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Ethan's birthday

I can't believe my 1st born is 2 years old! It's amazing how fast this past year has just flown by. Well for Ethan's birthday we decided to keep it simple this year and just have some of his closest friends over for cake and ice cream. He started the day off by not cooperating and taking a nap. He must've known something was going on b/c he always takes his nap at the same time every day. I was a little worried that he was going to be in a cranky mood w/o a nap but he actually did really well. He had so much fun with all his friends and all the new toys that he got. Each car or truck that he opened he wanted to play with it right away. Christmas is definitely going to be fun this year with him.

It was a great birthday and we're looking forward to many more!

Puffy cheeks

On Friday I was scheduled to get my wisdom teeth taken out. It was definitley time to have them out since they were fully grown. I wasn't too worried about the surgery as much as I was about Jayden. I am still nursing him and he does not like taking the bottle. We have tried every single bottle that is out there and we've tried sippy cups and the boy just doesn't like it. He did drink from one particular bottle and we were thrilled but he has never drank the whole thing and still wanted to nurse off of me. So you can imagine that I was getting a little stressed out how he was going to handle not being able to nurse from me for at least 24 hrs. For weeks we have been introducing the bottle and formula at least once a day but we never had any success. So when the day of my surgery came he refused to drink from the bottle. I pumped enough to last him most of the day but I was hoping to mix it with formula so he'd get used to it. Well after trying numerous times throughout the day he would never drink from the bottle. Thank goodness he ate his baby food otherwise he would've been really cranky. He wasn't too fussy but he definitely wasn't himself. Amazingly we made it through the day and night but it wasn't easy. And no, he never drank any milk except for like 2 oz. Apparently jayden is pretty stubborn. So I stopped taking my pain med and dealt w/ the pain just so I could nurse him the next day.
I was kindof hoping that I could wean him but apparently he's not ready and I'm ok with that.
Well it's day 4 and my cheeks are still puffy from the surgery. I'm really hoping that the swelling will go down in time for thanksgiving. I want to be able to enjoy our thanksgiving meal!

Brawny Brownies

With Ethan's 2nd birthday coming up I really wanted to make a cake for the kids that wasn't just filled with sugar and somewhat healthy for them to eat. I decided to do this because when Ethan gets sugar in his system he just gets super crazy! Most of the time we avoid giving him any kind of special treat on a regualr basis so when he gets a cookie or a cupcake he devours it. I don't want you to think he never gets any sweets b/c he does...just not everyday. Well I decided to google healthy treats and the Sneaky Chef came up. She has a lot of recipes that she has come up with by pureeing vegetables and sneaking them into the recipes. Well I decided to give her brownies a try because they looked pretty good.

First I had to puree spinach leaves and blueberries together. This is when a food processor would come in handy. I only have a food chopper so it blended it pretty good but it wasn't as smooth as it should have been. So I may invest in one if I decide to do this more often. The other secret ingredient that she uses is oat bran, wheat germ, whole wheat flour and white flour. Then you add the other ingredients like chocolate, sugar, vanilla, etc.

So after baking them for 3o min I sprinkled them with some powdered sugar and gave them a taste. And..they were actually not too bad. I could kindof feel the texture of the spinach in them b/c of it not being finally chopped but you couldn't see it by any means. Of course they don't compare to the Pillsbury or Duncan Hines but they do taste good enough to serve to Ethan and that's all that matters. He thinks he'll be getting a delicious treat when in fact he'll be getting some fruit and vegetables and fiber. How exciting! So I will probably try her cupcake recipe so that I can serve them at his bday party. Hopefully they'll be delicous enough that the adults will eat them too. The funny thing about this is, Ish is my pickiest eater so I'm actually learning how to sneak things so that he'll get his veggies in.

So if you're interested check out the website. She's got some pretty interesting recipes that I think I will continue to try!

www.sneakychef.com

Just a few things about the boys

Ethan is a one of a kind. Sometimes I can't help but to compare him to other boys because he is usually the opposite of the others. I love him like crazy but boy is he a handful! He definitely has his sweet moments like when I put him to bed I like to sing Jesus Loves me to him. As I'm singing he just stares at me and tries to sing a long with me. At this point he just mumbling words but it's so cute. He also likes to touch my earings but everytime he touches that area it tickles me so I start laughing. He thinks it's histerical. Then there are his playtime moments when he gets really into playing with his trucks. he could spend hrs playing by himself just moving the trucks around. He likes to line them up in random places like the bottom of the step, the top of his toy chest, his bed, and my favorite, the dishwasher lid. Those are the moments that just make me laugh. Then there is his wild side. When he gets excited he loves to scream. It's not just a little yelp, it's a full blown out, high pitch girly scream. It will literally leave your ears ringing. This is one thing that I really wish he would grow out of b/c it can be a little aggravating at times. He loves to do when I'm driving, nursing, when we're eating dinner and of course when he doesn't get his way. Of course we'll tell him No, and not do it, but this just makes it worse, so I just ignore it most of the time and he'll eventually stop. I could on and on about Ethan but for the most part he has SO much energy and requires a lot of attention. Right now he's struggling with sharing and gets mad when Jayden even touches his toys. So that's a fun stage :)
Jayden is still scooting along and is getting closer to crawling every day. He'll scoot to me when I ask him to and he loves Ethan's trucks and cars. For some reason whenever I put the age appropriate toys out in front of him, he tends to go for Ethan's toys. LIke right now, he is playing with a toy spatula that belongs to Ethan's kitchen lol. Jayden is a very happy boy just like Ethan was at his age. Except Jayden is much more aggressive than Ethan was. It's cute now, but it also makes me very nervous for when he starts getting older. I think he's going to be the boy that gets into everything. Well Jayden is eating pretty good still. He takes like 2 days to get used to a new vegetable so there are some days that he doesn't eat food and I have to nurse more frequently. I've been trying to get him to take formula b/c I'm having to get my wisdom teeth pulled in a couple of weeks. so far it's not going very well. But I did find a bottle that he'll at least take! Anyways, I could ramble on and on and need to get going. That's it for now!

