Day 677 | Haircut Time

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Look at these cuties sporting their new new 'dos.

I know I've highlighted fresh haircuts a few times (probably too many) on here, but I just couldn't pass up sharing this adorable photo. Both of the boys were thrilled to be getting their locks trimmed because it meant they could watch their tv show of choice. 

Chase's pick: Paw Patrol (kind of a throwback since he's been pretty into Frozen and Inside Out, since his school movie party).

Robbe's pick: Truck Tunes (a YouTube truck music video). At least he's consistent.

Day 673 | Undies

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Our little man is very interested in undies. Mind you, he's nowhere near ready for potty training (although he tries by sitting on the potty almost every day).

I decided to let him pick out undies to feed the desire to keep trying and the only ones we could find with trucks came in boxers (I mean real trucks, not from an animated movie). The package arrived today and Robbe immediately needed to put as many on his body as possible. 

Day 672 | Growing Up

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Big day today: Robbe was released from his highchair cage. After my fight with my back, I wasn't able to lift him out of his chair for the past week. Chase has been squeezing into Robbe's chair since that fateful weekend. Today, Robbe got the upgrade. He's officially free to come and go. I hope he doesn't let the power go to his head.

Want a stroll down memory lane? Here's one of the first posts I blogged about Robbe joining our dinner table. Aren't they adorable?

Day 671 | The Cupcakes

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As promised, a separate blog post dedicated to my favorite food item from the party: the cupcakes.

These turned out so delicious that I had to share it with you all and document it for myself for future use.

Here's what I did:
  • Used a regular chocolate cake mix for the actual cupcakes
  • Used this strawberry frosting recipe with a two modifications: 1. I used an entire container of strawberries and 2. I omitted the last 1/2 cup of powdered sugar-it just didn't need it. Initially my frosting seemed to lack as much strawberry flavor as I'd hoped but the strawberry definitely came out more after sitting for a bit (I would even consider overnight).
  • Pureed a pack of regular stuffed Oreos in my Vitamix. Then sprinkled heavily on top. It turned into the most real-looking dirt I could have imagined. Somehow all the stuffing got evenly distributed into the crumbs of the cookies. Perfect!
These will definitely make an appearance at a future party. I love it when an idea comes together!

Day 670 | Some Party Photos

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With only a couple of cupcakes left and most of the decorations down, we're officially closing the book on Robbe's birthday.

The little guy had the time of his life yesterday. He was quite the social host and loved flitting between all the activities (a hammering station with golf tees and flower foam blocks, a sensory bin filled with fun packing peanuts for his trucks to move around, and a pin-the-wheel on the truck game), friends (8 kids, 9 adults), and food (apple+grape cars, veggies+hummus, pizza, and, of course cupcakes...which will be described in tomorrow's post),

The most exciting moment? Robbe blew out both his candles in one breath after waiting patiently, without prompting, for the birthday song to conclude. He's the best.

Day 668 | Pizza Movie Party

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The PTO of Chase's school hosted a
super fun family pizza movie night tonight. Chase (and in extension, Robbe) could not have been more excited. He asked about fifteen times if he should put his shoes on yet as we were waiting for 6pm to roll around. It's fun to experience that type of excitement through the eyes of a child, isn't it? The enthusiasm was definitely infectious, and spread to more of our family than just Robbe.

You'll be glad to know, the evening didn't disappoint. However, we now have to rent Inside Out to catch the last 30 minutes. :)

Day 667 | Shorts

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Have you heard? It's been in the high 70s here. It's weird. And amazing.

Chase has been excited about the prospect of shorts for awhile now. Robbe, on the other hand, doesn't remember the freedom they offer and was very skeptical when Chris tried to put them on him. He did put them on, but Robbe kept pointing at his legs and making his "eh eh" sound which, roughly translated, means "look at this." Day two of shorts, today, led to a similar hesitation/enthusiasm. He's such a sweet pea.

Day 666 | Thank You, Friends

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Unrelated to today's post, but noteworthy nonetheless: Robbe's facing forward in the car now!
Our little peanut is growing up.
The back pain hasn't *quite* subsided, but the boys and I managed to pull it off without Chris as main caretaker. That's what you call a success.

I will say, the only way we managed to survive is because of my sweet friends who took on my children (in addition to their own) to give me some much needed couch time. Thank you, Dawn and Cassie, for encouraging me accept your help. I could not have done it without you and I am beyond grateful.

Day 665 | Making Progress

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I was, for the most part, the sole caretaker for Robbe today. Chris stayed home and worked while I hung out with Robbe and did everything in my power not to bother Chris at work. It was pretty successful, I'd say. Not the most exciting day for our sweet boy but at least I don't think I set my recovery back at all. That's a big accomplishment!

Pictured above is one of my favorite "mommy needs to just lay here" activities. He decorated my jeans with his favorite thing: stickers. It kept him occupied for much longer than I would have guessed. Thank goodness. 

Tomorrow is my first official day back as Chris is headed to work in the morning. Happy thoughts are once again appreciated. 

Day 664 | Patience 2.0

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Don't worry...Robbe and Chase have been very gentle with me. And these little snuggles are about the only thing that has made me smile during this whole mess. Those, and Chris's jokes, obviously.
Well, I'm feeling better. But not as much better as I want to be or as I think I should be after the last 3.5 days of laying on the couch/bed/floor.

Let's just hope I crossed some sort of hurdle and will be much improved tomorrow. Everyone's thinking happy thoughts, right? Thank you in advance. 

