Built in Frenemies

Frenemy. It has a few definitions, but this one is probably my favorite, "someone who really is your friend but is also a rival." I am pretty sure that about sums up Connor and Isla's relationship.

I know for certain that Isla loves Connor. She follows him around and mimics things he says and does. And when she hasn't seen him for a bit (like say he has been at someone else's house for a couple hours), she will come up to me and say "nonnor" over and over, as if asking for him.

Connor the other hand, I am not fully sure how he feels about Isla. I asked him if Isla was his friend and he said "No she's not. She's just sissy." So there you have it. But at the same time, if she wasn't around, he wouldn't have anyone to bully. And he seems to love going out of his way to pick on her. Awesome.

There seems to be more and more times that I catch the kids actually playing together, and it warms this mama's heart. Of course, as soon as I am sitting there enjoying the warm fuzzies, Connor will go push Isla to the ground or pull her hair. And that quickly ends the moment. But I have to say, just seeing them interact and play with each other more peacefully more often gives me hope.

These two are learning and receiving some valuable things from each other. They are learning to share. They will always have each other to complain to about their un-cool parents. They will grow into being each other's fiercest supporters, yet some of the only people in the world who will be truly honest with each other.

My kids certainly don't have the perfect relationship with each other that so many moms out there seem to claim their's have. But I tell you what, Isla is one tough cookie and has Connor to thank for that. And Connor, well he has totally learned the art of bargaining because of Isla. Look at me, raising well rounded children ;)

Little Moments Not to Be Forgotten {two}

 

 

 

backyard fun // bath time fun // an evening bike ride // clock watching // riding his "motorcycle" // ponytail shadows // playing together (say what?!)

For all you people out there that love documenting life (I'm thinking you, Heidi), my friend Anna over at Two Cent Sparrow is doing a photo series on instagram with the tag #littlelostmoments. Every week she picks a different hour of the day to capture. I am trying to play along, but am not always the best at it. Anyway, it is a fun way to document life and I think you should participate, or at least check it out. 

21/52

Connor does this thing when you pull out a camera where he swings his head from side to side (quickly) while yelling a-cheese. It makes for a rather interesting time trying to get him to look in the general vicinity of the camera. Many times I combat this by singing the Diego theme song or with the element of surprise (sneaking up on him and calling his name). Both of these usually buy me one glance at the camera each. I've gotta be quick people. 

This week:

• Isla has learned how to sit on a ball and balance herself on it. I was rather impressed...and not sure where she learned it from. 

• Ian took a bunch of time sorting out Connor's legos and putting them with the correct sets. I didn't have the heart to tell him it probably wouldn't stay like that for long.  

• Isla started touching my nose ring and saying "this", then feeling around her nose looking for hers. 

• I got a new (to me) car and am pretty excited about my new mom-mobile. I promised Ian I wouldn't let the kids eat in it for at least a day ;)

• This morning I discovered one of Isla's two year molars had broken thru. I am kind of guessing it is the reason for the week we had. And I can only hope that each molar doesn't bring along with it a similar week. 

Just Because...

...I want you to know it hasn't all been bad this week.

Look at Isla playing peek-a-boo. I swear, that girl melts my heart. And she appears to quickly be on the mend. As for me, Ian took most of the night shift last night. I got to sleep from midnight to 5am without interruption! I really do feel like a normal person again. And just in time too. It seems this weekend may be packed full of adventure.

I hope you all have a great memorial day weekend. And hopefully in the middle of all the hoopla, we can all be reminded what memorial day is truly about - the men and women who sacrificed their lives for our country and for us.

It's Been a Doozie

This week has been tough. Like want to sit in a corner and cry tough. Stretch me to my physical limits tough. Isla has been super sick. Thus along with worry and concern for her, there have been sleepless nights and days full of caring for a sick and clingy toddler. Add on top of that a toddler who has been cooped up all week due to his sick sister. That cooped up energy has been being let out by hitting and picking on said sick sister. Exhausting. I've ended up on the couch with Isla the last three nights. When Ian takes her, she screams even more. So I give up sleep and take her. Last night, she was waking up with a high pitched scream hourly. As awful as it sounded, I was more worried then bothered.

Thankfully today she seems a little better. Her fever seems pretty much gone and her mood is improving. But this mama is feeling tired exhausted and spent. Then this song came on the radio. I literally lost it...which says a lot about my state given that I am normally not a very emotional person.



