Now You Are Two.....

Callen on the day he was born

Callen at 1 year

Callen at 2 years



Dear Callen,
Today you are 2! And what an amazing 2 years it has been, getting to know you! You, my son, are the sweetest of sweet boys. You brighten our lives so much with your sweet smiles, your snuggly cuddles, and your amazingly silly personality. You love to poke fun, to tease and trick, to do whatever you can to make us laugh. Lately you've started pointing and saying "Hey!" when someone does something like tickle you. It makes my heart melt every time.

Over the past few weeks, it feels like you have exploded verbally. You are saying so many words now, and stringing 5-6 words together at a time, completing thoughts and sentences! It feels to me like this has just happened over night. You also will repeat what other people say, with a question inflection in your voice like you are verifying that what you heard was correct. You understand so much!

You are still (and will always be, I am sure,) OBSESSED with wheels. You LOVE vehicles of all shapes and sizes, but the bigger the better it seems these days. We switched your car seat to be forward facing a few months ago, due to your height, and you love being able to see forward! Any time you see a bus, you'll tell me, "Mama! A Bus!" and if you see a big semi or any sort of out-of-the-ordinary vehicle (a garbage truck, construction vehicles, etc) you let out a loud, "Wooowwww!" that 9 times out of 10 makes me jump.

Another thing you love to do is play with water! Whenever daddy gets home from work, you want to stand on a chair and play at the sink while he makes dinner. You also love baths, showers, the lake, and the water tables that we have here and the one at grandma and grandpa's house.

Other favorite things of yours are the mall (many mornings when we get up you ask, "Mall day?"), play kitchens (you could pretend cook for hours!), looking at photos of nails on my phone (you frequently want to sit in my lap and look through my instagram pics of nail art) and Fievel.

But your most favorite thing is your sister. You love and look up to your sister in a way that makes this mommy's heart melt into a puddle on the floor. Sure, you have moments where you get tired of her directing your play, or times where you don't want to share, but you always want to know where she is and what she's doing. You also always want to get one of anything you might get from me or daddy, be it a snack or a drink or a dessert...whatever...for Audia. I know you don't know it yet, but you are so, so, so lucky to have such an amazingly patient and loving big sister. Audia loves you so much, Callen. She is always looking out for you, and worrying about you, and frequentlygoes out of her way to make sure that you are happy and having fun.

Personality-wise you are, these days, much more shy than your sister has ever been. You like the people that you know, and you do warm up eventually to people that you sense are "safe," but it always takes a little while for you to warm up to even the people you see regularly. You are very considerate, it seems....either that or you really see the benefit of having a clean play space. I frequently see you picking up toys and putting them away (in the right places!) all on your own! Mommy loves this....please keep it up and try to teach your sister to do the same ;-) You also love to bring people things of theirs if you see they are without them. You are constantly bringing daddy and me our phones or our beverages.

You fill our lives with such love, such light, and so many smiles. It sounds corny but you really do complete our family and make it whole. I feel like there is a perfect balance among the four of us; it is not always apparent or in it's best form, but it is there more often than not. I love you so very much, and I am so proud of you, and so excited to see what you will do, my handsome TWO year old!

Love,
Mommy

Callen's 2nd Birthday Party

Callen's birthday is tomorrow. I can and can not believe it. Unfortunately his annual well check isn't until later this month so I don't know exact stats, but I can say that he is in 2T clothing only because it is just barely long enough but still *kind of* hugs his waist. I'm still constantly pulling up his pants and wishing that they were longer. Tall and skinny is an understatement. He is almost as tall as some of our 3 year old play date friends. No joke. No idea where he gets that height from....(*eye roll*)

Anyhoo! We had a smaller party for Callen this year due to his shyness around people he doesn't know very well. My parents were gracious enough to host it at their house; their beautiful and spacious back yard is one of the kids (and our!) favorite places to play and lounge, and luckily the weather held out long enough for us to have our party! It ended up being a really nice day weather-wise, cloudy and in the mid-70's.

We felt especially lucky to have Grandpa Mustache and Uncle Brent come in from Chicago, and Great Auntie Sharon come down from northern MN just for Callen's party. Nana had an art show in IL and couldn't get away, but we look forward to seeing her later this summer!

We did a vehicle theme due to Cal's complete obsession with wheels. I designed the invitations myself using images of various vehicles I found on the web; quick mask quickly became one of my favorite tools in photoshop! lol. I'll let the photos do the rest of the talking.

Being bashful as the guests start to arrive

Audia and Grandpa Mustache

Audia and Uncle Brent

Cal and his truck from Audia

The kiddos

Definitely impressed by the Cars toys!

Opening gifts

Workbench from Nana and Grandpa Mustache

All the kiddos

Hugs for Auntie Sharon

Audia's 4th Birthday

Our baby girl turned four on Saturday. FOUR. Growing at the speed of light. We had a party for her at the party room of our housing association; a nice, open space with lots of room for the kids to run around and very little for them to destroy. It was perfect.

Audia picked a Spider-Man theme for her party this year. She is very into Spidey the past few months and there was no question when I asked her what kind of party she wanted to have. We all had a blast.

