21 Months!

        Riley girl!  How did we get here so fast?! Please tell me why you'll be turning two in just 3 months? You blow our minds!  Daddy and I don't know how you catch on to things so fast, constantly doing new things we had no idea you were capable of doing. You're too funny, and you know this. You make Beck laugh constantly, and you take such good care of him. Thank you baby girl:)  I'm impressed by your counting abilities and abc's reciting abilities. Everyday you make me play your letters dvd so you can go over them. You can point out some letters and its cute because you believe you're reading to us. I think one of the cutest things you do is say "I sawwwy" after you've been in time out or when you know you've done something wrong. Its hard for us to stay mad at you, especially when you follow it with a kiss and hug. You are always making us proud and theres nothing better than coming home from working and having you run to the door shouting "Mama mama!" or "Daddy!Daddy!". Thank you for always making all of us feel loved, for telling us all the time how you love us, for giving out lots of kisses and hugs. You mean the world to us! 

       Lately I've been really amazed at the fact that I am a mother of two wonderful children.  I keep thinking over and over: I am so blessed!  Having children and being a mommy is not something I take for granted. I am so grateful that God has given me children to love and raise.  I go back and forth between putting Riley and Beck in daycare of some sort. Somedays, when I have a lot on my plate I wish I had taken the opportunity to sign them up for at least hourly care! But most days I love having them home with me. I love making lunch for Riley and eating it with her on the floor. I love making Beck laugh by making silly noises. I love that I haven't missed out on any of Rileys milestones. There will come a time eventually, when my kids will have to go off to school and leave me, but until then I am going to enjoy every minute they're at home. Even the trying momentes:) 

Thank You Leif!

Kayaking a few weeks ago!

   Leif, tomorrow we'll celebrate us, celebrate what we started over three years ago.  There are so many things that I could thank you for, but I want to specifically thank you for being such a supportive and understanding husband to me.  I know these past few months have been crazy around here with the start up of my photography business, but you have not once complained. You have come straight home from work, taken over dinner and gladly watched the kids so I'm able to go out and shoot or meet deadlines.  You've given up most of your weekends to stay at home with the babies while I have sessions and meetings.  And you always try to have dinner ready for me when I get back:) You have worked around my schedule, making sure that what I need to get done gets done. Thank you for always getting up with the kids at night if need be and letting me sleep and for doing the dishes before you go to bed! You have sacrificed so much these past few months and I hope you know how grateful I am. It doesn't go unnoticed. I wouldn't have been able to do all of this if it wasn't for you! Sometimes things are difficult without the help of family but you handle it all so well.

   Thank you Leif. I love you. I'm blessed to be married to you and have you as my main support system.  Thank you for thinking I can do anything and for encouraging me to just go ahead and do things! I love that you believe in me. It makes it easier for me to believe in myself. Basically, thanks for being my biggest fan, for always rooting for me, and for always pushing me to do my best.

Riley & Beck

     I had to take a picture of this because Beck looks huge! And it feels like yesterday when he could fit his whole body on my chest.  I always wanted to point out how different my children are.  This is an example of Becks easy going-ness(?) He can fall asleep anywhere and be content. He can also sleep through almost anything.  Riley on the other hand, once she was about 5 months old refused to sleep anywhere other than her crib for the most part. Sure she fell asleep in the carseat but would always wake up when I brought her in.  There was even a period of time where I couldn't shower while she napped because she'd wake up.  She is a lot more picky and particular with things, while Beck just goes with the flow.  I like how different my children are. Riley is more independent and can fall asleep on her own no problem. Beck is clingy and hates being alone, so I had to start training him to fall asleep on his own really early on. I wish that Riley would fall asleep on me, but I am grateful that she likes to wrap her arms around my neck while she sleeps. Such a big improvement from when she was a baby:) I'm also happy that my son appreciates me enough to cuddle up to me all the time.

  And how fun is that our children have such different personalities?

Happy 6 Months to Beck!

   Beck is 6 months old! These pictures were taken of him yesterday:) Riley decided to feed him for me. He was so happy when she started to feed him! He kept laughing and smiling, and the food kept falling out of his mouth cause he was so excited.  I can't believe how big he's getting! Sitting up, rolling around,  getting around slowly. He's definitely been trying to keep up with Riley and has been getting frustrated because its not really happening, haha. Its cute though the way he admires her. And she'd do anything to make him happy.

   Little man, I can't believe its already been 6 months! Time has flown!  Everyday you become a bit more independent. Thankfully not as fast as your sister. You still let me rock you, snuggle with you, hold you.  Thank you.  Thank you for being my baby, you're so sweet and I never get tired of hearing you coo and giggle. It makes my heart so happy! I believe it when they saw that moms and sons have a special  relationship. Its so true.  I cried the other day when I was at a wedding and I watched the son dancing with his mother. I can't believe you'll ever be that big! Until then though, we'll keep snuggling and laughing together.  You're such a good boy, thank you.  I've never met such a laid back baby who simply laughs when his sister sits on him or when you get poked in the eye. When Riley got her shots, I never cried because she never cried. You on the other hand break my heart when you get your shots... I dread taking you because the look you give me after kills me!  You're so sensitive sometimes and its hard for me to handle because you have the most pitiful saddest cry.  Yet even then you try so hard to smile at us.  You are by far one of the most joyful people I know. Thank you for that, everyday. I love you so much mr.!

