all about Beck

things he's saying:

He recently asked me if I could "shake my bottom like the machine on the snow plow"... which turned out to be waggling it back and forth.  The idea came from one of his truck shows and he tried to explain it to me, but I didn't quite understand.

His new thing lately is telling me to "be happy."  "Be happy mom."  Or "let me see your smile/happy face."  Kind of annoying since it's usually when he's being disciplined or I'm just being serious about something, but also a good reminder.

This is old, but what he used to say after he pooped in his diaper:

B (crying b/c he knows he's not supposed poop in his diaper):  I'm sorry for my poop mom!

Me:  You don't have to be sorry for your poop, just go in the potty.

B:  I'm sorry mom!

B (throwing his arms around my neck):  I forgive you!

What he's been calling people that he's frustrated at:  a scaby (as in skae-be) dog.  Used in a sentence:  

"Stop that you scaby dog"... directed at Creighton when he tried to take Beck's book.  As first I thought he made it up and then realized he got it from a pirate story on his leap reader.  Still not sure how I feel about it.  I'm thinking it's definitely derogatory.  

What he says to toys or other inanimate objects he's frustrated at:  "you're making me crazy!"

"Hanitizer" which is his word for hand sanitizer.  Makes sense to me.

CReighTon.  (overly emphasizes the "CR" and the "Ton")... anytime he disapproves of Creighton's actions.

what he's playing:

Work.  He likes to pretend that he's a worker (which isn't really a new thing for him).  This might mean carrying around a tool box, digging in dirt, putting things in and out of a dump truck, or moving around sticks.  Sometimes it's even something that's actual productive, like sweeping up his mess or helping me dust.  The other day it meant dumping trash into the trash can, picking it back up out of the trash can (like a crane) and putting it back in his cardboard box... and doing it all again.  He even told me to ask him how is day was going and responded, "Great.  Works great.  I'm working hard."  I even got to job shadow him and learn Exactly how he did his hard job.  I made the mistake of describing each piece of trash as he pick it up and had to do that several times in a row.  :)

Pretend.  He's good at talking to himself and playing pretend.  The other day he said he was going to return some of his books to the library and they ended up in my boots.  That works.

Anything that makes Creighton laugh, which is usually chase or dumping a bunch of toys or knocking over kleenex boxes.  Yes, this means the boys have been making a lot of messes lately!

the other night we out for a family dinner and looked over to find Beck making a pencil mustache  :)

another vacation

So about a month after we went to AZ (which puts us into the middle of March) we were due for another vacation and traveled to the other side of the country to Miami, FL with Chad's fam.

It's was fun to enjoy the beautiful weather (that we didn't get to relax in as much as we would've liked in AZ... not sure why ;)) and stayed in a place right on the beach.  Having a pool and a beach right out your back door was great for the kiddos... and the adults.  While the kids napped in the afternoon we could still be outside and didn't feel like we were missing out by needing to be inside close to the kids.

Each day was pretty similar, with some combo of pool/beach in the morning, then lunch, then the adults enjoying more outside time while the kids slept.... with some outdoor games and wave crashing in there.  Each of the married kids got a date night out too, which was great.  Chad and I went down to south beach and took in the variety of people and unique beach culture that surrounded us.

It really is a different world down there.  People riding home from the beach at 8pm on a Monday.  Kids walking home from school on the beach path.  Every night feels like a weekend since there are so many people out and about.  It was kind of refreshing and kind of odd at the same time... like people really live like that?!

Creighton looking his finest for the camera

most of my pics of the boys look something like this... head down and playing in the sand. 

it was so nice to have beach chairs with very comfy cushions ready for us at the beach.  that little blue building was our home for the week.

they love having the sun in their eyes  :)

the "older cousins"

Beckham being a "worker" and fixing the toilet paper roll.  He was so concerned about it there was no time to pull up his underwear.  :)

view from our balcony 

Arizona

We took a family trip out to AZ to visit one of our favorite families... the Beer clan.  (What is a clan?  I think I can call them that since there are 6 of them, with 4 of them being very little!)

