Moo is TWO!

So this guy turned TWO on Saturday. A week before, he and I went on a special mommy-Micah date to Party City and I let him pick out whatever themed decorations he wanted. We came home with all things Thomas, since he's recently added trains to his list of vehicle love. Thanks to a miscommunication complete non-communication between Phil and me about who was in charge of taking pictures, the day went fairly undocumented, but I'm pretty sure the little guy didn't care.

We started the day with his favorite breakfast in the whole world: donuts! Let's do the math:

2 donut holes + 2 candles = 1 happy 2-year-old.

We let him open one present from us before the party, and he carried that little golf caddy around all morning with such pride. Precious. My mom stayed with us the night before to help with the party, so he got to open his very special present from her that morning as well: VTech tracks and cars! Win.

Sixteen family members arrived at noon, so we conveniently fed and put Moo down for a nap just  before they arrived so he'd make it through the afternoon. We all ate and caught up and by the time Moo woke up, everyone was ready for cupcakes and presents. The best present of all: Moo's favorite cousin and best friend, Zeke, made the trip from Chattanooga to be there!

Here are a few things this guy is into:

• Loves his baby sister. I mean, really loves her. Of course, he really, really hates her too when I'm feeding or changing her, but other than that, he's about the most tender big brother I can imagine. He loves for me to put her in his crib with him when I get him up from his nap, and he just lies there next to her on his tummy talking to her and kissing her. He loves to tell her about what he's doing and what she should be excited about and it will be a miracle if she ever talks because he's taking care of all the talking for her.
• Still into all things with wheels. All things. We recently tried to whittle down our car collection since it's grown exponentially since he was born and we could only find two cars that he genuinely doesn't play with. 
• Sings all day long. Sings lots of songs I recognize and also makes up his own.
• Loves power tools. Got a pretend drill for his birthday and is convinced he can fix anything. If only that were true...
• Loves to pretend. His cars talk to each other. He says good night to inanimate objects. His stuffed animals might as well be real. Nuff said.
• Is extroverted and friendly. Says hello to just about anyone and anything. The other day I heard him say, "Hi, red motorcycle. Nice to meet ya, red motorcycle." Love it.
• Has a great sense of humor. He laughs easily and loves to make others laugh, often accompanied by mischievous but adorable behavior. :)
• Speaking of mischievous behavior, this guy can throw a tantrum with the best of toddlers. Thankfully, time out is pretty effective for now. 
• Has gotten into reading more and likes to read "by myself," quoting or making up parts of books and concluding with "the end."
• Loves to cook with me. I admit that sometimes I suggest making banana bread or pancakes just to stave off a tantrum. And it works. Boy can crack eegs (sort of), stir dry ingredients, and knows what the word sauté means. :)
• Is obsessed with his backpack. Noodle "gave" it to him when she was born and he wears it the entire time he's in Sunday school, except when they have to change his diaper. Pretty sure he's convinced that he's the coolest kid in the class when he wears it. Love that burgeoning independence!
• Is a little encourager. Exhibit A: my parents live on a mountain and when we drove to the top of it recently, he put his little fists up in the air and yelled, "Hurray, Mommy! You made it up the mountain!" Thanks, Moo.
• Skills: can count to 10, sing the ABCs, identify several letters, knows what letter his name starts with, can (kind of) jump, and talks and talks and talks. Oh, and he's really good at pushing mommy's buttons too. 
• Loves water...sometimes a little too much. Would play in the hose in 55 degree weather if we let him, loves to play in the rain, has no fear of pools, and would splash all the water out of the bath and onto the bathroom floor if it weren't a no-no. 
• Foods he loves: Will eat almost anything, but LOVES M&Ms, sunflower seeds, black olives, fruit leather, macaroni and cheese, banana bread, and cereal. 
• Loves to be outside and get dirty. Give him some open space, a stick, some spider webs, and some acorns and this kid could entertain himself for a while. 

We are so grateful to know and love this boy, and I'm grateful to get to spend my days with him in sweet (sometimes trying) simplicity. As he says, "Daddy work at hospital. Mommy stay home play cars with Moo." Yep, that's pretty much my job. And it's awesome.

WOAH my goodness.

It's like I've been running a 10-minute mile for the past two years, on fairly flat terrain. And now. Y'all, I'm out of shape. Now it's the same race, but someone just told me that I need to run it faster and do all kinds of crazy hills and I. Feel. Winded.

BUT. It's a good kind of winded. The pushing-yourself-beyond-what-you-think-you-can-do kind of good. The I'm-stronger-than-I-think kind of good. The this-is-so-very-worth-it kind of good.

That's what having two kids under two has been like for me. I've decided a few things in the last couple of weeks, the first being that I will probably write only in bullet points from here on out since that's about all I have time for, so here are a few thoughts from the first three weeks with two under two:

• Someone will need me 99% of the day. Someone will be crying 50% of the day. I will change an average of 15 diapers a day. I will average 5 hours of sleep a day...interrupted. It will all be fine. Really. God gives what we need for each moment, and it's enough.
• I either going to gain a bunch of weight from eating convenience food on the go all day, or lose a lot of weight because after feeding all the chicks, this mama bird might not have time to feed herself. Hopefully, it's neither of those scenarios, but you get the idea: time to eat is limited, distracted, and almost always coupled with at least one other task.
• Speaking of multi-tasking, it IS possible to nurse, feed a toddler, and feed yourself at the same time. Booyah.
• I've stopped washing my hair every day. Do the math: faster shower = more time to sleep. No-brainer. The old me would say that was gross, even though I know all the salon people out there say it's actually better for your hair to wash it less often. I liked the smell and feel of clean hair every day. But dry shampoo is awesome. And fast.
  
• Speaking of sleep, Noodle is actually a great sleeper, but she's still a newborn, so my sleep is clearly interrupted and brief. But I've started seeing all 24 hours of the day as viable time to sleep, which has made being up at weird times more bearable. Up from 1-2 a.m.? No problem. I can go to bed at 7:30 p.m. if I want to. My goal is to get at least 5 hours of sleep cumulatively in a 24-hour period. While it's not optimal sleep, it's what I've determined is functional for me. So far, I'm meeting my goal every day, and usually exceeding it a little.

On to the good stuff that doesn't need a bullet point: I LOVE MY KIDS. I love the plural of that word "kids." I love watching them together. I love that God has entrusted them to me and that we will know the goodbadugly about each other because we are family and that we'll still love each other anyway. 

A friend recently described her life with her three boys as "full," not busy, and I love that. My life is full. Full of life and challenges and joys and laughter and problem-solving and wiping tears and butts and planning and exhaustion and sheer over-the-moon amazement that this full, full life has been given to me. I guess what I'm saying is that I'm grateful. I can make all the funny/whiny comments I want about life with littles, but really I'm just thankful, and those other things are just the stuff of a full life.  

Moo brought Noodle a stick of her very own. :)