 

As Audia gets older, it gets harder to keep track of milestones and interests as she seems to change so quickly in some ways while staying the same in others. It is fascinating to watch her try on different hats, so to speak, whilst keeping these core traits that are already so much a part of who she is. Her compassionate, willful, imaginative, outgoing, and silly nature are things that are steady and constant through everything else. She has been more shy with new people or people she hasn't seen in a while lately, but I can't help but feel like it's just a mask she is trying on, as she will say, either to me or to the very person whom she's shying away from "I'm being shy right now." Minutes later, she's over it and playing with that very same person.

As for her interests, obviously there is the Spider-Man obsession. She is also really into Fireman Sam and still really enjoys Yo Gabba Gabba when it comes to TV shows. Peter Pan, The Care Bears Movie, and 101 Dalmations are favorite movies of the moment (or year, as the case may be!) And as far as play, she loves her stuffed animals, care bears, legos, puzzles, and anything that makes music.
She surprises me regularly with her creativity and rhyming capabilities when she makes up songs about anything and everything.

She still adores her brother, although now that he is getting more and more independent, there is more 'arguing' that goes on between the two of them; fighting over toys and chairs and what-not as well as just general screaming at one-another is becoming more a part of day-to-day life. As an only child, I do find myself struggling to understand how they can be fighting one minute and best friends the next, but I love to watch their relationship grow and as long as they're enjoying eachothers company at least half of the time, I feel like we're doing ok there.

Happy, Happy Birthday, my dear sweet Audia. You enrich our lives in so many more ways than you will ever understand (until you have kids of your own!) We love you so, so much!!

Callen's First Birthday

One year ago today, I went from the most difficult (by a landslide) of my two pregnancies to the easiest (by a landslide) of my two labors and deliveries and gave birth to a big, beautiful baby boy.

Since that day, Callen has enriched our lives in so very many ways. He is proving to be much like his sister in that he always seems to do things his own way, though in many ways he is the Yin to his sister's Yang. Their different personalities really complement each other well, and they have become such great playmates, with a friendship that I feel so blessed to be able to watch blossom.

In the past four weeks, Callen has started saying 'hi' regularly, saying 'bye' when he waves bye-bye, saying 'ma-ma' and 'da-da,' signing 'more,' giving kisses, clapping his hands, dancing, getting off of the couches all by himself, and drinking out of a sippy cup.

This past weekend we had a little birthday party for Cal. Even though he skipped his afternoon nap, there were no meltdowns or tears shed; he was quite a trooper, and really seemed to enjoy himself!

I designed Callen's birthday invite from scratch using some ocean-themed clip art that I purchased. I used the clip art to also make a Happy Birthday banner (which I forgot to photograph. Boo!), a 'first year' banner (seen below), and to give to our favorite bakery for his cake (also seen below). My parents were gracious and let us use their house and beautiful back yard for what will hopefully be the last time (we are moving July 1st into a house that will actually be large enough so we can host our own parties! Yay!)

The invite

Wuollet Bakery does it again!

First year photo banner

Playing with Grandpa Mustache

With Daddy and Grandpa Mustache

With Daddy and Nana

Sissy did a great job of helping Callen open his presents

Showing Callen how his new CAT toy works

Audia loves to help with the clean up....I really hope this trait sticks!

Callen knew how to make 'Danny the Dinosaur' rock right away!

Our happy birthday boy!

Audia is 3!

Dear Audia,

Three years ago today you entered this world in your own way, and you've been doing things your own way ever since. I cannot even begin to put into words how you've changed our world, how you've changed us. You've taught us so much already about life and what's important. You have such a bright light inside of you, my darling. My goal is to make sure you know to always let it shine.

Here you are on the day you were born.

One year old

Two years old

Three years old

At age three, these are some of the things you are doing and are into:

You love, love, love to sing and dance! Some of your favorite songs are, in no particular order: 'Twinkle, Twinkle,' 'Distant Melody,' 'Don't Stand So Close to Me,' 'Be Mine,' 'Lullaby and Goodnight,' 'I'll Stand By You,' and every song in the Care Bears Movies from the 80's.

You are compassionate and sweet. If someone is hurt or sad or upset (or even if they aren't but you imagine that they are or should be,) you immediately try to console that person and to make the situation better. You love giving kisses and hugs and snuggling, especially with your baby brother.

You are insanely imaginative. You have entire conversations back and forth with all of your toys, and you regularly ask us to make the most random things talk to you: the sun, the trees, the car, and of course all of the characters from shows or movies you've seen recently.

Your favorite TV shows are: Dragon Tales, 30 Rock, Shaun the Sheep, Yo Gabba Gabba, Wonder Pets, Pee Wee's Playhouse, and The Backyardigans.

Your favorite movies are: Disney's Peter Pan, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Care Bears Movie, The Wizard of Oz, and The Aristocats.

You love to sort things and set everything out in vast piles, I'm assuming so you can see them all and admire your collections.

• You eat things most people assume kids don't/won't like: Asparagus, spinach, green beans, pickles, mushrooms, onions, and olives, to name a few.
• You love scary things. You love to spook people and to be spooked. The other day, while watching the Wizard of Oz, you said to me "Momma, I don't like the pink witch. I only like the green witch, 'cause she's scary!" And, you've locked into being a skeleton for halloween this year.
• You are still, and probably always will be, incredibly willful. If there is something you want to do, it sticks in your mind like glue and you will find a way to do it. Same goes for things you don't want to do.

Happy Birthday, my little munchkin. While part of me really wishes that time would slow down, and that you could stay our little girl forever, another part of me is so excited to watch you continue to grow and blossom into the amazing woman I know that you will be.

I love you more than words.