It's always great to catch up with friends, especially when it's in a place that's 50 degrees warmer than the place you left!  The trip was a good combination of fun, relaxing time at home, play time for the kids, and of course a project tackled by Brandy and I.  The project was supposed to be the girls bedroom but instead we went through all the kids clothes and put away winter and got out summer... b/c you know, it's summer-like in some parts of the nation.  But it turns out that I love to to through clothes and organize them (big surprise right?!).

So... a little recap of our agenda, just so I can remember all the fun we had... in case the camera didn't capture it.

Thursday night:  Arrive and have a late dinner with Adam & Renee after the kids are in bed (yes, this means we were eating dinner at like 11pm our time :)).  Adam is the pastor of Seth & Brandy's church and their good friends that we met the last time we went to AZ.  Stay up talking and go to bed too late and wake up too early with kids who are still on IN time.

Friday:  The hard-working dads work a short day while we stay home with the kiddos.  The adults get away for a hike and sushi in the evening while a very kind neighbor watches the kids.  Always love to get a hike in while we're out there, which gets harder the more kids you have.

Saturday:  Have a b-day party for Annaika at the playground and meet some more of Seth & Brandy's friends.  Beck got his greatly anticipated ride in the Ford F-150 and turned out to be a little bit of a bad driver. :)  The adults made homemade chicken curry after the kids went to bed in a nice and peaceful kitchen.

Sunday:  Church and then lunch at Joe's Farm Grill, one of our favorites out there.  The food's great and the setting is farm-ish with picnic tables outside to dine at.. perfect atmosphere for kids.  The adults got some time away again and went out for tacos at night.

Monday:  Pretty low-key day.  B and I started our clothes project and Chad relaxed before his flight home.  Took the kids on a bike ride along the canal to get frozen yogurt.

Tuesday:  Another day at home with the kids and Adam (their church's worship leader) came over for dinner... a Tuesday tradition they have.

Wednesday:  Women's bible study in the morning at church, then a trip to Ikea... my first time!  I was quite overdue and it was a good thing I had to pack and travel with what I bought, or I would've walked out with a cart-full.  B took some pics of the boys in the late afternoon for their 1-ish and 3-ish year pics and the kids played at the playground afterwards.

Thursday:  Took the kids to the Chandler airport for lunch at Hangar Cafe.  The airport has a bunch of small private planes that you can see take-off and land while you eat.  A stop at a candy shop on the way home where all the kids got to spend $1 on whatever they wanted officially made us "fun moms."  :)  After the babies were in bed for the night, Seth took care of the other 4 kiddos while B and I went out for dinner at Postinos, my favorite place to eat there and our tradition when I come.

Friday morning:  Fly home with the boys!  Sad to leave but ready to come home and see Chad again.  To repeat the flight to AZ, Beck slept a couple hours and Creighton stayed awake the whole time. :)  But he really was a good little guy and made friends with the people around him... no crying, just a little fussy here and there.

adults out on our hike... I believe the only adult only picture that was taken :)

the babies bonding over their bottles

ha!  Creighton had weird beady eyes in this pic and somehow when I tried to edit with red eye he ended up with dark circles around his eyes.  Made me lol... literally.

Annaika mastering the F150... I think G's a little sad it's not her turn...

Beck loving the truck, despite his poor driving skills... fast forward 15 years and this could be the picture of him leaving on a date.  oh no.

Norah is definitely a little worried.

Dinner at the kids table.  

Warning: mischievous kids.

I believe this would be a picture of what happens when the adults are trying to enjoy their food and the babies get whatever keeps them happy.  Seeley with a mouthful of burger & fries and Creighton munching on a hot dog bun.  Yum.

Bike ride to fro-yo!

Ah... playing in the sun.  Despite the warm sunny day I was somehow still too lazy to go outside to take this pic... hence the window glare.

Tramp time.

And trying to get one pic of all the kids before we left.  This is the "best one."  Hence the others that follow...

.... and small side note:  this trip took place the middle of February.  I'm behind and it's work's fault. :)

11 months

Can't believe that I'm starting to plan a 1 yr. b-day party for this little guy.  And while it can seem sad that they grow so fast and you hardly remember what it was like to have a tiny baby, I love to see him get older and be able to interact with him more and more.

