the joys in our summer!

so much has happened since april!
here are some notes about our life right now...
micah:
-current obsession? all things bugs. and animals. and scaring people with bugs and animals. and watching planet earth about animals. and generally knowing too much information about all things animal.
-current phrases? "Actually,... (then corrects us on something)" "Where is ____(name of any animal) at the zoo?" "What rhymes with ____ (any word. sometimes, cicada. He's weirdly good at rhyming.)"
-favorite thing to do? always, always, always singing. according to micah, the meerkats like hearing, "jesus loves the little children." 
-other favorite? never, ever not reading. or talking about letter sounds. or numbers. or doing workbooks. or spelling something. and none of that is initiated by me. really. or going to the library bus (yeah, we have a library bus. it's as amazing as it sounds!)
-other favorite? kicking balls. and climbing and jumping. and splashing in water. and dance parties to "cars music" or "shake it off" (thanks, t swift.)
-favorite foods? pea pods and water chestnuts. you can't make this stuff up.
-favorite places? parks. basement. library. barnes and noble. chuck e cheese. pools. meijer. (we can't go there without smelling candles, looking at the fish, and looking at the lobsters. meijer trips take a long time.)

jack:
-a different kid than a few months ago--starting to crawl, LOUD sound-maker, and getting into everything!  things that haven't changed... he still isn't a good sleeper and still has no teeth :)
-loves shakers, anything that belongs to micah, and eating!
-laughs and smiles all day long, unless you take away a piece of cardboard that he's trying to eat or something small that he's trying to choke on. 

-we've been soaking up summer... check it out!

4th of July, built to terrify parents.

give me a BREAK. that's cute.

petting zoo!

out to eat has changed since this one eats. LOUDLY. with lots of growls.

sprinklers... it's a wonder our front yard isn't generally marsh-like.

jack's swim shirt was retired after this day. because that gut.

micah's first cotton candy at the ann arbor summer festival. (i guess he endured it.)

one of many summer barbecues!

cousin loving.

matt became a senior resident. and sweet friends got us a cookie cake to celebrate!

micah's getting old enough to actually care about friends. love it.

so, so many zoo trips. 

grandpa bright's surprise 70th birthday on the 4th of july--all the cousins!

jack: our nonstop eating machine.

papa-lovin.

what micah does when we say, "smile!"

that face.

and that face!

a sweet visit with uncle godfrey and aunt lorraine ebright--our first time seeing them since our wedding!

friends who are like family who made my birthday a part-ay!

jack at 9 months!

micah's real smile... rarely captured on camera!

and then us, looking older. i blame it on all the not sleeping and poopy diapers.

april showers. of pee.

well, matt's on awful rotations for the month.

meaning i've been on survival mode at home.

and oh, we started potty training.

things that have happened?
-lots of micah nudity.

-accidentally got talked into micah getting FOUR jelly beans every time he pees.

-he pees one little squirt, then wants jelly beans.

-poop gets five jelly beans. he's a weirdly good negotiator for a two year old. i'm not sure how this arrangement was created.

-same idea, with the squirt, then demands five jelly beans.

-he's peed on... floor, approximately 128395795 pairs of pants, our new carpet in the basement, the deck, and lots of aerial sprays.

-lots of talking a lot about wee-wees. and where they should point. and the importance of squeezing legs together.

-subconsciously holding pee so that diapers after nap weigh about 700 pounds.

-hypothetical discussions about what would happen if he didn't squeeze his wee-wee down. everything that would get shot with pee. it seemed to bring him a little too much joy to think about.

-constant phrases: "in a diaper? or pull ups? or underwear? can pee in diaper. okay to pee in pull up. not okay to pee on the floor."

-talks about how characters from cars where underwear.

-i bought little boy underwear. cars themed. spoiler alert: doesn't stop pee accidents.

remind me to have jack potty train himself.

unrelated: here's easter!

we had a great time--great easter event at church, incredible service at church, and then went to my brother-in-law's house for easter dinner.

in somewhat unrelated news, here's an update on where the kids are at...

jack: sitting up, on his own for a short time. rolling over. never stops bouncing. happiest baby i've ever known! finally catching on to the sleep thing. loves solid food (he's done sweet potatoes, cereal, green beans, and banana so far and loves them all!)

micah: says, "that's ridiculous! that's boring!" loves to pretend play with emotions, saying animals are happy or sad and fixing it. obsessed with the movie cars. loves puzzles. loves putting cars down the ramp. makes up songs. makes up dance moves. kicks and throws everything that looks remotely like a ball.

march 2015.

shocking, playing catch up over here!
here's a look at our march... matt had vacation, we went to great wolf lodge, jack had his first food!

february 2015.

snow. and a lot of being stuck inside, so photo shoot. 

because i was sick of not having pictures with my babies!

a picture.

i thought i should give a word picture of what my two boys look like at this moment, before life continues and i miss it!

a snapshot of jack: 
drools, smiles, kicks his feet nonstop, and laughs when i kiss him. watches micah constantly, can roll over every once in a while, sleeps in his crib but generally wants to nap on me.

