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I recently celebrated my birthday for the more than 29th time. I won’t tell you when it was if you don’t already know for fear you may steal my identity (though if you’d like to steal my debt load you are more than welcome to!) but suffice it to say I am into my 30s. I’m really ok with that, I haven’t feel like I was in my 20s for a while so I’m ok that’s it’s official. I think it will be stranger (more strange?) when my siblings turn 30, that will make me feel older than being there myself. Of course, I can’t feel too old when I spend my days with a 2 year old and a 4 month old! Tired, but not old when playing toy cars. I did have a pretty good birthday, Ryan and I left the boys with friends and went out to Dave and Busters, which is like Chuckee Cheese for grownups. We played games, won lots of tickets, and still couldn’t decide what to trade them in for. So we just kept them on our card and one day will be able to get one of the really big prizes. We skipped the cake, we’ve had a lot of that lately, and went for the fresh donut holes, yummy! It was so nice to go out without the boys and do something we used to do while we were dating.
The boys are doing well, both are growing like weeds. They have their checkups on Thursday so I’ll be sure to post an update of their stats. I’m fairly certain Isaac is bigger than Anabelle now. Ethan is still a great big brother, he was concerned the other day when we were getting ready to leave that Isaac wasn’t in his car seat yet and so tried to pick him up to help me. Fortunately, he couldn’t quite get him off the ground! I told him that mommy would take care of the baby and we promptly got Isaac into his seat so that Ethan wouldn’t worry anymore. He is a great little helper, he helps put laundry in the washer and the dryer, gets me things while I’m taking care of his brother, and picks up all his toys really well (most of the time), sometimes without even being asked. He doesn’t really care for being dirty and I think I’ve about convinced him that making a big mess is a bad thing. He loves his daddy and wants to be just like him. And I’ve never met a better mimic! He’s even started repeating what I’m saying while he’s being disciplined. I don’t think he’s trying to be cute or mocking, just mimicking.
Isaac is getting so big too! He’s really filling out and is so strong. He just laughs in the face of rolling around to get what he wants. He’s rarely in the same place that I leave him when he plays on his play mat. Once he can actually talk I’m in for a lot of noise around here! He babbles a lot and is so happy. He adores his big brother, except when Ethan’s pushing on his head, and lights up when he sees either of his parents. He’s so squeezable and just loves being held, and his giggle is adorable. We’re working on sitting and will probably start cereal later this week. I can hardly believe we are already to the solid food stage, he’s growing up so fast!
I guess the thing I still have the hardest time believing is how much I love my boys. The responsibility I have towards them is awesome. I find myself just watching them in awe sometimes, feeling my heart constrict with all the love I have, reaching out and just holding them, and cherishing that moment before they break free and go do what it is that little boys do.

I admit it. I’ve been horribly slacking in posting new pictures. I blame the boys. But I finally managed to go through 10 folders worth of pictures and pull out some for you to enjoy (trust me, you didn’t want me to just post all of them!). They are in a new folder labeled Summer 2009 so you will need to scroll down a little bit to see it. It’s been a busy summer but I will say again that I will try to post more frequently. With that, I will sign off for now, enjoy!

I don’t have much experience with toddlers, aside from my own, so you’ll have to forgive me if I think that mine is the smartest little boy ever (I’m sure you probably think the same about your own kids, but I’m pretty sure I’m right).  He’s always been the child that first flips his toys over to find the switches before playing with them, but lately he’s started to show even more problem solving skills.  Last week I was changing Isaac’s diaper in his room (a task that happens quite frequently) and Ethan was in there with me listening to the crying.  Whenever Isaac cries, Ethan heads for the nearest pacifier, that magic little thing that restores the silence.  This time I asked him to get me a pacifier and then realized that the only ones in his room were on top of his bookcase, well out of Ethan’s reach.  So Ethan left the room and came back shortly with not one, but two step stools, put them in front of the bookcase and got me the much-needed pacifier.  Completely on his own.

Yesterday, I had actually remembered to close the baby gate between the dining room and living room, thus providing the cats with somewhere to escape the clutches of the aforementioned toddler.  One of Ethan’s favorite pasttimes is to chase whichever cat happens to be nearest, sometimes grabbing their tails but mostly just annoying them with his own version of “I’m not touching you”.  I knew Katrina had escaped over the gate into the living room, but I also knew I’d closed the gate so I didn’t think much about it until a few minutes later when it sounded like she was still being pestered.  Sure enough, I looked in the living room and there was Ethan chasing her again.  And yes, the gate was still locked and intact.  He’d managed to climb a chair, climb over the half wall that separates the two rooms, and down another chair giving him complete access to the living room and the entire upstairs.

The third such example in the past week was a few days ago after dinner.   Most nights Ethan gets a bath before bedtime, which he thoroughly enjoys.  Apparently Sunday night, Ryan just wasn’t moving fast enough for him so he decided to take matters into his own hands.  Ryan and I were talking to each other about something and the next thing we know, we hear water running upstairs.  Ryan took off running upstairs  to catch him before he managed to hurt himself, and now we need to decide if we should lock yet another room in our house or somehow keep him from turning on the tub water.  Especially since the previously mentioned gate is now just a suggestion and not a deterrent.

He’s a smart little guy, which is great for him, but it’s certainly giving us a run for our money.  If only we could harness that energy and ingenuity for good and not evil…