Getting Bigger

We took Lily for a mid-year check up. Since she has progressed so much since her birthday I felt like sharing it in a visit with the doctor. She really has become a totally different child in six-months. She is Walking, running, CLIMBING and getting into anything and everything.

Her physical therapy helped her catch up with other kids her age motor-skill wise and once we started the therapy it really was like a domino effect and everything started to fall in place. She keeps up busy for sure.

She still loves to do her rocking but she understands when we tell her "up" to move on to something else...during bedtime is what is hard to get to stop. Hopefully with age that will change.

We also started speech therapy with her and she has a dozen so words that we understand and a gazillion Lily language words. We are still working on saying words instead of grunting and pointing when she really wants to something but that will come in time ( I hope)

Holly/Mama= "olly" "MAma"
Daddy= "Dad-dee"
Eggs="Aggs"
Book="bot"
baby="bebe"
bubble guppies="bubby gup"
water="wa=wa"
*When she gets something she really wants (juice, toy etc..) she grabs it really fast yelling "happy happy happy"
Grandpa=Grumpa
She can also say Hooray, yey, hi, up, it changes everyday!

Goldfish before the Doctor came in.

27lbs and climbing everything

Valentine's Day

The kids really enjoyed making Valentine's this year, we weren't that creative but they loved giving Daddy and The grandparents little cards.

Mike and I also got to celebrate Valentines by going to the Lady Antebellum concert. I love any excuse to spend a couple hours together but add in my favorite country trio and that equals a fantastic night. 

Spark Notes

The small things...

Every year Leo puts our stockings on as socks...

Lily can now pick out her own outfits...

She loves to "read" herself books

Refuses to cut his hair right now...

But loves taking pictures with Mom...

Lily feeds her dolls with spoons and bottles all day...

Leo seeing Frozen, he loves movies!

Breaking the Silence

2 months without writing I should better have a really good excuse right? Well life has been a little different for us since the end of August. Mike and I made a very hard decision and for the better of our family he had to leave his current job. The road has been bumpy and we are still unsure where we are going but for now we are staying with his parents and life as we know it is still moving forward. Decisions in life aren't always easy and this these past few months have been proof of that.

Our children of course our are shining light and they still bring so much happiness and joy in our lives that sometimes things just seem perfect. There is no way I will be able to catch up on all the cuteness over the past couple months but I will so my best.

Living with my in-laws is going well, the kids seem to have adjusted very well and overall we still have a lot of privacy and the kids don't seem to be overwhelming Grandma and Grandpa too much!

Helping out with the cleaning

Halloween was hilarious as ever. Leo was a Ninja turtle and this year he was really into trick or treating(no shyness what so ever) racing door to door yelling trick or treat as he is running up the driveway.

Lily just enjoyed her wagon ride as red riding hood.

I started working at Kohls again for some extra money while we figure our which direction Mike wants to go. I haven't worked there in 7 years and life has changed for (just a bit!) and going to work while my kids stay home with Mike is challenging to say the least. I go really early so that I can get a full shift in and be home by lunch time. That way they really don't notice me away too much. So far it is working great and the discount is nice too ;) 

BIG NEWS ALERT: In these past two months Lily has become a completely independent walker! Her physical therapy has made her progress so far in such a little time. Walking (sometimes even running) playing games, eating all on her own. She is a full fledged toddler now and sometimes I can't even keep up with her. Busy days ahead.

Potty training time?

Leoisms are also getting hilarious as ever:

Leo: I have  a cold in one of my holes (while sticking his finger up his nose) which hole are sick in?

One morning while laying in bed he turned over to Mike "Daddy! you forgot to brush your teeth! You smell like a kunk!"

"oopsy daisy" is in constant use. 

A older gentlemen was saying hi to Leo one day while we were eating lunch and Leo very nicely smiled at him and felt the need to tell him "I am just shy to people"

He has to eat 3 of everything since that is how old he is.

He has become quite he singer, he sings along with almost every show song or commercial and he loves picking out the radio station in the car. 

We met a friend of Grandma's today named Dorothy and he refused to call her anything but "dorky"

If he doesn't like whatever you are feeding him he likes to tell you that it make his tummy "rumble" 

One day he wanted to watch tv in the kitchen while I was making his plate and I told him it would be boring since only news was on his response "I know! How about commercials!? I LUB commercials!"

Half birthday photo.

Mobile World

Things have been go go go lately so all I really have are my mobile photos, not the best quality but they do the job.

This is Lily playing Hide-n-seek , She really thought I couldn't see her! 

Took the kids to spangles one morning for breakfast 

Lily wanted some of Leo's sausage 

"NO WAY" he said

She was like "COME ON"

So what does he do? He spits it at her...end of pictures because he got in trouble. 

"Oh PWEASE can I have these talking planes!?

Swing time!

last week one of my diamonds fell out of my ring (gasp!) no worries it is protected and Lily helped me at ZALES getting it all shipped off to get replaced. 

She was caught feeding June! 

Since being potty-trained he doesn't get any milk after 8 SO now he has really mastered the "I need a little drink from the bathroom" right before bed. 

Making wishes in his underwear

Leo and I went to the store yesterday and these Elmo toys were on display Leo was very worried because "Mom! there is a boy stuck in that box with Elmo!!" "what are we going to do!?" hilarious.

Cute phases

My kids are in super cute phases right now that or I am just really emotional because everything they do right now I just want to squeeze them. If I could walk around with Leo recording all the things he says, believe me I would, he kills me sometimes with what comes out of his mouth.

Water spills on him from his drink "I'm melting, MOM!! I AM MELTING"

I started telling him a bedtime story the other night about Goldie locks and he interrupts me very bluntly "no no mom that is not a good story! Tell me about Leo being a king...now that is a good story!"

