His other half

Last night, I babysat for a friend. Originally, I was going to go over at 3:30 and Cam would bring the boys over to play when they woke up from their nap, but Nash decided not to take a nap so he came with me instead. We had been playing for about an hour when their 3-year-old Ben asked me, "hey, where's the other half of him?" pointing at Nash. 

I loved that. His other half. My boys are as different as they come. They have different likes and dislikes, different personalities, different looks, different mannerisms, different fears, different ways to show affection, different ways to learn, but it just feels right when they are together. They're best friends. 

Gray

Granger has taught me a thing or two. There are the big, character changes, like learning more patience, more unconditional love, deeper feelings in general. Both boys have done that over and over again. Lately, though, Gray has taught me some surprising things. 

The kid has a sixth sense for vehicles. The first few times he said 'plane!' And I couldn't see one I would say 'nope, no plane right now. We'll have to look some more.' And every single time, just a few seconds later, a plane would appear. 

Also, there is a freight train in the fireworks castle scene in the "Walt Disney Pictures" opening sequence of any Disney movie. Did you know? Gray knows. I was shocked. He would get so excited and shout "train! Choo choo! Train!" It took me way too long to see what he saw. 

Granger was the easiest baby ever, and as many moms attest, easy babies make tough toddlers. He is no exception. Lately, we are working on not biting, stealing toys, throwing tantrums, and the like. He is mischief incarnate, constantly getting into, destroying, climbing on, throwing, kicking things. Still, it makes it all the sweeter when he brings me his blankie and lays his head down on my shoulder for a quick cuddle. 

Songbirds

The boys are expanding their animal vocabulary greatly. Everything from a cockroach to a squirrel to a bird used to be a puppy. And now they can point out dogs, horses, cows, birds, ducks, cats, bears, tigger, and lions. I credit the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear for most of that. It is a serious favorite. And the highlight is the white dog, because it looks like our Molly.  Granger declares "Mowwy!" with gusto every time. 

They are also starting to string words together. It is the cutest thing. My favorites are "where is?" from Nash because he puts his palms up and shrugs with this confused look on his face and "mowwy at?" from Granger because he emphasizes the t in at and it is so clear and defined compared to the rest of their speech. We are also big into greetings and goodbyes. We say goodbye to everything. Planes in the sky, diggers we see on our drives, each other, the house, sandwiches, the baby, etc. They also use hi or hello to get each other's attention (or mine or Cam's!) and also to express affection to any particular toy they happen to be really enjoying. 

We are working on our morning routine and chores. The boys learn so quickly when they know what to expect every day! Right now they know how to make their beds, put their dirty clothes in the hamper, put the cars in the basket, throw their diapers downstairs to be tossed outside, set the table and put their dishes in the sink after they eat. This morning, Gray spilled a few drops of milk and said "uh oh! Mess!" And I said, "what do we do when we make a mess? Would you like a rag?" he said "yeah!" And I gave him a rag and he mopped it up and then tossed his rag in the sink! Such a smart boy. 

The boys, especially Nash, love to sing. Anytime he hears music Nash either shakes his bum or starts singing. I completely adore it. The hymns at church are my favorite. I can hardly make it through them. They get so excited about singing as soon as the organ starts playing and belt their little hearts out. By the time the congregation is supposed to start, they've lost most of their gusto. So they get a nice little solo at the beginning of each hymn. So funny. I hope they always love to sing. I love hearing it! A child who sings is a happy child. 

Also, it is very hard to want to get out of bed when miss T is kicking like crazy. Saying hello to her first thing is my favorite part of waking up. 

Lately

The boys have said "no!" for a while now, but they just started answering affirmatively in the past month or so. It never gets old. So cute, every time. Granger says "yeah" and Nash is a little more proper with "yes." I also love hearing it because it means the guessing game of what they want is over. 

I have started singing a few songs to the boys at bedtime. The deal is they have to stay in bed if I am going to sing. I stop as soon as their little feet touch the floor. Nash asks me for a "'ong" quite often. It gives me so much joy that they love hearing me sing. 

Nash is pretty interested in baby girl. He says hi to her all the time and "bye, baby!" when he puts my shirt back down. He loves to give her kisses. Granger likes to jump on her. But he also loves to talk about her with me. We all show love in our own ways. 😉

I looked out the back door to check on the boys yesterday afternoon and they were laying down flat on their backs talking and pointing up at the sky. It is a dream come true for me to see their friendship with each other! 

They are learning to carry their dishes to the sink after every meal. It's a pretty tough job but it always gets a celebratory jump or high five or "ha!" with a victory fist when it happens. They impress me every day with how quickly they learn. 

I feel like the boys have at least 3 head injuries a week. Hopefully this is just a phase, but I KNOW we are headed to the ER at least twice in the next year. Gray especially is a daredevil. He loves jumping off things and climbing anything he can see. Gives me a heart attack. 

Gotta be quick!

Last night, Cameron got home around 10. He left at 5:30 that morning and studied all day long. He's been keeping that schedule for 13 weeks straight now. His brain is fried. When he got home he have me a kiss and then said, "did you cut your hair?" 

"...no..."

"Oh! You curled it!" 

"...yesterday." 

We're all pretty excited for Cam's mind to get a break come Friday. Haha. 

Playtime

Things just get better and better with Nash and Granger. They really are sweet. We have our tough times and struggles with learning new things, but there are so many fun new developments that seem to happen every day.

