brothers // friday things.

i died when i got this photo - perfect representation of their personalities!

happy and free. roman annoyed that i'm taking a picture; asher doing "spooky face" - his fave. i didn't realize that they were pulling on a broken part of the fence until after i took this picture -oops! brother love. <3      looking at my sons these days and looking through these photos, i'm thinking, "oh my goodness i kind of have two boys now." not babies. like real-talking-running-thinking for themselves-tiny humans. man, that went fast. it's super adorable of course being able watching these two interact and play and i know that their relationship will only continue to grow. ;)

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     a couple of side notes: thanks for all of your comments on my defined post last week! i really loved sharing my heart and truly appreciated reading your sweet words. :)

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     i have a few new sponsors up on my sidebar - be sure to check them out if you are looking for some new favorite blogs! also, i'm still open to swapping ads for *free* on my blog - so let me know if you are interested!

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happy friday everyone!

asher // picnic tables.

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     it's really cute to see asher tag along with roman and the bigger kids at the park. surprisingly though he usually loses his edge after a while and ends up wanting to hang out with his mama. it makes me happy to have time with my little toddler. it seems like when asher is outside, his tense little body can finally breathe a sigh of  relief. he has always been much, much more relaxed and happy outdoors. it's tough since we live in a small third floor condo and we only have a tiny porch and a small shared backyard downstairs. we still get outside a lot but it would be so conveinent for both of our boys to just be able to run out into a backyard. next house.

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     taking these photos of asher exploring around the picnic tables while roman ran around with his new "friends" was relaxing and soothing for us both. ;)

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flyer.

     warmer days recently have given the boys and i the chance to walk to the park a couple of times while aaron was at work. the nearest playground is not super close but it's a perfect walk and a perfect chance to breathe the fresh air, get some exercise and spend time together. i have two little boys always grabbing at my hands and chitter-chattering away. i love the moments when they are both separately yapping about whatever it is they need to tell me and all the while i can't hear a word because they are talking at once. those moments make me smile.

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     we play at the small playground and they are both finally at the age where they can climb and run without my immediate assistance. which is so nice. i can sit in the grass and soak up the sunshine. and on the walk home there are always mountains to lead us back.

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     the day that i took these photos of asher swinging, i was relaxing while the boys played. asher was coming towards me and inside my laziness was hoping that he wouldn't want to swing again. when he reached me he said, "i wanna flyyyyyy," to insinuate that he did indeed want to swing.

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     and really, how could i say no to that?

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to see some photos that i adore of asher swinging at eleven months old click here :)

throwback thursday.

okay so after yesterday's post about asher's toddler days, i just had to spend a little time going back through old photos on flickr of roman at about the same age! this was back when i had my first dslr camera, the canon rebel, which i highly, highly recommend by the way to anyone
starting out in photography!
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each of these photos hold such wonderful, precious memories for me!
isn't it amazing the power that photographs have on us?

i hope you enjoy ;)

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toddler things.

one of the beautiful parts of roman attending kindergarten has been the wonderful, and quieter, mornings alone with our littlest.

it is amazing the difference in his personality when roman is not here.

truly, amazing.

don't get me wrong - kindergarten hasn't just been a quick fix to asher's high needs.

but it has given us all a couple of hours to breathe and relax.

for many reasons, asher just tones way down when roman is not around.

i am so thankful because this precious little toddler stage that asher is in currently is one of my
 all-time favorites.

in my mind roman is kind of frozen at the 2 year old stage.

he ran around in these same little fleece pants and chose from the same shirts that asher now
"pickles" (picks) from each day.

i am so glad that i get a chance to notice and appreciate asher at this magical stage as well.

his thoughts and vocabulary are just exploding right now.

a mini grownup.

still my baby but about to turn three this summer.

i can't even believe it.
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(recent photos of some special asher moments)

still always sleeping with mama

baby // hands in my hair

playing cows // painted little toenails

 

napping - family bed style // mornings

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connect with me on instagram;)

portraits of asher / 31 months.

