The Frenches

My precious boys are 16 months already. Each month I continued to be amazed at their growth and development in every area. I haven’t had a ‘photo shoot’ with them in a while, but I am including a few random action pics of them during their 15^th month. More pics of 16 months will be coming soon!

Here are some of the things I want to remember about Wyatt and Gavin this past month:

Coloring

The boys are really enjoying coloring now and actually doing a great job. They seem to enjoy the coloring books and pages more than just blank pages. They've also learned that crayons mark on other objects... so we are working on continuing reminding them that they must sit while coloring and only on the paper!

Prayers, Bible and Church

I have not been telling the boys to ‘fold their hands’ during prayer time, but rather continue to pray with them throughout the day and at meals. I figured they would learn by example and enjoying mimicking more than something Mama says to do. About a month ago, the boys both started to fold their hands at each meal on their own! They get so excited to pray each meal, and love to say, ‘Day-do’ to God. Watching their little hands folded (often holding a fork or spoon at the same time)and big smiles on their faces just melts my heart! I continue to teach the boys to pray and thank God all throughout the day. We say prayers with our hands folded, but we also just talk to Him at random times. We always thank Him for the beautiful gifts He lavishes us with and we experience each day. ‘Thank You God’ is something I pray the boys learn to truly feel in their hearts as they grow and become the men God created them to be.

The boys absolutely love to read their Bibles these days. They ask to read them multiple times a day. They love Mama’s Bible, which we read together. I also have a full length (non-children’s) Bible with a cover for them to use as well. Then they have their own children’s Bibles with pictures. I place lots of sticky notes and note cards in each one so they have notes just like Mama’s Bible; this they just love!!

I get to read to them a little bit of Scripture here and there, and we of course talk about random topics as they flip through the pages. Also having songs full of Scripture in the background during the day is a great way we continue to fill our hearts and minds with His Word. I smile knowing that the Word never comes back empty! Just watching their love for Jesus grow already, including the Bible and praying, fills my heart with such joy!

To make a very long story short, sitting through church service with the boys has been getting more difficult with each month that passes. Partly due to nap schedules and the other due to their need to be active during the service we have to attend. They are great boys, but just don’t understand that we have to stay in the pew area and lower testosterone for that hour. After much prayer and talking with friends, we decided it was time to try the nursery. It would be good for both boys and Mama to learn to have someone other than Grandmas watch them, and it would continue to foster the idea of community worship on Sunday. It has gone very well thus far, and we will continue to practice. As time goes, we will alternate nursery time and ‘pew training’. I long for the day the 5 of us will sit together as a family in church, but understand that this is a season we are going through now; a season of training and learning, one given to us by God. I since Him smiling on us as we learn together and keep our eyes focused on Him! We worship Him daily, not just at church, so my heart is happy knowing we are teaching our children in the ways that they need it individually to foster their relationship with God and our church family.

Music

Oh how the boys LOVE music. I recently bought them guitars, and they constantly walk around the house with the guitar strap around their neck playing their songs! They have excellent dance moves too! They’ve been enjoying watching us play Just Dance on the Wii and always dance along! I recently bought them a CD player and downloaded several songs from Kidz Bop for them (popular hiphop songs with kid friendly lyrics sung by kids). They just love this! I got the idea at one of our playdates the other week. Wyatt raced upstairs with the big kids (3-5 year olds… the little kids or kids their age just don’t fascinate them like the big kids do…) as Gavin and I quickly followed. By the time I reached upstairs, Wyatt was ‘singing’ into the microphone and dancing with all the big kids! I almost started to cry like a baby as I watched my two ‘babies’ dance with all the 4 and 5 year olds. Ever since then, I think it’s safe to say Gavin and Wyatt are officially into ‘hip hop’ (what Mama and Daddy approve of that is!).

Mickey Mouse

The boys still love Baby Einstein, but now they have a new absolute favorite ‘character’… Mickey Mouse!! They’ve officially moved into childhood now that they have started picking out favorite characters. It started about 6 weeks ago… Daddy would let them watch Mickey Mouse Club House on Saturday mornings before breakfast as a treat. We’d all snuggle around and then go make breakfast together. After 2-3 weeks, I realized that they really enjoyed it and decided to DVR the episodes. The boys would watch this several times a day if we let them, they are fascinated to say the least. Now every time they see Mickey or the gang, they start clapping and say, ‘MiMa, Mama’. They also like to say DaDu (Donald Duck) and Dog (Pluto). They each have a stuffed Mickey which they hug and kiss all the time. Needless to say, they are Mickey Mouse fans!

Letters

The boys have taken a huge interest in letters the past couple of weeks. They play with their Leap Frog magnetic phonics/letters all the time and love to mimic the sounds the letters make (even the hard ones). I bought them two different letter/phonics DVDs which they really enjoy too. I’ve sensed a whole new fascination from them in this subject and have been trying to ham it up. They continue to learn new sounds each week. It’s just going to click for them one day soon, and all the sounds they have learned will be used in the words they already know (object and ‘command’ recognition is just flat out amazing all of us.)

Meals

They eat very well (fork/spoon and plate/bowl at every meal); good amount and variety. They go through phases (growth and health) where they will eat a lot and other times not as much… some days pickier than others, but never continual. They still eat anything and everything. I need to start letting them use real cups throughout the day because they honestly are getting really good at using them. But I haven’t started to try to make the transition yet because I’m thinking more practice outside might be better right now!

