Arden Quinn is 21 months old!!!

My goodness! Is she really??? She's grown up so much in the last few months. She's become a big sister, started speaking in more complete sentences, been sleeping completely through the night, become super duper independent and assertive with her will, and gone on a food strike.

My Arden girl is so bright; she really lights up our world with her funny little comments, happy attitude, and her love for her baby brother.

She's got a great memory. We'll go to Walmart (and generally I just say "the store" but ever since she learned the letter W, pointed it out on the Walmart sign, and then I told her it said Walmart and yes Walmart starts with W... She knows Walmart when she sees the sign, and hollers "WALMART!" from the back seat. Random example, I know. But so many times she amazes me with recalling things I havent talked about except once, or months ago. She really does pay attention!

She knows (and adores) the song Jesus Loves Me. The other day I tried to be lazy and skip a couple verses but when I stopped she said "Jesus loves INDIAN BOY! Bow arrow TOY!" So I guess skipping verses to try to trick her at bedtime (when Thayer needs Mama too) is a thing of the past. Other songs she loves are:
Birds Up In The Treetops
I Will Lie Down and Sleep
March In The Infantry
I Am The Church
You Knit Me Together
The Eyes Of The Lord
Let's Sing A Song About Love
Stop, And Let Me Tell You
I Have These Hands

She loves the pool. Both of them. She has a kiddie pool on the deck and we sometimes go to the community pool as well...she's a little overconfident with the latter; today she was reminded why she can't just up and go out into the depths. She tried to do just that and hated the water in her eyes and nose. 

About the food strike: she was eating great when Thayer was first born but then a few days later when my milk came in I guess she started getting more at her nursing sessions and was too full to eat. So she tried to skip meals, then wanted "nummies" between meals...then too full for the next meal...vicious cycle. I knew it was a period of adjustment for her too and tried not to be too hard on her. I just tried to limit her nursings to the ones she had already been getting, early morning, before nap, and before bed. And she is back to eating more food now, but for a while there I felt a little bit like all I ever did was nurse babies! I'm still thankful for the fact she still loves nursing because of the benefits of nursing AT LEAST until age 2 (from the WHO). I don't plan to get involved with attempting to cut it off until she's at least two. If she quits before then, fine, but I won't be forcing it until I feel like its time.

She is a firecracker. She can be very active and difficult to keep up with...yesterday was one of those times, in Charlottesville. I could not catch my breath unless someone else was watching her! I love her but goodness she wears me out! Pushing boundaries, always. Sometimes it's hard for me to know how hard to be on her...she is busy and that's how toddlers are; I don't want to stifle her with pushing back when she wants to explore...so I have to watch myself to make sure I don't make a rule out of convenience for myself, because changing my mind halfway through of course is confusing and she doesn't feel a solid boundary anymore. If I tell her "no" about something I want it to be for good solid reasons and to make sure (for myself) I'm not just making a rule for the heck of it. I sure don't want to be in the midst of disciplining her for disobeying, wondering "what was the harm, except that I didn't want her to?" Changing rules midway or disciplining for something ridiculous is harder than making sure of your reasoning behind it and firm consequences at the start. If you don't explain why to the child, then at least know why you said to do x or not do y...it makes discipline easier, at least for me! The words "arbitrary rules" come to mind. ;) I really don't want to be a "no mom" all the time just cause I don't want a mess, or "ain't nobody got time for dat" sort of thing. I DO want her to know the joy I feel just being with her, and to remember these days of her making messes that I have to clean up are short lived...I don't want to look back and remember myself being frustrated all the time. I know as a nanny I did too much of that. I might as well learn to love watching the joy on her face as she splashes water out of the tub, gets blueberry juice on toys and loveys because she wants to share blueberries with them, let her "help" me sweep with her little broom even though the pile is getting even more spread out, and let her drink her milk from an open cup along with how messy that can get...and just watch her be little while she still is! I don't even want to think about how soon it'll be before she'll be "making beds and scrubbing floors"! 

