Disappearing Summer

It is just unfathomable to me that it is somehow already the middle of August. We have had very few Summer feeling days despite the rest of the country dealing with record breaking temps. Maybe we can hold out for at least weeks. One can hope!!

I feel like I never have time to just sit down and release everything in my head. I'm still adjusting to having Joe's schedule change. Since the restaurant is now serving dinner, he leaves around 8am every day, getting home at 8 or later. Makes for a long day for this mama!

And everyday most definitely has its share of ups and downs. So often Holland and Talin are the happiest siblings. ever. And they run around and squeal in delight and fall into some wonderfully imaginative game instantly. They both just love bubbles and Talin is amazing at blowing his own bubbles! Or, they'll play outside randomly each running inside to bring me a leaf that they picked from a bush. Or, Holland will pretend to be a teacher and "teach" Talin how to "read" and all sorts of other things. While, he attentively is the eager student. It's moments like these that make my heart swell.

But, of course, then out of the blue, Talin will try to grab something that Holland has. And Holland over reacts knocking Talin on the floor. And he starts crying because his feelings and body are hurt. And Holland is crying and yelling because Talin has crumpled up the paper that was in her hands. And she wants me to find some tape right now to fix it. But, Talin refuses to let me put him down. And I have food in the oven that I need to take out and the buzzer is beeping. But both kids are screaming and crying. And my phone is ringing. And all of a sudden, I am aware that I haven't peed in God knows how long and I need to go. Ah, it's moments like these that make me wonder how I will get through the day!

But, somehow we do get through the day. And, hopefully before long, something wonderful will happen. Or at least at some point, most likely not when I would choose, they will both be peacefully asleep and I think to myself what a lucky mama I really am.

And, oh how they are growing so fast! I can't even begin to mention all of the new things that Talin has learned in a seemingly crazy short time. His comprehension is just crazy impressive. You can ask him to do just about anything and he either runs and gets what you tell him to, or brings a cup to Holland, etc or he just looks at me, shakes his head and says, Noooo!" with such attitude! He still will not say "dad" even though he totally can. He prefers to call dad, "mom" and it cracks me up. I did think that the week where instead of calling him a name and just making his piggie sound if you asked him to say "dad" was even funnier though!

He loves to wear hats, except his sun hat. He really loves a white "Easter" hat with flowers all over it. And I have to admit, he looks adorable in it! He loves to "count" before he does anything, by saying, "duh, duh, duh, GO!" And then he will run or do whatever he going to do, and then yell, "YEAHHHH!" And he has a way of saying "bye-byyyyyaaah" with a crazy cute high pitch second syllable that melts my heart.

And now it's much to late for my brain to think of anything else! Hopefully it won't be Fall before I have time to share more!

Bragging Rights

Well, that was easy enough! I will definitely try to post those little moments that make life special more frequently now. My, how technology helps the cause. Thanks iphone!

I wish I could just capture all the thoughts in my head I have had over the last month and somehow manage to get them down on paper, or er... screen. Talin has seriously turned into the silliest boy full of some serious personality lately. Others often use the word smug to describe him. Oh, how he is! He can just have the most deadpan expression while looking you in the eye and doing something he knows is funny. He loves to be a little stunt man, all while having this hilarious, smug expression on his face. He often seems SO much wiser than his almost 19 months.

And again, he is learning things left and right. He can now point to just about any body part (eyes, nose, head, ears, tongue, fingers, belly, toes, etc) knows many animal sounds (pig, monkey (ooh-ooh-ah, ah!), dog, kitty, lion, horse, owl and more) and has really just absorbed a phenomenal amount of awareness recently. He has a serious love for his favorite shoes- Vans with blue hippos. Do not try to put another pair on him- he hates them all! He will grab his shoes and yell "shh" and want them on. And as soon as the shoes are on, he is grabbing the front door knob and ready to get out the door.

And my second bragging right of the day... This weekend Holland had her first little performance from her ballet she has taken since January. She was in a production of, "The Mermaid" and her class was only onstage a few minutes, but her dedication was just great. She just took the whole ballet thing so seriously. She really enjoyed being a little ballerina and now just asks repeatedly when she will get a chance to be in the Nutcracker. But, we are going to take a little ballet break and might sign her up for gymnastics this week!

And again, I have to brag that my two are just amazing siblings. There are the occasional tears or shouting matches, but seriously, 85% of the time they are golden. Holland is such a fantastic big sister who earnestly tries to make her little brother happy. And Talin just has so much adoration for his big sister and lives to have her attention (which he almost always has.) No one can cure the Talin blues like Holland. He can have him from full out crying to laughing hysterically in seconds. I am such a lucky mama to have these two.

Check out my style!!
That is one of Holland's favorite sayings as of late and it cracks me up every time! I finally joined the tech world we live in and got a new phone. What fun! So I am going to test to see if it really is this easy to post to my blog. If it is, maybe o can finally start sharing the little tid bits that make my heart warm each day.

Forgotton words and videos

I have no bit of my brain left in me at this point in the night... But, I have been thinking about a few words I forgot to mention in my last post that Talin is currently saying and I know in a year, or two or 4 I will want to read back on this. (and this mama doesn't write anything down on paper anymore; oh no!) Drumroll please....:

hot (and he says it so cute always using his hand to show that he feels something hot, or pretends to...)
cheese (see video below!)
poo poo (and he will point at his bum when he says this.)

Maybe I will try to remember to update on here as I recall the other new words.

I am also going to attach a video of Holland the other evening. She had made an awesome song, "Roar goes the Lion" that had quite a few verses, but pretty much just said that over and over once I got out the camera. Oh well; still cute...

Busy days!

