AS OF LATE...

I have been pretty horrible with my camera since we have been back in Virginia.  Things have been pretty hectic.  But I decided to pull it out today to get some much needed milestones documented and maybe some not so much needed things documented.:)

Mikey is in full on crawl mode these days.  He finally just figured it out about 3 days ago and everyday he is getting faster and faster.  He is so much fun!  I just love him!  I also discovered that since he has refused the binky(this happened about 2 months ago) he has been nursing himself to sleep with his thumb.  I went to check on him one night before I went to bed and sure enough...there he was just sucking away.  I guess if I have a thumb sucker...at least he is only doing it in his bed....or so I thought.  Today after he finished his bottle he immediately put his thumb in and sucked!    He looked so sweet and content doing it too.  So maybe I was wrong...maybe he doesn't only do it in his bed. I guess time will tell!  We finished nursing about 3 weeks ago as well.  He loves his bottle and is doing a lot better with solids now too....not necessarily baby food...but REAL people food(at least that is how I think he looks at it).

As for the other two.....they just run themselves ragged all day long and are so exhausted by bedtime that it is usually a fairly easy task putting them to bed(knock on wood).  Jake has been having a hard time with his naps lately though...but we have had some family staying with us, so it has kind of thrown him off.  Some days I will just toss him in the car and go for a drive just so I don't have to deal with the fight.  It usually takes about 2 minutes and he is out for the count.  I am not ready for him to give up his nap yet....and neither is he, he just doesn't really know it!  If he doesn't get a nap....he is pretty grumpy the rest of the afternoon.  He is definitely a child that needs his sleep!  Here is he yelling "NO" at me.  I thought it was pretty funny that I caught that grumpy face on camera.  

I would much rather see this cheesy grin all day long though! He is talking so much more now and is piecing his sentences together a lot better too.  He really is a crack up and loves to make Tanner and Mikey laugh by doing something silly.  He is a clown!  And is pretty good at it too.:)

As for Tanner...I don't know why I haven't taken a picture of him lately, but I can't believe his 4th birthday is creeping up on us!  He is going to be 4!  Crazy!  He is using his imagination like crazy right now and always wakes up and tells me what dream he had while he was sleeping.  Sometimes they aren't really dreams though...they are more like nightmares.  And sometimes they involve death and bad guys and guns....he seems to be into that stuff.  Isn't it strange how little boys just get into monsters and scary stuff?  It amazes me.  Anyways, he often likes to sleep like this...which I only allow every so often and this is how he asks..."Mom, can we sleep like a family tonight?"  Which mostly means that I will lay (or Doug when he can) with him and Jake for a little bit and they get to sleep right next to each other which they love.  So here are a couple pictures of them

 "SLEEPING LIKE A FAMILY...TANNER STYLE"