Us!

On this day, 5 years ago, Levi and I became an "Us." It's hard to believe all we've accomplished in 5 years- 3 houses, 2 kids, 2 deployments, and one happy life!!  It's been a life I thought I'd never lead, being a Navy wife, that is. And even though its been one heck of a rollercoaster ride, knowing that I'm riding with Levi has made it all worth it! 

After scrounging my computer for pictures of JUST the two of us, they are few and far between. Guess that's what happens when he's spent the past two years at sea...and when I'm the only one taking pictures!  So here is a compilation of the past five years...

Happy Anniversary my love!!!

ShamWow!

This video accomplished in 5 days what I have been trying for the last 365+ days!!! I've always imagined my kids loving schoolwork and art projects because I love teaching them!! Yeah, that "phase" lasted about 2 weeks with Grant and I haven't been able to get him to do any type of school work with me whatsoever!! While at home, he mainly wants to watch anything with superheros, so Little Einsteins and Team Umizoomi have fallen to the wayside, so I can't count on good old Nick Jr. to teach him anything anymore! I finally laid down my golden fist and told Grant that if he wanted to watch a movie in the car, it MUST be a school show!! And let me tell you- this movie has been in our car for all of 6 days and the kids now knows EVERY letter of the alphabet and what sound each letter makes! He didn't know an "A" from his foot 7 days ago!! Now, he points out letters while shopping, driving, playing, etc!! I'm just shocked!! I know his brain is a little sponge, but I'm starting to think he's more like a ShamWow- super absorbent!

And speaking of sponge, Wyatt finally found a show he likes to watch! I haven't been able to get him to watch TV AT ALL!! No Baby Einsteins, no Brainy Baby- nothing!!!! But this movie came on and he was glued! He knows the B, D, M, S, T! He proudly sings along!!

Thank you Leapfrog for doing the job I couldn't!!!  At least I was successful at teaching other people's children! :)

Painting with Wyatt

I can't believe I waited this long to paint with Wyatt. I started painting with Grant when he was 13 months. I guess that's what happens when you're a second child. Or maybe its the fact that the thought of cleaning two children after painting just frightened me. Either way, it was overdue for Wyatt to experience his first try at painting. It was actually Grant's idea and Wyatt nodded his head in agreement that it sounded like a great idea. So the clothes came off and the paint went on...and by on, I mean ALL OVER HIS BODY!! But that should be expected, right?!? At least I was expecting it! Nothing a quick bath in the sink couldn't take care of!! 

Super Brothers

My dear friend Kelly gave the boys these shirts for their birthdays. Very fitting, since Grant has been obsessed with all things superhero since then. However, he only likes to wear his shirt if Wyatt wears his too! He likes to pretend he is Superman and Wyatt is Superboy and there is always some bad guys to fight or people to rescue. 

Today, there was a train wreck and Superman and Superboy had to drive the "Bat Boat" to rescue the people on the train!! Of course, after the train wreck was clear, Superman and Superboy had to flex their muscles for a job well done!

Cheeseball Twins

Can these two cheeseballs possibly be related??  I remembered Grant making the same cheeseball smile, so I had to look at some old pictures! Sure enough, same cheeseball smile!! Grant had 16 teeth by the time he turned 16 months, so Wyatt's 8 teeth make him look a little different. Just makes me laugh!!

Cool Trick

Check out Wyatt's newest trick....and he's about 90% proficient, but only cuts down on 10% of his messes!!

The Lovies

My boys are lovey boys. I know where it comes from- I slept with a blanket and teddy bear til *cough* high school. 

Here are the contents of Grant's lovey collection:

-my old teddy bear, Cuddles. I passed Cuddles on to Grant before I had Wyatt. He has definitely taken good care of him.