Arden is such a tomboy in some ways...she's a climber and loves sports. But when it comes to bugs, critters and animals, she's such a girly girl! Worms, beetles, frogs and the like bring out the girly side! Maybe it has to do with putting that creepy crawly 3" millipede in her mouth last summer. It still gives ME the willies, that's for sure!!! Eeek!

Some of Arden's favorite things to say:

"Ice cream. SO YUMMY!!!"

"Uccle Get, ride motorcycle"

"I want nummies. Mama"

"I wanna swim, pool! Spash!"

"Go to Gramma's house?"

(About the stroller) "I wanna ride in it!"

"I love you Thayer! Super-dude!!!"

(She recognizes our van in a parking lot full of cars) "Arden's car!!!"

"Watch a video!" ( I think we hear this one the most! But we don't have Internet at our house anymore so she's out of luck...)

(She loves to rock, nurse and sing to her baby in her little rocking chair) "shhh baby. Have nummies. Rocka baby"

"I want candy." Lol. 

She's doing really well with the "naked method" of potty training. Going back and forth between that and diapers I'm sure slows it down quite a measure, but I'm not in a hurry and our lifestyle demands it. We are taking our time about it and she really does great. She hardly ever goes on the floor anymore so that's pretty convenient for me... I'm glad though that we had one whole level with hard flooring. We tried to stay in the main level as much as possible. But like I said, just whenever we're home I don't put any clothes or a diaper on, and she does great! So proud of her.

Arden's 21 month stats:
25 lbs (41st percentile)
35.5 inches (97th percentile)

Here's the beauty:

my sweet littles...

I'm so thankful for my precious little ones. They are both so sweet and although our days can be rough on this mama, and kick my butt, I still enjoy all the time I get to be with them. Praying I can remember that my children are far more important than all the other things that can steal my attention. Entertainment, social media (facebook, instagram, babycenter), blogging, even keeping a nice, clean house. I want my children to know they are the most important thing that I'm giving my day to. I want to show them, within each moment with them, how valuable and precious they are to me and to God, by not putting earthly things and my passions in front of their needs! Yeah that was a run-on. I'm not going to sweat it.

post-trip week

Monday, after getting home from Missouri, Arden needed a little "free-range" time after being buckled into her carseat so long! So we did bubbles on the back deck.

And I filled up some of my new handy-dandy canisters:

I posted this on IG, but thought I'd post it here too. Thayer started rolling at May camp (at 6.5 weeks) and loves it!

Just a bit of sibling sweetness one morning in bed

Thursday some of us moms took our littles to the National Zoo together!

Arden and me checking out the lion

orangutan crossing the cables overhead

in the ape house

"froggie!" LOL. Arden thought the seals were pretty neat

drama queen. she must realllly love the sea lions.

lunch in Janelle's truck bed :) It kept them corralled nicely.

big dude loving sitting up in the stroller!

zebras

giant panda

the elephants, from the bridge above them

Arden caught a lift on Abigail's stroller for a little bit

the new elephant house

On Saturday, Drew and James went to a seminar in Norfolk for arborists......so I was on my own all day but in the evening I managed to get us out to the pool for a little while!

arden loved the big pool

Daddy and Thayer matched on accident on Sunday! <3 my guys!

Thayer konked out with Mrs. Pam. So sweet.

We had lunch at Troy and Gails, with "Uncle Will"

Sunday afternoon we were at Sealston for some softball...and Luke planned a dinner of hamburgers and hotdogs

These boys hanging out while dinner was being cooked

Luke made some super yummy burgers

Janelle brought bubbles, hooray!

It rained and was so muddy; the littles LOVED it. Before we left though, I gave Arden a makeshift bath in the restroom sink.

Monday again...it was a doctor appointment for both Arden and Thayer; just "well-visits". Arden had never been before and she rocked it!

