Outside fun

My boys love to be outside. We have been so lucky to have some really nice weather in December, although to be honest we will be outside this winter no matter how cold it is as long as it is dry. We'll just bundle up because they love it so much. Emmory had to wear his pretend work goggles outside as he pushed his dump truck all around the cul-de-sac and Evan went back and forth between pushing the mower and running all over the place into our neighbors yards.

Evan

I really wish I could keep up with this blog. It just doesn't always seem possible...how can I sit down and blog when my house is a mess? But I got a new blogger app for my phone which is going to make it a whole lot easier to blog so maybe I'll do it more often now. I just wanted to do a quick post on Evan. I never did a post for his first birthday and I always intended to. He turned one over a month ago, on November 2nd. His first year was by far the fastest year of my life, it just flew by. I barely even remember him being a baby. I have a lot of regrets about his first year, especially the first several months. I've never really blogged about this before, for different reasons, but I will just say when I got pregnant with Evan, Emmory was only 9 months old and I definitely wasn't ready to have another. I was not excited about the pregnancy and it really took several months for me to start enjoying him. I'm just being completely honest here. It's not that I didn't love him, I would have given my life for him in a heartbeat, but I was just too focused on how hard things were and how they didn't happen how I wanted them too. Just completely selfish thoughts. But God is so good. He has used Evan in my life to show me my weakness, my sin, and bring me to the end of myself. I am constantly shown my complete inability to do anything right. And that drives me to the cross. It makes me thankful for my Savior and his righteousness that is mine. Because that is the only righteousness I possess. God has brought me to the point where I am thankful for my weakness. I am so thankful for evan in my life right now. Not just because of those things. There are lots of lovable things about him. His big blue eyes, his adoration of his brother and how he tries to do everything he does, his big smile, when he comes up to me and throws his arms up at me and says "mama", how excited he gets when his daddy comes through the front door home from work, how he tries to shove everything on his high chair in his mouth, the way he says doggie (Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaw-geeee), the way he runs all over our house always having to carry something around in his hands, the way he takes your hand and moves it to whatever it is he wants (he is a great non-verbal communicator), the way he sucks his two fingers backwards, the way he snuggles with you right after his nap, and there are so many more. He is very into feeding himself right now. It's good and bad. It's messy but I know it will make things easier in the long run, and already it is kind of nice that I can put a bowl of food and a spoon in front of him and he can get about 3/4ths if it in his mouth by himself while I do a few other things in the kitchen. He has had a bit of a rough patch recently with sickness which has lead to him being more cranky, but I know it will pass. Having two toddlers is challenging especially two loud, messy, busy boys (which I'm sure will never change) but I am thankful for my boys and for what God is teaching me through being a parent. And I am especially thankful that I am able to stay home with them every day and be the one who gets to train them.

August Fun

Here are some pics from this week....

We made finger paint with vanilla pudding and food coloring. He had a good time with it, and didn't figure out you could eat it until the very end :)

 

I introduced Evan to the water table for the first time. He loved it and of course ended up soaking wet because all he does is splash.

 

Differences

Right now we are at one of my favorite places in the world, Cannon Beach, Oregon. I grew up coming here every summer. In my opinion, the Oregon Coast is some of the prettiest landscape I have ever seen. I have yet to see a more beautiful place. Of course, coming here with my own kids now is a totally different experience. No longer free to come and go as I please. Spending much more time in the room than I would like with a napping or sleeping child. But that is just the season of my life right now. And it is a joy to be able to share this place with my children. Emmory loves the beach. Absolutely loves it. And he hasn't even gone in the water yet (and probably won't be since it's freezing cold). He is perfectly content to play in the sand with his dump trucks and diggers. He would stay there all day if we let him. We have to make him leave each time we are on the beach, and whenever we aren't on the beach, he is asking to go to the "deach". This is pretty amazing for my son who is so busy. I can't think of one thing he loves more than the beach. He will be sad when we have to leave.
But, that isn't the reason I wanted to post tonight. I wanted to post about the differences in my two children. I always knew once I had Emmory that when we had more kids, they wouldn't be the same. But it was just hard for me to picture in my mind what another kid would be like, since Emmory was all I knew. But this trip has been the perfect example of the differences in my kids, and it is amazing how early you can see it. Emmory is so laid back. You might not think so because he is a busy kid, but he is laid back. He goes with the flow, he's very adaptable, very easily distracted, etc etc. Evan is not the same. He is going to be more stubborn, he gets his mind on something and he wants it and doesn't forget. He is more bothered by things.  Of course they both could change, but Mark and I are predicting how their relationship is going to be. And we think as soon as Evan gets a little older and can hold his own, he is going to give it to Emmory once, and that'll be the end of it. No more picking on Evan. Emmory will just find a different way to go or something different to do rather than cross Evan. We think he'll push his older brother around and control the relationship. But who knows, that's just our prediction. But here is a perfect example of the differences between these two. At the hotel we are staying at, there are only two bedrooms to be shared between us, the boys, and my parents. It was not going to work out to put the boys in the same room because Evan has been waking up early and we didn't want Emmory getting up at 6 also....not to mention naps. So we decided Emmory would sleep in my parents bathroom, since he sleeps later, and Evan is in the bedroom with us. So, the first night we got here, I went in our bedroom to put Evan to sleep, and immediately he started crying as soon as I walked in the room. I laid him down and he continued to cry (and scream) for an hour. He never does this at home. It was all because he was in a new place. However, when we went back to put Emmory to bed, we showed him the pack n play in the bathroom (which is a much stranger place to be sleeping than a bedroom), and he said "that's Emmory's room", and I put him down and he went right to sleep without a peep. After this happened I thought, that is a perfect example of the differences in my two boys.
Evan is the second child that I needed. He will test me in ways that Emmory won't. So between the two of them, I should be covered all around with opportunities to grow :) That's the reason we have kids anyways, right? God certainly uses them to humble us, grow us, change us.

