Through blood shot eyes

Last night was rough, rough, rough.

I had a baby up all hours do to a gassy tummy, and then he decided that 3am was the perfect time to chat, play, and blow spit bubbles as loud as he could. That went on for TWO HOURS, if not longer.....I started to blank out after hour two. I should have just called it a night, but I tried to stick it out in hopes that I might get a few more moments of shut eye.

Meanwhile, Cole also got the 3am memo.

I found him running down the hallway crying...tucked him back in, rubbed his back, and then heard him two seconds later crying in the hallway again. This time Kyle took him back to bed and then never returned.  Come to find out he had fallen asleep next to Cole, in an itty bitty twin sized bed. Would have loved to see how his 6ft 2in frame found enough room with our little boy next to him. Such a good daddy.

We are sleep deprived. But we are happy, and joyful, and very blessed.

I can't help but stare through my blood-shot, blurry eyes and smile at the great reasons for no sleep.

Playing outside and hunting for rocks makes everything better. And so does this sweet face.

While I wouldn't complain if given a full nights rest, I also won't complain to not. Because I might miss out on something in this brief and sweet stage of life. It's about gripping my coffee cup and bucking up to the morning, even when I wonder how I can find the energy to place both feet on the ground.

And you know what? I always do.

Find enough energy that is.

Somehow, someway God always gives me just enough to make it through the long nights and short days.

And just a little more for an extra rock hunt or two.

Hope you all can find the little blessings in and amongst your Wednesday, if not, maybe go on your own rock hunt.....you might be surprised what you will find. :)

We all come running

When my dad says he's making pancakes, we all come running as fast as we can. Even now that we are all grown, all married, and all live in our own homes. It's my parents' secret weapon to get all of their kids, grandkids, and Grandma's gathered together around their table once again. We LOVE my dad's pancakes. There have been so many good memories shared while stuffing our faces with those syrup-laden flap jacks.

While I cannot compete with his tried and true pancakes. I have, however, found a good runner up.

Three words, Cinnamon. Roll. Pancakes.

I was sold at cinnamon roll. Cole was sold at pancakes. And demolished 4 pancakes in less time than it takes to say pancake. He would have eaten more, but I decided to spare him a belly ache and cut him off.

He definitely takes after my side of the family.

To make these super fast to make in the morning (and good thing, because we were up all night long with our littlest man!) I premixed all of the dry ingredients the night before, and they came together in a snap. They truly taste like cinnamon rolls, especially when smeared with leftover Cinnabon frosting. The syrup is fabulous as is, but I'm thinking next time (since we most likely won't have leftover frosting) I will go ahead and melt some cream cheese into the mixture...it just adds the perfect tang. Heck, I might just make up my usual cinnamon roll frosting and smother them in it. Really, you can't can't go wrong whether you choose frosting or no frosting. The pancakes themselves are winners.

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes-
source: Baked Bree

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour ( I used whole wheat flour...you know, so they are healthy).
3 Tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk
2 Tablespoons maple syrup
1/4 cup melted butter
1 Tablespoon vanilla

Directions:

Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix all wet ingredients in separate bowl until combined. Then pour wet ingredients in with the dry and whisk until just combined. Preheat griddle over medium heat and cook until brown on both sides. But don't forget the syrup!

Frosting Syrup-

1 cup confectioners sugar
2 Tablespoons melted butter
2 tablespoons milk

Whisk the ingredients together until smooth and a pouring consistency.  If too thick add more milk, if too thin, add more sugar.

Then stuff our face silly. 

Cole did, and we ended up with a little boy like this....guaranteed happiness!

 "YAH!"

The 1/2 year mark, what?!

I distinctly remember right before I gave birth thinking, all of a sudden he is going to be 6 months old...and it's going to come fast, and I might cry...but right now it seems so far away.

Well, it's here and I feel as though I no more than got you out of my belly before we got to this point. It went sooooo fast.

Like, crazy fast.

So here we go, whether I want to believe it or not....you, my little Bennett man are 6 months old. You weigh exactly 15lbs, and 25 inches tall....which puts you in about the 10th percentile for both (we're making progress).

I have spent the last couple days trying to soak up ever little thing about you, your rolls, sweet lips, sparkly eyes, and fast, nubby, picker fingers.

You have mastered the art of reaching and grabbing what you want, and are super fast at it. I still chuckle whenever I think of the day you were happily sucking on your binky, along came big brother who swiped it from your lips...I could see fire brimming as you took one look at your brother and your binky, then reached over and ripped it from his grasp and popped it right back in your mouth. Where there is a will, there is a way...and you have will. You hold your ground,

I love that about you.

Even in your small age you have proven that you are no push over, you won't give up easily, and you will make yourself known.

