13 Months Old

At 13 months old, Remington, you are a handful.
- You love to play with big brother. You guys can chase, play peep-eye, look at books, play with toys, swim in the backyard, splash around in the tub, and laugh at and with each other for hours. Southern has learned how to say, "gimme some skin" and stick out his hand. You give him a high five each time, and you both laugh.
- Your favorite toy is a noisy little Noah's ark that you got from Cindy Edwards for your first birthday. We keep it in the car, and you look at it and push buttons on it almost every day without ever tiring of it.
- You can "cheese". As soon as we bring out a camera, you are ready with your toothy grin :)
- You love to eat with a fork. We have to help you stab things with it, but you can put the food into your mouth by yourself.
- You like to wave and say "haaa" to tell people hi.
- When Southern tells you "night-night, Remington", you wave at him. When Mommy puts you in your crib at night and says "see you in the morning", you wave at her.
- You still don't want to sit still long enough for a diaper change.
- You like to clap and will do so after Southern or Mommy sings to you.
- You like to pray. You will put your little hands together before each meal, even before touching your food. The other day, I set out a snack of yogurt bites for you and brother to share, and you even wanted to pray then.
- You wear size 5 or 6 shoes depending on the brand.
- You are in size 4 diapers and size M swimmy diapers.
- You wear size 18 mo - 2t tops and size 12 mo - 24 mo bottoms.
- Your 24 mo and 2t pajamas are tight on you.
- When Daddy lays on the ground, Southern will tackle him and you join right in too.
- You would rather hold hands and walk than be carried somewhere.
- You're not quite ready to give up breastfeeding. We are down to one meal at night before bed, and we tried going without it for two nights in a row. You were really fussy and sad each day, so we are back at it. We'll wait until you are ready.

Baby Lindsey

I posted many baby pictures of Dustin comparing him to Southern a couple years ago. Now it's my turn I guess because to me, these look just like baby Remington! What do you think?

Baby Lindsey above at age ? months and below at age 1 year

Just six months ago...

Christmas was just six months ago... can you believe how fast time is flying? I'm already thinking about this upcoming Christmas!!

These little guys have grown so much.

Thank you, Chelsea Lietz Photography for capuring this moment. Check her out at www.chelsealietzphotography.com! She's awesome :)

The Love Dare - Days 4 & 5

--- Day 4 ---

Yesterday's dare was kind of completed. Dustin and I talked about it last night, and it didn't go exactly as planned, but we both considered it good enough so we're moving on.

We were supposed to call each other sometime during the course of the day just to ask how each other is doing and to ask if there is anything we can do for each other.

I called Dustin in the morning. (He was working a tennis tournament this weekend.) It started out with asking how he was doing, but after we covered that topic, I went on to how I was doing AKA what I wished he was helping me with at home.

When Remington wakes up in the morning, he starts crying for me to come get him. Yesterday was no exception. But when I walked into his room to get him, he was covered in poop. It was in his hair, all over his back and legs, all over his pajamas, sheet, blanket, crib bumpers, stuffed animal, EVERYWHERE! He had pooped so much that it ran out of the back of his diaper at the top, and he had it smeared all over. Ugh. I ran him to the bathtub (which was of course still cluttered with bath toys that weren't picked up the night before). I'm trying to hold him so that we don't get poop in more places and pick up toys. I undress him and "hose" him off with the hand held shower wand. Once he is bathed, I dry him and dress him. Then I still have the poop-covered bed items to deal with. And all during this time, he is crying and Southern is hovering around asking questions. I sure could have used an extra pair of hands that morning.

And after I get through telling him about all of that, I forget about The Love Dare and why I was originally calling.

A while later, Dustin calls me. He asks us to come by the tennis courts with lunch for him. (We do.)

So we technically completed the call each other part of the dare. But instead of asking "what can I do for you?", we asked "can you bring me food" and said "I wish you were at home to help me with poop clean up". Haha!!

--- Day 5 ---

Today Dustin is supposed to tell me 3 things that I do that annoy him. I am supposed to do the same with him. We can't argue or justify. I'm kind of excited... and curious as to what I do that is irritating to him.

We are supposed to practice etiquette in our marriage.

