Way too long!!

Sebastian,

It's been far, far too long since I've updated this blog. I'm so sorry sweetie. But I'm recommitting myself to doing it.

Seb, you're 4.5 years old and seriously such a fun boy. We all love you so, so much. We try not to tell you this too much, but you're one very, very clever boy. You taught yourself to read at age 3, and you've memorized all the US states and their capitals. You can even identify which state goes where on the map. You also love world geography and love playing with your globe. You love naming countries in Africa and learning about new countries. We recently finished watching the Winter Olympics and it was your dream. You loved all the countries and cheering them on while they competed.

You also know and love everything about space. You know all the planets, when they were discovered, how many miles Pluto is from Earth...how many earth years it takes for Pluto to go around the sun...it's crazy! You just love doing things like this.

You go to 'playgroup' which is an informal nursery. Your best friend there is Jackson and you guys like to play the 'big' cars and the 'small' cars. You also have such great conversations. You're ready to go to Kelvindale Primary next year and be in big school with Amelia (which still boggles my mind how my baby can be so big).

You have a pretend unicorn called 'EllaCorn Unicorn' and she lives in New Zealand, but goes to Canada on Mondays. Ellacorn Unicorn (you always say it like that) has been a pretty good friend for a year now. It's hilarious to see how your mind works.

You're still such a sweet, cuddly boy and people are still very drawn to you. All the teenagers in the ward try to compete for your love. But you only love Rhona, who is your babysitter two days a week. You love Rhona more than most people. It's fun to see how well you guys get along.

You're such a lovely addition to our house and you're a great big brother to CJ and generally play pretty well with Amelia. You do like to tease her though!

I'll try to be better at updating this!

Love you,

Mum

Terrific Twos!

Oh Seb, I'm so, so sorry I've neglected this blog for you. I have no excuse, you're such a joy to be around and we all adore you so much. I need to capture these moments. So I'm going to try to do better. Let's see, you're very much a 2 year old and you are talking up a storm. For the longest time, you just kind of grunted your demands, but now? You're Mr. Chatty Pants. You're a little mockingbird that will repeat anything we say to you. And you're so, so clever! You have actually identified certain words on these word tiles that Grandma and Grandpa sent, you can 'read' 'Pizza' 'Crazy' 'Purple' 'Green' 'Yellow' 'Blue' 'Brown' and several others. It's pretty amazing. You also know all your numbers and love to point them out everywhere you go. It's pretty adorable as well. So even when you started talking more, you'd never say Amelia's name. You would just point to her or grunt at her. But now you have started calling her 'Ree Ree' and we can't figure out how you came to that one. But it cute. She taught you to say 'I love you Ree Ree' (you also say it with mommy and daddy). It's pretty much the cutest thing ever. For being a two year old, you're pretty mild. Though you're starting to throw tantrums and get frustrated when things aren't exactly right (we give you the wrong cup for dinner or you can't have 'coke for kids' or I put more water in your cup when you didn't want it, even though you'd been asking for it just a minute earlier). But thankfully, they're few and far between. Amelia is such a great big sister.

She plays so well with you (most of the time), she takes you up to her room and together you love to play 'airplane'. I'm not sure what that entails, because she never lets me in while you're playing it. But it seems like you have a pretty good time. You also love to sing. You're really into this CBeebies panto called 'Peter Pan'. You love all the songs and will dance around. You're still a huge fan of Pointless and will often gleefully tell us what the jackpot amount is and you cheer when someone gets a pointless answer and groan when they get it wrong. It's pretty fun. You're getting so much better with other people. You love Hazel, who came to watch you for a few months while I was in school. Oh, and you're going to be a big brother! I think you're going to be so jealous of this little sister coming. You get jealous when Amelia cuddles with me, I can't imagine how you'll be with a needy baby. You like to pat my tummy and say 'baby' and it's pretty cute.