Creighton James has become more mobile in the last month, and while he doesn't crawl, he does what I call "the worm."  Which is something like pushing up with his arms and then pushing himself forward while wiggling.  The other day it became "the fish" (think of doing a superman with arms down at your side).  Quite cute.

He also started clapping with delight - mostly to songs, but spontaneously as well.  Of course he's getting more teeth, because that's what babies do.  And he started sitting up by himself.. haha, ok, he's been able to sit for a while.  He pushes himself up from laying down to sitting up.  

Oh, and he's starting the ever fun stage of loving to throw things on the floor... food, toys... yea!

He's a delight.  Truly.  A delight.

back to work

So... if you read this post you might have caught the part about how I felt like I had time to share this year...  either in a work sense or helping others sense.

It turns out that's going to be in a work sense.  I am going back to work!  Actually, I already started.  This week.  Just part time, 2 days a week with a little more from home and some Saturday's during busy season (like the time of year right now).

Busy season?  Does that mean you are doing taxes again?  Yes, I am!  I am going back to work at KSM where I worked before doing exactly what I did before.  My new desk is two desks away from my old desk and I'm working with all the same nice people.  Although when I left I thought I wouldn't do tax work anymore, some time off has helped me see that maybe it's a better fit than I thought it was.

It wasn't something I sought out, they approached me about working part-time again... and when asked, it turned out that I was excited about the thought of it and wanted to.  Last fall I thought about trying to work part-time during busy season this year, but things weren't falling into place and I wasn't going to try extra hard to make it work, so I decided not to.  Ever since I made that decision, going back to work was still in the back of my mind.  I'm thankful that by waiting and not forcing it, an opportunity came in God's timing.

Some questions you might be asking yourself (or maybe just ones I've been answering for myself!)...

Don't you like being a stay-at-home mom?  Didn't you quit work for a reason?  Yes, I do love being a stay-at-home mom and spending time with the boys.  It was a little hard for me to make the decision to work again because it's hard to not feel selfish, but I've decided that I want to work for a reason and I will still have lots of days at home with the boys.

Isn't it going to make you busy and maybe more stressed?  Yes, for sure it is going to make me more busy, but that's kind of the point.  I want to be a little more busy.  I am more productive when my schedule is a little fuller than it is currently.  I like really busy days so that I enjoy the low-key days more.  I'm hoping that it won't add too much stress.  I'm going to try to be smarter about planning simple meals on the days I work, as the get-home-from-work-cook-a-meal time of day is the worst part about it all for me.

Don't you like the time to do what you want to do when you're not working?  Before I quit working last year I had a picture in my head of who I would be when I stopped working.  In some ways it's true... I have done some projects I wanted to, have more time to clean and keep up with the house and time to play in the kitchen, time to sit around and enjoy the boys.  But there is this other side of me I thought would change more... but it hasn't really.  The side that pictured doing something new and amazing with my time or being creative super-mom or something.  Not that those things can't happen, but they didn't really for me.  I guess what I'm trying to say is that I think I made being at home something that it wasn't completely, so I'm ok with going back to work.

And since I already started, I can report that I had a good first day, it was great to see and chat with everyone, and my brain is a little rusty.  :)

10 months

10 months... getting very close to being one!  He's still not crawling and definitely not pulling himself up, which I'm quite ok with, but he is doing some other things...

grinding his top and bottom teeth... such a horrible sound!
saying "da-da"  (and of course not knowing what it means ;) )
getting his other top front tooth and another bottom one.. making that 5 teeth
having a cold that turned cough that turned bronciolitis that turned into breathing treatments (have I mentioned that Creighton has been sick Alot this winter?!)
laughing at the the babies in his 'Praise Baby' movie
being oh so, so lovable and still cuddling with his mama when he's tired
being in the 80% category for height at his {late} 9 mo checkup - which is much higher than Beck ever was... I'm becoming more and more confident he's going to be the big little brother  :)


finally getting him to smile for some pics...