TWO SWEET

MARLEY ELIZABETH

Baby girl. Oh, how you've grown in the past few months. It has been a complete joy to watch you start understanding the world around you. At two years old my favorite things are:

-you absorb everything your brother does and mimic his every move. I don't love this, but it is adorable to watch if it isn't throwing toys or something naughty.

-we often have dance parties as a family and when ever we dance around, you HAVE to be held by me. You want to lay down (and you always give our backs a pat when you hug someone) on my shoulder and dance with me. It is the sweetest.

-When you say "yes" to something, it is "yay". Again, the cutest.

-you can't say "Noah," so you call him "whoa whoa" - you run around all day yelling "WHOA WHOA" - if not hits you, you'll run over and hold where it hurts and mumble and jumble, but you manage to always get "whoa whoa" out. haha.

-you can say so many words and often tell us 3 word sentences, which i'm so impressed by at two years old -- perks of being the second child.

-you are living your absolute best life when you are outside. You don't care what you are doing, as long as you are outside.

-you love water. You love baths, playing in the water table, splashing in puddles, you love it.

-you love bugs. More than i've ever seen any little boy love bugs. If you are riding your little scooter, or on a walk with dad, you HAVE to stop at any moving thing on the ground and yell "OH NO! BUG!" and you just say "bug bug bug" over and over as you watch it. You aren't afraid of them either, will try right away to pick them right up.

-You have no fear baby girl. You climb, jump, run, hop, jump on the tramp as high as the big kids - you challenge Noah often and you are his little sister. You love adventure and you are so independent. You love when Noah is around, but you are perfectly fine finding something to entertain yourself. You are the sweetest.

-your dad and I are in complete awe of you. You are beautiful and light up the room wherever you are. Your brother loves you and we all love to smother you with hugs and kisses. 

-you love to be held, but you don't like to be cuddled with. You like your personal space, but you still love being close to others - does that even make sense? if I try to cuddle hard with you, you want OUT. But if I hold you gently and pace myself, then you'll stay for a while. haha you are so particular.

-you love "snackies" -- you add "ies" to everything: ballie, snackie, blockie, etc. It is so random and funny.

-you love to cheese grin at us. From across the room if I make eye contact with you, you will give me a massive smile and then go about your day.

-you love anything that revolves around a ball. You see a circle anywhere and you'll yell "BALL!!!"

-you sit patiently and let me do your hair, but if I take too long, you let me know it.

-you'd rather wear Noah's buzz lightyear costume than your princess costume. You'll wear it and you are happy, but usually it isn't your first choice.

Baby girl. I cannot wait to watch you continue to grow. You start school for the first time tomorrow at a Montessori school. I'm so excited for you to be around friends and play. You love that. Dad and I have been able to be home for 2 years with you and i'm so sad to let you go. You've been my baby and my sweet little girl I protect, but now you get to go understand a classroom and being with friends. I'm happy for you, but it is still a bittersweet moment to let you do that.

Love you with my whole heart, Marley. Forever and ever.

2 year checkup: weight 25 lbs (23%), height 34 (52%), head 18.7 (46%)

and just like that, he's 4.

My sweet baby Noah. The world will never been the same since you've arrived. Your perfect, innocent little soul has filled every expectation i've had of being a mother. I crave to be with you constantly and need to hug and kiss you 1000x a day. The love I have for you only continues to grow and I would do anything to just to hear that infectious laugh (that everyone always comments on) and that beautiful smile. You are one in a million. You are:

-sensitive

-emotional

-loving beyond anything i've ever seen for a 3 year old. You walk up to random babies and will say things like "well look at this cute little baby! Hi!!"

-You love to cuddle and get extremely sad if i'm not around to hug and kiss you goodnight

-you thrive on routine and get very stressed if we are out of sorts

-you love to learn. Oh boy do you love to absorb new information. You are so smart because you work SO hard at learning by asking a million questions and then trying to implement what we teach you. You really take in the entire world around you and I watch so happily from the sides as you grow.