Thayer LOVES this nurse! He was chattering and laughing away!

That afternoon I was making us lunch, and Arden decided to partake of some cheese.

Thayer August is 2 months old!!!

I can. not. believe Thayer is already TWO months old! And I am such a horrible mother because I didn’t realize it until the NINTH!!! Something about the “second kid”…makes me think of those Luvs commercials. Oh, they make me laugh. But some things about being a second time mom aren’t so “cute”. Like forgetting your baby’s monthiversaries. I felt like a toad! Arden got the “whole nine yards” every month…measurements, photos, a blog post…ON the 17^th of each month. And although I thought it was hard to find time for things like photos then, I look back and think “wow, that was easy!”. Now it seems I can hardly catch my stinky breath. LOL.

My sweet Thayer man is growing so BIG and so FAST!!! I took some 2 month photos of him…in 3-6 month clothes! :o He loves it when anyone talks to him…he will smile and “talk” and make anyone fall in love!!! His happy, sweet demeanor reminds me SO much of Arden’s!!! They are so alike, and I didn’t think it was possible to have two so sweet! Everyone who met Arden said “don’t have a second if your first is good, because you’ll have a terror for your second. It was SO not true for us. I think once they can play together they will be the very best friends. Yes Arden can be a handful because she’s a busy, energetic toddler. That’s how they’re supposed to be. But she’s sweet. And I’m so thankful for her.

Back to Thayer…he sleeps well, I have no complaints. He’s a baby so obviously he wakes up to eat throughout the night, like God designed babies to do. He loves being held over an arm, with his limbs dangling down. Someone called it “tiger in a tree”. Very fitting. So that’s his favorite, although that boy is HEAVY and I carry him that way A LOT.  That’s a serious isometric bicep contraction…my arms are going to be lopsided.14.5 lbs for at least 30 min every day. I walk around with him draped over my arm with his limbs dangling, doing housework until he falls asleep! He likes to be held and kept entertained until his sleepy mind can’t keep up and his eyelids get too heavy!

Thayer’s 2 month stats:

weight: 14 lbs 5 oz (87^th percentile)

height: 24.75 inches (89^th percentile)

head: 16.25 inches (66^th percentile)

family reunion

To start with, I'll just say that the reason I haven't blogged for a while is because of course, we went on a trip. But as soon as we got home I tried to start a post, it bombed out after I'd uploaded 34 photos, and that was discouraging. And then we disconnected our internet subscription. SO...here I am at Papa and Nana's, pirating their [super sonic] wi-fi. YAY!!! I just uploaded 34 photos in about 3 minutes. I'm still sitting here all bug-eyed at how fast it happened. Whoa.

Anyway...on to the trip. First, Greg and Tamee started planning a trip to Oklahoma for May Camp, and ending in Missouri to see our big brothers and their families. Then Dad decided to see if he could take some time off to go there at the same time, and sometime in March he invited us to caravan with them and they would pay for our gas!!! Such a huge blessing, because Drew actually got his first week of [paid] vacation time since our first anniversary! He's changed jobs so many times that he never accumulated any. But now he's been with TrueTimber for more than a year, and we finally get to take a paid vacation!

We left on Friday May 24 after work, which happened to be earlier than usual! Drew called me when I thought I'd leave about 3 to get to mom and dad's around 4:30 (since I had to stop at the store), but then Drew called around 1 and said he was already off! Long story short, I had a whole lot less time than I had originally planned on! I managed to get out the door around 2, having loaded everything myself, along with the littles!

We left from Mom and Dad's around 3:30, and shortly thereafter Dad decided he needed his East Garden fix. LOL. So we stopped on Pantops in Charlottesville for an early dinner before taking off "for real".

This is after dinner when we stopped for gas for the first time. We jammied up the babies so they could travel as comfortably as possible, since it was going to be nighttime before we stopped again.