   Although this post is mostly for Beck I had to include two cute pictures of Riley washing her dishes:)

New Hobby: DJ'ing

Introducing my new hobby!

I'm learning to DJ!

I'm so excited to finally have a chance to do this.

It's something I've always wanted to do, but I never had any idea how I'd go about learning :)

I met Nikki a few weeks ago and she told me her husband was a DJ.

When I told her I'd always wanted to learn, she told me her husband (Ro) would be more than happy to teach me!

YES!

I had Leif take pictures because this was so important to me :)

Ro was really patient with me and didn't mind my (probably ridiculous) questions.

I'm already checking craigslist daily for affordable turntables to practice and learn on.

Learning to DJ is on my dream list.

Happy I'm able to check that off

&

that my dreams are coming true!

New Hair.

I cut the fro!

I had some bad dreads so it had to be done. 

I realized though halfway through cutting it the front looked awesome

&

why ruin something so good?

I kept it.

Realizing later I totally channeled Elly Jackson of La Roux

and Janelle Monae. 

I'm in love with it and change is good. 

I still have the goal of growing my hair big but until then

I will enjoy this fresh start. 

I've been having a hard past two weeks so this 

has felt good. 

I am embracing it and hoping for

exciting things to happen!

The kids in photos.

   I haven't really taken pictures of the kids as often as I'd like. I took so many of Riley but now that I'm taking pictures of so many other people pictures of the kids kind of come last. I hate that and so I'm attempting to snap a few each day. Here are some I took yesterday:

     My room seems to have the best lighting so the kids and I just hung around on the bed while I snapped a few photos.  Look how beautiful my children are! Definitely gifts from God. I wish that Leif had been home so I could have gotten him in a few photos. I'm trying to take more pictures of him as well.... and myself. These moments as a young family are fleeting and I'd like to document as much of it as possible.  Nothing fancy, just us in the everyday. I'm learning more about myself and learning that those types of photos are my favorite. The photos of people living life. How wonderful and perfect! 

Another life update.

Life lately has been good. I think its been more than good, its been wonderful, perfect and an adventure. How it should be right? Despite not having any sun around here for awhile, I feel as if our spirits are still pretty high:) Today it got to me a bit but I chose not to dwell on those feelings, rather be greatful for the company that I got to spend time with today.

I recently had to say goodbye to my best friend Summer this past weekend. It wasn't the goodbye I would have liked to end our time in Monterey on. I think its because we both assumed we'd be seeing each other the next morning but things didn't work out so the sucky goodbye had to do. In a way it was good because it was like our other goodbyes... like an "Okay I'll see you tomorrow" kind of goodbye. I know I'm going to see her again, hopefully next summer, but either way, we'll see each other again!

Besides seeing another friend go (oh I must write a post about the military life here...), I've been growing. I think Leif has been too. We've learned to be grateful where we are, to embrace what life has to offer us here. It's good for us and we might almost be back to the outlook we originally had when we first moved here. We'll see... For now we're taking it a day at a time, enjoying what God's blessed us with and looking forward.

The kids are also growing. Literally of course. Our baby girl is not really a baby any longer. Her talking is blowing us away, counting and saying abc's. She is mostly potty trained. She caught on really fast and has adjusted well to it. We haven't tried using the potty at night yet, so we'll see how that goes. I do know that I love only having to change one child's diapers! We started giving Riley time outs when she disobeys, just a minute in the corner and that's worked out. She understands it and always comes to us after and says "I sawwwy. I loveeee you" Of course you feel terrible for putting such a perfect child in timeout ;) For awhile Riley was fighting bedtimes but has gone back to her wonderful old ways. And the cutest part about her going to bed is, she'll grab a book and read it in her bed before she lays down and falls asleep. I think it's so adorable! Sometimes she comes to our room early in the morning to sleep with us, but you can get her back into her bed which is a relief to me... Beck is still sleeping part of the night with us so the bed gets crowded!

Beck, my sweet little boy, I could snuggle with you all day! Look how adorable my son is! And he just gets cuter everyday. Beck really is such a sweet baby. He falls in love with everyone and will make you think you're the center of his world. He has tons of smiles to offer and he is so happy just being surrounded by people. Just recently he started rolling around and somehow moving towards things. He takes his time and just enjoys everything. He is in no rush. We started him on solids and he is loving it. He cries when Riley has food and can't give it to him. The other day I walked into the living room and caught Riley feeding Beck her yogurt. He was in heaven. I think my favorite thing is when they sleep next to each other in our bed and cuddle. Oh, and when they "talk" to each other in the car. I love my babies together! Beck is still an excellent sleeper. Finally figured out his schedule and it works out that him and Riley take their afternoon nap together. 2 hours of me time! Thank you children!

All in all things are going well. We haven't really seen the sun around these parts in awhile, but we're hoping that summer will finally start sometime soon here in Monterey!