-You love spider-man, jack skellington, mickey mouse, disneyland, reading, coloring, playing, laughing, watching tv or a movie, eating snacks (you eat so painfully slow, haha), going on adventures, and like I mentioned before, just learning about everything. You are SO inquisitive 

-You say things like "WHAT YOU SAID?" when you didn't hear what someone said

-you call watching a movie, watching a "movie show"

-You say "what my heck" instead of "what the heck"

-you mimc mom when you are frustrated and say "gosh dang it" -- my bad

-you are a perfectionist and often get so frustrated if something isn't perfect. Really worried about this one and try to let you know it is okay to mess up and not be perfect. Your response "but mom, it breaks my heart. I want it to look great" You are the sweetest and pour your heart into everything you do.

-Your dad was asking you today to be careful jumping off the stairs and you said "oh, you want me to be so careful because you don't want me to break my tibia and fibia bones??" (HAHA so funny you said tibia and fibia, but so cute you are learning what types of bones are in your body)

Man. I could go on forever really. So proud to be celebrating this little boy. He is my best friend (next to his dad and sister -- I love them all!)

Happy 4th, my little sunshine.

4 year checkup: weight 37 lbs (57%), height 40.4 (47%)

what a year, 2020.

Excuse my language, but what in the actual hell, 2020. This year has been an absolute nightmare. Let me list is out for you:

2020:

1. Australian fires that took over almost the entire country burning down animals, livestock and people: This one took over the news fast. Many people scared for Australia as fires swept the country killing almost everything in its wake. 
2. COVID-19 aka: Coronavirus: Chances are, you know what coronavirus is, unless you've been living under a rock. This literally rocked our world. Every single nation in the world was dealing with it, quaratined in our homes, as we watched with horror on the news and tv as it took life after life. We couldn't go anywhere without wearing a mask, most companies forced their workforce to work from home and those that didn't or couldn't went out of business or laid of thousands of people. This isn't over -- we are 3 months in and this virus has shook what anyone in this world has ever gone through. Schools closed, business closed, pretty much everything at one point was closed due to a mandatory stay at home order, except grocery stores. It is eerie to go out and to feel normal. I went through a massive mental transition phase with working from home with two small kids around. Travis and I almost lost our everloving mind until my mother-in-law came to the rescue after a month of quarantining. Coronavirus has rocked our world and it will fundamentally change how so many do business, or operate moving forward.
3. Earthquakes - Okay, UTAH. Two weeks into quaratine, Utah experienced a 6+ earthquake that made Travis and I run to our kids rooms completely panicked and from there on felt after shocks for a good few weeks. It was so stressful.
4. Killer hornets: yep, you read that right. Apparently these massive wasps somehow made it into the United States and was killing people in Washington. NO thanks.
5. Murder of George Floyd: This one is huge. This instigated riots, violence, looting, protests from ALL around the world. The black lives matter movement have come to the forefront of encouraging people to have a voice when it comes to black lives. I've educated myself and listened to what others have said during this time. It has opened my eyes. There has to be a shift in how colored races are treated in this world and I plan to teach my children to love every single person no matter what they look like. It all starts in our home.

I can't wait to see what else 2020 brings. The good things that we've done during this crazy time:

-lots of fun art projects with kids

-paint fireplace

-wallpaper Marley's room

-paint Noah's room

-went on lots of bike rides

-went to St. George with family (this felt especially good because this was the first time that I had see my side of the family in two months!! flipping quarantine)

-went to Bear Lake with the Siebenhaars 

I'm praying for the entire world to get some peace after this year. It has been one of the hardest and scariest yet.

Noah Wolfgang

It has been an absolute treasure watching our Noah learn and grown. When the saying goes, "the days are long but the years go by fast" -- man, that saying couldn't be more right. I just feel like i've blinked and he's grown up so fast. Noah has so much spunk and personality. He talks our ear off whenever he has the chance and is the most inquisitive kid as he wants to learn and know everything. He is really understanding behavior and as we've navigated a year of tantrums, but our hard work is paying off and for the most part is extremely obedient. Noah's asthma hasn't been too bad this winter. I've gone a few weeks without administering his inhaler, which is big news over here! I've been really diligent in the vitamins i've given him and it all really seems to help his immunity stay strong. I am a huge believer in elderberry, b12, and liquid turmeric. Really, liquid gold!