Potty

The past month, Wyatt has begun to recognize when he is pottying in his diaper. He’ll quickly look down at his diaper and then at us. Often he signs to me potty and runs to the bathroom. We sit on the potty often, but he rarely uses it. He is making the connection very well these days though. About two weeks after Wyatt started (this past week), Gavin has begun to grab his diaper when he goes potty. He’ll often run and grab the changing pad and wipes and lay down for me to change him. (Even if I take the boys to the potty before they have to actually go, they typically won't go in the toilet yet...) I’m so excited to watch as their awareness grows and want to continue to foster this. We continue to talk about potty, how God made our potty parts, how we start to go peepee and poopoo on the big boy potty instead of the diaper as we grow older, etc. I will admit it takes a lot out of me teaching two little boys to go potty when I’m 33+ weeks pregnant, but it’s so worth it and my heart if just so happy watching their excitement as they become aware on their own time (with my teaching, talking and making it fun of course…).

Walking Hand in Hand
This past month, we've been practicing walking hand in hand from the car to and through a store/library/house/restaurant. This may not seem like a big deal, but taking two 15/16 month olds to a store while 33+ weeks pregnant w/o the safety net of a stroller or cart is a huge deal! Both boys have done a fabulous job staying with Mama and listening. They are given the balance of freedom and limits. On days that I feel good, we just go to a random store (Walmart's plant and toy sections, PetsMart, etc) to practice. This week we even walked across the big parking lot of the community college to go to the library, walked to story time, colored, looked at books, I got a library card, checked out and walked all the way back to the car. The boys did great the whole time! The more practice we do now, the easier it will be when Luke arrives and the boys get older.

Pool
The boys are fearless when it comes to the pool! They are all over the place and want to do what all the big kids are doing. Yes, they like the splash pad area, but they love to be in the pool (kid section 0-2 feet). They prefer the deep end where the water is up to their chin. They like to go down the slides and never mind when their face is under water (sometimes they do this on purpose and laugh afterwards even). They recently have enjoyed going in the deep end and having Mama and Daddy hold them and swim around. I think they know this is the section for 'big kids'. They like for us to hold them on their tummies as they kick (practice swimming motions). Both boys won't stay in the same spot for more than a minute. With their activity, typical pool time is about 1-1.5 hours. They of course still love the water hose and all other water activities at home too!

Baby Luke
The boys are fascinated with Baby Luke. They LOVE his 3D Ultrasound in the frame next to their photos by the TV. When I ask them where Baby Luke is, they pull up their shirts, point to their tummy and then run to me and pat mine. They love to give Baby Luke hugs, pats and kisses. They are fascinated by babies and are actually very good with them thus far!

Continual Interests and Other Odds and Ends

All their interests from past posts continue to stand; books, cars and balls. They also love to put on hats, their pop-corn poppers. They also have to grab the squishy feather comforters and put them in front of the TV every time they watch a DVD or Mickey Mouse.

(The boys love gadgets... cell phones, iPads/ipods, etc...)

(This one was taken at 14 months, but it shows the pattern of sitting on the dog!)

(They always seem to wrestle each other and the dogs these days!)

(Cute photo of SuperWyatt, SuperUncleJosh and SuperGavin!)

I am sure there are more things I want to capture, but I will post about those later as I think of them.

Just five and a half more weeks until we meet our sweet Baby Luke! It's so much fun thinking of the little things we have to do in the next couple of weeks to prepare for his arrival! In about 2 weeks, we are thinking about bringing all the baby equipment down from the attic; the swing, bouncer, carseat, etc. This way the boys get used to everything being out, they get their chance to explore and play with it all, and they won't be trying to push Luke out of everything for their turn as often! Here's at least hoping it helps! All the clothes are already organized and in the closet, but I'll need to wash everything the week before he is born. I'll of course have to pack my hospital bag and an extra goodie bag for the boys to keep them entertained while they visit us. I also have to start teaching the boys to climb into their cribs using steps in preparation for my C-Section recovery. The next 5 weeks, I'll be talking/playing a lot about doctors and hospitals with the boys in order to prepare them for Mama being hooked up to IVs and not able to rough house with them for a while. (This part is what really bothers me, but I know we will all make it through. I just have to prepare a head of time and start new little 'Mama fun times' that I know I will be able to do while recovering.

Pregnancy continues to go very well for which I am thankful. Some days I feel pretty worn out, especially if their is sickness in the house or we've been busy running around. Other days I feel I have so much energy (which disappears by the evening time though). My sciatic nerve only bothers me occasionally as is the other typical pregnancy aches. I'm still able to sleep well at night, and heartburn has only recently started in the evenings the past few nights. Slight swelling started in my hands on the 5th of July. I thought it might be some of the extra salt in the food we had for the 4th, but it hasn't really gotten any better. I can still wear my rings, but my Aggie Ring is pretty tight today. I guess it's all to be expected, especially in this Houston heat and humidity. Speaking of which, we tend to stay indoors a lot more than we used to these days; it's just too miserable unless you are in water!

Luke continues to get stronger! He's a very active little boy and can make this mama jump when he kicks me out of the blue! I love my 'snuggle time' with Luke; when I get to rub his head, butt, shoulders, etc as they poke from my belly. Although he's very active all throughout the day, I still can tell that he responds to his big brothers when they make a lot of noise or when we have our tickle time and giggles are everywhere!

I haven't been taking a lot of pictures lately because frankly I'm just busy being Mama these days. I did want to post a couple of pics taken on the 4th during our bowling time with my brother and sister. We have similar pictures when I was pregnant with Gavin and Wyatt.