Beginning of 2020 (January-March)

Grant learned how to raise his eyebrows and he thinks it is so funny.  We think it is so cute ;-)

Of course we still wear our Christmas PJs after Christmas!  And Papa is reading them their bedtime stories.

I love these moments!  Both boys wanted to snuggle with me and I could never say no to that!

It snowed!  So Grant and I went sledding. We got going so fast we broke the fence.  Oops!  We had a blast sledding though.

Blake started saying "I love you" and my heart just melted!  He doesn't obey our commands of constantly asking him to say it again and again.  You can hear it once with "I love you cheeeese!" if you listen closely.  Grant doesn't like Blake getting all the attention either. ;)

I am still trying to get Blake to talk all the time.  He is sure over me asking!  He can say strawberry (in his way) now.  He is talking so much more these days!

We had to send a video to Dad when he was gone on a work trip.  I survived single parenting while Greg was gone!

Blake now is trying to figure out this hamster.  It might just stop working or disappear one day.

Blake loves riding on Thomas!  Look at those happy smiles! He is so big!

We went to an inflatable party at a church one Saturday morning and it was packed!  There was stuff for both boys to do though and Grant ran into his best friend from daycare, Tyler!  A few days later we went with Tyler to the fire station to see some fire trucks and Grant got to sit in the drivers seat.

Blake says "duckies" but once again already has suggestive listening and doesn't want to perform when I ask.

We are going to my work party and he wants to go with us!  We will enjoy the time away and he will enjoy the time with his grandparents.

We got some more snow!  This time we took Blake out with us and he had his first day in the snow.  I would say he had fun! It was cold so he didn't last as long as Grant but had fun sledding and touching snow.  Grant even made a snow man!

We are always trying to find things to do to burn off energy of these busy toddlers!  We like going to the mall play place early in the morning before the mall opens and we usually have the place to ourselves for a little while.

We went on a HyVee run and Grant got some chocolate milk as a reward to pooping in the potty.

Blake is a big boy now and is in a booster seat.  He is so happy to be a big boy now! Blake got his swallow study January 6th and a follow up appointment with the pulmonologist on the 14th of this month.  The swallow study showed that whenever he is sucking (bottle, breast, water bottle) some of the liquid is going into his lungs.  This is because his sphincter is not strong enough.  This would have been nice to know so long ago but I am glad we had answers.  He can't use a sippy cup anymore and will just use his camelbak water bottle until he can use a normal cup. Camelbaks are nice because you bite before you suck so that puts less pressure on that muscle that is weak.  His pulmonology says he thinks he has asthma and this silent aspiration.  We will continue his nebs twice a day and go back in 3 months and see how he is doing.  I am just so happy there are finally answers about why he was so fussy as a baby.  I wish I would have pushed earlier for answers and asked to see a pulmonologist after his hospital stay.

Blake got his second hair cut and it was much smoother than the first time!  No tears and even some smiles. He looked SO much older after a hair cut.  He is handsome with his new hair cut but I don't like seeing him grow up with just a hair cut!

Grant misses Daddy again when he is away working!  Always wanting Dad to fix his trains for him.  Trains all day, every day for Grant. We love it and love Thomas.  He loves trains so much he get everyone around him to love trains too! 

FEBRUARY

On our next adventure to try and find something to do to burn on the boys energy-we went to the Science Center!  They had a fun toddler room but most of the stuff was for older kids.  It was a successful activity but we will be back again once the boys are older.

I am laughing in this video because Blake is finally big enough to fight back to Grant.  We knew this day was coming and Grant sure doesn't like it!  I am sure the wrestling will never stop with brothers so close together but at least now Blake can be a similar size and fight back.

Grant must have missed nap or something.  He was NOT happy about hanging our new curtains.  I had no idea he was so invested in my decorating.

Grant is so excited to have 2 beers when he is 21! I hope that is all he has and those are his first 2 beers ;-)

Another day another episode of wrestling somewhere in our house.  Today they chose the bounce house!  At least this place is soft and cushioned so the risk of injury is lower!

Boys have so much energy!  Blake loved jumping on the cushions.  Such an easy way to get him active!

