Coming in February...

This little bean will soon be a part of our family. 

 And this little one will be a big brother!

We are so excited!

Just the Boys

Last week, I went out of town from Thursday morning to Saturday afternoon for the national conference for Thirty-One consultants.  It was hard for me to leave because I just like being with my family and because I was a little apprehensive about leaving the boys for that long.

But in the end, it was great for me to go both for my business and for some personal time away (that always makes me a better mama!).  And the boys did great!  My sister was amazing and watched them (along with her own 2 boys) for most of the day Thursday.  Then Daddy took over and was Super Dad for the rest of the time without me.

He took the day off on Friday and they went to a farm nearby where they took their first pony ride.  They also went to the pool, worked on Daddy's bike, went for a hike....never a dull moment.

I was very excited to come home and see them all.  I am so thankful for such a supportive husband!  He was actually the one who encouraged me to go to the conference because he knew how great it would be, even though he knew it would mean he'd be by himself with the boys.  He's such a fun dad and takes such good care of me, too!

Making Strides

I think I can almost say that Mr. Newton is walking.  He can make it pretty far before he topples over and he's choosing to walking as his mode of transportation more every day.  

In other exciting news, today he told me that he pooped!  He looked at me with a funny look and said, "poo."  I was shocked and really excited.  Potty training, here we come!  (just kidding).

Words

Over the past couple weeks Mr. Newton's attempts at language have grown tremendously.  He tries to say a lot of what he hears us say and even though a stranger wouldn't be able to distinguish his words, I can tell what he's trying to say.  

His first and favorite word was Dada, followed closely by milk, his second love.

Then we've had uh-oh and yuck, which are super cute to hear him say.  The funniest word he says is cheers as he hits his cup with someone else's at dinner.  Over and over. As many times as anyone is willing to do it.

He'll repeat other random words like push and occasionally Mama.  I don't know why that one has taken so long!

And he finally started using his signs!  I have been trying for a long time to teach him simple signs like more, please, and water.  I am so excited he is finally doing them - it cuts way down on the amount of screaming we hear at meal times!  

Mr. Mister continues to speak like a 10 year old, most recently asking some deep questions like, Where was I before I was born?  How did God make me? How did I come out of your belly?  Thankfully, he was content with the The doctor helped take you out for that one!   He really is good company and a great little guy to have a conversation with!

I do love the little things he says that keep him sounding three (almost four!).  Like when he talks about his binoculars, he calls them his bee-noc-lee-ars.  

Jellyfish Adventures

I had a pivotal mother of boys experience while we were on vacation.

One day, after a storm the previous night, several dead jellyfish were washed up on the beach.  I thought it would be a great teaching moment so we looked at them up close and talked all about jellyfish.
Curiosity satisfied, I thought.  Oh no....not yet.

A friend that Mr. Mister met at the beach soon came over with two plastic swords in tow.

2 boys + 2 plastic swords + lots of dead jellyfish.....
I'm sure you can guess where this is going.

Yep, they excitedly tried to cut the jellyfish's head off.  I don't think jellyfish even technically have heads, but that was beside the point.  They worked on the jellyfish for a while with their swords while I cringed and really wanted to stop them but knew I should probably let him do it.  I even asked my husband, "Should I be letting him do this?"  To which he enthusiastically replied, "Yes! This is good. This is what boys do."  

Moments later they ran victoriously to the ocean, swords raised above their heads, yelling, "We did it!  We cut the jellyfish's head off!"

I'm sure this is only the beginning!

Biking Adventures

One of my favorite parts of our vacation was that we rented a bike trailer that both boys could sit in.  They loved it and it was so much fun to take family bike rides every day.



One morning, Daddy took them at 6:30am and let me sleep in!

 My favorite night was when we rode our bikes to get ice cream.  Mr. Newton had no problem finishing off his first real sized ice cream cone!