Juggling Our Way Through Life

Cale is going to be starting 2 days of full days of preschool August 21!  I have so many mixed emotions about this and am sure I will be a crying mess when we drop him off on his first day.  He is excited though-wants to go shopping for his backpack and school supplies.  He is such an amazing kid and we love him dearly and can't wait to see how he likes school. 

I will say though that we are definitely going through a stage of testing with him right now.  Everything is a question or an argument and some days it is just completely mentally exhausting for Jeff and me!  It's amazing to me too sometimes how he knows the right thing to do, but yet chooses to do the opposite.  Wow, this parenting thing is hard.  I think the hardest thing right now is just not giving in when we're tired of arguing and being consistent.  He's also already pitting us against each other-if me or Jeff say no, then he goes to the other parent and of course we ask what did mommy or daddy say! 

He has a sticker chart for good behavior, helping with chores and listening.  He has done pretty good with it and overall he's a great kid.  It's just some days cloud the others because they are so mentally exhausting.  But overall, he's a true joy-sweet with his brother, likes to help clean around the house, smiley, and a great snuggler!  These awesome things far outweigh the mentally exhausting days anytime!

Oh-and I love the way he says milkshakes-"shakemilks"  Cracks me up everytime!

Aiden just seems to perfectly fit in the crook of my neck.  He lays his sweet head there when I tuck him in at night and wraps his arm around the other side of my neck.  And then I melt and snuggle in as close to him as I possibly can as we rock and sway to sleep.  Love these moments!

Belleville hosted a great train expo this past weekend at their Fairgrounds and Expo center so we had to go check it out!  We went this last Saturday, July 28th.  There were lots of model trains to look at and Cale picked up some new train t-shirts.

Cale checking out the model trains

Milking the pretend cow

Riding the horse tire swing

A pretend farmers market

 

Picking peaches

Eating peaches right off the tree

Tractor ride

Playing in the shed with the chickens

 

The aftermath of peaches and blackberries!

Riding the tire swing and being silly

Cale is taking a motor movement class at a local dance studio of some friends of ours.  He is loving it.  They are doing lots of tumbling, silly dances, balance beams, and log rolls.  Here are some pictures from his class on 7/9/12.

I made it a year with breastfeeding Aiden and actually stopped on his birthday.  I still have a few bags of frozen milk that we are using here and there.  But mostly he is on whole milk.  I honestly can't believe that I made it a year!  With pumping at work and just being so exhausted (seriously felt like I was walking around like a zombie), I am pumped that I stuck with it.  I would have been proud of myself regardless.  I will say though that as ready as I  was to be done nursing, it was bittersweet for me.  It was such a connection that Aiden and  I had for a year and we spent so much time together.  I will say I do have some moments where I miss that sometimes.  That's why I make sure that we still have lots of snuggle and cuddle time and boy do I just treasure those times of being close to him and lucky for me-Aiden is kind of my buddy.  Him and I are pretty connected so getting snuggles with him is pretty easy.  He is doing well with whole milk.  I am excited to see where this next phase of his life takes us as he develops more personality, starts to walk, and starts to talk more.  Sure hope those cuddles are still in near and distant future!  Oh how he melts my heart!

Since late winter, our friend Kelli has been watching our kiddos on Thursdays and Fridays.  It has been absolutely wonderful.  She and her husband go to our church and have 3 kiddos-one going into kindergarten, one Cale's age and one 18 months.  Cale and Aiden just adore their entire family and look forward to when they go over there!  We are so blessed that God opened this door for our children to be here two days a week and couldn't ask for a better environment for our kids-Kelli loves them and takes great care of them and our kids and their kids get along great.  Even more blessed by my mom (and now dad since he retired) who has watched the kiddos 3 days a week since Cale was born.  I really don't know where we would be without them, especially my mom.  They are so generous and selfless in the way they love on our children and watch them 3 days a week.  Couldn't ask for better grandparents-both Aiden and Cale beyond adore them.  It's so cool to watch their relationship with them.  Cale pretty much owns their house and thinks of it as home when he is there which I think is pretty cool! 

Jeff has a good friend who owns a dance studio in town.  Her daughter teaches most of the dance classes
and this summer they are having a movement class.  Cale started this Monday and absolutely loved it!!!  I think he wishes it was everyday.  Here are a few pics from his first class.  We are going to do it for the month of July and see how it goes!

  We had a nice, low key party for Aiden for his first birthday.  Had a few close friends and family over and grilled out-ate hot dogs and burgers, had cake and just hung out and chatted.  It was a really nice time.  We are so blessed by great friends and family.  Aiden was kind of fussy and actually cried at first with his cake, but then he really got into it! 




 

 

Cale loves popsicles and he calls them popstickles!  I love it.  He said it tonight and I said I've got to put that on the blog so I can remember it!  Love that kid.

We have started a new thing at the Koziatek house.  Multiple nights a week you can find us having a slumber party on mommy and daddy's bed with all 4 of us or just me, Jeff and Cale.  It's awesome.  We just had one tonight with Cale.  It's basically where we have tickle fights, wrestle, snuggle, and just hang out.  Cale likes to make Cale sandwiches where Jeff and I are on either side and we smash him gently.  He loves to tickle us!  And he also loves to do cannonballs and fall on Jeff-that is hilarious.  Sometimes Aiden joins in the fun (although we don't wrestle much when he's on the bed).  Aiden just loves to fall backward on the bed and then borough into the pillows.  He loves to fall on me, Jeff, and Cale too and just snuggle.  It's so cute.  I love our family slumber parties.  They are so much fun and so great to spend time together as a family being silly and have a great time!