They Really are Worth It

This post is one of those journaling moments that you need to remind you it is all worth it in the end. Although the house is constantly a mess, the kitchen floor always feels crunchy and I never quite have the time that I would like to do everything I want to, I do have cute kids. Canon is a pain sometimes, but he also has some adorable moments. Savana is just plain cute.

Right now we have a bedtime routine for Canon that includes taking a bath, reading books and going to bed in his new big boy bed, which is a mattress on the floor. It makes a perfect little bed for him. Sometimes, when he is in his room playing or listening to his music, he just sits on the edge of his bed because it is the perfect little height for him. Anyway - back to the bedtime routine. He picks 3 books that we read. His selections are interesting sometimes. The most interesting is when he wants to read Dr. Seuss. We're not talking "Cat in the Hat", the only Dr. Seuss I have is a big Treasury of Dr. Seuss that includes "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and "The Lorax" During Christmas he really liked "The Grinch" which he referred to as "The Chrischris story." Now he is into "The Lorax." If you don't know that story, it is actually quite political, which is why I feel so funny reading it to him. I'm sure he doesn't understand it all, but he must like the pictures or something, because he will sit through the entire story. Tonight we read an alphabet book (we always have to sing these books), and a selection of "Monster" books (Seasame Street monsters). We read these in the big rocking chair with his blankie and dadoo (sippy cup of water) by his side. Then as soon has we are done reading he jumps down and runs (always runs everywhere) to his bed. He asks for "Acot Tree" (Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree) song and for Mommy to snuggle him to sleep. I lay next to him and listen while he sings "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree." I'm actually impressed at how many of the words he can sing and sings right along with the CD. Then he makes sure his blankie is somewhat over his head and is usually asleep by about two or three songs.

Earlier this week, Canon was so sweet. He was having such a good day. He waited patiently while I did a load of laundry and put Savana to sleep. He just said "OK Mom" when I told him what I needed to do. This is in contrast to the crying and pulling on my arm that so often his response. I wish I knew what triggered this good day. He even told me it was time to turn off the TV after only 2 of his regular 3 morning shows!!! Anyone who knows Canon, knows this is a miracle. Anyway - I put Savana down for morning nap and rotated some laundry through and then came and sat on our chair with Canon. As soon as I sat down with him, he took the three books he had wanted me to read with him and ran into his room. I could tell he was doing something, so I went to see if I could help him out. He had put the three books he wanted to read in the box with the other 20 in the set and was trying to carry the whole box of books back to the rocking chair. How can you say no to reading a whole box of books to a 2 year old when he is being so cute! We spent the next 30 mintues reading 17 Disney Baby books.

Savana also melts my heart. She is too little to be anything but adorable right now. She is such a good natured baby and just goes with the flow. She has become so interactive and has the cutest little bounce when she is happy. If you are holding her when she does her little bounce, you almost feel like you need to hold on with two hands because she feels like she is going to bounce right out of your arms. This cute little bounce is a progression from her little head shake she started with last month. When she is happy she just starts shaking her head back and forth as fast as she can while she has the biggest smile on her face. Anyway, my favorite time with her right now is while I am nursing or just rocking with her in my arms as she is getting ready to go to sleep. She always reaches up and just touches my face (sometimes it feels like she is going to rip my nose off, but it is usually just a gentle touch). My favorite is when she reaches for my hair and just likes to have her fingers in my hair. She doesn't usually even grab it, she just likes her fingers in it.

I love rocking chair time with my kids!

Favorite Christmas Photos

Seth doesn't think I should put up posts without pictures. I guess he thinks what I write is too boring, so it needs pictures to spice it up. For those of you who know Seth well, he read my last post to me in his "Heidi" voice. Yes, just imagine. Anybody can sound cheesy when he reads it in that voice. Oh well. :)
So here are a couple of my favorite pictures from Christmas. I guess I didn't feel like I could leave the Christmas thing without a couple of Christmas pictures. I think that Canon's smile is one of those priceless cute smiles, that is so hard to catch on film. He happen to be practicing his scared, silly and surprised faces while I was trying to take their pictures. Of course his happy face wasn't in the mix but this smile was a smile he just couldn't contain while doing a face other than his happy face.

The Big Big Chair

Well, we made it home after being in Utah for 5 weeks for the holidays. We loved being in Utah, but are happy to be home in our own beds. When we woke Canon up to "fly on the airplane to go home to Daddy in Michigan" he asked about going home to "Mommy's house and the big big chair." It is so interesting to find out what a two year old misses from his house. The big chair is our huge soft rocking chair that we sit in every night to read stories. When we got it, I chose that chair because it looked comfy to nurse in, and I did hope that it would one day become a great place to read stories. But I didn't realize that Canon liked it so much already.

Now that we are back home - it feels good to be here. Being here, I remember the things I do like about it, even though it is COLD. (Tody the high was 7 degrees with -4 being the low, it is sunny, however and there was no wind. The cold weather is somehow not so bad with the sun shining, we just won't be hanging out in the balcony for a little while.) The people here are really friendly, especially to the kids. Canon made friends with the lady at the grocery store who was stocking the yogurt. After a brief conversation about the toys he was going to go look at, he somehow talked her into singing Incy Wincy Spider with him. It was cute.