cuddle monkey turns 1

Last night, after Simon went to sleep, I snuck in to hang up his birthday banner. This morning when I went it, he was hitting the tassels and laughing. I think the full moon last night is the cause of him waking up early today. Look at him! He's ready to party!

Snapped a picture of their morning routine---playing in the bedroom while I slave away making sprinkled pancakes that Simon refused to eat. :)

We took the boys to the children's museum. Lincoln and Ryan were off doing their thing and I was the mom in the baby corner snapping a million pictures of my child because, "Hey, it's his birthday, okay??!!" Like I really need a reason, right?

The tunnel was his favorite---crawling up and down that thing like a boy on a mission.

Simon giving Ryan the ole' nipple twist. Ouchie

GAHHH! This picture makes me so happy.

And we ended the evening with a quick stroll on his new trike.

I think Lincoln was more excited to push Simon, than Simon was to be in it. I would be a little leery too if Lincoln was in control of my ride.

Not sure why Lincoln has the helmet on--- safety first, I guess. It would have been smarter to put the helmet on Simon after seeing Lincoln going a little crazy pushing his brother. Simon wasn't too fond of that.

We were watching Curious George with Lincoln one night (yes, our nights are really crazy) and Ryan said, "Doesn't Simon look a little bit like Curious George?" Uhhh, YES! It's times like that I remember how in-sync Ryan and I are together. Also, he didn't eat a single bite or lick of his cake. I think he has a keen sense of judgment when it comes to his mother's baking...

things we love about Simon:

1. he loves to cuddle and lay his head on your shoulder

2. pointing his finger at you

3. his awesome cow-lick

4. His love of corn and peas

5. how excited he gets when daddy gets home

6. how much he loves bath time

7. how easy he is to love

Simon, we love you. Happy sweet birthday, to our cuddle bug monkey.

shideler's christmas 2015

 Our tree looks a little sad in the background--- a branch bent down, no skirt, no gifts. I still love our little tree. And besides, who even notices our sad little artificial tree when two adorable boys are sitting in front of it. One chewing on a remote and the other waiting to open his Christmas jammies.

I'll spare the details of grief I felt when Lincoln informed me he wasn't that into Thomas the Train anymore. He was so die-hard all year and then BAM, right before Christmas after I've already bought some Thomas the Train jammies, suddenly Thomas is sooo last month. sheesh. Hard to keep up with what's "in" these days.

I didn't believe him when he told me. I even went and pulled out the new jammies I had got him to see if it would spark some excitement. Dead. I almost wanted to---definitely started to, tear up a little. Not that I love Thomas by any means, it's just seeing your little boy shun something he loved so much makes you feel like next month he'll be asking for the keys to the car to leave with his friends. Oh wait, he already does ask for the car keys. Poor example.

Anyway, it's all about Buzz Lightyear. The ironic part? He's never even seen the movie. I don't think he even knew there was a movie. We just happened to have some Toy Story figurines from forever ago and Ryan would use Buzz Lightyear at night for Lincoln's "going-to-bed-puppet-show". Oh, you haven't seen one of Ryan's puppet shows? Man, you're missing out.

So I found some buzz light year pajamas that came in a set. He tried on Woody first, but realized he couldn't run as fast in them and switched out for Buzz. 

I realized after it was too late that the boys didn't have matching pajamas so I've decided, henceforth, they will always have matching pajamas for Christmas until they move out of the house!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Christmas Eve stroll to show off our jammies to the neighbors.

So this is how I, a majority of the time, catch them playing. Lincoln caught red-handed trying to steal something away from Simon. Oh, you thought Lincoln was smiling in this picture? No, that was him gritting his teeth trying to muscle away the silly rattle we bought in Mexico. How is it, the cheapest smallest toy we own, suddenly the favorite in this household?

Christmas morning. I think this will be a new family tradition. One last picture in bed before opening presents. :)

Just opening his Thomas books and puzzle---purchases made BEFORE we knew. He was actually still excited. First he opened the books and was happy, but then he opened the puzzle and said, "Books are Simon's, puzzle's Lincoln's!"

And their most favorite part of the day? Breakfast. Yep, it's true. How do I know, because when I asked Lincoln, that is what he told me. We had opened two gifts and he said he wanted to go eat some oatmeal. We tried convincing him to finish, but he told us daddy could finish.

Our 30 minute intermission, with stockings and a few more presents to open in the background. HA!

His favorites: his new play dough with tools AND his little stove and food to cook. This kid was pretending to cook and eat everything in this house. Hopefully this will help him start advancing his skills so I can raise a chef to cook dinners for me. See what I did there? Give him something that will eventually come back to help me. Ha.

And what would Christmas be without sparklers to celebrate our Saviors birth? Especially when it's not entirely dark outside. Sometimes it's all about improvising when your kids have early bedtimes and you're not willing to sacrifice to have them stay up later than necessary. :)

If you think Ryan's puppet-shows are impressive, you should see his sparkler show. Simon was well entertained one second....

 the next second, not so much...

Either way, we had a wonderful holiday and hope you did, too!!!

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!!!