Dying to sleep

So any mom out there definitely knows what I'm talking about. You finally get to the point where your kids sleep through the night consistently, then SURPRISE!! They decide they don't like sleeping anymore. We were on a good roll. Ethan had been sleeping through the night a good 9-11 hours for about a month. Then he had to go ahead and get some new skills (up on hands and knees and rocking like crazy). He wakes up about every 2 hrs now. Whenever I go in his room he is rocking, and he's got this look on his face like "Hi mom! Look at me!". He's just so darn cute, but it's driving me crazy. He did this for 3 weeks, then slept through the night 2 nights in a row - I hoped we were back on track.......no such luck. He's back to being up every 2 hrs. I'm mentally at the point where I'm ready to just let him fuss/cry it out, but the poor guy has a major cold and can barely breathe now, so that's not going to happen......

.....I tried napping today while he napped, but of course I laid in bed for an hour without falling asleep. As soon as I started dosing off what do you know? the boy has awakened yet again. He's sleeping now but of course I'm too tired to sleep.

Monkey's nap time

I walked in on possibly the cutest thing I've ever seen the other day. Caleb was putting his 2 monkey's down for a nap. He read them a story, sang them " Jesus Loves Me", "Mary had a Little Lamb (the widdle wam song)" and "Jesus Loves the Little Children"...our bedtime routine, then he leaned over and kissed them each good night. Of course by the time I got the camera out he was finished. But I did catch part of the encore performance the next day. I missed his version of Jonah and the Big Fish, which was actually quite good. But I did turn the camera on in time for his rendition of David and Goliath (just in case you don't speak 2 year old and are wondering what is going on).....I tried to flip the video but it didn't take...so sorry, you'll have to crank your neck....

And here's Caleb doing his version of "Jesus Loves Me" and then trying to kiss someone out there goodnight.....man I love this kid more and more everyday!!

Ethan loves his brother....

Ethan's newest skill is lunging forward from sitting position to grab a toy. So I was trying to catch that on video. But then Caleb walks into the room....check out how excited Ethan gets when he sees him... please ignore my fat legs at the end :)

Montana State Fair

The fair has come to town!! Doesn't quite compare to the Del Mar Fair - but we had fun. Our friends Tammi and Jolie joined us for some good old 4-H action, fair food and kiddie rides. Here's Jon and Caleb looking at the Llamas:

Jon touched the cows, but Caleb wanted nothing to do with them:

The helicopter ride that Caleb was desperate to get on and very frustrated by having to wait in line.....what do you mean I can't have what I want exactly when I want it?!?!?

Caleb freaking out on the helicopter ride, because he didn't realize the shifter he was playing with in the middle actually moved the ride up and down :)

Good old cotton candy.....thank God for baby wipes to clean up this boy:

You want to eat what? Testes? That's right folks. Here's Jon chowing down on some good old Rocky Mountain Oysters:

Dedicated

Our church does baby dedications one weekend a month. And there happened to be an opening at the service we normally attend, so we had Ethan dedicated. Our head pastor Vern did a really neat, meaningful prayer over us all, and we really felt like a part of the church family. Here are a few pics of the dedication:

New skills

Here's a little video of Ethan showing off his newest skill - rolling from back to front.

And another of his favorite skill - blowing bubbles:

Obsessed

So we now have cable TV (we did without for the last 4 years in SD). And we love the disney channel. Caleb is completely obsessed with Dora the Explorer and her cousin Diego. He knows exactly when they come on (everyday after nap time) and in what order....first Dora, then "go San Diego, go go San Diego"!! (the actual show is called "go, Diego, go") But Caleb insists on calling it "go San Diego, go go San Diego" every time he talks about it. He'll randomly sing songs from the shows throughout the day. It is very cute and makes me want to keep him this age forever!!