Man Crush Monday

I feel somewhat like a sellout for even using the title of this blog as a phrase. But hey, I like alliteration- what can I say. I didn't use hashtags, so I'm still a real 30 year old right??

Anyhow.

Saturday our church had the first annual pinewood derby race. I remember these races from my brother's Cub Scout days. Here's what I remember:

Boys enter their derby cars into the race, have an awesome time the entire day, and dads go home with bruised egos when they find their 'son's' car isn't the best.

While Austin did pretty well, a lot of the dads definitely had their own egos wrapped up in the success of their kids' cars. Overall it was a ton of fun and I loved seeing William and Austin interact ion that way. 

After the derby we went to a first birthday party for a friend's daughter and William proudly showed off his derby car. When someone said 'oh wow! Did you make that??' William BEAMED with pride as he said "me and my dada did!", Looking over to Austin for validation. He gets so much confidence and self assurance through his relationship with Austin and I'm more thankful every day for how involved and supportive he is of our sons.

And for that - Austin is (as always) my man crush :)

Here are some pictures of the awesome job our kids church leaders did in organizing this event.

Our kids church pastor built the track and converted our sanctuary into the derby room

Check in car #14

Passing inspection 

I think we had 22 cars in the races and each car raced 3 times (4 cars per heat) to determine the 4 finalists. William came in 3rd, 2nd, 3rd in his heats and he didn't even care!

Everyone ready for the final race - 3 girls and one boy! The boy and one of the girls were twins - no family rivalries there!

Playing after the races were done

My handsome date to the derby!

And after all of the excitement of the day (derby then party!) we had a family of 4 nap session which lasted 2 hours. We had full cooperation by all parties...not sure if that will EVER happen again, but I do know one thing...we'll need a king sized bed if it's gonna happen - or at least before charles gets too big!

William Wednesday on Thursday

Been awhile huh? While I've been juggling and driving and working and cleaning, rarely sleeping, William has been doing one thing: GROWING.

I thought bnd grew fast as a baby...and then a toddler...and then I thought he grew fat as I watched my toddler turn into a 'kid' (still feels soooo weird to call him that!) but, I was not prepared for how fast he'd grow while my head would be turned with a baby. It's like I went in for a c section and came out with a kid ready for college!

Or kindergarten. Because this time next year he will be all settled into a kindergarten routine. And I feel like he's already ready. How did this happen??

The biggest thing that has happened with William lately has been his reading. I am going to go out on a limb and guess I didn't blog about the day he read me my text message, but one day we were getting ready for our day and he said 'mommy, dada said I hope the boys are good for you this morning'

'You talked to dada?'

'No'

'Ok...when did he say that?'

'Oh he sent you a message on your phone'

Silence. He can read???? WHAT?

Since then his reading has just exploded. He doesn't like to sit and read if it's something we suggest, but randomly he just reads things. I'll over hear him reading a book to Charles, or he will ask me what street signs and billboards mean. He's trying to learn and memorize various slogans for stores and things, so he likes reading those on advertisements and commercials. The words he is able to sound out and pick up on are incredible. I don't even know what to say or think. I'd love to pat myself on the back for raising him so well, but this one is beyond any credit I may earn. He just decided he wanted to read one day I think.

He reads.

Mind = blown

But, just because he is a borderline genius doesn't mean he isn't as goofy and quirky as ever. A little bonus story for ya:

We hosted a first birthday party for some friends who were moving the week of their son's first birthday. We had 14 adults, 7 kids/toddlers and 3 babies in our cozy little house. May have been tight but I LOVED it! At the end of the party William and Elizabeth conned someone into dumping the ice chest in our back yard to play with, but Elizabeth had to leave soon after. I told William if he planned to play with the ice (great parenting as it may have been 60 degrees and overcast out) he needed to put socks and shoes on.

Somewhere in there I guess he heard 'and take your pants off'

Throwing ice and hearing it crash. In his underwear. Every little boy's dream. 

Oh the anxiety!!!

Its October which means football is in full swing...which also means my anxiety level overall is heightened by maybe 50%.

Going into the season I expected both of my teams to be average at best. I had (have) very little faith in the texans' new quarterback and I'm not so sure about the coach either. So far I've been somewhat surprised, but I'm also still pretty concerned as the hardest is still yet to come and I don't feel like we've dominated anything.

Well. Except for JJ Watt. What. A. BEAST! I think even non football fans know who he is, and he put the texans on the map. William wears his Watt jersey around here and everyone makes comments. He makes the team for sure.

The aggies, however, have continued to surprise me all season. We are an incredible and strong 5-0 right now.

Problem is, now I have hopes and dreams. And now we enter one of the toughest schedules in the nation.

Pass the Xanax and wine please. This is going to be a stressful 3 months!

A Man of Many Names

My sweet little cowboy.

That's the first thing I called Charles when he was born. I called him that before I even called him Charles. My sweet little cowboy.

