Roman's Birthday

And here I thought I was all caught up on blogging...

Roman turned 2 on Monday! Again, I spent most of the day remembering the day he was born. Unlike my experience with Hayden, Roman was quite eager to make his entrance into this world. I'd sort of settled in, expecting to be there all day, but Roman was born at 1:38pm.

Roman and Hayden are the best of friends and worst of enemies. Roman, I've noticed, is the peacemaker, usually sharing his toys with Hayden or saying sorry so that they can start playing and stop fighting. He loves to share hugs and kisses, watch Diego, and play with his cars. He actually hordes cars, grabbing as many as he can, tucking them into his pockets, and piling them into buckets. He carries so many around that he can't even properly play with them because he is too busy holding onto them. I think it's a reaction to Hayden always trying to take his toys. Roman tries really hard to be a big boy, always following Hayden around and doing what Hayden is doing. Luckily he knows his limits and hasn't tried jumping off the 4th stair like Hayden =)

It was mostly like any other day. We went to the grocery store, ate lunch, and the kids took naps. When Jeremiah got home from school Roman opened his presents. He got a big tow truck filled with legos, a tent/crawl tube from Nana Lynda, a Diego car, and Click the camera (from Diego). Since Roman doesn't have much of an opinion on food, we had spaghetti since I knew he loved it, and cupcakes...obviously bath night. Roman didn't know what to do with the candle on his cupcake, and I had to blow it out because it was falling off. So, Roman didn't understand it was his birthday, but it was a big day for me. My baby is more than one, he's plural, he's 2!

Hayden trying out the tunnel. We didn't put the tent up til later, but they love that just as much. Doesn't he look like a Hjelm in this pic?!

Roman with his Diego car in the tunnel. I find him sitting in the tunnel, playing, which is really what the tent is for but whatever.

And of course my third child...I mean Jeremiah...had to try the tunnel out too.

Roman and his birthday cupcake. See the candle falling off? No wonder, it's bigger than the cupcake!

He's messier now that after his cake on his first birthday! Probably doesn't help Jeremiah smashed it in his face and Roman thought it was hilarious so he kept doing it.

Roman with his tow truck that holds Legos. He loves to play with it and hates to share it.

Happy Father's Day!

Jeremiah stated that since it's Father's Day, he gets to choose the picture that I blog. Of course, the kids are looking cute, it's Jeremiah that's acting up. He's smiling with bread in his mouth. The two pictures I took afterwards included Jeremiah's tongue sticking out. I would have chosen picture #4, a normal picture with no food in the mouth, but as Jeremiah said, it's Father's Day, so whatever makes him happy...

It has been a busy Father's Day for me! I spent the morning with the kids, letting Jeremiah sleep in, and I made Jeremiah a Father's Day coupon book with some gift cards tucked inside. We all cooked up a breakfast for him: scrambled eggs with cheese, blueberry smoothies, and toast with Nutella and sliced strawberries.

At church, Hayden joined the rest of the Primary kids to sing their dads a song. Hayden knew the song and was actually singing it, it was really cute. Roman tried to join Hayden on stage but I grabbed him halfway up, and Roman spent the entirety of the song pouting in my lap.

We got home from church at 4:45 and Jeremiah played outside with the kids while I made dinner. I made Penne with Beef and Arugula, deviled eggs, olive oil and rosemary bread, and Key Lime Pie. Jeremiah's been begging for the penne dish since his sister Sophie made it for us at Christmas, and I figured it would be a perfect dinner since he loves it so much.

It was a fun day for Jeremiah. And he deserved it! From the time he wakes up until 6pm he is studying law, attending classes, and going to his externship at the U.S. District Court. After dinner, exhausted as he is, he finds time to take the kids to play outside or wrestle with them in the family room. They love jumping on him when he first steps in the door. Jeremiah has done a great job balancing his law school with his family, as most kids in his class study through the night but Jeremiah always makes time for the family.

I also wanted to wish my own dad Happy Father's Day! As my kids are lucky to have Jeremiah for a father, I am lucky to have had my own father in my life. He is just the kind of man I need as a role model for living my life to the fullest. Since I was little I have watched my dad put everyone ahead of himself. His actions are always in the service of others. I can only hope as I raise my own children that I can emulate some of my dad's own strengths so that they can grow up to be great men, just like their own father and grandfather.

Can't finish the post without a bit about my father-in-law. I think it was a little hard today for Jeremiah to celebrate Father's Day, except to focus on his own children and his own role as a father. I knew Norbert more as a grandfather than a father, but I can assume he was much like Jeremiah, always looking for ways to make the kids laugh. He must have been a fun father to have. For those who knew Norbert, I can only imagine that Jeremiah is the amazing dad that he is because of the amazing man who was his father.

What happens...

when you give Roman a red push-pop...

Hayden's Birthday

My baby is 4 years old today! Am I the only mother who spends most of the day remembering my child's actual day of birth? I seriously kept looking at the clock saying "I was being admitted at this point" or "Hallelujah, at this time my epidural was here!" or "Finally [17 hours later] I'm at a 10!" After a LONG day in the delivery room I finally got to hold my little baby. I was so exhausted but I held on as long as I could (it was almost midnight at this point).

