my boys.

mmmmm, I've always wanted to be able to say that. my boys.

I dreamed of having a house of boys. me being the only lady in the house. and it happened!! crazy! wouldn't mind having one more boy, but don't want to risk it being a girl ;)

BERKELEY

:wants to be holding my hand at all times:
:lays his head down on a pillow just to rest, even if it's not naptime:
:stops in his tracks anytime he hears music. sometimes he dances:
:if anyone walks in the front door i.e. daddy, nana, or papa, he wants them to take him to their car to play in the driver's seat. he could do that for hours I think:
:eats blueberry waffles with lots of butter for breakfast:
:loves to share an apple with mommy:
:loves spinach smoothies. my healthy boy:
:like to hear me read his dora book in Spanish:
:loves to help me clean. he gets into sweeping, cleaning things with a cloth, and helping me vacuum:
:says "uh-guh" to pretty much everything. that's his favorite word, whatever it means:
:tells roger "down" and swings his hand back and forth. must have seen me yelling at roger to get off the bed :)
:will attempt to do jumping jacks when I do my jillian michaels video. he also tries to find his belly button when he sees jillian's in her skimpy outfit....which means I won't be doing many more of those workouts when he's around:
:wants juice all the time (don't worry, I give him mostly water, but he thinks it's juice). he goes to the fridge and points and says "juice" about 100 times a day:
:if you whisper, he'll whisper back:
:likes playing with kitchen stuff rather than his toys. he'll pretend "cook" me things by stirring and stirring and then come give me a bite:
:once, just once, he swaddled his glow worm and started rocking it. it was precious. guess he's seen me do it to sam a few times :)
:will bring sam his passie, but will also yank it out of his mouth if he feels so inclined:
:if i'm changing sam's diaper, he'll bring me a diaper for sam:
:he sleeps in his bed until around 5 or so, sometimes earlier. when he wakes up, dad goes and gets him and sleeps with him in the guest room until morning. (sam is too loud to bring Berkeley into our room. sam's a grunter. haha) sometimes, only mommy will do in the middle of the night and I have to be on duty for both boys:
:pretty grumpy at nighttime before bed. ugh. but he's still so precious:
:likes to be carried around in the ergo. especially at the grocery store or when i'm cleaning the kitchen or cooking at night:

 

 

ever holding mommy's hand

snow day : the day after christmas

SAM

:sleeps in the rock n' play next to our bed:
:pretty much happy all day except for first thing in the morning (tummy troubles) and right before bed (tummy troubles again, I think):
:looooooves to be swaddled, unlike when Berkeley was tiny:
:nurses about every 2-3 hours:
:my champion nurser. i'm so proud of him:
:sleeps almost all night. wakes up twice to eat and then goes right back to sleep:
:sometimes I hold him at night for extra long after he nurses, because I don't get enough one on one time with him in the daytime:
:smiled for the first time last week (6 weeks), but really started smiling and interacting this week (7 weeks):
:likes to hold our finger:
:loves the passie to no end:
:likes to go on walks in the ergo:

first week alone with both boys

yawn.

I call this "super sam!"

love these boys like no tomorrow.

our first official picture as a family of four.

for this season

so, if you didn't already know, being a parent is hard. mr. Sherwood and I are incredibly blessed with frequent babysitters (my parents) for date nights and little outings here and there. but STILL.
it can get a little crazy around here sometimes.

Friday night we were driving around town on our date night talking about bed times. exciting date night material, I know ;)

Berkeley REFUSES to go to bed without a fight. he wants you to lay down beside his crib and hold his hand until he falls asleep. that can take anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour. for real.
for a while there, getting Berkeley to sleep was Derek's job while I nursed sam or picked up the house. but as of last week, Berkeley wants mom, and only mom will do.

I kept getting so frustrated last week because all I wanted to do was put him to sleep quickly so I could go hang out on the couch with my hubby.

but during our date night talk, we reminded ourselves that this is just for this season.

there will come a time (and it will come sooner than we can imagine) that, not only will Berkeley not need my hand to fall asleep, he won't even be home for me to cuddle and love on. he'll be off at a friend's house, not needing his mommy. I should be cherishing this short time in our lives. Derek and I will have YEARS to sit on the couch and watch tv. and during that time, I have a feeling we'll reminisce and wish we had just one more night to hold Berkeley's hand as he falls asleep.

gotta love him :)

also, there are so many people who let their children cry it out, and it worked brilliantly for them. and let me just say, I wish it had worked for us. our lives would probably be so much easier right now. but it didn't work. it didn't feel right for our family and so we stopped. we have chosen to love Berkeley to sleep by cuddling him and holding his hand, so I need to accept that and embrace it :) embrace the hard. embrace the mess. embrace the tired. embrace.

so that's really why I was anxious to start blogging again. I want to document the moments of parenting that take my breath away so I can reflect on them, and so I can come back to them when it feels like this season of sleepless nights will never end.

 

oh, sweet sam. you sure do deal with a lot from your brother. but I know he loves you!

in 10 months.

in the last ten months (since the last time I blogged), mr. Sherwood and I have celebrated Berkeley's first birthday, moved from a home in downtown Conway, lived with my parents for three months while our new house was being built. had a new precious baby. and two days later moved into our new home.

  I haven't blogged in ten months because I have been busy, yes. but the real reason? the real reason is that I was scared. I was too worried about what other people thought of my blog (even though my family and closest friends are my only readers :)

I would write with other people in mind instead of writing for myself.
I was most scared of the fact that I am not a photographer. it seems that every good blogger is fabulous with a camera. and I most certainly am not.

but i'm over that. my boys' lives are too precious not to document. and blogging seems to be the best way to document everything these days.
it's all in one place, easily accessible.
I want to share our life with the friends I don't get to see much anymore and with my family that is far away.

so here's to new beginnings. new babies. new homes. new dreams. new goals. and even new fears. because those fears challenge me to step out in faith. and i'm excited about that.

Berkeley looking out our front window at the construction next door. i love his little boy heart :)