Sunday, December 13, 2015

December 2015



This holiday season has been so much fun so far! We have been doing lots of Christmas-y things trying to prepare Miles (and Hazel) for what is to come. Nothing is more fun than toddlers at Christmas.  He has learned the words to Jingle Bells.  He can sort of tell the Nativity story. (He calls the Wise Men the thighs men) and we are working with him on showing kindness to others.
 We have also decorated a gingerbread house, seen two Christmas parades, and sat on Santa's lap. We are treating Santa like Mickey Mouse. Fun to visit, fun to read about but not encouraging our kids to think he enters the house and leave gifts. We also aren't teaching them about any naughty or nice lists.
We are spending lots of time with family and friends and soaking up the cheerfulness that is all round us. Miles and Hazel love to un-decorate our Christmas tree, but so far haven't messed with the wrapped gifts under our tree. 



Wednesday, October 21, 2015

What I want to remember::Oct 2015

Miles calls bracelets, 'biscuits'.

He says 'It broken' about anything that isn't working how he wants it to.

He tells Hazel 'No Hazel', and points his finger at her when she is doing something she shouldn't.

He says 'No thanks' when he doesn't want to do what I ask him.

He calls all drinks, Coke or Milk. **disclaimer, he doesn't drink Coke.

He has the words 'on' and 'off' confused. He will hold up his foot with his shoe and sock, and ask us to take his shoe on.

He will tell us when he is ready for a nap.

He will tell us when he is ready to leave some where by pointing the direction our vehicle is parked saying 'bye bye, car'

Any time we pull into the church parking lot he yells 'Jesus!'

He know his friends' names.

He loves to give hugs, especially to Hazel.

He calls us: Mama, Daddy, and Hazel and he usually has to try all three names on the person he is talking to, to get to the correct one.

He doesn't not enjoy rough play. But he loves coloring, puzzles, bubbles, or playing ball nicely.

He doesn't know all his colors but he can identify yellow most of of the time.

He can count to 14 and knows his basic shapes.


 He loves being outside.

Sunday, October 11, 2015

Hazel is One!...3 months late

Oh Hazel Lane, I can already hear you now. You will probably be about 12 years old, looking at your brother's three mega baby-books and asking, "Where's mine, mom".  Well girl, you see, you don't have one. And I'm sorry. But I did put all your hospital things in a nice zip lock bag. I would have made you a nice baby book, but the thing is, every time I tried, you thought you needed to be held. or eat. or something. Every. Single. Time.  So I made the decision that you demanded. And I know, without a doubt I will never regret the hours I held, rocked, bounced, and nursed you instead of cutting nice pictures out and adding embellishments. 


You are one year old. You think you are 20.  You jabber at anyone who will listen, and already have your mind made up about the world.  You are over it. You are not enticed one tiny bit by baby toys, noise makers, or new things. You only want your people.  There are about 5 of us, and I am disappointed to say that the church bible class lady, isn't one of them.  You have a look that tells me you know exactly what is going on. 

Hazel, you are every bit a Howard. You are a carbon copy of your Grammy.  Your only trace of me is the brown of your eyes. Listen, many people will go on about your brother's big baby blues, but brown eyes haven't failed me once. And I don't need sunglasses all the time, like the wimpy blue-eyed out there. You are graceful.  You have a poise that I can honestly say I have never possessed. You carry yourself almost daintily. You stoop to pick up something and it almost looks like a ballet move. You balance this out by having a snaggle-tooth. (you can't be perfect, after all) You also love to eat dirt, rocks, leaves, and anything else your brother doesn't even want to touch. 


Sister, I know for sure you have a had a great first year of life. I also know for sure each one will keep getting better. You have dad who thinks you are the best, a mom who keeps you humble, and a brother who puts up with your every move. You have got it made. I hope you always feel the love and support that we have for you. You complete our family. 

Saturday, April 11, 2015

9 Month Hazel/ 23 Month Miles


There is a reason I have been a terrible blogger. I have recently changed my primary email address. My old email address is connected to blogger, so I have to sign out of my new gmail account and into my old one to post. It is so annoying to do that. Therefore, the updates have been more spread out than I would like them. So it seems another month has passed.

