It's a Wonderful Life

So much has happened in so little time! Let's do a recap:
Brody and Krista got married which was super awesome!! Congrats to them - hope all is going well!
Katie and Mike came back for the wedding, Nic and Mitch came down from Minneapolis and we all hung out and acted crazy and had a super great time together.
The kids stayed with Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Den and had lots of fun there:) Tom and Teya and the girls visited Saturday night and spent some time with the babes.

I went back to work - just part-time, which we are loving! I don't have to be to work until 8:30, so there's no waking the kids at 5am, no rushing around to get out of the house early, and then I get off at 3:00 so there lots more time in the afternoon to play and still get all the work done that inevitably has to be done. It has been super busy at work to get everything done in 30 hours, but so far it's getting done. I am moving into a Project Coordinator position and we hired a new lady to man the front desk and do all the admin stuff, so I'm looking forward to what that brings. This starts this coming Monday so it will be a transition, but I'm hoping it's a good one!

Libby is 20 months now and she is still learning 100 mph. She is starting to sing her ABCs, she wants to "read myself" (and do everything herself), she is speaking full sentences - using pronouns and verbs and "the" and it's just so amazing. She woke up from her nap after reading a book with daddy (video below) and said her very first sentence, which was " I will hold the wipes." and then said, " I wanna do it myself!" She's really into hopping right now - she just hops around the the house yelling I'm hopping, I'm hopping! She is crazy about being outside - she loves to swim and pick (and eat) strawberries, she colors with sidewalk chalk and just runs around. She would live in the backyard if we would let her! She is working on potty-training and some days are better than others. On the 4th, she peed in the pot every time she peed from when she got up until she went down for a nap. It was so cool and she was so proud of herself as were we!
Silas is now 3 months old if you can believe that! He's such a good boy - still sleeping about a six hour stretch at night and mostly being awake during the day - he's a cat-napper, which can be a little frustrating, but it works for him, so we just go with it. He just rolled over yesterday for the first time! He's been working on it for about a week and he finally got it. I was lucky, too - I had gone into the kitchen to see if we had hotdog buns so I laid him on the couch as I was walking back into the living room he was just turning to his belly! Thank goodness I put his head toward the cushions and not sideways or he would have rolled right off the couch! So we took him out of the swaddle blanket and took his blankets away in bed and he now sleeps on his side - so cute! He is SO smiley - he'll crack a smile at just about anything, but he really loves to watch his big sis and he cracks up at her all the time. He watches her every move, so I know he's taking it all in thinking about what he's gonna get away with when he gets big!

So anyway - this is pretty much what has been going on the past few weeks. Time goes by so fast and it just reminds me to cherish all the time we have, because their little stages don't last long before they're on to the next thing. Our life as a family of 4 is so awesome! Wouldn't trade it for anything, ever!

Daddy's Teachings

This is what Daddy spends his time teaching his daughter: hahahahahahah!!

And a snapshot of her sweetness :)

The 3-7th Weeks

Hey everyone! I know it's been awhile - seems like I say that every time I post :)
So much has happened in the past 5 weeks. Here's a recap:

Libby got Strep Throat and a bad case of Hand Foot and Mouth Disease all at the same time. I had to try to keep her away from Silas (almost impossible) and Josh went out of town so my mom and grandma Miller came to my house for a couple of days. It was tons of fun having them here and I appreciate their helping hands with the babes! AND mom (with some of Gram's input) made Silas' baptism outfit, which I love love love! So thank you for that as well!!!

The next weekend Katie came to town and we had Silas baptized at Dad's church in Forest City (Thanks, Dad!!!). Nic and Katie were "sworn in" as his Godparents and he officially became one of God's children. We had a celebration at mom and dad's afterwards, where our families joined together and ate some good food and just hung out. Thanks to Aunt Shari for the beautiful and Super Delicious cakes she made!! Also thanks to both moms for the excellent food!

We had a great time with Katie here! Libby and her bonded over ants and herms (worms) and all things outdoors. They read books and cuddled and just had a good old time. It was awesome to have her here and really sad to see her go. Even Libbs cried for her all the way home from the airport. "Katie, no. Katie, no!"

We played hard at Oma and Opa's house. They got a little Dora the Explorer couch and Libbs thinks it's the coolest ever :) The bros were there, too and it was fun to hang with the whole family again. Can't wait for Brod and Krista's wedding so we can all get together again!

The weekend after that was Tiff's graduation. We stayed and Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Den's house - thanks for everything!! Libby had a great time playing with Gma and Gpa - she colored and played with her favorite Panda Bear from Daddy's childhood. It was nice to be there for Tiff's graduation and the party afterwards was fun to see everyone and spend some time with the family there! Congrats to Tiffany!!!

And I'm not forgetting Silas! Of course through all of the business, Silas was getting so much love and attention from everyone...getting to cuddle and bond all day everyday...I'm sure it was heaven to him :)

He is growing SO fast! The little stinker already wears 3 and some 6 month clothes! He eats a ton and sleeps a ton and really is just an easy baby...I thought the first few weeks that he was harder than Libby, but really I think I just forget that she ever had a bad day as I'm sure I will forget those days with him, too. He's getting on a schedule now and we are really getting along nicely. Seems like he's been in the family forever!

I never realized until today how much he and Olivia look alike....See some comparative pictures below...kinda freaky!! I know Libby is a really happy girl and she's silly and fun and crazy, but she also has a sober side. I remember it always being hard to get her to smile. I don't think Silas is going to be the same. He's already smiling big cheeky smiles and it's not very hard to get him to do it. It's so darn cute!! He is super strong just like his big sis was - holding his head up and looking around at the world. He's an amazing sleeping - going 6 hours at night....so great!
I went back to work part-time this week so we are all adjusting to going back to daycare and work. Thanks to my boss, I don't have to get up at 4am and rush around to get to work at 7:30. So we get up and have breakfast and make lunch and watch Little Bear and brush our teeth before we have to get out the door. It's really nice to have that time in the mornings.
This morning Libby was playing Ring Around the Rosies! It was way cute and also hilarious seeing a bunch of 1 year olds fall to the ground giggling :) Libby is a very protective of her little brother. She doesn't like any of the kids touching him or even getting close to him. She cries to the babysitters when he cries, making sure they know he needs something and she cries if he goes upstairs to nap and he's out of her site. She has really taken to him in the last month - something we have been hoping for. Silas loves to watch her, too. If she's around, he watches her every move! I hope he's only retaining the good behavior :)

I'm sure I'm forgetting some things, but it's 9:30 and I've only just sat down about a 1/2 hour ago for the night, so this is what I'm recalling right now.

Tons of pics and videos to post!! Love you all!