This was yours, Mommy?").  We enjoy lots of tea parties in the basement as well as playing on all of our big outside ride on toys down there too!

Wyatt's room is also a popular place to play.  His new rug and vehicle garage (made by his Grandpa Johnson!) keep us busy.  I'm not sure how such a little guy acquired so many cars, trucks, tractors and dump trucks in such a short amount of time between his birthday and Christmas, but we play with most of them almost every day so I guess it's a good thing!

I don't know if the employees at Petco appreciate us treating their store as a zoo, but my kids sure enjoy it and they do behave well while we're there.  We usually pick up a treat or toy for Simon while we're there too so I suppose it's okay!

Let's not forget one of the best parts of cold weather and small children... footie pajamas!

Afternoon naps are the best way to spend a winter afternoon!

We enjoyed a really warm Saturday afternoon at the zoo a few weeks ago before things got super cold.  Love that zoo membership all year round!

Books are a FAVORITE past time of Wyatt's this winter.  One of these days I need to count the number of books he brings to me in a day.  The number is surely no less than 20.  I'm really thankful he loves books and loves to be read to because I think it will help his vocabulary... if he ever starts talking! :)  I picked up this book for him for Christmas and it seriously looks like it's been read for years it's so worn already.  Wyatt may love his superheros but funny enough, one of the other books he brings me constantly is a Disney princess book.  I think it's so funny that he can pick it out among all of the other books on the bookshelf.  He also loves any books that have touch and feel spots about animals.

We're only halfway through January so I know we still have many weeks of winter left to endure enjoy but at least we get to enjoy them together :)