They say as you get older time seems to pass more quickly and I certainly feel that way these days. How can it already be February? The boys are both a lot of fun and also can be challenging from time to time. Griffin has been rather temperamental lately and it has been trying on my patience and my response. He acts cranky and gives off attitude, talks back, or simply is not happy with any option or choice for a period of time. “You never let me eat that”, “if you don’t let me watch tv I’m not going to go to bed”, “I’m never going to listen”. “I’m not going to eat that. It’s too chewy. I don’t like pepper anymore. I only like crunchy bacon”. “I don’t like cucumbers” (um, what?). He’s been going to bed at a good hour and getting good rest, he just seems to be going through a phase and it is wearing me out! There have been several nights where he’s lost part of his bedtime routine, sometimes from events during the day with Debbie too. Hoping this stage passes soon!
Despite the crankiness, we’ve also had some fun this week. Kevin continues to work long and crazy hours. He’s working hard and his projects are pretty stressful right now as they are encountering some pretty significant hiccups. He’s pretty exhausted as he’s been working 75 or so hours a week and some calls/emails on weekends too. We miss having Daddy around. So we were super excited that he was able to join us at Dewey’s in Worthington to celebrate our neighbor, Cole’s birthday on Monday night! The restaurant was not very full and the kids enjoyed going back and forth from the table to watching the pizza guys. For dessert there was a Graeter’s ice cream cake (yum!) and we enjoyed hanging with Brian, Lisa, Alex, Bernie, and all of the kids.
The boys had fun making valentine artwork this week and Griffin also made some purple sparkle slime. 
I love when I get to see pictures from the day in the app we use. And it is so fun that Griffin takes some of the photos! This one is great, even Lily is being sassy. 
And speaking of Lils, look at this girl and Mom from Christmas Day in 2009!
I feel like so many pictures are taking in our bedroom! First thing in the morning has often been the only time we’re all together for the day. And Reid goes to bed within an hour of me getting home from work so that time is filled with feeding and getting ready for bed! On Saturday, we did enjoy some play in the loft. When Griffin was younger he absolutely loved standing up all the time. Reid stands some, but isn’t always as interested. We’ve been working with him on pulling himself up. In these pics I stood him up next to his music stand. He stays there, but hasn’t yet figured out to move his legs to re-balance himself yet!
He gets up on his knees and hands and rocks back and forth alot, though he still “army” crawls using his forearms and knees. He’s pretty fast and can get anywhere he wants. He often goes to the door in his room and if it’s cracked open he will open it all the way and start crawling down the hallway. 
And this boy is such an attention seeker. Have I mentioned his love of tissues? He is the sneakiest and if you leave a tissue anywhere, say on my nightstand, the minute you get up and walk away he sneaks right over and tries to snatch it off the table. I mean any and all paper products he wants to eat. I don’t get it, but it reminds me of weimaraners and sometimes I think he’s got to be part weimaraner. He is really gentle with Reid and constantly wants to lick him to give him affection. He lays his head as close as he can (or even on) any toy that Reid is playing with. 
Griffin doesn’t nap anymore, but some days he falls asleep when we’re out and about in the car. This day it was probably only 1 in the afternoon but he was out like a light. 
Since Reid goes to be around 6 or so each night we don’t venture out much in the evenings anymore. But on Saturday we headed to Roosters after running a bunch of errands. There was a pretty decent wait so we hung out in the car 🙂 
The boys enjoyed some fun activities this week – of course the painting, of which Reid enjoyed painting not only the paper but also his body! Debbie did tell me that he wasn’t interested in eating it, which is great considering he usually puts everything in his mouth! The big kids made chicken noodle soup this week. Griffin loves to do this each year with Debbie. He thinks it is so fun to take the meat off the chicken bones (eek!!) and make the soup. I love that he enjoys it. Chicken bones aren’t my thing, lol. 
