Active Boy!!

It's been awhile since I've posted, and I am working tirelessly putting together details for Reid's upcoming birthday party (I can't believe he's almost one...sniff, sniff...)  But, I wanted to make note of how extremely active this little boy is and how tiring he is making his mama :)  He is always on the go, super quick, and although not walking yet, I almost feel like he's been walking for at least a month now!  A run down of what I'm talking about:

• constantly touching TV center, causing me to get back the gate we borrowed from my friend at Christmas for the tree
• up the stairs the second a gate has become free and throwing a minor fit when I pull him back down and put up the gate
• into any bathroom that has been left open and lifting up the lid of the toilet to start playing with the water...making me try and be consistent to just shut bathroom doors versus only putting the lid down
• climbing up the dishwasher door and hanging on the top shelf, not only from the door when it's down, but also on the side (like he's hanging on for dear life)
• hanging on to any gate that is put up, or climbing up the gate as far as he can
• getting his hands inside the 1-2 inch opening that occurs with childproof locks and pulling out whatever he can get his hands on (spices from the spice rack, the bottle cleaning brush, our dishwasher detergent!)
• lightening quick to the fridge if opened or dishwasher when down, or pantry as the door opens
• crawling underneath Micah's bed to get to the sound machine and then crying because he keeps hitting his head on the bed rails...until he figured out how to army crawl and now enjoys crawling under the bed even more
• pulling out every heating vent he can get his hands on, and moving things away that I try and anchor on top of the vent to prevent him from doing this
• pulling down the fan evey moment you get
• pushing down your heater every moment you get
• opening up the cabinets under the sinks no matter how many times I pull you away

While the list could probably go on, I think this is the majority of what Reid can do in a single days time!  I seriously do not remember Micah being this active, though my memory might be failing me.  I do know Micah was walking by this point, but Reid must think he's so quick crawling everywhere that there's no need to figure out how to walk :)

His "Little Man" party is this weekend, and I received a call today from the Park District informing me that there's a high probability that the shelter we reserved would be closed due to flooding of the Fox Valley River that is within 15 feet of the park.  Joy.  I am super excited about his birthday and have really worked on a number of minute details to make it unique, I just pray we are able to have it as originally planned (although it's not looking promising on location or weather:( )  We will have a great time, regardless though, celebrating the joy Reid has brought to our life this year...active boy and all!

Parenting with 4

Kids, two of which we were babysitting for (obviously :)).  This was last weekend - and while it was just shy of 24 hours, I was definitely tired the following evening.  Thankfully Kate and Alex are well behaved, and it was nice to have another girl in the house for me, haha.  Alex and Micah get along quite well, we have vacationed to Glen Arbor with them before, and it's fun to watch a friendship budding.  Kate is about 7 months older than Reid, so they were a little more on par with each other...and for once, Reid was the instigator!  Usually it's Christian or I telling Micah to stop taking things away from Reid, but this time we were telling Reid to stop taking things away from Katers, haha.

My friend Laura and her husband had an adult evening planned in the city and asked if we would mind watching their kids, which worked out well, especially since they are taking Reid for us for about 36 hours this upcoming weekend!  Christian and I are headed to Louisville to run (me a marathon, him a half) and taking Micah with us.  Seeing that it was such a short trip with a bit of driving, I didn't want to subject Reid to that craziness and Laura kindly offered to watch Reid for us.  While I'm a bit sad about leaving him, I know he'll be in good hands.

Anyways - we had a good time with Alex and Kate and hope that they had the same!

 Kate would keep saying "no" when Reid would get close to her :)  She was definitely protective of her toys!

 

Food is a time when all can be happy, that's for sure!

The only minor issue we ran into was bedtime, as Alex was sleeping on the floor in Micah's room.  Micah has NEVER slept with anyone before, so we were a little bit anxious about how it would pan out.  Well, Alex ended up falling asleep in mine and Christian's bed and then I moved him back in to Micah's room when we went to bed.  He was completely happy with this plan, just wanting to ensure that Micah would indeed be asleep when we went to move him back :)

The next morning, all four kids were happy, we ended up getting out the door and early to church!  That is a minor miracle in and of itself considering we are rarely early with our own two.  I guess a 5:40 awakening time might have helped that...

Ready for church and back at the puzzles!  

Small Group Easter Hunt

These are clearly a little overdue, but since it's become a tradition in our small group and I have a post the last two years with this time, I wanted to make sure to include some pictures from it this year as well.  We were a bit rushed to the event, as Christian and I both had runs in the morning, but we made it right after Reid's morning nap, so it wasn't really too bad. 

The boys, though Micah more than Reid of course, had a great time hunting eggs and I know it's an event they will continue to love as long as we do it!

 

Reid was enthralled with the grass.  It's really the first time he's been able to experience it, and he was really checking it out.

 

Lots and lots of kids...and it doesn't even include our entire group!  They just keep getting older :)

 

Reid was ready to steal Gabe's stash, haha.

 

The girls that were there.  We are missing a boy picture...

 

Super hero Micah! 