i love this boy + these pictures.

he radiates joy and appears so wild and free here. which is exactly how he felt in these moments:

frantically climbing from rock to rock, mountains as far as the eyes can see, happily running and breathing in the fresh air while slyly posing and looking to the side for his mama who loves to take
his pictures.

looking at these photos, i feel once again the peace and quiet and happiness of the moments in when i took them.

just a little glimpse of time,

saved.

thoughts on sleep.

our current sleeping situation consists of a full sized bed and a twin sized bed pushed together to make one sort of mega-bed in our room. and yes, we all sleep there together.
roman and asher do have a bed in their room. it exists, but pretty much solely serves to house a surprisingly large collection of stuffed animals. roman has fallen asleep in his own bed for periods of time in his life. but right now, it's all of us, all together, all night, every night: family bed style.
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yesterday, i was telling roman how i think that he and his brother must have little magnets inside their bodies that pull them towards me every night. i'm always scooting someone over or pushing a leg off of my back. these little boys make their rounds all over the bed, and all over us, every night.
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sometimes it can be frustrating, but talking to roman about their little "magnets" and seeing him smile that sweet-still-a-little-boy smile, made it worth it in that moment.
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 i have so many sweet nighttime memories with my boys and i've felt thankful to be able to love on them all night long for so many years. one favorite memory pressed tight into my heart is of roman when he was less than a year old and nursing for the millionth time in the night. for whatever reason, i just felt so grateful and alive and i stared into his round, moon glowing face, feeling happy and so in love. i still remember perfectly how that face looked, and i still remember that special small moment that i pulled into my heart and savored, many years ago during one random night.
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 co-sleeping, or "bed-sharing" is definitely not for everyone, and frankly sometimes it's not for me either. in fact, i am really struggling right now with asher's sleeping situation, and yeah - it would probably be much better if he didn't spend each and every night right next to me. i'm not one to say never or forever, so maybe one day i soon i'll ship these boys out to their own beds; or maybe they'll stay and stay.
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so no, it's not always perfect and my decisions are hardly the best or greatest parenting decisions of all time. this is not a co-sleeping public service announcement.
but it is what we chose for our family thus far and right now i'm just mulling it over in my mind.
right now, i treasure these sweet, soft little angels in my bed.
and when I push their warm sleepy bodies aside, trying to find a little bit of space for myself,
i'm at least thankful that they are still there to find me :)
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pictures of cows.

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we were driving around the reservoir over the weekend, looking for new spots. and first of all, let me just say that i was so dang happy to get a picture of those cows. i have been thinking about taking pictures of cows for years. no really, i'm not just saying that.
many times as i drove home to our house in indiana, i would look at all of the cows that i passed and think about taking photos of them. indiana is full of so much pretty scenery: old barns, endless soybean and corn fields, pretty hazy sunsets and wildflowers. and there are so many cows. they truly became my favorite animal when we lived out there.
but i never took the moment to get the pictures that i wanted. i'm really bad about that; just stopping and getting out of the car to take a photograph. i'm too lazy i suppose.
and frankly, it never seems worth it.
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but this day. the other day, when i saw these black cows grazing in the hills like this, i finally had aaron pull over the car and i rolled down the window and i got it. it was just too, too perfect. because if there is anything better than cows grazing in the fields of indiana, it is certainly cows in the mountains. hands down.
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asher was stressing out in the backseat and roman was yelling at me and i had one of those mother-fail moments where i snapped for a moment.
and i just told everyone in the family to get used to it.
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sometimes i'm going to hang out the window when it's 20 degrees out to take a picture of the creek by the mountains. and sometimes i'm going to ask aaron to turn the car around so that i can get a picture of the orange and aqua sunset even though everyone is tired and wants to get home. in times like these, little boys are sure to squeal at me from the backseat.
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but gosh darn it, sometimes i'm going to pull over the car and take a picture of some cows.

and it's going to make me very happy.

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oh, and my family is cute too. they forgave me and then i snuck in some pictures of them as well ;)

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