Day 663 | Patience

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Robbe and Chris doing some acrobatics while I look on from my perch on the floor.
It's been a long couple of days.  Patience, as it turns out, is not my strong suit. I don't understand why the medication isn't working as quickly as I'd like. I don't like that Chris has to shoulder the load with the kiddos all alone. I'm worried about how long this whole recovery process will take. Urgh.

Chris has been overly amazing and I'm grateful every second that he's here to take care of us. He's the best.

Day 662 | My Back

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Sorry for missing yesterday's post. It was a rough day around here. Remember when I had that pesky back problem a few months ago? Well here we go again.

Yesterday's fairly normal start to the day turned into a situation where I had to call Chris home from work because I couldn't stand or move without my back muscles spasming and sending debilitating shock waves thought my entire body. And there wasn't ever a specific moment where I moved funny or did something specific to cause this incredible pain.

I finally gave in and decided to head to urgent care mid-morning and I can officially say that was the worst car ride of my whole life. And that includes driving to the hospital in labor with both my babies. In fact, I will say that these muscle spasms were a TON more painful than my un-medicated baby deliveries. It was that bad.  

As you can tell, I had x-rays taken of my back (also not the most pain-free experience, as you might have guessed). Everything was normal in the x-rays so that was good news. The bad news? The super powerful injection of an anti-inflammatory drug did nothing to ease my pain for the drive home. This experience was the longest, most painful 3 hours of my life.

Thanks to additional steroid and muscle relaxing medications, I'm feeling a bit better today. No more crazy spasms, just a very sore back which is limiting my ability stand up and walk very easily. It seems like the medications should be working faster but I guess that's too much to ask.

Fingers crossed for continued improvement tomorrow!

Day 661 | Birthdays + Materialism

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We have no shortage of toys around our house. If you've been here, you can vouch. I will say, however, that the numerous times I've tried to weed some out, I inevitably find one favor from a birthday party that's acceptable for me to pitch (everything else stays because they play with it all...I swear).

As birthday season approaches, I start to feel a bit guilty about adding more "things" to our already more-than-adequate supply. Should we start asking for alternative gifts for our boys? Should Chris and I scale back on what we get them? Should I push for "no gifts, please" on the birthday party invites?

All of this swirls around in my head until, at last, I acknowledge that the boys truly love LOVE receiving gifts. They don't have to be large (in size or monetary value) or something that's been on their list forever (Chase's changes daily, afterall). Regardless of what it is, kids love the excitement of unwrapping and discovering these tokens that someone has spent time and energy and money selecting just for them. The pure joy emanating from them during these gift-openings is infectious. And I think their ages have something to do with this. They're still young enough that they aren't expecting anything specific for special occasions but they're old enough to really love new toys and get excited about all the new playtime possibilities. 

So, at the end of the day, presents are good. I'll try to be more mindful of instilling gracious gift-receiving behaviors in our boys and, on the flip side, donating the items we really can live without. 

Having said all that, thank you friends and family for bringing such happiness and excitement to our sweet Robbe yesterday through your gifts (both physical and in thoughts and well-wishes). Since Robbe can't quite express it himself yet, Chris and I will say how extremely appreciative we all are on his behalf. 

Day 660 | And He Turns Two

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In celebration of our baby's second birthday, a top ten list for your reading enjoyment.

Top Ten Best Things about 2-year-old Robbe
  1. His sense of humor: this guy is hysterical. And he doesn't even try.
  2. His musical side: he loves playing the guitar and singing songs (mostly the alphabet variety).
  3. His sweet snuggles: I've never seen a two year old that willingly offers up so much quality snuggletime.
  4. His love of trucks: seeing them, playing with them, wearing them on his clothing, talking about them, reading about them, really anything related.
  5. His smile: It's infectious and about the sweetest thing ever.
  6. His desire to be older: to occupy his brother's mealtime chair, to attend his brother's school, to sit forward facing in his brother's car seat, to read his brother's [lengthy] books. He's pretty advanced.
  7. His love of his mama: sometimes it drives Chris and me crazy (when it comes to diaper changes, for example), but his affinity towards me melts my heart. It's a special relationship, no doubt.
  8. His 16 words: Robbe remains the strong silent type, but has no problem communicating (just without words). An approximate list of all his recognizable words are as follows: mom, dad, brother, kitty, doggy, water, bubbles, deal, grandma, hi, bye bye, night, good, yes, tree, green. 
  9. His appetite for food: this kid loves to eat / is borderline addicted. He doesn't really turn his nose up at anything, but a list of some of his favorites includes: any fruit, any sweet, carrots, pizza, pancakes, oatmeal balls, yogurt, granola bars, and dried fruit.
  10. His appetite for life: he's about the most fun-loving, adventurous, creative, affectionate little dude you'll ever meet. 
These past two years have, at the same time, felt like the blink of an eye (our baby is two?!?) and an eternity (he's only been around two years?!?). Our little family and everyone Robbe surrounds himself with are happier because he's here. Happy birthday, my sweet little sparky.

Day 659 | Truck Party Sneak Peek

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With sweet Robbe's birthday party right around the corner, I decided to show you all some of the festive decorations I've created for the truck-themed shindig.

First (top left), construction sign stickers that party-goers can write their name on so everyone can keep track of their cups (one of my big annoyances at parties).

Second (top right), Robbe's friends will all go home with their own personalized construction hats.

Third (bottom), a construction cone banner that will say, "Robbe is 2!". It's hard to tell in the photo but the letters are made out of "planks" of wood and attached with little "nail" fasteners.

There are a few more fun surprises yet to come. It's going to be pretty fantastic...at least I hope!