51 weeks: Celebrating my birthday

 This guy has started climbing on things! He getting really good at getting around and will stand for 10 seconds or so on his own. He's taken a few tiny steps by himself, and I'm sure he'll be walking soon. He's getting another tooth, so 4 total for this month. But he's doing pretty well with that. It is getting really difficult to change his diaper because he constantly wants to be on the move and absolutely hates laying there. Poor guy.

Ruby got a cold from the nursery this week, and I think Reid is getting it too. :( They've been really healthy all spring, this is only their second cold since the nasty RSV thing we had in January. I think the vitamin D I've been giving them has really helped with that. She has not been doing well with potty training still. She's been having a lot of accidents. It's hard. She is, however, doing better with her attitude and not throwing so many tantrums. There was a night last week that was really, really difficult, but it's gotten a lot better since then. I've cut out a lot of sugar that she gets, and I think that helps. Also, she doesn't get to snack as much and eats better meals that way.

 My sweet kids love each other so much.

 My attempt at a healthy snack with celery, cream cheese, and bell peppers... She ate the cream cheese.

 We got the kids a slide and Ruby loves it indoors and out.

 Cuties in the bath.

 Andy and Ruby made me a birthday cake on Sunday morning. It was pretty cute.

 We went out to lunch with some friends after going to Imago Dei church. It was really good and more emotional for us than we thought it would be.

 Ruby turned 39 months on Sunday! She's getting so big. Definitely a little girl now.

 He read this  book for a long time. So cute.

 Putting candles on my birthday cake.

I love this photo. I love the way she looks at me. <3 Oh, and that's a lot of candles!

 After cake we watched the Sound of Music. Well, part of it. We watched it a little bit at a time for three nights before the kids went to bed.

 He loves walking and pushing things.

 Lounging in Daddy's lap.

 Bedtime bible stories.

 He found Mama's purse.

 I love this shot. We've had fun playing "pitch" in our back yard.

 Helping me make tacos. She loves cooking!

 We made the ducks from the book "Make Way for Ducklings."

 On Tuesday we went to Omsi! It was so much fun. We spent the whole time in the little kids' room. Then Andy came and met us for lunch, which we loved!

 Playing in the water area.

 Ruby LOVED the sand area.

 She played and played.

 Then I brought Reid in, and he LOVED it too! We'll be spending a lot of time there I'm sure.

 So much fun!

 And so much sand!

 Oh, I almost forgot! He's been copying our words like crazy this week and learning lots of new ones. I taught him "thank you" when he was handing me things. And he said "tada" today after Ruby did, and "mine" and "uh-oh." He doesn't say them perfectly, but he tries and does pretty well!

 She loves Richard Scarry books.

 Playing in her closet. She was sick in the hospital so I made her a casserole of chicken and tomatoes.

 They were both reading! Parenting success moment.

 Eating a snack together. Reid kept trying to stand up. He doesn't know how to sit in a chair yet really. Ruby had a sick day yesterday, so we stayed home and she was in her jammies all day. She's just got a pretty stuffy nose.

 I was nursing Reid and had told Ruby that we were going to have tomato soup and grilled cheese for lunch. So she went and got all of this out and ready on her own! I'm just glad she doesn't know how to turn on the burners yet. But honestly so cute. And she said, "Mom, I ate two bites. It's cold."

 Then she wanted to play sick on the couch and wanted me to bring her a tray of food. We don't have any trays, so this is what she got. :)

 Reid woke up super early from nap yesterday and was so cute.

 He climbed into this box all by himself!

 Playing with the ads.

 When Ruby takes the pillows off of the couch Reid can climb up there. They had a blast playing on it today.

 Faux hawk.

Trying to play Legos with sister. They usually play together okay, but then he tries to take her things and she doesn't like it so much. Or she takes his things and he cries. They'll learn.

50 weeks: Adventures in Portland

 We've had a pretty good week up here in Portland. We're getting used to living here. :) We had our first house guests (Becca and Daniel) on Saturday, so we finished unpacking a lot of boxes to get ready for that. We still have a lot to unpack, and honestly, I don't think I've unpacked a box since then. Oops... 

I can't believe Reid is going to be one in two weeks! He's getting so big! He has gotten three teeth in this week, and his molars are hurting him for sure. Last night he slept horribly. He just wakes up and is awake, and I can't get him back to sleep. So we let him cry a little while last night. :( It's not easy, but sometimes that's the only option. He's about to walk for sure. He can let go of things and stand for a second or two, and he's really fast at cruising along tables, chairs, couches, etc. He also tries to say all of the words we're saying to him. He kind of said his first real word this week too, we heard some ducks and I said, "quack" and then he said, "gack." It's pretty cute. Diaper changes are increasingly hard with this guy because he just wants to be up and crawling and not laying on his back. He has learned to crawl on both knees instead of one foot and one knee.

Ruby has had a hard time with the move, but she's been doing much better this week, especially the last few days. I've gotten lazy with letting her have snacks and she hasn't been eating meals as well as she should. So yesterday we went to vegetable or fruit snacks (okay, plus crackers or trail mix sometimes), and she's been eating better meals. Parenting is tough! It takes a lot of listening and patience. I sure love these two, and it's definitely worth it.

 He loves playing with the dish washer.

 We went down to Salem to our friends' adoption fundraiser Hoe-down on Friday night. It was fun to see all of our friends.

 Ruby and Andy did some line dancing.

 Me and Reidsy.

 Ruby helping me make play dough.

 She found the birthday candles and has been making a lot of birthday cakes.

 Play time in Mommy and Daddy's bed.

 Reid has always had a hard time with naps. He takes a morning nap at around 9:30 or 10, but it's usually only 30 minutes or so. Then he takes another nap after lunch in the pack n play in my room, at 1 or 1:30, but he only sleeps until about 2:00 in that usually. Then I bring him into my bed and he goes back to sleep until 3:30 or 4. I wish he would sleep in longer chunks, but it's nice to have him to snuggle with every day. And I need naps too (because he wakes up a lot at night, especially with his teeth).

 He woke up and rolled over to put his arm around me. So cute.

 Sunday was a gorgeous, warm day, so we had a barbecue with Del and Patty in the back yard, and even busted out the water table and pool. The kids love the back yard a lot.

 Reid's first time in the car wash. He was fascinated.

 Monday was lovely too, so the kids and I headed to the zoo.

 Ruby made a new friend right away and we walked around with her and her twin baby brothers for a while.

 The polar bears were out eating giant popsicles. Ruby really liked her friend Ada.

 The kids and I with the warthog.

 Ruby got a tiny lizard named Zachary (she decided today that she didn't want it to be named Zachary anymore). Here she is showing it to the real lizard that was swimming around.

 Riding on the lion.

 Reid's new nerdy lion jammies.

 We got out the train tracks. It was a lot easier to play them before Reid was mobile. He likes to destroy our work.

 Super Ruby eating her snack out of a paper bag.

 Bed time stories.

 We did an experiment yesterday. When the candles went out it sucked up a bunch of the water.

 Eating a snack at her little table in her room.

 I picked out these jammies for Reid at Costco yesterday, and Ruby wanted matching ones. I couldn't resist. They're so cute. Ruby has been taking care of Lupe a lot. It's adorable.

 This morning the kids and I went to a huge used baby things sale. She liked this vanity... to bad we don't have room for it. ;)

 I realized that she was dressed pretty much exactly like I dress today. My mini me.

 Eating a pear with her fork.

 After nap she wanted to go on a little walk, so we walked part way down the street. She brought her umbrella just in case.

And then I made this chicken with cream sauce. It was delicious! I love French food.