Another update

So I realize that it's been forever since I've blogged. I just don't take the time to sit down and blog, instead I fill my time with silly games on facebook. Things like farmville, sorority life, and cafe world have consumed most of my time.
Jayden is 6 months now and I can't get believe how fast he is growing! He is scooting all over the place. I like to watch him scoot across the floor to reach for a certain toy. He gets so excited and it just makes me laugh. We have started feeding him solids now and he's doing pretty well. So far he likes peas and carrots and not a fan of rice or oatmeal. I'm determined to get him to like oatmeal so I'm trying to introduce it a couple of times a day so that he'll get used to it. Jayden is still nursing about every 3 hrs. He continues to wake up in the middle of the night quite often to eat but I'm pretty sure he's comfort feeding. We just have to get over that stage of him falling back asleep on his own which I don't enjoy doing. It's a lot harder with 2 b/c you don't want one to wake the other when they cry. So when Jayden wakes up crying at night, naturally I hurry to calm him down and many times it requires me to nurse him. I'm trying not to stress about it like I did with Ethan becauase I know he will eventually be a good sleeper. We are also in the transition of trying to get him to take a bottle and will eventually get him to take formula. I am having my wisdom teeth taken out in a couple of weeks and since I'm going to be on pain med. I'm not going to be able to nurse. I haven't decided if I want to wean him now or not. I thought I'd be ready but I'm not sure that I am.
ON another note, we've finally gotten Ethan's toddler bed together and in his room. My plan is to get him used to having it in his room and let him lay and play on it and then we'll try the transition. I'm really nervous about this transition b/c he loves his crib. He hasn't tried climbing out of it so technically I could keep in there for a while but I really want to put Jayden in there. It also makes me nervous to think about putting them in the same room together but one step at a time.
Ethan's been talking a lot more now and sometimes he'll just jabber on and on about who knows what. It's very cute though. I love when he's watching his shows and then shouts out what he sees. One funny thing that he does is point out trash whenever he sees it. I was getting him out of the car one day and he saw a line of trash cans and points and says trash. yep my son knows exactly what a trash can looks like haha.
Well it's way pass my bed time and I realize I could go on and on about my boys b/c they are just so precious! I'll try to not allow so much time to pass the next time I blog.

Changes

Well it's been a while since I last posted anything but just thought I'd talk about Ethan & Jayden a little bit. Ethan's been saying a lot of words alot now. His main words that he'll say are: Ball, truck, car, kitty, ear, mouth, teeth, no, thank you, please, oh no, uh oh, juice, cookie (haha), ow (when he is playing & hurts himself) & he'll make noises for a cow, dog, monkey, lion, & elephant. Whenever we'll ask him to say something he actually will say it or at least try. It's a lot of fun b/c of how he says things. He still has a lot of energy and it seems to come out more and more each day! Just recently he's been loving to throw his ball at us & he seems to have a pretty good arm. The only problem is, he is also throwing other toys and has been known to throw them at other kids. Everyday I think I tell him not to throw toys and I have discipline him but it hasn't quite clicked yet b/c he thinks it's funny. He does seem to understand us more when we tell him no. Sometimes when Ish tells him no, Ethan will just give him this look like, "I'm really going to test you to see if you'll do anything". It's amazing how much they really know at such a young age. Despite the disciplining, we're really enjoying this stage that Ethan's in. He's learning so much and loves to makes us laugh.
Jayden is 5 months now and I can't believe how fast time is flying with him. He's rolling over both ways now and loves to put stuff in his mouth. If he doesn't have a pacifier or a toy then he usually is sucking on his hands. He's such a good baby and is always happy. He's still sleeping in our room and want to put him in Ethan's room. I haven't figured out the best way to do that but I'm thinking about putting Ethan in his toddler bed but not sure he's quite ready. I guess we'll never know unless we try! I'm hoping that it'll be a good transition and that the boys will like sharing a room. They do go to bed about the same time and at least one of Jayden's naps falls with Ethan's. The only thing is that Jayden only naps about an hr at a time. He rarely takes a 2 hr nap and i worry that it'll mess up Ethan's nap. And when Ethan is awakened too early..it is not a good sight! That boy needs at least 2 hrs and does better with 3 but that only happens like once a week. So anyways, we'll eventually get them together once I feel it'll be easy. It might happen once Jayden sleeps through the night and right now he still likes to wake up about every 3 hrs.
It's amazing how much my boys are changing every day. Some days are more challenging than others and then are days that go really well. I pray everyday that God will give me the wisdom to make the right choices as their mother.