Drew drove all the way until midnight, and I attempted to sleep. This attempt was challenged by one baby after another, fighting sleep, screaming, waking the other, who would then scream...over, and over....and over, and over............... until it was my turn to drive. I guzzled 2 doubleshots and took the wheel at midnight. And I drove until about 4:30 am or so. Which is when I woke Drew because I had missed my exit for 44 in St. Louis. Ooops...So I woke up Drew and he directed me back out of St Louis onto 44...but not until we'd creeped through the scariest part of St Louis at 4 am. The red lights we kept stopping at woke Thayer, who was convinced he'd starve to death if he did not get fed immediately. Then Drew claimed he couldn't sleep anymore and drove out of St. Louis.

The [giant, beautiful] moon setting that morning

sweet travelers, sleeping for once.

 We stopped at the station in Wellston to change out of our traveling garb, spitup, trip mess and all...avocado smeared on my skirt from the wrap I'd made Drew for "breakfast"...and freshened ourselves before we arrived at camp around 1245. Right after meeting was over and everyone started making their lunches.

Aunt Tamee loved meeting my super-dude Thayer

Later that day I ran around photographing many little memories...

like "old times" :)

Grandma with Jenna at the sandbox

guys' game of softball

Grampa keeping sweet Jenna hydrated. So cute.

Greg, Drew and Steven were all on the same team

and Trevor in the outfield

Drew batting (I actually paid enough attention to cheer for him, once. LOL)

Thayer was absolutely thrilled in his stroller. He kept laughing and talking to the leaves he saw blowing around above the canopy window.

Then he passed out.

Look at all the babies!!!

Tam and Tiff put together some kabobs for dinner

Sunday afternoon lunch, we shared with the Seaborn girls, Bronwyn and Weldon and Lucinda.

Mitch and Papa, more memories of "old times", seeing them chat

game of Risk...Caleb right in the middle of it :P

Jaye with Devin, on the one end of the see-saw,

...and Tamee with Brennan, on the other end

Girls' game of softball on Sunday afternoon

Tiffany made the girls matching culottes for camp, and then we had a photoshoot in them

strawberry :)

coming down to the campsite for dinner

Trev churned our pomegranate ice cream for after dinner

Drew and Steven barbequed some chicken for Sunday's dinner

Grampa and Wyatt both needed a snooze while dinner

our "neighbors"--Marcus and Heather, and Hank and Hannah, making their dinner of kabobs

hangin' with Uncle Greg

ahh....it's so sweet to see my mom enjoy my babies. I love it.

The littlest; Thayer and Jenna

Uncle Greg let Arden lick the paddle for the ice cream (Sunday evening)

swinging with uncle Trev on Monday

Brennan and Adeline enjoying the gravel volleyball court

 I guess I quit carrying my camera around by Monday...but I took a few at our dinner on the way home from camp, at P.F. Chang's in Tulsa:

Nani with a lemon

Tuesday Morning Jenna enjoyed Aunt Karyn's yogurt

...and Arden and Nani played and sang a tune together

I had wanted to go to the restaurant supply, and knew Tuesday would be my only chance. So Drew, the sweetheart, took me. And Garret rode along with us. The others came as well but we left a little early. Joe Harding had moved so it was an escapade trying to find their new location; they didn't have a sign up yet and by all appearances,  the place was still "Wood You Furniture". LOL.

Tuesday afternoon we shopped a bit at this restaurant supply; I picked up some AWESOME commercial canisters for my pantry goods.

We went to Andy's after Joe Harding. I <3 Andy's!!!

frozen custard

Tuesday's dinner

Tuesday night we ate dinner on the deck, the entire family!!!

it was chaos. but fun!

lots of little people

Wednesday morning, I think...Drew and Greg were up and doing grout behind the fireplace while Steven was at work

Arden, before breakfast, wearing Uncle Justin's cool sunglasses :D

Wednesday afternoon we all went down to Arkansas and I got to show Drew a few of the places around where I grew up. We had La Hacienda for lunch--FAJITAS! Theirs are the very best.

