Update with bullet points

Okay, so I'm taking a quick break from Toddlers and Tiara's to do a quick update on all our fascinating comings and goings. Okay fine... I'll do this blog post while watching Toddlers and Tiara's... same dif.

- Not much has been going on up in these parts. Pretty much just everyday life.
- Elias still isn't talking very well, but I think he is understanding and following directions a little bit better.
- He is going for a hearing test on Friday, and then after that will be referred to a speech therapist. Woo Hoo!
- He is absolutely obsessed with cars, trucks, and trains. He will carry them around all day long.
- He loves to be read to. He could seriously sit and have me read to him for hours each day. He also will sit and flip through the book, mimicking all the sound effects that I make.
- He is devastatingly handsome and is generally a joy to be around. Until he doesn't get what he wants. But aren't we all like that to some extent?

- Leah is hilarious, and emotional, and very dramatic, and incredibly smart, and ridiculously sassy.
- She keeps on my toes and drives me to my knees daily. So really nothing new there.
- Leah has moved on from Jameson, and is now determined to marry Elias. You know, when she's an adult. This bothers Tony a lot. I think it's funny.
- I've been trying to do regular "pre-school" lesson time with Leah and Elias. There is a distinct correlation between how diligent I am with this, and how messy the house is.
- Leah is very into "helping" me with everything. I have started giving her some "chores" that she does. She unloads the silverware, transfers clothes from washer to dryer, and cleans her room.
- She also goes around telling people that she has a baby in her tummy, and it's name will be Sher Ryder Flynn. This gets kind of awkward.
- She quotes movies constantly. I think this is awesome.
- She doesn't take a regular nap anymore, but she does go to her room for "rest time" for at least 1 hour every day. When she does fall asleep she will get to stay up a little bit later at night (8:30). When she doesn't nap she turns into a little psycho by 6 and will be asleep by 7:30.

- Elana is delightful. She is pretty much always happy.
- She crawls around like a maniac, and is pulling up and cruising on furniture.
- she's starting to feed herself finger foods.
- She is finally sleeping through the night, but I have not yet moved her into Leah's room.
- She is still nursing 6-7 times a day.
- She is right around the 50% in height and weight, but compared to my other mammoth babies she feels tiny.
- She loves to be held, and is super snuggly. She will crawl up to me and rub her head on my legs like a cat.
- She can wave bye bye, plays peek-a-boo, gives high fives, and when you say "yay Lanie!" she will clap her hands.

Embrace the camera

Embracing the camera after a long absence:

new floors

I was going to write a huge long post detailing the day to day work we did on our floors, but thinking about it made me stressed again, so I'll settle for some pictures and a few tips.

(Btw, a huge thanks to my mom and dad for coming two weekends ago and getting this arduous process started, and a huge thanks to Andrew and Krista for coming last weekend and helping put the finishing touches on everything!)

Here are some things I learned, and some tips in case you ever want to put in your own hardwood (Okay fine, it's engineered hardwood, but whatevs) floors.

1. It WILL take longer than you think.

2. If you have carpet over a cement slab, do not assume that the cement is level. It most definitely is not.

3. When the floor is almost completely done, don't walk around on your tiptoes looking for soft spots. You will find some. Lots of them, and then it will drive you mad.

4. Cement grinders suck. Avoid it if all possible.

5. Doing your kitchen is Hell-a-hard.

6. Get a saw-zaw.... or something like that.

A better birthday post

So I did a little birthday post for Elias, but it was thrown together very quickly, because we have been ridiculously busy for the past two weeks putting in new hardwood floors (a post of that is coming). And although I know it's completely unfounded, I am somehow wrapped up in the notion that I have to prove my love and devotion to my second born by writing a better post.

So here it goes....

I struggled with what to do for elias's birthday for quite a while. Everything in me wanted to throw him a huge party, but after much thought I decided that do that would just be selfish. See, Elias doesn't really like big crowds. He tends to get overwhelmed and freak out when there are tons of people around. So the party would really just be for me. For me to feel like a good mom. For me to have good photo ops. For me to invite a bunch of my friends over and try to impress them with my dazzling culinary skills.

So instead we opted for cake, an afternoon at the yogurt place, and a few gifts.

He got a whole huge cup to himself, and was in heaven.

He had a blast blowing out his candles too. Andrew and Krista were down here helping with the floors, so they were able to celebrate with us as well.

All in all I think not having a big party was a good choice. Maybe next year we can do it up big for him.

Happy Birthday Elias!

I really and truly can't believe that my little man is two years old.

He is getting more and more handsome every day.

I love you Elias Miguel! Happy Birthday!

floor update

So just in case anyone cares, the cement grinder thing was ridiculous. It took Tony about 4 hours, and covered the entire downstairs in cement dust, even though we had a shop vac and a tarp to reign it in. I'm tempted to just wallow in despair and say : "why do bad things happen to good people!!!!!!!". Then I remind myself that "Oh no, my brand new hard wood floors are more difficult to put in than I thought" is definitely a first world problem, and in light of eternity is of no significance. So I'm just going to accept my dusty, unfinished house this week and embrace the chaos.