Civil War Reenactment

About a month ago, a Groupon popped up for tickets to a civil war reenactment. We figured that even if this was super lame, it would still be awesome. We prepped Nicholas for the big day. We described it as a party where people were going to shoot some guns and maybe even a cannon, which was a big gun. He was ecstatic for his "shooter party." (Almost everything we go to we describe as some sort of party.)

It was rainy, but we had lots of fun. We visited the Confederate and Union camps. We walked through the old town. At 11, they did a town raid. The Union soldiers took the town and then the Confederate soldiers took it back. Nicholas loved this until the shooting started. He started bawling very noisily. He insisted, "I need to GO HOME. I need to GO HOME. Mama lets go back to the car. I need to get in my car and go HOME and watch MICKEY. Mama." I pulled out the juice, chocolate pudding, and fruit snacks I take on each outing in case things get rocky. It bought us a little bit of time, but Nicholas bawled through most of the raid.

After the shooting stopped, Nicholas started enjoying our outing again. He made friends with the blacksmith. He loved watching the fire and the hammer. He tried to throw a rock in each of the "piddles" he passed. He took a tumble into some mud, declared himself "all messy," and had a great time holding the umbrella.

The small church in the little village.

Nicholas watching the Blacksmith

Lexi was an angel. She put up with the cold and the loud noises. She was so good that we spent the rest of the day testing to make sure she hears okay. I guess she is accustomed to big brother making loud noises.

Nicholas at 29 months

Weight: 31.4 lbs

Height: 3 ft

Nicknames: My Destroying Angel and Squeeber

Security Object: Monkey Blanket

Favorite Show: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. His love for Mickey is extraordinary. We spend a lot of time acting out Mickey when we are not watching it. One of his favorite things to do is to drop things down various holes and cracks. Then he gasps, puts his hands over his mouth, and announces, "Oh dear. My (insert object) has fallen down this hole. We need a mouseketool to get it out. Oh, Toodles." Sundays are hard on us all because we don't let him watch Mickey.

Progress Towards Potty Training:

I asked him the other day if he wanted to sit on the big potty or his little potty. He thought about it and then said, "How 'bout we just go sit on the couch."

Big Accomplishment:

He has been binkie free since last Sunday!

The Terrible Twos:

He is a very sweet, but very busy child. He is the most talkative little two year old that I have ever met. He is always so excited about life and he has the most interesting things to tell me all the time. He also always has an opinion. He loves choosing things and getting to make decisions. He is great at expressing what he needs and that makes life great. He always has a great idea of something he wants to do to entertain himself. He surprisingly is happiest when he is playing at home with me. I do try to get him out of the house once a day, but it is a battle.

He is a great playmate. It does sometimes seem like I have to keep a three ring circus of fun going all day long in order to keep him happy. If I don't give him my complete attention, he goes and finds something to destroy or some mess to make. It just isn't worth the effort to try and do something while he is awake. If I stop paying attention to him for five minutes, I end up spending the next ten minutes cleaning up some mess he made. I'm running out of good hiding places for things. He can now open doors and climb on things to get whatever he wants. It is time for another round of baby proofing. We are contemplating building a big gate to keep him out of the kitchen.

I also never knew that the terrible twos were contagious. When Nicholas has a bad day, I find myself whining to Joseph like a petulant child. "I never get to go anywhere I want to? I never get to do anything I want to do? I don't want to clean my house/room? Nicholas isn't nice to me. He hit me. I'm bored. I want to do (insert activity here) all by myself." Poor Joseph is so good at helping when I get desperate. Some days he calls to check if he still has a son.

Favorite Games:

• Catch
• Golf
• Baseball
• Shadow puppets on the wall
• Bubble Baths
• Craft time
• Play Dough
• Playing on the iPad
• Hide and Seek
• Setting up his tent
• Making Forts
• Sandbox
• Bug Hunts

Phrases:

• "I need, I need, I need, I need...."
• "That's a good idea Mom."
• "How 'bout..."
• "Maybe after we sing a song and say a prayer we go to nursery." (We hear this a lot during church.)
• "Where's my Nicholas?" (He will say this when he wants me to come find him.)
• "Thank you for making all this food."
• "Fold those arms Papa" (when it is time for prayer)
• "I need you to help me get back to sleep."
• "That's too scary."
• Nicholas came out of his room after being put down for a nap. Here is how our conversation went: "I'm back. I'm running away." He then started giggling hysterically as he ran around the table.
• In the morning, Nicholas wakes up and will tell me one of two things. Option number one: "Yeah!!! I woke up." Option number two: "I did take my naps and did not open the door. Now it is time to watch Mickey."
• The other day I think Nicholas had his first nightmare. He woke up crying, which is very unusual. I went in and asked him why he was cry. He reported, "Mama's two friends came and took her to the movies. She said I be right back." I asked him, "Are you sad because you couldn't come with Mama?" He responded with the saddest, "Yeah." What a sweet little moment. His big fear is having Mama leave him.
• Sometimes, Nicholas likes to be left alone. He will tell me, "Mama take a break." He usually tells me this when I won't let him destroy something and he doesn't want me to stop him.

Attitude Toward Lexi:

• Lexi is getting more interactive so Nicholas is starting to take notice of her. He has a few rituals that he likes Lexi to participate in. For example, he likes to take bubble baths with his letters and have Lexi stand in her walker next to the bath. He then makes her letter towers on her little tray.
• He calls her "my Lexi."
• He cries in the car if Lexi cries because he thinks it is scary.
• He likes to lay next to Lexi on Lexi's blanket and watch Mickey. He will keep telling her, "We are watching Mickey."
• He loves to give Lexi her blanket. We are working on not covering Lexi's face when he does this.

Nicholas loves going on bike rides to Campion Trails. His favorite part is throwing all these rocks into the near by river.

He loves playing with his magnets and sticking them on the ironing board.

We have TONS of crane flies (the ones that look like giant mosquitoes). Nicholas calls them Mister Bugs. He likes to look for them and they are our little pets when they get into our house. Here he is drawing Mister Bug a picture and he had me write him a letter.

Nicholas' first ice cream cone on Valentine's Day. Right after this we got it put into a dish.

We did a photo session after church one day at Nicholas' favorite statue park.

Nicholas all ready for church in his puppy vest and with his glasses.

He loves singing "If you are Happy and you Know it" at story time.

I was trying to teach Nicholas about mixing colors.

He insists on wearing one Elmo slipper and one shark shoe.

He loves arts and crafts. Here he is making a bird at the Dallas Museum of Art.

He wanted a hat like Mickey's crown on Minnie's Masquerade.

He loves blowing himself and Mom's hair with the blow dryer.

He loves it when Papa helps him make a "Nicholas."

Lexi and Nicholas watching Mickey.

Nicholas' leprechaun.

Nicholas loves making shapes and long lines with his magnets. Nicholas loves shapes right now. He likes to make triangles, circles, diamonds, and squares with his fingers.

Nicholas building Lexi letter towers while he is in the bathtub. I love the look Lexi is giving Nicholas in this picture.

Nicholas and Lexi in their "special" chairs

.

We took Nicholas when we went to play whirlyball. He loved the arcade games. He yelled, "Look at all these toys." He had so much fun pushing all the buttons and driving all the car games. I LOVE that he likes them more when we don't put the quarters in them.

It took Nicholas 30 minutes to drink this chocolate milk with his spoon. It was 30 great minutes!! I love those surprising moments when they happily entertain themselves doing something you would never expect.

Lexi at 4 months

On Friday, two wonderful things happened. Joseph finished his Surgery rotation, and Lexi turned four months old. I can't believe that for half of her life Joseph has been on his surgery rotation. I'm happy that Joseph will be around more to see his cute little girl. No one is happier about being done with this rotation than Joseph:) Every time he had a hard day, I would give him Lexi to hold for a few minutes to cheer him up. It always works.

Weight: 18 lbs with diaper and sleeper (Her last weight was with a diaper and sleeper. These weights are also taken on our home scale so they aren't exact.)

Height:25 inches

Head Circumference: 16.5

Percentile: Length= between50-75%, Weight=Above 95%, Head Circumference= between 50-75%

Clothing Size: 6-9 and 9 month tops, 3-6 month pants

Eye Color: Blue

Sleep Schedule: None. She likes to still get up at least twice in the night. She has started to go to bed a little earlier. I need to get her on a good routine. I think I have been so sleep deprived with Joseph being gone all the time and Nicholas being SO ACTIVE and waking up at 6 or 6:30 every morning that I have been just in survival mode. My other excuse is that I love our special snuggle time at night. Nicholas dominates my time during the day, so it has been nice to snuggle her at night.

