Life – Page 5

January 14, 2010

14 months!

14 months actually marks a big moment for us. The boys have now officially been with us longer than without. 🙂

I am noticing I have not been taking as many pictures of them, I think it is due to the fact that I can no longer leave the camera in easy to grab places. The boys are really into exploring the house right now and find all sorts of stuff to get into.

They both mastered the art of the snack cup this past month and are now a little obsessed.

Ezra is practically running now and hardly ever crawls anymore. Noah is working on learning to walk, he does great with your hands or a push toy, but isn’t willing to try balancing yet. He can do it though, he took a couple of steps the other day, but then he was mad about it!

Clapping and peek-a-boo are still two of our favorite activities. They also love books. The joy of unloading kitchen cabinets was discovered this last month and my kitchen floor is a disaster each and ever day, but at least they let me cook or wash dishes while they make the mess.

No new teeth this month. I suspect Ez might be working on his molars though, somedays he is really chewing on his finger in that area. He is not a happy teether. If Noah is working on any new teeth, we have no clue, he doesn’t let us know like his brother.

They really love to make noise, when they are awake there is no silence. They make all sorts of noises with their mouths, they bang on everything, and they like to drop things on the tile to see how it sounds.

Noah and his favorite person, Grandma, he refuses to share her!

They do almost everything together, but they are complete opposites. Noah is much more contemplative and Ezra is all action. Ezra thinks everything is hilarious, but with Noah you have to earn your giggles.

We have a ton of fun together and the action almost never stops, and we don’t want it any other way.

January 5, 2010January 4, 2010

2010 Goals

I prefer goals over resolutions, goals seem more concrete and have a finish line.

First let’s visit how last year’s goals finished up.

1. Started as running a 5k then I decided I would rather do a duathlon. I participated in a duathlon but relay style, I did not do the whole thing, but I did run a 5k. So goal semi-accomplished and I am happy I tried.

2. Focus more on Reduce and Reuse. I am doing this, and I am doing it more and more. I almost made my commitment to buying used/hand made clothing for myself, but right before we went to Ethiopia I purchase a couple of new tops because I was having difficulty finding used ones that were appropriate for travel (due to the fact that I live in the desert I own a lot of sleeveless tops!).

3. More gardening and preserving. I hit a bump on this one, two little precious angels put gardening and preserving on the back-burner.

4. Continue my goals from 2008. I am continuing to improve in those areas. We eat mostly vegetarian. We did have some issues with food waste, but it is getting better. Water usage per person is down, adding two more persons helped. I don’t have final numbers yet so I can’t say if we met our goal of 75 gallons/person, but I can say in the months since the boys have been home we have been below that goal number, which is quite the feat considering how much laundry I am doing!

2010 Goals

1. I like to keep on with the running thing. Matt and I are doing the off-road duathlon again and I am hoping to do a duathlon all by myself this year. For sure I am going to run my first 10k in the fall.

2. Get more organized. This is mostly pertaining to being a wife, mom, and household manager. I need to find a routine that works for keeping this house running smoothly. I am currently putting everything into ical so I have set days for certain laundry items, vacuuming, etc.

3. Gardening. I need to refocus in this area and hopefully have a good spring/summer harvest. I don’t really know of a concrete goal to set in this area, because saying I would like to harvest so many pounds would just set me up for failure, since not everything is in my control. I am going to dedicate one day a week to make sure I get out there and do some gardening.

January 3, 2010January 3, 2010

new years aspirations

Yep. Aspirations. Stephanie and I are not big on new year resolutions. We do set goals often, and revisit these through out the year. Regardless, a new year brings a fresh blanket of snow, and we are free to make whatever footprints we wish. So i thought i would share some things we have been talking about recently.

As a family:

Continue to declutter and own less stuff.
Save more (aka retirement planning).
spend less time watching tv, and more time reading books together (I have green eggs and ham memorized!)

Matt:

run more. I was running 7 miles in 60 minutes. I’d like to be at 9 miles in 60 minutes.
bike more. umm yeah, that is always my goal.
Read more. I need to finish my pMBA.
date my wife more than ever.
Continue to get in better shape. Jan. 2009 i was 228 at 6′ 2″. Jan 2010 I am 190. I’d like to see 180 this year.
Go camping with my boys.
redesign this blog.

Well those are mine, Stephanie will share hers later i am sure.

January 2, 2010January 2, 2010

New Year, New Do’s

The boys hair was all sorts of out of control, growing every which way, and several different lengths. On New Year’s Eve we decided to take them for their first haircuts. It went fairly well, we went to CNC Barbershop and Cedric was super nice and did a great job with the boys. Ez’s hair is shorter than I wanted but it was the only way he could even it out (on the plus side Noah can’t pull it anymore). Noah’s turned out great and is easier to comb out.

Getting it buzzed, he was actually fairly relaxed during this

December 26, 2009December 26, 2009

Christmas Day in Pictures

Santa came to Grandma and Grandpa’s house, Ezra, Noah, and Abby were very good babies this year.

Wow!

Noah is there something on your back?

Drums!

Which one should I open next?

Wrapping paper!

Taking time to read the card.

Poor boy just wanted to play the piano.

Checking out his see and say with Grandma

Ez was done with his shirt

Abby sitting in her new chair like a proper lady

High-Five!

I think we better feed this baby he is eating his arm!