I know a sick child for a few days isn't the end of the world, but it certainly has worn me to my core. It makes me realize how much I take for granted having time to clean my house and have play dates with friends. I have seen the inside of my house a little bit too much this week. I'm looking forward to the sickies being behind us and getting back to "normal" life again.

From the Mouth of Connor

Connor's gotten to that stage where some of the funniest things come out of his mouth, unintentionally. Until I finally get around to ordering this cool "quotable" book from Paper Coterie, I have just been pulling out my phone and putting them in there, so I remember. And some of the things he says are just too dang funny not to share. So here you go.

Randomly one morning, Connor said "I like sissy. I want her to stay." A couple hours later he followed up with "I like sissy for a while, but I do not like her anymore."


Connor: "Where's Gary?"
Me: "Who's Gary?"
Connor: "From Papa and Memaw's desto house." (Gary would be my parents neighbor)
Me: "He's probably at work or something."
Connor: "Or he's in his backyard watching his cat go potty."
**Oddly enough, my mom informed me that Connor loves to spy on Gary in his backyard from the second story of my parents house. It seems I have a little creeper on my hands!


While sitting on the toilet, Connor asked, "What would happen if I pooped on my lego man?"


Running toward the bathroom, Connor was yelling over and over, "No pee-pee, no!"


Connor: "Who's it happy mother's day for?"
Me: "All the mamas. Who's your mama?"
Connor: "Jess!"
Me: "Who's Jess?"
Connor: "A mama."


While driving the other day I hear, "Put your hand right there sissy...cause I want to step on it and see what happens."


I said to Isla, "Look at your hair! You are a hot mess." Then Connor said, "I am a cold mess."


Never a dull moment around here and I love it! Though I wouldn't mind if Connor decided to go to bed a little earlier...at midnight last night, Connor was crying from his bed, "I want to play!" That kid has more energy than Ian and I combined!

Blueberry Picking

Blueberry picking is one of those things that I truly enjoy doing. Seeing those huge, ripe blueberries that aren't covered in pesticides, thus can be eaten straight off the plant, make my heart (and my mouth) so happy. Add to it seeing chubby little hands grab blueberries and shove them in their mouths, it's just amazing.

I was so happy to discover Jessop Farms two years ago and we have been going multiple times a season ever since. Every year seems to be getting better and better. This year we went on opening day and let me just say, it was amazing. It wasn't too warm out and there were huge blueberries everywhere.

We brought the wagon instead of a stroller and it worked out great. The kids hopped in an out as they pleased and it made for a great place to dump extra (and even full) buckets. Plus, I didn't have to worry about how dirty that plastic beast got!

Every year we have taken Connor blueberry picking, he has been more concerned with eating the blueberries than with filling his bucket. This year was no exception. I'm not sure if any blueberries made it into his bucket. And we always have to guard our bucket so we actually have blueberries to take home with us!

This was Isla's first year participating in the picking. Last year she was just a wee little babe...that made me sweat from wearing her and made it hard to pick or run after Connor, for that matter ;) Though she did eat the occasional blueberry, she was way more into picking them and putting them in the bucket. And I was actually impressed that she got so few green blueberries...I'm not sure if that was due to me trying to explain it to her or due to sheer luck!

I'm excited to take the kids out again. They both are at an age that it wasn't a stressful experience. Both kids enjoyed themselves and we left with almost 6 pounds of fresh blueberries! Of course, two days later over HALF those blueberries are gone. We are going through them fast! But, I would rather my kids ask for blueberries over candy. And it just gives me another reason to go out there again soon.

You can read about one of our blueberry picking experiences from last year here...after rereading it, I definitely had a better experience this year. Both kids were enjoying themselves and so was I.

20/52

We did one of my favorite summertime activities today - blueberry picking! And it was perfect. The season started a little early due to the warm temps we have been having, but with the highs only in the 80's today, it was perfect. But, I will do an entire post on that later.

This week:

• I read an entire book! It's been a while since I've done that. I have a kid-free plane ride to thank for that.  

• There's nothing like waking up to your kid peeing in your bed. It quickly wakes me up! 

• I got an iPhone 5. I feel so fancy! 

• A stranger said to me "I see you've met your soul mate." With total confusion, I responded, "uh, what?" He responds back, "Your second toe is larger than your big toe. That means you've met your soul mate." That's about the weariest interaction I've had with a stranger...for so many reasons. 

• Evening bike rides are the best! And the kids always seem so calm during them. 

• Isla is starting to say words like crazy. She is repeating and learning new words every day. And we are working hard at animal noises as well. 