- his blue blanket, appropriately named Blue Blanket. This was a baby shower gift for him from my friend, Nikki. He didn't start getting attached to it til he was about 1.5. I used it as a winter bedtime blanket for him. When Spring rolled around, I tried to change out for a lighter blanket, but he insisted on Blue Blanket. He's been covered by it every night ever since!

-and as you can see from the bottom left, he has a MASSIVE amount of "friends" in his bed, and each day seems to draw dear connection to one, but its always short lived.

Wyatt's collection entails:

- 2 white satin lovies, made by Mimi (my mom). I had a satin lovey when I was little, appropriately named Mimi (that's why my mom chose to be called Mimi, as opposed to Grandma).  Wyatt loved to have a blanket by his face at all times when he was a teeny tot, just like I did when I was a baby, so we thought he'd enjoy the satin feel, and he does!

- 1 red square satin lovey that came in a gift box from Navy Marine Core Relief Society. Never thought he'd like it, but it was always our "emergency lovey" if something happened to the other two. Now its a staple.

- 1 blanket, one side satin the other side fleece. This was a gift from Aunt Summer before Wyatt was even born. It's a new addition to his collection as he used it at Sea World a few weeks back. Of course, he loves the satin side the best!  But that has become the one blanket he takes out of bed with him each morning and after nap. 

- And last but not least, his gloworm named Baby. Everytime he lays down for sleep, we push his little tummy and Wyatt falls asleep to his warm glow! He loves to hug and kiss his Baby.

Teething, UGH!!

This boy has one giant molar coming in, and its been that way for months now. We got through the first 8 teeth (which is his grand total at this point) relatively easy, I suppose. But seriously, his gums are so swollen, you can see the actual tooth shape in his gums, it just won't break through. He's lived off ice cubes since April!! I don't blame him, it looks painful and I'm an adult!  Sometimes he doesn't want to eat food, but rather suck on something cold. So, thanks to Mighty Mini slow melt pops, Wyatt has found a cure for teething!! He eats these little suckers in about 2 minutes flat. At this sitting, he at 3 of them! Everytime he'd finish one, he'd reach his hand out and say, "More, more!"  But according to the pictures, they must make him a happy camper, so who am I to rain on his parade!! Here's to hoping that rascally tooth pops through anytime. If only the other ones would magically appear at the same time!

Better Than Nothing

Like I said in my previous post, this guy seems to run away the second he hears my camera turn on. It's been a struggle for quite a while to get a decent picture of this kid! And calling these decent is still a stretch, but its better than nothing! My whole intention of writing this blog is to capture moments in time that are fleeting, and bathtub shots are one of those! And I want to turn these moments into a book so my boys (and their future wives!) will have something to look back on! (Because face it, my scrapbooking days are few and far between!). So any pictures are better than no pictures! 

So, sorry Grant, if you're looking at this with your wife and are feeling embarrassed. Although, I'm sure she finds you just as cute as I do!!! XOXO

He really was pretending to be Robin (as in Batman & Robin). You can see his "super muscles" as well as him showing me a "superhero move."

Next Top Model?

Wyatt has started bringing me my camera so I can take pictures of him. So very self-centered of him, but I do appreciate it!! At least I can get pictures of one of my boys (since the other one runs away the second the camera comes out!). But he knows how to work that camera! 

Maybe if the CW starts America's Next Top Baby Model, I'll send an application for Wyatt!

Smiles

Wyatt has developed yet another face that makes mine light up!! All you do to see this face is say, "Smile Wyatt."  He scrunches his nose, squints his eyes, and shows all his teeth!! What a ham!!!

And speaking of ham....

Ice Spy

I'd seen this idea on Pinterest and knew it would be something my boys would love! I named the game "Ice Spy." We found some small toys, a tupperware container, and filled it with water. A few hours later, we had an icy wonderland of toys that needed to be found! The boys got their tools and starting beating away!! They had a blast! Once the ice starting melting a bit more, Wyatt decided eating the ice was more fun that digging out the toys! But Daddy let Grant use his big hammer, so he thought that was the best!! He did break a few toys in the process, but it was well worth it!! Good summer fun at its best!