You got a baby doll for Christmas and you regularly get me or Dad to take off the baby's clothes and then you give the baby a 'bath'. You make sure to wash all over, then get it dry with a blanket (or whatever's handy) before putting those clothes back on! We love you so much Seb. You're the absolute light of all of our lives. You're definitely a daddy's boy. You'll hang out with me during the day, but once dad comes home, it's all dad, all the time. You're seriously his little shadow. Dad pretends to be cool about it, but he absolutely loves it! The other day you were cuddling with Amelia and she said 'Sometimes I can't believe he's here, and our lives would be so boring if Sebastian wasn't in our lives'. I agreed very much with her and then she said 'I just don't want him to get bigger. I want him to stay small forever'. Now she knows how I feel about both of you. You're such an affectionate little boy, you love to blow kisses to people and you get so mad if someone leaves the house without giving you kisses (mostly when Dad leaves for work and Mia leaves for school). You're such a wonderful, special little boy. I wish I could open my heart and let you see how much we love you and what a great addition you are to our family. For being 2, you're doing a pretty good job! Love, Mom

Naughty Mommy!

Seb,

I really am very horrible at keeping up this blog for you. Don't take it personally. It's certainly not because we don't love you! You are the light of all our lives. In fact, Amelia told me the other day that she thought our family was getting boring when there were only three of us and that things got so much better. She adores you, as do we all!

You're kind of a crazy man though. You run, climb, and bulldoze your way through anything. We like to call you Sebastian the Destroyer.

You're starting to say a few words, 'Mama' and 'Dada' and 'Cracker' and 'Banana!'

We can see your sense of humor starting and it's awesome. You love to give spontaneous open mouth slobbery kisses. You also love jumping up and down on the couch, mattress, bed, chair...anything that seems like it'd give you a good jump.

You are such a joy in our family Seb. We love you so much!

Mom.

Crazy boy!

Seb,

You are such a crazy boy! Your new favorite game is to walk off the edge of the couch and straight to the ground, good thing we have a soft mattress there to break your fall!

I can't believe you're almost one! You're such a happy little guy. We love you so much. And I love that you still crawl up on my lap for cuddles.

My sweet little man!

Mom

Sebastian the Destroyer!

Seb, Seb, Seb!

You are into everything! As soon as the gate is open, you rush to it and love to race to wherever you're not supposed to be. You're throwing things in the toilet, you open the fridge and take bites out of the apples and oranges (then put them back). You also take bites from bananas...you are a menace. But you're so cute! And you love to laugh, dance whenever you hear music, and cuddle with me...which I love.

You're still not a fan of strangers though, nor are you a fan of sleep.

Still...I think we'll keep you.

Love,

Mom

Almost One!

Seb,

I'm so sorry that I'm the worst mother in the world for not updating this. Don't take the lack of updates to mean lack of love. We do love you so much! You are the light in all our lives. Amelia is just so enamored with you, sometimes she loves you a little too hard. But you give as good as you get, usually.

Let's see, you're now 11 months old a full fledged walking boy! You took your first steps at around 8 months, but other than dabbling in it, you really didn't decide to walk until 10 months. I think you would have earlier, but we went to Utah this summer to introduce you to the Kinsel family (who all adored you, and who you cried every time anyone even looked at you), and you were a little skeptical, so I think you delayed your walking until we got home.

You do say 'mama' and 'dada', but not necessarily in relation to me and dad, but you do say your own adorable form of 'thank you' it's so stinking cute. You'll hand me something and then say 'thank you'. So I think we have to say your first word (or phrase) is 'thank you'.

You are definitely starting to get frustrated with us if we don't give you something as fast as you want it. You especially love your food. If you even catch a hint of something to be eaten you're over there, fast as a flash, begging for a bite. You'll try anything. And get really mad if you don't get a bite (you throw yourself back). Sometimes it's not even food, but you think it is and, of course I can't explain that it's not.