Our old house...spent most of my life living in it! From 1994 or so to 2006. The yard used to look MUCH prettier than it does now though!

Just snapped  a photo of this as we drove by on 59...this is the church that was built at the end of the "Trail Of Tears". We lived right in the middle of Cherokee Nation.

There was a blockage on 59 as we were trying to get back from Westville to Siloam Springs, and so we took a detour in Watts, and saw this nifty contraption! Hilarious!!! A covered wagon with vehicle seats, tires and hubcaps, of course!

After picking up Garret at the airport, we came back and hung out in the yard for a bit.

I didn't get one single decent photo of the cousins...my camera was being choosy about deciding when to release the shutter. It did not obey my finger! Mom did though. I'll have to snag one of hers and post it sometime when I can get back to a wifi connection.

and Arden, for the first time, decided to color on Uncle Steven and Aunt Tiffany's wall. With a Sharpie. And it happened to be one of the walls they'd already painted since moving in. You can see her artwork in the background. I got her something else to express her artistic side on.

I think this is Thursday night; Sara and Justin put together a super yummy dinner and since it was a rainy day, we decided to do it at Steven and Tiffs rather than Justin's house since his is so small.

Arden snacking on some berries before dinner

Thayer LOVED Jared holding him, and just grinned and talked to Sara the entire time!

Drew and Justin barbecuing in the barn (right by the door but out of the rain)

Delish. Salad with all the toppings you could imagine, blueberries, strawberries and blackberries, salmon and chicken, and bread. They had soaked some pieces of hickory in a puddle, and put it in the charcoal barbeque so the meat had an amazing flavor!

It was also Wyatt's 4th birthday on Thursday, and Mom had bought him a cake and some Cars decorations so we had a little party for him after dinner!

Brennan was set up for this, believe it or not. Poor child. "entrapment!" All for a cute photo. 

Sara had already planned brownie sundaes for after dinner, so we had LOTS of dessert including the cake.

Friday Drew and I went over to Christy's to spend some time with her and Cheyenne...and Drew, coming from a smaller family, needed somewhat of a break, I think ;) So we had lunch at their house. 

Thayer got right to work melting Christy's heart...and mine. I love that boy.

...and Arden got busy 'helping' Cheyenne make some rolls for lunch. She dipped her measuring spoon in the roll batter, and ate it. Then she shook salt all over them and dipped the salt shaker in the batter for good measure. Huge mess. The Aunties were so sweet about it. LOL

Thayer loved Christy's little baby swing! He just smiled and talked away.

Drew having some much-needed therapy; Cheyenne swinging with Arden

Friday night was the birthday party Tiffany planned for Steven's 30th birthday. His birthday isn't until June 19 so we were able to REALLY surprise him! We had hamburgers, hotdogs, lots of different sides, chips, and homemade ice cream.

ice cream making in the kitchen

Thayer LOVES Uncle Justin!

Uncle Garret is my personal favorite babysitter. He keeps track of this busy girl like none other!!! Thanks, G! <3

The birthday man getting his dinner

some of the youngsters playing volleyball in the stormish weather

snuggles with Aunt Tamee

such a wonderful time singing together. THIS is how I remember doing it. 1 or 2 go to the piano and begin singing. Then a few more walk over to sing along, and pretty soon most everyone is around the piano, singing together because they WANT to. You can't get more enthusiastic praise than when everyone is enjoying just singing together. I remember so well these times in Arkansas and Missouri. It was obviously the Spirit moving each one to WANT to sing to the Lord. Miss it so much!!! I so enjoyed this time!!!

Steven opening the presents and cards he received

Thayer's admirers. He can be quite a clown if someone is talking to him. <3

This is when we were deciding whether or not to take shelter; there was a tornado warning and we were in line with the expected path.