Reid continues to do really well sleeping. His naps are solid during the day and he’s still sleeping 12 hours at night. I sneek in to feed him and change his diaper once between 9:30-10 at night usually. And I love to find him amongst all of his pacis. Too many, I know, but you know what? He can always find one which makes sleeping at night for mommy and daddy that much better! Lately I’ve been noticing when I put him in bed that he has one in his mouth and he crawls or scoots around his bed to find another and then just kind of holds it in his hand or plays with it in his hand for a few minutes. Probably creating a bit of a crutch – but blue bunny that we got on Black Friday has been missing for 5 or more weeks, so he’s been going to bed with just his pacis. We’ve yet to unearth where blue bunny could be…..
And this boy has been sleeping hard too. He definitely grinds his teeth some and babbles in his sleep. And he is a sweaty hot-box! I find him in the craziest of positions all over his bed when I check on him at night!
And there are dog snuggles too. Brutus and Lils regularly hang out at the top of the brown stairs in the mornings. 
Awhile back I got these “iron beads” for Griffin but I must say, there require a lot of patience and fine dexterity! This particular evening Griffin said, “mom – I made a G!”. And sure enough, he’d made a huge G :). 
Reid, Finn, and I were all hanging in Reid’s room one afternoon. I had just unpacked a box of wipes and Griffin wanted to badly to put Reid in the box. He was able to do it all by himself (I kind of winced once or twice watching the attempts as Reid is not light, but he got it!). After he got Reid in the box he proceeded to get in himself and have the cutest conversation with Reid. “I just love you Reid” he said at one point. And they were just looking at each other. It was the cutest!
I’ve been struggling with poison ivy outbreaks over the last couple of weeks and one day this week Debbie texted me to see if I’d noticed a red spot on the back of Reid’s head. Instantly I thought it could be poison ivy because of where it was on my arm and how his head hits my arm when i hold or feed him. So I asked her to send me a picture – sure enough, he had gotten my poison ivy. Thankfully though it never really got bubbly and just kind of scabbed over. His healed very quickly and he didn’t ever seem bothered. Whew! 
We headed up to Mansfield for Mom’s early birthday celebration as they’ll be in Florida for her birthday. Graham wasn’t feel well so Andy stayed in Cbus with him, but the rest of us were able to gather for another tasty italian dinner and rich chocolate cake that Amy made. We spent the night and left early Sunday morning as we were in the nursery at church! Happy birthday, Mom!
Kevin and I went out on a breakfast date this week, it was like the fourth time we’ve been out together since Reid was born 8 months ago! I had a work meeting downtown so after breakfast Kevin dropped me off at the convention center and then and as it turned out he worked from home since it was Martin Luther King day. It was a nice snowy morning and we had a window seat at The Guild House downtown. So fun! And believe it or not, Kevin ordered the pancakes and I had the truffled eggs.
I love this sweet boy. On many nights lately we go in to check on Griffin and find him laying on the floor just inside his door. We can’t figure out why he’s doing it – we thought maybe his nightlight (yet he wants it on in order to go to bed) but the hall light is in his face when he’s at his door. Some nights he takes over all his blankets and lovey’s and sleeps there most of the night. 
Lots of brother time this week and many different expressions on Reid’s face. I realized I don’t have many diaper-like photos of Reid as he’s almost always wearing a sleeper or other outfit. So on this day I put him down on the floor in his diaper to crawl around. The next thing I knew Griffin came in with just his undies on too so that he could be in the pics. Hahahaha. We have so many toys from Griffin that we really haven’t gotten many things for Reid. The other day Kevin went through and replaced batteries on a bunch of Griffin’s old toys which hadn’t been audible in years. This remote is their new favorite. 
Reid had an ear infection awhile back and from that time I’ve paid more attention to him touching his head and ear area. He has kicked the ear infection, but really I’ve noticed him kind of touching or brushing his right ear or hair when he’s tired or upset. Here’s the perfect example, lol!
We have a great morning routine and it is my favorite time of the day where most days we all spend time together – even if it’s short!
This boy is a tummy sleeper just like Griffin, but when he’s on his back and sleepy he’ll tuck his hands behind his head just like Griffin does!
This week Debbie did some sensory bins with the kiddos. Reid really loved playing in the water and Griffin loved the flour. 