Also, I have been busy helping with a local co-op here in Tulsa. I really love seeing the behind the scenes work of a co-op and I LOVE the great deals.  So when I jump on the computer for a minute during the day it is to enter a mobile order or fix a spread sheet.

I took Hazel to the doctor last week for her 9 month check up. She was exactly 18lbs. She was 28 inches long. Her head was 18 inches around. She is healthy and doing great. She can say 'dada' when asked and also says ba ba ba at random times. She doesn't say anything related to mama. I have tried to tell her it's her best bet at getting things she wants, but she doesn't believe me. Girl is stubborn.  She can pull up and move herself where ever she wants to go, without crawling.  She rocks back and forth on her hands and knees but prefers rolling as her method of movement. She has decided she likes bottles and loves to feed herself people food. She has grown out of all of her 6-9 month clothing and now wears 12 month. I find it a lot harder to get rid of her and Miles' clothes these days. Don't get me wrong I do not want any more babies..the clothes are just so cute.

Miles had Hazel have started playing together more. Their favorite game is Miles hides behind things and pops out. It makes Hazel laugh, so he does it over and over and over. Seeing them interact makes my mama heart happy.  It also frees up time for me to pack. I feel like I just got unpacked. But we are here again, move #9 as a married couple. Missouri, here we come (again). Hopefully this time we will get to stay longer than the last time we moved back. (Move #2:: 3 months)

The kids had a great Easter and next weekend is Miles' birthday party, followed by him turning 2 on April 23rd. Trevor graduates Pharmacy School on May 9th and we move home on May 28th. The next month and a half are sure to be crazy, but we wouldn't want it any other way!

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

8 Months/22 months-- Spring Break 2015

 For some reason, these two think they need to keep getting older. Don't get me wrong, I am happy about their new skills and some more independence, but it seems like the older they get the less free time I have. I would have thought it would have been the other way around.  Shows what I know. Now that Hazel can move herself around a bit (scooting, rolling) I have to be more aware of where Miles is. He rarely hurts her, but does enjoy feeding her whatever he is eating. This sometimes requires me to rush over and pluck things out of her mouth. She still has zero teeth, by the way.
 Miles has discovered that he would rather be outside. All the time. He goes to the door, knocks on it, and asks for his shoes and says 'owww-sigh' over with increasing emotion.  He gets very upset when it is time to come inside. I can't wait until we live in a house with a nice fenced in yard and he can just go out and play! He is starting to really name objects these days instead of just repeating what we say. He will point to things and say their name. He knows who people are. He answers questions and is forming 3 word sentences. It is so nice to be able to communicate!
We took a short spring break trip to Missouri to see the cousins and grandparents. Miles and Hazel adore their cousin, Audrey. She is so helpful. Where do I find myself a 9 year old? We went to Silver Dollar City and Miles rode his first baby roller coaster. 

 Hazel's version of kisses. Full contact, open mouth. Watch out!

 Miles chilling with Grammy! 
 When we got back from Missouri, we went to the zoo with some friends. Miles loved looking at the animals.
 He was less excited about me trying to take his picture.
 When Hazel fell asleep, Miles would go to the stroller and tell her about what he just saw. 
 Miles and his buddy William.
After checking out the animals, we played n the playground at the zoo. It was a successful Spring Break.

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Feb 2015

The weather around here has been awesome! We have been taking walks/jogs in the park daily as well as playing outside our apartment complex.  I can not wait to have a back yard or neighborhood for them to play in.  I've been exercising during naptimes and trying to continue to improve my photography. These two pictures are my first attempts at editing. I am currently using Lightroom, because that's what my course suggests. I haven't purchased it, so we will see what I think in 30 days. I'm happy with how my photography is progressing. 



Miles had his first toddler fit the other afternoon about his lunch.  I had served him up some mac and cheese with avocado mixed in, which he likes and has eaten before. For whatever reason he decided he wasn't going to eat it that day.  After closing his mouth and shaking his head no and pushing the food off the plate on to his highchair tray, I took the food away. A few minutes later he brought me a a nutri-grain bar. Don't think so brother. He went down for his nap hungry. (Don't worry, he ate an entire egg and banana for breakfast, so he wasn't going to starve.)