Wahoo! We made it to the top.

December 26, 2009

Christmas Eve in Pictures

Daddy putting together their kitchen from Nana and Papa

Noah and his wrench

Ezra watching the action

Checking out the new kitchen (after nap before church)

Getting ready to have dinner with Grandpa and Grandma
A Christmas Eve Tradition, Paper Crowns. (sorry Noah destroyed his very quickly)

Noah discovered the stairs and took off up them as soon as we tried to change him!

What is this blocking the stairs?

Mmmm pumpkin pie!

Presents!

December 24, 2009

Living Nativity

Noah and Ezra (along with mom and dad) played baby Jesus this year in our church‘s Living Nativity. Poor Ez was a little fussy, but Noah loved it, the lights, animals, and music were a lot of fun.

Noah confused by what mom and dad were wearing

The whole scene with a clapping baby Jesus

In hindsight, Mary and Joseph shouldn’t have dressed Jesus in such cute pjs, something more plain would have been better, but they are silly first time parents and thought they could keep a 13 month old swaddled.

The donkey having a little mid-show snack

Cousin Abby was there to keep the understudy company.

December 17, 2009

13 months!

The boys turned 13 months on Monday and I still cannot believe how fast they are growing. I am finding it impossible to get a photo of them both looking at the camera at the same time. They are very active and really a lot of fun.

They are both crawling everywhere now and are getting very fast. Ezra started walking and is doing it more and more. I find it fun that they are both mobile now, everyone seems to think it would be more trouble, but I am finding it easier. Noah is so much happier now that he can also crawl and get into stuff, no more throwing fits when Ezra goes off and leaves him! Yep most days my house looks like some miniature tornadoes have been at work, but they are both happy so I am happy. 🙂

Noah has his front two bottom teeth now. He loves to say momma especially with his growling voice. He loves books, legos, and door stoppers.

He still loves to play peek-a-boo and clap. He also loves to make the cutest fish face which I still haven’t caught on camera.

Ezra has all four front teeth, two of them are most the way in the other two are just breaking through. I am hoping he gets a break from teething for Christmas. He loves things with wheels, books, and door stoppers (of course).

He loves to play his own version of peek-a-boo and claps all the time, especially when he is supposed to be asleep.

They stopped sleeping through the night and need bottles sometime between 3:30 and 6 am. Meal time is becoming very interesting at our house, they are wanting to feed themselves more and more and don’t want us to feed them. Foods they love: enchiladas, spaghetti, pizza, corn bread, stuffing, cranberry sauce, apple sauce, bananas and oatmeal, graham crackers, and craisins. Ezra loves apples. Noah loves cheese.

This stage is a lot of fun and we are really enjoying it.

December 8, 2009

6 months

6 months ago today we had this moment:

It was the day we became a family!

Look how tiny they were! I cannot believe how much they have changed in the last 6 months. They couldn’t even sit up and now they are crawling everywhere and Ez is on the verge of walking!

What a wonderful blessing the last six months have been! Happy half anniversary Noah and Ezra!

December 7, 2009

Re-adoption Day

Today was re-adoption day which is the domestication of a foreign adoption. What does that mean? That the boys are now legally Noah and Ezra and we will be getting AZ birth certificates for them.

Us and the Judge, he was super nice and Noah really liked him

Ez and mom

Ez and dad

Noah making more friends, he was very happy to meet people today

Noah and his favorite lady, Grandma

The boys having some fun with a glass door

November 22, 2009November 22, 2009

Enjoying some sunshine

After the boys’ second nap yesterday we took a walk down to one of the neighborhood playgrounds and enjoyed swinging and playing in the grass. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous lately.

Some pics of the fun:

I thought I was snapping a pic of Noah, when I inadvertently caught him making one of his favorite noises on camera:

MVI 5137 from Stephanie Adams on Vimeo.

Here’s Ez practicing his walking with daddy. He was totally happy about it until I whipped the camera out, so he is a little cranky in the video.

MVI 5136 from Stephanie Adams on Vimeo.

November 20, 2009

Photo Friday – 11.20.09

This is a special edition of photo Friday! Pics from Ethiopia, I know finally. I know you have been thinking, “gees they’ve been home 5 months, where’s the pics from their trip!”

New family!

Sleeping Noah

Me and a teeny tiny Ez

Awwwww

IMG_8579_2

Happy Ez

Floor time

At the lion zoo, Ez refused to be in a carrier

Noah

Noah’s first time in my carrier

I put up all Matt’s photos in the gallery. I need to find the ones that were taken with the little camera, must still be on the back-up drive. We didn’t take nearly the photos we thought we would, the boys kept us busy!

November 3, 2009

Happy Birthday to Stephanie

Happy Birthday to Stephanie!

She is the greatest wife, friend, and mother a guy could ask for. And just look at her in the park with her two cute little boys. Isn’t she so beautiful! I am a pretty lucky guy, and I hope she has a great birthday today!

October 29, 2009

Baby It's Cold Outside

The temperature dropped very drastically here yesterday and we actually had to break out the boys’ warmer clothes. Matt took them for a walk last night, we put them in hoodies for the first time and also had to put a blanket over them.

Apparently the hoodies make their heads too heavy to look up at daddy!

Ezra saying, “I am going to get you!”

Got you!

Standing over his brother, yes I said STANDING! He has been working on this new trick all week and is getting very good at it.