Catch up

Obviously my plan to update more often didn't work out :) So I'll play a little catch up with what's been going on the past few months. 

April
Besides Emmory's birthday which I already posted about, we went to Folly Beach near Charleston for a long weekend with Mark's family. We had a great house right across from the beach, and the beach was really nice. There were actually some waves too, which is rare for the east coast, and there were almost always surfers out right where we were. Emmory LOVED the beach. It was actually warm enough to go in the water, and he would go out there with no fear, even when he would get knocked over and go under the water, he would just pop right back up with a smile on his face. When we got back home he kept asking to go to the "deach". Here are a few pics from the trip. 

May

Two weeks after our first beach trip, we headed to Kiawah Island with my Mom, Dad, sister, and brother-in-law who came into town. Kiawah is a beautiful island with lots of nature. Our house was on a lagoon, and we had our very own alligator, which was very exciting for Emmory (and everyone else too). And it was only a two block walk to the beach, so we would load up the wagon with beach toys and Emmory and head on over.

Watching the alligator

Running on the Ocean Course (practice greens), the 2012 PGA

Evan loved the swing on the porch

Mother's Day

 
June

As I think back to June, I really can't believe it's already over! It went by so fast. We didn't do any traveling in June, just stayed around home. Here is a brief update on what is going on with the boys.

Evan: Is 8 months old! I cannot believe it, it has been the fastest 8 months of my life. He started pulling up to stand in the middle of June, and now that is all he wants to do! He will be an early walker no doubt. He also stopped nursing. It was rather sudden, or at least seemed that way to me. He just started refusing to nurse. Had it been just me and him, I might have been able to work with him all day long to get him to, but after two days of him going 6+ hours without eating, and having to take care of Emmory too, I had to start giving him bottles. And then there was no turning back. Was it earlier than I wanted to? Yes. I have always wanted to be able to nurse a baby as long as I wanted to, and be the one to decide it's time to stop. But that's just not how it's been with both boys, and maybe that's what will always happen. It broke my heart. But I am okay with it. What I feed him is not what is important. It's what I live out before him. That's what I'm trying to focus on. He is doing great. He likes to move, likes to watch his brother, likes to pull up on everything. He is happy most of the time. He is driven. Seems like he will probably be a little more strong-willed and stubborn than his brother. But oh, he is so much fun!

Emmory: Is very much a two year old. I am amazed each day at how much he has grown, and the things he picks up on. He is so smart. The memory of a toddler always amazes me. He is a big helper (you know, relatively speaking for a two year old). He is still very much dependent, but there are a lot of things he can do on his own. And he is potty training! We attempted potty training a while back, he wasn't even two yet, but was very interested and would ask to go. So I decided to give it a try. But he wasn't ready. There is a big difference this time compared to last time. He pretty much initiated it again. I didn't just decide one day I was going to potty train him. And it has been surprisingly very easy. He goes on his own and pretty rarely has an accident at the house. However, we still put pull-ups on him when we go out, and for nap time and nighttime. He would need to be moved to a bed he can get out of in order for him to not wear a diaper while he sleeps, and we are not ready to do that yet. We like containment :) He still wets heavy at night though, so he's not ready for that yet anyways. And I just haven't wanted to deal with accidents when we are out and about yet. But that is the next step.
He is very much a boy. He loves dirt, water, and any kind of vehicle, but especially garbage trucks and construction vehicles.
Here are some pics from the last month.

 This is Emmory's "garden". This is where he spends most mornings. He loves to play in the dirt, as I said earlier. And he is either naked or doesn't have pants on because like I said, we are potty training

 

 I walked in and Evan was so proud of himself for pulling up. And yes, we lowered the crib after this

 This is my attempt to blockade him in the living room

TWO!