Grant had to help Nana open her presents for her birthday!  He was front and center with her!

This was a special day.  It was Valentine's day and the boys gave us a few minutes of playing on their own and not needing us.  This doesn't happen so it was definitely a gift!

We are building a house!  We have been looking at houses and lots for a few months now and finally settled on a lot and builder.  The paperwork is signed and we have to finalize a few things about the house and then the building can start!  It was definitely something to celebrate so we popped some champagne!

The boys helped me blow out my candles on my birthday.  Greg got me scratch cupcake which are my favorite cupcakes!

The Christmas train never left between Christmas and Easter so we went to the mall and rode the train in February!

It was a nice day in February so we met Grant's friend Tyler's family at the Walker Johnson park and played at the park and had a picnic lunch.  It was a fun morning!

Blake loves the bubbles and he actually listened to me and said "bubbles"  (After I asked a few too many times)

Such a funny kid-he already knows how to cheat! 

I love capturing these cute videos of our kids saying this differently.  They change so suddenly or you don't realize they stopped saying it until its too late so I am happy I caught this on video.

MARCH

Blake has been so much happier since we made the changes with his water bottle and pulmonology.  I am just so happy to see him happy and to be getting more sleep!

Grandma and Grandpa were coming over to play and Grant couldn't wait to see them!

A rare moment of the boys loving and hugging each other.  Definitely a moment to capture and cherish.

The balloons from my birthday are still hanging on and Blake is loving playing with them.

Nana and Papa came over for dinner and Blake was the entertainment of the night!

The boys love to take baths together and are so cute! Blake has started pooping in the tub and Grant hates it! (I would too!) So we make sure he has pooped before bath times.

Greg has been trying to get some house stuff done before our house is on the market and Grant wants to be just like Daddy with the noise cancelling headphones!

Blake was so tired one day he fell asleep on the couch.  This never happens!  We must have really worn him out.

This month has been interesting with Covid and everything shutting down.  The kids have still been going to daycare so far but we wanted to sent a St Pattys Day video to my family since we aren't seeing them.

Grant was so sweet to Blake when he woke up from his nap and was tired!

We have been spending a lot of time at home these days (even parks are closed!) and luckily it has been decently warm so we have been able to get outside.  Blake loved watching Grant fall over on the soccer goal.  I just love Blake's giggles.

I have been going through things and getting rid of stuff, putting stuff in storage so I put on the life jackets to see what was going to fit for the summer and what I could put in storage.  If only it was summer already!

Once again trying to get Blake to say a word.  This time it is purple.  I just love when they start talking!

Blake is getting so good at this!  I am always amazed how quickly they change and advance.  I few months ago he could not do this at all.

Just a funny video of Grant being the silly little boy that he is!

I brought a water table inside!  I guess it pays off to not have any furniture in this room.  The boys love water and it is too cold to go outside so I was brave and brought it inside.  It definitely made a mess but kept them busy for awhile so I will take that as a success!

In this time a lot of things are uncertain.  So I might be staying home with the boys for awhile since all elective surgeries are canceled until further notice.  So I tried my best as a home schooling mom.  It did not go well and this was basically as far as we got!

He loves Blaze and Aunt Kellie gave us the coolest hats.  The PJs are from my coworker.  He is one styling little boy!

Every time Blake sees a phone or camera he says "cheeeese!" and I just love his little smile.

Finally got Blake to say all of his colors in his goofy way!  He is just a goofy cute kid.  Grant felt left out so I had his tell me his colors also.

Blake wanted to play with trains but wanted to be right up there with the trains so he got right on the table! 

Wow!  They are laying on the couch together and not getting mad about touching! Such a rare moment, I love it!

They make up the silliest games and Blake absolutely loves when he plays with his brother.  Grant is loving playing with Blake also.

I created a treasure hunt for an afternoon activity one day. I had a grand plan that it would take us awhile to complete and Grant would love it.  Blake is too little to know what was happening.  It only took a few minutes to complete and Grant was not too excited about the hunt or the treasure so it was very anticlimactic.  Always the way it works-I was excited and it didn't turn out to be as cool as I hoped.

Blake is so silly!  He made up a silly hand game and does it all the time.