Noah is in school while we both go to work. He skipped a class this year and instead of staying with 2-3 year olds he got to jump into the class of 3-4 year olds. He is one of the youngest in the class, but with that has come a huge language jump. He is forced to keep up with the big kids and I cannot believe the words he knows, especially when he casually told us "my ear effing hurts." No, he did not say effing, rather, the full on F word. I just asked him where he heard that and he said school. 4 years old, people and kids are saying the F word! Just crazy the things they pick up at school. Anyway, we had such a fun 2019 year with Noah and watched him grow astronomically. 

Our favorite current things about Noah:

-loves to eat apple sauce and a fig (figga) bar every single morning

-his current favorite movie is Nightmare Before Christmas and he will sing the songs over and over and over again. I'm always so surprised at his ability to retain lyrics

-he has the funniest stories that make me crack up. The other day we were at the drive thru and the girl handing us our food looked as if she had botox injected right into her lips as I swear her mouth didn't move at all. I thought it was funny, but just said to Noah as we drove off, "she was nice, wasn't she?" and he said "yeah, but why was her mouth like a statue or a mountain? it didn't move." I couldn't stop laughing. I thought I was the only one who noticed it. Kids are so painfully aware of everything around them.

-he loves to jump, dance, and PLAY. He is a true boy through and through.

-he loves legos and can sit and build them for a long time.

-he loves to color and is very good at staying in the lines. I'm super impressed with his ability to stay patient and color as long as he does.

-he loves to listen to music, especially soundtracks to movies. Taking after his mom and dad that so similarly also love listening to movie soundtracks.

-Noah loves to read through books and I will often hear him reading to himself in different voices. haha

-Noah is scared of monsters and his imagination is taking on a life of its own. Sometimes it is really fun to watch and others it is sad when it is used in a scary way for him.

-he worships his aunt abbie who lives next door. Always wants to go play with her and is constantly asking if he can go over to her house.

-loves to drink "hot honey lemon water" that mom makes for him, especially when he is sick.

-loves to play with his sister. Can be rough with her, but they are really interactive with each other right now which is really sweet to watch.

-he loves his blankey's 

-really into robots and building things

-loves to eat and is still a really good eater

-loves going to his swimming lessons and he is doing so well!

-loves getting a special treat at Swig with mommy. He gets a small kid sugar cookie and always gets so excited.

-i've been very diligent in teaching Noah about 1) his private parts and boundries with where he can touch people/where people are allowed to touch him. He is so strong and will always say things like "only Noah can touch that, right?!" or "mom, let me wipe my bum. That's my private parts, okay??" and it has been great for me to watch him understand his body and have respect for it. 2) we've been working on being kind, but not so kind that you risk yourself to strangers, etc.. these lessons are really hard and for some reason emotional for me to go through with him. I don't like teaching him things like there are some bad people that want to hurt little kids, etc.. but he has been good and receptive. It is hard when I play legos and pretend to be a stranger and go up to his lego character and say "hey, I know your mom and dad and they want you to come in my car right now" he will respond "noooo that's not safe" and will do pretty good until I say "hey, come get into my car, I have a lot of candy" and he says "okay! can I have some?" hahaha. Fail fail fail. I don't want to scare him either, but it is my absolute greatest fear and I have nightmares about it. I just hate that he is at the age where we have to start talking about this stuff. But I am so glad I get to chat with him and help him understand.

We got to go visit my dad in Florida for a few days in January. We had so much fun going to Disneyworld (and getting onto Rise of the Resistance!!!!!!). We spent so much quality time together before crap hit the fan in February with COVID-19. So glad we got to getaway. Love my little sidekick.

We love our Noah Wolfgang and can't wait to see him turn 4 this year!

Marley Elizabeth

I can't believe Marley is 19 months old. I just keeps saying it, but time truly doesn't fly. It seems to go even fast when I write blog posts, because I wait every six months to write and I realize how quickly just 6 months passes. Marley is the sweetest little baby with so much personality. She is sensitive and always wants to love. She enjoys playing and being around her brother more than anything. She is finally getting to an age where they like to interact and be around each other, which has been so exciting to witness and watch. She is so happy and is often found wearing a pair of somethings shoes, wearing a dress up hat, running around with items found in cupboards, or slow dancing to any kind of beat she hears in the house. She is hilarious and we have loved watching her personality develop into one that is so drastically different than Noah's. My sweet girl, I really never knew I needed a girl until I had her. Having one of both has been one of life's greatest treasures. 