How can the month of May almost be over? How?! Time is going by much too quickly for my liking. Everyday seems to jam-packed with places to go, people to see... Holland is busy taking both ballet and swim lessons and her preschool ended last week. And, we often have playdates and I have been working at the restaurant some. I often feel like I am constantly rushing and hurrying my littles off to some other destination. So, the times that we can just stay and be are actually rather nice! I am feeling guilty because both today and last Wednesday we skipped swim lessons simply because Talin was still napping and I did not have the energy to rush off again. Ah well...

Lately everytime I look at Talin I am convinced he has grown even more. He is figuring things out so well and is a very silly guy. He found a pair of little sandles he had outgrown and insisted that they belonged on the counter in the kitchen in front of the sink today. If I tried to move them, he threw a little fit. Sit them back, he was completely pleased. He also has quite the hankering for throwing things away, or putting things in either the bathtub or toilet. It is pretty handy when he finds a small piece of paper and throws it away. Not so much for the wii remote that is now forever gone.

Holland's first little ballet performance is coming up in a few weeks. It is a little insane how her approx 3 min onstage is causing so much time and energy! She will be a catfish in "The Little Mermaid". She loves ballet and takes her dancing very seriously. It will be fun to watch the entire production but I won't lie; I will be happy to have the stress over.

I was trying to think of Talin's current vocab. Here is what I can think off the top my head:
go, bye, mama, dad, uh-oh, bubble, more, ball, snack, whee, hi, hello, nigh-night, peek a boo, book

I know he is saying a lot more that I am not paying enough attention to and not able to discern what it is... But, I know that he is definitely trying to communicate much more than we are aware. Up until about 2 weeks ago, he had the ability to say words but just showed no desire to talk much. It is so exciting watching him mimic us and repeat whatever we say. His snoring is totally adorable!

Ah, the changes in a month!

It has been a month of living in our new house. A month of walking around feeling like I am in a dream. A month of making dinners in my kitchen feeling amazed at the vast amount of storage and counter space. A month of my children happily riding their scooter and bike back and forth, back and forth. A month of listening to happy laughter (for the most part) from my two as they run and play outside. It has been a good month.

Sure there are still difficulties, but man, is it nice to have our place- and SPACE! And light! I really was just craving natural light. And this house is great. It may be small (1250 sq), but it honestly is the nicest home I have lived in my adult life. And it is so perfect for our little family.

And, we have now had our restaurant up and open for 2 weeks now! It makes life different for certain, and I am trying to have my hand in that while still being the main caregiver to my active littles, but it is good to be going.

Today was/is April Fool's Day. I explained to Holland what the "holiday" is all about and man did that girl have fun with it! Every 2 min- "mom!- I just saw a giraffe outside!- APRIL FOOLS!" It was fun. And then we tried to play a trick on Joe after he came home saying I went out running (in the pouring rain!) and left her and Talin by themselves while I hid in her room. She played off the prank so well!

Talin is changing crazy fast lately. Seemingly overnight, he is communicating so much! His vocabulary now consists of: bye or buh-bye, go, ball, hi, hello, nigh-night, uh-ohhh, mama, dada, sshh, yeah, and....? I feel like I am forgetting something! His non-verbals- he totally gets the whole head shaking "no" thing and has no problem using that. (ie- Talin- do you want a bite?" big head shake!- the kid almost never eats. And then about every 3rd day, he eats!!) And his new favorite trick is showing where his belly button is. And he can now show where his toes are also. He is so full of expressions and crazy adorable.

Oh, so much more to say. No more waiting a month to share, you hear!

Big changes

These past few weeks have resulted in some very big changes around here! To get off my most exciting news: we signed a lease on a perfect, little house and will begin moving in this weekend! Hooray! I Think it is just going to be fantastic for our family. It will probably be the nicest home we have ever lived in. And, with our stress level being high, and Joe going to be gone so much getting the restaurant off the ground, ah- it is going to be so great.

A really sad, but necessary change is that we have rehomed Modoc. I am entirely emotional about it. I was the one that was complaining relentlessly about him; being driven completely crazy with his barking and crazy antics. Yet, I think I am the one that misses him the most. He was not happy; he was cooped up, had no job, direction or outlets. He was grumpy and growled and barked, and snarled all day. He bit me twice in the last 2 weeks. It was so hard to do, but we found a new home for Modoc: the perfect home. He is living by a beach, with a fantastic couple and another corgi. He is doing fabulous. As Holland said before we made the trip to give him to his new owners, "You know, mom; I think Modoc is going to be okay. But, we are going to be sad." So true. Sometimes I think she is so wise for just four.

Talin continues to amaze me with all the little things he is learning daily. He is not terribly keen on learning a huge vocabulary quite yet, but I know that it is all in his head just waiting... His favorite word is still "GO"! always said with much enthusiasm. He will say "ball" on cue, but always repeats it at least a time or two "baw, baw, baw". He loves to tilt his head to match the direction someone else's head is, lean in and sweetly say, "hi". Melts my heart. He loves to do running hugs into me. I love it.

Nothing makes me feel so much love as seeing my two loving each other. They are wonderful siblings. I know I mentioned this before, but I just love it. Everyday Holland and Talin have a "Dance Party!". They go into Holland's room, turn on the music, run around each other, play with stuffed animals, making each other laugh and enjoy each other. Today, the dance party turned traumatic however. Somehow, while Holland ran out to get something to add to the party, Talin got locked in the room by himself. It is not a normal lock, and I could not get that thing open for the life of me. I called Joe all stressed out. And of course Talin is freaking out on the other side of the door screaming and crying. Argh. Finally!, I was able to use a butter knife to pry the door open. That better be the last time I have to do that!!

Well, this will be my last post from this little home. It has been a difficult year. But, there is a big light at the end of the short tunnel. Yeah!