You're still a pretty bad sleeper, you've discovered the joys of sleeping in our bed, and while you're perfectly happy with that arrangement and would do it every night happily...dad and I are not so pleased with it. We're glad you sleep, but you're a bed hog and dad and I are reduced to sleeping on the edge. So hopefully you start sleeping full nights in your own bed soon. This is one area where Amelia has you beat, she was a much better sleeper than you.

But other than that, you are a fantastic baby. You love to dance when you hear music. You already love Thomas the Tank, every time you hear the theme song, you get the biggest smile and dance around. You have a Thomas book that you carry around and love it when I sing the song and dance the book around.

You're definitely a momma's boy. Which I love. Mia preferred your dad at this age. You love to climb on my lap for cuddles and you love to bury your head on my shoulder. I admit, I love it too and I know it's going to be way too soon when you're going to not want to cuddle.

Seb, dad and I often remark how much we love you and how we're so happy you're in our lives. Amelia loves you so much and is always wanting to play with you. You also adore her, if she's anywhere near you, you're always running to her and laughing at her antics. Our lives are so much happier with you in it. We waited a long time for you to come and you are absolutely worth the wait!

Finally

My dear, sweet Seb,

Welcome to your blog. The closest thing you'll get to a baby book. I'm not great at updating (ask your sister), but I'm going to try to be better.

My dear son, we are so happy to have you in our family. We tried several years to get you here. We tried numerous fertility treatments and had almost come to the conclusion that you weren't ever going to come and Amelia would be an only child. I've never been so happy to be wrong in my entire life. I knew we had a special little boy who needed to join our family. And you have not disappointed.

As I write this, you're 8 months old. And as far as physically, you're very much ahead of the game. You crawled at 6 months, pulled yourself up at 6.5 months and now at 8 you cruise along the furniture like it's no big deal. You even let go and can stand on your own for a few seconds. You've also started climbing, I didn't think it was possible for a baby to climb things before he could walk, but you've proved that wrong! I don't think it's going to be too long until you're walking.

You were born on October 30th, 2014 at UCLH in London. You weighed 8lbs 6oz and you were a very cute baby. You bring so much joy to our lives. I can't explain how much we all (Amelia especially) love you. You are such a smile-y baby and you give them away freely. You'll smile at anyone who smiles at you. If it's someone you don't know, you get a bit shy, but you'll still smile! You've got such a special spirit about you, people are drawn to it. I wonder if that will be something that lasts your entire life? Dad and I teach the Gospel Principles class at church and there are a lot of new/recently active members in the class. You've become kind of a class mascot. Everyone crowds around to see how you are and to give you loves. Ali, an older gentleman is convinced you're a future president or something great. He gave us a very special antique book that is small that he can't read anymore. He thinks you have wise eyes and wanted you to have it. It's in a special place for when you're a bit older. I hope you treasure it, Seb.

You are a very content little guy. You love to putter around the living room playing with the various toys (when you're not trying to squeeze/climb/push your way into places you shouldn't be). You love it when Amelia comes home from school and plays with you, but when she's not around Dad and I are acceptable to you as well. You love giving giant open mouth kisses. It's not unusual for you to grab my cheek and guide it to you for a slobbery kiss.

You've also got teeth! And you're kind of a biter. We're trying to break you from that habit. But you got teeth fast, you already have 5 and 6 and 7 are days away from poking through.

One area that you do need work on is your sleep! You're a healthy above average boy and you still wake up very often through the night. Your sister was sleeping through at this point. And lately, you've decided that you don't want to be put back down, you'd rather be held while you sleep or you decide you want to play. And at 3-4am, that's not an ideal situation. I'm not sure what I'm going to do to break you from this habit and encourage you to sleep longer, but right now, my love, you're taking years off of my life!

Good thing you're cute. We love you so much Seb. We're so happy you're a part of our family and while I can't wait to see what you grow up to be, I am very much hating the fact that you're growing up so fast. I hope you'll still cuddle with me when you're older..right now it's only when you're tired.

So glad you're here and even if I'm eternally tired, I'll take it every time over the alternative.

Love,

Mom