It's now been four years and I am the luckiest mom in the world. Hayden is wild and crazy, yet sensitive and loving all in one little body. He loves to run around and follow his own rules, but he is quick to apologize when he does something wrong and loves to tell me how much he loves me. Hayden loves to color, play with Roman, be outside, run around like crazy, and watch cartoons. He hates thunderstorms (found this out last night), hates being told what to do, and hates going to bed...he seriously negotiates nap time.

I am the kind of mom who stayed up last night baking blueberry muffins for Hayden's preschool class (I'm all about the cupcakes but his preschool tries to promote healthy eating). After naps, he opened up presents. My baby is spoiled! He got Transformers, a Batman figure, a scooter (like a Razor scooter but smaller), a Little Tykes basketball hoop and ball, and a bunch of animal figures - farm, jungle, and dinosaurs. He is sharing the hoop and animals with Roman, whose birthday is on Monday. We then went to Target to spend a gift card he got, and he picked out a Spiderman kite and a matchbox car. A few nights ago I asked him what he wanted for his birthday dinner and he said chicken and rice (What? No pizza? No McDonalds?!) so I made teriyaki-marinated chicken (thank you Trader Joes!) and my favorite fried rice. Hayden even picked out his own birthday cake, and it was pretty good. I didn't make his cake this year, the heat in Toledo keeps me from the kitchen as much as possible. Overall, he had a great birthday. His bedtime song choice was "Happy Birthday", as if he hasn't heard it several times today. But just one more time, happy birthday baby!

Hayden showing his Transformers and his Batman figure to me. Jeremiah trying to hide in the background.

Hayden on his Hot Wheels scooter. He rides around on one like this at school and is a pro at it, so we decided to get one for him to, we just need a helmet now!

Roman showing off one of the plastic animal figures we got. It came with a huge dinosaur that he attached to (he's sleeping with it tonight).

Can you guess how old Hayden is? He's so proud of his new number 4 status!

Our final picture, he successfully blew out his ONE candle (the #4). He then proceeded to try to dig right in amid protests from Jeremiah and I that we needed to cut it and share it with everyone.

Here's a video of Roman, he's telling us what the different animals are. If you can tell, Roman refers to animals by the sounds they make, it's pretty cute. Then Jeremiah asks Roman if he is stinky, and in case you can't understand Romanese, he says, "No, Papa (Daddy) stinky!"

Birthday Date

For Hayden's birthday I thought it would be fun to take him on a date, just me and him. Jeremiah's taken him out a few times, and it was my turn to spend some quality time with him. I decided to take him to Red Robin since his meal was free, he got ice cream at the end, and they would sing for him, all things I thought would make for a fun time. A bonus for me - I was craving their crispy chicken salad with poppyseed honey mustard dressing, so I was just as excited as he was.

Hayden was really cute at the restaurant. There were several people there celebrating birthdays, and every time the waiters started clapping and would walk by our table with a ice cream sundae and a balloon, Hayden would perk up and get really excited, only to find out they were singing to someone else, and he would get really sad. I finally convinced him that the waiters only brought his ice cream if they saw him eating his dinner really good, and after that he was a good eater and waited eagerly for his turn to get ice cream.

He finally got his turn, but when the waiters sang to him, he got really shy and just looked down at the floor, but was excited for his balloon and ice cream. He was a lot of fun and it was a blast to spend some time alone with him.

My son "Hayd"

Celeste has been on a blogging spree, I thought I'd give her some friendly competition =)

I've been working on teaching Hayden to recognize letters and write his name. Lucky for me, his preschool is also working on this. Before today, Hayden could write his "H" without help, and wasn't all that interested in anything else. After preschool today, he wrote the following while I made lunch:

Isn't that great? In one day, he learned his "Hayd". Now we just need the rest of the letters!

Church Talks

Jeremiah is bugging me to update the blog.

So Hayden had his first Primary talk today (for those who are not Mormon, Primary is like Sunday School for little kids). His topic was how to prepare himself now to enter the temple one day and have an eternal family. This morning - yes, this morning because I'm a procrastinator - I wrote down things like "Read my scriptures" and "Listen to my mom and dad" (yeah, I wish!) on top of paper and posted pictures for each. The very last picture was of Jeremiah and I on our wedding day in front of the Salt Lake Temple. I stole it from our wall as we were leaving the house.

On the way to church, I asked Hayden if he was nervous to stand up in front of his friends and give a talk into the microphone. He said, "At first I'm going to be nervous, but then I won't be so nervous anymore." Glad he had that planned. Then I told him I would stand up with him and help him remember what to say. He didn't want me up there, he said his friends would help him. Unfortunately for him, it was me up there whispering in his ear what to say next. He did pretty good, he mumbled at first and seemed weirded out being up in front of everyone, but got the hang of it towards the end. Jeremiah said he understood most of it.

On a side note, before his talk we were watching him interact in Primary since he didn't know we were there. Hayden raises his hand for EVERYTHING! Even when he doesn't know the answer or the question doesn't pertain to him, his hand is up. It's really cute how involved he is in his Primary. He loves it and looks forward to it every Sunday. I'm just waiting for him to be asked to give the prayer, since his prayers usually include "Thanks for the library, Spiderman, Mario, and for Jesus to be healthy." I'll keep you updated on that one. I'm so proud of my little man!