shideler clan 2015

You would think bringing a bag of marshmallows to bribe your child during family photos would work, right? Not as well as I had hoped. Our first mistake was we should have waited until after he gave us some half-decent smiles before handing over the mallows. Second, the mini-mallows would have been the smarter choice in size. Those jumbo marshmallows are not the most photo-friendly bribing treat...

GAAAAH. LOVE THESE BOYS!

EVEN LINCOLN, WHEN HE THROWS A DISGUSTING FACE AT ME.

10 & 11 of Simon

10 month Simon. His attire this day was... I'm not sure.

 

 11 month Simon in his Christmas jammies.

 Checking himself out in the mirror.

I've managed to stay on top of Simon's monthly pictures... just not posting them. These past few months have been a complete whirlind of busy-ness. We had three separate trips in a two months span, plus throw in a Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday- It's been busy.

Simon has been SUCH a joy in our family. And I can really say that with honesty because this wasn't always the case. Like I mentioned in his 9 month update, I was really struggling with him. No need to bring up those nightmares difficulties, let's focus on how amazing Simon is now. :)

He is a completely content baby. Give him a few toys and he will sit there and play. Right now he's pulling himself up on the chairs and couches and will just push a train or tiny car across the seat cushion-- back and forth, back and forth. He has the biggest grin that makes his eyes squint entirely shut. He doesn't give those smiles out too frequently when we're in public and someone is trying to get him to smile-- Do that, and he will give you the ultimate stare-down. He prefers to do them mostly at home when only his mama and dada can see.

He is still COMPLETELY cuddly and is nicknamed cuddle bug (I used to call him a leech when it was not so endearing during the pre-9 month phase) and my heart swoons every time he lays his head on my chest. He's so content and happy being there.

Ryan and I had our first trip sans kids a week before Christmas. We returned home at night after he had been put to sleep so I had to wait until morning to give him my "I've-missed-you-so-much" hugs and kisses. I went in to get him out of his crib and he just smiled and laughed when he saw me. I brought him back to bed with me and, seriously, he just laid on me, not moving a muscle. Every few minutes or so, he would lift his head and look up at me---as if to make sure I was still there, and then laid his head back down. This went on for 20 minutes. TWENTY!! I loved it.

He's a decent eater, nothing in comparison to how Lincoln was, but still pretty good. He's sleeping a solid 13 hours at night and two naps during the day. He's learning to keep a tight grip on his toys after dealing with a thieving brother so many times and he's babbling away to make sure he's involved in all the conversations at home. Is he really turning 1 year next month?? say it ain't so.

Mexico City

My older brother got married! We were able to fly down to Mexico City for the wedding last week. My family and I kept saying how we had never seen Keith so happy before. As long as I can remember, it was a battle to get him to even smile for pictures; not the case anymore as you can clearly see in pictures below. And had I ever seen him dance before? The first time was at his reception when they danced to their song. But I guess that's what you do when you're in love. You can't stop smiling and suddenly you're Fred Astaire. He is so incredibly happy which makes all of us so incredibly happy for the both of them. We are so grateful to have Shalom in the family. She's pretty awesome. :)

We had some rather interesting experiences there. The driving around the city is pretty much a chase-scene from a Borne Ultimatum movie. The one time we happened to be at a stand still, we witnessed a guy get out of his car and start punching the window of another car. We were sitting in the car right behind it and if the attacker would have taken a second to turn around and look at us, he would have seen 4 pale-face, deer-in-the-headlights, scared American tourists. Correction: make that three. My mom was wanting us to get out to help the guy.... sure mom, you take the lead. :)

Then there was the night in the hotel when there were guys pounding on doors and running. I happened to open the door to catch them and discovered one guy in briefs and one with just a towel on. They didn't speak English but I'm sure they could tell how pissed off I was, regardless of the language barrier. I'm just glad the guy didn't drop his towel while running away.

And then the time when Lincoln got trapped in the elevator by himself and got sent up four flights and we weren't able to get in another elevator to go after him. Ryan bolted to the other side of the building as I yelled, "2nd FLOOR, no 3rd FLOOR.. NO, WAIT.... 4TH FLOOR! HE'S ON THE FOURTH FLOOR!!!" Ryan had to run up the stairwell to get him. Let's just say, Lincoln didn't ask for any more elevator trips after that experience......

