I love you

I feel like every stage Preston gets to, I proclaim that, "I love this stage!" But really, I've loved every stage so far....except maybe those first few months of life, I liked them. Ok, so, there were things I loved, of course, but man were they hard. Now, life is just hard in a different way. I have the most rambunctious (almost) 18 month old that runs everywhere he goes. Wants to get into everything he shouldn't. Repeats almost everything I say. And my personal favorite, is listening to him quietly talk to himself, like he's trying to solve a world wide dilemma. He's so rambunctious it's exhausting. But at the same time, I wouldn't trade it for anything. How else are little boys supposed to be? I'll take three please!

He'll start singing at the store while we're shopping. Usually his ABC's, but occasionally it's baa baa black sheep, or twinkle twinkle little star. And I'm convinced that it's just a matter of time before he outsmarts me. Then the real trouble begins.

Little boys are the best. He's the best. And he sure makes being a mom pretty great. Sure he makes life exhausting, but is being a parent supposed to be any other way?

His laugh, his giggle, and those random moments when he runs up to me and gives me a big kiss just because, melts my heart. And then he had to go and ask me the other day if he could cuddle with me, and I had to melt all over again.

Being a parent, I give it 10 stars. 

17 Months of pure cuteness

The other day while we were driving in the car, Preston point blankly says, "Hi, how are you?"

As we were leaving the gym the other day, a cute older couple held the door open for us. As we walked through the door, Preston says to them, "Thank you!" -I'm glad he's learned his manners

When my parents were here last weekend, my mom was singing him the song "Pop Goes the Weasel" apparently Preston thought the word weasel was funny, because he kept repeting it over and over again laughing.

Whenever he hears you say a number, he'll start counting.

He'll wave and say "bye bye" whenever he's done with something and wants to move on to something new...lately it's been when I'm in the middle of conversations with my neighbors.

Our sweet next door neighbor has adopted Preston as her grandson, and is always doing nice things for him. The other day she bought a beach ball for him to play with, and I was telling him to say "Thank you, Carol." After that he ran all around the yard yelling, "Carol! Carol!" He'll even randomly call out her name when we pull into the driveway after running errands. Makes me laugh every time.

He's obsessed with his ABC's, and is always wanting to read all of the different ABC books we have. If you sing the song, he'll randomly chime in with the correct letter he knows comes next.

He's also pretty good at knowing what comes next in all of the stories we read, and usually finishes the sentences for us. He's a smarty pants.

And my favorite thing as of late is when he pretends to be a baby and fake cries. The kids a ham!

How I love this little boy of mine. He sure gives me a run for my money some days, but he really is the sweetest little boy there ever was.

October's Goal

I'd like to think septembers goal of being productive during nap time went fairly well, but, I'd be lying if I didn't say I had my fair share of naps, too...after I tidied the house, or did something else "productive" of course.

And here we are, already in October, HOW did that happen so quickly?

I've decided that this month's goal (although I may have slightly failed on the first of the month) is to not use my phone while I'm with Preston. It's so easy for me to get sucked into something useless on my phone....why did the world have to invent smart phones? While I love mine dearly, that's just the problem, I love it far too much, and I am subsequently sucked into it far too often. Curse that little piece of technology.

So, here's to giving my son far more attention, attention he both deserves and needs, and putting technology aside for awhile.

I like this goal.

Weekend Project

Preston LOVES to read. It's the first thing he wants to do when he wakes up in the morning, and the last thing we do before going to bed. Not to mention we read books all throughout the day. He's my little book worm, and I love that about him. Occasionally I'll catch him sitting in his room, books poured all over him,  just reading to himself...or at least looking at the pictures.  Often times he'll bring me the books he wants me to read to him. So we sit and read, and I love it, because he'll sit quietly in my lap and cuddle with me. Reading is the only time he actually sits still.

I've been reading to him since the day he was born. Reading is what put him to sleep as a newborn when nothing else worked. We'd sit and rock, and read and read and read, until the sound of my voice finally lulled him to sleep.

We love to read. And everyday he gets smarter and smarter with the things he remembers, the pictures he notices, and the phrases he reads along with me. I love our reading time together.

Ever since being in our "new" house, the corner in his room where the basket of books lies, and the glider sits, has felt incomplete. I knew I wanted to do something with that corner, but I didn't know what.

And then I saw this picture online somewhere, most likely Pinterest, and I was instantly obsessed. I knew I needed the corner in P's room to turn into that exact image. And Saturday was the day to make it happen.

So, we headed to Lowes, where John got his early birthday present...a new drill...we picked out just the right wood, and set home to put our plan into action.

And moments later, this came about. And, I'm equally obsessed, if not more, with the actual image of his room now, than the inspiration I saw online. There are still a few things missing, like a picture or phrase in that empty spot on the wall, but I love how its turned out so far.

I love weekend projects courtesy of a husband who turns my ideas into reality, and I love that we have a little boy who loves to read just as much as he loves to play in the dirt and eat rocks! 

Momma's Boy

Tantrums and outburst of "bad" behavior have their moments in our home, and trying to teach a 16 month old how to be polite, and not a complete pill seems a waste a time on occasion, but then there are those moments when I hear a "please" and a "thank you" and I'm given lots of big bear hugs and the sweetest little slobbery kisses that melt my heart a million times over, and it makes me think I'm doing something right as a mother.

I'm not perfect. And some days are less than perfect. But I look in those big blue eyes, and all I see is the sweetest little boy there ever was, and I never want him to grow old.

Tonight as I sang him a few songs and rocked with him before putting him in his crib, he grasped my neck as tight as he could, and then pushed his face away from mine, lips puckered, and gave me the sweetest kiss before resting his head on my shoulder, ready to go to sleep. All he needed was that kiss before he could entirely settle down into a peaceful slumber for the night. Those kisses are his assurance that everything is right in the world. And I hope those kisses never stop.

Moments like these I will always cherish. And in my heart I hope he never tires of wanting me by his side.

Capturing Memories

I don't know how long we'll be a military family, but that will be our status for at least the next five years. I've decided that everywhere we live, I want to have family pictures taken, if for nothing more than to capture what we considered "home" for a period of our lives.

So, one whiny and humid afternoon, while Preston was throwing tantrum after tantrum, and we were a total sweaty mess, we set out in our backyard with an amazing photographer, and crossed our fingers a few would turn out.

And this is what we got....

 

 

Completely in love with these, and what I love most, is that they were taken right out our door. We love where we live. Illinois, who knew you were so beautiful?

September's Goal...

 All thoughts of goals for the month have already been thrown out the window.

At first I thought I could blog everyday, since my blogging has been less than par these days. But, here we are three days into the month and that would mean I've already failed.

Next I thought I could manage my money better and not spend any on things we don't NEED. But, we've already gone out to dinner once and I just went to World Market to buy this darling drink dispenser I've been eying for months now...but in my defense, it's my birthday this month, and I had a $10 off coupon. I haven't lived near a World Market for the last THREE years, so after three years of a wasted $10 off coupon during my birthday month, I HAD to use it, you know?

Then I thought I could go off sweets again, because May was a rejuvenating month for me, but after eating this apple cake on Sunday, and nearly eating an entire container of Talenti gelato last night, I decided a repeat goal isn't needed, and it would have been an epic fail anyway.

So, I'm back to square one.

But I've just decided that this months goal will be to use Preston's nap time wisely. Maybe a lame goal, but usually when he goes down for a nap, I do, too. Or, I waste time online, and he's up before I know it and I've done nothing. Yesterdays nap time was actually productive, so I haven't totally butchered this months goal already. So, here's to using nap time more wisely and actually checking things off my to-do list.