This chunky-girl is so strong. She loves to move herself around on her stomach and stand holding our fingers. She still makes lots of babbling noises. She goes in for her 6th month check-up (a month late) #2ndbaby next Monday. I'm interested to see how much she weighs. She is starting to interact more and more. We love it. I think it's safe to say that the Howards are not newborn people. We like our babies rockin' and rollin'.

Thursday, February 5, 2015

Hazel:: 7 months

Oh Hazel. 



Somehow each month my babies keep getting older. Funny how that happens.  These two adore each as usual. It amazes me how tough Hazel is and how sweet Miles is. He sometimes gets a little rough with his 'love', and she takes it all in stride. For example, in this picture he's leaning all his weight on her and she is just hanging out. 



Hazel has started eating some solids. She loathes baby food. She sticks her tongue all the way out and makes it impossible for me to get a spoon in her mouth. She will eat anything as long as she is the one holding it. No teeth yet, but I think she is working on some, girl has been fussy! She can move her self side to side on her blanket, sit up for long periods of time, and get herself from her stomach to her back and over again. She is much more motor-ly inclined than her brother was at this age.

She is still not that great at napping and a champion breast-feeder. It's becoming more and more clear the older she gets, she knows exactly what she wants and she is stubborn enough to get us to do it!

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Miles at 20 months

Miles:  You are so fun.  Ever since you decided to get on the walking *more like waddling* band wagon your fun-meter is off the charts. The thing that makes you the most fun is that you are really able to make your wants and needs known with your words! You frequently ask where certain people are, ask to go outside, ask to get in your crib, ask for the toy you want, ask to get up or down.  You know where your eyes, nose, head, mouth, ears, and belly are. You can count to 6. You know the names of all of our family members.  You can say 'Hazel' (Hah-Zull) but you call her 'sis-ser' most of the time.

 You love helping put wet clothes in the dryer and match socks to put away. You love people especially kids.  It doesn't phase you when they are older than you or you are outnumbered.  You sometimes like animals.  You still sleep wonderful! Most of the time you take two fulls naps a day and still sleeping all night.
 I can tell you don't feel good by your eyes. You never fuss but the sparkle is gone. We just got over your second real illness in your twenty months.  I never would have known you had an ear infection if the doctor didn't tell me.

It is so fun to watch you learn new things and new words. We love you more each day!

Friday, January 16, 2015

Hello 63 degrees

Welcome back, sun and warm weather. Feel free to stick around. So far today I have done laundry, dishes, vacuumed, cleaned up Miles room, and showered.  I get this nice pep in my step when I can open the windows and breathe fresh air!

 Hazel is sitting up well now on her own.  I snapped these in my bedroom the other day. I liked how natural her eyes look in them. This is the color they look in real life. So often in pictures they just look dark and I can't see the greens and browns that are in them.  She is such a good sport for me snapping away. What a fun girl she is turning into!

Friday, January 9, 2015

The Cruds.


Hello cruds! You hit our house solid on January first with Trevor.  I may have not been so sympathetic towards him while he weathered the illness. I have babies to take care of and two is my maximum.  Then Miles started coming down with a cough about 4 days ago and each day has gotten progressively worse.  Well, turns out our boy has ear infections, bronchitis, and tonsillitis all at once. So fun.  Let's add to it that Trevor jets off to rotations for the 12 wake-time hours each day and it's so cold I can't take the kids outside.  January, you have been rough.  But I will win.

Monday, January 5, 2015

Cheese!


In an effort to get Miles to look at me while I'm taking his picture I often put something on top of my head.  I think it relaxes his face and opens up his eyes--one of my favorite of his features. Yesterday, I caught him with this puzzle piece on his head yelling cheese!  I know the picture doesn't fall into the 'rule of thirds' very well, but I still really like it.  I have no idea how to use editing software--I haven't got to that lesson in my photography class yet.

I also feel the need to blog about this photo because I have significantly cut my time back on facebook and went through a spree of unfriending and unfollowing. I think that may mean I'm inching ever closer to uncool adulthood.  If it wasn't for my photography group and my co-op group I would get rid of it altogether.

Happy Monday!