Isla's New Room

When we switched the kids rooms I knew I wasn't going to repaint Isla's new room. Sure it was green (you can see how it looked before here), but I liked the green. Plus, Isla already had the primary colors theme going on and the mood has yet to strike me to change it up. So, I went with it. I just decided that I would add a few girly touches to the room to make it more Isla and less Connor.

Here's an overview of the room:

We converted Connor's toddler bed back to a crib because I didn't want to deal with the hassle of taking apart two cribs just to switch rooms. I also left the dressers in both the rooms and just switched out their clothes. Mostly everything else was switched - curtains, rugs and most of the wall decor.

It's weird how when I switched rooms I didn't just rehang the decorations where they were in the other room. For instance, neither of these things were above the changing table in Isla's original room. But I like them there. The shadow box filled with Isla's stuff from the hospital is one of my favorite baby things of hers...now I need to go back and make one with all of Connor's things as well!

After everything was sorted, I had absolutely nothing above Isla's crib and didn't like how plain it looked. I took this opportunity to add a couple girly things - I made pop-poms for above her bed and mod podged letters to go on the wall.

I left the spice racks turned bookshelves on the walls from when Connor inhabited the room and threw my amazing thrift store find for Isla, a Potter Barn Kids anywhere chair for $5, on the floor below them.

And I guess Isls has two reading spots in her room because the rocker is still in there...though Connor enjoys climbing in it and rocking banging it up agains the wall more than she does, but it is where I prefer to sit with her because it is so nice and comfortable. And the shelf, well it is so sturdily secured to  the wall, I decided not to move it with Connor...soon enough Isla will have stuff to fill it with.

Connor's old coat rack behind the door is currently a place to hang pretty things, but soon enough it will become a coat rack for Isla as well. 

I like how it turned out. What surprised me is Isla's original room is much smaller than this one, but once everything was switched around, we certainly managed to fill up this space with no room to spare.

Next up is Connor's room. I have been working on it...it is getting a paint job and a couple small diy projects as well. I'm excited for him to have a big boy room that he will hopefully be able to make good (dog-free) memories in.

Connor {3.5 years}

Weight: 32.5 lbs

Height: 39 inches

Accomplishments:

Uses his fingers to show numbers (i.e. how old he is, etc.)

Can count objects up to 10

Recognizes numbers and can count up to 20

Rides a scooter

Knows his mama's name is "Jess"

I have to say, though 3 comes with its challenges (which can be oh-so-rough), Connor can leave me speechless with his adorableness. One of my favorite things is the voice he has when he is playing/telling a story. That and when he climbs next to me in a seat and says "make space". I don't know where he learned that from, but it is really cute. 

Some of Connor's current favorites in life are all things train, "little" Legos, Diego, cheese (in any form, but it MUST be yellow), anything sweet, being at Papa & Memaw's house and playing with the neighbor boys. Connor still enjoys reading, which makes this mama really happy. I love it when I hear him reading himself a story. Some of his current favorites are the Maisy books and Clifford books and he really likes the Little People flap books. 

Connor has gotten very into playing with "friends". He asks me all the time to play with friends. Whenever we are out front, he wants to play with the neighbor kids and doesn't understand why they can't play when they aren't home. He genuinely loves being around other kids. And he has taken a recent liking to babies. It is pretty cute. It started with my friend's son who is only a few months younger than Isla. He wanted to stand there and hug him. Then, my other friend just had a baby a few weeks ago and he is very interested in her. It really is cute...and shows that he does indeed have a softer side! 

Within the past few weeks, Connor has started to experience growing pains for the first time. It makes me sad to see him cry over his legs hurting. He wants us to rub and kiss his legs when they are hurting. I have a feeling he is going to shoot up this summer. 

Sleep wise, Connor still ends up in our bed every night. He is getting better about going to sleep in his own room, but always seems to wake up in the middle of the night and come to our bed. I am currently in the process of redoing his room and he will be getting a big (twin...yeah, we go big around here) bed soon. I am hoping with all this change, he will love his room so much that he will want to stay in it all night long. 

Probably my favorite change in Connor is he will now say "I love you" without being prompted. And when it happens, no matter what the day has been like, it instantly becomes amazing. 

Connor, I love you more than you know. I get so much joy out of watching you play, reading to you, taking you to get a treat and building legos with you. I know you won't always stay my little boy, but I hope we always have a close relationship, even as it morphs into something completely different than it is today.