The Hillian Collection

1. One of Sammy's new favorite past times. And yes, he mixes the colors.
2. Bonding with Dada after our 3-day Tallahassee trip without him.
3. We picked up two of these high chairs at Wood You as well as a copper-red enamel paint. Hopefully, it'll be all cured up by next week. (I'm very tired of the attached-to-the-table seat we currently have. It's a trapped-crumb nightmare.)
4. "Hey, Mom, look what I can do!" ...
5. BAM! "Holding my head up like a champ."
6. Our farmers-market soup of the week: onions, carrots, peppers, kale, cabbage, spinach, sausage, bacon, shrimp and oysters. Sean gets a load of produce and meats every Saturday, and I make a soup out of it almost every time.

1. Clearly, this outfit had no effect on Jed's attitude.
2. Sammy entertains himself in the strangest ways on our walks. (p.s. Warm weather, please return quickly. I miss walking with you.)
3. Sean and Sammy love some night dancing.
4. Mommy and her boys in our new house.
5. This sweetie slept like this during my entire morning routine. Lovely.
6. Then this silly starting doing acrobatics on the bed. Oh my!

1. Snuggling up and watching Downton Abbey together while Sammy got his bearings after a nap.
2. Bundling up for, hopefully, the last cold week of this winter.
3. Yes it's an iPhone mirror pic, but I couldn't resist capturing my little peeping tom.
4. Sweet bathtimes. They both love it. Sammy, please don't pour water on your brother's head.
5. I glued these pieces together this week. I know. I know. Maybe I shouldn't have, but Sammy's able to play much better with it now that it doesn't fall apart at the slightest bit of force.
6. This morning's entertainment during our walk: a loose elastic thread from Sammy's own sock.

But it's time for spring cleaning. The funny thing is that as we were walking out of the house via the kitchen for a walk, I thought it was high time we took these cards off the fridge, and as we're walking back in after the walk was over, Sammy took it upon himself to clear them out. If we weren't moving in a few months, I'd probably save them to cut around the pictures to display (we love having pictures of friends/family around), but I can't imagine they'd survive the move. Here's hoping we get lots of lovely cards next year (hint, hint).

1. Our mornings are too fun once Sammy comes in to snuggle in the mornings, especially since Jed's starting to smile quite frequently.
2. "Mama, do these cloth diapers make my butt look big?"-Jed. Yes. Yes dear, they do. He's finally big enough to fit in them but not quite big enough to avoid looking ridiculous with such a fluffy bum.
3. My sweetheart got me Thornebrook Chocolates for Valentine's Day. Sammy was kind enough to allow me one of the four chocolate-covered strawberries from the lot. Looks familiar.
4. I recreated this salad from Trader Joes. I love having something like this handy in the fridge.
5. With a chair pulled up to the sink, I suddenly have a very unhelpful kitchen helper.
6. These two make a sweet duo.

Ever since seeing the way I care for brother Jed, Sammy has started treating his Elmo in a way best described as motherly. You'll see:

Our first unsuccessful attempts at coordinating smiles. And yes, that's Sammy holding his brother's hand.

1. Sammy loves sitting on the floor with his brother.
2. Sunday morning, I got completely ready for church and came out to find all my boys still in bed (Sammy joined us after waking up).
3. Little Jed's been smiling more and more, but it's so hard to capture on film. This is just a teaser.
4. Sammy spent Thursday with Papa and Meme in Orlando. Apparently, a basketball and a bucket are all he needs.
5. Jed's starting to enjoy tummy time more so than before. He even rolls from front to back now.
6. "Mama, this house is too dirty to only use ONE vacuum." -Sammy

Samuel:
He'll be 20 months this week, and he's becoming more and more a little boy every day. He wakes up between 6:30 and 7am and lets out a little moaning cry to alert us as to his consciousness. He used to stand up and wail, but within the last couple weeks, it's become a sweet moan. Sean still goes to collect him and spend perhaps and hour alone with him while I sleep in an hour more with Jedidiah. When I'm ready to get up,  I call, "Sammy!" to which he replies, "Mama!" as he pushes open the bedroom door and joins his brother and me on the bed. He loves scrambled eggs, peas, chocolate milk (3 parts plain, whole milk to 1 part chocolate, whole milk) and strawberries. He watches the Toy Story series on the iPad as he eats his breakfast/lunch/dinner. It's really helped to hold his attention as I'm no longer able to sit at the table with him as he finishes his food since he takes a very, very long time to eat. At 12:30pm--sometimes a bit earlier, sometimes a bit later--he goes down for nap and sleeps through for about 2.5 hours. Whenever he does wake up early, we go in and tell him to "lie back down," and he does and sleeps for an hour or so more. He loves playing outside. Our backyard is surrounded by a privacy fence, so I feel safe leaving the door open and staying inside with Jed while Sammy mows the lawn, gardens and plays with his rocks. It really is a toddler's dream, this lot. Around 6:30pm, we move to the bathtub where he pours water on himself incessantly with his plastic cups, then family worship, then bed. As we pray, he clasps his hands together and bows his head until he hears "amen." He gets wiggly, but it's wonderful to see that he understands. Bedtime is 7:30pm, with a hymn, a kiss and "goodnight Sammy." He never fusses as we leave the room, and he takes about 15 to 30 min to put himself to sleep. Then he sleeps all night long without any sort of fight.
His words are: Dada, Mama, aaAAAaa (for brother Jed), Papa, Meme, bobo (brother), mmMMMmm (for food), hot, boom, boot, shoe, ee (feet), moo, rawr, dog, woof, dee (please), mwah (kiss), bubble, poopoo, uh-oh, God. There's probably some more that I can't think of at the moment. His vocabulary isn't huge, but he understands a lot. His biggest behavioral issue is fussing. He obeys us quite well, even enjoying learning that something is off limits, but fusses about once a day in a bad-boy kind of way. When he does this, we ask him, "Are you fussing?" to which he usually shakes his head no and always quiets down, but about half the time he immediately starts fussing again. We're working on it.
He loves his brother. Our Mamaroo is at risk for breaking because Sammy will pass by it, pull it over to him (straining it off its track, mind you) and kiss Jed. "Mwah!" And then he runs away. He does it before I can even say anything, and, I mean, he's KISSING his brother, so can I really get after him for it? I mean, really? He loves pulling Jed down the floor to lay next to him, give him his paci, and pat his back.