Marley has had a rough few months. In October, Marley got a cold and it quickly escalated into some alarming breathing (or lack there of), we rushed her to the hospital and we were admitted to stay the night, which ended up being a 3 night stay. She had Bronchiolitis and had to be on high flow oxygen and a feeding tube. She was so dehydrated when we went from the lack of liquid and food. We tried to get her to drink her milk, which her "baba" is her favorite thing in the world so we knew something was off. We couldn't get her to eat and she refused to sleep. When we had arrived at the hospital, her oxygen was in the low 80's, which was really alarming. It was a very stressful and scary three days filled with much prayer and support from family and friends helping with Noah and everything else we had going on. I was so appreciative of all the love we were shown. I really will never forget it. Marley was a champ and at the end of three days was doing better. Not fully healed, but better. We were very careful with her and were scared she would get sick again. Within two weeks she started getting another cold, which required a visit to the suction clinic, but we were able to fend the cold off and stay away from the hospital. Well, come the week after Thanksgiving and Marley was back in the hospital with Bronchiolitis again. An inspired nurse did something that we are so grateful for and put her on Albuterol (asthma medication to help alleviate restricted airways) and Marley immediately responded to it. This is typically only given to individuals who have asthma, so this told us two things, this wasn't viral and Bronchiolitis like we thought, it was asthma. Marley stayed the night and was diagnosed with Reactive Airway Disease. You can't diagnose asthma until age 2, so they call it reactive airway disease and prescribed her an inhaler for day-to-day preventative, and then albuterol for emergencies.  This sparked the crazy side in both Travis and I. We decided we were keeping her home all winter -- no church, no family parties, no nothing. We weren't going to chance a 3rd hospital visit, especially when we could see she was so susceptible to a mild virus, like a cold. We are about 2 months into this and it has been tough, but we've gotten down to a routine. It is hard to miss out on things because Travis and I alternate who stays home with Marley and who goes and takes Noah. However, we know it has been working as she hasn't been sick since her last hospital visit. We wash hands many times a day as well, which seem to be helping a lot. It was a very difficult time for us. We had so much going on and both of her hospitals visits brought on much stress and anxiety as we were dealing with normal life deadlines at work, but also so concerned about our sweet girl. It was hard for me to turn off anything to focus on her and it just made it harder knowing how Noah was taking this, etc.. I'm grateful for the sacrifice we've made the past couple of months as it clearly is working. I just hope she continues to stay healthy from here on out. We love our Marley babe and we are so glad she's been healthy. Happiest little girl there is.

18 month favorite things: 

-is obsessed with anything that is a blankey. She refers to her blankets as "B". I think it is her attempt at saying blankey

-she loves to find shoes in the house and wear them around. She specifically loves wearing Noah's shoes.

-She is pretty particular about the food she eats and always surprises us with what she WILL eat. She currently loves any berry, mac and cheese, avocados, apples sauce, mandarin oranges, apples

-she can say baba (bottle), dada, mama, poo poo (she is so funny and will always tell us when she goes in her diaper), block, night night, hi, bye, when we say dog she will pant her breath like a puppy does, cheese, tank tu (thank you), she signs "more" and it is the best thing ever

-she loves to dance to music and does the funniest dance moves

-she loves to chase and play with Noah

-she loves to go down the slide

-she loves to read books and always has to be sitting on someones lap

-loves to hug and if she is fond of someone, will run up and give the biggest hugs and loves. She is very affectionate

-loves to play

-loves to play with crayons, particularly in the bathtub (bath crayons)

-loves to CLIMB. On EVERYTHING

gives the cheesiest smile all of the time. She loves to giggle and fake laugh.

-loves to follow mom and dad around. Often just wants to be held to see what's going on.

-loves to play on the bed and always wants to climb up. Once she is able to get on top of the bed will just laugh and laugh and laugh because she did it.

-loves the bath more than anything. All we ever have to say is "let's go take a bath" and she runs to the stairs, climbs them as fast as she can, and runs to the bathroom and screeches. 

-loves her baba. She is always seeing a bottle laying around and will cry if it is in her line of sight because she always wants to be drinking water or milk.