Not sure if I wrote this before but he has had several dreams where he is a train and he insists that the freight cars come out of his butt.

Me: Leo you can't climb in the freezer
Leo: How 'bout I use a stool, is that a good idea? 

He uses that "is that a good idea" to make his bad behavior look good. TOO SMART

We have been very busy lately and he has been spending more time with Grandma or even with Mike and whenever I come back even if it was for only 30 minutes he always has to give me a gripping hug and a long speech about "how he was so worried about me"

Lily has been talking, walking and changing very fast. We started her occupational therapy and it has made a HUGE difference, I really think she will be up to all the other 2 year olds by Christmas.

When she does walk across the room she gets so proud and started clapping "yey" before she is even done.

Her words right now are UP, DAD, OOPS, YUM, BEBE and of course "awe-ee" for Holly (Leo did the same thing)

She dances with her head and hands like a crazy fool so I can't imagine how she will dance when she is actually walking/running around.

Blurry but Leo is priceless

One of his favorite things to do right now is look at my pictures on my phone

Relaxing

So he thinks he can jump inside books and be part of the story...and yes he is naked.

Diamonds and Stones

Some days are harder than others that is for sure, I need my kids to know that even though I love them more than life itself that there are times that I feel like running for the hills screaming. The days that Leo decided to revert back in his potty-training and poop in my room while smearing it on the walls. The days that Lily won't stop crying or throwing a fit unless I give her 100% of my attention and carry her on my hip everywhere. The days that Mike comes home from work and doesn't say a word through dinner. Those times I feel like a failure and that I am the only wife and mother that just can't get it right BUT I know I'm not. I know there are other parents out there that scream into pillows when they have reached a breaking point, that there is a mom out there who is still potty-training their 4 year old and that took her kids to Wendy's for dinner just so she could enjoy a peaceful car ride drinking a diet coke.

I'm not perfect but I'm not a failure either. The last few days have been very rough to say the least but when Leo woke up last night around 3am just to come crawling into bed with us and he fell back asleep saying "I love you Mom" I just started crying because then I knew I must be doing something right. My Husband and my children are my life and they bring me so much joy. Lily's squinty smile and how she claps at everything bring me happiness. Leo's loving nature but wild side makes me proud. My hard-working husband who solely supports us without any complaints makes my life so complete I couldn't imagine doing it without him.

This morning I longed onto our family website and my Granddad posted with the title "some days are diamonds and some days are stones" He couldn't have wrote that on a more perfect day for me.

This post was not to complain but to simply say how some days are just rough but in the end it's all worth it because I wouldn't have it any other way.

Trying to take family pictures last week...yes we are going to re-do them ;)

Leo and sunflowers

It is no secret I love taking pictures and with sunflowers!? Perfect backdrop in my opinion BUT it is also no secret my little Leo hasn't always been the "posing" type but him and I still headed out on a little Mama & Me adventure to a wild sunflower field that is blooming just a few blocks from our house. On the way there he was so excited to see "sunfowers!" as he was yelling in his car seat and even as we got there he still had a ton of excitement...until he thought the grass was "so itchy" and the wasps were going to "fwy in my ear Mama!" I have to give a little credit with the wasps because his mother his petrified of them too.

"Is there a bug on my head!?"

"I'm done with this field, let's leave now"

I bribed him with M&M's and was able to get this beauty but he still had to show me this blade of grass that was such  a "soft leaf"

I am a sucker for sunflower fields and I hope they become more cooperative each year since we are lucky enough to see them bloom every summer. I am sure I will treasure each years picture and won't care that he isn't "posed" perfect because really what REAL 3 year old boy poses for pictures anyway!? 

Cram Session

We've been doing a lot of playing with Lily's new kitchen, it really has saved my life in so many ways because before I was always prying Lily away from the wrath of Leo whenever she would mess with his train table,  They play really well with the cooking set so in my eyes it was worth every penny! 

Putting him to work cooking his own eggs! 

Leo came out into the living room the other night and told us we had a meeting to do, he cleared his throat "uh-hum" like stood on the recliner and told us our "daily chores". I have no clue where he picked up that but it was really cute! While he was doing this he "read" my planner and shouted afterward "what a good book!"

She loves sunglasses, cracks up the entire time she is wearing them.

Peek-a-boo!

Jeeves has made himself quite at home over the last couple months. He is still so little but has the personality of a lion

He built a T-rex with his crackers and was very proud.

Very rare for Leo to fall asleep in the afternoon anymore, he usually just yawns and tells me "that was a good nap" 

Leo had a crazy dream where he turned into a train and he said freight cars were coming out his butt, he woke up at 3am to tell us this. Must have been all that apple juice he was chugging. 

Sick Days

We had a couple days where we all got a stomach bug, which is pretty rare for the Walsh family, so we chilled out the crackers, pedialyte and lots of cartoons.

Coloring and having breakfast using a fork and knife(plastic!) to cut his food.

Sick girl but still happy and loving her animal crackers.

Photo Fun

I am usually just one for pictures of my children but two things this month were worth the share. The moon was outstanding last week, this photo really doesn't do it justice. 

Mother nature must have known my love for sunflowers because this one lone ranger bloomed in our backyard over the weekend.

All decked out like a ballerina with her rockstar sunglasses of course.

Heading into a family party where of course he had to bring his (empty) backpack!

The party was for cousin Tess turning 3, Leo had very big confusion on how she was the "same number" as him. We had fun with pizza for dinner, playing games and celebrating with cookie cake which Leo kept calling "brown pizza"

Our little 2 year old getting ready for bed.

 Lily is actually going through a phase of waking up at midnight completely ready for play time. She goes back to sleep in about 30 minutes but this is usually what our midnight hour looks like. 

Our night owl