We had a good day, and Micah continues to talk about wanting to find Easter eggs in his bucket...I feel that I should make this more than a once a year activity.   :)

Brookfield Zoo

I must admit, the weather this spring has been quite perplexing.  It's been much colder than normal, with snow days in March, and I'm currently still wearing my winter running gear mid-April (which I'm not super excited about, considering I have a marathon in about 2 weeks in Louisville and am afraid it's going to kick my butt because of the warm weather I might get...).  The point of this post, however, it not my running :).  It's the weather, and the fact that we have had a few glimpses of warmer days.  One of those was last week, so we decided to join my friend Katie and two of her three kiddos for a fun morning at the zoo.  This was actually Reid's first time to go to the zoo, so I wanted to make sure I was able to get documentation of it.

 

 

Watching the giraffes, holding his own.

 

We were literally this close to these beautiful animals.  And there was also a baby giraffe, which was fun to see. 

 

Sam and Reid - yes he's wearing a hat and gloves and it's April...but the day did get warmer!

 

Sweet picture of Ellie, Micah and Sam checking out the polar bears.

 

Reid is going to be a challenge, I'm afraid, at parks this summer unless he's able to conquer that walking thing (which I do think he's close - just not sure how close!) but I love this sweet picture of him and Micah sliding.

 

Although blurry, it's clear that he's having a great time riding down with big brother!

 

Reid in the Ergo - and it's been awhile! - but the only other way to carry him if not in the stroller.  He wasn't a huge fan, just wanted to get out and explore himself...in time, little man!

It was a really fun day - and the boys even made it home before falling asleep, therefore getting in naps in their own beds (actually, I think Micah didn't nap, but that's becoming more of a regular occurrence at least a couple times a week).  I'm so grateful to be so close in proximity to one of my best college roomies, and to be able to participate in each others lives on a regular basis.  It's a blessing I try not to take for granted! 

Praise the Lord!

I love, love, love listening to my sweet boy singing praise songs to Jesus!  Melts my heart :)

And a second one, just for fun, even though the two are pretty much the same.

Park!!

It's getting warmer!!  Ok, only slightly, as you see my boys below still dressed super warm for the outside.  BUT, they are outside!  I am running with them, and they are playing at a park.  That is progress for sure, even if they are still wearing winter coats and hats :).  We had a great day last Saturday, enjoying the time together.  I left the house first for part of my run, and then Christian met me after Reid woke from his nap and we ran a little together.  I then turned around and headed to the park while Christian finished up the rest of his run...truly a great day and one I'm hoping we're able to repeat more and more as the winter weather starts to leave us. 

 

Both boys look like such goobers here, haha.

Reid in the swing for the first time!!  Micah did not want to be left out, so he too wanted to swing in the baby swing.  Worked for me, because then I could push them both!

 

Micah loves this slide, head first and all.  And Reid enjoyed going down it too, I just couldn't get a picture with him on it.  This is actually the same park we are having Reid's birthday party at in just a little over two weeks (sniff, sniff...how is he almost 1??), and I know the kids will enjoy it!

 

Sweet boy happy after nap, in his "ITALIA" shirt.  Uncle Jeff and Aunt Liza had given this to Micah and it was the first time Reid had worn it, so I wanted to take a picture of him in it.  

"So Big!"

He is Risen

He is Risen, indeed!

What a great reminder of the miracle of Jesus Christ, rising from the dead.  Dying for our salvation, for our eternity, for the sin in our hearts.  An amazing Lord who sent His son, and then turned His back on Him while on the cross so that we could live.  What an amazing, humbling truth that I am beyond grateful for.

"But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his stripes we are healed."
- Isaiah 53:5

And to see it through the eyes of a child, exciting and so innocent and with an exuberance for learning and soaking in all of God's goodness.  Micah's prayers the past few days have been "Thank you for the cross.  Thank you for coming back to life."  Oh, it just melts my heart and helps me feel that through God's grace we are doing something right.

We had a good Easter, just the four of us, which began the day with early risers :)  We had to get to church a little early, as we were helping out in the 2s today, so I was okay with the early risers.  Although Reid did end up falling asleep in nursery (never happened before!) as he was up early and just getting over his sickness from the week.  It probably worked out better, however, because we just let him take his cat nap and then did our photo shoot with both boys after.  I know it's said this before, but I just love my boys, love my husband, and thank God for blessing me with such a fantastic family!

 

 

 

After lunch and naps, the Easter bunny hid 21 eggs that Micah had a blast finding!  So much joy and excitement when he found another egg.  I wish we could have captured that true childhood innocence more that we did, but I'm pretty pleased with our set of pictures from today...

"Egg!"

 

Very excited about finding all 21 eggs!

 

Back in the 'basket' and then heading indoors to check out all the loot inside.  

 

Reid was napping during the egg finding, but I informed Micah that the Easter bunny had left all the purple ones for Reid.

 

And he was very excited to show Reid how to open the egg and find what was inside!

 

Reid was very happy with his loot :)

 

"So Big!"

 

"Let me show you this very cool egg, Da-da!"

 

Ah, such sweet moments with my boys.  Praying the grow up to be good, good friends!

Such a genuine smile; such a happy boy.  Love.

"Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus." Romans 6:8-11