-loves being outside

-loves jumping from the ottoman to the couch and will always go "yeah yeah yeah" just to prepare right before jumping

-loves Super Simple songs and will always make eye contact with something and smile really big to show how excited she is to watch the songs on YouTube

-has so much hair that is curly! it has been so fun to do pig tails with because it makes them so much cuter

-she is just the tinest little girl and is still wearing 12 month clothing

-knows where all of her body parts are. When I say nose, ear, hair, arm, toes, etc.. she knows and will point to them

-loves spinning in circles and getting dizzy and will laugh as she falls to the floor

-is getting really tough by having an older brother, although she is a drama queen and will often cry over nothing for attention 

We love our sweet girl and we love watching her grow. Happy 19 months sweet Marley.

 ^^First time in the hospital (spent 4 days in the ICU)

^^Second time in the hospital a month later (3 days in the ICU). You are so resilient, baby girl

Where has the time gone?

The past few months have been a bit crazy over here -- I'd like to think that isn't normally how it is, but it is. With both of us working full time, it is mad chaos most of the time and to be completely honest, most of the time I am asking myself what I'm doing. I'm trying to do my best at working and being a good employee, being a good wife, being a good mom, and finding time to be spiritual and put myself first sometimes. I'd like to admit that I fail most of the time and finding a balance to do it all most often feels impossible, but we are finding ways, slow painful ways, to make things work. We have a lot of trial and error over here and our kids take most of the error -- poor little things. There is a reason they can't remember most things when they are this little right? on my journey to being a more patient and kind mother, I mess up and sometimes am not as nice as I want to be. In the middle of trying to figure all of this out, I decided to sign up and study for a hard professional certification exam with a 50% pass rate. I studied my bum off for 8 long weeks taking many nights away from my husband and children to study, take practice exams and attend study groups. It was a sacrifice and looking back, I'm so grateful that 8 weeks went by fast because it was starting to wear on me. Many days I would leave to work before my family was up and not return until they were asleep. There was actually a period of time I didn't see my kids for two whole days, and while I've done that for vacation purposes, it was harder on me than I would have thought. Felt so much guilt. Are you seeing an underlining pattern here? I feel guilty and bad most of the time and I'm really trying to change that mentality because I know it doesn't help. Anyway, with anxiety and a nauseated stomach in tow, I went to that testing center and passed that 3 hours 175 question exam. I was so proud of myself and grateful I only had to do it one time. 

Well, this rather turned into a place for me to complain. Hey, blog, don't you miss me?! 

We had a good summer! We played, swam, went to the aquarium many times, played with cousins and grandparents, went to Bear Lake, flew our kite, kayaked on the lake (mostly Noah and dad, they made a lot of one on one trips), spending a lot of time finishing our basement (will be done soon!) and made a lot of fun neighbor friends. There is so much that we did that I'm hoping I can just document accurately through pictures. I will describe a bit more in each kids individual posts, but we spent a lot of time together, even despite our busy work schedules. I'm grateful for the summer months but for some reason, so excited for the fall and winter holidays. We always have so many good memories formed by the traditions we have and the people we spend our time with. I'm trying to get a lot of things set in place before December, like having all of my shopping done (eeek!), but I really want to enjoy December and also can't wait because I'm taking the entire week of Christmas off, which I've never been able to do!!

Our kids are getting bigger and bigger and I can't believe how fast time is going by. I'm trying to soak up the amazing time I have with them because I know that one day I will wish it back. Going to try to print out a calendar for December and fill it with something we can do each day. I have a 30 before 30 bucket list and one of those items is to volunteer with my kids, so I'm hoping to find some fun things we can do as a family to serve, but also check something off my list :). We got to go to Disneyland and few weeks ago for a quick weekend. It was the craziest time I've ever been there, seeing lines get up to almost 3 hours long, but we had fun as a family. It was such a quick trip, I look forward to the time (when kids are older for sure) we can go for a bit longer, stay in a closer hotel, and enjoy a week out of it rather than going going going for a few days. It was good to have uninterrupted time with our kids and Noah was elated the entire time. It was so special to see him light up, especially when he sees his favorite things on Disney movies come to life. It may have made me tear up a few times, or maybe not. 

I could write quite the blog update, but I was hoping to hop on here and just do something quick and put a bunch of pictures together. I like to print blog books at the end of the year and I have a lot of catch up on. Happy November!

