Six years ago I was eight months pregnant with Lily, and busy preparing for her arrival. The crib was finally set up, and friends and family blessed us immensely with all the things needed for a newborn baby girl.
Since then each of our three kids have slept in that crib. And between moving houses, a cross-country move, two apartments, and our current rental house, that crib has graced the doors of five homes.
When we took it down on Tuesday, it was a first for us. This time we took it down because our family is growing up. I knew this day would quickly approach. Efraim slept in it the longest of all of them simply because there’s no one coming along behind him needing it. When he started climbing out (successfully) two weeks ago, I knew it was time.
It is a little bitter-sweet, but for this mama, it’s definitely more sweet than bitter. While part of me is sad to see our baby grow, I can look back knowing we enjoyed every moment of those days. Now I look forward, thrilled for the future.
We replaced the crib with a toddler bed.
(Efraim is our first child to get a toddler bed. I blame it on me being stressed over too many options so I just went with the most affordable ($50), fastest option. Same mattress, same bedding.)
I also replaced the changing table with this toy organizer. Room-time has been much better the past few days.
Our baby days are over. While we want to expand our family through adoption one day, if and when we do, I hope to adopt an older child/children. For now, I”m enjoying where we are.
Filipe and I are here in Seattle enjoying this beautiful city. I will share more about it and post pictures next week. For now, here are just some random moments over the past couple of weeks.
Lily is maturing every day. She is reading far beyond what I thought she would be capable of by now and she loves to write (cards, notes, “books”, etc). This mama couldn’t be more proud. The best part is that she is very self-motivated right now. I do very little pushing, and try and do a whole lot of encouraging.
But of course, there is always the need for discipline and correction. When it’s necessary, I try and think big picture and get to the root of the problem, not just correct the bad behavior. Case in point (disclaimer, not sure if this was at all a good idea, just telling ya what happened).
We are working on her ability to stay focused and not get distracted. Often I’ll ask her to do something but as she goes off to do it, something else will inevitably catch her attention and she’s off doing else. This happened last week. I asked her to do something minutes later went upstairs to find her in my bathroom with a bottle of hairspray in hand “fixing” one of her doll’s hair. It wasn’t a big deal what she was doing, the big deal was she totally disregarded my instructions.
I had to think of some kind of discipline that would focus her attention for longer that a few short minutes. So I told her before she could do anything else she had to write me an apology letter without my help. She disappeared into my office and came back about 30 minutes later with this:
“Mommy I am sorry for disobeying you and for using hairspray without asking you.
Please forgive me.”
Efraim is a big talker now. His language is developing quickly, and his personality comes more alive each day. His favorite phrases are “hold me mommy”, “ajuda mama” (portuguese for “help”), and “abri, abri” (portuguese for “open”). My mom sent the kids little photo albums from our trip to Charleston over Christmas. He loves looking at them and staring at the faces.
I finally renewed our membership to the Children’s Discovery Museum in San Jose. I took Cailyn & Efraim last week when it was raining and we had a blast!
Efraim is very particular. Everything has to be “right”. Here here is trying on the Fireman jacket making sure all the buckles are closed.
Ta-Da!
But, being the boy he is, “driving” the fire truck was his favorite.
(This pic doesn’t quite capture his excitement, he was more concerned about Cailyn NOT taking his seat.)
Cailyn is my little big helper. She makes things a little easier for me during the mornings when it’s just me, her, and Efraim. If you ever wondered, I think the age difference between the two of them is perfect (26 mo.). Cailyn wants to be a cook when she grows up.
Here she is at the children’s museum:
with her cookie factory.
She helped Filipe bake me a birthday cake,
and she knows the best part.
Wednesday night we celebrated my birthday with Santos family & the Wood family. That cake was one of the best I’ve ever had. The name? “Deep Chocolate Raspberry Cake” It was a rich chocolate cake w/ a ganache like layer outside. Unbelievable!
I hope your family had a great week!
While writing is a passion, my family is my number one responsibility. So instead of a Writing Wednesday post, today’s post is dedicated to my baby boy. Today is his birthday! I guess he’s not exactly a baby anymore, but I still think of him as one and since he’s the youngest, he still gets the title.
Two years ago he came into our lives and made us a family of five.
At first we didn’t know what we would do with a boy.
But we quickly adjusted and didn’t know how we had gone so long without him.
As you can see fits right in.
He’s as silly as can be. And our lives are the better for it.
He’s the sweetest boy I know.
I love you Efraim.
Happy Birthday
I’m convinced that the more kids you have, the cuter they have to be. Probably a rule of some kind or another. Maybe to ensure there is no lack of attention? I don’t know, but I know it’s true.
Filipe and I seem to ask each other at least once a day, “Isn’t Efraim so cute right now?”. To which we respond, “yes!”- like we’re surprised about it.
Whether it’s an expression or excitement for an activity, he keeps us laughing all day long it seems.
Here’s a few pics of him last week:
I tweeted this picture of him last week w/ his In-n-Out burger (aka grilled cheese sandwich) on his head. While Cailyn was having fun at the Little Gym, I decided Efraim and I would enjoy some In-n-Out for lunch while we waited. We were in the car eating and all he kept doing was balancing it on his head in between bites. He had it up there for nearly a minute!
Can you see the excitement in his face??
Saying “cheese”.
Playing in his favorite spot in the girl’s room- their kitchen! This is his excited face.
Such a sweet & cute boy. A necessity when you’re third and the only boy. He is not lacking in attention, that’s for sure!
