Everything is better

with DIP!!  Abe has discovered the joys of dipping his food, in anything, mustard, ketchup, syrup, salsa, cheese, and it doesn't matter what it is, it will get dipped, apples in ranch dressing apparently is pretty yummy (not!). And I thought I had seen messes before, giving your 19 month old sauces to dip his food into is a whole new level of mess!

Peas Please

Well, Tanner didn't mind the peas too much but the peas didn't like him, poor little guy had some major digestive issues afterwards so we are back to just rice cereal for awhile!!

6 more days...

...and then 2 weeks of escaping this...

That would be Abe's cozy coupe car that the entire bottom is covered and our fire pit that you can barely see the ring.  I feel like we've been trapped inside, it's yucky and cold outside.  As long as it all gets here and out of the way by Sunday!! 

And the winner is....

Elegant Lace Snowflakes Christmas Card

Make a statement with Shutterfly Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

Big Brother, Little Brother

Little guys are getting really big.  I've always heard other moms talk about how their kids grow up fast and never really got it, but now I do.  It seems like they change overnight and I just want to bottle up the littleness and keep it around a little longer.

Abe is a pro at walking and now has decided to tackle running.  It's so cute.  He often thinks Kiah is chasing him and runs screaming in the opposite direction as she does (or really doesn't but I don't have the heart to tell him that).  Although he still has his moments of "not gentle" he had really gotten into Tanner these days.  He loves to give him kisses.  He has a certain little laugh dedicated just to when he sees Tanner.  Speaking of laughs, that's another thing I want to bottle up.  He has the cutest, funniest laughs.  He has laughs for Tanner and Kiah, when he thinks something is funny, when he thinks he is funny.  It's adorable.  Quite sooner than I expected we were called about a speech evaluation appointment at Children's.  They had originally said around 2 months to get an appt so I was expecting some time in January.  We have an appointment Dec 1st. I'm anxious to hear what they have to say.

Tanner's personality is starting to bud out.  He is getting quite vocal (kind of reminds me of how his dad is always making some sort of noise).  We've put him in the bouncer and although he doesn't quite have the bounce down he definetely kicks his legs and moves around.  His smile is adorable, he smiles with his whole face.  And today I was tickling his belly and he laughed!  He is in 3-6 month clothes right now but I really think we might have to move up soon and I just went and I just moved him to size 2 diapers and now starting to wonder if he really needs to be in 3's!  He's also trying his hardest to roll over.

Seeing Tanner grow has been a bittersweet thing for me.  I love to watch him discover new things and discover new skills and it's kind of like it is all new for me because Tanner is defenintely doing things much earlier than Abe did and that breaks my heart.  Abe has definetely come a long way and I will do whatever it takes to get him completely caught up on his development but my heart breaks over the reasons for it.  Simple healthy nurtrition and medical care would not have only spared Abe of this but so many other children.  We are so blessed to live in the States.  I wonder why I have been given the priviledge to live here while so many other mom's living in countries where starvation and sickness is so rampant.  I think of Ethiopia and the fact that there is 1 doctor to every 250,000 people!  How come we have so much and they have so little?  I've thought all these things before but it is even more real to me seeing my boys grow.  I know that out of this tragedy I have been amazingly blessed with this beautiful, sweet, loving little boy who has stolen my heart and means the world to me.  I just ache for the moms in other countries that don't have a pediatrician on speed dial, a Children's Hospital right down the street, access to physical therapist, speech therapists and every thing else I have at my fingertips.  As I sit here typing this I realize how much I've been dreading tomorrow, Tanner has his 4 month well baby visit and going to the dr's with both Abe and Tanner can sometimes be stressful.  I'm stressed out about taking my children to a well baby visit!!  I am so spoiled!!  There are mothers out there that would give anything to take their sick child to a dr and I'm complaining that I have the opportunity to just go see a doctor when nothing is wrong to make sure nothing goes wrong.  Dealing with a fussy baby after vaccines is a priviledge, not something to dread.  I say all this not really knowing where I'm going with it.  I have this burden but don't know what to do with it.  I feel like I have so much and want to do something for others but don't know what. 

I know God has placed these two precious boys in my life for a reason and I look forward to seeing "the plans He has made for us".  Whether my burden is to change the life of one little boy or to change the life of thousands of little boys and girls is still to be seen but I sit and trust that He is in control.

This Slacker Will Prevail...

...at least in the world of actually sending out a Christmas card, because let's be real, I'm not the best at sending cards.  But I'm going to do it this year!!  And I have incentive to do it.  What's that you might ask, besides two adorable little boys that would rock the cover of any Christmas card?  50 FREE CHRISTMAS CARDS!!  Oh, yeah, that's right, free.

You see shutterfly.com (LOVE THEM!!) is offering this awesome deal to bloggers, I just have to tell all my peeps (all four of you :) ) what Christmas cards from their site I like, and let me tell you, they have like 20 pages of CUTE, CUTE, CUTE cards, I'm having a hard time narrowing down my choices!!

Of course the first one that pops out at me is this one http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/with-love-chartreuse-christmas-card-5x7-flat.  If you have been to my house you would understand I have this weird fascination with my initials, especially "N".  I have "N" everywhere, so the idea of putting it on my Christmas card completely facinates me.

But then there is also this one http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/retro-plaid-christmas-card-5x7-flat.  Way too cute!!!  I love the little Christmas tree and there are 3 spots for pictures so if I dared to take a picture of the whole fam I would still have room for close ups of my cutie pies.

Oh but there is more, this one is darling http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/splendid-tree-christmas-card-5x7-flat, it kinda looks scrapbookie (is that a word?) to me and well that is right up my alley.

I also like this one http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/very-merry-christmas-4x8-photo-card-4x8-photo?sortType=1&storeNode=93476 because it's very casual and kiddie and I think a pic of my boys would fit just perfectly on it.

But this one http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-holiday-cards/dotted-collage-holiday-card-5x7-flat is just cute and classy and pretty and I can be all those things too. 

Decisions, decisions!!  Oh which one to pick???  I guess you are going to have to wait and check your mailbox to find out.

Want to get in on this deal?  Check it out at http://bit.ly/sfly2010 

(And while I am sitting here blogging about Shutterfly I should tell you about my favorite product they have, their photobooks!!  I LOVE THEM!!  I made one from our wedding pictures, from our vacation to Ireland and am working on one of our trip to Ethiopia to bring home our Abe.  Check it out http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-books, they have tons of designs and it's a quick and easy way to display your pictures.)

So now on to figuring out what picture to put on our cards, perhaps these?

Ok, probably not, but they are cute!!

Happy Birthday GP

What can I say, getting 2 little boys to both look at a camera and smile at the same time is pretty much next to impossible but what cutie pies even when they aren't cooperating!!

Happy Birthday GP, we love you!!