Jedidiah:
He'll have his 2 month birthday this week (remember? He and Sammy are exactly 18 months apart), and he's getting so cute! We love newborns, but Sammy's at pretty much the cutest stage we can imagine, so it's hard not to look forward to Jed getting more interactive and chubby-faced and all. He tracks us really well now, turning his head to follow us around the room, and he loves, loves loves watching his brother. He started smiling this week. Not very often, but he's done it now for me, my mom and Sean, so I'm not making it up. He sleeps really well through the night, waking up for feedings but staying sleepy so he goes back down right afterward (if not during), is awake for various hour long periods during the day and naps the rest of the time. He loves a good swaddle and takes to his pacis really well (as long as his big bro isn't stealing them from him).

Me + Sean:
We don't have much time with each other right now, but we're getting by with what we've got (it's certainly nothing to complain about). Sean is working almost all day either at the house or in his office for FLVS. It's nice that he's at home working so that, when he does take a break, we are there to spend that little bit of time with him before he goes back to it. My energy levels are back to what they should have been--and certainly higher than they ever were while I was pregnant. I take the boys walking, Sammy in the stroller and Jed strapped in the carrier, 2 miles in the mornings and in the evenings. I'm definitely known to wimp out when it's colder than, say, 55º, but we're staying pretty consistent. I find that it's much easier to pack them up and go for a walk than to manage them in the house, especially in the fussy times of the day (5 o'clock, anyone?).

2013 has started out as a good year for us. We're very thankful to be where we're at, and are trying to appreciate all our blessings for what they are.

Quick note: I'm trying to keep my regular posts brief because it encourages me to post--you know, not having to sit down for 30 min to write an update--but I figure once a month I can let friends and family in on a bit more detail as to our current status. Kids change quickly, don't you know?

1. Sammy loves tomatoes from his and Dada's garden. He kept saying, "mmmm," as he picked this one off the vine.
2. A little morning chore routine consists of leaving Sammy with the vacuum for about 20 min, and most of the living room will get swept--excluding little brothers, of course.
3. Papa and Meme came into town on Wednesday to take Sammy to the natural history museum. Sammy was trilled with the fossil collection drawers. Because of the fossils? No! The drawers.
4. Sammy's first animal ride was an elephant with Grandma at the medieval faire on Friday.
5. Our walk on Friday evening was brisk. But the dogwoods are budding!
6. I tried to catch one of Jed's elusive smiles this morning as he cooed. Obviously, I was unsuccessful.

Apparently, Sammy has decided sharks say "rawr." It's probably some variation on an aggressive biting sound, but it's pretty funny nonetheless.

Give a man a fish, and you've fed him for a day. Let Sammy have the last sips of a Vernor's, leave the can on the table next to a full water bottle, and you've entertained him for a very, very long time.

Sammy spent the weekend with his second best friend Mickey, the nine-year-old Sheltie I got my freshman year of high school. She'll be joining our family as soon as we move into our new home. It's the no.1 reason I'm so anxious to get in there.

1. Brotherly affection.
2. Springtime blooms decorate our evening walks.
3. Sammy makes a mess of feeding himself--a necessity with a new brother.
4. Our dinner Wednesday night: chicken stew with kale, carrots, turnips, etc.
5. Jed is almost 10 lbs (9 lbs 12 oz, to be exact).
6. Our leftover chicken stew with leftover quinoa + steel-cut oats.

Sean spent all day at the house with his 24-hour tool rental. Half-way though, he texted me "Do you want to come visit me after nap so that Sammy can see his Dada?" He and Sammy have become such buds since the end of my pregnancy with Jed.
The boys and I went walking in the morning (and, man, was the town quiet), spent the afternoon with a sweet friend from church, Michaela, and then headed over to visit Dada before bedtime. So I did all our major routines solo. I was glad for both boys in bed in the end, but I did it just fine. Sean just got 50 more students this morning, so I expect I'll be doing quite a bit solo in the next few weeks.

Jed was exhausted at the end of the day.

These are the names Sammy's got down pat. See if you can catch which one he created himself.

What a proud big bro Sammy's become. We're working on burping the little bro gently. Gently, Sammy. Gently!

It's only 10:15, and. Sammy's fallen asleep half way along our walk. I guess this means I won't have a relaxing naptime today. Sweet thing.