Saturday, we got up and moving so we could take some family photos. This of course was an adventure in itself!!! We actually got out of the house around noon, I think, and one vehicle followed another and another and another....to some random place that someone decided was a good photo-taking spot. And we all piled out, all 19 of us, and kneeled, sat, jumped, squatted.....into position for a giant family photo! We knew it was relatively impossible to get everyone even LOOKING, so we were just glad no one was CRYING in a few of them!

Thayer used up all his smiles on the way there.

Big, huge, giant family photo!!! I love them ALL!!!

We had intended to go to another location to shoot a few more photos, but Justin's van broke down and we ended up just going our separate ways, sort of...the rest of the afternoon was spent trying to catch up with each other. The guys trying to get the van to a shop, the girls sat around and chatted while (at least 6) the babies slept, and Mom and Dad stayed with Justin's boys.

That evening they called a Gym since there were a few of us visitors in town. Drew LOVED playing basketball with the guys, then I took a turn and played frisbee football. It was a good time with all the Missouri friends, getting a little more active than we'd been the entire week before. Felt good!

Thayer cheesin at Kathryn

Aunt Tamee babysat Arden for a minute while I went to get my camera

cousins <3 Brennan and Arden

Casey held Thayer while I played (attempted to play) speedball...and Carmen held him too

At Braum's, I ordered a "California Burger". It was a regular hamburger with avocado. We hadn't had dinner so I was hungry. They gave me a chicken sandwich. I finally got my burger (and Jonathan Lundy saved my sandwich from the trash, then somehow Kathryn ended up with it, LOL), and afterwards wanted a cone. I wanted chocolate chip cookie dough and butter pecan. I got chocolate chip on top of my butter pecan. So I ended up giving my chocolate chip ice cream to Arden and Garret...I was not too thrilled with it after expecting some cookie dough in there! Those poor people at Braum's, I think we put them through a bit of a trial.

After the gym we went to Braums in Carthage

Tiff brought in a frog she found that night. The littles were ENTHRALLED. 

There's a funny story about this frog. So Tiff brings it in, holding it in her hands. Arden is sort of a girly-girl, so she is staring at it from a distance, mouth agape. I was watching, just KNOWING it would jump into her mouth. It jumped out of Tiff's hands, sure enough, right toward Arden. I was across the room and had no depth perception so I let out a squeal as it jumped because I was sure my prediction had come true. Turns out it landed on her shoulder, but agghhh! So close!

Arden kept watching from a distance. She loves to watch critters but not too close.

look at her funny girly-girl pose. It's hilarious.

We all planned to go to Lambert's on the way home and the rest of them were coming along that far to eat lunch/dinner with us. As we all loaded up so we could go, Brennan took to the giant puddles sitting in the ditches. And was joined by a few of his cousins.

Sunday after meeting...splashing around

Aunt Tamee handing out fun goodies to all the cousins!

I love this boy's huge eyes!!!

Uncle Garret taught Arden how to honk the horn. She was pretty pleased.

coloring at Lambert's

My dinner: Chicken Fried steak, peaches and green beans. YUM

goodbye hugs for Aunt Tamee from Thayer

They were holding him like this because he'd had a blowout and I'd changed his diaper but not his clothes yet. LOL

Arden clowning with Aunt Tiffany

on the way home.....

I was much too tired to think about taking photos on the trip home...I was thankful for sleeping babies!!! We made it back around 1230 or so on Monday afternoon, and had a delightful afternoon of unpacking, and relaxing at home before going to bed early!

That about sums up our trip...So many memories were made and I can't begin to try to capture them all in a blog post. It was amazing seeing my entire family in one place again. It hasn't happened in so long and who knows when it'll happen again, but that week I think will stand out as a highlight in my life. It was precious seeing my children enjoy their cousins, and enjoying the company of my awesome siblings again! I know I say it a lot but I LOVE MY FAMILY!!!