To my new favorite couple... Congrats Keith and Shalom!!!

the 9 month miracle

It's raining outside right now and it's been pouring since at least 4:30am. I usually love being woken up to thunder and lightening, but when it's so loud that it wakes up your 9 month old, every rumble of thunder makes you want to run outside and tell the thunder to stop being so thunderous! Luckily, the lightening and thunder has subsided and now it's just pouring like crazy outside. Ryan's left for work and I'm wide awake with more than an hour before the kids wake up. I thought about crawling back in bed and watching some home renovation shows before they wake, but I'm trying to stay diligent with this blog.

Simon turned 9 months 2 weeks ago and I feel like a light switched has finally turned on. I don't think any mom wants to admit they're having an extremely difficult time. Simon has been the child that has always had something sort of difficulty since he's been born. Three cases of thrush, THREE, then teething, then a cold, then a sinus infection, then another cold, and more teething--- all the while, demanding to be held and couldn't be left anywhere without crying. Whatever happened to independent play-time?? Oh, and then there's the fact that he's a chronic 40 minute napper...

I love this boy, through the good times and difficult times-- and we've had our share of difficult. All that aside, he cracks me up and is SUCH a cuddle-bug (sometimes I feel like he's more of a leech depending on the day). Lincoln wanted nothing to do with me straight out of the womb, so having a  child who wants to nuzzle his head on me chest is refreshing. Sometimes, he'll pause for a second to lift his head up off my chest to look at me, smile, and then lay it back down. SWOON!

He's officially crawling and his two favorite things to do are watch Lincoln and go for wagon rides. Oh, and he also likes to look incredibly cute. :)

28 feels great

Ryan left me a card in Simon's room next to his crib, knowing I would see it first thing in the morning when I get him up. I would love to share everything he wrote, but I'll spare the sentimental words and just say, I've been blessed with a husband who makes me completely happy.

The weather was perfect. Perfect weather, in case you don't know, is 75 degrees, sunny, with a light breeze. Perfect! I took the boys out for a morning walk. Lincoln rode his strider bike that he's mastering beautifully and Simon plopped himself inside the wagon and just enjoyed the ride and the entertainment provided by Lincoln.

We took a little picnic to the park around lunch time-- by picnic I mean, snacks from home and chicken nuggets for Lincoln.

Enjoying spaghetti dinner outside and laughing at the all the "sauce-smiles". Dinner was slightly rushed because we were being eaten by mosquitoes. 

We took the party inside for dessert. Simon ready to stab a bite out of my pie...

and one of those trick candles brought out the best giggles from Lincoln. I never blew out a candle so many times before, but each time got more and more funny.  

Simon's first time to the beach and 2nd child problems

Well, there was that condo we rented memorial weekend this year that a case of meningitis prevented us from going to. The owner "gracefully" let us reschedule (keeping our deposit made it much easier for her) and we were able to go last month. We had literally just gotten back from Ryan's dad's funeral and Simon had been sick that whole week. The idea of leaving again two days later seemed miserable, but I'm still glad we went--- not to say it wasn't partially miserable, because it was. We slept like garbage the two nights we were there and Simon was really struggling. He's actually just getting back to normal after getting on a second dose of antibiotics. This poor kid has been through the ringer (and subsequently putting me through the ringer and SUB-subsequently me putting Ryan through the ringer with my stress).

I would take Lincoln to the beach early in the morning and we got to have some one-on-one time. We ran around, we buried the car in sand, we chased birds and let the tide chase us. Ryan usually stayed back at the condo while Simon was sleeping after being up most of the night. They would occasionally make a few short appearances, but Simon just wasn't having it and his first time at the beach left us with about 2 pictures on Ryan's phone. This only confirms the "2nd child problems" when you compare the number of pictures we took of Lincoln the first time he was at the beach. It was practically a full-blown photo shoot. Sorry Simon. We'll have your photo shoot at your second time to the beach, okay?

And this is how we feel whenever we go out to a sit down place to eat that requires waiting for food and keeping Lincoln from terrorizing the place or Simon from getting fussy. When you join the parenthood club, you develop a talent that becomes very useful, almost a necessity. You learn to  inhale your food. Seriously. You don't do much talking or visiting with your spouse and you wait until you're paying the bill to ask if they liked their meal. 

And one of Simon's few pictures from the whole trip. We still love you, Simon... even if we don't have the pictures to prove it.