Emmory is two today! I cannot believe it! It is such a small number, but seems so big. He is such a big boy, there isn't really much baby about him anymore. Today I made him blueberry pancakes for breakfast, we played outside in his water table, and we went to see the horses (his favorite) with one of his favorite people, his cousin Rilynn. Tonight we are going to Chickfila, which he loves, and will let him play in the play area which he has just now recently discovered, because he can climb all the way to the top now. I took a little video of him this morning. He seems to be catching on to this birthday thing really fast, and enjoying it because it means he can eat pretty much anything he wants to :)

Neglect

So obviously this blog has been a little neglected....having two kids now of course leaves me with even less time to spend on this, and I'm always waiting for a big chunk of time to do a big post, but from now on I'm going to try and just do smaller, more frequent posts so those of you on the west coast don't go through Steenback boy withdrawal :)
This blog isn't the only thing getting neglected though, today I was clearly a little distracted with Emmory, and didn't realize Evan needed to go down for a nap until I came out and saw this.

I also got a video of it, thought it was funny how he was still bouncing even though he was asleep

So that's all for today. We are getting ready to have an eventful month of April, including a beach trip, family coming to visit, and Emmory's 2nd birthday! We are excited!

Evan's story

Our lil pork chop (as he is affectionately called by my little sister) is already two months old (now three months, I started this a month ago!), so I thought I'd better write down his birth story before I forget. It is a total blur in my mind right now, almost like it didn't really happen....really the first month of his life is a blur, and we are definitely glad it's over! The first two weeks with him were rough, he had his days and nights mixed up and didn't sleep well at night...but big brother Emmory did of course and was up in the morning ready to go. Thankfully my parents stayed with us and helped out so much, I honestly don't think we could have survived without them. However, looking back two weeks of no sleep isn't really so bad, because he has done really well since then, and sleeps all night now.
Anyways, on to the story. I love birth stories, because each one is so unique, and I think it's fun to hear all the different experiences that people have, so I want to record mine so I can look back on them and remember. This experience was so different than Emmory's. With Emmory I basically had no action until the day I went into labor. I didn't dilate beforehand, and I didn't have Braxton Hicks contractions until a few days before I went into labor. Because of this my labor with him was REALLY long. With Evan, I started having Braxton Hicks probably halfway into the pregnancy, and continued to have them until I went into labor. I also dilated 2cm beforehand, and had a few nights of contractions where I thought I was going to go into labor, but then they stopped. Two nights before Evan was born, I had contractions throughout the night. I was able to sleep on and off, but I was pretty sure that by morning they would become more regular and stronger, and I'd go into labor, but as soon as I got up, they stopped completely. Then that night, Mark and I started watching our Office DVD's, and I started having contractions again. At first it was just one every episode, which last about 20 minutes, but they were stronger than they had been the night before. I didn't really get my hopes up too much, since I had already had a few false alarms, but they started coming faster and stronger. Then I started having a lot of "butt pressure" as I called it. There was just a ton of pressure down there, not at all like it was with Emmory, and the contractions started getting stronger and more intense. They were about 5-7 minutes apart when I was sitting down, but when I was standing up  and moving they were 2-3 minutes apart. We started to get things ready because we were pretty sure this was the real deal. Around midnight (I think) I decided maybe we could lay down and try and get some sleep, hoping that the contractions would let up or slow down when I did that....well that didn't happen and I ended up getting up shortly after, but left quietly hoping Mark could still sleep. I got something to eat and sat in the chair in the living room breathing through contractions, but I don't think I was out there for more than 30 minutes when I had to call for Mark because it was getting really intense, and I was feeling so much pressure. After a while of him being out there with me he called his mom to come over so we could go to the hospital. The contractions were so painful on the way to the hospital that I decided I was getting an epidural right away. It took a while to get up to the floor and get checked in because I kept having to stop for contractions. Finally I got checked in, found out I was 6cm, and got moved to a room. All I wanted to do was get an epidural, and waiting for the IV and fluids, etc felt like forever. I progressed another cm, got the epidural, and then all was well. It was a really good epidural, I could still move and feel my legs but I couldn't feel any pain at all. I had to get antibiotics in me before he was born, because I was beta strep positive (I think that's what it's called), they really wanted to get two rounds in me, but they have to be four hours apart and I was progressing so fast they didn't think it was going to happen. However, since I got the epidural, things were able to slow down a little, and they were able to hold me off by waiting to break my water until they got the antibiotics in me. So we basically just waited four hours until I could get the second round in, trying to get some sleep (since it was the middle of the night), but were pretty unsuccessful in that. Once the second round of antibiotics were in me, they broke my water, and within an hour of breaking my water they checked me and I was fully dilated. I started pushing and within 30 minutes Evan was born! And when he was born he gave everyone a surprise, as he came out looking up at the ceiling instead of facing down. So that probably explains all the intense pressure I was feeling, and why it seemed more painful than the contractions when I was in labor with Emmory.
I am so thankful for the safe delivery of Evan with no complications, and a really good epidural :)