a snapshot of micah: 
-wakes up in the morning by singing songs and piling his stuffed animals by the door, then pounding elmo's eyes on the door and yelling, "mommy! mommy!"  when i go in there, he is sleepy and jabbering about something, normally a story or sometimes kind of sleep talking his dreams.
-he will immediately ask for daddy. he's obsessed with daddy.
-when we come downstairs, he asks, over and over, for juice. if he has pooped, he wants to be carried down the stairs, "like a silly goose," because he's uncomfortable from the poop.
-he normally comments on my outfit, "like your blue shirt, mommy!" or something, and does everything to put off the inevitable diaper change.
-while watching a show in the morning, he'll bounce and dance to any and every song, singing any words he knows... oh, and we normally watch the same thing over and over.
-when packing up, he requests either the blue or red side of his coat. he has to let us know which shoes he wants to wear, he likes to wear white socks the most.
-he LOVES reading stories, especially anything funny. anything with bodily functions is especially winning.
-at lunch, he loves pea pods and looking for big peas. he will pull over a chair to the counter to help me make lunch.
-when it gets close to nap time, he is attached to blankie. we read stories and he loves to play his made up games involving jumping and running around his room.
-his stuffed animals are his friends, he often says, "kitty cat my good friend. love kitty cat."
-he loves playing puzzles, letter and number games, dance parties in the basement, jumping from the couch to the bed, and any game with running.
-he memorizes books and phrases, so he'll randomly say, "let's hit the road, guys," or "coming through!" or "no worries"
-he remembers everything it seems, and will ask us if we remember random events throughout the day.
-he bursts into song at quiet moments.
-he has a favorite everything, that changes daily.
-he loves food. all food.
-most of his phrases are said in a sing-song way, sometimes a weird deep voice, sometimes a whisper, sometimes yelling, sometimes super high pitched.
-he is completely energized by being around people.
-he talks about family and friends all the time.
-and as a true snapshot, we deal with lots of tantrums a day, some throwing and hitting, but also occasional kisses and hugs.

3 months.

jack's been alive for 3 months. micah's been a big brother for 3 months. and we finally feel like we may be getting a teeny bit of normalcy around here? 
i shouldn't say that out loud.

we took some 3 month pics of jack... ah, this kid.
we're addicted.

to compare, here's micah at 3 months:

and micah now?

looking like a little boy. saying things like...

"i like my new shirt. like my gray shoes, not my new shoes. like chocolate cookie more than cookie with frosting. pants feel awesome. like your shirt, mommy. like the color! wear red shoes today, mommy? want abc noodles for lunch today. jack puke everywhere. yucky puke."
basically, lots and lots of opinions. on everything.

and officially memorizing every book we have and reading them on his own, somehow remembering which words go on which pages?! it's soo fun to watch.

big kid outfit. 

and finally big enough to do fun things like gymnastics open gym!

 
and just a few more of baby brother. because. come on.

my world.

things that make my world go round right now?

-micah trying to whisper. it takes every fiber of his being and half the words end up a yell, the other half a whisper.

-jack laughing. i could listen to it all day. so i do every ridiculous thing you can think of to get it to happen. his favorite? me working out in front of him. lunges make the kid giggle. it's probably my form or my panting.

-micah jumping. he just learned to jump (i realize it's a bit late, but he's half me, so that's not surprising) and does it everywhere. we. go. today? we went to red robin for dinner. he jumped all the way to the booth. and then stood next to it jumping, waiting for every waitress to see and comment.

-jack sleeping in his CRIB and doing an okay job... we've got a way to go, but baby steps!

-micah somersaulting. it's just too good. oh, and his dancing when we give him headphones. really, most things he does kind of kill me.

-micah's funny phrases, like "that's ridiculous, mommy. too ridiculous." and counting to "twenty-ten," which is thirty.

- micah singing... "He's got the whole world in His hands, He's got micah james ebright in His hands, he's got baby jack marshall ebright in His hands, he's got mommy and daddy and bailey the dog in His hands."

-french press coffee. always and forever. used in place of sleep.

-gilmore girls. why and how did i miss it in the 90's?! and can luke and lorelai just fall in love already?

-patterned socks. i'm late to the game, but i'm no longer an only-white-sock-wearing gal.

here are some random pictures from the holiday season...

(to recap for my own memory later: we spent thanksgiving with the ebrights and i forgot to take pictures... extended marshall family christmas... our little family christmas when matt was actually home... christmas eve/day with my parents and brother/sister-in-law... ebright family christmas a few days later!) 

 we celebrated my brother's birthday with the 

worst cake writing in the history of cakes. 

i mean really. 

look at that. 

the cake decorator didn't even cross the t.

 these two are starting to love each other.

 and wear matching pjs.

 we had real christmas, and we hosted!

 so we broke out the fine china for the first time. ever. 

 micah looking like a rockstar. that's his guitar face.

 these two. plus my feet.

 jack's favorite location to sleep:

in my arms. 

snuggled in my armpit. 

owning me by grabbing onto my shirt for dear life.

 we got a date!

 and a family date!

have i mentioned he's getting cute? ugh. i'm obsessed.