Hannah's Verbal Explosion...well, kinda, and Room Sharing

Dear Nathan, 

I decided to write letters to you guys separately today because you two are just in 2 different phases this week and this seemed more appropriate. Potty training is continuing to go well. We had a reward chart for you and if you kept your undies dry all day, you would get to fill in a box and once you kept your undies dry for 10 days, you would get a book that you really want. Well, it took about 13 days for you to finish your goal, so I guess that's pretty good. 

We are now working on you going to the bathroom yourself (instead of me reminding you). If you can keep your undies dry for 5 days, you get to get this Tidmouth Shed toy that I made for you out of cardboard to play with anytime you want. We let you play with it last night so you can see how much fun it is. 

It's been getting more difficult each night to get you to bed. Your arsenal of stalling strategies seems to be a bottomless pit and each night you come up with something that stalls bedtime just a bit longer. Well, last night, we thought that maybe we could have you and Hannah share rooms so that you wouldn't feel so alone. It actually worked really well. Instead of the usual 3 books that we read to you before bedtime, you were begging to go to sleep after 2.

After I sung the lullaby to you two and kissed both of you goodnight, I walked out, expecting to hear a burst of laughter or cries behind me, but it was completely silent, and it remained that way until this morning.

At 6 am, I hear a thump and then Hannah starts to cry. I was getting a bit upset, because we know how you have been waking up around this time and we even practiced what you should do if you woke up before the sun came up.

I walk in and night light was on, the ceiling fan was on and your portable potty, which was in your room was now positioned under the light/ceiling fan switches. Apparently, you had walked out, went to your room, got your potty, and used it to reach the light switches...which then woke Hannah up.

We'll see how things go tonight and if you guys really like it, I think we may be getting bunk beds sooner than later. Thinking about doing something like this for now. We have an simple ikea crib and so I think this would work.

This past week's weather has continued to be beautiful. It has been a bit on the cooler side, but not so cold that an extra layer or two couldn't fix.

We met up with your best friend Abigail and we played at the swings for a long time. You two were holding hands and then you pull Abigail's hand up with yours to wipe some drool off. She quickly recoiled her hands and that day learned just how gross you boys can be.

Dear Hannah,
You have become like a little parrot this week, imitating sounds and saying your first intentional words. Daddy, Teddy, Mama, More, Baby are probably your first words and you at least to imitate all of the sounds that I make.

You are also picking up a few new signs. You've pretty much gotten "more" down and will put 2 or more signs like "more"+"milk" to signal that you are not quite finished nursing. In this picture below, you are asking for more pushes.

 Your friend Lucas came over to visit this past weekend and we had lunch. You guys just played next to each other and you tried to get Lucas to follow you up the stairs. It's cool to see you guys interact with each other.

 One day you woke up a bit early from your nap so we just played in your room for a bit. You wanted to sit in the chair and when I put you up there, you just looked so proud and happy. I just had to take a picture of your adorable face.

 Later that night, when everyone was finishing up dinner, we let you roam around the kitchen area and you managed to find an empty box from Costco to climb into and pretend to drive, sound effects and everything! It's just so amazing how much a little sibling picks up from an older one.

You've started to get more friendly towards other people. You will wave and say "Hi" to our neighbors and even lean in towards people that we see on a regular basis, for them to hold.  Dropping you off at a childcare place, whether the gym, or at church, is now pretty tear-free. Everyone praises about how independent you are, climbing up ladders and sliding down slides by yourself. 

Sometimes you are a little bit too independent. I really have to watch you like a hawk. In the time that it took me to go to the bathroom, you made this little mess. If I leave the pantry door open, sure enough, you are digging around inside. If I leave the door to the bathroom open, you are either flushing the toilet or trying to turn on the tub faucet. If we forget to put away the step stool that Nathan uses to wash his hands, you are washing your hands (which you now know to do if you want to eat. Each night before dinner, I'll call out, "Ok everybody, wash your hands!" and then you would stop what you are doing and head towards the bathroom sink. Kind of cool. 

Nathan is still learning his boundaries with how rough he can play with you. 

No matter how much abuse you put up with from you big brother, you continue to adore and look up to him. I pray that you two will develop a close relationship and I am thankful, oh so thankful of you two, wonderful babies. 

Until next week, 

Mommy 

Fall Photos

With 2 children, it's tough to get any good pictures of all of us, not to mention that Hannah always gets this confused look on her face when she hears the timer beep on the camera. We wanted to get a few pictures where she was not looking so confused, so we hired a photographer to help take a few family photos to document this very moment in our lives.

The photographer is actually a friend from my MOPS group and she specializes in natural light photography. We did a half hour session at our family's all time favorite spot: the tree swings at the wildflower center.

