Close Up

I usually take pictures that include the whole scene. What is going on & where we are. But today in our backyard while the boys were playing I decided to get some shots of them. Just them. No scene. No background. An up close view of my boys.

Johnnie. Serious. Sensitive. Goofy. And barely willing to let me take his photos.Joey. Rough. Playful. Sweet. And sporting a fat lip from being rough & playful.Jimmy. Happy. Loving. Nutty. And he loves running toward the camera & hitting it. Stinker.

1 & 1/4

Our little guy turned 15 months old today. Constantly on the move running around on his own or chasing after his brothers. With all this movement it's no wonder he is only in the 10th percentile of weight (21 pounds 5 ounces). And he is growing more everyday & is 32.5 inches tall (75th percentile). He is such a happy baby. He is forever talking. More babbling than anything. But we do understand some of his words (Mama, dada, dog, duck, this, that, more, wawa). Teething does not come easy for him. It causes a lot of discomfort & he puts everything in his mouth, but he loves to show off his new teeth when I pull out my camera. I have exactly 3 seconds to capture that cuteness & then he's back on the move. He is still such a mama's boy but he now happily spends some time with his daddy. And he loves all things music. Starts bouncing up & down every time he hears it. Plays with his brothers pretty well & only occasionally provokes them by taking their toys & running away. He is still sleeping all night & getting up very early before 6am. And he absolutely loves going outside. During Johnnie & Joey's nap I took him for a walk & captured some photos of him playing in the yard. And that is a 50th percentile head. I wonder how big a 100% one is. And this last photo is just so Jimmy. Smiley, toothy, cute & happy & how could I forget. Snacking!

Boys will be Boys

1. Growing up with sisters & NO brothers I got very used to being in a girly home. Hearing all about girl stuff. Hair, makeup, boys, nail polish & just girl stuff.

2. Now I live in a home surrounded by boys. A husband & 3 sons. And I hear & see the strangest things.

3. Jimmy still doesn't do much more than grunt which is a pretty manly thing to do, right? But at the ripe old age of 14 months one of his favorite activities is wrestling. With me & his daddy but especially with his brothers.4. His brothers on the other hand not only act like boys but speak of boy things. Very boy things.

5. The other night Johnnie called me over to show me his new trick of spinning a hanger around his umm pee pee. Neat trick but really.

6. He & Joey get inside the bath & pee right away but not just in the water but on each other. Another thing I don't understand but it still makes me laugh.

7. Johnnie just keeps getting older. And now with little bribes like letting him watch what he wants on tv he will actually look at me & give me a little smile. 8. Have I ever mentioned that all of the boys in my house laugh when they fart?

9. And Joey. All I can say is what a handful but oh my, so sweet. Growing up when we would say "I love you" to our mom she would reply "I love you more." So that's what I say to our boys. Goodnight Joey. I love you. He now replies "I love you more." And we just continue to say it back & forth to each other. It will never get old. 10. The new blog banner. While I was in my office this weekend I assumed the boys were playing nicely in the living room. When I looked over all 3 of them were trying to climb out the front window. They had pushed the screen out playing & then thought they could go outside & play. If they are trying to escape at the age of 1,2 & 3 I wonder what I can expect when they get older?

Big Tears. Little Boy.

It started off as such a calm, nice Saturday morning. A boy with a full head of blonde hair was happily chasing his brothers around the yard. But very soon he was in the middle of a meltdown in his mama's lap. Getting his very first professional haircut. I guess he didn't like the water that was sprayed on his hair. He actually looked quite frightened. And when it didn't end soon enough he started screaming. Until the very end. And judging by this last photo you would think that he had just had the best morning ever! He didn't but at least his hair is now out of his eyes & he sure looks darn cute!

Happy Mother's Day

I am home alone with my boys on this very special day because Rick is back East with his mama celebrating her day with her. I was lucky enough to get the gift of this one photo of me with my loves with the self timer. And I also received these lovely gifts made by my boys at daycare/preschool. Joey's handprints on the left, Jimmy's footprints, cards & a bouquet of "flowers" made using Johnnie's handprints. I hope you all have a great Mother's day with your moms or just being a mom. And to all of us who no longer have our moms in our everyday lives I feel blessed each day to remember her in my heart & see her in the faces of my children. Love you moms!

Ten On Tuesday- Our Boys

1. It is definitely spring here in Southern California. Our flowers are in bloom, which thankfully means the apricot, peach & apple trees will be growing soon. Sad but true but I wish the blooms would stick around instead because well my favorite color is still pink & I think these are beautiful. 2. Jimmy turned 14 months a few weeks back. Finally consistently sleeping through the night again after spending the last 5 months waking up every night. Getting close to speaking more words but still just grunting & pointing when he wants something. And as you can kind of see he is happily enjoying his new window seat in the truck. (Johnnie has decided that he wants to sit in the middle seat now.) And he has also just had his 1st bath in the sink. So fun!3. Johnnie turned 43 months old last week. Still as goofy as ever. Such a great speaker & so smart. We have always focused on teaching him the alphabet using upper case letters but just last week while driving to school he spelled out the word umbrella all in lower case letters. He picks things up so easily that it only surprised us for a second. Smarty pants! Now go put my pan away. And as the 2nd picture shows he is still ADDICTED to his pacifier. We try to limit it to bedtime but occasionally he sneaks one in to his pocket. 4. Joey turned 28 months old last week too. Language skills are growing by leaps & bounds daily. Still has the fiery temper but has learned to say sorry A LOT. This month he suddenly looks like a boy to me. Not the baby boy who used his body language to express his feelings but instead the toddler boy who mostly uses his words & occasionally his body language when he's angry or can't tell us how he feels.5. An example of how hard it is to get a great photo of my boys. I was able to get them all to sit on the porch for me. I was able to get them to all look at the camera at the same time. But of course when I downloaded the pictures this was the best one I captured. The oldest & youngest boys happily smiling at the camera & a moody middle boy well being moody. 6. Such a sport lover. Basketball & golf. Anything that keeps him outside. Such concentration always involving his tongue out & just so darn cute. 7. A photo with my baby boy after eating birthday cupcakes. I love his smile! How it lights up his whole face. His blonde hair against my dark hair always brings a smile to my face & has a way of lighting me up from the inside. Love you kiddo. And you know what else makes me smile. The artwork that is always on our fridge that you can see in the top left of the photo. An octopus covered in fruit loops. Hehe!8. My birthday gift I found on my kitchen island. I look at it as cupcake holders & an iPod I really wanted as opposed to the hint that I should bake & run a little more often. Just kidding I know that my husband doesn't want me to run more often.9. Monkey see. Monkey do. The boys climbing on the rocks in our front yard. Johnnie would climb up the rock & jump off so of course Joey wanted to try & then well Jimmy thought he could do it too, but he found it a little taxing just to get over the rock wall.10. Happy 6th Anniversary babe! It just seems like so much longer than that because we have been together for 12 years. Thank you Kayci for watching the boys so we could have a nice evening out.