ONE YEARS OLD

Our darling Marley is finally ONE year old. The first year is always the hardest in my opinion. It is full of sleepless nights, lots of mental breakdowns asking yourself how you are surviving (especially working full time!), and so many others, but I don't want to complain. The first birthday is always bittersweet, excited to be past the really hard newborn stage, but also sad to realize the years just go by so fast! Marley has been the sweet safe haven that I didn't realize I needed. When I had Noah, I thought to have all boys was ideal and all I wanted. When Travis announced that our baby was a girl in the delivery room, I couldn't keep back the tears. It was such a spiritual and amazing experience to feel my little girl being placed into my arms for the first time. Marley is so sweet. So incredibly independent, but sweet. Since Marley isn't talking yet, i'll start listing our favorite things around Marley:

Marley at one-year-old: 

-loves to play with her brother

-loves to drink her bottles of milk

-if you make a growling noise, she will growl back at you even if you didn't intend to. The other night I sighed out of frustration and he growled thinking I was playing. Put a smile on my frustrated face.

-loves to take a bath

-HATES to get her diaper changed or dressed. Wiggles and wiggles until we have to pin her down. Never experienced this with Noah. It can be extremely frustrating.

-loves to chew on everything

-loves to open up cabinets and take everything out

-loves to eat; avocados and berries are her favorite

-loves to giggle and laugh. We will just be in silence while I make dinner sometimes and I will just hear her giggle as she is playing with toys -- it is so sweet.

-loves to get into the stroller and go on long walks

-doesn't love her car seat, but does well. She can't be in there for long periods of time before she starts to cry.

-wants to play with anything that Noah is playing with.

-loves to put her fingers in anyone's mouth. She thinks it is hilarious.

-she is walking!! she refuses to crawl and walks everywhere now.

-loves to crawl upstairs and doesn't quite know how to go down from them yet.

-if you are eating around her, she wants whatever you are eating NOW.

-hates being thrown up in the air. It scares her.

-her aunt Abbie can always get her laughing so hard!

We love our Marley Elizabeth. Her temperament is so calm and sweet. Can't wait to see her develop in the next year. We had a combined birthday party with Noah and her aunt Abbie made her a beautiful pink smash cake. She didn't even try to eat the cake -- it wasn't her thing. Happy Birthday to my sweet girl.

1 year checkup: weight 19 lbs (13%), 30.1 (72%), head 17.5 (26%)

THREE YEARS OLD!

My Noah Wolfgang is three years old. It is quite true what they say; the years are short but the days are long. I still remember the warm June evening I went into unexpected labor six weeks early to deliver our firstborn -- a boy! a beautiful little boy. I have been smitten with Noah since day one. I had quite the struggle and postpartum recovery with him, but he made every ache feel that much better. I have had an overwhelming amount of love for him as the years have passed and I have watched him grow into a brave, talkative, energetic, loving, toddler. Noah is such a passionate little soul. When he loves something, he loves 100%. He is so smart too. Talks to us in full sentences, is fully potty-trained, can name 15+ different kind of dinosaurs, knows all of his shapes and colors, knows an incredible amount of nursery rhymes (he LOVES music), knows mostly any animal you could show him in a book, knows all of the letters of the alphabet, can sing his ABC's, I really could go on and on. The most impressive thing to me at his age is his ability to hear and know music. Travis and I are huge on instrumental music and play it at least once a day at our home and have since Noah was born. If we play something he recognizes, he will yell it out. More specifically, he will know the parts in the movie that the specific music is from. He knows what music belongs to Buzz trying to fly and landing on Sid's stairs, he knows when Joy falls into the darkness, he knows when Jesse and Bullseye are riding through the desert, he knows when Baymax is pushing Hiro away from him to get back through the portal. Seriously, I could keep going on and on. HE KNOWS his music and it is seriously impressive. I am going to try and get him in piano lessons once he turns 4. He has always been drawn to music and especially the piano whenever we are around it. I'm so proud to be his mom. He is a magical little boy who fills our home and hearts with so much joy. I am so lucky.

Noah at 3 years old:

-doesn't ever want to go to bed. Could stay up until midnight if we let him. Bedtime isn't very fun around our house.

-loves PJ Masks and his toys he got for his birthday

-loves reading books. Every morning he gets out of his bed and comes into our room with a blanky and a book for us to read in the morning.