I say go for it little one, the world needs more of you in it.

Speaking of making yourself known, you've got a good set of lungs. And if I don't hustle my buns up quick enough to get you when you wake up....you let me know your disapproval--loudly.  You also love to chat about everything, especially when you should be focused on eating.

Up until about 2 weeks ago, if I as much put you down for two seconds...watch out, major meltdown. You were literally attached to me every waking moment. I think you were frustrated. Because as soon as you figured out how to maneuver your baby body around to get what you wanted, you became your content little self once again. Now you enjoy lots of play time, whether it's on your tummy, rolling around, on your play mat, in your exersaucer....chewing your fists, basically you are learning the art of playing, and you love it! And so does my back. :)

You still don't like to sleep at night, and prefer to eat every 2-3 hours. It's strange how excited your dad and I get when you give us a 4 hour stretch. We almost always say, "wow Bennett did really good last night!" funny how your perspective of a good nights sleep changes after having a baby.

You are,  however, super easy to get down for your naps. Typically you take 2-3 hour long naps a day.

I am thinking about starting some sleep training with you, and have been relentlessly putting it off. I think it's partly because I hate to hear you cry, and partly due to the fact that you sleep about 5 feet from me. That would be torture at its worst. Plus, soon we will need to move you in with your brother (cue panic attack). That is, if we can get him to stop roaming the halls at 3 in the morning...I can only imagine how much more he would be up with you in his room distracting him.....praying we get to move before that happens. :)

You LOVE to stand. If I try to put you down to sit and that doesn't suit you at the time, you make yourself stiff as a board....how you learned that trick, I will never know. I envision you will be the toddler that uses that same tactic to avoid being put in a car seat, Lord help me.

You are growing fonder and fonder of your big brother. You smile now when he smothers you with kisses, and laugh at his silly antics. If we say simple words with a lot of excitement you resound with cackles and giggles. Needless to say we spend a lot of time acting shamefully crazy just to hear those adorable laughs.

I can't get enough.

You seemed to have sprouted over night, pants that you were swimming in about a month ago suddenly fit you perfectly. You are wearing a solid 3-6 month, and are still in size 2 diaper. And let me just say, you are getting some super cute thighs going on. I adore rolly polly baby legs....

And let's just take a moment to talk about what happens during diaper changes....you have decided that you prefer to do flips, and twists, and stretch, and pull, and arch your back so that I have to break a sweat just to get your diaper on half way decent. Always keeping things interesting.

You are a mama's boy. 

I mean that in the best way possible. Simply meaning you like me, you like my arms...and if I hand you off to someone else's.....look out. You take one good long look at whoever is holding you, then out comes that lower lip, quickly followed with wailing. Yes, we are smack dab in the middle of separation anxiety.  Secretly, I kind of like that you prefer your mama over everyone else.

You are just a precious, precious little boy with a fire cracker of a personality. I have this feeling you will be the little brother that is always trailing behind older brother, and most likely will stand a good chance at keeping up. You have that drive in you already. I look forward to watching that budding personality grow and blossom into many great things. Oh how I thank God daily for bringing you into our lives and hearts forever.

Love you sweet boy.

Memory Messes

This past week is a blur, it came and went so fast. I had all of these ideas about posts, recipes, pictures, stories. But to tell you the truth I haven't found time between life and love with my boys. I have been challenging myself to spend less time on the computer and more time investing in something more meaningful.

My little men.

After all, they are practically the air I breathe. I would hate to wake up one day and regret the wasted time I spent fiddling around on the computer. Prioritizing has never been a strength of mine, so I'm taking baby steps towards bigger steps.

Case in point, my house is already a disaster, toys are strewn all over our tiny living room. But when I look around at the little messes, my heart swells up with joy. They are messes of memories.

Memories of the "cookies" we baked early this morning, railways that were built and then demolished by clumsy hands, puzzles with pieces missing...which led to a massive puzzle piece hunt, baby toys that were played with by chubby little baby fingers,  a play mat that desperately needs a good washing as it is covered in baby slobber, and of course multiple bags full of random "treasures" that my two year old would sling over his shoulder and proudly announce "bye-bye" as if he and his man purses were heading off to work.

Sweet, forever engraved in my heart, memories. And they could have been missed had I been too focused on the latest "status update" or blogging about all the accomplishments we had this past week (a little boy going potty in his big boy potty not once, but twice three times!)

....and honey, don't worry I will try and have all those memories picked up by the time you get home.

Prioritizing.

Baby steps.

And living in the memories.

These are the things I am focusing on and being more intentional about.

And here are some of the memories I have of this whirlwind of a week.

"Thumbs up" anyone?

Sorry bay-bay, you are still so cute even when mad!