Look at this face! I don't want to forget this cuteness. Ever. 

 This was getting close to Hannah's morning nap, so this was as happy as she got for the pictures.

 This is one of my favorites. Hannah didn't really care for kisses from Nathan, this picture was taken just before she flipped out and pushed him away.

 These blanket photos of the family turned out pretty well. The quilt was a beautiful one, made by Hilary's grandmother.

 I wish the next few photos below didn't look so washed out and hazy. Shooting into the sun goes against the very basic photography lessons that I've picked up along the years, but I guess it works if you have the right equipment.

 A pet peeve of mine is when a body part gets chopped off in a picture. I tease Steve about it because he does it all the time, but I guess it's actually ok... we all know that Steve's right triceps exist.

 This picture is probably my favorite one of Nathan.

 This was actually the first time Nathan was able to jump on these swings all by himself.

 Of course, after watching big brother have all the fun, Hannah was pretty insistent upon trying herself. Pointing and grunting, she eventually communicated to us what she wanted.

 And this is where Hannah starts to get sleepy and clingy. Her outfit is what we based our color coordination on. Purple, blue and orange.

 I love giving nose kisses to both Nathan and Hannah. It's something special that we do before bedtime.

 This captured Hannah's second wind, so of course, she will crash soon.

 I love this picture of Steve and Hannah. Daddy's little girl. Aww.

 And Hannah's all done.

 I love these pictures of Nathan and me on the swings together. Hilary captured the joy perfectly!

 And then there were the mom and dad only pictures. We took a few and even included ones where we are kissing...but Hilary didn't include them in the final set she sent back. Perhaps we look a bit on the dorky awkward side.

That's all the photos. The rest of this post will be about the process that I took to prepare for the photo session. I think a lot of people out there want advice about outfits and makeup, and I'll put my 2 cents in about the outfits part because I don't really know how to put on make-up. (Whenever I try, I just look...horrible, so for this shoot, I decided to watch a bunch of youtube videos one night and just went with the natural look, so I couldn't mess up too bad).

Originally, I had decided that we would go with the blue and gold as our coordinating colors, but after passing it by Steve, he pretty much vetoed it because he wasn't going to wear Michigan's colors. Sigh...so jokingly, I said, "Well, how about U of I's colors: blue and orange?" Like the typical man that he is, who cares so much about outfit colors and such, just shrugged and said, "sure."

I definitely wanted to include blue as a main color because it represents our family's personality perfectly: we are really calm and cool people. So then, I went to the kid consignment store first to see if I could find anything for Hannah that caught my eye.

I really liked this purple shirt and thought that a cute pair of solid blue leggings would go great with the top. The little pops of orange would be our accent color and so then and there, I decided on our color scheme.

So, a tip from me would be to find something really cute that you love for your youngest child and then coordinate everyone else to that one. The youngest one typically will be less enthusiastic about the pictures, so you can at least highlight her through her outfit.

As you can see, those leggings that Hannah ended up wearing are NOT solid blue, but instead, a crazy blue, orange and purple mess. I saw those leggings at old navy and instantly thought, how I could make them work. They turned out working well because from far away, the purple shirt looks solid, so the leggings make her stand out a bit more. Her boots, I dug out from a hand-me-down box, which are a size too bit big for her, but the shoes that she currently wears are a bit on the crazy pattern side too, and wouldn't work.

On the same shopping trip, I found a plaid blue, purple and orange button down shirt for Nathan, which coordinated color-wise, perfectly with what Hannah was wearing.

For adult outfits, we wore what we already had in the closets. A polo shirt and jeans for Steve, which is pretty much his everyday garb and a blue dress with paisley print for me. I was trying to find an orange shirt for Steve for a pop of orange to tie us in with the kids, but man, those were hard to find. Instead, I found an orange cardigan on the clearance rack at old navy and thus completed our outfits.

Finding outfits for family photos can be tough, but start out with a main color and then find an outfit for your youngest that you absolutely love. From that outfit pick out 2-3 colors, with one being a bright pop, to feature in your ensemble. Then, as you look in your closets, your friends' closets, and then finally retail stores to find all the pieces that you need to complete the outfits.

Finally, take a picture with everyone in their outfits before the actual session to make sure they all work together, that's a tip from my friend, who recently also had their family pictures done. She wore a shirt that ended up looking too bright, so she says, in their pictures.

In the end, you will be the most critical judge of the pictures. Others will look at the pictures briefly and probably wont even notice the little details that you put into this process. Which brings me to my next point, don't worry too much about it. If it brings you joy to plan matching outfits, do it. If you are dreading the process, there's always the classic denim and white shirt looks. Do what makes you happy, that's the most important thing.