-loves bath time and often requests bubbles if we have it. I don't let him have it often though because it irritates his skin.

-loves to be outside. He loves to run, run, run and play HARD. 

-he loves to play with chalk

-he loves to fly his "scary snake kite"

-he loves to play with his dad. He always wants to wrestle and Travis does such a good job always playing with him.

-he loves to watch TV (I mean what kid doesn't). More specifically, he loves to watch youtube videos of people playing with fake insects, monster trucks, playdough, you name it. He is very easily entertained.

-he loves crafts; coloring, painting, etc..

-he loves doing puzzles and can navigate a 25-30 piece puzzle all on his own -- impressive to me!

-I've been trying to teach him that if someone hits or pushes him at school to say "I don't like that, Please, walk away!" His teachers told us that he manages his emotions very well and rarely reacts. At home is another story, BUT he does tell me when he is upset with me and will tell me to "walk away!" if I am not doing something that pleases him.

-he loves to play with his sister. He has been a very good brother for the most part.

-he is very good at recognizing where we are at. He will often remember where he got his hair cut, or where we got ice cream. Very good memory!

-When he wants us to see something in his perspective, he will close one eye and squint as if something is really far away and point to it. This can even mean something right in front of his face and will say "look mom and dad, look at this!" and will point and squint.

-we were going to take some toys to the DI the other day and he saw some trucks and said "that's my favorite toy!" we now hear him often say "that is my favorite!" it is super cute.

-loves to say "mmmmhmmm, I like it." For example, if I am turning on the TV he will just see something he wants to watch and will say "mmmhmm I like that one. I like it." haha 

-he thinks the following words are the funniest things ever: stinker, bum bum, fart (typical boy), yo-yo, goofball

-I'm not sure where he gets this from because we DO NOT do it in our home, he will just come up to me, fart, and walk away and laugh.

-he gets scared very easily. Has randomly been telling us the "coco's" are coming to get him (skeletons in the Disney movie coco), the lion (stuffed animal on his wall) is coming to get him, and if anything is in the dark, he won't go.

-loves to sing! LOVES to sing. He will often want Travis and I to sing and then he will very loudly announce that it is "Noah's turn to sing."

-He came home from school one day and started singing "oh my gosh, look at her butt." He got it from a girl at school and I had to teach him that saying that isn't nice. He will now randomly sing "oh my gosh, look at her face." hahaha. Touche, kid. 

-loves the water. Loves the splash pad

-loves playing with his cousins

-loves eating treats

-asks for a fig bar and applesauce every.single.morning.

-loves going in the stroller when i'm out running. It is getting harder and harder for me to push him, but he loves it. Been doing it with him since he was a baby.

-knows my name and Travis' name. If he calls us to find us in the house by "mom (or dad), where are you??" he will say "Travis! (or Erin), where are you!?"

-knows his whole name and says it really well (impressed, our last name is hard

Overall, our boy is so special and sweet. We love this stage. I'm so excited to see the man he will become, but also don't ever want to forget his 3-year-old self. He is the little boy who made me a mom and we got to celebrate him with a big dinosaur cake that his aunt made him. He was so happy!

I love you, Noah Wolfgang Siebenhaar.

3 year checkup: weight 32 lbs (52%), height 37 (36%)

Poor kid. Going to be short like his mama.

Family update through my iphone

 ^^Travis and Noah brought me home flowers from the store one day and Noah ran in the door and said "got you flowers mama!!" it was really sweet^^

 ^^Easter, 2019. Easter egg hunt at Oma Siebenhaar's. All of the kids received PLENTY of eggs^^

 ^^Noah chose a pink princess cupcake at his friends birthday party. Also had to add in one sunset of the many on my phone from my morning runs^^

 ^^Mother's day 2019^^

^^Noah is really into PJ Masks right now. We are having him earn stickers for helping out around the house in order to earn a new figurine. He's been doing a great job! has earned 5 of 7 so far. Also, Noah LOVES being outside and eating a popsicle.^^

Our vacation with friends: Scotland and England!