1. Guard the Golden Rule. Treat your mate the same way you want to be treated (see Luke 6:31).

2. No double standards. Be as considerate to your spouse as you are to strangers and coworkers.

3. Honor requests. Consider what your husband or wife already asked you to do or not do. If in doubt, then ask.

A couple of times in the past during an argument, I have told Dustin "you would be nicer to me if I were checking you out at Wal-Mart!" He would counter with, "well, you're my wife - I hold you to a higher standard that a cashier at Wal-Mart!" Haha!! So I think this task is a really good one for us. We are so comfortable with each other, it will be nice to raise our "good manners" level at home a bit.

Kid Print

As I have mentioned before, I have taken Southern to "Kid Print" courtesy of the NBPD the past two years. Remington has also gone with us, but you have to be 2 years old or older to participate. So he's only been able to watch.

It's a great program. I have a digital copy of Southern's fingerprints, information, and photo in my purse at all times. We also have it stored on our computer at home.

Here he is smiling proudly at this year's Kid Print

And here he is last year... aww...

The Love Dare - Day 1

This post isn't about our sweet little boys. But it will definitely affect our sweet little boys. Dustin and I are working on our marriage. And as I told him, that doesn't mean we're having problems or trouble, it just means that we are growing and bettering ourselves as a couple.

We watched the movie Fireproof a few years ago. I think it was when Southern was really young or when he wasn't even born yet. But it was a great movie, and I've always wanted Dustin to do The Love Dare on me. I brought it up here and there over the past few years, but it wasn't ever met with much enthusiasm. Then a couple weeks ago, just to see if they had it, I searched the library's website to see if they had the book "The Love Dare" from the movie. They did! I checked it out, and sprang it on Dustin. "Here you go, look what I got you! Now you can do The Love Dare for me!!" Just his look told me that it probably wasn't going to happen. Bummer. So I started reading it myself.

In the movie Fireproof, the husband does The Love Dare on his wife to win her over. It's sweet and romantic, and I wanted that for me. But as I was reading the book, it would say "your spouse" instead of "your wife". That got me to thinking - I could do it to Dustin! There's no reason the wife can't do it for her husband. And just as I was saying that to him, I had an even better idea. We would both do it for each other at the same time! Yes!!

So we snuggled up on the couch last night (after the kids were tucked away in bed), and I opened up the book. I read aloud the first few pages and the dare for day one. It didn't seem that hard. All we would have to do is not say anything negative to each other all day. So we both went to bed feeling happy, and today was a success!

We spent most of the day apart since Dustin had work. But when we were together, we each remembered to bite our tongues when it was necessary. The highlight for me was when Dustin opened up the coupon pouch in the car as I was driving... tons of tiny slips of paper rained down everywhere as the coupons scattered around. His first reaction was, "Did you put these coupons up like this?!?!" I responded with, "Remember the dare, honey." He answered through gritted teeth, "It's no problem. No problem at all, honey." as he reached onto the floor, between the seats, etc. gathering up the coupons. Haha!

I can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring --- Dustin has a day off of work, and we'll be together all day!

Remington's 1st Birthday Party

For those of you who didn't make it to Remington's first birthday party...

It was a hit! Our sweet little boy had a blast.

He woke up from his nap as the first guests arrived. He was a little clingy at first, wanting only Mommy. He warmed up and went to Grammy and D-dad willingly, though he was still feeling shy at times. But by the end of the night, he was running around and smiling and squawking at everyone!

We had a ton of food: 6 feet of sandwich (invented by the Earl of Sandwich - perfect for Remington Earl's party), strawberries, watermelon, grapes, apples, chocolate dip, and many different kinds of chips and dips. We had water and pink lemonade (turned orange with food coloring to be more "manly") to drink. Remington enjoyed his meal of sandwich, watermelon, and Pirate's Booty.

He also enjoyed his first cupcake!

He ate the whole thing :)

Remington's birthday cake was in the shape of a 1 with his name on it and a crown on top. Each cupcake was decorated with a crown, the letter R, or the number 1. I also had a few plain cupcakes for those wishing for no icing. Southern and Remington each had one of those. Remington's had a big "1" candle that we helped him blow out after singing "Happy Birthday".

The goodie bags for the kids included a Capri Sun flavored water, a package of carrot crisps, and a rubber ducky (a king, queen, knight, dragon, horse, or fairy godmother).

Another big hit of the day was the jumpy castle in the backyard. The kids all had fun on it. I was a little wary of having Remington in with the bigger kids, so his godfather George took him inside.

I think they both enjoyed themselves :)