Soccer

The soccer seasons come and go like wild fire around our house. Wade and Seth are still loving it and, I'd imagine, will continue to play for many more years. They are both getting really good--I'd hope so after all the practice they get :).

I'm so happy they love sports and are enjoying themselves. Here are some pics of their latest completed seasons:

Wade (6 years)

Seth (4 years)

Trent the [Terrible] Two

My little Trenty is officially 2! I CANNOT believe he is 2. He definitely ACTS 2, though and on the other hand, I can believe it since during his short 2 years of life, I have been through another pregnancy and welcomed another little one. I guess if you think of it that way, he should be AT LEAST 2 :).
Time has flown though and Trent is such a fun little guy to have around. He is a go-with-the-flow kind of guy. He will almost always adapt to any situation and doesn't fuss about things for long. He is the least stubborn of what all my 2 year olds were, which is nice. Although his age brings lots of challenges, I think it also brings the CUTEST words, games and fun. Trent is truly so much fun! His little personality is so great.

My dad loves all of his grandkids equally, but right now, I would venture to say that he "enjoys" Trent the most of everyone. He calls me and wants to hear all the latest details of Trent's daily adventures and usually spends most of our conversations laughing hysterically.

Trent is NOT a shy kid. He isn't afraid of anyone and he likes to be around people. When my dad takes Trent to the park, he says it is like "Trent is running for a political office." (shaking hands and kissing babies) He goes from person to person "talking" to whomever will listen, mooching whatever delicious treat he sees from unsuspecting nice mom's,chases and pets pedestrian's dogs and, if all else fails, he will find a cousin or brother(or any random kid for that matter) to torture.

Trent already teases. In order to survive in a house with 2 big brothers and 3 boy cousins close to your age, he has chosen his defense and is pretty good at it. He is continually honing and improving his skills daily. I can't even imagine what this kid is going to be like as a teenager :).

Some of his classic teasing tactics are taking whatever toy or current object of affection any of his cousins/brothers/friends is holding and run away with it as fast as he can. While he runs, he throws his head back and lets out a taunting laugh. He runs from Matt and I often while we are at home, church or in the parking lots. He is FAST! It, definitely, takes a minute to catch him because he will always run around things (cars, tables, etc) and changes the direction he is running to throw you off (deviously smart!!) He likes to poke at and tease Rylee too. In this case, he is actually teasing me because as he runs for her bassinet or to her on the floor he laughs and watches me for my reaction. I could go on and on... :)

With all that being said, he is sooooo cute! He loves hugs and kisses. His little voice melts my heart. I just LOVE, LOVE to hear him talk. He has started to say lots of words and learns more everyday. It brings me so much joy.

Trent also has a little sense of humor. He laughs at movies and TV shows when the actors (cartoons) make jokes or do funny things. He loves to make others laugh too. He will try and do things to make me laugh and then laugh himself. He LOVES being the center of attention (especially when he isn't in trouble!) Some other things Trent is loving at 2 are:

mom's home cookin'

lego's

books

bananas

playing outside

Elmo

chocolate

shoes

hats

going to the park

stroller rides

nursery

Curious George

balls

blocks

He just had his well check:

Weight: 27.4lbs (42%)

Height: 33.75in (33%)

Head: 19in (38%)

One other thing of note is that Trent is off of his binky! When he was deep into his "poop-smearing" days he got poop all over his last bink and Matt threw it away. That was that. We should have gotten rid of it months ago (and would have if we'd have known it was going to be that easy.) I'm proud of him being so big :).

For his birthday, we had a family party and it was LOTS and LOTS of fun. Trent loved all his gifts (especially the pink stroller I got him--to Matt's dismay!) and REALLY loved being the center of it all. Happy Birthday Trent, we love you SOOOO much and cannot imagine our family without you.

Ode to a Pillow

Oh pillow sweet, soft pillow

It has been so many glorious years

Together we have triumphed over bad

and glided over good

The one companion who has been true to me always

You kept my head comfortable on many occasions

We have traveled the world together

It has been a good run

You left me so quickly, unexpectedly

I miss you already

I will always miss you

Dear pillow...

Matt received a pillow for a Christmas present from his parents in 1995. It is a HUGE understatement to say he LOVES his pillow. He took that pillow with him on his mission and claims he used to talk to it to comfort himself (psycho?!) That pillow has come with us on every vacation, hospital stay, car trip, etc. Since it is a feather-down pillow it squishes up nice and small and can fit anywhere. (Including the nightstand drawer which is where it lives when our bed is made. Matt gets it out to sleep with every night.)