Box Baby

Wyatt has found a new place to sit!! In his teeny tiny toy box! 

Such a silly boy! He apparently doesn't know how big he really is getting!

Sea World #3

It's probably becoming old hat to write about our adventures to Sea World, since we've been there not once, not twice, but three times now! But we're so fortunate we've been able to go! We knew we had to squeeze in one last trip there before we moved away from Florida. People pay hundreds of dollars to fly across the country just to visit Sea World, but we're only 2 hours away, so its kinda hard to beat! We got there Monday afternoon, during a downpour- not quite what we were hoping! Usually Florida rainshowers stop as quickly as they arrive, so we knew we wouldn't have to wait too long. So after we unloaded in the hotel, we headed out in town for an early dinner. We made it back to the hotel just to see the sun come out! We swimsuited up and hit the pool. Since our last visit, the hotel made this amazing splashpark that was definitely enjoyed by all!! I think Grant would've been happy just staying here and not seeing Sea World at all!!!

This was the toddler area. There was also a "big kid/teen" area, but we mostly stayed in this part! 

Grant LOVED this slide and probably went down 75 times, no kidding. This was his first attempt, so his face doesn't show his love for the slide, but by the 75th time down the slide, he was grinning from ear to ear, and going down backwards, on his belly!!

Wyatt (and I!) LOVED the slide too!!

There were little fountains shooting up in the front of the splashpark and Wyatt liked dipping his head into the water, getting his hair all wet. He'd squeal everytime he got wet, it was so funny!

Grant had no fear and ran all over the pool, he didn't care if we were there or not!

Of course, what vacation is complete without a photo opp. This fountain was in the courtyard at our hotel. And this picture makes it look like they actually love each other. Although 1 second later, Wyatt was pushing Grant's arm off and whining with a "get your hands off me" face!

The elevator brought lots of excitement. We stayed on the 8th floor, so we rode this alot!

And now, on to Sea World.

We got to the gate about 8:30am. Wyatt had been up since 6:00am and didn't sleep all that great the night before. Plus, he woke up with a nasty head cold. So, this was pretty much how Wyatt spent the first hour at Sea World. He was tired, hot, and hungry!! Luckily, seeing the dolphins up close snapped him out of it!

We fed the dolphins first thing and they were hungry! Grant fed them a few fishies and Levi and I did the rest. Wyatt did reach down to touch them. That's my hand in the bottom left corner!! :)

Here is a self portrait of our little family enjoying the dolphin show. We'd only been at Sea World for one hour  when we took this picture, but can't you just feel how hot we were by how sweaty we look? It was about 89 degrees, and about 90% humidity!! ICKY!

Wyatt loved watching the dolphin show!! For a little boy who won't even glance at the TV to watch a show, this 30 minute show definitely kept his attention!

Here is Grant loving the Shamu show!
We also saw the sharks, manatees, penguins, polar bears and beluga whales, sea turtles, seals and sea lions, stingrays, watched a cirque de solei type show, aquariums.
It was a great day and even though it was our third time there, all of our eyes lit up with excitement at some point in the day!! Definitely worth it!

A Rainy Saturday

There are so many activities to do in Kansas, we got spoiled. Coming back to Jacksonville, its seems as if our only choices of kid entertainment is the pool or browsing Target (which is too dangerous for me!). We did happen to find the Hands-On Children's Museum last weekend though. I've known about it, driven by it, thought it looked like a dive bar (and actually located next to one!), so never went to it. But with Levi being off work for a few weeks when we got home, we needed to do something, especially since we had a rainy spell. So we finally checked it out. It was definitely overpriced, but fun nonetheless. Alot of the activities would've been much more fun if our kids were about 6 or 7 years old, but they still made the most of it!

