birthday reflection reconnection

day to day life is busy and it's hard.  when we look back on the days, and especially the week it's difficult to see how we got from point A to point B, but somehow we always do - and the time has just flown.  during the business of the day to day it's easy to overlook what's important.

recently will and i have had some struggles in finding time to spend with each other alone.  it's hard when our relationship began in 1996 and coasted on through the majority of 2011 with just the two of us at the center to all of the sudden change gears and shift the focus to another human being.

don't get us wrong - we wanted to grow our family - we got down on our hands and knees and cried out to God for a family - but just living with each other alone for fifteen years afforded us lots of "us" time that no longer exists, and not a lot of room to learn how this new time sharing would look.  so this year, for my birthday we made it a priority to have lots of "us" time.  really a gift to all of us to ensure that mommy and daddy stay solid as a rock.  we know we're no good for dax if we're spent and lately we were getting pretty close to running out of gas, understanding, and patience.

this past weekend will and i celebrated my birthday by going out on two date nights that he set up for us.  the weekend included zero work and all time spent on togetherness.  will took me to adult places, places without high chairs, places that were the opposite of toys r us.  we let our hair down and acted like something other than parents - mommies without diaper bags.  friday night will and i went to a very "hip" and modern bar called "fox liquor bar" located in the basement of a building in downtown.  it was some place a person under 21 would never be allowed.  we felt pretty preppy and old when we first got there, but after some other "nerds" started arriving, we settled in.  (we try to be "cool", but we are pretty giant nerds.)  after a few cocktails and a cheese plate we headed over to "bida manda" (a laotian restaurant) by foot.  it was so fun to walk through the streets of town arm in arm, just like we used to do.  we stopped to take stupid pictures and just be silly.  our reservations were accepted a few minutes early and our waitress was super personable.  she made recommendations after our prompting and scored me the last bowl of crispy pork belly soup.  the place lived up to my palate's expectations and we sat on red metal chairs and talked for hours.  the night drew to an end with two macaroons on a slate with a candle and singing from my husband.  we shared our last few bites filling stuffed on tasty food, drink, and reconnection.

saturday night we went out again.  this time we headed to durham's "mateo" for a night of tapas.  we drove around the city and then took some touristy photos on a walk.  once we were seated at our table we began ordering tapas and drinks and the food started to flow and so did the conversations.  we chatted about all sorts of things that have been on our minds lately and really enjoyed each other's company.  we were there for hours, with never a lull in the back and forth.  we discussed where we've been, how things have changed, and where we hope to go.  i only used my linen napkin to wipe my eyes about three times.  its so good to have a husband that supports you in your every wish and desire and longs for nothing but your happiness.  it's always a good birthday when we're together.

so, we're vowing for more date nights and more conversation that does not include talk about "pao poo" aka. poop.

so thankful for another year with my boys.

22 months

daxton turned twenty-two months old today!  like we previously noted - we just cannot explain where our summer has gone.  our boy is growing so quickly, and every moment we're scheming about what  fun we can get into next.  we've gone to several parks and dax has enjoyed playing on the playgrounds.  he really has no fear with regards to heights or treacherous ground.  he loves climbing, going  down slides, and swinging.  he's a people watcher and he gets great joy from watching other kids play and have fun.  he still loves live music and enjoyed a gospel music presentation at our local park today.

daxton's vocabulary seems to again be growing exponentially.  lately he's saying things like -  "daxy", "sweet boy", "me", "wawa" - for water, "go", "yaya" - for iliana, "peees" - for please, "more", "nani", "cup", "yee-haw", "hat", "mimmy" - for minnie mouse, "show", "bird", "nana" - for banana, "pee yew" - for his stinky feet!, and he will even string words together with and - "mommy and dada","oh wow", "here you go", "get you", "hi you".  at night time we even get a blessing.  he will repeat - "dear God, thank you, Amen."  the prayer just melts your heart.  if all he ever knows is the love of Jesus, then we've done our jobs!  he worked hard to learn some body parts and now can correctly identify and say the following:  "eye, ear, nose, mouth", and "hair".  we get him to point them out on his toys and even on the dogs and he loves doing it to daddy and especially peeling daddy's eye lid open while he says "eye".  however, if he is feeling a little goofy he will tell you wrong names on purpose.  what a ham.  he's got a sweet little voice and his friends and relatives love to hear him talk on the phone.  we learned that he does not care for the speaker phone, but he will chat away if you put him on my old school cisco work phone.

dax may be demonstrating some terrible two's type behavior.  he's certainly continuing to test the boundaries and is still pretty persistent about climbing on the coffee table, standing on the couch, turning on the faucets on the tub in the master bathroom, and playing in the dog's food and water.  he knows he is not supposed to do those things, but he (for some reason) loves them and gets into one of the four of them anytime we turn our eyes off him.  if he is the center of attention he's golden - but if you focus on anything aside from him he'll be off doing one of those things.  we know it's a test of our patience and persistence and as long as we continue to be firm and in control that over time he should stop attempting these tricks.

daxton's food battle still just seems to be a battle of will.  this is a battle we've let him win.  it's not worth the fight.  i've reverted back to pouches of baby food veggies for nutrition because i can get him to ingest those, but other than that he is in love with clementines, mango, banana, popcorn, crackers, and he still loves tomatoes.  however, he will now rarely eat a sweet potato, his pasta, or anything that used to be in my "guaranteed" list.  so, when he gets fussy we resort to lots of oatmeal, macaroni, and smoothies.  hopefully this too - shall pass.  he's eating a lot one day and then not much the next.  this worried me at first, until we noticed the pattern which seems pretty common at this age - and so now we just take his word for it when he says "nah, no - all done" and puts a piece of food back into your hand.  it's better than throwing it on the floor, so we'll take it.  he does like feeding himself and tries to work his spoon and fork to get food into his mouth.  we help him out by holding the utensil level so the food doesn't fall off on his tray before it makes it to his mouth, but he's on his way to completely self feeding.

daxy's super fun charlotte weekend had him touring down town charlotte by stroller, walking down the city streets, eating at side walk cafe's, and checking out a discovery kids museum.  he loved running around the museum and checking out all of the exhibits they had on display.  his favorites included a water table and a drum set.  he loved staying in the hotel and made good use of the pots and pans in the kitchenette.  we took quite a few toys with us, but the cookware won hands down.  he was a good boy in the car and did lots of resting.  it seems more little trips may be in his future!

we're looking forward to a family beach vacation full of fun and relaxing with lots of people who love to spend time with our boy.  he's going to be the center of attention and you know he'll just eat that right up.  we've gotten him some new clearanced beach toys including water guns, shovels, and buckets.  surely he'll just want to play with sand and seashells - but then maybe the adults will play with all of his toys instead!