Wade was sick today. Super sick and puking a lot. He was laying on our bed and puked on Matt's pillow. The pillowcase caught the brunt of the puke, but I put the pillow in the wash too--just to make sure there was no chance that puke seeped through.

As you can guess from the pictures above, the pillow exploded. It had a small hole that opened up while it was washing and when I went to put the wash in the dryer, I found a million feathers instead of a pillow. Matt is pretty sad, somewhat devastated. He is at the store now buying a new pillow, hoping he can find something that resembles his old one.

Fingerpainting

Trent is currently basking in ultimate stinkerness giving the phrase "terrible 2's" a whole new meaning. He makes Seth's "terrible" phase look like the work of an amateur. :) I don't know what it is with my 2 year olds, but they definitely live it up to their fullest potential.

Trent's newest favorite activity is finger painting...with his poop. Yep, I said it, with his poop. Disgusting, I know. When he is in his room, winding down to take a nap, he sometimes poops--normal right? Abnormal: to poop and proceed to reach down the back of your diaper, dig your poop out and smear it on the walls, closet, pillows and--worst thing ever--your head, mouth and face! HORRIFYING!

Since the day Wade was born, I have been changing diapers, sometimes, even, the diapers of 3 different children at the same time. That is over 6 years of wiping poop, but I have to tell ya, wiping poop off a bottom is A TON better than wiping/ scrubbing poop off a wall--YUCK!

The last time he did it, I had no choice but to put him right in the shower. I grabbed the camera and almost took a picture of the poop smeared all over his face and hands, but decided against it. Here is the cute little stinker, proud as can be, taking his shower:

These pics epitomize this little guy's personality. He is a professional torturer. Can you see the evil gleam in his eyes? I say this with all the love of my heart because I truly adore my Trent, but he enjoys teasing and taunting anyone who will take his bait. He lives for "the reaction" of the current person he has decided to torture.

In fact, here are a few examples of his latest daily adventures:

Incident #1: Yesterday, Wade came screaming up the stairs to tell me that, "Trent is flooding the kitchen!" I ran downstairs to find my little boy sitting on the kitchen island with the sink faucet turned over to the top of the counter while the water was running! The entire counter was flooded along with him and everything on it (a laptop!) thankfully nothing was ruined since the water had not been running that long.

Incident #2: As we were running out the door to take Wade to school and go directly to swimming lessons for the others, I quickly went in to the backyard to grab Seth's shoes and Trent followed me out and beelined to the irrigation (which is when they flood my backyard to water the orange trees thus turning my 1/2 acre into a 2-foot-deep lake.) He only got in up to his knees before I grabbed him. Did I mention we were running late? I now had a grassy, muddy, wet little guy to deal with...sigh...

Incident #3: This morning I came downstairs to Trent sitting in a pile of Reese's Peanut Buttercup wrappers. He was stuffing them in his mouth so fast that I am positive he ate some of the foil wrapping. He had gotten into a large glass jar (thankfully it didn't break) and was trying to eat as many as he could before I caught him.

And those are only the big things. My heart beats faster unless he is asleep or strapped into his car seat. With all that being said, another thing all of my "terrible" 2 year olds have been able to do is melt my heart. I love this little guy so much. He gives the best kisses and has the best deep belly laugh a kid could ever have. He is so much fun and I, seriously, could not imagine our family without him.

You would think I would have the whole "mom of a 2 year old" thing down, but they keep getting smarter with each kid. I am learning. So Trent wears a onesie undershirt everyday (despite the 90 degree temp) now so he can no longer get to his "paint", we have child locks on all our doors, all the food is pushed way back on the pantry shelves so he can't reach it, etc, etc. It is all worth it though, I wouldn't change him for the world :).

LA Ragnar

Matt and I participated in another Ragnar Relay with 22 of our friends. We had 2 teams of twelve (12 girls, 12 boys) and the venue was Los Angeles. The weather was beautiful, the company was lots of fun and it is A LOT better to run NOT pregnant :).

My legs added up to 22 miles, Matt had 13 miles. My favorite leg was my last because I got to run right down the boardwalk on Huntington Beach--amazing! Matt liked his first run,although it was his hardest.

Aside from the beautiful and scenic California, we got to run through the exciting and fun Calabassas (hello Kardashians!), West Hollywood (you would have never guessed it was 1am by the amount of people on the streets!) and Beverly Hills--awesome! We also got a taste of the not-so-rich California residents when we ran through the rougher areas. During the middle of the night, I had to run through an area that was heavily populated with bums! I ran about six inches past at least 7 sleeping bums. Thank goodness I had Marcae by my side (and the bums seemed much more interested in sleeping than tripping me.)

It was so, so much fun!