Grant had never been in a ball pit before, so he thought this was pretty cool. It was actually an old set-up from a McDonald's playplace, complete with slide and tunnels.  McDonald's hasn't had ball pits since I was young, so you can only imagine how old this one was!

There was a "toddler room" that had little ride on toys and smaller climbing toys and this little tiny ball pit. Wyatt tried climbing in, but couldn't make it, so I lifted him in there and then he just sat like this- never moved a muscle. Then he wanted out. Although, he did like reaching in and throwing the balls out!

This Firetruck room was probably the most exciting for the boys.  There was a firetruck and ambulance set up, complete with a "burning house."  

Grant got into the role playing pretty well. Wyatt just like the dalmatian dog.

There was a stage and dress up area, but the only costume Grant liked was "The Thing."

There was this basketball area, with wheelchairs to play wheelchair basketball. But it was also good for practicing slam dunks with Daddy.

Here is Grant reporting the news. There was a little camera displaying his image on a TV on the wall across from the table. He didn't really care too much for this, but I thought it was a cute picture!

We probably won't ever be back at this museum, but it helped us pass a rainy Saturday!

Bowling

One activity we seem to do after Levi comes home from deployment is go bowling. It's just something Grant has asked to do both times, and since there is a nice bowling alley on base, its pretty convenient (and cheap). We ventured to the bowling alley one morning last week. Grant was very unsure about wearing bowling shoes, and it actually brought him to tears (seriously, never know what makes this kid tick!). But fortunately for him, they didn't have any small enough. So after we got our shoes, we got our balls, and got busy. We made it to the 2nd frame and Grant said, "I'm all done. Let's eat lunch." I suppose it didn't help that the bowling alley restaurant was right behind our lane, and it was 11:00. But we forged ahead, ever so slowly. And by that, I mean the speed that Grant's ball rolled down the lane. There were sometimes I thought we would have to run down the lane and push it the rest of the way! Of course, during the 9th frame, a group of kids started on the lane next to us and pulled up a ramp for them to roll the ball down. Go figure!! Oh well, lesson learned. At least we used bumpers.

Jumping for joy as he rolled his first ball down!

Wyatt thought he would be our score keeper.

And our cheerleader!

And our ball catcher!

Watching the ever-so-slowly ball roll down the lane!

Luckily, the next time we go bowling, it won't be because Levi is coming home from deployment!! YIPPEE!

Wyatt's Words

Wyatt has been a very vocal child from day 1, and by that I mean lots of crying!! He still cries alot, but he is also starting to talk and YELL very loudly!!!  He also makes lots of noises with his lips and tongue, and in fact, I can't even make some of the noises he does! He is definitely much more vocal than Grant is/was. Not by how much he's talking, but how loud he talks. Grant never really mastered talking loudly, and still hasn't really. If he wants to get loud, his voice just usually gets high. But Wyatt- he has a deafening yell, especially while in the car!!  But he is starting to build a little bit of a vocabulary. He's funny when you ask him to say words, because most of the time he'll just cock his head to the side, and smile but not attempt what you're asking. So this his short list of words he can say clearly.

boo- he likes to peek around corners and say boo!
more
bubba
mama
dada
Dixie (my parents dog)- sounds like "dissy"
up- and he always says, "up up up"
uh oh
mimi (my mom)
balloon- sounds like "baoon"

Some of the other things he does is pant when he says any type of dog. He LOVES dogs. He HATES sitting in his high chair and actually seems to eat better if you let him sit in a regular chair. The kids does not like being contained whatsoever!! He is Grant's little shadow- definitely monkey see, monkey do!! He has never watched more than 2 minutes of TV in his entire life. It just does not entertain him. He doesn't even pay attention to it in the car. He has learned to climb onto both of our couches. He thinks he's pretty cool! When he wants something, he waves his hand in the air and says, "Uh, uh, uh"- we're working on getting him to say what he wants, but that's when he cocks his head the side and smiles every so cutely!  He definitely keeps me on my toes and is still quite obsessed with me. It's like he feels he has to be touching me at all times- something we're working on too!! It helps that Daddy is home, finally!!!