William noticed how many things he has that have elephants on them and said, 'but mommy he's an elephant! He's my elephant brother'. And that name is still sticking around. William picks elephant clothes and blankets out whenever he can and we have elephant toys - it's kind of become a thing. I wish it was a more loving sounding name, but hey - elephants are smart right???

Shortly after he was born he became a little grunter. He grunts when he eats, grunts with his pacifier, grunts in his sleep. They're cute little grunts but he sure is noisy. One of William's veggie tales shows has a story with a Cebu and the Cebu makes similar noises, so Austin starting calling him Cebu. We would often say 'oh are you Cebu-ing again Charles?' It was cute.

Until I looked up what a Cebu is and saw it's a pretty ugly looking cow. Not very affectionate and even seems like a downgrade from elephant. so Austin decided he would change his name to little bull. Goes well with little bear right? Bear and bull - our boys. Kinda cute! Problem is - we are all 3 so used to calling him Cebu sometimes.

So - on any given day Charles may be called:

Archie(still standing strong)

Cebu

Bull

Elephant

Cowboy 

Scare pig

Or maaaaaybe Charles. I sure hope he learns his name one day!

My little cowboy elephant bull Cebu scare pig. Man I love that guy.

P.s. The little white things on his outfit are elephants. Go figure!

My Little Lover

William is a passionate kid. His temper tantrums can be heard from miles away. His stubbornness would be impressive if it weren't infuriating first. His interest in fully knowing and comprehending things is incredible.

He's passionate about car brands, football, cars, our pets...when he has his mind on something, he goes all in with a passion.

And that's how he is as a big brother.

I worried so much that the age difference would be a detriment in multiple ways. I worried that he'd resent Charles for taking his only child status he had basked in for 4 years. I worried he'd feel disconnected because they are just SO different. I worried he'd get bored and tired of our lives having to adjust and change to accommodate a baby who needs a lot of peace and quiet.

I worried for no reason.

To say William loves Charles would be an understatement. It'd be like saying I love peanut butter. Just doesn't quite do justice to the deep, deep passion inside. (Yes. For peanut butter)

It's like an obsession.

People always say 'I want a girl first so she can be a helpful big sister' and I may be guilty of previously assuming girls get more into baby stuff. And in a lot of ways they do! William has no interest in playing house or playing with a pretend baby or baby things. All he wants to do is take care of his little brother.

Like the day he woke up, came in my room while I was showering, grabbed a bottle of 'chest milk' I had ready in case Austin needed to feed Charles, went in his room, climbed in his crib and started feeding him. No words, no stalling, no nonsense. It happened in about 3 seconds.

Or like yesterday when I was changing Charles. William loves to throw the diapers away and be near us when we change him. Yesterday Charles was crying the entire time and William was getting increasingly antsy. Eventually he let it out and yelled, 'stop it! Stop hurting my baby brother!'

Or today: Charles had his 4 month check up (maybe I'll write about that...in a decade or so) and I told William I'd take him to school before the appointment. He said he wanted to come with us to the doctor to help Charles, so naturally my heart melted and I said ok. What I didn't expect was for Charles's shots to be harder for William than Charles!

He doesn't love to play mommy like a big sister, but I guess his passion is more like the male equivalent. He loves to protect Charles. He loves to provide whatever Charles needs. He loves to play dada.

My heart beats out of my chest.

My Little Aggie

Last night the aggie game came on at 6:00. Perfect time for us, though I did have sympathy for my aggie friends in Texas who may have been busy with kids' bedtimes! Ours coincided with halftime, thank you!

This season is going to be fuuuuuuun with William. He's a big fan of football (surprised?) and he's loving learning positions, rules, plays, etc. And the icing on the cake? He loooooves the aggies! 

During the game, which he was glued to, he kept yelling 'let's go Texas A&M!' And 'gig 'em aggies!' And the like. I was grinning ear to ear.

As for the NFL, he seems to just be a fan of the game, and loves that he can identify most teams. When asked his favorite he says the texans, but then goes on a list of all of his favorite teams:

49ers

Cowboys

Packers

Broncos

Bengals 

Patriots 

Those are the usual suspects. But his heart has a special place for JJ Watt, so I think the texans have a slight edge there.

Overall, football season should be fun! I hope Charles jumps on board!!!

The last word

William may look like Austin reborn, but the more his personality shows the more I know he's a mini me in disguise.

He has developed a need to always have the last word. So much so that half of the time, the last word doesn't even make sense. Like yesterday:

William you need to go get dressed for church.

Is it Sunday?

Yes.

And are Elizabeth and P coming over today?

Yes William - but you need to go get dressed and I don't want to tell you a third time.

Walks off then returns to quickly say...

AND it's the last day of August!

Then he RAN off so we wouldn't even have an opportunity to respond. 

How'd he get so big and bold?