Trio of Us

Ya'll aren't going to be able to see our new place, so I thought I'd show you the family picture collage I'm putting together. Using the past 3 years of family pictures was Aaron's idea :)

Think Outside the Bowl

Maybe Cheerios taste better when they aren't in the bowl? Zeke has had a tendency to dump out his breakfast for a while now. (And once I let him pour his own bowl....) This week was the first time he specifically asked to have his Cheerios on the table and (fortunately) his milk on the side in a cup.

Moving Up

What we love about our new place (although at the moment we can't really see the floor because it is covered in boxes):
-dishwasher, washer, and dryer
-lots of closet space (more than we've ever had)
-enough wall space to hang all of our pictures
-being closer to work and flying
-de-junking as we move
-having our storage be in our house instead of our parents' houses
-re-discovering all the great things that have been in storage
-covered parking
-yard-care responsibilites (although it has required some initial equipment purchasing)
-curbside recycling
-seeing the trains, which Zeke requests every time we drive somewhere
-a bigger TV (thanks Heather!)
-bigger-city grocery shopping (better prices and selection)
-starting fresh with a better cleaning and organization schedule
...and more things we're discovering everyday!

Football Fan

Zeke has no team affiliations at this point, and has proudly sported apparel from multiple schools. Over the weekend, Zeke's Aunt Heather tried to give Zeke a little Cougar blue influence, because there is so much Ute red in the Carlile side of the family. As Heather and Zeke were watching football, she tried to teach him to say 'BYU', to which Zeke responded 'U'. Aunt Heather quickly informed him that if he had to pick just one letter, it couldn't be U. To avoid confusion, she taught him to say 'Go Cougars'.

Last night we were watching college football with Grandma and Zeke was thrilled with the kicking and throwing and running and 'all fall down' tackles and immediately decided to practice on the item that was handiest to throw long -- his sippy cup. The less than long pass was received by Aaron, and Zeke quickly complimented 'Nice catch'.

Sleep Dreams

One parenting e-newsletter I recently received advised that if your 28-month-old is still sleeping with you it might be time to get a toddler bed. The funny thing about that advice is that our family didn't have to worry about co-sleeping until Zeke was 28 months old.

We traded his crib for a twin bed a couple of weeks ago, which he was really excited about. (And so were we because the crib was coming apart due to a 2 year old running laps around the mattress.) We knew Zeke would be fine making the transition and for about 4 days he was. Then one night he figured out he wasn't caged in and he could get out of bed if he woke up in the middle of the night. He came into our room, crawled into bed with us, and slept very happily.

The next night he didn't stay in bed long enough to fall asleep, and we had a few (late) nights of taking him back to bed over and over until he was too tired to get out anymore. Fortunately for our own bedtime, now it seems that somehow we have talked him into falling asleep in his own bed.

However, as much as we'd rather not have him sleeping with us, Zeke coming into our room carrying his blanket and wanting to snuggle is one of the most adorable things in the world.