In the fall of 2018, a couple of my really good friends (M'Liss and Karly) got together and we decided we wanted to take a couples/group trip together. We started watching for good flight deals and decided we would just go wherever we found a non-stop direct flight. M'Liss texted us about a non-stop direct flight to London for less than $600 and we all purchased that day. We were so excited! we had a few planning sessions, but I have to give M'Liss SO much credit for our trip because she planned so much of it. She would just tell us how much to pay for tours, Airbnb's etc.. and we obeyed! ha. It was the trip of a lifetime. It was so fun to experience a European vacation with Friends and with no kids. The 9+ hour flight was a breeze because I wasn't wrestling children and I could just sit and watch so many movies, which I never get to do these days. We went for 8 days, which is normally not ideal for Europe, more days the better, but we decided without kids we can go go go all day and see everything we want. We literally walked 10-20 miles a day, didn't sleep much, but it was so worth it! There was zero drama, lots of laughing, lots of jet lag, and incredible food. Seriously we ate so much good food! We are all ready to go on another trip together, it was that great! 

We started off in London and went to dinner that evening. We had a night train to Scotland that night, so we just waited for our train to board and didn't do much else. We got to Scotland and did a 3-day tour of the Isle of Skye. I can't say enough about that tour. Our tour guide was incredible, the highlands of Scotland were breathtaking, the cliffs and coastline of Scotland were equally terrifying and astonishing (felt like we were going to blow off with the wind speed), and the best part of it all? we got to feed baby lambs! There were sheep and baby lambs that inhabited all of the hills and highlands. It was so fun to drive through and see all the babies and their mamas. Made me miss my littles, but then I remembered tantrums and quickly pinched myself I get a small break before going back. We stayed in the cutest town called Portree and it was a quaint, quiet town with beautiful views out of our Airbnb. I still can't stop dreaming of it. I will post a bunch of pictures from our trip, but I mostly just can't get over how fun of a group this was to travel with.

After our time in Scotland, we took a night train back to London. We then went on a day tour to the Cotswolds, Stonehenge, and Bath. I loved that day tour. Wasn't the best tour guide; a bit neurotic and just over the top with all of his opinions and views, but we still learned a lot from his word vomiting. It was fun to drive through the English countryside. Again, we ate some of the best food, but mine was probably some of the Filipino cuisine we ate from a little stand in Bath. We then spent our last couple of days in London seeing all the things. Unfortunately, Big Ben was under construction, so we didn't get to see that (which, UGH! Peter Pan!? I've always wanted to see this in-person!!). It was cool though, the royal baby (Archie) was born a day after we left, so when we were at Windsor castle (really beautiful!) they royal family was there awaiting the baby to be born. It was fun to know we were there when the Queen was as well. One of my favorite things we did was go to the Borough Market. It was really interesting to see all the different booths of food/merchandise from people all over the world. We tried some amazing food!

Unfortunately, all good things come to an end. We had a great time! I loved vacationing with some of my best friends and having one-on-one time with Travis without our kids. I did miss them like mad though at the end. 

I've been really struggling with the idea of working. It is a double edge sword because it makes me feel good contributing to a company, I love bringing in an income, I love knowing that it makes me appreciate my time with kids more, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't get to me sometimes; the exhaustion of working full time, taking care of two kids and trying to be a good mom, being a wife, being a leader in young womens, doing all the duties. I mean, working moms! We are bad a's! I seriously don't know how I do it sometimes, but I'm trying to realize that the money I bring in is important, it allows me to do what I love to do -- travel (amongst other things). Since I was little, my family has always traveled. It wasn't always extravagant or expensive vacations, but we always spent time together as a family. Those memories I will cherish the most. I guess I feel weird saying this because you don't need money to make memories, but I while I work and feel the need to, I want to use the extra money to see the world and experience culture, food, a different way of life. I somehow always come home so humbled. I mean, even if it is just for fresh tap water! or bathrooms I don't have to pay for. I always want my kids to have experiences that makes them grateful for what they are given and for some reason, traveling does that to me sometimes. But there are also fun trips like Disneyland right? I guess that just makes me grateful to have two legs that I can walk. Haha I'm digging myself a hole here, but you get it. Right? I'm trying to be really intentional with my time. Put my phone down more, find ways to spend fun time with my kids, find ways to show Travis I love him. I'm so exhausted. I am. But I really wouldn't have it any other way. Except for when baby #3 comes (not any time soon!), I may think about this a lot differently. But for now, this is my normal and I'm just trying to justify my crazy busy life and why it is really really good.

Enjoy all of my pictures!