A Few Things About Lexi:

• She explores her world using her little tongue. She likes to smack it, suck on it, and lick fuzzy things. She also likes to lick the wind. She surprisingly doesn't drool much.
• She can almost roll over if she could just figure out how to move her arm out of the way. She really has no major interest in being on her belly. She just wants to be able to lick the blanket underneath her. She can roll over with a little help from Nicholas.
• She still carries on the greatest coo conversations and loves it when anyone talks to her. She still loves it when you sing the ABCs.
• She loves to look at the iPad and enjoys watching Mickey with Nicholas. (This is so different than Nicholas at this age.)
• She doesn't like her pacifier and still won't take a bottle. (This is also very different from Nicholas.)
• She is very patient if she gets hit or sat on.
• She likes to sit in her Bumbo.
• She has gotten very good at getting her hands into her mouth. It is fun to watch her gain some control.

She is still just a sweet, angelic, snugly, piece of heaven on earth. I just LOVE my little girl. I LOVE this stage of life.

This movie is not the greatest but it is the best example of Lexi's active tongue.

Lexi hanging out in her pajamas in her Bumbo.

Lexi dressed up for Valentine's Day. (Joseph thought she looked like a cute little mime.)

Nicholas and Lexi in their little matching outfits. Sadly, I tried really hard but this was the best photo I got out of the two of them. The day was too cold when we took them out and Nicholas wasn't in a posing/listening mood.

Lexi hanging out in her stroller at the park.

Can you blame me? Everyone who looks at those cheeks wants to do it.

Lexi hanging in the backyard looking so cute.

Look at that sweet smile.

This is her gangster look. She thought she was all tough in her cupcake hoodie.

One more because I know everyone is like me an can't get enough of this little cutie!

Lexi is playing store. She had an ice cream shop.

Lexi at story time at the library.

Lexi has recently made friends with Nebi the dinosaur.

Lexi doing her tummy time.

Lexi at 3 months

Lexi is such a joy!! We are so in love with this little bundle. She is so sweet and considerate. She waits patiently for the most part until Nicholas is down for his nap or asleep to get in her time with Mom. She is full of smiles and coos. I just LOVE having a baby in the house again. She also brings back so many great memories of when Nicholas was a baby, because I think they look just a like.

Lexi makes me feel wonderful every time I am near her. She gets as giddy as a school girl if anyone pays even the littlest bit of attention to her. She starts kicking her legs and smiling when I glance her way. If you talk to her, she will laugh and coo back. She just worships you.

Weight: 17.5 lbs (I think her checks alone weigh a pound each)

Height: 2 ft

Clothing Size: 6 month

Eye Color: Blue (They are fading to a lighter and lighter blue)

Hobbies:

• Licking fuzzy things
• Staying up late and hanging with Mama
• Refusing to take a bottle
• Sucking her binkie only when she is VERY tired
• Cooing at people (She likes it when you get close to her and do super huge grins.)
• Sleeping in her carseat
• Laughing hysterically when I sing her the ABCs.
• Rubbing the hair on the back of her head off
• Snuggling
• Long walks around the house
• Slipping her hands out of her swaddle
• Wearing cute outfits
• Sleeping in random places and in awkward positions
• Convincing people to hold her
• Getting her checks kissed by Mama a MILLON times a day
• Sucking on her hand when she finds it

Sleep Schedule: None

Most Surprising Thing: She doesn't drool or spit up like Nicholas did.

Here she is in her pajamas and a hat hanging out in our backyard.

I'm so glad to finally have another girl in the family to help me with girly things. The above pictures are of our girls afternoon out to Ikea. Lexi had a fabulous time and gave me great advice about which curtains to buy. While we were out, two different children asked if Lexi was a real baby.

Lexi snuggling with Grandfather Muhlestein.

Nicholas thought he would help Lexi catch up on some of her reading. She didn't make one noise while he piled these books on top of her. She just seemed happy to be included.

She is sporting the best baby hairdo ever. She has got a giant bald spot in the back and a little tuft of hair that loves to stick up at the top. L