Today was rough. I really overdid it this weekend. I am at the stage where I can forget I'm pregnant. I'm not really sick anymore, I'm not very big. I'm feeling great! We went to the city lights downtown on Saturday. There was so much to see and we walked a ton. It was a blast. And just the family time we needed. Sunday, we got up and went to church early. Afterward, Cam and I made some yummy mexican food and he knocked out for a nap. I was reading a fantastic book and should have taken a nap but I didn't. Cam never takes a nap so when the boys started to stir, I went upstairs as fast as I could to try to let him sleep a little longer. It lasted for a good 45 more minutes! I was so grateful he got the sleep that he needed. After that, though, we had a quick dinner and I headed off to Stake Choir practice. Which lasted 3 hours. Ouch. I was so light-headed and sore afterward! Not to mention exhausted. We went right to bed after I got home, but I still didn't get enough rest.

Cam left for school at 5:15 like he always does, kissed me on the forehead on his way out the door. And 7:15 came far too quickly. I heard the boys. And I couldn't move. I could. not. open. my. eyes. Somehow I managed to get up and crack their door a bit so they could get out and hopefully play in the playroom. I snuck back into bed before they got their door open. It didn't last. I heard them make their way downstairs and I just prayed they didn't destroy the entire house. They came knocking on my door around 8 and I let them in, hoping they'd want to snuggle in bed for a while. Not a chance. They were both super poopy. I rallied and got them in the tub. I laid down where I could hear them well enough to not worry. It lasted 30 minutes due to a few squirts of dad's body wash to make some bubbles. They always smell pretty dreamy after a manly bubble bath.

I got up and got them dressed and managed to get them breakfast. Luckily, we had breakfast for dinner a night or two ago and had some leftover sweet potato/bacon hash. Unfortunately, I wasn't quick enough getting something in my own mouth and I puked up every last molecule that happened to be in my stomach. Ouch. They downed their milk and I made myself a quick protein shake. Anything for some energy! [Shortly after this, Nash gagged himself trying to be funny and actually threw up on the floor. Awesome.]

I let them play in the backyard afterward. 30 minutes again. We tried to play in the playroom. And by played, I mean I laid face-down on Cam's adjusting table and tried to convince the boys to adjust me. Which they actually love, but weren't very interested in today. 30 minutes again. We watched Handy Manny. Another 30 minutes. By now, it was only 11, and I was completely out of ideas and energy.

I finally got the mommy guilt off my back and decided today was a survival mode day. The quickest way to keep my bored boys from whining is to feed them. I popped a bowl of popcorn, put on the Veggie Tales Christmas special and sat between them on the couch. 45 sweet minutes of quiet and cuddling and kissing their soft heads. Even when I'm exhausted, I love being near them. Though I was grateful to the point of tears that they were finally sitting still.

The rest gave me enough oomph to get them some peanut butter sandwiches and cheese sticks for lunch and change their diapers for naptime. And then I crashed on the couch. It only took 30 minutes of deep, drooling sleep to feel human again. I woke up to creaking floorboards upstairs. They were awake again. It had only been a little over an hour since I put them down! Augh! Not today! I decided to give them 10 minutes because they weren't upset. And they went back to sleep. What a tender mercy.

90 minutes later, everyone was much happier. I went upstairs, got them out, and this time we really played in the playroom. Nash surprised me by pulling out this track we normally keep under the chair and grabbing his truck to drive on it. I found a dinosaur and another truck for Gray. This was the first time they put together that people drive the trucks and they had to have their little person in the driver's seat. One was the ever popular Hawaiian girl on her cell phone. The other was a construction worker. I played the part of the dinosaur. The boys would try to drive around the track without getting caught by the dinosaur. I would roar at them and chomp their car with the dinosaur and they would squeal and grab their car and run away. But they always came back for more.

Playing pretend is the best.

Oh, you boys. I've got a crush on you.

You're mocking me, aren't you?

One of my favorite things is watching the boys responding to the changes pregnancy brings. And I really am grateful they are able to find humor in all this, especially since for about 4 weeks, I was face down on the couch trying to keep it together and praying they didn't completely destroy everything.

They are pretty perceptive, though! Around 8 weeks, they noticed that the kitchen made me sick. Every time I went in the kitchen I gagged. I would take a few deep breaths, go in, get milk or breakfast or whatever for the boys as quick as I could, gag a few times, and get out. One morning, I was psyching up to get them milk and breakfast and I caught them running into the kitchen, making gagging noises, running out and just laughing their little heads off. Like throw your head back laughing.

Gray is also very interested in the baby in mom's belly. Every night, Nash says "bye guys!" as Cam and I tuck them in and shut the door. Gray says "bye baby!" He also likes pulling up my shirt to poke the baby. Which I also think he thinks is my belly button. Same same.

We love seeing pictures of other babies on Instagram. Any kid younger than them or smaller than them is considered a baby. Our favorites are cousin Charly and cousin Kenzee. [Em, I'm not sure how Kenzee got looped into the "smaller than them" category, but "Baby Ehnee!" is a fave.]

They are learning how to give loves right now. We don't really have a lot of stuffed animals and we have absolutely zero baby dolls, but we have an Ernie from sesame street, a puppy from some chiropractic school friends, and the monkey leashes. I love watching them cuddle and squeeze them. They always lay their heads down on top of whatever they are loving. Sweet boys.