But I don't think a day goes by without me saying, "You are just so darn cute, Wyatt!"  And that's the truth!

A Daddy Memory

Levi came up with a great idea to take Grant to the Jacksonville Suns game. They are just a minor league team, but they seem to usually have great turnouts. At first, Levi wanted it to be a family outing, but when we found out the game started at 7:00pm, we knew I would have to stay home with Wyatt. Grant kept saying, "We're going to have soooo much fun at the baseball game!"  He got his ball hat, his glove, and they were off!! If only they'd had as much fun as Grant hoped! Levi said after the first inning, Grant was crying and asking to go home. They managed to eat some snacks, play on the playground, and maybe watch a little bit of baseball. Miraculously, they stayed til the end so they could watch the fireworks show. Grant did not really like them, and covered his ears most of the time, asking for them to be over. Exactly like I thought he would. But I think he tolerated them enough to enjoy them a little bit.

I remember going to a Royals game with my dad when I was probably 7 or 8. I don't remember anything about the game, but I remember eating lots of snacks and my dad buying me a pennant, which I proudly hung up in my room for many years. So I know this outing wasn't just about baseball, it was about making a memory of time spent with Daddy, something Grant hasn't been able to do very often! So I'm very happy they were able to do that.

Although, when they finally got home (at 11:00pm!) I asked Levi if they had a good time. He said, ".....yeah....but we probably won't go to another baseball for a few more years." So it might have been memorable to Levi in a different way.

Looking like a serious ball player

Pretty good seats, for about 1 inning. Then they played on the playground
and ran around the back of the stadium for the rest of the game.

Grant's favorite part- the playground!

4th of July Fun

We started our day with McDonald's breakfast. I know, living the life, right?? After breakfast, we made our way to the NAS Jax pool!! It didn't disappoint, once again! We got there just as they were opening the gate, so it was perfect timing- not too crowded! Grant got his life jacket and we jumped right in, literally!! The water was so refreshing and there were giggles galore!  We took a small break for an ice cream snack, which Grant so lovingly helped feed to Wyatt! It was so cute watching them share that moment!! Then it was home for a much needed nap!

After naptime, we headed outside to do some smoke bombs and play, but it was just too darn hot!! Grant and I visited with the neighbors for a few minutes, then it was time to start making dinner! Levi and Grant put a model wooden airplane together, while Wyatt cried at my feet as usual. After our feast, we went outside for some smoke bombs and a water balloon fight! We'd done some smoke bombs the day before just for fun and Grant felt the need to watch them from inside the house. After a little persuasion, I managed to get him to sit in his lawn chair inside the garage. Such a silly guy- he feared they would be too loud, even though I told him they were silent. He's always had a weird fear of loud sounds and fire, so I kinda knew fireworks wouldn't be his thing for a while. But he was much more interested in them today. After a handful of smoke bombs and a handful of water balloons (which took 100x longer to fill them than it did to break them) we came back inside for Smores, a little family tradition of ours! Wyatt wasn't sure of the gooey mess, and for once, Grant dug right in and made a huge mess! Wyatt insisted on going to bed at 7, so he missed out on the rest of the nights events. Finally about 8:30, we headed outside to do sparklers and fountains, all of which Grant really had no interest in. He wanted to get his camera and "take pictures" but he could've really cared less about it all. So after about 15 fountains, it was bedtime!
It was a great family day! Lots of flag waving, USA chanting, and loads of smiles!!! 

I had some super cute polos for the boys to wear, but it was just sooooo hot, I felt tank tops were the way to go!

Wyatt would say "Woooow" during each smoke bomb!

Wyatt took about 2 bites of his smore, surprisingly. I think it was a little too sticky for his liking.

Grant, on the other hand, gobbled his right up!!